「 something like that 」
Legends: The Chosen Twelve
Lay sighed as he stood in the common room. Kai wasn’t joking about being exhausted. His appearance didn’t betray it before he fell asleep, true, but it’s been at least two days, going into another one that he’d been basically knocked out. He watched as the other let out a snore before turning on his side to face away from him and towards the back of the couch, blanket slipping so it came up to his torso instead.
He shifted his gaze over to Suho who fell asleep on the plush chair again. Suho basically stayed in this one room, and he was grateful for that, but the only times he would come out and be away from his friend was to eat a meal with them in the dining hall. Then again, that was only two or three times before he became too frightened to be in the presence of Luhan’s glare all throughout the meal before he started to just eat in this room without any immediate threat nearby.
He let out a breath, thinking about his duties. Being the technical prince of the land, he was continuously taught to do what’s best for his kingdom – protecting it, allowing it to prosper and grow, and keep his land in the technical and literal land of light.
His mother wanted him to marry someone strong, power-wise or strength-wise, man or woman, to help watch over and protect their land. It was weird he found out all his friends happened to swing the same way, but his mother was exceptionally happy when he started dating Luhan. The elder became the guard to their land at a young age and was actually successful at it, allowing the elder protectors to take frequent rests and breaks, given their old age.
They were actually going strong. Luhan would be the personal bodyguard of the prince if he were required to leave their gated land to meet up with other officials of smaller lands. They basically knew each other inside and out as they developed their powers more and more. His mother even trusted Luhan enough to give him lessons that her own son had been learning all his life. She really believed they were to be wed until he broke up with Luhan over jealousy and power issues.
Suho shifted in his chair, wrinkling his nose and scratching it sleepily, before falling back asleep. Lay let out a small chuckle at the action before walking over and bringing up the blanket that had fallen onto his lap back up to drape around his shoulders in front of his chest. He smiled as the other’s nose winkled again before relaxing. “You don’t have to constantly check up on us,” Suho mumbled sleepily, small smile on his face as he slightly opened one eye to look up at him, “We won’t leave.” He was surprised to see the other’s gentle smile directed at him.
“I know,” Lay softly said, returning his attention back to Kai who stayed asleep, “It’s been close to three days.” He looked back to Suho, “I could’ve ordered a proper bed to be placed in here if he was going to sleep that long.”
“What do you mean ‘ordered?’” Suho questioned, staring back up at him curiously, “Are you the son of a general or something?”
Lay tilted his head back and simply smiled at him before saying, “Something like that.”
The other lightly frowned at the vague response before asking him something else, “So, you’ve figured out I’m from the Land of Night,” or rather stated it. The other would tell him more information whenever he was willing, he guessed.
Lay nodded, moving to crouch down on the ground next to him, his arm resting on the armrest, “I have.”
“Are you going to kill us?” Suho bluntly asked, now tilting his head to stare down at the healer.
He hummed, looking to Kai’s still form, before lightly chuckling, “I’m a natural healer, Suho. I don’t think I’m capable of completely killing someone.”
Suho felt his face instantly heat up at the other saying his name. He pouted a bit before voicing out his fear, “Is… Is Luhan going to kill Kai?”
“I think that’d be an interesting battle to see,” he answered truthfully, furrowing his eyebrows slightly in thought, “They are both users of the mind, so it’ll definitely be entertaining to watch. He will easily be able to escape if I or any other user tried to attack him though. I personally think he will be fine.” He hummed again, standing up, “I’ll come check up on you two again later.”
The other timidly nodded, shifting in his seat again to make his back more comfortable, “Has it really almost been three days?”
“There’s usually only about one or two hours of darkness here each day,” Lay answered, turning to look back down at him, “You were asleep when the hours passed. Other times, the sky darkens slightly into hues of purple, pink, and orange but even then, that lasts longer.”
Suho’s mouth fell open a bit as he digested the information. Lay’s dimple appeared on his cheek at the expression he saw on the water user. He turned around to leave when Suho suddenly blurted out, “Thank you, Lay.”
