Caged Lions Always Strike

Chapter 4 

Of Rivers among the City

It was hot. Too hot. And Luhan couldn’t breathe.

It seemed like a recurring theme in these dreams – Luhan being unable to do something. Usually something rather important like breathing and moving.

And however sarcastic Luhan was, he was not enjoying these dreams that were making his nights miserable every few days.

But in this dream Luhan could move, which led to him wiping off his sweat gathering on his forehead and upper lip in the stale air.

It was hard in the extreme heat that seemed to sap his strength and make his vision blurry but he attempted to focus on his surroundings to at least find out where he was.

Just as Luhan managed to work out that he was standing in yet another forest – Why a forest? – A sudden bolt of lightning hit the tree in front of him and made the ground shake.

Luhan noted, with fear, that he was far too close to a fast-flowing river and extremely tall trees surrounding said river but he had nowhere else to run to.

It was as Luhan began to notice small details like the trees’ charred trunks that more bolts began to strike the trees and the noise reminded Luhan of a stampede of many horses.

Luhan knew he needed to get away from the trees but there was nowhere else other than that river so Luhan resorted to trying to figure out what to do by attempting to remember what the teachers had told him in his early school years.

He remembered that he had to get away from trees but Luhan’s panicked mind went blank when he tried to remember any more than that.

And it was then that he felt a comforting presence behind him – from the river? – that drew him to turn around.

He was met with the very familiar wide forehead and kind, gleaming eyes that could only belong to Junmyeon.

This Junmyeon was not smiling and seemed to have his lips permanently shut but his eyes still shone with that familiar friendliness that Luhan always remembered.

And suddenly Junmyeon had grabbed Luhan by his shoulders and pulled him.

Luhan felt calm and at peace throughout those short few moments that he was free-falling through the air but his mind kept screaming at him that Junmyeon had just pulled him into a river with an angry current.

Luhan’s body tensed as it hit the water with huge force that felt like hundreds of tiny needle pricks into his body.

And although his body was sinking into the river and his vision was blurring through the murky water, Luhan could tell that his surroundings had changed.

The sky was no longer blackened and littered with the occasional white light from a lightning strike, but a serene blue as the larger trees that Luhan could still see waved in a gentle breeze.

And with that, Luhan felt comfortable enough to close his eyes and a he felt a peaceful aura overtake his conscience.

For once, he didn’t wake up confused or scared.

x x x x x x

“It is worth noting that space-time abilities – like teleportation, time-based abilities, and any telekinesis abilities – are often weaker and harder to train and develop than normal abilities.”

Weak.

“This is due to not only the rarity of the ability but also because of the huge strain it puts on the human body. It is often considered undesirable for children to have these abilities since they are usually inherently weaker and will struggle to develop their ability.”

Undesirable.

The professor droned on.

Minseok was eagerly making notes on his left and seemed to be paying close attention but Luhan was too focused on his own internal monologue to make notes.

His mother had always said how certain abilities should be purged – she was a government official, you see.

She had supported the purges before the current government and she continued to support the secret purges occurring throughout the country even now despite it being declared illegal by the government.

Luhan could always recall the way she would sneer whenever the news showed the faces of the ‘missing’ people. She would scoff and continue with her day-to-day routine.

“Time manipulation is often the ability that’s the least desired universally. Being the hardest on the body, time ability citizens cannot expect a long life and are significantly weaker. Not only that, there are many groups of people that seek to find these citizens and steal them from their families for personal use.”

Luhan wanted to scoff at the moment since he knew exactly what ‘personal use’ referred to – his parents had always used healing ability citizens enslaved by the government to heal their own family.

“Many time manipulation citizens are also often hidden away in an effort to not be discovered by these groups and thus suffer a life of hiding and are usually unhappy and depressed.”

Minseok seemed to frown lightly at this and pout as he wrote down his notes on the current subject.

“And that’s all that the government requires you to know about time ability citizens. Since they are so rare and hidden, not much is known about them as no studies have been made. Therefore, the lesson ends here and next lesson we will be discussing telekinesis.”

Luhan was anxious to leave the lecture hall.

He felt nervous – what if these people found out he was a telekinesis ability citizen?

But he was definitely comforted by the fact that he was not alone in his plight of hiding. Despite it being a morbid thought, Luhan was relieved that there were others in his situation.

Maybe one day he would meet someone similar to him.

He was shaken from his thoughts by Minseok placing a hand on his forearm as he grabbed Luhan’s attention.

