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The tips of large, bat-like wings scrape against stone, discordant and irritating. A forked tongue darts out to run along teeth that have an uncanny resemblance to that of a shark, sharp and dangerous as they glint in the scarce lighting of the room in which Felix is chained. One eye, milky white and glazed over, blinks lazily, while the other, charcoal black and oozing an inky goo, gazes ahead unseeing. Taloned feet click clack against the floor, jagged claws scratching with each step they take.
Felix has to suppress a shudder. He’s fastened to a wall in the corner, chains snapped firmly around his wrists, blood crusted around where they’ve been biting into his flesh. His eyes have almost swollen shut completely from his previous beatings and tears, and his breaths come in shallow, pained bursts. Everything hurts .
Every bone feels as though it’s been shattered, every muscle torn to bits. Realistically, Felix knows that’s probably not the case, but the pain is so intense he isn’t quite sure how to gauge the severity of his injuries anymore.
Heartbeat in his ears, Felix shifts a bit in his spot on the floor, cuffs digging into his wrists. Blood drips down his forearms, drops into his hair, runs down his temples. He’s exhausted, mind blank and body at its limit. His vision is going dark around the edges, eyelids growing heavier by the second, muscles going dangerously limp.
He knows he has to keep fighting, keep breathing, keep his eyes open for as long as he can, but the darkness isn’t looking as scary as it had earlier, and he thinks maybe that would be a better alternative to the agony that fills him up, flames licking at his insides and charring his organs until all that’s left is ash.
At least the others were safe. At least they weren’t the ones covered in dirt and vomit and blood and bleeding and—
At least they were okay. Felix realizes with startling lucidity that he’d go through this a thousand times over before letting any of the others receive his fate. Perhaps part of him always knew he would. Die for them, that is. But now, in the mournful glow of the single torch lit in his corner, it really hits him. A dry sob claws its way out of his chest, and Felix aches.
He wants to go home. He wants to be back in the arms of his precious teammates, to be safe, to be comforted, to be reassured.
But even in his anguish, Felix is grateful that none of his teammates are in his place. The demon that’s been pacing for the past hour, standing guard, turns to Felix as he sobs openly. It cocks its head to the side, eyes narrowing, something dangerous glinting in its gaze.
A wave of fear crashes over Felix, and he cries harder. The demon advances on him, claws drawing back as if ready to strike, but before it can land the blow, there are shouts from further out. Felix can’t pinpoint exactly where they’re coming from, but they don’t sound very far away and hope sparks in his chest.
Struggling fills the air, more yells, noises of combat. Felix hasn’t realized he’s stopped crying to listen carefully, holding his breath. What was going on?
The noises grow closer, and the demon, who was frozen as it scanned the immediate vicinity for any signs of a threat, is suddenly jumping back into motion. Before Felix can fully process what’s happening, there are claws digging into the meat of his chest and he’s screaming, throat going raw.
Pain consumes every fiber of his being, and you’d think after the hours of torture he’s already endured he’d have become unresponsive, but the feeling of his flesh being pierced still makes Felix's brain go white with static.
He slips into a state of unconscious, and as he’s pulled under, he thinks he sees the face of Hyunjin, one of his teammates. It couldn’t be, right? He was dying, so how was Hyunjin there?
When Felix wakes up again, it’s to an unfamiliar ceiling. Wait. No, not unfamiliar. It’s… it’s been so long since he’s seen this ceiling… it feels like years since Felix last woke up in Hyunjin’s bed.
His breathing picks up as he pushes himself into a sitting position, eyes glazing over with tears. His entire being felt like hell, but he was home. He was safe .
Minho sits beside him on the mattress, head leaned back against the pillows as he dozes off. Felix gazes at him for a moment, crying silently, trembling. “Min,” he whispers, and the rasp to his voice surprises him, for some reason. It sounds raw, tired, terrible . But Felix can’t bring himself to care, saying Minho's name again, this time a little louder. His chest heaves. Please, don’t let this be a dream.
He reaches out and touches Minho’s face, fingers skimming over smooth skin, palms pressing to tan cheeks. Minho stirs, eyes fluttering open.
