POV: JR

We've been in the storehouse for three days now, or at least what seems like three days since there's no way to measure the hours here...

We spent the first day without moving at all. Resting, recovering. We picked a corner within the tons of boxes and settled in. This place is enormous.

After the first day – or an indefinite number of hours that may well have been twenty-four – Aron's arm wound closed up, the effects of the gas Ren inhaled wore off completely, and Baekho woke up. And we realized that our supply of food wouldn't last long and that we had run out of water.

Then started the expeditions.

We divided ourselves and set out to explore the storehouse in groups, searching for anything that would be useful to us. And it went well.

We found lamps and lanterns, perfect since this whole place is dark and we couldn't abuse Ren's power too much. We had already taken advantage of his light enough the first day.

We found more uniforms, so we could give one to Ren and, even though he refused to put it on, he did accept to keep it in case we had to disguise ourselves again.

We found weapons. Scores of batons that no longer had any electricity and entire boxes full of working bullets. We kept the latter.

We found food! A huge cooling room, full enough to overflow, with a direct path to the kitchens of the floor above. We blocked it off as well as we could.

But, without a doubt, the most important findings were two.

The first was water. Aron found it when – whether by chance or desperation – he broke a pipe. Lucky for us he hit the one with clean water. It would've been horribly disgusting otherwise. The problem was finding a way to close it off again and we wouldn't have been able to do it if it weren't for our powers. Minhyun held back the water while Aron bent back a piece of metal to cover it with the help of Baekho's voice. An excellent botched job.

And the second – the one I value the most even though it appears to be less important – are the mattresses. I have no idea what they were used for before, but after so many months of sleeping while being held up by cables I honestly didn't care. I just thanked god that they were left there and flopped down to sleep in the softest place I'd been on in a long time...

            POV: Ren

I try not to laugh when I see JR lying down on his precious mattresses once again. Ever since we found them, he throws himself on them at every opportunity. He looks like a little kid. But I'm not the only one who's watching him. That assassin is too. She must be planning how to murder him. It doesn't surprise me that she'd go after him first. I suppose he's the most dangerous to them.

She doesn't take her eyes off our lunatic. It puts my nerves on end.

I get up and sit beside JR on the mattress. I can't be the only one who notices that she's planning something.

"Hey, JR, that... her. She's staring at you a lot... she must be planning something."

He turns to look at me with a teasing grin.

"Maybe she likes me. Come on, seriously Ren. Stop thinking badly of Lime. Don't be paranoid."

He ing knew then.

"I'm not paranoid! You guys are the blind ones!"

"Look, I know that you've haven't met Nara and that you've had especially bad experiences with guards but that doesn't mean that they're all cruel and heartless, alright?"

There's nothing that can be done. They don't want to see her true intentions just because she's a 'kind girl'. Three days have passed since we got here and she's still acting like a good person. I'm sure she'll betray us. No one believes me but I'm more sure with each passing day.

Shortly after we arrived, JR's fever went back up and we discovered that the second container of pills for fever had disappeared. We tried to lower his fever with rags and cold water. It wasn't working but we couldn't do much else so I went to get one of the uniform jackets to cover him with from where we'd tossed them in a corner. I was digging through the jackets when a box fell from one of the pockets. The pills. What were they doing there? Who would grab them and place them in a pocket? Someone who didn't want us to find them, someone who would want JR to get worse. That one. It was her. I know it.

She tries to get close to me. She wants me to fall into her trap too. The other day we explored the storehouse together and she had her good girl smile on, pretending to worry about me.

Damn ... It gets on my nerves to see her flirting with that idiot JR. I already have enough of a headache. I stand to go on another expedition of our surroundings. I don't feel like making them think I'm paranoid by screaming and insulting her. And if I sit around much longer I'll fall asleep... I need to do things. What more can I find that'll be useful? Hmm... Ah! I can sort through the medications we have left. Yes, I'll do that.

            POV: Baekho

The dark circles under his bloodshot eyes are deeply marked onto his skin. He can barely keep his eyes open. He yawns and rubs his face in an attempt to fend off sleep, but he keeps saying he doesn't want to sleep.

He doesn't stay still. He's always doing something. Looking for food, fixing up our improvised refuge (that now appears like a small cabin within this immense room), counting again and again our medical reserves, the weapons. This is starting to become obsessive.

"Rennie, you have to sleep."

He shakes his head feverishly, like he wants to show me that he's fine.

"No; I'm not sleepy."

You don't believe that any more than I do.

"But I am..." I say with a tone of voice that's more... sensual? Oh god. What am I doing? "Why don't you come keep me company?"

I lay down on the mattress and pat the empty space beside me, calling to him. God, how embarrassing. I know the others are staring and... No, Baek, don't blush!

