“How the did we lose a 173cm tall man with the tendency to cause gigantic earthquakes? How?!” Kris screams, pacing back and forth in the living room of Junmyeon’s humble abode. Junmyeon is curled up on the sofa, head resting on his knees and tears building up in his eyes.

He knows Kris doesn’t mean to yell; he’s just worried, but it’s scaring Junmyeon more than the fact that they have actually lost a 173cm tall man with the tendency to cause gigantic earthquakes.

“I don’t know, Kris! I don’t know!”

“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll find him.” Kris soothes, crouching down to wrap the smaller boy in a soft hug. Junmyeon doesn’t move, but finds a little comfort in his words. It is possible. They could find him.

“Where would he go, though? He doesn’t remember anything, so it’s not as if he has friends he could go and hide with. He’s scared, Kris, we have to find him. We have to let him know that no one is out to kill him or us.”

Kris sighs, rubbing his forehead.

“Well, you’re a Geologist, and Kyungsoo’s known for causing earthquakes. Let’s see if anywhere starts to shake anytime soon. If it does, we can pinpoint the area he’s in.” Kris suggests, but Junmyeon just cries more and Kris starts to panic – he’s never dealt with a crying 21 year old man before. Only himself.

“But what if he doesn’t get any migraines? What if he doesn’t make any earthquakes?”

“Kim Junmyeon!” Kris shouts, catching the sobbing boy off guard. Kris grabs his shoulders and stares him straight in the eye, a determination in his features that makes Junmyeon shiver. “We will find him. If it takes us a day, a week, a month; we will find Do Kyungsoo and we will bring him home. He can’t have gone far. I’ll fly over town and see if I can find him.”

“Kris, you can’t.” Junmyeon insists, chasing after the giant. “You can’t fly properly yet. I can’t lose both of you.”

“I’ll fly between the roof tops, so I don’t have to go far before I can land again.” He promises, wiping a tear from Junmyeon’s cheek. “Just… stay here in case he comes home or calls, okay? Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back soon.”

Kris leaves behind a crying Junmyeon. He knows he should stay and comfort him, but he realises that finding the missing mystery boy will make him feel so much better than a few silly words and hugs. Kris has always known that actions are stronger than words.

And he searches for hours. He flies over rooftops, he ignores Junmyeon’s pleas and flies further distances, smashing into buildings by the plenty. He doesn’t see the boy anywhere. He doesn’t even feel any earthquakes.

He passes by the police station and ponders on filing a missing person’s report. It hasn’t been 48 hours, but his biggest worry is, how do you explain to the police that you’ve lost a boy who can barely remember his own name after he got a creepy phone call threatening him to kill ‘the Auspices’?

You don’t. They would laugh in your face, and Kris would much rather do this himself.

~*~

Junmyeon is at home when the doorbell goes. He’s never ran so fast in his life, but when he almost pulls the door from its hinges, what he’s greeted with isn’t the heart shaped smile he wanted.

“Who the heck are you?”

“I think the question is, what the heck am I, but okay, we’ll go with that.” The boy replies with a chuckle. “I’m Zhang Yixing, and you’re Kim Junmyeon, right?”

“It depends. What are you?”

“I am one of the twelve protectors of some alien tree, but the important thing is that you are too.”

Junmyeon blinks again at the boy before he slams the door in his face.

“Awh, c’mon, that’s not nice.” The voice calls from the mail flap. “Look, I know this because we have this map that tells us where the twelve protectors are and it said the rain drop person was here and I guess that must be you and-”

“You have a map?” Junmyeon asks quickly, knocking the boy back onto his when he rips back open the door. “That tells you where we are?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I said.”

“Do you have it with you?”

“I do.” Yixing answers cautiously. Junmyeon suddenly grins, dragging the boy by his wrist into the house and throwing him on the sofa and telling him to get out his map. “Why? Why are you so excited?”

“Please!” Once Yixing has pulled out the map, Junmyeon begins firing questions at him. “So this one is me?”

“Yeah, and that one with you is me. The Unicorn.”

“Then which one is Kyungsoo?”

“Who?”

Junmyeon groans in frustration.

