Caged Lions Always Strike

Chapter 3 

Surface Lights

Luhan didn’t want to believe his eyes but he had always had good eyesight.

He was frozen and openly stared as the soldiers led the two men into the hallway leading into the residence wings.

“They’re always so rude when they take in new students. You’d think those two men were criminals judging by the way they’re treating them!” someone exclaimed.

Luhan turned to see who it was only to bump into the very man who had begun to walk towards the hallway opposite the one the soldiers had filed into.

As their shoulders met, Luhan could’ve sworn that he had felt a small shock but he was given no time to react as the man had disappeared as quick as lightning and Luhan hadn’t even had a good look at his face.

x x x x x x

Luhan was back in that forest with the thin air that was hard to breathe in and the bright green fauna that had been thriving on the fresh spring water that was undoubtedly nearby.

A faint trickle of water could be heard but Luhan was focused on the faces of the two (now) very familiar men as they both stared at him.

The one with the lined eyes was standing in front of the trees and there was a break in the canopy of the trees that allowed a natural spotlight on the pale-faced man.

The other man with the spaced-out look was sitting on a branch in a tree and seemed to be covered in various different vines and flowers all over his skin but no longer looked in pain.

To Luhan it seemed ironic since the last time he had seen the man he had been wrapped in retaining chains and now he was wrapped in vines.

The world seemed to be paused in time – or at least the three men since Luhan could still hear the stream trickling.

Suddenly there was a great flash of a bright white light and Luhan was blinded.

He only opened his eyes when he heard a loud bang that made the ground beneath his feet tremble as if the mountain itself were angry.

Luhan could only scream and move out of the way as the very tree that that man had been sitting on fell towards Luhan with flames lining its now exposed inside.

The forest around Luhan erupted in flames and more bangs could be heard.

The two men were nowhere to be seen.

x x x x x x

There was a massive storm heading straight towards the academy so all students had been told to either return home or remain in their residences until further notice.

Luhan’s group took this as an invitation to stay in Luhan’s apartment since it was big enough for all four of them and had enough food stocked up already.

A loud tremor made the floor shake and Luhan reached a hand out towards the dining table to steady himself whilst on his way to prepare the bedroom for four people.

He felt someone creep up behind him, “You okay? You’re not scared of a little storm, are you?” his voice seemed lower and rougher as they wrapped their arms around Luhan’s waist.

Luhan stiffened but relaxed once he heard the familiar voice, “Just a bit dizzy.”

The man laughed and Luhan could feel his cheeks move up as he laughed since his face was pressed into Luhan’s temple.

“Good good! Wouldn’t want the princess to faint from fear!” he chuckled again and Luhan turned around and pouted with a small frown.

“Minseok! Don’t make fun of me!” Luhan had his hands on his hips as he pulled away from Minseok’s grip.

Someone else was laughing in the background with loud, gasping guffaws that echoed through the apartment.

Luhan rolled his eyes and sighed. It was going to be a long few days whilst waiting for the storm to pass.

x x x x x x

Sometime towards the end of the storm, when it was a lot weaker and Luhan could wander through hallways without jumping at every bolt of lightning (which was a very often), everyone had decided to congregate in the various cafeterias in the academy.

And it was there that Luhan finally met the two people he had seen in his dreams.

He had begun by sitting with Junmyeon and Minseok when suddenly the loud cafeteria seemed to hush as two people in black hoodies stalked in and sat down in the high chairs reserved for the social rejects.

Now, Luhan had never thought of himself as the type of person to talk to complete strangers but he was curious.

Junmyeon, whom Luhan had told every detail of his dreams to, and Minseok who had found out during Luhan’s breakdown when he was very drunk, had urged Luhan to speak to those two men.

And he had tried to speak but the man with the thick eyeliner had glared at him so hard that Luhan worried his eyeballs would rot.

“What do you want?”

The man’s voice sounded surprisingly high-pitched and the other man seemed to be staring at the plant pots by the window that were half-dead since no one had bothered to water them.

Luhan took a small step back in fear, “You kinda look a bit… Alone. So I wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out with me and my friends?” Luhan asked and pointed at his table across the cafeteria, which prompted a huge wave from Minseok with a cute gummy smile and a nod from Junmyeon.

The man seemed to think for a few seconds before his scowl turned into a neutral expression with knitted eyebrows, “If you’re sure…” the man trailed off.

Luhan smiled and picked up both men’s arms and dragged them to his table to sit them next to Junmyeon.

