Sehun

Haha.

Kai looks flustered. I love it. All attention is drawn to this new Kris guy with the flying goggles and the bad news. The problem is, a grumpy Kai is a bad Kai. Living with just the two of us for at least a month, I learned a lot about surviving living with the teleporter, and angering the beast is not on my to do list.

I can see him fiddling with the hem of his shirt, agitated. His mouth is half opened, like he should be saying something to redraw the attention. He keeps flicking his long fringe out of his face only to let it fall back into his eyes. If I unfocus my eyes and stare above his shoulders, I can see a slight shimmer in the air above him, anxious to teleport and do something productive.

These are not good ‘Kai signs’.

It’s the first time I’m seeing the flying dude, Kris. Judging by first impressions, he’s a fierce fighter, respected like a lion at the head of the pride. His sharp brow and defined chin jut out without meaning to, and his dark eyes hint a bad-boy style.

Although, I know that first impressions are never right. I know that from letting Tao hang from his neck like a baby monkey, he is a kind and caring person, a bit like a father to the kid. I know that he puts himself in danger, volunteering to search for Xiumin in dangerous lands.

The truth is, from first impressions, Kris is a mystery. I know that I’m a mystery too. I can imagine first impressions of me would be. Pale skin, doesn’t get much sunlight, a face with small features to show a lazy inactive, almost blank expression. My haircut, although mostly unkempt, is always dyed a different colour, so one should assume that I had money enough to afford fancy hair styles.

The all and unaltered truth, I am a little .

I’m sarcastic. I love stirring the pot. I love watching people react, I love finding each idiosyncrasy that defines a character as they try to hide their annoyance. I love finding what makes people tick, and then using that to poke a reaction out of a sleeping dragon.

My power is wind and air control, but my secondary power doesn’t have a ‘mark’, or it wasn’t given to me by a tree from another world. My secondary power is my witty, sarcastic remarks and my ability to analyse people.

Sometimes I think that’s why the Tree gave me the power of wind. I like to think it matches me, just like the other powers match the others. I am wind; you can never see it coming unless you look outside the box and see the leaves stirring. I lift your papers into the air and annoy you. I am invisible.

Suho, his water power, it matches him too. He’s an open book. He carries no secrets and leads the group from the front line. Water can’t hide anything, it’s transparent. It hides no secret intention; it flows calmly but strikes hard. It can both draw people in and drive them away. It is dangerous, smooth, yet nobody can live without it.

The powers reflect us, and I find that by analysing their powers, I already know so much about my members. I know about Yixing’s nagging to help, to heal. I know about Kai’s tendency to lurk in the shadows and flitter around indecisively. I know about Chanyeol’s explosive, bad-boy aura, yet warming smile and heart, and Tao’s hyperactive personality.

Now I get to see them react together. It is a science experiment. Boom. Chemistry.

See, on one hand, we have Kris and Suho; Fearless leaders wanting to save one of their own.

On the other, we have disgruntled Kai, out of his comfort zone in a spotlight of guilt and mistake.

One team wants to leave straight away. The other wants to stay and figure out the situation.

I could see how it was going to work. The team would follow their natural leaders into the war zone. Kai would be dragged along, unwilling yet bonded by his duty as a protector. We would all die, save for maybe the few who could escape, such as Kai or Kris.

I’ve fought them, most of them. Alongside only Kyungsoo, we entered their home territory and almost tore them apart. I needed Kai to win this argument. We needed Kai to win this argument.

I could speak up, but the others probably wouldn’t listen to me. I just blew apart their last place. It’s up to my ability of analysis to find the right person to talk.

Kyungsoo would be perfect. His entire personality is after all, the ‘rock’. Unmoveable, unswayable, keeping everyone grounded and level headed. He doesn’t rush but hits where it counts, although, behind those wide unwavering eyes, I sense something hidden beyond my powers of perception. If only he was originally on their team, they would probably listen to him too.

There’s Baekhyun, the light in the team. His ability to shed light is both a weapon yet also as passive as Yixing’s healing powers. He still clutches a bird cage with a fire flickering around inside like a bird. He obviously has a soft spot for our neighbourhood heating system. People would listen to him. He will help me.

The others are still arguing about what to do. I slide sideways over to Baekhyun.

“You need to stop them from going to Japan. It’s a death trap.” I whisper out of the corner of my mouth.

Baekhyun looks at me with a surprised look.

“But Xiumin’s in trouble, we have to save him.”

“From what I’ve heard, he’s pretty safe in a solid block of ice. Anyways, from what Kris is describing, it’s a death trap; surrounded by hundreds, possibly thousands of those black monsters.”

“We can do it; we have these powers for a reason. You need a little faith, Sehun.”

“Just less than 12 hours ago I infiltrated a majority of you two with only Kyungsoo by my side and I didn’t even need to attack most of you. You all took yourselves out. You guys are in no shape for fighting; you’ll just get everyone killed.”

“If you’re so certain about it, then why don’t you say something?”

“They won’t listen to me. I just attacked you. I barely know all of your names. Either way, standing out like that isn’t my style. I chose you because they’d listen to you. This is my way of saying something.”

Baekhyun seemed to consider my opinion for a moment. After a few moments of internal thinking, he spoke up.

“Guys, we can’t go.”

Sehun and Kris turned towards Baekhyun, listening intently. I raised my eyebrows at him as if to say told you so, they’d listen to you.  

Baekyun continued.

