Hak-yeon burst through the door to Taek-woon’s apartment, screaming both Taek-woon and Hong-bin’s name. He was panting, panicking, his mind still swirling after realizing the others disappeared—that Saet-byul had taken them. He should have done something, shouldn’t have gone to sleep, should have gone right back to Saet-byul and forced her to stop. He was always so impassive, and every time it caused someone to be hurt in his stead.  

Once he had calmed somewhat, he straightened in alarm when there was no response to his calls. Taek-woon would have burst in the moment he heard the door open, Hong-bin shooting out to give him a hug. There should be some response. On the brink of another panic attack, he stumbled through the main room, his hands shaking terribly as he opened the door to Taek-woon’s bedroom, finding it empty. He went to his and Hong-bin’s room, the bed made and untouched. No—no—he left Hong-bin here with Taek-woon so he would be safe. He was supposed to be safe.  

They were both supposed to be safe. 

“Taek-woon! Taek-woonie!” He slammed the bathroom door open, gasping when even that was empty. “Jung Taek-woon! Please answer me!”  

He had left Taek-woon alone, put his Taek-woonie through so much pain so that he would be safe from Saet-byul. He had forced himself to do the one thing he never wanted to do, just to keep him safe. But what the hell was he doing? Taek-woon was gone, his Taek-woonie was gone. He ran into the kitchen, looking under the table and behind the counter, shooting to the main room and checking behind the couch.  

“Taek-woon! Hong-bin! Binnie! Your Hak-yeon hyung is here! Please come here, your Hak-yeon hyung is very worried about you!” He was crying, his hands locked in his hair as he spun in circles, looking for some movement to show they were just hiding. He would be so relieved if they were hiding, just playing a joke on him. He wouldn’t even be upset if they did, just laughing as he hugged them close. “Binnie…please answer me…please…”  

He stumbled back and cried out in pain when something sharp pierced his foot, and he looked down to see a broken glass on the floor. Stepping back, he crouched down and picked up a shard, eyes narrowing.  

Taek-woon was extremely neat, he would never have left a broken glass like this on the floor, would have immediately gone to clean it up. He looked up, finally noticing the coffee table shoved aside and the couch pushed back, something Taek-woon would never have allowed to happen. Tears welled in his eyes, the glass shard digging into his hand.  

He recalled Saet-byul’s words, her promise that she would kill everyone that had ever kept him away from her. He had just assumed it meant the other dolls, that she was talking about how Baek-hyun and Chan-yeol had taken him away only those few short weeks ago. He never…he never thought she would go after his Taek-woonie and Binnie first. He thought she liked Taek-woon, the two having met continuously just so he could check on her and make sure she was alright. But then… 

She hated Hong-bin.  

He should have known she would go after his baby Binnie, and his stomach dropped at the thought of all the things she could be doing to him right now. He threw the shard to the floor, dead set on going back to Saet-byul and stopping her. Now there was no time to try and convince her otherwise; he would use force if he had to. She was crossing the line, going farther and farther into the shrouded darkness of the dolls, and there was very little chance he could save her at this point.  

He had to stop her before she did anything more.  

He was not about to let anyone else die because of him, and he was absolutely not about to let her touch a hair on his precious Taek-woon and Hong-bin.  

Just then the sound of a phone ringing echoed sharply in the painfully silent apartment, and Hak-yeon nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound. Scrambling, he ran over to the bedroom to find Taek-woon’s cell phone on the nightstand, a small whimper escaping his lips as he slowly walked over to it, missing his Taek-woonie now more than ever. He picked up the phone; why he wasn’t sure, maybe a part of him was hoping it was Taek-woon, calling to try and get to Hak-yeon, but he blinked in surprise when the screen said it to be Sang-hyuk calling.  

Sang-hyuk—Sang-hyuk didn’t know.  

He had to make sure he stayed away.  

Hak-yeon quickly answered the call, Sang-hyuk’s cheery voice coming in from the other end. “Taek-woon hyung!” he called out, and Hak-yeon wondered when the two had exchanged numbers. “You’re never going to believe it!”  

“Hyukkie?” Hak-yeon asked tentatively, and it was silent on the other end for a few seconds. Finally, 

“Hak-yeon…? What are you doing with Taek-woon hyung’s phone?”  

“Hyukkie,” he continued, ignoring the other’s question, “where are you right now? Are you alone?”  

“No,” he answered, though he was noticeably less enthusiastic. “Did you go back to Taek-woon hyung, Hak-yeon? He told me you left and were busy.”  

Hak-yeon took a second to control the shaky cry that threatened to escape his lips; of course, of course Taek-woon would tell people he was just busy. His poor Taek-woonie...having to suffer alone like that...and for what? He ended up being taken anyway.

Sang-hyuk heard his small cry, coughing awkwardly on the other side. “Don’t tell me you guys actually broke up or anything.”  

