Minho’s POV

This is crazy. No, this is not only crazy- this is borderline Madness. Jonghyun is ignoring my predicament for obvious reasons. We are on our way to fix the barrier and protect civilians. Professor K is clearly weakening by the moment. Clearly, my inner debate is only a minor problem compared to what we are about to do. Taemin is still in his Taeyeon mode and he is eyeing me with wonder. 

“ you don’t want to believe me.” He says and I can’t help but feel angry. What does he expect me to do? Just believe in anything? Taeyeon is dead and i have accepted that a long time ago. 

“ well, just give me few seconds to accept this okay? That the girl I loved is now telling me that she is inside the body of a friend of mine who happens to be a boy.” I hissed at her and Jonghyun looks at me but i shake my head. 

“I can’t understand it myself, Its been two years. And suddenly, i open my eyes inside a different body and i see a vision of all of you getting in danger.” He explains to me and I want to go back to my room and shut myself out. But i can’t. I have to face this now. We are the hope of this whatever this is. 

“ I don’t know- let’s not talk about it. We have more important things to do.”

I catch the dissapointment in his eyes and the professor instructs jonghyun to look around and check the perimeter. He raises his hand and starts to meditate. Taemin turns to me once more and asks,

“ the boy, Taemin- do you like him?”

“ he is a friend. ” I answer her and turn myself invinsible. I cannot take this anymore, I have to get away from him and do my duty as a member of the covenant. 

“ you didn’t just disappear to ignore me!” Taemin shouts and i snicker. Taeyeon does that alot, complaining when i escape like this. 

“ leave me alone! ” i shout once more and head out but he speaks once more. 

“ do you like him because he looks so much like me? Like Taeyeon?”

I do not give her an answer. Its the same question i’ve been asking myself and i do not want to know the answer. 

Key’s Point of view 

“fancy seeing you again, it seems like you are mine.”

My mind is racing and my body is formulating ways to escape and never come back but somehow, i remained rooted in the ground. Probably it was because everyone is practically beaming at me and the crowd is going wild. VI on the other hand is enjoying the attention and he keeps onw aving and he pulls me closer to take pictures. 

“ yah. Smile Key, im quite photogenic you know.” He jokes and i want to push him away, how can he do this to me? He tortured and almost killed my friends. 

I hissed under my breath, “ what do you want? ” 

The cheering decreased and i quickly made my way backstage. Luna is not here, she must have rushed to the building. VI is closely following me like we are some old friends and no one has any clue that this guy tortured me before. I calm myself and focused on influence. Professor K thought me this and i close my eyes while walking. I hear VI stop but he quickly pulls me.

“ nice power you got there, ” then i can feel the burn in my skin once more and i wince in pain. 

“ its not that painful now right? It because im so damn calm because of you.” He tugs my hair and i try to escape from his grip. “ that’s the cold and weak kind of flame.”

“ let go of me. ” I say this to him and he does, he lets go of my arm. 

“ oh. Okay. ”

He replies cockily and allows me to walk outside, the lights are still on and i quicken my pace but i suddenly come to a halt. I can’t move, what is happening to me?

“ can’t walk now huh? ” Trying to escape, i gathered all my strength to have some sort of release but failed miserably. VI comes closer to me and i notice someone is behind me. Someone i don’t know. 

“ G.O here is a very handy friend of mine, ”

“ let go! ” I command, but G.O just laughs at me and i can hear his foot tapping. 

“ you see kid, im stepping on your shadow.” As soon as he said those words, i turn my head and i see it. I see my shadow and like he said, his feet pins me down. Not allowing me to move. I always thought that powers shouldn’t be like this- its unusual but very powerful. Here I am thinking that i can’t escape, but i fell for another trap. 

“ you can’t do anything till i set you free” he calls out and VI is clearly amused by the scene. He is really a sick person. Who gets pleasure from people that are suffering? 


“im a very truthful person Key, so i will tell you. We will exchange you for the healer. We have him and we will get you in exchange.” VI explains a matter-of-factly

“ what do you want? My power? Do you want to be like me? Then be my guest- I want to be me again! I want to be human again! ” I shout at him.

“ ungrateful aren’t we? Why wouldn’t you want to be strong huh Key? ” his hand produces a string of fire and he uses it to bind me. The flame is color blue and he is smiling as he does it. “ I know someone who had the same powes as you Key, a very very powerful empath. You see, he was so good at it, that he can practically control you. Make you do whatever he pleases. ”

“ its not what an empath does!” I reason out, does he think im like this person? I am not that powerful enough to influence minds. Even if i calm a person down, he/she will be aware of it and can choose to fight it. 

