No one is in the dungeon chambers. Guards have their sights set by the secret entrance to the basement itself.

No attention is paid at all to the thin whispers puffing out from the dark shaft. The passageway.

Ying leads the way even though it's already easy enough for them to pass through on their own. The only things making their journey difficult are the shadows. The boys follow through. "Sh. Mister Gopal, would you be quiet?" she whispers.

"But- I can't fit-"

"W-W-With all due respect- sir- That's none of Miss Ying's problems," Fang mumbles to the adult jammed by the entry way behind him.

Gopal finally lets himself loose and goes for the climb. "Well, your kidnapping wasn't supposed to be her problem too, right? So why let her bother?"

"Gopal, I swear to everything good, can we just focus on one thing for now?" she hisses. "We're lucky Fang came back alive and I ain't settling for worse.

"We need Yaya out of here."

※

Yaya's watch doesn't form the 'L' with its arrows no more, considering they've stayed outside for quite some time while she got to help BoBoiBoy up. Night time eventually spreads over the sky, with a half-moon like an arc in the oblivion.

This is a new room, a new entrance the two of them got into. White blends with bright yellow from the crystal chandelier atop the ceiling, and windows are covered in, what appeared to be seashells in pellucid white.

It's like sunset doesn't end here, though it's already almost midnight.

"One of my favorite lines was, 'Clueless, never wanted, still they danced...Gold breathed off the embers at an immortal face,'" she tells him, lifting her boots up as she walks. "For me, that's the best line. The imagery just felt so good."

The eccentric sensation surges through BoBoiBoy once, but lifts before even reaching his neck. Morphing panthers and poisonous sap, only an ingenious mind can conjure such an imagination. And the creative special one just happened to be her brother.

They've been talking long. "That's kind of nice, though," BoBoiBoy scoffs. "I never imagined Ocho being in a story or being in the fabrication of others' minds."

She isn't concerned with talking about the ballad in front of him. After all, it's all she ever wanted to talk about since day one. She never expected BoBoiBoy to be this amused, but she thinks it doesn't matter if it doesn't show so much.

Around his neck, he has his collar strapped on again.

Even with all the truth, they don't walk side by side. Understandably, the both of them would be uneasy. So she steps a bit further behind him instead, with small footsteps and hands in her steamy coat pockets like him. "Yes. To us, you were only a myth, a legend, a folklore," she chuckles. "Everyone thought I was crazy for thinking it was real. And, well, that's a half-truth."

Otoi comes to her memories in waves. He was a young teen when he wrote it, and since she was two, the story had already been like a fairytale to her.

"The only thing is, there's a missing page. And before you came to get me, I- could've found it," she says.

When she stops, BoBoiBoy doesn't, still swaying around. This time, he doesn't force her to continue. Rather, "Ah, I see" is all he says.

Behind him, Yaya can't see BoBoiBoy's face, or the expressions he might be trying to make. Every look of his was adamant to her before, and now she wants to know which were real or fake. At the very least, she knows him now. One wrong move of betrayal and she might as well pick up her butterknife and go.

There will be no resisting. He's kept his word to not fight back.

Squeaking sounds from the hall begin to come from their left in between the silence. They screech louder, and they hear raspy breaths among with it.

Their feet fix over the blanched, polished wood floor as they see them glide over.

"Ying! Fang, Mister Go-!" Yaya gasps.

The boys flank Ying's side from across the room. Armed. "Yaya! Oh, gosh, you're okay- Stay there, please!"

All their feet press hard on the floor at their stances. Where the prisoners snatched the weapons, BoBoiBoy isn't able to say. Fang's arms shiver with the crossbow, but Gopal calmly grasps on a shotgun.

Yaya's feet pull her up to a jolt, putting her by BoBoiBoy's side. "Guys! You're okay!" she yelps, though pulling back from yelling too loud.

Not that she's afraid of what BoBoiBoy can do to them. I mean, what can he do now?

Ying tries not trembling her knees as she stretches an arm. "Yaya! Yaya, stay away from him, please! You! Let go of her, you filthy animal-! Now!" she orders BoBoiBoy.

None of the boys shoot. For now.

With slow movements, they approach with caution. BoBoiBoy can't help but take Yaya's hand unconsciously.

"Don't. Touch her!" Ying screams in a shrill voice.

"That's it. I've had it with this prick...!" Gopal yells after seeing his bold move. He advances, stomping with the weapon in hand. Yaya attempts pulling herself out of his grasp, to no avail.

"Yaya!"

"Gopal!"

"No! You guys, stop it!" Yaya barricades herself between Gopal and BoBoiBoy. She has jerked her arm from the hold. Gopal's strong hands were almost ready to thrust the butt of the gun down. Down to BoBoiBoy's face.