“W-what?” he laughed humorlessly, thrown off and for just a second the horrible pain and guilt that had been weighing down on him forgotten. “Taek-woon and I aren’t dating.”  

Sang-hyuk was laughing with him. “Then are you and Hong-bin a thing? Cause I’ve never seen any couple as touchy as you two.”

“No! God Hyukkie, where are you coming up with this? I’m not dating anybody, and as far as I know neither are they.” He sat down on the bed, breathless, smiling for the first time in days.  

“Well, Taek-woon looked pretty heartbroken when he told me you left. I thought you two broke up or something....but...is everything okay over there? He looked really upset.”  

“I...no, it’s not. There are...I...” Sang-hyuk was silent on the other end, waiting patiently, and Hak-yeon buried his head in his hands. “Don’t worry about it.”  

“You know,” Sang-hyuk snapped, his angry tone surprising Hak-yeon, “you guys are all the same. You tell me not to worry about it, and keep me out of the loop. You all know what’s going on, and instead of actually trusting me and telling me what’s happening, you guys all think it’s a good idea to just ignore me. It’s really ing annoying.”  

“Watch your language,” he reprimanded without thinking, and Sang-hyuk growled.  

“I’m not a baby. You treat Hong-bin better than me. Saet-byul is my best friend, and when something’s going on with her and you all know except for me it’s really frustrating. I want to know what’s going on, I want to help, but none of you trust me.” 

“It’s not that we don’t trust you, we’re trying to protect you-” 

“What could I possibly need protection from that Hong-bin doesn’t? I’m eighteen, Hak-yeon, I don’t need protection. I mean, you guys even managed to get Jae-hwan hyung and Won-shik hyung to stop talking to me.” Hak-yeon stiffened, head shooting up as his free hand gripped his knee. “How you did that I have no idea, since I thought Jae-hwan and I were pretty good friends-” 

“Sang-hyuk, what do you mean Jae-hwan and Won-shik stopped talking to you? When did this happen?”  

“Er...Jae-hwan hyung went to go check on Saet-byul a couple weeks ago and stopped messaging me afterward. I tried calling him, tried calling everybody really, to see what was wrong, and nobody responded. I’ve been in the dark for a long freaking time.” 

“Why would he go check on her? Why? Sang-hyuk-” 

“Because Saet-byul was messed up after you left her! I know you had a lot happen to you too, but both Jae-hwan and I watched her fall apart; she fell into periods of depression where she would lock herself up and try and starve herself. We were afraid after seeing you she was doing it again and went to check on her. I-” Hak-yeon stopped listening, eyes wide in horror, the phone slipping from his hand and clattering to the floor.  

That room, that room Saet-byul had run out of and locked before greeting him, was that where she had been hiding him? When he visited, was Jae-hwan laying in that room, body frozen and voice silenced, listening and praying uselessly for someone to save him? Had he been really standing only a few feet away from him, had allowed Saet-byul to distract him from possibly discovering him? He had been there, had stood only a room apart from where Jae-hwan could have been trapped.

Saet-byul...had she really done it? Had she turned Jae-hwan into a doll? It would explain why the other would stop contact with everyone. But...his Saet-byul couldn’t have...she couldn’t... 

“I will not let you leave me, ever. Those dolls that took you away, I will kill every one of them for taking you from me.” 

After yesterday...

…yes...yes, she could. 

“Sang-hyuk,” he said breathlessly, clambering to pick up the phone and hold it steadily next to his ear, “where are you right now? Are you at home?”

Sang-hyuk noticed his serious tone, his anger vanishing and replaced with growing concern. “No, I’m out. I’m meeting Saet-byul—can you believe it? I’ve been trying to call her for almost a month now, and she suddenly calls me out of the blue to go out for lunch! If I wasn’t so worried I’d have just-”

Hak-yeon felt his heart stop, freezing. “Sang-hyuk! Get out of there, go home.”

“What? Why? Hak-yeon-”

“I mean it Sang-hyuk! It’s dangerous—she’s dangerous! Where are you, I’ll come get you.”

“What? Hak-yeon—don’t, what are you talking about? What’s dangerous? Oh, there she is, hold on.” Hak-yeon broke into a run, didn’t care that he had no idea which way to go. Saet-byul, she wasn’t Saet-byul anymore. As much as he didn’t want to believe it, his little Byullie was disappearing. He realized it when he felt Yixing die in his arms, when the others disappeared, when he found Taek-woon and Hong-bin missing. Whatever was happening to her, no one was safe from it. That included Hyukkie, the most innocent of them all with his sweet crush on her.

“Han Sang-hyuk! Where are you?”

“We’re at the café she used to work at. I think she’s going to try and get her job back. Ah, she’s here; do you want to talk with her?”

“Who are you talking to Hyukkie?” Hak-yeon’s ears perked up at the sound of Saet-byul’s voice, and if he hadn’t seen the things he’d seen, he wouldn’t have suspected anything was wrong. Sang-hyuk, the ignorant little thing, answered back completely unaware.