“Hey! Want to go somewhere tonight? I’m free tomorrow so there’s no need to spend time revising tonight.” He eyes seemed to shine but maybe it was just a trick in the light.

Luhan knew he shouldn’t go since it was too risky. Perhaps he was being overly cautious but he had always been scared that he’d do something wrong and someone would find out.

So far only one person in Luhan’s childhood had found out – Park Chanyeol.

The son of a family of rich socialites who spent their days partying, Chanyeol had always played with Luhan whenever Luhan attended the same events.

……

The room was dimly lit by amber wall-lights and bellowing laughs from older men could be heard amongst the mindless chatter and laughter of the elite scattered across the large apartment.

Luhan had never been fond of these events after being forced to introduce himself and bow to countless strangers.

As a young boy, he preferred to play with the wild child that usually accompanied these events with deep black windswept curly hair with sparkling bright eyes full of childish excitement.

Which is how he found himself on the roof of a skyscraper with said child – Park Chanyeol – screaming into the cityscape.

He had to admit that Chanyeol was right about it releasing most of his pent-up anger but he wasn’t sure how he would explain his sore throat to his parents later.

“One day, I want to be able to fly around these buildings!” Chanyeol commented mindlessly with a childish giggle and a wide grin with a scrunched up nose.

Luhan scoffed, “How?” he rolled his eyes.

Chanyeol laughed loudly, “Well… Who knows? Maybe I’ve got the flight ability in me!” he winked at Luhan as he waved his long arms around.

Luhan sighed and walked towards the edge of the roof that was only defined by a metal bannister with a large gap allowing anyone to cross into the absolute edge of the skyscraper.

“With that personality you’re probably going to turn out with an electrical type ability.” Luhan commented dryly and Chanyeol went quiet as he followed Luhan towards the metal bannister.

Chanyeol was smiling as he leaned on the bannister, “Maybe.” He shrugged. “Who knows?” he was laughing in such a carefree manner that Luhan felt the sharp pain of jealousy in his chest.

He wished he had an ability other than the one his mother hated the most.

Chanyeol turned towards him with curious eyes, “I can’t wait till I turn 12! Then I’ll be able to take the test to find out my ability!”

Luhan forced a smile and nodded for Chanyeol’s sake, “It’s really rare for anyone to know for sure at that age though. Maybe you’d be luckier when you’re older?” Luhan commented.

Chanyeol hummed and shrugged and Luhan leaned his body into his crossed arms on the bannister, “It’s a worth a try? Sometimes you even hear of children with 5 years suddenly discovering they can freeze things!”

Chanyeol always sounded so stupidly excited but Luhan knew his childishness and naiveté was only a weakness.

Luhan shrugged, “I know someone who found out their ability last year but they were really disappointed.” His tone turned more sombre and his eyes looked down towards the bright and busy streets rather than the endless sky.

Chanyeol seemed to sense the change of atmosphere and turned to look at Luhan closely as Luhan hid his face into his crossed arms still leaning on the bannister.

“Why was he disappointed? Surely having an ability is a useful thing?” Chanyeol sounded confused but Luhan wasn’t sure since Chanyeol usually showed most of his emotions on his highly expressive face which was hidden from view because of Luhan’s arms.

“But his parents didn’t like that ability, so what was he supposed to do? If he told them he would’ve just embarrassed his family. They were too close to the government to have such a son.”

Chanyeol was silent and Luhan didn’t know what to think anymore.

“Luhan…” Chanyeol began to lean entirely into the bannister as he leaned his backside on it and spread his arms towards the empty space beyond the building.

Luhan heard a scratchy metallic sound but he chose to ignore it. It wasn’t as important as this conversion.

And so Luhan stood up and away from the bannister.

Chanyeol brought his arms back down and grinned at Luhan, “So what’s your ability? And why do you care if the government doesn’t like it?”

Luhan sighed and shook his head, “You wouldn’t understand. I know things that you don’t about the government.”

The wind was beginning to pick up and it was getting very cold.

Chanyeol seemed to frown. “Like what?”

Just as Luhan opened his mouth to reply, a loud snapping sound was heard and Chanyeol began to fall as the bannister began to fall apart.

Luhan was too shocked for his body to react fast enough but his mind had quickly acted and Chanyeol began to hover just beyond the edge of the building with his arms outstretched and his eyes shut tightly.

Both boys were breathing loudly, Luhan from over-exertion since he had never really used his ability in such a way and Chanyeol from adrenaline and fear.