He paused in his steps, refusing to turn around and look at him, as a smile slowly made its way onto his face. He slightly bent his head in light embarrassment as he walked out of the room. He was mildly surprised to see Luhan passing by the area as he closed the door behind him. “Hey, Luhan,” he smiled brighter, walking up to him, “How are you?”
The other lightly narrowed his eyes at him before he eyed the doors behind him, “I would be better if they weren’t here.”
Lay sighed as he walked up closer to him and casually wrapped his arms around the other’s waist, “If you actually conversed with them instead of trying to end them, you might like them.” He felt Luhan’s breath hitch at how close they were.
The elder stayed still, eyeing the doors instead of the man before him, “What happened to your duties as a prince?”
“I am still a prince whether I complete my duties in time or not or whether I befriend enemies or comrades,” Lay muttered back, leaning in close to rest his forehead against the other’s, “Why don’t you try and be civil with them again? You were civil with the water user before.”
Luhan looked into Lay’s calm eyes as he let out a light breath, “Because that was before the teleportation user arrived and before the water user started making his way into your defenses.”
Lay smiled at him, leaning away, “How could he get into my defenses when you’re still defending me when you can?” He pulled away completely to grab onto the other’s wrist, “Let’s go walk around the land again.”
The other bit his lip in uncertainty as he looked back towards the closed door even when he’s being pulled away from the entrance, “I’m going to-”
“Don’t you dare leave one of your crystal balls in there,” Lay warned, tilting his head back to glare at his ex-boyfriend, “That’ll just prompt them to become even more defensive and possibly attack us when we least expect it.” Of course he was the one who broke up with the elder, but he still had amicable and pure feelings for the other that he couldn’t help but remain as close friends as they were before.
“But that moment could be now,” Luhan protested, maybe even whined, walking a bit faster to walk in step with the other, “We need to be cautious.”
“And that got them both so physically and mentally exhausted they’ve been resting for almost three days,” he finalized, turning a corner, “Baekhyun is going to check up on them in a few minutes anyways.” He turned to look at Luhan and smiled, “Let’s just hang out like old times until dinner again.”
And Luhan couldn’t help but give a small smile back after a few minutes. Lay had been cooking their dinner ever since the last newcomer arrived. His smile turned mischievous as he slipped his hand down further and linked his fingers with the other’s before taking off for a run to the exit of the castle, “Fine, but we’re flying while we’re at it!” The only times he ever felt like himself again was with Lay.
Lay’s eyes widened as he tried to pull his hand away from the elder, “But you know I don’t like flying! I thought you didn’t either!”
Luhan only let out a laugh as he tugged the younger along with him further. He only didn’t like flying if he wasn’t with Lay.
Tao and D.O. smiled as they watched, from the former’s room on the third floor, Luhan and Lay running out of the castle and laughing before the telekinesis user started lifting himself off the ground. They laughed when Luhan started to lift Lay up, causing him to flail and scream at the top of his lungs until the elder brought in Lay to him to hold securely.
“It’s really a shame they ended their relationship,” Tao mumbled out, eyes dancing with happiness as D.O. nodded next to him.
“But Lay has his reasons,” the earth user muttered out, moving to sit on the ground cross-legged to continue watching them fly throughout the air, “They were really cute together though.”
They laughed and smiled when Luhan flew both he and Lay up to their room, the latter hiding his face in the other’s neck as the former waved at Tao and D.O. happily through the window. The latter two waved back with bright smiles before they flew away again to be closer to the ground.
“Lay has been and will be one of the only people able to control him,” Tao softly said, smile still lingering on his lips as they watched them get smaller and smaller, “However, Lay has already opened up his heart to another.”
D.O. hummed as he stared out the window, elbows resting on his knees with his chin in his palms, and watched the citizens who were walking around further away from the castle, “What’s so special about them, Tao? I want to know why they’re so different besides the fact they were actually able to invade our land.”
Tao lightly laughed, looking down to his friend out of the corners of his eyes, “You are unreasonably cute as well.” He eyed how the elder was sitting when D.O. puffed out his cheeks in discontent, only causing him to laugh more at the other’s cuteness. “You have always questioned about the Land of Night, yet here are two natives being held captive in our castle. You have always questioned why some of our friends have darker and deeper personalities than at first glance. You have always questioned why our land is always so bright despite all that.”
