Chapter 2
The Fiction on Your LipsThe aircraft landed after about two hours. Jaejoong had left his room quickly, saying he had matters to attend to but that he would be back at the end of the flight.
True to his word he came back a few minutes before they landed, apologising profusely. What for, Baekhyun wasn’t exactly sure.
Jaejoong thread his fingers through Baekhyun’s and led him back through the halls and down the ramp. They were outside in a huge military area of some sort. There were hundreds of planes, tanks and weaponry, and thousands of people in uniform bustling around.
Baekhyun didn’t realise he was accidentally squeezing Jaejoong’s hand in fear until the man’s other hand came up to Baekhyun’s cheek. He used every ounce of willpower not to flinch away.
“Exciting, isn’t it?” Jaejoong grinned.
Baekhyun nodded slowly. “Are you… is this some part of the government?”
Jaejoong blinked before bursting out into laughter. The hand that was still on Baekhyun’s cheek reached up to his hair. “No, no. Have you not heard on the news? About the uprising in the north?”
Baekhyun nodded.
“That is us! We are bringing in a new government, a new age! And your friends will be our soldiers.”
New age? Baekhyun thought to himself. What was he talking about?
“Our leader has promised me riches beyond my wildest dreams when we win. And I will share it with you, Baekhyun. You’ll be my perfect little doll.”
Baekhyun swallowed back the sudden urge to vomit and attempted a smile.
Jaejoong seemed relatively appeased. He looked like he was about to say something, but was interrupted by a woman in a grey uniform.
“Sir?” she asked, looking slightly nervous.
“What?” Jaejoong snapped. Baekhyun flinched back at his sharp tone.
“The leader wishes to see you and the new soldiers immediately.”
“Well don’t stand here, go and fetch them! Have them ready for me outside the Leader’s office in five minutes. Go!” he practically snarled his last order and Baekhyun didn’t realise but he was holding his breath.
Jaejoong turned to him after the woman left and cooed at Baekhyun’s frightened expression. “There’s no need to be scared my sweet little doll. Did I upset you?”
Baekhyun wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear so he kept quiet, trying to relax and keep Jaejoong calm. The last thing he needed was for him to get suspicious again.
“Sh-should you get going?” Baekhyun asked.
Jaejoong grinned, once again lacing their fingers together. “You come with me. I don’t want you out of my sight.”
<><><><><>
They arrived outside the Leader’s room a few minutes later, the walk taking them through a huge building which he was informed was only a fifth of the whole base. The rest of the recruits were yet to arrive so they stood outside, waiting to be allowed in.
“You should feel very lucky, doll.” Jaejoong informed him. “You’ve only been here ten minutes and you’re already about to meet the Leader.”
He spoke about this ‘leader’ like he was a god. Baekhyun forced a smile, nodding.
The doors were opened, and a man stepped outside. “Commander? You are to enter.”
Jaejoong nodded, grabbing onto Baekhyun’s elbow and hauling him inside after him. He was certain this room was for officials only, but surprisingly, nobody stopped Baekhyun as he entered.
The room was large, and a sterile white. It was almost entirely empty save for the huge desk at the opposite side of the room, that was reached by a small set of stairs.
The man sitting in the desk was probably about fifty years old, with grey hair and deep lines on his face. Despite his evident age, he was huge, and the muscles that rippled menacingly under his clothes were enough to make Jaejoong look like a puppy. He had two soldiers behind him, standing to attention.
The pair approached the desk, standing in front and waiting for the Leader to look up. He did after about half a minute, the charged silence filled with pen scratching on paper, finishing the letter he was writing before giving them his attention.
“Commander.” He greeted him coolly.
“Sir.” Jaejoong bowed deeply, and Baekhyun felt the Leader’s cold stare wash over him so he thought it best to bow as well. When they straightened, Baekhyun’s eyes immediately met with the man seated behind the desk, his dark eyes curious.
