The staircase was long and the walk was dull as hell. The only thing Seishin had to entertain him on his way up the wide spiral of madness was the agonised screams of Erel as he got mauled by five ravenous dogs. Seishin let out a bored chuckle, though his attentions were so focused on the torture Erel was experiencing that he didn't even notice the approaching footsteps descending the staircase.

When the doctor he'd seen just before paused beside him, Seishin broke out of his manic trance and glanced over to him. To be perfectly honest, Seishin had the urge to destroy Rayne for making [Y/n] cry, as amusing as the scene had been. Her tears should only be shed for him. Her emotions should only be shown to him. Not Rayne. And, on the subject of the strange doctor, Seishin took a moment longer to pick up on the scent of Nyais.

"Why are you taking his stuff down here?" Seishin questioned, looking at the black bag slung over Rayne's shoulder. Rayne locked eyes with Seishin and picked up on the malice that radiated off of the male in seconds. He stared down the staircase.

"Though you struck me as a sadist, you didn't strike me as a murderer," Rayne mused, listening to Erel's screams.

"Why did you dodge the question?" Seishin pressed, his eyes narrowing. Rayne glanced back up at him. "Answer me."

"Am I obligated to?" Rayne questioned, before placing the bag down on the step. "You forget your place, boy," he muttered, leaning against the stone wall. "People treat you with fear and respect because you are a famous child. Everyone here knows you, and you know hardly any of them. You're strong, sure — in fact, you'd win a fight against many elites no problem... but you have no experience. There are lots of people who want you dead, Seishin. And if the king wasn't besotted with your father, you'd be a fucking pincushion." He paused. "We're quite similar, you know. But the difference between us..." he tailed off and leaned forward, a smirk growing on his deranged face. "I'm necessary. You're not."

Seishin took a while to think of how he could respond. He was bristling. Rayne didn't move from his place against the wall, a taunting smirk still plastered on his face. Livid, Seishin took a few steps towards the grinning man, though he halted when he felt a cold sensation against his throat. Seishin looked down to see Rayne holding a scalpel to his skin.

"Didn't you hear me? I said you have no experience," Rayne sighed, his expression nonchalant as he pressed the scalpel harder, a couple beads of blood forming along the scalpel's edge. "Kaist will train you well no doubt; in fact he already has. You're strong and capable, as I said..." he paused, "but you're pathetic." Seishin held his tongue, though his pride formed insult after insult in his head for Rayne. Still, he knew better than to voice them in his current situation. Rayne let the scalpel drop and Seishin wiped the blood off his neck, frowning.

"Why have you never become an elite?" Seishin questioned, his eyes narrowed.

"If I were to challenge one, I would surely be killed," Rayne responded calmly, though Seishin wore a look of doubt on his face. Rayne looked pretty capable to him. "You should be careful, Seishin," he added. "If you make too many enemies, you won't stand a chance either." And with that, Rayne picked up his bag and continued to the dungeons. Seishin glared after him.

Something weird was going on, though he didn't know if he wanted to stay to find out. He shook his head; he needed to get back to [Y/n]. Thankfully he was near the top of the stairs at this point and it only took him around five more minutes to clear them. Nodding to the guards at the door, he walked through the industrial corridors of this shit hole of a place and made his way back to the elite's halls, which were by far an improvement. Finally arriving at their own home, he unlocked the door and locked it behind him. He made a quick trip to the kitchen, preparing a couple of things (though simple as he wasn't the best at food), before quickly approaching his room.

Stepping inside, he noticed [Y/n] wasn't in his bed where he'd left her. He remained staring in that direction plainly, only moving slightly to place the two items he'd brought with him on his desk, before letting out a sigh and locking his door behind him.

