(33) XEN0942

Somehow, the boys managed to fall into a sort of calm state despite having cheated death a mere few hours ago. Some wouldn’t sleep while others wouldn’t wake up, their bodies worn down from the both mental and physical stress being weighed on them. Sleep seems to be the only thing that Tao’s been doing too, having always come out to eat before he’d doze off somewhere in the house.

Nobody had the heart to wake him either. The more time went on, they realized how much he’s been through over the years, with the constant testing and torturing. He was still stupid for taking it on by himself, but by no doubt did he save them. Their idiot savior.

They had fallen into a cycle of just staying up and talking to one another, nobody really having a preference of whom to speak to or who to sleep next to as long as they had someone there.

Kyungsoo was among the ones that weren’t able to get a wink of sleep that night, Tao’s words playing again and again in his mind even as his eyelids grew heavy. He didn’t want to think Tao wanted to go back to such a place ever again. There were times when he’d try to sleep and only wake up to himself sweating bullets after dreaming of the white rooms and sharp scalpels that would’ve been used on him if he hadn’t gotten away.

He was afraid to go back anywhere near there, and yet Tao wanted to storm in and take everything down as if he had nothing to fear anymore.

“Hey… You should get some sleep too, hyung.”

Kai sat down next to Kyungsoo and draped a blanket over the two of them to cover their legs and the lower parts of their torsos. He leaned in towards Kyungsoo’s body and buried himself into the crook of Kyungsoo’s chest, nestling himself in there until he sighed contently.

“It’s been awhile since it’s been this calm.” Kai said, his voice muffled into Kyungsoo’s shirt.

“It would be even better if Baekhyun stopped snoring though.” Chen scoffed, jumping into the conversation just as easily.

His comment made everyone that was still awake laugh, looking at the sleeping boy who unknowingly curled up in Chanyeol’s arms as the two of them slept on the floor. Those two were asleep, along with Tao and Sehun who were cooped up in one of the rooms. Lay had eventually gotten too exhausted after chasing Tao around and healing him so much, knocking himself out on Suho, the two of them occupying the small rocking chair as they slept back to back. Xiumin was still awake with his knees pulled up to his chest and arms wrapped around his legs, though you could see how his head was slowly dipping down, as if he was slowly succumbing to the need to sleep.

Kris had been the only one fully awake, along with Chen as he poked everyone sleeping to try and get a reaction out of them. The more he poked Chanyeol, the hotter the room became and Kris had to stop him before Chanyeol had actually brought his powers back out. He knew that the latter would be unwilling and feel even worse if it happened when not under his control.

“You should sleep too Luhan, or else you’ll have another hissy fit in the morning when you wake up.” Chen teased Luhan, watching as the latter was too tired to even do anything about it.

Luhan was one of those, much like Kris and Kyungsoo that were too scared to sleep, wanting to stay awake in case something that happened. Chen was tired and wanted to watch over the rest, though he wouldn’t have said something like that aloud to let the others know. If something happened, the less people sleeping the less people they had to wake out to get out of there.

“If you’re weak, you can’t use your powers, so you should sleep.” Luhan countered back, growing irritable the more Chen’s yawns had begun to affect him.

Kris sat with his back against the front door of the house, much like how Xiumin was near the window of the house. The two of them were thinking similarly in the case or an intruder, and the both of them were in dire need of a nap.

“Looks like all the kids are asleep, huh Kris?” Xiumin said, the sudden comment making Kris laugh.

He could see Suho’s mouth starting to open as he slept, head leaning back against Lay’s. No matter how old they were, they’d still see Suho as the naive kid just like before. It was hard to believe how much he had grown. To see him using such a leadership role was amazing, and also made him feel a little bitter, as if he had seen his own son grow up to become something so great.

“It’s like we’re real brothers.” Xiumin chuckled, pulling himself up to a stand to walk over to the sleeping ones and adjust their blankets and postures so they would sleep peacefully.

“Isn’t it because we are?” Kai asked, sticking his head up as Xiumin walked by, looking down at the boy surprised to see him still awake.

Chen was the next to do something as the older ones froze, unable to answer although the question was an easy one.

“We’re a family, duh. Don’t you see Suho mommy sleeping so peacefully over on the chair?”

Kris and Xiumin both broke into small smiles, which turned into grins as they watched Suho sleep, just as if the kid had finally grown up. Luhan snorted at Chen’s comment, but felt at ease since what he said was true. They were a family, especially since this family was the only family they really had.

While watching the scene Kris felt his eyes grow heavy, and barely was able to see Xiumin already dozing off when his eyes had shut, signaling that he was to sleep too.

Kyungsoo was the last one awake, looking around to see such peace among his brothers. Kai was fast asleep and had one arm snuggled up against Kyungsoo’s side while the other lay sprawled out across his chest. He had to hold back his amusement before he could feel it too. The way his shoulders were finally beginning to relax while he drifted off into dreamland.

--

Tao was the first to awaken the next day, finding himself on the floor in the living room as his back began to ache. He could’ve sworn he had fallen asleep in the room with Sehun. Taking the time to stretch out his body, he had finally woken up enough to see that everyone else was fast asleep, even Sehun, who had fallen asleep with him as their hands were clasped together. He shook the sleeping boy off before retracting his hand with a grimace.

Looking around, the scene looked much more funny since they were all older and couldn’t fit in one place like they used to. Suho and Lay were almost fighting in their sleep as they had squeezed on the rocking chair, while Kris and Xiumin sat against the exits with their legs curled up to their chests and heads leaning backwards, mouths wide open and catching flies if the small house had any.

