Change

 

Chen and Xiumin never talked about what happened that night, but they had become a lot closer than they were before. They sat together at the dinner table, and they were almost constantly seen together practicing or just hanging out. The most shocking development, though, was how clingy Chen had become towards Xiumin, and how Xiumin just accepted it and let Chen do whatever he pleased. Chen liked hugs, and Xiumin liked Chen’s warmth so it worked out well. From time to time they even held hands as they were walking, with Lay walking behind them with his chin on the floor. He just couldn't believe how dependent but yet protective Chen had become over Xiumin, and how Xiumin reciprocated his feelings by worrying even more. He couldn’t believe how much more open Xiumin had become, he was no longer as angry and quiet, but happier, and sassier (WHICH WAS MOST DEFINITELY CHEN’S DOING) and even though Lay always wanted to keep his brother safe from all the creeps of the world he couldn’t help but feel a bit happy for the two of them. They weren’t together yet, but Lay could see that they both cared more for the other than a mere friend or best friend would.

 

Xiumin and Chen noticed the others’ looks, but they never even batted an eyelash and just continued smilig and holding hands. None of them went further than that though. If they wanted to or not is a completely different story, but none of them did anything else. They were both very shy about there feelings, so Lay couldn’t say that he was surprised. When he and Chen was sitting alone one day, he brought it up.

 

”So.. You and Xiumin, huh?”

 

Chen’s ears turned crimson read. ”I.. I have no idea what you’re talking about. There is nothing going on between about us.”

 

”Are you sure about that?” Lay used his scary big brother stare, and he could see Chen cave in more and more for every second that passed. 

 

”FINE! Well, I think I like him, and that he might like me as well, but we’re not doing anything about it.”

 

”And how do you feel about that?”

 

”Well.. I actually am a bit relieved, but at the same time disappointed. I mean, I would love to see for myself what those lips taste like STOP LOOKING PAINED YOU ASKED but at the same time I know how hard it is for Xiumin to let someone in after what happened to him and his family so I am really just happy he manages to do this much without freaking out. I’ll wait as long as he needs.”

 

Lay smiled at his brother, and ruffled his hair.

 

”Hey!”

 

”You’re cute. I am proud over how much you’ve grown, Chennie. It’s nice to see. Although you’ll always be my baby brother so if he breaks your heart I will squash him like a bug. Just so you know.”

 

Chen laughed, and nodded. 

 

”Chen! We need to practice! Are you coming?”

 

Chen looked up, eyes twinkling as he saw Xiumin standing by the training rooms, obviously excited about soon to be workout, almost jumping up and down.

 

Chen rolled his eyes. ”I’m coming. Bye ge!”

 

Lay grinned and waved goodbye, letting the ball of sunshine run up to his ice pick. He then went to search for his own little light, and found him in the huge fountain they had just by the dorm rooms, standing in the middle of the water with his eyes clothes, the water around him moving in weird patterns. 

 

”Babe” he asked carefully. ”What are you doing?”

 

Suho opened his eyes and the water stopped moving as his concentration had been broken. he smiled when he saw who it was, and took his lover’s hand as he joined him in the water. ”I was practicing. I like this water, because it’s a lot harder to control than anywhere else.”

 

”Yeah?”

 

”Yeah. I think it’s Alice’s doing actually. She knew I needed something a bit more difficult to practice on, and one day she told be that the fountain wasn’t a bad place for practice sessions. I tried it out, and when I realized how difficult it was to make the water do what I want here I started coming here when I wanted get really tired. Today though, I also went to see if it had become easier than before, not to just get tired, but to my disappointment it’s just as difficult as before. Damn Alice.”

 

”So you were trying your hardest to get the water to move just now?”

 

”Nah. I can’t say that’s the case. If I really want to I can make it move as I usually make water move, but it’s a lot more tiring so I try not to.”

