--

Twenty - Three

--

The dragon flew overhead and landed in front of you, bearing its fangs and roaring loudly. It let out a snort of flame as you peeked out from behind it.

“Getting dejavu?” you asked Junhyung and Junho. Junho gritted his teeth and pulled a gun before aiming and firing at the dragon. It roared in pain for a moment before taking to the air and sending a burst of flame his way.

“Oh -” Everyone dived out of the way as the fire hit the grass and started to spread. Sunggyu aimed a few blasts towards the dragon as he ran, turning back to get a glimpse at you. Junhyung and Hoya were trying to contain the fire as Junho made a beeline for you.

You dropped the book onto the ground and raised your fists.

“I really don’t want to fight you. Please. Just please fight back in your mind and get rid of her.” You lunged at him and Junho dodged your attacks, but the way you were moving was almost unnatural, and he knew he wasn’t going to walk about from this unscathed.

“She doesn’t want to. You broke her. She just wanted to know about her real parents. What happened all those years ago.” Junho winced as he blocked one of your blows. Your powers were amplified because of all the energy running through your body. It was overwhelming you and taking over.

“You’d think you’d want her to know what happened the first time, so history wouldn’t repeat itself.” You ducked under one of Junho’s punches and jabbed him hard in the ribs, making him cry out and hold his chest as they cracked.

He heard the dragon roaring in agony as Sunggyu hit it in the eye.

“NO! Sunggyu! Don’t kill it! You’ll take part of her life with her!” he yelled out. You frowned and kicked his leg out from under him. You bent over Junho and smirked. He was breathing hard, holding his side. He could see your hair turning blonde the longer the dragon was out.

“You’re going to kill yourself at this rate. Is that what you want?” Junho hissed between his teeth.

“I just wanted you to love me, Junnie,” you said in a sickly sweet voice.

“I could never love something like you. I only loved her.” You scowled and grabbed his shirt to pull him up with a growl.

“And why not?! I AM her!” Before Junho could answer, you were sent sprawling onto the ground. Sungjong grabbed Junho and pulled him away with Dongwoo.

You groaned and rubbed at your head before turning your attention to Myungsoo and Sungyeol in front of you.

“Don’t you get it? She gave up. I’m in charge now. She doesn’t care about you anymore,” you yelled pulling two swords from your plates.

“We don’t want to fight you.” You rolled your eyes glancing at their clasped hands.

“That’s what they all say,” you said before you charged at them.

--

Junhyung and Hoya managed to contain the fire. Hoya broke open the ground beneath it, but it still wouldn’t stop burning. Junhyung made a box of metal around it using what he could from the playground and snubbed out the fire.

They turned when they heard another roar from the dragon as it spat a fireball at a bald eagle in the air. It was already blind in one eye, making it desperate to get rid of anything it could see with its good eye.

“Don’t kill it!” Junhyung said as he ran over to Sunggyu and Sungjong. Woohyun was doing his best to deflect the fireballs to safe area, like the metal playground, the gravel, and the pond in the middle of the park.

The dragon swung in the middle of the air, bringing its tail to smack Dongwoo right out of the air. Dongwoo fell to the ground in a crumpled heap and shifted back to a human, groaning as he held his arm.

“Dongwoo!” Woohyun turned and missed an oncoming fireball.

“Woohyun! Pay attention!” Sunggyu stopped attacking the dragon and froze the fireball.

“I’m  fine, just go!” Dongwoo pushed himself up against the playground out of harm’s way and sighed.

--

Myungsoo and Sungyeol were having a difficult time fighting you. They couldn’t keep up with your strength, making Myungsoo have to constantly keep his power on, or else you would’ve removed a few limbs away.

“Aww, Myungsoo. That’s cheating, you know?”

“So what happened exactly?” Myungsoo asked as he and Sungyeol dodged your attacks. He had Excalibur on his back and hadn’t had the chance to draw it yet.

“What happened? She gave up. I showed her the final blocked memory in her head, and she broke down and cried.” The dragon roared again as Junhyung send knives flying at it, trying to knock it out of the air and pin it to the ground.

