Kyungsoo-centric
This takes place shortly before drabble #28. That means OT3 hasn’t happened, but HunHan are married and Baekyeol are openly together.

PS I AM CACKLING THIS IS TOO PERFECT. IT'S APRIL FOOL'S DAY AND THIS IS THE 40TH CHAPTER OOOOH THIS IS JUST TOO GOOD!!

#32:Crossroads of Hope Part 1

If there was one thing Kyungsoo prided himself on, it was not being a whiny kid. Compared to the rest of his brothers, he was an absolute angel. Okay, every now and then he’d do something he wasn’t supposed to, like sneak out of the Sanctuary, but really he was very good. For instance, upon his arrival to the Sanctuary, he had barely stepped inside the door when he was accosted by Kai.

“What’s your affinity?” Kai demanded, getting too close to Kyungsoo’s face for comfort.

“Earth…” Kyungsoo squeaked, stepping back.

Kai stepped closer again and looked Kyungsoo up and down. “Really? You sure?” He asked.

“Yes…” Kyungsoo said uncertainly.

Kai narrowed his eyes. “Well, there is nothing rock like about you.” And then took Kyungsoo’s face between his hands. “You’re squishy,” Kai muttered, and proceeded to spend the next several minutes poking and squishing Kyungsoo’s cheeks, until Suho finally chased him off with the order to keep his hands to himself.

Kyungsoo would spend the next several years being periodically accosted by Kai, and later by Chanyeol too, and would allow them to spend several minutes cooing over how adorable and soft he was. Kyungsoo would usually pout up at them as best he could and mumble that he wasn’t cute, which of course only made him cuter in their eyes.

“Can I keep you in pocket?” Chanyeol asked him once.

“Nooo…” Kyungsoo whined, squirming away. “I won’t fit!”

Chanyeol shrieked and threw his arms around Kyungsoo’s shoulders, hugging so tightly his feet left the ground. “You’re so precious!”

Kyungsoo always let them fuss over him and never said a peep against it, mostly because he knew it was futile. In truth, he was the least assuming Earth-gifted Guardian in history. All the previous ones looked…well like Kai, really. Even as a child he’d been firmer in appearance than Kyungsoo had, and for a while even the Matrons were convinced that they had the wrong child. Only when they saw Kyungsoo roll a boulder across the yard did they finally realize he was the one.

The Earth affinity was tricky—Kyungsoo could move it as long as he had some contact with it. He could throw a rock pretty far, but once the rock left his hand he couldn’t control where it landed. He could lift large rocks as though they weighed nothing, but he couldn’t lift them higher than his fingertips could reach. No matter how hard he tried, the earth just would not go. When their ship was being pelted by asteroids, Kyungsoo was powerless to stop it. Kyungsoo was powerless to stop a lot of things after that—he couldn’t keep his friends together, he couldn’t hold onto his memories, some mornings he woke up and didn’t remember how to use his gift. That was the scariest part, and he decided that he never wanted to feel like that again.

Kyungsoo tried to work out, but no matter how many sit ups or pushups he did, he never seemed to gain the muscle that Kai and Tao had. He still felt too soft, too weak to be gifted with Earth. He confessed it to Suho one night, and his leader pulled him off to the side.

“You are one of the strongest shifters I know,” Suho said gently. “You know where your power is?” He tapped Kyungsoo’s temple. “It’s your mental strength. You have always been calm and collected, even now I’ve only seen you lose control once this entire time. You have incredible power Kyungsoo, it just doesn’t show on your body. But you know what? That’s okay. Anyone who knows you recognizes your strength, and we all admire you for it.”

Kyungsoo smiled then and allowed Suho to hold him for a few more minutes. It was one of the last times he allowed himself to doubt his ability. The streak had to be broken eventually though.

