Kim Kibum has never been normal. All his childhood memories were full of blurry screaming and bright tears. He learned, very soon, that he should stay with his mouth shut, and keep himself away of trouble. Away of people. His parents were lovely - his mother used to comb his hair with her fingers while singing to make him stop crying. His father always took a moment of his day to stop, and just stay with Kibum. They could do anything inside their house.

Kibum would never leave the house. No, he was too dangerous. Everything had gone wrong when they tried to leave the house. But his parents knew how to deal with him. They knew that Kibum was a good kid, with a beautiful heart, and that he would never hurt anyone on purpose.

He was home schooled until he was fifteen.

One day, Kibum woke up, and everything had changed. He screamed for his parents. His mommy, and daddy, but they never came. He was lost, with people he didn’t know. They would bring him to places so blindly white, with so many people that would poke him with sticks, or sting him and no one ever explained to him what the hell was going on. He prayed for the night come, so he could close his eyes and dream about his parents.

Until one day someone different appeared. He had small eyes and a confused face.

“You’re new.” Kibum said, bitterly. So now they would take his dreams too? How was that even fair?

“You seem lost,” The man answered with a frown, “do you know where you are?”

“Right now? Dreaming. You should know that, they put you here.”

The man looked around - it was Kibum’s house, the scenario of his actual dream, frozen. Blurry. He could see his dream mother smiling from the corner of his eye.

“Who are…? What do you mean by them? How old are you? What’s your name?”

Kibum smiled a little, still bitter.

“You see… If they can access my dreams, I won’t be stupid enough to talk with them.”

“I don’t know who they are,” The man was serious now, a deep expression in his eyes, almost like worry. But no one had ever worried about Kibum anymore. Not after his parents left him.

“I don’t believe you.”

A really loud alarm interrupted them. He could notice the confusion shining in the other’s eye and, suddenly, the blurry world started to melt away. Used to the feeling, Kibum hugged himself waiting for reality to strike.

“You’re waking up?” The man asked, eyes wide when the world became a black infinite emptiness. “How long-”

Before he could say anything, Kibum was aggressively shaken. His world is now white. So white that his eyes still hurt, even though he had been there for years now. Or so he thought. A small place with a single bed and that was it. The young man waited, looking at the door with cautious eyes, and then, after a couple of minutes, they get to him. Two men with black clothes and emotionless eyes. They had this protection around their head, so their eyes were the only part of their face visible. Kibum walked with them easily, used to what would happen by now, and then looked at them trying to see their eyes. Maybe one of them would be the dream guy, and Kibum would scream “I KNEW IT” and probably get punished, but none of the men had the small round brown eyes.

“Hello, Key.”

A man with white hair and a fake smile said, and Kibum felt his blood run cold. Today could be a good day or a bad day. It all depended on what that man would like to test. This man was the one that took him away from his home. He remembers crying so hard, while kicking him. After that, it took him awhile to notice that - the more rebellious he acted, the worse the tests were. He tried to escape once or twice, but he also found out that he didn’t know where he was anymore. It wasn’t Korea, or maybe just not Daegu anymore. His parents were lost, gone. He was alone. So, why escape? He didn’t have any place to go, and he was a freak. They would kill him out there.

Or worse: Kibum would end up killing someone.

“Hello.” At first, Kibum would never answer, but he did notice that always made the man angry.

“Did you sleep well?”

Kibum felt a shiver down his spine. He knew what that question meant. It was a “bad day”-question. He looked around with curious eyes and saw a big machine, with a giant box on the side, and cringed.

“Who was the man in my dream?” He asked without thinking.

“What are you talking about?”

“The man in my dream. Round face, small eyes, Korean I think… Why was he there? Why did you put him there?”

A different man, much younger, with a white coat and a clipboard in hand, approached them.

“It may be an hallucination from yesterday’s medicine,” He said, using a lantern to look at Kibum’s eyes.

“Does that mean he can’t use it?” The older one asked.

“We have to run a blood test to see if it changed anything. Have you felt anything besides that?”

“...I was sleepy?”

The guy only shrugged, and took a note about something. The day was hard, as usual. Kibum had to stay inside the box with wires that connected him to the machine. He hated this test. It was so exhausting, but still so much better than the shock ones.
 

He saw the small eyes again that night. The man was there early. He felt like he had just slept when he saw him again. Kibum hesitated, around them; his blurry house was empty, almost like his head was waiting to find the other there again.

“Hi,” Kibum said first.

“Hello.” The man smiled and, yeah… That was an event. His small eyes got really smaller, and his smile was so big that could fit the world there. A warm feeling took over Kibum: it had been a really long time since someone smiled at him like that. Careless. Free. Beautiful.

“So… They don’t know who you are.”

“I think that’s fair, since I don’t know who they are either.” He still had that smile on and Kibum could tell that he was trying to appear friendlier. “What's your name, boy?”

Kibum hesitated a little, eyes searching for some kind of sign that the man was trustworthy.

“They call me Key.”

“...Like a key?” He mimicked a door, and Kibum only nodded. “But what you call yourself?”

Kibum couldn’t control his face and his feline eyes were open so wide in shock that the man blinked a few times, almost confused by the reaction. It had been a long time since the last time the boy had said his real name. No one ever asked. He was Key. Now he was feeling a terrible jealousy towards that name: it was his. The only thing that still were his. So he just struggled.

“You don’t want to tell me? That’s okay,” The man assured him, “I’m Jinki.”

“I’ve never met anyone with that name before.” Kibum said, looking around suspiciously, “How did you find me?”

“I don’t know,” He laughed, “I was looking for somebody else.”

“Well, this is so freaking common, you have no idea.” It was hard to ignore the bitterness in his voice. “I don’t even know why I’m always in the way of anyone.”

“But I’m not mad that I found you, actually, that may work even better rather than finding the other person I was looking for!” Jinki said, “Can you tell me where you are?”

Kibum took a deep breath, and started to pull the sewing of his t-shirt. All his clothes were kind of old, some of them were his own clothes, but as the time passed, most of that stopped fitting him, so they gave him all the sorts of t-shirts. He usually wears them while doing the tests and in the end all the clothes were really destroyed. Some of them took one or two days of tests to become 100% destroyed, like the t-shirt that he was wearing right now: it had holes in it, and loosens threads all over it. Was this man really worthy of his trust?

“I don’t really know. When they brought me here, I was… I was sleeping.” Or he had fainted, because they had knocked him down. “And when I got here, no one told me where I was.” Even after Kibum asked so many times. Not even after he cried screaming for his parents. They just took him and gave him the “silence treatment”, which means, electrocute you until you’re passed out. And if you’re like Kibum and can take a little more electricity, they would beat you up too.

“I can’t locate you right now, something is blocking me.” Jinki said, “This doesn’t happen a lot, but I can say that: either you are in a place with someone like me, or with very powerful humans, or both.”

“Powerful?”

“Like… Politically powerful.” Jinki took a step closer, but stopped when the younger took a step back with wide scared eyes. “Like those people who can do whatever they want with you and you feel like no one will ever save you.”

Unsure if he should say something to confirm that, Kibum only nodded. Now that he was thinking: even if this man wasn’t one of them, he could still invade his dreams, so why wouldn’t them? If Jinki could, they surely could too.

“How can you be in my dream?”

Jinki smiled again, carefully this time. “I’m sleeping too… In a machine.”

“Oh, someone runs tests on you too?” He asked without thinking.

“What do you mean by ‘tests’? Key, someone running tests on you?”

He sounded suddenly mad now, and Kibum didn’t know how to react to that. He hated when people got mad at him - that usually meant the silence treatment. He started to panic, and the dream began to collapse.

“No! I’m sorry, Key,” Jinki sounded really worried now, “I’m so sorry, didn’t want to scare you, please don’t wake up!”

But was too late now, Kibum tried to hold on to the dream, to stabilize everything again, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t feel the air in his lungs anymore, he wanted his home, and suddenly the world was white again. He noticed that he was screaming only when he stopped. He was soaked. The small room was waterlogged now and his bed was floating there. That never happened before, not while he was sleeping, neither with so much water. They would get mad at him. The shocks again. He couldn’t take this anymore.

He sat on the edge of the bed, thinking what he could say to explain all this when the door opened, the water took over the corridor, and the man with white hair was there.

“Oh my god, this is unbelievable!” He sounded happy, so Kibum relaxed a little. No punishment tonight. “I’ve never seen you do so well before, Key, this is amazing!”

“He is getting better,” The white coat guy assured the older one and then turned around to talk with other two random guys, “Take samples of this water and of his blood.”

“Did this happen while you were sleeping, Key?” The man asked, kneeling next to his bed without care about his knees getting wet.

“… I think so?” Kibum was really confused. He knew this was result of the panic state caused by Jinki, but he couldn’t say this, so he only nodded.

“I’m proud of you.” The man said and hugged him. This was… Unexpected, to say the least. They never hugged before. And it didn’t feel comforting at all; he was really scared during the whole thing.

“Thank you?”

Now, a man was taking a blood sample from his arm. Kibum used to have a fear of needles, and he cried every time in the beginning. But soon enough he learned that this wasn’t a good idea. Usually when he cried, they would shock him. And he feared the shocks even more than the needles, so he stopped crying.

“So, Key,” The man smiled, “Do you remember what happened in the dream for you to have such a good reaction?”

