Something is coming...

Something is coming…

Chen insisted on coming with the group to Alice, since he knew what was happening anyways, and the rest couldn't find it in them to say no to him after what happened earlier. They only wanted to talk to Alice.

When they bursted inside her office, she looked up with a surprised expression which quickly changed to one of horror when she saw how messed up they all looked, with clothes threaded to pieces and still small burns lingering on their bodies. The only ones fine were Xiumin, Chen and Lay since they hadn't been with the others on the mission, and Lay had already healed fully.

”What happened” she asked with gritted teeth, inviting them inside, waving her hand making chairs appear for them to sit on while she once again sat down behind her desk.

Chen immediately noticed how tired his headmistress looked. The circles under her eyes were big and dark, her hair a bit ruffled, and there were lots of wrinkles on her clothes. She was pale and her her blue eyes were drained of power. She had looked tired when he met her first time too, but now, not to many days after, she looked like she was almost dying. He didn't know if the others notice, because they didn't say anything about it, but he couldn't help but to worry a bit for her. He knew that she most likely could take care of herself but after what he had learned about her he just wanted to give her a hug. Telling her that she shouldn't be sad, that life went on, but he also knew that wouldn't really help her. It hadn't helped him after Sungjae had died. And even though he felt a lot better, the pain was still there every day of his life. He missed Sungjae more than he missed anyone else. The same was for her, he guessed.

”When we arrived at the village” Luhan started, a tired sad look on his face, ”everyone and everything was dead.”

No one of the men in the room could miss out on the gasp Alice let out, as she put a hand infront of her face. ”What” she whispered out.”

Luhan looked even sadden than before. ”When we spotted the village as we got up the hill, I understood why I couldn’t feel anyone’s presence as I usually do. There was nothing left but a little burned body of a child, as lay helped let go of her body. After that she turned into flowers and that is what we guessed have happened to the rest of them as well.”

”I saw them on the other side waiting for the child as well” Lay said quietly, and Che squeezed his hand, giving his brother a worried look. ”They are gone. But not angry at you Alice, they never could be. They were angry at themselves for not being stronger, and they were warning me for what was about to come before they left. It’s not good, according to them.”

Suho looked at Lay, frowning. ”You never told us this?”

Lay smiled a bit. ”I was about to, but then we got company, remember? And Luhan knew too.”

Luhan nodded, and no one commented. Luhan knew everything.

Alice looked at them. ”What came” she asked as the tears dripped down her face. Chen really wanted to hug her the more he looked. He could see her pain, and guilt, even though Lay had told her it wasn't her fault and that the village people had thought so too, and he understood her. But it really wasn't her fault, and he worried even more than before. The look on Luhan’s face told him he knew what Alice were thinking as well.

”Alice” he said lowly. ”It wasn't your fault, you know that. The villagers didn't blame you, and no one else will either. And to what happened… we were attacked by several magmas, but they didn't look like before at all. They were different… evolved.”

Alice gritted her teeth once more, the tears had stopped running, and she put her hand out towards Luhan. ”Show me” she said. Luhan looked worried at her, but when she continued holding her hand out he reluctantly took it, and they both closed their eyes at the same time, a low glow emitting form their connected hands.

”What are they doing” Chen whispered to Xiumin, looking very interested.

Xiumin answered with a whisper as well. ”It’s one of Alice’s powers, or I actually think that power belonged to Heechul in the beginning. When she connects her hand with someone and they both concentrate on it, she can look at their memories. Luhan and Alice have done this quite a few times, so they are able to connect quickly, otherwise it takes longer since the other part doesn’t know how to connect.”

Chen gaped. he had never heard of such power before, all though he hadn't had very much contact at all with the magic world before at all so perhaps it was more common than he thought.

”Is that a gift many people has?”

Xiumin shook his head, and Chen tried to keep himself from smiling victoriously. He was right, after all.

”No, it’s not common at all. The only ones with the power is a woman in the eastern part of the country, and Alice now. Before, like I said, it was Heechul.”

Chen nodded, to show that e had understood, and returned to looking at Alice, who were now looking very angry as she watched the memories Luhan gave her. Once they broke the contact between their hands she opened her eyes and gave the group of boys a stern look.

