(Updated powers list here)

dammit Luhan... Where are you?

Chen had been constantly losing his bearings the whole night. He couldn't focus on Luhan... Partly because he didn't have the nourishment, and also because he didn't have the energy.

Food... I need food...

Chen stumbled to a cafe, shakily pulling out notes from his pocket and dumping them onto the cashier before grabbing several packets of sandwiches and a can drink. Without bothering about change, he quickly devoured the food and left the shop. 

I can't do this... Chen leant heavily against a wall and tried to steady his breathing. I can't afford to waste time... But I need to rest. Fighting with his dilemma, Chen curled up on the ground to catch some sleep and recharge his body.


The next morning, Chen leapt up and quickly continued on, his mind refreshed and fully focused. Luhan is at a warehouse. That's where I need to go.

Chen reached the warehouse before noon, panting and huffing. He sprinted straight towards it, when suddenly a strange unknown force slammed into his body, hurling him backwards into the air.

He crashed onto the ground roughly. Cursing and rubbing his back, Chen sat up, disoriented and giddy. What was that??

As he laid on the ground trying to catch his breath, two men emerged from the warehouse, walking steadily up to him. One of the men snapped his finger suddenly, and they walked through what used to be the powerful force that repelled Chen.

Is he a being?

Once they had walked through that area, the man snapped once more, supposedly recreating the invisible barrier again.

The other man went up to Chen and knelt down. "Hello Chen, we haven't met before."

"Do I know you?" Chen spat at him angrily.

"Sure you do." He grinned. "Ahn Jung Won?"

Chen's eyes widened. His gaze flicked to the other man wearing a cap, watching him coolly with a lazy grin.

He's the evil force. Evil force, that's him.

"Do you know who he is?" Jung won gestured towards the other man.

Chen narrowed his eyes. "I know."

"You do?" Jung won seemed taken aback.

"You brought Kai, Tao and Suho into this universe, didn't you." Chen said quietly, staring him down. "This guy is just another one of them."

Jung won guffawed. "That's where you're wrong. Min here isn't just another one of them. Do you know how freaking hard it was to bring him over?!"

Chen knew. "He's powerful. Powerful beings require a lot of energy to bring over."

"Not only that, my dear Chen. On this universe, Min's doppelgänger is dead. Bringing over a being whose doppelgänger is dead is even harder."

Chen turn to look at the man, who hadn't said a single thing. 

Suddenly, he knew.

"You're Do MinJeok's doppelgänger."

Min's smile widened. "You're a smart boy... Luhan was totally freaked out when he saw me."

Luhan?! Luhan is in there!! Chen got up to his feet and ran towards the warehouse, but got thrown back by the immense force again.

Min was freaking powerful. If Chen was considered powerful, Min was almost a God.

Jung won's laugh rang incessantly in his ears. 

"We have been waiting for you to come, dear Chen. Min was getting hungry."

Hungry?!

"You don't know what Min is capable of doing, do you Chen?"

Chen turned to stare at Min, who loomed over him with a stern expression.

"What can you do...?" He asked, voice slightly trembling.

Min crouched down low, face to face with Chen, and he spoke. "I have Power , Chen. I'm sure you know what that is."

Chen gasped. Power was the most lethal power in the history of powers. It allowed the being to one's powers away from him permanently, leaving him powerless and almost as vulnerable as any normal human being on this universe. The worse part about the power was that those beings other's powers and grow stronger and stronger every time they use it. They would eventually become invincible and uncontrollable.

It was illegal to possess such a power, and babies born with it were quickly given therapy to remove it immediately. 

So why did Min have this power?

"I was spared. My parents paid the doctors to overlook me, and hence I have retained this power." Min spoke, as if reading his thoughts. 

"I give you a choice, Chen. You either run away now, or I'll away your powers forever and ever, but you get to be with your Princess. How does that sound?!"


A bitter feeling rose in Chen's throat. 

"An evil force is breaking onto this universe, Chen. If you don't leave Luhan and hide yourself, you will get destroyed by it. And if you get destroyed, the evil force wins because you are the sole reason that holds everything in place."

