[CONTENTID1]

twenty-six: capture the flag part one [/CONTENTID1][CONTENTID2]

["You sure like causing trouble, tomato girl."] [/CONTENTID2][CONTENTID3]

Pain seemed particularly vicious that day, as he glared at Juyeon with enough ferocity to send her cowering to the benches.

"Alright, brats," he shouted. "We have a special game today by the name of capture the flag." He waited for all the cheers to die down and continued with, "The rules are obvious: no killing or severe maiming, or you can enjoy detention for a full day. Your gifts are allowed. The objective is to take the flag and bring it back to your side."

"How will the teams be divided, sir?" someone shouted from the crowd of PCs. Juyeon had a feeling why they were asking. Considering how close the Exo were, they'd surely be in a group together if they had a choice. And if the Exo were together, the other team wouldn't stand a chance.

Pain rolled his eyes. "You think I haven't thought about that, maggot?" he snarled. "You go to one side, you—the other side. Now you—you—and you—you—" He pointed at each student, and with a flick of his wrist sent them off to one side of the gymnasium. He did it cleverly, and Juyeon couldn't help but admire how he divided up each team to have a roughly equal balance of strengths. The Exo were also split up: Suho, Sehun, and D.O were on one team, Kai and Chanyeol on another.

Pain stopped and frowned. Having counted out the teams with him, Juyeon knew why. With the absence of Baekhyun, the teams were uneven. His cold eyes flickered over to her direction, and a smile slowly spread across his face. Juyeon froze.

"You! Normal!" he bellowed. "Come here. You're joining the game."

There were a few jeers, and a few students even looked excited at the prospect of being allowed to hurt Juyeon. She slowly made her way to Kai and Chanyeol's team, feeling like her movements were stiff and rusty. Pain had openly fantasized of placing Juyeon in a position where she could be 'accidentally' killed, and this might be his day.

Juyeon knew not everybody hated her as much anymore, especially in her own class, so she expected it when a few of her classmates looked a little disconcerted and unsure. She didn't expect the Exo to look so shocked though. Chanyeol, Kai and Suho seemed openly worried, eyes wide and nervous. D.O shifted his feet uncomfortably. Sehun looked directly at her, face unreadable, but something flashed in his eyes.

Sumi was the most surprising. She stormed right up to Pain, a cloud of angry pink and black colours. "Sir, there has to be a better way than this," she insisted. "It makes much more sense for one of the other team's members to sit out to balance the teams instead. I could, if you'd like."

"I'd rather not," Pain said icily. "You may be the principal's special pet, but I don't think you can bluff your way out of this one. Now go and put on your jersey." When she glared at him and didn't move, he gritted his yellowing teeth together. "Now, girl."

Sumi spun around and stomped back to her team. Juyeon hesitated, staring at the exchange, until Chanyeol pushed a red jersey into her hands. "Here, Juyeon. Suit up." He tried to smile, but failed. He seemed extra nervous.

Juyeon took off her jacket and pulled the jersey over her head. It smelled of dry, musty sweat, and she wrinkled her nose. "I'm not even properly dressed for a game," she said half-heartedly. How was she supposed to run around and survive in a skirt?

"Pain already made sure of that," Chanyeol said, pushing another article of clothing into her hands—a pair of generic, nondescript track pants. "I think he's been planning this, to be honest."

Juyeon rolled her eyes, fed up with the gym teacher from hell. "I could see that happening." To Chanyeol's extreme embarrassment, Juyeon pulled the trackpants on right there and then. She probably looked ridiculous, in a white collared shirt and dark pleated skirt with trackpants all bunched up underneath. But Juyeon wasn't here to look pretty.

"Right, let's take down those sons of es and win this," she said, trying to sound pumped. It worked, to an extent, and Chanyeol's grin returned.

