AU in which Suho is never found by the fisherman and his family, and Suho becomes the untamable child rather than Kai.
#51:In Another World Part 1
Continuity: None
Suho, Kai-centric

Joonmyun was three years old when his mother died. He was confused, he stood by her bed and screamed for her to wake up, to come back to him. He begged her over and over to just open her eyes, he promised to be good, to make her happy the way she made him happy. But she didn’t open her eyes no matter how loudly he screamed.

Someone finally heard him crying and came into their home, and that person called for more people, but Joonmyun didn’t pay attention. He was lying in his mothers’ arms, clinging to her body and still begging her to wake up. He could hear voices behind him, they sounded mean and harsh. People didn’t like him, because he was smarter than they were, and it made them scared. But she wasn’t scared, she wasn’t…why didn’t she help him now? He burrowed into his mother’s side, whimpering for her to make these people leave, to protect him from them.

Eventually a man approached the bed. Joonmyun shrank away, but the man grabbed him around the waist, picked him up, and carried him out of his home. Joonmyun kicked and screamed to be put down, he reached out for his mother, he cried for her to save him, and Joonmyun watched in horror as the door was slammed in his face and he was carried further and further away.

The man carried Joonmyun away from his home, placed him on a dogsled and took him away. Joonmyun was too scared to do anything about it, to run or cry for help—but who would help him? He already knew better than to ask for help, his mother had taught him that.

Joonmyun was tossed from the sled, face first into a snowdrift. By the time he freed himself, the dogsled was nowhere to be seen. All Joonmyun could see was an ocean of snow, all he could hear was the wind howling in his ears, whipping snow across his cheeks, freezing his tears to his eyelashes.

“Hello?” He screamed, the wind whipping his voice away from him.

“Is anybody there?”

“Somebody help me! Please, help me! I’m lost!!”

But nobody came for him.

He tried to walk, tried to see if there was somewhere he could take shelter, and he found nothing. Joonmyun’s strength faded with the daylight, and by nightfall he was beyond scared. He was terrified, he was hungry, and more than anything he wanted to go home. But he was tired, and cold, and it was so hard for him to move. He knew it was the wrong thing to do, but Joonmyun decided to lay down. The wind didn’t howl so much when he laid in the snow. He wasn’t shivering anymore, in fact he couldn’t even feel the cold. He was tired, so tired, and he thought that it wouldn’t hurt to close his eyes, just for a minute…

Joonmyun was three years old when he died. (1)

The boy who woke up in the snow on a sunny day was not the same boy who fell asleep in the snow on a stormy night. The boy who woke up in the snow was not Joonmyun—he was more desperate than Joonmyun, and more powerful. The boy who woke up in the snow could pick water up in his hands and make it dance in the air. This was one of the first things he learned, when he went to brush the melted snow off of his coat and his hand pulled away a stream of water. For a long time, he sat there and played with the stream of water. He found that he could use it as a weapon if he wanted to, when he threw his arm to the side and cut a deep gash in a block of ice. But he didn’t want a weapon. The boy who woke up in the snow just wanted to be warm and fed.

He stood up on shaky legs and staggered on his first few steps, but eventually he remembered how to move his legs. He opened his mouth, testing his jaw and his tongue. He said a few things, things that didn’t make sense.

“My mother is gone.”

“Shut up, nobody cares.”

“Don’t be mean to me.”

“It’s not mean, it’s the truth.”

He laughed, but he didn’t know why.

He walked without knowing where he was going. He saw marks in the snow and he followed them. They led him into a grove of trees that he hadn’t seen in the blizzard, and ended at the bloody carcass of a deer. Some distance away, a bunch of animals—wolves, he realized—were loitering. He watched them for a few minutes and, when they didn’t seem interested in him, looked at the dead animal and nudged it with his foot. It was meat, he realized, and meat was food, but he’d never eaten it like this. He knelt down and pondered for a few moments, wondering if he should try to eat. He heard something approach and looked up, finding himself staring into the eyes of a wolf.

