Trigger warning: The following chapter contains violence, graphic descriptions, sexual assault (nonconsensual kiss), and character death.

41 | THE MASQUERADE
(Part Two)

Namjoon appeared to me for the first time as two separate identities. Those familiar irises were as warm as I remembered them, shining with the longing of a kid whose first love was ripped apart from him. But that grin staining his mouth was too sinister to belong to the boy I once knew.

My struggle to part from him was short-lived as his grip on my neck locked down and the tips of his claws pricked my skin through the gloves, keeping me strained and at his mercy.

"Don't run away from me, Jangmi. Not now that I finally have you back." Again, his voice was equal parts desperate and forceful. Then all the darkness in his expression lightened back to his usual demeanor. "Now keep dancing with me a little while longer. We'll get to the messy part soon enough."

I wanted to run, but my past self demanded answers from the one she had granted her heart to long ago. She needed to understand his betrayal even if what she had felt for him was something too youthful, too naive to be true love. For her, at the time, it had been real.

Namjoon released my nape and resumed the stance for our tango. I bit back all the fear. Just long enough to know why.

The others likely hadn't noticed Namjoon's discreet shift yet considering how buried we were within the crowd. I had time to question him before the plan would ensue.

As his arm wrapped around my waist and we began turning, eyes locked, I whispered, "I don't understand how you... I was so sure it was Yoongi."

He let out a scoff. "Yoongi hates my kind more than anyone. And the only interest he has in you is about your power. Descendants rarely can summon their abilities until they've met another Descendant and spend months learning to use it."

"But—" I gasped when he lifted me by the waist. We slowly spun, then he lowered me to where our noses brushed, and he smirked as he set me down and kept my body plastered against his. It was all I could do not to grimace.

Just a little longer. Just until he acts, then Hoseok and the rest will be able to stop him.

"But last night... the dream."

"You're smarter than that, Jangmi. I've made you see whatever I wanted you to see since the first time I visited you in your sleep. I needed to see your face in person when you remembered who I really am, so I let you believe your little theory about my identity a while longer."

"What about Yoongi and Taehyung? How did you trick them?"

He dipped me before answering. "Hoseok was still a kid, little more than a teenager when he erased your memory of us. Would it be so hard for an adult of our kind, especially one who's been building his power for years, to give false memories?

My mind wouldn't stop racing, and I nearly stumbled if not for Namjoon's reflexes.

"You always were so clumsy for a dancer," he said while he resumed the lead.

"And you were always so protective," my hushed voice cracked as I recalled so many moments when he'd been there to stabilize me, to support me when I fell both physically and emotionally. So many times the security of his presence had wrapped around my fragility.

His head tilted the smallest bit—a movement, I finally realized, the Hood often made in my nightmares. His brows furrowed, eyes still gentle while they took in my face. A tear rolled down my cheek before he pulled me into his chest, hand on the back of my head. "Jangmi, my sweet dancer, why are you crying?"

If he didn't stop looking at me that way and speaking to me that way, I feared my resolve would crumble and I'd start to believe he could still be that kindhearted boy who serenaded me and looked out for me whenever he could. Believing that would be far less painful than accepting the beast he had become.

"You were so... so good," my voice broke, then lowered to a trembling whisper. "I loved you because of how good you were. I thought you loved me too."

If it were even possible, he pulled me in closer and whispered back, "I did love you—I do still."

"No. No, you don't." Force returning to my tone, I leaned back enough to meet his gaze. "Because if you loved me, you wouldn't have tormented me all this time. You wouldn't have played this game, you wouldn't have hurt Jimin. You wouldn't have hidden yourself from me like a coward."

His jaw ticked, face icing over and losing that comforting familiarity. "Why do you think I hid all this time? I couldn't tell you who I was or you would've never remembered me. I couldn't get too close to you because he would've caught on and stopped me. He took everything from me and I had to play every card right or he would've done it again."

"You're hurting me," I hissed as his claws lengthened to break the flesh of my arms.

Instantly, his hands fell away. We'd stopped dancing, the music swiftly coming to a close. The two of us stood and stared at one another for what felt like an eternity, but then his head snapped to the side. I followed his gaze and my heart dropped. Hoseok was shoving his way through the crowd, mask gone and eyes flaring with rage. But he wasn't looking at Namjoon. He was looking at me.