“ doesn’t matter. You see, he was so good, that he can make a room of people jump from the top of the building and kill themselves. He can make billionaires surrender all their funds to him whole heartedly. An Empath can rule the world.”

Im not wasting time in hearing his twisted story, i try to get out of the binding. Maybe try to influence the both of them to panic so this bind will lessen. 

“ the story isn’t finished yet, do you know the empath Key? ”

“ NO.” I replied, annoyed at his efforts to story telling. 

“ Its Onew’s father.” 

Onew’s father? But how can that be? 

“ no two people can have the same power even if they die Key, so you are a special one. How did you manage to have his power as well? We cannot have that- who knows? ”

“ I did not take anyone’s power away! ” I rely sternly and he comes closer. With one violent hit on my head, everything blurred and i pass out. 


Onew’s POV. 

The way to the burned building turned out longer than usual. Jino is flying above us and he tells us that he cannot see anyone outside the perimeter. Its either, they are already inside with the students or already in the building. He is concentrating heavily, I know he wants to get back at what VI did to minho and jonghyun - its all he’d been talking about during our trainings. TOP and Jiyong are calm like always but I know that they will find it hard to go against members of the resistance. What makes them stronger than us? They do not have rules and limitations. Everyone of our kind has a limit or else we will go insane or burst into flames. The latter im not sure. I’ve seen it once when I was a kid, someone from our Manor. My father was able to capture him and for a moment i thought he could break the earth. 

He was one of the elements. Controlled the Land, Taeyang. But he wanted more, and because of that my father hunted him down. That night, his limit was reached. I saw his eyes turn white. His hair turned gray and his skin was ghostly pale. He was no longer the ELEMENT. He was just another sob story of someone who wanted what he cannot have and died from it. I remember my father coming closer to me as he spots me looking. 

“ this is what happens when greed consumes you. ” he says sternly and at that age, at the age of seven- i was already aware of this fact. Maybe its the reason i never wanted anything grabd for myself.

I never pushed to find my true power.

I declined any position in the palace.

I do not want the title of the ‘head of the manor’ and gave it to TOP. 

I don’t talk to people outside of the covenant unless necessary. 

Im afraid that greed will consume me. My dreams are always the same, its me withering away like Taeyang did. Me, losing the life I have and turning into a lifeless body. 

“ we’re here. ” TOP announced and we all look up. Everything is dark, no lights but the obvious glow emanating from the top floor of the building. They are here. 

“ don’t go up Jino, we will all go- ” Jiyong said and Jino came back to the ground. This building is only 5 floors and we made out way up. We all expected fancy traps and tricks or perhaps one of them waiting for us and ambush us. But NO. 

“ im not feeling good about this, ” I finally say. Its the door to the rooftop. They are here. I looked at all of them. Jino. TOP. Jiyong and the out there, Mnho, Jonghyun, professsor and Luna. It was always us, a team that will try our best to be the Heroes. in life and in death- they are all i see. Im not afraid anymore. With that, we opened the door. 



“ Onew! ” I am greeted by Tiffany who is smiling at me, like nothing happened and that we will have a chat and sip some tea after this. VI is here too and it seems like he just came here seconds before we did. A man i don’t know is also here. Another girl, she seems familiar- 

“ Hyuna, that girl is flexible.” Jino whispers suggestively and i raise my eyebrows at him. “what? We hooked up back in the day- i didn’t know she’ll turn into resistance.”

“ We are from the covenant, what are you doing at our grounds?” TOP stepped forward and did not give us a signal to attack. Nice move, diplomacy first. 

“ oh. Nothing, we just took something that is ours.” VI replied with a smile and I did not miss that wink he gave me. Bastard. 

“ why here? As you see- we have a gathering here and for one, you damaged our barrier.”

“ Sorry?” VI stepped closer, followed by the man. Tiffany is still very calm at this point. “ we were told that this place is a great venue for the exchange”

“ damn this! Where is the healer!” Jiyong quipped and VI chuckled. 

“ we have him right, im quite surprised actually.”

“ is it really the healer or are you playing with us?” Jiyong challenged and VI smiled, 

“Let me demonstrate- ”

With one quick motion, his hand produces a string of fire that almost looks like a thin dagger. Unexpectedly, the dagger penetrated Jiyong’s heart. I hold my breath for that moment. At first i thought it will only burn him, but the thin line of fire he produced was sharp and penetrated Jiyong’s chest firmyl. Through and through. Jiyong is dead. 

