#52: In Another World Part 2

Jongin was only thirteen months old when he ran away from home. “Ran” being a figurative word—toddled was more like it. He learned to teleport at a young age, purely because he would have died of starvation otherwise. He learned after he got to the Sanctuary that it was the spirit of the Tree pushing him to survive. He may have been a mere baby, but it didn’t matter. He could do incredible things with the power that he had, or rather the power that he had could make him do incredible things.

Jongin had his memories from childhood, starting from the moment he was born. It was terrifying at times, being able to remember everything that had ever happened to him, but it was almost more terrifying to realize that there were gaps in his memory. This was where, he would come to realize, the spirit of the Tree had taken control and kept him alive. When Jongin left home, he out. He went from lying in his cradle, hunger gnawing at his stomach, to standing in the middle of a marketplace, surrounded by strange people. Jongin may have been a Guardian, possessed by a great power, but he was still a thirteen month old child, and so he did what any scared, hungry, desperate child would do. He started wailing at the top of his lungs.

Naturally everything around him went screeching to a halt and every adult in the area rushed over to him.

“Are you alright?”

“Sweet child, are you hurt?”

“Where is your mother, darling?”

“Where did you come from?”

Jongin only cried louder as they asked him more and more questions, and finally a young teenage girl managed to push her way through the crowd. She shouted at the adults to shut up, to give him some space. Jongin latched onto her leg and sobbed until he exhausted himself, and then the girl picked him up and announced that he was probably an orphan, and she would take care of him.

Her name was Mia, and she was an orphan herself. She had a job looking after the young children of parents who worked long hours. Sometimes the kids would stay with her for days or even weeks at a time. It was always crowded at her house, and Jongin hadn’t fully understood why he was with her, but it was better than where he had come from. It took him a while to get used to being around people, to the loud sounds, the smells, the sights. It took him even longer to get used to being touched. He could handle Mia’s hugs and pats to the head, but the other kids would sometimes run into him or grab him from behind, and it could send him into a state of panic where he would fall to the ground and cry.

But eventually Jongin came to realize that he had it pretty good at Mia’s house. He could eat whenever he wanted, as much as he wanted—and he did. He would follow Mia around, clinging to her leg and whining for snacks. Whenever she was cooking, Jongin would be standing (literally) on top of her feet with his mouth open, much like a baby bird, and she would feed him bits of vegetables or cheese, whatever she happened to have on hand at the time. If Jongin cried, Mia would always come along to pick him up and cuddle him until he stopped. The other kids were wary around him, because he could speak like a much older child and he was more interested in books than toys. Mia was the one who taught him how to read, and Jongin tore through the books at her house very quickly.

Mia was also the one who eventually told the city elders about the mark on Jongin’s chest, and it was because of her that he learned who he truly was. When the Matrons came to take him to the Sanctuary he was sad and a little bit scared, but Mia told him not to worry. There would be children just like him where he was going, and he would be able to eat and read as much as he wanted. When Jongin saw the huge library that the Sanctuary had, he vowed never to leave. He thought he’d found paradise.

Jongin was convinced that he became someone different when he had his name changed to Kai. It was unfortunate, he thought, that his new name arrived at the same time that Suho had, because now he couldn’t help but to associated the change in his name with his new attitude. In reality it was all because of Suho. When Kai saw how Suho was being treated, he realized that the Sanctuary was not a paradise. It was essentially a warehouse, a storage space where young Guardians were housed until such a time where their older counterparts could be bothered to deal with them. The people who ran this warehouse, the Matrons, Healers, and Teachers, could not be trusted to have the Guardian’s best interests at heart. Kai grew up when Suho came along, his eyes were opened to a new reality, and he realized that though he was only five years old, he was not a child anymore.

Because Kai knew what it was like to open his eyes and find himself in a strange and frightening place where no one could understand him, he decided that he would make it his personal mission to reach out to Suho and help him belong. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sneak back into Quarantine to see Suho again—in fact he heard that since Suho had been found not to have any diseases he was being moved out of that place—but he also knew he had a better shot at seeing Suho once they were all on the way to seeing the Tree of Life. Before he could do that though, he and Minseok needed to fill the rest of the Guardians in on Suho’s condition, and that included their Southern counterparts.

