(8) FALL

Sehun was extremely thankful for September. It wasn’t too hot, nor was it too cold. In fact, he felt at most ease around this time of the year, when the leaves fell from the trees in all shades of red, whipped by the cool wind to be scattered amongst the forest floor. With his joy, he usually hung around the tree in the clearing with Kai and Tao; though sometimes, he would notice Kyungsoo tag along, too.

He would be lying if he said he didn't feel left out sometimes. It irritated him a bit, but he began to feel a bit of what Chanyeol was feeling before he got his powers- a bit of jealousy. And although both Kai and Kyungsoo didn't have their powers yet, either, he kept in the back of his mind that everyone else did.

Kyungsoo liked it when it was peaceful, which is probably why he decided to hang out with the "powerless" more. Either that, or Kai dragged him along, both of which weren’t really surprising. They all talk amongst themselves as they watch Tao practice his powers on random objects, and after a year of having them, he'd really gotten the hang of it. Sometimes, Kyungsoo would notice that the days would pass by quicker, and he wondered if Tao had been practicing on everyone else as well. He decides that he's right whenever Tao would excuse himself to rest back at the house.

"When do you think we will get our powers?" Kai asks. Sehun shrugs, eyes on Tao who freezes some leaves that were tossed up in the air. His eyes, shimmering a golden hue as he turned around to face them, gloated each time the world stopped at his command. “It’ll be soon, though. I mean, knowing you two.” Kyungsoo hummed, watching the exhibition with little interest, his eyes only attracted towards the light that Tao’s eyes reflected.

Kai nodded eagerly to whatever Kyungsoo said thereafter while Sehun just glowered quietly on the side, the both of them enviously watching as Kyungsoo praised Tao each time he managed to freeze a flock of birds above them. It wasn’t fair to Sehun that he was one of the only ones left without a power, and although Kai agreed with him, it didn’t bother him as much as it bothered Sehun. Every time Sehun would bring it up to Kai, the latter would agree, only to go off and enjoy himself with Tao or Kyungsoo when they would call for him. Maybe it was because he was closest to Kai that he began to feel a bit of jealousy. The whole thought of him being left behind made him angry, and also a little sad deep down. Luckily, he wasn’t one to be so open with his emotions like Chanyeol and Baekhyun, or else he’d have a bunch of nagging mothers on his case.

The four of them had returned back to the cottage once Tao began to get sleepy, Kyungsoo feeling the need to have him back home so that they wouldn’t have to carry him. Tao may have been one of the youngest, but it didn’t make him the lightest out of all of them.

The rest of the group sits together in a circle in the middle of the room, and when Suho takes notice of the boys who walk in, he straightens up. “Oh, we were waiting for you.” He began, patting the ground next to him. “Come and sit.”

A few members scoot out of the way to make some space, the three boys wedging in between every few people; Sehun somehow manages to sit next to Luhan, the one he’d always go to if Kai ever ignored him. Suho rubs his hands together and bites his lip before he starts talking again.

“I know it’s a little bit of a tough subject…” He says, keeping an eye on everyone’s expressions. “... But, we’re running out of food again.”

Luhan furrows his brows, already aware of what that meant. “You mean... We have to go back to town?” Suho nods at his question slowly.

“But, we haven’t been past the gate in months!” Lay pipes up, leaning forward a little on his knees. “From our last incident, don’t you think that they would still be looking for us?”

“Maybe…” Suho mutters, pointer finger pressing against his lower lip. “But I was thinking that since most of us have these powers, maybe we could…”

Everyone else stares. Never would Suho ever suggest using their powers in such situations. The fact that he did meant that the situation was dire; they needed food, and if using force is what it took, then that’s what they would do.

Sehun looks down at his hands, lightly scared from the firework accident. Suho, of course, takes note of each member and roughly comes to a conclusion. “The younger members without powers will stay back.”

Sehun feels the blood rush to his face, staring at Suho who refuses to look anybody in the eye. He balls his fists, but before he could say a word, Kai protests.

