Edited; Re-uploaded

            Baekhyun was feeling a mixture of nervousness and curiosity. The whole idea of being trained to fight scared him, but at the same time, he had to wonder what he was actually capable of doing with his powers. So far, all that he really knew how to do was to make some sort of bright light shine from his palm, and that wasn't good for much other than quick blinding. Though that little technique had been quite useful a few days earlier.

            Baekhyun wanted to learn more about himself. There was still so much confusion surrounding the topic of their apparent home planet, and the idea that they were all aliens still seemed a bit unreal to him. He would've probably thought that it was a dream if everything else hadn't felt so real.

            Things had been changing quickly for them. One minute Baekhyun was living a decent life within his own home and family, and the next he was among others of his own kind. They continued living a secretive life together, until Ren came and gave them a new meaning to the words unbelievable and pain. Now they were beginning to learn about their kind, all of the questions that they tried solving themselves finally getting answers.

            It was just the reasoning for everything that made Baekhyun uncertain. They knew their purpose now, but none of them knew why they had such a purpose. Why were they supposed to protect Earth? Why are the ENTs going to attack them? What is this thing that both planets have been fighting for? All of the whats and whys were making Baekhyun's head spin from thinking so much. And Siwon said he wouldn't answer their questions, so he could only wait to ask someone else.

            But now he had to focus on his training, and he had just discovered that he was assigned a room full of flowers. He was curious to find out why.

            Joon described to them how all of the rooms were designed and built with advanced—probably alien—technology that allowed each room to keep its own weather and terrain. With that in mind, he also told them that special doors had to be built between each of the rooms so that the individual weather patterns wouldn't be disrupted.

            Joon drew them closer to the farthest glass wall of the room, where a square section jut out of the wall, still made of the glass material. It was only big enough for a few people, and Baekhyun found himself being squished inside with Tao and Suho. Joon entered the tight space, inching towards a glowing blue button on the glass, where another doorway was revealed. When the button was pressed, Baekhyun began to feel a slight change in the temperature, and a calm, warming feeling washed over him.

            After a few moments, there was a small ding, and the doorway into the next room slid open. Baekhyun was hit with a gentle breeze as he walked inside, and he gazed up at the tall tree before him. They now stood in the centermost room, which belonged to Tao. The large tree in the middle of the room had arching branches spread widely across the room. Petals from the blossoming flowers on each branch were blown throughout the room by the breeze that managed to exist, and as Baekhyun glanced at Tao, he saw that the latter had his hand raised in front of him as if he was going to try to catch one of the petals. But above his hand, a single petal had stopped, frozen in time.

            Baekhyun was amazed. He had only seen Tao's abilities a few times and he still found them interesting. He wanted to watch some more, but Joon had brought most of the others into the room, so now they had to move on.

            To the left wall was another door, and Joon sent Xiumin, Sehun and Suho to go through to reach their rooms. D.O and Luhan were directed towards a third door to the right, where Baekhyun could see their rocky room on the other side. That left Baekhyun, Chen and Chanyeol to go through the door on the wall farthest in front of them.

            As they stood waiting for the small room to change, Baekhyun could almost feel the air settling down, though Baekhyun was doing the exact opposite. The next room would be his, and he stared at the wall of flowers through the glass across from him, his body nearly trembling from excitement. He could see Suho walking through his own room, which was in the far left corner next to Baekhyun's room. South of Suho's room was Sehun's then Xiumin's.

            Baekhyun turned back around when he heard the small ding signaling the room preparation completing. He squeezed past Chanyeol so that he could reach his room first, finding that it was pleasantly warm and smelled of the sweet flowers. His shoes landed on grass as he walked in, just like it had in Tao's, but he found that this room had an even more welcoming air to it. Tao's emitted some sort of calm sensation, but Baekhyun felt more at home and comfortable within this flower-filled room. He wasn't sure if it had to do with his powers or if it was the technology that was messing with his mind.

            While he was lost in his own thoughts, Chanyeol and Chen had been ushered to the room to the right of Baekhyun's. Baekhyun could see several wax and paper products surrounded by a rather large bonfire, and he smiled, knowing that it was Chanyeol's room. Chen's was to the right of Chanyeol's, leaving a large portion of the bottom right side of the total area for D.O and Luhan's shared room. The large room was almost four times as big as Baekhyun's room, which was a pretty good size in itself.