“I hear your mission was successful?” The man’s words were slow and careful, and his penetrating stare hadn’t left Baekhyun.
“Yes sir.” Jaejoong answered quickly. “Eight successfully transitioned out of seventeen people.”
“And yet you brought back nine?” he gaze finally left Baekhyun and he felt physically relieved, like a weight was off his shoulders.
Jaejoong laughed nervously, glancing at Baekhyun in the corner of his eye. “Please forgive me, Sir. This is Byun Baekhyun. He was unmarked, but... he’s just so…”
“Yes. He is, isn’t he?” The man chuckled, his head resting on his palm. “However, I fail to see why you would break our conduct and bring a failed attempt into our base.”
Baekhyun’s heart began to pound. The Leader was going to kill him, he knew it. He tried to clear his head, tried to think of what he had done when Jaejoong was like this. He remembered that strange surge over his body and tried to replicate it. He closed his eyes for just a second, feeling a slight pull in his chest and he let the gentle wave roll through his finger tips and wash over the leader. He honestly had no idea what he was doing but he was scared to death and was probably going to die and-
“Oh.” He opened his eyes and his gaze met with the Leader, whose head was tilted as he studied Baekhyun, his stare intense. “I see what you mean. He’s…” Whatever he was going to say was cut short by a knocking on the door. “Enter!” he called out vaguely, still looking Baekhyun up and down.
Baekhyun turned around when the doors opened, and almost let out a sob of relief when the survivors from the bus came inside, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. They all still had their pulsing scars, which made Baekhyun frown. Why was he the only one they had disappeared on?
He looked eagerly through the group, trying to spot Minseok. When he finally did, he gasped. Their eyes met… at least, Baekhyun was pretty sure they did, because Minseok’s eyes were solid grey. They looked like windows into a lightning storm, except kind of frozen like… like ice. Baekhyun couldn’t differentiate between the pupils or irises or anything; they were completely grey.
“Baekhyun?” Baekhyun’s eyes darted towards the voice and he was surprised to see Jongin looking up at him with wide eyes. “We thought you were dea-”
“Enough!” The Leader’s voice boomed across the room, and Baekhyun looked back to see him rise from his chair, coming to stand uncomfortably close to him. “These are the new soldiers, Jaejoong?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And are they strong?”
“We won’t know for sure until training begins, Sir. But the initial scans show great potential.”
Baekhyun looked to his side to see the Leader give a small yet feral smile as he studied the new boys. Baekhyun almost jumped as his eyes left the group of people and turned to him, instead. “What do you think, Baekhyun?”
Baekhyun swallowed, glancing down to see everyone looking up at him, confused. “What-what do you mean?”
“I mean,” Baekhyun hardly dared to breathe as a hand came to wrap around his hip, “do you think they will make good soldiers for me? Or should I have them killed?”
Baekhyun’s eyes widened. “No! They – they’ll definitely be good soldiers! I’m sure they’re very strong and- and good. Sir.”
He could feel the Leader laughing next to him, and the grip on his hip tightened as he was pulled closer to his huge body.
Baekhyun looked over to Jaejoong to see him looking visibly angry, his teeth grinding. “Well,” he spat out, “if that’s all, me and Baekhyun will be going.” He reached out to take Baekhyun’s elbow but the hand on his hip pulled him aside until he was behind the Leader’s back.
Baekhyun felt fear course through his veins and before he knew what he was doing he accidentally let out another surge of whatever that was. This time it was so strong, he swore he could see it, like a pink fog washing over Jaejoong and the Leader. They both seemed to stiffen as it reached them, and Baekhyun thought he heard Jaejoong growl.
“Give him back to me, sir.” Jaejoong snarled through gritted teeth.
“He’s mine, commander. Let it go.”
Jaejoong glared at the man. “He’s mine. Give him back.”
“I said no!” the Leader shouted, and Baekhyun let out a strangled gasp as Jaejoong pulled out a gun to the Leader’s head. What in hell was happening!?