It had been seven years since their reunion—seven years of aimless wandering, almost every day. Every now and then they’d come to one place and settle down for a while, couples going off and pretending to be domestic and all that jazz. Kyungsoo would usually flop down on the first soft thing he could find and fall asleep. Most of the time he would work on re-learning his gift. For instance, he found out that if he concentrated hard enough, he could turn solid rock into sand. He spent many hours watching rocks shake apart under his fingers, and then he’d construct the sand into small castles and landscapes, once he even recreated the Tree of Life and its former garden in sand. Then he would cause the particles to fuse together. He thought of them like monuments, little markers that said ‘Kyungsoo was here. And he was bored.’

Bored and tired, more than he’d ever been in his life. Kyungsoo had thought hikes up a mountain were hard work, but he swore he’d rather go back home and hike that mountain a thousand times than take another step on this planet.

It was all the same, the occasional nice neighborhood, untouched by dirt and grime, a gem among filth. This planet was dead, Kyungsoo hardly saw the point in bringing it back. There was dust and garbage everywhere, and as someone gifted with Earth he knew more than anyone that the ground was lifeless. Perhaps Lay was the only one who could know better than him, but then again Lay could bring all that back. Kyungsoo would watch Lay touch plants and grin as they bloomed under his fingertips, and Kyungsoo would sift the dry Earth through his own fingers and know that the plant would be dead again in a few days.

It was depressing to think about, and perhaps that was one of the things that contributed to his attitude. It seemed like with each passing day, Kyungsoo grew more and more weary, like the dead ground was literally dragging him down, latching onto his ankles and trying to hold him in place. It was getting to be too much.

“Can’t we drive?” Kyungsoo panted as they stopped for lunch one day. He was lying face down on the ground, curling his hands in the dry dirt and making it form into a tiny car. Then Daisy came along and stepped on it before he could make it harden.

“Most of these cars don’t have enough gasoline to run,” Kris said patiently, flipping Kyungsoo onto his back and holding a water bottle over his face. “Drink, you need water.”

‘I need living soil,’ Kyungsoo thought, but he obediently sat up and drank.

“What is gasoline?” Kyungsoo asked.

Kris pulled one of his many books out of his personal bag and rifled through it. “It’s petroleum, a naturally occurring element, which is harvested from the earth and mixed with additives. You know those stations we pass, with the pumps outside the little stores? Those are gasoline stations. The stuff itself is stored underground, apparently.”

Kyungsoo nodded. “Can’t we get more, then?”

Kris shrugged. “I don’t think so, it seems like all of it was used up. all that was premade anyway, and I don’t know how to get more.”

Kyungsoo sighed. It would figure that would happen.

They plodded on, Kyungsoo hanging back with the dogs. They seemed to be the only ones who were concerned about him—although Daisy might just have been ecstatically following Keen around. Keen would walk next to Kyungsoo and whine occasionally, nudging Kyungsoo’s leg with his nose in a ‘Keep going,’ kind of way. But there was only so far Kyungsoo could go.

They came to one of the gasoline stations, and Kyungsoo was too tired to even call his friends to a stop. He just staggered over to one of the pumps and fell to his knees, pulled up the cracked concrete and dugs his fingers into the sand below.

“Come on,” he mumbled, closing his eyes. “Be here, let there be something here…”

He forced his senses out, tunneling deep into the ground. He heard a shout in the distance and it broke his concentration.

“What are you doing?” Chen panted, seemingly having run back for him. “Everyone’s waiting for you.”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “I am not walking anymore.”

Chen looked confused. “What are you talking about? You have to walk!”

“No,” Kyungsoo said firmly. “We will drive. just as soon as I find gasoline…” and he turned back to the ground.

He figured Chen must have told the others about his plan, because soon he felt footsteps approaching. He knew right away that it was Suho and braced himself for the inevitable Talk.

“Kyungsoo, come on. There’s nothing here, let’s just go.”

“Shush!” Kyungsoo hissed, “I’m looking…” and he squeezed his eyes shut, digging deeper, deeper…

“THERE!”

He heard Suho yelp. “What? What is it?”

“There’s something down there!” Kyungsoo cried, leaping to his feet. “It’s liquid, I can feel it! I knew there was something here!” And he got back to his knees and started ripping the ground apart.