Minseok didn’t have time to prepare a speech for the younger ones on how to act and what to say. On the day that they left they were woken up before dawn and ushered out, half asleep and still in their night clothes, loaded into carriages and taken to a waiting train. It took a whole day for them to reach the pickup point for Southern Guardians, and Minseok still hadn’t had a chance to explain anything to them. He’d spent the entire day convincing Sehun—who only remembered the train as what had taken him away from his home—that he was not being taken away from them.

When the southern Guardians stepped onto the train, they instantly froze and stared in shock at the seven boys who were facing them. The southerners stood shoulder to shoulder, and the smallest one clung to the tallest one’s waist, looking like he was about to cry.

The tallest one cleared his throat. “Um, it’s nice to meet you,” and then he bowed, and the other three followed suit.

Minseok jumped and bowed as well, and all but Sehun followed his lead. Sehun, bless him, ran up to one of the boys and latched onto his hand.

“I want to be friends with the pretty one!” He cried, staring up at the boy in wonder.

Minseok made a noise like a dying cat and the new boy blinked at Sehun in confusion.

“What did you say, little one?” He asked politely, and Kai wondered how old this boy was for him to be so darn cute.

Minseok cleared his throat. “He said, um…’I want to be friends with the pretty one.’”

The other boy gasped in delight. “How adorable!” He cried, leaning down and pinching Sehun’s cheeks. “By the Tree, you’re so cute! What’s your name?”

“Sehunnie,” Sehun said sweetly, smiling at the boy.

“Hi Sehunnie, I’m Lu Han!”

The taller boy grinned at Minseok. “Should we give them a moment?” He joked, and Minseok laughed.

“I’m Kris,” the tall boy said, “And you know Lu Han now…this is Lay, and this is Tao.” He tugged on the arm around his waist. “Tao, sweetie, it’s okay…” and then he started talking in Southern dialect.

While Minseok introduced their own side, Kai eyed Sehun and Lu Han with a little jealousy. It had taken Sehun a week to open up to them, and now he’d latched onto this Lu Han boy like they’d been friends their whole lives. Once Minseok had finished, he walked over to the two of them.

“Sehun has a speech problem,” He said, figuring Lu Han should know (he seemed to get more and more confused each time Sehun opened his mouth). “His words come out jumbled sometimes.”

Lu Han’s eyes widened in shock, but he smiled at Sehun. “It’s okay,” he said, patting Sehun’s head, “I’ll learn to understand your language.”

Sehun beamed and Kai’s heart twisted.

“So,” Kris said, looking around, “Where’s our twelfth brother? Our Teachers said you found him.”

Minseok winced. “Um, maybe we should go talk somewhere else.”

When Minseok finished his explanation, he was met with stunned silence.

“Poor Suho,” Lay finally whispered. He sounded close to tears. “I…I can heal, that’s my gift, maybe I could help?”

“No,” Kris said immediately. “No, Lay, you can barely heal anything more than a scrape, and you don’t know the extent of your gift, I won’t let you put yourself in danger for this. It’s so generous of you to offer, but it’s too much right now.”

Lay nodded and bit down on his lip as though to keep from crying, and Kris put an arm around his shoulders and tugged him closer. Kai could see how great of a leader Kris would be, could see why they made him leader even though Lu Han was older.

“Why do they treat him like that?” Tao asked—the longest sentence he’d spoken thus far, probably because his Northern dialect was easily the poorest.

“I think on some level they want to keep him from hurting himself and other people,” Minseok explained, “But really…they didn’t take the time to get to know him. And I found out that when they found him, they literally trapped him in a net and shot him with a tranquilizer to take him to us.”

“What?!” Kris yelled, his eyes blazing with anger. “They trapped him in a net? Like an animal? In the name of the Tree I never—” And he cut himself off, his jaw twitching like he wanted to say more but didn’t trust himself.

“I know,” Minseok said simply, and he was never one to get angry easily but Kai could see the rage in his eyes.

“I understand him,” Kai blurted, and ten pairs of eyes locked on him. “Um…I was…like him, for a little while. When I was a baby my…my mother didn’t take care of me. She didn’t feed me, or touch me, or talk to me or even look at me, really. I was all alone, and the first time I saw people, the first time somebody tried to hold me…I cried until I collapsed. It took me a long time to get used to being around people, and any surprise sound or movement could make me so scared. But I hated being touched more than anything.” He scowled, remembering hands grabbing at him, pushing him, pulling him around. “I hated it…” he mumbled again.