“My friend, Do Kyungsoo, he went missing and he causes earthquakes and things, but he’s lost his memory so he can’t remember anything about Seoul or his life. He’s missing and I’m really scared but if you’re right, this map will tell me where he is, right? So where is he?”

Yixing blinks.

“I’m sorry. You’re going to have to repeat that a little slower; I’m not from around here.”

“Can your map tell me where my friend Kyungsoo is?” Junmyeon bites his bottom lip in anticipation as Yixing shrugs.

“I don’t know. I suppose so. I’m not the map expert.”

Junmyeon groans again and flops back onto the floor.

“It’s like talking to a toddler.”

“I’m more likely to help you if you don’t insult me.” Junmyeon sits up and pouts. “And you’re not cute at all. You look like my grandfather.”

“I’m more likely not to insult you if you don’t sass me.”

“Touché.” Yixing mutters, flattening out the map. “Well, he’s either that one or that one.”

He points to two symbols. Neither are moving. In fact, none of them are moving. “Seen as all the others are assigned to someone, he must be one of these two. What did you say he did again?”

“He causes earthquakes.”

“How did you manage to lose someone who causes earthquakes?” Yixing replies, a judgemental tone to his soft voice. The smaller glares sharply, so Yixing quickly hurries and pulls out his phone. “Hey, yeah, is Chanyeol with you?” A pause. “No, Jongdae, just put Chanyeol on the phone.” Another. “I’ll tell Baekhyun the truth about what happened to his Carebears.” Junmyeon’s eyebrows furrow. “Thank you, Jongdae, it was a pleasure doing business with you.”

Yixing puts the phone on speaker.

“What’s up?”

“I found another of the twelve.” The boy on the other end of the line claps loudly. “But he’s lost another of them.”

“I didn’t mean to!” Junmyeon whines. “Kris has gone looking for him. He told me to stay here in case he comes home. Kyungsoo won’t have gone far. He’s scared.”

“Anyway, he’s one of us.” Yixing explains, ignoring the pout on Junmyeon’s lips. “He says he creates earthquakes; any idea which symbol that is?”

“The one that looks like a transformer.” The voice blurts instantly, as if the answer was right on his tongue. He didn’t hesitate to continue. “This symbol represents the ability to control the earth and its properties. It’s one of the four elemental powers.” Junmyeon hums. “Which symbol is our new friend?”

“The rain drop.”

Yixing smiles as Chanyeol explains Junmyeon’s symbol, his voice not faltering once, the information all stored firmly in his brain. Junmyeon nods along even though the speaker can’t see him.

“The rain drop signifies the ability to bend and manipulate water. Much like the other elemental powers, you can control your element to do whatever you like. Your friend creates earthquakes; you could probably create tsunamis with the right amount of power. You haven’t had any serious problems, have you?”

“The worst I’ve done is flood my kitchen with bubbles. I don’t even try and use my… ability or whatever it is.” He plays with his fingers. “But my other friend, Kris, he’s always using his powers if it’ll help me. He’s flying over the city now looking for Kyungsoo. He told me he’d skim over the roof tops so he wouldn’t have to fly far, but I know he won’t waste time trying to land all the time. He can’t fly very well, but he’s far too caring of others to mind that he’s hurting himself crashing into things.”

“He’s flying over the city? Right now?” Chanyeol gasps. “Minseok! We have a lead! If you two need anything else, talk to Baekhyun.”

With that, Chanyeol is gone.

“Xing? Chanyeol scares me.” A soft voice calls out over the line. “Come home soon.”

“I promise, Baek.” Yixing smiles. “Stay with Jongdae, okay?”

“I promise.”

The two hang up. Yixing flashes a smile at the nervous Junmyeon beside him, presenting him with the map.

“So can you see the transformer-like symbol?”

~*~

“Junmyeon’s probably still crying.” Kris mumbles to himself, peering over the side of the rooftop of the second tallest building in the city. “Do I keep looking,” he peers back in the direction of Junmyeon’s home, “or do I go home?”

Kris hums to himself, jumping from the side and flapping his wings the best he can. He can just about control when he wants to fly, it’s just the actual flight he’s at.

