[EXO] Skepsis (19/?)
Title: Skepsis
Authors:laverna11 and luster_stardust
Characters: All of EXO
Summary: As each of the 12 guardians discover their powers one by one, they start realizing that having powers is not as easy as it looks, and that there is a reason for everything.
Author's Note - Late, late update!!
Chapter 19
Tao looked at Kris who was looking outside his window. He had been quiet since they got into the jeep, and Tao had begun to worry. Kris wasn’t usually quiet, he always had something to say.
“Hey, you okay?”
Kris didn’t respond, he just kept looking outside the window. Tao sighed and looked around the jeep. Yixing and Sehun were talking to each other in soft tones, and Jongdae had fallen asleep in the front seat. Luhan, had his earphones plugged in, blocking out everything.
“I’m afraid.”
Tao head snapped back at the whisper. Kris was looking at him, with hooded eyes. Tao felt his cheeks heat up in response to the stare the other boy was giving him.
“Afraid of what?” Tao whispered back, keeping his eyes on the boy.
“Afraid of losing you.” his voice was so soft, but Tao heard him loud and clear. He felt his insides flip in joy, but at the same time the thought of what they were about to do, and the chances of something bad happening clouded his mind.
“Me too.”
Kris’s hand found Tao’s in the darkness, and grasped onto it tightly, while staring at him, neither of them wanting to break the eye contact.
“Guys, Jongin says we have to get out and walk from here. They can’t know we are coming, so its safer to go on foot that in this.” Luhan’s voice rang out, and Kris’s head turned to the front. He gave a brief nod, at Luhan who was looking at them through the rear view mirror.
“Okay then, let’s do this.”
They parked behind an abandoned building, where the other six were waiting for them. Kris’s hand never left Tao’s.
Before they could get out of the jeep, Kris pulled Tao back in, crushing him to his body, before bending his head so he could whisper in Tao’s ears.
“I love you. I’m going to fight for you.”
Tao felt his eyes begin to water as Kris let go of his hand and got out of the jeep, walking towards Jongin. Shaking, he got out and stood next to Sehun who glanced at him once before turning away.
“There’s a warehouse a couple of blocks from here. They are there. Listen before we go in there and smother them into pieces, we need to get the scientists out. We need them. So whatever you do, don’t burn the place, or freeze the place or whatever.”
“So we go in all together?”
“No we split up.”
Tao desperately hoped he would be in the same group at Kris, just so he could protect Kris. Make sure nothing happens to him, because Tao was far too in, to lost him now.
“Kris, Chanyeol, Jongdae and Minseok will go in through the left side.” Tao felt his heartbeat quicken knowing that Kris was not going to be with him, it made him feel nauseous. Clearly having the same thoughts, Kris looked at Tao worriedly. “Kyungsoo, Joonmyun, Yixing and I will go together and Luhan, Sehun, Baekhyun and Tao, you guys will be together going through the right.” There was a moment of silence, “We leave in ten minutes.”
-----
Baekhyun pushed Jongin against the hard wall, “Why are you separating us like this?”
Jongin looked at him knowingly, he knew the boy would react this way to being separated from Chanyeol. But he had to.
“If he was with you, both of you would be distracted. You think you would stop to think a second before jumping and saving Chanyeol if something happened to him? No. You would want to save him, no matter the consequences. You can’t do that with them.”
“So, if we are away from each other then who’s going to save him.”
“First I highly doubt Kris, Jongdae and Minseok will stand by and let something happen to Chanyeol. The only difference between them and you, is they don’t have that connection with him that you do. They will stop to think.” Jongin paused, allowing Baekhyun to take it in, at least the hand around his neck had been loosened. “Hey, listen. The fact that you guys are separated will only increase his and your will to survive so you can find your way back to each other.”
Baekhyun nodded at Jongin, giving him a soft smile. “What about you and Kyungsoo? Sehun and Luhan?”
“I won’t be with them, I have to figure out a way out of the warehouse so we can leave without too much commotion. Kyungsoo will survive for me. I will survive for him. Also technically Sehun and Luhan aren’t together yet. They just like each other but are too stupid to do anything. Specially Sehun. He needs to be hit with a rock on his head. He’s also very unpredictable, so he’s most likely out of all of us, to do something rash and stupid, thats going to end up getting him killed.”
“Luhan needs to go with him, to stop that from happening.”
Jongin nodded, smiling at Baekhyun. “Time to leave Baekkie.”
He walked passed Baekhyun, only to be pulled back again. Baekhyun wrapped his arms around the younger boy, pulling him close. Jongin although surprised, responded back, patting Baekhyun on his back.
“Be safe Jongin. I’ll see you soon.” Jongin nodded at him.
