“We've got to get out of here," Kris said as he turned to face the group. “Everybody stick together!”

“Go back, go back,” Suho repeated as he directed the group back to the street they came from. A clamorous chorus of shrieks caused the group to halt their steps. In front of them was a flock of grey bat-like boggers flying in V formation towards them and ready to attack.

“Run!” Chanyeol yelled as he split away from the middle of the group.

They all ran entering the cross road but keeping their distance from the troop’s side. A bird hooted as it flew above them, flying towards the boggers.

“Tawny?” he heard Kris gasp.

Jongdae looked up and saw the owl fly directly towards the leader of the flock.

“Oh no, no, no,” Kris said anxiously. “Luhan swat the leader,” Kris commanded as he turned back towards the flock. “Hurry!”

As told, Luhan slapped the air and down went the bogger in front. It staggered in the air as the owl approached and clawed its eyeless face. The two tumbled to ground, falling harshly against the pavement.

“No!” Kris yelled as he ran their way.

The leading bogger’s absence disrupted the formation, causing the boggers to split and disperse, each focusing on a member to attack.

“,” Kris cursed, realizing his mistake. He flew up to escape from a bogger chasing him.

Jongdae ran fast to where the fallen bogger disappeared.

“Oh no,” he said as he saw the lifeless owl lie on the ground. Its wing was broken and black goo ate half of its body.

“Tawny what have you done?” Kris cried out as he landed next to the dead bird. “Why did you come back? You weren’t supposed to come back?” he cried as he held his head between his hands.

“Kris, oh ,” Chanyeol said as he reached the scene. “Oh no, Tawny,” he said sadly cupping his mouth with his hand, “Damn it.”

“What happened?” Sehun said as he reached them. “Oh no.”

“Guys we can’t stay here,” Chanyeol said hurriedly as flying boggers turned towards them. “Kris I’m sorry, but we have to go,” Chanyeol almost broke to tears, as he tried to lift the taller boy up.

“Tawny was supposed to be free,” Kris said through tears.

“Hurry,” Sehun said as he helped Chanyeol pick Kris up. “Run. Run!”

Jongdae ran back as the long faced bogger flew fast behind him. He nearly tripped when he turned a sharp right as he realized he was running directly towards the troop. Stumbling back into his running speed, Jongdae ran inside a side alley, shielding himself from the fight that broke out in the crossing.

“, , ,” he breathed out laboriously as he pressed his back against the wall.

After taking in deep breaths to calm his rapid heart, Jongdae stealthily looked to the side, hiding behind the drainpipe. He furrowed his brows confused as he couldn’t to spot the bogger. He saw Sehun and Chanyeol combine their abilities to create a flame throwing gust, burning the boggers that dared to get close to them and Kris. He saw Tao assist Lay in killing the flying boggers that Luhan knocked down from the sky. They would quickly disappear once they hit the ground –Jongdae knew this time, that it was Tao manipulating time for Lay to manage to end the boggers without resistance.

He heard a wheezing sound above him, following a two time rhythm –it coordinated with his breathing pattern: wheeze once, wheeze twice; breathe in, breathe out. Jongdae fearfully looked above him. The flying bogger that had been chasing him was crouched upon the ledge of the building behind him. Its elongated face was angled downwards, as if he was looking directly at Jongdae like a predator teasing its prey –despite the lack of eyes. Jongdae’s eyes widened when he saw a bright cyan-colored tongue the length of its black fang. He gulped hard as a cold shiver ran down his spine. The grey bogger screeched, causing Jongdae to jump in fear. His hand automatically grabbed the pipe, inducing an electrical current due to the electric potential difference. The metal pipe rapidly conducted the current to the screaming bogger, electrocuting it as it held onto the drainpipe of the ledge. Jongdae ducked, covering his head with his arms as the lifeless creature fell from the roof.

“Holy , holy ,” he chanted as he waited frightfully for the impact. But he never felt the pain of being smashed by a lifeless body. After counting ten seconds, Jongdae dared to look up. There was nothing there; he stood alone in the alley.

“They disappear,” he reminded himself and gave out a nervous laugh in relief.

Shaking off the trepidation, Jongdae mentally prepared himself to confront his fear and get back out to the war zone. He knew he had to stop being a coward and help out the group –despite his uneasiness towards his control over his abilities. He feared hurting someone again.

Jongdae looked out of the alley, the street was a mess. The soldiers had moved further towards the left side of the grounds, away from the entrance they had come from. The group was scattered around the crossing, all busy trying to fight off the ice boggers.

, what do I do? He bitterly thought as he knew he would be useless against ice. Maybe if I shock one long enough, it would melt. Yeah, that should do; he prepped himself.

Jongdae stepped out –rubbing his hands together to charge some electricity in case a bogger decided to jump at him. Looking towards the right, he saw that at the opposite corner of the street perpendicular to the main one he was at, there was a big graffiti arrow on a wrecked building. But the difference from the other arrows was that above it was written WATER.

“What the heck?” he thought allowed.

"Jongdae look out!"

"Holy !" he yelled as he ran from an ice bogger that skated towards him, completely forgetting his initial intention of fighting.

He quickly sprinted, making his way towards the arrow and leaving the blue bogger behind. But half way there, out of nowhere another ice bogger appeared before him, forcing him to make a sharp turn to his left. Dashing across the pavement, Jongdae slipped on residual ice. He tumbled far downhill, due to the vast amount of momentum he accumulated, and ended up crashing against a soldier who was at the opposite side of the second street. The man stood up from his crouched position and aimed his weapon at him. Jongdae felt the sweat on his nape go cold as he stared at the barrel of the gun -the metal cylinder pointing directly at his forehead.