At least that’s what he thinks right before his wings disappear out of nowhere. He’s going too fast to have a soft landing and he’s too low to try and reactivate his wings and hope to swoop back up from his demise.

So basically, he’s pretty sure he’s going to die.

And the irony really .

“Holy , is that a man falling out of the sky?” Minseok mutters, pointing up to the sky and the white trench coat flapping about between the murky sky.

“Well, I think we found Kris.”

~*~

Luhan’s never felt more tired. He’s so drained from carrying a six foot plus man down from twenty feet in the air safely to the ground that Minseok has to piggy back him back home. Kris insists that he has to go and see Junmyeon, so the four split up.

Chanyeol goes with Kris to Junmyeon’s and Luhan and Minseok head back to everyone else at Baekhyun’s apartment. They had relocated after realising that Minseok and Jongin’s cosy one bedroom flat with barely enough space for Jongin’s video game collection isn’t really going to be the best meeting place for twelve grown men.

So they barge in on the three lucky office apartment owners, admiring the city view from the wall size windows.

“We’re home!” Minseok calls out as he uses his elbow to push open the door. “Anyone fancy giving me a hand?”

In seconds, Luhan is in Sehun’s arms and across the other side of the apartment. Minseok crosses his arms over his chest in annoyance, huffing softly as he goes back to close the door properly.

“That’s not quite what I meant, but sure, thanks.” He scans the room and notices a normal presence missing. “Where’s Jongin?”

“He poofed out of here about ten minutes ago. We’re just waiting for him to poof back in. He’s already phoned us to tell us he’s still in one piece; he’s just got to find his way home.”

Minseok smiles appreciatively at Zitao, who surprisingly, smiles back. Minseok doesn’t really think the youngest Chinese boy is all that bad, despite the glares Sehun shoots him (but then, Sehun glares at everyone but Luhan, Jongin and himself, so he’s not really a reliable source of information).

“What happened to him?” Sehun asks, vulnerability ringing loud and clear in his voice as he whispers to a close Minseok, who goes over to make sure the youngest isn’t having a break down.

“He’s just tired. He saved a man’s life, you know.” Sehun’s forehead wrinkles. “We found Kris, but he was falling from the sky and we didn’t know what to do. Luhan jumped forwards and caught him with his telepathy. But Kris is a big guy, bigger than Chanyeol, so it took it out of him. He just needs to rest and he’ll be fine. If he’s not better when Yixing gets home, we’ll ask him if there’s anything he thinks he might be able to do.”

Sehun nods and sends Minseok a thank you smile that the oldest has become incredibly familiar with. He can tell with only a glance that unless it concerns the Chinese boy in his arms, Sehun doesn’t really show many emotions. He’s not cold, far from it, just quiet – shy, even. He’s closed and he much prefers shy smiles and thank you nods rather than openly stating his thanks, and well, Minseok thinks he agrees. Sehun’s nervous nods are more adorable than Jongin’s messy chocolate cake habits (especially when he’s not in charge of cleaning them up).

“He’ll be okay.” He ruffles Sehun’s hair and takes his leave, listening to Sehun’s soft voice speaking to the boy fade out into the background.

~*~

Just as Junmyeon is considering going to look for Kyungsoo himself, a key turns in the front door. He practically climbs over Yixing to tackle the taller man in a hug, clinging to his neck as he jumps, Kris’ arms having to support the younger man. He clings to the back of Kris’ hair.

“I thought I’d lost you too.” Junmyeon sobs. Kris sighs, rubbing circles on Junmyeon’s back with his large hands.

“I’m sorry, Junmyeon. I couldn’t find him anywhere, but Chanyeol here is going to help us find him.”

Junmyeon shakes his head fast, wiping away at tears as he composes himself.

“Just... Just don’t leave me, okay? I can only lose one of you at a time.” Kris laughs and nods softly, placing him back down on his feet. “Yixing has a map that’ll tell us where to find Kyungsoo.”

“And Chanyeol behind you is the map expert I was telling you about.” Yixing, the small Chinese boy smiles from behind Junmyeon, reaching out to shake Kris’ hand. “Zhang Yixing; it’s nice to meet you.”