“You too. I’ll see you soon too.” With that the boy walked away to his group and Baekhyun walked towards Chanyeol, realising that it was the first time Jongin hadn’t said anything about being called by his actual name.
------
“Joonmyun, I know I don’t say this a lot, but I really love you man. You saved my life, and I’m forever grate---”
“Stop it Minseok. We aren’t going to die, you’ll see me again. Trust me after you’ve given me this speech and you see me again, you are going to be embarrassed that you told me these things.”
“You’re right. Just be careful”
“I will, you as well. Freeze those bastards.”
“Did you just swear?”
“Okay. Bye. I’m leaving now.”
Joonmyun walked towards his group smiling softly at his friend’s comment. He may look calm, but Joonmyun was stressing inside. He wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into. Those things, the Draquas or whatever Jongin calls them, aren’t to be taken lightly. Having firsthand experience, he knew that. What if he died during this fight? He couldn’t think like that, this was after all for a better purpose. His life would mean nothing compared to the lives that would be lost if they weren’t stopped.
“Hey, don’t worry all right, we got your back.” Joonmyun glanced to his side, at Yixing who smiled at him. He nodded and Yixing gave him a pat on the back walking towards to talk to the boy named Sehun.
-----
“Sehun, listen dude. I know I’ve known you for a short time an all. But still you’re like a brother to me okay, so I need you to be safe okay?”
“Yeah, you too.” Sehun replied back, patting the worried Yixing on the back, “I’ll be fine really. Don’t worry about me.”
Sehun was about to walk past, when Yixing grabbed his hand and pulled his head down, “No matter what, stay calm okay. Don’t let your anger get the best of you.”
Sehun’s eyes hardened as he looked at Yixing, “I’ll be fine.” He pulled himself away walking away from the shorter boy, “Hey Yixing.”
“Yeah?”
“I mean it, stay safe.” Yixing smiled at the boy, nodding his head gently before turning around and walking towards his group. But before he could go to them he had one thing left to do.
“Luhan?”
“Yeah?” Luhan turned to face him, halting his conversation with Jongdae.
“Can I talk to you for a second?”
They both walked to a side, and Yixing smiled at the boy, “Its about Sehun.”
“Oh?”
“I know you like him--”
“I don’t like him, I mean--”
“Please Luhan, we all know you like him. Anyway that’s not the point. Sehun tends to be very spontaneous, specially when he’s angry. He might do things, he will regret later. So, you need to keep him calm, no matter what don’t let him do anything rash okay?”
Luhan stared at Yixing for a while before nodding his head, “ I’ll take care of him.”
“Good, then I’ll see you later.”
-----
“What did he want?”
“Told me to take care of Sehun. Don’t. Don’t say anything.”
“All right, not gonna say anything.” Jongdae smirked at Luhan who sighed at him.
“What?”
“Why don’t you use your mojo on him and make him confess to you?”
“Jongdae” Luhan said, glaring at the younger, “I’m not going to use my ‘mojo’ on him for my benefit.”
“Always the good one Lulu.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Fine, moving on from your hopeless love life, did Jongin specify where we are going to meet everyone exactly?”
Luhan shrugged, “We meet when we meet.”
“How--”
“We meet when we find the scientists. That’s the room we need to find.”
“Amazing, how do we know which room they are in?”
“We don’t.”
“What? I’m sorry let me get this straight, we have to find these two people who are locked up in a room. A room in this huge old piece of a building, which could I don’t know have around 100 different rooms?”
“Uhuh.”
“And we don’t actually know what this room looks like.”
“Yeah.”
“Then how on earth will we find it?”
“It’s on the second floor. So we get there separately and then find it.”
“And how do you propose we find it? Knock on each door and say “hello, is anybody in there?” “
“Very funny, I can hear them if I concentrate hard enough. So I’ll know where they are.”
“Oh, right. Anyway why are we going separate? I thought we were stronger together.”
“If we go together it will be very conspicuous so its better to go separately.”
“We are going to die.” Jongdae said, his voice lacking any sort of humor.
“No we aren’t. As long as we have someone with us, we are stronger than them.”
“For all of our sake, I hope you are right.” Jongdae replied, biting his lip nervously.
“Yeah me too.”
-----
“Okay, everyone let’s go.”
“Jongin.” Kyungsoo wrapped his hand around the other boy’s. Jongin turned around to face Kyungsoo.
“Hey.”
“I need you to be safe at the end of this. Please.” Jongin’s eyes softened as he pulled the shorter boy closer to him and wrapped his arms around him, “Promise me?”
“I promise.” Jongin pulled away, before capturing Kyungsoo’s lips with his. The thought that this might be there last kiss lingered at the back of his mind, but he pushes all of those thoughts away as he poured all of his emotions into it. He didn’t want to lose Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo was one bright spot in his life. He wasn’t ready to lose him. He wasn’t going to lose him. He wasn’t going to lose any of them.
