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He had chosen Sunghoon because he was the most powerful, but the more time they spent together, Riki’s feelings over his own choices only became less clear. His stare was blank as he swayed the pendant above Sunghoon’s face, but his heart was aching with emotions he didn’t have the experience or knowledge to decipher. When did it turn into this? How? The peaceful face of the boy resting his head on Riki’s lap, in an act of trust, filled him with more doubt. Should he take his fate into his own hands, or should he take the one he was given?
Sunghoon's unblinking stare at the pendant unnerved him. Its effect was taking place, and Riki still didn't know if he wanted to go through with it or not. Instead, he halted the swing to softly call out to the older boy.
Clearer eyes replaced the unblinking stare, and Riki found himself under a gaze full of affection. He may not know what his own feelings were, or what feelings were behind the look Sunghoon was giving him, but he was familiar with that affectionate stare. It wasn't reserved only for him; he'd seen it directed at the others too. Lately, though—and he knew it was because he kept demanding to be alone with the older boy—the one on the receiving end of it was usually Riki.
It made him nervous. Not in a bad way; he liked being the center of Sunghoon's attention. He knew that much, at least. But it did make him nervous, and he had to keep his expression as neutral as possible. The gulping and excessive blinking probably didn't help his case, but if Sunghoon noticed it, he didn't show it.
The necklace burned in his hand, like a warning. He ignored it. He needed time. Just a little more time.
He softly repeated Sunghoon's name, even though he knew he was listening. "If I asked you to do something for me... would you do it?" It was an innocent enough question. Sunghoon's eyes sparkled as he stared at Riki, only making the younger feel more guilty. His eyes narrowed along with the smile taking hold of his face. "For you, yes."
At the risk of losing all of his trust by asking him something that would sound off, Riki continued, "... anything I ask? Without question?"
Sunghoon's firm confirmation surprised him. His eyes were completely clear. It wasn't a side effect of the hypnosis or the castle. He really meant it.
"... You should be a little more suspicious of this, y'know." He murmured, resuming the swinging of the pendant as he felt it burning hotter against his palm. Sunghoon only smiled, but it soon fell and his eyes dulled as the pendant began to take effect on him again. Riki decided then that he didn't like that expression on him, but it was too late now to stop. The pendant swung without his control, placing Sunghoon under its command; sealing their fates and binding Sunghoon to him.
He didn't expect to feel relieved afterwards, but he didn't expect to feel even worse. There was nothing he could do—too scared of the consequences if he didn't obey, and too scared to try to undo it. He let the necklace fall from his hand, its magic exerted; now just an ordinary necklace.
He couldn’t bring himself to look at Sunghoon again, so he left him there, lying alone at the poolside.
The reflection of himself in the mirror seemed almost unfamiliar. Was it because of his guilt? Did he feel disgusted at himself for doing that to Sunghoon? For surrendering to his fate without even trying to fight it?
More than anything, he was scared. He wanted to go to one of the older boys, wanted their support and comfort—but he knew if he told them anything it would only sour their already fragile relationship. The thought of losing them scared him even more. He didn't want to lose them, not any more than he already had.
He stared at himself in the mirror for so long that he forgot what his face looked like. That wasn't him in the mirror anymore. He couldn't stop dunking his head into the sink full of water, couldn't stop obsessively washing his face. The longer he looked at himself, the urge to rub his face raw only got worse.
But no matter how much he washed his face, it wouldn't get rid of his crime and his guilt. Those were permanent. So he just stared at himself longer in the mirror, trying to recognize himself again.
Maybe it was too late to take back what he'd already done, but that didn't mean it was too late to correct it. For now, though, the control he had over Sunghoon would be useful. He had to put his feelings for the boy to the side to be able to utilize it, but he was used to putting himself in painful situations.
Ultimately, it would be to help Sunghoon. To help all of them, and make sure their lives weren’t controlled by that lady and her robed servants.
***
Sunghoon felt the oddly warm metal of the necklace on his lips. It was the first thing he felt as his senses came back to him. The second thing that came back to him was his sense of smell, and the memory of being at the poolside with Riki along with it, as the smell of chlorine overwhelmed him.
As his sight came back to him, he expected to see Riki, but with his luck, he was staring at the white ceiling, with the younger boy nowhere around him.
Discarding the pang of disappointment he felt, he reached up and took the necklace into his hands. It looked normal enough, but he knew Riki had done something to him using it.
He knew all along that Riki had some sort of ulterior motive, but maybe his affection for the boy had won over when he realized he didn’t care what that motive was. He was just happy to be in Riki’s presence, just happy to see him; happy to see Riki so adamant on being alone with him. It was cute to him, and something he took pride in—he would even brag about it to the others.