Both of the men looked significantly less scary with small smiles on their faces rather than outright glares.

Luhan smiled a little and began to introduce everyone.

“This is Minseok.” He pointed, “He’s an ice ability and he’s really good at helping with homework so go to him if you need any help! Also, he’s really cute so he’s our group mascot.” Minseok laughed loudly at that and Junmyeon chuckled, biting into an apple.

It was at that moment that Kris and Tao walked in to sit next to Luhan who had sat on Minseok’s left.

The two strange men momentarily scowled again until Luhan smiled at the new arrivals.

“This is Junmyeon.” Luhan pointed, “He’s super smart and super dependable but he’s a total nag!” he laughed loudly and Junmyeon threw several of his grapes from his lunchbox at Luhan’s face.

Luhan, still laughing, pointed at Tao, “Tao. Crazy wushu guy. Don’t get in his way and don’t touch his Gucci.” Tao seemed to smile proudly at that and began to wave his small coin purse that he kept in his jean’s pockets.

“Gucci!” he exclaimed and smirked vainly before leaning towards his side onto Kris.

Since everyone was used to his random personality, no one reacted, but Luhan saw the quieter spaced-out man suddenly listen with interest.

“And this is Kris who may or may not be a dragon. I don’t know anything about him other than him liking Tao’s .”

Tao and Kris blushed furiously and the whole table, including the strangers, burst into laughter.

The man with the eyeliner giggled and wiped his eyes, “I’m Baekhyun and this is Yixing. We’re here because Yixing has the healing ability and the government thought that we were better off here rather than with my family.” Baekhyun’s tone grew more and more grave and Luhan couldn’t help but show the fear in his eyes when Baekhyun told him of Yixing’s ability.

And the worst thing is, Luhan wasn’t even worried that Yixing could take away his life energy.

Luhan was more worried that the government had managed to find him and bring him here as that meant that they were getting sharper.

Luhan didn’t want them to find out about his ability in case there were any purges.

Luhan was terrified.

x x x x x x

Luhan couldn’t breathe.

Try as he might, every movement he made caused his lungs to burn from lack of air.

Opening his eyes, Luhan could only see blurs and shafts of light.

His vision was filled with black spots until he could see no more and he felt his lungs fill with a cold substance.

Luhan felt a tremor run through his spine and suddenly he could breathe and his eyes suddenly opened.

He noticed the current around him – he was in some sort of body of water.

He tried to move his limbs so that he could swim to the surface for a gulp of air but found that he was paralysed.

But strangely, he couldn’t feel a lack of air.

He could see the surface of the water from where he was, just below the surface and seemingly floating aimlessly yet not moving.

He felt someone behind him but couldn’t turn to see who it was.

Instead, Luhan felt his heart jump suddenly as a ray of lightning struck the surface of the water.

He saw the charge spread outwards in the water until it disappeared and another ray struck just a little further away.

More and more lightning began to hit the surface of the water and Luhan was left watching with bated breaths and a rapid pulse.

He began to feel that same presence from before and suddenly there was a silhouette in front of him.

It was only now that Luhan noticed the darkness of the water that was only being lit up by the lightning strikes.

The strikes allowed enough light for Luhan to gather glimpses of the silhouette.

A sharp chin and a nose with a high bridge was visible briefly before the light faded.

Luhan waited for another strike.

Short black hair framing a wide forehead.

Then there were no more strikes.

“-han!”

He could no longer feel the presence.

“-han!”

His lungs burned from the salty water.

“Luhan!”

He closed his eyes.

x x x x x x

“Luhan!” the loud voice made Luhan’s head feel bruised and he groaned.

“He’s awake!” a different but comforting voice whispered.

Luhan opened his eyes to see the bright light of morning and he covered his eyes with his hand.

Someone’s hand pried his arm off his face and Luhan’s eyes began to adjust to the bright surroundings.

Luhan frowned, “Junmyeon?” he was confused.

Someone else answered, “We called him because you weren’t waking up from your nightmare.” Minseok.

Luhan turned his head toward Minseok, “Okay…” he was squinting.

Minseok chuckled, “He’s not awake yet. But at least he’s not screaming and thrashing around.”

Junmyeon nodded and moved away from the bed to leave.

“Junmyeon!” Minseok shouted as Junmyeon opened the apartment door and then turned around to face Minseok.

Junmyeon offered a bright-eyed smile and nodded.