“No! Stop messing with my dragon!” You stomped your foot childishly on the ground, giving Myungsoo and Sungyeol an opportunity to attack you. Myungsoo drew his sword and hit you in the chest before the blade came out of the scabbard.

You hissed as the blade blinded you. Sungyeol reached out and grabbed your arm, pinning it behind your back as Myungsoo kicked the back of your legs. You struggled and let out a yell as you felt a blade cut at your face.

“Myungsoo!” you yelled. He caught a glimpse of your face and saw your brown eyes for a second, making him falter. Your eyes turned back to black a split second later, using Myungsoo’s moment of weakness to throw both of them off of you.

You stood up and looked around for the book, screaming with rage when you couldn’t find it.

“Where’s my book?!” you yelled, looking around. You saw Junho stumbling off, the book tucked under his arm.

“Junnie! Give me back my book!” you yelled, running after him. You stumbled as Myungsoo reached out and grabbed your ankle, twisting his arm. You gave out a yell and fell to the ground, holding your ankle. You growled and forced yourself up, going after Junho again.

The dragon couldn’t take much abuse for much longer. It was too tired to stay in the air now, fighting Sunggyu, Junhyung, Woohyun, and Hoya from the ground. Junhyung was busy fashioning something from whatever metal he could find.

As you ran past Junhyung, he stuck out his leg and tripped you before wrapping your hands in metal handcuffs. You growled again and kicked at him, sending him back a few steps.

“Don’t do this. If you keep that dragon out any longer, you’re going to die.”

“Sungjong!” Junho yelled, holding up the children’s book. Sungjong turned and sent a bolt of lightning towards it, making it catch on fire.

“No!” you screamed, staring at the book.

--

“What’s going on in there? Why is she screaming?!”

“The same thing that happened out here is going on in there.”

“Can’t you do something?”

“No. We just have to wait and see what happens.”

--

The dragon was tiring as your energy started to run out. Your hair was almost completely blonde now. The part that was already blonde was turning even lighter to white.

Junhyung finished up his cage and threw it towards the dragon, keeping it trapped as Woohyun threw up a barrier around it. You could feel blood dripping down your face and your ankle was starting to throb.

You were breathing hard and tried to escape, but Woohyun held you down with his mind, brushing sorry across your mind. The girl inhabiting your mind grabbed onto his moment of weakness. She started to get a hold on Woohyun, stopping him from calling for help as she grabbed his mind.

“How do we get rid of what’s controlling her?” Sunggyu asked, breathing hard. Your eyes darted around at the people gathered around you at a safe distance. Woohyun remained immobile, trying to throw off the hold on his mind.

“Woohyun? Woohyun?” Woohyun grip on you loosened, allowing you to fly up and grab him, you grimaced as you yanked your hands out of the handcuff and pulled a sword again, pressing it against Woohyun’s throat.

Everyone froze as Woohyun’s eyes darted to you.

“You’re going to run out of energy and die before you can escape,” Junho said before he coughed, sending splatters of blood onto his shirt.

“Junho!” Junhyung yelled as Junho sunk to his knees. When you shattered his ribs, some of them punctured his lung. He was losing air and blood fast.

You sighed, pressing the blade a little bit harder against Woohyun’s throat.

“I just wanted you to love me, Junnie. Was that so much to ask for?” You didn’t noticed as Woohyun opened the energy channels between your bodies and snuck it, going around the little black eyed girl’s hold and going straight to your mind.

Woohyun, what are you doing?! you asked frantically. She’ll use up all of your energy too, and you’ll die! you sobbed. He caressed your mind with his own.

“You’re not going to die today,” Woohyun said out loud, opening his eyes. He rammed the black eyed girl’s hold on your mind, making you howl in pain.

“Do it, Sunggyu!” Sunggyu faltered for a second as you pushed Woohyun forward, clutching at your head.

“Sunggyu!” Sunggyu took aim at you and felt his eyes start to water. Woohyun ducked out of the way as Sunggyu fired his shot.