He knew he should be frightened, but he didn’t know why. At the moment, all he could think was how warm the animal’s fur looked. He stood up, walked around the dead deer. The wolf turned towards him, watching curiously. He approached the animal and held out his hand (still covered in a wet glove), closer and closer until he sunk his hand into its warm fur. When the animal didn’t move, he came even closer, huddling against the warm body, feeling the heat seep into his bones. He wanted to cry, but he knew that the tears would hurt when they froze.

After a while, the wolf stepped back and he fell, not expecting the movement. Before he could pick himself up he felt something close around the back of his coat, and he was being lifted and carried. It was a short distance but was nearly choked from the awkward angle. When he was finally released, he found himself in the middle of the wolf pack.

He wasn’t afraid, because the wolves didn’t seem to be threatening him. The wolf who had carried him over now curled around him, nudging him until he laid down on top of it. The animal turned its head towards him and began to his face and hair. It was caring for him like he was its baby, he realized, and he decided to play along, just for a little while. Maybe he could stay with the wolves, maybe they would protect him. He allowed the wolf to groom him until he fell asleep.

He stayed with the wolves for a little while, until hunger eventually drove him out. He couldn’t eat raw meat like them, he knew that much, and as much as the female wolves tried to feed him alongside their own pups, he knew that it wouldn’t be enough. So he just walked away from them, and they didn’t seem too bothered by it.

He was coming to realize that other beings didn’t care about him, if he stayed or went. People or animal, they don’t seem to mind. It was a sad feeling, and as he walked away he found himself crying again. It was funny, but he never really thought about crying before. It was weird, because crying was…it was water, and he could do things with water, he could make water do things that water shouldn’t normally do, and yet he couldn’t do anything with this water. He couldn’t make it stop, he couldn’t make it go away. Suddenly it was too quiet, too big of a world for a three year old boy. He felt something rising up inside of him, something ugly and bad. He knew it from when his mother wouldn’t wake up, from when he was lost in the snow, but he had no word for it. He couldn’t see, or breathe, and he wanted to get away from it. He started to run, but he didn’t know where he was going. He just knew that he was so, so hungry, and so, so alone.

He stopped running, lifted his face to the sky and screamed, wordlessly at first, but then he screamed words. Useless words, words like ‘Mother’ and ‘Help,’ but nobody answered, nobody came to help him. There was, he realized, just himself, and he was the best he had.

Joonmyun was three years old when he died for the second time. (1)

“Kai,” Jongin whispered to himself, curiously. “Kai. Kaaaaai.”

He wasn’t sure how he felt about his new name. It sounded cool, but he didn’t know if it sounded cool on him. He turned to his roommate, Chanyeol, and held out his hand.

“Hi, my name is Kai.”

Chanyeol laughed. “I know who you are.”

Jongin stomped his foot. “I know you know, but say hello to me anyway!”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes, but took his hand. “Hello Kai, I’m Chanyeol.”

He decided he liked the name Kai. He smiled happily, deciding that he was as ready as he would ever be to introduce himself to the new member of their group.

“Hi, my name is Kai, and I’m five years old. It’s nice to meet you,” he whispered to himself throughout the day. He got in trouble for it in his lessons, but he didn’t even mind. He was too excited.

“When do you think the new boy will get here?” Kai asked Minseok, bouncing a little in excitement. It was lunchtime, and that meant the day was already half over. It was torture to wait, especially since their classroom was right over the front entrance to the sanctuary, and they could see out for miles. Kai kept glancing out the window all morning, but he hadn’t seen the carriage with the new boy arrive yet. “Will he be here before we have to go to bed?”

Minseok grinned and ruffled Kai’s hair. “I’d imagine so, baby.”

Kai pouted. “I’m not the baby, Sehun is!”

But Minseok hugged him close and kissed his cheek. “You’re only five, you’re still a baby to me.”

“You’re only nine!” Kai countered playfully. Sehun chose that moment to run over and demand to be let in on the hug.

“Sehunnie’s Minseok!” He crowed, shoving Kai aside and sticking out his tongue. “Sehunnie’s leader!”