The Leader stilled slightly, and then, like a flash he pounced. The gun fired and hit the wall above Baekhyun’s head, but all he could focus on was the Leader breaking the arm Jaejoong held the gun in before holding onto his head and snapping his neck, all in mere seconds. Jaejoong didn’t even have time to make a sound.
Baekhyun couldn’t even scream, could only watch as Jaejoong’s body fell to the floor. It wasn’t as though Baekhyun had cared for him, in fact he was more than happy he was dead after what he had done, but to watch someone so easily end someone’s life like that, with their bare hands…
Baekhyun had a fair grasp on what he was doing this time as he focused on the pulling in his chest. He watched the faint pink smoke slide along the floor until it reached the Leader’s ankles, winding up his body. Baekhyun refused to end up dead like Jaejoong.
The man spun around quickly, spotting Baekhyun across the room he stormed over to him, but he stopped abruptly about a metre away. He stared at the wall above Baekhyun’s head where he remembered the bullet had landed. The Leader’s jaw clenched. “That son of a almost shot you.” He turned to face the two guards behind his desk, who didn’t look all that shaken. “Feed his body to the dogs.”
He then turned back to Baekhyun and without warning reached down to lift Baekhyun into the air, holding him tightly to his body. Baekhyun stared with wide eyes out at the room as he was carried away to a door behind the desk. Everyone stared back at him.
<><><><><>
The Leader dropped Baekhyun onto the bed, quickly kneeling in front of him. He grabbed Baekhyun’s chin, so he could tilt his head around and look at him from all angles.
“Aren’t you a beautiful little thing.” He murmured, and he quickly leaned up to press his lips against Baekhyun’s. Baekhyun wanted to vomit.
He sat stock still, not sure what to do as the man began to move his lips against Baekhyun’s, one large hand coming up to grip the back of his neck.
He pulled away, his eyes shining with something like awe, with both hands resting on Baekhyun’s neck. “Such a perfect little dove.” He let his hands slide down onto his shoulders, then down his front, coming to rest of his thighs. The man watched in fascination as he moved his hands back up and over his hips, to his waist. He wrapped both hands around it and squeezed lightly, letting out a small gasp when his fingers almost touched. “So delicate, aren’t you?” Baekhyun squeezed his eyes shut as the man slid his head under his chin, rubbing his face along his neck, leaving a trail of kisses that made Baekhyun’s skin crawl. “Such pretty skin.”
“What-what’s your name?” Baekhyun asked, trying to find anything to break the tension.
The man seemed to like this question, his hands resting on Baekhyun’s hips again. “Jinseok my little dove.”
“Jinseok.”
“That’s right.”
“Jinseok, I-I-” Baekhyun paused to take a deep breath.
The man pulled his head back to look into Baekhyun’s eyes. “What is it, Baekhyun? You can ask me for anything.”
“Can I… can we please sleep? It has been a long day.”
Jinseok’s eyes softened into a look of understanding and he pulled away to stand up. “Of course.”
Baekhyun stood as well, shifting on his feet, eager to get away from this man and whatever spell he had somehow put him under.
“I guess I’ll just leave then.” He turned towards the door that he assumed was the exit, but was stopped by a hand on his wrist.
“Don’t be silly, little dove. You will sleep here with me.” Jinseok smiled at him and brushed Baekhyun’s hair back with hands that he hadn’t forgotten could snap someone’s neck. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
Baekhyun watched, slightly numb as Jinseok stripped down to his underwear and changed into pyjamas. He looked over at the shorter man once he was done and chuckled. “You can’t sleep in that, darling. Here.” He reached into his drawers and pulled out a spare set of pyjamas, and held them out to Baekhyun.
Baekhyun took them from him robotically, muttering an empty thank you that earned him a fond smile. He quickly stripped down and got into the clothes when Jinseok had his back turned, fixing something on the bed.
It was only later, when he was too hot under the blankets and the large muscled arms wrapped around his waist, and he was certain Jinseok was asleep that he let himself cry.
