Black Pearl
Characters - Luhan/Sehun/EXO members
Genre - Dark/Apocalypse!AU/Psychological.
Rating - PG-13
Warning - Suicidal thoughts
Length - 1500+
----------
Beautiful,
So I'll cut myself with diamonds
Gorgeous,
So I'll hang myself with pearls
Even death is not escape
from love
The only thing that can save Luhan is Sehun. but Sehun is the one thing that has already destroyed him.
---------
Black Pearl
Like the gentle flecks of misty ash around them cascading to the ground, Sehun's body fell limp against Luhan's. "I've got you" Luhan whispered slowly into his ear as his head nuzzled into his neck. He caressed Sehun's hair softly.
"I've got you" he whispered gently.
--
"Sehun!" Luhan exclaimed as soon as he got up. the aforementioned looked up from the cradle pendulum towards Luhan. "You are awake" he said emotionlessly. Luhan nodded slowly. His head still hurt a lot. Sehun broke into a small smile.
"Sehun, where are we? Where is everyone?" he asked groggily. "We are safe hyung" Sehun said absentmindedly.
"We are safe for now."
--
Luhan frowned as Sehun finished solving the rubix cube in his hand. Sehun had never managed that feat before. Sehun saw Luhan looking. He sighed and got up.
"Sehun, wait!" Luhan panicked. He didn't want the younger one to go away just yet. Ever since he had woken up, the younger boy had just remained awfully quiet. He hadn't talked to Luhan at all. And Luhan felt alone and confused in this strange place. This house wasn't run down by weapons yet, but it might as well have been. Silence had been more suffocating than any dangerous chemical ever could.
"Don't leave" he whispered quietly as Sehun left once again.
--
"Chanyeol has an idea. He says he can get us out of here" Luhan told Sehun. "And what is that?" Sehun asked, his tone neutral. "They have a plan. A plan to break out of this... facility. He is pretty sure it will work" Luhan told him quietly. They were in their own room but they knew better. The walls had eyes and ears.
"Don't do it" Sehun said sharply. "But you don't even know the idea yet!" Luhan protested. "I know enough to know it won't work" Sehun told him. Luhan stared at the younger one.
"Don't you want to leave this place?" Luhan asked him. "There is only one escape from this hellhole" Sehun said darkly. "And that is death" he affirmed. Luhan's fist clenched and he had to use a lot of mental restraint to stop him from tackling the boy.
"Chanyeol's plans will work. Just you wait and watch" Luhan said crossly. Sehun laughed mirthlessly. "And what are you going to do? Stow away on one of the medi-copters? Use DO's ability to scale the boundary walls?" he asked mockingly. Luhan's jaw dropped. How did Sehun know about DO's part in the plan?
"I have waited and watched" Sehun said, almost to himself. He stopped and for a moment it looked like he wouldn’t continue. But he did speak again “I waited and watched alright. I was there when Kai and Chen...” He stopped midway. He looked towards Luhan. Luhan saw something very painful flash by in those deep brown chocolate orbs. Suddenly he regretted ever bringing up this topic.
“You want to know what happened here before? Do you want to know why each and every escape plan fails? Then go ask Yixing. But I would warn you not to trust him”
--
"Sehun, you can't run away from me."
“Sehun, speak to me please”
“Sehun stop!”
Luhan finally cried out in frustration. Sehun looked up smoothly from the rubix cube he had solved yet again.
“Where are they? Where is everyone? Where are the people Sehun? Where is everyone?” he asked. He was tired. Tired of being scared. Of being jumpy and having to look over his shoulder every time he made a move. But most of all he was tired of stepping around on eggshells around the person he trusted the most and cared about.
“The people... they were lost in an accident” Sehun began slowly. He turned away from Luhan and started playing with the pendulum set on the table instead. “It all happened in the flash of an eye. One moment we were cooped up in the facility. The next there was chaos. An explosion took place. I didn’t stop to think. I took you and ran. And before I knew it, we were here.”
“Where are the others? Did they escape too?” Luhan asked. “I know that Xiumin and Baekhyun did. But they wouldn’t have lasted long. Baekhyun had already gone blind and Xiumin’s powers were weakening” Sehun said. He closed his eyes. The beads swung to and fro occasionally colliding with his fingers.
