“Sehun,” Kyungsoo reached out and grabbed the other boy by the wrist. “We need to talk.”

Startled by the gravity of his voice, Sehun let himself be pulled away from Luhan, who was peacefully sleeping on the chair, his hair messy. “What is it?”

“You­­–have you ever heard of the Republic taking people as hostages? Like imprisoning them?”

Sehun shook his head slowly. “No.....why?”

Kyungsoo let go of Sehun’s wrist, sighing deeply. “It’s just.....Kai and Charles both told me this story about the Republic selecting a few people each year to take away with them. I don’t know if it’s true but–“

“The Republic wouldn’t lie to us,” Sehun interrupted fiercely, but his eyes looked troubled. “Are you trying to say that they kept this from us?”

Kyungsoo bit his lip in frustration. “I don’t know. Everything is so confusing.” He collapsed on the floor. Sehun looked at him sadly.

“We still haven’t found the person, have we? Asking around isn’t doing much help.”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes in defeat. “No-one has ever heard about this Kim Jongin. Maybe he’s an Outcast, and doesn’t mingle with the Inferiors?”

“Could be–,” Sehun agreed, “­–but then where does he get all his reinforcements from. I don’t get it.”

Luhan stirred for a while, mumbling in his sleep, and Kyungsoo stood up, brushing his pants. “We’ll talk later.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sehun murmured, looking at Luhan. Kyungsoo thought he saw a flicker of affection in his eyes, but then he wasn’t so sure. He quietly exited and left them alone.

~+~

Knock Knock.

Kyungsoo groaned and got up, shuffling to the door and opening it, “What do you want­–“

“You, are going to come with me to the market today. We need our stock of food.” Charles pointed at Kyungsoo, who widened his eyes in surprise.

“Um, but my traini–“

“That can wait until later. You will come to help me and that’s that. Now pack up your stuff and follow me.” She turned around on the spot, walking away briskly. Kyungsoo stared in dismay after her.

“You can’t disobey her,” Kai was suddenly there, right next to Kyungsoo. He yelped in shock and jumped a few meters away, glaring at the boy.

“Can you please not show up in my room without permission?” He grimaced, eyeing Kai up and down. The other boy laughed humorously.

“I get lonely sometimes, so I come to see you.” Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow at the answer.

“And, you just had to come to my room.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Kai scratched his head, sighing. “You’re pretty oblivious, aren’t you?”

Charles voice sounded from the corridor. “KYUNGSOO! HURRY UP!” Kyungsoo jumped for the second time that day and scurried around frantically, picking up his bag and brushing past Kai, only to stop in his tracks as Kai grabbed his wrist.

Kyungsoo looked back in surprise as Kai his lips nervously, his dark eyes serious. “Be careful, okay?”

Kyungsoo felt himself nodding unconsciously. Kai chuckled softly and let go of his hand. He hurried down the corridor to where Charles was waiting with her arms folded impatiently.

“What took you so long?”

“N-Nothing.” Kyungsoo brushed his pants, looking back towards his room. Kai was no longer there.

~+~

“Make sure to stick with me and don’t get lost, okay?” Charles reminded him loudly while walking. “It’s a really big place, and sometimes things can get ugly, so­–“

The market place was definitely big, full of Inferiors. There were food stalls everywhere, but the smell still made Kyungsoo coil back in disgust. Voices of clerks shouting filled the whole area, and Kyungsoo had to raise his voice to make sure Charles heard his words.

“What are we buying?” He shouted, watching as she walked over to a fruit stall and picked out a few weird looking pink fruit with spikes on top. Kyungsoo didn’t even want to ask what it was.

“Just a few fruit and some bacon. Oh, and some eggs too–“

Kyungsoo looked around and spotted the meat stall, pushing his way through a crowd of elderly women. “Here it is–“ He turned around and Charles was gone, melted into the mass of people.

Kyungsoo sighed exasperatedly. “This just had to happen....” He muttered to himself. He struggled back through the crowd, only to find himself even more lost than before.

Just as he was about to yell out Charles name in frustration, an elderly voice interrupted him. “Young man, you have a dark future ahead.”