The other nodded in affirmation, not even looking up at his friend. He bit his lip, moving his gaze up to see a slightly darker shade of blue far away past their gates in the sky. He wondered how nighttime looked, always being asleep when it came and went in their land. He wondered if it looked as beautiful as a perfect cloudy day, although he had no idea if he could even see the clouds so late at night.
“Do you remember a long time ago,” Tao started off, gently breaking the silence that enveloped them during D.O.’s thoughts and silence, “How we were taught of a legend long forgotten, only to be remembered about when I dreamt of it one day?”
D.O. furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to think about it. It was so long ago he could barely remember it, only remembering Chanyeol running towards them with a book he was waving in the air at them, “Wasn’t that the only time Chanyeol actually volunteered to go into the library and enthusiastically search for that book?”
Tao laughed as he nodded, moving to sit on the ground next to his friend and lean back against the glass, “It was.” He hummed as he looked at his closed door, “There was a legend about twelve god-like beings who worked together in harmony to protect those they loved. Two of those twelve seemed to be a bit more special than the rest because they had the ability to bend space and time to their own will. They were protected more than the rest.”
The other absentmindedly nodded, the information and memory slowly coming back to him as he thought it over.
“Our powers continue to grow,” he continued on, tilting his head to the side to look at his friend, “The original twelve somehow disappeared, leading their legend to be forgotten. The land they watched over slowly broke up due to war and unnecessary fights. Time and space did not warp, so the citizens of old believed they were all still alive, watching over their land despite the arguments and deaths that accumulated over the years.”
D.O.’s eyes slowly widened in realization. He looked over to Tao with a surprised look on his face as the other put on his trademark cat-like grin and eye-smile, “Don’t tell me…?”
Laughing slightly, Tao nodded, tilting his head back to lean against the glass window, “I control time.”
“Our friends’ powers have increased beyond anything we’ve known,” D.O. slowly added, eyes widening even more before his mouth fell open in shock, “Kai controls space.”
Tao laughed louder at his friend’s expression, “This is why I am eager to meet the teleportation user. I believe we are part of the twelve legends.” He noticed the light frown the other wore on his face. “I am not entirely sure if the frown on your face is intentional or not,” he started off with a small hint of amusement in his voice, “But I am not interested in Kai romantically. I would rather see him as a brother I clearly cannot live without – a twin brother rather. One soul separated into two bodies.” He laughed as he looked to the other again, “But not romantically. It’s a bit complicated.”
D.O. just furrowed his eyebrows at the other in confusion, trying to process what the other said before a teasing smile found its way onto his face, “I bet you’re romantically interested in Baekhyun.” He laughed as a tint of red slowly made its way onto the time user’s face as he shyly looked away from him and looked out of the window on the side away from him. He gave a smug smile much unlike himself, “Now, you can’t lie to me, Tao.”
The other pouted, refusing to look at him and crossed his arms in front of his chest, “Then tell me what do you feel about the ‘handsome’ teleportation user, as Baekhyun so calls him?”
The elder opened his mouth to say something, anything, when nothing came out. His brows furrowed as he closed his mouth and frowned, opting to go for the silent method instead as he looked back out the window in front of him. He didn’t see the smug smile make its way onto Tao’s face this time.
xxx
“Again,” Xiumin mumbled out, eyes brightly glowing icy blue as he raised his hands and created another ice barrier around himself. He stared straight into Chen’s tired, goldenrod irises. “Once more, Chen, then we’ll take a break,” he gently coaxed, watching the other breathe heavily as he nodded, eyes hardening as he lifted his hands up next to him.
Chen had been trying to break through the other’s literal cold defenses with his lightning bolts, the difficulty increasing each time, until his endurance built up long enough for him to try creating another storm. He realized for his power of creating storms to be efficient though, he needed Suho to create the moisture needed for Xiumin to be able to use the water for his pathways. Otherwise, he just created dry thunderstorms. He focused his stare into the crystals that overlapped over and over again to create a hard barrier around his friend.
