"__________ " Kyungsoo shouts your name but you don't seem to be responding to him.

He is just in time to grab you by the arms before you keel, feeling your trembling coursing through his skin.


"Make him stop."

He hears you whimper and when you lift your head, tears are spilling from your beautiful eyes.

Then your eyelids are fluttering shut and you slump, body warm and limp against his.


"________ !" He shakes you but you are already unconscious.


"Weak. As expected."

Kyungsoo hears the snarl in the dark haired boy's tone and glares at him, blind fury rising in his chest.


"Don't worry, I didn't kill her. Just... Reminded her of some... Bad memories." He snickers. "They make a person... Weak. Now I wonder whether you're just like her."

He sees the male pointing both hands to his temples and immediately goes into defensive.



With one hand still holding on to you, he trains his power into the other. In a single fluid movement, he raises his hand and slams it down flat on the ground.

The earth below jumps and with an ear-splitting crack, the cement parts into two and a huge fissure opens up four or five metres wide, rumbling and shooting through the ground straight towards the attacker.

Kyungsoo sees the shock in the other's face as he loses his footing and falls through the deep gaping hole.



A second and the earth dips and shatters, loose debris burying the attacker alive.


Kyungsoo knows it won't be long before the Super makes his way out of the debris and with you sapped at his side, he won't be able to concentrate on a proper battle.


Plus the mayhem is starting to attract a little crowd on the otherwise quiet street.


He scoops your delicate body up in one swift motion and as he starts to move, he hears you stirring.


"Kyung-Soo?" Your voice is incredibly soft. He's straining to hear you.

"Yes?"

"You stopped it."

Your lips curve into a weak but mesmerizing smile. "Thank you."


Something stirs in his gut as he witnesses that pure, raw emotion in your eyes.

"Are you alright?" He whispers.

"Yes, I just... Need to rest."


You close your eyes and he hurries on, trying to ignore that acute desire to kiss you.



__________________


You wake up feeling yourself bobbing up and down, a strange sensation of floating in mid-air and... A warm body pressing closely on your sides.

You realize you are being carried.

Blinking away the haze, the face in front of you comes into view.


"Kyung-Soo?" You mutter softly.

"___________ !" He halts in his steps and flashes you a smile, relief written all over his face. "Are you feeling ok?"


"Y-Yeah... I guess."

You struggle to gather your thoughts. Tao. Battle. Memories.


"How long... was I out?" You ask feebly.

"About 20 minutes? We're almost reaching your dorm." Kyungsoo smiles assuredly.


"Wait! Are you... " You scramble on his face and chest. "Are you hurt?"

"No, no!" He laughs and shakes his head. "I'm fine."


"Hold on... You've been carrying me for the past 20 minutes?" You utter in disbelief.

"Yeah, I didn't wanna wake you by going up and down the bus so I just... walked." He said matter-of-factly.

You stare at him, suddenly feeling his breath too intimate and body too close for your mind to function properly.


"You... You can put me down now." You stammer.

"Are you sure?"

Kyungsoo sounds worried and to be honest, it feels nice and secure being carried like that.


"I know you have Super Strength and you aren't even breaking into a sweat here but yes, I'm fine and you can put me down."


"O-Ok."

He places you down gently but your knees buckle from the sudden blood rush.

"Whoa... I think I'd better carry you." He makes to swoop you up again but you stop him.


"No, it's ok. Just... Let me lean on you a bit." You hold on to his left arm for support and he meanders his free arm across the back of your waist to anchor your right shoulder. You can feel his warmth emitting and enveloping you in the cool night breeze.

Reclining back, your head reaches his shoulder nicely.


"You are right. 1.73 m is perfect even for a guy." You remark.

Both of you chuckle as the strolling continues.


"Thanks for... Saving me. Back there."

"Well, I didn't do much. Who is that guy anyway?"


You sigh.

