Secrets and lies

Xiumin watched tiredly as Chen jumped around in their dorm room. All the others were out on a misson, without Chen knowing it, and wouldn’t come back until late. Which meant Xiumin would have to take care of Chen himself. A very speedy overexcited Chen. 

”Chen, please, could you just for a second sit down and breath?” Xiumin asked.

Chen just laughed. ”NOPE! Why would I when I have so much energy left in my body? Come on, hyung, join me, we can have so much fun tonight. The others aren’t here, so we’ll just have to play together, right?” Chen pouted as he said the last part. He really wanted his Lay ge to be there playing with him, but none of them were there. He had asked why but Xiumin had just answered that they were busy. 

Xiumin sighed. ”Play by yourself, I have no energy left, and quite frankly, it’s too babylike to play around.”

Chen felt anger rise up in him. All his feelings were extra strong, and he was tired of Xiumin’s . ”Well then you. I’ll just go and do something by myself.” 

He turned around and left the room, shutting the door with a loud bang. He went outside quickly, breathing in the fresh air. Why was he feeling so emotional? He looked around. The night was quiet, really quiet. It was like something wasn’t right. There was not a sound. No birds, no animals no people. The only light was the light from the moon up above. And the black forest was looking more scary than ever. He felt a shudder go down his spine. ”What the hell is happening” he mumbled.

Xiumin went outside after a moment, knowing it wasn’t a good idea to leave Chen alone. He had just been so annoyed. When ones powers were used like Chen’s were, it resulted in the release of emotions. Usually it was only a happy craziness, but sometimes it was worse than that. It depended on the person in question, and Chen apparently was the type who fel everything, his mood changing like wind. And if it changed that quickly who knew what could happen. What if Chen got really angry and his powers went highway crazy? Then he would have A LOT to explain to Lay, and probably get an ear full because it was his fault in the first place. And an angry Lay was a scary Lay, and no one wanted to meet that person. Lay was even worse than he could be. He shuddered at the thought of the dark Lay coming out, and hurried to find Chen. Better stop him before something even happened. 

he found Chen standing just outside the door, staring at the silence infront of him. He looked…. scared. ”Hey” he said softly. ”You okay? I am sorry I was mean before, I was just tired.” 

Chen turned around and met Xiumin’s eyes. He looked almost reliefed to see him. ”I am not angry” he said just as softly and smiled a bit. ”I don’t know why I am feeling so emotional. I just got mad, but I get that you were annoyed with me. Sorry.”

Xiumin smiled. ”Don’t worry about it. I am sorry too, so we are even right?”

Chen nodded, and he looked so adorable that Xiumin couldn’t help himself. He patted the younger’s head, and Chen whined softly.

”I am not a kid!” He pouted. 

Xiumin laughed. ”Well but right now you surely look like one. That pout makes you look like you’re five years old.”

Chen pouted even more hearing that, but then he was once again reminded of what he had though about earlier. ”Hey hyung” he said, suddenly looking a bit scared, making Xiumin ark his eyebrow,

”What?”

”It is always so… Quiet here?” 

Xiumin stared at Chen, and then he solemnly looked down on the ground. ”Yeah, at night, it it. It’s what we call the curse of the black forest. Every night all the animals disappear, the light go away, only the moon is visible, and there is not a sound. Some people find it cool, thinking it’s the forest’s doing only, but we who know the truth do not think it’s that funny. Because it’s not. Not at all.” 

Chen looked at XIumin. ”Could you tell me what really happened? I wanna know. I can’t help but feeling like you guys aren’t telling me a lot of things.”

Xiumin looked regretful. ”Sorry Chen. We jus didn’t know how to tell you everything. Some of the things EXO have been through are pretty sick. There is a reason Luhan is what he is, why Sehun is so attached to him, why Lay and Suho love each other like they do. But that is not my story to tell. I am sure they will tell you she they are ready. But I can tell you what really happened here, why it’s so dark and quiet late at night. But it’s a long story. We should probably get inside.”

Chen nodded, Xiumin was finally telling him something. A story of this place. He couldn’t help but feel a bit excited. Sungjae had always for the fact that he was so in love with stories, that he could listen to stories about people’s lives and just enjoy it, listen, understand and talk about it. Sungjae had never understood why he liked it so much, but Chen never cared. 

The reason he was so in love with stories was that he loved escaping in a world or reality which wasn’t his. He loved to forget, even just for a second or two, his own problems and just focus on everyone else’s. And it also felt like he came closer to the persons telling him the stories. It was a way for him to make friends. 

Once the pair had settled at the dining table in the dorm, they both sat quietly, Chen airing and Xiumin thinking, recalling what had happened.

”Well, it did happen a pretty long time ago” Xiumin started his story. ”Around the time when out headmaster was really young. She was a very powerful woman even back then, and her fiancee was as well. They were in love, waiting a child and their mutual dream was to help other magical people geting better at handling their powers. They were the most powerful couple in their time, they were practically unbeatable. They had fought several magmas and survived, they had went to the dark part of the planet without getting crazy and they managed to come back without a scratch. Everyone had started thinking that those to couldn't even die. 

But people were wrong. When Alice, our headmaster, and Heechul, her then newly husband, decided to finally start a school, they moved here, with several other people who wanted to become teachers and also help out. They were so ambitious, and so full of hope. But someone didn’t want them to make a school, they didn't want them to even come to the place were the school now stands. It was so close to the cursed black forest, and people were scared of that, but Heechul and Alice said that the forest was a forest, and the curse couldn’t get past it. The fear was rea, but only if we let it. An people agreed. 