“You’re Chinese.” Kris chuckles with surprise. “Me too. Kris Wu, nice to meet you too.”

“Park Chanyeol, nice to meet you all. Now let’s find your friend. Where’s the map?”

Chanyeol spends no more than ten seconds looking at the map before he states, “your friend is missing.”

Kris groans, “yes, we know that, that’s why we’re looking for him.”

“No, I mean, his symbol isn’t on the map.” Chanyeol breathes, “but then, neither is Jongin’s, so chances are, they’re together.”

“There was a creepy message on the answer phone. We think that he got one before and that’s what made him run away.”

Chanyeol takes the phone and waits for it to get past Junmyeon’s embarrassing voicemails before it reaches the desired deep voiced message that Kris had found a few hours ago.

“Do Kyungsoo… The Auspices… You must kill them. Kim Junmyeon, Wu Yi Fan; you’ve already got into their minds. It’s not long now before they are all under your spell… Wipe them out like pencil markings. Bit by bit… There isn’t much time.”

“What the hell was that?” Yixing shudders, “that is the creepiest anonymous voicemail I have ever heard and I live with Jongdae who, by the way, still thinks prank calls are the funniest thing since jack in the boxes.”

“Jack in the boxes?”

“They’re great, don’t you dare deny it.”

Chanyeol rolls his eyes and continues to stare at the front of his book. The cover – the twelve symbols…

“The twelve of us aren’t called the twelve protectors.” He mumbles, brushing his thumb over the indents. “We might be twelve protectors, but we’re not called that.”

He pauses, “We’re the Auspices Kyungsoo is supposed to kill.”

~*~

Kyungsoo screams.

That’s all he’s done for the last hour and his throat is dry and his voice cracks with tears, but all he can think to do is scream.

He can’t see much. He can’t move much – he can’t even lift himself off the ground. He’s banged his fists onto the tiles of the floor so many times that tiny ripples have caused them to smash and a streetlight a few feet away to flicker out.

His heart hurts and he can’t bear to think about that phone call, but it’s all that’s flooding his mind.

“Kill them all.” It had told him. “Start with the leaders. Start with the weak, vulnerable Wu Yi Fan. He’ll be a piece of cake. The man can barely stand on his own two feet. You could take him down in a heartbeat. He’s no match for you, Do Kyungsoo.” He shakes his head to clear the voice. It spreads throughout his whole body; his arms itch with the desire to scratch out the bad from his skin. “Then Kim Junmyeon. His precious little heart will be easy to shatter. Just the flick of your wrist, just a gentle squeeze, and he’ll be gone.” It laughs. “Two down… nine to go.”

“Stop it!”

“Do Kyungsoo, you could be the strongest man in the universe. You could control all the planets – even Earth. With your power, you could destroy them all. You, Do Kyungsoo, are the key to the worlds.”

“Stop it!”

“Stop what? I’m not doing anything.”

Kyungsoo jumps. “Whoa there, jumpy. It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Who are you?” Kyungsoo bites with all the power he can muster, slamming his hand back down onto the floor. The quake causes Jongin to fall back onto his , but he quickly regains himself, crawling closer to the smaller, more fragile boy.

“My name’s Kim Jongin. I’m just your average nineteen year old kid. What’s your name?”

Jongin’s voice is soft; it reminds him a lot of Junmyeon and his kindness, so he chews on his bottom lip and answers.

“Do Kyungsoo.”

“Hey, that’s a lovely name. How old are you, Kyungsoo?”

“Twenty.” Jongin gently the boy’s hair at the back to calm him down, smiling just like he did to Sehun a few days ago, letting the boy take deep breaths and familiarise himself with him.

“Hey, you’re older than me, but right now, you have to let me do this.”

“Do what?”

Kyungsoo barely has time to panic before he’s pulled into the tightest of hugs and punched right in the gut.

When he opens his eyes, he’s not in that dark room anymore. His legs aren’t bound to the floor and his body isn’t so heavy that he can’t lift himself up.

But that Jongin kid is still standing right in front of him, warm smile still on his lips.

