Chapter 11
The Great EscapeEyes blink open wearily. “W-What?”
“Joonmyun,” comes a voice, and Jongdae’s relieved face swims into view. “Thank god you’re alright.”
Chanyeol offers Joonmyun a hand, and he sits up, rubbing at his head. “Oh, good lord, that’s one heck of a headache,” he mutters, and it’s only then he notices the group of disheveled but grinning kids. “What happened?”
“You were incapacitated,” says Kyungsoo matter-of-factly, and there’s dirt smudged all across his front, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “We in turn incapacitated the villain.”
“You took out the villain?” Joonmyun’s eyes bug out. “What? How? Who?”
“Jongdae came into his powers at the very last minute,” says Baekhyun, and he’s got a proud smile on his face as he slings an arm around Jongdae’s shoulders. “Saved our asses, that’s what.”
“He’s got QF,” says Lu Han breezily, and Joonmyun looks like he might pass out again. “Isn’t that awesome?”
“Quintessence Force,” says Joonmyun in awe, and that seems to stun him even more than the fact that a bunch of school-children took out a fully-fledged villain without help. “There hasn’t been a user in the past four decades.”
“Now there is!” Chanyeol pulls him up, and Joonmyun staggers a bit, before gaining balance.
“Lucky for that, though,” says Jongdae, a little flushed from the attention, “otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to work together to take that guy out.”
“Where is he, anyway?” asks Joonmyun slowly, glancing around.
Soojung grimaces. “Charred to a crisp. Chanyeol and Jongdae went a little overboard when the guy broke my wrist.”
“He deserved it,” hisses Chanyeol, but Soojung just places a hand on his arm, and he calms immediately. “Well, he did.”
“And you were brilliant,” says Soojung softly.
Chanyeol glances at her, and his expression gentles even further.
Kyungsoo coughs. “Well, I’d hate to intrude on your lovey-dovey adorable time, but I do believe we have some people to transport.” He’s still leaning on Lu Han, but looks decidedly better than earlier, for someone who was just in battle.
“The civilians,” says Joonmyun, “are they hurt? Where are they?”
“After we all got separated, your group went ahead without you, thinking you were gone. The other group is still with us.”
“What are we waiting for, then?” Baekhyun waves his hand. “We should move before it gets too dark to see.”
As they trudge along the unfamiliar countryside, Jongdae takes the short reprieve to walk with Baekhyun, yet again linking their fingers together as they do.
“You like holding hands, don’t you,” observes Baekhyun in amusement.
“I like holding your hands,” points out Jongdae, and they smile. “Besides, you’re warm.”
“Isn’t that just you, now?”
Jongdae glances down at their hands, and there’s energy looping around their joined hands absently. “Oh. I didn’t even notice.”
“Told you,” says Baekhyun, stil smiling, and he tightens his grip. “I told you that your power would be great. Just like you.”
“But it’s only great because it makes you guys great too,” says Jongdae sincerely, “Baekhyun, you created a force field! And Chanyeol blasted fire from his hands! And Kyungsoo didn’t even need the extra power, but even when I gave him some, he nearly created a fissure twenty feet deep!”
“And it’s all because of you,” says Baekhyun, “and I can’t imagine anyone more fitting to have such a power. It really does suit you, y’know.”
“How so?”
“You’re the most helpful, caring, ridiculously amazing person I’ve ever known.” Baekhyun leans in and links their arms, pressing their sides together. “You make things better. You make things new. You literally enhance us. I’m not even kidding here.”
“And you’re exaggerating.” Jongdae laughs, and presses a light kiss to Baekhyun’s temple. “And you’re the best.”
“And I love you,” says Baekhyun, and the words are so real, and so honest, that they tear through all of Jongdae’s defenses and leave him grasping for a life-preserver. “I love you, Jongdae.”
They walk a few more minutes in silence, before Jongdae speaks up. “You want to know one thing?”
“What?”
“It’s just this.” Jongdae stops them for a second. “You.”
“Me?”
“You,” repeats Jongdae, and his gaze is earnest. “That’s all I need. And that’s all I need to say. And that’s all I’ll ever need, as long as I know.”
Baekhyun gazes back, and there’s something unsaid that goes between them, but Jongdae knows the words aren’t needed. The Earth spins on its axis, but there are no words needed. The stars glitter in the night, but there are no words required. There will be war, and there will be justice, but there are no words for it.
Like those, like these, Kim Jongdae and Byun Baekhyun are together in this moment, and no words are needed.
“Guys,” calls Soojung from up ahead, and she’s smirking, but it’s a different kind of smirk, and Jongdae thinks that maybe Chanyeol really has been good for her. “Kyungsoo says that if you slow us down to get some, he’s going to make you dig your own graves by hand.”
“Coming,” laughs Jongdae, and he settles for placing a hand over Baekhyun’s cheek, and murmuring, “we’re coming.”
Baekhyun grins back, and takes Jongdae’s hand again, and the sparks that fly between them don’t even have to be imagined, as there are literally sparks flying between them, thanks to Jongdae’s powers that don’t seem to be able to sit still, much like him.