“What?!” He nearly shouts. “That’s not fair!” Sehun nods his head as Kai continues to voice his displeasure, the two of them already ready to start a war with Kyungsoo rolling his eyes in the background.

Their voices grew louder and more exasperated as time went on, the rest of the members not saying anything as the two youngest complained about the biased arrangements. Kyungsoo was quiet, but even he was a little hurt that Suho wanted him to stay back. He was one of the ones that actually helped out around the house and now, because he wasn’t gifted with some kind of supernatural gift, he was left behind.

Kris watched quietly from behind at the two that were making a scene. He personally didn’t care if they went or not, but the grief stricken look on Tao’s face made him uncomfortable, pushing him to step forward to speak. “Look, just listen to Suho because he’s probably the last one of us to go and get killed or something.”

“But Lay is going to be there too! He can heal us if we get hurt!” Sehun shot back. Lay seemed indifferent towards the situation and nodded with whoever was speaking, making Kris roll his eyes to think that Sehun thought Lay was actually agreeing with him.

“Don’t depend on Lay if something were to go wrong because that’s rude Sehun.” Xiumin’s words shot right through Sehun’s chest, making it feel heavy and constricted. Xiumin was usually the nicer one out of all of them and even now he was taking Suho’s side out of all of this.

The air was stale and almost dry once Suho felt the need to speak again. “Also, uh. I don’t think that Chanyeol should come with us either since, well. You know.”

Someone in the crowd threw a small fit as Chanyeol let out a relieved sigh, turning towards the angry Baekhyun to try and calm him down before Suho changed his mind. He should have known they were going to need to go back out there after so long, but the day his powers broke loose still haunted him, terrifying him each time the memory resurfaced.

“Well, if Chanyeol isn’t going, then I’m not going either.” Baekhyun let out with a huff, crossed arms showing his distress.

“Well... If that’s what you want then you can stay. Lunch is ready in the kitchen for anyone that wants to eat.”

Majority of the boys slowly had gotten up to wander into the kitchen as the smell of meat drifted in through the air, leaving Kai and Sehun defeated in their seats. Kai had a small frown on his face as he watched the others go to eat without them, while Sehun was full out seething. Before, they were allowed to pretty much do whatever they wanted, but now, it really seemed like they were living in preschool. Over time, Suho became more and more strict with them whenever they’d go to the lake or if they wanted to explore, putting a wet blanket on any of the fun plans they had in store.

Sehun stormed off first, stomping his feet as he trudged up the stairs and into one of the vacant rooms. Kai made his move to head upstairs as well, but by the time he had snapped out of his self pity time, the door above had already slammed shut, shaking the shelves that were pressed to the walls of the cottage. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Sehun was pretty upset that he wasn’t allowed to go out, and they knew that he would be, but Suho had talked it over to Luhan the night before and the two of them came to an agreement that it would be too dangerous for the non-power affiliated boys to go. Xiumin made another side note as he strolled into the kitchen to probably leave Chanyeol at home too, still worrying for the boy after he never used his power once after the day they had followed him down to the lake.

“He’s probably going to do something stupid tonight, you do realize that, right?”

Kai’s head snapped up at whoever’s voice was speaking, looking at Kyungsoo who had two plates of food in his hand. One plate was balanced with an assortment of rice and side dishes, while the other was strictly just rice and chicken. Kyungsoo handed the blander plate over to Kai, which the latter accepted gratefully as he glanced back over to the staircase.

“Yeah, I know, but…” He trailed off, stuffing his mouth with a piece of chicken. The meat fell right off the bone and almost made him stop speaking altogether in order to get a better taste of his favorite food. “I can’t just leave him if he does.”

Kyungsoo sat next to Kai, plucking a piece of kimchi off his place before offering it to Kai, who gladly ate it from his chopsticks. “I never said you had to.”

