Trumpet sounds had announced that the next phase of the games were getting underway soon, and an announcer's voice encouraged viewers to find their way to their seats.

As the leader of Noon Mool and his arm candy walked down the crowded pit area, suddenly a cloud of emerald green smoke wafted in their direction.

Joon pushed Shae hard, out of the path of the green fog. The unexpected shove made Shae almost stumble to the ground in her heels, but she managed to grasp the edge of a nearby table to help her find her balance before that happened. Meanwhile, Joon tried to bury his mouth in his suit jacket sleeve as the fog passed over him.

"What the...?" Shae looked over to Joon. The emerald mist had just passed over him completely. He sneezed.

Whenever he looked around to see where the mist had come from, there was no one there.

"You alright?" Joon asked urgently. "Did you breathe it in?"

"No, I don't think so. Why?"

Joon debated a moment telling her or not. It didn't take him long to decide what to say, though.

He leaned into her ear and whispered playfully, "It's a secret."

"Oh?" Well isn't he awfully pleased all of a sudden?

Joon reached over and pulled her hand into his with surprising force.

Shae asked nervously, "Should we hurry on to Petra's box then?"

Shae thought of that awful woman and shook her head, her lips and nose curled as if tasting something sour. She wanted to be as far away from that horrible woman as possible, but she also didn't want to stir up any more trouble that day than if she could help it. It would look too suspicious...and a getaway that day with Lilith's aide was still very much the plan, from where Shae stood.

"No." Joon's words tumbled out in a low voice, "I want you all to myself."

Shae swallowed. "Joon?"

He reached gingerly for Shae's wrists in the shadow of an awning and stepped into her. There breathes cascaded quietly off of each other in the midst of the raucous crowds. After a moment, Shae realized that Joon was sliding her black communicator band from her wrist. Then, he was sliding his own off, and flickering something into the surface of each of them before shoving them into his pocket.

"I'd rather not have Jin in our heads for a minute," Joon said in a low voice. One of his fingers traced gently against her cheek, then started threading through the ends of Shae's hair.

There was a sudden rush of drunken laughter, and a handful of men tumbled over each other in Joon and Shae's direction. Joon pulled Shae into his chest and turned towards the side of the building next to them to shield her from the passing bombast.

When his eyes saw what the small structure in front of him was, he was struck with an idea.

It was a storage shed of sorts, used for housing a range of cleaning supplies, old uniforms, sports equipment, and other hodgepodge items.

His face flickered into an impish grin as he pulled a very confused Shae by the hand through the half-open barn-style door. She laughed at his silly expression, not really comprehending the moment fully.

Pure amusement, Shae asked, "What are you doing, Joon? We have to get going."

She let herself be led into the barn styled space nonetheless.

Once they were just inside, hidden in shadow, Kim Namjoon let go of Shae's wrist. His hands had other plans.

"I said."

Shae felt fingers clawing against her legs, curling up beneath the tight hemline of her black dress.

"That I want you."

"Joon, wait."

"To myself."

"Joon, stop."

A terrifying dullness had entered Kim Namjoon's eyes and, stop, he did not.

____

Jung Hoseok had watched the drugged Namjoon pull Shae into a storage unit and disappear.

Hoseok had watched, and then he had casually strolled away, dark satisfaction curling into the pit of his stomach at just how much more he could help make Kim Namjoon hate himself. Oh, glorious day.

A voice crackled in his ear as he was mid-step. He was surprised just who: "Hobi, are you there?"

It was Min Yoongi, and he sounded strangely rushed. Like he'd just been running.

"Here."

"Where are you?"

Hoseok didn't like the twinge of panic in his usually indifferent friend's voice.

"I'm on my way to the pits."

"So you didn't go through with it, right? You listened to Chim's advice?"

"With what? Drugging Shae and Joon? I think Joon's the only one who got any...."

Quite suddenly, the feminine voice of Lilith crackled over the comm system: "Turn the fuck around right now, Jung Hoseok!"