I glanced down to where his eyes were pinned, feeling the blood drip down my arm the same moment I saw it. Adrenaline spiked, and I shifted back to find Namjoon—but I wasn't fast enough.

He'd already seen the blood. He'd already spotted Hoseok. And his hands were already moving.

The pungent stench that always accompanied my nightmares thickened the air.

I shouted Hoseok's name before the crimson flames roared up right in front of him, lashing across the floor in a blink. He disappeared behind the fire and the chaos that resulted. Screams filled the building, everyone scrambling to escape. I couldn't see any of them—not Hoseok or Jimin or Jungkook or either of the hunters—and my gut flipped when Namjoon caught my arm before I could run.

He dragged me along so roughly I hardly made sense of the direction we were headed. Glass kept shattering, people kept shouting, heat kept building. Even as bodies rammed into me, Namjoon's grip never lessened. I tried to find any one of the men who promised they'd keep me safe, but my sight caught only mask and flame.

"Ah, perfect timing," I heard Namjoon mutter before he reached out and clasped his hand around someone's throat. They cried out in pain as his claws tore into skin, and nausea built when I caught sight of his face.

"Jangmi? What's going on?"

"Jin—" I tried to reach out, but Namjoon yanked him forward and began directing him toward the staircase with me still in tow.

We practically glided over the steps with how swiftly our captor moved. My feet barely touched the second floor before Jin was slammed into the balustrade. He groaned as Namjoon pierced deeper into his neck and pushed him until his body arched over the edge, his hands frantically clinging to the arm that held him there.

"Stop it!" I shrieked. My fingernails dug into Namjoon's forearm, but he didn't flinch. Instead, he pushed Jin farther over the drop.

Jin's face was draining of color, but his terrified gaze latched to mine. "Jangmi—" he gasped as the beast stepped closer, towering over him.

With my pulse thudding, I tried to reason with him. "Namjoon, please don't hurt him—please. There's no need for this."

"Do you know how infuriating it was to stand idle while this idiot broke your heart? And when he made you uncomfortable that night in the opera house—how hard it was for me not to snap his neck?" Bloodthirst poisoned his features. His hand shifted to wrap entirely around Jin's throat, whose eyes went wide as his airway cut off.

I rushed to say anything that might change his mind. "That's all over now. He doesn't need to die." Moving to stand beside Jin, I waited for Namjoon's gaze to connect with mine. "I don't want this."

Why did I ever think that would matter to him?

"I'm not in the forgiving mood tonight," he uttered before the final shove that sent Jin over the ledge. My scream was muffled as a gloved palm covered my mouth, and I thrashed against him to get a glance down to the floor—and cried in relief to find Hoseok had rushed to catch Jin and broke the fall. Namjoon started pulling me back with him, but I caught a glimpse of Hoseok handing Jin off to Yoongi.

He was at the top of the stairs not two seconds later. His body was rigid as he stood in place, glaring at the man who held me against him. Namjoon's hand clasped my jaw, angling my head toward him and away from Hoseok.

"It's been a long time coming, don't you think?" Namjoon spoke deliberately, pronouncing each word with a calmness that made me shiver. His nose brushed the skin below my ear and he breathed in my scent, using his free hand to remove the mask from my face and let it clatter to the floor. He did the same with his, then he pressed my back further into his chest. "You took her from me," he spoke with his lips touching my cheek, and I hopelessly tried to lean away until his hold on my face roughened. "Now it's time I return the favor."

With my head still angled to the side, I couldn't see Hoseok's expression yet sensed the fury radiating from him. Then he spoke, and the sound shot chills down my spine.

"Your death was your choice, Namjoon."

Namjoon's chest rumbled with deep laughter. "Do you plan on killing me, then? How poetic it would be for my own maker to be the cause of my end."

"Not me," Hoseok said with an eerie control.

With Namjoon's hand loosening, I was able to turn my head back and look at Hoseok, who appeared so much more frightened than he sounded—stiff and locked into place, afraid that one move could set my captor off.