In front of the attack, his eyes widen while Yaya cries out. "We don't need to fight, everyone! BoBoiBoy, let me go- Guys! We can talk this out, I beg you-" Her head tosses left and right.

"No!" Ying says. "No, Yaya. I swear, now is not the time for negotiations- You monster, leave her alone!"

"Right," Gopal mutters. "You can't talk a Sadist out of killing you."

A slip. "Mister Gopal!" Fang breathes out. A hypothesis not meant to be declared.

Yaya's eyes narrow. "What?"

"Me...? A Sadist?"

Like there's nothing in the surface of the Earth that can fool Gopal, a spiteful glare stays on his face. "Obviously! Don't think you can hide from me."

Mixed feelings succumb the area. Yaya never knew it was still there; the doubt. Her breathing hitches and her words pause. Gopal's tight grin stretches in BoBoiBoy's view. His mouth is agape, drops of fear as if can be seen in him.

"Look, Gopal, you must be mistaken-" Yaya slams on her thighs.

"How can I? Of all the years of my life?"

With them squawking, Fang is frantic, incapable of what to believe in now. The crossbow slowly drops from aim, and Ying has her eyes darted on him like a foul creature. "Okay, at least, calm down-" Ying furrows her brows.

"But I don't want to! Not with this beast around!" he points the gun to BoBoiBoy's face, forcing Yaya to move away from them. "Did you seriously think this man was supposed to protect you? Did you not suspect at all? Did you trust him so freely? Like an idiot?"

Yaya bites her lips.

Gopal doesn't stop. "And somehow you expected us to think you were fine?! Really, Yaya? This is not what a man does to you, you know! I would never treat you like this, so you better come with us for your own sake!"

He pushes the gun's tip to BoBoiBoy's head. The metal is cold to the touch, and BoBoiBoy has his shoulders pressed together.

"Were you just trying to get Yaya to trust you?"

"Hypocrite!" Gopal yelps. "I was not! It is you I am skeptical with here! Don't you dare push the blame on me!"

"You were luring her to you. It isn't different." BoBoiBoy's face softens.

"Shut up! What I am trying to do is to get her out of your hands, you useless scum-!"

The gun cocks.

Both are huffing.

"Gopal, calm down! BoBoiBoy, that is enough!" Yaya finally shrieks, pushing the two of them back apart. There's no way she's calm either.

He yanks the gun to his side. "But you-"

"CAN EVERYBODY PLEASE LISTEN FOR ONE BLEEDING SECOND-? HE ISN'T A MONSTER." Panting, she looks at BoBoiBoy for one last time. "BoBoiBoy, just let me go. I gave you my word, I did what you wanted me to do, now please let me go."

Her words alarm Gopal behind her. So he takes her hand and takes her away. For the better. "Time's up. Come on, Yaya, let's get out of here."

"Huh?"

"Now," Gopal insists.

But at the swing of her torso, at the pull of her body, her arm swings back, and BoBoiBoy touches her wrist.

She turns back. They look up to his face. They see gloom.

They never saw a look like this.

"At least take me with you..." he croaks out.

"Wait, what?!"

"I wanted to tell you sooner but please I don't want to be here take me anywhere but here-" he utters breathlessly, shaking, stuttering. BoBoiBoy's face changes entirely.

Yaya mutters. "I don't understand."

"You don't have to...We all just need to run."

By accident, he grabs on her. Gopal responds angrily. "I SAID GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" He rips her wrists from BoBoiBoy touch, leading her off.

Her eyes are still on BoBoiBoy, flustered, watching him losing breath.

Red bruises show when he pulls down his coat and attempts to tear off the collar. It stays on. His head lowers, wincing, crouching, a hand on his knee. "Please...Just this once..."

Coughs of suffocation eventually burst from him. Wheezing, groaning, panting, and hissing, his shuddering knees take him to the floor.

All of them are confused, but Fang and Ying start ushering Yaya away, with Ying caressing her best friend's face with care. BoBoiBoy's whimpers continue as he crashes to the floor. Fang is determined to keep Yaya's attention off him. "Gopal, we need to go," Ying calls out.

"Gopal?"

Long nails scratch on the floor with BoBoiBoy's frail body bent on the ground.

The man with the gun stares down at him.

He chortles. "All this time. All this time, fate had always been against me."

More heavy breaths are heard.

"Gopal."

"And who knew, that in all these years, it's because you're alive," he says.

"What are you-?" Ying stammers from the back.

"Never can both sides of an hourglass be full, they say. Now it's your turn to drown in the sand," Gopal puffs at him.

Sharp shocks of electricity shoot from his collar to the throat. He grits his teeth, lying on the floor.

