The small girl was shivering from how cold it was. She had a thin, grey blanket wrapped around herself and she was pressing her back to the chilly wall behind her, looking as if she wanted to disappear through it.

Minseok felt a pang of sympathy hitting him as he hesitantly walked towards her. Her dark, wide-open eyes followed him, but there was no sign of recognition in her face. She was just observing as he came closer.

It hadn't snowed that much yet, but Minseok knew it would start again soon. It was the clouds that told him, and the air that seemed to be able to freeze somebody on the spot.

He stayed a few steps away from the girl, he didn't want to come across as a threat. Instead, he tilted his head and smiled a bit. She was still looking at him with distrust in her eyes, but there was no fear in them. With careful, slow movements, Minseok pulled the blanket from his backpack and held it out towards her.

At last, she showed a reaction. Her eyes went wide. She stared at the blanket as if she had never seen something like it before.

"Why would you give that to me?" Even in her voice the cold was audible. It was trembling.

"Because I have several more and you seem to need it more than I do," Minseok answered with a soft voice. He had just come back from a short trip, and it was true he had a lot of blankets at home. He regularly cursed the cold weather in this area, even though he was quite sure he was better off than the people living at the edge of the desert. At least from what he had heard other people talking about. He had never left this village for longer than a few days. For noticing the slight change of temperatures, though, it had been enough. Further south, the people said, the climate behaved the exactly opposite way: it was getting hotter and hotter, and the desert was spreading dangerously fast.

Minseok didn't know whether he could believe these people or not. A place so hot that there would be just sand as far as you could see? It seemed barely imaginable.

His thoughts were interrupted when there was a tug on his arm. The girl had taken the blanket. She was now staring at it incredulously. Minseok thought of coming back tomorrow with another blanket as he turned around with one last smile, knowing she would not talk much more.

There were too many people like her in this village. It was not exactly a small one, it rather felt as if all the people living in the north had come together, hoping to find a warmer place and more food. But there was not much to eat in the north anyway, and definitely not enough wood and strong people to build good, isolated houses. This was why many people were living in the streets like the girl, trying to set up traps to find whatever edible creatures there were in this village and begging for the remains that would be thrown away by the people living in the houses - if there were any.

However, there was a mutual agreement that every day up here in the north was better than one near the city. The Red Force didn't come up here very often. They would have to cross the mountains if they did, or try to march around them and take a few weeks to arrive - if they managed to adapt to the cold fast enough. Up here, it was safe.

There were weird stories about the Red Force Patrol going around, though. Or maybe it was like this because one didn't see them often. The people didn't know what to believe anymore. Minseok rolled his eyes whenever someone told him about them recruiting or torturing people with superpowers- of course the people wanted to believe these stories of heroes with supernatural powers, but he wouldn’t believe them unless he witnessed it himself. Wasn’t it a childish thought that people with powers actually existed? But there were stories about the Patrol punishing villagers who had planned a revolt by cutting off their limbs or torturing them so badly even the people who had done nothing but watched became insane... The kind of stories that gave you an uneasy feeling just by listening to them.

Minseok shook his head to get it free from these thoughts. He was safe here, and he hadn't done anything wrong, there was no need to worry.

With a slightly reassured, calm mind, he went on towards his small house. It was more like a hut than a house, though. It was made completely out of wood, and the interior was barely exciting. There were lots of blankets everywhere, a small fireplace, a wooden desk, wooden chairs and a shelf with books which he had bought when a merchant had visited them. As far as he remembered, he had been the only person to ever come up here for trading, and he had left quite quickly. No one stayed here for long.

Enjoying the silence, Minseok lit a small fire, sat down on his bed and cuddled into a soft blanket. Oh, how he enjoyed coming home and feeling warm­-

Squeak!

Minseok froze. Not now. He had just come home. He lied down on his bed and closed his eyes, only to be met with another high, pained sound from outside.

Sighing, he stood up and stepped out of the door, his blanket tightly wrapped around his body. Where was he supposed to search?

Contrary to his expectations, he found the reason for the sounds after only a few minutes of searching. It was a tiny field mouse, stuck between two of the balks of his house.

Minseok frowned.

"You tried to steal my food, didn't you?"

The only answer he got was another panicked squeak as he tried to get closer.

