Dowoon peers through heavy eyelids. He blinks his eyes a couple of times as they adjust to the brightness. There's someone beside him, but he isn't sure who it is. "Hyung..." he calls out. There were only four people he could think of.

"Dowoon," Jae whispers softly, brushing away the hair which had fallen on the boy's eyes.

The young boy stirs. What a horrible nightmare, he thinks to himself.

"How are you feeling?" 

Dowoon recognizes the voice this time. “Jae hyung? My head hurts..." 

"I-It's me." Jae answers, choking back tears as he helps Dowoon sit up. As if he weren't already being eaten up by his guilt, he feels even much worse that there's nothing he can do to ease the pain his friend was feeling.

"Hyung?” Dowoon can't believe it's Jae infront of him. He looks like he had been crying and Jae never cries. It's the worse Dowoon has ever seen his friend. He looks around, unable to recognize where they are. They're alone in an empty room--no beds, no desk, no scattered clothes on the floor. It was nothing like home. Then it hits him, it wasn't a dream. Like cold water poured over him, fear seeps into his bones.

"Dowoon I’m-“

"Hyung!" he hugs Jae like he's never letting go and starts crying. "I-I'm so sorry. If I hadn't been so stubborn we would've been safe at home right now.”

Jae can't help but shed a tear with the boy. Even their youngest had been dragged into this, whatever it is the man wants to achieve. He's afraid, and to think he had considered himself to be the bravest in the group, but he knows that in order to survive, he mustn't let his fears get the best of him. They still have an advantage--they have their powers and they have each other.

He doesn't know if he's doing it right, but Jae continues rubbing Dowoon’s back in an attempt to comfort the boy, insisting that none of this was any of their fault.

"S-Sungjin hyung? Wonpil-"

The door suddenly opens and Sungjin stumbles inside, followed by guards and the person they all fear.

"D-Dowoon..." Sungjin says in a small voice. He was dreading to see his brother, because it only meant one thing: they were in the same situation, trapped in some place where they were going to be experimented on and possibly even worse, killed.

Dowoon runs to Sungjin but the man pulls him away as soon as he was within arm's reach of his brother. 

“Let me go!” 

As he opens his mouth to scream, he feels the man inject him on the neck. He had been expecting them to try and stop him, but he's determined to get to his brother. He knows there's still time before the sedatives take effect; he can still take down a few of the men. Dowoon screams as loud as he can, but his voice cracks. What he doesn't know is that it isn’t a sedative he was injected with.

Dowoon reaches for his throat. It feels like he had swallowed fire, like his neck were burning. He claws at his throat gasping for air.

"Dowoon!"

"What did you do to my brother?!"

"I would offer you a shot too but I only have one left. It's still on trial production you see."

"You bastard!" Jae shouts.

"Who's the bastard who gave out his friends' location?!" the man roars, making Jae fall silent.

Jae's eyes meets Sungjin's but he quickly looks away in guilt.

"Thank you, now I can move on to more pressing matters."

The man passes Dowoon to one of the guards. The boy still has his hands on his neck. He tries to speak but nothing comes out. He had lost his voice. Hyung, he mouths, afraid.

"I injected him with a serum that, well, shuts him up. The effects are temporary. Unless I inject him with another dose, then you'll probably never hear his voice again. We can try and see if you want..." The man brings the needle near Dowoon's neck, making the boy struggle against the guard holding him.

"I'll do it! I'll do what you want! Don't hurt him!" Sungjin pleads.

"Wonderful! I knew you were going to change your mind!"

"What are you going to make him do?" Jae seethes.

"He's going to tell me a story about your fondest memory of your boyfriend." The man pats Jae on the cheek.

Jae feels like his heart drops to the pit of his stomach. What if he finds out… No! He can't know! He thrashes around in anger.

"Wait for your turn, you rude boy!" The man slaps Jae so hard, blood trickles from where his lip splits.

"Start with your brother!" he orders Sungjin.

"I need to touch him..."

"Stop making things up! You're really testing me, aren't you?" The man brings out the syringe again.

"It's faster that way! Unless you aren't in a hurry," he lies further, hoping the man would eat it up.

The man grabs Dowoon and pushes him to the middle of the room. Sungjin quickly runs to his brother's side. He wants to hug his brother but he knows he's going to break down the moment he does. He needs to be strong for him--for them.

"Are you okay Dowoon?"

The boy nods, grabbing onto his brother's sleeve, trembling.

"Enough with the drama. Let's get the ball rolling!"

++++++

Younghyun was on the swing, rocking slowly, both his feet barely leaving the ground.

He was waiting for Jae. It always took the boy forever to finish his assignments. He had restrained himself from going to his friend's house to do his homework for him. He needed to teach Jae how to be a responsible student for once. 

"Hyung!"

Younghyun nearly fell out of his seat. He thought he'd been alone all this time. He looked about, but there was no one around.

"Up here!" The voice seemed distant.

