Chapter Fourteen (1/1)

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol asks, panicking, but Baekhyun doesn’t hear that. When his face is grabbed and he’s made to look at the tall man, he sees though. “He’s in my head,” Baekhyun says, in a small voice and because he feels he can’t rely on Chanyeol now that the tall man is equally disturbed, tears well up in his eyes. “Hyung,” Jongin says and Chanyeol looks at him for longer than a mere moment. No more words are spoken, but when the tall man turns back to Baekhyun, there’s a completely different feel coming off him. “Right, sorry,” he says, voice level when he grabs Baekhyun’s hand and sends him a smile. “We’ve got to stay calm, is he still talking to you?” Baekhyun stays quiet to listen, but it’s as he thought, Luhan is gone for now. He shakes his head, right as Jongin starts speaking.“He’s calling me,” the man says and when Baekhyun looks at him, he sees the obvious frown. “I have to go.” Before he leaves, though, Chanyeol stands up and pulls Baekhyun with him. Panic rises instantly again although he knows they can’t use that right now. “Take us. We’ll go now,” he demands and Jongin nods, adding to the thought Baekhyun had earlier about Chanyeol holding some sort of authority in this organization they talked about. Nevertheless, he’s far from ready for this.“What? But you said we’d go tomorrow,” Baekhyun protests, but he knows there’s little time because Jongin was already summoned. “Exactly, so we should go now, while he might not be prepared,” Chanyeol says, but Baekhyun is entirely not convinced of that. Still, he gives in with a nervous sigh, who is he to protest?“Right, sure. Let’s all go.” Baekhyun feels a heavy weight press on him as soon as they arrive where Jongin is apparently supposed to be. He frowns and looks at Chanyeol for support, but notices that some of that darkness radiates from him instead. A shiver runs down the short man’s back because he remembers Chanyeol saying that being near Luhan made it worse. Though Chanyeol says nothing as they walk the dark hallway, Baekhyun feels his hand gradually grow warmer. At first, it’s not unpleasant, but eventually, it’s simply too much and Baekhyun flinches away, then looks at his hand with a frown. Chanyeol flashes his eyes down on the small man and there’s a sharp edge to his voice that Baekhyun doesn’t want to hear anymore. “Something wrong?” the man asks and Baekhyun frowns, for a moment debating on whether or not he’ll say something about it. “You were abou to burn my hand,” he says and decides to keep the rest of it to himself for now, but he hardly feels comfortable. That feeling only worsens when the three of them near a pair of large, wooden doors, and Chanyeol chuckles. Not in the way Baekhyun has grown fond of. Baekhyun stops dead in his tracks right before they enter. He’s not going to let this happen, not when he finally found out he can be close to Chanyeol. He’s looked at questioningly by both him and Jongin, but ignores the latter to focus on Chanyeol. He seems annoyed and Baekhyun doesn’t understand how this so easily happened - as if this place in itself is bad, but neither him nor Jongin seem as affected. “Look, Baekhyun-” Chanyeol starts, with a frown so deeply etched onto his face that the short man stops him there. “No, you look. You’re off, right now, I don’t know if you know that. You’re not yourself and I need you, I can’t do this on my own,” he says and though he sees surprise on the tall man’s face, he knows it’s not enough. Fear rises in his throat when Chanyeol does that again - he corners Baekhyun against the wall, completely ignoring Jongin’s presence and the possibility of anyone running in on them. “Maybe this is who I am,” Chanyeol says, leaning down and letting his fingers trace along Baekhyun’s arms. The sensation isn’t what it used to be and the darkness tries to seep right into Baekhyun as well. Though he’s scared and the burning touches cause his skin to tingle unpleasantly, he knows he needs to resist. “It’s not,” he tells Chanyeol and instead of submitting to everything the tall man does, Baekhyun reaches up to cup his face. Chanyeol’s widening eyes tell him it worked, but he isn’t planning to stop there. “You’re better than this,” he insists when he reaches behind Chanyeol’s neck to pull him to himself. It’s surprisingly easy to get him to do what Baekhyun wants and