VII. Sehun

Sehun was surprised to find Chanyeol and Minseok awake and sitting on the couch before dawn. They were sitting close, their voices hushed as they discussed. Sehun stood in the doorway, leaning against the wall, before clearing his throat. Minseok noticed him first, straightening up and tapping at Chanyeol’s shoulder. The latter turned toward him as well, and Sehun tensed up.

Chanyeol stared at him before a moment, his face solemn and grim, before turning back toward Minseok.

Chanyeol terrified Sehun since Baekhyun’s disappearance. Before, Chanyeol would stagger out of his bedroom with a terrible case of bed hair and sleepy smile, and he would spend all his time babying and bothering Sehun with an annoying, -eating grin on his face. Sehun didn’t realize how much he missed it until it was gone. He missed the days were all nine of them would go out after classes, host video game tournaments, and sleep in on rainy Saturdays. Everything was perfect, but now it wasn’t. And he fought every instinct in his body that wanted to blame Baekhyun.

“What are you guys doing?” he asked, stepping into the living room, ignoring a glare Chanyeol sent him.

“We’re just talking,” Minseok said, sitting back against the couch. “It’s early, Sehun, go back to bed.”

“I could say the same to you,” he said. “And no offense, Chanyeol, but it’s not like we get up early and talk anymore. What’s going on?”

Chanyeol stood, and Sehun staggered back. Chanyeol still towered a few inches above him. “Just go back to bed,” he hissed. “This doesn’t involve you.”

“I’m your friend, Chanyeol. I deserve to know what’s going on,” he argued.

“Like hell-”

“Chanyeol,” Minseok called, interrupting him. “Maybe he can help.”

Sehun slipped past Chanyeol to stand in front of Minseok. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew that if Chanyeol and Minseok were talking, a sight rarely seen with any of them and Chanyeol, something big was going on, and he refused to be the kid left in the dark. Especially if Baekhyun and Yixing were involved.

“Help with what?” Sehun demanded.

Chanyeol said nothing, looking at him reluctantly before taking his spot on the couch.

“We think we’re getting somewhere,” Minseok said. “There are a lot more aspects to our powers than we realize.”

Sehun blanched and took a seat on the edge of the coffee table so he could face Minseok and Chanyeol. They all knew there were aspects and parts of their powers that they never understood, nor will, especially without Baekhyun. He wasn’t sure of everything either, but it all happened at his hands, so they foolishly hoped he’d have all the answers.

For now, they were blind kids struggling with powers they didn’t understand.

“What do you mean?” Sehun murmured.

“Remember when Chanyeol collapsed yesterday?”

“Well, yeah..” He flashed Chanyeol a look. “How could I not?”

Minseok turned to glance at Chanyeol as well. “He said he heard Baekhyun- felt what Baekhyun felt.”

“But that’s impossible-”

“Will you shut up and listen?” Chanyeol snapped, hands tangled into his own hair. His eyes were wide, but heavy with thick dark circles that aged him horribly.

Minseok pressed a hand to his chest. “Calm down. I didn’t believe you either.”  He shook his head. He turned his attention back to Sehun. “Listen. Chanyeol and I think we’re connected. All of us. Our powers tie us together in some way.”

“I...don’t understand.”
 

“I think it may be some kind of defense mechanism,” he said. “Something that’ll ensure we’re kept together--”

“That didn’t help us with Yixing and Baekhyun,” Sehun demanded boldly. The loss of his elders hurt him more than he initially let on, hiding his grief into his pillow at night, letting his desperation and sadness seep out in the form of fat tears absorbed into the pillow case; he let his prayers meet dead air in the night. If whatever force cursed them with these powers somehow tried to keep them tied together, it was doing a terrible job.

“I know, I just…” Minseok tugged at his sleeves, almost in desperation for Sehun to understand. “We can feel each other’s pain- everyone’s connected to another member, and maybe the bond is kicking in because Baekhyun needs our help. I felt the same sensation when Jongdae got hurt.”

“So what about Suho?” Sehun interjected. “When he was attacked did someone feel him too?”

“I did.”

Sehun twisted around where he sat to see Kyungsoo lingering in the doorway, his gaze glued to the floor. He held a steaming coffee mug in his hand, the steam curling around his boyish face and slightly masking his somber expression.

“I was the one who found out he was attacked,” he said, stepping in the room, much to Chanyeol and Minseok’s surprise. “It was like someone stabbed me in the stomach, and I knew something was wrong; it was like I could hear him in the back of my head, begging me to come help.”

Sehun stared at Kyungsoo, a deep shudder rattling throughout his body. To imagine their leader- a man of composure and poise- crying out for help, disturbed him. He always seemed invincible, but Sehun assumed that was part of his own naivety at play. He liked to pretend that they didn’t have powers- that they were simply college kids dealing with normal college problems like getting to class on time and what parties to attend. He insisted on convincing himself that they were safe, that there were no droids constantly coming after them- that one of them hadn’t stolen Suho’s powers.

“So what if we’re connected?” Sehun demanded, voice weak and broken. “Baekhyun’s still missing. Yixing is still gone. Suho’s powers are gone. What are we supposed to do?”

