Ch.3 

Like Cracked Porcelain 

It took everything he had to drag himself out of bed the next day. When he woke up the first time it wasn’t even morning anymore. His phone was full of notifications and lost calls. He decided to call in sick to work for the first time in years. After that he rolled over in bed and slept for another hour. 

The next time he woke up he had a friend request on snapchat. Usually he wouldn’t accept them, but this one he had a good feeling about. 

By the time he was out of the shower he already got a snap from his new friend. 

    "Took the day off. So much for charging my batteries" the text said with only a picture of Seungyoon’s bushy hair sticking up from under the covers showing. 

    "Accidentally charged the kitchen counter too" he replied and sent a picture of the burnt hand marks on his brand new counters. 

    "That’s what you get for not choosing countertops made of stone" Seungyoon replied minutes later, accompanied by a teasing emoji. 

He laughed a bit at that before looking into his fridge. It was painfully empty. He made himself a bowl of granola but only after snapping his empty fridge asking Seungyoon if he’d like to tag along and carry his shopping home for him again. 

His need for food was one thing, his need for answers another but he also needed Seungyoon. Although need probably weren’t the right word for it he corrected himself. It was more of a longing.

Everything had changed since Seungyoon had entered his world and without him around he constantly felt like something was missing. Even he questioned how this change could have happened so fast. He really felt like there was no going back now.

He also wanted to know what was up with Seunghoon. Seungyoon had mentioned finally hearing from him, but he never elaborated on what had been said between them. The media was annoyingly vague, posting about a possible threat and a picture of Seunghoon injured being supported by Jinwoo. 

What was the deal with those two anyway. Could Jinwoo do anything as well? His bold maroon colored suit didn’t exactly scream super powers, but it was still a bold suit.

He tidied up his place a little, put on a load of washing, although trying to get the paint out of his clothes usually proved fruitless. 

An hour later he got a snap from Seungyoon saying he would love to join him shopping, but there was an emergency at work so he had to go in after all. 

Feeling the disappointment grow in his chest he sat down on the couch. He might as well do some work too then he thought and brought up his folder of potential pieces to display at the next gallery exhibit. 

A couple of hours later and the decisions were made and emails sent to inform the team. He then replied to some emails and took a few calls before deciding it was time to go get that food. 

It was already late afternoon when he started walking down the usual street towards the super market, it was unusual for him to not plan his shopping list as he went. Instead he wondered what kind of emergency Seungyoon was facing. He checked the news if there was something major happening close by, but nothing particular came up. 

Apparently there had been a small earthquake while he slept, the epicenter not far from the city. 

He put down his phone and admired the surroundings. It was a lovely day although slightly colder then what he had become used to. Autumn weren’t too far away so it was to be expected. He had to make it a habit of bringing a jacket in the future. 

His mind traveled back to the news of the earthquake after a while of musing over what autumn could bring for him this time around. Earthquakes were nothing new to the area, but they always happened out at sea and they felt the shakes afterwards. The article specifically noted the source to be directly outside the city. 

They wouldn’t do any test detonations or anything close to the city, so there had to be something else causing it. Their world had been attacked many times, but they usually came from other worlds, not the earth it self. 

Arriving at the store he picked up a basket and absentmindedly began putting things in it. 

Wouldn’t the city evacuate if it was under some kind of threat? He knew there were plans and information pamphlets about it everywhere. So either it wasn’t major enough, or pointless to try. Thoughts of the last alternative gave him chills. It couldn’t possibly be that bad. 

He exited the store, shopping in hand, about to look at his phone again when he bumped into someone. 

Looking up startled he saw it was Mr. Maroon suit aka Jinwoo only that he wasn’t wearing the suit today. He was wearing a light blue shirt tucked into a pair of beige chinos and flip flops. 

    "Yeah, yeah, today was my day off" Jinwoo explained seeing the way he looked at him. "I’ll explain on our way there, if you don’t mind accompanying me?" he asked. 

Hungry for information he got into the car. 

    "It’s related to that earthquake isn’t it?" he asked, making a wild guess as Jinwoo turned the car around taking them towards the city. 