            Joon hadn't come in past Tao's room, leaving each of them alone in their respective training grounds. Baekhyun wasn't really sure what he was supposed to be doing, but a voice sounded behind him while he was examining some of the flowers.

            "Are you ready, Baekhyun?"

            The short teen stood from his kneeling position and turned around to see a man about his height with simple black hair swept across his forehead. Glasses frames his kind, smiling eyes, and Baekhyun gave him a small shrug, not bothering to ask how he knew his name.

            "Ready for what, exactly?"

            "Well... First we should start with introductions, and then I get to help you out with learning your first magic trick!" The young man said, grinning as he held out his hand. "You can call me Eric, and I'll be your new personal trainer!"

            Baekhyun stepped forward to shake Eric's hand. "You already know my name, so what are you teaching me?"

            "Eager to learn, are we?" Eric's smile seemed to grow. "That's good. But before I can teach you anything, I have to know what you are already capable of doing. Care to show me?"

            Baekhyun didn't answer right away, taking a quick moment to glance at each room around him. The others all seemed to be in the same position as him, and as he looked back at Eric's face, he deemed him as a judge-free person. Baekhyun gave him a small nod and put a hand out in front of him, palm up. Then he gave a small, awkward laugh.

            "It's not much... But I can do this." Baekhyun's hand suddenly lit up, flicking on and off like a light switch. After doing that a few times, Baekhyun dropped his hand to his side and looked up at Eric, expecting some sort of angry response for being so useless. But instead, Eric just kept on smiling, pursing his lips after a second with his hand on his chin to think.

            "You're right about it not being much, but that's okay. You haven't had anyone to teach you all this time. Luckily, I have a few things up my sleeve that can really come in handy."

            "Do we have the same power?" Baekhyun asked him out of curiosity, which was answered with a head shake.

            "Not one of us has the same ability." Eric explained. "Several can be similar, but not quite the same, like ours."

            "So what is your ability?" Baekhyun asked next, his curiosity only growing stronger. He would've been on the edge of his seat if he had a chair to use.

            At his question, Eric's grin shifted into a smirk. "Why don't I show you by example?" With that, he lifted a hand out and stepped forward. His hand started to glow softly, and transparent platforms appeared in the form of a spiral staircase. Baekhyun gaped up at him as he walked up and stopped high in the air, then he suddenly dropped down. Baekhyun's hands flew up to his open mouth in shock, but Eric's body slid to the floor as if he was on some sort of slide, though there was nothing underneath him.

            "How'd you do that!?" Baekhyun exclaimed, not even sure what part he was asking about. Eric answered anyway.

            "Cool, right? I have the ability to manipulate light energy." Eric's grin was back, and he stood proudly next to Baekhyun. "Those stairs you saw were made of pure energy that I just formed into something solid. And I bet you're wondering how I got back down, too." Baekhyun nodded quickly, finding himself speechless as Eric explained his power, even as he continued. He snapped his fingers, and a long slide appeared, just as Baekhyun had imagined. "When I originally made the slide, the energy I used came out invisible to the regular human eye, although I could see it just fine." Eric finished by pushing up his glasses, and the staircase and slide faded to nothing. "So what do you think?"   

            Baekhyun was still practically speechless. "What do I think? Wha-What do I think!?" Baekhyun grinned and did a little bounce, which was all in all a very uncharacteristic thing for him to do. This room was really making him act weird, and he went on to gesture to the area where Eric's creations had once been. "That was amazing! Will I be able to do that?"

            Sadly, Eric shook his head. "Sorry. This is something that you can't do. Unlike me, you use the light itself, not the energy it makes. But," Eric drawled on his last word, probably because of the downcast look that Baekhyun made, which then caused him to look up with a sort of hopeful expression as Eric went on. "you can do things that I can't, and I will say that I'm pretty jealous of the things I've heard about."

            That brought Baekhyun's spirits up in the blink of an eye, and he was once again eager to learn. "Can we start now?"

            Eric's voice had a tinge of laughter to it when he spoke. "That's why we're here, so let's begin." Eric walked across the room until he stood near the wall covered in flowers. There were vertical columns of different colors, each the width of an average man. They consisted of primary colors, then the secondary colors. After the columns, flowers of many different colors were scattered around in a beautiful, yet colorful mess. Eric moved to stand in the corner of the room, where the wall was covered in red. "Come over here and stand like this, Baekhyun. Then I'll explain what's going to have to happen."