He continued to eat more of the kimchi from his own plate as Kai pondered about what he could do. He and Sehun had been close since forever and it was obvious that he was taking this hard on himself, even if it wasn’t his fault. The mystery of the powers and why the group had been getting it was shrouded in a cloud of secrets.

On the other side of the room, a certain boy couldn’t keep still and constantly checked the stairs in hope that Sehun would come down to eat before all the food was gone. Luhan looked down at his own plate and finally made up his mind as he treaded up the stairs, wandering over to the only room that had its door closed before knocking softly on the wood. “Sehun? Are you going to eat?”

He waited patiently for the boy to answer, only to have his spirits crushed as a grumpy “Go away” could be heard from under the door. Biting his lip and tightening his hold on the half eaten plate, he turned away and took his own food with him, heading back downstairs with a heavy heart. It didn’t help to find Kai eagerly awaiting once he got to the bottom, only to give the younger a sad shake of his head before both of their moods descended lower than the floor.

“It’s his problem if he’s not going to eat, so don’t beat yourself up over it.” Kris muttered, stuffing his face with the last chicken wing as Luhan just made his way back to his seat.

Once everyone finished what was on their plates, they all tossed away their trash before Suho called them into the kitchen to discuss what the plan was for tonight. Luhan was currently washing the dishes as Kyungsoo dried them, the two working together as the group began to crowd into the kitchen. Seeing that this was his cue, Kai began to slowly walk back into the main room where Baekhyun and Chanyeol were currently playing a card game, hoping that the two older boys wouldn’t push him away again just because he was younger than them. Xiumin saw his sad backside begin to wander off before calling him from the kitchen. “Hey Kai!”

“Y-Yeah?” He managed to croak out, trying not to let his emotions get the best of him. He was strong willed, but it didn’t help that he was currently alone.

“You can stay in here if you want. I mean, just because you’re not going doesn’t mean that you can’t stay here.”

“Leave it to Xiumin hyung to save me.” He thought to himself, gladly taking a seat atop the counter to listen in as they spoke.

Taking a small headcount and making sure that the people doing dishes could hear him, Xiumin began to speak. “Alright, so, here’s the plan…”

--

Sehun huffed and held onto his stomach as it growled for the nth time that night, making him unable to get any sleep after locking himself in the room upstairs. Judging by the amount of noise coming from downstairs, it was safe to say that the others had already gone out or were already fast asleep. Using extra precaution when opening the door, he cringes as the old metal creaks, echoing through the hallway and down the stairwell. Treading as silently as he could, he manages to get downstairs and into the main room to find the remaining four boys sleeping. Chanyeol had his legs strewn over Baekhyun’s sleeping body as the latter was curled tightly into a ball. Sehun squinted through the darkness to find Kai and Kyungso bundled together sound asleep, Kyungsoo’s body tucked away in Kai’s chest as their legs tangled together.

Resisting the urge to gag and possibly wake up all four boys, he crawled over between Kai and Chanyeol to pry Kai off Kyungsoo, almost letting out a scream as Chanyeol latched onto his body. Chanyeol’s chest was pressed flush against his back and the heat was making him irritable as he became careless when trying to wake up Kai. Finally managing to untangle their legs, he elbowed Chanyeol in his stomach before proceeding to drag Kai out by his legs, digging his nails into Kai’s ankles in hopes that he’d wake up faster. Kai was already beginning to stir by the time Sehun had managed to yank him into the kitchen, his head accidentally bumping against one of the chair legs as he pulled him in.

Before Kai could yell, Sehun clamped his mouth with a hand. “Be quiet! It’s just me.” He hissed, keeping Kai’s mouth shut until he stopped flailing around.

“Sehun? What are you doing?” Kai glanced around the room in search of a clock, coming up short as his hand went up to hold the back of his head, “And why does my head hurt?”

Sehun hushed him and moved over so that Kai could sit up properly, plopping down onto the cold tile as he began to wake up. “We’re going to go out on a run.”

Kai’s eyes squinted as he adjusted to the darkness, stretching his stiff limbs. “Suho and the rest of the hyungs have already left.”

L