I swallow, nervous, but in the end he gets up and comes to me, laying down at my side, hiding his red face in my arms.

I smile and his hair while I begin to hum a soft melody, ignoring the surprised and teasing looks of my companions.

He closes his eyes, his breathing slows, his grasp loosens. It's working. Minhyun smiles approvingly. JR also smiles at my idea. Finally our hyperactive blond is still.

Minutes later, when Ren is completely asleep, JR approaches and asks me in a soft voice if I feel strong enough for another expedition.

"We want to see how things are upstairs, if they're looking for us, how to get to the control room to open the doors, what they've done with the children, etcetera."

The children. Kids they've doped up with our powers to create more 'magicians' like us. That's why they always gave us routine checkups, to investigate our powers to be able to recreate them. And it looks like it worked. Two have survived the tests, a boy and a girl. And, evidently, we're not going to leave them here when we leave.

"Yeah, I think I can. I'll come."

He moves away and I say goodbye to Ren with a gentle kiss to his forehead, careful not to wake him.

JR, Lime, and I walk away, leaving Minhyun and Aron to take care of the refuge as well as of Ren. We head to the area below the main offices so that I'll be able to sense them.

I had abused my power. I had forced it past my limits and I'm paying the price. My head has been hurting for three days and it's been impossible to open my mind or control anything with my voice. But now it appears that I can use it again. Just like the others, I've recovered, and now we're going to take action once again.

            POV: Aron

Once our comrades are off on their expedition, we're left in silence in our refuge. Minhyun is sitting with his back against the wall, watching Ren with affection. Brotherly. With a sweet smile, glad that his friend has finally managed to fall asleep.

I'm left to sit there, fascinated, looking at his pretty eyes, his dark hair, his perfectly shaped lips... Those lips. I'm dying to taste them again... To bite them, them, kiss them...

Wait. We're alone, aren't we? Well, with Ren, but he's asleep. My lips stretch into a somewhat lustful grin. It'll be a matter of not waking him.

I scoot closer to my boy and sit beside him. He turns his head to look at me and gives me a beautiful smile. I could die with that smile. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

I slide an arm behind his back to hug him. He moves closer to me and leans his head against my shoulder. I love feeling the warmth of his body so close to me, his accelerated heart. Whenever we hold one another, it feels as if everything is perfect, that we're the only ones who exist, that everything will turn out alright.

Ever since we arrived to this storage space, we've practically not had any time to ourselves. First because we were much too beaten up, and then we were much too occupied with exploring this place and looking for everything necessary for our refuge.

"Know what? I've been wanting to have time alone with you."

He lifts his head to look me in the eyes before replying. And I feel as if I'm lost in those dark eyes. Then he looks away, blushing.

"I wanted to be alone with you too. I love you."

He says the last three words in a soft whisper, as if he's scared someone other than me will hear them.

I can't hold back anymore. Holding him isn't enough. He's much too beautiful. I need to feel the taste of his lips and the touch of his skin. I grab his chin with one hand and make him raise his head to look at me.

"I love you, Minhyun. You're the best thing that's happened to me."

Before he can respond, I cover his lips with mine and begin to massage them slowly. He immediately reacts and returns the kiss, quickening the rhythm. I feel his teeth bite my bottom lip and his tongue quickly follow to wet the reddening skin. I'm unable to resist him. I open my mouth to find his tongue with mine, to start that warm dance of soft and energetic touches. I place a hand on the nape of his neck to deepen the kiss, moving my tongue over every corner of his mouth. He doesn't put up any resistance and let's a soft gasp escape his lips. This is too much.

I separate our mouths for a moment and, before he has the chance to say anything, I push him onto his back on the mattress. My knees are on either side of his hips and my hands on both sides of his head, leaving me totally on top of his body. And I kiss him hungrily again. And he returns it with the same intensity.

Without breaking the kiss, I slip a hand underneath his shirt to touch his torso. He shivers a bit from my cold hand on his perfect skin, and I love it. I touch him slowly, almost like a tickle, but without stopping. And these touches become faster and more needy by the second. I make sure not to leave any centimeter of his skin untouched, and when I'm done with his stomach I move up to his chest. As I move my hand, his shirt also lifts up, leaving his torso uncovered. He releases a few moans but doesn't resist, lets it happen. I love this.

I break the kiss at last only to move my mouth to his chest. I begin to and bite his skin, leaving a few red marks in an attempt to mark this body as mine. I trace his torso with my tongue. I entertain myself with his s, with tracing his muscles. And I hear him moan, very softly. He moans for me.

            POV: Minhyun

I feel Aron's tongue on my skin, his warm breath, his teasing hands...

I can't think, can't rationalize whether what we're doing is good or wrong. Each time he touches me, each time he kisses me, my brain's rational part disconnects and I can't think of anything that isn't the desire for him to continue, for him not to stop, for him to cover my body in touches and kisses... I love his warmth, the taste of his lips, the touch of his hands over my skin... I'm so happy right now that I wish time would stop.

