#69:The God Gene Part XI

Warning: Mentions of underaged ion and drowning

With that warning you wouldn't expect it but the chapter is surprisingly funny at times, both intentionally and unintentionally. Especially towards the end. Don’t feel bad if you feel like laughing at an inappropriate time, it’s understandable. You'll see what I mean.

Kai was hysterical when Suho and Chen brought him in. Baekhyun was shocked at how bad it was, it was like seeing him at five years old again, shrieking his head off when someone tried to touch him. Baekhyun clapped his hands over his ears, not sure how much more screaming he could take. Yixing raced in and got his hand around Kai’s arm, and with a gasp Kai slumped over, unconscious. Baekhyun lowered his hands.

“I’m sorry,” Yixing said to Chen, “But I couldn’t think of any other way to make him calm down.”

Chen was shaking, one hand held over his mouth, but Baekhyun could hear him whimpering.

Suho was petting Kai’s hair, fussing over him even in his sleep. The door opened again and the rest of the group came in, all looking pale and worried but none more so than Tao.

“What happened?” Baekhyun asked.

Kris shrugged. “Tao was just about to tell us, I suggested we come here so everyone could be a part of it.” He looked Kai over. “Yixing, can you wake him up?”

Yixing looked nervous. “Is that a good idea?”

“He should be awake for this,” Tao said.

Yixing didn’t look convinced but he put his hand on Kai’s arm again and slowly woke Kai up. He didn’t scream again, but he did start to cry.

Suho held his hand. “Honey, what happened?”

Kai opened his mouth and then closed it again. He shook his head.

Tao sat on the edge of his bed. “Do you want me to tell it?”

Kai nodded, looking relieved.

“Okay.” Tao inhaled deeply and lowered his eyes, speaking to the floor. “We…we ended up in the North, in Kai’s hometown, though I didn’t know it at the time. We were in a market, and we were just walking. Nobody seemed to notice that we were dressed different, or maybe they didn’t care. After a few minutes Kai grabbed my arm and told me that he’d seen his mother. He ran off towards her and I followed, but slowly.” He glanced at Kai briefly before continuing. “She was young, only eighteen, and so skinny. Kai asked her if she wanted something to eat. She was about to say no, but then Kai said he wouldn’t have to pay him back for it, he just wanted to be nice.” Tao gulped. “She…she was a e.”

Suho gasped and covered his mouth, his eyes filling with tears.

“We went to a park and we sat, Kai got us some food and his mother, she just started talking. She said her parents died when she was fourteen and she went into a lot of debt to pay for their funerals, and after that she nearly lost her house. Then she went to a brothel to ask for work. She told us that…she got pregnant very quickly. She was fifteen when…when her son was born. She didn’t know who…” Tao stopped talking because his voice kept breaking.

“She didn’t know who my father was,” Kai finished hollowly. “And of course, she didn’t recognize that I was her son. She told me that she could barely afford to feed herself, and she had no idea what to do with a baby. She couldn’t afford clothes, or get someone to look after me while she worked. She said it was hard for her to even hold him…me.” He laughed, still in that hollow tone, and Baekhyun shivered. “She had no idea what the hell she was doing. She probably had depression, and nobody helped her.”

Kai started to cry again. “She was an orphan. I asked her why she didn’t ask the Guardians for help and she…she looked at me like I was crazy. Guardians are supposed to help orphans bury their parents, and she didn’t even know about it! She didn’t know that she could ask them for help, for a better job, for a family!” He hiccupped and buried his face in his hands. “She shouldn’t have gotten pregnant,” he moaned, “She shouldn’t have had me at all, I was a mistake, a horrible one, and I hated her so much…”

Suho and Kris were next to Kai, holding him, trying to comfort him, but there was nothing they could say that could make Kai feel better, Baekhyun knew this as well as anyone did. Kai spent his whole life thinking that his mother had outright hated him, ignored him on purpose. Maybe that was still true, but now she was so much more sympathetic. A fifteen year old orphan, turning to the industry to pay for her parent’s funerals (she had probably lied about her age and nobody bothered to check)—she wasn’t cruel, she was a child. She had no idea what she was doing.

