⚠️Warning⚠️
- Okay guys, this chapter is pretty triggering. Like, really miserable stuff. At this stage, I can't tell you to pass it, as it is important.... And let's get real, you guys take these warnings with a pinch of salt and read on anyway.

I'm ready for the abuse.....again.

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"Damn it!" Donghyuck kicked the kitchen table over and left it to clatter across the floor and break, "What the fuck do you mean 'he may have left Seoul'?"

Lucas and Jungwoo flinched, standing by the door and subtly sending telepathic messages that more or less translated as 'we're fucked'. The leader had been an emotional wreck for the past two weeks, and there had been no one capable of providing whatever it was he needed. Be it consolation, or a shoulder to lean on, or perhaps a bit of friendly therapy from one man to another.

Or...as the male himself had demanded, Na Jaemin. He'd been ranting on and on about him like a broken record, and at first that was fine. It was natural to want to seek revenge on one's enemy. But the longer this drew out, the more Jupiter started to see their very own shattered Renjun in him. The patterns were all the same, and there was no way to tell for sure that he wouldn't slide into that anxious depression the Chinese adult had, and regress to a sort of....well, madness.

"Sorry, Sir," Jungwoo murmured. "He's an escape artist of great note, and not that I'm trying to state the obvious, but....."

"But?!"

"But he's done this before, hasn't he? H-He killed Mark and disappeared three years ago...I just don't know how he does it. We don't know how to defeat someone who has the ability to become a living ghost."

Hyuck gritted his teeth and grasped at his hair frustratedly, turning away from the nervous pair and looking towards a blank wall. He needed him here, where he could see him. Jaemin couldn't be left to run around and fuck with anyone else, not ever again. His head was telling him what he wanted to think; that Jaemin had to be taken down before he was left to ruin more lives or return to this place at a later time when no one predicted it....

Yet his heart was raging with fear that he'd move away and find someone else. Another unprepared, youthful soul to fall for him and his games. He couldn't stand the idea of leaving him where they'd parted...like that. What about their promises? What about all those times he assured him he'd look after him? What about their first night together when they were at their peak of passion and he promised he had no intention of hurting him?

Was that all a lie? A sick joke to get him to bend to his will and wrap the older around his finger? Donghyuck surely hoped not.....he still loved him. He still loved him, and he had to be the one to kill that outlaw.

"I don't care how you do it or who you have to manipulate and kill to find him...I just want Nana here and alive. If there's a damn scratch on his body that wasn't already there, then I'll scream bloody murder."

"Y-Yes, Haechan," Lucas sighed, nudging Jungwoo and urging him to leave. They were swift when exiting, probably due to the horrible aura radiating from the room, or from the occupant.

Hyuck rubbed his face tiredly and groaned into his hands once he felt he was alone. This had been so fucking exhausting already...How much longer would Jaemin make him wait? He hadn't slept a proper wink in nights, and it was taxing. Well, as long as he had his way in the end, everything would be fine.

•

•

•

The full moon sailed over the city like a stunning lantern, spilling luminescent blue light over the promenade, and in turn, over the river. The water wasn't too fast tonight, and the sounds of nocturnal nature were starting to rise.

Not a soul was out at this time, most probably at home, resting off a long day or binging television into the early morning. Those sounded like fun activities, to Renjun, when he imagined them. The base didn't have cable, so the television was useless unless Doyoung used it to hook up CCTV cameras he'd hacked into for missions. It was boring to try occupying oneself, and the brunette was pretty fed up of it.

So, as he was slung against the bar of the pier, he gazed down at the water woefully and didn't even try to stop the transparent droplets rolling down his cheeks. They either gathered at his chin and faded into his clothes....or fell into the abyss of the Han River, never to be seen again. Either way, he couldn't have given a damn. They weren't his anymore. It had been two long weeks of suffering internally, and tougher than usual now that Donghyuck wasn't there to cuddle him and suppress the horror he fought each day, or wipe these tears away that typically remained hidden.

After all, Haechan was experiencing his own mental breakdown and crisis.

"Stupid..." he sobbed, lifting his sweater paws and drying his cheeks. "Fuck, I'm so weak...." From Day One, he had been used, abused, manipulated, toyed with and disrespected. All through the twenty-four years of life he'd been so bitterly granted, everyday without Mark had been hell. The pain he bore all alone seemed to subside when the deceased leader was around, and even Donghyuck couldn't manage the same effect. The best his recent ex could do was hide them for a while.