He couldn’t breathe for the whole seconds he stared at the gun. He feared that if he made the slightest movement, it would be his last.

Feeling his chest burn from the lack of oxygen, Jongdae dared to look up at the soldier's eyes. The man's helmet covered most of his head, projecting a shadow over his face and making his eyes look darker –those cold dark eyes looked straight back at him. Jongdae did his best to convey his feelings through his face, saddening his expression as he mentally begged to stay alive. The man's features soften as he lowered his gun ever so slowly. Jongdae was just beginning to feel relaxed when in a split second the soldier was sent flying away, forcefully pushed by an invisible force.

‘Are you alright?’ Luhan asked as he ran up to him. ‘Did that bastard hurt you?’ he questioned as he helped him up on his feet -holding onto his elbow instead of hand.

It took a few seconds for Jongdae to realize the other was speaking telepathically –which was quite evident with the lack of lip movement.

"N-no," Jongdae laggardly answered. "I'm fine."

Luhan eyed him from top to bottom before nodding. "Let's go," he said and pulled him to walk with him. ‘I don’t trust these people, so stay alert,’ he warned.

"Why?" Jongdae asked confused. "Can’t you look into their minds to figure if they’re trustworthy?" The look Luhan gave him made him realize the answer. "Oh, you can’t read their minds either?" he asked rhetorically.

A flying bogger approached from above. It quickly spat goo at them, but Luhan was quick enough to protect them from the shot with a telekinetic force field. Letting go of Jongdae, Luhan used his hands to simulate the actions that he thought out with his mind. The flying bogger’s arms were twisted around, breaking and dislocating from the shoulder. It gave out a cry of pain as it plummeted to the ground. One last hand movement and the bogger’s head snapped backwards –a loud pop was heard from the creature’s neck.

Jongdae remained muted as he stared at the spot where the dead monster disappeared from -his shock was visible in his features, it wasn’t necessary for Luhan to read his mind to figure out what the other was thinking.

“Do you really feel empathetic towards those things?” Luhan asked disapprovingly. As he kept the force field shielding them. “I’d prefer if they’d all just drop dead,” he said sourly. “Just halt and catch fire, so I don’t have to fight ever again.”

Jongdae gulped, feeling his throat dry. He understood the other’s idea perfectly, he didn’t enjoy the idea of fighting against these creature either. If they’d simply disappear, then maybe his life would be so much easier.

“It’s not that I care for them,” Jongdae took his time to reply. “It’s just terrifying how simple it is,” he said, looking at Luhan.

The telekinetic’s expression was unreadable –Jongdae couldn’t figure if he was sad, resentful, tired or apathetic. Maybe it was all those at the same time or none at all.

“It doesn’t matter,” Luhan finally said, masking confidence. “It’s what has to be done,” he concluded. “Let’s go.”

The force field disappeared and Jongdae’s senses fell back into vigilance. They advanced towards the middle and Jongdae noticed Xiumin struggling to fight of three ice boggers, much further away at their left. Those damn creatures had him surrounded; he had to create a dense ice shield to protect himself from the incredibly sharp blades. His shield was cracking with each slash.

“Xiumin needs help,” Jongdae quickly informed.

Luhan’s head snapped towards the direction Jongdae pointed at, fear crossed his eyes. “Take me there,” Luhan ordered as he walked behind him.

“What?” he said confused, turning to face the other. But Luhan pushed him to look at the front. “What are you doing?”

“Just carry me, damn it,” Luhan’s temper rose. He hopped onto Jongdae’s back looping his arms tightly around his neck, while wrapping his legs above Jongdae’s hips. “Hurry!”

“,” he clenched his teeth as he summoned all his muscle strength to support the other.

Jongdae was careful to hook his forearms under Luhan’s knees, but still a small discharge of electricity sparked against Luhan. Ignoring the other’s complaints, Jongdae ran fast. He focused energy at his muscles, gaining more strength to accelerate their bodies across the street. He was panting by the time they were closing to Xiumin. As they reached the spot Luhan pushed the boggers away, knocking them down like pins.

Jongdae forcefully stopped and immediately dropped Luhan once they settled. He heaved in air as he rested his hands against his knees. All while Luhan confronted the boggers and Xiumin broke out of the shield.

“Are you alright?” Xiumin asked, placing his cold hand upon Jongdae’s shoulder.

“Shouldn’t I be asking that?” Jongdae returned as he stood up straight.

“I’m fine,” Xiumin waved off and turned to look at Luhan, who had managed to kill two boggers while the third fled. “As long as Luhan doesn’t snap,” he said softly.

Jongdae wanted to ask what he meant by that, but another ice bogger appeared from the right. Jongdae thoughtlessly grabbed Xiumin’s arm and ran.

“Holy , let go!” Xiumin cried out as he used his free hand to pull Jongdae’s hand away.

“Sorry,” Jongdae said, while quickly looking back to make sure they were still out of the bogger’s reach. “I was pretty sure electricity doesn’t conduct well on ice.”

Xiumin’s jaw slacked as he stared baffled at him. “I control ice my body isn’t made of ice, you moron,” Xiumin exasperated as he rubbed his sore arm.

“Oh…” Jongdae blinked as he realized his stupidity. He turned to see the ice bogger skating towards them, moving its body fast against the frozen pavement. “Right then,” he said as he charged the atoms of his hands.