"Please don't panic, I'm trying to help you," Minseok murmured, sitting down beside the animal. The mouse didn't budge as his hand approached it. It had to be paralysed by fear. Ignoring his guilty conscience, he tried to free it as carefully as possible. He discovered that it was merely its hind paw that was stuck. It was already bleeding, but Minseok managed to free it without making it worse.

The little rodent in both of his hands and the blanket tucked under his arm, he returned to his house.

Back inside, he sat the paralysed mouse down in a small bowl. The poor animal was shivering, and he was able to feel its frantic heartbeat.

"Wait a second, I'll get you something to eat," he said softly.

After a short search, he retrieved a bit of cheese. He broke it and laid a tiny part into the bowl. The mouse, however, didn't budge. It was just lying there, trembling.

"What can I do to help you?" Minseok asked cluelessly. Maybe it was feeling cold. He lifted the bowl up and put it down near the fireplace. He made sure it was not too near, seeing as the mouse couldn't flee if it got too hot. Minseok planned on having a look at its injury after a small rest, but his fatigue was too much. As soon as he closed his eyes, he was met with the welcoming sensation of sleep.

 

It was pitch black around him. Or... it wasn't. But Minseok couldn't describe the colour he was seeing. If it was a colour. It was nothing like anything Minseok had ever seen, not even in a dream.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience," stated an unimpressed voice. Minseok flinched, surprised by the intruder. "You're too far away, that's why I decided to contact you like this.”

"Contact me? Who are you?" Minseok didn't have a clue of what was happening. The other person alone was already confusing him. It was a boy; he was sure of that. But still, he had a quite melodic voice, one that didn't fit his emotionless way of talking at all.

"Listen, I don't have much time," the voice stated. There was a certain hint of annoyance in his words. "You've probably been wondering about this superpower thing-"

"This what?" Minseok interrupted. There was a short silence.

"You don't have one?" The guy sounded honestly surprised.

"I certainly don't, I'm quite sure I would've noticed that. Superpowers don't exist," Minseok stated, his voice getting louder.

"Alright, alright," the voice answered quickly. There was another awkward silence. "But I'm quite sure I didn't make a mistake... I guess you will get yours tomorrow. I think the others didn't get theirs at the same time either. Anyway, if something weird happens tomorrow... Don't worry, there are other people like you, we will take care of each other... damn, that's cheesy, this Junmyeon guy has a creepy impact on people!" Minseok chose not to answer, as he didn't understand a word of what this guy was blabbering. The other one seemed to realize this as well.

"Alright. If I were you, I wouldn't stay where I am after tomorrow. But you will realize this yourself, I guess. Travel southeast, through the forests. I will lead you on in your dreams if you need it, but I'd rather not, this is ing draining... I'm convinced you’ll find us soon, all of us seem to feel some sort of subconscious pull towards the Tree. The others found it without any problems."

There were a lot of questions on Minseok's mind. He chose to ask the simplest one. "What?"

The guy sighed in annoyance. "This is of no use if you don't have your power yet. You'll see what I was talking about soon."

His voice was becoming more and more faint, until Minseok remembered the question that had been burning on his tongue for the whole time and seemed to be the only one he was not afraid of asking.

"Why can't I see anything?"

He was sure the boy had already left when there was no answer for a very long time. Then...

"You can't see?" His voice was filled with curiosity now.

"I tend to have very colourful dreams usually, what did you do to make it like... this?" Minseok asked finally.

The stranger chuckled. "That's interesting. I might have subconsciously pulled you into my own dream to make this conversation possible. But if it's possible this way, maybe I could..." His voice seemed to be pulled further and further away, but Minseok didn't fail to notice the longing in his last sentence. What the heck had he even been talking about?

 

With a start, Minseok woke up. He groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. What had this dream even been about? He shouldn't have thought about this superpower thing yesterday. This kind of stuff could make you go crazy.

After having eaten breakfast, he looked after the field mouse. His breath hitched when he noticed its shallow breathing.

"Nonononono. I saved you, you're safe, you can't die now!" Hastily, he examined the injury. It seemed to have infected over night. He tried to clean the wound with a bit of water.

The second the water reached the mouse, it froze. Literally. There was a layer of ice on the blood - coated paw, and it slowly spread over the whole mouse, just as if it had caught fire.

Minseok pulled back with a terrified scream. He landed on the floor rather painfully, and he stayed exactly where he was as he was trying to process what he had just witnessed.

