Sehun gasps in pain as Kai lands another hard, snapping blow. Hardwood snaps against his shoulder, his side, and then his right leg. He tries to put the staff up to protect himself, but he's instead hit on his leg again. He pants heavily as he sweats profusely.
"Defend yourself!"
"I'm...I'm trying!" Sehun breaths out. He winces when his other leg is hit; it causes him to stumble back a bit. 
"Try harder!" Kai shouts. 
Sehun groans and looks back at Suho. "Isn't this enough?" He asks. "We've been practicing all day- the sun is setting!" A hard impact on his back causes him to yell out in pain. His knees fail to balance him and he falls to the floor. He rolls onto his side and grabs his back, glaring at Kai.
"Turning your back on your opponent, even for a fraction of a second, is not a good idea."
"Alright, that's it for today, Kai," Suho calls out. "Thank you!" 
Kai tosses the staff to the side, his eyes never once leaving Sehun's. He grabs his shirt and turns away, heading back into the manor.
"What's that guy's problem?" Sehun grimaces at the aching in his body. He forces himself to sit up, accepting when Xiumin appears to help him up. As soon as he tries to use his legs, he can feel them tremble underneath him.
"Stay here tonight, Sehun," Xiumin insists. "You're not in a state to make the trip to your home. And um...I doubt Kai wants to take you."
"But..."
"You can borrow some of Baekhyun's clothes- you look the same size," Suho agrees, now standing beside him.
"Does Kai, like, hate me or something?"
Xiumin helps Sehun through the manor. He sits him in a place Sehun could only assume is the living room.
"No, no," Xiumin shakes his head. "Kai..." The baby-faced boy sighs. "He's a nice guy, really. He's just...well, I think he should have the frost abilities instead."
"Why do you say that?"
"He's really cold sometimes. It's like he has a huge wall of ice around him; he's always been like that."
"He's not close to anyone?"
Xiumin shakes his head. "Not anymore."
A tall pale man with short, messy black hair comes in and takes Xiumin's spot. He smiles kindly at Sehun. "His best friend, Luhan, was killed recently. By one of Siwon's men."
"Heechul," Xiumin shivers. "The way he killed him too was so..."The name seems to strike fear in some of the boys. Was this man really that powerful? 
"It's okay, Xiumin, don't continue. I'm Lay, by the way," The other man introduces himself. "Nice to meet you." He says all of this while helping Sehun's shirt off and pulling his pant legs up. He was a little weirded out but too tired to argue.

The suddenly warm mist that emanates from Lat's hand is really what gets Sehun's attention. The red welts disappear instantly, but a slight pain still lingers. He slowly rubs his legs, staring at where they used to be. He looks at the man, his mouth agape. 
"I can heal," Lay says for him.
"Wow..." Sehun looks at Lay in awe. "That's...pretty cool."
"Thanks," Lay laughs as he begins working on the other painful areas. "Sadly, I can only heal so much lately." From the sad look in his eyes, Sehun can tell he speaks from experience. "I'll be healing you a lot during your training, so we'll see a lot of each other." Lay pulls Sehun's pant leg down and stands up, bowing. "I hope we become friends." Sehun watches him walk back into the kitchen, seeming to return to whatever he was doing previously. He looks back down at his leg and lets out a shaky breath.
Water, fire, time...healing! And all Sehun could control is wind. WIND.
He groans and falls back onto the couch.
"Are you okay, Sehun? Are you in pain?"
"Yeah," He admits. He rubs his flat stomach, trying to ease the pain."Why the hell did Kai have to hit me so hard?"
Xiumin sighs and slowly sits beside him again. "Sehun, how about you switch trainers? We can get Lay to do it instead."
Sehun takes a deep breath as he thinks back. Kai's never making any other expression other than anger every time Sehun got hit. Like it pisses him off that Sehun isn't trained. That just made Sehun's mad. He hated the fact that all he can do is just stands there and take a beating. He wants to see Kai's face when he finally smacks him right upside his handsome, mean face.
"No," Sehun shakes his head. He gets off the couch and grimaces. "I want Kai as my trainer."
"Either you're a masochist or you're really determined," Xiumin sighs. "Lay trains me. Kai was too intense for me. He's too intense for most of the members when it comes to training- The only two people who can stand to train with him is Chanyeol and D.O."
"I already know about Chanyeols' ability, but D.O?"
"Earth. He's really good at it too."
"Earth?"
"Yeah," Xiumin nods. "He can do stuff with rocks and trees- it's really scary to watch him fight!"
"I see..." Sehun says slowly.
"He's as intense as Kai too!"
Sehun looks over as Kai exits one of the doors. He blushes and looks away when he notices the man only wearing a towel around his waist. He coughs and pushes his own hair out of his eyes. He takes another glance at Kai as he silently walks down the hall and up the stairs to their right. He swallows hard.
"Sehun, come on," Xiumin says as he stands up. He helps Sehun up and smiles. "Baekhyun can get you some clothes while you wash."