"[Y/n], I can hear you sobbing. Get out from under my bed," Seishin hummed, before kneeling down and peering underneath his bed. There she was, huddled into a ball and crying her eyes out. "I'm not going to hurt you this time. Come out," he huffed. She didn't move. "I... um..." he didn't quite know what to do. Was she crying over Nyais? Well she shouldn't have gotten so fucking close to him, but... she probably blamed him- them- and he couldn't change that. He hadn't seen what was inside the book she was looking at but hearing her mention Nyais had pissed him off. What was Rayne even doing? One second he was offering them his help, then he was fucking things up by making [Y/n] think about Nyais again, then he was pushing [Y/n] into his arms and then a scalpel to the neck and a lecture about—? Seishin couldn't even remember what it was about. He was so agitated he'd already forgotten most of it.

"Leave me alone," [Y/n] whispered, her voice cracking softly as she wept. Seishin rolled his eyes before extending his hand for her.

"No can do. Come on, I've got you something to eat." Of course [Y/n] only backed away from him. This wasn't the Seishin she knew. She'd just run away— he'd done terrible things to her for much less than that. Was he trying to redeem himself maybe? No, [Y/n] wouldn't believe that. Seishin was tricking her. She was sure of it. The blonde stood up and walked over to his desk where a mug of hot chocolate and a small bowl of mixed fruits sat. He picked both up and placed them under the bed in her reach.

"Come on [Y/n]," Seishin sighed. "Look, I just want to talk to you about what you did earlier," he huffed, looking away. "I'm not gonna... I'm not gonna do what I did last time I got mad," he muttered. [Y/n] shuddered at the memory. In fairness, Seishin probably would've done something like that again if he hadn't inflicted his sadistic impulses on someone else first. She was lucky that she'd bumped into Erel.

[Y/n] didn't believe him for a second, but as the time went on she got more nervous. If she stayed down here longer, he might be harsher. She looked over at the fruit and hot chocolate. Surely that wasn't a kind gesture— did it have acid in it or something? She stared at it with worried eyes.

"Look, if you don't think these are safe just say and I'll show you that they are," Seishin mumbled, "though don't vouch on my reaction. Human foods are disgusting. Hot chocolate is fine, but fruit... awful," he shook his head at the thought. [Y/n] had stopped crying now, simply huddled up. "Also sorry about the chloroform. Couldn't think of anything more graceful," he laughed, though the laugh was bitter and dry.

[Y/n] let out a long sigh before shuffling herself from her position under the bed, slipping out and sitting up. She looked down, unable to meet Seishin's gaze. She was visibly tense as she prepared to be hit - or abused in some form - but to her surprise, nothing came. Slowly she looked up at Seishin who simply held the mug and fruit up to her. She looked at them worriedly. Seishin sighed and took a piece of fruit, placing it in his mouth to show it wasn't poisonous. His face scrunched up in disgust but he swallowed it and let out a sigh.

Hesitantly [Y/n] took the fruit bowl and mug from his hands with a grateful nod, though it was more out of courtesy and fear than actual appreciation. She was scared. So much so that she was trembling to the point where she nearly spilled the hot chocolate over herself. Seishin spotted this quickly however and placed his hand on the other side of the mug to stabilise it. [Y/n] stared over at him and noted something that caught her off guard. His eyes weren't malicious. There was no smirk on his face. She couldn't say she saw any affection there, or any concern, but... he seemed much softer than usual.

"I thought— I thought—" [Y/n] stuttered, finally coming to the realisation that Seishin didn't seem to want to hurt her, "I— I'm sorry," she whispered, looking down as tears began to fall down her cheeks again. Seishin sighed and took the fruit bowl and hot chocolate from her before they had a chance to pour all over the floor. He placed them on his bedside table and grabbed some tissues, handing them to her silently. She wiped her tears away and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"You thought I was going to punish you?" Seishin questioned, raising a brow. After a hesitation, [Y/n] nodded. "I was," he admitted, watching her tense up and peer up at him with fearful eyes, "but then I decided not to," he added, seeing her shoulders slump in relief. He had to admit, seeing the reaction she presented at just a few words made him feel powerful, though he didn't dwell on that for too long. Instead he waited for her to stop shaking before passing her the food and drink again. This time she was able to hold the hot chocolate without nearly scolding herself.