”This means nothing good. At all. I have never seen creatures like these before, but I agree with you, it does look like some kind of evolved magmas. But these does not have anything human about them anymore, which is a very dangerous thing. We have to act carefully from now on. This could i worst case mean a war of some kind is coming. And that means we have to prepare ourselves, so we wont be as unprepared as the poor village was when they attacked it. Kai” Alice said and looked at the tanned boy who immediately looked up at her hearing his name. ”I am so sorry but I need you to go around to all the bigger towns around this planet and give them this item. They are shields, created by me, very similar to the one put up around this school and I have saved them for a situation like this. Give one to every leader of every large city and tell them to activate it. They will know what to do with it. This will give them extra protection, and if the shield is very damaged I will feel it, and so we can perhaps help them all. It will also spread out over the villages near by, so everybody will be protected.”

Kai nodded, and promptly stood up and picked up the weird looking items Alice gave him in a bag. They were formed like squares, with little balls of lighting moving around in them in a decided pattern. They were very beautiful but they gave out a horrible amount of power, and Chen understood they had taken a lot to make, probably a long time too. That she gave them out now meant that she was feeling it too, something was changing, something was coming. And whatever was coming didn't feel good at all. Chen felt worried and displeased thinking about it, and he kind of wanted to curl in on himself the same time he wanted to go out and fight whatever it was hurting his loved ones. Because what if the magmas reached his village? What if the shields were broken? The village who had met them hadn't stood a chance, and that could mean the same for his village. His mum and dad were there, and his friends. If something happened to them Chen wouldn't know what to do.

He suddenly felt a hand in his thigh, squeezing lightly, and he looked up to see Luhan look at him with concerned eyes. ”It’ll be fine” Luhan whispered. ”The shields will be of great help. Don’t worry about them. They can fend for themselves, I know that.”

Chen smiled a bit, and nodded. He was quite thankful for having Luhan there, even though he could read his mind. He had the right words for him, and it calmed him down hearing Luhan say his village could fend for themselves. And he was probably right, there was a lot of powerful people in his village, all though he had never met them since their powers could be harmful for him. ”Thank you Luhan.”

Said boy smiled. ”No problem.”

As they both looked up once more, Kai had taken all of the items, and were preparing to leave.

”Kai” D.O said with a worried expression. ”Are you sure you should do it tonight? You used a lot of power fighting the magmas.”

Kai smiled, and the back of his hand over his lover’s cheek. ”Yeah, I feel pretty good, Lay healed me quite a lot, since I was our way home. I might have to rest a bit after this, but it’ll be fine. I promise.”

D.O still didn't look very convinced though, and neither did Luhan. ”Kai” Luhan said, voice stern. ”Don’t lie when there’s a mindreader in the room. You aren't fine at all.”

Kai looked down, blushing hard as D.O hit him on the arm hard for lying. ”I am sorry” he said and looked at al of them ”but I didn't want you to worry, because no matter what you guys say I will go now. I also have people I car about, my family live in one of the villages who are the weakest and I couldn't bare i something happened to them. So I will leave now, and make sure they are fine, and then I can rest assured tomorrow. Okay?”

The other’s looked at him, and Lay sighed. ”Well since I know we can’t convince you otherwise, come here.”

Kai slowly came up to Lay, and said boy put his hand on him.

”This is going to hurt a bit. It’s instant energy, and it’s going to make you feel great for a while, but it wears of quickly. You will need to hurry. And if you feel that your energy gets too drained come back and I will try to refill it.” He then took a deep breath and his hand lit up with a bright blue color, which surrounded Kai before it was sued into his body.

Kai let out a quiet whimper as the energy was pushed inside him, and D.O looked even more worried than before, but then he smiled and looked a lot more energized. ”Thanks Lay. I’ll be going now.”

D.O gripped his arm before he had the chance to slip away, and the other’s looked away to give them at least a bit of privacy. ”Be careful” he whispered, and took Kai’s face between his hands. ”I don’t want to see you so drained again, as last time. Promise me, Kai.”

Kai looked sorrowful. ”You know I will probably be like that, so I won’t promise. But I’ll try to be careful, I will. I am sorry.”

D.O sighed, but nodded, and then the pair hugged each other highly. Kai brushed his lips on the other’s and whispered a quiet ”I love you” and then he was gone, not there to hear D.O’s I love you too. He didn't need to be there, though. He already knew.

D.O turned to Luhan. ”Will it be the same as last time?”

