Random Rambles: Hey guys! I promise the story will make more sense as it progresses! Since this is my first fanfic ever, I'll try my best to properly get into it. Ye be warned, this chapter is a bit long /)(OoO)(\ And again, comments are appreciated, kamsahamida~! (^-^)

***

A tall young man walked through the hallways of the old school building, perpetually thinking to himself how the local high school looked like some kind of preppy Ivy-league college with its old world façade, marble floors and high ceilings that reminded him of a cathedral. He reached the scarlet tie around his neck and tried to loosen it, but ended up only wiggling it a bit. School regulations stated that uniforms should be worn properly, those that failed to do so would be reprimanded and he was in no mood to spend the rest of the afternoon in detention- again. Detention wasn't his style. 

As he arrived at his locker and opened it, revealing a slim, full length mirror on the inside of the door, he was thankful that the school uniform, at least, was his style. Completely and utterly so. Consistent with the chic flair of the old school, the male students wore dark gray, two-button blazers, pants to match, and white collar shirts. The school's emblem, a scarlet shield depicting a black bonsai tree inside it, was sewn neatly on the left pocket. Even though he was admittedly fond of his uniform, and more importantly, how great it looked with him wearing it, he was even more grateful for the school uniforms worn by the girls.

He put on his best smile and leaned casually against the door of his locker as a group of them past by. He took his time to appreciate the fact that the girls were made to wear scarlet skirts reaching just above the knees. Revealing only a teasingly amount of skin, as the rest of their legs were covered by dark gray, knee-high socks. He pretended to check on his collar while he used the mirror to continue to watch the girls sashay away. When he saw the goofy grin reflected on his own face, he cleared his throat. Well, at least it was a sign that he was a healthy guy, no harm in appreciating beauty when it was so obvious for him to see, right? 

After quickly smoothing over his honey blonde hair, he finally grabbed the books he intended to get. He heaved a burdensome sigh when he looked at his math book and checked his reflection one last time. Despite being absolutely sleep-deprived, he was having a good day so far, and hoped that it would stay that way. With math class coming up, however, the chances were that he'd fall asleep in no time, and if that happened... He groaned when he pictured himself being stuck in detention. Why couldn't he have art class the first period?

"Kris-ge!" a high-pitched voice sounded cheerfully.

Closing his lockerdoor, the young man gazed at the direction he heard someone call his name and immediately turned the other direction when he realized who was calling him.

"Hey! What's with that, gege? Wait for me!" a lanky young man exclaimed, jogging to catch up with him. When Kris felt a hand snake over his arm, he knew that escaping was impossible. He sighed.

"Aish, why are you so mean to me in the morning, Kris?" his new companion whined, adjusting his jet black hair. 

"Because every time you're near, I get in trouble. I at least like to get through the first period in peace, thank you," he grumbled, trying to shake the younger boy's clingy hand off his arm, but failed.

"When have I ever gotten you in trouble?" the younger student protested, stopping him so that he had to look at him.

Kris met his gaze with a deadpan stare. "How much time you got?" he retaliated, to which the younger teen's lips were pressed together to prevent from laughing, a blush of embarrassment coloring his cheeks.

"But I get you out of it, too, don't I?" he whispered conspiringly, moving his hands and wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yeah, and make it worse," Kris replied in a bored tone of voice and turned around to get to his math class. "Do I have to remind you how you got me into detention because you had me chase a cockroach to kill it for you during the first morning essembly of the schoolyear?" he started.

"Hey, that cockroach was huge and it touched me! I could have been infected with some fatal disease, they're disgusting, you know!"

"Hmhm," Kris mused skeptically. "Remember how that fearsome cockroach of yours ended up being a crumpled leaf?"

Rubbing the back of his neck out of embarrassment, the younger student simultaneously tried his best to suppress his laughter. Kris' expression had been hilarious, since his usually suave and cool image was nowhere to be found.

"Well, in all fairness, I did get you out of detention!"

"Yeah, for like ten seconds because you sneezed just as I was about to head out of the door, unfreezing time, and then abandoning me by running away. Did you have any idea how I had to explain to the teacher how I got to the door while I had been sitting in the back of the class a second ago? He thought I was fooling with him and extended my detention time!" 

Unable to control himself at seeing Kris' outburst, the lanky youth burst out into shrill, wholehearted laughter. 

