(7) SUMMER pt. II

The heat does seem to die down, even if it’s just a little bit, and everyone finally starts to believe that everything will be okay. Chanyeol has yet to use his powers again, his fascination with fire dying down, and even the smallest flicker of a flame seems to have him uneasy. The same goes for Baekhyun; but not only does fire have him nervous- so does Park Chanyeol.

He's avoided him like the plague ever since he had awoken on the day of the incident. On some days, Chanyeol would catch him staring at his hand in deep thought. On others, he would try his best to keep eye contact with the floor whenever he was in the proximity as Baekhyun made many excuses that didn’t even sound plausible.

"I-I need to go and fold my laundry, so excuse me."

Luhan eyed him out before exhaling with a loud huff. "Well, that would've been nice like, two hours ago when we were folding the clothes."

Baekhyun fiddled around with the toy car in his hands, mouthing silently another excuse before dashing off.

"What kind of excuse is watering the plants? We don't even own any plants!" Tao yelled, and Chanyeol sank into the couch, ashamed. For the older to be making petty excuses such as these just to get out of the same room as him made him cringe.

Chanyeol watched him scurry off and sighed, eyes pitying him from around the room. No matter how hard he tried, Baekhyun refused to even look at him. Not even the leaders knew what to do. Chanyeol may be persistent and happy, but everyone has a breaking point.

“I… I’m going to the lake…” He said barely over a whisper, trudging over to the door in a daze. Nobody dared to stop him, allowing him his alone time as he stumbled into his sneakers and out the door.

The forest was quiet as Chanyeol trekked out farther away from the cottage. His steps were slow paced, but quickly picked up after hearing the sizzling of the grass under his feet. All that was left behind him was a burned trail of footsteps as his emotions spiraled out of control.

Suho watched Chanyeol walk away from the house as he looked back and forth between him and the other boys, “Should we have let him go off on his own?” He asked nervously, biting his lip as the others shrugged.

“He’s been going out there by himself for long, so I don’t see why there’s a problem.” Xiumin responded, a soft look in his eye. He had his finger pointed in the air and was drawing little shapes, watching as the frost lingering on his fingertip would make a small white trail.

“Yeah, but… Still! What if he hurts himself again?”

Suho anxiously turned to find Kris on the side, his fists balled up as he was deep in thought. “Then we’ll just have to work hard to fix his mistake.”

All Kris was doing was carrying pails of water from the lake over to the fire, and although he was using his powers to help, he still felt just as useless as Chanyeol who wasn’t helping. His power was flying and yet he didn’t even have the strength to carry more than two buckets at the same time, let alone when they were filled to their full capacity.

“And practice using our powers…” Tao muttered, still shaky with his own powers as he remembered trying to freeze the fire. “I probably could’ve frozen the entire forest if I was stronger...”

“We’ve all been practicing more lately, so it should help.” Lay placed a hand on Tao’s back assuringly, the two going into a deep conversation as the other “powerless” ones just rolled their eyes at the situation.

“Well, I don’t think Chanyeol is practicing at all, so what if he goes out of control again?” Sehun said the question everyone hid in the back of their minds, making the room tense.

“He’s already taken out the majority of the forest by the lake…” Kai mumbled, earning a shush from Kyungsoo.

“He will, knowing him. He’s just afraid he’ll hurt someone again.” Xiumin seemed so sure it made Kyungsoo’s skin prickle.

“He’d probably end up hurting himself if he tried, or worse. He might kill himself.”

“He what? He’s going to die?!”

Baekhyun stumbled into the room and ran over to Xiumin who was too busy shaking his head at how Kyungsoo was laughing out of view. Xiumin gave Baekhyun a stern look before the latter sat down obediently, eyes glued to his sweaty palms that were atop his knees.

“If he doesn’t learn how to control his powers, then there’s a possibility.”

“You guys can just go to the lake to see what he’s doing, you know.” Luhan stood up and was already slipping on his sneakers. “I mean, he’s really dense. Like, really dense, so it’s not like he’ll catch us.”

“True…”

And with the unanimous agreement, everyone ventured out together to the lake to see what Chanyeol’s been up to for the past couple days.

Fire and water never really got along; the fact that water had the ability to smother fire made Chanyeol’s blood boil, but at the same time the possibility that fire could make water disappear made Suho anxious as ever. They were polar opposites and yet, Chanyeol finds himself drawn to the lake once again to drown in his own feelings.