Pleasure-filled moans want to escape from my throat, and although I tried to hold back at first, right now I'm unable to and let them out, each one louder than before, each one coming faster than the last.

I lose myself completely to pleasure, unable to do anything. I give him total control of my body. I don't want him to stop.

"Before you two get too excited and traumatize me... I'll have you know that I'm awake."

It can't be.

            POV: Ren

I sit up and open my eyes completely, no longer pretending to be asleep. Min stares at me, his face completely red and his shirt up to his shoulders, still lying beneath Aron who hasn't reacted yet either and looks at me like he's just seen a ghost. He reacts abruptly, getting off Min in an instant, smoothing out his clothes with a nervous laugh. Our druggie takes a while longer and when he does, he hides behind his boyfriend while trying to pull his shirt back into place. I can't help but laugh.

"Bu-but you... weren't you asleep?!"

I try to stop laughing so I can reply but I can't. Their bewildered and embarrassed faces are too much. It's been years since I've laughed this way.

"Don't laugh!"

"The way you moan is very interesting, druggie."

Min's face goes brighter red than before, something that hardly seemed possible, but a erted grin spreads across Aron's face. I have to make a superhuman effort to not laugh again.

"I know right? I like it too."

"Okay enough! That's not the topic here! Why aren't you sleeping?"

Tsk, what a way to change the topic. I'm not going to forget it so easily. Hearing suspicious noises, opening my eyes worriedly and finding that scene... Oh no, I'm not going to forget it. Besides, what does it matter to them if I sleep or not? It's my body, my decision.

"I don't want to. I'm not sleepy."

"How are you not sleepy when you've gone nearly four days without sleeping?"

"It's true, blondie. Your eye bags reach your neck..."

So exaggerated! How could they reach my neck? I can't have such big dark circles, right? I hope I don't look too bad. It's just four days. I don't think it's that bad.

And not sleeping has its good points too. I can watch Baekho while he sleeps. Memorize every detail in his face, his lips, with that happy smile, although I have to use all my strength to hold back the urge to kiss him, to take advantage of the fact that he's sleeping.

"I'm just a bit tired. I'll be fine... I just don't want to sleep."

"A bit tired? You must be exhausted!"

"You should sleep. It's been days since you've slept. You're exhausted and, on top of that, you've spoiled our fun."

"Shut up, Aron! I said that that's not the topic!" Minhyun looks like he wants to go hide underneath a rock but this time he controls himself and tries to put on a serious face. Ha, how am I supposed to take him seriously now? "Come now, Ren, why did you pretend to fall asleep?"

"Isn't it obvious? If I didn't pretend, Baekho would've continued to worry and wouldn't have left. It's that simple."

"And why don't you want to sleep? What's wrong?"

, how thickheaded. What I don't understand is how they can sleep so calmly. They're all so close to being relaxed enough to snore!

"I... can't. You all trust blindly in that woman. I have to make sure she doesn't kill us in our sleep! How am I going to sleep when there's an armed guard close by?"

"But, Ren, Lime is good. Why would she save us if she wanted to kill us? She could've done so when she found us. We were defenseless."

Lime is good, Lime helps us... Of course, since we've known her our whole lives. Ah, no, we only met her a few days ago and she's a damn guard. A small overlooked detail.

"Aron's right. It doesn't make sense for Lime to betray us now. Besides, if that's the problem, why don't you sleep now? She's not here and the rest of us are awake and we're strong enough to defend ourselves if she tries something."

"You'd have your guard down because you trust in her! Besides, even if I wanted to... I can't sleep."

"If you're that worried about Lime, we'll promise to be more alert of her movements while you sleep..."

"There's something else, right, blondie? There's something you haven't told us. It's not just because of Lime..."

Sometimes I don't know if it was such a good idea to become friends with Minhyun. He knows me too well... I guess I can't trick him, although I was able to trick Baekho and all the others. He won't give up...

"It's nothing, just that... each time I close my eyes... I see the guard shooting Baekho, and my dream. Those images repeat themselves again and again... I'm scared to sleep and dream again. I can't..."

Minhyun moves over to me and hugs me. I let him and lean my head against his shoulder. I'm thankful to him for it but it's not his arms I want right now. And he doesn't understand it, he doesn't understand how close that dream is to becoming real between opening and closing my eyes.

"Ren, you know that wasn't real. It was just a nightmare... Baekho is fine. Nothing bad will happen to him. We'll get out of this together—"

"How do you know? How do you know guards won't come here at any moment to kill us? Or when we leave here... What if they trap us? No, until we're safe I won't be able to rest."