“What are you doing?” Xiumin asked alarmed. “We’ve gotta run.”

“Its body isn’t made of ice either, right?” he asked instead, indicating towards the bogger with his chin.

“It shouldn’t,” Xiumin said furrowing his brows as he eyed him questioningly.

“We’ll find out soon,” he said, positioning himself in an offensive stance. “Stay back,” he warned.

The bogger was closing in on them, growling as it threatened them by amplifying its blades with another film of sharp dense ice. Xiumin stood close behind, preparing to intervene at any given moment. Jongdae extended his attack once the bogger was in range. The electrical discharge hit the bogger straight in the chest, causing it to convulse strenuously. The bogger fell dead and slid on the remaining ice. Xiumin was quick to pull Jongdae out of the way.

“Good job,” Xiumin congratulated and proceeded to move but Kai suddenly appeared between them.

“Don’t move,” he quickly warned as he held onto both their shoulders and made them intangible.

Jongdae stood frightfully still, as the background ruckus quieted down. He was eager to ask what was happening, but then he heard it –it was a faint sound but loudest amongst the whispers. He saw a spark of fire to his left billowing within black smoke. The explosion gusted dirt as the smoke rose high into the mid morning sky.

Wind cleared the smoke away and Kai finally materialized their bodies. Sehun and Tao were running towards their way, Sehun being the source of the wind.

“What was that?” Xiumin asked with wide eyes.

“A grenade,” Kai answered, turning around to see the troop further back, escaping from the explosion.

“What a relief,” Tao said breathlessly as he reached them. He rested his hands against his knees, slightly bending forward. Swiping the sweat off his forehead, Tao stood up straight. “We've got to help Chanyeol now,” he said as he outstretched his hand towards Kai.

As soon as the pair was gone, Xiumin and Jongdae walked away from the dissipating smoke.

“Did we almost get hit by a bomb?” Jongdae dared to ask -his voice slightly quivering.

“Possibly,” Xiumin shrugged indifferently.

“How can you not be shocked by that?” Jongdae exasperated, clearly showing his bewildered state.

Xiumin huffed as he stopped his steps. He turned to look at him straight in the eyes, “I have no idea how many times Tao has saved me, or any of us. Wondering about what could’ve happen, but didn’t, is useless. Especially in moments like these.”

“But-”

“Enough,” he cut him off. “Let’s go help Sehun,” he indicated towards the boy hiding inside a vortex, shielding himself from three ice boggers.  

They carefully got close enough to attack within range. Xiumin froze ice surrounding Sehun, that way if Jongdae’s attacks branched out, the ice wouldn’t conduct the charge towards the hidden boy. With no other member close, Jongdae dared to discharge high volts of electricity towards the two proximate boggers, while Xiumin fought against the third. Aiming towards their bodies, the boggers were zapped to death as their blades melted from the extreme internal heat.

He saw Xiumin struggle to strike the ice bogger -its movements matched his speed. It was like seeing Xiumin fight himself. Xiumin had copied the bogger’s blade design, sharp ice stuck out from his arms. The bogger slashed downwards and Xiumin shielded himself by raising both his arms above his head. But Xiumin was smarter, as their ice blades collided; he projected his freezing abilities from their touching blades to the bogger’s body. A thick film of ice quickly spread around the monster’s arm and up to its neck- The ice encircled the creature’s neck and thickened around it, chocking the bogger.

Xiumin got rid of his blades so he could take a step away from the struggling bogger. He made an inward motion, joining his hands together. The ice necklace shattered and lattice shreds penetrated the boggers flesh, nearly decapitating the creature.

“That was… creative,” Jongdae commented awkwardly.

Xiumin shot him a strange look before shrugging. “We got to get Sehun out of that,” he said tiredly -his breathing was labored.

Jongdae took a step towards the vortex; wind buffeted his senses as he slipped on the ice that was still on the ground.

“Can’t you get rid of this?” he asked, pointing at the frozen floor.

“Uhh, not really,” Xiumin scratched the back of his ear.

“Oh well.” Jongdae placed his hands around his mouth, “Sehun get out! The boggers are gone!” He yelled as loud as he could. Xiumin laughed at him. “Sehun!”

The rotational speed of the gust began to diminished; gradually Sehun’s figure became visible inside the dying vortex. His eyes were wide and alert as a frown settled between his brows.

“It’s fine now,” Jongdae said with a smile.

But the look on Sehun’s face said otherwise. The air bender swooshed his hands to the side and a strong gust pushed Xiumin to the side. All Jongdae managed to process before painfully falling backwards, was Xiumin’s large oval angular chocolate eyes, widening in shock as his body flew mid-air and crashed onto him. Jongdae felt pain all over his body. Xiumin lifted himself above him, extending his hands by the side of Jongdae’s head. He looked to their left, where Sehun was.

“Sehun’s in trouble,” he muttered as he struggled to get up.

But Jongdae saw the flying bogger above them, ready to spit its awful goo. He quickly wrapped his arms around Xiumin’s back and pushed the floor with the heel of his foot. They rolled to the right side just in the nick of time.

“Get off,” Xiumin huffed as he pushed Jongdae away. The grey bogger was above them again and spat its foul goo. “Not again,” Xiumin grumbled and held his hands up.

Jongdae stared in awe as the shapeless black mass gradually decreased its velocity while it began to turn frozen solid. When it was near Xiumin, he blocked the frozen mass away with a small shield of ice. Then he stood up and used the same decelerating ability to slow down the flying bogger.