Minseok sat next to Kai and rubbed his arm. “But that’s why we need you, Kai,” he said gently. “You know how to act around Suho. You can teach us.”

Kai shook his head. “It’s different,” he whispered. “Suho isn’t me, he may be like me but I can’t predict everything he does. All I can say is don’t yell, or make sudden moves, or try to force him to come to you. But if he does then…it okay to offer him your hand, or ask if he wants a hug. I think he understands us when we talk, or most of what we say, and he can talk too…just not as much.” He shrugged. “It’s not a lot to go on…”

“But it’s very helpful,” Kris said quickly. “Really Kai, this is good to know. Thank you for telling us.”

Kai couldn’t help but smile at the praise.

“I think we should go see Suho,” Minseok said. “But not all at once.”

“But we’re stronger when we’re together!” Chanyeol cried. “I think we should give it a try, see if we can help Suho just a little. As long as we don’t crowd him and stay quiet, maybe it’ll be okay!”

Kris turned to Kai. “What do you think?” He asked.

Kai thought for a moment. “I think it would be okay,” he said slowly, “We can divide ourselves into groups, go to him a few at a time and watch to see if he gets overwhelmed.”

“It sounds like a good plan to me,” Kris said, looking over at Minseok. “What do you think?”

Minseok nodded. “We can try it at least, but Kai, Kris, and I will go first.”

Kai knew that they honored his opinions on the matter, but he was still shocked to be included alongside the leaders in their visit. He was the second youngest in the group, after all.

Minseok and Kris made it a point not to sneak around on the train. They were the official leaders of the group, and even though they were both only nine years old, that gave them some authority, especially when they were together and when it included one of their own. All nine of their boys trailed after them, trying to look as grown up and sure as they did, but Kai knew that they looked more nervous than anything.

Kris and Minseok brought the group to a halt outside the car that Suho was being kept in.

“The rest of you have to wait out here,” Kris told them. “Divide yourselves into groups. Lu Han, can you supervise?”

Lu Han nodded (Sehun was still clinging to him). “I’ll look after them,” he promised.

Kris then pulled a pin out of his pocket. “I do not normally approve of this,” he mumbled, “But this is a desperate situation.” And then he began to pick the lock.

Chanyeol watched with wide eyes. “Can you show me how to do that?” He asked excitedly.

“No,” Kris and Minseok said firmly.

It didn’t take long for Kris to unlock the door, and when he did the three of them quickly slipped inside the car. The train was fairly narrow, but the car felt roomy because it was sparsely furnished. There was a bed on one side, and all the way next to the door there was a single dresser and a pitcher of water. There were two windows on either side of the car, and both were covered with curtains. Suho was curled up on the bed, covered by a thick blanket and not moving.

Kai approached the bed first, tiptoeing quietly. “Suho?” He called softly as he approached.

The blankets stirred. Suho’s back was facing the door, and Kai couldn’t tell if he was awake.

“Suho, I’m here to help you,” Kai went on. “Do you remember me?”

Slowly, Suho turned over. His eyes were only half open, and he looked tired. He woke up a little when he recognized Kai, but when he saw Minseok and Kris he shrank back a bit.

“It’s okay,” Kai said gently, “They’re here to help, too. You remember Minseok, right?”

Minseok waved and smiled.

“That’s our new friend, Kris,” Kai explained as he continued to approach the bed. “He’s our brother.”

Suho was watching Kai’s advancement, and when Kai was standing only a few feet from the bed Suho finally sat up and the blanket fell aside. Kai heard Kris gasp, and Kai himself had to hold back tears when he saw that Suho was still strapped into the straightjacket.

“Oh Suho,” Kai sighed. He looked at Suho’s face, but Suho’s eyes were darting around, jumping from one person to another.

Kai stepped even closer. “Suho, can you look at me?”

Suho hesitated, but turned his gaze to Kai. Kai wanted to cry when he saw Suho’s eyes. He looked scared and desperate, but more than anything he looked confused.

“It’s okay,” Kai soothed, “I know how you feel. I…” He paused. “Can you understand me?” Kai asked softly, not expecting an answer. Suho cocked his head to one side, his expression turning quizzical. Kai grinned in spite of himself—Suho was so adorable!

