Petunia: Your presence soothes me

Kim Joonmyeon and his brother, Jong In, were the perfect example of siblings living in harmony.

However, said harmony yelled “Screw you all!” and took a break after a certain little brother may or may not have done something to annoy big brother.

“You impertinent git!” Suho screeched

“It’s better to be a git than being old!” Kai retorted.

“Ugh, can’t you guys just make up already?” Tao asked, already annoyed with the two Kim siblings.

“NO!” Suho and Kai yelled at the same time, and more glares were sent in each other’s direction.

It was the fourth week in October, and the brotherly fight was reaching its first week. One would think they would have made up a while ago, but the fight has gotten so bad, the Kim brothers have forgotten about the real cause of the fight and started quarreling on stupid stuff such as “Who hogs up the most space in their Rolls Royce?” or something along those lines. Unfortunately, their friends and family (but mostly their friends) have to deal with this completely stupid conflict. So far, the boys had to stay away from the cafeteria or the library, where they could get in trouble for repeating what happened five years ago in their middle school days (at a lesser extent, of course) and remained in Luhan’s veranda for the meantime during their lunch hours. At this point, the boys were really desperate to find a solution. However, said solution came with a-

Crash!

“Hey, watch it!” the boys heard Hui Lei’s voice. She was accompanied by Jiao-long, who was busy staring at the now-broken teacup Suho had thrown on the floor.

“Hui Lei, what are you two doing here? Don’t you have a class or something to go to?” Yi Fan asked his sister with an annoyed expression.

“Tch, so rude… Aren’t you glad that your awesome siblings are here just to visit you?” Hui Lei said. Yi Fan narrowed his eyes.

“I know you. You two are planning something. Spill it, now,” Yi Fan demanded.

“Fine! You caught us!” Hui Lei raised her hands in aggravation. “We are here because we want to help.”

“No, really. Why are you here?”

“I really meant it. We want to help you guys fix this crack in Kai and Suho’s brotherly love.”

“Please don’t ever say that again. Ever. It’s disturbing.”

“You have such a dirty mind, idiot brother,” Hui Lei poked her brother. “Anyways, all of you better listen to me  ‘cause I’m not repeating it twice.” The 13-year old had everyone’s attention. “You all want this fight to be over and you two want the other to apologize for whatever it is you two are whining about, right?” Everyone nodded.

“Alright then, Jiao-long and I have a proposal for you guys. As you all know, Halloween is coming up, which is also our birthday. That day is full of treats and costumes, but that’s not the main event; after all, nothing is better than scary things on Halloween.”

“Um, I don’t think I like where this is goi-”

“Hush, peasant. I’m speaking,” Hui Lei pressed her finger on Yixing’s lips. “So, how does this relate to your dilemma? I suggest that Kai and Suho, along with you guys, shall spend the night of Halloween at that abandoned building!” Hui Lei and Jiao-long pointed at a small building that was behind the tennis court. From afar, it looked like a regular building. But the boys knew better.

Slam!

Everyone jumped (except for the twins) when they heard the veranda door slide open. Sehun and Luhan were standing at the doorway.

“Oh hey guys,” Luhan greeted the guys, “What are you doing?”

“Luhan! Sehun! You two arrived just in time!” Hui Lei cheered as she pulled the two boys towards the huddled group. “I was just telling everyone that I have the perfect solution to Kai and Suho’s little spat.”

“Oh, that’s great! What is it then?” Sehun said, while Yi Fan shook his head vehemently. Although he and Luhan stayed away from the conflict due to their tutoring sessions, that didn’t mean he wasn’t concerned about his other friends.

“You two, along with everyone else, will spend Halloween night at that abandoned building!”

“Let’s go Sehun,” Luhan started walking away with the younger boy. “You don’t need to be involved in this.”

“But why?” Sehun asked.

“Wait, Luhan!”

“Just listen to Luhan. It’s the wisest thing you could do right now.”

“Stay out of this, idiot brother! Come on, Lu. Don’t you want to help out your friends?”

“I do, but not when it involves something crazy like that!” Luhan said. “You two are always involving us into some really reckless plans, and there is no way I am going to go through whatever you two have in store for us, especially not after what happened two years ago!”

“Can somebody explain what’s going on?!” Sehun exclaimed, but muttered “Sorry” when everybody stared at him wide-eyed.

“Certainly dear,” Hui Lei pulled him away from Luhan. “Jiao-long and I had thought that if you guys stay at that abandoned building, the petty fight between Suho and Kai would end… Don’t get us wrong! This is not a prank, it’s more of a challenge of courage; my brother and I were going to divide you guys into groups; the boys from 2-A would be on Kai’s team and the S.A students would obviously be part of Suho’s team. Each team would stay on either the left wing or the right wing of the building for a whole night without running away or getting scared. The team, or in this case the loser captain, who fails to complete the challenge would have to apologize to the winner and the fight would be over from that point.”

“That sounds like an easy task,” Sehun said, shocking everyone. “What?”

“Brat, are you crazy?” Yi Fan poked Sehun’s forehead a bit too hard. “Do you even know the story behind that building?” Sehun shook his head and Yi Fan scoffed as a result.

“I thought that much,” Yi Fan told the younger. “That building was one of the first to be created when the Academy was under construction. It was going to be some sort of temporary house for the Board of Directors. However, it is said that some accident occurred inside; it was never specified as to what happened. The only consistent thing was that the accident led to the death of one of the female directors. Some claim that the Academy kept it in honor of that woman, but a lot of people say that the real reason was because every time they tried to take it down or renew it, a gwishin would appear to stop anyone from doing so. A lot of people say that the spirit is harmless, but she tends to cause trouble for those who dare enter the building.” At the end of the story, Sehun saw a trembling Tao and Baekhyun.