“Go help Sehun!” he ordered.

Jongdae didn’t think twice as he ran towards Sehun’s direction. The air bender propelled his body upwards, evading one of the ice bogger’s blades. Using air drifts, he kept himself at a higher level than the boggers range. He tried to suffocate a bogger but his attack fell weak as he let his arm drop. Jongdae’s heart clenched when he realized why. Sehun had a laceration that cut through the length of his upper right arm.

Feeling a strong and upsetting stir in his chest, Jongdae charged energy into his hands and ran towards the three ice boggers. He used the electromagnetic pulse to push the boggers away. The one closest to him fell backwards and he took the chance to step over it and send high voltage currents into its chest.

He felt different this time, he wasn’t afraid of hurting anyone with his electricity- he was enraged. He was fed up with these monsters that all he wanted was to finish them off.

The second ice bogger growled at him as it glided over ice to attack him. Outstretching his arm, Jongdae conducted electrons from the earth, charging through his body. Before he managed to spark an electrical current through the gap between them, a loud clear shot was heard. The bogger fell sideways, dead.

Jongdae was confused as he looked towards his right and saw a soldier lower his gun. Jongdae gulped hard while the man simply nodded at him and then ran off to help his troop.

He helped me, Jongdae thought baffled.

Sehun had landed safely on the ground as was trying to fight against the third bogger. But he suddenly vanished. Jongdae screamed out in fear when the other simply disappeared. It wasn’t the same as Kai’s teleportation, his body just dissipated within the air and vanished. The ice bogger turned its attention to him -probably screaming hadn’t been the best idea. But before it could attack, its body turned still before desiccating into a dried up mummy.

Suho approached, hands on his head as he stared up into the sky.

“Where is he?” Xiumin asked afraid as he had run up to them.

“Somewhere in the air,” Suho answered. “How do we get him down?”

“In the air?” Jongdae squeaked. “What the hell happened to him? He vanished!” he said panicked.

“Calm down,” Xiumin said coldly. “It’s happened before.”

“What?” Jongdae babbled.

“Hot air rises,” Suho said with his attention back on Xiumin. “Maybe he hasn’t drifted far away. Maybe you could-”

“It’s worth a shot,” Xiumin agreed, already knowing what the other wanted to say.

Jongdae felt unsettled and lost with what was happening, but then he felt the ambient temperature drastically drop. Xiumin concentrated on cooling the air around them as quick as possible. And then Sehun popped back above them. Suho did something strange to stop the other from crashing hard against the ground -it looked as if he used telekinesis like Luhan.

Sehun was lowered carefully to the ground and Xiumin knelt to examine his injury. It was worse than what Jongdae thought -the cut was deep enough to reach the bone.

“That felt so weird,” Sehun complained to Suho, speaking with difficulty. He had tears in his eyes as he loosely held onto his hurt arm with his free hand. He looked tired and out of it, as if he had no more energy to move his injured body.

“Had to do it, buddy,” Suho said caringly as he ruffled the other’s hair.

“What? What…” Jongdae intelligibly said.

“I kind of, controlled his umm, body fluids,” Suho said embarrassed.

“Ugh,” Jongdae gaped at the other. It was strange to imagine someone being able to move your body through your blood, lymph and other.

Sehun’s body began to fade in Xiumin’s arm. The ice bender slapped his cheek a couple of times to keep him awake. “He’s losing too much blood,” Xiumin said serious. “That’s why he keeps fainting.”

“When he faints he vanishes?” Jongdae questioned.

“Yeah,” Suho answered with a frown. “It’s like his pressure decompresses and he changes into air,” he quickly explained. “Where’s Lay?” he asked aloud as he looked around.

“Suho you’re going to have to keep his blood flowing,” Xiumin said as he struggled to keep Sehun awake. “Like right now,” Xiumin raised his eyebrow.

Suho nodded but looked uncomfortable. Kneeling next to Sehun he focused on keeping the blood inside the wound, while trying to keep some blood supply flowing through the arm -Sehun’s hand was already turning bluish.

“This is difficult,” he said while making a disturbed face.

“Keep going,” Xiumin said. “Why are you still here? Go get Lay,” he barked his order.

Jongdae took off as soon as he heard the healer’s name. He ran across the battlefield, searching for their personal medic. Lay was assisting Luhan and Tao, they were fighting against a fire bogger, the only one Jongdae has seen around.

He thoughtlessly grabbed Lay. “We have to go,” he quickly informed. “Jump on my back.”

Lay seemed unaffected by the small discharges that snapped between them every now and then, as Jongdae ran as fast as he could. Once there, Lay quickly proceeded to heal the patient.

“More are coming,” Suho said somberly as he looked at their left.

Jongdae groaned as he saw a whole new army of boggers appear from the east side of the field.

“Watch out! In front!” they heard Kris’ voice say above them.

Four fire boggers were running towards them, while six flying boggers rapidly flew at them.

“!” Xiumin cursed as he stood in front of Sehun and Lay defensively.

“I need water,” Suho grunted, but stood in front, ready to fight them off.

Shots we fired, Suho ducked down afraid. The boggers above them began to fall, one by one, crashing against the fire boggers below. Jongdae took his chance to finish them off. Stepping before Suho, he crouched down and electrostatically charged the surface of the earth. Once the electrical tension broke between the earth and the proximate air, electrical currents spread across the field towards the remaining fire boggers.

