[ Onew ]

Can you understand them?

Onew's eyelids slowly pulled open as he shifted his gaze to the left. His eyes met bright pink irises, on a face bordered with hazel brown hair. A telepath. He could hear her curious voice probing into his brain.

I only know so much English, he thought, careful not to reveal too much in his thoughts. He was reminded of Key and how defensive he had to be around his friend. Onew smiled softly, tiredly. How long had they been on this aircraft?

When Onew had woken up from being knocked out - yet again - his body still ached from the torture. Even now, he was wary of leaning back all the way against the wall of the aircraft, his back still full of raw, blistering holes.

Stop thinking about that stuff. Onew was jerked back to reality by the unfamiliar voice and glanced at the girl again. Her eyebrows were creased together; she was probably unsettled by the visions of his torture. What are they saying? Onew glanced at the entrance of the small compartment the group of Specials were crowded into. From what he knew, a bunch of foreign Special prisoners had been gathered and were being sent to America. Two officers stood guarding the Specials, chuckling among themselves.

Something about a . . . device. Tele- Onew frowned, concentrating on the English jumble coming from one of the Normal officer's mouth. Teleportation device. He listened carefully now, trying to make what he could out of whatever came through the officer's mask.

"Do you think it's really going to work?"

"I mean, yeah. It's like taking one of those weird portal things - and combining like a hundred of them." The second officer was leaning against the wall, a paralyzing gun pointed lazily at the group of Specials sitting on the ground lest they try anything. "I mean, they're not sure if it'll cause some power outage or something like that so we're going to test it with the first bunch. Make sure no one dies."

"Nice," the first Normal snorted. A few Specials sitting by the entrance who could understand English - European, from what Onew could tell - glared up at the Normals. "What are you looking at?" She toed the Special with her boot and raised her gun half-heartedly, a lazy threat. "Anyways, this is going to be the grand entrance to impress all the CEOs. This new tech isn't made by slaves - it is the slaves."

Disgusting. He was thinking that, but that also wasn't his own thought. 

Onew frowned at the pink-eyed girl and shifted uncomfortably. Stop looking around my brain. What do you want?

The same thing you do. I want to get out of here. She smiled. I'm Irene. And you're Onew.

"Get out," Onew said aloud. Irene stared back at him in shock, surprised by his sudden outspokenness.

"Excuse me?" the male Normal spat. Onew calmly glanced over at him and smiled.

"Talking to myself, sir."

Irene snorted from a few feet away. Both the Normals glanced at each other and back at the two individuals. The female raised a gloved finger and pointed at Onew. "From this young man"- her finger swept across the first couple rows of Specials until her finger landed on Irene -"to this young lady. You're the first ones up for the trip through the teleporter." 

Well, crap. As per usual, confidence and sarcasm were usually tickets to trouble. The Specials who had been identified shifted and murmured warily. Some silently shot Onew and Irene dirty glares. Others were bolder, lashing out in panicked anger at the officers before being subdued by their paralyzers. 

"Don't freak out!" one of the officers roared. "Trust me, this will be the least of your worries. If I were you, I wouldn't even want to make it through the teleporter." Onew didn't like the sound of that. "I hope you bastards have fun in the Arena - if you make it." The clatter died down.

What does that mean? Why are they talking about an arena?

Would you stop thinking your thoughts in my head, lady? Onew shot at the pink-eyed girl.

My name's Irene.

Keep your thoughts to yourself, Irene. Literally! Onew had too many worries of his own - his brain didn't have room for someone else's. He eyed Irene warily as she shamelessly looked him up and down - not flirtatiously, but critically.

Hm. You're scared.

Onew couldn't help the scowl that wrinkled his face. How can you even read my mind right now? And talk to me? These power-binding devices won't even let me grow a weed. His hand reached up to the thick band around his neck. It was impossible to tug off and restricted his breathing as well as his nature manipulating abilities.

Mind-control. Duh. The Normal in charge of me is supposed to keep me unconscious, but I took advantage when they forgot to inject me and I woke up. None of these Normals in here should know my power. Her smile was smug, as if she just won a game of rock-paper-scissors. Her flower-like irises flitted over towards one of the Normals who suddenly shifted, and her smirk fell. Ooh. The fun is about to start.

Onew did not like the sound of "fun."

He, like the others, was dragged up to his feet unceremoniously. It was then that he realized that the private jet had landed - he could feel the solidity of the earth underneath the plane.

