{Baekhyun}

“Jihae? Jihae!” I start shouting and shaking her profusely to wake her. But to no avail. As I place my hands underneath her body, I notice her mark was glowing. “What did you do to her!?” I growl at the Head, thinking that he must have had something to do with this.

The Head seems confused at first, buthe  just lets out a knowing frown afterwards. “I wished I was the reason behind her blacking out,” he says. “Byun Baekhyun, our battle ends here.”

“WHAT?” Almost everyone shouts in unison, even those from the SUJU pack.

“You may leave Baekhyun. You have won. Congratulations. Jihae is yours to keep and I will no longer pester you again. Any of you,” the Head isn’t blinking when he speaks that it makes me find it difficult to believe that he is lying.

When none of us moves, the Head once again speaks, “Take it or leave it Baekhyun. Either you leave now, or you’ll never see another sun rise for as long as I live.”

•••••

I carry Jihae to my room immediately after Kai teleported us back to my house. I lay her down gently and tuck her under the sheets. Even when she is lying there unconscious, her brows are creased, which is a very unusual sight.

The others are standing outside the room, whispering at one another and stealing glances. They only come in when I signal for them to. 

“Baek are you ok?” Chanyeol asks, shattering the momentary silence.

I shake my head, a sad grimace lining my lips. “I’m confused Chanyeol.”

“About what?” Kai asks.

“About everything. You all saw what happened just now,” I tell them what’s on my mind, hoping that someone may hold the answers to my questions. And true enough, Suho does but its already something that I somewhat know.

“She’s peaked her ability Baekhyun,” Suho suddenly says. The other four turn to look at him, an unreadable expression donning his face as he continues. “My mark glowed too when I peaked my ability.” And so the confirmation sets in.

“But how is that possible? She’s barely practiced!” D.O blurts as he walks closer to the edge of the bed, a hand pointing at Jihae.

“I don’t know the answer for that D.O, neither do I know why she fainted,” Suho shrugs sadly. “But there is someone that does.”

“Who?” Sehun asks.

“The Head,” Suho answers and shoots me a look. “You’ll have to read his mind Baekhyun. And this time deep inside so that we can uncover the truth. It’s the only way.”

“No,” Chanyeol responds immediately even though the question isn’t even directed at him. “Baekhyun can’t do this. It’ll tear him apart.”

Suho sighs and walks out of the room, probably expecting that I’d refuse to one way or another due to the haunting memories. D.O and Kai follows suit and Sehun walks out shortly after giving me a sad smile.

Now there is only Chanyeol and Jihae in the room with me. I look up at the giant and he smiles at me. It lacks its usual suave but it is still sufficient to brighten my mood. He brings over two stools and place it at the side of the bed.

“Thanks,” I say to him and sit on one of them.

“No problem.” Chanyeol slips onto the other one.

“Not only for this chair but for everything and anything. Thanks for sticking it out with me,” I tell Chanyeol. “But I have to do this Chanyeol.”

“You don’t have to,” he replies and shakes his head slightly. I think about how Chanyeol is the only one that will fully understand the large extent that the Head had affected me mentally, how he had almost broke me apart. And that is because like me his parents were dragged into all this mutant stuff and they all ended up with the same fate. Dead.

“It’s the only way.” I try to convince him and myself at the same time. Chanyeol sighs but sticks out his left palm and gives me a reassuring nod. I’m here for you Baekhyun. I read his thoughts and so I place my palm on his and he grips it tightly.

I close my eyes, and take a slow but deep breath, trying to prepare myself before reading the Head’s mind. A mental image of him formulates in my mind. I think of him and him only, discarding other irrelevant thoughts aside. I try to focus on that sole memory I am finding.

Indeed reading a mind is like finding a book in a library. The more familiar you are with the library, the easier it is to find the book you wish to find. Similarly, finding a certain thought from a certain time period would be made much easier if I read that mind often. But the Head’s mind is one mind that I often choose not to read, to save myself the pain of reading cruel intentions.

I source up and down. My lips trembling as I go through his thoughts.