Simply put, it wasn’t his waning control over his own body that worried him. He was more worried about Riki. Of course, he’d noticed the conflict written all over Riki’s face; he’d recognized it in his tone when he was asking Sunghoon those questions.
If only Riki would stay in the same room as him long enough for him to say something to him. It was odd how much they ran into each other in a castle this big, but for once, it was something Sunghoon welcomed. As miraculous as their brief meetings are, however, Riki learned the patterns quickly, and adapted even faster. Those brief meetings became less and less common.
To his surprise, he’d found that the chapel—which is where he always saw Riki heading to, in order to be alone—became something of a safe haven for himself as well. It seemed to annoy Riki, to the point of him only going there in the dead of night when everyone was asleep (or at least, trying to sleep). Sometimes, Riki would see him sitting there in front of the altar and shoot him a glare before leaving. Sunghoon knew it wouldn’t last for long, but it still hurt nonetheless.
Riki was always attached to him. Not always, maybe; he couldn’t recall when it had started, but by the time he noticed, he had gotten used to the fluttery feeling every time the younger boy so much as looked at him. Sunghoon could admit that the affection he felt was detrimental to himself. It didn’t blind him, but it made him less inclined to ever think the fault was with any of the others, and this inclination was more apparent with Riki. Sunghoon was never much for self-preservation, anyway. Riki was more important to him—all of them were, but clearly Riki had made a home in a special place in his heart.
If only that boy would stay long enough for Sunghoon to tell him that he wanted to help carry whatever burden it was that he was trying to carry on his own.
Instead, he watched from a distance as Riki carried out his nightly routine. A distance from where Riki wouldn’t realize he was there, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything for Riki besides watch his performance. Clearly, it was frustrating for the both of them.
How long had they been in the castle for? Playing this cat and mouse game—and then Heeseung and Jay had both come down with a fever, and Jungwon seemed to be next. And if Riki’s recent behaviour was anything to be wary of, it seems he might have caught it a while back.
It wasn’t any normal fever, that much he knew. They never had to worry about illnesses before; their immunity having always been abnormally strong. Whatever this fever was, it wasn’t a normal one that any human could contract or spread. And judging from the heat escaping Heeseung’s tightly shut room, a normal human wouldn’t be able to survive it. He hadn’t seen Jay in a while either, but he knew from the steam coming from the showers that Jay’s condition was only getting worse.
In all the madness, his only respite was the times when he would sit in the chapel. Jungwon had warned him against being there for too long, and Jake and Sunoo had both told him stay away from there, but something about that place was… calming. The closer to the altar the better—but never too close, or else the necklace that he now wears around his neck will start to burn.
The necklace…. Where had Riki gotten it from? He certainly hadn’t had it on him before they were trapped in the castle. Did those people in the robes give him the necklace? Or maybe it was the lady? Sunghoon may not have had any qualms with Riki taking control over his body, but the thought of Riki being forced to do it by those people filled him with an inexplicable rage. Still, he sat in front of the altar room, his back facing it, with a blank face. Ah, maybe that was why Jake and Sunoo were telling him to stay away.
It was Heeseung’s entrance that snapped Sunghoon out of it. A lot more suddenly than when Riki would appear. He stood up to greet the older boy, worried, as he still felt the heat rolling off of him in waves from so far away.
If his first mistake was letting Riki hypnotize him, his second was letting Heeseung get close to him in that moment. Close enough to pass on his fever.
It was a burning red light in stark contrast to the cool dark of that night. A light that gave him clarity, to a dizzying degree. A light that burned him from the inside, burned his heart and left him more dazed than he felt initially. It was worse than the haze of the hypnosis Riki had put him under. At least then, he couldn’t feel any physical sensations. Now, his hands were burning hotter than he’d ever felt them.
The binding contract he had made with Riki was the only thing that grounded him. The hotter his heart burned with that light, the chains of his promise to Riki cooled him down, like it was absorbing the heat—or cancelling it out. In the end, it was his first mistake that saved him from his second.
***
It was only after they were let out of that place that Riki finally approached Sunghoon again. The group’s relationship was broken now, but all of them seemed to be trying their hardest to keep those broken pieces together. They tried, but they were all distant. Still, they only had each other.
With Sunghoon’s luck, he found he couldn’t touch Riki anymore. The one time he did, it burned both of them. His fire used to be a symbol of power for him, but at this point, all he wanted was to go back to when everything was normal, before they had all been turned into creatures of the night. He could tell that was what most of them wanted. That was something they had all always been divided over, but he knew these people—it was more important to all of them that they stuck together.
But as he stared at Sunoo leaving the room with his glass, he realized that, maybe, he didn’t know them all as well as he thought. It was no surprise that what they had gone through would change them as people, especially Sunoo: the only other one who was possibly more soft-hearted and weak-willed than Sunghoon.
The change happened to him, too. First with a necklace, then with a fever, and finally, with blood.