"Yeah, good, good, laugh it off. You know you look ugly when you laugh like that, right? Especially with those bags under your eyes," he commented dryly, eliciting a gasp of protest.

"These are not bags under my eyes, you know I was born with dark circles," he pointed out, pouting a bit as he did so. Unable to see his younger brother sulk like that, Kris heaved a sigh and ruffled his hair.

"I know, I know. It was just a joke, you panda," he grumbled, relieved to see the smile return on his young brother's face. "Now, go," he shooed the younger boy away with a lazy gesture of his hand, whilst steadily walking away. 

"No, wait, gege, I'm sorry," the other student said, still trying to recollect himself somewhat. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I promise I won't get you into trouble, it's just," he trailed off, his expression suddenly serious. Realizing that there was something bothering him, Kris approached him, concern painted on his face.

"What is it?" he asked, voice devoid of any playfulness. "Did something happen to someone?" When his younger brother shook his head, Kris was starting to lose a little patience. 

"Tao, what is it?" he urged pressingly.

"Promise that you won't get angry at me for having to do this?" he asked.

Taking a deep breath to keep his composure, Kris nodded. "Yeah, I promise. Now, will you tell me what's wrong?"

"Okay, first, hold my hand," Tao instructed.

"Grab your hand? Why would I-,"

Hearing Kris complain, Tao rolled his eyes and took hold of his older brother's sleeve instead and used his free hand to flick his wrist. The moment he did so, the world around them had stopped. Kris' eyes widened in astonishment.

"Tao, tell me you did not just-!"

"You promised you wouldn't get angry!" Tao quickly reminded him. "Come on, I can't hold on that long and the others are waiting," he pulled the blonde along with him, the both of them carefully avoiding to touch frozen students and teachers as they passed by. Kris caught sight of the large clock that hung in the school's main hall and saw that all the hands had stopped ticking.

"Tao," he called warningly.

"Yeah, I know, don't worry, it won't take long, the universe will hardly notice," he said carelessly, though he did quicken his pace. Tao lead him to the school's gymnasium where the basketball team had already assembled for a morning meeting, as it seemed. They were in the middle of doing squats, which produced quite a bunch of funny faces and poses. However, there was no sign of the others.

"So?" Kris asked, checking on his younger brother since he couldn't imagine how much energy this must be costing him.

"I think Kai is a little late," he clacked his tongue. "Oh, wait, there!" he announced and just as he uttered the words, Kris could sense it too. Swirls of black mist appeared before them and with a blink of an eye, their ten brothers stood before them. 

"Alright, let's do this quickly, I have a test first period," the shortest of their group commented, his demeanor agitated, which Kris could completely understand. D.O. made himself comfortable on the gymnasium floor and with one look, Kris could tell that all of them were exhausted. 

"Hey, is this the basketball team?" one of them suddenly interjected, walking steadily towards the frozen students. Chen inspected their faces and grinned brightly at one of them. This one was easily twice his size in width and length, bearing a ridiculous scowl on his motionless face. His greasy dark hair was flung in the air and was stuck there, giving off the impression as though something had startled him. 

"Chen," Suho warned wearily, seeing the smile of mischief on his face. 

Ignoring him, he directed himself to D.O., calling him by his given name. "Kyungsoo, isn't this that Kenn guy, the one that's been giving you a hard time since freshman year?" D.O.'s eyes glanced briefly at the guy Chen was talking about and then directed his gaze to the floor, not saying anything. Kris frowned, knowing that the reserved youth had always been an easy target for airheaded bullies, but he hardly talked about it. He somewhat admired D.O. for always holding himself back. If those bullies knew what he really was capable off, there wouldn't be a bully around that would dare even think about messing with D.O..

"What, that's him?!" a tall and curious young man appeared beside Chen to appraise the guy he was talking about. Making a face at the bully, he carefully poked his nose. "No wonder he's always angry at D.O., they're complete opposites!" Chanyeol stated, a goofy grin on his face. 

"Well, since we're here," Chen whipped out a marker out of nowhere and pulled off the cap with his teeth, the black cap lodged in between his grin. 

"Yeah, do it! Draw him a Mario-moustache, no- wait! Fu manchu!" Baekhyun clapped his hands in mirth as he laughed, his other brothers watching and grinning along with him. Well- almost all of them. 

