Hey guys! Heres the next chapter!

I dont know if its easy or not to remember the B.A.P Powers, so here's another refresher

Yongguk - lava       Himchan - metal      Daehyun - plants      Zelo - flight      Jonggup - intangibility      Youngjae - (unspecified) (more info on YJ later)

Kris

I jolt as my parachute snags on one of the trees. The black material rips suddenly on the branches, and I jerkily fall closer to the ground, stopping a few meters above the jungle floor. My legs dangle like a helpless toddler clipped into one of those playground swing sets. In the distance I can still hear the battle raging on through fiery explosions and metallic crashes.

I unclip my parachute, dropping the last few meters to the ground. I bend my legs as I hit the uneven ground, absorbing as much of the fall and steadying myself on one hand. The parachute still hangs from the trees, swaying with the leaves as they ripple in the wind. It’s a beacon to anyone searching for me, signifying that I landed here.

But I’m not a protector, I remind myself. I’m just an average human. No special powers, no threat to the Darkness. There wouldn’t be much of a reason to chase me if I didn’t have a connection to the Tree of Life anymore. Although I no longer have my power to protect me, at least I’m safer than what I could’ve been.

I start to walk through the jungle. From my flight in the plane, I could still vaguely remember where the lake is, where the battle is and the direction to go in order to find where Chen was being held captive. I draw two knives from their holsters on my lower back as I walked through the foliage. The blades should’ve made me feel comfortable, but instead all I could think was that this is my only protection. If only I had my flying power I’d be able to fly right back to the fight and save the day like a modern superman.

I squat down inside any bushes as soon as I hear any sounds, but nobody ever arrives. I feel conflicted; on one hand I’m happy that I’m not being attacked or chased by any of the B.A.P, or even their soldiers. On the other I’m peeved that they don’t see me as important enough to pursue. Surely they would send someone after me, after all I still fight for the Tree Of life.

I look up to the sky as I trudge over logs and ferns. The tops of trees, high branches and hanging fruits used to seem too close, but now they are out of my reach. If only I had my powers I would fly right up there just for the hell of it, maybe find a branch to sit on and inspect the assorted fruits. I’d feel much safer up there, walking on tops of trees as if they were solid ground, safe from the hundreds of soldiers determined to find me and shoot me down.

I miss flying. The plane is great, but it’s not the same. In a plane there is no freedom, there is no hovering over the tops of my teammates, there is no levitating over muddy puddles, and there is no sensation of a scalp massage from the endless wind. A plane is limited to where it can fly, and I don’t have free legs and arms to grab and kick as I want. When I fly in a plane, I feel like I’m surrounded by the big blue sky, I’m just not allowed to touch it, not allowed to experience what once was mine.

My daydreaming is interrupted when I hear a familiar call.

“Kris? Are you out here?” His voice is both yelling and whispering, as if he was indecisive whether he wanted to be heard or not.

I walk closer to the voice, cautiously sliding one of the knives back into its sheath and unclipping a Taser.

“Kris? Is that you?” A sudden face pops out of the foliage, an arc following his path. I jump back as Tao surprises me with his abrupt appearance, landing on my in the mud. The Taser goes off as I fall, and I effectively stun a soggy log.

“Sorry for startling you,” Tao sheepishly said “I was worried about you, I found your chute hanging from the canopy and got worried. Quick, come with me.”

He reaches down and grabs my arm, pulling me up to a standing position. He doesn’t give me any time to steady myself, he starts running through the jungle at full pelt. I fall after every meter, stumbling and tripping over vines and roots. This would be so much easier if I could just fly along, free from my clumsy blundering.

I run into his back when he stops running, my chin hitting his head.

“What did you…” I look around him to see what he needed to show me.

On the ground sits Zelo. His face is battered beyond hell, blotched with round purple spots and cuts. I see his arm where Kai mentioned he cut him with a kitchen knife back in Korea, and through the smudges of blood on his arms I can see that it’s not fully healed up.

On the ground a few meters away is a pile of black belts and gear, where Tao stripped Zelo of his weapons and gear.

Zelo’s arms are tied up with a thick black belt, as well as his legs.

