Inequality

Chapter 24 – Explanations

“What do you mean, she'll die?!” Chen shouted out. His emotions were unchecked once more as the air above them rumbled and, surprisingly, darkened. The storm clouds that formed in the sky-less hide-out shocked everyone, not just them, but even the towns folks who noticed it from their distance.

“Chen,” Dongjun tried to calm him down, but the flashes of gold that fleetingly crossed Chen's irises caused him to stop. Chen was too much like him. Too much. I couldn't control my powers back then either... It wasn't until Akari absorbed a part of it that I was able to fully control it.

“Explain. I'm sure all of us are dying to know Dongjun. You can't just up and tell us that if you die she'll go down with you, it makes no ing sense.”

“Chen!” Luhan shouted. Dongjun placed a hand on Chen's shoulder, and forcefully calmed him down, negating the storm clouds that had formed as well, nonetheless, the humidity was present in the air around them and Dongjun sighed.

“How am I supposed to explain it to you?”

“Isn't it-”

“How am I supposed to tell you that Akari will self-destruct because of her own ability that she was born with?!” Dongjun shouted. His eyes were watery, and it was only then that they realized how glazed his eyes were. Dongjun looked away and shrugged his shirt back on before gently rubbing his eyes. V and Jungkook glanced at each other and Jungkook mumbled, “Hyung..”

“What do you mean.. she'll self-destruct?” Luhan managed to ask. His voice was hoarse and barely came out as a whisper. He tried his best to keep his composure, but he couldn't. Even if he's only known Akari for a short period time, and even Dongjun for an even shorter period of time, Luhan had unintentionally learned too much to get out.

“You should know by now, Akari's main power is Absorption. Unlike most powers, which are either passively or actively activated. Like all offensive ones, they're actively activated, which means you can control them. But in the case of Akari's Absorption, that's the rare cases of passive powers.”

“How do passive powers work?” Luhan asked. He's read about them, since they're always so rare, although absorption wasn't the one that's mentioned in the history of powers, it has always been Dream Walking that's been spoken of.

“Well, as of our current history, we've only heard of two passive powers, Dream Walking, which is the most common of the two, and Absorption, which only came into being at the birth of Akari,” Dongjun explained.

“Much like Dream Walking, Absorption occurs without the owner of the power knowing it, they can't really control when it happens sometimes, but sometimes they can. Dream walking can be used purposely in order to contact someone else in their sleep. Much like how Absorption can be used in battle in order to use their opponents abilities against them,” Dongjun continued. He laughed and he said, “Sadly, even Akari doesn't know about this, but without Negation, her absorption will unconsciously begin eating away the surrounding energy about her.”

“The Collapse,” Jungkook and V mumbled after exchanging glances. Dongjun nodded and he said, “Yes, Akari was the source of it. When she was first chained up in the abyss below, they had prevented all her previous comrades to watch over her, in fear that they'll help her escape. But then they began noticing abnormal energy decreases in the workers around her. They would come home, exhausted, and at times, knock out the moment their shifts were over.”

Dongjun gestured for Jungkook to come over and he did as he was told and he turned to his hyung, “This will eat up a lot of energy though hyung.”

“It's okay, V's going to be the medium.”

“How?”

“Wind figures!” V happily replied. The three of them channeled their memories together as V recreated the scene. V zoomed in on a particular soldier and Dongjun said, “There would be marks, such as scars, scabs, bruises, or even small insignias.”

V began visualizing everything for them as Jungkook channeled Dongjun's memories to him. Dongjun continued, “Clovis was clearly stressed that his best soldiers were falling ill for no apparent reason, and took a couple of them in for health and physical tests.”

Dongjun sighed, “All of them were healthy in the 'human' aspect, if you can call it that, but their power levels had dropped. Their skill performances deteriorated as they continued to spend more time there, and at one point, one of their healers had completely lost his ability, which alarmed Clovis.”

Jungkook almost let go of Dongjun. He wanted to stop remembering the past. He didn't want to see that situation over again. Dongjun's grip on Jungkook's hand tightened and he continued, “Clovis went in their personally and tested out his hypothesis that Akari's Absorption was a passive skill. And he was right. As soon as he had entered that chamber, he personally felt his power level being drained from him slowly. Although the process was slow, it was present. And Akari didn't even know about it herself.”