            Baekhyun jogged to wear Eric stood, taking his place before the red tulips and roses. When he was situated, Eric took a few steps back and gave him a good, long stare. Then he smiled and clapped his hands softly.

            "Great. What I'm going to teach you now is how to make yourself blend into any environment."

            Baekhyun's eyes widened momentarily in shock. That definitely wasn't something he had thought of, and it wasn't anything that sounded easy, either. "Like camouflage? That sounds hard... and complicated."

            "It's hard to start out with, if I'm being honest." Eric said. "But once you learn this, some of your other techniques will come easier. This will help you get the basics of reflecting and changing light when it reaches our eyes. The only problem that you may face later is keeping your invisible appearance in the presence of multiple people. Then you will have to focus on the points of view each person has on you and change the light that reaches each person individually."

            Baekhyun was pretty much lost a few sentences in, and he held up a hand to stop Eric from going on. "Wait, wait, wait. Reflecting? Changing light? What is all of this? I don't understand a thing that you're saying."

            Eric nodded in understanding. "Yes, you're still in high school so I get it. I'll tell you the basics." Eric cleared his throat and leaned against the glass barrier to his left. "The first thing you need to know is that the colors we see is the color of light being reflected into our eyes. If you see white, then all colors are reflected, and if you see black, the object that you're looking at is absorbing all of the colors. " Eric stopped to make sure Baekhyun was understanding everything, then he continued. "You'll have to think like a computer, reflecting certain amounts of the colors red, green and blue to create the illusion of other colors. You'll make different colors reflect off of different parts of your body to fit your background, which will then lead to you becoming camouflaged."                                                                  

            Baekhyun's thoughts churned as he tried to understand everything that was just said, but he was pretty sure he got it. And if he did, one thing stuck out to him. "Okay, so how do I know which colors to reflect?"

            Eric seemed unsure how to answer, rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward gesture. "The thing is, I don't really know. I can't see light like you can, but I was told that if you focus your powers enough, you can see the amounts of color being reflected off of each surface, which you can then use on your own body. Like I said, you need to think like a computer. Apparently, you should be able to see letters and numbers—a lot of them, I should warn you—if you focus hard enough. After some training, it should come naturally, and you can shut it out if you don't need it."

            Baekhyun furrowed his brows and turned around to look at the red flowers behind him. There were all sorts of shades, which meant that most of them would be different. With the way Eric had explained everything, this wasn't the easiest thing to start off with. "Can't I get a solid red background?" He asked.

            "Sorry," Eric apologized, looking sincere. "While we're training in here, we can't do that. Siwon's orders. But you can always practice with one of your friends around the base. As long as you don't hurt anyone, you're free to use your powers outside of the training grounds. And it'll serve as extra practice, so that means you'll get stronger, sooner. And who knows, you may just find out something special about yourself."

            "I'm pretty sure being able to direct light makes me special enough." Baekhyun said, though a smile tugged at his lips. "More special is good, too."

            Eric grinned and moved to stand in front of Baekhyun again. "Do you think you could try to see the color make-up of the flowers behind you? You'll need to figure out how to see the composition of a given color before I can begin to help you learn to camouflage yourself."

            Baekhyun gave Eric a nod and turned around to gaze at the collection of red flowers. He had no idea how he was supposed to do this, and it didn't help that Eric didn't know, either. He was alone in figuring this out, at least for now.

            Giving his head a quick shake, Baekhyun furrowed his brows as he concentrated on a single rose. It was a beautiful red color, and Baekhyun widened his eyes as if he were taking in more of the flower. He didn't blink and he might've even stopped breathing. He wasn't really sure because he was trying not to think of anything else. He just stared at the rose, and a few minutes probably passed by before he saw a little box appear.

            Baekhyun nearly blinked in shock, but he forced his eyes to stay open. It looked like one of the options tables that would appear on a computer screen if you were to right click on a mouse, but there were only three small sections that made up the square. They were shown in the order R100%, G0% and B0%.

            Rgb, rgb, rgb.... What does it mean? Baekhyun slowly shifted his gaze to a darker flower, and another box appeared at a faster speed. This time all of the numbers were different, and Baekhyun suddenly realized what it meant. "Red, green, blue..."