He shook his head. This was impossible. It couldn't have happened. It wasn't logical at all. Trying to steady his breath, Minseok got back on his feet.

"It's the dream," Minseok whispered, while he was carefully approaching the place he had fled from. "It was just a weird nightmare, no need to imagine things." He might have caught a cold during his trip, he told himself. There was nothing to be afraid of.

One glance into the bowl proved all his hopes wrong. The mouse was still there, stiff as if it were dead, with unmistakeably frosty, frozen fur tips. 'I'm still dreaming', Minseok thought, his shaky fingertips reaching towards the animal. 'This isn't possible.'

A cold shiver ran down his spine as soon as he touched the stiff, icy cold animal. He soon noticed that the frost was retreating as quickly as it had appeared. It seemed as if his hand was glued to the fur, while the frost was pulled towards it.

When he was finally able to pull back his hand, the icy layer had disappeared. But the mouse wasn't moving. A bad feeling crept up inside Minseok as he observed the mouse carefully. And he was right. It wasn't breathing. The mouse was dead.

Filled with pure horror, Minseok could only look at his hands. What had just happened? What had he done? Had he done this?

By now, he was shivering from head to toe. He stumbled towards another bowl, one filled with crystal clear water. He pressed his eyes closed and touched the surface.

Within a split second, the cool, liquid sensation was replaced with a cold, solid one. He reopened his eyes in disbelief.

All of the water had been transformed into ice. Speechlessly, Minseok turned around and sat down on his bed, not eager to lose consciousness near the fire.

What shocked him most was the fact what he was shocked about. The boy in his dream had been right. Minseok hadn't believed him, and wouldn't ever have, had he not seen the proof himself. How was this possible?

'Don't freak out', he told himself. 'Maybe all of this is just a weird dream. I just need to wake up.'

Another memory came to his mind, a much older one. "They capture people with special powers," the old man had said. "They have spies everywhere, and if someone is rumoured to have powers, they come and get them." Minseok had just nodded along. He hadn't even listened to the whole story attentively, figuring the man was hallucinating things.

But it was true. There were people with powers like his. The strange boy was one of them. And, judging from everything he had heard, Minseok didn't have much time until someone would find out and send the Red Force after him.

Within a second, he was on his feet. The numb feeling slowly disappeared and it was replaced by a weird eagerness. He would find out what this was about. There had to be people who had answers for this. And he would start by searching for the boy he had met in his dream.

 

Everyone was waiting for the last person to join them. In the meantime, the newly joined people were able to get to know the others better. Chanyeol had been thrilled to ask questions about everyone's powers and how they got them and Yixing had already gotten used to watching the others train to step in if someone was injured. Baekhyun, on the other hand, didn't seem to be very content with his situation.

It was no surprise. Chanyeol had told them he was from the city, and his way of talking and his dyed hair were the unmistakeable proof for that. It was obvious that Baekhyun was glad to have fled from there, and no one hated the Red Force more than he did (Junmyeon suspected him to know a lot more about their actions than anyone else). But it was no less obvious that he was used to a living standard that was way higher than anything Luhan's home could offer. He tried not to let it show, but the way he had frowned over hearing that they had no energy at all and no running water in the house had been hard to miss. He had told them how people in the city could talk to each other over telephones and, if they wanted to see each other, over screens or even holograms. About flat screens where you could watch things that had been recorded, and cameras that recorded the things you were doing for the Red Force to watch. His stories had been fascinating, incredible even, but after a while, Junmyeon's head had started to hurt.

Ever since the fight, however, at least using his power seemed to be a lot easier. Jongdae had noticed it as well and had talked to him about it. They didn't know why, maybe the situation had helped them with getting used to their power. It had seemed like a burden until then, Jongdae had admitted. But now, they knew they could help people with it. The danger of hurting people unwillingly had faded in comparison to the countless good things they suddenly saw themselves doing.

One of the villagers had turned up the day after the incident and talked to Luhan for a long time. He had thanked them for their help, Luhan had told them later on, and apologized for everything they had done to him.

'I would apologize, too, if the guy I've been bullying for his whole life could crash my head into a tree,' Sehun had said.