When he sees Felix in front of him, he’s suddenly much more awake. They stare at each other for a heartbeat, and then Minho’s face is crumpling, and he’s pulling Felix into his chest. They sob into each other, shaking, burning, terrified. “Oh my god,” Minho chokes out, “Oh my god, Felix.”
“Min,” wails Felix, clinging to the older boy as if his life depended on it. In a way, it did.
“You’re okay,” Minho manages through his tears, rocking Felix gently, “Hyung's here, baby. You’re safe, you’re okay.”
Felix isn’t sure he’ll ever be able to stop crying. He’s so relieved to be back home, back in his hyung’s arms, and his heart is tearing itself in half within his chest because this was almost taken away from him .
Minho holds him the entire time, a constant in all the uncertainty, a safe haven in all the chaos. The bedroom door opens at some point, and Felix hears multiple sets of footsteps, but he can’t bring himself to pull away from Minho. His body is so worn out, so exhausted, and Felix needs the assurance of having at least one of his teammates by his side.
“Angel,” Hyunjin says thickly, sitting on the edge of the bed, reaching out to run a hand down Felix's back. “We’re here, nothing can hurt you, now.”
Felix only whimpers in response, but the words calm him, and soon, he’s sniffling in Minho's lap, eyes heavy and red. “Thank you,” he whispers after a few moments of silence, throat throbbing around the words.
The rest of his teammates have gathered around the bed, perched about the room, in various states of upset. Jeongin looks a wreck, hair messy, the skin of his face raw as if he had spent hours weeping his heart out. He probably had.
Felix pulls back from Minho's embrace a bit to look around the room, and he almost bursts into tears upon seeing them all before him. Part of him tells him it’s all a dream, a cruel joke that the demons are playing on him just for laughs, but then Minho rubs his arm, and he’s brought back to the present.
“I love you guys,” is all Felix can bring himself to say. He needs them to know. “So fucking much.”
Chan scoots closer from where he was kneeling by Minho, reaching for Felix's leg and squeezing gently. “Love you, too, pixie,” he speaks around the lump in his throat. “You gave us quite a scare there. How are you feeling?”
Felix takes a minute to think about it, taking Chan’s hand in his and gripping it. “Relieved. Scared. I don’t know, I’m feeling a lot of things,” he mutters, and Chan smooths a thumb over his skin.
“Does anything hurt?”
“Everything.”
“Oh, angel.” Hyunjin, whose hand has been on Felix’s back for the past few minutes, takes a shuddering breath.
Seungmin speaks up, face damp, “I healed most of your wounds, but it’ll take a while before you feel fully back to normal.”
Felix frowns but nods, burrowing further into Minho, still holding Chan’s hand. “Can we…. can we sleep? All of us? I’m still so tired, but I don’t want you to leave.”
“We won’t go anywhere, Lix,” says Changbin, coming around and settling himself next to Minho on the bed. “Let’s sleep, yeah? We can talk more later. For now, you need as much rest as you can get.”
—
Felix’s recovery is a slow one, but progress is made nonetheless. He’s been having nightmares, his psyche refusing to let him forget the trauma he had gone through, and it’s tiring . Felix can’t sleep without one of his teammates by his side, and phantom pains still plague him, gripping his wrists in a searing burn that isn’t truly there and tearing open his chest with claws that can’t be seen.
Felix wishes he was stronger, wishes none of this had ever happened in the first place, but wishes aren’t getting him anywhere, so he turns to medication. Most nights, it helps. Other times, not so much. Like tonight, when he’s sweating through his nightshirt and breathing unevenly, images of his abduction flashing across his mind.
It’s terrifying. Felix feels like he’s trapped all over again, a constant ache to his body that he’s learned to get used to no matter how painful, blood and tears blurring his vision and dripping into his mouth. He chokes on it, muscles convulsing, eyes rolling back into their sockets.
Someone’s calling his name, and there’s pressure on his arm. He’s pulled from his nightmare with a start, a yell tangled in his throat, sweat matting his hair to his skin.
