Title: drenched, drownded

pg-13, adventure, hurt/comfort
(MAMA!AU) After a mission on earth gone horribly wrong, EXO-K is missing and feared dead. EXO-M is tasked with the impossible; to bring the 12 back together and come out of Earth alive. What makes it worse - EXO-K's powers are now corrupted, and they would stop at nothing to kill EXO-M. 

If I get out of here, there’s death

Now I cry without tears

I cry without me knowing

- Tablo ft Lee Sora, Home

‘It could only have been a demi-second of sound, inaudible underneath the incessant shrieks of the phoenix and the buzz of static from the broken loudspeaker. Yet, the shrieks died down instantly, and the phoenix turned its intense gaze onto the healer.’ (ch3)

Chapter 9

It was easy to find Lay because he was smart. The healer had pocketed a small piece of the shed wall that crumbled due to wear and tear. Using the white alabaster, he carefully inscribed ‘L’ on the bark of the trees he passed, marking very clearly where he had been. The character was mostly wiped away because of the rain.

Xiu Min slowed down once he lost sight of Luhan and Kris behind him. They did have training in the facility in forest simulations, so he didn’t panic unnecessarily. He stepped over the scattered twigs and crunchy leaves. He wasn’t duly bothered by the startlingly loud noises they made in the forest, where the wheezing hum of the cicadas were nearly drowned by pitter-patter of the rain and the occasional roll of thunder.

What made the hair stand at the back of the Ice Guardian’s neck was the thought of Chanyeol creeping up onto him. The facility liked to pair off the water and fire elements for a fight, and Xiu Min liked to pretend to agree that ice and water elements were very different just so he could save that two hours of extra practice for something more productive, like sleeping. He slightly regretted it; he would not be prepared for a full-blown fight with Chanyeol – phoenix or not.

There – he heard it again. The creak of a branch being pushed by a heavy body. Xiu Min spun around, putting his fists into a fighting stance. He gave a mental whack to the forehead to himself; what was he going to do, punch the phoenix in the face? But anyway, it sounded too heavy to be a bird.

Whoop.

In a clean finish, followed by light laughter that was snatched away by the still-strong wind, Lay jumped from the tree branch he had climbed onto. Xiu Min looked up just in time to see the gleeful dimpled face before he fell onto the ground at the impact, bodies entangling, face down onto the mud and leaves.

“You---” Xiu Min’s expletives were colourful.

“That was fun,” Lay said obliviously, rolling off the older boy. “You’re back fast. And you’re unharmed, which is good for me. Why is Sehun’s wind… somehow off?”

Lay’s face was flushed. Xiu Min guessed that the healer had taken off in a dash to the forest and had only recently stopped. The adrenaline rush from the exercise must have left him in good spirits. However, he couldn’t shake off the sense of foreboding yet.

It was too late to keep it down; the phoenix would have been able to hear them from a mile off. Xiu Min leaned against the tree trunk, brushing off dirt futilely from his clothes. “Listen up,” he started, looking earnestly at Lay. The latter sobered up at once. Xiu Min was almost sorry to see the carefree expression wiped off so quickly.

“We found Sehun,” Xiu Min reiterated, “and if we’re unlucky, we’ll meet Chanyeol here. This is bad.” He had the habit of speaking in bullet points when making a presentation, something that earned him a lot of ribbing back in classes at the facility. Lay simply stared at him, mouth slightly open.

One finger up. “The spaceship crashed on Earth about a week ago. Whatever fixes Chen made on it, it wasn’t enough. Also, Suho was out of it by the time they landed – he was the one in the cockpit. Sehun and Chanyeol tried to take over-” (“It was a fight,” Sehun recalled quietly, “a lot of blood, especially between fire and water. The blood was red from Chanyeol. Black from Suho.”) “-but it was too late so Jongin had to teleport them out so they could survive.”

It made Xiu Min’s mouth dry to talk, and he his lips.

Obviously, Jongin didn’t know where to go, and he had to estimate the speed the spaceship was travelling because one wrong move and he’d be in the engines.

He did it though, somehow. Dragging a pale Kyungsoo, he took out Suho and put him in the field below. As soon as they disappeared, the spaceship exploded into flames. All Sehun could remember was Chanyeol’s animalistic snarls as the phoenix felt the flames creeping a split-second before they engulfed the cockpit. Chanyeol had smashed open the emergency door with brutal force, and shoved Sehun out. The last Sehun had seen were the red flames the cool grey metal, curling unnaturally away from the door, as he fell in free fall. Then, he got his wind to let him land on the ground safely

“The black,” Lay repeated flatly. He connected the dots rapidly, faster than Chen or Xiu Min had been able to. “When Suho fought with them, it infected the other two.”

Xiu Min tilted his head slightly in consideration. “That’s what Sehun guessed. He was doing a lot of thinking when he was on his own.” Some good, some bad, he thought. “So like Sehun, Chanyeol’s first instinct would be to hurt us.”