“I’m talking to Hak-yeon—hey, are you okay? You don’t look so good…”

Hak-yeon shoved people aside as he ran down the sidewalk, not bothering to worry about the annoyed glares and insults he received. Saet-byul’s voice was soft, barely audible, but he could hear it clearly, could hear the thinly veiled animosity behind it.

“You’re talking with N?”

“Yeah, I tried to call Taek-woon hyung but he picked up. I-” There was the sound of crinkling before Sang-hyuk cried out confusedly. “Saet-byul, what are you-?”

“I don’t want to eat here anymore. Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Sang-hyuk!” Hak-yeon tried again, desperate. He didn’t know what Saet-byul was going to do; he knew she loved Sang-hyuk, Hyukkie probably being the closest person to her after himself. But that was before she changed, before whatever caused to her to start killing dolls happened. Sang-hyuk, no matter how much he meant to her, was at just as much risk. “Sang-hyuk-”

“Hello N,” Saet-byul’s voice cut in, sounding so cheerful and happy. Hak-yeon stopped, jumping and nearly dropping the phone when someone ended up running into him. He hurriedly moved away from the sidewalk, cradling the phone by his ear.

“Saet-byul, don’t touch Hyuk-”

“You were telling him, weren’t you? Hyukkie is looking at me differently. You told him, didn’t you.” There was an accusing tone in her voice. “They don’t like it. I don’t like it. I never wanted Hyukkie to know.”

“Know what?” Sang-hyuk asked, though she ignored him.

“Now they want him gone too. Why did you do that N? I wanted to keep Hyukkie away; they would never leave me alone if they saw he knew.”

“Who wouldn’t? What’s going on? Is someone trying to hurt you?”

“Saet-byul-”

“Don’t worry, I won’t really hurt him. I could never hurt Hyukkie. But I’ll have to do something so they won’t be upset.” He could hear her shift, the sound of her laugh so cold. “Hyukkie, do you want to come home with me? I can show you my dolls.”

“Saet-byul, don’t! Please! I-I’ll come back, I’ll do whatever you want—just don’t hurt Sang-hyuk!”

“You did this, N,” she snapped, “you made me do this. I never, ever wanted to let Hyukkie know. Though, it’s good in a way. This way there’ll be absolutely no one who can hide or confuse you again. And then you’ll be all mine. Come on Hyukkie, I promise, it’ll be so much fun.”

“Saet-byul, is someone trying to hurt you? Or Hak-yeon? Is that what you’ve been keeping from me? Is everything okay?”

“It is now. I was going to keep you away—I didn’t want to involve you because there was a chance you could get hurt, but N decided to let you know. So now I can tell you all about it. Come.”

“Saet-byul, stop! Stop! Saet-byul-”

“Goodbye, N.”

The dial tone that followed echoed through deaf ears, Hak-yeon unable to fathom anything aside from the harrowing fact that he had just sentenced Sang-hyuk to death.  

-- 

His eyelids were heavy as he slowly came to, barely registering how it was humid and clammy and his skin felt wet with sweat. He tried to roll over and heard the clinking of metal, and his eyes snapped open to see a row of steel bars running across the opening of his cell. He looked around to see the brick wall, the couch sitting behind him, and finally down to his wrists to see metal bracelets attached to chains connecting to the wall. It took a while for his cloudy mind to clear, but eventually he remembered Saet-byul taking them here, of forcing them in cages and telling them she was going to keep them trapped here.   

“Binnie,” he heard a hoarse voice call out, and he looked over to see one of the guys Saet-byul had brought down pressing his face against the bars of his cage, trying his best to look over to Hong-bin. Ken struggled to roll over, the chains pulling and catching his skin, though neither the guy nor Hong-bin seemed to notice.  

Hong-bin...every time he looked over at Hong-bin he felt the overwhelming urge to run away, to escape. He didn’t want to, hated seeing the look of sheer terror on the younger’s face and wanting to smooth it away until the other smiled—but something...something was ripping and tearing at him to run. Telling him to stay far away. Even now, even when Hong-bin was locked in the cage across the room from him, chained and beaten, he could feel the urge to run as a dull pain in the back of his head.  

Hong-bin leaned forward as far as he could over the broken glass that lined the doorway to his cage, the metal chains around his wrists stopping him from moving any further. Ken scanned the room to see that everyone had chains around their wrists, and he wondered when that happened.  

He didn’t know anything anymore.  

“Chan-yeol hyung,” Hong-bin called out pitifully, sniffing. “Is hyung hurt?”  

“No, I’m alright,” he said softly, and while Hong-bin couldn’t see, Ken could see the tears in the man’s eyes as he forced himself to smile. “How are you feeling? Did she hurt you at all?”  

“No…” Hong-bin whimpered, his fingers wrapping around a sharp point of glass, eyes faded. “But Bin scratched his leg on the glass. It hurts.”  