He thought about Jinki and his beautiful and warm smile.

“No, I have no idea. Don’t remember what I was dreaming.” Kibum lied easily, forcing a weak smile.

“Oh well, so we will find out together, okay?”

And he hugged Kibum again.
 

“Can you do that again?”

The man asked, watching every single breath of the young man beside him. Kibum was connected to a bunch of wires. His chair was in the middle of a small pool.

“I don’t know how I did it the first time.” Kibum said, tense. His hands were holding on strongly to the chair.

“Don’t you remember what triggered everything the first time?” The guy next to the man asked. It was a different guy this time - he wore glasses and had really big blue eyes.

Kibum closed his eyes and thought about Jinki, and the way his smile had made him feel great. His smile had made the colors in his dreams brighter. A warm feeling took over his face now, and he felt something more warm around him, then opened his eyes.

The pool had water everywhere, but also had burned borders now.

“That… Was unexpected.”

The guy said with a blank expression. The man walked until he was so close that Kibum could count the hairs in his beard.

“You’re perfect.” He said, smiling.

His smile didn’t make the world brighter, like Jinki’s. He couldn’t understand what was happening now, but he had one of the worst days in that place after that. When he was sent to sleep, Kibum cried silently against the pillow. His body shaking with the force of his fear. He was so exhausted that he didn’t expect to dream about anything. He always had a dreamless night of sleep when the day was too hard, but this time was different. In the middle of the darkness in his head, he could see Jinki’s smile.

“Hello?” He asked confused. Jinki walked towards him, it was clear that he was thinking a lot before doing anything.

“Hi, how are you today?”

“…Good, I think.”

“I don’t think so,” Jinki had this worried, serious expression now. “I don’t see the house scenario today, which means that before I arrived, you weren’t dreaming. That means you’re probably really tired.”

Kibum felt like a deer caught in headlights. Unconsciously, he started to push down his sleeves, trying to hide his recent marks from the new tests.

“I… am... Really.”

“Key, I don’t want you to panic again, because if you do, the dream will collapse, and I won’t be able to find you again today, ok?” He waited until Kibum nodded. “What tests? Who runs tests on you?”

Kibum felt the tears coming. No one ever asked him anything about this, so he never had to tell the story to anyone. Now he felt emotional to think about everything again.

“I don’t know,” He murmured, “I have no idea where I am, or who are the men who are keeping me here, or even what the tests mean, I’m so lost and confused all the time. I just wanted to have my family back, but I don’t think that is possible anymore, I don’t even think they’re alive, and… And…”

He was crying now, his whole body shaking a lot, and his head hidden behind his hands.

“Can I?” He heard Jinki ask, and didn’t even think before nodding.

Suddenly, he had two strong arms around him. It was a friendly hug, and Jinki let his hand travel to the younger boy’s hair, in a really gentle caress. They stayed like this for a while, and when Kibum opened his eyes again, his old house was there.

“I think you’re feeling better now.” Jinki smiled at him.

“I’m sorry. I’ve never told this to anyone before, no one ever asks my opinion or what I want. I don’t really know how to react when you do this.”

“How old are you?”

“I don’t know. When they took me, I was 17. I was born in 1991.“

“They took you?” Jinki asked, his hand doing shooting circles in his arms now. “You don’t know who?”

“No.” Kibum blinked, and took a deep breath, “They just showed up in my house. They took my family too, and I’ve never heard about my parents again after that. They brought me here, they run tests on me every day, but I’ve only shown any progress just now.”

Jinki nodded, and then hugged him again. Now that he wasn’t crying, Kibum could smell the flowers in the other’s clothes - it felt really peaceful. He almost felt like sleeping inside his dream.

“Thank you, I’m glad that you told me that.” Jinki said, “You are 21 years old.”

“Am I?” Kibum looked up at him. “How old are you?”

“Yes, you are. I’m 24 years old.”

“You’re old,” Kibum smiled, feeling a little carefree now. Somehow, while being hugged by Jinki, he felt safe.

“I’m not old!” He laughed. “Or maybe I am. I think it’s time to wake up.”

“What?”

Kibum turned away to look at him.

“The dream is visibly weaker now.” Jinki clarified. “I’ve been here enough to notice when the colors start to fade…”

“Will you come back tomorrow?” Kibum asked before he could stop himself. He had this feeling that now that he sort of liked Jinki, he would disappear. They would take him away like they did with his parents. It was a crazy feeling where he knew that he couldn’t be happy… Even if was just a little happy.

“Of course I will,” Jinki smiled. That big bright smile again. “Even if someday I can’t come, I promise someone will come to explain you why.”

“How could they?”

“But please take care of yourself,” Jinki said, instead of answering the question. “Smile more, you have a beautiful smile”.

He felt that warm burning feeling in his face again.

“And when you blush - it’s really cute”.

Kibum opened his eyes because of a really strong burnt smell. His room was a mess. Fire everywhere, but he wasn’t feeling hot.

Actually, he had this warm feeling in his heart, but it didn't feel like it was something that he should worry about.
 

“He is having such good reactions in the last two days,” The man said, looking at the older man while other people helped Kibum to step into the machine. It was a big and cylindrical machine, always white, the inside being the size of an elevator.

“I know, it was really unexpected… The water,” He smiled at Kibum, “We only had reports regarding him and fire, didn’t we?”

“Yes, we--”

A woman stepped into the room. She was really tall, blonde, and had a really worried expression. Kibum had only seen her once before: he remembered so little about that day, but she wasn’t like the men that run the tests on him. She didn’t wear white, just blue. Really light blue.

“Jiyong, we need to talk.”

“I’m busy now. Look at him, Angie, you were saying we should give up, and now he is compatible with two.”

She looked around until her green eyes focused on Kibum.

“I need to talk to you about--”

“Not right now, Angie.”

“Jiyong, please, this is--”

Jiyong. Kibum blinked really surprised. No one ever told him the name of that man, usually he was only called “sir” all the time. Now he had a name. Jiyong. Kibum entered the machine thinking about it. The name made the man feel more real now, like he wasn’t even a human before, and now he was. Or not, he was really confused now. How could someone cause him so much pain and still be a human?

Kibum couldn’t hear them anymore, they closed the machine. He could walk freely inside it, even with the wires connected to his head and arm.

“Now, Key,” Jiyong said. his voice coming out from the speakers didn’t even take him by surprise, he was used to it by now. “You have to test your limits, ok? Try to remember exactly what triggered you the other times and do the same now, can you do it? Now, we don’t care if you give us fire or water, just give us something, okay?”

Kibum closed his eyes, trying to focus. Jinki. What triggered him last time was Jinki and his beautiful and big smile, and his warm eyes.

“Smile more, you have a beautiful smile”.

He felt his cheeks burn remembering the way the older guy had said it. It was almost like he really did care about Kibum… That was so unusual. He opened his eyes, and nothing happened. He had the warm feeling in his belly again, but neither fire nor water… Nothing. He looked up, to the speakers, worried.

“That’s fine, sweetie,” The caring tone sound weird in the other’s voice, “We can find a way to make this work.”

Without any warning, the machine started to move up, shocking Kibum. He tried to find something beside the wires to hold on to and found nothing. He only had two wires that worked like a belt in his wrists. With eyes wide open, he felt the machine stop.

“Now, sweetie, you have to do it, okay? Or you’ll hurt yourself.”

Before Kibum could ask exactly what he was talking about, the machine felt loose, falling just like a elevator, but faster. His legs couldn’t take it, and suddenly he was on the ground. The machine stopped harshly, and started to get up again. He stayed on the ground, maybe it would make it better, but when the machine started to fall again, he felt himself getting sick, his wrists hurt by the belt, and his body moving against the walls. He closed his eyes trying to make it stop. And suddenly, he was floating. In water.

The last thing he heard was Jiyong’s laugh.
 

“Jinki?”

Kibum looked around his dream: his mother was smiling happily, talking about something, but he was just really aware that it was all a dream and that Jinki would show up any minute now.

“Who, honey?” His mother asked.

Feeling a little anxious, he shook his head and blinked, exhausted, and the dream became black. It was cold today, and he was shaking a little. He walked around slowly - it was a ocean of emptiness, and he couldn't find anyone there.

“Jinki?”

His arms and legs were still hurting for earlier. After the water thing happened he was taken from the elevator, and he really thought that they would let him alone, but they didn’t. They still put him in other machines, and poked him everywhere.

“Looking for me?”

He turned to see that amazingly bright smile again. It was crazy to think that Jinki made him feel better than his mother did. Not that he was more important, no. Never. But Jinki was there. Thinking about his parents was like dreaming about old times that would never come back. Made him happy while dreaming and sad when awake. He would always remember how his parents were lost or even dead. But Jinki wasn’t. He was there. Smiling and hugging him. Jinki was the hope of a different future. Jinki were all the doubts and the certainties in one person alone. Even if the eldest only showed up in dreams, he never failed to make Kibum remember that there still was a world outside that place.

“...Yeah, I... Yes.” He could feel his cheeks burning from inside out.

“I was looking for you too,” Jinki’s eyes scanned his body, “What happened to you? Key?” He took two steps closer and stopped, his hand in the air, almost like his first intention was to touch Kibum, but right now he was having second thoughts.

But Kibum wanted the other’s hand in him, so he just took a step closer and let the bigger hand touch his shoulder.