“What are you doing?” Kris yelled, running over and yanking Kyungsoo to his feet.

Kyungsoo gave him a startled look. “I’m trying to get us a ride!”

Kris shook his head. “That stuff is dangerous, you can’t just rip the ground up and scoop it out! That’s what the pumps are for!”

Kyungsoo could feel himself losing his patience. “Then pump the stuff into a car!”

“It won’t work,” Kris said firmly. “We’ve tried, remember?”

“Did we try every single place we came to?!” Kyungsoo yelled, and he could see behind Kris a few of his friends were startled by his outburst. “No, we haven’t tried here, so let’s try again!”

Kris looked like he was about to refuse, but he sighed. “Fine, I’ll go find a car.”

He took his group members and they walked off. Kyungsoo slumped back, a hand pressed to his head. He was exhausted from searching for the gasoline and tired from his almost-argument with Kris. He felt Suho’s hand on his shoulder again. “You alright?” He asked gently.

“No,” Kyungsoo said softly. Then louder, “I’m not alright. Nothing is alright.” He gave Suho a desperate look. “I can’t take it anymore…I’m so sick of this dead ground. It’s…it’s worse than the silence.” He leaned forward, head in his hands. “It’s really dead…all of it. There’s no insects, no roots growing, no water flowing in and out…it’s awful.”

Kyungsoo looked up, tears in his eyes. “I don’t know if you can understand but…back home everything was so alive, and it was like I was part of it. I could feel everything happening, it was like my gift was being able to talk to the earth and now…I don’t have that anymore.”

Suho cupped Kyungsoo’s face in his hands. “Easy,” he said softly. “Don’t get worked up, I’m afraid you’ll hurt yourself…”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes and felt a few tears slip down his cheeks. “It hurts,” he whispered. “It hurts to feel nothing…does that even make sense?!”

Suho hugged him gently. “It does,” he assured softly. “It’s okay, I get it. You feel like your gift has been corrupted.” Suho pulled back and wiped the tears from Kyungsoo’s face. “It’s like when I come across polluted water, so yes I do understand how you feel. If you want to try to find gasoline, go ahead. But please don’t hurt yourself in the process.”

Kyungsoo murmured that he wouldn’t. Shortly after Kris and the others arrived, pushing a car. They hooked it up to what Kris called the pump, but when Kris tried to work it nothing happened.

“Wait,” Kyungsoo cried as Kris went to disconnect the pump, “Maybe I can force the gasoline up.”

Kris bit his lip. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea…” he said slowly.

Kyungsoo grabbed onto his arm. “Please, please, please let me try,” he begged.

Kris looked startled but nodded. “Sure, do what you want…”

Kyungsoo laid flat on the ground, face and hands pressed to the earth. “Come on,” he mumbled, closing his eyes. “Work with me.”

He found the gasoline quickly, it wasn’t hard since he knew approximately how deep he had to extend his senses. Kyungsoo had never tried to do move something with this kind of indirect contact before, he wondered if it was even possible. He concentrated, pressing his forehead against the dirt and digging his fingers in as deep as they could go. He tried to imagine the liquid bubbling up, pushing towards the surface and…he felt it move.

“Yes!” Kyungsoo screamed, sitting upright. “I got it! I can do this!” He pulled his knees under him, kneeling and keeping his hands under the dirt, but his new position gave him more leverage with which to press down. He sunk up to his elbows in dirt and concentrated once more, but for a while all he seemed to be able to do was make the liquid slosh around. “Come on,” Kyungsoo almost sobbed. “Please, please let this work…” He tried for almost an hour, and then Suho tapped his arm.

“Kyungsoo-yah, it’s time to stop. You’re exhausted, you’ll wear yourself out.”

“Few more minutes,” Kyungsoo panted. “I’ve almost got it…”

“That’s what you said half an hour ago,” Kris sighed. “We can try again at the next one, but you need to rest.”