‘That poor little girl,’ Baekhyun thought sadly. And Kai had been lead to believe that he was a monster, that it was something wrong with him which lead her to ignore him. Nobody had ever corrected him, though everyone at the Sanctuary probably knew…

“Kai basically saved himself,” Tao said suddenly. “He told her to go home and see if her son had a weird birthmark, and if he did then the Guardians would come and take him, and raise him in a better place.”

Kai sniffled and wiped his eyes. “I could tell, I just knew it was the first time in years someone had been kind to her.”

Suho was crying too. He pulled Kai into his lap and kissed his forehead, rocking him gently. Baekhyun looked away, he felt like he was intruding.

Kai stopped crying after a while. Yixing suggested that he go to his and Chen’s room to get some rest, and when the two of them left everyone else slowly filtered out as well, until Yixing and Kris were the only ones left.

Kris came to Baekhyun side and touched his shoulder gently. “Are you alright?”

Baekhyun shrugged. “Better than Kai is.”

Kris looked over at Chanyeol. “Has he woken up?”

Baekhyun shook his head.

Kris sighed. “He’ll wake up soon. And when he does, he’ll be so happy to see you and his wings that he won’t even be in any pain.”

“Really?” Baekhyun asked softly.

“I swear,” Kris promised. “It was the same for me.” He hesitated. “Will you be okay on your own? Do you want me or Yixing to stay with you? Or I could get Kyungsoo, or Xiumin.”

Baekhyun shook his head. “No, I’ll be okay.”

“Alright,” Kris said. “Yell if you need anything.”

When they left, Baekhyun laid down again and squeezed Chanyeol’s hand tightly. “if you don’t wake up soon, I swear by the Tree I will draw on your face.”

Chanyeol didn’t even stir.

Suho was at a loss, it had gotten to the point where he wondered if had really ever known what he was doing. Chen had finally chased him out of his and Kai’s room, saying that he could handle it and Suho should go get some rest. Suho had stared at the closed door for several long minutes afterwards, thinking that he really didn’t know how to take care of himself any more. And if he didn’t know how to do that, how could he possibly take care of Kai?

He went to his room, where Tao and Kris were snuggling on the bed. They looked up when he walked in.

“How’s Kai?” Tao asked.

Suho didn’t know what to say. “I got chased out,” he said numbly. “I wasn’t helping.”

Kris looked at him pityingly. Suho wanted to cry.

“You can cry,” Kris said, beckoning Suho forward. Suho went over to the bed and sat down, staring at Kris blankly. He continued, “You look like you’re about to cry. You can, you know. Nobody will judge you for it.”

Suho wanted to cry. But he couldn’t.

“I feel weird,” Suho said. “I…I can’t explain it, but I feel really weird. Empty, almost.”

Tao patted the space next to him and Suho laid down, his head on Tao’s shoulder. Tao laced their fingers together and squeezed gently. “Me too,” he said. “I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Sleep?” Kris suggested. “I know it’s probably not what you want to hear but we all probably need it.”

Suho nodded and stared blankly at the ceiling until he fell asleep.

The Guardian was on his knees, his head bowed. He was shaking with fear, and Suho smirked at him.

‘You think you’re afraid now?’ He asked. ‘Just you wait.’

He raised his hand, feeling all the water around him shiver and react to his power. He concentrated on the man in front of him, pleased when he started to choke.

‘Stop,’ The guardian begged. ‘Please—’ He cut off with a gurgle as Suho filled his lungs with water. Suho felt giddy with power, delighted as he watched this man drown in his own lungs.

The guardian looked up and Suho’s heart stopped.

‘Suho,’ Kris choked, water dripping from the corner of his mouth. ‘Stop.’

Suho woke up screaming and he jerked away from Tao, rolling off the mattress. He started crawling away, crying so hard that he could barely breathe. He felt hands on his shoulders and lashed out, yelling, “Go away, go away!”

“It’s okay,” Kris said. Suho felt his racing heart stutter to a halt. “It’s alright!”

Suho lashed out again. “No,” he gasped, his teeth chattering from fear. “No, no…no, it’s not, I did it again…”

“It’s okay,” Kris repeated, lifting Suho into his arms. Suho kicked and squirmed, but he was so weak with fear that it was easy for Kris to keep a hold on him as he carried Suho back to bed. “You just had a nightmare,” Kris said gently. “That’s all it was, a nightmare.”