            "What was that?"

            Baekhyun spun around and grabbed onto Eric's shoulders, his eyes wide. "I saw it, Eric! The color composition, I saw it! Twice!"

            Eric's face lit up, and he let out a victorious laugh. "That's great, Baekhyun! You caught on so fast! This is wonderful!"

            Baekhyun turned around again to look at the flowers, several more of the boxes appearing. An amazing feeling washed over him at being able to do something so cool, like he had just hacked into some sort of super computer. It wasn't even that great, but now he knew that he could do so much more. He wasn't just some flashlight anymore.

            Luhan wasn't sure what was wrong, but D.O had been acting strange. They'd gone to their room together, but D.O had immediately avoided being near Luhan. Luhan had tried talking to him, but he just went ignored.

            When their trainers walked into the room, Luhan was quick to introduce himself, though in the end they already knew who he was. On the other hand, D.O hadn't even looked at them.       Luhan had been told what he was to accomplish for the day, and it was easy stuff for him. There was a test that he had to take to test his mental strength, and then he had to begin the task of pushing his limits.

            There was a large range of rocks that he was to lift, each with different sizes and weights. Luhan had been experimenting with his powers for a long time before-hand, so he was already used to this kind of stuff. During the following time he spent training in this new environment, he often found himself glancing over at D.O, just to see that the younger teen was refusing to use his powers.

            Luhan hadn't seen D.O use his powers before, and he was beginning to wonder why. He'd never seen the other refuse anything this adamantly, either. He would always give in to most things pretty quickly, even when it came to Kai bugging him for a hug.

            And I've seen them becoming quite close these past few days... Hm...

            Luhan wanted to ask him if something was bothering him, but a voice in his head told him otherwise. It was obvious that D.O didn't want to be doing this, for some reason he didn't know. It wasn't that he was curious to find out, but instead he was concerned.

            By the time they were all released, D.O had still refused to show any sign of his strength. They had all filed out of the main door, where Kai, Lay, and Kris were coming towards them from further down the hall. Luhan didn't miss the way Kai ran to stand beside D.O, and the way their hands came together was definitely unusual. Something was up with them.

            "This is no fair! Your powers are all better than mine!" Baekhyun voiced out a complaint as soon as they were all walking together down the hall, where they'd all decided to go get something to eat. A few others spoke up to ask what he meant, and he was quick to go on. "Your powers sound so easy, but mine is all about science and complicated stuff. I'm sure there's an easier way to do all this camouflage stuff, but Eric kept saying it’s the way I'm supposed to be taught."

            "Hey, being able camouflage is way better compared to controlling water." Suho in, but Baekhyun didn't seem to agree.

            "You're a freaking water bender! How much cooler can you get!?"

            "Wow, I didn't realize you were into that kind of stuff." Kris said with a playful smirk. "Are you some sort of closet nerd?"

            Baekhyun frowned and smacked Kris upside the head, causing everyone else to roar with laughter as the giant teen flailed his long arms. Luhan laughed alongside them, then he grabbed onto Sehun's arm and held up his hand.

            "That makes Sehun the last air bender!"

            Sehun rolled his eyes while the laughter continued, but Luhan saw the smile on his face. They continued to joke about shaving Sehun's head and giving him tattoos while fashionng Suho's hair into little loopies, and Sehun even joked around and said that Chanyeol would be a fire bender. Baekhyun then had a little too much fun teasing him about his lack of honor.

            Their fun talk didn't stop even when they ate, and it wasn't long before they got on the topic of Halloween. They brought up the idea of dressing up together, not caring that they were high schoolers and that they were probably getting too old. And no one seemed to think about the fact that they didn't even know what would happen before the next Halloween rolled around. Everyone seemed to forget about the situation they were all in, but Luhan didn't mind. He was glad to be able to relax and forget about things for once.

            Retching wasn't the most pleasant sound and smell to be woken by, and Jongdae was completely shocked when that's how he woke in what seemed to be the middle of the night. The bed was warm, but empty beside him, and he sat up to see light coming from under the bathroom door.

            Jongdae was quick to jump out of bed and knock on the door, but it wasn't completely closed and it swung open at his touch. He found Minseok kneeling before the toilet, the rank smell of vomit overwhelming as another load of mush exited through his mouth.

