Chapter 10: The Revenge of the Forgotten
Pathcode: Fear of the Blank Planet
3:34 A.M. Edinburgh, Scotland. A hill close to Arthur's Seat housing Sehun's mansion. March 20th.
Sehun can't sleep. He tosses and turns, too many thoughts clashing inside his mind, unsettling memories gnawing at him. He tries to recap
everything that happened that brought everyone to this moment. To think a week ago everything was normal. He realized he had had it easy so far
on his life on Earth. Maybe karma was finally catching up to him. Having reunited with the rest and seeing the amazing careers they had managed
to work for and achieve on their short four year stay on Earth was somehow mind-boggling. He rubs his eyes, staring out the window at the barely
visible giant moon, remembering his first day on Earth.
It was sometime in January 2012. He remembers waking up somewhere atop where he now knows is the hill called "Arthur's Seat", close to where he
currently lives. He had never been as terrified as then. The air felt different. It was freezing cold. The grass was an ashen-tinted mass of
crispy whiteness, with snowflakes starting to come down. He wondered if this was some desolate place on his planet he had never been to. But
wait....how did he get here? Last thing he remembers are walls. Walls everywhere. Left and right turns. Screams. And some sort of toxic gas that
made him black out. He had experienced something similar when he was little, almost dying from carbon dioxide poisoning. Sehun grabbed his arms
and rocked back and forth shaking. He was not wearing enough layers of clothing. The icy cold wind was cutting his face and freezing his
extremities. If he didn't find refuge soon, he would end up freezing to death. He wanted to see if he could appease the winds since that was his
supernatural power. He wielded the power of the winds. Reaching his palms out in front of him, he tried to gently control the currents around him but it
was to no avail. At least in that moment, his powers were gone.
Suddenly hearing footsteps in the snow, Sehun panicked, his instincts screaming at him to hide. Finding a bush nearby and a tree close in sight,
he crawled on all fours and hid behind the bush. Peeking through, he saw a teenage girl and an older woman climbing up the hill. They were
speaking in a language he had never heard before. Their clothes were unusual. His eyes wide, Sehun came to a shocking suspicion that he was not
on his Exoplanet any longer. Now he remembered faintly hearing a crash and smelling smoke. He remembered the sensation of falling. And then he
wakes up here. What should he do? He can't just walk up to these women and ask them: "Hey do you mind telling me what planet I am on?" First of
all, they wouldn't understand him, second of all, if they did, they would probably think he is mentally unstable and would have him committed. He
decides to follow them. Luckily for him, something the inhabitants of his planet all possess which is extremely helpful, is the ability to learn things
extremely quickly, especially when it comes to new languages, but including science facts and how to operate new machines or vehicles. So Sehun
thinks to himself, all he has to do is follow these "aliens" (since he does not know what they are at the moment and basically anybody who is
not from his planet is an alien right now) and to learn the language and find out where he is. Oh and also try not to freeze to death. Yeah.
That would be a good idea.
It's weird for present day Oh Sehun to remember this. He was only 17 when he landed on Earth and he was so clueless and helpless. He has
made this planet his home now. He smiles, trying to calm his nerves and remembers once more that icy cold January day.
Sehun remembers following the two silhouettes to this big house (so different from the houses on his planet). It looks warm in there. He sees a
cozy fire burning ("Wow these aliens actually put firewood in a pit and light it for warmth? How retro!" Sehun remembers thinking). He sees the
older woman take off her coat and hang it up as the teenage girl runs to the table and starts nibbling on some yummy looking huge stuffed bird
("Turkey maybe?" Sehun thinks as he hears his stomach growling). His knuckles turn a purple hue and his hair strands become icycles. He
doesn't know how much longer he can hold up. He feels as if he is knocking on heaven's door. If there is such a thing. He can see the pearly
gates. He suddenly thinks about the others and wonders if they are alive and if he is the only one in this strange place among these aliens or
if the others are anywhere nearby. He misses them. Especially Luhan, his childhood friend. He misses stupid, clumsy Tao too. And his silkworm
nestling eyes. He misses all of them so much. Tears are starting to form and it's so cold, they will probably turn into crystals and ring as
they fall onto the ice underneath his feet. Sehun can't help it. He starts crying and falls down, right by the window. The women inside hear the
loud thump and rush to the window to see what happened.