“Hey,” a voice says, and then Felix is being pressed into something warm and soft. “Hey, you’re safe, baby, I’m right here.”
Felix registers that he fell asleep in Chan’s bed, and slumps in his hyung’s hold, burrowing further into his embrace. “Channie,” he croaks, exhausted.
“That’s right, darling, it’s Channie-hyung, you’re safe.”
Felix takes a bit to soothe himself, but there’s something tugging behind his rib cage, and he shifts uncomfortably. His freckled cheeks are stained from his tears, lips swollen. “Where are the others?”
“Sleeping. Do you want to see them, pixie?”
Felix is silent for a moment. “I just need to make sure they’re here and okay.”
“Of course, let’s go.” Chan presses a kiss to Felix’s temple and wraps one of the blankets around his shoulders as they both leave the bed, bare feet sinking into plush carpeting. They shuffle down the hall quietly, Felix sniffling and hiccuping every so often, still a bit sleepy despite his panic. Chan doesn’t leave his side, hand resting on his lower back.
They stop by Jisung and Changbin’s room first, peeking in, and Felix feels his shoulders relax a bit at the sight of them both sleeping peacefully, Jisung’s quilt tangled around his legs and his torso left bare to the room. It’s an endearing sight, and it adds a layer of security to Chan’s presence. They’re okay.
The next room they go to is Seungmin and Jeongin’s. When they open the door, it’s to the two cuddled up in Jeongin’s bed, limbs entwined and skin pressed to skin. It brings Felix comfort to see them cozy together, and he leans more into Chan as they close the door, making their way to the last room.
Hyunjin and Minho’s room is one of Felix’s favorites. The atmosphere is comforting in itself, but the art supplies and trinkets littered across Hyunjin’s side, and the cat pictures and figurines set up on Minho’s side give Felix a sense of calm he can’t quite put into words. They open the door and Felix’s eyes land on Hyunjin in his bed, wrapped in a fluffy blanket like a burrito, and his heart seems to calm almost completely at the sight.
He looks to Minho’s bed, however, and sees that it’s empty. The blanket is tossed to the side and the sheets are wrinkled. His heart sinks into his stomach, mouth going dry. He knows there’s probably a logical explanation as to why Minho isn’t in bed, but his dreams have set him on edge, and he needs to know everyone’s safe and in the apartment. “Chan,” he says, almost frantically, “Min’s gone.”
Chan peers over Felix’s shoulder. “Okay, baby, that’s okay, I’m sure he’ll be back soon. He’s probably in the bathroom.”
“He’s gone,” Felix starts to panic, tightening the blanket around him, and Chan smooths his hair down in an attempt to soothe him.
“Hey, hey, how about we go check, all right? Breathe for me, sweetheart.”
Felix turns and begins to stumble down the hall in search of the bathroom, and when he gets to it, he knocks on the door, trying to calm his breathing. “Hyung? Are you in there?”
He hears someone mumbling sleepily on the other side, and then the door is opening to reveal a half-awake Minho, pajama pants creased from slumber and hair messy. “‘S wrong, Lix?” he asks, rubbing his eyes. He seems to wake more when he sees the look on Felix’s face and Chan standing behind him. “Did something happen?”
Felix throws himself at Minho, burying his face in his neck, and Chan catches the blanket as it begins to slip off his shoulders. Minho, albeit a little confused, holds Felix tightly to his chest, rocking back and forth a bit, frowning at Chan for an explanation.
“I needed to make sure you were okay,” whispers Felix, holding back more tears. He pulls back a bit, wiping his face. “‘Had another nightmare,” he elaborates, and Minho hums in understanding but is still frowning.
“I’m here, Lix, it’s all right.” Minho rubs a gentle hand over Felix’s back, kissing his hair, and Felix feels himself start to relax fully now that he knows the others are safe. “Do you wanna come sleep with hyung, hm?” he hums, lips ghosting over Felix’s forehead.
Felix nods and reaches out to grab Chan’s hand, too. “Can I sleep with both of you?”
“‘Course, pixie.” Chan gazes at them with a soft smile and turns to lead them back to his and Felix’s room. “We’ll keep the nightmares away.”