Kris stood in front of the school with his arms crossed, his brows furrowed as he watched them running around like little puppies, all of them excited for their day out. Chanyeol came and stood next to him. 'Why aren't you excited? You haven't use your power for quite some time now.' Kris asked, watching over as Baekhyun tripped and spilt his beaker of orange juice all over Yixing.

'I used it last night to make pizza with Kyungsoo. I'm just so great at using it that I don't think I can progress any further' Chanyeol shrugged. Kris punched him in the side. 'That's fine for some, but I need space and height to use mine.'

'What are you even saying. You've honed you skill most out of all of us. Your technique is perfect.' Chanyeol frowned. Everyone knew that Kris was the person to go to if they were struggling with their power, Chanyeol especially who had at first had trouble controlling his mind.

Sehun ran happily up to them, looking adorable bundled up in a big scarf and bobble hat. 'Me and Jongin decided that you two should date because if you were combined as a pokemon then you'd be Charizard, Moltres, Ho-Oh or Fletchinder.' he babbled, quickly running back to Jongin and demanding the won he owed him for going up to the 'scary dragon'.

'I don't know what that means. I preferred digimon as a child.' Kris said, bringing up a page on his phone about Charizard. 'Ah fire and flight, pretty clever of them both to say they're idiots.'

'Can powers be combined then?' Chanyeol asked, watching as Kris looked thoughtful.

'Well I suppose it's possible, but I think you'd have to be on exactly the same level as the person you're combining the power with. In all the books I've read there's been mentions of people being mind fused in which they can focus their energy completely on each other. It's all to do with compatibility and well...' Kris looked distant '...soul mates?'

'Soul mates.' Chanyeol repeated. He looked at the group in front of him. Most of them had found their respective partners for life.

'Alright, play time is over now. The cars are here so get inside.' Kris yelled above the clamour of noise, smug as the group followed his orders. Well all except for Chanyeol. 'Why aren't you moving?' Kris asked him.

'I'm travelling with you today. I need to know more about mind fusion.'

'you don't want that. I'm in the car with the maknaes today. And Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo who's been in a bad mood all morning because his masterchef application was declined.' Sure enough when Chanyeol looked over at Kyungsoo he was kicking the car's tyres with a murderous look on his face, saying things like 'soufflé' under his breath.

…

'Pair up, find a location far from other pairings so you won't disturb others, and work on your powers. I want you all back at this location in exactly two hours. Off you go.' Junmyeon instructed. As soon as Sehun heard the word 'pair' he knew he was doomed. He had seen Kris and Chanyeol deep in conversation in the car, and if Kris was taken then that could only mean one thing.

'Ew, I'm going to get mud on my Gucci.' Tao whined as he looked at his surroundings. They had been driven up to a forest area that was completely devoid of any other people. Sehun ignored him and began to trudge up the rocky path that lead to the inter most parts of the woods. He could hear Tao singing as he walked behind him so he didn't bother to look back to see if he was following. Sehun led them to a clearing, far away from where they'd started out and finally turned to face Tao. 'What is this?'

'We're improving our powers. We have to do it every so often to keep us from getting lazy I suppose.' Tao shrugged. 'Every time we come here we hope to learn a new skill.'

'New skill? On top of the original?'

Tao sighed at him, putting a hand on his hip and eyeing him like he was an idiot. 'It's like levelling up. Or in your lame pokemon terms, learning a new move.'

'Show me.' he demanded.

Tao obliged and pointed his arm in the general direction of a tree. Time did nothing though. 'Go, look in that branch over there.'

Perched upon the branch of the tree was a small bird, it's wings moving achingly slow as it prepared to fly, wings outstretched, inching forwards like he was watching a slowed down nature documentary. Tao flicked his wrist next to Sehun and the bird flew away in an instant. Sehun acknowledged the action but didn't comment on it.

'I'm working on going back in time but I'm worried about the consequences.'

'I don't think I can do anything with my power.' Sehun pouted, blowing a gust of air from his fingertips in Tao's direction. He shivered and pulled his coat tighter around him.

'That's because you're not focusing.'

'I don't know how.'

'It's easier for me. I just have to visualise time changing. I think of a clock with the hands moving wherever I want them to, or I think of seconds and stretch them to last or hurry along. Then I can condition a movement to a thought.'

'I don't know what to do. You've been doing this for longer than me.' Sehun whimpered.

Tao sneered at him. 'Your aegyo is gross.' He moved his arm at Sehun vaguely.

Sehun's mind worked but his body didn't. And when he tried to speak no noise came out.. Stupid Tao had frozen solely him and him alone, comparing him to the tiny little bird that he'd stopped before. His eyes were focused on Tao's smug face. 'I had to shut you up somehow.'