“This will be a kinder death” Xiumin asserted. He closed his eyes and placed his hands firmly on the gunpoint
“I’m sorry” he whispered and pulled the trigger.
“I don’t know where they are” Sehun concluded with more force than necessary. “But what about Tao and Kris?” Luhan asked. The eight of them had been the last experiments. With Xiumin and Baekhyun missing and Chanyeol and Kyungsoo dead before the events even began, Kris and Tao would be the only ones left of their kind. They had to find them. They needed to stick together. They had to survive this cold war out.
Sehun gave Luhan a last guilty look before finally leaving the room. The last bead of the pendulum hung in the air. Poised and ready to begin oscillating again. But the shiny black bead wouldn’t fall down. It hung mid air, as if to mock Luhan’s minimal understanding of the situation. Luhan gulped when he realised the exact reason why.
It wasn’t stopped in space, but in time.
---
Luhan got into the bed he shared with Sehun. Sehun looked at him with questioning eyes.
“You were right. Yixing didn’t tell me anything” Luhan told him silently. “I warned you.” Sehun let the statement linger in the air. Luhan turned over to the other side. He let his shame eat him up slowly. Facing Sehun would only make it worse.
“Did you know that Yixing used to be one of us?” Sehun asked quietly. “That’s not possible” Luhan said sitting up and turning to face Sehun. Sehun nodded as he got up too. “He was a successful experiment. But he developed the wrong kind of powers” Sehun told him. Luhan nodded. It was possible to acquire a power which ultimately faded away or wasted the human body away. He wasn’t a useful weapon, so he had been utilized in other ways.
“He was allowed to be set free in return of two more experiments.”
“Kai and Chen” Luhan said with a gasp. He knew the story now. Kris had relayed the rumours and they had pieced bits and pieces together. Kai and Chen had planned an escape from the facility before. But they had been killed in the process. But Sehun shook his head.
“He was going to be set free if he gave up Suho and Chen. The two of them were the most powerful before Tao came. They were becoming threats to the higher ups” Sehun told Luhan. “And so they were silenced” Luhan finished for him. Sehun nodded.
“So Yixing sold them out? And what happened to Suho? Who was he? Was he killed too?” Luhan asked. “Kai loved Suho like his elder brother. Suho had basically adopted Kai of the streets and raised him. When Kai got wind of the plan, he went in Suho’s place instead” Sehun said silently. He closed his eyes for a moment of silence in remembrance of a fallen comrade. No, a fallen friend.
“But what happened to Suho?” Luhan asked. “I... I killed him” Sehun confessed. Luhan’s eyes widened. “That is a sick joke Sehun” Luhan spat out in disgust. How could Sehun even... But Sehun was strong. He had seen it in ability development training. Sehun just needed a flick of his wrist to create a tornado at his whim. And Luhan was sure he had more hidden potential.
“Suho slowly went mad after losing Kai. It was a mercy death. It had to be done. The rest of you were created to fulfil their gaps” Sehun said turning away from Luhan. “It had to be done” Sehun repeated himself. Luhan didn’t ask any more questions and Sehun fell asleep. Yixing’s cold glare and Suho’s last pleading look haunting him.
---
“So it’s just us now” Luhan said, taking a sip of his coffee. It tasted weird but it tasted much better than the tea leaves which now lay safely in the garbage bin. It was the same with all kinds of food. Everything had begun to rot. The world was dying and he was sure they were next.
“Maybe we are” Sehun mused humourlessly. “Everything comes to an end” Luhan shrugged. “Everything does” Sehun agreed.
“But maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll be stuck in limbo like Tao.” Sehun spoke up. “How are you so sure it’s Tao causing all of this?” Luhan said gesturing to his surroundings. It had not only been the cradle pendulum. Every object in this world was stuck in time. An unseen force kept them from moving ahead. A stalemate of sorts. A limbo. “It’s my best guess. Tao is the most powerful one among us. He could cause this” Sehun said with a shrug. Luhan drank the remainder of the coffee silently.