“I dragged him here from the battlefield when I knocked him out. Then I took away his weapons and tied him up, so he couldn’t run away if he woke up. Then I went to look for you, I searched most of the area about a kilometer from where you landed, as well as the plane wreckage.”

“Tao, I’ve only been crashed for about ten minutes, how could you have possibly \ done all of that?” I ask.

Tao gives me a sarcastic look with a raised eyebrow that reminds me of his young age.

“Oh right, powers.” I mutter, trying to hide the bitterness and jealousy in my voice. Through these past few hours I could’ve used my powers at least fifty times.

Zelo grumbles and turns his head, obviously feeling the pain of being knocked out so intensely by my boyfriend.

“Quick he’s waking up.” I kneel down near Zelo and prop up his head against a tree. Tao double checks the bonds, making sure his feet are securely fastened to a nearby root, forcing him to stay on the ground.

Zelo groans once again, his chin hitting his chest and rolling down. His binds tighten as he tries to move his arms. Blinking, he opens his eyes. As he focuses on us two protectors peering down at him, his eyes widen and he struggles more to get out of the belts. He starts levitating, trying to fly away, but he is tied too securely to the ground.

Tao pushes Zelo’s chest back so he is pinned to the tree in a sitting down position.

“So what do we do now, Kris?” He asks, looking to me for guidance.

I take a moment to think, making a quick brainstorm in my head.

“Well, we don’t really have anything to interrogate him about, so why don’t we just see if we can figure out what makes this guy tick? Maybe we can surgically remove the Darkness or something.” I crouch down and stare at Zelo’s eyes, grabbing his cheeks roughly and forcing him to look directly at me. “How does that saying go again? The eyes are windows to the soul?”

I peer into the brown irises, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. They’re just plain, ordinary eyes, just like anyone else’s. There was no Darkness peering back at me, no clue to how Zelo was infected.

Under my tight grasp, Zelo starts to splutter. His cheeks starts to spasm and his eyes roll back into his head. I take a cautious step backwards, but unlike Tao I’m not fast enough.

Zelo’s vomit is dark and black. I’d seen this type of vomit before, when the Darkness had left Baekhyun’s body and threw up on Xiumin. The thick slime spluttered out of his mouth like turning on an old faucet for the first time. My face and clothes looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. I closed my mouth and eyes, grossed out by the vomit. Eventually, the cascade of slime stopped being projectile vomit and slowed down to a steady ooze, coating Zelo’s chin and chest.

“Quick, gag him.” I order Tao, searching for a cloth to wipe the slime from my face.

Tao hands me a strip of cloth, and after I use it to clear my face of the black splotches he ties it through Zelo’s mouth.

“That was gross. I forgot that was possible.” Tao said, half-laughing at the misfortune.

I didn’t reply, too busy spitting out the black vomit from my mouth, convinced I could taste it. I felt a familiar tingling sensation down in the pit of my stomach. Using a nearby tree to steady myself, I stood up and called for Tao.

“Tao, I feel something weird,” I say cautiously. “Something is wrong with me.”

“Kris?” Tao looks back to me and slowly draws his batons. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” I reply, moving slowly so I don’t startle Tao. “I think something transferred from Zelo to me when I touched him.”

“I made skin contact with him plenty of times when I tied him up, but the Dark didn’t jump over to me.” Tao thinks aloud. “…Kris, Are you the Dark?”

“I’m not infected, I’m pretty sure.” I clarify “I think, I have something else.”

I look down at my hands, at my slime-splattered body. They seem normal enough, and yet, something is completely off.

Slowly, my feet raise off the ground. I register the feeling of weightlessness, the familiar sensation of air beneath my feet. The world changed around me; the tops of the trees became very reachable, the trunks sliding down my vision like I was being raised up in an elevator

Tao lets out a long-winded gasp.

“Kris! You’re… You’re flying!”

I look down at Tao, my face beaming. I’m close to tears, tears of happiness. A lump gets caught in my throat as I try to speak again.

“Tao. Tao! I’m back!” I yell down to him.

Testing my powers, I roll over so my feet hang over my head. I curl up again and spin over my feet so I’m standing up.

“Kris! Your powers must’ve left Zelo and returned to you!”

I look down at our captive. What Tao says is true, his bottom no longer leaves the muddy floor in lost attempts to fly away. He bites onto his gag and cranes his neck to watch me, his eyes diluted with fear. Sweat shines off his brow.

