He didn’t know them well yet, but it didn’t matter. They had to fight together if they wanted to survive the damn boggers.

The first time he participated in a group trial, Mama set out three of those horrid monsters. With skills still under development, their attacks were clumsy and no matter how much they planned ahead, the odds always changed and they had to improvise strategies as fast as possible. Rapid reactions were necessary to remain alive in one piece. Group effort wasn’t valued just as a form of participation, it was a necessity. It was important to develop a sense of comradeship to keep each other safe. Working together was when they accomplished their best attacks. It didn’t matter what power they had individually, it was the combination that made their strategies work.

Now he was running from the bilious pale skinned bogger in a storm.  He couldn’t stop to fathom on how the institution could manipulate the climate in a closed area.

Their plan started off wrong from the start. The sky was already dark when they encountered the pack of boggers, but when the rain began and the wind blew aggressively, everything went downhill.

Kris lost control of his flight and was swatted away. Kai pissed a bogger off and was running for his life as well. Suho was with Sehun, who was struggling to get control over the wind. They were fighting against two boggers. Sehun would push the anomalistic creature with wind currents while Suho would inflict damage using the water from the canteen he always had strapped on. They seemed to be handling the situation better than the rest -despite Sehun’s struggles with the climate.

I hope they’ll be alright.

Xiumin ran fast inside the woods, thankful for being small and agile. He would jump over fallen trunks and tall bushes with ease and duck under the low tree branches without decreasing his speed. He couldn’t see the bogger anymore. He had gained terrain and stopped to catch his breath.

What do I do?

He heard the loud screech getting closer. He looked for a tree with big low branches and froze two thick branches that were close to each other. He made sure to create big sharp icicles pointing outwards, where the gnarly bogger should appear.

He heard rustling a few meters before him. Quickly he crouched and placed his hand on the wet floor. He froze the water and made a trail of thick ice towards the branches.

“Over here you ugly bastard!” Xiumin yelled.

The bogger seemed surprised; if it had eyes they’d probably look confused. It spotted Xiumin and growled as it charged towards him.

“Come one, come one,” he muttered to himself as he watched nervously at the bogger. It slipped on the ice path and staggered dangerously fast towards him. He ran out of the bogger’s long arms reach, and he heard a piercing sound and an agonizing cry. The grody sound of solid ice penetrating and ripping the bogger’s body was revolting. It took Xiumin a few minutes to quell himself.

“One down, three to go,” he whispered and ran off towards a clearing.

He hated doing this. Individual trials were harsh, but group trials were worse. He hated becoming an assassin, even if they were just boggers.

Once he reached the small clearing, rain plummeted harsh against his skin and the wind buffeted his senses. He managed to compose himself and saw a small trail ahead with a thin stream. He went upstream, knowing that it would lead him to the lake.

But a Kai popped in front of him, causing an awful crash.

“Ouch, ,” the darker male cursed as he tried to sit up.

Xiumin had rolled further away due to inertia. He felt a stinging pain on his forehead and his left knee. He tried to get his sore body up, mentally cursing at the rocks that embedded his skin.

“Are you okay?” Kai said concerned as he stepped towards the smaller. “I’m sorry about that.” He offered his hand and helped Xiumin stand.

“Thanks. I think I busted my- Kai!” he tried to warn but the bogger already pounced towards them with outstretched arms.

Xiumin felt like time went slow as he saw every detail unravel, but it all happened in a blink of an eye. Kai’s eyes widen when he sensed the bogger jumping towards him. His dark eyes darted towards Xiumin’s with concern and fear before he pushed the smaller boy away. Xiumin staggered backwards and fell to the ground. He looked up stupefied and saw as Kai disappeared right as the bogger’s arm swung low. He heard a scream, a human scream. Kai screamed.

Quickly he regained his senses. The bogger stood tall before him ready to attack. Xiumin concentrated his focus on the rain and froze the drops above the creature. It shrieked as it got stabbed multiple times and then fell over in front of Xiumin. He stood back up and, with an anger he hadn’t noticed he brewed, formed a tomb of ice around the aberrant creature, freezing it in an ice casket. When the body inside the ice disappeared, he turned to look for Kai.