Now Chen understood why the boy told him to hide himself. The boy knew about Min's power, and how Min could destroy beings with just a blink of his eye. The boy didn't want him to get crushed by Min. The boy had warned him.

The boy had warned him to escape this fate.

Chen had a choice to run, a choice to save his sorry , a choice to escape and leave his loved one in the hands of these two cruel, heartless and dangerous people.

"You know what?" Chen smirked at Min, all his fear dissipating. "Over my dead body."

Min doubled over, his body shaking into shocks of laughter. 

"As you wish, my dear."

He pressed his hand hard against Chen's skull, and all at once there was a blinding burst of energy that jolted his brain, electrical currents darting and zapping every nerve in his body, twitching every muscle, flames raging and every bone. 

Let him destroy me. I don't care.

Chen screamed in pain.

                                                                                    ***

Luhan sat up in shock when he heard the piercing scream. It was hoarse, roughened but extremely familiar.

"Chen!!!"

What were they doing to Chen? are they killing him?!

Then he remembered Ahn Jung won’s words. "Don't worry because even if he comes we'll destroy him." 

No no no no!!!! They can't destroy Chen!! Nooooooo!!

There was a dead silence that followed. Luhan held his breath, his heart aching along with the rest of his body, his mind screaming Chen's name endlessly.

No... Don't tell me they killed him... No...


A short while later, Jung won entered with a body slung over his shoulders.

"Princess Luhan!! Your Prince Charming has come to rescue you, but apparently we destroyed him first!!" Jung won flung Chen's limp body on the ground, grinning triumphantly. Luhan felt his heart break. Chen... Is he still alive?

As of answering his thoughts, Jung won chuckled. "Don't worry Princess, he's not dead. But guess what? The foolish boy traded all his extraordinary powers for an opportunity to be with you!! How touching is that!!" 

Wait. What?!

Traded all his powers? Chen is powerless now?!

Opportunity to be with me?!

Luhan glared at MinJeok, who was standing by the door watching him with half-lidded eyes.

That isn't Do MinJeok. The real Do MinJeok is dead.

That's his equally reckless, power-hungry and extremely dangerous doppelgänger, Min.


Chen groaned, and Luhan started wriggling towards him desperately.

"Awww...." Jung won squished up his face and cooed, causing Min to burst into laughter.

"Come on, let's leave these two together." 

Jung won hooked an arm around Min's and they left the room.


"Chen... Chen..." Luhan gasped, finally reaching Chen. He leaned over to rub his nose on the back of Chen's neck. Chen groaned again and stirred, twisting his frail body to face Luhan.

Chen's face was extremely pale and gaunt. His eyes were a lacklustre dull brown and they were blank and expressionless. 

"Why... Did you do this?" Luhan whispered.

Chen didn't reply. He just stared, emotionless, at Luhan.

"You could've escaped. You shouldn't have come." Luhan's voice cracked, and he averted his gaze from Chen's blank gaze. 

"You think I could've left you here alone?" Chen muttered slowly and painfully.

"But... They destroyed you..."

"So what. My powers mean nothing to me."

"Chen..."

"Powers or not, it's my job to protect you. That's final."

Luhan sighed in exasperation. "How are you going to protect me if you're so severely weakened like this?!"

Chen didn't have a reply. He closed his eyes and his breathing evened out. 

Luhan watched him sleep, watched as he drew breath after breath, the way his lungs wheezed and his breathing hitched every once in a while showed how much in pain he was in. Luhan knew Chen was badly injured - he had possessed twelve powers before, and now he had none. That must have taken away a great deal of his inner strength, and now that they were all gone, he was hollow and extremely weak.

Luhan cursed himself over and over again.

                                                                                    ***

"HOW COULD YOU HAVE LET HIM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT?!"

Chanyeol had never seen Baekhyun so agitated in his life. The shorter boy was screaming and hurling things at him and crying hysterically.

Chanyeol wrapped his arms around Baekhyun, while the other boy pounded uselessly against his chest. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..."

"I hate you!!" Baekhyun wailed.

"I know... I hate myself too."

Baekhyun sniffled. "Have you called Chen?"

Chanyeol stiffened. "Not yet." He let go of Baekhyun and quickly pulled out his phone, dialling Chen's number. There was no ringtone. Chanyeol sighed. "His phone isn't charged."