When they started building up the school it was a fun work, and they were all happy, developing their powers together, having a great time, quite frankly. But one day, something happened. Someone must have called them, let them out of the forest, no one knows how, but all of a sudden a whole horde of magmas came towards the almost finished school. Alice her husband and their friends had no choice but to fight them off, but the magmas were vicious. They had never been more powerful than then. They were practically unbeatable. Alice said she had never seen anything like that before, and no matter how hard they fought, only more came. One after one they died, until it was only Alice and Heechul left, fighting for there lives. Everything they had worked for was destroyed and Alice was so, so angry. Her powers grew, more than they ever had before, and Heechul fused his powers with hers, giving her all he had left. With all that power she exploded, and killed all the magmas all at once. She killed them, magmas who once had been normal people, and even if she never siad it when she told us this story, I know she an enver forgive herself for it. And she can never forgive herself for what happened to Heechul. 

When he fused his powers with her, all his powers disappeared, really and truly disappeared. There is nothing left of what he once had, and you know yourself how dangerous it is for normal people to be around really powerful magic users. If he had stayed with her he eventually would have died because of her terribly strong powers, but he didn't care. As long as he could be with her. But she would never allow that, and before he could do anything she send him away, forbade him from ever coming back, putting up a magical barrier with her powers hindering anything unmagical to come through. She threw him out to protect him, her one and only love, and he left, knowing he had no other choice. 

Today no one knows where Kim Heechul really is. He disappeared the day he left, and no one has been able to find him. I know Alice wonders where he went, if he turned into a magma or if he survived. But she can’t find him. I know she has tried, Luhan told me when he checked her head, and she couldn’t find him. He is gone. 

So the only person around the half finished school was Alice, alone and destroyed. But her dream was still standing, their dream, and she finished building the school herself. She found knew teachers, and those promised to never speak of what had really happened, just as all the other adults had done. They knew it would be for the best. The only reason we know is because Alice made the choice to tell us, she wanted us to know everything  since we were her best students. And today I am telling you, because she wanted you to know, but she didn't have the strength to retell the story and therefore i did it. 

Ever since that horrible incident this place have been quiet at night, at the time when it all happened. But it is also one of the most protected places on earth. Some of us believe it’s the souls of the now freed magmas helping Alice, and some believe it’s just the power of Alice herself. But the memory of what happened will always remain, and because of that this place is what it it. So many people died that night, so many good people and the pain from the lone survivors were incredible. It left it’s traces.”

Chen just stared at Xiumin. He had known the headmaster was powerful, but he had never known that there was so much to her story. That there was so much pain in her heart. And he couldn't help but to wonder where Heechul had gone. If he was dea, or if he was not. He knew Alice was really old, and that her powers gave her the gift to live for that long, but if Heechul had lost his powers, he should be dead right? Chen didn't know what to think, more than that he felt really sorry for his headmaster. He understood her pain, it was jus like his own if not worse, and he realized that there was nothing special to his story about Sungjae. There was so many people whom had lived through pain without letting it show, and he didn't feel so alone anymore. He felt happy strangely, happy but sad. 

”I feel terrible for Alice” he let out, voice quiet and soft. ”I never would have guessed on my own that she had something like that buried in her heart, and I am good at sensing those stuff. It only shows how long she has been suffering.”

Xiumin nodded. ”Yeah, I never understood either. Not even Luhan, and he can read her mind. But she has hidden it so well it’s almost never on her mind. She is good at pretending everything is fine. ”

Just as good as you, Chen thought. Just as good as me. 

”Well” he tun said ”I am thankful that you told me what happened here. I have been wondering about it for a while. And it feels better now, the silence, since I know what really happened. Thank you.”

Xiumin smiled. ”Well, I was going to tell you anyways, didn't really know when but I was. I am glad you asked yourself. It shows you are sensitive to those things, which is good. With a little work I think you are going to be a really good lightning user.”

Chen blushed and smiled shyly. He had never heard Xiumin praise anyone before, and it felt nice. A lot nicer than he had imagined. ”You really think so?”

Xiumin smirked. ”I know so, lightning boy. Now, can we go to bed? We have along day tomorrow.”

Chen, who had come down from his high, smiled and nodded. He was tired as well. ”Yeah.” 

They both rose from the table, and started working towards their room. Then an idea hit Chen. ”The others… they are out on a mission, aren’t they?”

Xiumin looked at him in shock, but then he reluctantly nodded. ”How did you know?”

”I don’t know. I just thought about everything, about Alice going to missions, and I realized that’s what you guys do as well. And well, I understood.”

”Are you md that we didn’t tell you?”

”No. I am not. But I wish that you will tell me next time?”

”Sure. I will.”

Chen smiled, for the hundred time that night. ”Thank you.” 

They started walking again, and then there was a high bang and all the others tumbled in. Kai had probably teleported them all at the same time. And Chen knew immediately, just as Xiumin did, that something was wrong. They were all bleeding, panting, looking like they had escaped the grip of death. 

”What the hell happened!” Xiumin screamed. ”It was just a standard mission, how can this have happened?!”

Lay, who was the only one seemingly fine, since he healed fast, answered. ”Magmas. Hundreds of them. They didn't look like before. These were huge, black and red eyed. I have no idea what had happened, but it’s not good. We need to talk to Alice, right now.”

Chen stared. What?

ing fantastic.

Author’s note:

Well, this chapter turned a lot darker than i first had intended. I wanted you all to know a bit more about the story of the place the school is at, so you will understand the rest later on. I hope you enjoyed it though. Comments, are as always, much loved and appreciated<3.