“Guys, we need to start heading out now.” Luhan’s voice came through as Jongin let go of Kyungsoo who walked over to Joonmyun and Yixing.
“Hey, I got your back Jongin. Always have.”
“I know Luhan, I’m there right behind you too.” Luhan patted Jongin on his back and Jongin returned the gesture letting his friend know that he felt the same way about the other.
“Let’s go.”
-----
“Do you see anything?”
“Nope, we’re clear. Let’s go.”
Chanyeol tried to keep his voice as low as possible as he looked for any movements before proceeding through the doorway.
“Shit, go back. Go back.” Kris pushed them all back as they heard footsteps coming towards them. They hid behind the plastered wall, holding their breaths in, afraid of the possible outcome that would happen if they were they were caught.
The footsteps stopped, and Minseok let out a small sigh.
“Well, well what do we have here?”
Chanyeol looked up from his position to come face to face with a man who was way over seven feet tall. Behind him, stood four more of those things. Looking closer at him, Chanyeol wasn’t even sure this thing could be described as a man. He wore a black mask, with the only thing being visible was his eyes. His eyes, were red. Blood red. As he advanced towards them, Chanyeol saw the white skin on his hands, etched with black inklings.
“Ready to die?”
“In your dreams.” Kris spat back at it. The thing or whatever it is, growled and hurled towards Kris, who flew up in an instant. Chanyeol, too startled to even move just stood there staring at what was happening.
“Chanyeol move!”
He saw a blinding white flash, and he felt himself being thrown to the side. With the impact, Chanyeol heard a crack coming from his own body, and he looked down at his leg which had twisted in an unnatural way. They say that when you have so much adrenalin running through your body, you don’t tend to feel as much as pain. But that wasn’t the case for him. Pain shot through his entire body, and he closed his eyes, gripping his leg with one hand, allowing himself to be dragged away by a pair of hands.
“Minseok! A little help!” Chanyeol heard Kris’s voice ring through.
“Hey, Hey Chanyeol. You’re going to be okay. We are going to get to Yixing okay. Just stay still, don’t move.”
Chanyeol nodded his head, as he laid his head on the ground, eyes opening slightly to see the sight in front of him.
Minseok had frozen one of those things, and Kris had take one of the weapons shooting them with it. Jongdae now joined the fight, and Chanyeol saw sparks of electricity fly from his hand. What none of them saw was the the black masked person standing behind Kris, a long, heavy gun like thing in his hand, aiming right at the boy who was floating above.
With all of his strength, Chanyeol raised his the upper half of his body up, raising his hand, palm facing the masked person.
“Kris!” Kris stopped what he was doing to look at the boy lying on the floor, “Duck.”
-----
“Did you hear that? We have to go back there.”
“No, we can’t. We have to keep moving okay?”
“But--”
“He’s right” Tao finally spoke up, “we have to keep moving, if we keep stopping like this the chances of us getting caught is more.”
Baekhyun nodded his head, and followed Luhan through the door. They had been walking for around five minutes now, going through dark hallways which he’d light up a little just so they could see. The further they went, the more Baekhyun worried about Chanyeol.
“Hey, listen I know how you feel. Kris is with them too. I feel nauseous just thinking about them. But they’ll be fine. They’ve got each other and Minseok and Jongdae who won’t let anything happen.”
“Yeah I know. But doesn’t keep me from worrying.”
“Shhh.”
Footsteps were approaching them. Baekhyun pressed himself against the cold wall, moving closer to Tao who was standing beside him. Sehun and Luhan were standing in front of them, and Baekhyun noticed Luhan had his face scrunched up, like he was trying to concentrate on something.
The footsteps stopped and Luhan sighed, his face full of sweat and thats when Sehun moved.
“Sehun!” but the other was too late. Sehun was out of their sight in a matter of seconds and Luhan looked around frantically, his worried eyes meeting Baekhyun’s.
“I was keeping him from that all this time, but I can only do it for so long.”
“We have to go after him.” Tao spoke up, moving away from the wall, and checking around to see if anyone was there.
“Where did he go?”
“Other side.” The three made their way along the dark corridor, Baekhyun not providing any light as they were afraid of being caught. A loud scream came from the front, and Luhan swore, breaking into a run.
“Baekhyun! Light!!!”
Baekhyun instantly lit up the corridor, and the followed Luhan. The door to a room was blown open and Luhan walked inside ready to kill anyone who was hurting Sehun.
Instead he stood open mouthed, looking at a black masked figure on the floor while Sehun stood above it looking sombre.
“Sehun-ah-”
“I killed it.” was all he said.