"He's Tao. An exchange student in our school, high leveled Psionic. Memory Manipulator. He only joined us recently and we had a mock test, a battle against each other in the afternoon. I won. Apparently he wasn't too happy about that."

"So he was... manipulating your memories just now?" Kyungsoo asks cautiously as the two of you continue slowly down the street towards your dorm.


"Yes. He did that in the afternoon too, when he's not supposed to. It's a pure Psionic weapons battle and we weren't using our primary skills. I got angry cos he's... He's grabbing at my memories and I don't want him to." You say quietly.

Kyungsoo only nods.


"There's a funny thing though." You quip. He glances at you. "During the battle in the afternoon, I thought of what you said to me before. And that helped me win."

"What did I say?" His eyes round in amusement.

"Well, you told me that I should try. Try, try, try. The thing about a Power Negator is that, we feed off negative energy. But too much negativity will upset the capacity to deliver our powers. So we need positive energy to balance it off and execute our moves properly. It's like having a clear mind. If you get too upset, the power can harm both your enemy and yourself. Alot of Power Negators become... too affected. That's why our kinds are never quite popular. We are characterized by the deranged and pessimists."


"You seem pretty normal to me." Kyungsoo grins.

"I guess that's cos my roots are actually from an Augmentator." You shrug, noticing your dorm building appearing in view.

"My father is a Power Augmentator and my mother, a Power Negator. They seem like two opposites but they are really the same? It's just that, an Augmentator can both negate and amplify powers. Whereas a Negator can only nullify. And I've had been showing potential in an Augmentator's role ever since young. But..." You falter.


"But?" Kyungsoo echoes your last sentence.


"But... Something happened." You begin carefully. You glance at Kyungsoo, who's peering you back with those honest eyes. You sigh again.

"When I was ten years old, my dad's relative came to stay with us. He's a werewolf. A truckload of bad records. But my dad... He's the kind who believes in the good of people, you know? So when he learnt that he's homeless, he took him in. He trusted him... But my mom, unlike my dad, had always been wary of him. Dad just brushes it off as her usual pessimism. Then one day, my parents went out for grocery shopping and left us alone in the house. He..."



You remember the straying hands.

What is he doing? You are too frightened to ask.

Come now... You are a good girl aren't you?

You nod.

And good girls will do exactly what adults tell them to do, yes?

You nod again.

But his hands are making you squirm.

You are getting afraid.

Please... You utter.

Shhh... Don't tell anybody...


"He tried to have his way with me. I was too young and I was frightened. I tried to push him away but he's... So much stronger and I didn't stand a chance. I was crying and then I heard my mom coming back. It turns out she hadn't felt safe enough to leave me alone with him and came home early."


 __________? You hear your mother call.

Mom! Mom!

What are you doing, you beast--


"My mom literally pulled him off me but he transformed into his natural state and... Attacked her."


Mom!

You scream as you see the werewolf's ugly claws strikes her chest.

She gasp.

The nails dig and pulls out, dragging flesh and crimson blood with it.

Mom!


"By the time my father reached the door, the werewolf had escaped through the window and my mother was seriously injured. She died from severe blood loss two hours later at the hospital." You swallow.

Kyungsoo rubs you gently on the arm.

"Dad... Wasn't quite the same after that. He blamed himself mostly for it and... Instead of Power Augmenting, I started to gain strength in Negating. Two years later, he remarried. We had a big fight. I didn't understand him then. I thought if he really loves my mom so much, how can he just fall for another person so easily? Am I not enough in his life? On the same year, my Aunt introduced us to S.M. School for the Gifted and that's where I stayed til now."


"Do you still see him?"

"Every Christmas. It's a big thing in our family. Over the years, I grew to understand him but my faith in men, or rather relationships, has never really picked up. That's why Amber jokes that I hate men. But actually, I do not. I'm just... afraid, I guess."

"Afraid of what?"

"Of getting hurt. I mean, if you don't care about someone, you won't ever get hurt right?"