 

Lay looked fascinated but then he frowned as he realized something. ”Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

 

Suho laughed. ”I just didn’t find the time to with everything that was happening with Chen. it didn’t really feel important in comparison. And then I just kind of forgot about it because I haven’t been here in a pretty long. I’m sorry darling.”

 

Lay sighed. ”Don’t be, I’m not angry. I could never be angry with you.”

 

”’Course you could.”

 

”Yeah well but that’s only if you do something really stupid that compromises your safety.”

 

Suho squeezed his hand harder. ”I know. I know.”

 

Lay grinned, and then he bent down and swept Suho off his feet.

 

Suho let out a very (un)manly scream. ”Lay what are you doing?!”

 

Lay got an evil glint in his eyes, and Suho gulped. ”Well, you said that you used this to get really tired but I know much better ways to become really tired. And we really haven’t had any y time in ages!”

 

Suho whined as he knew there was no getting out of this. ”Well make sure I can still walk tomorrow!”

 

Lay snorted. ”Please. I am a healer baby. You won’t feel a thing tomorrow.”

 

Suho blushed as he realized his stupidity, but then he grinned with evil laced in every fiber of his face as he carefully Lay’s chest, and then twisted his painfully.

 

”AOUCH!”

 

Suho giggled, and Lay looked down on his mischievous lover, and started taking longer strides in order to reach their bedroom faster. ”Someone’s going to get it real good.”

 

The pair entered their bedroom, and after a few moments there was a resounding smack, and a shriek from Suho.

 

”LAY!”

 

  

 

Chen faced Xiumin with conviction. They had worked on merging together, everyone deciding it was best to try with those they had a really close bond to. The only ones who weren’t really trying were Lay and Tao, since Lay’s power was far too dangerous to play around with, and Tao’s power could never be controlled by someone other than him because it would ruin their minds. It had taken tao a very long time to become as certain of his powers as he was, and for someone to get those shot at them through merging would simply be too much, none of them doubted that. But the rest of them had visible powers and they tried their hardest to merge them together. Suho and Kris were doing a bit worse than the others, because they simply weren’t as close.

 

The first ones succeeding in merging were surprisingly D.O and Kai. Kai didn’t have a visible power either, but D.O had still wanted to try, which resulted in them somehow being able to merge their powers into a very strange one. When D.O was holding onto Kai, they managed to use Kai’s teleportation and D.O’s super strength creating an invisible force crashing around. While Kai made them turn up at one place D.O would use his strength at the same time, which caused a force as strong as a small earthquake every time they turned up somewhere new. The more they focused their powers into a new one, the stronger the quake would become as they turned up somewhere else. The only problem was how tired they became after just a few teleportations, and since D.O and everybody else were scared of what happened to Kai when he became too tired they stopped as they felt exhaustion coming creeping up their bodies. Kai didn’t like to be the one holding them back, they all knew that, but Kai never openly complained which the rest felt grateful for. It wouldn’t have been any use to complain anyways, he still would’ve gotten a straight no from the other eleven. Chen might have caved in if Kai complained enough, but not the rest. They had been immune to Kai’s cuteness for a long time. 

 

The next ones succeeding were Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Chanyeol had an advantage of having done it before, so when it came to merging their powers they did it quickly. It was when they were going to control it together it became difficult. Chanyeol’s and Baekhyun’s powers worked in very different ways which made it hard for them to adapt to the other’s part of the merge. Where Chanyeol was rough and angry, Baekhyun used a calm fury. Where Chanyeol felt at ease, Baekhyun struggled to not burst into tears. Both of their powers were destructive, but  while Chanyeol’s was more direct, Baekhyun’s was more sneaking. It took them some time to understand each other, how the other thought in a situation where they themselves had thought in a completely other way. But once they understood, they could control their merging in an almost effortless way. Their merging consisted of blasting fire, but the fire itself looked just like light. It was shining so powerfully it was almost impossible to look at for a longer amount of time, and while the flame was extremely hot and dangerous, the light part of the flame worked as taking all the light from the environment, leaving their opponents in the darkness, the only thing they could really see being the shining flame coming towards them. 