Maybe it’s because he literally almost died here at least twice, but he’s developed a sort of sensation that could only be felt in this spot, wading in the water and flinching as it rises to his knees. It bubbles at his feet and rises, his body heating up the further he walks until it just barely passes his chest.

The water boils at his blazing hands, sizzling as he watched steam emit from his fingertips. Something in his mind was screaming for him to stop, but he had ignored the ringing in his ears once he had made the decision to leave the house again. He’s only done this once and although the adrenaline coursing through his veins made him feel a whole lot better, the risks were also too great. If he had messed up even in the slightest, the possibility of setting the forest aflame again was surely inevitable.

He let his feet roam freely below to keep his head above water, continuing on until his lungs began to ache. Now situated in the center of the lake, he let his legs kick a bit more before losing the will to keep pushing, allowing his head to finally dip under as his body sunk deeper down.

--

“What is he doing?” Kris muttered, squinting his eyes to see through the group of charred trees.

They all clumped together in small groups of two or three in order to stay hidden, not doing a very good job since most of the thick vegetation was burned or withered into thin stalks. Chanyeol didn’t seem to notice them as he patted along the shore, digging his shoe into the dirt and kicking rocks into the water. His constant moving around at least provided some entertainment for the others that were beginning to get bored as they constantly kept quiet, only moving to get a closer look.

Finally, Chanyeol stopped in a particular part of the lake, sticking his foot triumphantly on to a fairly large rock on the side. It was high tide and moss laced the bottom of the rock, submerged under a layer of water.

The boy took his time to unlace his shoes, slowly undoing the laces until eventually getting the strings tangled together and having to yank his shoes off by force. He proceeded to strip out of his shirt and shorts next, making sure they were properly stowed away atop the rock before padding into the water.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” Suho looked at Xiumin who just watched silently, nervously going back between the two as Chanyeol went deeper in.

Tao watched curiously as the water bubbled around Chanyeol’s body, “Can’t he kill himself like that? I mean… He is fire so...”

“He would’ve been dead when he took a shower last night, so no.” Sehun yawned, wiping the sweat from his upper lip as the sun continued to shine.

“Wait, but what if he’s completely under the water?”

Sehun lazily turned his head to see the rest of Chanyeol’s head plop under the water, leaving the lake still as if no one was there in the first place. Murmurs of uncertainty spread throughout the group, but nobody was as anxious to see the familiar mop of hair as Baekhyun, as he unconsciously moved closer to the lake with his eyes locked on where Chanyeol was last seen. His fingers dug into the charcoal burned trees as Chanyeol didn’t resurface, making him step closer and closer at the strange way the lake began to curve in on itself.

Just before his shoes were able to touch the shoreline, a geyser exploded from the center of the lake, blasting the water to the sky as a red bubble formed deep in the center. Soon after the water began to fall, another blast sent water flying everywhere, the still top of the lake becoming upset as it thrashed around.

“What’s happening?” Kai’s voice was almost drowned out by the sizzling and bubbling. It was like the lake turned into a giant hot tub and the temperature began to rise once Chanyeol’s body managed to pull itself back to the surface.

It would've been relieving to know that he was out of the water, but that was only if he wasn't screaming like a banshee. His cries were hoarse as the water sloshed into his mouth, partially running down his throat.

His powers were on a rampage, fire out and grabbing hold of anything it could as the water around him created a layer of hot steam. The flames seemed to grow more intense as he cried out, breaking the boys’ hearts as they watched helplessly on the sidelines.

Chanyeol continued to weep until his throat felt dry, cracking on the inside, burning as his bleats grew quiet and the blazing inferno around him slowly subsided. His vision was nothing but a blur, and he couldn’t tell why. Maybe it was the lake water pushing down on his eyelids, or the hot tears that were begging to be released, but who’s to say it wasn’t both.

He craned his neck upward and out of the water, feeling lighter as the rest of his body followed suit and bobbed on the surface. Laying back on the lake felt like he was floating and it felt so nice. As if all of his problems were lifted off his shoulders, leaving them out of sight and out of mind.

Unluckily for him, the sun was beginning to set and it was already time for him to get home.

The closer he got to shore, the more the water seemed to cool. He carefully made his way to the rocks, wedging his bare feet between the small gaps and stumbling on the green slime. He slips his clothes back on, body still dripping in water and shakes his head roughly, damp hair splattering the ground below.

As he ventured back up to the cottage, he couldn’t help but feel happy; sodden earth smushing between his toes as the blades of newly grown grass emerged. Although he thought that the fire had massacred the entire forest, it w