"A-are we in America?" one of the Specials stammered in English layered with a thick Korean accent.

"God, no. This is much more convenient. For us." That was all the response they were getting, apparently, as they were shoved towards the exit. Those who had not been called out to be sacrificed first watched fearfully. Onew didn't recognize much when they exited - the lot they had landed in was empty and there weren't many building around them. But as the Normal had stated before, the air didn't feel very much different. He had never been, but this was definitely not the feeling of America. 

As they were squeezed out of the jet, Onew's new acquaintance took advantage of the disarray and rushed to stand next to him.

"Ah," Irene breathed, "this is much better than mental talk, right?"

Onew looked down at her short stature uneasily. She was a lot less bubbly than she had been on the jet, but her bright pink eyes still sparkled with positivity. He admired that, admittedly. 

"You seem pretty confident that we're going to survive this so-called teleporter," he murmured.

"Oh, trust me, I'm terrified," she sighed. "But, I also saw what you've been through." She glanced at him knowingly. "I was poking around in everyone's heads, and let me tell you, of all the sob stories I'm plenty familiar with, yours was the most interesting."

"Gee. Thanks?"

"No problem. I feel like if I stick with you, I have to survive. There's no way someone as powerful as you - with friends as powerful as yours - will lose so easily."

Onew felt his shoulders relax without realizing how tense they'd been. He scoffed. "Thanks, actually. I needed that." Scared as he may be, he couldn't forget how far he'd gone so far on his journey along with his friends. They made it this far. Who was to say they couldn't go farther?

And I have Luna, he thought with a new resolve. He ignored Irene's knowing eyebrow raise, likely because she heard him think Luna's name (and saw the memories he associated with her). Darn telepaths. The group began to slow down, and from the back of the crowd, Onew craned his neck to see what was ahead. Beside him, Irene tip-toed to see (unsuccessfully).

"Oh, god," Onew whispered, as horrified as the Specials around them who quickly turned away from the scene. Many Specials were bound together in a large circle to connected metal devices. Each person was slumped against the machines they were tied to, obviously spent of their energy and barely alive. Onew couldn't tell what they had been forced to do, but if he had any idea what a teleportation device was, he figured they had Seungri's teleportation powers. The bags under their eyes and weak figures indicated that the device had had a few trial runs - whether a real person had actually gone through it was questionable, however.

Irene had suddenly lost her talkativeness, verbally and mentally. Onew couldn't tear his eyes off the Specials being used for this machine, even as he was being shoved into the center of it. One of them met his concerned stare briefly, and it was as if that brief connection woke him up.

"You're putting actual people into this already?" he rasped at one of the Normals. "You've done nothing more than toss a ball into this mass portal. How can you put this many humans in at once when you haven't tried it with one living being?" He shook his tied wrists as a sign of frustration rather than a futile attempt to escape.

"These things are like you - they don't count as humans," the Normal he'd challenged scoffed. "Losing a bunch of them means the same to me as losing one."

Another Normal approached hesitantly. "Um . . . sir? Maybe he's right. We should probably test one going through this thing first before we throw the whole bunch in." Onew could sense the glare through the first Normal's mask. 

"The higher-ups in America need to have some contestants before they present it to the even higher higher-ups in about an hour. You can't have a battle with a few measly mutations. The damned officials were scheduled to arrive early, and they need a show. They think we make miracles happen with our tech or something." He shifted to face his lower officer fully, arms crossed. "Would you like to be the first test then, since you seem so concerned for these mutants?"

"N-no sir."

They're not all so bad. Onew startled from the interaction before him as Irene's voice invaded his thoughts again. Ugh, she was back. I've met a few kind officers. But like everything in society, it's just powerful bad people followed by good cowards.

"There's powerful good people, too," Onew said aloud, refusing to continue the conversation in his mind. Specials and non-Specials alike. He thought of Hina, Luna's human twin sister. But then that made him think of Luna.

"Hm, true. Like your friends," Irene agreed, complying to his preference to converse out loud. 

"Can you guys shut up? They're starting up the portals," one Special hissed, clearly terrified. 

Onew winced as he watched those chained to the device force themselves to power up, threatened by the officers holding guns to them. It felt as if the air were crackling as their portals became visible. He wasn't sure how the humans had done it, but the technology was forcing their fields of power along the circle, spreading out to connect.