Sehun lets Xiumin help him into the same room Kai exited; the room still steamy and hot. He wipes the fog from the glass and groans at how tired he looks. A bruise is forming on his upper cheek. One training session and he's aged forty years. Maybe he was just being dramatic but it feels like that. 

"Do you need help undressing?" Sehun blushes and quickly shakes his head. Xiumin smiles and pats his back. "Don't be shy, we're both boys! I'll be in the living room if you need me, alright?" With another laugh, the baby-faced boy leaves the room.
Sehun sighs. Every ounce of his body nearly hurt and when he gets under the warm water, he feels like it could wash away. He closes his eyes and leans his back against the shower wall.
"," He groans. He rubs the spot his shoulders, which seems to be Kai's main target. After knocking on the door, Sehun sees someone step inside.
"Hey." Baekyhun, from the other day. 
"Hello," Sehun greets him shyly. He covers his body, forgetting about the curtain between them.
"I brought you some clothes," He says, setting something down on the toilet. Sehun turns his body towards the wall, hiding again. 
"Thank you," He says weakly.
"I saw you training with Kai in the courtyard," He says after a moment of silence. "He can be pretty brutal- but he wants you to get good. Fast."
"That's not fair," Sehun sighs, continuing to clean himself. "I only found out about all of this a week ago..." 
"Kai doesn't really care," Baekyhun admits. When Sehun pushes the curtains open, the red-haired boy looks away for him. He steps out and sighs as he dries off.
"I've never sweated that much in my life before," Sehun says as he begins to dress. "Even though I ran track in high school."
"I guess you could say he beat the wind outta you."
Sehun scoffs at the joke. "If he did, I'd know how to control it."
"You'll learn. It took my Chanyeol a whole two weeks to even have a spark."
His Chanyeol? Were the two of them dating?
"Two weeks?" 
"Yeah. He used his abilities accidentally, like you."
Sehun rubs his head with the towel before neatly hanging it on the rack. "What happened?"
Baekhyun opens the door, continuing to talk as he leads Sehun out of the bathroom. "He was on his way home from band practice when a couple of guys tried mugging him in an alley. I guess he accidentally burnt them pretty badly."
Sehun sits at a chair in the kitchen, watching as Baekhyun helps Lay. "What about you?"
"Most of us were accidental. All except Suho; he grew up around all of this stuff," He responds. "Let's just say not everyone's first taste of magic was as peaceful as your own."
Lay smiles and turns around, wiping flour onto his apron. "Have dinner with us tonight. We'll go around and introduce ourselves; give you a better feeling of who we are." Lay pats Baekhyun's shoulder. "Go ahead and show Sehun to one of the empty rooms."
"Which...one?"
Lay smiles tightly and turns his head. "Any except for Kris' and the others."
Sehun frowns at the way he said Kris' name; indicating how close they must have been. Sehun wonders how close. Instead of saying anything about it, he silently follows Baekhyun towards the stairs. He puts his hand on his stomach and rubs it. When the red-haired boy stops at a door, he turns to look at him. He frowns when he sees the bruise on his side and cheek
"Kai really is an ," He sighs before opening the door. "He doesn't know when to go easy on people. It really pisses me off." That gives Sehun the impression that the two might not get along.
The room is painted red with wooden walls and a large window on the far wall. Under the window is a full sized bed- already neatly made. The only other decorations is a nightstand beside the bed, a dresser on the far right, and a couple of small paintings.
"It's only like this at first," Baekhyun explains. "Everyone's room is different, though, since they styled it themselves."
"Suho allows that?"
Baekhyun laughs as he fixes his hat. "Well, it's our home too you know. We're not prisoners here."
"Oh, I didn't mean..."
"All of us stay here because we want to," He explains again.  He looks back at the door before smiling. "Look, um..." Sehun slowly goes to the bed and sits on it. "About the first time we met..."
"It's alright. But why were you so mad?" Sehun asks. "About Kai bringing me here?"
Baekhyun leans against the doorway. "A lot of us...were close to those three we lost. I guess strangers make us really distrusting and..."
Sehun finally smiles. "I get it. It's alright, really."
The two of them sit in silence. Sehun looks at the floor, thinking about the three boys again. Thinking about how all of this went on while Sehun was in his own world. At the restaurant, taking photos; all oblivious to anything.
All of these...things. He furrows his brows when he remembers Suho's books on wolves. He had more than several.
"Baekhyun?" 
Baekhyun looks up from his phone. "Hmm?"
"Um..." Sehun stops, wondering if it was a weird question. Probably. Sehun had many books on photography; so maybe it was just something he liked to read about. Sehun just smiles. "Nothing. I'll see you down for dinner."
Baekhyun smiles as well, nodding before he leaves. He slowly gets up and goes to the side of the bed, to the window. Looking out, he narrows his eyes at Kai in the courtyard. After all that punishment he gave and he's still not tired?
Sehun sighs and leans his head against the glass.
What was his problem, anyway?