There was silence and Chen asked, “Tell me.. how did Clovis know it was your Negation that made her Absorption stop?”

“He took a sample of my blood, and as you know, blood normally contains the DNA for the power as well, and he had one soldier personally drop the blood onto her hand while she was asleep,” Dongjun sighed as he rubbed his arm with his free hand and he continued, “From the time period it was dropped to until it dried up, it had momentarily diffused her Absorption. And since that day, I was her keeper.”

“But hyung,” V interrupted, “How will it destroy Akari?”

“The human body can only hold so many powers.”

Everyone froze and Dongjun said, “Akari knows herself how many she has absorbed. If she absorbs the same type, she'll discard the weaker one, it's how she's always done it. But...”

Dongjun paused and he mumbled, “What if she doesn't know how many she's unconsciously absorbed? It'd give her bad side effects right? That's why Akari's so emotionally unstable and why her Wings are so tame in comparison to V's.”

Dongjun paused and he looked at the younger male and he asked, “Your Wings have been wanting blood lust haven't they?”

V's eyes widened and he softly nodded and he mumbled, “But training and sparring with the trainees calms the blood lust. I've only had my Wings for a couple of days so..”

“That's fine. Akari did the same, except her Wings are stronger. Nonetheless, her Absorption is a good source of 'food' for the Wings.” Dongjun air-quoted the food and the grimace on his face was apparent and he said, “The more power she absorbs unconsciously, I believe a majority of it goes to her Wings. And I'm assuming that's what curbs it over.”

“Sorry if I sound stupid, I still don't understand how Akari can die,” Chen interrupted with his hand raised in the air like a student. Jungkook nodded in agreement and said, “Yeah, if her Wings can curb the Absorption then-”

“Have you ever considered how often I negated her Absorption?” Dongjun asked. Everyone froze and Dongjun admitted, “Akari has a charm that she never takes off, because I've asked her not to. It's the only physical form of Negation that exists, and that alone barely holds her powers in check. Having me by her side physically completely stops the passive ability from activating.”

“Wait. So what you're saying is,” Luhan started. His eyes were wide and his hand was slightly trembling, “Akari's power, if released, can wipe out the whole concept of powers?”

Dongjun raised an eyebrow at that and he muttered, “I've never thought about it that way...”

“Hyung!” Chen was practically pleading, “That can kill Akari! And plus, that means Dongjun has to die too! Isn't there-”

“There's no other option left Chen,” Dongjun softly said. He gave him a sad smile and he mumbled, “The world is a horrible place. None of us are born equal. And power always corrupts or destroys something or someone in the world. If there was another option, I'm sure we could have found an answer for that by now.”

“But-”

Chen's words never finished after he saw the accepting smile on Dongjun's face and he swallowed his words and he whispered, “What about Akari?”

“I don't know... I'll talk to her about this another day. I just wanted you guys to know first.”

Luhan lowered his gaze to the ground and he closed his eyes and he mumbled, “Sorry.” I'm sorry for my thoughts about-

It's fine hyung. Luhan looked up at Dongjun and that same smile made him want to cry. He looked away and noticed everyone else couldn't bear to look at Dongjun. They all knew, no matter what, the boy would die in the end.

But everyone dies in the end. Remember, life comes to an end, and then new life begins. Dongjun voiced his thoughts to the small group. Jungkook and V were crying and V mumbled, “But we can't lose hyung, we can't.”

“It's better than losing Akari right?” Dongjun tried to joke. But it came out in a hoarse whisper and Jungkook asked, “Hyung.. how much time do you have left?”

“A year and a half at most.. or half a year at the least,” Dongjun admitted as he heard the familiar ticking again. He glanced at Chen and said, “I won't force anything onto you, because I'm almost positive I can find a replacement, but please, consider it.”

Chen numbly nodded his head, but he had noticed the look in Dongjun's eyes. There was no other method. Dongjun would die, and either Akari would go with him, or she'd stay.

But, Chen thought, what if Akari doesn't want to live anymore? What if... What if she'd be willing to leave? Would we be able to handle losing her?