Kyungsoo resisted the urge to scream. “No, I can do this!” He cried. “It’s my gift, you don’t get to tell me what I can and cannot do with it!”

But another half hour passed, and Kyungsoo was nowhere closer to making the gasoline go up through the pump. He was tired and worn out, but most of all he was frustrated. “Why isn’t it working?” He growled through clenched teeth. “What am I doing wrong?!” He could feel his energy being sapped, the longer he worked the less he felt like he was getting somewhere, and it was frightening.

“No,” he gasped, tearing up. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to go…why isn’t it working?”

Suddenly he felt hands on his shoulders and he was pulled back, his hands leaving the dirt. He looked up furiously to see Suho and Kris standing over him.

“Why’d you do that?!” He screamed. “I was so close!”

“No, you weren’t,” Kris said harshly, and Kyungsoo recoiled in shock. Kris knelt down next to him. “You were pushing too hard, you were going to hurt yourself. Maybe you’ve forgotten but part of being a Guardian is being able to acknowledge that there are things you just can’t do, at least not immediately.”

Kris was always the authoritarian, he was gentle but he was also the one who was more likely to correct them when it came to their gifts. But Kyungsoo wasn’t a child anymore, and Kris didn’t always get to tell him what was best.

“You don’t know that,” Kyungsoo snarled. “I would rather spend a hundred days trying to make this work than take one more step on this awful planet! I hate it here! Maybe this okay for you but it’s not for me! I’m losing part of myself every single time my foot touches the ground and I feel nothing! It’s like not being able to feel my heartbeat, it’s like I’m dead too!”

Kyungsoo heard sharp gasps but he refused to look away from Suho and Kris, or he did until he heard Lay come up behind him.

“But some things are still alive,” he said quietly. “I can bring things back…”

Kyungsoo felt the tears come again. “The damage goes far deeper than what you can fix. The soil is dirty, the rain is poisoned…” he sniffed and wiped a tear away. “You can’t even imagine how ruined this place is. Everything you see on the outside is twice as bad as what’s inside.”

“And you can feel it?” Kai asked. “And you didn’t say anything?”

Kyungsoo finally turned around. “What would you have me say?” Kyungsoo demanded. “That I don’t think this place can ever be repaired? That we might as well just call it quits because we’ll never go home, and we’ll never belong here? That the Tree lied to us?”

There was a collective horrified gasp and Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “Like none of you have ever thought it before.”

It was Tao who spoke first. “Maybe Kyungsoo is right.”

Sehun was next. “You…none of you saw the evacuation. These people were desperate…I don’t think they had any hope left.”

“There’s always hope!” Suho insisted.

But Kyungsoo stared him down. “No, not this time.”

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OOOOOOOH I AM EVIL!!!! I WISH I COULD SEE THE LOOKS ON YOUR FACES!!!

So we have several milestones to celebrate. 1-Actual conflict because nothing is all sunshine and rainbows (this is more a personal victory, I'm sure you're all dying)!!!! 2-Kyungsoo centric drabble at long last! 3-The 40th chapter ^^ 4-My first cliffhanger in a drabble! And it's all happening on April Fool's day, which is perfect!! I have set you all on edge! But of course you know that everything will turn out okay, because like I said this takes place pre-OT3 and everyone was together at that point, but how will I do it ohohoho, that is the question!!

Also, IDK if you know but I'm writing a trilogy of vampire stories. The first part is Super Junior focused, the second part is SHINee focused and the third part will be EXO focused, however the third part's not out yet. It will be by the end of the month, but if you're interested in reading I suggest you start at the beginning. Read part one here: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/363428 

Anyway, Part 2 of this drabble picks up where this left off and will be out by the end of the week! ENJOY THE WAIT MY PRETTIES!

Oh and PS- this thing keeps racking up subscribers!!! Where are you all coming from??? Y'all better start commenting, or I'll think you aren't happy!

PPS- Don't get used to these constant updates, it's literally just because I'm on spring break and I have nothing to do besides write and watch old 2PM variety shows (I'm literally drowning in OT7 feels).