Luhan glanced at Baekhyun worriedly before looking at Sehun again.
“Someone’s coming.” Tao walked in, closing the door shut behind him. “Stay quiet.”
Sehun’s head whipped up as he heard what Tao said, already moving to the door. Baekhyun glanced at Luhan, shaking his head. He mouthed the words, “Stop him.” Luhan glanced at Sehun frantically, and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on calming down Sehun.
Sehun turned to Luhan shoving the older to the wall. Baekhyun leaped forward to stop the boy but Tao held him whispering, “he’s not going to hurt Luhan.”
“Don’t do that.” Sehun growled under his breath at Luhan. He turned to walk away again, and Luhan felt his concentration slip, if he didn’t do anything soon they would be in big trouble. So he did the first thing that came into his head.
He grabbed Sehun by the arm and kissed him.
Baekhyun and Tao watched, as Sehun who was momentarily surprised by Luhan’s action finally drop his hands and bring them around Luhan to pull him closer.
The footsteps passed the door and the two boys sighed in relief while the other two continued kissing like their life depended on it.
“Umm guys we need to get moving.”
Luhan pushed himself away from Sehun, nodding at what Baekhyun said, without taking his eyes off Sehun. Tao opened the door, checking for anything, before putting his head back in and indicating to them that they could go.
Luhan quickly moved forward, and Baekhyun walked through the door, smiling softly to himself because Sehun had grabbed Luhan for a kiss again.
“Let’s go, they’ll come.”
-----
“Jongin!”
“Kyungsoo?”
“Yes, Joonmyun I’m here. Where is Jongin? I can’t feel him.”
“I don’t know. Yixing you good back there?” Joonmyun whispered to the boy who had a tight grip on the back of his shirt.
“Splendid. I really like not being able to see where I’m going.”
“Why the hell is it so dark here?” Kyungsoo’s whisper came from in front of him, “and where the hell is Jongin?”
“I’m here.” warm hands enveloped Kyungsoo from the side, and he suddenly felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. They had entered this pitch black hallway five minutes ago, when they had heard a loud noise coming from somewhere on the other side. Fearing for the others, Jongin had disappeared off somewhere, leaving a frantic Kyungsoo with Joonmyun and Yixing.
“What happened?”
“Kris’s group got attacked. Chanyeol’s injured and unconscious. Yixing, I’m going to take you to them okay?”
“Okay.” Joonmyun directed Yixing to the small space in front of him. Through the darkness, he could make out shapes and he knew Jongin was now there as well.
“You both keep moving, there’s a door a couple of more feet ahead, once you go through that it will be brighter. Then second door, go up the staircase. One of those rooms that’s where they are. Once Luhan gets there it’ll be fine. Hopefully he’s already there somewhere.”
“Okay, got it.”
“Yixing, you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Grab my hand, Joonmyun?”
“Yes?”
“Keep Kyungsoo safe.”
“Jongin--” Kyungsoo started but the other boy had already teleported away, “You know in the end I think I might die because of a heart attack because of him.”
Joonmyun chucked, “Let’s keep moving.”
Joonmyun now walked in front of Kyungsoo, his hands stretched forward just incase he was about to walk to something he didn’t need to. Kyungsoo grabbed the edge of his shirt and followed him closely behind.
“You know its funny how I barely know you and yet I trust you.”
“Yeah I know, I thought about the same thing awhile back.”
Joonmyun’s hand hit a hard surface and he recoiled in pain. Kyungsoo walking behind him, hit Joonmyun’s now stationary back and scowled, “Thanks for the warning.”
“Sorry, we are here. Should we just open the door or--”
“Wait, let me try to listen.”
Joonmyun felt Kyungsoo crouch down behind him, placing his hand on the ground. He felt a small vibration beneath his feet, and Kyungsoo got up.
“No one’s there.”
Joonmyun opened the door slowly, choosing to first put his head through to double check. As Jongin said, this place was a lot brighter and it took a couple of seconds for Joonmyun to adjust to the new brightness. He spotter the second door Jongin was talking about and quickly walked to it, beckoning Kyungsoo to follow him.
The two of them climbed the staircase as softly as possible, stopping whenever they heard any sort of noise. Joonmyun had his hands at the ready, just incase something happened. They reached the top and Kyungsoo placed his hands on the floor again.
“Someone’s there.” Joonmyun glanced at Kyungsoo unsure of what they should do next.
“That could be one of the others, or one of those things.”
“Yeah I know.”
“We should go,” Joonmyun said, “if its those things we can fight them.”
Kyungsoo looked worriedly at Joonmyun, unsure of his idea. But he had no choice, either they could stay there until they got caught, or just go out and face what’s out there, so he nodded.
“Ready? One, Two, Three.”