<><><><><>
Baekhyun looked out at the training room from where he was sitting next to Jinseok. There was a wall of apparently bulletproof glass separating them and the room, which held the rest of the boys he had been taken with. He tried not to gape at their glowing skin, knowing that although it was hidden, his face looked the same. The room was overwhelmingly bright, everything except for the wooden floors a shiny sterile white. There were at least twenty helmeted guards in there as well, spaced along the walls and next to the door.
Jinseok had informed him when they had sat down that they could hear everything in the room, but nobody in the room could hear them unless they wanted them to.
Baekhyun had smiled, still unsure as to how powerful this… thing he had over Jinseok was, and what his limits were.
Jinseok had explained to him that his friends were going to be trained to be his soldiers in the ‘invasion’. When Baekhyun asked what invasion, Jinseok had chuckled and told him not to concern himself with such matters.
“Your friends are very lucky.” He said now, reaching up a hand to through Baekhyun’s hair, like a dog.
Baekhyun remained quiet. Lucky.
An instructor entered the room in front of them, a grim looking woman in uniform. The murmured conversation in the room stopped as she stood sharply in the middle of the room.
“As you are all well aware you have new markings on your body.” She began, scanning the room. Baekhyun glanced quickly at the looks on the boys face; some like Jongin looked almost frantically nervous, but others, especially Minseok, looked murderously angry. “These markings are physical manifestations of a new power you can control. What these powers are, we will be unsure of until you demonstrate them yourselves. These training sessions will teach you how to manipulate your powers so that you may fight for our cause.”
Baekhyun was now very interested. Although he might not be able to practice with everyone else, he could finally understand what he could do, and learn the extent of it.
The people in the other room now looked confused, those who could were looking down at their markings with small frowns.
“The cuffs that were placed on you upon your entry will be worn at all times outside the training room. These block all access to powers and will ensure no… accidents occur that could threaten the cause.”
Everyone glanced at each other uneasily.
“Now!” she continued, and clapped her hands together, drawing their attention back to her. “Obviously, I myself do not have your abilities. So you will be taught by one of our first experiments.”
The door slid open silently, and Baekhyun nearly shot out of his chair when he saw the person who stepped inside. Everybody inside the room were in similar states of shock, but none more than Kris who stared at the figure like he couldn’t believe he was real. Baekhyun didn’t blame him.
“Jongdae!?” Kris practically shouted, and the man’s head flicked into his direction, his whole face changing into a mix of shock, delight, and horror.
“Kris? How did you… but-” Jongdae was cut off by his brother running across the room and lifting him into the air with a bone crushing hug, that Jongdae quickly reciprocated.
Kris and Jongdae both looked like their brains were struggling to form words but before they could Baekhyun saw Jinseok press a button and lean over towards a small microphone.
“Enough.” His voice boomed throughout the room, and Baekhyun didn’t miss how Jongdae physically flinched away from Kris at the command. “Jongdae, do your job.”
Jongdae swallowed nervously, his eyes constantly flitting back to Kris as he took his position at the front of the room. “So… hey guys, I’m Jongdae.” Jinseok shifted in his chair next to Baekhyun, and the movement must have caught Jongdae’s eye because he straightened his back immediately and stopped looking at his brother.
“Okay. So by now you’ll have noticed a lot of extra energy swirling around yourselves, kind of like… kind of like a second skin that makes you feel really restless.”
Baekhyun leant forward slightly, listening intently. Jongdae explained that this was the power they had in it’s raw form. To control it they had to focus the energy into one point, their hands, their feet, even where their markings were.
Baekhyun attempted what he was saying, and with difficulty he managed to pull some of the energy towards his chest. He could almost see the pinkish glow being drawn in away from his hands and feet and forming a kind of ball inside his chest.
Jongdae let them practice by themselves, going around to the people in the room and asking them questions, giving corrections to some. He didn’t look at Kris once, constantly aware of Jinseok’s presence.