“No Luhan!” he heard Xiumin yell behind him.

Turning around, he saw Luhan and Tao were with them now. Luhan had five soldiers trapped in a telekinetic hold -levitating their powerless bodies in the air.

“They were helping us,” Xiumin tried to explain. “Luhan,” he called as he shook the other’s shoulder.

“They nearly shot Suho,” Luhan glared; without wavering his hold on the soldiers.

“I’m fine, they didn’t hurt me,” Suho assured. “Let them go.”

But he didn’t. He kept them there, levitating mid air. And then the soldiers began to cry out in pain.

“Please stop!” one of them yelled.

“What are you doing?” Suho asked scared as Kris landed next to him.

“Luhan,” Tao called with fright in his voice as he tried to get his attention. He looked too exhausted to even yell.

“Stop! Stop please,” another soldier painfully pleaded.

“Stop hurting them,” Xiumin nudged his side, but was pushed aside as Luhan created a force field around his body. “Luhan!”

“Kris, stop him,” Suho said as he noticed more soldiers were approaching the field. But the taller boy didn’t react. He just stared at the scene. “Kris!” he yelled with desperation.

Jongdae saw them too and quickly realized the problem. If Luhan didn’t let those soldiers go, then their enemy won’t only be the boggers.

“Luhan that’s enough,” Kris stepped in, but wasn’t able to get close due to the force field. “Let them go. Now,” he sternly ordered.

“They nearly shot Suho,” Luhan repeated and applied more pressure, tormenting the soldiers.

“Luhan put them down before we end up fighting with them all,” Kris argued anxiously the group reached them.

“Put our men down,” their leader ordered as the men aimed their weapons at them. “We will not hesitate to shoot.”

Holy , holy , Jongdae thought alarmed as he began to panic.

“Luhan!” Xiumin yelled angered as he hid behind the force field.

“Luhan stop!” Suho ordered and did as Xiumin. They all took refuge behind the force field Luhan had surrounded himself in.

“Let them go!”

“Please stop!” he yelled desperately as well.

“Put them down now,” the soldier said.

“Tao,” Kris turned to him.

“Prepare to fire,” the leader said.

“I’ll try,” Tao said straightening his back.

“Fire at will on my command.”

“Luhan!”

“Tao!”

“Now!”

Jongdae closed his eyes as he covered his head with his arms and crouched down. The loud gun shots scared him to death, causing his chest to ache with each pounding heartbeat.

“Ah!”

Who was that? he thought alarmed. Oh no! Did someone get hurt? Who got shot?

“You idiot,” he heard Sehun say calmly. “You’re just making things worse.”

Jongdae slowly realized that there was no clamor in the background. And Sehun’s voice was just too damn calm for the given situation.

Daring to look up, he uncovered his eyes and saw Sehun with his air armor. He was standing over Luhan with a clenched fist. Luhan was lying on the floor propped on one elbow as his free hand rubbed the increasingly red mark on his cheek.

The soldiers that were in Luhan’s hold had fallen to the ground. They slowly struggled to get back on their feet while behind them was the rest of the troop, frozen in place.

“I-”

“I don’t give a damn what you were thinking,” Sehun cut the other off. “You clearly didn’t think about us,” he harshly said.

“That’s not true,” Luhan said painfully, his voice cracking up in the end. “I was trying to protect-”

“By causing another fight?” Sehun raised his voice. “Why didn’t you listen to the rest?” he said indicating towards the group. But Luhan gave no answer as he looked away. “Why didn’t you do as they said? Huh?”

“I don’t trust those soldiers,” Luhan defended himself.

“It’s not about them, it’s about us! You have to trust us,” Sehun said heatedly. “You’re so wrapped up in your own mind that you leave us behind.”

“That’s not fair,” Luhan strained.

“Guys I can’t hold this much longer,” Tao said achingly. His hands pressed against his temples as he kept his eyes shut.

“Let’s move out of the shooting range,” Suho said pointing to their left, where Lay was dolefully watching them. “We’ve got to get those soldiers out of the way too.”

“I can’t believe you tried to kill them,” Sehun said with a frown as he helped Luhan up.

“I wasn’t going to kill them,” Luhan said annoyed. “I just wanted to incapacitate them, so they wouldn’t try hurting us,” he muttered as he followed the rest to a safe zone.

“Hurry,” Tao warned.

“Idiot,” Sehun whispered.

 

Clear from the shooting zone, Tao returned time to its normality and let his tired body slouch against Kris’ frame. Lay languidly went to help him. Kris propped Tao’s arms over Jongdae’s shoulders so he could lean over the smaller boy, while Lay attended him. Jongdae didn’t mind having Tao’s weight on his back –despite the height difference.

“Cease fire! Cease fire!” the captain said as he realized they were shooting at air. “Where are they?” he asked as he searched for his missing men.

“They’re fine and unharmed,” Suho yelled from the side, indicating towards the five soldiers standing beside him.

“Let them free,” the captain ordered, pointing his gun at Suho.

“Wow, hey,” Suho said as he raised his hands. “They’re free to go, just stop aiming at me.”

“Put your damn gun down,” Kris growled as he stepped closer to Suho in a protective manner.

The soldier glared at him but complied as his men jogged their way back to the team. There was a silent competition going on between the captain and Kris –the tension between the group and the troop began to rise as they stared at each other.

“Jongdae,” he heard Lay say softly behind him. “You have a lot of energy in you. Do you mind if I take some out?”

