「your body twitches and shakes
your ailment will infect no more
this is the quietus
of another scarlet whore」

♫chelsea grin; disgrace

✩ y e o s a n g ✩

The landscape was slowly changing outside the windows of the black car - the sun was disappearing beyond the horizon, but neither one of the passengers, nor the driver, of the car paid much attention to their surroundings.

Silence filled the car, hovering over them like a dark shadow which covered their mouth and kept them from speaking. The only times a sound was made, was when Jongho now and then cleared his throat out of pure awkwardness. The young Choi brother was driving the car, San sitting next to him, and with Yeosang and Hongjoong on the backseat.

Hesitant, side-eyeing glances were aimed towards Yeosang, who was staring out the window with his hands folded in his lap. Everyone wanted to speak, but no one dared to - because of him.

After the walk through the forest with Hongjoong, Yeosang had untied the others, and apologized about the rude treatment.

"Had to make sure I could trust you." He had repeated the same words he told Hongjoong, watching as the two brothers were rubbing their sore wrists, and glaring at him with eyes full of spite. "You came to the door, with armed men, I couldn't take any chances. Hope you understand."

San had been the first to look away, shame written all over his face after the things Yeosang had made him do - and he didn't even dare looking anywhere near where Hongjoong was standing. The withdrawn behavior, hair falling down in front of his eyes and shoulder pulled up as in a defense, had Yeosang smiling to himself.

"I'm feeling generous, so I'd say that we're even now," Yeosang had whispered in San's ear, as they were about the leave the cottage, and San had for once kept his mouth shut.

Then, Yeosang burned to the place to the ground, watched as the flames tore down the small house in the woods - crumbled together like a piece of paper, inside a mighty hand of fire.

And he loved it.

Night was approaching, covering everything with darkness, and the shadows were stretched out in the headlights - distorted like disfigured creatures. But Yeosang told Jongho to keep driving. The broad-shouldered Choi's eyes met Yeosang's in the rearview mirror, but he did as he was told. Not much of a choice anyway, with another car following with men Yeosang had hired to follow them - ready to kill, if anything happened to him.

All the power was his now, and everyone knew that - and it would remain that way as long as he could keep Seonghwa's death a secret.

If the Chois wanted to kill him, Yeosang didn't know, but one thing he did know was that neither wanted to expose him for the murder, as they would be taken in as suspects themselves after all the digging they had done before hand. Still, Yeosang sensed a certain hint of rage and suspicion coming from especially Jongho, while San just stayed quiet, falling asleep now and then on the frontseat.

"We need to stop by the mansion. I forgot something there. Something important." Yeosang said, and Hongjoong nervously looked at him, rubbing his trembling hands. When he noticed the anxious movements, Yeosang sent Hongjoong a warming smile while leaning in towards him. "And then we're going home."

✩

"I will be right back." With a smile Yeosang got out of the car and walked towards the main entrance of the mansion.

As he turned around, the smile vanished and his face was as cold as the sky was dark. The look in his eyes shifted with a familiar voice whispering in his ear.

The masked men who guarded the place, the men he used to fear, now all responded to his command, and Yeosang had them get everyone out from their room - to meet in the shared kitchen. Yeosang watched them enter, one pretty blonde after the other.

"You're free," he said with a smile, when everyone was gathered - hand gesturing towards the door. "I don't care what you do now, or where you will go. But I'd suggest getting as far away from this place as you can. Don't worry, no one will come looking for you. You'll live in peace..."

Low, confused whispered spread across the room, and Yeosang knew that some of them had nowhere else to go - but that wasn't his problem. The blonde boys slowly started to rise from their seats, one by one, spreading out like waves of the ocean towards the door.

"Everyone..." Yeosang said, voice cold and cutting through like the sharpest of knives. His eyes were just the same, as they stared directly into the dark blue eyes he surely would never forget - not even after tonight. "Except you."

His own eyes darkened, and a voice in his head was praising him, as he had the last blonde beauty dragged towards the basement. No verbal complaints were heard, surely he had seen it coming as soon as the news spread that Yeosang was the one in charge now...

