Somehow, storytelling with Xero and Seogoong had turned into storytelling with Xero, Seogoong, and Sangdo, and when that had turned into storytelling with Xero, Seogoong, Sangdo, and Gohn, they had decided to add pizza into the mix.  This led to a bit of confusion for Hansol who wondered how they got pizza delivered to a supposedly abandoned Hangar.  To this Seogoong replied that they, “Had a guy.”  Even Jenissi had joined them, though he was sitting against the wall in the corner, but Hansol had caught him quirking a smile during Gohn’s story about how they’d once accidentally taken out a bicyclist who they thought was following them home. 

At some point Hojoon had arrived as well, and though he did stay for a slice of pizza and a bit of the conversation, he’d disappeared into P Goon’s office a while ago.  Gohn and Seogoong had rolled their eyes at each other when he’d gotten up to leave.   

It was getting late in the night when P Goon and Hojoon emerged from the office to find all of them still sitting around with the empty boxes of pizza.

“This is seriously how you’re spending your time?” P Goon surveys them with sharp eyes. “Seeing as you all have nothing better to do we might as well do a city sweep.”

Everyone gets to their feet except Hansol who sits there dazed by the sudden explosion in the mood.

“Are you serious?” Xero asks.

P Goon almost makes a complete smile.  “It’s been a while.  Let’s go surprise some folks who think nobody’s watching.”

Hansol stands and whispers to Sangdo next to him, “What’s a city sweep?” 

“We do a walk through the city.  We always do it randomly so no one knows when we might be out.  Encourages people to behave.”

P Goon has already moved on to scanning the room, mentally dividing up the groups. “Jenissi, you’re with me.  Hojoon, why don’t you go with Gohn.  Seo—,” P Goon trails off because he seems to notice Hansol like he hadn’t taken him into account. 

“I’ll go with Hansol.”  A pair of large hands end up at his shoulders and he looks up to see Seogoong.  He feels kind of grateful that Seogoong volunteered, but he turns to Xero quickly, expecting the other to be upset.

P Goon nods and finishes, “Okay, then Xero you’re with Sangdo,” Xero bumps fists with Sangdo excitedly, apparently not the least bit upset.  Hansol wonders why P Goon has mixed up the groups but he doesn’t get a chance to ask Xero and so he doesn’t ask at all.

“Team captains you know your routes.  Don’t get into any trouble you can’t get yourselves out of.  But most importantly, remind anyone out there you meet who calls the shots in our city.”

Hansol, still uncertain, is swept up in a mess of fumbling voices and shoes as they empty out of the Hangar into the night.

. . .

The gravel and broken glass that dots the road crunches under their shoes like fall leaves.  It’s the only sound in the air except a sniff and ruffle of a jacket in response to the cool breeze sliding up from the river.

“You seem distracted.”

Jenissi trails behind P Goon and waits for a response.  Instead, he watches his words fly over the other’s shoulders without notice, confirming his observation.

The side of his shoe catches a rock and it skitters off across the road.  Jenissi can’t see it but he follows the impression of the sound with his eyes. 

“I am.”  They’re P Goon’s words but he doesn’t stop or turn or otherwise claim ownership of them. 

Jenissi hums in response.  He watches the back of the other’s head for a moment in thought.  “Hoping to find answers out here?”

This time he receives no comment in return.

“Is that why you brought me along?”

P Goon stops short and turns.

Jenissi is caught up enough to see the steadiness of P Goon’s expression when he professes, “I would never ask anyone to use their power for me.”

 “But it would be nice if I volunteered.” Jenissi’s words carry a soft irony.  He slightly raises his eyebrows, conveying both the humor and the understanding his words carry.

P Goon holds his gaze steady for a moment.  When he reads Jenissi’s intentions enough to exhale, he continues down the street.  This time he and Jenissi are step in step. “I brought you along because you don’t usually like chatter.  Clearly I was mistaken.”   

Jenissi breathes a laugh but it’s devoured by the sudden pick up in the breeze.  He feels pieces of his hair lift and twist and settle as the air pushes by.  His hands are stuffed deep in his jacket pockets.  “You know,” he speaks between heartbeats when the air settles again, “if you needed me to, I would do it.”  He gestures vaguely with one of the hands in his pocket, “Without all of this, without what you gave me here—I would be dead.”  He lets the I would have made sure of it be left unsaid. He is looking at the scrub grass breaking through the sidewalk across the street.   

