When he woke, it was to the sound of falling water. It splattered against the cheap laminate of the motel floor. It dripped through the cracks in the  shoddy rooftop. It formed puddles on the edge of his mattress. Chen sat up, glancing at the storm playing outside his window.

A mild buzz hummed its way down his spine. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Chen looked around his room. In the dim glow of the grayed sky, he slipped into a pair of worn, faded jeans. He quickly dressed in plain shirt and donned a sweater. He had a few hours  before check-out time but it’s always smart to leave early. Chen didn’t bother with a shower since he’d meander through the rain anyway.

As he left the yellowed building, Chen wondered what he should do. It was too early for food (not that he was hungry with atmosphere singing with energy) and too late for more sleep. His body was functional so he couldn’t rest. Sleep was, for all deities, was simply a moment of dreamless rest for one’s mind to recalibrate itself. There wasn’t any of that nonsense of sleeping for sleeping’s sake. He could always wander and decide on a destination later.

The days of rainfall left the streets devoid of people.Precip  turned the streets into miniature streams. Sidewalks and walkways mimicked waterfalls as the overflow slipped onto the roads. Trees drooped with the liquid that clung to their outreached arms. Chen walked the empty concrete jungle of Seoul. The volley that substanted him, suffocated the city.

Before he knew it, his feet had carried him to Minute. He paused at the doorway. His fingers traced the lettering of the closed signed. He looked into the quiet of the personless storefront. Chen turned slowly back onto the waterlogged, quiet streets.  Hesitating, he observed the vacant roads he’d always desired and closed his eyes. Prior to their opening, Chen heard the distance shrill of a violin that pierced through the unbroken thrum of the rain.

Shifting the blinds, Xiumin glanced out of his window. The steady drum of rain made it impossible to see. The air hummed uneasily with the energy of the storm.

“It’s getting worse,” Suho sighed.

Xiumin turned to see Kai, Suho, and Sehun seated around a low coffee table. Their darkened expressions stood out in the bright, white decor of the spacious living room. It was one of the many spaces that Suho owned.

“Have you discovered the source of these storms?” Xiumin inquired.

He directed his gaze toward Sehun, the youngest of the group. The man had a slightly foreign look to him with long face and straight nose.

Sehun shook his head, “Whoever is doing this  keeps out of sight; he hasn’t entered any of the hotspot areas for that group yet.”

“It doesn’t help that he comes from out of the country,” Sehun added. He tapped his fingers against a tablet impatiently.

Xiumin flicked his eyes toward Suho. The richly dressed man shrugged.

“None of the others have seen anything,” Suho commented.

Xiumin tilted his head, staring at the closed blinds of the window. Closing his eyes, he felt the sharp crescendo of storm ringing out in his marrow. The pitch threatened to shatter bones. The hairs that covered his body stood uneasily on ends.

“Keep an eye on Sungmin,” Xiumin ordered.

That was all they could do, Xiumin thought, watch the enemy and hope for hints.

As if they had picked up on his discomfort, the trio on the couch shifted into stiffer positions.

“I’ll talk to the others to see if they can help,” Suho voiced.

Kai coughed, “They probably can’t. D.O.’s barely keeping his wits with all this. Something about eroded soil and flooded fields. . .”

“Baehyun’s watching Chanyeol whose barely holding on,” Sehun replied.

He swiped through the messages of his iphone  quickly to reveal a picture of a sickly pale Chanyeol.

“He’s not so happy now,” Sehun commented bitterly.

Xiumin frowned. If the destructive forces of the storms felt threatening to him, they must be deadly to the weaker of their kind or to  any of pantheon not connected to these downpours. The microgeneration deity, Krystal, had passed shortly after Xiumin had met her.

Xiumin glanced over at the other three. Kai was pale although he had a naturally dark disposition. Suho was slick with sweat despite the A/C moderating the room. Sehun appeared to fine for now. Vaguely, he recalled that Sehun wanted to speak to him afterwards.

“How are you all managing?” Xiumin asked. It was better to be safe than sorry.

“Casinos are empty, but gambling’s gone up,” Kai laughed, “When you trapped people inside they have to get their pent up energy somehow.”

“The weather is messing with stocks,” Suho stated, “but nothing I can’t fix in the long run.”