All Sehun remembers next is opening his eyes, lying on a couch, a warm towel pressed against his forehead. The older woman is standing above
him with a worried look. He is covered in warm clothes and a lot of blankets. He realizes the clothes he had on are gone and panicks. "Oh my God,
have these women seen me ? They changed me?" He suddenly blushes, pulling the blankets over his head. Guessing what the reason for
his bashfulness is, the older woman points at a really old man sitting comfortably, glasses on the tip of his noes, on a nearby armchair. "Yeah, he
helped with that, don't worry!", the woman starts laughing. Sehun can't really understand but he can tell what she is saying from her gestures.
Sehun is not sure if he should speak or not, his language might sound so weird to them. He mumbles a shy "Thank you..."
"Well, he is definitely not from around here, Mom", the teenage girl says, hearing the strange language.
"Well, I could kind of tell that from the way he looks. But yeah, I have no idea what language that is. He must be a tourist. Someone must be
looking for him, I wonder how he ended up lost outside in this horrible weather.
"Mom, he is so beautiful..." The teenage girl stares at Sehun, analyzing every feature of his face. He must be about 180 centimeters in height.
He is so tall and lean, he can't weigh too much. Maybe around 63, 65 kilograms? He has an oddly-symmetrical face, something which is extremely
rare to find, he has a narrow forehead and a long, thin nose. His eyebrows make him look a bit like he is frowning. He has high cheek bones and a
sharp jaw and his eyes have a strange color the teenage girl can't identity. His hair is a strange color too, something between an ashen blonde and amber.
"Okay, honey, stop staring at him now! You are going to make grampa kick him out of the house!" the mom threatens.
"But mom, he is so unearthly beautiful...."
Her mom knows all about beauty, she works in the fashion industry, she works for this giant company that recruits models and promotes them.
Sehun would definitely make a great model, she thinks. But not like it matters, he is a foreigner, a tourist who probably just wants to get back
to whatever country he is from.
It doesn't take many days for Sehun's frostbites to go away and for his body to start recovering. Not that the women mind his presence there,
although it is hard not being able to communicate with him. After a week, Sehun can already speak English pretty well. The women find themselves
amazed because the young man legitimately seems to be learning the language, not having known any words at all. Once they are able to understand
each other enough, Sehun tells them he is lost and that he doesn't remember how he got here. They search his name. There are no records of
anybody with his name and description. It's as if he is a ghost, he is not on the social radar of any government, of any country. At this point, the two
women should be frightened but Sehun seems like a sweet, non-violent or dangerous person. And still, this is all very bizarre.
"What do we do, mom? We can't just kick him out, he has nothing...nobody. Mom, can we keep him?" the teenage girl has the excitement and
twinkling eyes of a child asking their parents for a pet.
"Amanda, he is not a dog! He is a person!"
"But moooooooooom! We have the money to support him! And look at him! He is gorgeous! Just hire him as a model!"
Sehun's head moves left to right, looking at the two women who are talking about him. He finds it somehow amusing. He has grown fond of them and
attached. He has also learned he is on the planet Earth and these are called humans and so far they seem pretty nice. But then again he knows
quite a lot about Earth because that was Kyungsoo's obsession and the reason they were all doomed to die in that labyrinth. He is happy he is
alive and thankful to whoever or whatever saved them. He feels in his gut that the others are alive too.
"I will do whatever I need to do to make money and help out. I have friends...I just...I don't know where they are. But since I see everything
depends on the currency here, I guess the more I have the more freedom to move I have, so I can look for them and then try to go back home.",
Sehun says, his eyes begging with a sad expression.
"Where are you from again?", Susan, the mom, asks.
"Ummmm...." Sehun knows better than to say "Oh, just another planet, four hundred and seventy light years away from yours, something your
astrophysicists have named Kepler 438b". "Just...somewhere far away...I don't really like to talk about it, I'm sorry...Maybe I can tell you more
one day".