The long corridor in the basement didn't scare Yeosang anymore, nothing did, and while his eyes didn't see and his ears didn't hear - he felt it all.The wild rush, the ecstatic feeling of being the one to shed the blood like crimson rivers all over the floor.

In front of him, the blue faded like the sky during sunset, but this blue would disappear and never return.

Drops of blood were falling from Yeosang's hands, dripping around his feet, when he closed the door to the basement room. He dried his hand in a cloth, handed by one of the masked men walking behind him, before throwing it over his shoulder - together with an ice cold command from his smirking lips.

"Burn this shit-hole to the ground."

✩

It was getting late, really late, but Yeosang felt very much awake while the drive home continued. He noticed how Hongjoong kept rubbing his thumps against each other, and Yeosang gently placed his hand on the other's thigh, a move that made Hongjoong flinch.

"We'll be home soon," Yeosang said, nudging his shoulder against Hongjoong's in an attempt of making him smile.

Even in the dark, Yeosang saw Hongjoong clearly - every little perfect part of him, and the more he looked at him, the prettier he got. And Yeosang was certain he was falling even more in love by the minute.

A quiet nod was the only thing that indicated that Hongjoong heard what was being said to him, and Yeosang leaned back on the seat with a small sigh, from the lacking reaction.

"Let's stop there for the night," he then said, his attention caught by the flashing neon signs of a motel in the distance. "It's been a long day already."

✩

"I did what I had to do." Yeosang mumbled, staring into the mirror in the bathroom of the old motel.

Dark shadows were hovering over him, clouding his eyes and mind, and his hands were clenched around the edge of the sink, trembling.

The shadows twirled around him, stroked the back of his neck like a cold hand of a devil he used to know. Then he saw them, staring back at him in the mirror, dark eyes burning into his - and a familiar voice whispering in his ear.

'You've ruined everything I've built. How can I ever forgive you, my love?'

"I'll make it up to you, don't worry."

A dark smirk, matching his own, and the shadows in his mind seemed to calm down just a little, enough for now at least. He stared at himself, the burning eyes behind him blending into his own, blinding him - and the grey turned black.

'I know you will. Like when you killed Wooyoung. I was so proud of you that night.'

Light cut through his eyes, the usual grey returning and Yeosang felt his body violently shaking.

"N-no... I didn't do it... It wasn't me..."

'Stop lying, you know I hate it when you lie to me.'

Yeosang pressed his eyes shut, squeezed them together until it hurt - fought with every bone in his body to push away that consuming feeling of evil inside of him. He felt the tears coming, together with the itching frustration running down his back. He didn't do it, he didn't.

But, how come he then kept getting flashbacks of being the one to lead the knife in Hongjoong's hand. Showing the way, when Hongjoong was standing completely stunned, frozen next to him, blinded by the haze he was caught up in - not noticing what was happening. Not noticing that he wasn't the one to take another person's life?

Yeosang bit his lip not to scream, clinging onto the sink with a grip so hard that his fingers turned white...

His hand on Hongjoong's hand. His hand leding the hand of the knife, had it slicing through his former lover's throat, and then let go to let the warm blood stream down Hongjoong's hand, as Wooyoung died right in front of them.

"I didn't do it... I-I mourned over him!" He hissed, opening his eyes to stare into the mirror once again.

And the reflection showed no one but himself. He was alone.

With quiet steps he then quickly left the bathroom, but as he shut the door behind him, and darkness surrounded him, he felt the cold hands around him again. He watched Hongjoong sleeping on the bed, snuggled up under the covers and hugging a pillow at his chest.

The dark brown locks fell over his eyes, and his lips were slightly parted, as he breathed in and out in a slow and peaceful pace. Yeosang smiled, sincerely for a moment, leaned against the doorframe to the bathroom, but the darkness was persistently stirring up inside of him again. Every time he blinked, he felt like a war was breaking out in his mind. One moment he was alone, the next he was there with him.

'You should've killed him in the woods, like I told you to."

"No," Yeosang whispered, shoving Seonghwa aside in his mind. This battle was not one the evil would win, not now - not ever. "Not him. I did it all for him."

✩

A/N: 🤭