“What if we are dying. What then?” Sehun asked. “It’s not like we have a choice” Luhan snorted. Sehun smirked. Luhan rolled his eyes. “But what if we were?” Sehun egged him on. “I guess I’d see you in heaven then” Luhan said, putting his cup away. “I don’t think I’ll be going to heaven” Sehun admitted after a moment of thought. “I have taken one too many lives.”
“So you really were a trained assassin before the found you?” Luhan asked. Sehun nodded. “How many people did you kill?” he asked, mulling over this information. “Seventeen before they caught me” Sehun replied noncommittally. Luhan gulped. He had barely even killed cockroaches before.
“I don’t think I am going to heaven” Sehun shrugged. Luhan just nodded and then went to his room to fall asleep again.
“Would you do it if I asked you to?” Luhan asked. He had been counting tally marks. It had been fifteen days since he had woken up. Sixteen since Sehun’s. “You’re too beautiful to be killed Luhan” Sehun said, through half lidded eyes. Luhan knew enough now not to mistake it as inattentiveness on the other’s part. Sehun was always attentive. Always listening.
It was one of the many tell tale signs he had missed.
“Then kill me in an equally glamorous way” Luhan joked. “Cut me with diamonds or hang me up with pearls.” Sehun opened one of his eyes as Luhan chuckled bitterly at his jokes. Sehun got up and came towards the older man. He looked deeply into his eyes as he traced a finger over his neckline. Luhan’s adam apple bobbed up and down in nervousness.
“You’re too precious for pearls or diamonds” he concluded. Luhan let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. He looked towards Sehun with the intention of deciphering his last statement. But he came up with nothing.
“What if I die first?” Sehun asked him. “You can’t. I’m older than you” Luhan pointed out. “People die all the time” Sehun shrugged. “Well, in that case. I would follow you. I don’t want to stay alone on this planet stuck in time forever. I’d kill myself” Luhan spoke up. “With diamonds and pearls?” Sehun asked with a wry grin. “With diamonds and pearls” Luhan agreed.
---
Luhan woke up to a cold room with a tik tok sound. Something felt wrong. Horribly wrong.
The pearls were oscillating.
Could this mean?
Luhan grabbed the pearls, yanking some of them off the strings. Taking them by the fistful, Luhan ran out of his room to find Sehun. He wasn’t in the living room. Or the kitchen. It was either the gardens or the terrace. The terrace floor was unstable. A part of it had fallen into one of the rooms on the other side of the little cottage they had been residing in for the past four months.
But it was still at a height. It was a vantage point. Sehun would prefer those. Luhan mentally chided himself for basing his decision of on a movie notion rather than sound reasoning. But he fumbled his way to the roof.
“You’ve seen it too” Sehun concluded, looking at Luhan’s frantic face. Luhan nodded. “Come on. I have something to show you” sehun said, bringing Luhan to the railing. At first he couldn’t see it. But then he focused and the gathering black clouds came into view.
“What is that?” Luhan asked. “Toxic gas clouds, made of a combination of asphyxiants. That is how the facility planned to eradicate most of the population of this world. They mixed it in with sprays that helped induce rains and it accumulated into the natural water cycle” Sehun explained. “how can clouds be suffocating?” Luhan asked confused. “They can be, in large numbers. No one saw it coming. You wouldn’t suspect an overly cloudy day would you?” Sehun asked. “Before they knew it, the gases were settling down due to their own weight driving the oxygen over head. Reduction in oxygen plus prolonged exposure crippled many before finally finishing them off.”
“What do we do now?” Luhan asked. Sehun turned towards him. “We can’t run. There’s no place left to go to. There is no one left to go to” Sehun said quietly. “So we give up?” Luhan asked, even though he already knew the answer to that question. “We never ran in the first place” Sehun told him with a smile.
“But won’t it hurt?” Luhan asked childishly. Sehun shook his head. He pulled out little a little blade encrusted with pearls on the hilt. Luhan smiled. “Go ahead” he whispered closing his eyes. Sehun nodded. He thrust the blade into Luhan’s chest and the older man smiled as he tumbled backwards.