Suho couldn’t even look at him. “But it was you,” he cried. “I was hurting you.”

Kris kissed his forehead and Suho turned away, disgusted with himself. “Don’t you dare, don’t even touch me!” He finally squirmed out of Kris’ arms and scuttled away. “I’m a monster,” Suho whispered to himself. “And I’m a killer. No wonder I can’t help Kai, or Baekhyun and Chanyeol, or anyone.”

Tao crawled over. “That’s not true,” he said. “You’ve been so helpful, it’s okay to be the one who needs help now.”

“Now is the worst time to need help,” Suho countered, choking back sobs. “Everything is falling apart.”

Kris sighed. “Suho, things have been falling apart for years. This is nothing new.” He sat in front of Suho and didn’t move away, even when Suho flinched. “I’m fine,” Kris said emphatically, putting his hands on Suho’s shoulders once again. “Look, you didn’t hurt me. I’m not afraid of you. This is what your brain does when you have dreams, it takes the faces of people you know and puts them in the dream, who that person is doesn’t mean anything.”

Suho knew that, but it didn’t make the dream any less frightening. He stopped fighting and allowed Kris to maneuver him back into bed. Kris tucked the blankets around him and brushed his sweaty hair off his forehead.

Kris spoke softly. “You’re stressed out. You get these nightmares when you feel overwhelmed or helpless. They are meaningless, just the product of an overly tired brain. You’re not a monster and you’re certainly not a killer. You are my best friend and I love you, and I know that you love me just as much. You wouldn’t hurt me, or Tao, or anyone else.”

Suho slowly relaxed. Kris kept his hair and cheeks, and soon the shaking and tears stopped, leaving Suho feeling absolutely exhausted.

Kris leaned down and kissed Suho, just a small peck, but Suho latched onto his collar and pulled him back for a deeper kiss. Suho passed Kris’ lips and arched up, wishing the blanket between them was gone. He let go of Kris’ shirt with one hand and reached for Tao, squeezing his hand when he found it.

Kris pulled back and placed a firm hand on Suho’s chest. “We need to sleep.”

Suho pouted. “We’re awake…” he whined.

Kris smiled and kissed his cheek. “We have all the time in the world, we can continue this in the morning, right Tao?”

Tao hummed in agreement, petting Suho’s wrist. “It has been a while, though.”

“ in the morning,” Kris said again. “Sleep now.”

Sehun and Lu Han had just finished breakfast. It was too cold to eat in the outdoor pavilion, so they were in the indoor dining hall. Sehun was slumped over the table, quietly fuming. He really didn’t appreciate Lu Han’s sappy grin.

“Wipe your face,” he grumbled, “You’ve got some sap on it.”

Lu Han threw an arm around Sehun’s shoulders and cooed at him. “Aww, look who’s a little grumpy this morning, where’s my Sehun’s pretty smile?”

Sehun glowered. “In the bedroom, sleeping. Which is where I should be.” He kicked the table leg. “Damn those three.”

Lu Han was clearly fighting a smirk. “Oh, come on. They weren’t being that loud, and it’s clearly been a while.” He couldn’t hide his smirk any more. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Suho sound like that.”

Sehun screamed and covered his ears. “Of all the things I never wanted to hear!!”

Lu Han was positively cackling by this point. Sehun wanted to choke him.

“Suho is like my dad!” He cried, “And Tao is one of my best friends, I don’t need to listen to them go at it! We need to check the soundproofing on those rooms!”

Lu Han rolled his eyes. “It was hot last night, they probably opened the window and just forgot to close it. Honestly, you act like you’ve never heard people having before.”

“I haven’t! And we don’t count!”

Lu Han scoffed. “You’re no fun.”

Sehun snarled. “Better than you! You probably would have listened to them all morning if I hadn’t dragged you away.”

Lu Han shrugged.  “I think they’re sweet.”

“I don’t think they want you listening in on them while they have .”

Lu Han smirked again. “Well, maybe they’re into that sort of thing. Shall I ask?”

Yixing, Xiumin and Kyungsoo walked in thirty seconds later and found Sehun sitting on Lu Han chest, his hands wrapped around Lu Han’s throat while Lu Han laughed madly.