And it did.

Hoseok didn't move—it was Taehyung who suddenly appeared at the top of the opposite staircase. All he did was raise his hand, and Namjoon instantly conjured more of that blood red fire, forming a wall between them and us. He pulled me by the wrist down a narrow hallway and left a trail of flames in our wake.

"What are you going to do with me?" my voice wavered while my feet struggled to keep up with him. He ignored me and kept striding ahead until turning to one of the last doors. He pulled me inside, flipped on the light, and released me.

It must've been some large, old dressing room—dark and round and covered with floor-to-ceiling mirrors on every wall. The few lights that still worked were low, keeping the room dim.

The sound of his step toward me made me whirl around. His irises were brighter than I was used to, tinted to that orange-yellow that Hoseok sometimes had. Faint webs of grey were creeping up his neck and webbing out around his eyes. I stumbled backward. "I don't want you near me."

"Don't say that," he whispered, stepping closer. "You don't mean it."

"What are you going to do, Namjoon? There's nowhere for us to go and they'll be here to take me away from you any second."

His tone dropped dangerously low. "I won't let them."

My back met the cold glass of one of the mirrors. He captured my arms, and I felt that nauseating fear in my gut grow stronger. "I just want to show you that I do love you, Jangmi. I want you to believe me. I need you to believe me." His breath fanned out over my face and I shut my eyes, turning away from his nearing mouth.

My entire frame trembled, mind repeating the same angry thoughts again and again: Fight back, you coward. Why won't you do anything? Fight back!

But I remained there in his grasp, shaking and frozen, waiting for someone to save me. Letting out a pathetic cry when he held my chin, leaned down, and demanded my gaze with that bone-chilling stare. Holding my breath when his lips crashed onto mine. Ignoring that sting of terror in the pit of my stomach that kept growing with every second that he kissed me. Wishing I could be as brave in this reality as I had been in my nightmares.

Then he worked my mouth open with his, and there was that terrifying sense of something being drawn out of me. My soul, my power. Whatever the source of my energy was, he was draining me of it.

I gripped his shoulders when my knees went weak. A wave of blinding-hot pain pulsed through my abdomen, rising up to my chest. My eyes fluttered open, and I turned my palms over to find rays of white light seeping through the skin.

My hands were on either side of his face before I could think, and he wailed out and shoved me back into the mirror. I slid to the floor, too weak to stay standing, and watched as his whole body hunched over and shook.

The door burst open, and my breath hitched as Namjoon brought his head up to look at the doorway, revealing the bubbling red burns on his face.

Taehyung was the first to enter, instantly thrashing his hands out to send a flurry of ice toward Namjoon's feet. But Namjoon was too quick—the ice was devoured by his fire before it could touch him.

A deep, shuddering breath came from Namjoon's chest as he rose to his full height, growing taller and broader. His eyes burned a terrible orange, veins of black protruding along every inch of his skin. He glared at the moon's Descendant, and the grin that stretched over his lips made clear his sharpened teeth.

He was that monster I'd caught a glimpse of in one of those horrible dreams. As much as I wished it wasn't true, that beastly form was his true nature.

Taehyung gritted his teeth and summoned a wave of what looked like icicles, but before I could see Namjoon's next move, a pair of arms wrapped around my frame and pulled me into their chest.

"Jangmi," his breathy voice melted over me, "Are you okay?"

"Hoseok." I clung to him, cherishing the safety I felt as his body leaned over mine. "I'm alright, just weak."

He carefully pulled me to my feet, but as soon as he started to guide me toward the door, a wide-eyed Jungkook came into view. He looked first at Namjoon and Taehyung fighting, then he spotted me and his expression softened.

"I told you to stay back," Hoseok said under his breath after we crossed the room. "Where's Yoongi?"

"He was making sure Jin and Jimin got out safely. He'll be here any—"

A shout of pain rang out, and we whipped around to see Taehyung on his knees with a hand clutching his chest. An animalistic growl ripped past Namjoon's throat, then his deadly talons plunged into Taehyung's gut. The Bul-Gae's eyes snapped to Hoseok.

"Are you going to let others suffer so you can get what you want yet again? You finally have a shot at redemption here, you know."