            Jongdae gagged at both the sight and smell, but he ran over to his friend, anyway, kneeling down with his hand on the other's back. He rubbed Minseok's back gently, then he gathered a quick disposable cup of water along with a small wet towel and set them on the edge of the countertop near the toilet.

            Minseok was attempting to stand when Jongdae returned to his side, and the younger teen was quick to help him to his feet. Minseok wiped his mouth and gurgled the water, and Jongdae helped to get out his toothbrush and apply some toothpaste.

            While Minseok was brushing his teeth to rid his mouth of any gross tastes, Jongdae went ahead and flushed the toilet, cleaning away any messes that splattered outside of the target bowl. Minseok was soon done cleaning his mouth and began washing his hands, and Jongdae joined him once he was done cleaning.

            With both of their hands dry, and the bathroom cleaned and air freshened, Jongdae took the chance to look at Minseok's face, and he instantly felt pity for his older friend. The usually bright, squishy face was sickly and pale, and Jongdae had to stop himself from pulling the other into a hug.

            "Are you okay?" He asked softly, instead, though the answer was quite obvious after what he just witnessed and helped sort out. Minseok had seemed perfectly fine earlier that day, but they'd done a lot, so maybe he was too strained? Jongdae didn't really give him a chance to answer, because he hurried to continue speaking. "Let's get you into bed. I'm sure you'll feel better lying down."

            Minseok didn't say anything as Jongdae helped him back to their bed, which didn't seem like a good sign. But then again, Minseok wasn't one to talk a lot unless he got really excited, so he wasn't too sure.

            Jongdae was feeling all sorts of concern for his usually strong friend, and he couldn't even think of anything that could be wrong with him. He'd never seen the other get sick, and now that he saw how weak and uncharacteristic he became, it was hard to watch. He wanted to help, if only he knew how.

            "Min... Are you feeling better?" He asked after getting Minseok into bed. He pulled the covers over his friend and knelt near his face. "Do I need to get you anything?

            "Go to sleep..." Minseok mumbled softly for the first time, his eyes opening then closing again.

            "No. I want to make sure you're okay." Jongdae told him, which was answered with a disapproving groan.

            "I'm fine... It happens a lot, so I'm used to it..."

            Jongdae's brows furrowed with even more concern. "What's that supposed to mean? Have you been getting sick every night? Why haven't you told me?"

            Minseok didn't answer right away, choosing to breathe deeply first. "I just get a little sick when I'm away from home. It's just a bit of stress every now and then... Now go to sleep."

            Jongdae frowned and shook his head. "You first."

            "Dae..." Jongdae’s cheeks flushed at the way Minseok spoke his name, whether it was a nickname or the first part just didn't come out properly. Minseok's voice was thick and rough from sleep, which added a sort of masculinity to the way he spoke, and Jongdae soon found himself climbing into bed next to his older friend.

            Darn you feelings... And when he's sick, too...

            Jongdae tried to go to sleep like Minseok told him to, but now that he knew that the other was getting sick every few nights, he just couldn't seem to feel tired. He ended up leaning closer to his friend, looking at his closed eyes to see if he was sleeping, which resulted in Minseok opening his eyes to look up at him. Jongdae quickly fell back down onto his own pillow and Minseok to his side to face him.

            "Why aren't you sleeping?"

            "Why aren't you?" Jongdae directed the question back at him without answering, and Minseok sighed.

            "I'll fall asleep soon... Maybe."

            Jongdae stayed silent for a moment before finally giving his answer. "I'm worried about you... Would you like me to sing you a lullaby?" Jongdae perked up at his own suggestion, eagerly waiting for an answer. Minseok didn't say anything, so Jongdae took that as a yes and rolled onto his back. He took a moment to clear his throat and think of a song, then he softly began to sing.

            Jongdae stared at the ceiling as he let the words flow out of his mouth. It'd been a while since he last sang, but he found himself easily slipping back into his old hobby. He found a sort of relief from using his voice again, and he was happy to see that Minseok was sound asleep when he let the last word fade out.

            Jongdae smiled to himself and returned to his side to face his sleeping friend. His eyes were already drooping, as if the lullaby had an effect on himself, too, and he relaxed onto the bed beneath him.

            "Sleep tight, Minnie..."