 Chanyeol clenched and unclenched his fists and then slowly began to open his eyes.

Luhan was on his knees and staring at Chanyeol with wide, wet eyes.

His hand twitched and then Chanyeol was back onto the building and on his feet for a few seconds before his shaking legs gave out and he wound up kneeling in front of Luhan.

Both boys remained in eye contact with each other as they regained their breaths.

The silence was broken by Chanyeol suddenly laughing and clenching his stomach with one hand and pointing at Luhan with the other.

For a few seconds, Luhan prepared himself for being ridiculed by closing his eyes in shame but he quickly opened them when he felt Chanyeol’s hand on his shoulder and a sincere and serious tone from his usually childish friend.

“Did you think I would hate you for this? You saved my life. Thank you.”

A grin, a hard slap on his back and Chanyeol was heading back inside leaving a shocked Luhan with wet cheeks on the roof.

It was the last time he ever saw Chanyeol and Luhan had always blamed himself for scaring Chanyeol away.

……

But maybe it was time for Luhan to let loose and live a little. After all, the academy was supposed to widen his horizons from his usual hardcore studying to a more normal lifestyle like his parents wanted.

So Luhan accepted.

“Yeah, that sounds great! Where do we meet?” he was smiling widely at Minseok as they both left the lecture hall towards the cafeteria to join their group of friends.

Minseok paused to think for a few seconds before smiling back with his usual gummy smile, “I’ll pick you up at 10 tonight at your room?”

Luhan nodded just as they passed into the cafeteria and they both headed towards their usual table.

“Yo, midget!” Kris’ bellowing voice could be heard from across the cafeteria and Luhan struggled to repress his eye roll but Minseok only chuckled and scratched the back of his head once they had reached the table.

“Yo, green giant! Where did you buy those beans?” Minseok shouted back and Luhan heard Tao snort and snicker as he hid his laughing face.

Kris stuttered for a moment whilst the entire table laughed as Luhan and Minseok sat down in an empty space next to Yixing and Junmyeon.

Baekhyun and Tao were sitting across them in hysterics and Kris had Tao, “Hey! You shouldn’t be laughing with them! You’re supposed to be on my side!”

Tao looked up and grinned, “Why should I be on your side when you won’t let Minseok take one of your golden eggs?” and then began to laugh even harder.

Junmyeon shook his head and facepalmed, “That one wasn’t even funny! Why are you laughing?”

Yixing was smiling a little, something Luhan had yet to see, and he nudged Junmyeon with his shoulder. “I think the whole point of friendship is to laugh at every joke, even if it mentions golden eggs and are only vaguely funny.”

Baekhyun suddenly slapped Yixing’s forearms and made a point to laugh obnoxiously loudly.

Luhan was only staring at Yixing, shocked at his sudden talkative personality, and only seemed to notice his surroundings again when he felt Minseok lean into him on his left side.

He turned towards Minseok but Minseok was too busy discussing something with Tao and Kris kept trying to in to recover his so-called ‘leadership’.

Luhan began to chuckle slightly at that thought and he felt Minseok lean into him and bit more so he pushed back slightly.

Surprisingly, Minseok didn’t pull away from the comforting contact that Luhan has established between their arms and torsos despite being in deep conversion with Kris and Tao beside them.

So Luhan began to talk to Baekhyun who seemed excitable yet hesitant to speak. Whether of shyness or some other reason, Luhan didn’t know, but he did seem interesting.

“Baekhyun, isn’t it?” Luhan began and Baekhyun turned towards him from his right side.

He nodded, “Yeah, although you have an accent… Where are you from?” he questioned with curious eyes behind his fringe.

Luhan flushed a little, “Ah, sorry… I’m from China.”

Baekhyun seemed shocked, “Wow! That’s cool!” he grinned and Luhan visibly relaxed.

“You speak Korean really well!” he was laughing and speaking quite loudly but Luhan didn’t mind since it seemed like it was just a Baekhyun thing.

Luhan gave him a lopsided grin and scratched the nape of his neck with one finger, “Thanks.” The conversion seemed to turn a bit awkward as they both had no idea what to talk about despite being surrounded by their friends who were eagerly chatting to each other.

Luhan cleared his throat, “So… Why were you in chains and dragged into the academy?” he began.

Baekhyun began to tense up and frown so Luhan suddenly added, “If you don’t mind me asking…!”

Baekhyun had his shoulders hunched up and he was frowning for a few seconds before he relaxed and sighed again.