“Thanks!” Minseok exclaimed with a gummy smile and then Junmyeon was grinning and moving through the threshold to leave.

x x x x x x

“So what are you going to practise today?” Luhan asked with curious eyes as the pair of men walked through the door of the Ice Ability Hut.

Minseok gestured towards the little waterfall in the corner of the arena, “I’m going to try and freeze a moving target.” He stated.

Luhan momentarily felt a small pain in his chest – Jealousy? – But chose to ignore it with a nod and a polite smile.

Minseok headed towards the waterfall and Luhan sat in the viewing chairs where it was safe and comfortable. You wouldn’t want to get caught in a mist of ice shards as many had often experienced.

Minseok started off the way he usually does – he warmed up (oh, the irony) his ability by freezing small objects near him.

He began by freezing the wooden floorboards around him and then moved on to the flowers in the vase on the windowsill to his left.

Once he had done that, he turned towards the waterfall once more and Luhan noted the way his brows furrowed with concentration.

Nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds and Luhan had begun to wonder whether Minseok had gotten ahead of himself until small ice shards began to cover the area where the water landed in the waterfall.

Luhan was at the edge of his seat and he was focusing intently on the ice beginning to cover the fountain that created the small waterfall in the room.

He was so focused that he couldn’t notice Minseok’s trembling body and perspiring complexion.

It wasn’t until someone suddenly pushed Minseok that Luhan became fully aware of his surroundings once more.

He noticed, with a start, that a crows had begun to gather around Minseok to watch the spectacle but had begun to clear away now that the ice had broken.

Minseok was on the floor on his knees and looking up at a man that neither Luhan nor Minseok had ever seen before.

Sensing hostility, Luhan ran towards Minseok to help him up and confront the stranger with the strong, high cheekbones.

“Why did you push him?” Luhan exclaimed with rising volume as he pulled up a trembling and exhausted Minseok into his arms.

The man held up his hands with a smirk and a chuckle, “Hey, chill! I did him a favour.”

Luhan glared at the man but focused his attention on Minseok who was leaning on his shoulder and essentially leaning completely on Luhan.

The man seemed to notice this and grinned, “If he had done that any longer, he would’ve passed out.” Luhan felt his eyes widen at the revelation.

“And you don’t want him to stand out, trust me. It’ll only hurt both you and him.” The man shrugged and began to walk off, leaving a confused Luhan in his wake.

Luhan brought Minseok’s arm around his neck, “What do you mean? And who are you?” he questioned before the man was out of earshot.

The man turned his head slightly and grinned, “Kim Jongdae. And you’ll probably find that out soon enough.” And the he disappeared through the exit doors.

Luhan could hear a faint lightning storm rumbling in the distance and felt himself shudder at the memories of the storm in his dreams.

Cryptic responses and statements or not, he had to deal with Minseok who seemed to be struggling to breathe.

x x x x x x

Once Minseok had rested enough to be able to walk, Luhan dragged him to the nurse’s room next to the residence part of campus.

“Darling, we’re quite busy right now because of the recent storms so please put your friend in a bed and be prepared to wait for a while.” A nurse had hurriedly said when Luhan had lost patience when they ignored him.

He sighed, rolled his eyes, and then looked for an empty bed. Finding one in the corner of the white infirmary, he laid Minseok – now unconscious – in the bed.

Luhan decided to wait with Minseok for a nurse so he sat down on the chair provided near the bed and got some classwork out of his bag to pass the time.

They had been assigned to write an essay on the history of the telekinesis ability, which Luhan wasn’t happy about.

He was just finishing his second paragraph when he heard someone slide the curtains open to the little section where he and Minseok were.

He looked up to find Yixing and Junmyeon smiling at him.

“Some guy told me that Minseok might need some help?” Junmyeon questioned as both men walked in and slid the curtains closed again to stand around the bed.

Luhan squinted and pursed his lips, “He’s just tired, he’ll be okay.” Luhan stated and went back to his essay.

Junmyeon clearly wasn’t happy at his response and looked over at Yixing who discreetly nodded and stepped closer to Minseok.

Luhan suddenly jumped and went to stand in front of Yixing before he could move closer, dropping his pens and notebook on the floor as he stood.

He was glaring and Yixing looked confused, “What are you going to do to him?” he demanded loudly.

Yixing looked scared as Luhan shouted and glared at him and Junmyeon noticed Minseok stirring but chose not to mention it.

Yixing swallowed, “I’m going to heal him.” He stated with determined eyes and a challenging tone.