Kai allowed his smile to show slightly, trying to make himself as nonthreatening as possible. “You know that Suho isn’t your real name, right?” He asked gently, “But we don’t know what to call you, so we had to pick another name. Right now, we’re going to a special place, and you’re going to get better. You’re going to learn how to talk to us, you’re going to learn about who you are.” Kai paused, wondering if he was overdoing it. Suho looked like he was hanging on Kai’s every word.

“You’re very special,” Minseok put in. Suho jumped a little and looked over at Minseok, but he didn’t look scared anymore. Minseok continued, “You’re special, but not alone. We’re like you, we’re your friends and your family now. We’re going to take care of you and protect you, because we’re connected.”

“And there’s more of us,” Kris added, “Standing just outside, there’s eight other boys just like you, and they all feel connected to you even though they haven’t met you.”

Suho was looking at them wide-eyed, and Kai thought for a moment that he understood everything, every single word, and Suho would open his mouth and speak to them at any second. Suho’s lips parted slightly, but all the came out was a low pitched whine, and he leaned forward and heat-butted Kai’s shoulder.

Kai felt disappointment weigh heavily in his stomach. “What is it?” He asked Suho, trying to mask the fact that he wanted to cry.

Suho head-butted him again and whined louder.

“Suho? What is it that you want?” Kris asked, sitting at the end of Suho’s bed. “We can’t…” He broke off. It was an unspoken agreement not to tell Suho that they couldn’t understand him.

Kai sighed and looked Suho over, inadvertently locking eyes with him—he’d just meant to take in Suho’s expression, but his gaze was so strong, so pleading…as Kai stared, Suho’s eyes slowly began to fill with tears. It all clicked and Kai gasped as he looked down at Suho’s torso. “Oh, oh my gosh—I’m so sorry, I forgot!” he cried, fluttering his hands, unsure of how to start…

“What, what is it?” Minseok asked.

“He wants us to take him out of the straightjacket,” Kai said, his voice breaking.

A few tears slipped from Suho’s eyes and he hiccupped quietly. Kai reached for him and Suho leaned away, looking uncertain.

“You poor thing,” Kai whispered. “Poor Suho, it’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”

“Kai,” Minseok called softly, “We don’t know if…if he’ll attack us if he gets scared.”

“But he’s so little,” Kris said, sounding shocked, “And thin…he looks like he’d fall over if I sneezed near him.”

Kai nodded, never taking his eyes off Suho. “We could fight back if we needed to, but we won’t.” He smiled even though he wanted to cry. “Right Suho? You won’t hurt us, will you?”

Suho shuffled forward a little, wriggling his shoulders.

“Okay,” Minseok said, “Kai, will you need help?”

“Maybe,” Kai answered, eyeing the jacket. “I don’t know how it works…”

Kai reached out slowly and laid his hand on Suho’s arm. Suho flinched but didn’t pull away, and when Kai slowly undid one of the buckles on the jacket Suho’s eyes went wide. He leaned forward, whimpering a little. Kai got the message—‘Hurry up, get me out of here.’

“Minseok, help me,” Kai ordered as he quickly moved onto the next buckle. Between the two of them they got the jacket opened up in only a minute, and as soon as they did Suho scurried away from them until his back hit the headboard. He was panting, twitching, and he jerked his shoulders violently only to let out a pained cry.

“What’s wrong with him?” Kai gasped, looking over his shoulder at the older boys.

Kris’ face had gone white. “I-I think his arms are asleep…from being pinned so tightly for so long.”

Suho was weeping, curling in on himself as he bucked, trying to throw the straightjacket off. He cried out in pain again.

“Oh, don’t,” Kai begged as he started to cry too, “Please Suho, calm down—you’ll hurt yourself!”

Suho looked up, seeming to respond to Kai’s pleading tone. Kai inched forward, holding out his hand. “I can help you,” he promised, “I can get it off without hurting you, but I need you to come here.”

Suho sniffled and hesitated, but he finally inched forward. Kai laid his hands on Suho’s arms, watching for his response. When he didn’t seem scared, Kai slowly rubbed his hands up and down Suho’s arms, trying to get the blood flowing again. Minseok caught on and moved to help Kai, moving carefully so as not to startled Suho.

Suho was tense at first, but as the minutes passed he relaxed, even leaning into the touch. Kai wondered how long it had been since Suho had been embraced by a human being, or shown physical contact that wasn’t forceful or hurtful. Once Suho’s arms had gone lax, Minseok suggested they try again. They eased the straightjacket off, and Suho winced but it seemed to be more from general stiffness—in any case he didn’t scream in pain.