“We’re not really supposed to tell but Yixing was basically forced to come here because of his ability and I don’t want to leave him by himself so I came with him.”

Luhan nodded to show that he understood and Baekhyun continued, “And the chains were because the army is paranoid that Yixing was somehow going to kill them. Nevermind that the naïve idiot can’t even eat an egg without apologising to the unfertilised embryo inside it.”

He seemed to smile and roll his eyes at the memory.

Luhan nodded and smiled, “I understand. Sorry, I just wanted to ask, to be honest. Curiosity killed the cat, after all!”

Baekhyun chuckled, “No problem! But satisfaction brought it back.” He winked with a flirtatious smile and Luhan suddenly felt Minseok’s eyes on him.

Luhan chuckled with him whilst letting his hand rest on Minseok’s forearm, he had no idea why he did it but he noticed that both he and Minseok suddenly felt significantly less tense at the extra contact.

Baekhyun began, “But if you don’t mind me asking, now that you know Yixing’s ability, could you tell me yours? I’m really curious about what an honours student like you has.”

Luhan knew that Baekhyun was only asking in pure innocent curiosity but he couldn’t help but suddenly feel short of breath as the question hung in the air.

He felt like the whole cafeteria had turned to him to hear his answer and a part of Luhan knew that it was all part of his imagination and that nobody but maybe the people on his table could hear his conversion thanks to the busy atmosphere of the cafeteria.

But Luhan had always been scared.

And Luhan couldn’t shake the look of hurt and sadness on Baekhyun’s face as he suddenly pushed his chair back and left the cafeteria quickly.

He ran and ran to his room across the entire academy and failed to notice Minseok running behind him in his panic.

It was only when Luhan got to his room and was about to close the apartment door behind him that he noticed Minseok as he put his foot between the door and the wall.

“Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?” Minseok seemed out of breath from the running but he still had his eyebrows furrowed and seemed genuinely worried about Luhan.

So Luhan opened the door wider and Minseok stepped through the threshold of Luhan’s room.

Luhan gestured to the sofa around the coffee table in the room with an entire wall of windows and Minseok walked towards the sofa as Luhan closed the door.

Minseok sat on one side of the three-seater and Luhan was sitting cross-legged on the space next to him facing the window.

They were silent for a few moments as Luhan tried to calm his heartbeat and slow his breathing.

Minseok chose to break the silence, “Why did you panic?”

Despite being such a simple question, Luhan froze and his whole body suddenly became tense.

This seemed to be enough of an answer for Minseok who continued despite Luhan lowering his head so that his eyes could only see his own lap.

“Why don’t you want people to know your ability? Is it because you don’t have one?” Minseok’s tone sounded patient and worried, not intrusive.

Luhan trusts Minseok not to spill his secret but he also doesn’t trust Minseok.

Because whilst Chanyeol didn’t call him weak and undesirable all those years ago, he still disappeared from Luhan’s life.

Because whilst his mother had always promised that she’d always be supportive of Luhan, in the same breath she had cursed those born with ‘weaker’ abilities like his own.

Luhan wanted to trust someone, anyone, but his trust had always been misplaced and he didn’t want to make the same mistake again whilst he was so close to achieving his dream of becoming a medic.

“You can trust me, Luhan. You know you can so please just tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone.” Minseok’s words seemed carefully thought-out and calculated.

He felt a hand run through his hair and Luhan shivered. The hand froze and began to pull away so Luhan lifted his hand to hold Minseok’s hand in place.

Once Minseok’s hand began to caress his hair and scalp once more, Luhan lowered his hand back to his lap.

Minseok sighed and moved his hand to Luhan’s neck and shoulders to gentle massage the knots out of Luhan.

Luhan’s back straightened and then arched at the touch and Luhan lifted his head to sigh as he let it rest against the back of the sofa.

Minseok chuckled and brought his other hand to caress Luhan’s face and Minseok smiled as Luhan leaned into his hand with his eyes focused on Minseok’s own.

They both stayed like this for a few minutes as Minseok forced Luhan to relax until Luhan decided that he could just say it.

“I have telekinesis but I don’t want anyone to know.” Minseok’s hands slowed down as Minseok focused on listening to Luhan’s words instead.

“That’s why I panicked. Because I’m weak and don’t want anyone to know.” Luhan closed his eyes as he confessed and missed the affection and sadness that suddenly laced Minseok’s glistening eyes.