Baekhyun looked up at him tearfully. "This is serious. We have to call the police."

Chanyeol hesitated. He knew that this was something the police shouldn't get involved in. He looked down at Baekhyun and squared his shoulders. Maybe, Baekhyun has a right to know about everything.

"Baekhyun, I need to tell you something."

                                                                                    ***

Luhan was shaken awake by Jung won the next day, and he crouched beside him with a big grin. "Hello Princess." He cocked an eyebrow.

Luhan struggled to sit up. Jung won threw him a pitiful glance. "I'll remove your rope if you promise not to attack me." 

Luhan nodded sullenly, and he untied Luhan's limbs. The boy collapsed back on the ground, rubbing his aching wrists and ankles. Then, he realised Chen was nowhere in sight.

"Where is he?!" He demanded angrily.

"Min took him out for a walk. Anyway..." Jung won waved his protests off. "I want to talk to you about something."

"What?!" Luhan snapped at him.

"Have you ever wondered why am I doing all this, my dear Luhan?"

All this? "You mean meddling with the parallel universe?"

"Yes." Jung won grinned, happy that Luhan caught on so quickly.

"I'm not just playing around for fun, Luhan. I have a mission. We had a mission. We being..." Jung won leaned closer with a nasty smirk, "Me, Do MinJeok and your father."

Luhan gasped. My father?! My father worked with Do MinJeok and Ahn Jungwon?!

Jung won continued on with a bitter expression.

"We swore in an oath to always stick together, thick and thin, until we completed our mission. Our mission, Luhan, was to destroy the barriers between the parallel universes and let the other universe overtake this universe."

"Why...?" Luhan found himself asking.

"Because this would grant us power and popularity. We crave them, Luhan. All humans do so, don't we?"

Luhan bit his lip. That's not true...

"So, your father was in charge of getting the knowledge of illegally obtaining powers to send beings over to this universe. I must say he did a pretty good job in retrieving those information. But then you know what happened?!"

Luhan squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to know, but it was painfully obvious.

"He BETRAYED us. He refused to share the knowledge with us. He wanted the power and fame to himself. HE BROKE THE OATH!!" 

Jung won's eyes blazed with anger and fury. 

"MinJeok and I were furious. So we killed him. We searched his office all over but we couldn't find the documents. So we went to your house, and got the documents from your mother. Then we killed her."

Luhan gasped at the painful memory of watching his innocent mother get shot right in front of him, the blank look in her eyes, the way she collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Umma...

"MinJeok was caught. Before he handed himself in, he passed me the documents and made me swear to destroy the barrier by myself. It was tough, and I was afraid. But MinJeok told me to keep practising, and one day bring his doppelgänger over to this universe as his replacement. That's what I did."

A faraway look crossed Jung won's eyes. 

"The biggest regret in MinJeok's life was that he didn't say good bye to his baby son. His son grew up hating him."

Luhan looked down, remaining silent as Jung won continued.

"I considered recruiting his son to help me, but he is as stubborn as a mule. So..." Jung won raked his body over Luhan with interest, "I want you to assist me."

Luhan's jaw dropped open. What?! Me assist this crazy dude to do such a reckless cold-blooded mission?

Jung won looked puzzled. "Would you rather I kill you instead?"

Luhan swallowed his saliva. Jung won grinned. 

"I'll wait for your answer, Luhan... Happy thinking."

Jung won got up, and stepped towards the door. As he was approaching it, it swung open and Min entered with Chen.

"You were terribly right, Jung ah." Min grumbled, pushing Chen towards Luhan roughly. "He refused to help us. Even after I electrocuted him seven times."

Luhan's heart stuttered in shock. Electrocuted seven times?! Chen crawled into Luhan's arms and pressed his head against Luhan's neck, not saying a word.

Jung won snickered. "Don't worry, he'll give in soon enough. Both of them will help us soon enough. If they don't, then... I'll just have to kill them both." 

Min grinned and nodded in agreement. He went over to the two of them and set down a box.

"Better eat, my dear. I don't want you to starve..." Laughing, he went out of the warehouse with Jung won.


