Tao's POV

“We should have called first.” I gasped as loud crying drifted from Yixing's house to where we stood outside. “We really should have called first.”

“You don't have time for that.” Kai grabbed my wrist with his free hand and pulled me towards the door with him. “You're still bleeding, in case you haven't noticed.”

I noticed. My upper arm was throbbing from the quick bandage we tied over it. This wasn't right though. Someone in there was clearly in distress and we'd be rudely interrupting. Besides-

“Lay won't be able to heal this big a wound.” I sighed, tugging him back. “Especially not after this much time has passed.”

“Don't give up before he's even seen it. At the very least, he could numb the pain, right?” He stopped and waited patiently for my decision.

“Where was this Jongin a couple days ago?” I asked quietly, not moving yet.

“What do you mean?”

“This Jongin, the considerate one. Why am I meeting him for the first time today?” I explained, watching his expression turn from thoughtful to guilty.

“I-I've been selfish... All I wanted was you by my side and I didn't think enough about what you wanted.” Kai chewed his lip and let go of my wrist. “After yesterday, I've been thinking about you a lot and what you mean to me, and-”

“Ah!” The door crashed open and a figure rushed out, running straight into me and my bleeding arm. I recognized the feathery brown hair and lifted up the crying boy's chin to confirm my suspicions. “Baekhyun, what are you doing here? Why are you crying?”

“Tao?” He blinked up at me through wet lashes and jumped back as his eyes fixated on my blood-stained shirt.

“We're attracting unwanted attention.” hissed Kai, peering warily at woman jogging across the street who stopped in her tracks to squint at us.

“Go get that healed.” sniffed Baekhyun, pushing me forward.

“You're not leaving like this, are you?” I asked, staying rooted to the spot.

“I kind of embarrassed myself in there.” he admitted.

“Still, we should talk.”

“But not here!” Kai grabbed us both and shoved us inside, just as the woman started walking our way.

This house was very bright and colorful on the inside, with walls painted a light lavender and perfect flowers in a variety of vases greeting us from every corner. The windows were big and let in a lot of sunlight. Picking a seat far off to the side that was right next to one of these windows, Baekhyun sat down and stared at his feet.

Lay was sitting in another chair, his head in his hands, unmoving. “I told you, I can't heal a broken heart. I'm sorry.” His fingers raked through his hair, pulling at the skin of his forehead. “I'm really sorry.”

“No, I'm sorry.” Baekhyun sniffled. “Tao and Jongin are here.”

“Really?” Lay looked up, but he wasn't looking quite at us. “What are you guys doing here?”

He was blind. His eyes weren't focused on us at all.

“Baek?” I called, a little scared.

He exhaled deeply with closed eyes. “It was an accident.” I walked around Kai as Baekhyun talked, wanting to see for myself. “I just- I couldn't control it.” Baekhyun put a hand to his mouth, more tears falling.

I knelt down in front of my blinded friend and after he made no move, I called his name softly and took his hand.

“Oh, Tao.” Lay perked up and smiled his dimpled smile, wrapping his hands firmly over mine. “Did you collapse again? You always manage to get your self hurt somehow.” he chuckled. He removed a hand and lifted it up. “May I?”

I guided his hand to my temple and felt the warmth wash over me.

“You were planning on leaving him alone like this?” I heard Kai whisper behind me.

“Kris is here- or was here. He went out to get snacks. Lay said it was okay to leave since he wasn't going to be alone for long.”

“Well if he went to the same convenience store I did, he'll be back very soon.”

Lay's brow furrowed when the warmth found my shoulders and arms. “What happened?”

“Sehun," I answered, feeling calmer under the healer's hands already. "His power grew. I don't quite understand it yet, but it was really terrifying, Lay. His eyes turned completely grey.”

He nodded and moved his hand down to clasp mine again, eyes flicking back and forth uselessly as he thought. “Baekhyun's eyes turned too- at least, for the brief second I saw them. Light yellow, like his lights.”

“Chanyeol does it too- orange.” Baekhyun got up and joined me on the floor. “It's scary. He doesn't even look human when it happens.” I murmured my agreement as Kai set down his stolen basket and came closer.