“Other than school, it’s cheery,” Sehun muttered, “There are only three things people do when indoors. Sticking to their screens is one of them.”

A silence fell over the quartet; each of whom seem agitated by their limited course of action. The only sound was the brass of the howling wind that mixed with the deep percussion of the rain that bleed through the apartment walls.

She darted around the tiled floor demanding attention. Kris sighed, picking up the tiny gray ball. He placed Orange on his lap. Settling deeper into his faded brown couch, he trapped the kitten in his hands.

“For a kitten that was half dead a week ago, you’re surprisingly active,” Kris murmured.

He tapped the small creature on her nose. She struggled in the cage his fingers created. Her attempts were for naught since Kris kept her firmly pressed into his knees.

“Don’t bully Orange,” Lay commented from his position on the floor.

The guys had decided to hide in his small livingroom since the A/C at the dorms had caused a fuse to blow. He’d been hoping to get some studying done but from the looks of it that wasn’t happening. Tao was reaching for the controllers of his playstation. Lay was on his back staring at the ceiling while surrounded by a sea of untouched papers and textbooks. Luhan was half-asleep on his book.

The deep vibrato of thunder jolted them of out of their haze. Goosebumps danced across his body. Kris felt tense; the endless parade of storms was unearthly. Despite the heat blasting, his skin remained raised. Even Orange stilled, her hair forming hackles.

Everyone’s restless, Kris thought.  

He couldn’t remember the last time he was outside. His  untapped energy curled in his gut, snaking its way through his veins at erratic intervals. It urged him outside, but his mind told him to stay put. The tremor of danger that hung in the atmosphere held him indoors.

“Where’s your umbrella?” Luhan asked. It appeared that he suffered from barrier frustration.

Kris gestured toward the door, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.  

“You’re going out?” Lay asked, worried.

Lay coughed, “I’m just going to the convenience store down the street.”

“The news said to stay inside,” Lay responded.

Luhan replied, “I’m only going to be gone for ten, twenty minutes tops.”

Lay nodded, biting his lip.

Tao looked up from his perch and added, “Buy ice cream.”

When Luhan  opened the door, the discord of storm stabbed Kris’s ears. For an instant, his instinct urged him to drag Luhan back inside, but the door had already closed. Kris petted Orange in an attempt to quell his unease.

Chen settled into the top of red slide that was the only moderate wet thing in the park. His feet dangled over  the edge. If he slid down he’d meet a mixture of water, mud, and sand.  There was no where else to break in this chorus of rain, thunder, and wind. Most stores had closed due to the weather.

The vigor of the cloudburst buzzed in his limbs. He felt lazy from the meal that was filling him up. He sang softly to burn off some of the energy that trilled in his lungs. A wind picked up, whistling through the park. It carried his low melody into the city. As sound escaped his lips, Chen relaxed. His pent up vigor snuck out with his voice. On an energy high, he felt invincible.

His sound grew in volume as he sang but it kept its low quality. The extended notes filtered through the beat of rain. His voice contrasted with the booming orchestra of storm creating a forsaken refrain.

Luhan pulled his raincoat closer to his throat to starve off the gale that suddenly appeared. His back clung to the doorway of the convenience store. His feet refused to move forward; Luhan was reluctant to re-enter the fray that reverberated around him. He couldn’t remember why he left the safety of Kris’s apartment in the first place.

The desire to freely move was so faint now in his veins that he saw the stupidity in his actions. His heart thumped loudly and quickly forcing blood to rush through his ears and face,

He dove into the discord. Fighting the wind, he forced a path back to the apartment. Silently, he promised to himself to never do something so reckless again. Clenching his bag tightly, he shouldered his way through the downpour. All he heard was a flurry of sound; all he saw was sheets of water.

A voice broke the constant chorus of rain, thunder, and wind. It was clear despite the cacophony around it. A single  voice in a sea of dissonance  sounded to Luhan terribly lonely.

Urging his eyes open, Luhan looked toward the melody. The singer was male. Sitting on a park set, Luhan could barely make out his face. It looked vaguely familiar. Staring, he stood watching the man partly due to a sense of deja vu and partly due to the sad song.

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy the update.