The boy in black was on the floor leaning against a tree, about ten meters away. He was grasping his right arm, blood gushing out from a terrible wound. Xiumin was glad to know he was alive but concerned about his safety. He limped towards the injured boy as his left knee hurt.

“Kai,” his voice broke as he looked at the other’s pained expression.

If I hadn’t been in the way, Kai wouldn’t have gotten hurt. If I would’ve reacted faster, even if I broke my knee, Kai wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Focus, Xiumin. Focus.

“Let me look,” he said calmly, moving Kai’s left hand from holding his other arm. Two slashes tore his skin, one deeper than the other. Thankfully the shallowest cut was merely superficial, as if only the tip of the bogger’s nail touched him. But the other wound was deep, maybe deep enough to cut the muscle tissue -he couldn’t tell in the dark.

“Kai, I’m going to put some ice on you. I won’t freeze your arm, I’ll just try to create an ice pack around the cut to try to reduce the bleeding and numb the pain. Okay?” he explained.

Kai nodded, his mouth was trembling. Xiumin ripped the lower part of his light blue shirt to create a makeshift bandage. He wrapped it around Kai’s arm as firm as possible but not as strong as a tourniquet -that would completely stop the other’s blood flow. Xiumin wanted to salvage the arm not amputate it. He tore another piece off his shirt, a wide cloth to wrap the arm with and avoid damaging Kai’s skin with the cold ice. He placed both of his hands on either side of the bandaged incision and formed a package of ice. He was careful to not to form ice on top of the wound.

“Keep pressure on it,” he ordered. “I’ll remove the ice after fifteen minutes,” to avoid frostbite, he finished his sentence mentally, feeling it was best to keep the other from worrying any further.

Kai placed his hand firmly onto the middle of the makeshift bandage. “Thanks,” he whispered, his eyes were wide and coy like a little child lost in the woods.

Xiumin smiled and ruffled his wet hair, then he began to comb it with his fingers. “Thank you. You saved me,” his smile faltered a bit. “It was stupidly brave and unselfish of you. You could’ve avoided getting hurt.”

“I couldn’t just disappear on you,” Kai said, his lips quivering from pain and possibly from the cold, “you could’ve been… killed.”

Kai’s eyes casted down, Xiumin replayed the scene in his mind. Kai was right, he would’ve gotten killed.

“But, even if you pushed me, if you hadn’t managed to disappear as quick as you did, then you would’ve…” he didn’t dare to say it. His arm dropped to his side as the mental images battered through his mind. When he heard Kai scream, he immediately thought the worse scenario. He shook his head to clear his mind. Things worked out in the end. “Next time, let’s both be careful of not getting hurt, okay?”

His smile was more sorrowful than assuring, but that was all he could muster, because the idea of a ‘next time’ meant their lives would be in peril again.

“How’s the pain?”

“It’s…” Kai moved his arm upward and his mouth clenched hard. “It’s not entirely numb yet, but it’s manageable.”

“Alright then, let’s leave the ice on for five more minutes. Can you walk on your own?” Kai nodded and stood. “Okay, let’s get you to safety.”

They walked upstream until they reached the lake. Xiumin’s pace was significantly slower, he mentally noted to check his knee once the trial was over. The rain had stopped and the wind’s strength died down a notch -overall the weather was acceptable. At the lake, Suho was with his back towards him, re-filling his canteen. Sehun rested with his back against the willow tree. Kris was standing between them, staring at the sky.

They must’ve defeated the other two boggers, Xiumin reasoned.

Sehun was the first to notice them approaching, he quickly got up and ran towards them. His eyes fell directly onto Kai’s wound.

“What happened? Is it bad?”

“It’s just a scratch, I’ll live. Xiumin took care of it,” Kai half lied.

“It’s clearly more than a scratch,” Sehun frowned.

“I’m okay. Help Xiumin,” Kai dismissed, brushing passed the boy in grey.

Sehun looked at the smaller boy, noticing his torn shirt and flexed leg. “What happened to you?”

“My knee,” Xiumin simply said and the tall broad shouldered boy went to his left side, his arm hold firmly onto his waist and helped him walk towards the lake.

