“Put some of these barrels in the back so we won’t run out of gas,” Lay directed from the bed of the truck, helping Baekhyun and Minho lift the gas barrels and place them in an orderly fashion. They’d gathered around 3 barrels of gasoline before Lay jumped down, clapping the dust and dirt from his hands before meeting up with Suho, Amber, and Ryeowook.

“Take D.O. with you, in case you come up on Wraiths. I’m not trying to question your abilities, but I think his strength might be more useful than a flashlight and first aid kit in a fight,” Suho smiled faintly, almost playfully.

Lay nodded, laughing slightly. “Will do. Oh, keep an eye on Sehun and Chen for me, would you? Especially Chen, actually. He’s been having like… night-terrors or something.” He dropped his voice low, making eye contact with Tao in the distance whose eyes seemed to be piercing even at such a length, “According to Tao, there might be something else going on with him than what we were thinking.”

Suho raised a brow, Amber overhearing and looking Chen and Tao’s direction around the smoking bonfire.

“What do you mean?” Suho kept looking back and forth at Lay, Chen, and Tao, trying to put the pieces together.

“I’m not entirely sure, but Tao’s been keeping a close eye on him.” He paused, cracking his neck. “Well, anyways, we’re gonna go.”

Ryeowook clumsily gathered the cooler Jessica and Krystal had prepared, placing it in Lay’s care. “Take this. Ration it. Can’t have you guys starving, man. If you’re not back within a week we’ll be assuming you died, ya know.”

The Healer sighed, putting the cooler under his arm. “Yeah, I understand. D.O.!” the large-eyed boy looked up from his seat by the embers, surprised to hear his name, “Come on, you’re goin’ with us!”

D.O. nodded awkwardly, making his way to the truck, Lay nodding his farewell to the others as Baekhyun and Minho gathered in the seafoam-green truck.

“Come back with food or you’re not allowed back!” Amber threatened with a smile on her face, Lay responding obediently. Amber was so refreshing to have around. She made it easy to forget how life-threatening their situation truly was.

With Baekhyun and D.O. sitting in the bed of the truck, Lay sat in the passenger seat, barely closing the door before Minho set off down the road and southwest to cross the bridge separating Suju and the Capitol.

“If we come up on Wraiths, ya’ll got my back, right?” Minho said, rolling the windows down. “I’m not some big-bad Legend. The best thing I can do is run for my life and hope I don’t have to kiss my goodbye,” he laughed.

“Don’t worry, we got you.”

~  ~

Chen began hearing the strange noises in his room more often as the weeks passed, and he was sure he wasn’t just hearing things. He had this constant feeling of being watched, and sometimes he thought he heard hushed breaths. It wasn’t until his dorm neighbor accidentally cloaked herself in invisibility during one of their classes that he finally realized what was going on. Strangely, he didn’t find it uncomfortable at all. Quite the opposite, actually.

He wasn’t really a secretive person, but he wasn’t an open book, either. It was nice to know that he unwittingly had let someone see him in his most natural form, and they still liked him enough to keep visiting him. Rather than feel violated of his privacy, for whatever reason, Chen actually felt relieved.

On this particular day after classes, when the trainees all returned to their rooms, Chen left the sliding door to the bathroom open, anticipating his visitor. He wasn’t sure if she would come; she didn’t always. But if she did, he wanted to properly introduce himself to his not-imaginary imaginary friend.

Looking over his homework, Chen listened intently for anything that seemed out of place. He made a note to talk to himself out loud so he might be heard in the hallway. However, an hour passed and he didn’t hear a single thing. Now he just felt a little stupid.

Quick to give up, he started actually focusing on his work, though it didn’t take long before the words became too complex for him to grab. “What the heck does this crap mean?”

The Element of Lightning is one that doesn’t agree with the human body. A Lightning Force, unlike the average human, manifests a higher tolerance for Electrical Waves and Heat, though a foreign electrical current may damage the Lightning Force if the energy of the Force is not focused to the Nervous System. One must focus one’s energies on the Nervous System, allowing for optimal flexibility of the electrical current within the body. Failure to do this can result in heart attack, burns, melting of the brain, combustion, or even death.

Chen read it over and over again, though his twelve-year-old mind couldn’t quite grasp the words. He was expected to write an essay with this information, but he could barely understand it himself.