I feel a tingle in my stomach as a wave of sickness washes over me. Zelo’s face gives me the creeps. I can’t bear to look at it any longer.I can’t stand to look at that, get rid of it, a voice says in my head.

“Cover his face.” I say flatly to Tao, refusing to lower myself to the ground. “I can’t look at it any longer. Put a bag on his head or something.”

I watch as Tao scurries over to Zelo. He cuts his sludge covered shirt off his torso and wraps it around the prisoner’s head. I watch as Zelo shakes his head in fear, muffled yelling coming through his gag. Tying the makeshift bag with a neat knot at the top of his head, Zelo is left with his shirt tied around his head. The cloth rises and falls as he breathes.

“What now, Kris?” Tao looks up to me.

I bounce in the air a bit. I’d spent too long on the ground, tied down to the earth. I was not going to return to the mud for a while.

“I’m going to go make up for some lost time with this power.” I say. “I’ll be back soon!”

Before Tao could reply, I had smashed through the tops of the trees and was flying through open air.

I open my mouth to feel the cool air breeze past me. My eyes are forced closed, without my usual goggles to protect me, but I don’t care. I twirl upwards, heading towards the clouds. I missed bursting through the clouds, flying through them and popping out the other end, completely drenched.

Flying in a loop never felt so liberating. Getting dizzy in the air poses no threat when you are a hundred meters away from hitting anything. I spin as I fly, doing the corkscrew, the loop-the-loop, flying high and dropping low. I yell out in happiness as I feel the adrenaline rush of the air.

I missed flying, although I can’t help but feel that this is not the power that I used to have. The power handles weird; almost sloppily. I quickly write it off as the power being mistreated by the Dark and Zelo. It’s back in good hands now, I’ll fix it up in time.

I realize soon that I’ve drifted nearby to where the battle once was. Slowing my speed and lessening my altitude, I skim along the tops of the trees until I can see into the clearing.

The fight is finished now; the only people left in the intersection are the B.A.P and a few of the military. Yongguk stands in the middle of the road, barking orders and pointing about wildly as a medic tries to patch up the missing fingers on his hand. The other B.A.P members sit about lazily, nursing wounds or ordering other soldiers to do their biddings. The ground is a mess; there are scorch marks in the dirt, as well as numerous puddles lying about the road. Wicked rocks poke up from the ground where lava has solidified, and pieces of cars lie strewn across the area.

Yongguk orders a handful of soldiers angrily and they march off into the jungle, vaguely in the direction that Tao is in. Stepping into a vehicle, the leader of B.A.P waves his half-bandaged arm more as the soldiers listen intently with fear. He listens in to a portable radio, his eyebrows pricking up as he hears the message being conveyed.

I crawl closer through the tops of the trees, trying to hear parts of his message. Gradually, I start to hear snippets of his conversation.

“Found one…. wind and air…. a village nearby….destroyed… almost…  Split up.” Yongguk is talking with the medic, forcing him to hop into the back seat of the vehicle. He closes the door, and the one called Himchan jogs up to the open window.

I guess Himchan asked Yongguk what they should do. Angrily, Yongguk reaches out and waves his arms in a frustrated manner.

“Split up!” he yells. “Find them!... can’t be far away!...” followed by a bunch of swearing.

Himchan bows as Yongguk drives off. He turns around and starts directing the other B.A.P members in different directions. Quickly, they split up into different vehicles, the trucks all leaving down separate roads.

I’m suddenly left in the clearing alone. The silence scares me, knowing that just recently we were fighting for our lives here. The ice sculptures sticking out of the ground will probably melt away, the mutated statues of tentacle-like roots will probably become assimilated with the jungle, and eventually there will be no trace that anything out of the ordinary ever happened here.

I start to fly off. It sounded like Yongguk had found where Sehun was. I should go try to get to Sehun first, or I should go make sure Tao is safe? I lift myself higher into the air, contemplating my choices.

Go left, a voice sounds in my head. I turn around to find the person who talked, but the only one up here is me.

They need your help. Turn left. I look to my left, and I feel a slight pull in the direction. Subconsciously, I start to drift in the direction.

