In the chaos after Kris’s announcement, Sehun had quietly let himself out of the room. Distracted by Jongin, Kyungsoo had finally stopped hovering over him, and Sehun took his chance. Everyone else either running out or screaming at Kris made it easy to simply stand and leave. 

Back in his own room, he sat on his bed, wanting to feel something, anything, but instead just found himself trying to fight exhaustion. It was nearly three in the morning, and his body was heavy. 

“Hey.” 

Sehun looked up to see Minseok silhouetted in his doorway. “Hi,” he said back. 

“Mind if I come in?” 

At first Sehun wasn’t sure what to answer. But he couldn’t find it himself to tell Minseok to leave. “No.” 

Minseok closed the door behind him, taking a seat on Tao’s bed across the room. Sehun had only his bedside lamp, so Minseok remained shadowed, arms across his chest. 

“I’m sorry,” Sehun said, and swallowed hard. He hadn’t been planning to say that. But it was true. Kris’s confession had pierced through his grief with something worse- guilt. 

Minseok gave a breathy laugh. “I came here to say the same thing, actually.” 

Sehun’s chest tightened. Though he couldn’t really see Minseok’s expression, he could feel his gaze, intent. 

“I didn’t know all the details of the transferring process,” Minseok said quietly. “They had mentioned several times during my training that they admired my relationship with Luhan. But I didn’t know...I didn’t know just how important it was.” 

Sehun closed his eyes, fighting back a sudden flood of self-reproach. “I knew how you felt about him,” he said, voice breaking. He had. All of the KAE students had known; Minseok’s love for Luhan had been apparent since they had been penpals. “I shouldn’t have...I shouldn’t have imposed myself-”

“It wasn’t your fault, Sehun,” Minseok cut him off. “Please understand that. You have nothing to be sorry for.” He paused, eyes darting down. “I mean, it was me who agreed to the transfer. We can blame ourselves all we want, but it doesn’t change anything. Neither of us could have known what was going to happen.”

His chest ached so, so much. “I just wish I could’ve- I mean, I never had the chance to…” Sehun swallowed, lip trembling. “I just wish I could have told him I loved him.” 

Minseok smiled, small and sad. “He knew, Sehun.” He looked up, meeting his eyes. “And he loved you too. Very, very much.” 

For a moment, the air was rosy pink, and Sehun could say nothing, entranced by the sweetness of Minseok’s voice. He realized he was holding his knees, had tucked himself into a fetal curl while they had been talking. Slowly he unfurled himself, feeling his heart give a soft sigh. 

“Do you think we’re really trapped here now?” he asked, wiping the wetness from his cheeks. 

“I think Kris is telling the truth,” Minseok said. “But I don’t know.” His brow furrowed, and he glanced down at his hands, expression tense. “I don’t think the Academy knows what we’re truly capable of.”

-

Baekhyun hadn’t asked Chanyeol if he could sleep in his bed, he had just done it. For about an hour the two of them had joined Jongdae and Tao, scouring the Academy for exits. Baekhyun quickly had realized he was quite useless- he tried a few doors, but mostly he watched the Guarders attempt to blow stuff up before he had quietly convinced Chanyeol they should get some sleep. 

When they had made it back to their room it became apparent Chanyeol had been suffering more than he had let on. Fatigued from using his powers, he had been on the brink of collapsing. So Baekhyun had led him to bed, tucked him in, and then climbed in with him. 

Even though they were best friends, they had never lain so close together before. But something about it had felt so right to Baekhyun. He wrapped his Guarder tight in his arms and buried his face into his hair, focusing on nothing but the rise and fall of his chest, willing him to wake up strong and well.  

While he had adored Chanyeol from the moment they had met, Baekhyun realized in the quiet of that night that he could not bear to think about losing his Guarder.

It would break his heart. 

-

The sun was just rising when Jongin awoke delirious in Kyungsoo’s arms, at once in a panic. It took Kyungsoo several minutes of rocking him to soothe the Teleporter into sleep again, his hands in tight fists around the fabric of Kyungsoo’s t-shirt. An hour later he woke properly, and Kyungsoo watched his eyelashes blink open into the golden morning sun. 

“Hi,” he said when Jongin’s eyes found his. 

“Hi,” his Guarder answered him, voice hoarse and weak. “Is it Saturday? Why am I still in bed?” 

“It’s not Saturday,” Kyungsoo told him, though he wasn’t actually quite sure what day it was. He helped Jongin sit up, taking note of the fragility in his arms. “Do you remember what happened last night, Jongin?” 

The Teleporter looked at him through knitted brows. “Last night?” He looked down, forehead tight in confusion, before letting out a soft “Oh.” 

Kyungsoo let him process for a moment, keeping a hand wound tightly around his. “You were in detention,” he said carefully, watching the ragged up and down of his Guarder’s chest. 

“Minseok broke us out,” Jongin whispered. 

Kyungsoo felt his chest tighten. That didn’t make sense- how could Minseok have done anything?- but he supposed Jongin might still be confused. “You and Tao,” he said, after a moment. 

“Yes,” Jongin said. “And then…” he looked up at Kyungsoo helplessly, eyes wide. “I don’t know.” 

“There was a fight,” Kyungsoo said, keeping his voice gentle. Jongin’s gaze was frightened, confused. As best he could, Kyungsoo tried to explain the rest- the supervisor shooting him, the boys’ rebellion, the staff leaving, Kris’s stunning admission afterwards. At some point Jongin’s eyes had filled with tears and Kyungsoo clutched him close to his chest, letting him sob while he finished the story. 