“Tests,” Kibum said, shaking his head, “it’s not easy now, you know?”

“No, actually, what is not easy now?” Jinki asked, his hand moving lightly to his neck in a sweet caress. Kibum could feel the other’s hesitation, so he did his best to relax, feeling the massage and wanting a little more. His body was sore from the test and he could use someone taking a little care of him right now. This was kinda unusual. But not unwanted.

“The tests,” Kibum said, “They could be, you know, hard sometimes, and they would almost always hurt, but it wasn’t like the ones they’re doing in me now.”

“What they are doing in you now?” Jinki was massaging his shoulders with both hands now, and it was unbelievably good, at some point, the younger closed his eyes and began to enjoy while speaking.

“I don’t know the reason, but most of the tests not only hurt but try to annoy me,” He explained calmly, “They want me to do the same things I do when I’m awake, but I can only do this because of you.”

Curious, Jinki stopped, making Kibum release a little sad moan, and the hands were back in seconds.

“Me?”

“Sometimes you do something, and I don’t know…. I create things.” Kibum said, smiling a little, but inside he was afraid. He tried to trust Jinki, but in the end, he could never be so sure of anything. Jinki was better than anyone in his life right now? Yeah, but it wasn’t like his life was really something that great.

“I create things too.” Jinki said, stopping the massage now. Kibum tried to moan a little again, but the hands didn’t come back, so he turned around. Jinki was smiling and it would always mesmerize Kibum. “That’s how I’ve found you.”

“Creating things?”

“Key,” Hearing Jinki calling him Key just like everyone else felt weird somehow, but he tried to focus anyway. “I don’t wanna pressure you to do anything, okay? And I don’t wanna scare you either. I… know you don’t know anything about the whole universe of power that you’re in. I’ve noticed that your parents didn’t know, which makes sense, because you’re in Korea and all the research started in United States and… “ Jinki’s hands were back, touching his face gently. “I want to show you who I am, not only for you to know me, but for you to know that you’re not alone. You’re not weird. You’re special and beautiful, okay? Do you wanna see this?”

“You,” Kibum smiled, “I want to see you”.

Jinki never stopped smiling, the hands were still there, but suddenly he was… There. Everywhere. In his mind. In all his memories, and in none of that at the same time. Kibum could feel him everywhere. He barely noticed when the hands left his face, when he blinked again there was something there. Floating in the space between their bodies, it was almost like a spectrum, but inside Kibum could see himself, younger, running with his parents. Screaming and laughing while his father tried to catch him. He felt himself smiling and suddenly it was gone.

“Jinki?”

“I can be inside people’s minds. I don’t need a machine most of the time,” He explained, “I need a machine to go further. If I’m close to someone, I just need to look at them and I can be inside, and talk, like this,” And he opened his arms, “Ir just read the memories, or the thoughts, wants, needs, everything. I can make them do what I want them to make. Or I can stay away.”

“You’ve found me…”

“Yes, I was looking for someone else, but I’ve found you. I could feel your energy, and power… And sadness. I was… Worried for you.”

Kibum looked around, feeling confused but curious.

“I have powers?”

“You can create things, right?” Kibum nodded. “So you have powers. I don’t need you to show me anything now, I don’t want to, I don’t feel like you’re ready, but I wanted you to know that I’m here and I understand. I don’t want you to feel lonely, or left behind, because, Key, I’m not giving up on you.”

Kibum felt himself warm, and blinked a little, feeling tears close. The impulse to hug the other man was easy to comply, and Jinki felt safe and warm. Because now he had someone with him. Someone like him.

“So that’s why you didn’t left?”

Jinki nodded against his neck.

“I knew something was going on, but I couldn’t give it a proper look. You see, you have some memories open, like those,” He did a hand gesture and several memories of his family floated in the air. “But most of your mind is locked, and I don’t know how you’re doing this without proper training, but it’s amazing. I was worried about your sadness, and the tests, so I’m still here. I’m trying to find you, locate you and help you escape.”

Kibum was so… Overwhelmed right now, tired even, which was really strange, since he was sleeping. He laid his head on Jinki’s shoulder.

“Escape?”

“To a place where you can be you without suffering. You, and all of us, deserve a better life, without pain.”

Shooting hands were running in Kibum’s back. He let himself be in silence a little. Jinki smelled like flowers and dust, and it made Kibum miss the outside world. Jinki’s hug made him feel safe for at least a couple of minutes.

“The dream is fading.” Jinki warned but didn’t let go from the hug. “Key, I-”

“My name is Kibum.” He said, looking up to see Jinki’s amazing eyes one last time in that dream, “I’m sorry I’ve lied, I didn’t know if I could trust you.”

“And now you can?”

Kibum opened his eyes and saw the white ceiling, but inside his mind all he could remember was the surprised beautiful blush in Jinki’s face while asking that.
 

This place was new and uncomfortable. Kibum was trapped on several wires, as usual, and locked down in a cell that was located inside the dark room. More than the fact that the room was really dark, it was named that way because it was only used for really painful tests. Kibum found out about this listening to Jiyong talk about the others who had been in this particular room. It was his first time there, so he only knew that most of the other people didn’t like here, but he didn’t know why.

“Key? Sweetie?” Jiyong voice was cautious, “We need to do this, okay? I need you to cooperate with us and try to focus on your creations, can you do this?”

Kibum looked around, still not comfortable there. Sure, he was used to his dark dreams now, but those were different. The dark from his dreams had light, still, this room was only darkness.

“Key?”

“I think so.”

“Great. Sweetie, I need water.”

He closed his eyes and tried to think about water. He needed water to happen or worse things could happen than just a crazy elevator. After 5 minutes, and no water, Kibum started to freak out. Running in circles, jumping the wires, and really trying to create water.

He only needed water and nothing more. The fear was real now, he felt anxious looking around expecting something happen. Anything. Expecting the pain, or anything and, suddenly, his feet were wet.

“Beautiful, Key.” Jiyong said, “Now the test begins.”

Kibum blinked, really confused for a moment.

“Now?”

He couldn’t even process the idea when something electrocuted his body. His scream was loud and echoed through the room. He passed out so fast that he didn’t even notice his own body floating in the air.
 

His dreams were dark and empty. His whole body was trembling and he couldn’t remember going to sleep, or anything. Kibum looked into the darkness, feeling his legs weak and his head hurting so much. He wanted Jinki so badly.

“Jinki?”

His voice was low and hurt, and he felt so alone right now. Kibum tried to walk, but his legs bent, making him fall completely into the darkness.

“PLEASE HELP ME,” He screamed for anyone in particular now, trying to get up, but his body couldn’t.

So he laid there, crying in silence, while feeling his body hurt and tremble.

“Jinki, please...”

His mind. Jinki could read minds, maybe he could… Scream… Maybe... His body was so weak and the darkness looked really looked cozy now. But Jinki...

Jinki.

But even his mind was shaking now, so why should he even try? Giving up would be so easy, and then, the pain would go away. Maybe he should just give up.

Jinki, please.

He was so lost and confused… And there was so much pain.

Give up.

His head was heavy, and keeping his eyes open was really hard. But it was so dark he didn’t have anything to see, right: he could just close his eyes a little bit.

JINKI.

“Kibum, my God!”

Familiar hands took him in, hugged him, brushed his bang off his eyes and he could see Jinki’s eyes.

“Jinki?”

The older one was holding him, looking around almost as if he could find anything.

“I don’t usually do this without asking, but I feel like this is an emergency.” Jinki murmured against his forehead, his hands shaking… Or was it just Kibum’s body? Everything was so confusing, but now he wasn’t alone. It was almost like he could let go now.

Suddenly, Jinki was everywhere again. In every corner of his darkness.

“I can’t see,” JInki sounded so frustrated, “I can’t see what happened, Key, I don’t know what to do. Tell me what I can do to help you, please.”

“I’m Kibum.” He answered trying to smile through his tears, “You’re here”.

“You called me,” Jinki smiled to him, “Kibum, I have to… Get used to it. Tell me what you’re feeling, I’m trying to help you.”

“Pain,” Kibum turned to hide his face on Jinki’s chest, “So much pain. And my body is shaking, and-- Jinki...”

“Shh, it’s fine,” Jinki said now, holding him strongly against his own body, “Everything is gonna be fine, I swear to you, everything's gonna be ok.”

“You can see,” Kibum said weakly.

“What? I can see what? Kibum?”

“Everything. You’re everywhere, so you can see.”

It took a couple of minutes to Jinki understand what Kibum was talking about.

“No, I can’t-- I--”

“It’s dark.” Kibum said, too tired to keep dreaming, so he was forcing the words out. “You need a flashlight.”
 

Everything hurt. Kibum looked at the white ceiling of the room for a couple of minutes until he realized that he was awake. Everything hurted a lot. He tried to move, but froze immediately when a rush of pain cut through his body. It took him a while to notice that he had something in his arm. A needle in his hand, medicine running through his veins, and it still wasn’t enough.

Jinki.

He remembered the man, but not clearly. Apparently it was still daytime, or something like that, because there were people running around his room. Jiyong was right beside his bed, talking to two white coat guys, as usual.

“So he isn’t good with electricity? I thought that he had a better resistance.”

“No, even if he is immune to water, and probably can stay deep in water for a longer time than a normal human being, his resistance to electricity and water together is the same of an average human being. Even though he can take a little more electricity without water, he’s still affected, only less.”