TOP reacted quickly and pushed VI and the rest of them back. I know that he is powerful, but the energy he gave off to move affected us as well. 

“ control TOP!” Jino shouted but we would not take anymore directions. Jiyong is dead and I do not care about diplomacy anymore. I lunge forward and attacked them, alongside jino . Jino was tied with Hyuna. am having a hard time battling it out with Tiffany. But in the back of my head, I am looking for the healer. 

TOP seem to not mind the fire surrounding him, it was like he could not even feel it at all. His sole purpose is to rip VI apart. Aside from moving things he can see, TOP can move things he does not see. What matters is his level of concentration. Even to the point of meditation. 

“ the !” VI clutched his chest tightly and he fell on his knees. 

“ im stopping closing the vessels towards your heart, incase you don’t know.” He says calmly and Im caught off guard. Everyone turns towards them. I have never seen TOP do this tactic before except for the time he learned that it is possible as he practiced with an animal. 

“ Seunghyun. ” The professor called out (we hear him in our minds even if he is not here. ), probably trying to get his attention. This is not what he should do. Professor K is still trying to keep the barrier around us. TOP’s aura is everywhere, making everything else around us want to come apart. 

“ TOP! ” I call out to him. 

But VI starts to chuckle, “ why can’t you be part of the resistance huh? We would be such good friends. ”

“ the one you killed was my only friend, ” He replies and seungri shouts. 

“ okay. Okay. I told you it was to demonstrate right? Tiffany! The healer!”

Jino stops and Tiffany as well. This is it, we will find out who the healer is. Tiffany goes inside a door and as she comes out in her hands, she is holding a boy. A little boy, not more than 7 or 8 years old. How can this be? All of us stopped what we are doing. For centuries, we are told about the myth of someone who can stop death. The healer. How can this little boy be that person? 

“ yoogeun ah!” Seungri’s voice changed into a warm and caring tone and the boy quickly came over to him. Seungri embraced him and talked to him. “you see that man over there? You do to him what we practiced, okay?”

The boy, Yoogeun only smiled and ran towards Jiyong. All he did was embrace jiyong and i held my breath. Is this true? For a moment, nothing happened then Jiyong opened his eyes. TOP quickly rushed towards him and Jiyong looked around. 

“what happened?”

The boy came back to tiffany and hid behind here. 

“ YOU SEE? DEMONSTRATION.” VI said dramatically and before we can all recover. He gives us the truth about their visit. “ we actually want to trade in the healer, ”

“ what are you talking about?” I answer him, 

“ the Healer is no use to us, we just want to take on of yours you know. As an exchange, actually, I have him already- but i want a guarantee that you won’t go looking for him. That the covenant will just let it pass.”

“ you will not be taking anyone of us. NO.” 

But before I can tell him a piece of my mind the door from the other side of the roof top opens again. Key. I was right. He was really the one they are after all along. 


Key’s Point of view 

Opening the door, I am greeted by the surrounding of a rooftop. But this place looks like a burned one, the building i read about in the student’s manual (history of the university). VI is there. Tiffany is with a boy. TOP, Jiyong, Jino and most importantly, Onew is there. He is looking at me. And his eyes never leave mine as i walk forward. Why did I even end up here? My mind reels as I understand what is happening, Onew told me to stay away but i stil lmanage to end up here. I disappointed him again. Just perfect. 

“ you see, the resistance wants him.” VI speaks up and Onew walks over to us. 

“ I won’t let that happen. ” 

“ but i have him already ” He teases and Onew lunges forward but one touch from VI scalded his arms.

“ Onew!” i called out. I seriously want to cry right now and run to my mother- but my mother hates me. So, i do not have anywhere to go. Don’t I? No one is moving. I know they will trade me in for the healer. It makes perfect sense, the Resistance will probably kill me. I mean, they have all been looking for the healer all their life right? Im not even that important. Not even a part of the covenant. VI also told me that i have the same powers as Onew’s dad- i put two and two together. They will kill me. Im a freak in their eyes, imagine that? I still manage to stand out in the midst of all these impossibilities. 

“ This is sweet- he cares for you Onew, this will be easier than I thought. ”

“ SHUT UP! No trade is going to happen in here! I will kill you then get yoogeun and key.” Onew seethed and i am taken aback by his boldness. Why isn’t the professor here? Luna is not here too. Maybe it was a bad idea to keep her as watch for the people . 