 

The flame was also dangerous in the sense that while the heat and fire part of it came from Chanyeol, the sudden explosiveness the flame carried came from Baekhyun. It was honestly a terrifying merge, making even the strongest of the team turn their heads an extra time. The only problem once more was how tiring it was to maintain. They needed to hit their target quickly, or their powers would become so drained that the merging disappeared and they just sagged to the ground, easily defeated. if they weren’t absolutely sure they would hit their target in one of the first tries, it wasn’t something they could use. If they didn’t succeed it meant that they had become extremely vulnerable and were now just a hindrance, one more thing to look after for the others. 

 

This wasn’t only implied in Baekhyun and chanyeol’s merge, it was in all of the merges. the more they worked on them the more they understood why the teachers had made the decision to not teach the kids the technique. It was very, very tiring, and dangerous to say the least if one of them lost control while trying. Lay had had to heal baekhyun from a burn covering his entire left arm together with a half blind Chanyeol, and D.O from when he had fell out of the teleportation and had fallen down onto the ground from several meters height. 

 

The merging also made them very vary of how weak they all were if they had been merging all day. That’s why none of them no longer trained merging on the same days. Like the day it was Chen and Xiumin’s turn, the others worked on their powers like they usually would, by sparring or working alone, but with no merging involved. They did it so if the school ever got attacked by something or someone at least most of them would be 100% prepared to meet their enemies. 

 

”Chen, let’s try again.” Chen was shaken out of his thoughts, looking up at Xiumin who was standing a few meters away, looking at him intently. ”Are you okay?”

 

Chen smiled. ”Yeah. I just got lost in thought.”

 

”You do that a lot.”

 

Chen snorted, but tried to keep a straight face. ”I do not!”

 

”It’s bad to lie, Chennie.”

 

”You can’t prove anything, you here me!”

 

”My best friend is a mind reader.”

 

”Oh.”

 

Xiumin started laughing, and Chen laughed with him, eyes twinkling in the dull lighting of the training room. Once the laughter died down though, they were back to being serious and stood in position to try again. Just as the others they had managed to merge their powers, but they were still trying to learn how to control the merge. As Chen shot out his lightning, Xiumin met it with his ice and the two powers transformed in the air, purplish ice flakes sharp as butcher knives appearing with lightning  surrounding them like snakes. 

 

”Please” Chen mumbled through gritted teeth and sweaty sweaty bangs, ”please just ing work this time.”

 

Chen’s prays weren’t heard though, because once they tried starting moving the shards of ice they exploded and Chen’s lightning flew away towards different spaces of the training room, leaving small marks everywhere it hit. 

 

”” Xiumin swore, and sat down in defeat. ”Why isn’t it working? I mean yeah we are trying too hard but still we should see some change at least by now, but no, nothing!”

 

Chen sighed, and sunk down next to Xiumin, there arms slightly touching, and when Chen felt a weird pulling through his arms he understood. 

 

”OMFg” he said, and Xiumin looked at him with confusion.

 

”What?”

 

”I just realized what it is that makes this damn thing work, like hell why didn’t we see it before?!”

 

”What?!”

 

”You felt something too when our arms touched right?”

 

Xiumin blushed. ”Well.. yeah.”

 

”And what did all the others do when their merges worked?”

 

Xiumin was quiet for a little while, and then realization hit him like er punch to the face. ”Holy ..”

 

Chen’s eyes shone. ”YES!”

”THEY WERE TOUCHING EACH OTHER OMG WHY HAVE WE BEEN THIS DENSE!”

 

”I know right, like why are we so stupid the answer has been here all along.”