“Yeah, but how the heck am I supposed to make my nervous system flexible or whatever? Ugh, this is so stupid!” He tossed the collection of papers into the air, leaning against his bed. If there was one thing about Chen, it was that he was made frustrated easily by school-work. He picked up his pencil, throwing it across the room before folding his arms and staring into nothing. Though if it hadn’t of been for this sudden outburst, he might not have noticed he had company. There was a faint gasp from near the bathroom door, making it impossible to argue that his guest had indeed come to visit him.

He looked in what he believed to be her direction, a little nervous to expose her. “If you’re gonna sit in here, why don’t you help me with my homework, huh Lully?”

A little hesitantly, she made herself visible, little fists up to her chest and eyes wide as she began to stumble over her words. “I-I’m sorry, I’ll just go.” She began to make her way back through the bathroom, but Chen called out to her.

“I’m not mad, ya know.”

She stopped, turning to look at him. “You’re not?”

He shook his head, his expression still warm. “Nah. Not even a little. I just kinda wanna know why.”

Looking around the room, she thought it over, subconsciously pulling her fingers through her hair. “I hope you don’t think it’s too weird or anything but… I dunno, I guess I just… I guess it’s kinda like ‘people watching’ for me―you know what I mean? People are just… so different when they don’t think anyone’s watching. I like to see people… like that.”

Lully looked back at him, waiting for a condemnation, though it wouldn’t come. Instead, he expressed curiosity.

“So what’s so interesting about me?” He looked at her bright eyed and with anticipation, it was almost an innocent thing and she was still nervous about how to respond to this. She’d never been caught before, and she was afraid he’d snap on her at any given moment.

She thought for a second. “Well, for starters you show your feelings and stuff more. Like how you got mad just then, I never see you do that around people. And, well… you sing when you’re by yourself. Why don’t you sing in front of other people? I really like it.”

Suddenly, he was having a hard time returning eye-contact, laughing awkwardly as he absent-mindedly began to gather the papers he tossed only moments ago. “Oh, uh… that. I dunno, it’s just something I like to do in private. It’s not anything special.”

Lully swooped down to her knees and started helping him gather the papers, reading them over to see what had thrown him into a small fit of frustration earlier. “I think it is.”

“Well, thanks.” He flipped through the pages until he found the one he’d read from earlier. “I was serious, though. You should really help me out.”

She leaned in to read over the page. “Okay. Well, what’s so hard about it?”

He pointed. “None of this crap makes any friggin’ sense.”

Without meaning to, she laughed before taking the paper from his hands. “Alright, well let’s read it one sentence at a time, then.”

~  ~

Chanyeol thought he’d be glad for the sunshine, but the heat actually did nothing for him. Not when he was starving, wounded, and clearly sick. He was so thirsty, yet the nearest water or drinking supply was miles away. He knew it was only a matter of time before he’d collapse dead on the side of the road from dehydration.

“Which way is this?,” he said with a rough voice, looking into the sky at the sun, “East?” It didn’t really matter which way he went, he knew he wouldn’t get far. Though if he did, it was true going east was his best chance to find shelter of some kind.

He continued don’t the road before seeing the overcast begin to sweep over the sky from the southeast. There would be darkness, soon.

~  ~

Pulling her long, dark hair into a ponytail, Nana stretched her legs and kicked her feet more comfortably into her shoes, made specifically for her advanced speed. It was the day of the week when the Trainees did their physical assessment to test the limits of their Forces, and Nana was going for a new time-record speed.

“Come on, Speedy!” Chanyeol and Baekhyun hollered from the sidelines of the track, Nana rolling her eyes in their direction and making a face at them. She didn’t really care for cheerleaders; they made her feel awkward, and the boys knew it.

Master Leeteuk readied the stopwatch he wore on his wrist, asking the Trainees watching on the side to be quiet so Nana could hear him give her the okay. “Are you ready, Nana?”

She waved a hand, swinging her arms. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve been ready! Let’s go!”

Leeteuk shook his head with a laugh. “Alright. Ready… set…”

Nana bent her knees, staring as far ahead as she could, focusing her breath.

“Go!”

And she was off in a flash, the sound of her shoes brushing against the blacktop screeching through everyone’s ears. Lully and Li’s eyes were so wide, one would think they were about to fall from their sockets.