As soon as Luhan fell, Sehun’s body collapsed too. Luhan caught him in his arms. His telekinetic ability finally gave out. The world around them shook out of limbo. “I’ve got you” Luhan whispered with a gentle smile before closing his eyes. He stroked Sehun’s hair. He was finally joining him in death. Something he should have done nearly seventeen days ago when Sehun died.
---
“So you’re telling me that Luhan kept Sehun’s body and manipulated it using his ability?” Tao clarified. Yixing nodded. It was the effect of limbo. You couldn’t tell dream from real. Luhan hadn’t been able to tell Sehun had died seventeen days ago, but kept his body to assure himself he hadn’t. “but... why?” Tao asked finally. “A suicide pact they apparently made during one of their games. If one of them dies the other would follow immediately. They would die only at the hands of each other. But Sehun died of asphyxiation first.” Yixing told Tao quietly. “It was slow and painful, sending Luhan into trauma which he couldn’t deal with. So he ultimately manipulated Sehun’s body into killing him, thus completing the pact.”
“Why didn’t you notice it before? That Luhan was slowing losing it?” Tao asked accusatorily. “I was busy. I couldn’t tell the markers till it was too late” Yixing said guiltily. “The damage has already been done. I’m very sorry” Yixing apologized. “Being apologetic won’t bring them back” Tao snapped. Yixing nodded and stood up.
“If it helps, Luhan died in peace with the person he wanted and the way he wanted to” Yixing said. He placed a cradle pendulum of black pearls in front of Tao. Tao sighed as Yixing left. Even death wasn’t an escape from love.
Tao counted mentally. Along with Chen, Kai, Suho, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Xiumin and those two, they had lost nine men to the madness corrupting their abilities. There were only three of them left in the facility. The countdown was nearing an end. He didn't care what Kris said.
It was time.
Something had to be done to stop the madness. Hell would freeze over before Tao let it engulf Kris and Yixing too.
---
A/N -
I don't even know what this is. But if you had the patience to read till here then I formally bend all the way to 150 degrees and apologize. As for the last part, go read the prologue. Either tilt your screens back or highlight selection. ;) (Doesn't work on phone. The lines are already visible.)
Genre - Dark/Apocalypse!AU/Psychological.
Rating - PG-13
Warning - Suicidal thoughts
Length - 1500+
----------
Beautiful,
So I'll cut myself with diamonds
Gorgeous,
So I'll hang myself with pearls
Even death is not escape
from love
The only thing that can save Luhan is Sehun. but Sehun is the one thing that has already destroyed him.
---------
Black Pearl
Like the gentle flecks of misty ash around them cascading to the ground, Sehun's body fell limp against Luhan's. "I've got you" Luhan whispered slowly into his ear as his head nuzzled into his neck. He caressed Sehun's hair softly.
"I've got you" he whispered gently.
--
"Sehun!" Luhan exclaimed as soon as he got up. the aforementioned looked up from the cradle pendulum towards Luhan. "You are awake" he said emotionlessly. Luhan nodded slowly. His head still hurt a lot. Sehun broke into a small smile.
"Sehun, where are we? Where is everyone?" he asked groggily. "We are safe hyung" Sehun said absentmindedly.
"We are safe for now."
--
Luhan frowned as Sehun finished solving the rubix cube in his hand. Sehun had never managed that feat before. Sehun saw Luhan looking. He sighed and got up.
"Sehun, wait!" Luhan panicked. He didn't want the younger one to go away just yet. Ever since he had woken up, the younger boy had just remained awfully quiet. He hadn't talked to Luhan at all. And Luhan felt alone and confused in this strange place. This house wasn't run down by weapons yet, but it might as well have been. Silence had been more suffocating than any dangerous chemical ever could.
"Don't leave" he whispered quietly as Sehun left once again.
--
"Chanyeol has an idea. He says he can get us out of here" Luhan told Sehun. "And what is that?" Sehun asked, his tone neutral. "They have a plan. A plan to break out of this... facility. He is pretty sure it will work" Luhan told him quietly. They were in their own room but they knew better. The walls had eyes and ears.
"Don't do it" Sehun said sharply. "But you don't even know the idea yet!" Luhan protested. "I know enough to know it won't work" Sehun told him. Luhan stared at the younger one.