 

The two of them got up, with new found strength, and now instead of standing opposite to each other they stood next to each other. Chen reached out his hand, and Xiumin grabbed it without question. Then they took a deep breath together and let their powers merge together once more. This time it felt different though, it was like Chen could feel Xiumin’s powers in a totally different way than before. It was like the power had feelings, and that Chen could read them and let his powers take after them while Xiumin did the same thing. They stared at each other with wide eyes for a few seconds, when they felt the other’s power flow into them, filling them and letting them understand it. Then they turned to the merge, and without talking they moved the shards towards their target, in this case the black spot from one of Chen’s lightnings on the wall opposite of them. The sharp flew with ease, effortlessly, it didn’t feel difficult or tiring at all. No, it felt easy, just like breathing, and they hit their target with a satisfying sound. She shards sunk into the wall like it was butter, and the lightning speak out around them, making their way up and down and to the sides of the wall, making the damage a lot bigger.

 

Then it all disappeared, only leaving a damaged wall behind, the only sound being the two’s ragged breathing. The tiredness had hit them now, Chen’s body feeling like led, and the leaned against Xiumin who somehow managed to keep them both upright.

 

”Holy ” Chen mumbled, and Xiumin chuckled. 

 

”We did it.”

 

Chen smiled tiredly as they started walking out of the training rooms. ”Yeah. We did.”

 

Once they mad it back, Chen sent away a thought to Luhan that they had finally made it, and Luhan cheered in the both’s heads, promising to tell the others as well. They both slowly made it to their rooms, and Xiumin showered first while Chen sagged down on the bed, just lying limply with half his body outside of the bed until Xiumin was done. It really did take its toll on their powers to use the merging, and they had only done it properly once.

 

”Chen” Xiumin said carefully, and Chen forced his eyes to open. ”I’m done, go shower okay. Oh, and didn’t Lay want to see you later as well?”

 

Chen groaned. he had forgotten about that, and grumbled as he got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. ”Stupid brothers..”

 

”Eeh Chen?”

 

”What?”

 

”Clothes.”

 

”...”

 

”Hhahhaa.”

 

”It’s not funny!”

 

”HAHAHA.”

 

 

Chen carefully knocked on his brother’s door, waiting for him to open it, but he was met with a dissolved looking Suho instead, who was wearing nothing but his own skin.

 

”OH MY GOD COVER THAT UP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!”

 

Suho looked down, and squeaked as the through the door shut. ”I’m so sorry Chen I forgot I was sleeping!”

 

Chen didn’t answer, he was too busy trying to will away the picture of his brother’s lover’s from his mind. Then Suho opened the door again, this time fully dressed and very red in the face.

 

”Let’s just not ever talk about this again okay” the older requested, and Chen nodded furiously.

 

”Yeah, good idea. I don’t even know eve know what you’re talking about.”

 

”Me neither, I am probably still tired.” Suho grinned, and Chen smiled back, not being angry at Suho for ruining his poor eyes. 

 

”Is my bother in there somewhere?”

 

”He is showering from the sound of it. Why don't you wait outside and I’ll tell him to hurry up okay?”

 

”Okay.” Chen did what he was told, and sat down outside Lay and Suho’s room, waiting for his brother to get out from the shower.

 

About fifteen long minutes later, and a now very grumpy Chen Lay emerged from the room, looking sufficiently embarrassed. 

 

”Sorry Chen I totally forgot I said we were meeting later.”

 

”.”

 

”Hey! I know you’re tired, but so am I and I’m still older than you!”

 

Chen just glared, and Lay sighed, and bent down to hoist his brother up into his arms.

 

”PUT ME DOWN” the younger screamed and struggled the best he could as Lay carried him outside.

 

”Well you’re behaving like a child, and small children don’t walk on their own so deal with it. See it as a punishment.”

 

”You’re so evil!”

 

”You better watch it young man, or I’ll keep you like this for the rest of out time together.”

 

Chen stared at him. ”You wouldn’t dare.”

 

Lay glared back. ”There. You just made it happen.”

 

Chen was about to say something, but he got one warning look and shut up immediately. Once Lay had settled down on a bench with his brother in his lap he opened his mouth once more.

 

”I’m sorry” He mumbled, and Lay sighed and his hair.

 

”Yeah. Me too.”

