Treasures of The Damned

8. Songbird

I'm gonna double update this week! This update today, and Friday's normal update as well! I hope you enjoy it!

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Briar slowly looked around, groaning softly as she settled a hand on the back of her head. She could feel her heartbeat there, and dull pain.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A deep, slightly forced voice spoke out in the darkness in front of her.

It forced her to snap her head up, and look around in panic before another hissed cry escaped her lips at the dizziness that settled in her eyes.

She closed her eyes once more, waiting for the feeling to go away. When it finally did, she opened her eyes again and slowly looked around the room.

A lantern was sitting in the middle of the room, barely lighting the things around them up.

As her eyes shifted to one side, she could see the Yeosang animatronic, slouched over and still powered down. With its eyes closed, it looked oddly peaceful.

Briar then looked back in front of her, where sitting, was her father. She took a harsh breath, ready to fight and protect herself once more before she realized he was looking at her with fondness in his eyes.

"Oh, my sweet Songbird..." he muttered softly. "I would never do anything to hurt you..." his voice was genuine enough that Briar slowly sat up.

"D-Dad...?" She muttered softly, a confused look in her eyes as she looked at the man in front of her. "I don't- I don't understand."

"None of us were finished with our lives when we were killed. So-...our souls were kinda just out there in the world. When they built this place. Well...they were technically like our bodies. So we became alive again. In animatronics." Mingi started to explain to his daughter gently.

"So we're here now. And we can live forever in these bodies. As long as they have electricity-...and aren't broken apart." He said softly and hummed.

"Wait but-...but what about Papa...?" Briar asked softly after a few moments, trying to take in all the information she was handed.

"Your father-..." Mingi paused for a few moments. "I don't know...what happened to his soul...after the argument..." He whispered. Suddenly, Briar was thrown back into that day.

Her fathers didn't usually argue, but they had that day. Mingi's mother was starting to backtalk Logan again, and as per usual, Mingi didn't defend Logan to his mother.

Logan had gotten tired of it, and talked to Mingi about it, but their conversation became a full-on argument, even as they went to Yeosang's house for a birthday party.

Briar was sitting in the backseat, listening to Mingi and Logan go back and forth in their argument, not saying anything else as she just listened.

Because of their argument, Mingi, who have been driving, missed a red light and sped through it. A semi hit the front of their car, sending them spinning into the side of another semi.

She remembered the looks of horror on her dad's face when they realized what was happening. Then, they'd slammed into the second semi, where they stopped and the car fell eerily still.

Logan and Mingi were both leaning to the side, and it looked-...peaceful, almost as if Logan was just resting his eyes with his head on Mingi's shoulder.

Then, the next minutes were chaos. Everything was so overwhelming to her then, and now she understood why. There had been so many cops, questioning everyone who saw what had happened.

There were also four ambulances called, one for the first semi-driver, one for Logan, one for Mingi, and one for Brair.

"Miss. Song...? Briar...?" She could still hear the voice of the nice cop who had stayed beside her and talked her through everything. "I'm sorry honey, but both your dads died on impact...your father's friend is coming to pick you up now..."

Then, she didn't remember anything else. Well...not really. She has been whisked away from everything, watching both her fathers get zipped up into body bags, to take to the funeral home.

Her Uncle, she remembered it was Hongjoong who had been called, coming to pick her up and rush her away.

When they'd gotten to Yeosang's house, she didn't understand. Everyone was crying...had something bad happened?

It had taken her a while to get out of the initial shock of the accident, but then she understood. She knew, after a few days that she wasn't allowed to go home.

Her parents were dead. Her loving, always caring parents were dead. And there was nothing she could have done about it. The doctors told her that the only reason she'd survived was because of the chip implanted in her brain. If it hadn't been there. She would have met the same fate as Logan and Mingi.

She blinked, shaking herself out of the same memory that had given her nightmares for years before she looked back up at her father. "The argument...the one that cost you your life."

A small glitch in the voice box, almost something like a hum, escaped Mingi's lips before he nodded his head. "Yes. And I regret it every day. But we have much more to talk about."

Before Mingi could say anything else though, a small whir came from the side of the room, before a small, robotic voice hummed. "Powering On."

Moments later, Briar was covered up in a long jacket, hidden from everything, and Mingi was standing, closing the lantern, now the only light in the room his glowing eyes.

"Stay hidden." He hissed softly, not saying anything else as he stood. The fabric of the jacket was slightly transparent and she was able to look through it to see Yeosang powering up and looking around with a confused look in his eyes.

"Mingi? What the hell happened? Where did the girl go?" He asked softly, rubbing his neck slightly at the uncomfortable position he'd been sitting in.

"I couldn't tell you, Hyung. She wasn't here when I came in here to search for you. I'd remembered you'd said that you wanted to check all the mini-storage spaces."

Yeosang slowly nodded his head and pressed them together. "Alright...well because of whatever happened. I need a recharge." He muttered softly. "Go back to finding the stupid human. When we find her. Remember what we need to do." He snapped softly, standing up.

Mingi slowly nodded his head, glancing at the 'mound' of jackets for a few moments. "Yep-...right."

"Look, Mingi. I know you don't like it, but we have to. It's the only way. If those who stay after hours got out and told the world. We wouldn't be able to do this anymore. We've got to kill them."