His coco irises reached for the moon once more who had her back turned to him, looking elsewhere. There was no face, no smile, no frown....so she must've been ignoring him altogether. It was to be expected though, and he solemnly sniffled again and returned to glaring at the moving body of water.

His brows furrowed slightly when he saw someone down there....standing on the bank while waving to him. Their face was too darkened to discern, though perhaps they were requesting help, or they knew him. It'll only be a minute, Renjun told himself as he cautiously pushed off the railing and trailed over towards the small and narrow stairwell leading downwards to the bank. The wind picked up around him as he moved, rustling his clothes and his already long hair.

Many a time had his former love ran his fingers through these locks.

"Hang on a second," Renjun called before skipping down the last of the steps and reaching the figure in the shadows. He froze on the spot, only a metre at most away from him as he strained his eyes to identify his face. "O-Oh..."

"Hey," the taller smiled, "C'mere, Baby."

The arms that opened up to him were instantly tempting, for they belonged to none other than Mark Lee. The dark, long coat that fell upon him, his raven hair that gave even the night sky a run for its money in beauty. His Mark.

Of course he'd run straight into his hold.

"Oh my God," the younger wailed, bursting into tears and latching his arms around the man's waist like he'd lose himself otherwise. His face was buried in that sleek coat, but as always, this version of Mark had no scent. He didn't smell like pine of the forest and citrus fruits.

"You're crying again, Love. Why are you always crying?"

"I....I hate everything! I hate this fucking life, ugh. I just want you back, Baby. I want you to really be in my arms again...."

"I know," the older stroked along the chocolate, disheveled hair under his chin as his precious past nuzzled in closer. "And...I think I know what we can do."

"Hm?" Renjun pulled away slightly to look up.

"To be together. No more separation..."

The shorter simply knitted his brows together like it wasn't himself that was clinically insane anymore, but his hallucination. Or was this the progression of his insanity? "How?"

"Easy. You just have to follow me," he beamed, cheekbones prominent and perfect as well as those sparkly doe eyes. He walked away from the bank and into the water, sloshing through the shallows and turning around to face him. "Come." Again, his hands were outstretched.

"It'll be cold..."

"Mhm, but it'll be worth it, won't it? I'll warm you up, I promise."

Renjun skeptically tilted his head to the side, but took baby steps towards the river's edge nonetheless. He didn't really want to freeze his ass off tonight, but Mark had promised to warm him up, so it'd be fine.

He was ankle deep when the ice-bite against his unprepared skin made him cringe. "Ngh, it hurts..."

"It will, Lovely. But it gets easier. Look," Mark continued to walk backwards and backwards, still with his arms out as if to urge the younger into a hug. "I'm all the way out here."

"Mark, that's dangerous."

"You don't want to be with me?"

What? How is he getting all pouty on me now? The brunette reluctantly continued to wade further into the black aqua, everything hidden and ominous from the night. His waist was soon covered, and then his chest, and finally his shoulders until he had reached Mark at the centre....but remembered he couldn't swim.

"Ugh, ngh, sh-shit!" He inhaled a bout of water and started coughing and spluttering to expel it. "M-Mark! I can't swim!"

"Of course you can't," the older still smiled as if the world was his oyster. "Let go, stop struggling."

"Mark!" He hissed, dropping under the surface and panicking, kicking his legs frantically to resurface. Up he went, gasping for air when the water parted for him, but not for long. Mark seemed to be simply drifting like a feather, unaffected by the concept of wet clothes or hyperventilation, or shortness of breath.

Renjun fell back under, flailing his arms desperately as he choked on his own air and forced his mouth open.

Cold, cold water spilled down in throat and eventually into his lungs.

The ex-mafia leader was down there too, threading water like a scene from some sort of film...where the protagonist is at peace with the H2O and no longer needed to fight it to stay alive. He was watching Renjun struggle.

Fuck, I can't breathe! I can't breathe! The adult repeated in his head over and over again, kicking for dear life while the surface above grew further and further away. He needed that air, he needed to breathe....but it somehow clicked with him when he felt his lungs collapse.

His past partner had brought him down here to die. This was how they could stay together without the separation. Without the insanity.

As if on queue, his arms and legs stopped moving, his body essentially gave up....his eyes clouded over.

The last thing he saw was pitch-black nothingness though.

Where was Mark when he was finally left to disappear on his own?

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