"Don't you want to leave this place?" Luhan asked him. "There is only one escape from this hellhole" Sehun said darkly. "And that is death" he affirmed. Luhan's fist clenched and he had to use a lot of mental restraint to stop him from tackling the boy.
"Chanyeol's plans will work. Just you wait and watch" Luhan said crossly. Sehun laughed mirthlessly. "And what are you going to do? Stow away on one of the medi-copters? Use DO's ability to scale the boundary walls?" he asked mockingly. Luhan's jaw dropped. How did Sehun know about DO's part in the plan?
"I have waited and watched" Sehun said, almost to himself. He stopped and for a moment it looked like he wouldn’t continue. But he did speak again “I waited and watched alright. I was there when Kai and Chen...” He stopped midway. He looked towards Luhan. Luhan saw something very painful flash by in those deep brown chocolate orbs. Suddenly he regretted ever bringing up this topic.
“You want to know what happened here before? Do you want to know why each and every escape plan fails? Then go ask Yixing. But I would warn you not to trust him”
--
"Sehun, you can't run away from me."
“Sehun, speak to me please”
“Sehun stop!”
Luhan finally cried out in frustration. Sehun looked up smoothly from the rubix cube he had solved yet again.
“Where are they? Where is everyone? Where are the people Sehun? Where is everyone?” he asked. He was tired. Tired of being scared. Of being jumpy and having to look over his shoulder every time he made a move. But most of all he was tired of stepping around on eggshells around the person he trusted the most and cared about.
“The people... they were lost in an accident” Sehun began slowly. He turned away from Luhan and started playing with the pendulum set on the table instead. “It all happened in the flash of an eye. One moment we were cooped up in the facility. The next there was chaos. An explosion took place. I didn’t stop to think. I took you and ran. And before I knew it, we were here.”
“Where are the others? Did they escape too?” Luhan asked. “I know that Xiumin and Baekhyun did. But they wouldn’t have lasted long. Baekhyun had already gone blind and Xiumin’s powers were weakening” Sehun said. He closed his eyes. The beads swung to and fro occasionally colliding with his fingers.
“This will be a kinder death” Xiumin asserted. He closed his eyes and placed his hands firmly on the gunpoint
“I’m sorry” he whispered and pulled the trigger.
“I don’t know where they are” Sehun concluded with more force than necessary. “But what about Tao and Kris?” Luhan asked. The eight of them had been the last experiments. With Xiumin and Baekhyun missing and Chanyeol and Kyungsoo dead before the events even began, Kris and Tao would be the only ones left of their kind. They had to find them. They needed to stick together. They had to survive this cold war out.
Sehun gave Luhan a last guilty look before finally leaving the room. The last bead of the pendulum hung in the air. Poised and ready to begin oscillating again. But the shiny black bead wouldn’t fall down. It hung mid air, as if to mock Luhan’s minimal understanding of the situation. Luhan gulped when he realised the exact reason why.
It wasn’t stopped in space, but in time.
---
Luhan got into the bed he shared with Sehun. Sehun looked at him with questioning eyes.
“You were right. Yixing didn’t tell me anything” Luhan told him silently. “I warned you.” Sehun let the statement linger in the air. Luhan turned over to the other side. He let his shame eat him up slowly. Facing Sehun would only make it worse.
“Did you know that Yixing used to be one of us?” Sehun asked quietly. “That’s not possible” Luhan said sitting up and turning to face Sehun. Sehun nodded as he got up too. “He was a successful experiment. But he developed the wrong kind of powers” Sehun told him. Luhan nodded. It was possible to acquire a power which ultimately faded away or wasted the human body away. He wasn’t a useful weapon, so he had been utilized in other ways.
“He was allowed to be set free in return of two more experiments.”
“Kai and Chen” Luhan said with a gasp. He knew the story now. Kris had relayed the rumours and they had pieced bits and pieces together. Kai and Chen had planned an escape from the facility before. But they had been killed in the process. But Sehun shook his head.
