CL was worried. Yongguk could see it in her eyes, even though she did her best to hide it.

“Don’t be scared,” she said suddenly.

“What?”

“You’re scared,” CL explained simply. “There’s no reason to be. If you really have some kind of awesome power like Zelo suspects, you’re of use to us and we will protect you.”

“So if I don’t have a power you’ll leave me to die.” It wasn’t a question.

Daehyun shook his head. “We would never leave someone innocent to die, but we’d do our best to get you back to where you came from. You’d never have any contact with us again.”

“Quiet now,” CL hissed. She pointed ahead and the four men turned to look.

There was a fight on the street. It was three against one, but Yongguk couldn’t see their faces clearly. Three tall men towered over a kneeling figure, laughing and snickering.

“You’re not so strong now, huh?” one of them huffed. Yongguk saw the members of Veritas tense out of the corner of his eye.

“Don’t underestimate me,” the figure whispered darkly.

Yongguk leaned towards Daehyun. “Who is… Daehyun?” The younger man was gone. “Where’d he go?”

“Just watch.” Zelo put his hand on the other’s shoulder. The person shot up and punched one of the men in the face. He toppled backwards, and now Yongguk could see who had attacked him. It was a young woman, a bit younger than him, with raven black hair. Her movements as she knocked the other two men out were almost too quick for him to see. Was that some kind of power as well?

“Daehyun, you’d better do something,” CL hissed through her teeth. Another man appeared behind the girl. Before she could realize he was there, something knocked him off his feet and caused him to pass out. Yongguk’s mouth hung open when Daehyun materialized behind the girl and said something he couldn’t hear.

“Minzy noona!” She smiled at Zelo, but her features darkened when she saw Yongguk.

“A human?” Minzy asked.

CL nodded shortly. “Zelo suspects he might have some kind of power. He could be useful.”

“I don’t like him.” Yongguk was taken aback by her bluntness.

“Listen, Minzy,” Jongup started, “we–”

“I don’t like him.”

“Tell us more about yourself, Yongguk.” The five of them were sitting around a table in Daehyun’s tavern. Five, because Minzy refused and said she needed to practice fighting. Now CL was looking at the human with genuine interest in her eyes.

“There’s not that much to say. You already know I’m from Korea, and I go to college there. Went, to be exact. How long exactly have I been staying here? Anyways, I shared a dorm with my best friend, Himchan. He can really be an sometimes, but yeah. He has a younger brother called Youngjae, who’s not half as bad as Himchan.”

“Wait… Youngjae?” Daehyun suddenly butted in.

Everyone raised an eyebrow. “You know him?” Jongup asked.

“Remember that one time I accidentally contacted a human? His name was Youngjae.”

“It might be someone else,” CL argued.

Daehyun shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“You contacted him? You mean like telepathy?” Yongguk inquired.

This time it was Zelo who answered. “All the members of Veritas can communicate via thoughts. When we get closer to people, their thoughts are more open to us. That’s how I knew what you were thinking even though I didn’t see you or talk to you.”

“It’s late.” CL stood up abruptly. “I have to check on Minzy, and we should all get some sleep. I’ll give you more information later.” With that, she walked out of the tavern.

“Are you ready?” Jongup asked Yongguk as he placed his hand on the older man’s arm. His other hand rested on Zelo’s shoulder. Yongguk nodded and suddenly he felt something pulling him and everything around him went black. Seconds later, the three of them were standing in front of Zelo’s house that seemed familiar after everything that happened.

“Yongguk… hyung?”

“What?” Yongguk growled sleepily. He opened his eyes to see Zelo standing in the doorway. The younger was fidgeting with the blanket that he was holding.

“Can I… can I sleep here?”

“Why?” On the inside, Yongguk liked this side of Zelo, the side that never came out when he was with the other members of Quaerimus Veritatem. He liked it when the maknae wasn’t distant or cold or tough, but shy and cute instead. Cute? Well… he was pretty young… so of course he’d have that aegyo factor.

“I-It’s a long story… can I? Please?” Zelo pouted unconsciously and Yongguk really couldn’t say no to that face.

“Fine,” he sighed. Zelo gave him that signature smile and slipped in. “Can you tell me anyway?”

Zelo snuggled deeper into his blanket. “I get nightmares often.”

“About what?”

“My parents.” The boy’s voice was hardly audible, but Yongguk heard nevertheless. “The way they died… they were murdered. I saw.”

Without really knowing what he was doing, Yongguk gently wrapped his arms around the teen and held him close. “You’ll be okay,” he whispered over and over again. When he felt something wet on his chest he realized that Zelo was crying.

“It’s just… it was so horrible. I saw everything and I didn’t want to but I couldn’t look away. The man came in and tied my mother up and stabbed my dad and–”

“Don’t talk, Zelo. Just try to sleep. Nothing will happen, I promise. I’m here. Even if I don’t have any fancy powers, I can still protect you. Everything is going to be alright, just trust me. Please.” Yongguk smiled when he felt the boy relax a bit. “Goodnight, Zelo.”

“Night, hyung.”

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I have no idea why I made my 2NE1 bias so mean. I really don't. But she'll become nicer later on, so don't hate her~ and I HAD to use that picture. No other way.

Poor Zelo baby T__T his sad past has been revealed...

DO YOU FEEL THE DAEJAE? BECAUSE I DO! But that might just be because I'm weird and I wrote this story and I know exactly what shall happen next ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

I LOVE YOU, MY PANCAKES! Be it chocolate chip (you know who you are), or any other kind, you Pancakes are awesome.