“Is that why you two don’t want to do this?” he asked Luhan and Yi Fan. “Because you’re scared?”

 “Well, partly,” Yi Fan admitted. “But not because of the story; I’m not really the type to believe in ghost stories. Those devil twins I have for siblings have used us as playthings in whatever thing they trap us in for the past five years; more in my case. Every time they do this to us, it ends in embarrassment and injuries.”

“That’s not true!” Hui Lei protested.

“Oh really? Then how do you explain the Call of Duty-inspired paintball fight in the city outskirt that got half of us with poison ivy?” Luhan said with crossed arms.

“Or the brutal recreation of Battle Royale with half- players?” Chanyeol pointed out.

“That one was kind of fun,” Kai muttered to himself.

“Or that time you made us cross-dress as maids to fulfill whatever twisted fantasy you had just to end up with a handful of guys’ phone numbers for those four?!” Yi Fan pointed at Kyungsoo, Suho, Baekhyun, and Luhan, who were either glaring or blushing.

“I thought we agreed to never mention that one,” Kyungsoo pulled Yi Fan’s ear.

“That’s the one that Luhan was talking about,” Chanyeol whispered into Sehun’s ear.

That explains a lot…

“Okay, so we’ve put you through some pretty rough stuff, but this one’s different. We aren’t doing this out of boredom like those other times; this is to mend the wounds in this brotherly relationship… Besides, we wanted to celebrate our birthday in a non-traditional way this year,” Hui Lei said while displaying a heart-breaking puppy face (or as Yi Fan calls it, the facial expression of doom).

“No way in hell,” Luhan said. He turned around when he felt his blazer being tugged and met with a pouting Jiao-long. All of the guys (with the exception of Tao and Sehun) were trying to resist the innocent displays the twins were giving them.

“Come on, guys!” Tao went to hug Jiao-long. “I mean, just look at his face. You can’t say no to this face.”

“But you are afraid of- Argh! Never mind… I accept the challenge,” Yi Fan declared. The other guys gave up and agreed; the only one left was Luhan. The oldest sighed in defeat.

“I guess I have no choice in this matter,” he told them. “What about you?” Luhan asked Sehun.

“I’m the Eleventh Doctor. Who are you guys supposed to be?” Sehun asked them as they waited for Jiao-long and the others to arrive in front of the building.

“The Twelveth Doctor,” Tao answered as he adjusted the blue jacket he was wearing.

“Tenth,” Baekhyun told him as he played around with the so-called ‘Sonic Screwdriver.’

“Ninth. It’s the ears,” Chanyeol said as he shook his head.

“The panual Captain Jack,” Kai grinned as he made a ‘y’ pose with his military uniform, but the illusion was broken when he let out a shriek. Sehun saw him point behind him and saw Jiao-long, who was covered in all grey and wore angel wings and a robe.

“What are you?!” Kai yelled at the boy.

“A Weeping Angel,” Jiao-long answered. He was met with blank expressions.

“Ah, you guys are here!” Sehun heard Hui Lei’s voice getting near. Kai’s team looked at the upcoming group and started gaping. Suho’s group was dressed in very elaborate Victorian clothing. Out of the group, Suho and Yixing’s outfit was normal-looking, if one considered a peasant farmer-looking outfit and chef’s clothing as ‘normal’. Yi Fan was wearing a butler outfit and his blond hair was now dark. However, the ones who stole the show were Hui Lei, Kyungsoo and Luhan. Hui Lei had a long purple wig and a violet-and white maid outfit while the two boys wore ruffled blue and violet suits respectively. But the eye-catching parts of their outfits was the ‘caged’ hat that adorned Kyungsoo’s head whereas Luhan was wearing tight short shorts with garters attached to the stockings; both of them had whips in their hands.

In other words, their outfits were very elegant yet -looking.

“Aw! Why do you guys get the cute outfits?” Baekhyun pouted.

“This is not cute,” Luhan said firmly. “This is degrading beyond repair.”

“Luhan, please, you look adorable as Alois Trancy,” Hui Lei said.

“That still doesn’t make me feel better when both of us know what happens to Alois in  Kurosuji,” Luhan protested. “And I’m not adorable. I’m manly.”

“Keep telling yourself that while wearing that outfit,” Yi Fan snickered. Luhan glared at him.

“Your character is a child molester,” Luhan told him.

“What?!” Yi Fan exclaimed in horror. Luhan smiled internally; he thanked whatever existent higher figure out there that Yi Fan doesn’t really know too much about anime. “Is that why you made me wear this?!” he asked (yelled) at Hui Lei. Hui Lei just smirked.

“Maybe,” the girl replied nonchalantly.

“Yi Fan, don’t worry… You don’t look like a child molester,” Tao pointed out, which made the addressee blush. The two of them were clearly having a moment… until they heard camera flashes. They looked at the source and realized the twins (and Kai) were taking pictures of them with cameras that seemed to appear out of thin air.

“I’m not even gonna bother,” Yi Fan stated. The photo session was now over.

After the twins decided his team was going to take the right wing, the members of class 2-A were led to a room on said location. What surprised him was that, unlike the rest of the building, the room wasn’t too dusty. It was a relief because he’s not too keen on sleeping inside a dusty place. That, and there were enough beds for everyone.

“Did your sister and you come before this even started?” Baekhyun asked Jiao-long. The younger boy nodded.  “Then that means we will be able to survive the night then and beat that idiot,” Kai said gleefully. Everyone else just face palmed.

Jiao-long cleared his throat, catching everyone’s attention. “Here,” he gave everyone a flashlight. “The sky’s already darkening.”

