The first thing Hak-yeon saw when he opened his eyes was a large crack in the ceiling, and his heart raced as he panicked. There was no crack anywhere in Taek-woon's apartment, Taek-woon wouldn't have let that happen. He looked around frantically to try and figure out where he was, his frown deepening when he saw an unfamiliar desk and cabinet across the room, a sparse amount of books strewn across the top. He moved to get up and felt a heavy weight on his arm, and he turned around and let out a small breath of relief. 

Laying back down carefully so as not to wake him up, he reached over and tenderly brushed a few loose strands of hair out of Binnie's eyes, kissing his forehead. Hong-bin shifted, his face scrunching up before blinking his eyes open. "Good morning Binnie," Hak-yeon whispered lovingly, waiting to see the cute smile Hong-bin would always give him. Instead, Hong-bin's smile turned down in a frown, the other hurriedly sitting up and moving so there was a good distance between the two.  

Hak-yeon shot up with him, worry in his eyes as he tried to take Hong-bin's hand in his own. "Binnie-" 

"Hong-bin."  

Hak-yeon's eyes widened, trying to discern what was wrong, scanning Binnie's tight, drawn face. What was wrong? Hong-bin had always hated when Hak-yeon called him Hong-bin, only happy when he called him by the pet name Binnie. He blinked, wondering when he started referring to him as 'Hong-bin' in his mind, though there was no time to think of that. "What do you mean Binnie? What's wrong?" 

"You...you call Taek-woon hyung 'Taek-woon'...right?" 

"Y-yes...but-" 

"Then call Bin 'Hong-bin' now. 'Binnie'...I'm strong too. Bi- I am strong. I want to be called 'Hong-bin'." 

Hak-yeon quickly crawled over and cupped Hong-bin's face in his hands, desperate to figure out what was wrong with his little Binnie. Memories of yesterday were hazy, vaguely remembering visiting Saet-byul and seeing her brother, them walking home with her, of seeing Baek-hyun and Chan-yeol again...had something happened to hurt his Binnie? Hong-bin pushed his hands away, a flicker of guilt crossing his face before he scrunched up again, slapping his hands on the bed for emphasis.  

"I am not...not a baby. I'm strong. Bin- I don't need Hak-yeon hyung to watch me. I'm strong like Taek-woon hyung." 

"You are strong Binnie," he agreed hastily, pushing Hong-bin's hair out of his eyes, starting to grow seriously worried when he pushed his hands away again. "You're very, very strong, and Hak-yeon hyung is very proud of you. Very proud." 

"No, you don't love Bin," Hong-bin snapped, his tough façade fading as his face crumbled, tears collecting at the tips of his eyelashes. Hak-yeon blinked in surprise, confused as to what would ever have made his little Binnie think he didn't love him. He loved his little Bin, would do anything for him to make sure he was always safe and happy. It was the least he deserved, and he would make sure Hong-bin was always smiling. Hak-yeon tried to wipe the other's tears away but Hong-bin slapped his hands, crying.  

"Hak-yeon hyung doesn't love Bin. Bi- I know. I saw. You pushed Bin away. Pushed away." 

"When-?" Hak-yeon froze, his fingers curling as he remembered shoving Hong-bin away at Saet-byul's, how he had refused to look at what would have been Hong-bin's crushed look. He remembered how Hong-bin had avoided him after that, moving to play with Jae-hwan instead.  

"You...Hak-yeon hyung is ashamed of me. Hak-yeon hyung was hurt when Saet-byul said you love Bin. Because-- because Bin is not like Taek-woon hyung. Because Bin isn't strong. B-but-- but Bin-- I am strong-" 

"Oh Binnie," he whispered as he gathered Hong-bin in a tight hug, crushing him to his chest and holding him tight so he wouldn't be able to push him away again. He ran his hand through his hair and shushed him sweetly until he stopped struggling, kissing his head again and again until a soft moan escaped Hong-bin's lips. "My sweet little Binnie," he said gently, loosening a bit so he could look into his Binnie's eyes, wiping the tears that ran down his cheeks and reddened his eyes. "I love you so much, why wouldn't I love you?" 

"B-but..." Hong-bin looked so lost, so confused, and Hak-yeon kissed his nose and eyes.  