“I've seen Kyungsoo's eyes go black.”

“It's like a little warning flag before their powers go haywire.” I surmised. “What should we do about this? It's too much power for a person to handle on their own.” There had been too many accidents already. Someone could get seriously hurt!

“We have to reason with them and- I don't know... We can only hope that they'll be more careful, but teenage hormones don't often agree with logic.” Lay's hand went to my shoulder and searched for the bandage. He got help from Kai to take it off. “Let's work on this first and then seek them out, okay?”

I nodded before remembering he couldn't see that. “Okay.”

The pain in my arm instantly dulled and went away completely, replaced with a gentle, cool feeling. Lay sighed as his hand hovered over the area. “The platelets already gathered. I really can't do much when it's already scabbing.” The cool feeling continued and I squeezed his other hand in support. I didn't care much about gaining more scars; I just wanted for him to improve. His power couldn't ever go wrong like the others. I believed in this so strongly, that when I saw his sightless eyes turn a vibrant green, I wasn't scared in the least.

How could his power ever go haywire? He could only heal.

Lay's hand stopped hovering and suddenly smacked it's self down hard on the cuts, fingernails digging deep into my skin. The world shifted out of focus and all I could feel was pain, sharp, shattering, and bone deep. I cried out as it felt like the flesh of my back was being stripped away and my left hand burned in his grasp. I felt every layer of skin in each scar as it broke apart and reformed, every blood clot that forced it's way back into my veins as liquid once more. My heart was racing to accommodate all these changes, my breath coming in uneasy gasps between screams.

But it wasn't just my scarred flesh he healed.

All the broken images and pieces of sound from my nightmares were becoming whole. Each fracture closing and each shard paired up with another until the whole memory was complete and fresh like the very moment it happened.

Anger. Panic. Fear.

Red, everything red.

Tears were streaming down my face, but I could barely feel them. I was whispering pleas, begging with every breath for everything to end. Arms surrounded me from every side, followed by apologies and questions of was I okay, was I dying, what happened, why wasn't I responding?

“Please, please... Just kill me, please...” I heard my own voice as the memory played and replayed, stronger. “Please kill me, please...”

There was a touch to my temple and the world turned black and warm, covering the memories for what I knew would be a short time.

Time would not be on my side.

Time was never on anyone's side but it's own.

***

Kai's POV

“What did you do to him?” I demanded to know. Tao was slumped forward against Lay's knees, expression finally relaxed after so much agony.

“I-I knocked him out- Tao, I'm so sorry!” Lay wove his fingers through the boy's darkened blue hair until they found themselves at either side of his face, lifting the head up so he could move out from under him and embrace him on the floor. “I'm sorry!”

Lay's shoulders were shaking as he cried through unfocused eyes, and it was clear he hadn't meant any of this. I couldn't hate him. I could hate his power, but I couldn't hate the teenage kid who apologized profusely to someone who couldn't even hear him. I wanted to hate him and blame everything on him, but instead I pat his back and sat with him silently as he cried.

“What the hell even happened?” asked Baekhyun, reaching out tentatively to wipe away the wetness on Tao's cheeks.

I lifted the end of Tao's shirt just slightly, seeing pink skin, new and smooth, covering the expanse of his back where it had been jagged before. Lay had healed the scar tissue, reopening every wound to seal it back up perfectly. It was incredible, but the cost...

Was he okay? How about when he wakes, will he be okay then?

“He'll be sore if he wakes up like that.” I said finally, when Lay had stopped talking and was breathing more evenly, rocking back and forth with eyes closed. It was easy to convince him that Tao needed a comfortable place to rest. It wasn't easy, however, to convince him to let me simply teleport him to a bed.

He sighed in resignation. “Just... bring him up to my room. He should stay close in case he needs me when he wakes up... Actually, just give him to me. I'll take him there; I can see now, I can. I'll be very careful.” Lay held out his arms to carry Tao just as I lifted him up and his eyes really did focus on me correctly, but I hesitated because Tao had a lot of weight to him and I wasn't sure just how much of Lay's sight had returned. It would be easier to just teleport him, but Lay kept insisting. I think he just didn't feel like Tao was safe unless he was right there beside him.