Lay’s eyes nearly bulged out. “He hurt you?”

“Tried,” corrected the other man. “Wait – how is that a surprise? What did you think he would do?”

“I thought he’d be severely ill! Suho was, when they took him away. None of our experiments were engineered to affect behaviour towards murderous intents…” His voice trailed off into a self-mumble. Before Xiu Min could berate him, Lay snapped his head back to Xiu Min. “Did you hear that?”

The ground shook. Lay grabbed onto Xiu Min, as an inhumane roar screamed into the evening sky. There was a crashing sound ahead of them. Birds made a black halo above the pointed tree tops. Trees were snapped as easily as popsicle sticks.

“RUN!”

Xiu Min grabbed hold of Lay’s hand firmly and started moving. Lay gave an involuntary cry as he was pulled along sharply, darting into the gaps between the trees and leaping over the forest debris on the ground. The noise was unrelenting, maybe even growing louder to their frightened minds.

“Come on,” Xiu Min panted.

“We’re—further—others!”

Lay was right as usual; they were going deeper into the forest, increasing the distance between them and the others. Xiu Min couldn’t give two cents about it though. That was no normal animal sound. He preferred to be as far away as possible from that.

Suddenly, there came a horrified yelp. Lay snatched his hand away from Xiu Min’s, and veered to the left. He agilely grabbed hold of the low branch hanging overhead, to steady him as he ducked under it.

Xiu Min actually skidded, in order to stop himself from running forward. Why was he constantly surrounded with annoying dongsaengs? “LAY!”

“I SEE A PERSON!”

Then Xiu Min saw the corpse too. And recognised him.

XXX

Since when had Chanyeol been patient enough to wait?

It happened so immediately, as if he was just biding his time for the dragon to appear.

Meeting Chanyeol in the forest was the scariest sight Kris had seen. He hadn’t even managed to keep the dragon from roaring. The image would be long burnt into his memory.

XXX

“When was the last time you felt scared?” Jongin asked, as he put his head against Kyungsoo’s bony shoulder eventhough he was the taller of the two. They were sitting on the bed together. Bodies were huddled close to keep warm. They were staring at the door of the toilet in mildly morbid fascination. The water had stopped moving, but it must have flooded pretty badly because the wooden door was slowly darkening in the wet.

Absent-mindedly, Kyungsoo put an arm around the younger boy and started his hair. “Me?” he repeated, in all seriousness. “I can’t remember. Well, apart from the journey to Earth.”

They both winced at the memory. “You’re bluffing,” Jongin called out, shifting to a more comfortable position against Kyungsoo.

“Why, are you scared now?”

It was said in a teasing tone, but the silence was answer enough.

“Okay,” Kyungsoo said, this time gentler. He thought hard before answering. “It was probably when I saw Suho crying.”

“Bwo? I don’t think he’s capable of crying.” The teleporter scoffed.

At that, Kyungsoo rapped his knuckles on the side of Jongin’s head. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt but Jongin whined anyway.

“Why was he crying?”

“I think we should respect his privacy,” Kyungsoo chided quietly. “I’ll tell you why it was scary though. He was in his room, and…” His voice trailed off, his eyes widening. “It was the day our dormitories got flooded.”

Jongin slowly lifted his head. Flashes of the previous days’ water incidents passed through his mind. He looked at the door. The hammering of water crashing angrily onto it echoed in his ears.

“Suho must have been crying a lot recently,” he said, a touch helplessly.

Silence lapsed between them.

“Let’s go try finding them again, Jongin.”

“What?”

XXX

The phoenix-man was leaning against the gnarled tree stump. Chanyeol was barely breathing; with only the slight rise and fall of his chest and the sound of ragged gasps to indicate any life in him at all. He was skin and bones by then. Shagged, long hair that highlighted crimson under the light cast shadows onto eyes that had dark circles underneath. His cheekbones protruded painfully under yellowish skin that did not seem to stretch sufficiently over them. What showed so obviously that he was not completely man were the pair of wings that slumped onto the dried grass under its weight. They were like pterodactyl wings, thin skin that stretched over hollow bird bones. If Kris had to guess, the phoenix feathers had long been shed or burnt off.

Within minutes, not a dragon but a tall man was crouching on the ground. Kris stood up. The fact he was not brushing dirt away from his black jeans showed his shock. “Chanyeol, what the happened to you?”

XXX

It took a vicious kick to shove Jongin out of the bed. On the wet floor, his bottom sore from the sudden impact, he gave the obligatory sticking out of his tongue. Inside though, he was strangely glad. Kyungsoo was still strong enough to give him a bruise.

“We tried,” Jongin protested. From his position, he could only see the top half of Kyungsoo’s face. It was enough – he had the most expressive eyes; a perfect acronym to some of their members to be honest.

The puffiness of the older boy’s under-eye bags was becoming more pronounced.

“Be quiet Jongin, let me think,” Kyungsoo said wryly, casting him a quick glance and then a roll of the eyes. Who are the brains of our duo?