Hoseok stopped in his tracks. "Why?"

"What's happening?" Yoongi asked.

Lilith raged, "Shae just commed me for help but I can't make it there in time, and if you let this monster of Kim Namjoon that you've unleashed lay a finger on her, so help me I'll---"

Yoongi shouted over Lilith's vicious words, "Hobi, Joon isn't your murderer, and this ain't vengeance!"

Lilith practically screamed, "No, it's torture! Now turn your ass around and fix this shit. I don't care if you're late to the pits, Yoongi'll tweak the timer codes if he has to."

Hoseok was all kinds of confused. "The hell are you--"

Yoongi said in a rush, "It was Tae. It was Kim-fucking-Taehyung this whole damn time. They were lying through their teeth, and Tae's the one who offed Dai Yu and Kiara. It was Tae, not Joon--Joon was just taking the blame. I mean, the bastard is guilty in his own fucking right--but he's not guilty in this. So stop tryna torture Joon at this girl's expense. She'll get tortured enough today, you don't have to make it worse."

Lilith seethed, "Turn around and fix this shit or I'll fix you, dammit!"

"It was...." Hoseok spun around and looked over his shoulder towards the half-open barn door that was almost a block's distance behind him. "Oh God, what have I done?"

____

Shae was trying with all of her might to hold the door shut of the storage room she'd ran into to hide, but Joon was stronger. She leaned back, braced against the handle... but he gave one final tug and the door swung open wide, sending her sprawling forward and straight into Kim Namjoon's chest.

His hands were chain links circled around her wrists.

He pulled, her face inches from his.

"Joon, please...."

The look in his eyes was still that dull, empty void. It was a face she didn't recognize at all.

It was a version of Kim Namjoon she didn't know existed.

But there he was. And somehow he was smiling.

His voice sounded inhuman as he said, "I thought I made myself clear when I said--"

But whatever it was that he was about to make clear again didn't make it to his lips.

A hand clasped down tightly onto Joon's neck from behind. That hand glowed with a strange green warmth--and the more it glowed, the more Joon's muscles relaxed. His grip slipped away from Shae's wrists and she backed herself against the wall and out of Joon's reach.

Just as Kim Namjoon pivoted towards the figure behind him, he stumbled onto his knees--and his hands desperately clasped at the pinkish suit jacket that was now in front of him.

"Good God, I'm sorry man." Jung Hoseok looked down at Kim Namjoon with eyes of pity. Then Hoseok clasped one hand over his other, which was balled into a fist, and in a single heavy stroke he swung his fists in a downward angle into the side of Namjoon's head.

Joon twisted, fell, and lay unconscious on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Hoseok stepped over Joon's body towards Shae, who pressed herself even harder into the far wall. She seemed to be trying to pull her minidress down as far as was appropriate.

Hoseok gulped.

"Just you wait. Lilith is on her way, she's gonna--"

Jung Hoseok shook his head slowly, his expression genuinely melancholy. "No. She isn't coming. But I'm here to take you to her."

He could see the red claw marks along her legs, the hand imprints in her wrists and arms. Around her neck.

Shame washed over him.

Dear. God. What have I done?

"Here."

Jung Hoseok slid out of his bright suit jacket. Before Shae could protest, he wrapped it around her shoulders so that it was covering up more of her skin, and some of her fresh marks.

She tugged the front of the jacket together, as if trying to hide inside of it. Shae asked in a quiet voice, "What happened to Joon? That... that monster wasn't him." Shae's fearful eyes darted down to the floor.

"No, it wasn't. But that's a story for another day. Right now, we have to move quickly. Lilith is waiting for you."

Shae didn't know why she decided to put her trust in Jung Hoseok in that moment. Perhaps it was his sad eyes, or the warm comfort of his suit jacket. Perhaps it was her very strong desire to get away from Kim Namjoon as quickly as possible.

"Alright then."

Hoseok took her hand firmly yet carefully, and he led her out the back of that storage barn door.

And away they went.