Minseok hugged them both tighter until they squirmed in his arms, yelping to be put down.

“I’m both of yours,” He reminded them, “You need to share!”

Suddenly Chanyeol—who was looking out the window—screamed in excitement. “I think he’s here! I think the new boy is here!”

All of them—Kai, Sehun, Minseok, Kyungsoo, Chen, even Baekhyun, who normally didn’t care for anyone—ran to the windows. They could see a carriage in the distance, the dust it kicked up. Sehun squealed in excitement, stretching up further on his toes.

“New friend, new friend!” He chanted, fingers pressed against the glass.

They all pressed forward when the carriage stopped, waiting for the boy to get out. But that didn’t happen, instead a matron climbed out, and she beckoned the two door-guards over. The three of them reached into the carriage and pulled out a mass of blankets, and then they quickly ran into the Sanctuary.

The seven of them waited a moment, but nothing else happened.

“Where is he?” Kyungsoo asked, breaking the silence.

Kai glanced up at Minseok and saw the worried look on his face. “Something’s wrong,” Minseok whispered. Then he turned around and marched to the door, but it didn’t move when he tugged at the handle.

“What the heck?” Minseok grunted, pulling harder. “Hey what…Are we locked in?!”

Chen gasped and rushed over, joining Minseok in trying to pry the door open, but it didn’t happen.

“Hey!” Chen screamed, pounding on the door, “We’re still in here! Let us out!”

Baekhyun ran over, shoved Chen and Minseok out of the way, and pulled desperately on the door handle. “Not again,” he gasped, “No, not again…” Then he started to scream, banging on the door. “LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT OF HERE! ANSWER ME! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, I KNOW YOU’RE OUT THERE!”

“BAEKHYUN!” Minseok screamed, wrapping his arms around Baekhyun’s shoulders and dragging him away from the door. Baekhyun shrieked and flailed, Kai noticed that his knuckles were bloody. When Baekhyun started to cry, Kai felt himself tear up as well.

Just when they were all about to start freaking out, there was a click and the door opened. One of the Matrons came in and calmly closed the door behind her.

“I’m sorry, children,” She said calmly, “You’ll have to stay here for a little while.”

“Who locked us in?” Minseok demanded, drawing himself up to his full height. “Was that absolutely necessary?”

“It was a miscommunication,” the Matron answered, “But you are to stay in this room until you are told otherwise.”

“Why?” Kai demanded, stepping forward. He only noticed just then that Sehun was clinging to him, sniffling quietly. “Why can’t we leave? Where is the new boy?”

The Matron pursed her lips, and when she spoke it was like she was choosing her every word carefully. “Something is wrong with the child, we can’t let you see him until we know what it is.”

“Is he sick?” Kyungsoo asked worriedly.

“Not exactly,” The Matron said. “He’s dangerous, he might hurt you, or himself.”

Kai was beyond confused, and looking around he could tell that he wasn’t the only one.

“He’s our brother,” Minseok said, “He loves us, we love him!”

“But he doesn’t know that,” the Matron said, “I’m sorry, but this is not up for discussion.”

Then she left, and though she didn’t lock the door, they all knew that they couldn’t leave. Baekhyun fell to his knees, crying softly.

“Who do they think they are?” Chanyeol demanded, marching over to Baekhyun and patting his back. It spoke to how scared he was that Baekhyun not only allowed it, but actually turned towards Chanyeol and hugged him.

Kyungsoo knelt down and put his hand on the ground. “Maybe I can feel him…” he mumbled, but it seemed like only Kai was paying attention. Sehun had released Kai and moved on to snuggle with Minseok.

“What means, the boy is dangerous?” Sehun asked, screwing up his face when the words didn’t come out right. “I mean…”

“I know what you meant, baby,” Minseok assured, Sehun’s hair back. “But I don’t know why she said that. Maybe they misunderstood…”

“Guys!” Kyungsoo gasped suddenly, looking up at them with wide eyes. “Be quiet!”

They all fell silent.

“What is it?” Chen asked after a few seconds.