“How can his body be resistant to fire but not to electricity?” Jiyong said, sounding mad. Kibum closed his eyes, since they hadn’t noticed he was awake; at least he could listen to them walk about what they were doing to him.

“His body can take fire because he produces fire,” The man said, sounding like he was talking to a kid, “But electricity is different. His body is not ready to deal with it, he doesn’t have that running through his veins.”

Jiyong was silent for a moment, and then Kibum felt something touching his forehead.

“But he can create air.” The man continued, “His reaction to save himself was to fly in the cell, which means that he can control air, so he can also create air.”

Jiyong touched his hand now, next to the needle, in a way that should feel caring, but Kibum was afraid. His blood running cold. Before he was always wary and even afraid of Jiyong, but he had this feeling that they would hurt him, but he could take it. This was better than being dead, but right now he didn’t know how to feel. During that last test, he felt that being dead was better than that. And this isn’t freaking being healthy, so he was really scared right now.

“He… He’s one of those, isn’t he?” Jiyong asked slowly, “We’ve found him so… unintentionally. We took him only because we thought that he was a powered by two. It’s rare, but it’s powerful. And now he is someone powered by three? You know what they say… Powered by three is rarer than powered by four, you know that right? If he has three, he has four.”

“Well, he never did anything with ground. Not yet, at least. We can’t say for sure that he is one powered by four, but he surely is the most powerful one here.”

“In this room?” Another voice finally spoke.

“In this whole building.”

“We need to keep him.” Jiyong said easily. “Let him sleep for now, and recover, and then we’ll try to get something with ground, ok?”

Jiyong kissed his forehead. After that, Kibum really fell asleep.
 

“I know it’s hard to believe, but even in your mind you should stay down.” Jinki said smiling. Kibum was pleasantly surprised to find the other there already.

“Did you stay?” Kibum sat in the darkness. Now that he was better he could feel the textures - it felt just like normal ground, but really dark. He couldn’t stop smiling watching Jinki sit beside him.

“I was worried. It’s not… You’re really bad, Ke-Kibum.”

“Sorry If I’ve worried you or even called you, I don’t even know if was late or too early or-”

“It doesn’t matter, actually, you can always call me, ok?” Jinki offered him a hand, that Kibum took easily, and the older intertwined their fingers together. “I can always come, my mind is always open to you.”

“Mine is too.” Kibum let his head rest on the older’s shoulder, feeling better already. “You said you couldn’t see, but I’ve never put… I’ve never thought about protecting my mind or anything.”

“You said something, you know? When you were passing out, you said that I needed a flashlight, so I looked with a flashlight and I saw… Kibum. I knew you had dark places in your head, it’s like a really physical demonstration of depression.” Jinki squeezed his hand, almost like he was trying to remind the younger that he was there. Like it was even possible for him to forget something like that. “I saw what they did to you, to hurt you so badly, and I… I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry that you’ve… you’re in a place like that.”

“It’s ok, I’m there for so long now, that I don’t really care anymore. Sometimes I wish I could die, but then I wouldn’t live enough to escape, or see you, I don’t know.”

“I’ll find a way to help you get out, ok? Unfortunately right now I can’t locate you, your memories had nothing about it, and this lab you’re in has something that… I don’t-- I can’t locate, I only find your mind here. But we’re working on it.”

“We?”

“Yeah, me and my friends.” He smiled. “They know about you, and they’re worried, since you’re here alone, being put in those kind of situations.” Jinki took a deep breath and brought their intertwined fingers to his lips, kissing Kibum’s hand gently, “Right now I want to talk about your powers”.

That made Kibum tense up, moving away from Jinki, but still holding his hand.

“What?”

“Kibum, you’re really powerful and that’s amazing! You are powered by three, you know how rare that is? You’re amazing!”

Kibum blinked, really shocked, for a couple of minutes. He wasn’t used to people… Liking his powers. Okay, Jiyong surely did, but he liked it because of science, not because he was amazing, like Jinki said. He could feel his face feeling warm right now, probably blushing.

“My parents used to be really afraid,” Kibum started, his voice low, “Don’t get this wrong, they loved me, but when I was four years old I set fire to half of my school. It wasn’t… You see, I was a kid, and I didn’t know what I could do, but some kids got hurt, no one died and the school expelled me. After that I was home schooled and lived only in my house’s perimeters, until Jiyong found me.”

“Jiyong?”

“The man that runs the tests.” Kibum shrugged, “I have no idea how they found me, I lived in a very small town, but they did.”

Jinki nodded, and kissed his hand again, his smile kinda sad now.

“I’m sorry that all of that happened to you at such a young age. Most parents aren’t ready to deal with, you know, a special kid. They don’t know what being powered means and they surely don’t know how to help us with our power. It’s not their fault, it’s just that for so many years the powered were killed, you know? As a kid, as soon as someone noticed their powers, they would kill them, they thould it was some kind of devilish thing, you know?”

“Like the witches?”

“Yeah, almost like that, but most of the cases were really isolated and no one knew. But now that they can’t just kill children like that, most people don’t even know about the powered or how to deal with one.”

“I don’t know what a powered means.” Kibum said shyly, and laid his head back on the older’s shoulder.

“It means that you’re powered by some force of nature, you know? We don’t exactly know why or how, studies are being made, you know, actualscience and not torture like this man does to you.” Jinki said, sounding really mad for a couple of seconds, and then he closed his eyes for a moment. Feeling the stress, Kibum squeezed Jinki’s hand and, blushing furiously, kissed his face. “That-- wow,” Jinki smiled at him, his cheeks blushing as well, “You don’t have to do this”.

“I don’t have to, I know, but I wanted to.” Kibum said, feeling kinda tired already, so he laid back and pulled the other with him.

“The powers we have,” Jinki continued, smiling to the dark above them almost like he could see stars. “It can be of any nature. I have psychic powers, you have physical ones. When someone is like you, and has physical powers, they’re usually powered by only one, like, only by water. But not yours. You’re powered by three: air, water and fire. This is rare. It means that your body is capable of so many things,” Jinki said, turning to look directly at him, “You’re capable of so many things, you’re so powerful.”

“And you’re powered by…” Kibum turned to look directly into the other's eyes.

“I’m powered by psychic, it’s kinda different, I can sometimes put my powers in a concrete way and show memories, but I can’t literally create things every time.” He laughed a little, “I’m inside everyone’s minds, and it can be overwhelming sometimes, but it’s really good too. Like now, I’m feeling really okay now.”

“Me too,” Kibum said, easily, “I feel like I’ll wake up soon, but I don’t want to. I want to go away with you and not get hurt anymore, I want to really see you, the real you, and… Hug you.”

Jinki blushed hard now, his whole face in a dark shade of red, and then he pulled Kibum into his arms. The younger smiled against his chest, feeling almost like he was floating, like he wasn’t tired or feeling any pain.

“I swear we’re gonna find each other, and I’ll hug you so tight and never let go.”

“Never?”

“Never never.”
 

“We want to test something different today, Key” The man said to Kibum, and that was so rare that he took long to understand what was going on. They usually just discussed things between themselves, what kind of tests they would run, and just throw Kibum there.

“We want to test something that you’ve never done before, and we don’t know if you will be capable of.” The said man continued, and Kibum wished that he knew his name too. Jiyong wasn’t there right now, probably busy with other tests in other people, and Kibum noticed that knowing the name of someone that talks to you every day, even if you don’t like them, makes things… More human. But maybe those men didn’t say their name because they didn’t feel all that human anymore.

“Okay.” Kibum answered because he knew that he should, but right now he was really scared. That room didn’t look like the last one, so he was relieved that they wouldn’t try electricity again, but it still had two big closed doors with something mysterious behind them.

“So this one is easier, but it’s important for you to know that: we will be very angry with you if you use fire, water or air to get out of here, okay? You will only be allowed to use one of those if we say so, do you understand?”

Kibum nodded, already used to these kinds of tests: if he disobeyed somehow, he would be punished. Sometimes they didn’t bring any food, other times no shower, but if you were particularly bad, they would lock you somewhere down in the basement They could do shocks if you were bad, and by bad it means not answering or trying to talk with other kids. All his punishments were no food, or shocks, so he didn’t really knew what happened down there.

All the time the men said that they had to forget that they had other people there. Jiyong used to say, when he looked around, “Don’t look at the other kids, you’re alone here,” and that would mean a night without food or something. But right now, when he started to think that he should try to escape and knew that this life wasn’t good, he couldn’t help but think about the other kids as well.

After that, the doors opened and, before Kibum could look at anything, he was thrown inside and the doors closed. The first thing he notices was the smell, something like… He opened his eyes to make sure: grass. So many years without seeing any grass. He let his fingers feel the texture of grass, closed his eyes again, finally noticing the sun and how amazingly hot he felt against his skin. He could feel the pure air into his lungs. It felt like freedom.

“Key, Sweetie, I need you to start now”.

And now he felt like a bird in a cage: illusion of freedom. He got up and looked around properly now: he saw plantation walls, with grass everyone, it was pretty and dangerous. Kibum didn’t need to get into there to know what that was: a labyrinth. It had an open space so he could enter, but it didn’t have any way out, not by sight at least. He took a deep breath and walked slowly until he was inside the labyrinth.