Younghyun looked up, he scanned the playground until he found a boy sitting on a branch up a tree. It was Dowoon. The boy and his family moved into their neighborhood recently. Jae told him the kid could manipulate sounds. He was jealous.

"What are you doing up there Dowoon? It's dangerous."

"My earphones fell. Can you pick it up for me hyung?”

Younghyun stood up, he didn’t have anything else better to do anyway, maybe he could climb the tree as well. But before he could take another step, someone called him out.

"Younghyun!" It was Dowoon's brother. The boy who could read minds.

"What do you want?" 

"That's Sungjin hyung for you! Mind your manners." Sungjin pushed Younghyun aside as he took the boy's seat.

Younghyun didn't pay him any mind. He decided he was going to visit Jae and help him instead, he should have done that from the very beginning, but first he was going to help Dowoon.

"Where are you going?" Sungjin's tone was demanding.

None of your business, he said in his head.

"You're lame.“

These were the times Younghyun wished he had Dowoon's powers. He tried not to let Sungjin's words affect him. He was an empath and he had to control his emotions unless he wanted to hurt someone, that was what his mom told him.

"Off to play with that boy? For someone as powerful as him, I didn't think he'd befriend someone like you. I should be the one he should be hanging out with.”

Younghyun rolled his eyes. This guy was full of himself.

“You have really bad manners.”

So do you, Younghyun answered back in his head. 

Sungjin picked up a pebble and threw it at Younghyun, hitting him square on the head.

"You going to tell on me to your father?!" Sungjin shouted. "Oh right... You don't have one."

That was it. Sungjin had just tipped the scale. Younghyun wasn't going to have anymore of it. That was the first and last time anyone was going to mock his father. 

He ran to the older boy and pushed him off the swing. 

"Don't you dare talk about my father! And I have powers! I'm an empath!" Younghyun didn't care if anyone heard him. He had endured all this time because he knew Sungjin’s words wouldn't make him lesser of a person. But the mention of his father made him feel the emptiness, the longing. If his father were still alive, would he have defended him from people like Sungjin?

“GET OFF ME!”

“I have powers! It’s up to me if I want to use them infront of you or not!”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t have any!” Sungjin said trying to push the boy off him.

Younghyun’s mom insisted that he didn't need to use his powers. Powers don't make a person great, it's his heart that makes him so, his mom once said, or something to that effect. 

He also didn't see the point of having to know someone else's feelings. He tried it on Jae once but the boy wasn't feeling anything then. It was pointless. 

“I’ll show you! I-I can read your emotions!” 

Younghyun grabbed Sungjin’s wrist. He concentrated hard. He concentrated and concentrated, but he couldn’t feel what the older boy was feeling.

What is he feeling?! Younghyun accidentally said out loud in his head. I want to know what he’s feeling! He gripped Sungjin’s wrist tighter.

“You liar!” Sungjin overturned Younghyun, so that the boy was now lying on the sand. “I knew it!” He laughed as the boy struggled beneath him.

“Hyung stop!” Dowoon shouted in the distance. 

None of them paid him any attention.

“I’ll tell everyone! Jae wouldn’t want to be friends with you anymore!”

“NO! G-GET OFF ME!” 

With one strong shove Younghyun was able to push Sungjin off. He pinned the older boy's right hand to the ground and with his remaining hand he was going to shut the boy up once and for all. He pulled back a fist, ready to throw a punch.

"Hyung don't!" Dowoon came in between them.

Sungjin looked faint. Younghyun hadn't realized that the boy had even stopped fighting back. He immediately let go.

"You're right. I don't have a father. I-I don’t have powers. But at least I have a heart!" Younghyun was red in the face. His dad would have been proud of him.

"I was waiting for you!" Jae opened the door for Younghyun. "Have you- Hey, are you okay?" 

"Y-Yeah..." Younghyun went straight up to Jae's room. 

“You have sand all over you…”

Younghyun ruffled his hair vigorously, leaving specks of sand in his wake. 

"It’s Sungjin again, isn't it? That jerk! Where is he?!"

"I may have scared him off," Younghyun said recalling the boy's pale face.

"Really?! I'm so proud of you Younghyun! I taught you well!" Jae pat his friend on the head but pulled away immediately.

"Y-Younghyun?" Jae felt the sadness and frustration of his friend like it were his own. He was always able to sympathize with his friend but this was something else.

"Hmm?"

It was gone in an instant. 

"Nothing…”

++++++

"What are you going to do with those memories?" Sungjin asks angrily. 

He was drained. He had gone through Jae’s memories right after Dowoon’s and had told the man so many things. None of it made any sense to him but he knew he had to keep talking unless he wanted to see any of his friends get hurt.

"You'll find out later. You just made everything crystal clear for me. As a reward I'll let you enjoy yourselves… for a while. Go hug and cry in a corner, or whatever you kids do these days. I'll have to pay your friend a visit."