Whilst holding the gun, Gopal continues. "The world couldn't have ended naturally. Someone must've caused it. Someone must've destroyed everything. Someone must be guilty. And they must pay for it. A hero must make the villain pay for his crimes.

"That hero is me."

"Stand down! We got Yaya. Just let him go!"

"Oh, after the three devastating decades of my life?" Gopal laughs, waving his tattered, plaid robe like a cape of a hero, overrun by pride and ideals. "I've waited for this long enough. And I don't care if I go to hell for murder."

Fingers are on the trigger. Barrels on the head.

"Let him go! He doesn't deserve it!" Yaya cries.

"Ugh...just...go..." BoBoiBoy whispers desperately. "...just listen to them- while you still have the time-"

His collar is tightening.

"You're only saying that 'coz you don't wanna die!"

"No...please...while you still have the chance- AGH!"

Burning aches stop in a rapid speed, halting before any one of them is even aware. He warps his head, standing up. In front of Gopal, BoBoiBoy's eyes flicker open.

Gray eyes.

Fur brushes against Fang's arms, it's Ocho's tail. Coming out of nowhere, he snatches the crossbow away, throwing it towards BoBoiBoy. The weapon lands to his hands. It's weapon against weapon.

"What is happening?" The girls and Fang stare, but Yaya yanks her out of Ying's arms. "I'm sorry, Ying, I need to!"

She runs.

"Yaya!"

"BoBoiBoy!" she shouts, standing behind Gopal. "BoBoiBoy, you need to stop it! I need to go! No changing my mind! You don't have to do this, whatever's happening, stop it! Gopal, let go too!" She takes a breath. "BoBoiBoy, are you okay?!"

Eyes turn back to brown for a second. "NO, YAYA, I'M NOT- NGH! I'm not okay, just go, now!"

Pulling on his hair again, he falls to kneel. Voices get louder. KILL. KILL. KILL.

"Don't...Not now...I don't want this...anymore..." Barely a brittle whimper.

"M-M-Miss Yaya, I'm so sorry, b-but we need to go," Fang gently says.

Meanwhile, Ying swats the shotgun from Gopal. "Let's not waste anymore time, we need to go!"

There's no shrieking again.

No pain.

BoBoiBoy zooms over to Yaya's direction.

Against the room's open pathway, BoBoiBoy stands with his wide open, gray eyes. With a boxy, demonic smile, he hauls her away, grabbing on her right cheek with his left hand, and pulling up her arm with his right.

Yaya is startled, only managing to stare away. She can't look at him as he hisses, "Don't move...if you don't want me to mark her."

They know what mark means.

Everyone is stunned, though none of them is bold enough to make a move. The smile stretches his cheeks into a frightening, possessed look. But he already marked her. He's tricking them. He's beyond everybody's control.

He's not him.

The chandelier chimes in the quiet.

"BoBoiBoy...calm down...this isn't you," she says in a hush tone, not looking to his face. Both her eyes are on her comrades. Her friends. They're desperate to keep them all alive.

Ying, Yaya, and Fang can't move to provoke him. However, Gopal's eyes widen on Yaya's arm. If he wants to mark her, why is she already bandaged?

There's no hesitation in picking the shotgun off the floor and shoot.

"STOP!"

Mastering accuracy, the solid bullet rains off in a bang, and it pierces through BoBoiBoy's side. Under the white coat, blood immediately stains the area under his sleeve. Wide open eyes blink as he groans, fading to brown once more. His hands make him drop Yaya, and his feet make him tumble back to the flight of stairs.

Hands are over her open jaw as Yaya falls over. "BoBoiBoy!"

It's only a graze, and Gopal knows that. Leaning on the staircase, BoBoiBoy bleeds and he presses his hands while balling his fists. When Gopal scoops Yaya up with his free hand, there's nothing she can do now.

"Stay back, Yaya! This monster deserves to die."

Cocking the gun again, he aims for his heart.

"Wait, Gopal, no!" Yaya's slamming hands creep to slap the gun away.

The trigger is pulled to the ceiling.

Only BoBoiBoy knew that the crystal chandelier overhead had a rotting chain on the verge of giving in. Shattering sounds resonate as the bullet soars upward, deep into the heart of the tiered lighting.

Rusting metal creaks, and they all scream.

"Run!"

Gopal is the only one skipping away. Yaya is frozen, looking up.

"Yaya-!!!"

The chandelier doesn't wait for anything when it falls to the floor, making the ear-crushing noises of smashing diamonds and breaking glass from the bulbs. Aged timber cracks as well and the entire place darkens, with only the light from the chandelier by the central hall.

Gasps are let out with BoBoiBoy kicking the ground to swoop Yaya into his arms.