Xiumin felt embarrassed at Sehun’s bluntness, he could feel his warm hand against his cold exposed skin. Suho scurried towards Kai, obviously concerned about the latter’s wound. Sehun aided Xiumin to sit on one of the tree’s root and urged him to extend his injured leg. He had an abrasion covering most of his knee and bruises were starting to form on his white skin.  Other than that it looked fine.

“I’ll tell Suho to clean it,” Sehun said as he stood up.

Kris assisted Suho in removing the makeshift bandage -he visibly gagged when he saw the wound. Suho concentrated in cleaning the wound with the water he claimed had healing properties. Xiumin watched as Kai looked away from the others, his face contorting into a painful expression. Sehun stopped midway and stared from afar, it looked like he couldn’t dare see how bad Kai really was.

That kid always tries to be strong and unyielding, forcing himself to do better and be better, but he is just as frail as anyone of us, Xiumin thought. He remembered when Kris told him that Kai was the first to ever encounter a bogger. He was terrified and completely paranoid about them. But when they fought them for the first time Kai managed to kill one by teleporting himself with a boulder above the monster, crushing it to death. Kris said that they were all perturbed about killing, but since that day Kai stopped fearing them. It wasn’t that he turned into a cold hearted murderer. It was like he felt confidence of being able protect himself and others.

But no matter how strong one could be, there was still a gentle and breakable side in everyone. Kai wasn’t completely broken, but today Xiumin saw a fissure. And it’s probably because of me.

After Suho cleaned his wounds they all headed back to the facility. Hopefully they would receive better treatment there.

Xiumin never liked the hospital wing of the facility, its sterile aroma and faded walls made it seem depressingly uninviting. After a CT scan for his knee and a MRI scan for his head, all Xiumin needed was a healing ointment for his abrasion. Kai wasn’t that simple. His cuts were deeper than expected and needed various stitches to close the wound. He had to stay for overnight control.

Xiumin was back at his room, lying sleepless on his bed. Even though he was thankful of Kai, he couldn’t help repeating the scene in his head and continue to find ways to blame himself about it. He was harsh on himself, he knew that. He’s never been satisfied with any result. He’d always push himself further no matter the situation. Xiumin got off his bed and headed to the adjacent room, opening the door to his personal freezer –that’s what he liked to call it.

His training room, what Mama called it, was completely made of ice. The walls, floor and ceiling colored blue from the pressure and lack of air in the frozen water. Out of boredom, Xiumin had decorated the room with swirls carved into the ice. He did it long ago, started with the floor then every wall in the room had random swirls against its surface. There were three big ice balls scattered around the room, with the same random swirls decorating their surfaces; also product of his boredom. On the right and left side of the room, there were three large columns comprised of three transparent ice blocks, towering one on top of the other. Each block was composed of eight boxes, three times longer than the width that stored vacuum flasks or thermos. Each thermos had different liquids at different temperatures. Xiumin would practice freezing the liquids depending on its freezing point.

The room was tempered at -5ºC. He opened a block box and removed a flask. Once he opened the thermos liquid Nitrogen began to evaporate, forming a white mist. Xiumin sat on the ice floor and put the flask before him. He observed the mist falling like a delicate cascade. Something about it always allayed his emotions. Raising his hands towards the liquid Nitrogen flask, he concentrated his mind on the Nitrogen particles, imagining their interkinetic energy decrease as it loses temperature, gradually freezing. He could feel the temperature fall to -210ºC, the first sign of ice emerged inside the mist. When he reached -220ºC the remaining liquid was completely solid. Xiumin didn’t feel cold, he could sense the temperature but he’s never been affected by it. His body was completely adapted to dangerously low temperatures. Looking towards the solid Nitrogen, he still felt bored.

What now? Freeze liquid helium? That would certainly be an accomplishment.

‘Why are you being sarcastic?’

Xiumin jumped when he heard the mellow voice. He looked around, though he knew he was alone –nobody else would be able to withstand the room temperature.

Is it you again? Are you talking to me? He thought clearly in his mind.

‘Of course it’s me. Unless you know someone else that can speak telepathically?’ he sounded honest.

No. I don’t. –Xiumin shook his head- Stupid he can’t see me.