“Ugh,” Yixing groaned. “Is this another one of those weird things?”

Lu Han shrieked with laughter and Sehun’s face turned so red it looked like he was going to pass out. He let go of Lu Han’s neck at once and crawled under the table.

Lu Han sat up. “Oh come on, Sehun, it wasn’t that bad! Baby, come here…” he crawled after Sehun and tried to coax him out.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “If I’m ever on my knees under a table trying to get my spouse to come back out, that’s when I’ll know I have sunk too low.”

Lu Han poked his head back out. “I’ll quote you on that one day!”

Xiumin piped up, “Yixing has an update on Kai, if you’re interested, but he’ll only talk when everyone is at the table.”

There was silence for a second, then Sehun crawled into a chair and sat. His face was still very pink. Lu Han popped up next to him and leaned on his arm, peppering kisses all over his shoulder until Sehun elbowed him.

Yixing looked exhausted as he sat down, Kyungsoo and Xiumin following suit. “He’s angry,” Yixing said quietly. “Mostly at himself, but at the Guardians too.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m worried about his mental state. Him and Chen. They lean on each other so much, when one hurts the other one hurts, and they…they’re very protective of each other. Like Baekhyun and Chanyeol.”

“And how are those two?” Lu Han asked.

“Chanyeol’s still out cold. Baekhyun hasn’t left his side for more than a few minutes.”

“Why isn’t Chanyeol healing?” Lu Han asked.

“Shock, probably,” Yixing said. “I mean he is healing, just not the way a Guardian is supposed to. It seems like our bodies only heal if our minds allow it, and when our minds are frazzled or when we’re overly stressed, we heal at a normal rate.”

“So, has anything changed?” Sehun demanded.

Yixing hesitated. “I guess…no, nothing’s changed.”

Sehun slithered back under the table. Lu Han didn’t even go after him.

Xiumin stood up. “I think I’m going to go talk to Kai.”

“What can you do?” Kyungsoo asked.

Xiumin shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m going to try to do something.”

There was a brief silence after he left, then Kyungsoo sighed. “I feel weird,” he said. “Like, too much is happening all at once, you know?”

“Yeah,” Yixing said. “It almost feels like it did back when…you know, I brought Lucy back to life. That stretch of time where we were all discovering our new strengths.”

“So what do you call this?” Came Sehun’s voice, slightly muffled like he was lying face down.

“I don’t know,” Yixing said thoughtfully. “Discovering our weaknesses? Lu Han, what do you think?”

Lu Han was staring blankly at the table.

“Lu Han?” Kyungsoo called, waving his hand in front of Lu Han’s face. “Helloooo?”

Lu Han’s body jolted, his head flew back and his mouth opened in a silent gasp. His shoulders and back were ridged and his nails were digging into the surface of the table.

Kyungsoo and Yixing stood up so fast they knocked their chairs over. Sehun came scrambling out from under the table.

“What happened?” Sehun demanded, his face white with fear.

Yixing ran around the table and grabbed at Lu Han’s wrist. “His pulse is normal,” he cried, “But his pupils are dilated, and it doesn’t look like they’re responding to light…Lu Han, squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”

Lu Han was unresponsive.

“I need—” Yixing began, but he was interrupted.

“No!” Sehun wailed, running around the table. “Lu Han, don’t do this to me again!” He grabbed Lu Han’s face and stared into his eyes, searching for any response. “Lu Han, answer me! Please, don’t do this, in the name of the Tree please come back!”

Kyungsoo grabbed Sehun by the shoulders and tried to pull him back. “Sehun, you might be making it worse!”

Sehun flailed away from Kyungsoo, shouting Lu Han’s name over and over. Before anyone could do anything or even grasp the situation, Lu Han suddenly stood up, his chair went flying back and smacked into the wall and everyone went silent.

Lu Han’s whole body was as ridged as a brick, his eyes were blank and stared at nothing. Then he started to speak, in a voice that simultaneously was his own and yet sounded nothing like him.

“When the skies and the grounds were one, the legends, through their forces, nurtured the Tree of Life. An evil power coveted the heart of Tree of Life, and the heart slowly grew dry. To protect the heart of Tree of Life, the legends divide the heart in half and hide each side. Hence, time is over-turned and space turns askew. The legends divide into two and create two suns that look alike, in two worlds that seem alike. The legends travel apart. The legends shall now see the same sky but shall stand on different grounds, shall stand on the same ground but shall see different skies. The day the grounds be kept a single file before one sky in two worlds that seem alike, the legends will greet each other. The day the legends reunite, a new world shall open up.”