Sehun knew that if he could move he'd try to punch Tao. 'Visualise yourself. You're sitting somewhere, I don't know, you're sitting in a desert. It's dry and dusty and gross and you're all dressed in white. It's just you and nobody else so you don't have to worry about anyone seeing you mess up. Lift that dust from the ground and build it up until it towers over you. Let it grow until you can't control it anymore and until it scares you. But don't look at it. Face away from it so you can't see how large it is and so you won't fear it.'

He set Sehun free from his grip. 'Don't ever do that again.' Sehun growled. 'Or I'll put you in the centre of a tornado.'

'I can stop time you idiot, I would just halt the tornado and step out of it.'

'Yeah well then I'd create an infinite tunnel of wind that you couldn't escape out of.'

'You really want to spend the rest of your life keeping me hostage?'

'Ew no, I can't think of anything worse.'

'Me neither.' Tao pouted. 'Now leave me alone and work on your visualisation.' He walked away from Sehun to the other side of the clearing, finding a rock to sit on and getting into a lotus pose. Sehun thought about how funny it would be if he had the strength to channel enough force to push him off the rock , to leave him sprawled on the ground.

…

He wasn't in the forest anymore.

Instead his surroundings went on forever, his only landmarks the occasional patch of dry grass. If he really squinted against the yellow tinge of the air then he could see what looked like the silhouettes of mountains. He was exactly where had Tao told him to go. Except Tao had told him he would be alone.

He couldn't see anybody but he could feel their presence. He could hear the sword cutting through the air. He could see the white petals as they fell to the ground with irregular timing. Petals that came from nowhere but fell like rain around his feet. Flowers for him to match his outfit, to be the only clean and pure thing in the desert.

All was still, but he could feel himself being urged on by an unknown force. Let him know you're there.

…

'Mind fusion can at first only happen during meditation. The mind has to be clear of thought and full of good intention towards the other person. The people we can fuse minds with are predetermined. Soul mates in other words.'

'What happens in the fusion?'

'A person's safe place is shared. Where we once walked alone in our natural mind palaces, we now share them with another. At first they aren't there, but their presence is. As time grows on, we become more and more aware of each other until we can't be apart from them any longer. The bonds between realities have to be broken which takes a massive toll on both parties strength levels. In order to become one with another person, we first have to lose a part of ourselves to give to them. This removal of oneself can be rejected by the other, and if rejection takes place then there is no rebuilding. We have to walk around missing a part of us for the rest of our lives.'

'That's intense.'

'The benefits are many though. Combined mind space and power can lead to complete destruction of whatever exists. There's so much strength, and the stronger the bond, the more strength there is.'

'When do people know to start the process?'

''They have no choice in it. It either happens or it doesn't.'

Kris and Chanyeol sat in the woods in silence, hands entwined.

…

A butterfly rested on Sehun's hand so he sent it away. He watched it fly away until it turned into another part of dust in the atmosphere.

It dawned on him that he didn't know how to leave his mind. He didn't feel scared though because although he couldn't quite see them, there was somebody there with him who didn't seem to want to leave him, placing roses on his shoulders and making piles around his shoes. When Sehun made dirt swirl around his ankles, the other stopped it. When he tried again the other stopped it over and over again. Yet when he tried a third time the other made it faster, faster until it swallowed all the dust and sand from the ground in an angry cyclone, growing in size until it towered far over Sehun. This was potential and this was only the beginning.

…

He opened his eyes to see Tao looking at him contently from the rock, still with crossed legs and his hands resting on his knees. 'It was you?'

'It was me.' Tao smiled. 'You used my idea.'

'You gave me flowers.'

'There's an abundance of them in my mind. It felt nice to give them to someone. It gives me a break from the infinite dark.'

Sehun tilted his head to the side curiously. He suddenly felt a bashfulness around Tao. 'Is that what you see, nothing?'

'When you put it like that it seems like a bad thing.' he said thoughtfully. 'I see dark a lot of the time, but today I saw you, like you were projected. I couldn't touch you but you were there.'

Sehun pulled Tao off the rock, telling him they should go back to the car. He'd had enough for the day. Enough for a lifetime actually.

They were the last ones back at the car park, everyone else sitting around eating food.

'You got food without us?' Tao shrieked, running to Junmyeon and demanding fries. He yelped as Tao reached over to him. 'What's on earth is on your hand?'

Tao looked down to examine his hand then promptly fainted. Burnt into his skin was an hourglass, ugly and raw on his flesh. Kris stepped over to Tao who was lying on the floor, his head propped up on Chanyeol's hoodie. 'Tao when did this happen?' he asked when the boy had been revived. 'I don't remember it happening. I was meditating all day then Junmyeon screamed and then I fainted because ew, just look at my once perfect skin.' he said with a shaken tone.