Luhan sighed, and nodded. ”I am afraid it will be even worse. He was a lot more drained then he let on, and those quick energy boosts doesn't last forever.”

D.O swore quietly, and the other’s just looked worried. Alice looked guilty and sad, but there was nothing else that she could've done. There was no other teleporter in the school than Kai and no one was strong enough to handle the travel except him. And she didn't trust anyone else to do it.

Chen interrupted the award silence with a question. ”I hate to ask this, but can someone tell me what happened last time? I feel a bit confused.”

D.O looked up, and nodded. ”Well of course, sorry, I didn't even think of that you didn't know. Well, there was this one time when we ended up very close to the dark part, and hundreds, hundreds of magmas welled out. the rest of us were spread out in different places, and Kai had to go around killing magmas the same time he picked the rest of us up. And Kai is good at teleporting himself alone, but when he had to travel with ten others? Not so easy when it’s so many times. He was so drained when we got back he fainted and didn't wake up for about four days. His body wouldn't take any energy from Lay, it was like it shut down, the only thing working was drip, and at some point we thought he would die. But he didn’t, luckily, and once he woke up Lay could boost him with energy and heal him fully.”

Chen stared. They knew how dangerous it would be and yet they still sent him off? Chen admired their fighting spirit.

Luhan smiled a bit. ”It’s sweet that you think we are fighter Chen but none of us would've sent him away if we had any other choice. But this is serious, and he wouldn't have taken a no for an answer. So we can only hope that he comes back in one piece.”

Chen nodded, and felt the worry grow in his stomach. He could see in everyone’s faces that they were a whole lot more worried than they let on, not only about Kai but about everything, and Chen felt the same worry in himself. Not in his entire life or even his parents had magmas managed to evolve. If they could it meant bad things, especially since it had been someone else controlling them. And if they could evolve, it meant other creatures could too. Not only magmas came out of the dark forest. There were worse things, but they were very rare. But if the evolved as well, they could become a whole lot more dangerous even though they were few.

Lay sighed once more, and stood up. ”We should get back to dorm, if I know Kai right there’s where he will show up. Luhan will send you a message when he does, Alice, so you know everything went well.”

Alice nodded, and stood up as the other’s did it waving her hand again making the chairs disappear. She looked completely wrecked and tired now, almost crouching. Chen felt his heart clench once more and he let all the other’s turn around an start to leave before he walked up to her. At first he just stood close by, and looked into her eyes, while she stared back. Then he carefully put his arms around her.

At first Alice froze in her place. She hadn't let anyone hug her for so long, and every time someone had tried she had carefully slipped away before they had the chance. But this time she hadn't been prepared for the sudden hug. Especially not from Chen, who barely knew her.

And perhaps she would've had broken the hug i Chen hadn't said anything, but se never had the chance to before Chen opened his mouth.

”Xiumin told be about your past. And I know what you feel like. I feel like that everyday too. As many other’s. I’m not saying I will ever understand why it hurts so much for you, but I understand the pain. It’s the same for all of us. You are one of the strongest people I have ever met, and I just wanted you to know that. Even though your whole world broke down, you kept standing. You are still standing. But this time you aren't standing alone. We will all help you, not just EXO, but the whole school. Everyone looks up to you, and everyone would help to save our planet. You don’t have to carry it alone anymore. You never had to. I just want you to know that.”

Alice clenched her teeth hard, fought against the tears, but she couldn't hold them in any longer. The boy who barely knew her was the first to ever talk to her about what happened back there without her letting him. And she realized, that she didn't want to hold in the tears anymore. They had stayed inside for far to long.

So she put her arms up and held Chen like her life depended on it, while she silently cried into his shoulder. And Chen let her, didn't say anything for a long time. And when he finally opened his mouth again, it was not to talk.

A he let go of Alice, gripping on to her hand, as he stretched his hand out for his brother, who took it and connected it to D.O, who grabbed Tao, Who pulled in Suho. The circle ended with Luhan gripping Alice’s other free hand, and then Chen started to softly sing a christmas song from his hometown. It was soon christmas, but Chen and his family had always sung the song, because it reminded them of being strong, and holding on to what you believed in. It hadn't really anything to do what with what they had spoked of, and that’s why he sung it. He knew it would get them to think of something else, hopefully old memories.

”The fireplace is burning bright, shining all on me

I see the presents underneath the good old Christmas tree

And I wait all night 'til Santa comes to wake me from my dreams