    "Sort of, a team went over there earlier and it wasn’t pretty. Seungyoon sorted them out, the survivors anyway, but he took a pretty hard hit from it. He absorbs stuff right.. so this thing attacking them, I don’t know.. they didn’t really explain what happened to him" 

Jinwoo’s voice trailed off towards the end. Now he was worried. Just healing Seunghoon the other day had completely worn him out and now he had helped an entire team? And he absorbed something his body couldn’t handle? He really didn't like the sound of this. Jinwoo should have mentioned it had to do with Seungyoon right away, but he couldn't possibly know..

    "Can’t you get there faster?" he asked suddenly feeling annoyed with Jinwoo. Why was he so calm? Weren’t he worried? 

Jinwoo looked back at him with a frown. 

    "Okay, get out" he said suddenly after having looked at his phone. He had just pulled over and stopped the car in an alley. Confused as to how getting out of the car would help him get there faster he hesitated. 

Jinwoo got out and stood before his side of the car. 

    "Come on already!" he growled in a low voice waving angrily at him. He was taking of his shirt, grumbling as he got out. 

    "Hold this" Jinwoo said, pushing his shirt into his arms and took a step backwards further into the alley. Mino blinked hard trying to convince himself of what he was seeing. Grey wings were slowly erupting from Jinwoo’s back. They looked kinda hazy, as if not quite there, or covered in smoke. 

The next thing he knew they were soaring high above the city, his fear of heights were kicking in hard and so for a moment he forgot about everything that was going on and used every cell of his body to concentrate on not screaming. 

    "Seunghoon calls this his private taxi service" Jinwoo mumbled as they began descending again. He recognized the building as the one he and Seungyoon had visited earlier.

    "My shirt please" Jinwoo said as he was put down safely on earth again. He staggered for a moment and it felt as if his legs was about to give out under him. He thought it was ironic how the earth felt safe, when right now it probably were far from it. He handed Jinwoo his shirt and they began walking fast towards the building. 

This time the elevator actually took them upwards, Jinwoo was still buttoning his shirt as the number kept going up. It stopped on the 8th floor and they stepped out. 

There were hardly anyone in the halls on this floor. A woman dressed in white greeted them, but didn’t follow them as Jinwoo walked down the hall. Everything was white on this floor. The city skyline could be seen through floor to ceiling tall glass windows one one side. On the other was a wall with doors marked with gold numbers. 

They were half way down the hall when Jinwoo stopped by the door. 

    "No one could have known" he began, but he didn’t have time for any more conversation, he wanted to see for himself. 

Walking inside he saw a white bed and Seunghoon sitting next to it. A man in a white coat was talking with Seunghoon, but excused himself when they walked in. 

Under the duvet he saw Seungyoon laying. He looked to be sleeping at first. At closer inspection he could see that he looked gray like before, but there were small cracks. His skin looked cracked. Like porcelain, with blue mist flowing out through the cracks. 

    "What the.." he found it hard to believe what his eyes were seeing. 

    "The last thing he said before passing out was to get you" Seunghoon explained. Usually this would have made him beyond happy, but now, seeing this. What could he possibly do. 

Shaking his head in despair he sat down on the chair Seunghoon just got up from. He took Seungyoon’s hand in his. He weren’t the one with healing powers, Seungyoon was. 

    "What difference could I possibly make" he whispered to himself, but his mind began wrecking his brain for every piece of information he got about his powers. Seungyoon had called him his kind of battery, that he had healed faster thanks to him. Just from him simply being there. 

Watching the blue mist dissolve into the air around them he felt an urge to hold his hands over the cracks, as if it was blood leaking out. 

    "Did you try bandaging him? It can’t be good for him to have all of this leaking out" he asked desperately. 

    "It seeps right through any bandage we tried" Seunghoon said. In a desperate attempt he put his hand over the biggest crack leading down from his forehead to his temple. 

He felt his skin tingle oddly and soon the blue mist were flowing out from between his fingers. 

    "No no no, stay in there" he mumbled, putting his other hand over another crack on his chest. He was angry, frustrated and heartbroken. Seungyoon couldn’t have called him there to say good bye. That much he was certain of, but sitting there feeling useless made him doubt everything. 