After this particular conversation, time seemed to fast forward. Sehun started working and he quite enjoyed being dolled up and dressed up and
standing there looking pretty. He got to be on runways, private VIP parties, fashion shows, commercials, he travelled a lot. Milan one day, Paris the
other, Barcelona, Luxembourg, Prague. He got used to flying, but it was a routine he loved having. Every airport was different, he got to try
out new foods. He was always dressed in the most trendy designer clothes, he had paparazzi following him around, fangirls screaming his name.
He got to appear on variety shows, everyone was fascinated with his strange looks and charming demeanour. They bleached his hair so many
times he lost count. His hair was dyed all the colors of the rainbow and cut in different styles, gelled up, hairsprayed, tassled, curled, heated, cooled,
shampooed, moisturized. His skin was treated daily and make up was packed on his eyes and cheeks. He wore contacts and lots of highlights to
hide his puffy, tired eyes. He soon realized this job was actually hard work and could be very tiresome at times. He got homesick now and then.
He missed his friends. He looked for them every chance he got, he read the papers a lot, hoping to hear about any of them. On holidays, he went
back home to Edinburgh to visit Amanda and Susan and grampa Patrick. He always showered them with gifts and souvenires from all the places he
had visited.
Things got kind of crazy for a while there. He was partying too much, drinking too much, waking up in trashed hotel rooms. He felt like a rockstar. The
paparazzi were annoying. He had started changing, and on a rainy, stormy day, he had the epiphany that in spite of all the fame and the riches, in spite
of beautiful womensurrounding him, he wasn't happy. This wasn't him. He had to seriously start looking for the others. He took an indefinite vacation and
returned to Edinburgh. He bought his own house. The summer before Amanda went to college, she confessed her feelings for him. She had been in love
with him since she first laid eyes on him, since that cold January night they took him in. But he only saw her as a younger sister. He ended up breaking
her heart. Susan was not happy about that, neither was the grandfather. It became too awkward to live together and that was one of the reasons he moved out.
Then the eclipse happened.
It was only a few days prior to him reuniting with the others in Arizona, but it felt like a longer time had passed.
It was March 18th. The papers had talked about an eclipse that was not supposed to happen but all signs pointed to it.
Sehun felt off that day. Everything felt off. It started when he all of a sudden got his powers back in the morning. Then he felt a strange energy. It was
unmistakable.The wind told him that someone from his home planet was nearby. He started pacing the Scottish streets, climbed up Calton hill, the
headquarters of the Scottish government, strolled through the Princess Street Gardens. He took his phone out and marked the places he had already
searched. He was getting closer. He felt nostalgia but also fear.
15:25.
Sehun pulled out his phone again. Using the GPS he ticked another location. He was by the Ipsden Flats now, it was not a very rich neighbourhood but a
lonely white mansion stood out. It was like a rose among thorn bushes. He felt drawn to it. It was only late afternoon, but gradually getting darker.
Menacing clouds were covering the sky. Sehun walked up to the mansion, checking the driveway. No cars. No people. The mansion seemed abandoned
but the windows by the front door entrance were squeaky clean. The energy in the air was overwhelming and Sehun felt a bit nauseated. He knew he had
gained his powers only that morning. That could be the reason why there was a toy plane levitating next to him, right?
Sehun flicks the plane as he walks, the wooden toy plane rotates but maintaints its odd position floating in thin air.
Something is not right.
He is not consciously using his power now.
The house is quiet.
Only Sehun's footsteps are heard and echo through the large hallway that heads to a spacious living room. An old wooden armchair on the right.
Bookstand on the left. This place seems frozen in time.
Sehun sees two children.
Two children by the window.
They seem unfazed by the objects floating around.
The children look around 6, 7 years old but don't seem to be acting like children. Their heads turn towards him in unison. One of the children has blonde
hair and onehas darker hair. Their eyes look alike. "This is creepy as hell", Sehun thinks to himself. He wants to scream and run away. Toys are hovering
above the children's heads. All of a sudden, Sehun feels the ground move beneath his feet. He hears a loud whistling sound, like a tea kettle with hot
boiling water wanting to be picked up. Sehun looks outside the window. The sun is slowly disappearing. He is terrified. He feels the world is ending.