“I’m sorry,” Chan-yeol said, his voice filled with regret, affection, hopelessness, and a flurry of other emotions Ken couldn’t even begin to fathom. “I’m sorry Binnie that you have to come back here. You don’t deserve this. You deserve to go out and live a good life.”  

“Bin…Bin doesn’t know…I don’t know what that means…” 

“He means you should be happy,” another said, his back against the glass, head tilted up as he forlornly stared at the ceiling.  

“Bin was happy. Bin was happy with Hak-yeon hyung.” Hong-bin lowered his head, absentmindedly running his finger against the glass until he cut himself. Ken’s brows furrowed when he watched how Hong-bin didn’t seem to register the pain, poking the wound curiously. “Hak-yeon hyung will come back, right? He left me with Taek-woon hyung…and didn’t come back…he promised…”  

“Of course he’ll come back,” the second one said. “He’ll come save you, you know how he is.” 

“Bin wants him to come back…but I don’t want him here. I don’t want him in the basement.” Hong-bin pulled his hand away, on his wounded finger. “Hak-yeon hyung doesn’t belong in the basement.”  

“Hak-yeon will come back,” came Taek-woon’s soft voice, and Hong-bin’s reaction was immediate.  

“Taek-woon hyung!” he cried, completely forgetting the other two as he tried to peer over his glass at Taek-woon and Won-shik’s cage adjacent to his, Taek-woon leaning his head against the glass of his own. Hong-bin’s smile was contagious, dimples Ken never realized he had deep as he grinned excitedly at the sight of his hyung. “You’re alright!” he shouted, reaching out as far as his chains would let him. “Bin—Bin was so scared Saet-byul killed you. Bin is so, so happy Taek-woon hyung is okay!”  

A soft smile appeared on Taek-woon’s lips at Hong-bin’s excitement, and glancing over Ken could see the others staring wistfully as well. Even he couldn’t help but smile softly at the sight, never having seen Hong-bin so happy. “I wouldn’t leave you, Hong-bin,” he said. “I promised you, didn’t I?” 

“Yes,” Hong-bin rushed, still elated. “Taek-woon hyung doesn’t lie.”  

“Ah, …” Ken immediately shot up and ran to the edge of his cage at the sound of his Wonnie’s voice, not caring that he nearly scared Hong-bin to death at his sudden movement.  

“Won-shik? Won-shik!”  

“Jae—er, Ken hyung?” Ken could see Won-shik moving behind Taek-woon, Taek-woon not moving as he only watched Won-shik attempt to sit up. “Hyung, I—!” Taek-woon blinked confusedly when Won-shik suddenly flinched away from him, scooting back until his back slammed against the back wall.   

Ken panicked, no longer able to see Won-shik. “Won-shik? Won-shik, what’s going on? Won-shik!”   

“Won-shik-” Taek-woon started, but Won-shik cut him off.   

“Stay away from me!” he screamed, his voice cracking and Ken felt absolutely helpless as he shook the bars to his cage uselessly. His Wonnie was hurting, was in trouble, and he couldn’t do anything. He could see Taek-woon attempt to push himself up against the glass as close as possible, confusion all over his face as he tried to understand what was going on. His movement only aggravated Won-shik further, his screams growing louder and louder and Ken slammed himself against the bars, trying desperately to reach him.   

“Won-shik, please,” Taek-woon tried, but his voice only seemed to make it worse, Won-shik grabbing the stool next to him and throwing it, narrowly missing Taek-woon’s head.   

“Get away, get away!” Hong-bin was crying, screaming things that Ken couldn’t make out; he couldn’t really hear anything beside the sounds of his precious Wonnie screaming and the feeling of helplessness in that he couldn’t do . Ken had a vague idea of what was happening, remembered feeling the same way when he had been so close to Hong-bin—did Saet-byul do this on purpose? Leaving Won-shik alone with Taek-woon, did she do that to purposefully hurt Won-shik? He never would have thought she would, she had always been so sweet, but… 

“What’s going on?” Taek-woon asked, flinching when Won-shik kicked at him.  

“It’s called the failsafe,” Chan-yeol said, his mouth pulled into a tight line, face void of any expression. “It kicks in whenever you see anyone you knew before you became a doll. It’s…it’s to stop you from running away.”  

“It’s not his fault,” the other added in, turning his head slightly, a hand pressed against the bandage wrapped around his one eye. “He can’t help himself. Saet-byul is being inexcusably cruel to do this to him.”  

Taek-woon suddenly screamed, scrambling to his feet. “Won-shik! Stop it, you’re hurting yourself!” Ken’s heart stopped, eyes wide as all the possibilities of what could possibly be happening to his Wonnie raced through his head. Why—why couldn’t he see him? Why did Saet-byul put him somewhere he couldn’t see? His Wonnie, he needed to see him. Needed to see him now.  