“Can’t you hear that?” Kyungsoo asked, going pale. “I hear screaming…”

This time they all strained their ears, and after a few seconds Kai did hear it—hysterical shrieks coming from the floor under theirs.

“It’s coming from the healer’s rooms,” Kyungsoo whispered, and he looked so pale Kai thought he was about to faint. “I think it’s the new boy…”

There was a collective shiver from the group and Minseok squared his shoulders. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this,” he promised. “I’m not going to let them treat us this way.”

Kai inched over to Kyungsoo—who still looked very pale—and put an arm around his shoulder. Kyungsoo leaned into him and hid his face in Kai’s neck.

“It’s okay,” Kai whispered. “The new boy will be alright, they wouldn’t hurt him.”

“But they are,” Kyungsoo whispered. “Something’s wrong with him, I can feel it, and they should let us go see him. We’re supposed to be together, we’re meant to be together. If we were with him, he wouldn’t be so scared.”

Kai knew that was true—he felt it himself. Whenever he was feeling sick or scared, a hug from one of his brothers would make him feel so much better. Minseok had tried to explain it to him before, how connected they all were and how being together made them even stronger, and physical contact was one way that they could increase their strength. It was why Minseok would often sneak into the healer’s rooms when one of them was sick and snuggle with them during the night. Even if it meant sharing germs, usually they’d be better by the morning. Kai didn’t fully understand it, but then again he could easily disappear in a puff of smoke and…

Oh, how stupid was he?

“Guys!” He shouted, “I can teleport down there and see what’s going on!”

“Oh hey!” Chanyeol cried, “You can!”

“No,” Minseok said fiercely, “Kai, you don’t know what you’ll be getting into, and if they see you…”

“I can do it!” Kai insisted stubbornly, “I want to do it, I want to see if the new boy is okay! Minseok, please, let me do this!”

There was a brief silence. Kai held Minseok’s gaze and did his best to look grown up and mature. Finally, Minseok sighed.

“Go ahead,” he said, “But be careful.”

So Kai backed away from Kyungsoo, took a deep breath, and imagined himself downstairs, just outside the healers rooms. He stepped forward and felt himself being tugged, and then his feet hit solid ground and all he could hear was screaming. When he opened his eyes he spotted one of the many statues in the hall, and he ducked behind it. The door to the healers room was open, and as he watched a young Matron came out, clutching a hand to her bloody cheek.

“He’s feral,” She was gasping, her eyes wild, “By the Tree, the child is a wild boy!”

A Healer followed the Matron out and snapped at her. “Don’t say such a thing where anyone can hear you! This is a delicate situation—”

But whatever she was about to say was cut off by the loudest shriek yet. The Healer turned back to the door and shouted, “Sedate him, sedate him for the Tree’s sake before he hurts himself!”

Kai felt like he had gone numb, but he had to see what was going on! He knew that there was a closet in the Healer’s room, so he imagined the inside of it and stepped forward. He knew it worked when the shrieks got louder, he seemed to be very close to the scene. Hesitantly, Kai opened the door a crack, just so he could see—

There was a small child who looked to be about Minseok’s age in the room. He was filthy, his hair was long and matted and Kai could smell how dirty was even from the closet. One Healer had the boy’s arms pinned to his sides, and he was thrashing in her grip, screaming hysterically. As Kai watched, another Healer jammed a needle into the boy’s arm. He shrieked even louder and jerked to the side so hard that Kai almost thought he heard a crack, and then over the next few seconds the boy gradually started to calm down, or so Kai thought, but when the boy turned his head Kai got a look at his eyes and saw pure panic in them. Feeling like he was about to be sick, Kai teleported back to his classroom. He fell to his knees as soon as his feet hit the floor.

“What happened?” Minseok demanded, rushing to Kai’s side. “Are you okay? Kai, are you hurt?!”

Kai was shaking, close to tears, and the screams of the boy downstairs echoed in his ears. Even by Guardian standards Kai was a child, and he was coming to realize that there were things in this world he was not meant to understand—but he would never be able to understand the cruelty of what he had just seen.