"So you prefer to stay awake? Who knows how long it'll take to get out of here. Do you want to die of..."

I stop listening to the druggie and his boyfriend when I see Baekho arrive at last. With a precious smile, safe and sound. He looks even better, happier than ever. He's returned!

"Baekho! You're back! Is everything okay? Any problems? Did you find guards?"

            POV: Aron

I think I'm hallucinating. Who the hell is Ren talking to? Baekho? But... Baekho's not here. He hasn't come back yet.

Ren smiles happily while he looks at some fixed point in the room. But there's no one there. Where does he see Baekho? I don't understand.

I look at Min with questioning eyes to make sure I'm not going crazy and that I can't even see things anymore... But he's also staring at the scene and, judging by his face, he's just as or more confused than I am.

Okay, I'm not the one with the problem. Ren's the one who's seeing things that aren't there. Is he... Is he hallucinating?

            POV: JR

Lime has been explaining to me the structure of the offices. I think I've gotten a pretty good idea of what it's like, but even so it'd be better that Baekho 'sees' it too. Four eyes see more than two. And this way we'll be able to see what they're doing up there.

This woman is helping us a lot. I know Ren still doesn't trust her, and I don't understand why. She didn't have any obligation to help us and she's doing so much for us...

She looks at me, smiles, and her smile reminds me of another sweeter one. Alice... What's happened to her? I hope she recovers. I hope she's okay. I'm thinking of her a lot lately. How she took care of me, how I attacked her... I remember her scream, I remember the blood, I remember her expression when her precious smile disappeared, and the blood...

"JR..." A hand on my shoulder wakes me. I blink and see Baekho staring, now more curious than worried. "Are you okay?"

I nod.

"Yeah, sorry." I say to calm him. "I hate that this keeps happening to me..."

"It's fine," he smiles, "it's happening less frequently and it's much easier to snap you out of it now."

"Yeah, luckily."

Lime waits a few meters ahead of us. I smile at her and we continue walking, following her.

"Hey..." I say, "Thank you for... always waking me..."

He chuckles.

"Hey now, don't thank me."

"I honestly think we have a lot to thank you for, Baekho. I mean, all of us. If it weren't for you, we'd still be in our cages."

"I mean it, don't thank me for that." He cuts me off. "The intention is what counts and in my case, my motives were a bit... selfish. You know, the only thing I wanted was to get Ren out of here. Don't misunderstand me," he adds a bit nervously, "I'm very happy to have met you all and you're the best comrades I could've asked for but... well, in the beginning I just wanted there to be a lot of us so we could escape and... I feel bad if you thank me for that..."

His words make me smile. He seems adorable when he apologizes for something like that. I understand what he's saying perfectly. He didn't know us. Why would he want to free us? The only thing his little spiel has made me understand is how much he loves our blond, and that makes me curious.

"How did you meet Ren? If you don't mind saying, of course..."

"Of course not." He smiles. "Although I wouldn't know where to start. First of all, you know I have two abilities. The two are related but they're still separate. When I got here, I only knew about my voice and I tried to use it to escape an infinite amount of times, only managing to make them keep closer watch of me. Until I realized that it was pointless and that if I wanted to escape, I'd have to plan things carefully. I kept still and quiet, making them trust me, and I discovered my second power."

"Boys," Lime calls us, "I think it's here."

She points to the ceiling and Baekho closes his eyes for a second and nods.

"I can see it..." He opens his eyes again and continues walking. "Should I continue?"

"If it doesn't distract you too much..."

"I don't need to concentrate too much." He responds, shrugging off the importance. "So I discovered my second ability and, with a bit of practice, I learned to sense my surroundings. Around that time, there were two more people in cages. Aron and the boy of ice, and they frustrated me because neither one wanted to fight. They had both given up. I couldn't believe that they'd accept being here, that they wouldn't even try to escape. And then Ren arrived, causing problems from the first moment." He smiles. "He barely even knew how to use his power, but he defended himself with tooth and nail. They had to chain him up, and even then he didn't give in. His strength impressed me, his desire to get out of here, his refusal to give up. He inspired me and I decided I'd escape with him. I met Nara and found a way to communicate with them. My notes never made it to Aron and the other one couldn't respond since he was completely restrained. But Ren did. Ren responded to my note and we started to talk. The paper planes traveled daily. We told each other everything, we made plans for the future and... well, you know the rest. Should we go back?"

"Eh?" I'd gotten so caught up in his story that I forgot what we were doing for a moment. "Oh... you don't need to see anything more?"

He shakes his head and shrugs.

"The guards are still going through rooms without a clue as to where we are. They haven't touched the kids; they're still in their cage. I already had a general picture of the offices. I've already seen what I couldn't remember clearly. When we return, I'll draw it so you guys can see it. I don't think I've missed anything..."

"Okay, let's go back then."