“That wasn’t so bad, right?”

“What the hell was that!” Kyungsoo shrieks, punching the younger in the chest as hard his can, his breathing ragged and the boy taking all of his shots like they’re nothing.

“Man, I work in a nightclub. No matter how hard you hit me, I will have been hit harder.”

Kyungsoo eventually gives up, resting his head against the same chest, trying to regain control of his breathing. Any kind of headache or anger and he’ll rip the Earth into two – he knows that.

“Are you okay?”

“Do you feel the same winding pain when you do this?”

“I don’t feel a thing; I’m sorry.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head, “it’s okay.” Jongin reaches out for the boy’s hand, clasping it in his own and lacing his fingers through the holes when Kyungsoo tries to rip his hand away. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t control when I teleport, so if you’re not holding onto me when I do, you’ll be left out here and I don’t want that, so hold on tight.”

Kyungsoo shivers and Jongin only just feels the older boy’s hand tighten around his and the smaller body fold closer against his side. He smiles softly. The feeling is familiar. It’s almost as if he’s had the small boy by his side before, his fingers between his and his body so close.

And Jongin starts to wonder if his teleporting is really as ‘random’ as they think it is.

~*~

“Jongin still hasn’t come back yet; I’m worried.” Minseok states, clutching to the sleeve of a now groggily awake Luhan, who resides in Sehun’s lap and gently comforts the eldest boy sitting comfortably beside them.

“He teleports out of nowhere all the time, right? He said he was on his way back; maybe he’s further away than usual?” Sehun suggests, absentmindedly running his fingers through Luhan’s blonde locks. “And just like you told me, no matter where he is right now, you’ll see him again, because he misses you too, right?”

Minseok blushes ever so slightly and nods.

“So he’ll be back soon. Don’t worry too much or you’ll make yourself ill – trust me on that one.”

Minseok rests his head against Sehun’s shoulder, sighing.

Sehun’s right. Jongin will be home soon.

~*~

Chanyeol returns to the meeting place with Kris, Junmyeon and Yixing all in hand an hour or so later. Jongin is still missing and the symbols are yet to return on the map.

Kris never thought one person could cry so much, but he figures that’s probably why Junmyeon has the power of water, because he clearly has an infinite supply of it.

Chanyeol’s just rather amazed that someone is actually taller than him.

“Have you guys seen Jongin?” Minseok asks immediately as the four walk in. Yixing shakes his head sadly.

“He’s missing, but on the bright side, so is the last of our twelve, so it’s a very strong possibility that they are together and well, two is better than one, right?”

Minseok doesn’t quite agree with Chanyeol (and neither do Kris and Junmyeon).

“How is there a bright side to two people being missing?” Baekhyun questions, blinking confusedly up at the tall, ginger boy he’s come to fear unhealthily. “How can you be so… optimistic? Two people are missing!”

“We’ll find them.” Chanyeol shrugs, and that’s just enough to tip Baekhyun over the edge.

“I’ve had it with you! You think you’re so smart and so great because you know all about us and our weird powers. Well I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be a human lightbulb. All I wanted was my cosy job and my nice apartment and to live with my best friends. I didn’t ask for you to waltz in here, crowd my apartment and sit there with your empty rib cage because you don’t have the heart to worry about two missing people!” Baekhyun huffs, pulling air back into his lungs as he steps closer, a finger pointed harshly at the chin of the taller boy. “I don’t care if you’re Park Chanyeol, Archaeologist or Park Chanyeol, homeless guy; you’re an and I don’t want you in my apartment anymore.” He steps back, points to the door and whispers, “get out.”

“Baekhyun-”

“Get out!”

“I-”

“Get out! Get out! Get out!”

Chanyeol takes a deep breath, bites hard on his bottom lip and takes one last glance at the older but smaller boy.

Tears stain Baekhyun’s soft cheeks and tickle his bright eyes. His hands are beginning to light up and his hair is waving in a wind no one else can feel as it highlights to a bleach blonde slowly but surely. Chanyeol exhales and in one swift movement, grabs the boy by the wrist and slams the front door behind them.