I’m going to kill that man if it’s the last thing I do.

SUJU shall be my slave pack from henceforth.

Jihae will be in my pack. But if I can’t have her, no one else can.

My grip on Chanyeol’s hand tightens as more vile thoughts fills my head. Getting rid of his other thoughts are more challenging than I thought, especially since he’d probably have tried to protect his secrets, all the more making his mind a harder nut to crack.

But suddenly a train of thoughts fill my head, chunks of information flood my mind.  

Jihae has peaked her ability. She is not supposed to be able to do it, but she has done it. Peaking an ability requires focus. But importantly, it requires determination. I never thought she would be able to uncover the fullest potential of her ability so fast.

Jihae’s power is protection. She has the ability to protect not only herself, but the people around her. She also has the power of an enhancer. She can boost other’s powers, including her own. When fully mustered, Jihae is able to send out shields and enhancements to anyone, anywhere in the world, regardless of distance. She can even do it subconsciously.

But because she peaked her ability without actually having any proper training or actually directly giving out orders to herself to use the ability, the ache of the usage of her full potential was too much for her body to take.

My grip on Chanyeol’s hand loosens as I back out of the Head’s mind. All my questions finally have their answers. But I still feel lost somewhere, as though one important question is still not answered. I just don’t know what.

“Baekhyun…so how did it go?” Chanyeol asks as he tries to read my incomprehensible reaction.

“I got my answers.” I reply. “Get the others here.”

After explaining everything in great detail, even including some of my own thoughts, Kai asks, “So Jihae really has two powers?” And I nod.

 “I have two powers?” Jihae’s voice sounds from behind us. I rush to her bedside again, thankful that she is now conscious.

“You’re awake!” I exclaim and give her a short hug, only stopping when she pulls away from me. Her face reads everything from anger to worry.

“Baekhyun! Why did you leave without me? How could you? Do you know how worried I was?” She yells but coughs a little when she strains .

“I’m sorry Jihae, I just wanted to protect you.” I say, reaching for her hand and gripping it tightly after my fingers touch them.  

“Baekhyun! Can you stop with your ‘I’m just trying to protect you’?” She rolls her eyes at me. “And someone please tell me what the heck happened back there just now. Why was there a bubbly thing forming around the six of you?”

The five of them there exchange glances at one another.

“Ok Jihae you have to listen carefully to me now okay?” I tell her slowly. Only continuing after she nods her head. “You peaked your ability back there just now. Peaking an ability means to fully master it and to uncover all its full potential including its hidden powers. By peaking your ability, you are able to shield anyone from the other mutant’s powers.”

I watch her jaw fall agape as she stares at me incredulously. She is about to say something but I cut her off.

“Questions later. You have two powers Jihae. Your other power is enhancement. You can boost other mutant’s abilities.” I explain to her.  

 “WHAT? What in the world are you saying? I don’t have that ability!” She stares at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“Why don’t you try enhancing Chanyeol?” I offer, knowing she won’t be easy to convince.

“But…I don’t even know how to!”

“Just try.”

Chanyeol gives her a warm smile, but she doesn’t return it. He holds out his palm and generates a flame. It is luminous and orangey. I watch as Jihae tries to focus on the flame, kind of like how I do when I want to read someone’s mind.

Nothing happens for a long while, but then I see his fire change. From that luminous orange to the non-luminous blue. The fire stands steadily on his hand.

“You did it,” Suho says.

“No no it can’t be. Chanyeol did it! He’s probably done it before! He’s the one controlling the flame! Not me!” She is obviously in denial, there’s no blaming her really, I would be too if I were her.   

“Why don’t you try to stop your enhancement?” I talk to her calmly, figuring that she probably isn’t in a very stable mood currently.

She raises her eyebrows and laughs softly as though all this is some kind of joke. But when none of us laugh with her, she then puts on a serious expression and look back at the flame. And when I see the flame returning to its original state, I know she has succeeded.

“What am I?” She asks in no one in particular and buries her face in both hands.