No, this wasn't meant to happen yet. It was too early.

Sehun hid his own hand behind his back, covering the circular symbol on his own. He also hadn't felt it when it forged itself onto his skin. 'Sehun get over here, you were with him weren't you?' Kris asked, dragging him over by the other hand.

He stuttered his way through a response before letting his shoulders droop and passing his other hand to Kris.

'You two have some explaining to do.' Kris said, his expression revealing nothing of his emotion.

...

Sehun and Tao couldn't look at each other for the rest of the night. They were soul mates and they didn't even get a choice in the matter.. The group acted on edge around them, talking in hushed voices and not looking them in the eyes.

'This feels an awful lot like an arranged marriage.' Sehun frowned, trying to avoid catching Tao's eye as they walked together.

'Just because we're soul mates it doesn't mean we have to be together.' Tao reasoned. Sehun would have agreed but in a way he wanted to be Tao's boyfriend. The concept that once seemed worse than death was slowly growing on him and planting itself in his brain. He liked Tao. He liked him a lot.

If he were to say it and acknowledge it then he would say that he liked his bratty attitude and the way he doted on his hyungs. He liked the way he could be swinging a deadly sword around one moment with dark eyes and taut muscles showing, then crying the next because he'd occidentally cut the top off a daisy. He liked that he searched for cameras when there weren't there but smiled coyly anyway, just in case. If he were to write a list of the things he liked about Zitao then it would be longer than he expected it would. And maybe Tao, the boy who gave him white petals, would like him back.

Tao walked him back to his dorm and said good night, and Sehun decided that if this was a movie he would definitely pull him back and kiss him. Just to see what would happen. It wasn't a movie though and doing something so unscripted seemed like a bad idea.

As he saw Jongdae and Baekhyun lying together in bed, reading a book together and arguing over when to turn the pages, he thought that he'd probably enjoy something like that. Not necessarily with Tao. Just with someone who cared enough to hold the page even when they'd finished.

His hand had begun to hurt some time after Tao had gone and he wondered if that was the catch of being soul mates. A constant sting when they weren't there.

'What are you thinking about?' Baekhyun asked him later as brushed his teeth.

'Tao I guess.'

Baekhyun sighed heavily, staring at himself in the mirror, then looking at Sehun's reflection behind him. 'It's not fair. Me and Jongdae have been together for a year and we have nothing on a spiritual level. You and Tao decide to work together once and you get matching tattoos or whatever. It's bull.'

'Are you mad at me?' Sehun asked.

'Things have changed since you came. We tried not to say anything but there's no point in hiding it.'

'What's changed?' If Sehun hadn't been trying to maintain a poker face then he probably would've looked sad.

'Kris mainly. He isn't acting like himself. He buries himself in books and he drags us into it too but won't tell us why or what he's searching for.'

'I'm sorry.'

Baekhyun shook his head. 'It's not your fault Sehun. Things are different now that's all. Don't worry about it.'

Laying in bed he realised how much simpler it was when nobody knew about his power. When he went to his old school the routines were simple. Wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, go to school, come home, eat, sleep. Days where it was perfectly fine for him to act like a zombie and never go outside unless he was forced to by his father. In such an instance he would go for a walk around the town, maybe go and look into some clothes shops, or if the weather was bad he'd go to the emptying park and enjoy the silence it brought. His life had no purpose but that was fine by him. But now he had a cat-like smile to prise out of a certain somebody and a reason to get out of bed at an unreasonable time in the morning.

…

'Stop it.' Tao whined, goggles slipping from his nose. 'We're being graded on this.'

Sehun ignored him and continued to send wisps of air in his direction.

'That's it. I'm going to make our next sports lesson feel like eternity.'

'Fine.' Sehun responded, continuing with his plan to annoy Tao all lesson. 'Did your hand hurt last night?'

'Not especially, it must just be you with your attachment issues.'

Sehun looked at Tao with bored eyes. 'Okay fine, yes it hurt which is really annoying because I means I'll probably have to have you around all the time.' he sulked, finishing up the titration experiment.

'I'd rather die.' Sehun mocked disgust.

'Me too.'

Tao and Sehun's phones buzzed simultaneously:

MEETING IN THE LIBRARY AS SOON AS FIRST PERIOD IS OVER- J

ah i was so lazy with this chapter; hence why there's so much dialogue 

please comment on what you think of this chapter and the story progression so far!

thank you

(sorry if there are mistakes, i didn't look much at it after it was written)