Hoseok never looked away from Namjoon even as he let Jungkook take me from him. "Get her out of here," he ordered before moving toward his challenger.

I couldn't find my voice, could only watch as crimson and orange fire billowed and spiraled around one another. Hoseok didn't bother stopping—he kept closing in with controlled steps and reached right past the flames, latching his own claws into Namjoon's arm. Taehyung broke free of his hold, scrambling back just before Namjoon shifted and swung for Hoseok's shoulder.

Jungkook desperately pulled me toward the door, but we both jolted when Hoseok's wailing agony echoed out.

"Move!" Yoongi shouted and pushed past us, running toward the fight.

Jungkook took a step to follow him, but I caught his arm, so he turned to look at me.

"Don't," I shook my head, knowing how terrified I looked as the sound of their fighting grew louder. "You can't."

It was evident in his face that he knew what I was thinking—that he was only human, that stepping in to help would be too great of a risk—and he agreed. He knew I was right, but that wasn't going to stop him, so I tightened my hold.

Jungkook's expression would forever be engraved in my mind. "He's my brother."

"Jangmi," Taehyung wheezed before I could respond, having struggled to his feet. He held a bloodsoaked hand to his abdomen, but his face was still determined as he stumbled closer to us. I let go of Jungkook to rush forward and help him.

"What do I do? How can I—"

"You have to use your light."

"I don't—"

"He blindsided us and he's too powerful. But he doesn't expect you to attack him, which is why it will work." He winced before meeting my gaze again. "Focus. You can do this."

But I had only ever done it with Taehyung's help. His power called to mine, helping to bring it out. With him so weak, and with the others in harm's way, I wasn't sure if I could pull it off.

I only knew I had to try.

Turning to face the four of them, I found Hoseok clutching a fleshy gash in his shoulder. Jungkook was next to him, holding his uninjured side for support. Yoongi had a bloodied dagger in his hand, and—

Nausea writhed full force at the sight of Namjoon, whose hand was raised toward his furious face. His fingers had been cleaved off.

He set his glowing eyes on Yoongi, but I stepped forward and called him before he could act.

"Namjoon," I said, doing my best to split my concentration between two goals. His predatory glare snapped to me. Hesitantly, I made my way closer, ignoring the stiffened bodies of my protectors. "Please, let's end this here. It's not too late. We can stop and this can be over. You can find your way back to who you were."

"Why would I want that?" His voice had become so, so deep. "To be how I was when I lost you? This is how I get you back."

"You lost her because you started becoming like this," Hoseok seethed, only to stop when I stepped past him. His hand caught mine, and I heard him quietly groan from the movement straining his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

"It's okay," I said softly, though nothing felt remotely close to okay. I'd cowered for too long, let them fight for me for too long. The fear was almost paralyzing, but my will was just strong enough to lead me forward, and Hoseok let me.

"Why can't you understand?" Namjoon asked, sounding more like that heartbroken boy again. I moved until I was right in front of him, trying to see beyond all the beastly features. But there was only a forgotten phantom of the person I used to know. A deep, sad scowl set on his face as he leaned nearer to me and whispered, "I didn't choose this, Jangmi. I never wanted to be a monster."

"But you did," I whispered back, knowing what he saw in my eyes could only be pity. "Every choice you made brought you to what you are now. But if you want to end this here, you can. It's not too late."

I wasn't sure if I believed it or not. Perhaps he was already too far gone, but I still had to offer. I had to call out to that little boy once more to see if he would call back.

Then Namjoon gave the answer I dreaded most.

With his eyes blazing and his crooked grin stretching wide, he lingered on each word.

"I don't need to be saved."

It was the final push needed, and his face flashed in realization just before I placed my shining hands around his neck. He screamed ferociously like before, and I prepared to be knocked back, but he never retaliated—only fell to his knees and stared up at me, through the pain, with a look that almost convinced me I had betrayed him.

My heart ached as the energy coursing through me pulsed and strengthened. A new wave crashed forth and my skin, all the way up my arms, started giving off that familiar white shine. Namjoon shut his eyes and screamed again, but my hands dropped from him the instant I heard another scream join his.