Chapter 20
----
Authors:laverna11 and luster_stardust
Characters: All of EXO
Summary: As each of the 12 guardians discover their powers one by one, they start realizing that having powers is not as easy as it looks, and that there is a reason for everything.
Author's Note - Late, late update!!
Chapter 19
Tao looked at Kris who was looking outside his window. He had been quiet since they got into the jeep, and Tao had begun to worry. Kris wasn’t usually quiet, he always had something to say.
“Hey, you okay?”
Kris didn’t respond, he just kept looking outside the window. Tao sighed and looked around the jeep. Yixing and Sehun were talking to each other in soft tones, and Jongdae had fallen asleep in the front seat. Luhan, had his earphones plugged in, blocking out everything.
“I’m afraid.”
Tao head snapped back at the whisper. Kris was looking at him, with hooded eyes. Tao felt his cheeks heat up in response to the stare the other boy was giving him.
“Afraid of what?” Tao whispered back, keeping his eyes on the boy.
“Afraid of losing you.” his voice was so soft, but Tao heard him loud and clear. He felt his insides flip in joy, but at the same time the thought of what they were about to do, and the chances of something bad happening clouded his mind.
“Me too.”
Kris’s hand found Tao’s in the darkness, and grasped onto it tightly, while staring at him, neither of them wanting to break the eye contact.
“Guys, Jongin says we have to get out and walk from here. They can’t know we are coming, so its safer to go on foot that in this.” Luhan’s voice rang out, and Kris’s head turned to the front. He gave a brief nod, at Luhan who was looking at them through the rear view mirror.
“Okay then, let’s do this.”
They parked behind an abandoned building, where the other six were waiting for them. Kris’s hand never left Tao’s.
Before they could get out of the jeep, Kris pulled Tao back in, crushing him to his body, before bending his head so he could whisper in Tao’s ears.
“I love you. I’m going to fight for you.”
Tao felt his eyes begin to water as Kris let go of his hand and got out of the jeep, walking towards Jongin. Shaking, he got out and stood next to Sehun who glanced at him once before turning away.
“There’s a warehouse a couple of blocks from here. They are there. Listen before we go in there and smother them into pieces, we need to get the scientists out. We need them. So whatever you do, don’t burn the place, or freeze the place or whatever.”
“So we go in all together?”
“No we split up.”
Tao desperately hoped he would be in the same group at Kris, just so he could protect Kris. Make sure nothing happens to him, because Tao was far too in, to lost him now.
“Kris, Chanyeol, Jongdae and Minseok will go in through the left side.” Tao felt his heartbeat quicken knowing that Kris was not going to be with him, it made him feel nauseous. Clearly having the same thoughts, Kris looked at Tao worriedly. “Kyungsoo, Joonmyun, Yixing and I will go together and Luhan, Sehun, Baekhyun and Tao, you guys will be together going through the right.” There was a moment of silence, “We leave in ten minutes.”
-----
Baekhyun pushed Jongin against the hard wall, “Why are you separating us like this?”
Jongin looked at him knowingly, he knew the boy would react this way to being separated from Chanyeol. But he had to.
“If he was with you, both of you would be distracted. You think you would stop to think a second before jumping and saving Chanyeol if something happened to him? No. You would want to save him, no matter the consequences. You can’t do that with them.”
“So, if we are away from each other then who’s going to save him.”
“First I highly doubt Kris, Jongdae and Minseok will stand by and let something happen to Chanyeol. The only difference between them and you, is they don’t have that connection with him that you do. They will stop to think.” Jongin paused, allowing Baekhyun to take it in, at least the hand around his neck had been loosened. “Hey, listen. The fact that you guys are separated will only increase his and your will to survive so you can find your way back to each other.”
Baekhyun nodded at Jongin, giving him a soft smile. “What about you and Kyungsoo? Sehun and Luhan?”
“I won’t be with them, I have to figure out a way out of the warehouse so we can leave without too much commotion. Kyungsoo will survive for me. I will survive for him. Also technically Sehun and Luhan aren’t together yet. They just like each other but are too stupid to do anything. Specially Sehun. He needs to be hit with a rock on his head. He’s also very unpredictable, so he’s most likely out of all of us, to do something rash and stupid, thats going to end up getting him killed.”
“Luhan needs to go with him, to stop that from happening.”
Jongin nodded, smiling at Baekhyun. “Time to leave Baekkie.”
He walked passed Baekhyun, only to be pulled back again. Baekhyun wrapped his arms around the younger boy, pulling him close. Jongin although surprised, responded back, patting Baekhyun on his back.
“Be safe Jongin. I’ll see you soon.” Jongin nodded at him.