He heard a grunt and turned to find Sehun clinging to Kai now, the later trying to push him away with one hand as the other stayed atop of Kyungsoo, who was curled up into a ball like a child. Baekhyun and Chanyeol weren’t too far away from them on the floor, but Chanyeol slept with his arms and legs widely spread apart, leaving Chen who had slept face first into the blanket as Chanyeol’s limbs rested on top of him.

It hadn’t been that long since the sun has risen, or so he thinks by how his body was shivering just a little. Everything is still and quiet.

Just like that day.

Another chill ran through Tao’s body as he grabbed at his arms for warmth, finding that his skin was a bit sticky from sweat. That was strange too, since the temperature outside was warm enough to make him sweat, and yet he was shivering.

A single knock on the wood made Tao jump back, some of the others jolting awake at the sudden noise while looking to see where the noise was coming from. Their eyes landed on Tao, whom of which had knocked over a chair in the process of being spooked, finding it completely normal and laying their heads back down. When another knock came.

And another. Pretty soon there was a constant knocking against the door. The boys were old enough to wake on their own, and even through blurry eyes and their tiredness were they wary of what was making that sound.

Luhan had stepped forward first and bit back the angry curse he would’ve released if he hadn’t seen Suho wide awake towards the back of the room. Kris was the only one next to the door now, with Xiumin trying to look through the blinds to see who it was. His expression was weird, and he shrugged at Kris who was trying to debate on whether or not he should open the door.

Their stalling was making Luhan anxious and the anxiety along with his lack of sleep in turn made him even more upset. He stormed up to the door and yanked it open without thinking, eyes turning purple as he readied himself, when he saw nothing. There was no one outside.

“What the hell Luhan!”

Luhan felt himself being pulled back by his shirt as Kris yanked him back into the shelter of the house, jostling him around for a bit before he had realized why. At the doorstep, was a tiny child with long hair and warmest brown eyes he’s ever seen.

The child was a girl, and she was currently cowering in fear as she saw twelve pairs of eyes looking back at her, some scary while others just utterly confused.

“I-I… I came with a message...”

Nobody made a move to go near her, and watched as she went through her pockets of her worn out dress, or what seemed to be a dress. The fabric was an off white color with brown and green smudges all over, making her look dirty and unkempt. It was as if she were running through the forest all night long, her pale arms littered with more scratches and bruises than they could count.

“Who sent you here?” Kris said lowly, unphased by the tiny child in front of him.

He knew that she was sent by them, and although the others knew too, they couldn’t help but want to go up to her and shower her with affection. They didn’t know how she’d react and if that would even help in their situation, so they stayed behind, watching as she began to cry even more when Kris yelled at her.

“M-My boss did!” She sobbed, bringing her hands up and wiping away the neverending streams of tears. “He s-said that the government wasn’t happy a-a-and…”

She couldn’t bring herself to continue as she fell onto her knees, outright bawling in front of the boys who pitied her state of being. In their eyes, she didn’t look like a threat. Just a kid.

“And what?”

Lay walked forward slowly before bringing his hand up, the action causing her to shy away and hold up her hands as if he were going to hit her. She was crying profusely now, and her state of panic was almost unbearable to watch.

“He said, that…” She sniffed, finding herself walking towards Lay as he beckoned her to come closer.

He had an ulterior motive to bringing her so close, and had grabbed her shoulder once she had come close enough, his move shocking her as she tried to get away, though he wouldn’t let her. The area she had been grabbed was beginning to heal, and the others were surprised themselves to see Lay actually healing some kid that could’ve been an enemy come to kill them.

“Why are you doing this to me? Let me go!” She shrieked, kicking her feet and growing desperate once she saw the door close.

“Stay still! You’re hurt!” Lay yelled, his voice barely heard over her panicked one before he had gone down to her back to heal the bruises hidden by her dress.

The sudden action had calmed her, and the others watched in awe as the screaming little girl had quieted down, almost going mute except for her little whimpers. Lay could see the marks given that his power let him, but there was something about her that looked strange. The makeup was normal and how she healed also too, was perfectly normal, but there was this black dot in the center of her heart, and no matter how much energy he poured into that one spot, he wasn’t able to make it go back to its normal color.

“Are you going to tell us why you’re here now? Or are we going to have to duke it out?”

Chen was quick to interrupt Lay’s thinking, heading over to the kid while putting up his fists playfully. She must’ve seen the mischievous look in his eyes because she played along too, giggling happily as she pressed her knuckles to his. He hadn’t expected her to do that and thought he’d be blown away by some sort of unnatural force, but everything was normal. If he had to say something he’d noticed, it was that her punch was weak, which would’ve been understandable since she was just a little girl.

“You’re funny, mister.” She said, still smiling before skipping away to Lay and sitting next to him. “My boss said that your loved ones are in danger.”

She knew what she was saying and the boys clearly heard what she said, but they hadn’t understood until Baekhyun and Kyungsoo both gasped.

Sunny.

The woman they left behind, who was just as vulnerable in this situation. If she had been found out, the consequences would be multiplied two fold since she didn’t have a chip and actually knew about them in the first place.

“What do you mean? We don’t have any loved ones here, but ourselves.” Kris scoffed, his attitude making the girl jump and shy away.

“There’s Sunny…” Chanyeol trailed off nervously.

“And if you guys can think of anyone you were close with before you had left.” Suho added in.

Kris and Xiumin looked at one another before shrugging, the only people they really needed being themselves. Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo had Sunny to worry about, while Luhan and Chen looked at one another, bewildered by the little girl’s message. It wasn’t really clear if they should be worried about Hakyeon and Jaehwan since they weren’t exactly super close with them.

Suho and Lay were like the boys from faction A, as were Sehun and Kai. They hadn’t gotten close to anyone on the outside besides themselves because there never was any need to.

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