“Let Kai take him.” Baekhyun spoke up and continued in an accusing tone, “Who knows what you might do to him.”

“Baekhyun,” I warned him, shifting the weight of the teen in my arms. “That's not fair. It won't happen again.”

“How do you know? In case you didn't see it, Tao was writhing in pain. He begged for death.” Baekhyun was standing now, glaring daggers at Lay.

“Lay healed him. Tao was a little more broken then he let on.”

His glare softened as he looked to me in confusion. “What?”

This was a very personal thing for Tao. He looked so ashamed when I found out; I was sure he would highly protest telling anyone else. I caught Lay staring and exchanged looks with him. He looked awful and completely worn out. This was the same person who asked to carry Tao?

“He had scars.” I said before I even realized it.

Baekhyun's eyes darted back and forth between us. “S-scars? What kind of scars?”

I looked at Lay. He looked at me. “Deep ones, all over his back.” Why did I keep talking? This wasn't my secret to share. “In lines, deliberate lines. There were so many,” I swallowed down the lump rising in my throat. “But Lay healed them. They're gone now.”

“How did he get them?” Baekhyun asked quietly.

“We don't know.” Sniffing, I gave Tao up to Lay, complaining about him being heavy even though I really hadn't minded having him so close. I needed air or something- something to do, something productive while I waited for him to wake up. I couldn't do anything for Tao while he was like this and this fact was starting to get under my skin. “Baekhyun, it was Chanyeol who made you cry?” Chanyeol hadn't said anything about this when I asked him for directions here, but who else could have broken his heart like Lay said?

He nodded, eyes downcast and Lay started off on taking Tao away to rest. Lay moved steadily and carefully and I trusted his vision a bit more, looking away to Baekhyun instead, who began to explain. “Chanyeol just suddenly started going on about how he had been wrong and how his real soulmate was some kid named Kyungsoo-”

“Kyungsoo?” I hadn't expected that. Those two had been friendly before, but Kyungsoo had always opted out of our meetings and hangouts. I assumed it was because he thought Chanyeol was too hyper and annoying, plus Chanyeol thought Kyungsoo was too quiet for his taste. He hadn't known how silly the other got when it was just the two of us though. Maybe this is what changed his mind. Maybe Kyungsoo had opened up to him more and he liked that new side... “I don't understand.” I admitted, sighing. “Why now?”

“I don't know,” Baekhyun looked on the verge of tears again, but he answered calmly, “He asked me something: 'What goes better together than fire and light?'. And I said I didn't know,” He took a tissue out of his pocket and wiped his nose. “And he said, 'Fire and power' and- I don't know if I can forgive him for this.”

“I'll go ask Kyungsoo and find out what happened.” I offered, already heading towards where I left my shoes.

“Jongin, you don't have to-”

I shook my head. “No, I do. Either Chanyeol is a for leaving without an explanation and a proper goodbye, or he's being manipulated because he's too stupid to find a way out of it. He's my friend. I need to make sure I didn't spend the last few years of my life staying friends with such an .”

“Well, I'll come with.” he proffered and I had to turn him down. I could get us both there, but I wouldn't be able to bring us both back. It was more difficult to move two people.

“I'll be back soon enough.” I promised. “Call me if he wakes up before I'm back.” I told him, gathering shadows. His nod was the last thing I saw before the house disappeared around me and I felt the image I created in my mind of Kyungsoo's abandoned dirt field become more and more real.

“-” I narrowly avoided being pummeled by a giant fist made of rock. “Kyungsoo!” I shouted up to the small boy completely enveloped in barren earth.

He'd gone and made himself a giant rock suit. Who did he think he was, Ironman? The Thing?

“Kai, look!” He made the suit do the shuffle, kicking up huge clouds of dirt and dropping pieces of rubble to the ground. There was an enormous trench set in the field where I assumed he picked up all the dirt he needed for such a stupid idea.

But god, that looked like fun. Honestly, I'd do the exact same thing if I could.

“Kyungsoo, can we talk?” I asked up when he'd finally stopped and the dust settled enough to breathe.