Shivers traveled up his spine at hearing the crackly voice, and he whirled around to find a very old, nearly ancient woman sitting at the corner of the market, shriveled up in a torn blanket. Her teeth were yellow and dirty, and she looked like she hadn't bathed in years. He swallowed nervously and tried to walk away, but something in her voice made him stay.

“What do you mean?”

“There is too much hate in your heart,” the woman whispered. “The hate will lead to your destruction.”

“But I­–“

“The person you seek for is right beside you. However, he is also the one who will clear the darkness is your heart.” The woman coughed, wheezing painfully. “Be careful, young man.”

Kyungsoo felt his whole body turn into ice. He took another step towards the woman. “How do you know–?”

“There you are!” He stiffened as he heard Charles shrill voice sounded out behind him. He turned around to see her running up to him, sweat covering her forehead. “I told you not to go wandering around.” She grabbed his wrist. “We’re leaving.”

“Um, I­–“ He looked back towards the woman, but she had disappeared. Charles looked at him suspiciously, inclining her head to one side.

“Were you talking to someone?”

“No,” Kyungsoo replied steadily. “No-one. Let’s go.”

~+~

“Ohhhh!” Luhan said happily, rustling through the bags of food. “Finally! I’ve been eating nothing but dried bread for the past few days.”

Sehun snorted from his other side. “Yeah, right. You keep stealing my cheese.”

“That’s because you gave it to me,” Luhan chirped, turning around to face him. He smiled cheekily. “Sehunnie.”

Kyungsoo watched with faint interest as Sehun slowly turned red, turning away briskly. Luhan laughed and wrapped his arms around Sehun, only to be pushed away.

“Stop doing that,” Sehun mumbled to a crestfallen Luhan. “You know that I dislike it.”

“You always say that,” Luhan said with hurt in his voice, but stepping back nevertheless. “It’s okay. I understand.” He walked back towards his room, Sehun looking after him.

“You don’t have to be so harsh on him,” Kyungsoo murmured from beside. “He’s just being friendly.”

“It’s not that,” Sehun said, shaking his head desperately. “It’s not him, it’s me. I can’t stop myself from–“

“Guys!” A loud voice interrupted them, and they turned around to see Tao, panting heavily. “Something’s come up. Kai wants you to come.”

“We’ll be right there,” Kyungsoo said while glancing at Sehun, who clamped his mouth shut. He decided to question the boy later.

“So, what’s going on?” Kyungsoo said as he walked beside Tao. The other boy’s face was grim.

“There’s an attack. This time it’s not just a few androids, but a bunch of them. Kai thinks it might be the time for the annual election again.”

Kyungsoo widened his eyes in alarm while Sehun looked white-faced. All three of them walked towards the main room quietly, not saying a word. Kyungsoo breathed in calmly.

Maybe I can find out something with this time’s attack.

Kai looked up as they entered the room, his expression nonchalant. Luhan was already there, deliberately ignoring Sehun’s gaze. Kyungsoo was impressed by Kai’s serenity, handling the situation with care.

“We’re going out to fight them,” Kai said. “They’re targeting the small town up ahead, not far from our hideout. I will teleport there first and report the situation.”

Kyungsoo opened his mouth to object. “You can't just go on your own.”

Kai turned his head towards him, smiling lightly. “Then do you want to come along?” There was a hint of gentle teasing in his voice. Kyungsoo felt the many eyes on him as he cleared his throat.

“W-Why not. I’ll come with you then.” He said his words confidently, but his mind kept going back to the strange sensation he had felt when Kai had saved him. He shivered a little.

Charles whistled from beside him. “Good luck.” Sehun slapped his back while Kyungsoo tried very hard to stay calm.

Kai laughed again, coming over to reach out for his hand. “It’ll be alright. Don’t look so worried.”

“I’m not,” Kyungsoo muttered, fingers entwining with Kai’s. Somehow their hands fitted perfectly with each other.

“Well then, we’re off.” Kai gently tugged Kyungsoo to his chest.

The last thing Kyungsoo saw was Sehun’s face becoming blurred in his vision, and then the whole room was gone, vanished from sight.

Author's Note

It takes some time to think the plot through. Next month I'm going overseas for a month, so I'll probably update slower than usual :((

Hope everyone liked this chapter though! More Kaisoo goodness <3 (and some Hunhan too) :D