Then there was a brief, stunned silence, and Lu Han collapsed to the floor.

Sehun shrieked again and flew at Lu Han’s body, cradling his face. “Lu Han…Lu Han,” he whimpered, his voice shaking. “Please, please wake up. Wake up…”

Lu Han moaned weakly and opened his eyes. “Sehun…what happened? Why are you crying?”

Sehun looked like he could hardly believe it. “You remember me?”

Lu Han frowned. “What? Of course I remember you. When did you come out from under the table? And why am I on the floor?”

Sehun laughed and it quickly turned into more sobbing.

Lu Han looked slightly afraid. “What’s the matter with you?”

Sehun hauled Lu Han up, threw his arms around his shoulders, and sobbed into Lu Han’s neck. “You scared me so badly!” He screamed. “I thought you were…I thought I’d lost you again, I thought you were gone for good, I was so scared, by the Tree I was so afraid!”

Lu Han looked absolutely stunned. “What? What did I do? What happened? Sehun, talk to me!” He looked up. “Yixing, Kyungsoo, come on! You’re scaring me!”

“You scared us!” Kyungsoo shouted.

“Why are you yelling?” Lu Han demanded, looking like he was about to cry. “I didn’t do anything!”

The door flew open and everyone screamed. Kris, Suho and Tao stood in the doorway.

“What the actual hell is going on?” Kris demanded. “We could hear you all shouting from outside!”

Yixing cleared his throat. “Guys…Lu Han just prophesized.”

Everyone froze.

“W-what?” Lu Han stammered.

“You went into a trance,” Yixing said. “You recited a prophecy.”

“You mean, he saw the future?” Kyungsoo asked.

“No,” Yixing said, “Lu Han, you don’t remember anything, do you?”

Lu Han shook his head.

Yixing continued, “He didn’t see one event, he spoke about a lot of things, and it was cryptic, it wasn’t meant to tell us exactly what to do or what would happen.”

Lu Han looked flabbergasted. “What did I say?”

Yixing repeated what Lu Han had said word for word.

“Sounds like nonsense,” Tao said.

“It’s not,” Yixing murmured. “It’s about us. Splitting the heart in two, hiding it, being reunited…we just need to figure out the rest of it.”

There was a shout from outside the door and Baekhyun suddenly ran in. “Guys!” He shouted, grinning widely, “Chanyeol’s awake!” He looked around and took stock of the room. “Where are the others? And why is everyone crying?”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “Let’s just round everyone up and meet in the Infirmary. We’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

The foreshadowing in this chapter is no joke.

Also a lot happened, let's recap: Kai found out his mom was fifteen when he was born, he's mad at the Guardians essentially for two resons: 1) They didn't help his mother, even though she was underaged when she became an orphan, and 2) they didn't tell him that she was so young and her inexperience contributed to her poor parenting skills. Then Suho had a nightmare about using his gift to drown Kris. Sehun and Lu Han flirted, while Xiumin was off looking for Kai Lu Han went into a trance, and Chanyeol finally woke up. We'll see how Kai and Xiumin's conversation went, as well as Baekhyun's recaction to Chanyeol waking up, in the next chapter.

So yeah, I used the MAMA intro. I’m just going to brag here and say that I’m a mad genius. You probably think I planned that from the beginning, but no, I actually just thought to use that thing about a week ago. I read it again and I was like "Holy crap, this actually fits really well with what I want to do in the sequel!"

IDK when the next update will be, starting on Tuesday I’ll be very busy for about a week, so it depends on how much I can write before then.

Now be honest, how many of you snorted/laughed when you started reading the MAMA intro? (Yes, I did change it a little bit. Made it less wordy and hopefully made it make a little more sense.)

Edit: I KEEP FORGETTING TO PUT THIS HERE

For those of you who like the Kris/Suho/Tao OT3 you should go check out my fic What Does The Fox Say 

It'll also have 2jong and Baekyeol but no HunHan, instead there will be a different pairing!