“Thanks,” Sehun replied, checking if the item worked.

“So, how long do we stay here?” Tao asked, not liking the idea of being in the dark with mere flashlights.

“If I’m not mistaken, we should stay here until six in the morning,” Jiao-long replied “or earlier than that if the other team cowers out of the challenge. Meanwhile, we will communicate with the other team through this,” he raised a laptop.

“Wait, there’s Wi-Fi?” Chanyeol asked incredulously although he was ignored by Yi Fan’s brother.

A few minutes later, the teams were able to talk to each other through Skype.

“Hi Jiao-long!” the boys heard Hui Lei. “Say ‘hi’ to the others,” she instructed the S.A members.

“Hi,” the S.A students sounded kind of gloomy. “I’m not saying hi to that idiot,” they heard Suho say.

“It takes one to know one,” Kai said with a smirk.

“Can you two behave?” Luhan’s voice was heard after what seemed like a small slapping sound.

“Luhan!” Kai pouted as he got closer to the screen.

“I mean it, Kai,” Luhan told him.

“He’s right,” Kyungsoo appeared next to Luhan. “This is your fault that we’re stuck here.”

“Ah, don’t worry. When I win, I will make it up to you two,” Kai winked at them. The two S.A students rolled their eyes at their friend’s antics.

“What about us?” Yixing asked.

“I didn’t forget about you. I will find you a better boyfriend; that way you won’t have to spend your days with that thing!” Kai pointed at Suho.

“We a-aren’t dating!” Yixing’s blush could be seen on the screen.

“Excuse me?! I would make a better boyfriend than you would ever be!” Suho retorted.

“Ha! You’re so funny! You can’t even manage to get a ‘ménage-á-trois,’ unlike me, who’s in one with Luhan and Kyungsoo,” Kai boasted.

“Yah! Stop saying weird things!” Luhan exclaimed.

“What’s a ‘ménage-á-trois’?” Sehun asked innocently.

“Um, it’s a , if you get my gist,” Tao blushed. Sehun’s eyes widened, regretting he ever asked that.

 “We aren’t engaged in any ual stuff, you ert,” Kyungsoo huffed.

“We can change that,” Hui Lei piped in. Jiao-long nodded in agreement.

“Hui Lei! Jiao-long!” Yi Fan yelled at his sister.

“Um, this got awkward,” Chanyeol said. “We are in front of children. Why are we talking about this?”

“Chanyeol’s right,” Yi Fan stated. “We shouldn’t bring this up at all. This conversation is over. See you next hour,” he said and the screen was black. The room fell silent.

“Thanks for traumatizing me,” Baekhyun told Kai. Kai just smirked.

“I don’t know,” Kyungsoo replied, although his answer was not all that true. “We all know how Kai is.”

“Can you two leave the topic alone? I’m getting images that shouldn’t be there at all in the first place after what that brat said,” Yi Fan complained.

“And you two call Kai a ert,” Hui Lei muttered out loud as she typed some stuff on the laptop. Yi Fan started coughing.

“Okay, not a single word relating to to be spoken by any of you, especially you,” Suho told everyone and pointed at Hui Lei.

Luhan laid down on one of the beds, looking up at the ceiling.

“I’m bored! I want to go to the other side,” he heard Kai exclaim.

“You’re too young to die,” Baekhyun’s voice sounded sleepy; Sehun wanted to snort but he was supposed to be sleeping.

“Not that other side,” Kai elaborated, “I meant the left wing. I want to bother the guys over there.”

Of course you do, Sehun thought.

“Of course you do,” he heard Chanyeol mutter his thoughts, “you’re going to have to wait ‘til tomorrow and that is if Luhan-hyung and Appa allow you to.”

“Please, I can take Yi Fan on my own,” Kai said in a cocky manner.

No you can’t… That would be suicidal of your part.

“He has Tao and the twins,” Baekhyun and Chanyeol said at the same time. “And you might want to quiet down. Sehun and Tao are still sleeping.”

Exactly my point, guys. Except for the sleeping part; I’m very much awake.

You’re quite talkative today, Sehun. I’m surprised.

Shut up. It’s not like you don’t talk.

“Tch, you’re no fun,” Kai said gloomily.

Thump!

“What was that?” Baekhyun asked.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Sehun couldn’t help it, but his instinct told him to sit up. He saw the guys were frozen while Tao was still sleeping.

“Guys, can you lower the noise?” Tao complained in his sleep. Baekhyun rushed to his side and woke him up.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

“What’s going on?” Sehun asked.

“Gentlemen, I think we are no longer alone,” Jiao-long replied nonchalantly. “After all, the gwishin starts to manifest before midnight until three or four in the morning.”

“What?” Tao squeaked a bit. “Are you serious?”

Sehun watched as the youngest Wu opened the laptop and contacted his sister, but couldn’t help getting distracted by the continuous thumping sound.

“Little brother! Long time, no see!” Hui Lei greeted.

“I think the manifestation has begun on our side of the building,” he told her. One last thump was heard at that moment. After this, silence seemed to prevail.

It stopped.

Thump!

Never mind.

Fool, use your ears! It’s not coming from this side anymore.

Sehun realized the thumping sound was heard through the laptop. Apparently the noise moved on to the left wing.

“It seems it’s on our side now,” Hui Lei stated, “You know what t-.” The laptop screen turned completely dark.

“Are you serious?” Jiao-long asked no one in particular. “I’m going to have to check the connection outside the room. I’m not going to take long.”

“Are you crazy? You’re not going alone out there. Especially if there is a gwishin out there,” Tao told him.

“One of you has to come with me, then,” Jiao-long suggested. All of the boys looked at Sehun.