Turning away from the children, he runs out the door. As the door closes behind him, the children are gone. Sehun only makes it to the end of the
driveway before he stops. His hands rest on his knees as he is panting, drenched in cold sweat. The sky is dark. Only the sun's ring, shining behind the
moon, can be seen.
Only then does Sehun make the connection. Objects hovering. Telekinesis. That is Luhan's power. But those were children... where is Luhan?
Before he can finish his thought, Sehun gets pulled by invisible shadow hands, he gets back into the house through the now-open door and
collides with another bigger bookcase. The bookcase almost falls on him from the impact, shaking against his sore back.
Sehun's vision becomes blurry.
He sees the children walking towards him. One of them has a slightly worried expression, the other one approaches him with ill intent. One second
and the dark-haired boy flies to him. Yes, flies. He puts his fingers around Sehun's throat and chokes him with superhuman strength.
These are no regular children.
The boy's eyes turn a luminescent light blue. He looks like an imp summoned from the deepest pits in hell by Satan himself to take his life. "So this is
how it ends", Sehun thinks.
"You left us behind!" the voice coming out of the boy's mouth is not a young, boyish voice. It sounds like an angry demon. It sounds distorted but also
familiar.
"Who...are...you?" Sehun barely manages to utter from his chokehold.
"Oh, you don't remember us? Oh, you thought we were dead? You left us there to die, you , why would we even be important enough to be
remembered, right?" The voice sounds angrier by the second, it cracks and veins throb on the petite human raging at his face.
"What...?" Sehun asks, a shiver down his spine.
"You deserve to die, each and every one of you! You all left us behind and escaped here, you don't deserve to live!" The child grabs Sehun and tosses
him across the room. Sehun can hear his bones crack as he hits the opposite wall, The other child is now trying to stop the dark-haired one.
"No, please stop! Stop hurting him! We don't know what happened!"
"All I know is they have been here for four years and nobody looked for us! They came here without us and we have had to be in these stupid, frail,
child bodies all this time because of that old man, until we meet one of them! I will keep him alive long enough until we both turn back to how we were!
"No, please, stop Wu!"
"Yifan?" Sehun thinks. "But how?" "How can this be Wu Yifan? This is a child. And that other voice....Luhan?"
"Luhan...." Sehun whispers, blood trickling down his forehead.
His vision is becoming blurry again. He sees the two children fighting but he swears they seem taller than a minute ago. The blonde one (Luhan he
now understands, though he can't wrap his mind around it) is trying to stop the dark-haired one (Yifan) from basically killing him. As blood trickles
down his chin now and onto his designer shirt, Sehun's last coherent thought is: "I am so happy you two are alive..." Funny thought to have about
someone who is trying to kill you. He smiles to himself at the irony of it all.
As Sehun is replaying all these memories back in his head, the latest having happened only a few days prior, branches and vines hit his window.
Winds are howling. Running back to the window, he stares into the distance. The fog is lifting. In a tree right outside his window, Luhan and Yifan are
sitting atop a tree branch, staring back at him. They seem years older now. It's only been days. The seven year old children look at least eleven or
twelve now. Sehun lets out a scream as Yifan leaps through his window. Jongin, Kyungsoo, Junmyeon, Minseok, Baekhyun, Taeyeon, Yixing,
Jongdae, Zitao and Chanyeol are woken up by the sound of shattered glass.
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Author's Notes:
The title picture for this chapter belongs to RePichu! More awesome fanarts here!
http://weibo.com/u/5506851483?from=feed&loc=at&nick=RPChu&is_all=1#_rnd1458870098481
Finally, Luhan and Kris are introduced! I know you guys have been patiently waiting! This is a Sehun-focused chapter but we slowly get to find out more about what happened to Luhan and Kris as well! Like, comment, subscribe? It took me 2 extra days but two updates in 4 days is not bad, eh? I will definitely update this more often! Thank you guys so much for the support and your lovely comments make me so happy and keep me going! ^_^
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