“Something is wrong with the new boy,” Kai heard himself say, “He’s not sick but…there’s something wrong with his head. The Matron…she said he was a wild boy. They were holding him down, he was scared…” Kai’s voice broke and he suddenly found himself crying, tears dripping down his cheeks. “Minseok, we have to do something, we can’t just leave him there, we just can’t!” He broke off sobbing.

Minseok knelt and gathered Kai up in his arms, rubbing his back soothingly. “It’s okay, we’ll help him, I promise.”

They couldn’t do anything for the first two days—the Healer’s ward was under heavy guard by the Matrons. In the meantime they had been told that the new boy was to be named Suho, because they didn’t know his real name and he didn’t seem to be able to talk. They said that he appeared to be about eight years old, it looked like he had been on his own for a while, and he didn’t seem to be able to speak more than a few words, nor understand a whole lot. He couldn’t use a toilet or dress himself, he was severely malnourished, and his skin had all sorts of problems from being exposed to the cold and sun.

“Can’t we see him?” Chanyeol pleaded when they were told to stay away for a while. “Maybe we can help!”

But the head Matron denied them permission. “He’s in quarantine,” she said flatly. “We have no idea where he’s been and what kinds of diseases he may have—even if it can’t affect you, it could affect us. And seeing him in this state might do more harm than good.”

Kai doubted it—he doubted a lot of what the Matron said. He bet that the boy could speak and understand, he was just afraid to show that he could because the adults scared him. Kai bet he would be more open to children, but he held his tongue.

Finally on the third day it seemed like the Matrons and Teachers were getting a little less protective, and Minseok saw a chance to visit Suho. Of course everyone wanted to go along with him, but he called them all together in his and Jongdae’s shared room to explain his plan of action and put his foot down.

“You know how we were taught that we can help each other heal faster through physical contact and positive energy?” After they all nodded, Minseok went on. “I want to try that with Suho. I don’t think I’ll be able to touch him, but I can get close to him and give him positive energy. I do think I’ll need help, however if it’s true that he has been alone for such a long time, then too many people at once could overwhelm him, so I’ll only be taking Kai with me.”

Kai startled so badly at hearing his name that Sehun—who had been leaning his head on Kai’s shoulder—almost fell over.

“Why me?” Kai asked.

Minseok gave him a look that was almost pitying. “Because you’ve been walking around like you saw death for the last two days. I know that whatever you saw really affected you, but you’re not talking about it. You need to see that Suho is going to be okay with your own eyes, and I think that two people is a nice number to start out with.”

When Minseok put it like that, Kai realized that he was right. He had been distracted the last few days, and he couldn’t stop thinking about the look in Suho’s eyes—the absolutely terrified, almost crazed look he had. It was scary, and Kai was afraid that they were too late to help him.

When he and Minseok snuck out that night, Kai clung to Minseok’s hand so tightly that Minseok had to stop in the middle of a staircase and ask Kai to please loosen his grip just a little, or he wouldn’t have any fingers left.

“Hyung,” Kai whimpered, getting teary, “What if it is too late? What if…what if something’s wrong in Suho’s brain now? I read about it before and…what if he’s Lost?”

Minseok guided Kai down the rest of the stairs and once they made it to even ground, he pulled Kai into a comforting hug. “He’s not Lost—he can communicate, he can feel and think. The fact that he had the capacity to be afraid is a good sign, because it means that he can feel emotions. The Lost can’t do that. And I have faith—we both have to have faith—that we can save Suho. He is our brother, no matter what, and we owe it to him to be positive and believe that we can help.”

Kai understood that, but it was so hard to stay positive when he could still hear Suho’s screams echoing in his ears. He continued to hold tight to Minseok’s hand, afraid of what would happen when they snuck into the Healer’s ward. They had to go to a different room than they usually did, a room Kai hadn’t even noticed before, but apparently it was where quarantine was located. They carefully pushed the door open, and they were greeted by the sight of an immense, see-through contraption surrounding a large bed. Looking at it, Kai could only think of one thing.

“They put him in a cage?!” He gasped, choking back tears.