He remembered how Seungyoon had absorbed his fire back in his kitchen. It had burned him at first, but eventually they had touched and it had been fine. 

    "What did they say about his overall condition? Do they think he will recover on his own eventually?" he asked in desperation. 

    "He is in a coma. He might wake up, or not" Seunghoon said. There was guilt in Seunghoon's voice, but he didn’t want to start questioning him now. 

For a long moment he hesitated. He was scared. If things went wrong he could cause more harm than good and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He didn’t know if it would work, but what other options did they have? After a couple more minutes of deliberation he had made up his mind.

    "Ok let me try something. I need to practice first so please step away" he said and got up. Having never really practice how to use his powers like this before he backed towards the wall, holding out his hands. At first fire erupted and Jinwoo spoke up instantly doubting if this was a good idea, but Seunghoon stopped him. 

A small part of him hoped that if he just filled the room with as much of his energy as he could muster, while still controlling it that would do. That Seungyoon could just somehow absorb it from the room. Looking over at Seungyoon, laying unmoving still he decided there was no other way. 

It took everything he had to reduce the burning light to a small hue, he gently poked Seungyoon’s hand first. Checking for a mark, sniffing the air for any hint of anything burning. There was nothing. 

Focusing everything he got he gently put one hand over the leaking crack on Seungyoon’s chest.

It worked, the leaking stopped. 

Not quite believing what he was seeing he looked quickly to the other two. They moved closer, Seunghoon let out a small sigh of relief. He had hoped that Seungyoon would wake up right away, but they noticed how his breathing changed from shallow to normal. 

    "His color is returning too" Jinwoo noted. And he was right. The grey wasn’t as strong now. He got hope now, but feeling his emotions raging he stepped away. 

    "Don’t stop now" Seunghoon urged. 

    "I don’t want to burn him" he explained holding out his hands, sparks flying around them now. "He told me he could absorb my flames, but healing isn’t what I do, so there is a big fat chance I hurt him if I’m not careful" 

    "I see" Seunghoon said "You need to show me what you really do sometime" he continued looking intrigued. 

    "I dont do anything" he replied. This was what he was scared of, that people wanted him to use his powers. When the only use he could see for them was destruction. Right now he was still a little happy that he got them though, because they seemed to be helping Seungyoon. 

    "Let me try again" he said after the flames had gone down a bit. This time he placed one hand on Seungyoon’s forehead, the other on his chest. It worked this time too and it gave him some confidence. He kept at it for as long as he could manage. 

Jinwoo had left the room while he stood there and returned a while later with some food and water for them. 

    "You should rest too" he said to Seunghoon handing him his food. He just waved his hand at Jinwoo, but sat down on a chair by the wall. 

    "I’m fine, thanks to him. I’m not going anywhere until we know that he is getting better for sure" 

They were all seated around the room now. Eating silently, watching the blue mist still leaking into the air around them. It was beautiful, however worried it made him to watch it. 

He kept at it all evening. Focusing his powers, by the last round he was so exhausted a spark accidentally flew out of his hand as he stepped away. It hit Seungyoon’s forehead and he winced. 

    "Did you see that?" he asked Jinwoo who was sitting on the other side of the bed. Seunghoon was asleep. 

    "Yeah! I don’t think he is in a coma anymore" Jinwoo replied. 

The leaking mist had gone down considerably over the last few rounds. Jinwoo got up and took something out of his back pocket. A small bandaid with a yellow chicken on it and put it on Seungyoon’s tiny burn mark. 

    "Seunghoon got me this as a joke, as I evaded any injury except from a small cut the last fight we fought together. That was before we turned up at Seungyoon’s" he explained. 

    "See it as a metaphor for how much we have managed to help Seungyoon compared to you. I.. Thank you" Jinwoo said smiling at him in such an angelic way that he wondered why his wings weren’t white. Because he must surely be and angel of some sort.  

They all slept in their chairs in Seungyoon’s room that night. He didn’t attempt any more of his energy transfusions as he had labeled it in his head, out of fear of burning him even more. 

A new doctor stopped by early morning, confirming what they had suspected, that he was only in a deep sleep. His vitals had improved considerably too. 