“ always the hero, aren’t we onew?” VI replied and suddenly, we are encircled by flames. Me, VI, a kid and onew. TOP stands up and lifts his hand but nothing happens to seungri. 

“ This fire death circle is special , its the first time i used it. Its like a zone too, i’ve studied about this. No power can penetrate this circle – im sorry. So- its between the three of us. ”

“ thats impossible! Professor is the only one who can make a barrier! ”

I look at Onew and I want to come closer to him but I can’t, I will leave him soon. 

“ are you blind? Im doing it now!” VI boasted. “ it took alot of practice and its really draining my power- so we have to make it quick. ” He ushers the kid towards onew, “go to him yoogeun, he is a friend of mine”

“ what are you doing?” I run towards the boy and embrace him. “are you crazy? He is just a kid!”

“ Key, he is the healer.” Onew tells me and I look closely at the boy im holding. He is so young, he still has alot of years to live. It is a logical choice, i should not even be trying to battle my way out of this. How selfish of me to want to be spared, when this innocent kid is at stake. 

“ so, should we start exchanging now, onew- you can have yoogeun and i will get Key.” It was like an easy trade off but Onew would not let me go. 

“ I will not be negotiate with a member of the resistance, you come here.- attacking members of the covenant and civilians- you don ‘t have the right to bargain.” 

“ but the covenant wants the healer, and here he is- stop the nobility Onew- please.” VI replied impatiently.

Without any power, I know what will happen next . Onew will refuse and seungri might kill him in the process. With yoogeun in my arms, i try to concentrate. If i am really powerful. I can do this. I focused on VI, reaching down deep in his emotions. I can do this. I send of wave of calm and confusion in him. For a few moments i felt my power slipping but it latched to him soon enough. The flames died down and he suddenly does not know what to do. 

“ you !” He turns to me but he is too late, TOP is taking hold of him again and Jino as well. 

“ i did it. ” I whisper to myself and yoogeun runs away from me and goes to tiffany. 

“ you are all stupid! What have you done! ” Tiffany cried out and Onew pulled me towards him. Its the first time i felt safe althrough out this day. 

“ Tiffany, its over. Please, ” Onew reasoned out but she did not listen. Another woman takes Yoogeun and they dissapear by jumping off the building. Before we can all try to follow her, we fall into a bigger trap. Onew and I cannot move, G.O throws his hands up in the air. 

“ finally! You moved in the right part, the moon and the lights in this place are helping me!” He says and Onew looks at me. 

“ He is G.O, he can step on someone’s shadow and stop them from moving. He is the reason i got caught.”

Onew hung his head, defeated. On the other hand, VI summoned his Circle again. Trapped inside is him, TOP, Jiyong and Jino who wanted to hold him down. 

“ Oppa! You are wrong! You should have traded them in nicely! I don’t want to be the one to do this. ” Tiffany is weeping and her hands are shaking. VI on other hand, despite the state of him, is still smiling. He is seriously happy about this. Tiffany approaches us and the pleas of her former friends fall on her deaf ears, she looks at me and i plead to her. 

“ tiffany! No. Please, Onew is not the enemy here.”



As i feel my knees buckle, I see everyhting playing right infront of me. Tiffany stabbed Onew. I lunge forwards to try and stop her but i am too weak now. She easily holds me again and pulls me away. She stabs him once more. Multiple times and all I can do is nothing. Helpless. Helpless. I always was. I collapse on the floor and i see Jino shouting and crying. TOP is bleeding, trying to break the bind of VI;s circle. Jiyong is violently trying to get out as well but to no avail. 

It was too late. As VI breathed his last and the shield came down, Onew is no longer breathing. Onew is dead. Its all my fault. 

The darkness loomed over us. 


AFTERMATH 


2 days after. 

The cold tiles of the floor pale in comparison to the chill that invades my body. I do not know what day it is. All i remember is Onew dying. I remember someone dragging me in here and the cold water running down my body then after that, i refused to move. I lay here in the bathroom, someone is trying to knock and talk to me a couple of times but i do not answer. Yesterday, Taemin came here and he cried but it did not make me want to stand up and start over. There is no starting over after this. Deep down, I know that one way or another i should stand up and go back to my usual life but it will never be the same again. I will never be the same. 

Maybe It was decided the day I met Onew that my life will change. I thought that it will be to bring the light and action and action that i needed in my life. He provided that, along with the heart ache of it all. But never did i anticipate the grief. If i knew that moment that this will happen, I should’ve stopped following them around. Should have handed the notes over to the dean and made the university take part in an investigation.