Namjoon set his one good hand on the floor, crouching over to catch his breath, and I turned to find Hoseok in the same crouched-over position directly behind me.

"What happened?" I asked breathlessly.

"Your light... It started hurting him too," Jungkook said as he offered a hand to his brother. "I'll get him out of here."

Yoongi found my gaze from beside them. "Keep going."

As Jungkook started helping Hoseok up, I turned back to Namjoon who was still panting on the ground. But when I reached for his neck again, his body shifted, and I braced for the slash of his claws that I knew was impending.

It was only a second. Only a single second that I closed my eyes, that I heard skin shredding apart. But I felt nothing until I opened my eyes and agony greater than anything physical dug to the core of my being.

Namjoon was back on his feet, his arm stretching to where I knew Hoseok had been—but it was Jungkook who stood there, body arched over his brother's, and it was his chest that Namjoon's hand had lodged into.

Hoseok was struck with horror as he stared up at his brother. Namjoon appeared as shocked as the rest of us, and I knew then that Jungkook had seen the blow coming—had moved in front of Hoseok to take the strike himself.

I couldn't think or move or speak as Jungkook's eyes glistened over with unshed tears and his mouth parted and closed again. My bones iced over as he turned his head just slightly toward Hoseok to utter, "I'm sorry, brother."

A violent sob finally left me when Namjoon resumed his attack, lifting Jungkook and throwing him back against the closest mirror. The glass shattered loudly as his body crashed into it, and I let out an ear-splitting scream as he hit the floor amongst the broken shards. He went still, and I dropped to the ground as dark liquid began pooling around his head.

Breaths shallow and short, my body shuddered as I hunched over and willed the shock to morph into anger. And it did, almost instantaneously. I couldn't accept what I had seen, but I knew somewhere within me that he was gone—taken from me for a second time.

That fury kept rising up, and all control was swiftly slipping out of grasp.

"Yoongi," I rasped while rising to my feet, "Get Hoseok out, now."

Yoongi moved without hesitation, but it didn't matter. Before he could bring Hoseok to a stand, Namjoon's fire flared up and formed a ring around us to cage us in.

I tried to find Taehyung, hoping his ice could free us, but he was lying unconscious on the floor.

"If you take me down, he falls with me," Namjoon said through his teeth. "Or you can come with me and he'll live.  The choice is yours, Jangmi."

My control was still slipping, but I kept holding on, kept fighting the weight of reality until I could think of a way to save Hoseok.

"Do it."

His voice was soft but sure.

"No." My lips trembled, vision blurred. "I won't."

Hoseok's head hung toward the ground. Yoongi had an arm wrapped around him and finished pulling him up, and Hoseok finally, slowly lifted his face to look at me.

My chest almost caved in at the sight of his expression. I knew my skin was glowing again when he winced. Through a sob, he raised his unstable voice. "You have to. For him."

Seeing him break apart in front of me was too much. My skin grew warmer, blood pumped harder in my veins, and a light vibration coursed through my body.

Namjoon yelled out the same moment that Hoseok grunted and bared his teeth.

No matter how frantically I tried to reel it in, it only pushed harder. This gift—or curse—may have shared a small part of me, but it had never belonged to me, and I was fooling myself to believe I could ever stop it.

"Jangmi," Hoseok called, cheeks wet with tears. "You can stop fighting it. It'll be okay. I love you."

Another sob escaped me, but before I got the chance to respond, a flash of movement sent my reflexes off. My hand caught Namjoon's arm before it reached even halfway to Hoseok. Tightening my hold, Namjoon shouted and his knees gave out as my skin radiated white light.

Looking down at him, my peripheral caught sight of Jungkook's fallen body across the room.

The final tether snapped.

All the terror, all the heartache, all the exhaustion of the past months had pent up and wreaked havoc inside me, but finally, it erupted outward. With a horrific scream only loss could bring, that foreign power burst from me and lit the whole room in blinding, pure white.

I tried to block out their cries of agony but to no avail.

There was the sound of a body hitting the floor, and I waited for the second, but instead, his body fell into my arms. I dropped to my knees and took him with me, still unable to see, and I held my breath and waited to feel him move. My heart crashed against my chest and my stomach dropped when I realized he was entirely limp, with no sign of breath.