“What—what’s going on? Stop him Taek-woon! Stop him please!” Taek-woon ran towards Won-shik and out of Ken’s line of sight, though he could hear them struggling and Won-shik’s pained cries. Each cry, each whimper felt like a stab to his heart, and Ken struggled to hold himself together. Hong-bin tried his best to reach out to them, his chains rattling sharply against his wrists. “Hong-bin,” the throbbing pain in the back of his head intensified when Hong-bin turned his teary eyes to him, but he couldn’t think of that, couldn’t waste even a second, “what’s happening?”  

“W-Won-shik hyung,” Hong-bin whimpered, unknowingly starting to cut his hands against the glass in front of him, “he’s shaking the chains on his w-wrists. He’s cutting himself.” 

“He’ll break his wrists if he keeps this up,” Chan-yeol warned, face alert, “you need to knock him out. It’s the only way to stop him.”  

“You can’t hurt him!” Ken begged, heaving at the damned, damned fact that he couldn’t see Won-shik. He wanted to see him so badly, to see how bad he was, to just see him. “Please don’t hurt him!” 

“Ken, he has to. Won-shik will keep trying to get away until he hurts himself.” Won-shik screamed again, Taek-woon’s own grunts of pain mingled in between. Each time he heard the chains rattle, snap and creak and echoing so loudly and mockingly in his ears, Ken could only imagine Won-shik thrashing around. Breaking his wrists…he was going to break his wrists… 

“Ken, please!” Taek-woon cried, wincing at something that made Hong-bin cover his face with his hands. Ken could hear Won-shik screaming, pleading, begging, and he slammed his hands over his ears to try and block it out. He could never…could never purposefully, willingly agree to hurt Won-shik, could never do anything to lay a hand on him…but…he had to protect him, keep him from hurting himself. He didn’t want to, his whole body screaming no— 

“O-okay…do it!” It didn’t take long before Won-shik’s screams stopped, the silence that followed so abrupt it took Ken a few seconds before he pulled his hands away. He slowly looked up to see Hong-bin shaking, Taek-woon slowly making his way back to the front of his cage. He was panting, his face flushed, his entire appearance disheveled. Ken tried to look around him to see Won-shik but couldn’t, and he wasn’t sure if he was happy about that or not. He didn’t want to know what Taek-woon did to quiet him.  

Taek-woon glanced at him, lowering his head apologetically. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.  

Ken sniffled, eyes refusing to meet his. He knew he shouldn’t be upset, it had to be done, but he couldn’t help but feel guilty that he had allowed them to hurt Won-shik. “It’s…it’s alright…”  

“I’ll talk with Saet-byul when she comes back,” he said, this time a little louder. “I’ll try and get her to move him.”  

“Don’t,” Hong-bin spoke up, his hair gelled up with blood, his wide eyes ringed with it. He didn’t even realize he was bleeding. “It’ll make her mad. She’ll hurt. She’ll cut you up and…and…”  

“You have to be careful,” Chan-yeol interrupted before Hong-bin could fluster himself any further. “Saet-byul is different than Eun-ji. You don’t know what she will or won’t do.” He looked up to Taek-woon, eyes hard. “The failsafe was reacting to you...are you...are you not a doll?” 

Taek-woon’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t understand what you mean.”  

“The failsafe only goes off when you see someone from your old life, but it doesn’t work with other dolls. Dolls aren’t human anymore. So...are you not a doll?”  

“Taek-woon hyung isn’t a doll!” Hong-bin gushed, and Taek-woon’s head snapped down to look at him in shock.  

“I-I’m not?” 

“No, Bin protected Taek-woon hyung,” he reassured, a toothy smile on his face. “Bin made sure she didn’t touch Taek-woon hyung.” Taek-woon didn’t move, didn’t know how to react; though before he had a chance to think of a response, a new voice cut in that had the entire room fall absolutely silent.  

“T-Taek-woon hyung…?” Ken felt an overwhelming sense of dread come over him at the sound. That voice…that voice shouldn’t be here. Of all people, that voice should be the last one here. When no one said anything, the voice spoke up again. “Is…is that you? Jae-hwan hyung…I thought I heard you too…”  

Ken gasped as he suddenly felt everything closing in on him at the sound of that word, the word that struck fear into his heart at the mere mention. He knew that at one time that word had meant the world to him, identified him, was used by the people he loved to call him. But he couldn’t, not anymore. He couldn’t handle the sound of it, the sound of that word alone feeling as if his skin was being peeled away, every second agony as if he was being ripped apart at the seams. He squeezed his eyes shut when it felt as if everything was crushing him, scrambling behind the couch where he could feel some semblance of safety. He heard the sound of something ringing in his ears but he couldn’t understand, didn’t want to understand, didn’t want to hear it again.   