 

”Am I allowed to sit on my own now?”

 

”No. I said it was a punishment didn’t I? And I don’t back out of those.”

 

Chen sighed, but the knew there was no use in arguing to he just settled his way-too-old--to-be-sitting-on-someone-else-other-than-his-none-existent-boyfriend until he felt comfortable enough, and leaned against Lay’s chest. His brother had always been overprotective and very strict about rules and respect, so he understood why he had ended up the way he had, but it was still humiliating. 

 

After a few minutes in silence, Chen decided to break it once more.

 

”Ge?”

 

”Hm?”

 

”Why did you want to meet me by the way? You never said.”

 

”There isn’t any special reason really. I just wanted to hang out a bit with my little brother. We have been so busy practicing lately, and I think we should do some catching up.”

 

Chen sported a small smile at that. ”Okay.”

 

”So. How’s your and Xiumin’s relationship now?”

 

Chen blushed. ”It’s good. really good. We got over our differences really quickly, and now we’re really close. I truly like him.”

 

”Like as in like, or like as in like like him?”

 

Chen remained quiet at that, and Lay groaned.

 

”I always knew this day would come, but I’m still not ready for it.”

 

”Not ready for what?”

 

”To see my baby brother grow up!” 

 

”I’ve been grown up for a while now Lay ge..”

 

”What’s that supposed to mean?”

 

”Well.. You don’t think I’m still a do you?”

 

”WHAT?! WAS IT SUNGJAE?!”

”What no?! It would never be Sungjae he’s like a brother omg gross! It was just with a guy I met at the village.”

 

”Who?”

 

”Does it really matter?”

 

”YES!”

 

”No it doesn’t, and who it was is my secret. It was a short romance, and we didn’t really love each other. It was more a spur of the moment, to have some fun kind of thing. And once he got interested in someone else we ended it. That was the deal.”

 

”How come I didn’t know of this?”

 

”Because mom and dad knew you would freak? And it was my decision to make, and at that time a simple summer romance felt right, and I don’t regret it at all. First time is never pleasant, but he made it okay do I don’t mind. Why are we even talking about this you are looking like you might pass out, just saying.”

 

Lay whimpered. ”I can’t believe that my baby grew up and I wasn’t even aware of it, like this is not fair!”

 

Chen just laughed, and let Lay hug him tighter. ”Don’t worry, I’ll always be your little brother though, less or not.”

 

Lay smiled, just a little bit. ”Yeah, I guess.”

 

Chen’s smile became sorrow filled. ”I am sorry that we grew apart once you left. I guess I was just angry at the world for not getting me powers and giving you powers which could kill me. I was never angry at you, you mustn’t think that.”

 

he could feel Lay relax against him at the words. ”That relieving to hear. I still should have kept more contact than I did, though, but I was so busy learning to control my powers fully that I neglected everything else. And for that, I am sorry.”

 

Chen shook his head. ”Don’t feel sorry about that, now when I have gotten my powers I understand completely what you mean. Powers are very dangerous not controlled properly and therefore you kind of feel a responsibility to control them well as soon as possible. I could never be angry at you because of that. So never feel so about that.”

 

”Thank you.”

 

They sat together for a while more, just talking about random things such as old memories or weird habits they had gotten from their parents. It was an outing they didn’t know they had needed, but now understood that they indeed had. Once they finally got up, Lay letting go of his brother as the punishment was over, they both felt the stiffness in their joints and groaned. Then Lay took hold of Chen’s hand and started walking back towards the dorms, but they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

 

”Wait!”

 

Chen turned around i surprise. ”Sandra?”

 

The girl ran up to them, towering over both of them as she was quite tall, breathing heavily as she had been running to get to them before they entered the dorm.

 

”I need to talk to Chen for a second if that’s okay Lay” she said, and looked pleadingly at Lay, who frowned and looked at this brother.

 

”You’ll be okay?”