By now, everyone was itching to get to know the last member of their group. Luhan had told them he lived far north, behind the mountains. Jongdae was the one who lived the farthest north until now, and even he claimed he hadn't seen snow more than once or twice. The people who came from the south, like Sehun, Kyungsoo, Jongin and Junmyeon, couldn't even imagine snow. The weather how it was at Luhan's home seemed already cold enough to them. It tended to rain quite often (which at least gave Junmyeon more possibilities to practice), and it was really windy sometimes (to Sehun's joy, because Luhan was the only one who could tell whether it had been him or just the wind by itself).

"He's coming," Luhan said one day, finally. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and tried to pinpoint where he was, silently debating on what power he could possibly have. 

After a few long seconds, someone emerged from the forest and walked towards them. It was nearly impossible to make out anything else than what seemed to be a huge backpack on his shoulders. As he was coming closer, Junmyeon noticed that it wasn't the backpack but the blankets on top of it that made it seem so big. It had to be very cold in the north, he himself couldn't imagine taking this much stuff with him on such a long journey.

Luhan groaned. "You don't think it's a bit ridiculous to just stand here and observe him?"

"I know what you mean!" Jongin grinned and disappeared.

"That's not what I was talking about!" Luhan shouted as the new guy jumped back at Jongin's sudden appearance right in front of him. The teleporter grabbed the other's wrist without explanation and came back in the blink of an eye.

"Don't you think before you do something?" Kyungsoo scolded him while trying to soothe the new guy, who didn't let the shock show on his face. Luhan’s, however, showed everything they needed to know.

"I'm sorry for their behaviour," Junmyeon said quickly. The guy smiled. His expression had seemed a bit cold and indifferent at first, but his smile was sincere and happy.

"It's alright." He looked at Luhan. "You're the one who visited my dream, aren't you?"

"I dragged you into mine," Luhan reminded him with his impassive voice. Then, he actually smiled. "But I'm glad you did what I suggested you to do."

Sehun tugged at Junmyeon's sleeve in terror. "He smiled."

Junmyeon patted Sehun's back in an awkward attempt to calm him down, while being painfully aware that Luhan was inwardly relishing at their confused thoughts. Over the past few days, he had gotten the feeling that this guy acted a lot more rough and unfriendly than he was. He didn't let his guard down, no matter whom he was talking to. If he did talk. It wasn't his own fault, though. Without being who he was, Luhan probably really wouldn't have survived until now.

The way Luhan cocked his head to the side showed Junmyeon that he had heard his thoughts, but he didn't comment on them for once.

They filled Minseok in on everything he had missed. In exchange, he told them how Luhan had invaded his sleep and how he had killed a mouse. He still seemed to be shaken up about it, which led Junmyeon to suspect him to be a very kind-hearted person. He appeared to be very thoughtful and collected too. When they found out that Minseok was actually the eldest among them, Junmyeon let out a breath of relief. Maybe he would manage to represent the counterpart to people like Yifan, Jongin or Sehun, who tended to act before thinking.

"Let's talk about the most important things now," Luhan suggested and was immediately the centre of attention. "The tree gave us these powers to be its protectors. I don't know how important it is to the Red Force, or whether they're even completely sure about what it is. But that's our main function and I want all of you to be aware of this."

"So... You mean we're supposed to stay here from now on?" Chanyeol's worried gaze was fixed on Luhan. "Forever?"

"It won't be necessary for all of us to be around the whole time," Junmyeon assured him, hoping he was speaking the truth. "I think we can manage to do without you for a short time. If you want to visit your family, you should be able to go."

‘Do you know where this guy lives?' Luhan's biting voice in his head almost made him wince. 'It's so close to the city that he could just as well walk through the gates!'

'Except for Yixing, he's the only one of us who has family left who cares for him and whom he can visit,' Junmyeon reminded him carefully. 'If they aren't already...'

He risked a short glance towards Luhan. He knew they were thinking the same. If the Red Force soldiers Chanyeol and Baekhyun had shaken off had been as cruel as they had reported, it wasn't impossible that they... But of course, no one dared to speak their thoughts out loudly.

"But that's not what we're supposed to do!" Yifan had obviously been trying to hold back for a while, but couldn't refrain from voicing his discontent. "Don't you see? With these powers, we could end all of this! This could-"

"- get us killed?" Junmyeon was surprised to see that it was Baekhyun who had interrupted him. He had expected the former citizen to be the first to follow Yifan. "I know what you're talking about. You can't imagine how many of them there are in the city, neither do you know how they will defend themselves. The only reason why the Patrol is still using guns is that they don't need anything else to cope with you." Everyone listened in silence as he continued: "It's far too dangerous. If there is a unique opportunity to get inside and overthrow them over night, alright, I'm in. But I'm the only one who knows this city, and let me ask you, if I already managed to surprise you with our technical progress, what do you think is there about the Red Force that even I don't know?"