Kai and Minseok backed off once they’d freed Suho from the jacket, and Kris murmured that they shouldn’t try to touch him again, but rather let him come to them. Suho wasn’t paying attention to them, he was gazing down at his arms like he’d never seen them before. He slowly rotated his elbows, then his wrists, then he flexed his fingers. He looked up at the three boys who were watching his every move, and it was strange—he literally looked like he was teetering on the edge of something, but he wasn’t moving and he was seated securely on the bed. Kai recognized it as the urge to speak.

“What is it?” He prompted. “What do you want to say?”

Suho opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked frustrated, and he glanced around the room, his eyes finally landing near the door. His brow furrowed, and he formed his hand into a fist with one finger extended. Slowly he raised his hand and held it out, pointing across the room. He was only able to hold his arm up for a few seconds before it flopped back into his lap, but Kris got the message.

“He wants the water pitcher,” he explained. “I guess he must be thirsty.”

Minseok nodded. “That could be it, but they said that his gift was Water.”

“We won’t know until we bring it over here,” Kai pointed out.

Kris got up and poured some of the water into a cup. He brought it back and held it up in front of Suho.

“What—” he began, but Suho lunged forward and tried to stick his face into the cup.

“Whoa!” Kai cried, holding his hands up, “Suho, not like that!”

Suho backed up, looking confused.

“Like this,” Kris said, and he lifted the cup to his lips and pretended to drink. He then held the cup back out, level with Suho’s mouth. Suho leaned forward, clearly not understanding, and pressed his lips to the rim of the cup. Kris tilted it slightly, and managed to get a little into Suho’s mouth, but most of it dribbled down his chin because his lips weren’t properly sealed on the rim.

Suho huffed in frustration, and before anyone could stop him he snatched the cup away from Kris and held it up to his face, scowling at it.

“Wow,” Kris said, taking a step back. “His arms got strong real fast.”

Kai nodded, watching Suho curiously. Suho was studying the cup carefully, and after a moment held his free hand over the cup. As the three of them watched the water rose up, forming a perfect sphere. Suho withdrew his hand and the water followed, and after a moment he allowed the cup to fall to the floor, cupping both his hands under the sphere of water. He seemed to be balancing it, ensuring that it would stay upright, and after a moment he looked up at the three of them, his eyes wide and almost hopeful.

“Good job,” Kai said quickly, “Wow, that’s amazing Suho! That’s really wonderful!” And he smiled brightly. When Suho’s eyes lit up, Kai mumbled out of the corner of his mouth “Praise him.”

Minseok and Kris launched into enthusiastic praises, and Suho actually smiled at them—there was no mistaking it, he wasn’t struggling as he had been that night in the hospital. Kai felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his chest, like he could see Suho improving by leaps and bounds even now, when they weren’t doing much of anything.

“We should call the others in here,” Kai said excitedly. He sat on the bed next to Suho, grinning at him. “Suho, you want to meet everyone, right? You want to meet your brothers?”

Suho grinned widely and held out his hands, shoving the water sphere under Kai’s nose.

Kai nodded, “Yes, that’s very good Suho, very good. Do you want to see more things like this?”

Suho’s expression turned quizzical—he dropped his hands and the water splashed over the mattress, but Suho wasn’t paying attention.

“Suho,” Minseok said, “Watch this!” He held out his hand, palm out, and slowly formed a thin layer of ice on his palm. Suho was absolutely mesmerized, his jaw hanging, and he actually poked Minseok’s palm.

“Want to see more?” Minseok asked, parroting Kai. “Your brothers can do things like this too.”

Suho looked up eagerly, bouncing slightly on the bed.

“Let’s try,” Kai suggested. “But no more than three at a time.”

Kris went to the door and asked for three volunteers, and Sehun, Tao, and Chen came scampering in. Kai carefully watched Suho’s expression, but he didn’t look scared. He eyed the younger kids curiously, his eyes flicking back and forth between them.

Tao and Chen hung back, staring wide-eyed at Suho, but Sehun grinned and ambled forward.

“Pretty,” he whispered. “Pretty hyung.”

“You think everyone is pretty, Sehun-ah,” Minseok laughed, catching Sehun in his arms before he could get too close to the bed. Sehun giggled when Minseok kissed his cheek, and Suho watched with wide eyes.

“Sehun, show Suho what you can do,” Kai suggested.

