-what you wanted so badly is in front of your eyes-

Yeosang groaned as he opened his eyes, his body was aching all over. He lifted himself up, sitting as he looked around himself. 

Weird, he thought. Bright lights kept disturbing his vision, and he had to put a hand in front of his eyes to focus. He realized that he was sitting on a platform surrounded by spotlights. He looked at his left to see a branch of plant beside him.

He picked it up, examining it. The flowers have dried, he thought. It looked like the branch he'd picked when they were stuck in the Illusion. But how was it here?

Yeosang tried to recall what had happened. They were on the island, going somewhere, until...

Yeosang's mouth turned into an O as he realized they had been kidnapped by Dark Ateez. He was sure now that they were in their setup, and they had to be careful with every move they made. He prayed the others were okay, and were being careful as well.

He had been dreaming of home, he could now recall. He had been dreaming of the time when Eun Byeol and Hongjoong had started training him on how to lucid dream like them. It was one of his good memories. He shook his head, thinking how ironic it was that he was dreaming about happy memories in this place. The faint smile that had been on his face when down in memory lane was now disappearing. He had to focus. He had to find the others.

As if on cue, he heard the door bang. He tensed, standing on his feet now, not sure what he could do in a situation like this. He heard the door unlock and sighed in relief as he saw Yunho and Seonghwa.

"Yeosang's room," Yunho looked at Seonghwa. Yeosang stepped down from the platform, walking towards them.

"You look disappointed," Yeosang commented.

"It's not good, Yeosang. Eun Byeol might be in real danger. We have to hurry," Seonghwa said. Yeosang nodded, ushering them out of the room. 

"Where are we?" Yeosang asked.

"Dark Ateez's setup," Yunho said, "They have us all trapped in one way or another. Dark Seonghwa told Seonghwa that they had to go along with Dark Ateez's plan in order to gain their trust back. He freed Seonghwa, who came and found me."

"Ah, so they didn't really betray us, did they?"

"Doesn't seem like it," Seonghwa nodded, turning left in the maze-like hallway, stopping abruptly. There was an elevator in front of them, dimly lit, but the lights in the hallway were wildly flickering. "That's where I was when he freed me. I was chained inside."

They walked towards the elevator, Yunho opening the gate, and Yeosang's eyes went to the dull vase in the corner, giving an impressed grimace. "Dark Ateez sure know their interior décor."

He picked the broom-like branches in the vase, taking them out. 

"Now's not the time for this, Yeo-"

"Oh, there's something inside," Yeosang bent down, putting his arm inside the vase and extracted a walkie talkie. He passed it to Yunho, who looked at him in disbelief as he bent down again to get the second one. "What were you saying, Seonghwa?"

"...Wow, do these work?" Seonghwa took the walkie talkie from Yeosang's hand, turning it on. Static filled the room, and Yunho and Seonghwa looked at each other, as if sharing a secret.

Yeosang looked from Yunho to Seonghwa and back. "What is it that you two know that I don't?"

"You're thinking what I am thinking, right?" Seonghwa asked Yunho. 

Yunho looked at Yeosang, "We're gonna split. I'll take this and go back to the monitors. I could tell you how everyone is doing, and maybe even find a route for you. You and Yeosang should try and stay together until you find someone."

"What monitors?"

"The room I was in, it kind of looked like a control room," Yunho explained, "There were several screens, and I saw San and Eun Byeol in some of them. It's usually glitching but sometimes we get a signal."

"Why would Dark Ateez put you in the control room? Shouldn't they be the one present there?"

Seonghwa shrugged. "Nothing they do makes sense. Maybe they're watching us from somewhere too, laughing at how dumb we are or something."

"There, there," Yeosang patted Seonghwa's shoulder, "We should do what Yunho suggested. The quicker we are, the better. Be careful, Yunho."

Yunho nodded, and Seonghwa and Yeosang stepped out of the elevator. Yunho pressed a button after locking the gate and waved them bye.

The duo waited for about five minutes in heavy silence before they finally heard the transceiver connect. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," Seonghwa replied to Yunho, "Are you there?"

"I am," Yunho answered, "No signal for now, but I'll let you know if I see something."

"Alright," Seonghwa looked at Yeosang, "Let's go."

They walked to their left, coming upon a big door at the end of the hallway. They felt quite small in front of it. The scene felt ominous.

"Should we, or should we not?"