“You too. I’ll see you soon too.” With that the boy walked away to his group and Baekhyun walked towards Chanyeol, realising that it was the first time Jongin hadn’t said anything about being called by his actual name.
------
“Joonmyun, I know I don’t say this a lot, but I really love you man. You saved my life, and I’m forever grate---”
“Stop it Minseok. We aren’t going to die, you’ll see me again. Trust me after you’ve given me this speech and you see me again, you are going to be embarrassed that you told me these things.”
“You’re right. Just be careful”
“I will, you as well. Freeze those bastards.”
“Did you just swear?”
“Okay. Bye. I’m leaving now.”
Joonmyun walked towards his group smiling softly at his friend’s comment. He may look calm, but Joonmyun was stressing inside. He wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into. Those things, the Draquas or whatever Jongin calls them, aren’t to be taken lightly. Having firsthand experience, he knew that. What if he died during this fight? He couldn’t think like that, this was after all for a better purpose. His life would mean nothing compared to the lives that would be lost if they weren’t stopped.
“Hey, don’t worry all right, we got your back.” Joonmyun glanced to his side, at Yixing who smiled at him. He nodded and Yixing gave him a pat on the back walking towards to talk to the boy named Sehun.
-----
“Sehun, listen dude. I know I’ve known you for a short time an all. But still you’re like a brother to me okay, so I need you to be safe okay?”
“Yeah, you too.” Sehun replied back, patting the worried Yixing on the back, “I’ll be fine really. Don’t worry about me.”
Sehun was about to walk past, when Yixing grabbed his hand and pulled his head down, “No matter what, stay calm okay. Don’t let your anger get the best of you.”
Sehun’s eyes hardened as he looked at Yixing, “I’ll be fine.” He pulled himself away walking away from the shorter boy, “Hey Yixing.”
“Yeah?”
“I mean it, stay safe.” Yixing smiled at the boy, nodding his head gently before turning around and walking towards his group. But before he could go to them he had one thing left to do.
“Luhan?”
“Yeah?” Luhan turned to face him, halting his conversation with Jongdae.
“Can I talk to you for a second?”
They both walked to a side, and Yixing smiled at the boy, “Its about Sehun.”
“Oh?”
“I know you like him--”
“I don’t like him, I mean--”
“Please Luhan, we all know you like him. Anyway that’s not the point. Sehun tends to be very spontaneous, specially when he’s angry. He might do things, he will regret later. So, you need to keep him calm, no matter what don’t let him do anything rash okay?”
Luhan stared at Yixing for a while before nodding his head, “ I’ll take care of him.”
“Good, then I’ll see you later.”
-----
“What did he want?”
“Told me to take care of Sehun. Don’t. Don’t say anything.”
“All right, not gonna say anything.” Jongdae smirked at Luhan who sighed at him.
“What?”
“Why don’t you use your mojo on him and make him confess to you?”
“Jongdae” Luhan said, glaring at the younger, “I’m not going to use my ‘mojo’ on him for my benefit.”
“Always the good one Lulu.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Fine, moving on from your hopeless love life, did Jongin specify where we are going to meet everyone exactly?”
Luhan shrugged, “We meet when we meet.”
“How--”
“We meet when we find the scientists. That’s the room we need to find.”
“Amazing, how do we know which room they are in?”
“We don’t.”
“What? I’m sorry let me get this straight, we have to find these two people who are locked up in a room. A room in this huge old piece of a building, which could I don’t know have around 100 different rooms?”
“Uhuh.”
“And we don’t actually know what this room looks like.”
“Yeah.”
“Then how on earth will we find it?”
“It’s on the second floor. So we get there separately and then find it.”
“And how do you propose we find it? Knock on each door and say “hello, is anybody in there?” “
“Very funny, I can hear them if I concentrate hard enough. So I’ll know where they are.”
“Oh, right. Anyway why are we going separate? I thought we were stronger together.”
“If we go together it will be very conspicuous so its better to go separately.”
“We are going to die.” Jongdae said, his voice lacking any sort of humor.
“No we aren’t. As long as we have someone with us, we are stronger than them.”
“For all of our sake, I hope you are right.” Jongdae replied, biting his lip nervously.
“Yeah me too.”
-----
“Okay, everyone let’s go.”
“Jongin.” Kyungsoo wrapped his hand around the other boy’s. Jongin turned around to face Kyungsoo.
“Hey.”
“I need you to be safe at the end of this. Please.” Jongin’s eyes softened as he pulled the shorter boy closer to him and wrapped his arms around him, “Promise me?”
“I promise.” Jongin pulled away, before capturing Kyungsoo’s lips with his. The thought that this might be there last kiss lingered at the back of his mind, but he pushes all of those thoughts away as he poured all of his emotions into it. He didn’t want to lose Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo was one bright spot in his life. He wasn’t ready to lose him. He wasn’t going to lose him. He wasn’t going to lose any of them.