“What?” Sehun asked, but regretted it afterwards.

“You’re the maknae,” Baekhyun told him. “You go.”

“Really? That’s your great argument?” Sehun deadpanned.

“I would go, but I’m team captain. Sorry,” Kai told him, not feeling sorry at all.

“Fine, lead the way,” Sehun resignedly told Jiao-long.

“Gladly,” the boy replied.

The two youngest team members walked out of the room into the dark hallway. Sehun noticed that not only had their surroundings darkened (with the exception of their flashlights) and became more eerie-looking, but the temperature had dropped significantly. 

"Where are we going exactly?" 

"We're going downstairs. There's a room downstairs with a bunch of cables and what-not. I don't think we're going to take long, so don't get scared; it has happened to me before."

"I'm not scared."

"You're too stiff. That's one of the signs of fear."

"Well it is cold. You probably don't feel it with all those robes."

Jiao-long stopped walking and looked at Sehun.

"You said it was cold."

"Yeah, why? Is something wrong?"

"Never mind. It's that people usually say that when the temperarture lowers in places like these, it's because there's a g- Gwishin!"

Sehun looked at where Jiao-long was pointing and his eyes widened. Not too far from them was the figure of a woman with long dark hair, pale skin, and a white hanbok. They remained frozen for what seemed like hours, but when they saw the woman move towards them, they started to run back to where there room was at. When they got there, the door was locked.

"Open the door!" Jiao-long yelled at the people inside. Sehun looked behind him and saw the woman getting closer to them.

"Guys, come on!" Sehun pressured. He watched as the door knob shook slightly, but the door wasn't opening.

"We can't! The door is stuck!" they heard Tao say in frustration.

"Don't open the door then!" Jiao-long grabbed Sehun's wrist and pulled him to the nearest door on their left. Lucky for them, the door was open. They ran inside and shut the door as fast as they could. The two boys were in a room with a desk, a couch, and bookshelves, or at least that's what Sehun saw. For some weird reason, his eyesight became blurry.

That's weird

Soon, he was unable to breathe properly.

What's happening to me?

He was starting to feel dizzy. Sehun saw the blurry world move around him in a circle motion. He barely noticed when his knees met the floor. The last thing he saw was Jiao-long wearing something similar to a gas mask, staring down at him before he allowed the darkness to take him.

---

"What happened?" Luhan asked Hui Lei when the laptop screen went dark.

"I don't know. It seems that the connection got lost when the thumping began on our side," Hui Lei answered a bit loud due to the constant noise.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

"Ow!" Luhan jumped when he heard Yi Fan yell out in pain.

"What's wrong?" Yixing asked the boy, who was now grasping his right cheek.

"I felt like someone scratched my cheek with sharp nails," Yi Fan explained. Luhan pulled his hand off the area and saw a thin scarlet line on Yi Fan's cheek. Everyone gasped when they caught the sight of this. "Yi Fan, you're bleeding," Luhan told him.

"What?!" Yi Fan exclaimed as he touched his cheek again. Hui Lei shushed him.

"I don't think we're the only ones in this room anymore," she whispered with a serious expression.

Everyone stayed silent for a bit, listening to the thumping sound that became more and more faint as time passed. Luhan looked around the room and he swore he saw the hanging mirror in the corner of the room sway a bit. He began to walk towards it.

Stop it! Don't do it!

"Luhan?" he heard Suho call him but he ignored him. He kept walking towards it until he was in front of it. Luhan stared at the mirror to see if he could find the abnormality, but he only saw his reflection. He placed his palm on the mirror and next thing he knows, he sees a woman with long dark hair, pale skin, and a white hanbok. He gasped and tried to step away, but his feet were frozen on the ground. Luhan felt as the mirror became a gap and a hand grasped his wrist and pulled him into the darkness.

---

Where am I? What happened?

Slowly but surely, Sehun regained his consciousness. As soon as his eyesight was no longer blurry, he looked around his surroundings. He was in the same room where he fainted, but Jiao-long was no where to be seen. Instead, his flashlight had its focus on one of the bookshelves. He tried getting up, but he had yet to regain the feeling of his legs. Once that happened, he stumble to the door. Unfortunately, the door was locked.

Creak!

He looked back and saw the same bookshelf had moved to the side, revealing what seemed to be a secret passage. To where, Sehun didn't know.

Might as well find out... It could lead to an exit

Sehun grabbed his flashlight and walked into the passage. There were two paths on either side of him. 

Which way should I go?

Go left

The boy just listened to the voice inside his head, and walked on that direction. The path was straight and it turned out to be longer than expected. 

Do you think this will lead to the others?

I don't know. It's possible that you will find the way out of this faster than you can find your group.

I guess... I wonder if they're alright.

Don't worry much. The twins obviously had something to do with this, so they wouldn't do something extreme as to kill them.

But how? They were with us the whole time.

Think about it, they were here before us. They're familiarized with the building. They were the ones that suggested this whole charade, which you accepted like a glad idiot. They divided us into groups with each one on their own. The gwishin coincidentally appeared right after we lost communication with Hui Lei, and you saw Jiao-long wearing a gas mask! Do you want more proof or should I go into full Sherlock mode?

Good point... Do you think Suho's group got targeted, too?

Most likely

He was so deep in his mental la-la land, Sehun didn't realize the path had finally ended until he felt his foot meet with something stiff. He focused the light to the floor and saw a giant book. Sehun bent down and examined it better. The cover of the book said 'Open Me.'