“He was going to be set free if he gave up Suho and Chen. The two of them were the most powerful before Tao came. They were becoming threats to the higher ups” Sehun told Luhan. “And so they were silenced” Luhan finished for him. Sehun nodded.
“So Yixing sold them out? And what happened to Suho? Who was he? Was he killed too?” Luhan asked. “Kai loved Suho like his elder brother. Suho had basically adopted Kai of the streets and raised him. When Kai got wind of the plan, he went in Suho’s place instead” Sehun said silently. He closed his eyes for a moment of silence in remembrance of a fallen comrade. No, a fallen friend.
“But what happened to Suho?” Luhan asked. “I... I killed him” Sehun confessed. Luhan’s eyes widened. “That is a sick joke Sehun” Luhan spat out in disgust. How could Sehun even... But Sehun was strong. He had seen it in ability development training. Sehun just needed a flick of his wrist to create a tornado at his whim. And Luhan was sure he had more hidden potential.
“Suho slowly went mad after losing Kai. It was a mercy death. It had to be done. The rest of you were created to fulfil their gaps” Sehun said turning away from Luhan. “It had to be done” Sehun repeated himself. Luhan didn’t ask any more questions and Sehun fell asleep. Yixing’s cold glare and Suho’s last pleading look haunting him.
---
“So it’s just us now” Luhan said, taking a sip of his coffee. It tasted weird but it tasted much better than the tea leaves which now lay safely in the garbage bin. It was the same with all kinds of food. Everything had begun to rot. The world was dying and he was sure they were next.
“Maybe we are” Sehun mused humourlessly. “Everything comes to an end” Luhan shrugged. “Everything does” Sehun agreed.
“But maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll be stuck in limbo like Tao.” Sehun spoke up. “How are you so sure it’s Tao causing all of this?” Luhan said gesturing to his surroundings. It had not only been the cradle pendulum. Every object in this world was stuck in time. An unseen force kept them from moving ahead. A stalemate of sorts. A limbo. “It’s my best guess. Tao is the most powerful one among us. He could cause this” Sehun said with a shrug. Luhan drank the remainder of the coffee silently.
“What if we are dying. What then?” Sehun asked. “It’s not like we have a choice” Luhan snorted. Sehun smirked. Luhan rolled his eyes. “But what if we were?” Sehun egged him on. “I guess I’d see you in heaven then” Luhan said, putting his cup away. “I don’t think I’ll be going to heaven” Sehun admitted after a moment of thought. “I have taken one too many lives.”
“So you really were a trained assassin before the found you?” Luhan asked. Sehun nodded. “How many people did you kill?” he asked, mulling over this information. “Seventeen before they caught me” Sehun replied noncommittally. Luhan gulped. He had barely even killed cockroaches before.
“I don’t think I am going to heaven” Sehun shrugged. Luhan just nodded and then went to his room to fall asleep again.
“Would you do it if I asked you to?” Luhan asked. He had been counting tally marks. It had been fifteen days since he had woken up. Sixteen since Sehun’s. “You’re too beautiful to be killed Luhan” Sehun said, through half lidded eyes. Luhan knew enough now not to mistake it as inattentiveness on the other’s part. Sehun was always attentive. Always listening.
It was one of the many tell tale signs he had missed.
“Then kill me in an equally glamorous way” Luhan joked. “Cut me with diamonds or hang me up with pearls.” Sehun opened one of his eyes as Luhan chuckled bitterly at his jokes. Sehun got up and came towards the older man. He looked deeply into his eyes as he traced a finger over his neckline. Luhan’s adam apple bobbed up and down in nervousness.
“You’re too precious for pearls or diamonds” he concluded. Luhan let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. He looked towards Sehun with the intention of deciphering his last statement. But he came up with nothing.
“What if I die first?” Sehun asked him. “You can’t. I’m older than you” Luhan pointed out. “People die all the time” Sehun shrugged. “Well, in that case. I would follow you. I don’t want to stay alone on this planet stuck in time forever. I’d kill myself” Luhan spoke up. “With diamonds and pearls?” Sehun asked with a wry grin. “With diamonds and pearls” Luhan agreed.
---
Luhan woke up to a cold room with a tik tok sound. Something felt wrong. Horribly wrong.
