THIS IS THE ENDING XD you guys are going to hate the last chapter though, just so you know XD but give it a chance anyway.

I blinked and looked around. The only people still standing were me, Tao, D.O. and Daehyun. Even my mother slid down to the ground weakly. Her eyes avoided mine. She looked distraught, and I couldn't blame her. Her hope was gone. And so should have been mine.

Fortunately though, we weren't all helpless.

I don't know how much courage it must have taken, because I don't think I've ever had that much of it in my life. Daehyun didn't have any powers to begin with and I don't know how long he's been working for Dr. Kim. His whole life might as well have depended on whether that old man decided to take pity on him and continue letting him live in his house. Although I was hoping otherwise, I wouldn't have been entirely shocked if Daehyun concluded it was safer to switch sides again. So when he took a step forward, I looked at his back longingly. Dr. Kim must have thought the same way I did because when Daehyun approached him with his head hung low, he didn't react. He gave him more of a, 'yes, now bow before me' kind of look.
But Daehyun didn't want to bow.

He punched him in the jaw while his other hand slapped the shoebox out of the doctor's grip.

Yeah, none of our powers included super-strength or super-reflexes. Dr. Kim still had the instincts of a loser :D.

I stood a bit confused until one of the guys tapped my shoulder to wake me up from the gaze. D.O. gave me a look and I nodded, understanding. I ran towards my mother while the guys turned the other way.

It was the most astounding thing I have ever seen, and I have seen quite a bit of crazy stuff lately. Twelve guys, in clothes that looked like they haven't been washed in a couple of days, with stomachs that last had food over ten hours ago, charged forward. Their hearts were just drained of their greatest weapons, but they in turn were replaced with a flame of hope that grew after witnessing Daehyun's step forward. All twelve of them ran towards the half-dozen of scientists that had followed us here. It happened in such a blur that I don't remember much, but I can recall a sudden rush of energy overtake me when I saw the guys rip guns and knives out of the men's hands and pockets, landing kicks and punches left and right. In lead of the commotion was Tao who swiftly took down two men twice his size on his own.

I tore the tape gently off of my mother's face and untied her wrists. She pulled me into a hug and cried into my shoulder and although I was angry that she couldn't help me the tiniest bit in the end, I quickly forgave her. I was too glad to know that she was going to be safe.

That's what I thought until Dr. Kim picked up a rock and slammed it into Daehyun's skull. The blonde boy tumbled forward and fell face-first onto the asphalt, blood dripping from his head. I think I screamed. Before my mom could hold me back, I jumped onto the doctor's back and pulled his neck into an embrace between my shoulder and forearm. He was coughing, but I knew I wouldn't be able to choke him, nor did I want to. Fortunately, the boys reacted on time. Tao kicked the man in the face. Suho, first things first, grabbed the shoebox that Daehyun dropped and held it protectively to his chest. Dr. Kim raised his hand to hit me with the rock he was still holding, but my mom yelped and kicked him in the stomach.

Now don't get me wrong, I've seen much more professional fighting and cooler techniques.

But this was the coolest, cause it was my mom.

The doctor bent over in half and I fell off his back. Before he could straighten back up, Sehun and Luhan came to the rescue. They grabbed the string off his neck and waved it around.

"Kris, look what we got!" Luhan cheered. The doctor growled and jumped at him, but Luhan threw the necklace up and passed it to Sehun. They continued this way while the doctor pulled his hair in rage, clearly not liking this game of "monkey in the middle". Tao didn't seem amused either. He jumped in between the two boys and hacked Dr. Kim. The man fell down onto his back, only to have Tao swing his leg and strike the last fatal blow onto the man's chest. His heart gave in. His life ended in a second and Luhan and Sehun's playful laughter died along with him.

I looked around. Xiumin, Chanyeol and Baekhyun were towering over the limp bodies of the men they managed to knock down. Suho stood over on the side, hugging the box that contained all our powers. Kai and D.O. were already by my side. Kris was helping Chen up, while Tao cracked his knuckles. Sehun and Luhan stood hand-in-hand, gaping at him. Lay was kneeling besides Daehyun.

"He needs help, now," he warned. Suho quickly ran up to him and handed him the box. Lay gaped at it.

"What do I do with it?" he asked with a frown. Suho scowled.

"Uh... not sure. Our powers are supposed to be inside."
"The psycho pulled them out through our hands," I noticed, plopping down next to them and grabbing Daehyun's hand. "Try getting them back the same way, if it's possible."

Lay opened the box slightly and slipped his hand inside. The look on his face and the sudden rush of color into his face confirmed my hopes. His power was back.

Lay pressed his hand to Daehyun's head. I saw skin grow over his cut, stopping the loss of blood.

"He'll take a while to wake up," Lay explained. "It was quite a hit. Let's take him into the van," he suggested and Kai helped him out. Lay then moved on to helping Chen who got injured during the fight.