He remembered how many of them had gone through Seungri's portal before, but it was never this many all at once, and never this far. He wasn't sure how far from America they were, but it was definitely farther than any portal had ever taken him. The power shaking the air around them grew stronger as the Specials' portals combined.

"Hold the activiation!" the lead Normal from before ordered loudly. "Don't initiate until all of the power linkages you can see are connected! This is gonna take a lot more power than the last trials!"

The force of the portals encircling the Specials eventually forced them to fall to their knees; Onew was not any different. He collapsed soon after Irene did, nearly blinded by the light emitting from the machine and deafened by the screams of the Specials using all their energy on the portal. 

"Three!" the Normal officer hollered. "Two!"

"If we survive this," Irene shouted over the fearful shrieks of those around them, "I would very much like to meet this Luna girl you keep thinking about. She seems badass!"

"One!" They were enveloped by brilliant violet light - and then darkness. 

Onew was tired. Tired of being thrown back and forth by people and portals and whatever the hell else had been ruining his dream of a peaceful life. But hey, at least he wasn't dead. 

He stumbled forward once he felt the ground - ah, sweet, sweet earth - underneath his feet again. 

"Holy ," Irene gasped. "That was the first time I've ever been through a portal. I'm never doing that again."

"I don't think we really had that choice," Onew groaned as he let his vision clear up. Surveying his surroundings, he didn't question whether or not they had ended up in the "Arena" the Normals were discussing. This was definitely an arena. They were at the bottom of the large site, surrounded by a clear dome that allowed an audience to view them from the seats outside the wall. In the distance, behind said wall, he could see many figures frozen in shock at their arrival. Some were Normals, and others wore suits.

These weren't the higher-ups, Onew observed. Likely security of some sort. Though they didn't wear masks like the officers, they were too far for him to identify their faces. Besides, his vision was still too blurry for him to focus. What he could see, however, was the big screen just outside the wall that showed a closer view of the Specials in the portal device to the viewers. This was like some sick sports game. 

"Afternoon," a voice boomed. Onew couldn't pinpoint any speakers, but the word echoed throughout the dome with ease. A muffled voice contrasted with the male's on the speaker. "What? They're the ones from Korea? Here, you take the mic then."

A haughty female voice replaced the male's. She spoke shortly, as if she were a newscaster. "Ah, those power-binding devices sure are uncomfortable, aren't they? Don't worry, they'll be off soon."

The Specials around him shifted, the distrust evident in their expressions.

"As you probably guessed, your abilities will be useless to get you out of here anyways. The surrounding area has been reinforced with many types of barriers to keep you from escaping." A shrill laugh followed. Onew winced. "I hope you didn't make too many friends on your short travel here. Soon, you will eventually have to kill each other."

The words barely registered in Onew's head. What?

"If you want to survive, you will be the last one standing in your group. Naturally, we'll separate you into groups to make this a much more entertaining show. There's many of your kind from all over the world with different kinds of abilities. We don't want it all to end too quickly. But you guys are the first to demonstrate our teleportation device. Hooray!" She clapped alone over the speakers. 

Onew could see everyone looking at each other - he was disgusted that some looked as if they were evaluating whether or not they could actually kill the others. He jerked when Irene tugged on his sleeve urgently. Her pink eyes were dilated in shock and horror.

"What does she mean? Is this some sort of battle to the death? I'm a telepath! I can't read people's minds to death!"

Onew sighed shakily. "Can't you mind control one of them to protect you? We don't need to . . . kill anyone." The people around him turned, judging him openly.

"What are we going to do then?" one girl whispered almost angrily. "Stand there until one of them prods us with their own killing machines?"

"So you'd rather live to kill? I'd rather be killed," another boy scoffed.

"Are you sacrificing yourself right now then?" she shrieked at him. Others began adding their opinions as well, some beginning to push and shove.

"Stop it," Onew said. They didn't listen. "Hey!"

"That's the spirit!" the Korean woman chuckled over the speaker again. Everyone stopped. "I'm sure you need to freshen up before the big show. We really only need a few of you for the first run though." Her voice was a bit more distant - she must have turned from the mic - and she switched to English. "Would you power off five of those power-binding devices? Randomly, please."

Onew felt the band around his neck vibrate, beep, and then loosen. It fell to his feet. He closed his eyes in defeat.

Maybe his power wasn't nature manipulation. Maybe it was bad luck.