You froze. Your chest plate shattered, and Woohyun dived at you, pushing his mind into your heart and gripping where the black eyed girl was the weakest. She forced you to summon a dagger in your hand, and Junhyung saw it almost too late.

He grabbed it from your hand with his power and sent flying. It grazed your face, making you wince as you felt it cut at skin.

“I thought you loved me,” you whispered.

“I do,” Woohyun said quietly as he ripped out the black eyed girl’s hold on your heart. Your eyes widened as they turned to brown again. The dragon gave a final anguished roar before it disappeared, turning back into paper.

The last you heard was your name before you passed out again.

--

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“She’ll be okay.” The heart monitor started to beat a little more strongly now. Your eyes fluttered open, and you groaned at the light that hit your face.

Hovering over you, you saw your mother, Junhyung, and Junho hovering over you. You looked around confused for a few seconds. Junhyung reached out to brush some hair away from your face, and you saw a scar on his arm you’d never seen before. You didn’t remember him getting hurt in battle.

The heart monitor started to beat rapidly as you remembered the battle.

“Hey, calm down,” Junho said, reaching out to hold your hand. You turned to look at his hand and saw you two wearing matching rings, a ring you’d never seen before.

“We’ll explain everything to you now.”

--

“The woman you know now as your mother, is actually my mother,” Junhyung said, gesturing to the other woman in the room. You turned to look at her confused.

“... The mind reader?”

“Yes,” she said, “I’m the one that blocked the memories of your childhood after the incident.” You tried to sit up, but your entire body ached.

“Here. I’ll lift the entire block from your mind.” You closed your eyes and felt a weight lifted from your mind. And finally you understood.

Junhyung wasn’t just a best friend you grew up with. Your real best friend was Junho. The two of you were inseparable as kids because you had the same power. He gave up his place in your memories to protect you and moved to the Institution for schooling so he wouldn’t trigger any memory breaks.

The Commander was Junhyung.

Junhyung was the same age as you because he was a child prodigy when it comes to his powers. His mother was a powerful telekinetic and keeps up the illusion that he’s still learning. Junhyung earned the title of Commander when he was ten years old. The faceless commander in your dreams was something his mother created to scare you.

On your ninth birthday, your power overwhelmed your body, taking control of your body and using you to summon a demon dragon, using up almost all of your life force to sustain it. Junho had to use nearly all of his power, with the help of channeled energy from Junhyung in order to take it down and save you.

Junhyung’s mother didn’t want you to grow up with memories like this, so she blocked them from your mind and created the false childhood memories of the Commander terrorizing your life. She erased Junho from your mind and inserted Junhyung as your lifelong best friend.

Your parents. You killed your parents when your powers went on a rampage.

Junhyung and Junho watched your face as tears welled up. You wiped them away quickly.

“But. Sunggyu and the others. Who are they?”

“You’ve been trapped inside your mind this entire time. They’re all creations of your mind. We got rid of the dark part of your power that was controlling you physically, here in the real world. But you needed to get rid of the part controlling you mentally before you could wake up. Everything was in your head.” You sat there, dumbfounded at Junhyung’s explanation.

“You created Sunggyu, because he represented the physical love you wanted. Woohyun, your want of a full, emotional love. Hoya, a guardian. Dongwoo, someone to provide you with company. Sungyeol and Myungsoo, somewhere to belong. And Sungjong was someone to take care of.” None of them were real?

“So... only you were real?” you asked, looking at the three people in the room.

“This right now, this is real. We thought you were never going to wake up.” Junho laced his fingers with yours and brought your hand up to kiss it.

“Are we...” You raised your eyebrows at Junho. He understood what you were trying to ask and nodded.

“Yes. We’re dating.” You blinked a few times.

“How old am I?”

“Same age you were in your mental world. I’m two years older than you.”

“Junhyung?”

“We’re the same age.”

“How long have I been stuck there?”