‘What did you do?’ Xiumin sighed. He kept forgetting he could listen to all of his thoughts.

Nothing.

‘Liar.’

It was nothing important.

‘Whatever. I’m bored. Tell me why freezing liquid helium would be an, insert sarcasm, accomplishment?’

“Because it’s-” Because liquid helium has very weak interatomic forces, in normal atmospheric conditions, it stays liquid even at absolute zero, which is the lowest temperature attainable, even though it’s nearly impossible to reach.

‘I don’t get it.’

Basically the atoms don’t bond into strong crystallized structures because they are too weak. Theoretically, helium could become solid under very low temperatures and great pressure.

He remained silent, but there was no reply.

Luhan? Are you still there? -he slightly panicked.

‘Yes.’

You don’t understand?

‘It’s difficult to imagine’ he sounded embarrassed.

Let’s just leave it like this. It takes unearthly conditions to solidify helium.

‘Unearthly, nice word choice.’

He chuckled. Xiumin liked the imageless boy, even though it still felt weird to talk with someone in his mind. Sometimes he would think he imagined it all, since he has never met the boy named Luhan. The idea of Luhan existing was as feeble as dry ice; it quickly evaporates and disappears.

‘What did you do today?’

Let me put this thermos away before all the nitrogen evaporates.

‘Well, my day . They didn’t let me out again, not even for a test. I hate it when they keep me locked up and doped. I seriously can’t remember ever causing any problem for them to keep me under all the time. I’ve read their minds, I know they fear me, I might have had my fits, but honestly I can’t picture myself seriously hurting them. You get what I mean?’ he sounded frustrated.

Sort of, I don’t think I would mind much getting back at some of them. What do you do during your fits?

Luhan remained silent for a moment. Xiumin sat down on his bed frowning.

Luhan?

‘I’m still here.’

If you don’t want to answer, please tell me. I don’t like the silent pauses, it makes me feel uneasy.

‘You’re scared I’m not real?’ he seemed disappointed.

Honestly… yeah. He sighed. I’m sorry.

‘No, don’t apologize. It’s okay.’

So what do you-

‘I push them away. The lab assistants, the guards and even Mama, I just push them away, far away, as far as possible. I hate it when they drug me, I hate sleeping all the time, I  feel like I’ve lost most of my life induced in unfair comas, I don’t know how old I am, I could be 20 or 30 and have slept for 18 or 25 or more,’ Luhan emotionally said.

Luhan? Are you-

‘I know why they do it,’ he cut in.

Why they put you to sleep?

‘Yeah, it’s because physically restraining me isn’t enough, they need me unconscious to keep me from doing anything, anything they don’t want me to do. It’s so unfair, I don’t get why they don’t just leave me alone. What did I do for them to be so ing scared of me?’

Xiumin fell silent, his thoughts raced for an answer but he couldn’t create a clear sentence. He wanted to comfort Luhan, but he didn’t want to lie and say things like ‘everything will be alright’ and ‘you probably did nothing wrong, and that they are the company’s lab rats and they do anything they want to them’.

‘Right that, they do treat us like lab rats,’ Luhan said bitterly, he obviously heard all his discontinued thoughts.

I don’t know what to say, I don’t know why they treat you that way.

‘I know, you can’t possible know. I guess I should have asked it rhetorically.’

Yeah.

‘Enough about me. What did you do today, Xiumin?’

I don’t really want to talk about it. I had a group trial. You know I hate group trials.

‘How many nasty boggers were there?’

Four. I got a partner injured.

‘Seriously?’

Yeah, if I would’ve ran away instead of stupidly staring at the bogger, he wouldn’t have lost time in saving me, he wouldn’t have gotten hurt.

‘Don’t be too hard on yourself,’ he said sincerely. ‘How serious was he hurt?’

Two slashes to his arm, he needed stitches to close the incision. It was a pretty deep cut, he has to stay at the hospital for a day or two, I’m not sure.

‘I hope he gets well soon.’

Yeah, me too.

‘Xiumin, can you tell me about the others?’

And he did, Xiumin spent most of the night telepathically speaking with Luhan. They spoke about many things, from little to great significance. They talked until he fell asleep.