“What?” he said confused as he tried to look behind him as best as he could with Tao against him.

“Just to transfer some energy to Tao and myself,” Lay explained, leaning over so his face could be seen.

Jongdae immediately noticed how exhausted the healer looked. He must have used too much of his vast energy reservoir to look tired at all. “Yeah, sure,” he agreed.

“Thank you,” he smiled softly and proceeded to his task.

Jongdae didn’t think it would be such a big deal, since he could easily charge himself by absorbing energy released from the friction he would create between his body with the air and the earth. That way his body could maintain a constant parameter of internal energy, by picking up energy he lost while moving about. But what he felt was uncomfortable, to say the least. He felt distressed as his muscles began to wobble; his eyes began to close by their own and his breathing pattern slowed drastically. He felt like he was going to fall asleep right then and there, as he felt so numb that he couldn’t even perceive his body. Everything went dark as he began to fall, but firm hands wrapped around his torso.

“Are you okay?” he faintly heard Tao ask behind him.

“Give him a minute,” he distinguished Lay’s voice.

Jongdae tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt so heavy. He struggled to blink himself awake as he slowly began to gain force in his legs, willing him to stand on his own. He felt as he was turned around, hands on his shoulders as he now was face to face with Tao. He looked so bright, as if he was brought back to life.

“Hey, wake up,” he shook him lightly.

“Okay, okay,” Jongdae whined as he tried to keep his eyes open.

Lay tilted his head to the side to have a better look at him. Jongdae frowned as he noticed the other didn’t looked rested at all, he was pretty much as tired as before.

“I gave most of it to Tao,” Lay answered his unuttered question. “I’ll gain more energy on my own, I just need more time,” he smiled reassuringly.

“Yeah, but we’ve got no time to lose,” Tao said seriously. “We have to go help the rest.”

“What?” Jongdae asked.

“We’re in trouble,” was his reply as time began to run normally again.

Now Jongdae noticed all the noise. Looking around he saw how bad things were. All the boggers that came from the east side were now in front of them –boggers of all kind were fighting against the group and the whole troop. Jongdae stared confused as he observed the group fight with the soldiers instead of against them.

The staggering amount of boggers forced them to combine forces and fight together. Sehun was focusing on the flying boggers; he would knock them down and four soldiers helped kill them with their weapons. Kris was given a machine gun, he would shoot at the flying boggers high in the sky.

Suho and D.O would help the soldiers close to the fire boggers. They’d all fight the boggers that came close to their range while Suho made sure that the fire didn’t outstretch and put them in danger. D.O’s earth attacks were especially effective against the pink boggers.

Xiumin did his best against the ice boggers, but the help he received from the soldiers was greatly appreciated. Jongdae was concerned as Xiumin kept slipping and missing –those boggers were truly his worst match. Chanyeol then made his way to help the smaller one out. Careful of not firing at the soldiers, he would set the boggers ablaze. Even if the flames didn’t last long against their freezing ice, it was still enough to stagger them down and give the troops a chance to shoot them down.

Luhan and Baekhyun were hunting down any shadow boggers that dared to pop out in the middle of the battle. Luhan would catch them in his telekinetic grip, letting Baekhyun or the soldiers shoot them down.

Kai was everywhere. Teleporting here and there, attacking boggers, assisting, defending, saving the rest –he was the Jack of all trades.

“I’m getting myself a gun,” Tao said as he ran into action.

“Be careful,” Lay said as he followed.

Jongdae took a step forward, but abruptly stopped. How am I supposed to fight without hurting anyone? he wondered as he observed the turbulent scene. If only we could just wipe them out in one strike. That would make this whole easier. He looked around, trying to find some source that could help him out. Maybe D.O could knock a building down and squash them all. Or Sehun could trap them in a hurricane and Chanyeol could burn them down. Why isn’t there anything useful in this damn place, this damn town, stupid useless town. It should’ve disappeared in a flood like the stupid myth it’s named after –wait! That’s it!

Jongdae turned to his right, trying to spot the distinct graffiti at the right side of the crossroad. But Kai suddenly appeared in front of him. Kai jumped to him, enveloping him into a hug. Jongdae stood still in shock as he saw a long white sword-like claw slice through their intangible bodies.

Kai let go of him, causing Jongdae to stumble. He quickly turned around and saw the tan skin boy teleport behind the bogger and touch it, making it disappear through thin air.

“Wha- what?”

“Pay attention,” Kai barked at him. “What are you even doing out here alone?”

“I need your help,” Jongdae said instead.

“What?”

“Take me over there,” he said pointing to said direction. “We’re going to need Suho too.”

Kai frowned but nodded in agreement anyway. Holding onto his shoulder, the boys appeared in front of the wall of the east side, now positioned behind the army of boggers.

“Water,” Kai read the graffiti.

“Over there,” Jongdae said pointing towards the end of the alley.

A huge cistern was half-hidden behind a building. The cylinder object had to contain tons of water inside.

“What’s your plan?” Kai asked.

“Flood them out,” he answered and Kai disappeared only to come back with a confused looking Suho.

“Let’s use that,” Kai told him, pointing at the cistern.

“Brilliant,” Suho said amazed.

“You should spark the water,” Kai suggested. “Might be more effective that way.”

“As long as it’s not distilled water,” Jongdae hoped.

“You’ve got to warn the others and get them all out of the way,” Suho instructed. “Everyone,” he stressed.

“Yeah, okay,” Kai mumbled. “I’ll tell you when to start,” he said before leaving to his tiresome task.