"Onew, you-"

"I know," he interrupted Irene. He opened one eye and saw that the band around her neck was still snug, albeit powered off since she had porbably manipulated an officer to turn it off before. "Well. It was nice meeting you."

"But-" Irene's eyes shifted warily from his neck to behind him. Outside the dome. "I can't read anyone's minds out there, but am I crazy, or are they really staring at you out there? And they look familiar . . ."

Onew turned around and stared at the group of body guards outside the dome. He squinted, his vision clearer, and his jaw went slack when he recognized a petite blonde still frozen in place. She twitched at his attention and quickly turned towards the person beside her - they engaged in a deep conversation. 

"So it is her," Irene breathed with relief. "And those other people - hey, maybe they can help-!" Onew was grabbed by the arm and pulled away from Irene at that moment. Four others whose necks were bare joined him outside the teleportation device. Guns were immediately pointed at them, and he realized it was because they were free to use their powers now. Like the others, though, he wasn't stupid enough to try. The tingling at his fingers at the feel of the earth drawing to him were tempting though, but he knew that there were likely more barriers below. 

"Congratulations," the lady behind the microphone cheered monotonously. "You will be joined by another select few to engage in our very first tournament show!"

The lump in Onew's throat grew. He feared the idea of having to kill more than dying. He wasn't sure if the two males and two females with him had the same feeling, though they did look stricken.

"While you lucky fellows prepare for battle in your holding areas," the announcer spoke much too pleasantly, "the rest of you will be lead to the waiting room." 

Onew's eyes darted towards where his friends - his precious friends - had been standing. They were gone. He sagged visibly as he was lead to one of the exits of the arena. Each of the five were lead to separate exits, and the group that Irene was still in went to the opposite end of the dome. He let himself be placed inside a room that could only be described as a dungeon - behind the exit door were bars to enter the room, and on the other wall was more bars which revealed yet another door. When the door opened, he realized it was a hallway.

The officers who had led him to the room quickly exited into said hallway and began entering his information into the padlock beside the room. A mechanical voice read out his name, power, and level - something he'd heard so many times already - before the door shut again. Then, he was alone.

That was it? Onew shook his head. How would being in another cell help him prepare for this battle? Granted, there was a dummy in the corner he could use as a punching bag, but that was it. He pressed his palm to the concrete ground and willed for the earth below it to open up. The concrete broke as dirt and rocks flew up, dirtying his cell, but as he continued to force debris out of his way, he was met with a force field of some sort. 

"," he grumbled. He had barely gone a few feet under. He jumped down and kicked at the invisible field that was restricting his escape route, not that he'd expected it to be that easy. 

Suddenly, the sound of his cell's padlock started beeping again, and he panicked. Onew quickly began pushing the ground back to where it should be (although he couldn't replace the broken concrete). Naturally, he wouldn't have escaped, but he could be punished for trying to. The sores on his back prayed for otherwise. 

The dirt and rocks that had been under the concrete were all back in place, but the concrete was still in pieces around him. Onew winced as the doors opened, staring down at the mess he'd made.

Dead silence.

Heavy footsteps started toward him, and his head jerked up so he could defend himself -

He froze as the familiar feeling of warm lips smashed against his.

[ Luna ]

Yes, she had just kissed Onew in front of everyone, and yes she was not exactly in her right mind. But, she was so happy to see him alive and looking lively. The evidence was clear in the rubble around him. 

So yes, the first thing she did when she saw him standing there tensely in the midst of his work was race towards him and attack him. With her lips. Naturally. She was glad that he didn't react negatively and relaxed, his arms wrapping around her. She almost teared up at the feeling of his warmth; she'd missed this. 

"Ahem," Key huffed. Beside him, Hina cleared awkwardly as well. 

Luna felt her cheeks warming up even more as she pulled away. Her hands stayed on his shoulders and his on her waist. Looking up, she noticed that Onew was looking flushed as well, but not from embarassment. He grinned at her like an eager puppy.

"H-hi." He glanced behind her, where Key, Amber, Hina, Jonghyun, and Lana stood. "Hi. How did you guys find me?" 

"Well, your name's right here," Key snorted, tapping on the panel that they had found outside his cell door. It displayed his name and information conveniently for them. Thankfully, it was run by a simple electric current Jonghyun could easily override. "Lana just used her talking powers with the officers and we split up around the area."