Yifan wanted to fight back, but he seemed to notice it was of no use. Baekhyun's short speech had created an unsettling feeling in the pit of Junmyeon's stomach. Did they even stand a chance against an organisation like this?

"Our main focus at the moment should be to train those powers," suggested Minseok. "It seems like you've already spent a lot of time on this, but we won't be able to protect the tree, much less attack the Red Force, if we don't even know how to fight."

"He's right! We should try to learn how to fight without our powers as well!" Tao was beaming with anticipation. “I actually know a few moves I can show you.”

No one would have expected that Tao knew how to fight, but his father had forced him to learn a few things. Tao’s personality didn’t make him seem like a fighter, and he had hated it in the beginning. But now he was very eager to be of help.

Yifan shared this opinion. "That’s actually a good idea. I think we all know how draining it is to use those powers."

This suggestion brought him approval of everyone. He seemed a bit soothed by this after his defeat earlier.

"Let's talk about something interesting now!" Sehun's eagerness was never a good sign. He looked at them with a big grin on his face. "We need a leader!"

Luhan sighed. "And you think if one single crackhead can tell the others what to do that would solve our problems?"

"At least we wouldn't have to argue for three hours about who goes to the village to get food." Jongdae smirked. More seriously, he added: "And incidents like the one with the attack wouldn't happen again."

This made everyone reconsider the idea. Having a leader would mean they would have to do what someone else said, and no one was used to that, nor did they want it. But it also meant they wouldn't split into groups every time there was an argument. Staying together was the most important thing now, and it had been obvious how well that worked. Junmyeon had to admit that the idea of having a leader was maybe not as childish as he had thought it to be.

"And what do we do if your leader has gone crazy?" It was needless to say that Luhan wasn't overly fond of the idea. "If we appoint someone who can tell everyone what to do, in what way are we better than the Red Force?"

"He will be appointed," Minseok pointed out. "And we could choose one or two people as second in command. Together, they would have as much power as the leader, and further, they would have the function to, sort of, advise him." His gaze got a bit insecure when everyone looked at him, but he seemed to be convinced of his idea. He seemed a lot less surprised by all of this than everyone else at their first day here, but of course Minseok had already met Luhan before.

Jongdae supported him. "This could eliminate the risk of the leader doing whatever he wants. If the two others are against it, everyone needs to talk it out."

"This might get in our way in serious situations," Kyungsoo warned them. "But other than that, it's a good idea, I guess."

"Don't you forget something?" Everyone looked at Junmyeon. "Those are awesome ideas and everything, but isn't it a bit unfair if we do this right now? Minseok literally just arrived, and Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Yixing haven't been with us for that long as well. We don't know them well enough, and they don't know us. It wouldn't be a fair election."

"You're right." Contrary to his words, Jongin seemed a bit disappointed.

"Let's do it like this," Jongdae suggested. "We were planning on using the next time for training anyways. Let's do this for, maybe a week, and then choose."

The four people Junmyeon had named seemed to be the people the most relieved at this suggestion, but everyone else accepted it without protest.

The following week was a weird one. Everyone acted as if they were focusing on training, but there were rumours about who would vote for whom, who would even get nominated. It was mainly the younger ones who were enjoying this so much, and Junmyeon tended to think it was a bit ridiculous. But, on the other hand, the nature of their leader would fix the direction in which they would be going in the future. This ridiculous decision could decide about life or death.

"Who in this world made you think about it like this?"

Junmyeon sighed. He had given up on telling Luhan not to read his mind. "If you don't already know, is it so hard to guess?"

The other boy sat down next to him. Junmyeon had taken a rest from the draining practice and leaned against the wall of Luhan's house to watch how the others were coping with their powers. "Don't worry. I don't think there will be enough people to choose him. Not if there is a better alternative."

Was Luhan thinking about himself? Junmyeon had already thought about nominating him, but he wasn't sure about whether they would want Luhan. Most of them still feared him, in fact, Junmyeon had the suspicion that he was the only one who thought differently of the blind boy.

For once he hoped Luhan would comment his thoughts, but he only chuckled dryly.