"I was upset when I figured you were trying to escape," he sighed, shaking his head. [Y/n]'s eyes widened and she bit her lip. "Yes, I knew," he hummed, and [Y/n] recalled his ability to read minds. "But, I admit that I was impressed with your initiative. I wanted to see how far you got with it," he laughed. His usual dry laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. "Asking Rayne for help was quite a surprise to me. I thought you would've turned tail and ran the second you saw him," he hummed. [Y/n] stiffened. So he'd followed her the whole time she was gone too?

What about that guy who said he was scared of the boys?

"What guy?" Seishin questioned, though of course he was only messing with her. "[Y/n]?"

"W-what?" she stuttered, looking down at the fruit worriedly. Seishin then let out a laugh.

"Erel," he hummed, and [Y/n] didn't relax nor tense — she seemed more unsure, as though she couldn't tell if he was trying to give her a false sense of security that he already knew everything or whether he really did already know everything. She didn't like either thought. He laughed again. "I was messing with you. I know about the man you met," he hummed. "His name is Erel. He's currently in the dungeons being eaten alive by dogs." [Y/n]'s eyes widened and her gaze snapped up to him.

"Why would you do that?!" she lashed out, though her face went slightly pale out of fear.

"He helped you escape."

"So did you!" [Y/n] hissed, and Seishin let out a slightly unstable giggle. Shivers coursed down the female's spine.

"But no one knows that, do they? And if you go telling people... I'll be forced to carry out what I originally had in store for you," he smiled. [Y/n] averted her gaze from his manic expression. Day by day she watched the boys she'd grown so fond of slip further into lunacy. And now Seishin seemed to be the farthest gone.

"You should try the hot chocolate. It's made here," he smiled, "expensive stuff too. I wouldn't have gotten my hands on any if there hadn't been some randomly lying around in the back of the fridge," he pondered. 'Nyais,' [Y/n] realised, but she held back her sadness and nodded her head, taking a sip of the hot chocolate.

* * *

"Laion? What are you doing here?" Aytsa questioned from his seat in Rayne's lab. Laion furrowed his brow.

"I could ask the same of you. Aren't you looking for [Y/n]?" he questioned.

"I'm waiting to see if she gets desperate and comes to Rayne for help. As she doesn't know him that well, there's always the possibility," Aytsa shrugged. "Why are you here?" he asked again.

"...Same reason," Laion sighed, before turning around. "I just have no idea where the hell she might've gone," he hissed. Aytsa paused, his brow furrowing. He parted his lips slightly and took a long, steady inhale.

"Blood," he muttered under his breath, before standing up and walking over to Laion. Before Laion had a chance to react, Aytsa and grabbed him by his right shoulder and was staring at a puncture wound in his left. "That's a scalpel wound," he frowned. Laion looked away in annoyance. "You saw Rayne? Why did he stab you? I thought he loved you or something..." he rolled his eyes. Aytsa had been injured by Rayne many, many times but Laion had never received such treatment. It was only natural that the boy would get a bit jealous of his medicine-making partner who'd never received a single scratch until today.

"I... pushed him into a door," Laion confessed, which caused Aytsa's eyes to widen.

"Jesus Laion... how are you still in one piece?!" he questioned, checking him over for any other wounds, but there were none. Just the stab wound in his shoulder, which was healing up nice and fast. "I would've been skinned," Aytsa shuddered. And sadly, said statement wasn't at all an exaggeration.

"I don't know. He just... stabbed me and shut me out of Nyais' apartment," Laion sighed. Aytsa raised a brow.

"He was in Nyais' apartment?" Aytsa questioned, furrowing his brow. Laion nodded. "Seems a bit weird, doesn't it?"

"Yeah... it really does," Laion responded with a light sigh.

whoop two updates in a day yayaaaaa