“You’re not weak just because of your ability or whether you want anyone to know or not. Your ability doesn’t define you, Luhan.” Minseok whispered and he put his two hands on Luhan’s cheeks.

Luhan opened his eyes and Minseok swallowed, “Ice ability citizens are always expected to be these cold unfeeling people yet here I am, Luhan.”

Silence.

“Here I am feeling my heartbeat synchronise with yours. I’ve never behaved like they expected me to and I never will. It’s about being individuals and standing out, Luhan. Not conforming to the stereotypes.” Minseok paused for breath and began again.

“Society is always telling what different abilities should and shouldn’t do and that people who are different cause chaos but the world always needs a bit of innovation. I don’t know why you don’t want anyone to know, maybe it’s because you don’t want to become tied down by your ability but you shouldn’t be scared of your friends Luhan.”

Luhan felt tears slide down his cheeks as he brought up his hands to cup over Minseok’s own hands on his cheeks.

Luhan shook his head and whispered, “That’s not what I’m scared of…”

Minseok seemed confused, “Then why?...”

Luhan swallowed and looked towards the window once more, “I know what happens to people like me since my mother never stopped talking about it. You hear the professors talking about missing people and you see them on the news but my family know better.”

Minseok listened closely and inched his head closer to Luhan so he could hear Luhan’s whispers.

“My family work with the government to get rid of them. Those people aren’t missing, Minseok. They’re either dead or enslaved, which is kind of the same thing anyway.”

Minseok’s eyes widened but sensing an oncoming panic attack from Luhan from his increasingly short breaths, he decided to focus on relaxing the man before continuing the conversation.

He pulled his hands away from his cheeks and began to massage his thighs lightly and he could see a faint red tint on Luhan’s cheeks but chose not to comment.

“How do you know what and why would they be… Dead?” Minseok seemed to stumble over the last word.

Luhan scoffed but quickly sighed as he began to relax from Minseok’s hands, “My parents work with the government. The government thinks we’re weaker and useless since they can’t find an industry for us and have no way of controlling us. I’m surprised that no one knows, to be honest.” He stated as he looked at Minseok closely, admiring his long lashes and fluffy cheeks.

Minseok shook his head, “I don’t think the government is all that bad… I don’t know about what your parents have been telling you but the government seems nice to me and has always helped me so maybe it’s just what your parents say.”

Luhan suddenly pushed Minseok away and stood up from the sofa, an expression of anger and betrayal clearly evident across his face.

“I knew you wouldn’t believe me….” He brought his hands to his face.

Suddenly Minseok heard a loud sob and he stood up to comfort Luhan but was only faced with Luhan’s red crying face and a finger pointing towards the door.

“The door is that way, Minseok.” Luhan said with a tone of finality.

Minseok nodded, knowing that nothing he could say now could possibly make Luhan forgive him. So with a heavy heart and a sad face, he opened the apartment door and left.

Luhan stood still for a few minutes whilst he hurried to restrain his sobs until he moved to his bedroom.

Maybe a nap would make the pain in his chest fade away.

He should’ve never trusted someone else.

x x x x x x

A man circled another man that was sitting at a desk with a laptop in a dark room.

The light from the laptop screen made the cheekbones of the smaller man sitting at the desk appear brighter than the rest of his face.

The man previously doing the walking suddenly stopped and leaned onto the back of the chair of the sitting man.

“Kim Jongdae. You will use this computer to do what we want and then we won’t have to hurt you. Doesn’t that sound nice?” the older man had a greasy and cocky tone that made Jongdae scoff.

“Why should I when whatever I do to help you will only hurt the people you should be protecting?” Jongdae heard before he saw the hand that slapped his face from his behind.

His put his hand on his left cheek and felt a tingling pain accompanied by spreading numbness.

The taller man stood up straight and chuckled, “Because, Chen, Kim Minseok’s powers look very promising.” He teased before leaving the dark room.

Leaving Jongdae to let his head fall onto the desk and groan.

He was barely aware of what he was doing until he felt his clenched fist hit the wooden desk and scatter small cracks in the wood.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 

Heya guys! I’m sooooo sorry that this is late but I kept avoiding it because I had minor writer’s block and didn’t know what to write… But here it is!! A slightly longer chapter with Xiuhan fluff to make up for it! :D

I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) If you have any questions please drop ‘em below ;)

And please don’t forget to subscribe, comment, and upvote if you’ve enjoyed the story so far! :D

And here’s the question for this chapter:

What do you think happened to Chanyeol? ;)

Thanks for reading,

hetacat xoxo