Chanyeol cleared his throat, tilting his head in Sehun’s direction. “If…If I can find a way to control or somewhat channel this connection with Baekhyun, we can communicate with him,” he said. “We can find out where he is.”

“And if we’re a step closer to Baekhyun, we’re a step closer to Yixing,” Minseok added.

Sehun was still skeptical. Since Baekhyun’s disappearance, Sehun couldn’t bring himself to trust Chanyeol. He always left them in battle, disregarded their safety and thoughts, crumpled them up and pushed them aside like garbage even after Baekhyun made them swear.

He remembered his promise. He would always remember his promise- but nobody else seemed to.

Instead of arguing further, Sehun bowed his head in defeated. He just wanted them to be a family again.  “How can I help?”

“This is dangerous,” Sehun said, staring at Chanyeol as he sat on the floor of his dorm room, legs crossed at his ankles and hands tucked in his lap. The lights were off, the small bedroom shrouded in darkness.

Sehun sat on the bed, pulling his legs close to his chest and resting his chin on them. He didn’t want Chanyeol to go through with it. After witnessing what happened the last time Chanyeol matched his connection with Baekhyun. The last thing he wanted was another hospital trip.

“He’ll be fine,” Minseok assured him as he took the spot beside him on the bed. Kyungsoo stood in the corner, silent with his arms firmly crossed across his chest. “We’re just experimenting.”

“What makes you think this will work?” Kyungsoo interjected. “We have no control over the powers we’ve known about for months. What makes you think that we’ll be able to control some psychic connection?”

“We don’t know,” Chanyeol said, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “But I have to try. I want Baekhyun back just as much as you do. From what I felt the first time… We have to get him out. We have to find him.”

Sehun observed as Kyungsoo fell back to his silence, leaning against the wall. Chanyeol sighed and let his eyes slip shut, clenching Baekhyun’s silver bracelet in his right fist. The scene reminded Sehun of a cheesy witch or horror movie, and he couldn’t believe he offered to help them with this madness.

They sat for what felt like hours, Chanyeol’s alarm clock clicking and shattering the silence every second. Silence carried on, thick and pregnant as it hovered over the room, suffocating Sehun. Chanyeol kept still, his fist shaking and eyes scrunched tightly.

“Alright, I’ve had enough-” Sehun snapped, the clicking of the clock driving him insane, but as soon as he stood, Chanyeol gasped and dropped the bracelet, clutching at his throat.

“Chanyeol?” Minseok edged, his voice cautious as he was immediately by the latter’s side.

Sehun’s heart fell into his stomach, staring at Chanyeol as he choked, his face turning a deep shade of purple in the darkness. His eyes were glossy and glazed, as if there was no emotion or thought behind the beady orbs.

“Chanyeol!”
 

He could do nothing but stare in horror as Chanyeol trembled and pitched to the side, his face crumbled in pain. Minseok cradled him, shaking him by his shoulders, shouting his name. Sehun’s ears sharply rung, the world titling and spinning around him as he stared at his brother shaking and desperately trying for a decent breath.

Suddenly, Chanyeol stopped, his face ebbing back to its original color as he straightened up, gasping.

Minseok continued to grapple onto him, eyes wide and face ghostly pale. “Chanyeol, are you okay? What happened?”

Chanyeol sat there for a moment, eyes wide and mouth gaping like a fish out of water. His hands were trembling- hard- and Sehun couldn’t help but kneel in front of him and take his hands in his, warming them. “Chanyeol?”

“I...Baekhyun showed me something- I think,” he murmured.

“What?”

“I saw...a white room,” he began, eyes still empty. “No windows. White sheets. White floors. Everything hurt my eyes, it was so bright. There was a bed with red straps across it and a...surgical tray with tools that didn’t look human.”

“Where was it?” Minseok pressed.

“I.. I don’t know,” Chanyeol murmured. “He showed me a woman with a red visor. She was smiling, and her skin was completely white as snow. He’s scared. Fear radiated from everywhere.”

“He must be kept there?” Sehun whispered under his breath. “Tools, beds with straps.. Sounds like a torture chamber. Maybe it’s some kind of lab!”

“No, but…” Chanyeol shook his head, as if trying to shake everything into place. “I saw a bunch of fast images, like a serpent with red and white scales, a long white table, and a van. It was different from the white room, everything was dark and scary, like everything would pop up and kill me.”

Minseok sent Sehun a confused, pinched glance. “None of this makes sense, Chanyeol…”

Chanyeol groaned and furiously pawed at his face, rubbing at his eyes. “I know, I know!”

“Baekhyun’s trying to tell you where he is,” Kyungsoo mumbled. “Before, he was in pain. Before, he must’ve been in that white room- that lab. Maybe he’s trying to show us where he is now. Maybe he escaped.”

“He can help us out a little more than showing me random pictures,” Chanyeol snapped.

Minseok grabbed at his shoulder. “That’s enough. We’ll try again later. You look like you’re going to pass out.”

Sehun moved away from Chanyeol, his eyes and heart heavy. He didn’t understand what any of the images Chanyeol described meant, and he could only wish that Baekhyun, if this connection was real and Chanyeol wasn’t insane, could give them some solid information. He couldn’t take this disconnect anymore- this dysfunction.