"T-talking powers?" Onew stammered in confusion. Luna rolled her eyes as Lana raised an eyebrow.

"She's human. She's the head bodyguard of a cupcake brand owner," she explained.

"O...kay?" 

Luna sighed. She couldn't really explain much with the time they had anyways. Tentatively, she put a hand against his back. When Onew hissed in pain, she stepped away from him and glanced at Amber, who nodded and immediately stepped forward to begin healing his wounds. Luna smiled slightly as Onew exhaled with relief. He looked around at the others.

"We have to get the others out. We can't let them die here."

"Oh, honey," Amber scoffed, "there's plenty more here."

"We were hoping to get everyone out, but it seems like we'll have to prioritize the people here," Jonghyun finally spoke up. "Since, you know, they want you to fight to the death and all. How did you guys even get here?"

Onew shuddered. "A portal."

Silence. "You took a portal . . . to America? How strong was that person who made it?"

Luna watched Onew run a hand through his messy blond hair. "It was more than one person - they forced them to combine their powers somehow and made some colossal portal machine to transfer a herd of us here." Jonghyun whistled lowly. "Yeah. It was. Terrifying."

"As much as we would like to discuss what you went through and what we plan on doing, we don't have much time until the officers come back to lead us out," Lana drawled.

A plan. The gears in Luna's head whirred. She thought about what Onew just told her and his oncoming situation of doom. He stared at her, as if sensing her thoughts. 

"What's wrong?" he asked slowly.

"Onew - I know we went through the trouble of finding you, but . . . I'm going to need you to stay here and take part in the first battle."

"You're joking, right?" Hina scoffed. "You heard them - this is a fight to the death. Last man standing. Even if Onew is that man . . ."

"I'll stay," Onew declared. His warm eyes met Luna's. "I trust you." Amber seemed to have finished healing him. She clapped him strongly on the back, and the fact that he only stepped forward and winced a little bit made it clear that she'd done her job. "So, what do I have to do during the tournament?"

"Um . . . survive," Luna admitted. He blinked. "There's no real backup plan for you. You just need to survive until we come." Luna knew she was crazy, but that was all that could work in such a crazy situation. 

"What exactly are we coming with?" Key questioned from his position leaning against the door. "And will we make it in time before anyone - particularly Onew - is, you know"- he clicked his tongue and made a cutting motion across his throat with his hand -"killed?"

Lana pointed urgently at the watch on her wrist, clicking it with her nail a few times for effect. They all hurriedly left the cell room, save for Luna, who grabbed Onew's shirt with a shaky breath. 

"Please, please survive," she whispered. "We'll come for you as fast as possible." She didn't dare look up from his chest, worried that she was asking too much of him.

Onew gently grabbed her chin with his two fingers and tilted her head up. She was grateful that the others outside the door turned away respectfully (except maybe Key, who just pretended to give them privacy). The corner of his lip lifted at her worried expression. 

"If I can look forward to another kiss like from before . . . yes, I will try to survive."

Her face contorted, not appreciating the joke, but the laugh that bubbled from Onew's lips caused her to smile as well. She leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. Her smile spread into a grin. 

"This is much better than what I was doing before - avoiding you. I realize now that if I want to do anything, I want you there to do it with me."

Onew raised his eyebrows, clearly pleased. "So it took me going through kidnapping and torture for you to realize that. I'm okay with that. What exactly are we doing?"

Luna patted his chest assuringly. "Same plan as always - save the world! Good luck out there." She jogged out to join the others and turned around as the bars of Onew's cell began to lower again. Hina began to close the door. "Good luck," she repeated. Onew smiled half-heartedly as the door shut completely.

"Yeah . . . he's going to need it," Hina muttered. "So, what's your plan?"

[ AUTHOR'S NOTE ]

What just happened?!
Oh, wait, I'm the author, lol

sup.

My lord, it's been 2 years.

A lot has happened, and I learned a lot about myself. And life.

I know a lot has happened to SHINee, our fandom, and your lives as well as mine. 

Thank you to those of you who are reading this story still, and I'm sorry it took so long to come back

I actually considered giving up on writing, but I remember I told myself if I started something

I WOULD FINISH IT.

Like our SHINee boys continue on for our angel Jonghyun, I will continue on for all you!

And I genuinely enjoy writing. So, I'm back to continue Special! 

Hope you enjoyed :) Good Evening!