They continued to watch the others (although he couldn't be sure of what Luhan was doing, naturally). Sehun had managed to hit himself with a branch he had tried to let the wind carry. Tao was trying to reverse the whole situation to let the injury disappear, but he got more and more frustrated, while both of them did their best to hold back Yixing, who was desperately trying to heal Sehun's wound by himself before any other accidents could happen.

Yifan was talking to Chanyeol. He was still hoping there could be more to his power than wings. Junmyeon was convinced that there was, but he was afraid that whatever it might be, it would be just too draining for Yifan to do it yet.

Jongdae had approached Baekhyun. Junmyeon assumed that, first of all, they were talking about their powers, because in one or the other way, they could be seen as quite similar. But there was a second thought he had on this as well. Jongdae was a mixed character, sort of: he had no problem with fooling around with the younger ones, sometimes even being the loudest of them. But in other situations, he could be very caring and considerate. In a few ways, Baekhyun was even more closed off than Jongdae had been at the beginning, and maybe he was trying to get Baekhyun to open up a bit.

Junmyeon couldn't help but think that, even though Luhan liked to call them a bunch of crackheads (not in a positive way), they were the perfect mixture. There were people who managed to even out the hyperactive younger members, such as Minseok, Kyungsoo, and maybe Junmyeon. And perhaps even a rebel like Yifan was someone who would contribute to their strength as a group.

 

"So... how are we going to do this?" Chanyeol looked around.

They were sitting on the ground in Luhan's kitchen. Everyone had agreed that there wouldn't be enough space for everyone at the table, so Jongin had teleported outside with it.

"Let's do the elections separately," Jongdae requested. "Who wants to suggest whom as the leader?"

Tao's hand shot up immediately. "Yifan"

Sehun grabbed a piece of coal and wrote the name on the floor. "Alright. Who else?"

"Minseok."

The named boy looked at Jongdae in shock. "Seriously?"

Jongdae chuckled. "Seriously. You care for others, you're intelligent, and you're the oldest. Why not?"

As Sehun was writing down his name as well, Luhan opened his mouth. "Junmyeon."

What? Junmyeon could only stare at him. Had Luhan talked about him in their conversation a few days ago? He had been so convinced that Luhan had meant himself...

"No way," Junmyeon said. "I'd be a terrible leader."

"You were the one who told us what to do in the attack on the village, weren't you?" argued Sehun, already starting to write his name. "Come on. You'd make an awesome leader, do you think Luhan would've suggested you if he didn't mean it?"

'I hate you.' He made sure to think this as clearly as he could. Luhan smirked while Sehun took his silence as acceptance and finished writing his name with a pleased smile.

"Luhan."

Now it was Luhan's turn to be shocked at Junmyeon's words. "Are you crazy?"

"You know the most about this. And you're the one who can read people the best. Not to forget that you're still the most powerful guy among us."

"Awesome and helpful stuff, but nothing that makes a leader," Luhan argued. 'You'd be the only one to vote for me, anyways', he added silently. 'I'd support you as a leader, but don't you dare leave it to me to control these hyperactive idiots.'

"Alright," Jongdae concluded as he realized Luhan wasn't planning on accepting.  "We've got three people now, don't we?"

Sehun nodded. "How do we make this a secret election? We don't have many possibilities..."

"Let's just wait outside," Jongin suggested. "One after the other goes in and draws a line behind a name."

"This means the second person will know who the first one chose," Baekhyun argued.

"How lucky we are to have someone among us who can't see who you chose and, even if he did, doesn't give a -"

"Alright, we got it," Junmyeon interrupted hastily. The corners of Luhan's mouth twitched as if he were holding back a grin. Junmyeon knew he found it ridiculous how he was trying to prevent Luhan from swearing in the presence of the younger ones.

"But how will you know where to draw your line?" Baekhyun was still not convinced.

"Luckily," Luhan answered dryly, "Sehun seems to have applied quite the pressure while writing, so finding the lines won't be a problem. For making the election anonymous for me, however, I'd suggest for him not to be the first one."

At his sarcastic words, Sehun looked towards the ground guiltily. "I'm sorry if I ruined your floor."

'Is he being serious?'

'You're the one who should tell me,' Junmyeon argued back. 'Yes, he is.'

"It doesn't matter," Luhan replied dryly. "Now, let's just choose Yixing as the first one and get this over with."