“A week.” A week. Everything that happened, everything you could remember happening happened in a week. You were so confused. It was hard to separate your memories, the real ones from the ones your mind made up.

“Don’t think about it too hard. Mom will help you separate everything out and make sense of things.”

--

The world you were in now, with only Junhyung and Junho looked exactly like what it looked like in your mind. The gate of your house was still broken, but everything inside looked dusty and unkempt.

“No one lives there. You stay with Junho,” Junhyung said, pushing you past the house. You were there just yesterday, rolling in your bed and playing with Bear.

You stopped in front of an unfamiliar house, and Junho looked at you expectantly, like you were supposed to remember where it was.

“This is where we live?” He frowned and nodded.

“Is she supposed to not remember anything?” he asked, turning towards Junhyung’s mom.

“Yes. It’ll take her a little bit to get used to the real world again. All of her current memories are the ones created by her mind.” You unconsciously tightened your grip on Junho’s hand. It felt right for some strange reason.

“Don’t worry. We’ll help you get through this.”

--

Days turned to months. You were adjusted to the real world again, slowly remembering what life was like before you fell into your mind. Junho said you just collapsed one day and went into a coma for a week. Junhyung’s mom said it was bound to happen some day.

You missed the people your mind created, and took to writing them down in a journal so you wouldn’t forget them. Junho thought they were interesting to read about, but despaired that everyone got to fall in love with you except for him.

Living with Junho was comfortable. He took good care of you, and you were sure Sunggyu was based off of him, jealousy included. Junhyung was exactly like he was in your mind, except the fact he had more of a sense of responsibility, being the Commander at the Academy.

You were finished with school already, and Junho really was an SS for the Academy so he went off to work every morning, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

You were brushing your hair one day when you noticed something strange in the mirror. At first, you thought it was a mark in the mirror, but when you moved, it stayed on your face. You got up and leaned in closer, and saw that they were scars on your face, but when you reached up, you didn’t feel anything at all.

We’re connected, you and I. You took a few steps back in shock, and the person in the mirror did the same.

Don’t worry. You destroyed the dark thoughts already. I’m the you from your mind. If you ever miss them, just think of me before you fall asleep. You took a few steps closer and the scars were gone. Your skin was still as smooth as ever.

That night when Junho came home, you had dinner ready for him and everything. You did the same things you usually did, cuddling on the couch watching dramas before getting ready for bed. You snuggled into his chest as you remembered what happened earlier in the day.

“Good night, Junho.”

“Mm, gnight, love.” You closed your eyes and thought about your other self before falling asleep.

--

Your eyes snapped open. You groaned as sunlight hit your face, rolling over in the bed. It felt like you were never going to get enough sleep, ever. Something started to your face, and you shoved it away from you with a groan.

“Stop that, Bear.” Wait. Bear? You sat up in your bed and looked around. You were back in your old room. You scrambled out of bed and hurried over to the mirror. Scars on your face, probably from the sword and knife fight you had.

Your bedroom door burst open, and Sunggyu and Woohyun ran in, grabbing at your hands.

“Oh my god, would you get up and get ready already? Junhyung’s finally coming back from the Games after winning, and you’re not going to be there to congratulate him?”

“I thought you didn’t like Junhyung,” you said as they hurriedly shoved you into the bathroom.

“Who cares! Hurry up!”

--

Junhyung was waiting at the helicopter pad when your team arrived, whooping and cheering. You stayed back a little bit and stared at him as he gave you an all knowing smirk.

He made his way over to you and planted a kiss on your forehead.

“Back already? Life with Junho not good enough for you?” he asked, turning over his shoulder to glance at your team playing around with each other.

“It’s good, but... I miss everyone...” Junhyung laughed and pulled you into a hug.

“They’ll always be in your mind. But don’t forget where you really belong.” You closed your eyes, and when you opened them again, you were in bed with Junho, and the sun was rising.

“Mm, good morning. You were smiling in your sleep. Dream of something good?” You blinked at him a few times before smiling and leaning forward to kiss him.

“Yeah. I guess you could say that.”