I just hope this isn't another trick

Sehun went ahead and opened the book, which revealed a giant gap in the middle of the page. Inside the gap, there was a button. He pressed it, hoping that nothing bad would happen. Luckily for him, the wall before him slid sideways and opened up an exit to a hallway. Sehun didn't doubt it one second and he got out, the wall closing behind him. His amazement was interrupted when he heard the loud thunder from the hallway windows. As the thunder roared angrily, he kept walking left, hoping it would lead to safety.

---

What the hell?!

After Luhan had been abruptly pulled away from his group, he felt something fabric-like cover his eyes and was led to who-knows-where. At some point, he started feeling dizzy and he lost connection to the real world.

He was now laying down in a field full of peonies and nothing else.

He looked around and stared in wonder as the soft breeze made the peonies dance in the direction the wind blew. A few minutes passed and petals started flying around until they remained on two spots in front of him. The petals started to form two human shapes. One of them was smaller than the other. As soon as the shapes were formed, the petals flew away, revealing a beautiful woman with dark brunnette hair and warm hazel brown eyes and a girl who looked no older than four with her appearance similar to the woman's. Both of them had the biggest smiles ever. Luhan's eyes teared up at the sight of the two females.

They were Mei-Hua and Chu-Hua, his mother and sister. 

He walked slowly towards them, hoping they wouldn't disappear any time soon. They were still there standing, smiling at him.

"Luhan," his mother called him to them.

Luhan couldn't take it anymore and ran to his mom. She received him with open arms and wrapped them around the boy. Luhan felt arms wrap around his leg and realized it was Chu-Hua. He let go of his mother just to pick up the younger girl.

"Why are you crying?" Chu-Hua asked him as she wiped his tears away. "I don't like it when you cry."

Luhan let out a small laugh at his sister's actions. "I'm crying because I'm happy. I missed you two so much."

"Aw, Hannie," his mother his cheek, "we're always going to be here." Mei-Hua pointed at his heart. Luhan smiled.

"What about me? Did you miss me?"

That voice

He turned around and saw him. The cheeky boy with darkish brown amber hair and warm brown eyes. Different images of his younger self with that boy resurfaced in his mind. 

"M-Minseok?" Luhan asked as he felt his sister and his mother step away from him. The other boy smiled at him.

"Did you really forget me, Xiao Lu?" Minseok pouted and gave him a playful grin afterwards. He started walking towards Luhan. Soon, the fourteen year old was in front of him.

"It really is you," Luhan said. "You haven't changed at all."

"Neither have you," Minseok told him as he shook Luhan's hair. Luhan realized at the moment that he had shrinked. Not only that, he was no longer his eighteen year old self but a thirteen year old petite boy.

And for once, I thought I outgrew him

"Don't worry," Minseok brought Luhan's hand into his own, "from what I saw, you grew into a handsome boy." This made Luhan blush.

"Stop saying weird things," Luhan replied. Minseok just chuckled. However, the older boy's warm expression turned into one of gloom.

"Minseok? Are you okay?"

"It's unfortunate you grew up without me."

The sounds of thunder erupted. Luhan's eyes widened in fear. Minseok let go of Luhan's hand, while the latter tried to grab it back.

"Minseok! Don't leave me!" Luhan started to panic as Minseok walked away from him.

"I didn't leave you, but you did. Why did you leave me?"

"I-I had no ot-other choice! I w-was forced t-to! Please, d-don't leave m-me!"

"You seem fine without me!"

"No!"

"Goodbye Lu Han," Minseok looked at him with a stoic expression. Luhan looked behind him when he heard more thunder; his mom and his sister were no longer there. He faced Minseok and saw the scenery change. They were no longer in the field, but outside his traditional home in Shou Xi Hu. He was about to run to Minseok, but he felt hands restrict him from doing so. 

"Let me go!" he cried to the men dressed in black that were holding him back. He tried to escape his restraints, but everytime he tried to fight, he saw the distance between him and Minseok increase until he was inside the car that would take him away from his dear friend. Luhan stared at the window, trying to catch a last glimpse of Minseok, but the older boy had disappeared. Luhan felt pain, both emotional and physical. His entire body became extremely hot and his head was being stabbed by a thousand knives.

"I know it hurts, but we're getting closer to the hospital. Just try to hold on," Luhan heard his mother say. Luhan let out a gasp.

What happened?

Luhan saw his mother on the driver's seat and his sister next to him. Luhan stared at his reflection on the window. Once again, a change occured; Luhan could barely make out the shape thanks to the rain, but he found out that he was now five years old.

He was too deep in his thoughts, he barely managed to feel his sister's palm on his forehead.

"Mommy," he heard Chu-Hua say worriedly, "Luhan's getting warmer."

"We're almost there," Luhan would've believed his mother was calm if it wasn't for the slight wavering of her voice. It didn't help that thunder striked once again..

Something's not right here...

I've been through all of this before, but when?

What is it? There's something I'm missing...

The rain increased along with the thunder. The car became unsteady along the slippery road.

"Mommy, what's going on?!" Chu-Hua cried as she felt the harsh movement of the car.

Thunder... Car... Warmth... Eighteen... Thirteen... Five... Mom... Chu-Hua

Luhan's eyes widened when he recalled the lost memory.

"Everything is going to be alright," Mei-Hua assured her daughter.

... Death

All of a sudden, Mei-Hua lost control of the car as it skidded on the road. Then, another car came out of nowhere. Luhan closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. But as the minutes passed nothing happened. He opened his eyes, hoping that this was some horrible nightmare. He was falling into an abyss of darkness. Everything seemed peaceful, until the painful screams began. Luhan recognized his mother and his sister's voice.

They're in agony! Stop! I need to help them!

This is all your fault! If you didn't get sick that day, none of this would've happened!

No! Stop it! 