A couple of hours passed. Seunghoon went out and fetched them some more food and coffee. They decided to eat out in the hall this time as to not fill Seungyoon’s room with food and coffee smells, he needed his rest. 

    "So are you going to attempt anymore of your fire healing?" Seunghoon asked crumbling his paper bag into a small ball. 

    "Yeah, as soon as I’m feeling somewhat stable I’ll try" he replied taking big gulps of coffee. The other two gave him an odd look. "What?" he asked before taking a big bite of his baguette. 

    "That coffee is still scorching hot" Jinwoo said attempting to sip his, you immune to heat or what? 

He felt slightly dumfounded by this question. He never really thought about it. 

Taking another gulp he checked, it weren’t hot just not cold either. 

    "I suppose. I know my body temperature stays at around 40’c, but immune to fire? I don’t know. I’m obviously immune to my own fire.." he tried to think back at hot things he should have felt before, but couldn’t really think of anything. 

Seunghoon disappeared then and returned a few minutes later with something small in his hand. 

    "Borrowed this from the old geezer filing papers down the hall" Seunghoon said and held up a lighter. He lit the flame and held it out towards him. 

He held his palm out over it. He felt the heat, but it didn’t hurt. Turning his hand there was no mark on it. Deciding to be even bolder he killed the flame with his hand, closing his hand over it completely. 

    "Good to know" Seunghoon said smiling. 

    "I guess it makes sense" Jinwoo added before trying to take a sip of his coffee again. "Nah, still too hot" he complained putting the cup down again. 

They finished eating while Seunghoon talked a bit more about what had happened the day before. The earthquake had been thought to be something natural, although the placement of it was odd. Scientist of different kinds had headed over there as a crack had been discovered after the shaking stopped. 

    "I was called in when one of them was grabbed and pulled down the crack by something shadowy" Seunghoon explained. 

    "Why they didn’t call me too is beyond me" Jinwoo mumbled while throwing his paper bag in a small trash can close by. 

    "It was your day off.." Seunghoon began, but Jinwoo interrupted him. "What if you had died just because I wanted to sleep inn one day?" 

The discussion between them continued for a while, in the end he gave up on getting any more answers. Deciding he was strong enough to keep his powers in check one more time he walked back into Seungyoon’s room. 

He was surprised to see Seungyoon sitting up in his bed. Surprised, but really really happy. 

    "Hi you" Seungyoon began. Holding his hand to his head. Obviously still in considerably pain. 

    "Hi. Jinwoo came for me. You were in a bad shape" he began explaining. 

    "I’m sorry I worried you" Seungyoon said weakly, but with a smile. 

    "Heck, I’m still worried. Look at you! I tried to transfer some of my energy to you, but you know I’m no good" he said, taking a seat next to Seungyoon. 

Seungyoon looked at his hands, they too had small cracks on them still. 

    "I was too ambitious, I thought I could handle it. I was fine.. and then I was not" he explained simply. Usually he would have gotten angry at such a stupid explanation, but he was just too relived that Seungyoon was awake again. 

    "If you are up to it we can try to stop all this leaking you are doing into the room" he said gesturing in the general direction of the mist slowly rising up towards the ceiling. 

Seungyoon lifted his arms, grimacing from the pain for a moment, but soon his expression changed to a more focused one. 

He let the fire burn like before, just stronger. Seungyoon held his hand close, as if he was just cold and needed thawing out after a cold winters day. 

The other two entered the room just as the last specs of blue evaporated into the air. The cracks in Seungyoon’s skin was gone and the grey skin replaced with the usual pale pink. The only thing indicating he had been injured was the small yellow band aid.  

    "Good to have you back" Seunghoon said walking over to his bed. "We saved them all, well except from that poor guy I couldn’t save back at the epicenter" 

They were all quiet for a moment. Looking at each other. Everyone probably thinking the same thing. Whatever was down there needed to be dealt with. 

    "Mino, you don’t think you can, you know, shoot fire too?" Seunghoon finally asked. Shifting his attention to him. 

    "I’ve never tried, well almost never. That one time I tried I set my school on fire.." his voice trailing off as he said the last part. 

    "I’m sure you can do it" Seungyoon said, grabbing his hand in his. Squeezing it tightly. 