Xiumin could swear he saw little flickers of light pass through Chen’s irises before the latter shot out a hand and directed a strike of lightning to hit his barrier. He grunted as he waved his hand in front of him to reinforce his shield again. He continued to wave his arms back and forth as Chen kept shooting continual strikes of lightning at him, walking around the room slowly to try to break down the barrier.
Chen felt his arms getting tired but continued to try and break the other’s defenses down. His eyes slightly narrowed when he noticed a weak spot in his friend’s wall and quickly shot more lightning bolts at it in succession. His focused stare unintentionally became a glare as he held one hand back further, creating a larger bolt than the previous ones, before throwing it at the weak spot, making the barrier shatter around them and Xiumin to scream.
His eyes instantly widened in shock at what he did, immediately reverting back to normal, “Xiumin…” He ran forward as the shattered pieces of ice slowly fell on them like snow, cooling down their heated bodies, “Xiumin!”
He gently picked up the other’s still, shocked and slightly shaking form, eyes wide until the shock of the lightning wore off. Xiumin’s eyes slowly closed as he fell limp in his arms. He continued to look at him with wide eyes until he heard his friend slowly take in a shallow breath, “Xiumin?” His eyes softened but still held a hint of panic in them as he quickly moved to scoop up his slightly smaller friend. He grunted a bit as he stood up and gently tried to readjust the other in his arms as he quickly walked out of the practice room to try and find Kris or Sehun. “Come on, Xiumin,” he mumbled out as he tried to maneuver the other into tilting his head against his chest, “You’re fine. Come out of it.”
He quickly looked around, walking a bit faster as he realized the other’s shallow breaths only came every few seconds, even every minute. He looked down, panting as he mumbled to the other, trying to calm himself down as well, “Come on, Xiu.” He bit his lip as he looked up and saw some maids and butlers passing by them with worried glances, but he was too much in a hurry to stop and bother one of them, “You always said my power wouldn’t affect you as much…”
His eyes widened as he finally saw both Kris and Sehun walking past the corridor he was in, quickly disappearing from sight as they laughed with each other at something that was said, “Kris!” He started off in a run as he felt a light rush of relief flood through his system when Kris backtracked and poked his head back to look and see who called him. “Kris!” he called out again, running faster towards him when the elder finally noticed him.
Kris’ eyes widened at seeing Xiumin’s passed out form in Chen’s arms. Sehun popped his head out behind Kris only to immediately notice Xiumin and push the elder, quickly making his way to Chen and gently cupping the eldest male’s cheek in his hand, “Xiumin?” he looked over to Chen worriedly, “What happened?”
Chen’s brows tilted upwards as he looked up to Sehun and then Kris who quickly made his way to them, “I accidentally used a high voltage attack to break through his barrier and hit him as well. He’s barely breathing.”
“,” Kris cursed as he took Xiumin in his arms and quickly made his way to their infirmary, “Why didn’t you watch it?!”
Chen panicked as he ran after him with Sehun next to him, “I was! But then I saw a weak point in his barrier and kept throwing bolts at it when I saw an opportunity, and I took it! I didn’t mean to hit him in the process!”
He bit his lip as he skidded to a stop behind Kris as Sehun opened the door for them. Without Suho there, they couldn’t immediately heal or monitor their own or their friends’ health conditions. He watched as Kris instantly told the nurse what had happened who nodded and immediately started to work on getting Xiumin’s vitals and hooking him up to a machine.
“He’s exceptionally drained,” the nurse mumbled out after a few minutes before looking to them, “He should be fine though. He’s different like the rest of you.”
Chen let out a sigh of relief as Kris and Sehun did the same and nodded their heads in appreciation. He walked over to Xiumin only to have Sehun beat him to it and kneel on the ground next to the other in the bed. He didn’t mind. Sehun was the youngest and had an endearing attachment to all of them. He bit his lip as he looked over the youngest male’s shoulders and stared down at Xiumin’s sleeping face.