 

Chen smiled and nodded. ”Yeah, I have talked to her before, she’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

 

Lay nodded, and ruffled Chen’s hair. Then he turned and walked towards the door. ”Don’t take too long!”

 

”I won’t!”

 

Once Lay had gone away, Chen turned towards Sandra. ”What’s up?”

 

Sandra looked a bit distressed, and Chen frowned. 

 

”Sandra? What’s wrong?”

 

”I need to tell you something, because everything is going to hell and I don’t know why.”

 

”What?”

 

”Things are changing and I don’t know what will happen if they change completely.”

 

”I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

”it’s not privat enough to talk here. Please, come with me, I beg you. it’s important.”

 

She looked so scared, so worried that Chen couldn’t find it in him to say no. ”Okay, I’ll come with you. Breath.”

 

Sandra looked momentarily relieved, and then she started dragging Chen away from the dorms towards the forest of the cursed.

”You want to talk in the forest? Because that’s just stupid.”

 

”No, but what I need to show you is there.”

 

They walked in silence, with hurried steps. Once they arrived at the edge of the forest, Sandra turned towards Chen. 

 

”What I’m about to tell you right now is not something you’re supposed to know but I have no other choice. you have to promise me you won’t tell the others unless it’s absolutely necessary. You have to promise me, Chen, or I might ruin things even more than before.”

 

Chen looked at Sandra for a moment, and then he nodded. ”Okay.”

 

”Thank you.”

 

”Sure. Now what is wrong?”

 

Sandra opened , and then she closed it again. then she opened it, let out a sigh and sunk to the ground, sitting down with her legs crossed. From the looks of it, whatever she was going to tell him would take a while. Chen sunk down opposite of her, and got ready to listen. For a while they just sat there, staring at each other, and then Sandra opened for a final try.

 

”When we first met, I acted like I knew everything about you and everyone else, and that’s because  I do. Just not here.”

 

Chen stared at her confused, but he didn’t say anything. 

 

”When the world as I know it went to hell, I did something no one is upped to do. it’s forbidden as laws of time says you’re never supposed to mess with things you don’t understand, but as this started with messing with time it has to end with that as well. I now everything about you guys, because I know you guys like the back of my hand. In the future we work closely together.”

 

Chen stared at Sandra, utterly confused. Future?

 

Sandra nodded. ”What you’re thinking is correct. I may not know you here, but I know you in the future. I am from the future, but I went back, breaking the holy law, because this is the only way to save the world before it becomes completely ruined. You twelve are our only hope in the future, and that includes you future selves. When you found out about your powers in the reality I live in, everything up until last week happened in the same manner. But in my reality you never even tried merging, and you never accidentally merged you powers with Chanyeol. I don’t know if it’s because I already changed things when going back here, but things are changing, and I’m not sure why. What I was meant to do was to wait until all of you were strong enough and then tell you the truth about the curse. I wasn’t supposed to change things before then, and I don’t know why things are changing because I have stayed out of your way. Either way, at least one of you need to know the truth and as I am the closest to you in the future I am telling you.”

 

Chen nodded. ”But us trying merging can’t be why you are so worried. It doesn’t sound like that can mess things up very much.”

 

Sandra sighed and nodded. ”No, the worst change I have noticed which is most definitely not meant to happen is what we’re now sitting in.”

 

Chen looked around, and then he realized with horror filling every ounce of his being, that they were now sitting in the forest of the cursed, which they most definitely hadn’t before. The forest was moving in towards the school, breaking the bond put on it. 

 

”” he breathed out, and Sandra nodded, fear just as evident in her face as it was in his. 

 

ing fantastic.

 

Author’s note:

 

Hello everyone! Well, there’s some change happening which I hope none of you were thinking of. I hope you enjoyed it though, and are looking forward to the soon to be action.

 

Also, I think I’ll includes some chapters with as well, once in a while, so see the ”y time” before as preparation for that.

 

I would also like to thank everyone who is commenting, upvoting, subscribing or just reading this story. It nice when people actually read what you do <3