He could hear her calling that word at him, saying it over and over and laughing when she saw how much pain it caused him. She stood tall over him, leaning down over him, her voice so cold and the word so, so very painful. And then she vanished, replaced with Won-shik sitting by him, holding his hand comfortingly, a hand reaching out and caressing his cheek. Won-shik, his Wonnie was sweet, wouldn’t hurt him, Won-shik would never hurt him—  

“Jae-hwan hyung.”   

Ken screamed again as he yanked at the chains, the pain of the metal cutting into his wrists nothing compared to his very insides burning him alive. Won-shik, Won-shik wouldn’t hurt him, wouldn’t—  

“Jae-hwan hyung.”   

“Stop it!” he screamed, thrashing around, his mind so clouded and the only thing ringing in his head being the sound of Won-shik calling him. He wouldn’t hurt him, wouldn’t, wouldn’t, wouldn’t, wouldn’t—  

“Ken hyung! Ken hyung!” No…Won-shik wouldn’t hurt him…he wouldn’t…Won-shik would never hurt him…  

“Ken hyung! It’s me, Won-shik! Listen to my voice, listen to my voice hyung!”   

“Won-shik…” he moaned, the numbness that had overtaken him fading slowly, and a sharp pain shot through his scalp. He looked down at his fingers to see chunks of skin under his fingernails, and he whimpered at the realization he had scratched himself.   

“Ken hyung, come back. K-Ken hyung…please come back…scared...” That…that wasn’t Won-shik. That wasn’t Won-shik’s voice. “Ken hyung…Ken hyung…” 

That…that was Hong-bin. That was Hong-bin’s voice. “Hyung…Bin—Bin is scared…come back hyung…” Tentatively, each movement rocking his entire world and his whole body tensed in case he heard that word again, he peeked around the edge of the couch to see everyone watching him, Hong-bin’s face flushed red and sobbing loudly. Taek-woon and Chan-yeol were pressed up against the glass as well, their faces filled with worry. He felt himself flush with embarrassment and self-loathing—he was the one that made them so worried, that made Hong-bin cry. He was so ed up now that all he could do was make others worried.  

“H-Hong-bin,” he called out pitifully, crawling back to the bars of his cage. Taek-woon’s face hardened at the sight of him, and Ken could only think he saw how he had clawed his face. He looked away, feeling even more embarrassed. “I-I’m sorry Hong-bin-“ 

“Not hyung’s fault!” Hong-bin cried sadly. “N-not hyung. It was all Saet-byul—her fault! S-she did it to you—she made you like this!”   

“What…what did she do?” Ken snapped his head to the sound of Sang-hyuk’s voice, having forgotten briefly that he had been there. Taek-woon spoke up when nobody was able to come up with an answer for him.   

“Sang-hyuk…was Saet-byul the one who brought you here?”   

“Yeah...she said she was going to take me out for lunch...to make up for not talking to me...” There was a grunt, followed by a cry of panic. “G-guys,” he called, Sang-hyuk’s voice raising higher and higher as he started to panic, “guys...I-I-I can’t move. Why can’t I move? What’s going on?”   

Ken and Taek-woon shot to their feet as they looked towards where Sang-hyuk’s voice was coming from, eyes wide in realization of what was happening. “Calm down Sang-hyuk,” Taek-woon called out, though his voice was far from calm, “c-calm down, and tell me what’s wrong. What do you mean you can’t move?”   

“I-I’m lying on the floor a-and I can see the ceiling a-and the walls. I-I-I’m trying to turn my head b-but I can’t! W-why can’t I? Hyung, why can’t I move? What’s going on?”   

Ken took over, his hands gripping the bars until some of the rusting metal pricked his skin. “H-Hyukkie, are you bleeding anywhere? Did she cut you?”  

“I-I can’t tell—why am I like this hyung?” Ken cried at how scared the other sounded, wished with all his heart that he could run over there and pull the younger boy into his arms and protect him from everything. Sang-hyuk was so innocent, had loved and cared for Saet-byul for so many years, had even hated Hak-yeon for her—all for her. Everything he did was for her; why would she take someone as sweet and innocent as Sang-hyuk? Sang-hyuk was crying, and Ken was filled with fierce, sudden hatred for her, hating that she had done this to Sang-hyuk and hating that she had left him all alone.   

“Hyukkie-” 

“I-I remember she w-wanted to show me her dolls, hyung,” Sang-hyuk continued through sobs, and Ken collapsed to his knees. Hong-bin’s tears had dried, now listening to Sang-hyuk speak with arrested fascination. “S-she accidentally c-cut me when she wanted to show m-me a-a-nd...hyung...is this what she meant? Dolls...is this what a doll is?”   

“Yes,” Chan-yeol spoke up, his voice low as he hung his head in defeat, “you’re a doll. We all are.” 

“Taek-woon hyung isn’t!” Hong-bin tried interjecting, though no one paid him any attention.   

“W-why would she do this?” Sang-hyuk asked after a period of silence, his voice so broken-sounding. Ken desperately wanted to comfort him, cursed his chains as he tugged uselessly on them. “Saet-byul...why would she do something like this?”   