He walked for hours at least. Or so it felt like hours, he couldn’t know. The sun didn’t move, which means it was a fake sun, and he felt like a bird in a cage once again. Of course it wasn’t a open space, if that place had a open space Jinki could, probably, locate them. But the older said that he couldn’t find his coordinates, only his mind. He knew where he was, like the country, the city, but not the actual place.

He was tired of walking already, it felt like the corridors multiplied every time he rounded a corner and he would be lost there forever. At least he could sleep and see Jinki, so maybe the days lost there wouldn’t be so horrible. He could deal with an eternity beside Jinki. He couldn’t stop the small smile and the blush in his cheeks every time he thought about Jinki. His heart started to beat so fast that he thought that it would break his chest to get out. Maybe that was what people called love. Liking someone enough to marry them. He could marry Jinki. The thought made him feel butterflies in his stomach.

After some more time, he was so tired that not even thinking about Jinki made the situation better. He was starving and sleepy, and his arms and legs still hurt for the other day, so walking wasn’t that pleasant. He needed to think in a way to get out there without use water, air and fire. He didn’t want the punishment, maybe if he weren’t already hurt, but right now he couldn’t take it.

“Maybe I’m not capable of, you know?” He said out loud, looking up to the sky, where he bet were the cameras filming the test.

No answer.

“I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do, I only know that I can’t use water or air or fire, but what I-- oh”.

He remembered now. Jinki said people like him were powered by nature. So if the nature gave him 3 powers, it could have given him four. Air. Fire. Water. It had another one. The fourth.

Ground.

It was so obvious.

This whole place was full of ground. Dirt. And plants. So, if he wanted to get out, he needed to control one of them. Or all of them. He thought about Jinki and the hope of getting out there. It wasn’t accessing his powers, he needed a really strong emotion, so he thought about freedom.

He wanted to get out there. He wanted to go to the place where Jinki said people test their powers without pain or without getting hurt. He wanted to have a choice to come and go. He wanted to feel the sun on his skin.

The real sun. And smell the grass. Or the beach. Or both. He wanted to get out there.

He didn’t wanted to be the bird in a cage, but a phoenix flying freely. He closed his eyes and suddenly he was out. Up in the sky. The ground beneath his feet was solid. Up there he could see the end, and then made his way till there.

And after this everything was black.
 

“You look tired again,” Jinki said, sitting beside him with a smile.

“I am, actually, I think I’ve passed out.” Kibum said with an easy smile.

“You don’t seem… Sad today.” Jinki put a hand around his waist.

“I am not,” Kibum pulled Jinki until they were on the ground, lying next to each other again. “Jinki, I want to get out”.

Jinki turned until they were facing each other again. It was easy to lay down next to Jinki and only look into his eyes.

“I want you to get away as well, but it’s not easy.” Jinki was running his hand in Kibum’s arms. “I need a way to find your coordinates”.

“I know a way,” Kibum smiled to him. “How fast can you get there?”

“It depends, I’m pretty sure we’re in the same state, I only need the coordinates.” Jinki had this worried expression that made Kibum’s heart go crazy. “I don’t want you to get hurt. We were trying to find a way of finding you without putting you in risk”.

“Maybe I could get hurt now, but after that I would never get hurt again, think about that.” Kibum said, bringing him to a messy hug on the ground. “It’s a long term reward’.

“I don’t want you to get hurt ever,” Jinki said, kissing his forehead, “I hate to think that you’re getting hurt there. That right now you’re actually passed out and there’s nothing I can do besides being here for you.”

“That’s awesome, you know, I like having you here. And I trust you to be here with me.” Kibum took himself right beside Jinki and felt strong arms holding him, “I’m powered by four”.

“What?”

“They made a test, I can make ground as well.” Kibum said.

“You’re… Really powerful,” Jinki said carefully, “That’s why they keep you so hidden. It’s only fear that someone can take the place down, it’s fear that someone could take you down, Kibum. I need you to… I need you to stay low, ok? I’m really afraid of what they can do with you”.

“They already hurt me”.

“It’s because you’re locked out for so long. Kibum, babe, sometimes they really sell people like you to be used as weapons.” Jinki kissed his hair now, almost like he was trying to comfort him, “They sell them to really bad people who torture not only for tests, but for pleasure. They use people as weapons to kill others. They destroy their poor souls, and Kibum, if they decided to sell you, we could never find you again. Those places are really… Blinded out for anyone, that’s how no one stopped them yet, so now that they know you’re powered by four, that means you’re expensive.” Jinki sound really disgusted now, holding him so tight that he couldn’t barely breath.

“I didn’t… Jinki, what we are going to do?” Kibum said.

“I’ll talk to the others, make a plan, okay? You’ll help us to find you,” Jinki smiled, losing the hug so he could look directly at Kibum’s eyes, “And no one will ever hurt you again. I promise. And you’ll have a beautiful and happy life just like you deserve, ok?”

“All of us?”

“Oh… There’s more people there?”

‘Yes, many kids. They always said that I couldn’t talk to them or about them, that I had to act like they didn’t exist, but Jinki, right now, I need them to have freedom as well”.

“You’re right! I’ll warn my people about that too, and we’ll be ready to help all of you, ok?”

Kibum blinked a little, and then leaned down to press a light kiss in the older's lips. The kiss was fast and sweet, just like first kisses should be. And then Jinki broke the kiss, releasing Kibum and sitting with wide open eyes and a blush all over his face.

“Don’t do this.” Jinki whispered. Kibum was taken aback, sitting next to him and feeling the rejection so hard take he could almost cry right there. Jinki seemed to notice, so he was suddenly right there, right in front of Kibum, his hands in each side of the younger’s face. “Don’t get me wrong, I do want you, I really do,” As if to prove his point, Jinki gave him another fast kiss. Kibum felt his heart almost melt and then Jinki was gone again. “I do want you, but right now I don’t feel like it’s the right moment. You’re so alone for so long that I don’t feel like you can decide if you really want me right now or if you only like me because I’m the only one here, you know?” Jinki smiled to him, “I believe and respect your feelings, but I need you to get out and have freedom before you decide if you want me or not, otherwise, I would feel like i’m abusing you”.

“But you’re not,” Kibum was shocked now, eyes wide open. “I kissed you, you’re not.. It’s not like you’re taking advantage of me”.

“I know, babe, I know you kissed me,” Jinki smiled to him, “You just don’t have any other reference to make this decision now, you know? You’ve been kidnapped for years now, and no one gave you love and support for so long that’s easy for you to like me just because I’m doing this.” Jinki kissed him on the cheek, “Don’t worry, though, when you’re out, I’ll be there next to you, and if it’s meant to be, it’ll be.”

“You and me?”

“Yes. Both of us, I swear”.

“Can I have another kiss?” Kibum asked. Maybe it should be frustrating, but Jinki was right. He should focus on getting out, and then he would love Jinki. Every single day. And no one would stop them.

Both of them. Jinki and him.

Jinki kissed his cheek, laughing.

And suddenly the dream was out. It didn’t fade out, like it usually did, Kibum was just woken up abruptly. Jiyong was there, looking furious just like Kibum always saw him looking at others, but never at him.

“Key, who is Jinki?”

“What do you mean?” Kibum tried, smiling a little, “Who is Jinki?”

“I’m not stupid, Key.” Jiyong said, looking directly at him, “You passed out after using your ground power for the first time, and then we brought you here, to watch your dream properly, because you’re passing out a lot, and we need you healthy to use your powers, and, Key, what a surprise to listen you talking about this “Jinki” guy so much.”

Kibum looked around and noticed that he wasn’t in his room, but in a lab. He had wires coonected to him everywhere, with something like a machine in his head.

“And then we noticed that you’ve talked about this Jinki before and no one from your family was named Jinki.” Jiyong nodded and smiled to him. This smile was cold as stone. “So we decided to look through your dreams, we’ve had the machines here for people powered by psychic, but we’ve never thought that was it would be necessary to use in your or anyone else’s head, anyone powered by elements, since we have this amazing shield protecting the whole building-- and look, we were wrong”.

A guy showed him blurred pictures of him and Jinki in the dream. Hugging. Laying down together. Kissing. Kibum felt his cheeks burn and couldn’t help but smile.

“Who is Jinki? He is powered by psychic, I bet, so that’s how he found you, am I right?” Jiyong waited a little, almost like he wanted an answer, but Kibum didn’t say anything. “Ok, so he found you and kept… Showing up in your dreams. Why?”

Kibum looked around the room and then back to Jiyong.

“Do you care about him?” Jiyong asked, but it felt like more an affirmation. “You do, don’t you? He shows up in your dreams, says sweet nothings into your ear and you forget all about me, isn’t it like that? Because you’ve never looked at me like this”.

Jiyong took one of the pictures and waved it in front of his face. In the picture, Kibum was smiling looking at Jinki, who was holding his face in his hands, smiling as well.

“And now you won’t talk to me?” Jiyong’s voice was getting louder and louder until he was screaming. Jiyong only screamed when he was really mad, and Kibum felt his whole body freeze. “ing, tell me now, WHO IS JINKI: IS HE POWERED BY PSYCHIC? HAVE YOU MET HIM BEFORE?”

Silence.

“If you don’t answer now, I’ll put you in the cell, Key”.