"I'm hurt that you would even think for a second that I don't love you." 

"B-but when...when Saet-byul said-" 

"Saet-byul was trying to say hurtful things to you, I was hurt because she said such things about my Binnie." He kissed his head again and he could feel Hong-bin starting to relax. He continued, making sure that he continued to run reassuring hands over his cheeks, nose, eyes, hair-- he wouldn't stop reassuring even for a second. "She was trying to hurt my Binnie and I didn't want you to be hurt. I'm sorry I pushed you away. I didn't mean to make you sad." 

"I...I was so confused...thought you didn't love Bin..." 

"Don't ever think that," he whispered, tucking Hong-bin's head under his chin and patting his back softly. "Know that your Hak-yeon hyung will always love his Binnie." 

"Hak-yeon hyung...Hak-yeon hyung loves Bin..." Hong-bin whispered back, now fully relaxed as he pressed himself close against Hak-yeon.  

"Yes," he said, kissing him again. "Now...do you want me to still call you 'Hong-bin'?" 

He could feel Hong-bin tense for a second before he nodded, a small one albeit a nod all the same. Hak-yeon looked down in surprise.  

"Really?" 

"Like Taek-woon hyung. I want hyung to call me like he calls Taek-woon hyung." 

Hak-yeon hesitated, wondering if this was what he truly wanted or if he was still influenced by his earlier fear. But he would never go against anything Hong-bin wanted, and he nodded along with him. "Alright, I will call my Binnie 'Hong-bin' from now on." Hong-bin smiled, and the two sat still in each other's arms, fully content.  

-- 

“Where are we?" he asked Hong-bin quietly, opening the door tentatively and sticking his head out, Hong-bin latched onto his arm.  

"With Joon-myeon hyung," Hong-bin replied just as quietly as they crept down the stairs, gaining a view of the main room to see one of them huddled around a makeshift bed of couches, at least four of them sprawled out unconscious. The one sitting watch turned at the noise they made, smiling weakly at them.  

"Hello Hak-yeon, Binnie," he said, and Hak-yeon racked his brain to try and remember who he was. He hadn't expected to ever see them again, hadn't really wanted to see them again, and hadn't made an effort to try and remember them. The other waved them over, and with hesitant steps he and Hong-bin joined him in watching over the sleeping ones.  

He frowned.  

They looked like they were in a great deal of pain, their faces contorted into deep grimaces as they shivered horribly, some of them with bandages wrapped around their arms or chests. A blanket had been draped over them to keep them warm, though it seemed to not do much good as they huddled close together. Hong-bin looked horrified, growing weak in the knees, and Hak-yeon was barely able to catch him before he fell to the floor.  

"Hong-bin?" he asked worriedly, both he and the other man held him up as they pulled a chair over, Hong-bin collapsing into it without ever taking his eyes off the sleeping men. Hak-yeon tried distracting him with kisses, to get him to look away. "Hong-binnie, look at me. Please look at me."  

His pleading voice was enough, Hong-bin tearing his eyes away to stare into Hak-yeon's eyes, absentmindedly letting Hak-yeon take his hands and intertwine their fingers. "Punished..." he muttered, his voice so distant. "They were punished, Hak-yeon hyung. Bin...I was bad...she punished because I was bad. I-" 

"No, you've been a very good boy," he cut in before Hong-bin started panicking, making sure his voice was firm. "But who punished them? It couldn't have been Saet-byul's mother."  

"Saet-byul did it." Both their heads turned to the still forgotten man next to them, his mouth drawn in a firm line as he reached down to hold the hand of one of the sleeping ones. "It happened right after Baek-hyun hyung and Chan-yeol hyung took you in. She's the only one who could be in possession of the dolls and would know to use them to hurt us." 

"Saet-byul doesn't like dolls," Hak-yeon reasoned, just as firm in his answer. Saet-byul might have done a lot of questionable things lately in regards to him and Hong-bin, but he knew his little Byullie. She hated dolls, especially after what had happened with Seok-jin, and she would never take someone else's doll to purposefully and maliciously hurt them. That wasn't his Byullie. "No matter how upset she is, she wouldn't hurt anyone." 