Luhan nudged Chen frantically. "Chen, are you alright? What did he do to you? Chen!! Talk to me!!"

Chen lifted his head from Luhan's neck aggravatingly slow, as if every movement hurt his body. His mouth dropped open but nothing came out.

Luhan realised with a pang that it wasn't that Chen didn't want to talk to him. It was that Chen couldn't even talk.

                                                                                    ***

It was around two days later before Chen found his voice again. 

He was pushed to the ground after a terrible episode of torture from Min. Min was way way stronger than he had anticipated. Maybe it was because he didn't have his powers anymore, which made him considerably weaker towards any power. 

Min had a terrifying power called Inner Pain. When he unleashed it, jolts of immense pain would strike you and reduce you to a screaming pulp on the floor. It doesn't kill, but it is so psychologically damaging to a person.

Chen, however, was still a being, despite having been stripped of his powers. That alone made him slightly more resilient towards to the attacks. Furthermore, he had a protective mind barrier, and that helped him keep his sanity. If not for that, Chen would've gone stark raving mad by now.

"Ugh." He groaned.

Luhan ran up to him and scooped him up in his arms. "Chen!! Your voice is back."

"Hggnmff", he replied, muffling his yelps of pain as Luhan carried him back to the corner of the warehouse.

Chen had made Min and Jung won swear to never ever touch or torture Luhan. If anything, he would take the torture for Luhan. Luhan didn't know about this, and he never ever wanted him to know. 

"Why does Min keep hurting you..." Luhan hugged him close, as he struggled to breathe. "Why doesn't he hurt me?!"

"N-no..." Chen managed to rasp, leaning into Luhan's hold. He coughed a little, and winced.

Luhan sighed. "Stop holding back, Chen. I know it hurts, I know every movement hurts, so stop holding back and putting up the pretence and just cry already."

Chen shook his head, but he found his tears pouring down his cheeks uncontrollably. Luhan held him close as he whimpered into his shoulder.

"Luhan... I'm sorry."

Luhan pulled away, his eyes swimming with sadness. 

"Chen. Let's just give in to them."

Chen opened his mouth to protest, but Luhan beat him to it.

"I can't stand him breaking you day by day. It has been almost four days, Chen. Please..."

Chen shook his head slowly. "I can't go against my own universe..."

"But I can't just sit here and watch you DIE in front of my eyes!!" Luhan shrieked.

"Consider it a sacrifice..."

"Rubbish!!" Luhan pressed his lips against Chen's softly. "I'm not allowing that to happen. Tomorrow I will tell them we're ready."

Chen sighed. He was too tired to fight anymore.

                                                                                    ***

Chanyeol opened the door when the doorbell rang. Baekhyun peered out from behind his back.

"Umm..."

"Hello, is Luhan in?" A cute doe-eyed boy with heart-shaped lips asked, with a small smile.

The colour drained from Chanyeol's face, and he shook his head.

"Is... There something wrong?" The boy asked.

Chanyeol chewed on his lips, and Baekhyun sighed. "I... He disappeared into thin air..."

The cute boy's smile vanished abruptly. "Disappeared, you say?" He blinked. "And Chen?"

"He's... He's missing as well..."

"Oh he went in the end! Damn it!!" The boy cursed inwardly with a scowl, and ran off.

Chanyeol blinked. He didn't think such a cute boy would actually let swear words roll off his tongue so easily. Baekhyun nudged him. "Who could he be?"

Chanyeol shrugged, "I don't even have a clue..."

They watched as the cute boy jabbed impatiently at the lift button, muttering, "If he does anything to them I'm going to slaughter his head!!"

There is certainly something strange about this boy.

A/N: So the whole luhan parents issue is revealed!! :) everything will end soon :'( kinda sad...

Anyway.

MERRY X'MAS EVERYONE!!

Here's EXO for y'all :D

Cr: whoever made this.

It's so freakin cute!!! xDD

They are so adorable. Like omfg xD

X'mas is also my birthday! :D So happy birthday to me!! And also to leonumb3891 whose birthday is one day after mine! HAPPY BDAY TO YOUU :D

*showers everyone with presents* 

Happy a merry xmas everyone, see you guys after christmas!! ***go stuffs myself with birthday cake***