Quickly, they need your help. Save them. Stunned, I start to pick up speed, being nudged every now and then by the voice in my head, the conscious. Maybe the voice is my instinct, telling me where to go.

“Where do I go?” I speak out aloud.

Almost there. The voice replies. Faster, almost there. I pick up speed, flying on my stomach as I make myself more aerodynamic.

Down there. Get under the canopy quickly. I dive down, my eyes scanning the jungle for anyone who needs help. I’m frantic now, I don’t want anyone to die. Tree trunks charge towards me as I fly quickly, and I twist and turn through the maze of trees so I don’t crash.

Good, good. Lower now. Almost there. I lower my altitude, only a few meters above the ground.

A heavy object latches on to my leg and I go spinning out of control. I bash into a thick tree trunk, and I steady myself in the air. I look down in horror at the black blob of slime attached to my knee like a koala. It shifts, constantly moving as its shiny black skin ripples.

I shake my leg to try to get it off when I feel another wet weight drop onto my shoulder. An identical glob of black sludge starts to seep over my arm, dripping down my back.

I pick up speed again, trying through the forest to shake them off. Like cannonballs they appear through the forest, launching themselves at me and latching onto my body. They are heavy, and I feel my body drop closer to the ground with every hit I suffer. I shiver as the familiar feeling of the black goo envelops my body, surfacing dark memories of the first time fighting the Dark. They crawl up my skin, oozing through the cracks between my fingers and up my neck.

Eventually, I’m weighted down so much that I can barely move. I can barely keep afloat, my legs stuck together as the goo seeps through the gaps and pulls me in a tight embrace. It’s now that the final black glob of slime hits me square in the face. I’m plunged into a claustrophobic darkness, the black reaching into my mouth, nose and ears with intrusive fingers of slime.

The weight on my body starts to lessen. The sound of the jungles comes rushing back to my ears, the chirps of bees, the rustling of the canopy leaves, the constant croaking of hidden frogs and insects. Yet it all seems… somewhat fake.

My vision isn’t the same; I feel like I can no longer move my eyes. I feel like I have changed perspective entirely, I’m now watching my eyes move from deeper inside my head, unable to look downwards, or upwards, or even focus on anything. Is this what paralysis feels like?

“Hello, Kris” A menacing voice echoes in my head. “It’s nice to finally formally meet. I’m sure you and I will get along just fine.”

I try to yell back in retaliation, but my mouth refuses to move. I try harder.

“That’s not going to work now, Kris. I’m in control.”

I try to copy the voice in my head and think about the words, forming them in my brain.

“What are you doing in my brain?! Get out of here!” I think-yell.

Through my eye-holes I watch as my head bends down to inspect my hands, stretching my fingers out and testing their mobility. Yet this wasn’t me controlling my body, it was the Darkness.

“I’m disappointed in you Kris. I thought you’d be happy that I gave you back your flight. Now, let’s get to business.” The Darkness says inside my brain. “Where was Tao? Ah yes, this direction.”

My body takes off, flying up above the trees and pointing itself in the direction of Tao. The usual feeling of flight has lost its joy; what once felt like freedom in the air has become a prison, unable to enjoy the thing I love the most. What’s worse, the Dark is a terrible flyer. It has no understanding of aerodynamics, of thermals, air currents and altitude. To the Dark, in order to go faster he just exerts more power. To slow down, he tries to fly in the other direction and counteract the momentum. It was sloppy.

“More aerodynamic? Like this?” The Dark says in my head, the voice unaffected by the rushing wind. My body shifts position, fitting my limbs closer to my torso and pointing my feet directly behind my body. “I have access to your entire body, Kris. That includes your thoughts too. How’s the boyfriend? Still going strong?”

My physical body chuckles to itself.

The Dark hums an obnoxiously cute song as we fly, blocking out my attempts at screaming. My mind hurts from exertion at the yelling, the beginnings of a headache starting to throb through.

I land in the clearing next to the tied up Zelo, landing silently and surprising even Tao when I speak.

“Tao! We need to move quickly.” The Dark says through my voice with false urgency. “They’re coming this way, but some of them have gone to kill the Tree of Life. They know where she is! They’ve already left!”

“Liar” I thought-mutter to the Dark, but he ignores me.