"No use not trying," Yeosang said and pushed the door open. "WOAH." Seonghwa hastily grabbed Yeosang's arm, bringing him back, and Yeosang held to him. 

It was endless space in front of them. A staircase went up from the place where they stood, and they couldn't even see the end of it. It seemed like the stairs were endless, and they peeked down to see that it was pretty much a bottomless pit beneath them. They couldn't see the end, but because of the faint light they could see some stairs beneath them too.

The transceiver blasted Yunho's voice, almost making the duo jump. "Guys, this is not good. Mingi is.. surrounded by fire."

"What do you mean?" Seonghwa's eyes went wide.

"He's circled by fire. He's safe for now, but it must be hot. I don't know where he is though... Where are you?"

"We're at the end of the hallway after we turned left from the elevator," Seonghwa said, "There was a door and well.. there are endless stairs here. It's unbelievable."

"I think I saw stairs earlier on one of the screens. I didn't see anyone though..."

"Maybe Mingi is somewhere up there?" Yeosang suggested. Seonghwa looked up. It was just endless flights of stairs. "There must be something up there for them to have so many stairs. Maybe they're keeping someone there?"

"Might be, but it seems dangerous-"

"I see Jongho, guys," Yunho said, "He's walking on some stairs... Why does this look like a scene from Harry Potter?"

"That's right where we are," Yeosang looked at Seonghwa, "Endless stairs."

"Could you both take them? Maybe I'll see you and lead you to Jongho?"

The duo looked at each other, nodding once before they took the stairs. Yeosang, who still had the broom-like branch, started snipping off bits of it, leaving them as a trail, and Seonghwa nodded in approval.

They followed where the stairs took them, until they came to a crossing. "Now where do we go from here? I don't think it's wise to split ways here."

"I agree," Seonghwa said. "Up?"

"Okay," Yeosang said, "Won't really make a difference anyway."

They walked up and up, until Yunho's voice came. "You're right below Jongho. Try calling out to him."

Seonghwa and Yeosang simultaneously looked up. They couldn't see him, but Yeosang yelled his name. He got no answer. Seonghwa tried as well, but the result was the same.

"Let's go a bit further, maybe he can't hear us from so far," Yeosang suggested, and now they were racing across the stairs, forgetting all about how tired they were. They decided to yell his name together.

"On 3, we call out," Yeosang said, and Seonghwa nodded. "1, 2... JONGHO!"

Jongho snapped out of his daze as he heard faint yelling. He looked around, but everything was like it had been for about an hour now, ever since he found himself here. 

"JONGHO!"

He heard it again, and he mustered his courage to peek below. Sure enough, he saw two figures looking up. He narrowed his eyes to get a better look.

"GUYS?" Jongho yelled. It was Seonghwa and Yeosang, and they yelled in victory.

"We have the way out, come down to us!" Seonghwa yelled. Jongho almost fell in relief, taking a deep breath before he started going back.

Yunho guided a bit from the walkie talkie, Seonghwa and Yeosang doing the rest as Jongho finally came in front of them. They rushed to him, tackling him in a hug. 

"CAREFUL!" Jongho yelled, "I don't want to fall!"

"We don't want to either, let's go," Yeosang took the lead, tracing the trail he had left.

Jongho explained how he had, surprisingly, not been asleep at all. Dark Jongho just left him stranded here before disappearing off. And he had been trying to find a way out ever since. 

Jongho was so relieved he couldn't even talk much. The whole time he was here, he had felt more and more hopeless as he ascended flights of stairs. He had felt utterly lost in this maze.

Seonghwa and Yeosang briefed him on what had happened so far, and as soon as they were done talking, they were back to the hallway. Jongho collapsed to the floor.

"My legs feel like jelly," he muttered. Seonghwa patted his back. He felt bad for him.

They rested for a few minutes in comfortable silence, Jongho with his eyes closed sprawled across the floor, Seonghwa and Yeosang with their backs against the wall. The only sound filling the hallway was that of their breaths.

"Alrighty," Jongho slowly got himself in a sitting position. "Where to now?"

-----------------

Hongjoong chewed the pen as he racked his brain for ideas.

He was back with his friends in the warehouse, writing lyrics with Mingi. Seonghwa was playing the piano. The rest were teaching Eun Byeol one of their dance routines.

His attention shifted to them. They were in front of the mirrors, Eun Byeol showing them what she had learnt so far.

"That's good," Yunho said, "but when you do this move, don't forget to move your feet like this." Yunho showed the move with his feet, and Eun Byeol copied.