You hear them, don't you? Screaming out of pain! You were the one that was supposed to die, not them!

Stop!

You're selfish! You killed them!

Luhan saw his mother and his sister glaring at him. Luhan stared in horror as they transformed into bloodied corpses. Then he saw Minseok glare at him. The screams became louder. Thunder roared angrily through the darkness. He heard the faint sounds of someone playing Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata"... that someone was Mei-Hua.

Luhan became too overwhelmed to the point where he joined in the chorus of agonizing screams.

---

At one point, Sehun's flashlight stopped working while trying to find his way back. His only source of light was the lighting flashes that occured now and then. Luckily for him, he did not have another encounter with the (non-existent) gwishin. Unfortunately, he has not found any of his friends.

Sehun's eyes widened. Thunder roared again, louder than ever before. But that wasn't what gave him chills up his spine; it was the scream in the background. 

Was that Luhan?!

Before he knew what he was doing, Sehun was rushing to the direction where the scream came from.

"Luhan!" Sehun yelled as he searched through all the rooms in his path. As he came accross empty rooms and the screams began to decrease, he began to feel frustrated with himself.

I need to find him fast! He could be hurt! Where is he?

Creak!

Sehun turned to the direction of the noise and saw the double doors at the end of the hallway open slightly. He decided to walk slowly towards the door, hoping that he would find Luhan in there and that this wasn't one of the twins' tricks. When he was at the doorway, he peeked inside. From what he saw, the room was a bedroom for one person. There was a bed on the left side of the room with an ottoman seat in front of it. There were two couches by the windows with a small round table in the middle. In the far right corner of the room, there was a grand piano. The sound of thunder interrupted his observations. He was about to leave, seeing as how the room was empty. But something told him to stay. He looked around the room, but it was just like he thought it was. Then he heard sobbing sounds coming from the bed. His first guess was to look under the bed, but he was mistaken. The sound was coming from the ottoman seat. Sehun stood in front of it and placed his hands on the lid and opened it.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw a sleeping Luhan inside the seat. But it disappeared quickly when he realized his friend was crying.

"Luhan," Sehun called the older boy. The latter seemed to be deep in his dreams.

Or nightmares... 

He shook Luhan's shoulder gently, trying to wake him up from whatever ordeal he was going through in his head.

"Luhan, wake up," Sehun begged as he felt time go by as Luhan remained that way. A few seconds passed and Luhan released a gasp as his eyes opened.

"Luhan," he called him once again, catching the boy's attention.

"S-Seh-hun?" Luhan's tear-filled eyes widened in surprise, but were clenched shut when he heard thunder. 

Is he-?

"Luhan, are you afraid of thunder?"

Luhan whimpered, indirectly answering Sehun's question. 

Sehun didn't like seeing Luhan like this, but he was clueless as to how to comfort the latter. It was usually Luhan who was the one who comforted everyone, being the oldest and all. Out of everyone in their odd group, he was the one who seemed the most calm and sane. However, that wasn't the case; Luhan seemed to be most vulnerable at the moment and Sehun felt useless because he wasn't used to this sort of stuff. He was stoic and seemed emotionless most of the time, which was very different from Luhan. Sehun wasn't the type of person one would go for comfort and affection.

What should I do?

Sehun quickly placed his arms behind Luhan's neck and knees, pulling him out of the seat like a mother carrying her baby out of a crib. He heard Luhan release a surprised gasp, but that didn't stop him. It was a bit of a struggle because Sehun wasn't the strongest person, but he managed to walk closer to the left side of the bed with the boy in tow. He tried releasing Luhan, but the latter clinged to him. 

"Luhan, I-," Sehun was interrupted when he heard the other mutter something in Mandarin.

"Please, don't leave me," Luhan cried.

"I-I won't, I promise you that," Sehun told him. "But I need to get something to cover you; you're freezing." Luhan finally

loosened his hold when he stood up.

Sehun pulled the bed covers and placed them around Luhan. Thunder striked again and Luhan tried to go back to the seat, but Sehun pulled him as he walked up to the bed. 

"Are you really going to hide after what I had to go through in order to find you?" Sehun asked him in a playful manner as he sat down on the floor, hoping that the tensions in the room disappeared.

"I-I'm sorry," Luhan faced down. 

"Don't apologize; I was only joking. Come sit down with me," the younger patted the spot next to him. Luhan did as he was told.

"How d-did you find m-me?" 

"I heard you scream. I guess I just followed the noise."

"Oh. I guess I have to apologize for that. I usually don't behave like this."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"You already did enough for me. I don't want to burden you with unnecessary stuff."

"Luhan, if I helped you as a stranger, it's obvious I will help you as your friend. It's not going to bother me if I help you one more time."

"I-It's complicated."

"I think I can handle a few words better than what the twins had in store for us tonight."

Luhan let out a long sigh before telling him.

"I dreamt of my mother and my sister... It was a pleasant dream at first, but it soured quickly." Sehun saw Luhan shudder. "I-I was five years old; my mom was dr-riving the car on the way to the hospital because I-I had a fever. Chu-Hua was sitting next to me. T-there was a storm that night and t-the road was slippery. Our car crashed with another... I heard them scream in pain as they slowly died!" Luhan began crying once again. "I would have liked to believe it never happened, but it wasn't a nightmare. They're gone! And it's all my fault!"

From the outside, Sehun had his usual serious expression, but in the inside, he felt his heart break. He only knew Luhan was having a nightmare, but he didn't expect this.

"Luhan, don't say that," Sehun tried convincing him otherwise.

