𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄 || ATEEZ ( ✓ )

ᦟ14

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝟣𝟦
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THE GROUP meant to find the man under the alias Left Eye was approaching the thick yellow smoke steadily. Makeshift mask were wrapped around their lower faces in order to keep the gas from entering their system and cause hallucinations. Marilee, of course, had the black cloth with crossed chains draped over her nose and mouth securely as well.

She had been exposed to the strange substance of mind altering side effects when inhaled and she would rather not have it playing tricks on her subconscious again. The leftovers of burned memories functioned like a drug, she figured, letting the consumer re-experience moments they valued most. Though, often it were those that one was not able to experience again. Be it a simple interaction with the loved ones who had passed away, or something that had always brought joy but was now unreachable due to different circumstances.

It was a wicked game in one's head that would keep the weak ones captured as they would rather stay unter the substance's influence rather than being deprived from it once more and going back to the harsh reality.

The last time Marilee had seen Left Eye, he himself had fallen victim to the gas's intriguing hallucinations. She just hoped that he had been able to stay clean of it at this point.

"Make sure you don't inhale a single breath of this thing." Marilee warned once more, making sure that the member's mask's sat tightly and secured on their faces. She wouldn't want to deal with the aftermath if any of them was to get high on the smog.

"How do you know Left Eye?" Hongjoong then asked, his voice muffled through the fabric covering his mouth as he walked side by side with the female.

"I knew his daughter." she stated, her voice strained at the memory as a small moment of silence passed between the group. "She died in a car accident. After her death, Left Eye was nothing like the man I knew his as before. The last time I saw him, he was still convinced it was his fault that she passed away."

Yunho sucked in a breath, his hands clenching at his sides as his eyes bore into the female's back. The story was familiar — too familiar, he realized.

It reminded him of his brother.

The brother that was ripped from his life so tragically and unnecessary early. Yunho had still difficulties dealing with his emotions after the older was hit by a car just as the daughter of Left Eye was. He, as well, was not free from the inner demons that told him he was at fault for everything that happened and it made him furious.

His knuckles bled white as his jaw went taut, fueling the memories drowning him at that very moment.

However, he stayed silent.

He had to keep his feelings at bay, keeping it to himself as it was neither the time nor the place to throw a tantrum because of his rent up frustration, he decided.

Some minutes later, a lifeless tree came into view. It's branched drained from leafs and life as they swayed with the breeze. In front of it laid a trunk not thicker than the one of the tree behind and on top sat a figure clad in countless layers of ragged clothing.

"That's him." Marilee announced, not needing more than a second to identify the elder. His tan skin was wrinkled and scarred and his grey hair was knotted and tousled, framing his small face together with a beard. The pair of glasses that were propped up on the bride of his nose remained the same as Marilee remembered as well, with the left glass cracked, making it rather difficult to see through.

He embodied the miserable state of his mind.

At his side, discarded on the ground, laid a bag as tattered as the clothes he wore — old and dirty how it seemed, as multiple items were scattered around it.

"Looks dreary." Was all Seonghwa muttered at the sight. He was not wrong though, the others found.

They were standing right in the yellow smoke at that point, their eyes squinting at the stinging sensation of its gaseous body. Coming to halt only a few steps away from the old man, they could hear his distant mumbles and see the light movement of his head. Differing from the group of five, he had nothing to shield himself from the hallucination and it appeared as if it was just what he intended.

"Left Eye." Marilee called out, her voice as solid as ever, piercing right through the gloomy aura surrounding them and loud enough to catch the man's attention despite his mind being in completely different places.

His head spun up towards the group, mouth going slack as his clouded iris stared right through them. It was a sad sight, Marilee thought, seeing the once cheerful man sitting all alone with his eyes as hazy as his mind.

"Ah," Left Eye hummed, a shaky breath escaping his busted lips, "Somi," his raspy voice sounded as if he was deprived of water for days on end already, "is that you?"

Marilee sucked in a breath at the mention of the name. His daughter's name. And Left Eye looked at her as if she was the one bearing it.

He stood up, staggering a bit with the motion as his shaky arms reached out for Marilee. Before he could even as much as come a centimeter closer, Mingi had already pulled her back and stepped in between the two — his eyes sharp and trained onto the certifiable man.

Marilee peeked around the taller's shoulder, seeing as Left Eye halted in his steps and furrowed his brows, "Left Eye," the brunette tried again, gaining his attention once more, "I'm Marilee, not Somi."

"Marilee?" He muttered, his eyes wandering as if blinded, "Ah, Marilee." Recognition laid in his tone and yet the disappointment was not to be missed as the hope within him was taken away with the bypassing winds again.

"Then where is Somi?" He questioned, his head turning left and right as his boots shuffled over the sand. "She was just here. Where is she?" His voice was dazed but became louder with ever word. He was getting desperate, mad even, they realized. The old man was frantically calling out for his daughter, almost stumbling over with his rushed movements when he swirled around on spot.

The group scattered a bit away, unsure of the man's antics and what it could result in. One look at his expression was enough to see how his blood boiled with anger and how he stepped dangerously close to the edge of his nerves before he would completely lose it.

"We should get him out of the fog." Hongjoong said, following Left Eye's every move as the rest nodded without hesitation.

It was not as easily done as said though. Because only a second later, Left Eye pulled something from beneath the items surrounding his baggage — a bat, they noticed with shock, with nails embedded into the wood, as he was already charging at the group.