The cell. Kibum had already gone there before. It was an awful place, a literal cell, like a bird cage, trapped in the ceiling of the labs and whoever stays there gets to see all the tests. Someone could think it was an easy punishment, but it was actually terrible: the person had to hear all the screams of pain, tears and fights going on below, and if they did any sound, they got whipped or hurt some other way, only eating one time in every other day and getting only a pot of water, like a dog.

But he couldn’t tell him anything about Jinki. If he had a choice, he chose for Jinki to stay free and happy than there with him. Even if that meant only seeing him in dreams, it was better. Jiyong couldn’t find him.

“So you’re choosing the cell, isn’t it?” Jiyong asked. “You like this… Random so much that you’ll be punished because of him. This makes me so mad.” Jiyong touched his face with both hands, but it didn’t felt like Jinki’s. They were cold. “I want to wreck you because of this, but I need you alive. You’re powered by four, so I need to have you” Jiyong kissed his cheek.

Kibum was disgusted immediately. That was ok, the cell, he would try to sleep and find Jinki again. Jink would hold him, make him ok, kiss his cheeks to erase Jiyong’s path there and they would have some hours together. Thinking about this made Kibum’s heart so happy. Any time with Jinki was valid and really amazing. He felt them unwrapping him of the bed, taking the machine off and then suddenly he felt something in his arm. He was used to the feeling of a needle - he never asked any questions, they always gave him all kinds of medicines, and now he only wanted to go to the cell, sleep and find Jinki.

“So, this is special, Key, we’ve never used this with you before.” Jiyong said, smiling at him, “This is a very powerful medicine, and do you know what it does?” Kibum shook his head with a frown, no one ever told him what the medicines did. “It Inhibits your sleep.”

Kibum froze again, looking at him with pleading eyes.

“Please, no,” Kibum finally said, feeling like someone had just punched him in the stomach “Don’t do this, I can’t go days without sleep or food, it will… Kill me, you said you wanted me healthy.”

“You’ll have food, don’t worry, a little bowl just like a dog.” He said. “But you’ll not sleep and not meet this man again, ‘cause you’re mine, Kibum, remember that name?” Listening Jiyong calling him Kibum always felt wrong, but right now it was even worse. “Yeah, Key, no one will ever take you from me.”
 

The cage was like hell. Kibum didn’t know how long he was there, but it was long enough. In the beginning he was ok, he couldn’t sleep because of the medicine and he thought that he wouldn’t get tired as well. But no, he was really tired now. He was sleepy, but the drug kept him awake. His mind wasn’t even making sense anymore.

At first, he heard people talking about him. How special he was because he was powered by four, but somehow he didn’t feel special at all. Jiyong had said, with a smile in his voice, that everything would be ok when they ended the research of a way to block Key’s mind, and then he would be his forever. Kibum didn’t want to be Jiyong’s or anyone’s. Not even Jinki’s. He wanted to be free. He wanted to have choices and to go wherever he wanted to. Use his powers when and how he wanted.

And then the tests begun. First it was a girl, he could tell she was young just by hearing her voice. She was scared, not talking much, and just doing whatever they asked her to. He was glad that her tests were fine, she didn’t scream or anything, she was powered by water and could make ice. Kibum didn’t know if he could make ice, probably yes. Not all those powered by water could make ice. He looked at the ceiling and closed his eyes.

The next three people were just as calm: tests. No scream. No speaking. But then another girl came, she was crying, he noticed fast. Jiyong was talking about her and she was touching things, he could hear the metals hitting the table.

“Stop that now,” Jiyong said roughly, “Did I let you touch anything?”

“No,” was the trembling answer. Kibum focused on her voice trying to find out how old she was.

“So why are you touching?” Jiyong asked and had no answer, “Yeah, that’s what I thought” .

This girl screamed. She seemed to be young, maybe a kid, she screamed and cried during the whole thing, and Kibum felt nauseous. Hearing someone be in that level or fear and pain, and to do nothing was hard for him. The cage wasn’t big enough for him to lay down, he had to let his legs pass in between bar spaces, so they were hanging out in the ceiling, just like his arms. It wasn’t comfortable but it was the best position right now, so he didn’t see anything below. He could look, but why would he want to? Listening was bad enough for him.

At some point he was so tired that he didn’t even knew how his body was still awake. He couldn’t hear anything more, only his thoughts. Sometimes he heard screams, and couldn’t tell if they were his own or whoever was being tested now. When he closed his eyes he could see colors dancing in the dark, when he opened the colors were still there. He wanted to sleep. Dream with Jinki. He wanted a hug.

He wanted to sleep but also wanted to stay awake. He wanted to let everyone that he heard today out. He wanted so many things, and nothing. His brain was a confusion of colors and memories. Screams and kisses. Hugs and tests. Fire and water. Ground and air. He was weak now, but felt stronger than ever. It was almost like he had been sleeping all those years, numb. But then he met Jinki and he was different. He showed him that the world hadn’t to be so… White. And cold. Seeing such a different reality showed all the flaws in his. Why didn’t he think about that before? His tired brain asked no one. How did he live so many years there being tested, being punished, every day without even knowing what those tests meant? How could he live being powered by nature without even knowing what that means?

How could he be so strong but still be locked there? He opened his eyes and watched the colors dancing between the cage’s bars. If he was the most powerful person in this whole building, why was he was still locked down there?

Kibum thought about this place, he didn’t know much: it had bedrooms, corridors and tests rooms. It had maybe four floors. Every time they took him somewhere, they took an elevator, but it had no numbers in it, only a screen that you could tap the floor you wanted. He had never gone higher than the fourth floor. The dorm was on the second floor. If he wanted to run away he had to think about some things: helping the others open their cells, the cameras that were everywhere, the guards and where they were. Because if they could get out, he needed to lead them somewhere, what if this building was in the middle of nothing?

He needed Jinki’s help and for that to happen he needed to open the communications. Jinki said that the building had all minds protected under something like a shield and he couldn’t access it. But, somehow, Kibum’s mind was still out there. Why?

His thoughts were brutally disrupted when the cage started to be taken down. Kibum sat up and waited until he was face to face to Jiyong.

“Hello, Sweetie, how was your day?” He asked touching Kibum’s face lightly.

Kibum looked at him and then turned his face away, bringing his legs bent close to his chest, trying to force space between them.

“So you’re still like this? Key, you make me so sad, you know that?” Jiyong said, shaking his head slowly, “I didn’t want to hurt you, but you’re leaving me no choice, you know? That’s what you want?”

“If you want to,” Kibum said, “I’ll not say anything, so if that means you’re going to hurt me, so be it”.

“When did you become this aggressive, hm? Was it Jinki?” Jiyong took a deep breath, “Give him more of the dreamless medicine and put him down.”

“Are you sure?” One of the white coat guys asked, sounding a little in shock.

“He wants to play a freaking rebel, so be it,” Jiyong said smiling, “Let him in the worst cell that you can find”.
 

The first thing Kibum did when was thrown into the cell was to try and make ice. This place still had cameras, but he thought that, since he was incapable of sleeping, no one would care about him training his powers. The thing is: he would be without sleep now that he refused to talk about Jinki, so he had to use all his tiredness as strength to keep going.

Conjuring his powers wasn’t easy, he noticed. In every test he could only use his powers when triggered to have big emotions. Always something between the lines of despair, fear or tiredness. But there were two times that he used them after being happy with Jinki, so to try out his powers he started to think about good things.

His parents and the good memories of them playing with him. He remembered sitting down with his father and watching the stars, learning all of their meanings. His mother kissing his forehead and reading books with him.

And that made water happen. He noticed that some of the water was escaping under the door, so he concentrated enough to make some ice and put it there, and then filled up his room until it had water up to the ceiling. He found out that he could stay underwater for some time, more than a normal human being, and then he used air and fire to make the water evaporate. He didn’t feel the fire, it would his skin like a caress and not hurt at all. If he used the air in the right way, he could fly around and not just float immobile. The ground power was the most fun to play with, he could build things like sand castles and use water to destroy it. He could make beautiful things using all of his powers.

It was crazy to think that with the same hands he could model a small mountain with a waterfall and watch this for a long time, and he also could kill someone. He didn’t know how long he was down there until they gave him his third plate of food. And when they brought food they, also, used to give him a new dose of the medicine. It was a lonely place. This cell was humid and kinda of dark, he couldn’t make light, but he was okay with the dark. The dark reminded him of Jinki.

Thinking of Jinki also made his power easier to control. Good emotions were the best to make everything happen. Maybe if Jiyong knew that he would be a better person… Or maybe not. Probably not, but Kibum liked to have faith in people.

At some point his body reached a level of tiredness that he couldn’t ignore anymore. It was hard to move and he stayed still, laying on the bed. He didn’t know if it was possible or not, but he may have passed out at some point. He was in the dark.

Not the dark room, but his mind’s dark. He recognized this place.

“JINKI,” He screaming on the top of his lungs, running around, “JINKI, PLEASE!”

“KIBUM!”

And suddenly he was in the older’s arms after so much time.

“Jinki, oh God, Jinki, I’ve missed this”.

Jinki was hugging him tightly while kissing his hair.

“Kibum, I’ve missed you… I thought… We thought… You were gone and oh, God, I thought the worse”.

“I’m alive,” Kibum said, moving away from the hug a little bit so he could look Jinki in the eyes, “They’ve found out about you, gave me drugs to keep me awake but I think that my body couldn’t take it anymore, I think I’ve passed out”.