since he knows there’s no time to waste, he kisses Chanyeol right away. Baekhyun is allowed to stay in control, much to his own surprise, but when he glances at Chanyeol, he sees the man he’s grown to like. He can even feel it, that the darkness leaves them right there and he’s very unwilling to let him go now. Baekhyun knows they’re short on time though and they’ve already stalled so much - but how could he go into this, knowing that Chanyeol is not by his side mentally? He kisses Chanyeol’s lower lip one last time before he pulls away, but the tall man holds his gaze. “Thank you,” he says, then pulls Baekhyun in an embrace. At the same time, Chanyeol sends an apologetic smile Jongin’s way, but he tries particularly hard to look the other way anyway. “I guess I’m a lot weaker than you are,” he confesses to Baekhyun, then grabs his hand. “We should head in.” Baekhyun nods, then turns to Jongin as well. “I’m sorry,” he says, knowing that the other man is very uncomfortable with this - he knows he’d be so too - but it’s waved off as soon as they proceed to open the door. Baekhyun takes one last calming breath, but it doesn’t change much anymore. His breath halts in his throat as soon as he looks inside the grand, though dark room. Not only does he see how Sehun is tied with his hands behind his back, against a supporting pillar, he also sees his very own mother. She sits on her knees, with her head hung low, but upon hearing the sound of the doors, she snaps her eyes up in obvious fear. Tears shine in her eyes and Baekhyun thinks it’s horrible - tears of his own threaten to spill. Yet, he sees something he hasn’t seen in a while. His mother is sober. “Baek- what are you doing here?” she asks, panicking, surprised, scared. “Leave, I don’t even know why-”“Oh shut up, woman,” Luhan interrupts, and it’s only then that Baekhyun actually sees him. He’s as dark as his surroundings, that’s why he didn’t stand out at all. Baekhyun clenches his fists, but knows better than to approach his mother. There will surely be an opportunity to save her, he thinks, but the thought doesn’t really reach him. “Oh Jongin, don’t look so accusingly at little Sehun, it’s not his fault.” Baekhyun snaps his eyes to Jongin and sees he’s shocked at the words, but he doesn’t have the chance to retort. “I know a traitor when I see one. Or three, for that matter. It was fun, though, having Sehunnie approach me first - he never really does so anymore.” Baekhyun hears Chanyeol snort beside him but the look on his face is no joke. “Are you surprised? Look how you’re treating everyone!” he yells and it’s desperate, something Baekhyun hasn’t heard from him before. Luhan chuckles though, as he shakes his head. “You’re no different from me, it’s best you stop talking.” Chanyeol isn’t shut up so easily though. “How could you tie him up - Sehun has always been by your side,” he reasons, but a raised, mocking eyebrow shuts him up. “Yeah? Then what was he doing trying to distract me from your war-meeting? That’s not particularly being by my side, is it?” At that moment, Baekhyun sees how Jongin teleports himself to his apparent friend on the other side of the room, only to realize he can’t just cut the ropes. “Frustrating, right?” Luhan merely says, then turns to Baekhyun. “I brought your mum because I’m pretty sure you won’t let me hurt her, am I right?” Baekhyun frowns and steps forward. “Just let her go, she did nothing wrong at all,” he says, more confidently than he anticipated, but it feels good. Luhan raises a brow at him as well, as if he’s completely in charge over here. “Didn’t she? Was she ever there for you? When I let Chanyeol break into your room, did she even care? Chanyeol could easily have been a rapist, but mum didn’t care- mum was busy drinking.” What? Baekhyun’s mind stutters, he can’t come up with a reply to that, because it’s true, yet it’s terrible and he’s not at all willing to agree. “Shut up and let her-”“Baekhyun, honey, how could you raise your voice like that?” Baekhyun’s mother slurs, her eyes distant and Baekhyun feels how he freezes.  --A/N; Thank you so much for subscribing, upvoting and commenting!! I hope you liked this chapter too! Next chapter will be the last, I think.  I just scrolled through my old phone's pictures and saw all those images of EXO from ages ago-- I could totally cry :') I'm still so much in love with these boys <3