After an hour, Jongdae called everyone to stop, and told them the lesson was over for the day.
Jinseok leant over to the microphone again, an irritated set to his mouth. “That’s it?” he snapped, “They’ve haven’t done anything.”
Jongdae cleared his throat anxiously, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I-I’m sorry sir but… well it’s incredibly draining to try and control the powers and… and I think they would benefit from resting for today.” Baekhyun looked back at the others, seeing some of them swaying on their feet. Jongin in particular looked like he was about to pass out. It was only then that Baekhyun realised his own fatigue, so concentrated on his powers he hadn’t noticed.
Jinseok reluctantly allowed them to leave, turning to Baekhyun as they were cuffed and led out in single file.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t have seen some of their powers, my love.” He reached a hand out to caress his face. “It really is quite spectacular. You should see Jongdae’s abilities sometime. You know he can control lightning?” He laughed to himself. “Although, let me tell you, it definitely wasn’t as smooth going as this when we converted him. Back then we had no idea how to tap into the powers and just had to hurt him until he had to defend himself with them. Not very effective, but it did the job.”
Baekhyun ground his teeth in an attempt to curb his need to strangle the man in front of him. “Why do you need people with powers?” He took a deep breath to calm himself down when his voice came out much sharper than was safe. Luckily, Jinseok seemed unperturbed.
“For the revolution of course! We must ensure we are victorious.” His smile grew wide. “How glorious it will be.” He suddenly stood from his chair, tugging Baekhyun up by his arm. “Come, let’s go to our room. We have time to spend together, we shouldn’t waste it.”
<><><><><>
In the next lesson, Jongdae handed out an individual flower to everyone in the training room. “This lesson I want you guys to try and pull some of the energy from where you’ve focused it and attempt to wrap it around the flower. This is how you use your power. Obviously this is a very slow method and won’t have a very large effect but I don’t want you to attempt anything too big before you’ve got a proper hold over your powers or you could hurt someone.
“I’ll show you an example.” Jongdae held his own flower in his palm, and everyone watched as it crackled and sparked, small sparks of electricity flitting across his palm and frying the object. Baekhyun gawked at the demonstration and glanced across at the others to find them all looking equally shocked. “You see? A very small version of my lightning focused only on the flower.”
Everybody seemed much more eager to begin the exercise that day, muttering excitedly to each other. Baekhyun watched Minseok closely, curious about what he would be able to do. However, after a while nothing had happened to anybody’s flowers and he could tell Jinseok was growing restless.
Baekhyun hesitated slightly, before deciding he may as well practice with the rest of them. He took a deep breath and tried to separate a ball of the pink energy from the his core. He frowned when the colour darkened, but nothing separated.
After several more fruitless attempts, he looked up through the glass, watching Minseok again to see how he was doing it.
The boy was using his hands, his fingers fisted around a ball invisible to everyone else. He watched as Minseok steadily moved his hand until it was over the flower, and then opened his fingers and pushed his palm towards it. Baekhyun gasped as the flower began to freeze over, ice crackling up the stem and over the petals, until it was completely frozen.
Jinseok began to laugh, clapping loudly. “You had all better catch up to him pretty damn quickly.” He spoke into the microphone, a menacing grin on his face.
Baekhyun pulled his eyes away from Jongdae praising Minseok’s efforts, to look at Jinseok, who was smirking out at the room.
Determined now, Baekhyun focused on his core again, this time reaching a hand to his chest and closing his fingers around the energy. He tightened his fingers until he was holding a pink cloudlike ball in his hand.
Before he could stop himself, he let out a pleased laugh, and Jinseok’s head snapped towards him. “What is it, my dove?”
He bit his lip, and tried not to glance down at his fist. “No-nothing, Jinseok.”
Jinseok’s eyes narrowed as his gaze shifted to his hand. “What are you holding.”
Baekhyun swallowed, beginning to panic as Jinseok leant forward.