Luhan scoffed, “Heal him? He doesn’t need healing, he’s fine! And you would just steal his life force anyways, wouldn’t you?” he poked Yixing in the chest with a finger and if looks could kill, Luhan was very close to achieving it.

Junmyeon brought his hand to his head and was shaking his head and sighed, “Yixing just wants to help. He’s concerned.” He stated and looked at Luhan again.

Luhan’s eyes flicked between Junmyeon and Yixing repeatedly before sighing and sitting back down. “As long as Junmyeon trusts you.” He muttered and returned to his notebook.

Yixing looked at Junmyeon for confirmation with unsure eyes and Junmyeon nodded.

“I’m going to need a bowl of water with a few towels since he’s sweating a bit and I need to bring his temperature down.” He stated as he started to examine Minseok carefully.

Luhan stood to get a bowl of water from the nurses but Junmyeon held up a hand to stop him, “No need.” He smiled.

Yixing and Luhan looked puzzled as Junmyeon retrieved a bowl from a cupboard near the bed and put it down on the small bedside table.

“Uhhh… Junmyeon. There’s no water in there.” Luhan mumbled as Junmyeon began to crack his knuckles and look intensely at the bowl, as if expecting it to fill up automatically.

Junmyeon chuckled, “Oh, I know.” He grinned and suddenly the room felt a bit colder and mist started to gather above the bowl.

Luhan stepped further away from Junmyeon and closed one of his hands around Minseok’s delicate wrist. He failed to notice Minseok’s eyes opening and the twitch of his fingers.

The mist began to fade away just as water began to gather in the bowl and the temperature of the room return to normal once the mist was gone and the bowl was full.

Junmyeon turned to Luhan again and asked, “Where are the towels?”

Yixing and Luhan were looking backwards and forwards between the bowl in Junmyeon’s hands and Junmyeon.

Luhan pointed to the cupboard underneath the window next to Minseok’s bed, “When were you going to tell us about your water ability?” he broke the awkward silence.

Yixing suddenly snapped and began to help Junmyeon with cooling Minseok down using the towels and the cold water.

Junmyeon chuckled as he wiped some sweat off Minseok’s forehead and Luhan stood there, stock still. “Well, I’m here at the academy for knowledge purposes and not ability training so I didn’t really think it was important to tell anyone.” he explained.

Luhan nodded. To be honest, he understood. Luhan himself had always hidden his ability, but not because he was studying.

Luhan’s silence seemed to unnerve Junmyeon as he quickly stood up and walked towards Luhan, leaving the perfectly capable Yixing to heal the now conscious and confused Minseok.

Junmyeon stopped in front of Luhan and put a hand to his shoulder, “Why do you hide your ability?” he asked with a sad look in his eyes – pity.

Luhan gasped and paled, he pushed Junmyeon’s hands off his shoulders and looked down onto the floor to avoid his eyes – he knew Junmyeon would be able to see through his lies.

“I never developed an ability.” He mumbled and turned to move out of the small room but someone stood in his way.

It was the same guy as back in the training hut.

He was wearing an overconfident smirk on his face and his hair seemed wilder than last time, “You better be careful with yourself and Minseok.” He pointed.

“You wouldn’t want to get the both of you noticed by the wrong people.” And with that he nodded in Junmyeon’s direction and left the room, leaving a shocked Luhan in his wake.

His hands were trembling, both from the shock of Junmyeon possibly knowing about his ability and the ominous message left behind by Kim Jongdae.

He felt Junmyeon take a slow step closer to himself, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about it but just don’t be so scared of me.” He paused, “And like Jongdae said, be careful about catching the Academy’s attention.”

And with that he was out and Luhan turned to see Minseok and Yixing watching the exchange with curious eyes.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Heya guys! Thanks for reading this chapter! Sorry about the long time spent waiting for it but it’s finally done! Yay! :D

I think it’s kinda obvious who will be discovered next but let’s ask anyway… Who’s next?

And the official question for this chapter is…. Just how much do you think Junmyeon and Jongdae know and do they know each other? ;)

And I would also really appreciate it if everyone who enjoyed this story so far could upvote since it means the world to me! :)

Lastly, please check out my friend’s story since her story is pretty interesting (I’m in it! :D I’m ‘Cat’! :D) and hasn’t got nearly enough subscribers! :)

http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/644785/lost-in-panda-love-romance-exo-tao-cute

Again, thanks for the huge amount of subscribers already! 67 wow!! And I hope this chapter was interesting. :) It’s only going to get more exciting from now on ;)

Many thanks,

hetacat