Minseok laid a comforting hand on top of Kai’s head. “Don’t get excited,” he breathed, ushering Kai inside. “It’s quarantine. It’s to keep germs from getting out.”

Kai tried to calm down, but he couldn’t help but to think of it as a cage, and he couldn’t imagine what it must be like to be inside of it. He and Minseok inched forward, stepping quietly and carefully, but Suho didn’t move. They could barely see him—he was covered by a thick layer of blankets. The room was illuminated by a red light, which Minseok whispered was a heat lamp.

“They found him in the Northern circle,” he whispered to Kai. “I guess he must still be pretty cold.”

By this time they were nose to nose with the enclosure, and Kai hesitantly touched it. “Is this glass?” He whispered.

“Yes,” Minseok answered. “Very thick glass, and there’s something called a vent over it so that fresh air can come in.”

“What about old air?” Kai asked.

“I don’t know,” Minseok whispered, “It’s pretty complicated.”

Kai squinted, trying to see. The red light wasn’t great for seeing clearly, and anyway Suho was mostly in shadow. From what Kai could see, he did appear to be deeply asleep. As he watched he could see the slow, even rise and fall of Suho’s chest as he breathed. As Kai’s eyes grew accustom to the light, he made another horrific discovery, and Minseok seemed to realize it at the same time.

“By the Tree,” Minseok gasped, gripping Kai’s shoulder tightly, “Is that a straightjacket?”

What Kai had thought were blankets he now saw to indeed be a straightjacket, keeping Suho’s arms pinned to his sides. This time Kai didn’t try to hold back tears.

“They’re treating him like a criminal,” he whimpered, clinging to Minseok’s hand. His eyes were adjusting to the light, and he found himself unable to look away from Suho’s face. The name Suho meant Guardian, and it was really a mundane name. Kai thought they should have named him Angel. He didn’t know if angels were real, but he had read about how they were believed in some cultures to be gentle, beautiful, ethereal creatures—Kai knew what all those words meant and he thought that Suho embodied them.

Suho had been cleaned up since Kai last saw him, and his hair had been cut. He still had rough skin and chapped lips left over from the extreme cold he’d been exposed to, but there was a certain amount of delicacy in him too—he reminded Kai of Chen in that sense, and Kai wanted nothing more than to protect him.

“Minseok, look at him,” Kai sobbed, “How could they do this to him? He’s not dangerous at all, he wouldn’t hurt us…what can we do?”

Kai looked up and saw that Minseok was crying too. Minseok tucked Kai against his side, holding him close.

“Send him positive energy,” he whispered. “You can do that, right Kai? You know what to do?” (2)

Kai nodded and tried to pull himself together. Together he and Minseok pressed their palms against the glass and closed their eyes. Kai imagined a soft white light surrounding them, he imagined Suho growing stronger and healthier, the scars and wind burns fading from his skin. Kai imagined Suho smiling, sitting up, reaching for his hand. He made himself believe that everything would be okay, and reminded himself that Suho was a Guardian, and he was here for a reason. Suho would be great, and Kai needed to be strong for him.

After a while Minseok tapped Kai on the shoulder and told him that they had to stop or they would risk fainting, but they would come back the following night, and the night after that, and as long as they could get away with it. Kai allowed himself to be lead away from the room, but his thoughts lingered with Suho. He let Minseok explain to the others what they had seen while he stayed quiet.

The next night was no easier, especially when Minseok confided in Kai that he suspected Suho was being drugged, to keep him calm.

“To keep him quiet, more like it,” Kai replied, his voice hoarse—it was, he realized, the first time he’d spoken in almost 24 hours.

“Maybe,” Minseok admitted, “But Kai, he could really hurt himself if he gets scared enough. At least part of it is for his own safety.” But Minseok almost sounded like he didn’t really believe what he was saying.

Then on the third night, as Kai and Minseok approached the quarantine chamber, Suho stirred slightly and opened his eyes.