"Chen, don't be an idiot and get back here," Suho called out in vain. Seeing that the youth didn't listen, Suho's eyes were suddenly directed towards Kris who stared back, wide-eyed and confused. After reading the urgency in Suho's face and seeing him repeatedly gesture towards Chen, Kris sighed and turned towards the youth in question. To be perfectly honest, he wanted Chen to deface Kenn's face with the marker, but it would raise questions and suspicions that they really didn't need. 

"Chen, quit being stupid and hand over that marker. You're not qualified to create artwork yet, my friend," Kris waved his hand to beckon his younger brother and saw him stomp his feet. 

"Wae, where's your sense of humor, hyung?" Chen whined, though he reluctantly obeyed and placed the marker in Kris' outstretched hand. Chanyeol patted Chen comfortingly on the head.

"Can we do this a little faster, please? I don't know how long I'll be able to focus, here," Tao spoke up, visibly concentrating. On cue, Lay walked towards him and offered him some support without Tao having to ask for it.

"I got you, bro," said Lay easily. Kris gave him a grateful smile, which widened when he caught sight of Lay's characteristic dimple as he beamed back. 

"Right. The reason I called for this meeting was because Sehun told me something I thought all of you should know," Suho announced gravely. With the mentioning of his name, Sehun was faced by eleven faces, all staring at him in anticipation. 

"And I told Suho-hyung that an emergency meeting was really overdoing it, as usual, but while we're here," Sehun's lisp was always more obvious when he was a little nervous, though Kris was more interested in what this whole ordeal was about. 

"You know how I sometimes sense things in the air, like vibrations or scents, or hunches in general?" he started. "It's like Luhan-hyung suddenly hearing something, or Kai's instinct," he explained. "Well, I've been noticing things for a while now- not long, just a few days, and I don't know what it is, but something changed in the air. It's in the wind. It shifted somehow and it's probably nothing, but I can't wrap my mind around it," Sehun said, his brow furrowed. 

"Eh, I know I'm no expert, but doesn't wind tend to shift and change? Isn't that kind of what wind does?" Baekhyun remarked, sitting next to D.O.. 

"Not like this," said Sehun, obviously trying to find a way to make things clear for his brothers. "I don't want to sound dramatic, but there's something foul in the air and I can't place it. It's just- unnatural, I guess," he tried instead. 

"Foul? Like what? Did Tao eat something again that he shouldn't have?" Baekyhun joked, making his brothers snicker. He jumped when Xiumin walked over and chucked him on the back of the head before sitting down next to D.O. on the other side. 

"Geez, it was that one time! Besides, Lay-ge healed me from that, so I doubt it'll happen ever again," Tao managed to protest. 

"Yeah, let's not bring that up, huh?" Lay patted him on the back as he kept him steady, ready to do some healing if necessary. 

"Guys, I'm being serious," Sehun stated. Kris, who had silently listened and quietly enjoyed seeing his brothers interaction with one another, became more focused the moment Sehun directed his eyes on him. Knowing that Sehun wasn't one to overreact like another person he knew, cough Suho cough, he knew that this ordeal with the wind was bothering him. 

I heard that. Let's hope Suho doesn't find out you think him to be a drama queen. 

The gentle voice sounded in his mind and Kris immediately looked at Luhan in accusation. 

Get out of my head, Lu, no one invited you.

The man in question smirked at him and gave a small bow to show he was backing away. Kris directed himself to Sehun again, upon realizing that everyone had started discussing amongst themselves. 

"Wait, back this up," Kris started, pointing at Sehun. "When did you get these hunches?" he asked. 

Sunken in thought, Sehun picked at his bottom lip. "Since a few days...Now that I think about it, I think it started when that new company opened for business." 

"Extraordinary Technologies?" Xiumin prompted. "That's a research facility, isn't it?"

"Makes you wonder what they're researching exactly if it manages to give Sehunnie the heebie jeebies," Kai remarked dryly. 

"And that's not all," Sehun continued. 

"More?" Kris asked in disbelief. 

"There's something coming. I don't know what it is, but it's strong," he said. "I don't know if it's good or bad, but it's coming. I can feel it."

"What happened to not wanting to be dramatic?" asked Chen upon hearing the solemn tone of their youngest brother's voice. "Do you know whether it's dangerous, or somehow related to our- situation?"