"It's true!" Luhan sobbed. "If I-I didn't have that stupid fever, my mom and my sister would still be here with Father and I! I-I was the o-one that was supposed to d-die that night; I was weak enough to... they didn't deserve this! Not mom, not Chu-Hua, especially not my Father! I-If the accident never occured, Father wouldn't have the need to stay away from home for more than a decade! He would be happy watching my sister grow up along with mom instead of visiting their grave every year until the end of days!"

For the first time ever, Sehun understood why Luhan acted the way he did. Luhan felt the need to protect others to prevent them from going through the whirpool of emotions he suffered and the apparent loneliness he had to go through since he was a child. This explained why he was close enought to the people he cherished, but kept a certain distance to avoid troubling others. And in doing so, Luhan kept his troubles and fears to himself, out of the public view. All of a sudden, Sehun felt that there were worst things than the struggles he had to go through; hell, his struggles didn't even make up half of the things Luhan had to go through.

Not able to stand this sight any longer, Sehun pulled Luhan into an awkward hug and wiped the tears away until there was no trace left.

"Listen to me, Luhan, and don't you dare object because I will repeat this as many times as I need to until it sticks in that thick skull of yours," Sehun said firmly as he gently poked Luhan's forehead. "What happened to your mom and your sister was horrible and they didn't deserve it. However, you need to stop blaming yourself; it was an accident that you didn't cause. Instead of judging yourself in a harsh manner, you should be grateful you still live... never mind that, we are grateful you are amongst the living! You should listen to the praises people sing about you!"

"Y-You're e-exager-rating."

"If you don't believe me, ask everyone who knows you. Those who you have tutored, with the exception of that bastard. Your fan club; gosh, they won't shut up about you! If you want an honest opinion, ask your wonderful friends that are willing to fight for you. Or you can just ask me, the sponsored student who wouldn't have survived this place without your sane self who received me with open arms when I needed it."

"But I wasn't nice to you in the beginning!" 

"Forget the past! You have helped me and I'm extremely grateful to you. And for that reason, I hereby pronounce that Oh Sehun will always be there to help and protect his friend, Luhan, from his deep troubles and fears so that he wouldn't have to rely solely on himself."

At the end of his little rant, Sehun looked at Luhan, who was staring at him with shock and slight amusement.

"I think you have spent too much time with Kai."

"Kai or no Kai, I still vow to do this for you."

"Promise?"

Sehun sticked out his thumb and his pinkie and with his other hand, he held Luhan's until he intertwined the smaller fingers and had the thumbs touch each other.

"I promise."

The two of them stayed like this for a bit before their hands got tired, but they never separated from each other. An hour or two had passed and the thunder had disappeared during Sehun's speech and the boys were talking about random stuff.

"So what did you do before coming to the Academy?" It was Luhan's turn to ask questions.

"Besides going to public school and studying my arse off, not much I guess. I wasn't really one to socialize with  people my own age; in my opinion, they were too preocupied about unnecessary stuff when they could be doing something to move ahead. That's why my time consisted of school and helping mom out at the flower shop. It probably sounds pretty boring to you," Sehun said sheepishly.

"No, I think it's so much better than spending one's money on their free time on useless things. In fact, you're pretty interesting compared to the shallow boys and girls that come here. I'm not going to lie, there are a few exceptions to the rule, but other than that were just a bunch of rich bastards who have barely lifted a finger in their whole entire lives."

"You're not a bastard, and from what Suho told me, you actually know how to do 'commoner' work. How did that happen?"

"Why thank you for the kind gesture," Luhan joked, "as for your question, let's just say I learned from a very special person in my heart. If it wasn't for-"

"Sehun! Luhan! Where are you?!" the two boys heard Yixing call their names.

"I guess that story is reserved for another time," Luhan told him as he stood up and offered Sehun a hand, which he gladly accepeted. They ran to the entrance and called Yixing until Luhan's cousin could find them. Yixing was not alone; in fact, the two groups (with the exception of the twins) were with him.

"Luhan!" Kai ran towards Luhan and glomped him. "I was so worried about you!"

"I'm fine, I swear. Now let me go. I can't breathe!" Luhan complained. Seeing as how Kai wasn't releasing Luhan, Sehun cleared his throat which distracted the tan boy and allowed Luhan to take advantage of this moment to escape.

"Sehun, I didn't forget about you big guy!" Kai grinned nervously.

"Of course you didn't," Sehun said sarcastically.

"Okay, enough with the affectionate moments," Yi Fan huffed. "Let's get out of here before we get lost again."

They were at the end of the staircase near the exit, when Baekhyun stopped walking.

"Wait, who won?"

"I did," Kai and Suho declared at the same time. "Liar, take that back!"

Everyone sweatdropped until Sehun decided to speak.

"None of you won," Sehun stated, "the twins were behind this so there was no valid competition at all."

"I knew they were behind this!" Yi Fan grumbled.

"Right... um, where are they?" Chanyeol asked.

As if they were summoned, Hui Lei and Jiao-long appeared at the top of the staircase, screaming their heads off as they ran down. They were stopped when Yi Fan pulled them by their collars.

"Not so fast, you two!" Yi Fan glared at them.

"Let go, you idiot!" Hui Lei yelled. "We have to leave now! The gwishin is behind us!"

"We're not falling for your tricks again," Yi Fan said. "We know that there's no gwishin."

"Yeah?! Then how do you explain that?!" Hui Lei pointed behind the guys, where there was a figure of a woman with long dark hair and pale skin, wearing a white hanbok. Everyone stared in horror, although Yi Fan was still skeptical.

"Guys, come on! It's a hologram," Yi Fan walked up to the woman trying to shake off the image of the so-called hologram... until he felt icy skin and real locks of hair. The woman was now glaring at Yi Fan.