The crowds of students all began to exit the gymnasium through the glass wall's doors outside. Juyeon walked with Kai and Chanyeol. "Wouldn't it be easy for us to win?" she asked them curiously. "I mean, Chanyeol's fire can easily cause trouble, and Kai could just teleport to the flag and back."

Kai laughed, tossing an arm around her shoulders which she immediately pushed off. "It's not that simple, darling," he said. "Ol' Pain was in the military before this, and he knows his strategies. He made it so we Exo couldn't pull an advantage with our wicked- powers."

If Kai was trying to impress her, Juyeon wasn't paying attention. She tried to see how he split it up. Chanyeol? That meant Sehun's wind powers wouldn't be as effective around Chanyeol, since the wind would just make the fire burn even more. D.O, too, was at a disadvantage around fire. Suho stopped that with his control over water. But Kai? Juyeon couldn't see how Pain would be able to block Kai's gift. His teleportation could end the game in mere seconds.

The blue team—the enemies—had already disappeared into the forest and across the lake. Pain gave a rough estimate of the red team's boundary line, which was roughly three-quarters of the lake and half of the forest. Juyeon was struck by exactly how much land the Academia owned. She knew the Academia was big, but from what Pain was saying they controlled practically the entire area, up until the nearest town many miles away.

Juyeon wondered how the Academia had so much money, then shook her head. That wasn't important. Staying alive for the game was more important. She had seen the look on some of the PCs faces: they weren't messing around today. A few would be actively trying to hurt her.

"Just stay close to me, darling," Kai said, noticing the look on her face. "I can protect you."

Juyeon snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure, Kai. Maybe you should teleport me up into a tree or something, keep me out of trouble. Or knock me out; maybe they'll think I died and ignore me."

Kai shook his head at her. "Do you really think I'll let you get hurt?" Juyeon was startled out of her sarcasm by the sudden honesty in Kai's voice. "Seriously. You're one of us now. Our friend. Just stay close to me, and I'll make sure those blues don't do anything to you."

She wasn't sure if he knew something changed or not, but she could see it clearly. Kai wasn't teasing her or playing his stupid games; he was telling the truth, in such a clear, simple way that was surprisingly very sweet. She felt her face grow warm. "Um, thanks?"

Kai blinked, and seemed to realize what had happened. Almost instantly, Juyeon saw him close in on himself once more, put on a mask she never noticed he wore until now, and he gave her one of those sleazy, flirty smiles. "Maybe you can offer me a kiss for my services?" he teased ruthlessly. "Anything could happen in that forest, you know."

"Go to hell, creep," Juyeon said, but her retort wasn't at full strength. She was still so jarred by seeing that new Kai. Was his flirtatious jerkass ways just a façade? Or was that moment of sweet simplicity a new way for him to get under her skin? What was he hiding?

Kai seemed to have noticed her change in attitude, and opened his mouth to say something, but Chanyeol burst in-between them. "Stop standing around like lemons," he complained. "We hid the flag! It's starting!"

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Juyeon heard Pain's whistle pierce the air, signalling the start of the game. It was followed up by war cries on both teams, and everyone started running.

"," Kai swore. "Where did we hide ours?"

"Bottom of the lake, pinned under a stone the size of my head. Shouldn't be too easy unless Suho's around, so he's top priority."

"Got it, I'm off." Kai snapped his fingers and disappeared. Juyeon waved away the leftover traces of smoke. "I thought flags have to be hidden in plain sight," she said with a frown.

"Are you kidding? That's so boring," Chanyeol said with a wild, crazy grin. "Let's go, Yeonie! The game's afoot!"

He ran into the forest, Juyeon following after him as best as she could. She quickly lost him in the tangle of trees, and sullenly she stomped around aimlessly. "'Just stay close to me, Juyeon.' 'I'll protect you, Juyeon,'" she mimicked. "What a bunch of bullcrap. Boys."

In the afternoon sun, the forest was much less creepy than at night. Sunlight managed to pierce through the leaves and give a glow to the surroundings. Squirrels sh