The pearls were oscillating.
Could this mean?
Luhan grabbed the pearls, yanking some of them off the strings. Taking them by the fistful, Luhan ran out of his room to find Sehun. He wasn’t in the living room. Or the kitchen. It was either the gardens or the terrace. The terrace floor was unstable. A part of it had fallen into one of the rooms on the other side of the little cottage they had been residing in for the past four months.
But it was still at a height. It was a vantage point. Sehun would prefer those. Luhan mentally chided himself for basing his decision of on a movie notion rather than sound reasoning. But he fumbled his way to the roof.
“You’ve seen it too” Sehun concluded, looking at Luhan’s frantic face. Luhan nodded. “Come on. I have something to show you” sehun said, bringing Luhan to the railing. At first he couldn’t see it. But then he focused and the gathering black clouds came into view.
“What is that?” Luhan asked. “Toxic gas clouds, made of a combination of asphyxiants. That is how the facility planned to eradicate most of the population of this world. They mixed it in with sprays that helped induce rains and it accumulated into the natural water cycle” Sehun explained. “how can clouds be suffocating?” Luhan asked confused. “They can be, in large numbers. No one saw it coming. You wouldn’t suspect an overly cloudy day would you?” Sehun asked. “Before they knew it, the gases were settling down due to their own weight driving the oxygen over head. Reduction in oxygen plus prolonged exposure crippled many before finally finishing them off.”
“What do we do now?” Luhan asked. Sehun turned towards him. “We can’t run. There’s no place left to go to. There is no one left to go to” Sehun said quietly. “So we give up?” Luhan asked, even though he already knew the answer to that question. “We never ran in the first place” Sehun told him with a smile.
“But won’t it hurt?” Luhan asked childishly. Sehun shook his head. He pulled out little a little blade encrusted with pearls on the hilt. Luhan smiled. “Go ahead” he whispered closing his eyes. Sehun nodded. He thrust the blade into Luhan’s chest and the older man smiled as he tumbled backwards.
As soon as Luhan fell, Sehun’s body collapsed too. Luhan caught him in his arms. His telekinetic ability finally gave out. The world around them shook out of limbo. “I’ve got you” Luhan whispered with a gentle smile before closing his eyes. He stroked Sehun’s hair. He was finally joining him in death. Something he should have done nearly seventeen days ago when Sehun died.
---
“So you’re telling me that Luhan kept Sehun’s body and manipulated it using his ability?” Tao clarified. Yixing nodded. It was the effect of limbo. You couldn’t tell dream from real. Luhan hadn’t been able to tell Sehun had died seventeen days ago, but kept his body to assure himself he hadn’t. “but... why?” Tao asked finally. “A suicide pact they apparently made during one of their games. If one of them dies the other would follow immediately. They would die only at the hands of each other. But Sehun died of asphyxiation first.” Yixing told Tao quietly. “It was slow and painful, sending Luhan into trauma which he couldn’t deal with. So he ultimately manipulated Sehun’s body into killing him, thus completing the pact.”
“Why didn’t you notice it before? That Luhan was slowing losing it?” Tao asked accusatorily. “I was busy. I couldn’t tell the markers till it was too late” Yixing said guiltily. “The damage has already been done. I’m very sorry” Yixing apologized. “Being apologetic won’t bring them back” Tao snapped. Yixing nodded and stood up.
“If it helps, Luhan died in peace with the person he wanted and the way he wanted to” Yixing said. He placed a cradle pendulum of black pearls in front of Tao. Tao sighed as Yixing left. Even death wasn’t an escape from love.
Tao counted mentally. Along with Chen, Kai, Suho, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Xiumin and those two, they had lost nine men to the madness corrupting their abilities. There were only three of them left in the facility. The countdown was nearing an end. He didn't care what Kris said.
It was time.
Something had to be done to stop the madness. Hell would freeze over before Tao let it engulf Kris and Yixing too.
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A/N -
I don't even know what this is. But if you had the patience to read till here then I formally bend all the way to 150 degrees and apologize. As for the last part, go read the prologue. Either tilt your screens back or highlight selection. ;) (Doesn't work on phone. The lines are already visible.)