“Something snapped,” Taek-woon said softly. “She’s fixated on Hak-yeon, and captured and locked us down here to get him back. I’m not sure what happened, but whatever it was she’s not thinking clearly anymore.” Sang-hyuk’s sobs quieted until he was only heaving.   

“K-Ken hyung...is this why you stopped talking to me? Because Saet-byul did this to you?”   

“I’m sorry Hyukkie,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. She panicked when I went over...if I had known...”  

“Hyung, don’t-” Everyone jumped, Hong-bin flying to the back corner of his cage, when the door leading to upstairs swung open, Saet-byul walking in. Ken watched her in a mixture of fear and pity, saw how thin and sickly she had become, her eyes bloodshot and her sweater hanging limply off her shoulders. Her hair, which she had kept long after Sang-hyuk had one time complimented her, had been chopped off, uneven strands hanging by her chin. She looked terrible, her wide eyes scanning the room before landing on him.   

“Ken,” she called out, coming up to his cage and sticking her hands through the bars, her fingers attempting to his head. He immediately flinched back, and she frowned, pulling her hand back. Her eyes narrowed in concern. “Did you hurt yourself? Here, I’ll fix it up-”  

“Don’t touch me,” he cried out, and a flash of hurt crossed her face before she covered it up.   

“I don’t want it to get infected. Here, let me help you.” She got up and went over to the table in the middle of the room, searching through a box before pulling out a key. She came back and unlocked the door to his cage, swinging it open. When she moved to unlock the bracelets around his wrists he scrambled away; her calm demeanor vanished as she growled at him. “I can’t help you if you don’t come here.”   

“Go away...go away Saet-byul...”  

She paused for a long second before going back to the table and pulling out Ken’s doll, forcing him to freeze. She smiled. “See? That’s better. Now let me help you.” Ken inwardly cried as she came over and freed him from his chains, leading him by the hand to the chair under the light. “Be careful,” she said sweetly, the way she looked at him so different from the menacing way she controlled his body, “the chair’s broken.”  

He could feel everyone’s eyes on him as she pulled out some medical supplies, her making all the appropriate noises as she applied ointment on him. “You shouldn’t hurt yourself.” She started sticking band aids onto his cuts.  

“Saet-byul...” Ken’s eyes snapped toward Sang-hyuk’s cage, now able to see the younger boy sprawled out on the floor, his back facing them. He wanted to scream when Saet-byul slowly looked back at him, wanting to scream at her not to touch him.  

Leave him alone! 

“Hyukkie, I forgot about you!” She hurriedly closed the kit and grabbed Ken’s doll again, forcing him to stand up. She picked up another doll and flicked her wrist, and Ken watched as Sang-hyuk’s body suddenly rolled over, the younger boy yelping as his eyes widened in confusion. Ken immediately locked eyes with him, and Sang-hyuk sent him a terrified glance before she pushed Ken back into his cage. She smiled at him as she put the bracelets back around his wrists, her hand coming out and one of the bandages by his eye. “I’m sorry, Ken,” she whispered, eyes downcast, before giving him control of his body again and walking out. He didn’t wait for her as he flew behind the couch, listening to her lock up and walk away.

“Hyukkie,” he heard her call out, and Ken hurriedly crawled back to the bars, trying his best to find her and only seeing her crouching down. He couldn’t see Sang-hyuk.

“S-Saet-byul…what’s going on? W-why….why did you do this to me?”

“N told you…I couldn’t let you go after he told you. It’s why I had to do this; if I turned you into a doll I wouldn’t have to kill you.” Ken exchanged horrified looks with Taek-woon, realizing that she had done the same to him and Won-shik. He remembered, his heart hammering in his chest, that she had been ready to kill Won-shik when she found him trying to help him. She only spared him because he had begged.  

“But don’t worry, I promise I won’t hurt you too bad.” He could see her shift, her arm moving, but he couldn’t see anything beyond that. From the way Chan-yeol and Hong-bin reacted, he could only guess she touched him. “I have to hurt you to pacify them, but I promise it won’t be too bad. You’re Hyukkie, so I’ll never be able to really hurt you.”

“Stop it Saet-byul. You’re scaring him.” Everyone froze, too afraid to move when she turned her head to Taek-woon, her hand still outstretched into Sang-hyuk’s cage. Taek-woon coolly held her gaze, his unchained hands clenched into fists by his sides. Very slowly she stood up, her face carefully crafted into one of pure apathy, coming to stop right in front of him. Ken didn’t know how he could stand there so easily, just the sight of her sending shivers of dread running down his spine.

She smiled, her lips pulling back to show her teeth. “Did you finally wake up Taek-woon oppa?”