Crystals shower and scatter over the floor. All of them brace for impact and incoming shards sprinkle in the air. At the push, BoBoiBoy and Yaya lunge to a nearby wall. Both of them crash to the ground, and at the sight of BoBoiBoy and Yaya moving, everyone roars out Yaya's name. Nobody roars out BoBoiBoy's name.

A separate roar comes for it.

Growls of scratching wood chill all their spines. Yaya's lashes flutter to see BoBoiBoy getting off her.

"Are...you...okay...?"

"Yeah, yeah," she murmurs, pushing off the ground to get up. "I'm fine...you...?"

"I'm out of control, you need to go" is all he says before grunting again. Sticky red blood rests under his fingernails.

"But you're bleeding!"

"I don't care! Just go!"

"Ah..." A cavernous sound arrives. "So little girl isn't alone."

Here comes his nightmare.

Yaya blinks. "What was that?"

They all hear it from behind the staircase. A shadow lurks behind it. And BoBoiBoy yelps in more agony.

"Why do you fight me like this? Do you think you're stronger than me? Did you think I moulded you in a shape larger than my own?

"Is this how you disobey me, child?"

More coughs, BoBoiBoy's eyes drain to a little haze.

"What are you?!" Yaya asks, her voice quivering.

"Oh. Little girl wants to play. I don't remember you having this much courage from when I first met you."

Humongous paws emerge as the black figure rises to the ceiling. Now it isn't as black as she thought. Spots adorn the growing object. It breathes, it growls, it huffs warm air, it has those same green eyes.

It...or maybe a he...is still hungry. But for something else.

The giant jaguar talks.

"You don't have gray eyes. Oh, how he lied to me."

"W-W-W-What the..." Fang blabbers as the three crawl back in a group. At this point, their safety is their priority. It has always been, but now, it doubles.

The jaguar's lips move to the words. Out comes voices of a man.

"Stay away from me and my friends," Yaya whispers.

"Concerned much, you are? A pity you're so weak."

Sounds of sparks crackle by her side. Flat on the ground, he yelps again. Electric shocks.

"BoBoiBoy!"

It growls. "A shame. You are no different from him." Deep roars echo in every breath. Below it, its claws appear.

"Stop, please!" BoBoiBoy wails.

"Silence! I am not worth your mercy, boy," he says. The rest can only watch. The wound by his side leaks of more blood. "I told you to control and you didn't do it. So why must that be my problem?"

As it prowls, smokey ashes seep from under its steps. They turn the dark aura even more so for every vibration on the floor. "If you seek true control, then fight. Fight like the boy I wanted!"

Yaya's hands meet the cold ground. What?

On the floor, BoBoiBoy flips over, resting on his knees and arms before toppling again, fighting the pain of his collar.

And at her spot, Yaya can't move, only look to him. The boy she was about to forgive. She looks at the jaguar. "What are you doing to him?!"

"What I've been doing his entire life. Teaching him how to fight." Its glare presses harder on him as the boy winces. "Finish the job," he says.

Snap.

"BoBoiBoy...?"

Silence engulfs the atmosphere for the last time. He opens his eyes.

"That's my boy," the jaguar growls.

At the corner of her eye, he goes at the speed of light, zooming again to grab ahold of another lady across the room. The clutch is similar, minus his gentleness. Cold blood runs and pumps like fuel in his body. He reeks of no more human.

"Ying!" Yaya screams, her voice fragile.

Her best friend hangs at BoBoiBoy's left. He brings her up like a raw piece of flesh. He grips on her hard. Ying's heart pounds.

"Do what you must," the jaguar roars.

So it is done. Ying heaves a tormented breath. The left hand's fingers dig into her arm.

Warm, red blood drips.

"No!" Fang and Gopal yell from afar.

From their backs, silvery snarls blend with the jaguar's mighty sounds. It chirps, then roars as mighty as it could.

Nobody says "Back off" better than Ocho.

He may not be the size of the jaguar, but his sounds can do just as much. All attention is on him instead, but the jaguar doesn't waver. "Guards! BoBoiBoy!"

Guards flood to the scene at the second. BoBoiBoy drops Ying. Ocho tries mauling on the behemoth beast, although it doesn't stop shrieking orders.

It blasts an assertive final growl. A quieter command. Take all the captives away. Kill them all. "Looks like our work here is done."

The giant paws kick Ocho to the wall. And BoBoiBoy sinks, weak and frail.

"Stop it, please..." Yaya murmurs again as her arms are dragged off by the armored men. Fang and Gopal are taken away with her, and Ying is pulled up.

"Let...them...go..." Everything hurts. He can't move.

"I don't follow orders from just a son."