Sehun clapped his hands. “Sehun will!” He cried, and then he held up his hands and created a light breeze that fluttered Suho’s hair around his face. Suho looked around in shock, to see where the wind was coming from, and Sehun giggled again.

“Me, Suho!” He cried, pointing to himself. “Sehunnie did it!” And he did it again.

Suho looked around eagerly before his eyes landed on the water-spot on his mattress, and he pouted.

“It’s okay,” Kai said quickly, motioning for the pitcher and glass again, “Here, you can have some more water…”

Suho perked up again as soon as he was handed a new glass of water, and he performed the same water sphere trick for the younger kids. It got Tao and Chen to snap out of their shyness and shuffle forward, all the young kids staring in wonder at Suho’s gift. Suho looked very proud of himself, and while he was distracted Kai motioned for Kris to let some more people in.

Baekhyun. Chanyeol and Lay were next, and Chanyeol gasped loudly when he saw what Suho was doing.

“Daebak!” He whispered, and Suho looked up in surprise but didn’t seem scared. In fact his smile widened, and he pulled more water from the cup to make the sphere bigger.

“Show off,” Kai laughed.

“Suho, watch what I can do!” Baekhyun said. He pulled from his pocket one of the crystals he loved to carry around, laying it flat in his palm. When his hand lit up, rainbows were scattered all over the room.

“Whoa,” Kris and Tao said at the same time, and Kai realized that it was the first time they had seen any of their gifts as well. Suho was transfixed, his eyes flitting around the room until they landed on a rainbow near his hand, and he became focused on catching it.

Baekhyun’s focus was broken when Kyungsoo and Lu Han came in, and Suho looked disappointed for only a second before Kris suggested that Lu Han show Suho what he could do. Lu Han pulled a few beads out of his pocket and made them float in the air, turning in a lazy circle. Everyone was impressed by that, especially Suho.

“I guess I can’t show him my gift,” Chanyeol said mournfully.

“What is your gift?” Kris asked.

“Fire,” Chanyeol answered.

The conversation continued, but Kai had stopped paying attention. He was grinning at Suho, taking in his expression.

“I knew you wouldn’t be scared of us,” Kai said proudly. “I knew from the moment I saw you.” He suddenly remembered holding his hand to the glass and how Suho had tried to imitate him. Kai had yet to actually attempt to touch Suho skin-to-skin, and he wondered now if Suho would allow it.

“Hey, do you remember this?” Kai asked, holding his hand up as if he was pressing it flat against a thick layer of glass. He hadn’t even noticed how quiet it had gotten, focused only on Suho as he stared intently at Kai’s hand. Suho’s own hand twitched, and Kai was sure he was going to do it, he was going to touch their hands together—

Suho leaned forward and pressed his cheek against Kai’s hand, nuzzling it like a puppy.

Kai squeaked in surprise and everyone in the room sighed “Aww,” at the exact same time.

“He’s so adorable!” Lu Han choked.

“He’s like a puppy!” Chen said.

Suho was focused on Kai, his eyes wide and uncertain even as he kept his cheek pressed to Kai’s hand. Kai slowly slid his hand into Suho’s hair, ruffling it.

“You’re not scared,” Kai breathed. “You’re not scared at all!” He was amazed. Was this the same boy who had been screaming hysterically at the sight of a matron? How could they be the same? Suho was so sweet, so gentle, he wouldn’t hurt a fly!

As if hearing Kai’s thoughts, the door opened again and everyone turned to see a matron standing in the doorway

“You children—” She began, and Suho let out a piercing shriek and threw himself behind Kai, his arms going around Kai’s shoulders and anchoring himself.

“GET OUT!” Kai screamed, anger flaring inside of him.

“Leave us alone!” Minseok yelled, and Kai realized that every one of them had an identical expression of anger on his face, even Sehun. The Matron stepped back in shock and Lu Han threw out a hand, the door slamming shut.

“Damn it,” Minseok swore. “Is Suho alright?”

“No,” Kai shot at him, trying to twist around, but Suho’s grip was too strong. He was crying, and Kai realized that he was saying something.

“No, no, no…” Suho whimpered, clutching Kai tighter. “No, no…”

“Suho, it’s okay,” Kai soothed, patting Suho’s hand—the only part of him he could reach. “She’s gone now.”

Minseok came and sat on the bed. “She’s gone,” he repeated, “And we won’t let her hurt you. We won’t let anyone hurt you ever again, I promise.”