I should have been stronger and stopped G.O and tiffany. I should have killed VI. So many things i wish I have done differently. So many people I want to blame. TOP had his guard down, Jiyong was not strong enough. Jino could not act quick enough. They all trusted Onew so much. They all though he was invinsible. They spent all their lives looking up to Onew as some Hero but he was no more. 

He is gone forever. 

I hear someone pounding on my door and i don’t move. He must be strong as he forced it open. Where is Taemin? He should’ve asked for the key and not destroy our door. Its jonghyun. 

“get up! ” he commands and i do not move. Instead, with one strong pull, he lifts me up and literally drags me out. “ this has to stop.” I can see Taemin who is telling him to stop. 

“ let him go! You’re hurting him! He is depressed, give him time!”

“ he is disrepecting onew by doing this.” 

He drags me out of the room with Taemin hollering, but I see that Minho stops him. I am pushed towards a car and Jonghyun starts to drive. 

“what do you think you’re doing? Being catatonic like that? You irritate me.” Jonghyun spats at me as he makes a turn outside the university. “ he won’t come back even if you cry all day and you stop your world! I tried that and it did not work. You stupid.. you’re stupid! ” He shouts at me and I continue looking out the window , trying to block his emotions and calm him down. 

“ after that, i stopped time. Longer than usual and i passed out but i still cannot make it right again. I cannot undo it any longer. No matter how long i stopped time, even if i used up my power and stopping it- nothing. Still. He is dead.” 

Jonghyun says softly and he continues driving. We come to a stop and he opens the door for me. I Walk on my own as i don’t want to give im the satisfaction of dragging me along with him. We are in a graveyard. We stop infront of a particular tombstone, larger than all the others and flowers are everywhere. Candles, cards, gifts and even balloons. 

“ you see? Even strangers paid there respects! But you- you- you don’t even show up. Luna was even greeting everyone but i know she wants to be buried in here as well. ”

I cringe at his words. I did not even say goodbye to him. All these people came here, even if they rather not. People who, like jonghyun and luna have known him longer than me. They spent almost all their lives with him, compared to me. 

“ and you saw him die Key, you don’t know how jealous I am of that? Atleast you saw him. But me, i only saw him after- at the morgue and cold. ”

His words finally made their way to me and i fall on my knees. For the first time after that day, I cry. I clutch the grass and my whole body is shaking. 

“ key,”

Jonghyun holds my shoulder and i look around. The fresh flowers awhile ago withered. The trees turned flaccid and i wipe my tears away.

“ no one told me you can influence things other than people.”

“ i did not know that too.” I reply to him and we fall into silence.

“ you know why the resistance wanted you?” Jonghyun breaks the uneasy atmosphere with this question and i suddenly find msyelf interested. It was what started everything right? The resistance wanting to capture me. I started all these misfortunes. 

“ im not really sure, but i remember VI telling me that I have the same power as onew’s father.”

“ right. They want you because of that, they know how powerful an empath can be – its either you join the or they will kill you.”

Kill me. Its what they wanted all along and yet here i am standing. As i look at Onew’s tomb stone, i wonder if i will be next. Something tells me that this is not over, but a nasty beginning to my downfall. 

“ he said he will find me.”

I have no clue why i say this to him but its what my heart is calling out. He told me, he will find me. He told me that I will be the one to give up and i should not run away. But in the end, I am all alone again. 

Onew, please find me. 


Onew’s POV

“ wake up” my mind tells me this as I bolt upright and realize that I am in a foreign place. My head feels like it will crack open any minute from now. I am wearing nothing , only covered by a white sheet. I replay my last memories. We were in the building and we all fell trap. VI with his fire circle and me along with Key got our shadows trapped. Then as I tried to get out, Tiffany came to me, crying. 

Then, Excruciating pain. Repeatedly. I died. 

“ about time you woke up- you were stirring for the past few days” A man walks over to me but he is wearing a mask. 

“ who are you?”

“ doesn’t matter, eat- you need it.”

My stomach grumbles and i greedily take the bread from him. Looking at my surroundings, I gather that I am in an empty warehouse. 

“so, what happened to me?”

“ you died.” He replies and I choke on my food. He is too blatant for my taste. 

“ stop it- im obviously alive.” I challenge him but he sits down next to me and hands me a glass of water. 

“ Only one explanation - you are the immortal one.”



/ END OF SEASON ONE.