“We’d just end up getting killed. Kris, you didn’t see us, but we were terrible. We got in each other’s way and knocked each other around. We haven’t even killed a black monster yet!”

“I did” Yixing raised his hand.

“The only one who killed one is the guy with the most peaceful power.” Baekhyun said, still directing his speech towards Suho and Kris “Luhan hyung, how did you defeat the black guys when you first saw them attacking Yixing?”

Luhan looked down.

“I didn’t kill them, if that’s what you’re asking. I just kind of, I levitated the couch and the monsters were startled enough for us to get out of the door. We lost them in a backstreet.”

“Luhan,” Suho said. “How strong is your power?”

“I can lift a good sized couch if I concentrate hard enough, or roll a car down a street.”

I decided it was time to speak up.

“You’re going to need more than rolling cars on these monsters.” I said. “Honestly, you guys were . I could bet that Tao could take all of you out by himself, just because he has martial arts training.”

“I’d like to attempt that” Tao piped up.

“What, you’re saying we should all learn Wushu?” Kris said. Tao looked hopeful.

“I’m saying you need to learn how to actually fight. And not just by yourself,’ I looked at Tao, “but as a team. From what I hear, Xiumin has been frozen for a while, protected. I think he will survive for a while longer, and he’ll appreciate us not dying when we do save him.”

“Then if you’re so qualified, how did you do it? With Kyungsoo” Chanyeol asked.

“We practised, but only a bit. Most of it was because we knew each other’s powers as well as our own. I know how Kyungsoo moves earth. I know his fighting style, I know what to expect. It’s all about analysis, and learning to move with each other instead of fighting for the attack. If I didn’t learn from Kyungsoo, I wouldn’t know that when he makes a protrusion out of the dirt he has to take the earth out of another area. If you watch him make a defensive wall, you will see the dirt around him sick lower as earth is taken away to create the barrier. Likewise, Kyungsoo knows that I am good at analysis. He knows that when fighting with me, it’s usually me who looks out for him, and he creates easy paths for me to stay out of his way.”

“I agree with the whole training thing” Tao said “We need it desperately. I still feel the stinging from when Chen hit me.”

“Seconded,” Luhan agreed “I think that I could train my power into the weapon it’s supposed to be. I feel weak standing next to Chanyeol.”

“My power goes out of control.” Chanyeol confessed. “Fire is… it’s different. It’s aggressive. I don’t force the fire to move, I have to force it to stop moving. Without concentration its out of control.”

“See, now we have started learning about each other’s powers. We know that controlling fire might be a bit different to say, Suho controlling water.”

“I can’t make lighting turn in bends and its automatically attracted to conductive metals” Chen confessed, adding to the conversation.

“I can’t make objects move fast.”

“I don’t go fast, I go into slow motion.”

“I am impervious to being blinded by my own light.”

“I’m not affected by the fast speeds of flight as you guys would be.”

“I’d like Tao to teach me martial arts. I feel defenceless with my healing power, and stabbing that monster was the best feeling in the world.”

We had quickly established a bit of a confessional, a getting-to-know-you-activity at preschool. Kai gave me a slight nod of approval and a look of relief. We were staying to train.

I nodded my head politely to Suho and Kris. They had the stage. It was their decision now.

“Okay, so we should stay to train, I guess.” Suho said “I think maybe we should start training in smaller groups, so it doesn’t get too cluttered straight away.”

“We should make the worst groups possible” Kai said. “Pair each other with people who would usually stuff each other up.”

Kris and Suho kept looking at Kai as if to say ‘Go on, you have an idea, let it be heard’

“I’m saying, if we learn to work in the worst pairs we’d be more prepared for the worst. Umm, Let me write it down.”

Quickly Kai had written three small groups of our names.

            Sehun, Kris, Tao, Yixing

            Chanyeol, Suho, Chen,

            Kyungsoo, Kai, Luhan, Baekhyun

It made sense. How could Kris learn to fly if he was always buffeted by wind, or Tao moving into unseen walls of air? Fire and water were an obvious clashing pair, and Kai teleporting amongst floating objects and blinding light would be difficult. Kai’s inner strategist had come out to play.

“So, I’ll clear a space here to train, and there are the other empty warehouses too. Kyungsoo and Luhan, I think together you could construct a very good sparring station”

“Can we go out and boy some equipment? My old wushu gear got left behind when I was picked up by Hyung.” Tao said.

“I’ll come with you” Yixing said.

“We have a week. After that, we’re going for Xiumin. I know he’ll be fine, but I feel restless knowing that he’s right there in enemy lines.” Suho said

“If you help show me where, I can keep an eye on him for you” Kai suggested. “I’ll draw a map and everything, take notes of the monsters.”

“We need a new name for them” Baekhyun said.

“For what?” Chen asked

“The black thingies” Baekhyun said

“He means our enemies” Chanyeol translated

“How about slimers? Gooeys? Dark beasts?” Tao had plenty of ideas.

“How about we just stick with Slimers for now.“ Kris said.

“Fine,” Suho said. “So, we’re all sorted. Kyungsoo and Luhan, you guys prepare a sparring warehouse. Kai, you’re on Xiumin lookout duty, with help from Kris. Tao and Yixing are going shopping. And someone should go shopping for groceries and beds and stuff too. Baekhyun and Chanyeol? We should also have someone on Tree babysitting duty while she’s out. Sure. And through this we’ll be doing our training too intensive training. I want us to know each other’s abilities inside and out. I want us to be stronger, smarter, more a team. One week, then we go. Understood?”