“We can’t wait for the others, we have to get there straight away! Do you still remember where she is?”

Tao looks back, unsuspecting of the Dark controlling my body.

“Of course I remember, but let’s not discuss this in front of Zelo. He might hear us.” He replies. “Come on, can you fly to the airport? We can steal another plane and get there quickly. I’ll try to find a way to contact Kai to regroup.”

Tao starts strapping Zelo’s left over gear to his body, choosing his favorites from the many pouches of knives and grenades.

“No!” I yell, almost a little to suddenly “There’s no time. The others are scattered everywhere, It’ll be impossible to find everyone. I’ll just send them a text and hope they all figure it out."

I lift Tao up and take him into the sky, zooming along the tops of the trees. Tao turns around and wraps his arms and legs over my body, snuggling his face into my neck to protect himself from the wind. Tao used to do this all the time when I took him flying, but now it just feels wrong.

I guess the close contact with Tao made the Dark uncomfortable, because after a few minutes I place him down on the ground. Tao stands up and ruffles his hair to get rid of the wind-swept hairstyle.

“What’s wrong Kris?” he asks me.

“Didn’t you see that?” The Dark asks Tao “There was a light back there. I think it could be a distress signal.”

“You saw Baekhyun?” Tao asks, his eyes raised.

“Yeah, Baekhyun. Well, I just saw a light. I’ll go check it out.” I stand up and take off again, heading back the direction we had just flown from.

To my surprise, I land back where we had started. Zelo raises his head at my presence, still gagged and blinded. Its eerie silent knowing that I am the only good person in this clearing; the others would have all left by now.

“Daehyun.” I say. The name feels dirty, unfamiliar in my mouth.

At the sound of the name, the jungle starts to shift. Roots twist as they shrink back into the ground, or they burst from unmoved dirt like dolphins swimming in a pod, lifting a few centimeters into the air before diving back into the earth. Leaves ripple and shimmer, parting as the trees spin their trunks, curtains parting to reveal the show.

Daehyun steps out from the shadows, the dappled light from the canopy hitting his face. He definitely fared better than Yongguk; he still has all his fingers, his eyebrows aren’t burnt off and only his arms and lower torso are covered with cuts and bloodied gashes.

“Welcome back,” He says, bowing his head in reverence. I bow my head back, although not by my own choice. “It’s so good to finally meet you in person.”

My mouth lets out a burst of air that sounds like a smirk and an annoyed huff.

“This isn’t me in person. This is me in this… disgusting body. A fleshy pink prison, sharing a mind with the host himself. A grumpy host that won’t shut up. He's weak too, weaker than any of the others. This boy has no spirit, no fight in him. You should see me in my real form; that is truly marvelous.”

“Yes, I’m sorry, your highness.” Daehyun stammers “I watched the news. You were truly fearsome. Spectacular. ”

“Either way, this body does come with its perks. I can understand why that wretched tree likes having arms and legs after being stuck as a bush for an eternity. Did you bring the gear?”

Daehyun reaches behind him and unclips a small pouch, tossing it through the air towards me. My arm reaches out and snatches it from its trajectory. I the bag, reaching inside and pulling out a small electronic box.

“Use this to hone in on my location.” I say, slipping the box into my utility belt. “But keep your distances. This host’s boyfriend is leading me towards the Tree, I’ll get rid of him as soon as I know where she is. I’ll take care of the tree for now, I want you to focus mostly on eliminating any possible threats. That means I want the protectors dead. All of them, even the healer; his time has come. Let’s rid this world of the little ers.”

“And what of this boy?” Daehyun looks down at Zelo.

“He served the Dark well, but he is useless now. He’s just a boy who has seen too much. Leave him to perish in the jungle.”

I’m silent as we fly back to Tao’s location. The wind roars in my ears, but the actual sensation of flying feels distant, as if I’m watching someone else through a television screen.

“So, my good friend Kris,” The Dark jolts me out of my silent thought procession. “Who should we kill first, Tao or the Tree?”

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DUN DUN DUNNNN

What do you guys think? Are you liking the chapters focused on one/two members?

Heres my question (please answer it in the comments section if you want, I like to hear feedback)

Q: Who do you think has the best power from EXO and the best from B.A.P? Which one would you like?

next chapter will be.... Suho!