“HELL IN’ YEAH!” Sydney jumped up, shouting for Nana who had already blown them all away. And the girls always loved to be especially supportive of each other since it was only the four of them. Though she couldn’t hear them, all of her peers were standing and jumping, cheering her on. She would have hated it if she knew.

Nana gained even more speed as she went, pressing for that new high record. She wanted to at least gain another 100mph before her time was up. She pushed harder and harder, tears forming in her eyes. The perfectionist that she was, she wouldn’t allow for anything less than her best performance today.

“Tree of Life, she’s going fast as hell,” Baekhyun muttered to himself just loud enough so Chanyeol could hear it.

“I know, right? She’s gonna break her record, I’m calling it now,” the red-head replied, staring hard into the distance in hopes of catching a glimpse of her returning.

They all began to hold their breath, listening hard. It had become so quiet now, Lully growing worried. Li listened especially hard, looking for any trace of Nana’s presence in the near distance, though she wouldn’t be able to catch her thoughts; she was going too fast for her to find.

Suddenly, a strange crash sounded in the air, unsettling the Trainees and Leeteuk, Nana seeming to appear out of nowhere. She had flown into the blacktop, nearly face-down, her clothes ablaze as she began to scream out in a panic.

Lully shot up, racing to her side where Leeteuk already was, screaming, “Nana!? NANA!?”

The Master called for Lay and Suho immediately, the other Trainees looking on feeling useless and afraid. Li stood in horror, as she was hearing more than Nana’s external screams.

Suho pulled water up from the ground, dousing the flames as Leeteuk tried his best to instruct her to roll the fire out, Lay preparing to soothe the burns she surely had on her legs and torso and the scrapes she’d gotten on her face. None of them had ever seen Nana cry like this, she didn’t cry for anything.

Sydney and Chen tried to comfort Lully who was also crying, Chanyeol and Baekhyun silent as they watched on wide-eyed and still as stone. Only Xiumin seemed to notice Li in her own state of absolute terror, putting his hands over her ears to at least block out the screams and cries everyone else was hearing.

With the flames out, Lay pulled Nana up into his arms, Kai grabbing Lay’s shoulder and snapping them back to the Nurse’s Office. Lully ran after with Sydney by her side, refusing to be left behind while her best gal friend and roommate was in such distress.

“What the hell just happened?” Kris and Chanyeol both asked, everyone that was left behind looking to the Master for answers.

“I’m thinking the friction from her body set her clothes on fire,” Luhan explained before Leeteuk could.

“That’s horrifying,” Baekhyun muttered as Master Leeteuk gathered the rest of them and started heading for the entrance to the West Wing.

The chatter quickly died down as they walked back, Li finally crying out the horror she’d just faced, Kris, Suho and Xiumin by her side as they went. Chanyeol subconsciously pulled at the gloves in his pocket, pulling them over his hands almost involuntarily.

~  ~

After nearly a week, Chanyeol finally decided Nana was avoiding him. She wouldn’t even make eye-contact with him most of the time, and though there was nothing wrong with her spending more time with Lully, he couldn’t help but be jealous of it when he knew she was purposely not spending time with him.

He couldn’t imagine what he did to make her this way. Every time she did manage to glance his way, there was this look in her eyes like her heart dropped to her feet at just the sight of him. Chanyeol was so bothered by it, but he was almost even more afraid to find out what was going on.

One evening after class, Chanyeol peeked his head in Nana and Lully’s dorm while Lully was with Chen, hoping to have a heart-to-heart with the girl and settle their differences, whatever they were. The second Nana caught sight of him, that terrified look swept across her face again. She could barely utter “hey” when he called to her.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked, already making his way in the room.

“I’m actually really busy with this essay, so can we talk later?” She scooted back, her legs moving a little awkwardly, still in pain with the little bit of scars that Lay couldn’t do anything about.

“Actually, no, it has to be now. I know you’ve been avoiding me. What did I do? I can’t fix it unless you―”

“―You can’t fix it, Chanyeol. We can’t talk about it! Please, just go.” He caught sight of her hands shaking. This was more than a problem. It was something worse.

He paused, brows furrowed. “What do you mean I can’t fix it? What did I do?”

Her voice cracked. “Please, just leave me alone.”