"He doesn't. But I thought all of you should know. Whether it's good or bad, we should be more careful from now on. Especially around full moon," Suho answered in Sehun's stead. "We'll deal with it once we know more, so we'll all have to keep a weather eye open and stay alert until then."

Kris looked at his brothers' faces and read the silent worry on each of their expressions. "Are you implying this has something to do with, uh," he searched for the right words, "our past endeavors?" he eventually asked.

"Oh, not this again," Kai muttered.

"Kai, this is important. We shouldn't dismiss it," Suho said calmly. The younger teen had a mind to argue, but resorted to heaving a deep sigh instead. To the others, Suho said, "All I'm asking is for everyone to be more careful and to report to each other if something seems out of place. Let's just look out for each other, okay?"

"Don't we already do that?" Luhan asked, amused at their leader's concern.

"More attentively, then," Suho corrected. He finally managed to relax somewhat when his brothers agreed. "Good, thank you. Now, let's put Tao out of his misery, shall we?" he mentioned, seeing the lanky youth struggling more. Lay had already started to replenish his energy, of which Tao was grateful.

"Yes please, I don't think I can hold on much longer."

"You got this, Tao?" Lay asked, having to let go since he came in with Kai and the others. Tao nodded whilst taking a deep breath.

"Thank you," he said as Lay joined the others.

"Hold up. Chen, come here," Kris quickly called his younger brother over and whispered something in his ear. The young man grinned from ear to ear, the corners of his mouth tugging up attractively. 

"Kris, Chen, what are you doing?" Suho sighed, shaking his head in disapproval when Chen went over to D.O.'s tormenter and tied his shoelaces together. "Is that really necessary?" 

"Yes!" came the unison reply of all his brothers. D.O. bore a wide grin on his face. 

"Alright, get out of here, you two. We'll catch you later," Suho greeted and Kris nodded. Tao waved as Kai told everyone to hold on to one another and they disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Kris and Tao rushed back to the hallway and stood in position. There came a sigh of relief when Tao unfroze time, looking beat. 

"You okay?" Kris asked, keeping him upright by the shoulders. 

"I'll be fine, gege," Tao reassured. "Do you think we should be worried about what Sehunnie said he felt?" he asked quietly, looking around at the passerbys, making sure no one could hear him. 

"Nah, I'm sure it's nothing severe to worry about," Kris quickly replied with confidence. "Like Suho said, we'll all just have to be a bit more cautious until we find out what that something is, right?" In truth, Kris wasn't sure what to think of Sehun's news. Though he was rather unsettled by it, he didn't think it necessary to concern Tao, or any of his other brothers with it, really. Maybe he should meet Suho privately later on to discuss the matter. Kai's complaint and sour face had not go by unnoticed either... 

"If you say so," Tao replied. "Didn't you have math class right now?" 

"Yeah, why?" 

Tao gestured further towards the hallway. "Isn't that your teacher?" he pointed out. Kris turned around and froze, gulping when he caught the teacher's sight and the man strode towards him. 

"What's up with him?" he asked in a whisper. 

"Whoa, I don't know, but he looks mad..."

"Kris Wu, you stay right there, young man!" he called out, but that only made the youth want to make a run for it. 

"Why the heck is he angry at me?" 

Tao's eyes widened with realization and he slowly started walking away. "I'm not entirely sure, but perhaps it may have something to do with the answer sheet of the test of next week that I slipped into your hands when you weren't looking," he said with an apologetic look. 

"...WHAT?!" Kris exclaimed, holding out his hand to indeed find a sheet of paper there that didn't belong to him. "Tao!"

"I stopped it for like thirty seconds, I was only trying to help you out, gege, since I know that math is your worst subject- I'm sorry, please don't hit me!" the stream of words left his mouth in a hurry as the teacher approached them steadily. 

"Tao, I'm not gonna hit you- I'm gonna kill you!" Kris threatened reaching for the teen's collar, but missed when Tao jumped back in a reflex and ran off whilst letting out a high-pitched shriek. "Tao! Get back here!" Kris bouldered, ready to run after him when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. 

"And where do you think you're going, Mr. Wu?" his math teacher stared a hole in his face and Kris gulped again, attempting to smile apologetically at him.

"Um, d-detention, sir?" He meekly handed back the answer sheet, bowing deeply.

"Oh, most definitely," his teacher grabbed him by the collar and pulled him along with him to the principal's office. All the while, Kris groaned inwardly.

See? Trouble...