The guy who had been quite passive throughout their discussions looked up in surprise, but nodded. Everyone else left the house. When he came back, he had the piece of coal still with him and handed it to Luhan.

Junmyeon's turn was somewhere in the middle, and he did his best not to look at the number of lines behind the three names as he voted for Minseok. He trusted him to be someone who would lead them well.

When Minseok, who had been the last, called them back in, Junmyeon's heart plummeted at the sight of the outcome. They couldn't be serious.

Yifan I

Minseok IIII

Junmyeon IIIIIII

"Who is it?" Luhan asked curiously.

"Junmyeon," answered Minseok, while coming over with a smile on his face and patting Junmyeon’s shoulder. "Congratulations."

Yifan nodded in approval.

They couldn't be serious. Junmyeon was in no way capable of being the leader! He had been so convinced it would be Minseok...

'Don't start crying now.' Luhan's stern voice woke him up. 'I'll help you if it's such a big deal to you. Everyone will. And don't forget you'll have two people on your side who are supposed to support you.'

"Alright," Junmyeon answered loudly while looking at Luhan, everyone's attention being on him already. "But you won't be able to argue yourself out of being second in command."

"You'll get the same answer," Luhan replied quickly.

'Think about it. You managed to make me bear most of the responsibility anyways.'

"Luhan would be perfect," Yixing said to everyone's surprise. "Think about it. He seems a bit moody,” he threw an apologetic glance towards him, "but he's a wise person and if there's somebody who would tell Junmyeon his opinion without hesitation, it's him."

There was a short silence in which everyone seemed to think about the healer's words.

"Okay," Chanyeol finally said. "We should nominate all the people first before thinking about this."

"I suggest Minseok." Junmyeon looked at Yifan in surprise. "He didn't get that much less votes than Junmyeon earlier, and it's true that he's intelligent and caring. If there's something wrong, there wouldn't be a problem in talking to him." Instead of Luhan. This was left unsaid, and Junmyeon could just wish that they would start to see behind Luhan's facade in the future.

Minseok seemed a bit surprised as well, but accepted.

"If there is no one else and there are no objections, we don't even have to vote." Everyone agreed on Sehun's words.

"Now we've got one leader from the south, one from the north, and one from the east," Tao realized. "Isn't it funny that the city and the Red Force are in the west?"

Very funny. Junmyeon still couldn't shake off his shock from earlier. He shouldn't have accepted his nomination. He just had been too surprised to do so, and, if he was being honest, he had been convinced that Minseok would win. Junmyeon was too insecure to be the leader. Too inexperienced. He didn't like fighting, he had always tried to avoid arguments as best as he could, and even in the fight a few days ago, he hadn't done much. What if these people had a completely different picture of him and didn't even know how incompetent he was?

Lost in his thoughts, he only noticed that everyone had already left when someone sat down beside him. He was surprised to see Minseok smiling at him. They hadn't spoken very often during the last week, only a few times because, as water and ice, the other one's powers felt quite familiar to each of them.

"You don't need to be scared, you know?" Minseok's words had a bit of a soothing effect on Junmyeon, even though he didn't fail to notice the slight hint of amusement in them. "Everyone's new to this, that doesn't have anything to do with being weak. And if they elected you, what kind of reason would they have to not follow your decisions?"

When Minseok freed him of two of his biggest fears, Junmyeon let out a shaky laugh. "What if they realize they chose the wrong person?"

"Then they will have lost their minds completely." 

Junmyeon chuckled at Minseok's convinced words.

"I just wanted to tell you that you can rely on Luhan and me. We will always be there for you as your support, that's our job. So..." He hesitated a bit. "I know you talk to Luhan a lot, and he can read your mind easily. I just wanted to say... you can count on me as well."

Junmyeon suddenly realized how he was the only one Luhan was really talking to regularly. Of course this would lead to Minseok feeling a bit excluded in his new task. That and the fact that he hadn't been here for long, while Junmyeon and Sehun had been the first to arrive.

"We'll be a team," Junmyeon said, hoping he sounded as convinced as he was. "It will take some time to get used to all of this, but I think the three of us will make the perfect team."

Minseok chuckled, looking to the ground and seemingly getting lost in thoughts.

"Thank you for... you know..." He didn't know how to express his feelings. "Thank you for encouraging me."

Minseok looked up at him again, giving him an honest smile. "That's what I'm here for."