The remaining pair walked up closer to the tall cylinder.

“, it’s made of concrete,” Jongdae said as he inspected the exterior of the container. “How are we going to get the water out?”

“It’s got to have some pipe,” Suho thought. “There,” he pointed towards the top of the broken ladder. “Hmm, the ladder is...”

“Useless,” Jongdae finished for him. “How the are we supposed to get up there?”

Kai appeared with D.O on the roof of the cistern.

“Or we could just use D.O,” Suho said with a grin.

D.O tapped the top a bit, feeling it up before speaking to Kai. The taller boy walked to the edge of the top. D.O yelled as he summoned his strength. He forcefully stomped on the top of the cylinder, causing the floor to crumble under him. Kai disappeared as D.O began to fall in the hole.

“Do you think he fell in?” Jongdae asked Suho as they heard some splashing.

“No, that’s probably pieces of concrete,” the other replied. “Kai must’ve caught him.”

Suho began to focus on the water, using his hands to flow the shapeless body of water up and out of the cistern. Tons of water began to spill out under his control. Soon a wall of water build before them, occupying half the length of the street and nearly as tall as the huge cistern.

“When he comes, we move out of the alley and pass the water to the field,” Suho instructed with difficulty as he kept the water from falling. “After I’ve got most of them trapped, you electrocute the water. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“Suho, Luhan’s got them all backed up,” Kai quickly informed once he appeared. “We’re ready.”

They worked quickly. Jongdae stepped out of the way as told, while Suho directed the massive wave through the crossroad. The water parted beside him as he walked into the scene. Suho handled the direction of the water in two waves, capturing the boggers in sight. He was careful enough to not engulf some soldiers that were in his range - so careful that Jongdae felt admiration for his control over his element. Xiumin, Chanyeol and Kai made sure that every soldier was safe, out of the range of the wave.

Jongdae stared in awe as Suho joined the waves together, forming a massive mass of blue filled with helpless boggers.

“Now Jongdae!” he strenuously ordered.

He quickly dashed across the field, charging his body with electricity. He passed Suho and stood close to the body of water, sending all the high volts of electricity he managed to accumulate. The currents zapped through the water, quickly conducting inside and electrocuting every bogger it caught. Sparks of white blasted here and there, some even sparked out of the current. It was a bright display of electricity through water, as one by one the boggers began to disappear.

Kai appeared with Lay and Lay wordlessly grabbed Jongdae’s arm and pulled him to stand next to Suho. Jongdae knew what was going to happen as Lay stood in between them as a link.

“Not fair,” he barely managed to mutter, since he used so much energy in his attack. The energy transfusion immediately knocked him out.

Jongdae woke up to noise again. Tao and D.O were by his side as everyone else were fighting the shadow and flying boggers that remained –those sneaky creatures managed to avoid the flooding attack.

“What happened? Where’s Suho?” he asked upon waking up, noticing the dark pavement dry against his skin. “Why isn’t the floor wet?”

“Suho put the water back. He was afraid someone could get electrocuted if he let it spill,” Tao explained as he helped him up.

“How did he? That’s a lot.”

“Well, you gave him energy,” Tao smirked as he ruffled his hair. “We’ve still got these bastards to knock out,” he said looking at the fight.

They watched D.O run off to help Lay and a soldier against a pestering shadow bogger.

“Isn’t this too much?”

“It always is,” Tao said somberly.

“!” they heard Kris yelled above them.

The volitant boy had crashed with a grey bogger and the monster didn’t let him go, causing them to spiral down to the ground. Tao and Jongdae quickly stood up and parted ways. Kris and the bogger fell closer to where Tao stood, and he tried to kick the bogger off Kris. But the grey bogger swat the back of its bony hand at him, knocking him back. Tao ran towards them, jumped over the bogger while grabbing its elbow. Tao rolled to the ground, pulling the bogger with him. Jongdae went to help Kris out –the tall boy had many bruises, scrapes and bleeding cuts nearly everywhere.

“Help Tao!” Kris said alarmed. “Jongdae, now!”

Jongdae’s attention turned to Tao, the grey bogger had him pinned down on the ground as it gargled back, preparing to spit goo at the defenseless boy. Jongdae didn’t think as he sparked a current of electricity towards the bogger.

“Oh no,” he gasped. “Tao!”

He ran to the unconscious boy’s side, once the bogger disintegrated above him.

“Oh what did I do?” he said holding his head between his hands.

“It’s my fault,” Kris grunted as he made his way to them –he was slightly limping on one foot. He knelt down and placed Tao’s head on his lap. With two fingers he checked the other’s heartbeat. “Okay,” he sighed in relief.

“I’m so sorry,” Jongdae said as he let his hands drop on his lap. He hated feeling the same fright he felt when he hurt Baekhyun.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have told you to do that,” Kris said bitterly. “I’m so stupid. I’ve made too many damn mistakes,” he clenched his jaw as tears began to brim his eyes.

Jongdae fell silent as he watched Kris place his hand over Tao’s nose and mouth, checking on his breathing. He remembered that Kris had lost Tawny today, so that could be the main reason behind Kris’ fragile state.

“I’m stupid too,” Jongdae said softly, lowering his eyes. “We all make mistakes,” he tried to comfort the other.

Kris shook his head. “I’m supposed to be better,” he said quietly. “How can I lead the group if I make mistakes?”