By this time Kai’s eyes had gotten accustom to seeing in the red light, and he was able to make out the look on Suho’s face. At first he looked blank, then his brow furrowed in confusion. Then he raised his eyes a little, and locked gazes with Kai. It made sense, because Minseok had pushed Kai into the room first, and Kai would have been the first person Suho saw, but Kai was still shocked that Suho was staring at him.

Kai braced himself, waiting for Suho to scream or recoil or something, but he didn’t. He stared at Kai, not even blinking—he didn’t look scared or upset at all, he looked kind of emotionless in fact.

“Minseok,” Kai breathed, “He’s awake.”

“I know,” Minseok answered.

“What do we do?” Kai whispered.

“Go closer,” Minseok said, coming out from behind Kai and standing by his side, pulling him to stand closer to the glass. Suho’s eyes flicked to Minseok, taking him in much the same way he had done with Kai.

“Hello,” Minseok said quietly. “Hello, Suho.”

Suho blinked and his face seemed to relax a little, his eyes roaming freely over Minseok and Kai’s faces. After a moment he shuffled in his bed, coming closer but hiding his face in his pillow at the same time, until he was peeking at them with only one eye.

Kai found himself smiling. “He’s so cute,” he whispered, his voice breaking. His chest felt weird, almost heavy, but not in a bad way. Suho’s eyes locked onto Kai once more, and he lifted his face from the pillow a little. Kai smiled wider, and Suho stared more intently. After a moment Suho’s lips parted, showing his teeth a little.

“Kai,” Minseok whispered, “He’s trying to smile at you!”

“Are you sure?” Kai asked, looking over at Minseok, “It looks more like a grimace.”

“Do it again,” Minseok insisted.

So Kai looked back to Suho, and when he saw how seriously Suho seemed to be studying him, it wasn’t hard for him to smile again--Suho was so adorable. Once again Suho showed his teeth, but this time Kai could see the slight upturn of his lips.

“By the Tree, he’s so cute,” Kai said again, and then he pressed his hand against the glass, the way he had for the last two nights.

That would turn out to be a mistake, because Suho tried to imitate him again. He moved his shoulders, and the smile dropped from his face, replaced by a look of confusion. Suho looked down at himself, and Kai felt his blood turn to ice.

“Oh no,” He and Minseok whispered together.

Suho looked up again, panic raw on his face. His eyes darted back and forth between Kai and Minseok, and he began to writhe on the mattress, tears forming in his eyes. He was whimpering, his legs kicking out at the blankets.

“Shh,” Minseok whispered desperately, “Suho, don’t! Shh, it’ll be okay, it’s okay, Suho please…!”

But Suho began to cry, and his cries quickly grew in volume.

“We have to go,” Minseok whispered.

“We can’t leave him like this!” Kai shouted.

A door opened and the room was flooded with light. Suho cried out, hiding his face in the sheets, and Kai and Minseok froze. They were busted.

“What in the name of the Tree are you doing here?!” The head Matron cried, and she seized Kai and Minseok by their arms and began to pull them away. As she did, Suho began to scream in earnest, sitting up and leaning forward, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Let go of me!” Kai found himself shouting as he thrashed in the Matron’s grip, “Let me go! You can’t do this to him, you can’t keep him like this!! Let me go, LET ME GO!!” He had to scream to be heard over Suho, who was screaming even louder, and Kai froze as he distinguished words. Suho was screaming ‘Don’t go,’ over and over again.

“I’ll be back!” Kai yelled, crying nearly as hard as Suho was—he’d been pulled almost to the door, he could hear Minseok screaming behind him, “I’ll come back for you Suho, I promise, they can’t keep us away, we’ll help you—”

He was pulled into the hallway and he rounded on the Matron right away.

“HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO HIM?" Kai screeched, feeling like his throat was tearing apart. "HE WAS FINE UNTIL YOU CAME ALONG, HE WAS FINE! LET HIM GO RIGHT NOW, LET HIM GO, HE’S JUST SCARED, HE’S NOT DANGEROUS, YOU’RE THE DANGEROUS ONE! YOU MONSTER—”

Kai didn’t register that he’d been slapped until he found himself suddenly staring at the wall. He realized that he’d actually stumbled from the force of it, and his cheek felt like it was on fire—but he quickly forgot about it, rage replacing pain.

