Hyungwon opened the door to see Taehyung standing outside the apartment.

"Ah, Hyungwon," Taehyung greeted awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck before looking away. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Hyungwon didn't say anything, just watched to see what Taehyung would do next.

"I'm sorry for..." Taehyung blew out a breath. "For leaving like that, and...saying those things about you. I don't know if you heard them, but I'm sorry anyway."

Hyungwon looked down to the side.

"Is Changkyun back?" Taehyung asked after a second.

"No," Hyungwon answered quietly.

Taehyung tilted his head. "But it's Amavasya, isn't it?" He paused. "He's been gone for a month and a half now."

"Yeah," Hyungwon said. He didn't know what else there was to say, really.

"Oh." Taehyung scuffed his foot against the ground. "Can you...can you come out for a bit?" He looked up, tongue ready with excuses, but Hyungwon was already stepping out the door, closing it after himself before turning to Taehyung with expectant eyes.

"Where are we going?"

Taehyung blinked, having expected exponentially more resistance, but he just nodded, pulling himself together. "I was thinking we could go back to the park..."

Hyungwon nodded. "That sounds nice."

They walked side by side. It wasn't like before. Hyungwon wasn't clinging to him this time, although Taehyung could sense his discomfort. Instead, Hyungwon walked slowly, hands in his pockets, eyes focused on the sidewalk.

Taehyung hesitated, realizing that Hyungwon was only wearing a thin t-shirt. "Are you cold?"

Hyungwon's lips twitched. "No. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Taehyung hesitated before taking the jacket off his own shoulders and draping it over Hyungwons'. "I don't want you getting sick because of me."

Hyungwon didn't say anything, but he nodded his head forward in gratitude, his eyes shifting down towards Taehyung's feet uncertainly before focusing back in front of himself.

They reached the park several minutes later. Due to the chill in the air, they were the only ones out.

"Hyungwon...I'm sorry," Taehyung said once more, biting his lip.

Hyungwon just looked around the park, goosebumps on his arms, but he didn't feel the cold. "It's nice here. I like it. Thank you for taking me."

"No, Hyungwon," Taehyung tried once more, desperation in his eyes. "I'm sorry."

Hyungwon turned to look at him, eyes curious but unassuming, pure and innocent. "For what? There is nothing to forgive."

"There is," Taehyung said, his voice raw. "Please, Hyungwon, you have to forgive me-"

"You've done nothing wrong," Hyungwon said, puzzlement in his eyes.

"He has," a voice said, approaching from behind them. Hyungwon stilled. "Don't you agree, Taehyung?"

"Please," Taehyung said, looking at Hyungwon's face, but Hyungwon's eyes were on the ground, unreadable to Taehyung. "I didn't have a choice. He was going to hurt my friend."

"It's been a long time," Seungcheol greeted as he stopped several feet from them. "But fate has a way of bringing lost things back together."

Hyungwon was shaking. Taehyung realized with a start that he'd never seen Hyungwon scared before, but he thought he might be seeing it now.

"Isn't that right?" Sungcheol asked, putting a hand underneath Hyungwon's chin and turning his head so he faced Sungcheol. Still, Hyungwon did not look up.

Unlike Taehyung's first encounter with Sungcheol during which his fingertips had been bathed in dark magic that had burned Taehyung's skin, his fingers were delicate now, tracing Hyungwon's skin as though he were a priceless creature.

"I created you," Sungcheol whispered in Hyungwon's ear, his nose pressing lightly against Hyungwon's lobe. "And when I gave you the slightest taste of freedom, you turned from your master."

Sungcheol pulled back abruptly and backhanded Hyungwon, his face unchanging as though he'd never moved. Hyungwon took the blow, remaining on his feet, although his whimper belied both his pain and fear.

"Now, now," Sungcheol scolded softly, turning Hyungwon's head once more so he could look at his face. "Good kittens don't get punished. Only bad kittens."

Hyungwon didn't react, still staring at the ground as though praying for salvation from the earth, distancing himself from reality the only way he knew how.

"Look at me," Sungcheol commanded.

Hyungwon flinched.

"Look at me," Sungcheol repeated, his voice tense and layered with a deeper, darker tone.

Hyungwon's eyes slowly moved up to meet Sungcheol's.

"What a pretty thing you've become," Sungcheol murmured, brushing his fingertips with featherlight movements along Hyungwon's hairline, pushing back the bangs obscuring Hyungwon's face. "You were a pretty child, but you've become so much more. I chose well, I dare say."

Sungcheol stared at his creation for a moment longer before looking over at Taehyung with unbridled disdain. "Your part has been fulfilled, human. As promised, no harm will come to your human friend. Now leave this place."

"What-" Taehyung swallowed. As with before, when in Sungcheol's presence, his body reacted to the enormous amount of dark power by freezing up. "What's going to happen to him?"

"None of your concern," Sungcheol snapped, looking back over at Taehyung before sighing once he realized that Taehyung wouldn't be that easy to get rid of. Sungcheol turned back to Hyungwon, sliding his hand from Hyungwon's cheek down his jawline, stopping with two fingers and a thumb on Hyungwon's delicate throat. Then with one swift motion, he ripped off Hyungwon's collar.

Hyungwon gagged for a moment at the sudden pressure on his throat before pain flashed in his eyes, emotional rather than physical, as he stared at the collar in Sungcheol's hand. Still, he kept quiet, his eyes fixated but his mouth shut.

"Here," Sungcheol said, throwing the collar to Taehyung, who caught it in both hands. "A token of my gratitude. Now leave."

Taehyung stared down at the small heart-shaped charm with Hyungwon's name engraved.

It means that I'm his, so that other people don't take me.

"Please," Hyungwon whispered, his eyes - fixed on Taehyung's - filled with unimaginable pain.

Taehyung mouthed the word back in confusion. Please? Please what? Please find Changkyun? Please save me?

Please leave?

But Hyungwon was never able to finish his thought.

Sungcheol's hand shot out, grabbing Hyungwon's throat. "I thought I remembered telling you never to speak in my presence unless I gave you permission," Sungcheol said, a slight smile on his face to go with the sharpness of his voice. "It seems that a certain kitten needs to be reminded of the rules. I'll have to retrain you from the beginning."

Hyungwon shook in his grasp, small choking sounds coming out of him along with the tear streaming from his eyes. Sungcheol, with a look of disgust on his face, placed his other hand on Hyungwon's face, waiting for his hands to glow a dark purple before making a series of gestures that looked familiar to Hyungwon.

Then he formed several characters in the air, pushing them forward, and as they shattered, both Sungcheol and Hyungwon disappeared.