Afterwards they sat in silence, clinging to each other, not knowing what else to do. 

-

It was nearly noon when they all reconverged, trickling down to the cafeteria. The new day brought them together quiet and heavy, understanding that yesterday’s nightmare was one they had not yet woken from. 

After they had dispersed the night before, some of the boys had simply gone to bed, exhausted- Kyungsoo and Jongin, Sehun and Minseok. Others had gone to test Kris’s assertion that they were trapped, checking every entry and exit, every door and window. A few realized earlier on that it was futile- Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Junmyeon. But Jongdae and Tao had refused to give up, not sleeping a wink, and they were the last to come to the cafeteria the next day. 

When Jongdae appeared Yixing instinctively went to him. His Guarder looked a mess. Not only had he not slept, but the overexertion of his powers had completely drained him, turning him slow and unsteady. “Sit,” Yixing insisted, wrapping an arm around Jongdae’s shoulders, and his Guarder all but fell into the cafeteria chair. 

Yixing had been among the first to head back. He wouldn’t have gone out at all except for the ridiculousness of Kris’s words. He had to go see for himself. But once he had tried a few doors it had been enough, and he dropped like a stone once he decided to go back to bed. 

He felt refreshed this morning, determined. 

But in this state, Yixing knew it wasn’t any use telling Jongdae that last night he had managed to break into the Academy’s mainframe and had downloaded almost four terabytes of data onto his own hard drive. 

He needed his Guarder bright and alert to process what he had found. 

-

Kris didn’t say much during the ensuing discussion. He had hardly slept. Not to test the exits like the others- he had already known what they were going to find- but as the hours had worn on into morning, he had realized what they had to do next. 

What he had to do next. 

The cafeteria wasn’t completely empty- the snack bar had been left untouched and the drink dispensers were still half full, so the students sat around the tables with measly attempts at breakfast while they shared what they had found. Kris twisted his ring around his finger, back and forth, wearing the skin red.

“Kris was right,” Jongdae was saying, his earlier bravado dissipated into bleary-eyed sighs. “We can’t get through it. We tried everything. It’s all sealed.” 

They talked lowly for a bit longer, but Kris stopped listening. He knew that whatever plans they were hatching were all useless. They weren’t going to break through the safeguard. 

Kris was watching Tao. There was no point in trying to stop himself anymore. If he wanted to look at the flawless curve of the blonde Guarder’s cheekbones, he would. 

He still didn’t really understand what was so captivating about that boy. But he knew that he needed to talk to him, that Tao was perhaps the only person among these boys that could understand what needed to be done. He pressed his nail under the edge of his ring, popping the top open to peer at the switch that lay hidden underneath.

There was only one way for them to escape. And it wasn’t by destroying the safeguard.  

-

“Ugh!” Tao threw up his hands, stumbling back from the door, sweat stinging his eyes. “Stupid ing door,” he growled, but he was too exhausted for the words to have much bite. 

“Tao.” 

He turned to find Kris hovering at the entrance of the room, hands in his pockets. 

“Kris,” he said after a moment, and folded his shaking hands across his chest. 

Kris stepped forwards, head tilted in question towards the door. 

He didn’t owe Kris an explanation, but for some reason Tao found himself talking anyways. “I was trying to send it into a time warp,” he said, slumping back against the wall.
“Maybe bring it back to a time it was unlocked.” He watched as Kris walked closer, until they were standing only a foot apart. “It didn’t work,” he continued, stating the obvious, and looked down at the ground. “You were right.” 

Kris didn’t say anything, and in his silence Tao found his anger rebubbling to the surface. A lot of the students had been angry at Kris the past twenty four hours. Understandably. “Do you have something to say to me?” he asked, raising his eyes. 

“Yes,” Kris said, and for a second his expression caught Tao off guard- sad and resigned, the KAE student was staring past him, jaw set. 

“Well what is it?” Tao demanded, anger giving way to confusion. 

Kris met his eyes. “I know how to get you guys out of here,” he said. 

“And you’re just telling me this now?” Tao snorted. 

“You’re not going to get through the safeguard.” 

“You don’t ing say-”

“You can’t break it. So there’s only one way out. Get someone to lift it.” 

At this Tao frowned. “And who would do that?” he asked. 

Kris’s gaze was hard. “My father.” 

Tao didn’t say anything for a moment, trying to understand. “Your father? How?” 

Kris was playing with his ring. “He’s a powerful man. He helped create this school.” He paused, walking forward and turning so they were side-by-side against the wall. “He wouldn’t do it to help you guys,” he said lowly, not meeting Tao’s gaze. “But I can get him to come.” 

“Okay,” said Tao slowly. “How?”  

At this Kris met his eyes. “Something would have to go very, very wrong. He would have to be very upset with me.” He took one deep, shuddering breath, meeting Tao’s eyes. “Tao, if I bring him here you have to promise you’ll do something for me. 

Tao felt his chest tighten, watching Kris’s lips tremble. “What?” 

“You won’t let him take me alive.”

A/N: hello dear readers, wanted to say thank you for reading this far! we're almost at the end of this story, i think the next update will be the last. it may take me a while to get everything right so bear with me, but i promise it'll be worth the wait!