"Then who else would do it?" he snapped back, lips pulled back in a snarl. "Eun-ji's still in prison and nobody else knows about the dolls. Unless your pretty boy back there did it."  

Hak-yeon shot to his feet, seeing red as he reigned in his emotions the best he could, and even then it was just barely. "Don't you dare insult Taek-woon," he snarled, his hands shaking. "He only knows because Saet-byul told him, and even then he is accepting of what we are and what she's done to us. You try and insult him again and I will kill you." Hong-bin whimpered at his tone of voice, tugging on his hand, but it was another voice that stopped him. 

"That's enough Jong-in." Hak-yeon turned around to see Joon-myeon, the only one he remembered, hobble over to them, his hands clutching his crutches tightly. Hak-yeon looked on sadly; it hurt to think that his leg hadn't healed. He still remembered how terribly destroyed his leg had been. Joon-myeon sent Hak-yeon a soft smile and ruffled Hong-bin's hair, and even then there was an aura of melancholy surrounding him. "I'm sorry Hak-yeon. Jong-in's just upset. It's always hard watching others being hurt." 

"When did this happen...?" he asked softly, glancing down when one of them moaned, a hand hovering over his eye that was bandaged. He didn't want to know what his eye looked like now.  

"It happened about an hour after we took you in. You had a panic attack when you ran into Baek-hyun and Chan-yeol, and Chan-yeol brought you inside. They wouldn't let anyone in, and about an hour later Kyung-soo started screaming. It..." Joon-myeon took a moment to collect himself, blinking rapidly as if to stop himself from tearing up, "it was just like back then, when she would torture our dolls. Except it was different." 

"Different?" 

"She didn't torture just one doll, she crushed all of them. Jong-in and I...we watched as every one of them started screaming, their bodies twisting in ways they shouldn't... This shouldn’t be happening anymore. We're supposed to be free." Joon-myeon ran a hand down his face, his shoulders shaking. "We're supposed to be free..."  

Hong-bin reached up and took Joon-myeon's hand silently in his, and Joon-myeon sent him a grateful smile.  

"H...Hak-yeon..." one of the ones on the makeshift bed croaked, and all their heads snapped down. It was the one with only one good eye, that wide eye blinking slowly as it looked around everywhere before landing on Hak-yeon. He rolled slightly before loudly, and Jong-in was by his side in seconds. "Hak-yeon...hurt....you? Did..." his voice trailed off as his eye shut in pain, and Jong-in shushed him quietly.  

"N-no," Hak-yeon muttered quietly, biting his lip. "I wasn't hurt."  

"That's good," Baek-hyun murmured next to him, eyes still closed. "...weren't hurt...good."  

"We should leave them alone to rest," Joon-myeon whispered softly, patting Hong-bin's shoulder quietly. Jong-in made no move to get up, his hand still holding the one-eyed one's hand, and Joon-myeon left him alone as he led Hak-yeon and Hong-bin into the kitchen. He gestured for them to sit at the table, and Hong-bin didn't waste any time jumping into Hak-yeon's lap. Joon-myeon watched them with a smile, sitting across from them and letting out a sigh of relief as he placed his crutches on the floor.  

"Binnie really loves you," he observed, his voice light, and Hak-yeon responded by wrapping his arms around Hong-bin's waist. Joon-myeon nodded, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry about Baek-hyun. He's never been happy with you and Hong-bin living with your friend, and the moment he saw you with Saet-byul he flipped. If I hadn't been asleep I wouldn't have let him or Chan-yeol take you." 

"Did they say anything to Taek-woon?" he asked, wondering what they could have said that Taek-woon would have willingly left. He wondered if his Taek-woonie was okay; he was in the apartment all alone. He hated leaving his Taek-woonie alone.  

"I'm not sure. By the time I was awake you were already inside and he was gone. It's still early, later you can call him." Hak-yeon nodded absentmindedly, Hong-bin picking at the sleeve of Hak-yeon's sweater, when Joon-myeon suddenly spoke again. "How are you though? Taek-woon said you had been really sick." 