He weren’t so sure about that. Another thing he wondered about was how effective his powers would be against something that lived in the ground. Voicing his worries he said:

    "That thing is in the ground. There is lava in the ground too. Fire wouldn’t work on that" he said. 

    "It’s not a fire creature is it? It’s a shadow of some sort right?" It was Jinwoo who spoke up. Seunghoon only nodded. 

    "When I healed them something dark, like smoke dissolved in the air around them" Seungyoon explained. 

The only dark smoky thing he had seen recently was the stuff floating around Jinwoo’s wings. He had so many questions about that, but now didn’t feel like the right time. 

    "So what is the plan? He asked hesitantly. 

As he suspected was there no real plan yet. What he knew was that he now was included in the future plan and it made him incredibly uncomfortable. Seunghoon had explained that cameras had been placed around the crack and the area sealed off. 

They suspected that there was only a matter of time until the thing would strike again, but no one knew how best to attack it. 

    "Someone suggested pouring a lot of concrete down there" Seunghoon said half amused half in disbelief. 

    "That wouldn’t work" Jinwoo said simply. No amusement to be found in his voice. "I actually think our best bet is fire. It might be made of some kind of gas. It might explode though.."

He swallowed hard. Looking at Jinwoo to see if he really meant it. He looked dead serious so he guessed that was the case. 

    "Can’t we just throw firebombs down there or something" he asked. 

    "Might be worth a shot" Seunghoon said shrugging. 

    "We could, but we wouldn’t know if it has worked until someone dared approach it. I personally would like to attack it dead on and make sure its defeated" Jinwoo said with a confidence he himself lacked. 

Wondering why he was such a coward compared to the other two he sighed. He felt Seungyoon’s hand squeeze his a little again. Looking at each other he couldn’t help but to smile. He weren’t used to this whole hero thing like they were, but if Seungyoon was on his side he was willing to give almost anything a try. 

Waiting in the hall for Seungyoon to get dressed they discussed their options yet again. They had agreed on a sort of plan. They would all go home and rest and meet early the next morning. He still needed to figure out his powers so that would come first. If he could work it out he would tag along, if not he would stay with Seungyoon at the base to make sure he wouldn’t collapse on them again. 

    "Ready to go home?" Seungyoon asked, emerging fully dressed from the room behind them. 

    "Yeah" he replied. He would have to call in sick for work a couple of days more it seemed. 

They stepped out of the car feeling the cool river breeze as soon as they walked up the stairs to the entrance of the building. 

This new home of his had brought him changes he could never had anticipated, but it was mostly in a good way. If you ignored the fact that he now potentially was days away from having to face a shadow monster. 

    "You coming?" Seungyoon asked. Holding the door for him. He had stopped to admire the distant river for a moment. Everything looked a bit more beautiful when you were potentially risking your life soon. 

Seungyoon looked even more beautiful too. Maybe it was just the fact that he was back to his vibrant, smiling, calm self or that the filter of impending danger glorified him in some odd way.

Regardless of what it was did it feel impossible to say good bye when they stood at his floor outside the elevator. 

    "So, good night?" Seungyoon said in a low voice. 

    "Good night" he replied. 

Neither making any move to walk away from the other. 

    "I could" Seungyoon began.

    "You could" he followed. Feeling hopeful. 

They both looked down the hall towards his apartment. 

    "Stay" they both said at the same time. 

Authors note: So what do you think, the story keeping you entertained so far? It’s been entertaining to write at least. A few of you commented that their relationship developed really quickly and you are right.. I was going for a soulmate vibe, you know how when you find someone who is everything you ever wanted and you dont want to stay away from them for a second.. but ah I guess I messed up T.T I'm sorry! 

Like usual a big thank you to everyone who left me a comment or upvoted the story! I do a little happy dance each time. It makes me so happy that others enjoy what I write, especially when it’s a longer project like this one. 

Catch you in the comments, on twitter (@Eiryia) or in the next chapter! Thank you for reading! 

(I got a bonus piece of "art" for you, I got inspired after watching the Mola Dance Practice video a bit too many times while commuting into town for work.. yeah I know it’s silly xD)