As the light began to soften and my vision gradually adjusted, I first caught sight of my reflection in the mirror—and wished I hadn't.

Every inch of my skin was glowing brightly, but it was my radiating white eyes that proved the monster I was for what I'd just done.

I was too afraid to look at Hoseok, so I looked past his shoulder at Namjoon first.

Both sorrow and relief were all that came from seeing his burned body.

My gaze fixed back on my reflection, noting the fading light of my features, and just as I gathered the courage to check Hoseok, Yoongi caught my eyes.

His face was so pale—shocked. He looked almost ill, and he parted his mouth to speak but failed to find words. Then he looked behind me and started moving to where Taehyung was.

My eyes closed as I pressed my face into Hoseok's shoulder. I began counting to three, allowing myself those few seconds to linger there and believe he was alright. At one, I pictured those honey-amber eyes. At two, I imagined that smile. At three, I remembered that laugh.

Then I moved my hand to the nape of his neck, and I froze.

His skin felt smooth. Not burned. Alive.

I spared one additional second to hold my breath and wait—and I gasped when I felt a shallow inhale.

"Hoseok," I croaked, leaning back and carefully holding his face to see him. His eyes were shut, all of his skin unmarred. Even with the lingering light in my palms, my touch wasn't harming him.  "Hoseok, can you hear me?"

He didn't make a sound, but his hands found their way around my back, clinging to me and making my eyes pool with tears.

He was alive. For whatever reason, he survived what Namjoon couldn't. But as relieved and grateful as I was, the crushing weight of what happened sunk in too soon.

Hoseok tightened his embrace, leaning into me for support. Then he began to sob into my chest, the sound mangled and broken enough to destroy me.

The Hood may have finally reached his end, but what he took with him was too great a cost to feel any sense of victory.

Jungkook was gone, and we could never get him back. He died saving the brother he once resented. He died bravely, and that was perhaps the one thing that would hold us up when all we wanted to do was collapse.

As Hoseok and I clung to each other like it was the only way to breathe, both of us sobbing for the loss of one we loved so much, I remembered one of the last things Jungkook had said to me.

His eyes held mine as we slowed, and though I knew he wanted to appear brave, the gloom he tried to leash still made its way through. "I want you to promise me something."

My ribs tightened. "What is it?"

I watched his Adam's apple shift, felt his hand squeeze mine. "Actually, two things. Whatever happens tonight... Promise you'll stay with my brother." Then he hesitated.

A frown etched onto my face. "Of course I will. What's the second?"

"... Promise you won't forget me again."

"Why would you say that? It won't happen."

The corner of his mouth lifted in a bitter curve. "Just a feeling, I guess. I don't want to lose you ever again."

"And you won't. I promise." Pulling him in for a hug, my ear rested on his chest where his racing heart became audible. He was as frightened as I was.

That vow would become the best-kept promise of my existence.

• • •

A/N:
Before I say anything, I want to apologize. I know I don't owe you guys consistent updates, but I do realize how terribly inconsistent I've been with the second half of this story. I'm sorry for promising to get this out in a few days and then taking over a month to get it out to you. My only excuse is that it's scary writing an ending that you've had planned since the beginning, that you want to pull off well, that you also know might disappoint or upset some readers because it's not the happy outcome a lot of you were hoping for or expecting from me.

I debated for a while whether I should change my plans for the ending or not. I was never 100% sure of it, but I chose to stick to what I've had in mind for so long now. I hope this chapter was written in a way that pulled off what I hoped to accomplish, but I'm struggling not to doubt myself. Endings are really difficult (at least for me).

There will be one more chapter following this one to help bring closure and wrap some things up. But I decided to end this one here to let you guys process a bit.

How do you feel about the way things turned out? And why do you think Hoseok survived while Namjoon didn't?

Please do let me know what you think! I've never felt so nervous to post :')

I'm hoping to update soon. I appreciate your patience and willingness to come back to this story despite my inconsistency ❤️

Much love.

Your sincerely-terrified-author,

Kat

February 15, 2022

Happy late Valentine's Day!