“Babe, you’ve been awake since the last time I saw you?”

“yeah”

“15 days,” Jinki hugged him again “I want to kill them”.

“I want to get out, we don’t have much time here, they know about you and they’ll… I’ll be awaken soon, so we need to think fast, ok?” Jinki nodded, looking at him intensely. “So I was thinking… If we can break this shield so you can locate this building, and if it’s close, how fast can you get here? I’m afraid that we are in some kind of desert, you know? How can I run with those people to nowhere? I need a place to take them.”

“We’ve been training this,” Jinki smiled to him “We have some people powered by psychic that can teleport, not my case, I can only travel with my mind, not my body, but they can, so if you call me, and we have the coordinates, we’ll be there in minutes to help you all”.

Kibum nodded a little, and then smiled to him.

“I trust you,” He said truthfully, “I really trust you, I don’t know if a should, but I do, please, don’t prove me wrong”.

“I would never,” Jinki kissed his cheek “Never, I promise”.

“I’ll look for the shield’s source, it’s a machine, right?”

“Probably,” Jinki shrugged “It could be a person, a really strong person powered by psychic, but It didn’t feel like that. If it was a person I should be able to feel this person’s mind, but I can’t, so it’s probably a machine”.

“It’s easy to find this machine, I get?”

“It’s really easy because it’s a big machine that has a shield in it.” Jinki smiled a little “Really, if the shield is on, the machine’s screen will have a shield drawn on it, ok?”

“Ok, Jinki, I-”

The light killed the dark and he was awake abruptly again. He was in a bed again, wires everywhere, and the mind machine again.

“You passed out.” Jiyong said to him. “I know you saw that Jinki again. I’m tired of warning you, Key.“ He looked around, and then took a deep breath.

“They said you’re weak because of the lack of sleep and hunger, so you’ll sleep in this machine that supposedly stops your dreams, and this man right here, our most powerful powered by psychic guy, will watch your mind as well, ok?” Jiyong said to the boy, he was young and looked kinda scared. Kibum tried to smile to him, but the guy was looking down. He was really thin and asian, like Kibum.

“Keep in mind that if you dream about this man again, we’ll know and you’ll be punished.” Jiyong said easily. “Good dreams”.

When Jiyong left the room, a white coat guy was still there, working, the boy was looking at him now, no expression in his face and Kibum let his body rest. He probably slept, he thought when opened his eyes after some time. It was a dreamless sleep, he didn’t try to call Jinki. He needed to rest a lot now and didn’t need to be taken down again. Right there, in that room full of psychic machines, was 50% of chance of the shield machine be there as well. So if he could stay there was the best choice ever.

Now the room was empty, aside from the boy, still looking at him.

“Hello” He said, smiling a little.

“Hey,” The boy answered “They said that I couldn’t speak with you.”

“Oh well” Kibum smiled to him, and then only moved his lips without let out any sound “you are powered by psychic, so you can create a sound barrier, maybe?”

The boy seemed to think a little, then he looked around, and smiled a little.

“I’m trying, I’m not that great with my powers yet”.

“I’m Kibum” .

“I’m Taemin”.

“You look young, I’m sorry you’re here, but I can take you out”.,

Taemin looked shocked for a second there and then shook his head.

“It’s not possible, it is? Right now then can’t hear us, but they can still see us, if we do anything, they knock us down and then torture us”.

“But, Taemin, we’re much more than they are” Kibum looked around “It’s just… We are separated. We need to be together. I have someone outside, that’s why you’re here, and I can call him to come help us but to do this right now I need to break the shield that it’s keeping this place out of the mind map”.

“And if we die?”

“Ok, I don’t want to force you to do anything, ok? But think about this: you can die trying or live here forever being tests or you can be sell to be used as weapon, it’s your choice. I’ll try to sleep a little, then you have time to think.”

He drifted of to a dreamless nap. He found out that sleep without dream was good to rest, but it left a hole inside his heart. It was almost like he was missing a big part of his life, so when he opened his eyes, decided that he wanted to dream awake as well.

“You’re right” Taemin said at the same time he opened his eyes “We should try. If we do, maybe I can find my family again.”

“I think my family is dead” Kibum said, sadly “But I have this guy, Jinki, and that’s it”.

“What you need?”

“First let’s see… i’m powered by four, so I can stop people, but I have to physically go to the rooms and open one by one, but you… Powered by psychic, I bet you can get into people’s minds”.

“Yeah” Taemin shrugged “but I‘ve never done this to so many people before, I’ll probably fail” .

“Think about good things” Kibum smiled to him “It’s the best way to trigger your powers when you’re not used yet. We’ll stop the shield machine, and I’ll try to call Jinki with my mind and you’ll talk to the other people here”.

“But what… What i’m gonna say?”

“The truth: that we if are united we can get out, and that they should use their powers to escape the rooms and… And use this power to get out. To help others. Can you do that?”

“I think so” Taemin smiled to him “what’s that machine?”

“Well, we need a big machine with a screen that have a shield on it, can you see something like that?”

Taemin looked around twice until he nodded.

“I think I’ve found it”.

“Great, now I need you to tear apart this wires of me, but discreetly, they can’t notice what’s going on from the cameras, ok?”

Taemin started to try to loosen the wires one by one.

“Did noticed that they’re so certain that we never going against them that they put the two of together?” Kibum asked “Or rooms don’t even have proof of powers walls or doors”.

“That’s because we’re too weak, no?”

“No, it’s because the best way of torture that they do here it’s inside our minds, you know? They make we believe that we’re weak, and that we would never be capable of scape, but you see, you said that you were weak, but right now you’re holding this sound barrier for what? A couple of hours?”

Taemin stopped everything and looked shocked to him, eyes wide open almost like a deer caught by highlights, and Kibum smiled to him.

“Do you believe in my now, Taemin? We can do this”.

The youngers nodded, and then took of all the wires. Kibum set up immediately, and they both raced toward the machine.

“We don’t have that much of time to think about buttons” Kibum murmured and then pulled all the wires, turning the machine off. “Taemin, go!”

And he closed his own eyes, screaming Jinki’s name in this mind. He didn’t need to be sleeping, he thought, he only needed to make Jinki find him. Beside him, Taemin was with eyes wide open watching the door, and in his mind he was telling everyone to rebel against this place. Just like Kibum had said. Suddenly, bunch of guards break in with guns and shot against them, with Kibum used the air to change the direction of the bullets. Taemin seemed to be so taken by surprise that Kibum sensed they with closed eyes.

“C’mon, Jiyong it’s probably being being woken up now to come here and we need to get to the room floors before they activate the machine”.

They ran to the stairs, and Kibum wisely made an ice path that they slid on until the second floor. When they got there, Kibum couldn't stop his smile. Everyone was out of their rooms, he could see guards’ bodies in the ground while people opened some of the still closed doors. He saw some kids with probably 6 or 7 years old holding each other with wide open eyes. He saw girls with murderous eyes and crying boys feeling lost there.

“HEY” Kibum screamed but nobody listened, que looked around and then make a really high podium and screamed again “HEY EVERYONE” people noticed him now and everyone started to stop and look at him. When everyone was in silence he nodded “OK! Now We have to organize to get out, ok? Jiyong it’s probably reconnecting the shield machine now and we will not be capable of spread a message like Taemin did before, ok? So let’s do like this: everyone powered by air in the left, everyone powered by fire in the other: you guys are deadly, so you in front: fire people, fire everywhere, air people, make his fire even worse. Water behind the air people and help them to don’t hurt themselves with the fire, it’s possible a water wall?” Most of people said yes so he nodded “ok, now ground and psychic people behind everyone, you’ll close the path, ok? Powered by ground do walls and everything you can to stop everyone to came behind us, while powered by psychic if you can teleport, it’s time to get people out here, first you go for the kids, ok? Remember: Some guards are powered by fire as well, so we need that the psychic people took this one down, or you can do this?” Some of people said yes “and now: maybe have people outside to help us, I’ve tried call them, I don’t know if they found us, if they did, you can trust them ok? And one more thing: they don’t have guards powered by psychic, that’s why they needed a machine to lock the building and needed Taemin to watch my sleep, NOW LET’S GO! WE CAN DO THIS!”

They organized really easily and started to move towards the stairs, the build didn’t had windows, which would make easier to get out. The guards were taken down one by one, some of them got a little hurt, but they were too many. When they get by the main door, Kibum remembered something.

“And the people down there?” He pulled Taemin that was passing “Taemin, and the people down there?”

“I talked with everyone in the building, I think, they will come behind us.”

“But they are less than us” kibum screamed “and if the guards could overpower them?”

Kibum saw people running outside and noticed that had people there, maybe Jinki’s friends. He wanted to run too, but the people down there needed help as well.

“You want to call someone to go down there with us?” Taemin asked.

“No, I can go alone, run free, Taemin, thank you”.

Kibum turned to look to the stairs that lead down there. When he found them, made the same thing with the ice and slid down there fast. Most of the doors were open, but some of them don’t. He approached people that were trying to open those doors with worried expression.

“Why this can’t open?’

“They’re powered proof doors. All doors down here are, but those are proof to anything but psychic, and we don’t have any powered by psychic here” The girl explained.

“Actually” They all turned to see Taemin smiling at them “I just checked to see if everyone was good up there, and you see, Kibum, I think your friend it’s there, and I came here because I couldn’t just leave you like this after you helped me to see that I could have a better life” He smiled “Now, those doors, hum?”