"I was sick, I've been better since meeting Saet-byul. I know they were upset that I had been meeting her, but it's been helping me. I'm able to speak freely now. I can move on my own." Joon-myeon nodded understandingly, and Hak-yeon was grateful. "I'm not meeting her because I miss her terribly or for her benefit; I know my meeting her is confusing her." 

"None of us know Saet-byul the way you do, so we can only show concern for things we do know. There is a chance that she isn't behind this, and she's nothing like Eun-ji. We can never know. But being down in the basement and seeing the things we've seen, we can't help but be paranoid and afraid. We'll always be afraid of Saet-byul because of that chance." 

"Your fear is making it worse," Hak-yeon whispered back. "Every time someone tells her she can't be with me, whether it's me or someone else, she gets more possessive. I can see it and it scares me. Every time I see it I feel like a little piece of my Byullie is chipped away." 

"You have to find a balance, a way that she can see you and feel that you are hers without actually being hers. If you can do that, you should be safe. You're her first doll, there's still a chance you can save her. Eun-ji was too far gone by the time any of us were made, she was already in too deep with the dolls and enjoyed it too much." 

"You always call her 'Eun-ji'...did you know her beforehand?" 

"Ah..." Joon-myeon's face flushed as he scratched the back of his head, dipping down as if to hide his face. "I was a college student when it happened. She would appear on campus outside my classes all the time, I thought she was a college student too. She looked young, and I thought she was really pretty." He coughed as if embarrassed. "I invited her to coffee and I actually started to really like her. She even let me meet Saet-byul. I'm not sure Saet-byul would remember me though, she was really young when I saw her." 

Hong-bin started squirming in Hak-yeon's lap, and Hak-yeon had to run a soothing hand down his back to calm him.  

"She always told me how beautiful I was, and I had always been a little embarrassed by that." 

"What...what changed?" 

"I told her I wanted to marry her." 

Hak-yeon started at that, staring at Joon-myeon in a way that had the elder starting to squirm just as much, a grimace on his lips. Saet-byul's mother, she had always seemed so crazy and off-kilter that he hadn't imagined how anyone could have loved her, let alone have someone that she had Saet-byul with. He had always thought that the other dolls were like him, having been people randomly and viciously taken without their consent. He hadn't thought that any of them had any previous relationships with her.  

"Please don't look at me like that. Regardless of what or who she is, my feelings for her were genuine at the time. I actually was ready to treat Saet-byul like a father and start a family with her. But the moment I brought it up with Eun-ji, she exploded, saying I was not allowed to even have those thoughts. I wasn't the same as 'him', though I'm not sure who 'him' is. She never did say. 

She ignored me for weeks, and I had felt guilty, thinking that I had brought the topic up at the wrong time or had been insensitive to her feelings. I called her continuously, knocked on her door, everything I could. One day she answered my call and invited me over. She..." Joon-myeon hesitated again, taking a deep, shaky breath. "She made me food that had been laced with drugs that caused me to seize up, and I was powerless as I watched her make me into a doll." 

Hak-yeon felt his mouth run dry, Hong-bin whimpering in his arms. 

"Saet-byul saw what happened, had cried to see me on the ground with the doll in Eun-ji's hands. She had really liked me, and hadn't wanted me to be a doll. I found out I was the last one she let see Saet-byul beforehand." 

"Do you know if...if she really liked you? Saet-byul's mother, I mean." 

"I...I don't really know." His voice sounded so broken, so lost. "I...I like to think she did." He reached down and his crippled leg, smiling wryly. "I was an artist, had drawn so many portraits of her. I like to think she destroyed my leg because she didn't want to ruin my hands. I...I like to think that." 

"Joon-myeon..." 

"Don't pity me Hak-yeon. Yes, I loved her and yes she tortured me. While sometimes I wished I had just passed her by instead of inviting her to that coffee, that short time was the happiest I had ever been." 

He swallowed, finding his voice so small. "I-" 

They both jumped when there was a knock at the door, the knock incessant and hurried as the person banged as hard as they could. Joon-myeon scrambled to get his crutches as he limped quickly to the door, Jong-in hovering nearby. Hak-yeon hurriedly grabbed Hong-bin and jumped down under the table, his heart hammering his chest as he inwardly berated himself for so easily falling back into the fear that overtook him at the sound of others. They could hear the door opening and Joon-myeon shouting out in surprise, a voice screaming out that had Hong-bin twitching in his hold.