"Right. Got it. Also, what exactly is the line when I turn?"

"It's right before the chorus," Wooyoung said, singing the line while doing the move and Eun Byeol nodded.

"Alright, next part!" San clapped his hands, and Eun Byeol sighed. "Do I have to learn the whole thing?"

"Don't be lazy," San smiled at her, "You asked for it. We teach the whole thing, or nothing at all."

"I didn't realize y'all were so serious about this!" Eun Byeol laughed, "I was happy just watching, but then I remembered how I used to love dancing when I was little, and... well."

"You're doing great," Yeosang said, "Your movements are a bit rough but you'll get the hang of it."

"Alright boss. What's next?"

They showed her the steps in slow motion, so she could pick them quicker. Hongjoong was watching them with a smile on his face, and he didn't notice Mingi call him.

"Hey Kim Hongjoong!" Mingi threw a paper ball at him, hitting him on his forehead. Hongjoong glared at him.

"What?"

"I'm kind of stuck. Help me out?"

"I'm stuck too. Let's take a break then think later." Hongjoong got up, drinking from his water bottle. Mingi followed.

"You aren't as bad as I thought," Hongjoong said to Eun Byeol as he went to where everyone was dancing. Eun Byeol didn't look at him as she replied.

"Admit it, I'm way better than you thought."

Hongjoong grinned. "Eh, somewhere there, yeah."

Eun Byeol glared at him. "Is it that hard for you to put a single compliment forward?"

"Hey, you don't need that, ignore him," Mingi said, making her smile.

"I still don't understand how you guys can argue one moment and be the bestest of friends the next moment," Jongho said.

"I've been putting up with him for a really, really long time in the dream world. I got used to it."

"You always make me sound like a bad person, Byeol-ah," Hongjoong shook his head.

"Do I now?" Eun Byeol smirked.

----------------

"Hongjoong, wake up!"

Hongjoong heard someone call his name. He didn't want to wake up.

"Hongjoong, I swear to god, if you don't open your eyes-"

That finally got him to open his eyes. He looked around, seeing Seonghwa, Yeosang and Jongho.

"I was... dreaming. It was a memory."

"That's weird. I dreamt a memory too," Yeosang told him. 

Hongjoong shook his head. Dark Ateez were messing them up real good. "How did you unlock the door?"

"Dark Seonghwa. He gave me the keys and told me they had to do this to gain their leader's trust."

"Bullshit," Hongjoong got up. "They could have worked this out. Was this so necessary?" No one answered. "Where are the rest?"

"Yunho's in a control room, monitoring everything and guiding us. The rest... We don't really know."

"Don't really know?"

"Mingi is in a room trapped with a circle of fire, San is trapped too, Eun Byeol and Wooyoung are shackled."

Hongjoong stared at them in disbelief. This was bad.

He was reminded of the situation in the previous timeline when half of them were stuck in the illusion and couldn't wake up, when Eun Byeol had to leave to reset the timeline. This situation felt the same.

He was powerless.

Seonghwa could see the negative emotions paint his face as he laughed in disbelief, saying, "I call myself the leader. I'm the most useless here. I was here dreaming about happy memories while the rest of us were suffering."

"Hongjoong-"

"I feel like I'm a lost kid. Immature. And I brought you all into this. I'm sorry."

"Are you giving up after everything has happened?" Jongho asked.

"Not giving up... Just... Feeling hopeless. Helpless. Useless."

"We must keep going on, Hongjoong. And you're not useless. You're gonna prove it. Eun Byeol is also dreaming. She needs us, or she might get stuck there. Now are you gonna do something about it or just drown in this negativity, which is what exactly Dark Ateez wants?"

Hongjoong looked at Jongho. He was the youngest, yet the wisest at times. He always lend him his strength, his positivity, whenever he felt down.

"You're not the only one who felt that way," Yeosang admitted, "But believe me, it's not our fault at all. Some of us just have it worse than others, and for those who don't, they have to be positive enough to take care of them. You can do that, can't you?"

Yeosang was right, Hongjoong realized. Sometimes, he had it worse, but the others helped him out. And he was gonna do the same now that he was in their place.

"Sorry guys, you know how all this makes me feel."

Seonghwa went forward and hugged him, hoping to comfort him. Jongho joined, and Yeosang gave in too.

"You're not alone. We're doing this together, don't forget that." Seonghwa said.

"I won't." Hongjoong smiled.