He turned back to the Matron and stared her down, letting his anger show on his face. “You will regret this,” he growled—he didn’t even recognize his own voice. “I will make you pay for what you’ve done to him. You’ve made him powerless, you’ve humiliated him, you’ve given him a reason to be fearful and you will not get away with it. Do you understand me? I am a Guardian and I will not forget or forgive what you have done.”

The Matron didn’t flinch, but Kai saw the fear in her eyes and he reveled in it.

“Go to your room, both of you,” she said evenly. “The day after tomorrow we will be taking Suho to see the Tree of Life. He will be healed, and we will put this behind us.”

“You’re taking us with you,” Minseok said—it was not a question, it was an order. “Us and the Southern Guardians. We all have to be there for this, for Suho.”

For a second Kai thought she might refuse.

“Very well,” She finally said. “We will make it happen. Now go, and do not come back here.”

EXPLANATION TIME!!!

So, what is this? This is an AU to my AU. Very confusing I know, but originally what I had wanted to do was write a drabble from the perspective of Suho’s foster mother in which she would think about how Joonmyun/Suho would have died if her husband hadn’t found him, meanwhile I (the author) of course knew that Suho wouldn’t have died, he couldn’t have because he’s a Guardian. So I would know what would have actually happened to Suho had the fisherman not found Suho. Which, of course, I then couldn't stop thinking about.

Then I found myself thinking about the complex relationship between Suho and Kai and found myself wondering what would have happened if it had been reversed—what if Suho had been the wild child and Kai had been the one to help civilize him? It would still account for Kai’s rage and need for revenge. And slowly the whole thing spiraled out of control and I saw scenes from this new AU flashing in front of my eyes and within the first 3 hours I knew I had to write it.

Now I’m not going to rewrite the whole story—this is simply a kind of “what if?” spiel that has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER ON THE ACTUAL STORY OR DRABBLES THUS FAR. It will only be 2 or 3 parts, just enough to explore how different the relationship would be between the Guardians. If I reference this plotline again, I‘ll let you know. (I may reference it again to take a look at how OT3 would have happened, but that will be later, after I’ve done a proper drabble for the OT3 in the actual AWE universe.)

I hope you’re not confused, again this is just a what-if scenario. Now to explain a little more—

1—Joonmyun/Suho isn’t dead, it’s more like he’s comatose. He may be a Guardian but even he isn’t totally safe from the effects of hypothermia. And when he dies for the second time, it’s more spiritually. He sort of gives up on his humanity for a little while and shuts down to everything but the need to survive.

2—Minseok talking about positive energy—I didn’t go into it that much in the actual story but Guardians (being so interconnected) are able to share their positive energy and help each other heal from certain things. Like how when they were on earth, Lu Han started to get better as the Guardians came back together.

In the next part I’ll explain how Suho gets back to humanity and I’ll have a little author’s note explaining why things work out differently for Suho here than they did for Kai, why Kai and Suho react so differently to civilization and so on.

Also Minseok is the leader of the North here because Suho (obviously) wasn’t around when they needed a leader and Minseok was the oldest. So he’s not Xiumin in this AU, but Jongdae is still Chen because he still gets transferred to the Southern Group. It’s going to be a different person who gets placed with Kris’ group, and I think you can guess who it’ll be, but again I’ll explain that in the next part.

This is going to cut off at a certain point, probably before the Guardians discovered Mama in the original story.—which they still do in this AU. Basically every major even that happens in the story thus far would (in my imagination) happen in this AU, but due to time constraints and the fact that I’d basically be repeating myself I won’t rewrite the whole thing. But if you want to know how it would work out, just go back in the story and substitute Minseok for Suho (and vice versa) and make Suho a little more timid and you have an idea of how I’d imagine it.

Wow that was long. I hope I didn’t confuse the hell out of you all!! If you have questions feel free to ask but I may not be able to answer them because…well it would be a spoiler for the next part.

The next chapter will have a lot of sweet/cute moments, I promise!