Hak-yeon grunted when Hong-bin crawled out of his arms and scrambled to the kitchen doorway, only seconds behind him to see a body shoot in, face pale and eyes bloodshot as he launched onto Joon-myeon in a tight hug.

"J-Jong-dae? What's wrong?" 

"Save me Joon-myeon hyung! Don't let her get me!" 

They all stiffened as Joon-myeon pushed Jong-dae off of him, holding him still despite Jong-dae shaking as if he wanted something to latch on to. "Jong-dae, calm down and tell me. What happened?" 

"She's coming for me, I know she is. She already killed Se-hun. She knows we're free. She's going to kill me. Hyung, you have to hide me. If she doesn't see me, if I'm hiding, she can't get me. She-" 

"Stop stop stop!" Joon-myeon roared, and Jong-dae snapped his mouth shut in both fear and confusion. "What do you mean Se-hun's dead? What happened? Calm the down and tell me what happened!" Jong-dae started twitching in Joon-myeon's hold, and Hak-yeon noticed that along with his pale and harried appearance, his hair looked tangled and unkempt as if he hadn't showered in a long time, his clothes worn and torn. He was barefoot. "Jong-dae-" 

"Eun-ji killed him! She tore his doll apart, right in front of me to show that I was next! She tore his arms and legs off and turned him inside out. I saw it, it was right in front of me! His blood got on me an-and I tried to wash it off but I can't. I can't! Don't let her do that to me, please don't let her touch me hyung!"  

"Eun-ji couldn't have done that, she's still in prison. She doesn't have our dolls!" 

"Then she can do it with her mind! She killed him hyung! I saw it!" Jong-dae started struggling again when he saw Joon-myeon didn't believe him, looking around frantically until his eyes landed on him and Hong-bin. Hak-yeon tensed, attempting to pull Hong-bin behind him but Hong-bin stood firm, stepping out just a little bit more. Jong-dae grinned manically, trying to break away from Joon-myeon's now death grip. "Bin ah! Binnie! You believe me, right? You would know what she's capable of. Eun-ji, Eun-ji killed Se-hun, you know, right? You believe me!" 

"Jong-dae hyung," Jong-in spoke up finally, his own face looking pale, "y-you should calm down first. Panicking like this-"  

Jong-dae cut him off with a loud scream, having now seen the four others huddled on the makeshift bed. "She's already been here! She's been here! It's not safe, she'll find me here! Let me go, let me go Joon-myeon!" 

"Stop it Jong-dae!" Joon-myeon finally having enough and ramming Jong-dae hard into the wall, and Jong-dae quieted instantly when his head knocked painfully against the wall. Dazed and somewhat incoherent, Jong-dae slumped limply in his hands. "Listen, you know Eun-ji can't do anything to us without the dolls. It wasn't her. Someone else did it. None of us know anymore than you do. But if they really did kill Se-hun, we're going to have to be calm to figure it out."  

"Come...come for me..." Jong-dae mumbled, his head lolling to the side. 

"They're not coming for you specifically. Nobody knows whose doll is whose except Eun-ji. Everything had been by chance. It was ty luck that Se-hun was killed. You need to calm down so we can figure out who did and stop them before they kill anyone else." Jong-dae didn't reply, still looking dazed, and Joon-myeon carefully put him down.  

"Jong-in, why don't you take Jong-dae upstairs? You can put him in my bed for now. We can get him to wash up after he's calmed down." Jong-in nodded wordlessly, taking the glassy-eyed Jong-dae by the hand and leading him away. After a few tense seconds, Joon-myeon ran his hands down his face, letting out a heavy breath. He looked over to Hak-yeon, smiling that enigmatic smile of his.  

"Do you still want to call that friend of yours?" 

Hello!

This story has just hit over 3000 views, and while that's not really anything amazing or impressive, I just wanted to say how thankful and happy I am that it even got to this. My Special Doll had barely half those views by chapter 20, and to see this for Take My Hand makes me so incredibly happy. I want to thank all my wonderful readers and commenters, thank you so much!

I've already started writing the next chapter, so it might be up soon!