We spent the next morning gathering what little we had and packing it up in whatever we could find. It was decided that we’d be staying in one of the buildings of Exopil from now on. This would make it more difficult for Anonymous to find us; even if they did figure out we were in the city.

Lay and Luhan arranged to carry Sehun on a stretcher which Tao had built. The young brother hadn’t woken up and his condition was still critical. Moving him was dangerous, but we really had no choice. Kris had had me absorb Sehun’s powers from him, just in case he didn’t pull through. I felt bad doing it, but I knew it was for the best.

As we walked I fell back a little to walk beside Luhan. He’d barely spoken all morning, and even then it was only when necessary.

“I think he’s looking better,” I remarked, glancing down at Sehun.

Luhan let out a grunt. “You don’t have to lie to me. I can handle the truth you know.”

I bit my lip and scanned over the desert land. The buildings of Exopil were becoming clearer as we neared them, though we still had a ways to go.

“Luhan,” I looked back at him again. “Did I do something wrong?”

“In your eyes? No; you didn’t,” he replied straightly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Never mind. What’s done is done. Now if you don’t mind I’d like to walk alone. Carrying this stretcher is tiring enough without you yapping in my ear.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came out. Luhan had never treated me this way before. How am I supposed to make things better if he won’t even tell me what’s wrong?!

“Fine,” I pouted in annoyance and quickened my pace to join Lay who supported the front of the stretcher. “Do you know what’s wrong with Luhan?” I asked him in a hushed voice.

“He’s probably just sensitive because of his brother,” Lay suggested. “Give him a few days.”

I looked down at Sehun’s angelic face. He really did have the most beautiful nose I’d ever seen. At any moment I expected his eyes to flutter open and a smile spread across his lips.

“Do you think he’s going to make it?” I inquired.

Lay finally replied after a prolonged silence, “I’ve done a lot of things, but never have I had to deal with a case this severe.”

I bit my lip at his heart wrenching words. We all knew that this was an intense project for Lay, but hearing the doubts from the healer himself was almost like confirming Sehun’s death. 

By the time we reached the city we had about three hours of daylight left. We took refuge in an abandoned movie theater, providing us with plenty of exits and lots of space. The place was filled with cobwebs and dust, so we immediately set to work cleaning it up a little and organizing our belongings.

“I’m going to take a look around,” I informed D.O. who was setting up his “bed” in the corner.

“Alright,” he nodded. “Just don’t get into trouble.”

“When do I ever?” I laughed and headed out the door.

The front lobby was huge. One wall was covered with windows, letting in plenty of light. I stepped behind the ticket counter and began rummaging through the drawers. I didn’t know what I expected to find; it was more of just curiosity pushing me forward.

I glanced around the room and noticed a door that read “maintenance only.” Having never seen what the upstairs of a movie theater looked like, I hurried over to the door. Thankfully it was unlocked. The staircase behind it was filled with cobwebs, but I simply shoved them out of my way and forged on.

The top of the stairs opened up into a long room with multiple little windows along the inside wall. I carefully made my way over to one of the openings and peaked out. Below was the room we had claimed. My friends were organizing their things and didn’t even notice me.

“It feels like I’m in a spy movie,” I laughed to myself and pulled my head back inside. Next I examined the projector beside me. To my surprise, there was still film inside. I clicked a few buttons and jumped when the film began to spin. I peaked out the window again to see the introduction for some old movie being projected onto the screen.

“What the heck?!” someone exclaimed from down below, then looked up to where I stood in the window.

“Phoebe!” Chen exclaimed.

“It’s so cool up here!” I shouted down to them with a laugh and pulled my head back inside. As I turned away from the window, I was startled when I bumped into someone.

“Oh!” I exclaimed. The person had a familiar aura about them. I cautiously lifted my gaze to the person’s face, which belonged to no one other than Luhan. I tore my eyes away and awkwardly stepped to the side. Luhan raised his line of sight to take a quick look at me, then lowered it again while biting his bottom lip.

“You shouldn’t bite yourself like that,” I said, still not making eye contact with him. “It’s not healthy.”

He quietly walked over to the little window. I turned and walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Luhan, I’m sorry for whatever it was I did. Can we just talk about it?”

“What is there to say?” he shrugged. “You should’ve just told me how you feel about Xiu Min.”

“What do you mean ‘how I feel about Xiu Min?” I asked in puzzlement.

“You guys went out and had that talk together. Xiu Min’s confession was probably really something. Even if I had confessed before he did, it wouldn’t have been as great as his,” he looked down at the ground.

“Confession?”

“Yeah, Xiu Min confessed to you didn’t he?”

“Well yes-,”

“See,” Luhan cut me off. “I just wish I’d said something earlier.”

“Luhan, hold on a second. Just because he confessed, it doesn’t mean I accepted him.”

He slowly raised his head and looked at me hopefully. “You mean, you two aren’t an item?”

“We’re just friends and that’s all I ever want us to be,” I smiled.

A giant smile spread across his face and he took my hand in his. “Then I guess now is as good a time as any. Phoebe, I-,”

“Luhan!” Chen suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase.

“Aish,” Luhan growled, turning toward Chen. “What is it?!”

The lightning powered boy was awfully pale and out of breath. “It’s Sehun,” he panted.

Luhan let go of my hand and immediately ran down the stairs. I stood there, staring at Chen who looked back at me worriedly.

“Come on,” he motioned for me to follow him down the stairs.

We sprinted into the theater room together to see everyone gathered around Sehun down in front. I pushed my way through the group to see Lay kneeling on Sehun’s right and Luhan on his left. Lay had his eyes closed and his hands rested on the young boy’s body. He mumbled something under his breath, most likely some sort of healing chant.

Luhan knelt by his brother’s side with tears in his eyes. He held Sehun’s hand in his, putting another to the weak boy’s face angelic face.

“Please, please Sehun. Pull through for umma and appa. Pull through for me; for all of us. I know you’re in there somewhere,” he whispered as a tear slipped off his cheek, then glanced up at Lay. “His pulse is still dropping! Why aren’t you helping him!”

Lay ignored the remark and kept meditating over Sehun.

“Listen to me!” Luhan screamed. “This is my brother! You’re supposed to be a healer! Why is he not better yet?! How can you just sit there and-,”

“Luhan!” Kris barked. “He’s doing everything he can!”

Luhan fell silent and looked back down at Sehun whose face was now whiter than ever. No longer being able to stand seeing him this way, I hurried over to Luhan and knelt next to him with a hand on his back. He didn’t respond, but at least I felt like I was doing something.