“Baekhyun. What are you holding?”
Before he could think about it, he reached up quickly, and pressed his fingers against Jinseok’s forehead, and watched as the cloud was absorbed into his skin.
“What-” Jinseok seemed to cut himself off with a sharp inhalation. “Baekhyun…” his voice was softer than a whisper. His pupils visibly dilated, and his shoulders rose and fell sharply as his breath shortened.
There was a moment of silence, and Baekhyun thought he had been caught, his fingers still pressed to Jinseok’s forehead, but the man seemed completely ignorant to what Baekhyun had done, and reached forward to pull him into his lap. He pulled Baekhyun’s back tightly against his chest and pushed his face into the crook of his neck, breathing deeply.
Baekhyun didn’t even feel as repulsed as he usually did, too focused on the energy pulsing in his chest. He felt smirk tug at his lips and he looked back up to the training room, freezing when he found Minseok stood still, his head turned towards him. Baekhyun couldn’t tell exactly with Minseok’s completely grey eyes, but he was certain he was staring at him.
When he realised his position - Jinseok’s arms tight around him and the man whispering adorations into his neck - he quickly tore his eyes away, his stomach churning. However, as soon as he looked away his eyes met with Jongdae’s, whose head was tilted slightly, eyes burning with curiosity. This time Jongdae looked away before him, turning to speak to Joonmyeon.
The rest of the training session was eventful, with four more of the boys displaying their powers. Chanyeol was the next to, his flower abruptly bursting into flames, until they burned out and all that was left in his palm was a blackened husk. The boy stared at what he had done with a horrified expression, before shaking his head and dropping the flower to stare at his hands.
Yixing was next, and only a few minutes later, having picked up the husk of Chanyeol’s flower and gasping as it seemed to pulse slightly, and almost… fill with life. Within a few seconds the flower had returned to what it was before Chanyeol’s fire. Yixing’s face was impassive, but Baekhyun could tell by the way he was quick to pass back the flower to Jongdae he was just as scared of his powers as the rest of them.
Joonmyeon and Kyungsoo were last, with the former managing to draw all the water from the plant, until it crumpled in on itself, completely dry, and the water he had drained rested in his other hand. Kyungsoo’s flower seemed to sprout roots and stems, more flower buds growing out and blossoming from it.
Even with more than half of the boys managing to alter their flowers, Jinseok still seemed agitated that Zitao, Kris and Jongin hadn’t been able to do anything.
Baekhyun didn’t pay his irritation much attention, instead his eyes naturally tracking Minseok around the room, which proved to be a mistake.
“That ice boy, what’s his name?” Jinseok growled, his arms tightening around Baekhyun’s waist.
Baekhyun shifted slightly, wincing when Jinseok’s chin dug further into his shoulder. “Minseok. Kim Minseok.”
“Why do you watch him so closely.”
Baekhyun felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck at his cold tone. “I-I don’t. I’m just interested in his power.”
There was silence from Jinseok for a while before his powerful arms lifted him out of his lap momentarily, and sat him back down so he was facing him. A large hand came to grip the back of Baekhyun’s head tightly. The boy swallowed as his head was forced to tilt backwards so Jinseok. “Good. Because your mind, your body, your soul, everything,” his nails dug into his neck, “is mine.”
Baekhyun nodded hurriedly, his eyes wide and breath panicked.
Jinseok smiled and loosened his grip, allowing Baekhyun to fall limply into him, fear still coursing through his veins and leaving him unable to move. He could feel the stares from the room burning into his back, but he was too frightened to care.
Jinseok babbled happily for the rest of the session, constantly bringing up his revolution. Baekhyun didn’t dare ask questions, remaining quiet and still in his arms until the session ended and Jinseok carried him into their room.
AN
Hey guys!! I'm sorry this took a while but I just graduated high school!!! I'm currently in Greece on a holiday :000000000 . Thank you all so much for reading and subscribing <3 I hope this is okay!!
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