The suit slowly broke off in parts that thudded heavily on the ground. Lines chipped their way through the rough surface and whole sections of limb and torso dropped and shattered. A piece from the back he hadn't expected to come apart fell and he with it, crashing horribly onto more sharp rock.

I ran up to him, cursing myself for not catching him; it happened too fast. I got up there and Kyungsoo gingerly sat up, laughing as he rubbed at his aching back and shoulders.

“Wasn't that incredible?” he beamed, and I had to admit that it was pretty cool.

“Can you learn some other kind of trick that won't kill you?”

“But where's the fun in that?” he smirked, groaning as I helped him up. Stretching, he prompted, “You wanted to talk?”

I nodded and figured out what I wanted to say. “Kyungsoo... Did Chanyeol come to confess to you at all?”

“Confess?” His eyes widened in surprise. “No, no. He did say he wanted to talk, but then this kid on a motorcycle got struck by lightning. You should've seen it! He got right back up as if nothing happened. Kai, he was one of us!" Kyungsoo playfully threw a fake punch at my shoulder. "Chanyeol left saying something about his soulmate and fire and lightning going together or something- I didn't really listen. He talks too much about nothing, you know?” He paused for a response and I nodded absentmindedly. “Was Chanyeol coming to confess to me? Because I think he changed his mind if he did-”

“Kyungsoo, who was that kid that he went off with? Did he give you a name?” I interrupted.

“Kim Jongdae. I remembered because it's so similar to yours, but really I think Kai suits you better.”

I turned Kyungsoo around quickly and inspected him for any bleeding cuts and found a lot more spots of red covering his clothing than I felt comfortable with.

“What are you doing? I'm fine.” He yanked himself away and I grabbed onto him again.

“I'm going to take you to meet Chanyeol's boyfriend. He needs to hear this from you. Also,” I hesitated. This could be a mistake I realized, but I couldn't know unless I heard from Tao or Lay. “I know someone who could heal your cuts-”

“Oh, I guess that's okay then.” Kyungsoo stopped fighting and wrapped his arms around me willingly. “Let's go; I'm bruised all over.”

“I didn't finish. It could be really painful and-”

“I'm used to pain, Kai. It'll be fine. Once I'm healed up, I can practice harder.”

“Tao just got healed and he begged to die, Kyungsoo.”

“Tao's there?” he asked curiously, raising a brow and not focusing on the main point. How annoying. “Well, now I have to go. Show me the one who made you fall in the space of a few days, I'm dying to know what he's like.”

“I told you what he's like...” I protested weakly. The small teen simply shrugged around me and waited. Sighing, I reigned in my shadow friends and asked that they tell this guy to make sense as they took us to Lay.

We materialized outside the room and I opened the door just barely to see inside. I didn't know why I did this. Maybe I wanted to know if he was still sleeping or not before I went in to see if I needed to be quiet. Or maybe I had suspected something was up from the moment Tao took Lay's hand and the latter smiled as if he'd never been blinded and had a friend crying his eyes out in his living room moments before.

I was frozen outside of Lay's room, looking in through the barely open door with Kyungsoo standing behind me. My chest felt stretched to it's breaking point as I watched Tao lie there, still. Lay had his hand in both of his and brought it to his lips, kissing him there gently with his eyes closed.

No...

Why was my destiny so messed up? Why did everyone else to try to take it away from me?

He's just sorry, my brain reasoned. That's his friend and he feels guilty for hurting him.

That wasn't it. He was being too gentle.

But Lay was always gentle.

No... Something about this made it feel more intimate.

Lay healed Zitao. He did something I could never do and healed his past. Taking away those scars on his back was a huge step in healing the ones on his heart. Sehun was one thing, but how could I possibly compete with Lay?

Kyungsoo squeezed in front of me and peeked through the door. With an annoyed huff of breath, he swung it open all at once. “This is him?”

***

Author Note:

I planned on updating earlier, but I worked for a really long time on perfecting my costume (a hipster spider!) instead.

I didn't even do anything. Why did I even bother?

Anyways, hope you had an awesome and eventful Halloween, guys~

(unlike mine;;)