His stomach dropped. He was almost too afraid to even ask now. “Nana… what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Face in her hands, she reluctantly admitted: “I’m scared of you.”

There was a sharp pain in his chest. Softly, “...Why?”

Chanyeol listened hard, Nana’s voice muffled by her hands as she tried to suppress a few sobs. The tears made it all the more difficult for the words to escape her lips. “Because sometimes you can’t control it.”

“Oh… I’m… I’m sorry.” He really didn’t know what to say. His voice cracked now. “I’ll leave you alone, then…” Lully passed him as he left, catching the distressed look on his face. When she entered the room, Nana collapsed in tears. What neither of the girls knew was that Chanyeol had started crying, too.

~  ~

The overcast had made it to Chanyeol’s location now, he still trudging along the road. The grass had all died where he was, the Red Force having this area of all life. His hunger, fatigue, the pain, and the gloomy surroundings had him trapped in thoughts he would have rather forgotten. He was suddenly seeing images from nearly two months ago, the first memories made in this Hell that barely resembled his old home.

Most of the boys were still in shock, having returned to the girls’ bodies. Kai was still bawling over Taemin’s death, Lay awkwardly shuffling around behind the rest of the group. Luhan, Kris and Sehun refused to be more than a foot away from each other, the elder brothers keeping a close eye on the youngest. Then there was Chen who was crying silently, hands balled into fists.

D.O., always the voice of reason, spoke up. “We need to cremate them.”

The others looked at him.

Chen’s voice was shaking. “Why?”

“He’s right,” Lay replied. “The infection… it was still alive in Taemin’s body when I checked him. It’ll only use the remains to do more damage, and I don’t want to see that happen to the girls. We’ll have to burn the deceased back in town, too.”

There was silence. They all understood that it had to be done, it was all more a matter of working up the courage to do it. D.O. moved first, walking off to gather wood. Sehun’s lips were quivering, suddenly being made aware that this was the end.

It was the most painful memory Chanyeol was having to face, and yet the images wouldn’t stop playing through his mind.

“Here, I’ll… I’ll move them,” Luhan spoke up, leaving Sehun in Kris’ care. Standing a few feet away, he took a breath and lifted the girls telekinetically with one gentle sweep, laying them all nicely near each other.

Suho helped gather wood, placing the stick around the girls, hands shaking. Baekhyun couldn’t stop staring at their bodies, swallowing down a lump in his throat that didn’t seem to want to go down.

He bit down on his lip, his teeth chattering, his vision going blurry.

Finally, they’d gathered enough wood. They all paused again, Kai’s tears from before flowing into a whole new wave of agony. Baekhyun was crying now, too.

As much as D.O. hated it, he knew no one else would ask. “Anyone got a lighter?”

Silence. A few shook their heads. Chanyeol’s stomach dropped so hard, he thought he might vomit. Everyone was looking at him, and seeing some of their faces―the tears that refused to end―he could barely grasp that all of this horror was reality.

“I’ll do it.”

Baekhyun let out a sob that he couldn’t suppress, knowing full well how much pain this was about to bring to all of them, but the very action… it would hurt his best friend most of all.

His lip was bleeding now, tears streaming.

Chanyeol walked up to the girls and their pyre. He saw each of their bloodied faces, wishing so badly that they were only asleep. But in that moment, he remembered how Nana had feared him and his fire only weeks before now. He remembered her screams from the last physical she ran. He remembered how she cried and begged him to leave her alone.

His hands were shaking and he didn’t know if he’d be able to make himself do it. Barely able to control his breath, he drew in, lips quivering and tears burning in his eyes. Struggling, he didn’t even realize Sehun was sobbing uncontrollably now, he didn’t see Chen turned over his knees and biting down so hard on his lips they were bleeding. He didn’t see Baekhyun ripping his fingers through his hair, fighting with his own cries and the reality. He no longer heard Kai whose throat was now raw, didn’t see Lay with eyes closed tight, praying to wake up. He didn’t even hear himself, who was now sobbing behind chattering teeth.

“I’m so sorry,” his voice was hoarse, “I’m so, so sorry.”

With one snap of his fingers, he set the pyre up in flames, falling to his knees. For miles, all that could be heard was the roaring funeral pyre and the cries of broken boys.