Kris sighed as the nurse finally left them to go do some other work before staring at the remainders of his group. He gave a lopsided smile when he saw Chen absentmindedly run his fingers through the sleeping man’s short hair, “So, when he wakes up, we’ll go see what Kai and Suho are up to.”
Sehun let out a short bark of laughter before turning around to face him, mirth dancing in his eyes, “You might be the one holding us back this time.”
xxx
“Suho?” Baekhyun questioned as he opened the door slightly and peeked inside, only to see him peacefully sleeping on the chair again, but Kai shifting around in his sheets. He furrowed his brows, “Kai?”
“Mmph,” came the disgruntled response before he turned and pulled down the blanket enough to open one sleepy eye at the other.
The action only caused the light user to laugh before fully entering the room and walking inside, “You’ve been asleep for almost three days.”
“Ngh,” Kai responded back before pulling the blanket back over his head and mumbling, “Still tired.”
Baekhyun smiled at the cute gesture, reminding him of Chanyeol briefly, before walking over to the other. Once he got close enough, his smile brightened before he grabbed an end of the blanket and tugged it clean off of Kai’s body, “Aren’t you hungry, teleportation user?”
Kai clenched his eyes shut and turned away from the other, now facing the back of the couch again. “Come back later, please,” his deep, groggy voice mumbled out as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and bent his legs a bit to get comfortable.
The other kept the smile on his face but sighed at the outcome. He really thought the other would be hungry by now. “Mm,” came another groggy voice, causing him to turn around and face Suho’s slowly awakening form. He stifled a laugh at how suddenly older the other looked when he was tired. “When he’s sleepy and tired… nothing can really get him up,” the other gave him a tired smile as he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes, “It’s sad really.”
“It’s not sad,” came Kai’s grumpy response, only lifting his head up the slightest bit to glare at his friend, “I just love my sleep.”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes as they slowly turned a lightning rod color and held a palm out, face up, “Do you really want me to use my power on you? You might regret it.”
“And why is that?” Kai muttered out, frown and tired eyes gracing his features, “You look like something I’ve seen before.”
“’Thing?’” he repeated out with a light frown to his face, “What ‘thing?’”
“Kai, get up,” Suho ordered lightly, slowly getting up from his own seat and stretching, releasing a few pops from his back and legs, “You need to eat.” He warily looked at Baekhyun, “And I don’t exactly want to see what Baekhyun’s power is.”
Baekhyun nodded in agreement, “You’re from the Night, so it’ll cause more damage probably.”
Kai frowned as he looked back up at him, turning to lie on his back. He eyed the blanket the other held in his free hand while the other was still palm up in the air, “What does that have to do with anything?”
“D.O’s cooking dinner this time,” Baekhyun said instead, watching with curious eyes as Kai’s eyes instantly widened at the statement. He slightly smirked, “Get up, lazy.”
And Suho sighed as Kai promptly whined and squirmed on the couch, “I don’t wanna.”
“What are you?” Baekhyun questioned, a bit exasperated, “A child?”
“Maybe,” Kai pouted out before water suddenly appeared out of nowhere and landed on his face. He yelped as he instantly sat up, wiping the water from his eyes and coughing out what landed unexpectedly in his throat. Baekhyun laughed as he glared at his friend, “Suho!”
The other two laughed some more as Kai slowly got up from the couch, stretching excessively to get the proper feelings and strength back into his limbs and back. Suho picked up his hand, palm face down, and acted like he was grabbing something before raising it up. Baekhyun watched curiously as his laughter died down and the water droplets that fell onto the couch became suspended in air. He looked to Suho, wondering what he was going to do with it.
Suho chuckled at the other’s expression, “Anybody you want to prank?”
And it just became official that Suho became Baekhyun’s new best friend.
Especially when Chanyeol’s scream could be heard throughout the whole kingdom.
“Dammit! Where the hell are you, water user?! I’m going to burn you into a crispy fried fish!”
a/n: i have nothing to say. oh. there's kaisoo in the next chapter as well as more luhan and chanyeol, i guess. yeah.
(Legends): otl. 400 subs?! this is truly amazing ;u; i want to give you guys something in return.. but what?? [02/02/2015]
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