They all turned away from the doors, and Taemin, with a flourish movement of hand opened all the doors. People started to run off there, guards where get down there now, and Kibum saw the war happened, even without a plan of attack, people were taking the guards down. Kibum runned looking all the doors, in one of the rooms had a small girl crying.

“Hey, come here, let’s get you out here, ok?”

She looked at him.

“I can’t move” and he recognized his voice immediately. It was the girl’s that touched everything during the tests when he was on the cage.

“Why you can’t move? What’s your name?”

“Lily”

She showed him that her hands were attached in the bed with handcuffs.

“Ok, you’re powered by what?”

“Four.”

Kibum smiled to her, and used fire to break everything. And then hugged her, carrying her outside that place. Lily was really small and thin, probable had around 5 years old and certainly was too young to use her powers. He used air to fly up, back to the main door, and hiding her face against his chest, so she couldn’t see all the bodies.

“KIBUM” he heard the scream and the door closed, keeping him inside. He turned to see Jiyong looking at him with a mad expression. He had a gun in his hand, pointed to them and eyes of someone that could shot at any moment. It didn’t come as a surprise to find out that Jiyong wasn’t powered. That’s why he wanted their powers so much: he didn’t have his own.

“Jiyong, you’ve lost” Kibum said, holding her tightly “Let me out, end this”.

“You’re crazy? You! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! You destroyed everything! All my years of hard work”.

Lily started to cry against his chest and Kibum shocked his head.

“You kidnaped us. All of us. You’ve made me going through hell here, ok? All of us. You broke our dreams and self-esteem, you’ve made us believe that we’re weak and that all of this was the only way of living, but it’s not. You’re crazy, and I’m letting you rule my life anymore!”

Kibum screamed and used the ground to make a cage trapping Jiyong in. The man tried to shoot, but Kibum used air do turn the bullet away and locked him in this ground cage with fire in their bars.

“Because you like cages so much” Kibum smiled to him and then turned, opening the door and getting out. He could see some people helping others round the place. The build was in a desert area, how he had guessed, but he could see a city if he looked up.

A boy came to him, smiling “She is ok? I’m a nurse in Colorful, you need me to have a look on her?”

Colorful. What?

“Sure.”

When he passed the Lily to the nurse he started to room around, his body was so tired and he needed to rests, but he also needed to find Jinki first. People were receiving water and medical treatments there, and then they were teleported. Everyone looked happy and… He only wanted to find Jinki. It was almost like a war scenario, but they had won. It was easy to predict the victory considering the bunch of people that was in that place.

“Kibum?”

He turned fest when he heard the familiar voice. Jinki was there. Smiling that bright smile that was even brighter in the real world. It could outshine the sun.

“Jinki?”

And when Jinki run to hug him, Kibum felt tears in his eyes, and gentle kisses in this forehead.

“I’ve found you, I was so worried, Kibum”.

Crying against Jinki’s chest, he was finally ok. He could have emotions now, and be a little weak. He could fall and Jinki would, certainly, catch him.

“I thought, for a moment, that I couldn’t make it. I thought I would die, and everyone would die as well, and- I -”

“Sh, that’s ok, relax” Jinki ran his fingers through Kibum’s hair “I’m here, you’re not alone, you can relax, nothing bad it’s going to happen anymore”.

Kibum felt his body release all the tension and suddenly everything was dark.
 

Kibum wake up with a start, and he needed a couple of minutes to remember everything. He looked around: he was in a pretty room, it was white, ok, but had one baby blue wall right in front of his face, have television, and a computer in a table. He wasn’t attached to the bed, he had only a single wire connecting him to a medicine bag. Had a windows, he smiled sitting and turned to see the city outside. It was a good place. Someone knocked in the door and then opened.

“Oh, Hi, you’re awake, good!” The person smiled to him, and showed a clipboard “I’m a nurse him in Colorful, my name is Minho, I just came to check if everything is ok? You need anything? In your file say that you’re… Powered by four and was anemic, ok. This” he pointed to the bag “it’s a IV drip, since you were passed out and couldn’t eat”.

“Ok.. Where it’s Jinki?”

“He is a little busy but he will be here soon, do you want to watch some television?”

“I think that would be nice, thanks”.

Minho left the television on in some channel that he never heard about. He wasn’t in Korea that was sure. It was passing a funny movie about some emotions lost inside a little girl’s mind. Kibum smiled fondly thinking that Jinki was almost like that. It was different to wake up and don’t feel fear. Don’t have to worry about how bad would be the day. To think that everything was ok now and that he could do whatever he wanted. it was an amazingly good feeling and he was… In love with the idea. He wanted to see the world, see everything he had missed in those years alone. But he also wanted Jinki, be with him. Together. Jinki did had a point when he said that they needed to know each other better, and in a better situation to know if that was actually love, but Kibum was almost sure. It was like someone up there had put Jinki in his life to brighten his days.

“Are you free to talk to me?” Jinki asked opening the door with a smile.

“Jinki! I- Oh, It’s so weird to actually see you”.

“I could say the same” Jinki approached the bed and sit on the edge “I was so…. Happy when you called me and we could locate you. All of your colleagues are being taken care of, who had family alive we’re bring them back and who didn’t we’re helping them to find a place, if they want they can stay here in Colorful or go away”.

“Colorful?”

“Sorry I didn’t tell you our name, I was worried that if they find a way to look into your mind they would find out about us and… We are pretty big, everyone know Colorful.”

“I’m not mad, considering that they really found a way to look inside my mind” He laughed a little “Colorful seems like a good place”.

“We are like a school, you know? We help people to understand their powers, and who wants to live here, we have bunch of rooms. And who wants to help, we train nurses to deal with powered people and we always looking for teaches and everything. We look for powered people by their minds, sometimes, to talk with them about the possibilities. We do this in their minds because sometimes they’re or really far or in a situation like yours and we can’t approach in real life. That’s how I’ve found you.”

“Looking somebody else” Kibums smiled.

“Yeah, I was in a machine, because he was in Japan, but you’re close… Your mind was always there, but so dark and hidden. That day, I’ve found you because I was in the machine. I never use the machine, I don’t usually need, not even to that long mind travel, but… I don’t know how life works sometimes…I’m glad that I used the machine that day.”

Kibum nodded a little, still tired. He yawned, looking the TV again.

“I’m so happy that we’re out. I can’t believe that someone it’s capable of doing things like that… They had kids there, Jinki. KIds. Really little kids.”

“We saw, by the way, Lily had found her parents, they’re alive. She was kidnaped while coming back to school with a auntie”.

“Good, she deserves a better life than that”.

“All of us, Kibum” Jinki smiled to him. “Now what do you want?”

“Right now?” He laughed a little, finish this movie with you laid here with me”.

“Sounds great to me” Jinki moved so he would lie next to Kibum, was a couple bed and had bunch of space for both of them, but still the older was really close to him, holding him close with a arm. Hugging him and bringing him so close that they felt almost like one.

“And after all that?”

“I don’t know, maybe I’ll stay here” Kibum said “Or I could travel a little, know the world. Would you come with me?”

“No, I need to run this place” Jinki said, but kissed his nose when saw the deception in Kibum’s eyes “But I think you should go and alone. Know yourself it’s the best way of knowing your power, your limits and your body. It would be amazing for you.”

“And if I want to come back?”

“Colorful will always be with open doors for you, Kibum.”

“And you?”

Jinki didn’t answer, he just gave him a kiss on the lips, as that was enough of an answer, and it was. because in the end, Kibum know only one thing: he could go everywhere and Jinki would always go with him. In his dreams.
 

The doorbell rang around 3 AM and Jinki was the only one still awake. He was waiting for Kibum to call him, so he could find him. For all those years that the other man traveled, they had talked and shared beautiful moments in dreams. In the end, they always had each other, even if so far from each other. He opened the door and was attacked by a hug. They always had beautiful moments in his dreams, like they used to have when Kibum was… In that bad old place. They used to lay down alone, and talk for hours. Or just hug. When the time passed, Jinki noticed that, even if was hard for him to believe, their feelings were right and real since the beginning. It’s hard to understand love sometimes, how can love be so right in a crazy situation like that? But it was. Sometimes he wanted to give up everything and run to find Kibum anywhere he was, but Colorful was important.

“SURPRISE!!!”

“Kibum?”

The man smiled to him with bright eyes.

“The one and only, missed my real me?”

Jinki only smiled and kissed him. They kissed like that in front of Colorful door for a couple of minutes. And then Jinki hugged him. It was good holding the other in dreams? Yeah, but the real world was, still, incomparable.

“Oh god, I love you” Kibum said against his chest. Was the first time he ever said it. Was special and Jinki could say that he was waiting the right moment to say it “I’ve missed you like this so much”.

“Me too, I love you too” Jinki kissed his whole face and then laughed when someone whistled from a window above them.

“CAN I TAKE PICTURES?”

“SHUT UP TAEMIN” Jinki screamed back and listened the laugh of the younger man echoing in the night.

“He probably took the pictures anyway” Kibum warned him with an easy smile.

“He probably filmed, the brat” Jinki couldn’t stop kissing him, and nothing would make him blue right now “so, how long you’ll stay?”

Kibum gave him a knowing smile back. His eyes shining with hope.

“Forever”