Suho responded to the soothing tone and his grip on Kai’s shoulders went lax. Immediately Kai turned to face him. Suho’s face was already tear-stained, and his eyes were frightened.

“You’re okay,” Kai soothed, holding out his arms. “Do you—”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence, Suho launched himself into Kai’s arms and lap, burrowing into him so enthusiastically that Kai almost fell over.

“Okay,” Kai grunted, “I guess you do want a hug.”

Sehun giggled. “Cuddle bunny!” He said cheerfully, hopping up and down. Before anyone could stop him, Sehun climbed up on the bed alongside Kai and began to pet Suho’s hair. He said something else, but Kai couldn’t make it out. In any case it didn’t seem to matter, Suho looked up at Sehun and grinned, relaxing even more. Kai was stunned—it had taken him weeks to get comfortable anough to allow more than one person to touch him at once.

As if reading his mind, Minseok sat down on Kai’s other side and rubbed his arm. “You said it yourself, Kai, Suho isn’t you. It seems to me like he understands that he’s one of us, so he’s okay with us. He was so scared when the Matron came in, I’m sure that if she tried to do this he wouldn’t be so calm.”

“It might not even be because we’re Guardians,” Kris added, “It could just be because we’re kids.”

Tao suddenly gasped and demanded something of Kris, but he said it in Southern dialect and Kai didn’t understand. Kris seemed hesitant, and Lu Han jumped in.

“Yeah, do it Kris,” He encouraged. “Show Suho your gift!”

“I-I don’t know,” Kris stuttered, “It might scared him…” he blushed when he realized that everyone was staring at him. “Oh fine,” he mumbled.

There was a collective gasp as a pair of huge, jet-black wings unfolded from Kris’ back.

“Holy smokes!” Kai cried, “Where were you hiding those?”

“They fold really close to my—” Kris began, but was cut off when Suho squealed in delight and leapt up from Kai’s lap, running over to Kris and staring at his wings in awe.

“You can pet them,” Lay said excitedly, showing Suho what he meant, “Go on, try it!”

Suho hesitantly reached out, brushing his fingers along Kris' wings. Kris was biting his lip, looking away.

“He’s ticklish,” Lu Han explained, his tone teasing.

Kris looked like he wanted to fire back, but Suho (becoming more and more emboldened) raked both his hands through Kris’ feathers and whatever Kris was about to say came out garbled. “Okay, that’s enough,” he said quickly, sweeping his wings shut and dragging Suho along with them. Suho squeaked in surprise when he found himself pressed against Kris’ chest, held there by a pair of fluffy wings. His expression turned to absolute glee and he buried his face in the feathers, sighing happily.

“Bird hug!” Sehun cried, pointing, “Me too, Krissy!”

“Me too!” Chen cried, “I want a bird hug too!”

“Now hold on,” Kris said, walking Suho back over to the bed and sitting down, tugging Suho onto his lap, “First ask Suho if he wants to share.”

Suho at the rest of them from between Kris’ feathers and snuggled further back, but the feathers tickled his nose and he let out a tiny sneeze.

“He’s so cute!” Chanyeol cried, pushing his way up onto the bed as well. “Suho can have the wings, he’s too cute to say no to.”

“Hey, move over,” Kai cried, shoving at Chanyeol’s shoulder, “I wanna sit next to Suho and Kris! Besides, Suho likes me best, right Suho?”

Suho’s hand poked out from under Kris’ wing and Kai linked their fingers together. Suho squeezed his hand and Kai’s heart soared.

“He likes you best because he doesn’t know any better,” Chanyeol teased, “Just wait until he finds out how fun I am.”

“Move over,” Tao demanded, “I wanna sit up there too!”

“Me too!” Chen yelled, running after Tao.

“Hey, me too!” Kyungsoo yelped. “Wait for me!”

“You’re all going to break the bed!” Minseok cried, “Hold on, wait!!”

Over all the commotion, Kai thought he heard something coming from the cocoon of Kris’ wings. He leaned closer and caught Kris’ eye.

Kris smiled at him. “Yeah, he’s laughing.”

WOW. BY THE TREE THIS WAS LONG. OVER 6,000 WORDS LONG. AND WE’RE NOT DONE YET!!

I hope that this answered some of the questions you may have had. The next part will be the last (for now), and it will be Suho going to see the Tree of Life.