Jongdae gulped hard as he watched Kris silently wipe his tears away. He felt so compelled to comfort the other, but he didn’t dare try to touch him or get near him. He feared he might hurt him even more. He felt so useless.

“Go fetch Lay,” he told him.

Jongdae quickly got up and searched through the battlefield. A siren went off, but it wasn’t the same long wailing as before. This time it was short intervals of a deep irritating rasp. Jongdae struggled between covering his ears and keeping his defenses alert. He ended up rubbing his hands together to quickly charge electricity between his hands as a black mist approximated his range. The black bogger popped out of its shadow, but before either was able to strike, the abominable monster disintegrated into thin air. Baffled, Jongdae watched as the rest of the boggers began to disintegrate, one by one.

‘What the hell?’ Luhan’s voice said into his mind.

Without a clue how to answer the other’s question, Jongdae felt someone forcefully grab his arm and pulled him back.

“Hey!” he complained as he was shoved to the floor, falling onto his knees.

“Stay still or I’ll shoot!” the soldier yelled at him as he aimed the weapon to his head. “Hands over your head, now!” he ordered while poking him with the end of the gun –intimidating the out of him.

“What the hell? Aren’t you supposed to be on our side?” Jongdae raised his voice irritated and confused.

“Shut up!” the man said, kicking his side.

Jongdae fell over in pain, coughing out as his right side hurt. He glared at the soldier as he tried to sit up –the man kept his gun pointed at him the whole time.

“I knew it! I ing knew it!” Luhan yelled enraged as he fought off the soldiers that tried to submit him.

Jongdae looked around. Kris was placed to his left, with Tao still unconscious beside him. In front of them was Chanyeol and Baekhyun –Chanyeol had fallen on the floor as he was hit by the of a gun. Baekhyun tried to protect him but was warned to not move or they would shoot at Chanyeol.

Suho was brought to kneel down by Jongdae’s left side. There was blood dripping out from a cut he got on his forehead, above his left eye.

Kai was thrown to the ground towards the left, in front of him and close to Baekhyun. D.O was made to kneel further up front, with a gun pointed at his head.

“If you even dare try to move, I’ll shoot him,” the soldier threatened Kai.

“Don’t you ing dare,” Kai seethed.

“Then don’t ing move!” he screamed.

Kai stayed still, but his eyes were focused on mentally killing the soldier.

Xiumin and Lay walked with their hands above their heads as they were brought to the group at gunpoint. Xiumin kneeled down to Kai’s right and Lay was in front of him, next to D.O’s right.

Three military jeeps entered through the north and made their way to where the boys were being taken hostage.

Sehun and Luhan were further to the left, still fighting against the treacherous soldiers.

“If you two don’t follow, we’ll kill them all,” the captain threatened.

“Not if I kill you first,” Luhan argued back, ready to fight the man.

“Enough!” a loud and stern feminine voice said.

Jongdae felt his head spin as the voice sounded familiar. Too familiar to be true.

“You boys better obey before I lose my patience,” Mama said stepping out of the middle jeep.

Jongdae felt his throat go dry as he stared at the woman in front of them. She looked older and slightly shorter than before. Her black hair now was cut short, up to her shoulders. Even from the distance, Jongdae was able to notice the aging of her skin, the edges of her lip tilting downwards and thickness of her figure. He wouldn’t have recognized it was her if it wasn’t for her eyes –those dark coal eyes, forever calm and elegant.

From the first car, Colonel Kim stepped out from the passenger seat and made his way to stand next to her.

“You’re supposed to be dead!” Luhan yelled enraged as he ran towards her.

He lifted his hand and held her in a telekinetic grip. Colonel Kim didn’t even move as the woman levitated next to him. Mama raised her hands to , as he began to choke her, but her eyes were glaring at him, daring him to try to kill her on the spot. Luhan’s breathing became ragged as tears fell from his eyes. “I hate you! I ing hate you!” he yelled and tightened his hold.

A soldier stealthily got behind Luhan and hit him hard on the back of the head with the of the gun. The telekinetic fell forward, completely knocked out.

Mama fell on the floor. The Colonel helped her up, after she regained her breath and wiped her eyes; she took out a syringe and injected herself. Meanwhile the soldiers managed to bring Sehun next to D.O, and laid Luhan’s unconscious body to his left.

Mama smoothed her face with her hand. She began to look healthier, her pale complexion now rosy. The red in her eyes now faded. She looked refreshed, as if she had never been attacked in the first place.

“I apologize,” she spoke to the Colonel. “Luhan has always been difficult to deal with.”

“What the hell is this?” Suho yelled angered.

Mama’s stern eyes focused on him. “Don’t forget your manners, dear. Not in front of me.” She fixed the hem of her jacket. “I can’t believe you can’t figure this one out. You are smart boys after all.”

“It’s a trial,” Sehun said resentfully.

“Correct,” she smiled.

She smiled.

 

 

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A/N: I’m hastily posting this now, before I don’t find time to do it later. So I apologize if there are many mistakes –I’ll edit it later.

Yeah, I know, I know… Another freaking cliffhanger. Sorry, not sorry. But this chapter got too long already. All the answers will be brought out to light next chapter. So, sorry for making you guys wait… again.

Thanks to Middle-earth, kaichocosoo and iheart_kyuhyun for subscribing and being part of his bogger world.

And you guys have been so awesome with sharing your thought with me. It really helps to figure out things that I don't notice and you guys do, so thank you so much. It's been really helpful!

Have a great weekend guys. Annyeong! 

-Blackie.