I took the box from Suho. The others gave me curious glances, but Suho understood. He supported my idea with a nod. I slipped my hand into the box and the familiar energy returned, spreading throughout my body. The relief was so great, I almost smiled. I surely was stronger this way.

I called Sehun over and he handed me the necklace of marbles. Without asking for permission, I cupped my hands and the small void opened up. I then pulled the necklace out of his hands and it into the black hole. Our grandparents' powers were gone forever.

We piled all of the bodies into the vans and drove back to the castle. Kris was worried by Dr. Kim's words and wanted to make sure that there was nobody left to cause us trouble in the future. When we arrived on the site, my mom totally freaked out at the sight of the collapsed ranch house.
"I took care of the top floor," I told her with a weak smile, but she didn't seem amused. She'll get over it, I sighed, and squeezed her hand. We looked around. There were at least forty bodies lying around. The sight was truly horrendous. Some men were stabbed straight through the heart with (now melting) icicles, some got burned alive (struck by lightning), others just lay there all soaked, I guess drowned from the inside. I wasn't kidding around when I pointed out that Xiumin, Chen and Suho were some of our best fighters. The sight made me weak in the knees, but I stayed alert, in case someone else was alive and ready to take us down.

But nothing happened. If there were any survivors of the incident, they had already fled.

The boys laid out all the dead bodies on the lawn. Under Suho's orders, D.O. took the box from me and pulled his own powers back. He touched the ground softly and I watched with wide eyes as all the bodies sank into the earth as if they were lying on quicksand. At the end of the burial process, D.O. caressed the grass but I wasn't sure if he had grown fond of his power and was welcoming it back, or if he was apologizing to the earth for the bodies it had to now take care of.

When I thought about all the deaths, I grew sad all over again. Those people... all I could think of when I had looked at them was how much I hated them. They were just figures with weapons in their hands, wearing ugly green suits. They were the reason I and many others went through hell. They were Dr. Kim's followers, they were scientists that thought they were doing humanity a favor by joining his research group. That's all. But now that the sight of their bodies was gone from my eyes, all that remained was the memory of them being humans. Just like me and my friends, they might have had families. They might have had hobbies. Lives. Because from this planet or not, messed up or not, they were just like us.

The realization sank in and came out in the form of tears. Who knew, I guess I did have some left in me. I gulped down and sobbed softly, a hand over my mouth. My mom moved towards me to pull me into a hug, but D.O. was faster.
"It was their choice, Romi," he whispered. "They chose their own path and we chose ours. It wasn't our fault. Don't worry," he petted my hair. "I'll make sure to take care of them. They're part of my element now."

I believed him.

"Romi, I have one last thing to ask you," Kris walked up to me. He picked the cursed box up and held it in front of me.

"Dispose of this. We don't need it anymore."
I did as he told me. The box, along with all its invisible contents, was inhaled by the void. I could feel growing a little stronger again as my heart fed on the powers that were crushed into bits and recycled into energy for my body.

"It's over," D.O. announced, giving me a small smile.

"Not exactly," I sighed. "You, Lay, and I still have our powers. I can't get rid of them."

"That's alright, Romi," Lay patted my shoulder. "We'll deal with them. I think we can manage to stay out of trouble, huh?"

"I've had enough trouble for the next one hundred lifetimes," I agreed.

"Oh please," Chanyeol cut in with a smile so huge it almost knocked the breath out of me. "Like you didn't enjoy at least bits of it."

"We did pretty well, right?" Baekhyun smiled for the first time in forever.

"Of course! The moment that Daehyun kid punched the psycho, did you see Romi spring up to her feet? She was like 'LET'S DO THIS YOU GUYS!'," Chanyeol laughed. "It definitely got me moving."

"I was feeling strangely hyper at that moment," I agreed.
"Welcome to my world," he gave me a thumbs-up.

"Speaking of Daehyun though," Luhan glanced at the van with concern. "What's going to happen to him?"

"Who cares," Kris scoffed and I sent him a look.

"Dude, you can't possibly argue this time. He saved our lives."

Tao nodded and Kris gave him a look of disbelief.
"YOU... AGREE?"

"Hyung, he kind of did save our lives..."

"Right..." Kris sighed. "Well, I don't know how he can make a living when he was stuck in this hole his whole life... I mean, he won't even speak to us!"

"I'll take care of him," I said, getting a look from my mom. I blinked at her innocently and she sighed.
"We'll see what happens. I don't know about you kids, but I'm about ready to leave..." she said.

"Shouldn't we run down the castle?" Chen asked.

"How? Our powers are gone. Besides, I doubt anyone will be coming back here anytime soon," Sehun mumbled.

"Let's leave it for another day," Xiumin agreed. "I'm hungry."

"Let's go," I smiled and we got into the vans and headed back for the city.