“You offend me.”

“Never.”

“Look, we searched obvious places,” Jongin recited, leaning his weight on one hand as he gestured with his other, “the outskirts of town and the streets. By now, they would have settled into some shelter, like we did.” Reluctance clung to each word.

“We know where Chanyeol is,” Kyungsoo countered quietly.

Jongin was on his feet before he realised it. “ARE YOU CRAZY!” he shouted, his deep voice echoing around the small room. Kyungsoo didn’t even flinch.

XXX

“He’s breathing! Xiu Min, he’s breathing!”

“Oh my god, Lay, we need to run. Now.”

“I can’t – he’s not in a stable condit–”

“We’ll all be dead if you don’t run. Now.”

XXX

Kris could hear the conversation clearly. In fact, just peeking behind the gnarled stump was a very agitated Xiu Min, staring straight back at him, wide-eyed and petrified. Xiu Min had seen the dragon, and he had seen the phoenix, and the two mixed like oil and water.

And clearly, Chanyeol could hear nothing. He stared back straight at Kris dully, with vacant eyes. At Kris’s words, he tilted his head slightly. Cracked, dry lips opened a little.

Then out of nowhere, a fireball exploded in Chanyeol’s palm.

“Watch it!” Kris barked, ducking just in time.

“Fight me.”

The words faltered from unuse. But the eyes were desperate.

So Kris obeyed.

XXX

The dragon waited, inclining his head respectfully as he did. However, the phoenix did not appear.

“Chanyeol can’t change into me, not really” Chanyeol whispered, his voice breaking. His chin was down. He was breathing more rapidly now, trying to form the correct words. His eyes brimmed with unshed tears that vaporised as soon as they came. “Last time, one more time.” He pointed to himself. “I, end of cycle.”

Chanyeol raised his right fist. The skin on his palm was blackened. Clenching it once, liquid orange flames burst behind him. Red flickered and danced in the outline of the orange. It was the silhouette of the phoenix, in all its glory. “But I can do this.”

The dragon roared, startled. The wind started to pick up, rustling the leaves again. The noise seemed exponentially louder – all the animals in the forest seemed to have disappeared. 

“It ing hurts to keep fire in human body.” The phoenix was definitely more eloquent than Kris had been, in his half-form. “He, hurting so bad. Crying everyday.”

There was something wrong about the flames. Where the red was supposed to end, black tainted the tips. Capillary black traced the bone structure of the phoenix image, dissolving once it did and creeping back in repetition.

Shut up, thought the dragon simply, and the fight began.

A fight is like a dance. It moved to the rhythm of breathing, calculative decisions; muscle-memory movements trained to the tune of instinct. The thing about the dragon fighting Chanyeol’s half-form however, a novelty on both their parts, was that it was like a dancer performing a duet stage with a shadow. The dancer couldn’t touch the shadow, no matter how hard he tried.

Chanyeol had a wall of flame that only allowed the faintest of silhouettes to show through. The phoenix was relying on the human ears instead to predict the dragon’s next movements – their trainers would be so proud – and dammit, the dragon weighed a ton. However graceful he looked, he shook the earth at even one step. The shots of flame fired at Chanyeol were merely blended into the wall. On the other hand, the dragon was taking the brunt of every forceful attack.

How long has it been?

The dragon lifted its throat. Thin white strips lined the smooth scales. Letting loose a deep-throated moan, it struggled not to let its knees weaken and sink into the ground.

The flames disappeared, judging from the heady relief from the absence of heat. Chanyeol stood silently in the same spot. His eyes went expressionless again.

“Jongin more fun,” he judged – was the phoenix sulking? The dragon half-opened its good eye. “He go away in end. He took away all. Kyungsoo, Sehun.”

It was a human sprawled on the ground, when Chanyeol looked up at him. It was a mess.

“Suho?”

Chanyeol shrugged. Water and fire don’t complement well either.

Kris watched with good eye, propped up on the grass on one elbow, as Chanyeol suddenly hunched his back. Xiu Min had jumped onto him, taking the opportunity of the human body and that the phoenix couldn’t hear him, not with those human hearing range. Ice flakes left the tips of the frostbitten fingers and imprinted themselves on his face.

Chanyeol fell forwards, unconscious. Lay stood up from his crouch, patting the ankles like how one would pat a completed assignment in satisfaction.

“Put him to sleep. Works everytime,” Lay informed, to nobody’s interest. He waggled his fingers in a brief moment of self-admiration. “Ha, I took down a phoenix.”

XXX

A/N: So pressurized to post by sudden increase of subscribers (where do you come from), so pressurized to write because the comments are so beautiful and projects high expectations for the story.

Omg everyone, EXO has ended their MAMA era already. Why do I still write this

Sorry for the phoenix/dragon fight. I did my best. Yay OT12 on Earth has been introduced (hence you know who the 'corpse' is right). 

Thanks for reading, pls comment and subscribe (and rec this fic to your friends^^) 

I WILL UPDATE SOON