His frown deepened at the familiar way she addressed him, though he didn’t say anything. Instead, he said softly, “Won-shik…you need to move him. The failsafe-”

“I know.” Taek-woon’s eyes widened, and she laughed at his reaction. “I know what it does to him. I left him in there on purpose. Will teach him to talk back to me.” She peeked around Taek-woon’s side, grinning excitedly. “Did you knock him out? I was hoping to see him beg me to let him go. Hopefully I’ll get to see it later.”

Ken cried at the words that fell so easily from Saet-byul’s lips, couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Saet-byul…little star…please…”

She purposefully ignored him, Taek-woon letting out a shaky breath. “Saet-byul, you can’t do this. This isn’t you…purposefully leaving Won-shik here so he will hurt himself, locking us down here—this isn’t you.”

“Don’t you dare tell me what I am or am not. I’m so tired of everyone telling me what I am. That Saet-byul you’re all so fond of telling me about, the Saet-byul that you all think wouldn’t do this—she’s gone. She’s gone, just like her ridiculous hope of everything going back to the way it was. I’m going to bring N back whether he likes it or not, and I’m going to keep him with me forever. I’m not going to let any of you ever have the chance of keeping him from me again. And I’m going to keep all of you here too, to watch and see how everything that’s happening is all your fault.”

“Saet-byul, you can’t-”

She slammed herself against the glass, her glare vicious as she all but growled out, “I only kept you alive because Hong-bin begged me to keep you from being a doll. But say one more word and I’ll splatter your blood all over the walls.”  

“No!” Hong-bin shrieked, his hands clasped together as he hastily slammed his wrists down against the sharp glass. Ken covered his mouth to hold back a scream at the sight, watched as blood ran down the glass. He looked over to Chan-yeol and the other to see neither of them react, as if this was normal, and Ken couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that this was normal. Hong-bin, when he saw no reaction from her, dug his wrists down even harder, whimpering at the pain. “Please don’t hurt Taek-woon hyung. B-Bin—Bin is sorry, Bin won’t do it again. P-please don’t-”

Bin’s mouth snapped shut when Saet-byul suddenly walked over to him and knelt down so her face hovered close to his, her fingers reaching out and tickling his chin. She laughed. “Oh little Binnie, I don’t know what you’re doing, but cutting yourself up like that isn’t going to do anything.” Hong-bin’s face scrunched up in confusion, and she ruffled his hair. “But seeing you like that does make me happy. If you want…” She stood up, taking her time as she walked back over to the table in the middle of the room, pulling out what looked like a giant needle. She raised it up so they all could see, running her fingers over it lovingly, and Hong-bin’s face paled.

“I can take care of it for you.”

“Saet-byul, don’t-”

In one swift motion, she dumped all of their dolls across the table, grabbing the nearest one and piercing it hard with the needle. Sang-hyuk screamed, and while Ken and Taek-woon were absolutely devastated at the sound, she didn’t seem to hear, grabbing the next one and stabbing it the same way. The one next to Chan-yeol screamed next, falling over and clutching his stomach, sobbing horribly.

Saet-byul’s face steadily morphed one into furious exasperation, stabbing each doll one by one and throwing them to the floor. She growled angrily, each stab harder and harder, and Ken was barely able to register what happened when he felt a searing pain shoot through his chest, collapsing to the floor. For that split second he couldn’t see, hear, feel—the pain was overwhelming and he gasped in numbed shock.

His ears were ringing as his hearing came back, the sound of Saet-byul screaming muffled. “What the hell is this? Where the hell is your doll?”

Ken rolled over, his body so tired and sore, to see Hong-bin bawling, his wrists still imbedded onto the glass as he watched Saet-byul. He looked over to see her throw the last doll to the ground, chucking the needle across the room in frustrated anger. She ran a hand through her ragged hair, tearing fiercely at it until she stalked back over to Hong-bin, grabbing his collar and yanking him up. Ken watched as the motion sliced open Hong-bin’s arms, blood pouring from the wounds. Hong-bin looked terrified, and all Ken could think of was Hong-bin’s embarrassed smile when he had offered to teach him a game for Hak-yeon.

He had such a wonderful smile.

“What is this? Where is your doll?” Saet-byul screeched, shaking him.

“N-no doll, never—she didn’t—she liked! She liked—Bin hurting…d-doll hiding. Doll hidden, she never liked—liked watching-” Hong-bin was shaking so badly, his arms bleeding so much. Saet-byul’s hand grabbed a clump of Hong-bin’s hair, yanking and pulling hard, forcing him to look up at her. His eyes were so wide, so innocent, so scarred, so afraid—Ken had always known Hong-bin had something terrible happen to him, that there must have been some reason Hak-yeon and Taek-woon had been so protective of him. He never would have thought it was because of something like this, that Hong-bin had grown up in something like this.

“What are you-” Saet-byul suddenly threw Hong-bin back to the ground, backing away. She looked down at the dolls on the ground, mouth hanging open as if trying to form words. Hong-bin was still crying, cradling his bleeding arms. “Y-you…you’re not a doll.”

He wished he could have given the world to Hong-bin.