"Gah! It's real!" Yi Fan screamed as he ran towards a horrified Tao and carried him bridal-style. "Every man for himself!"

"Yi Fan, you idiot!" Hui Lei exclaimed as she pulled her twin. Nobody thought twice about running away from the building after this.

---

To say that the guys were embarassed after Halloween was an understatement... especially after children from the grade school portion of the Academy found them sleeping in the playground next to their building the next day. Not only that, the picture of ten horrified male teenagers in front of a gwishin appeared in the school's newspaper. 

It turns out that the twins wanted to have access to all of the resources the high school's newspaper club had and in order to do this, they needed to scare the most popular boys in the Academy (a.k.a. "the flower boys of the 'S.A' and 2-A classes" according to the club's VP). Of course this didn't prove to be an obstacle for said twins (except for the gwishin). Unfortunately for the boys, they were bombarded with love letters and autograph requests from the fan girls (mostly from Luhan, Kai, and Yi Fan's fan clubs respectively) and a few guys, too. It seemed that the only good thing that occured so far was the end of the (stupid) fight between Kai and Suho.

"I love you, man!" Kai hugged his brother.

"I love you too!" Suho replied.

"Yes! Brotherly love is back on at its fullest!" Hui Lei exclaimed as Jiao-long clapped in agreement.

"Remind me again as to why you two are here?" Yi Fan grumbled.

"Because the newspaper club allowed us to," the girl told him, smirking.

At the moment, the oddball group was in the newspaper club's "headquarters" located in the second floor of the high school building, reading (or destroying) the letters. For example, while Kai was actually reading his letters,Yi Fan and Yixing were shredding and drawing on the paper respectively. Sehun was amongst the shredders because Luhan became overwhelmed with the many erted comments that were directed towards him (much to Hui Lei and Kai's amusement). He was about to destroy one of the letters, but went agaisnt it when he noticed the letter was not in Korean or Mandarin. He realized it was French after accidentally grabbing Luhan's French homework one day after tutoring. Although he at learning languages, Sehun recognized the letter was directed to Luhan. Other than that, he wasn't able to 'read' further on because Hui Lei took the letter away and placed it inside the shredder.

"Wha-" Sehun was about to protest but Hui Lei shut him up.

"I'm afraid you don't need to find out about this one yet," Hui Lei mumbled the last part to herself. "I see you're almost done. Here," she handed him a pile of letters, "these are yours. Do what you want with them."

Sehun dropped his head to the table and sighed in defeat before starting again with his pile.

Hell, I didn't even think I had a a pile!

"Need any help?" he heard Luhan's voice next to him.

"Sure, I guess," Sehun replied. Luhan sat down next to him and started going through Sehun's pile. A few minutes later, he heard Luhan chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Sehun asked confused.

"Look at this," Luhan showed him the paper. The paper had a drawing of Sehun in chibi version, smiling; below the drawing, someone wrote, 'Oppa, I love you!.' Sehun glared at the drawing.

"Unbelievable," Sehun huffed. "That doesn't even look like me."

"Aw, but you just need to smile," Luhan placed the letter on the table and placed them on either side of Sehun's cheeks, trying to make the latter smile. He made Sehun's face look like he was smiling painfully.

"There, now you two look similar!" Luhan smiled at this seemingly adorable logic of his. "You should keep the picture."

"I don't want it," Sehun seriously didn't like the picture. "Why don't you keep it since you like it so much?"

"You know what," Luhan said. "I will."

This caught Sehun off guard. "What?"

"You heard me. You won't see it now, but when you are having a bad day, these letters, as stupid and tedious they may seem right now, these letters are serious mood lifters," Luhan explained. "Besides, it's adorable."

Look who's talking, Luhan

"Fine," Sehun said resignedly, until an idea popped up in his mind. He walked away towards Luhan's bookbag and returned with said item. Luhan raised an eyebrow. "Since you are so keen on keeping it," Sehun pulled Luhan's binder out of the bag and placed the picture inside the binder's cover pocket, "you wouldn't mind having it here, right?"

"Of course not," Luhan told him with a grin.

"That's great because I expect my image to be displayed on your binder for the whole world to see," Sehun said sincerely with an evil smile.

"Well, look at the outcome. You're smiling right now," Luhan said, patting Sehun's head.

"Yah, I'm not your dog," Sehun complained in a joking way. "I'm your knight in shining armor. You should praise me, princess."

"I'm not a princess," Luhan pouted. "And I'm older than you, pabo."

"Fine, then... You are my Prince Charming and I'm your knight in shining armor who will protect and fulfill everyone of your whims. How does that sound?"

"I like it."

And so, the pact between Prince Charming and his knight became stronger (much to Hui Lei's glee).

---

Author's Note: Finally! I got over this one! Yay!

I apologize for not updating in almost a whole month's time span. But I hope updates are more often now that I am almost done with my college stuff (BTW: I got admitted into one college already! Whoo!).

Damn, there was a lot of implied parings this time: HunHan, TaoRis, SuLay, and KaiLuSoo (the ^J^ TeeHee). I really need to add more BaekYeol though. Oh, and Xiumin has been introduced (sort of)! I felt terrible for being such an a-hole to Luhan, but I loved that whole "Yi Fan, you idiot!" thing when he found out the gwishin was real XD ... There are obvious sci-fi and anime mentions (Disclaimer: I don't own Kurosuji or Doctor Who. If I did, would I be here in the first place?)

There was a little foreshadowing in this chapter that hints towards the next (evil grin).

Thank you all for your support. Keep subscribing and commenting on "What did you guys think about this chapter? Did you enjoy the Halloween-theme of this chapter? Why am I still talking?"

See you next time,

~Ulyana ^J^