They return to where the group is walking up ahead, and Chanyeol wolf-whistles at them. Kyungsoo just raises an eyebrow, as if saying, about time. Joonmyun just shakes his head, and says, good-naturedly, “Teenagers.”
“And what are you, some old man?” teases Baekhyun.
“Hey!” Joonmyun pouts. “I’ll have you know that people say I am incredibly mature for my age.”
“You are.” Jongdae hums. “You also look incredibly matured for your age. Is ripe a better word?”
“Don’t compare me to a fruit!”
“Close enough.”
Kyungsoo laughs, and it’s the first anyone’s seen him laugh the whole time he’s been with them, and Jongdae feels something tighten in his heart when he thinks about Kyungsoo’s family again.
Both his parents were normal civilians, and so was his sister. Kyungsoo being a super was a huge surprise for his parents, but they’d went with it calmly. Much like Kyungsoo. He’d inherited a lot of his patience from his parents. But to think they were gone?
How could it be, though?
“Look,” says one of the civilians in their group of thirty or so suddenly, “someone’s coming.”
Joonmyun raises his hands in a defensive stance immediately, and so does Jongdae, now that he knows he’s able to do something. “Ready yourselves,” he says, and the rest of them get into stances too, even Kyungsoo, as he’s half-hanging onto Lu Han’s shoulder.
“It’s more than one person.” Someone lets out a gasp somewhere, and yells excitedly, “it’s a jet!”
Sure enough, there’s a loud whooshing sound, and from above, the clouds part, and wind blows strongly as a sleek grey jetplane hovers above them. Written on the side is NSA.
“National Supers Association,” breathes Jongdae, “they’ve found us!”
The plane lands some distance from them, and even as they hurry over, and it opens, Jongdae nearly shrieks when the first person he sees approach is his mother, and he rushes straight into her arms.
“You’re safe,” she says, over and over, clutching at him tight, “oh, my boy, you’re safe. You’re sa—what’s… Jongdae? No. There’s no way.”
“Yeah,” says Jongdae sheepishly, untangling himself from his mother and scratching his head lightly, even as the ethereal energy swirls happily around his limbs. “Yeah way.”
She laughs, and hugs him again. “I’m so glad, oh Jongdae, so glad.”
“So am I,” he says, and he grins. “I’m glad you’re safe too, mum.”
“Come on,” she says, and she reverts back to superhero mode. “Let’s get everyone in the plane and accounted for.”
Even as the group of civilians and superkids make their way onto the plane, Jongdae’s mum is already explaining to him and his friends the current situation. “It’s a team of supervillians, who seem to have it in their minds that they can just take over the city just like that. Not on our watch,” she adds, and everyone nods enthusiastically. “Not when we’ve got some of the best supers around. And now, I hear that you five took out a villain on your own earlier, near the safe-house?”
“If it weren’t for Jongdae, we’d be dead,” says Chanyeol, “he used his QF to boost the rest of our powers.”
“It was amazing,” says Kyungsoo quietly.
“Oh, Kyungsoo,” says Jongdae’s mother, and she smiles at him sadly. “Your parents are going to be so proud of you for being so brave.”
“What do you mean?” He looks up at her like he’s mad, and he says slowly, “Mrs. Kim, my parents are dead. Aren’t they?”
She stares back at him, and her hand flies up to cover . “Oh god,” she says, “when they took you, they must have told you that they had your parents, didn’t they?”
“They’re…” Kyungsoo in a large breath, and it seems like his eyes can’t get any wider, but they do. “They’re not dead? M-My parents are alive?”
“Yes, Kyungsoo,” she says, and Kyungsoo slumps back, the smile on his face too amazed to conceal, and the rest of them whoop in joy. “They’re alive, and well, and waiting for you to come home.”
“But what about,” starts Jongdae softly, “what about Kyungri?”
“Kyungri,” she says, and the group quietens down immediately. Kyungsoo looks like his nerves are on fire, with the way he’s gone so stiff that Jongdae think he might have just been petrified by some other force. “We didn’t know that she was alive until we received a message that she’s still in the custody of her kidnappers.”
“She’s alive,” whispers Kyungsoo, and he nearly starts sobbing again, “oh my god, she’s alive. They’re all alive, I can’t believe it.”
“You better,” says Chanyeol, and he laughs joyously, wrapping a long arm around Kyungsoo, even as he wipes the tears from his eyes. “They’re alive.”
“But we have to get her back,” says Jongdae, “we have to.”
“We do,” says his mother, and there’s a hard look in her eyes. “We’ll do whatever it takes, Kyungsoo. We will.”
“And so will we,” says Jongdae, and his mother doesn’t even look surprised. “Brothers look out for brothers.”
“That’s right,” says Chanyeol, and the rest of them nod too.
“Brothers,” says Kyungsoo, and he smiles. “Friends.”
“Family,” says Jongdae. “All of us.”
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