“Guys, we need to start heading out now.” Luhan’s voice came through as Jongin let go of Kyungsoo who walked over to Joonmyun and Yixing.
“Hey, I got your back Jongin. Always have.”
“I know Luhan, I’m there right behind you too.” Luhan patted Jongin on his back and Jongin returned the gesture letting his friend know that he felt the same way about the other.
“Let’s go.”
-----
“Do you see anything?”
“Nope, we’re clear. Let’s go.”
Chanyeol tried to keep his voice as low as possible as he looked for any movements before proceeding through the doorway.
“Shit, go back. Go back.” Kris pushed them all back as they heard footsteps coming towards them. They hid behind the plastered wall, holding their breaths in, afraid of the possible outcome that would happen if they were they were caught.
The footsteps stopped, and Minseok let out a small sigh.
“Well, well what do we have here?”
Chanyeol looked up from his position to come face to face with a man who was way over seven feet tall. Behind him, stood four more of those things. Looking closer at him, Chanyeol wasn’t even sure this thing could be described as a man. He wore a black mask, with the only thing being visible was his eyes. His eyes, were red. Blood red. As he advanced towards them, Chanyeol saw the white skin on his hands, etched with black inklings.
“Ready to die?”
“In your dreams.” Kris spat back at it. The thing or whatever it is, growled and hurled towards Kris, who flew up in an instant. Chanyeol, too startled to even move just stood there staring at what was happening.
“Chanyeol move!”
He saw a blinding white flash, and he felt himself being thrown to the side. With the impact, Chanyeol heard a crack coming from his own body, and he looked down at his leg which had twisted in an unnatural way. They say that when you have so much adrenalin running through your body, you don’t tend to feel as much as pain. But that wasn’t the case for him. Pain shot through his entire body, and he closed his eyes, gripping his leg with one hand, allowing himself to be dragged away by a pair of hands.
“Minseok! A little help!” Chanyeol heard Kris’s voice ring through.
“Hey, Hey Chanyeol. You’re going to be okay. We are going to get to Yixing okay. Just stay still, don’t move.”
Chanyeol nodded his head, as he laid his head on the ground, eyes opening slightly to see the sight in front of him.
Minseok had frozen one of those things, and Kris had take one of the weapons shooting them with it. Jongdae now joined the fight, and Chanyeol saw sparks of electricity fly from his hand. What none of them saw was the the black masked person standing behind Kris, a long, heavy gun like thing in his hand, aiming right at the boy who was floating above.
With all of his strength, Chanyeol raised his the upper half of his body up, raising his hand, palm facing the masked person.
“Kris!” Kris stopped what he was doing to look at the boy lying on the floor, “Duck.”
-----
“Did you hear that? We have to go back there.”
“No, we can’t. We have to keep moving okay?”
“But--”
“He’s right” Tao finally spoke up, “we have to keep moving, if we keep stopping like this the chances of us getting caught is more.”
Baekhyun nodded his head, and followed Luhan through the door. They had been walking for around five minutes now, going through dark hallways which he’d light up a little just so they could see. The further they went, the more Baekhyun worried about Chanyeol.
“Hey, listen I know how you feel. Kris is with them too. I feel nauseous just thinking about them. But they’ll be fine. They’ve got each other and Minseok and Jongdae who won’t let anything happen.”
“Yeah I know. But doesn’t keep me from worrying.”
“Shhh.”
Footsteps were approaching them. Baekhyun pressed himself against the cold wall, moving closer to Tao who was standing beside him. Sehun and Luhan were standing in front of them, and Baekhyun noticed Luhan had his face scrunched up, like he was trying to concentrate on something.
The footsteps stopped and Luhan sighed, his face full of sweat and thats when Sehun moved.
“Sehun!” but the other was too late. Sehun was out of their sight in a matter of seconds and Luhan looked around frantically, his worried eyes meeting Baekhyun’s.
“I was keeping him from that all this time, but I can only do it for so long.”
“We have to go after him.” Tao spoke up, moving away from the wall, and checking around to see if anyone was there.
“Where did he go?”
“Other side.” The three made their way along the dark corridor, Baekhyun not providing any light as they were afraid of being caught. A loud scream came from the front, and Luhan swore, breaking into a run.
“Baekhyun! Light!!!”
Baekhyun instantly lit up the corridor, and the followed Luhan. The door to a room was blown open and Luhan walked inside ready to kill anyone who was hurting Sehun.
Instead he stood open mouthed, looking at a black masked figure on the floor while Sehun stood above it looking sombre.
“Sehun-ah-”
“I killed it.” was all he said.
Luhan glanced at Baekhyun worriedly before looking at Sehun again.
“Someone’s coming.” Tao walked in, closing the door shut behind him. “Stay quiet.”
Sehun’s head whipped up as he heard what Tao said, already moving to the door. Baekhyun glanced at Luhan, shaking his head. He mouthed the words, “Stop him.” Luhan glanced at Sehun frantically, and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on calming down Sehun.
Sehun turned to Luhan shoving the older to the wall. Baekhyun leaped forward to stop the boy but Tao held him whispering, “he’s not going to hurt Luhan.”
“Don’t do that.” Sehun growled under his breath at Luhan. He turned to walk away again, and Luhan felt his concentration slip, if he didn’t do anything soon they would be in big trouble. So he did the first thing that came into his head.
He grabbed Sehun by the arm and kissed him.
Baekhyun and Tao watched, as Sehun who was momentarily surprised by Luhan’s action finally drop his hands and bring them around Luhan to pull him closer.
The footsteps passed the door and the two boys sighed in relief while the other two continued kissing like their life depended on it.
“Umm guys we need to get moving.”
Luhan pushed himself away from Sehun, nodding at what Baekhyun said, without taking his eyes off Sehun. Tao opened the door, checking for anything, before putting his head back in and indicating to them that they could go.
Luhan quickly moved forward, and Baekhyun walked through the door, smiling softly to himself because Sehun had grabbed Luhan for a kiss again.
“Let’s go, they’ll come.”
-----
“Jongin!”
“Kyungsoo?”
“Yes, Joonmyun I’m here. Where is Jongin? I can’t feel him.”
“I don’t know. Yixing you good back there?” Joonmyun whispered to the boy who had a tight grip on the back of his shirt.
“Splendid. I really like not being able to see where I’m going.”
“Why the hell is it so dark here?” Kyungsoo’s whisper came from in front of him, “and where the hell is Jongin?”
“I’m here.” warm hands enveloped Kyungsoo from the side, and he suddenly felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. They had entered this pitch black hallway five minutes ago, when they had heard a loud noise coming from somewhere on the other side. Fearing for the others, Jongin had disappeared off somewhere, leaving a frantic Kyungsoo with Joonmyun and Yixing.
“What happened?”
“Kris’s group got attacked. Chanyeol’s injured and unconscious. Yixing, I’m going to take you to them okay?”
“Okay.” Joonmyun directed Yixing to the small space in front of him. Through the darkness, he could make out shapes and he knew Jongin was now there as well.
“You both keep moving, there’s a door a couple of more feet ahead, once you go through that it will be brighter. Then second door, go up the staircase. One of those rooms that’s where they are. Once Luhan gets there it’ll be fine. Hopefully he’s already there somewhere.”
“Okay, got it.”
“Yixing, you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Grab my hand, Joonmyun?”
“Yes?”
“Keep Kyungsoo safe.”
“Jongin--” Kyungsoo started but the other boy had already teleported away, “You know in the end I think I might die because of a heart attack because of him.”
Joonmyun chucked, “Let’s keep moving.”
Joonmyun now walked in front of Kyungsoo, his hands stretched forward just incase he was about to walk to something he didn’t need to. Kyungsoo grabbed the edge of his shirt and followed him closely behind.
“You know its funny how I barely know you and yet I trust you.”
“Yeah I know, I thought about the same thing awhile back.”
Joonmyun’s hand hit a hard surface and he recoiled in pain. Kyungsoo walking behind him, hit Joonmyun’s now stationary back and scowled, “Thanks for the warning.”
“Sorry, we are here. Should we just open the door or--”
“Wait, let me try to listen.”
Joonmyun felt Kyungsoo crouch down behind him, placing his hand on the ground. He felt a small vibration beneath his feet, and Kyungsoo got up.
“No one’s there.”
Joonmyun opened the door slowly, choosing to first put his head through to double check. As Jongin said, this place was a lot brighter and it took a couple of seconds for Joonmyun to adjust to the new brightness. He spotter the second door Jongin was talking about and quickly walked to it, beckoning Kyungsoo to follow him.
The two of them climbed the staircase as softly as possible, stopping whenever they heard any sort of noise. Joonmyun had his hands at the ready, just incase something happened. They reached the top and Kyungsoo placed his hands on the floor again.
“Someone’s there.” Joonmyun glanced at Kyungsoo unsure of what they should do next.
“That could be one of the others, or one of those things.”
“Yeah I know.”
“We should go,” Joonmyun said, “if its those things we can fight them.”
Kyungsoo looked worriedly at Joonmyun, unsure of his idea. But he had no choice, either they could stay there until they got caught, or just go out and face what’s out there, so he nodded.
“Ready? One, Two, Three.”
Chapter 20
----