P Goon’s response is the way he delays his next breath.  The fraying edge of the power line dips low on the left side of the street. “You don’t owe me.”   

“It’s nice to be useful.  Don’t often get to be.  If I saw anything I wouldn’t mention it to anyone.  I don’t make a habit of sharing other people’s business.”

“Thank you,” P Goon says. It’s an appreciation but not an acceptance of the offer.  He looks to the side to catch Jenissi’s eyes.

He gets Jenissi’s sharp profile instead.  His features stand out even more in the harsh light and shadow of the streetlights.  P Goon still remembers Jenissi after the fire. . .

“When are you going to tell them?”

From the tone, P Goon can tell what he’s referring to.  He wonders for a moment how to respond, wondering how much Jenissi has already seen about the disappearances.  He never has to ask how Jenissi knows, of course.  He sniffs vaguely to buy himself time and then answers, “This is Hojoon’s business, really, not my secret to tell.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Jenissi corrects, meeting his eyes.

P Goon’s blood freezes in his veins. There’s a daunting emptiness between them for a moment.  P Goon has seen the birth and death of whole nations—but Jenissi sees beyond the veil.  P Goon isn’t used to feeling lost. 

“You can’t tell them.”

“I won’t,” Jenissi manages to be casual even now.  “I wouldn’t even know what to say.  I thought Hojoon would be able to figure it out, though.” 

“He can’t.  Not with the dragon.”

It’s the first time he thinks he’s mentioned the dragon out loud to any of them.  Even with Sangdo, even with Hojoon, he’s not sure he’s ever said it out loud himself. 

Jenissi nods.  “I hope you will tell them,” he pauses then adds, “And I’m sorry.”  He suddenly points over to the old consignment shop on the corner.  “We should check over there.  See if that girl is still around spraying murals.  She might need some new cans.”

He goes on ahead, taking confident steps though P Goon feels like pieces of his world have been shaken loose.  He remembers Jenissi after the fire and wonders if that Jenissi would believe him if he said that one day he’d be buying a young girl spray cans to beautify old factory buildings.

. . .

Xero is walking from pole to pole on a broken wooden fence.  Somehow he stays balanced with his eyes on the stars. 

“What do you see up there?” Sangdo asks. 

“I don’t know.  That kind of looks like a ship.”  He points and Sangdo follows his arm to the only stars visible beyond the city lights. 

To Sangdo the stars flicker and burn.  “Looks like a triangle to me.”

Xero reaches the end of the fence and hops down, his long legs crumpling slightly so that he stumbles into Sangdo laughing. 

“People are going to think you’re drunk,” Sangdo warns with a smile. 

“I’m not,” Xero insists, whirling on ahead, "Just pizza drunk."

They’re in a fairly quiet part of town.  Short of a small dispute or some vandalism, Sangdo isn’t expecting much.  He’s enjoying the change of pace—the quiet simplicity of the city in the blanket of night.

"Spare me and slow down a bit!" he calls after the flash of white hair ahead of him.

Xero comes to an abrupt stop, looking into the distance down the road.

Sangdo catches up and takes his hands from his pockets in case he needs the fire at his fingertips.  "What's up?" he asks, following the other's gaze.

“The power plant’s down there, right?”

Sangdo finds the note in the younger’s question odd, but answers, “Yes, if you go down a block or two you’ll be on the same road.  I thought you knew that.”

There’s a curious frown on Xero’s face. “I guess I did.  Looks different at night.”

Sangdo hesitates. “Like the first night?”  The first night was when Seogoong had pulled Xero from the snow.

Xero shrugs. “I don’t know.”

The younger starts forward, only stopping when Sangdo calls him back. “Wait.”

Xero plants his feet and Sangdo glances up as the streetlights buzz.  “That’s not part of our route.”

“I want to go.”

Sangdo knows for a fact that Xero has been down to the power plant more than once since that first night.  It didn’t have a big impact on him.  It never has.  Yet the hair on Sangdo’s arm is starting to stand on end. “I don’t think we should go tonight.”

“Why not?” Xero's voice is sharp.

Sangdo can see the light starting to burn at the corner of Xero’s eyes.  He takes a step forward. He can feel the heat coming off the streetlights. “Xero, take a second to breathe.”

Xero's feet are still going sliding one in front of the other. 

Sangdo grabs his elbow.  “Hold on.”

“You don’t get it.”  Xero is still pulling forward.

“Explain it to me.”

“You ever think about how energy is just pieces of the world shaking?  You can hear it sometimes.  Like a buzz.”

Sangdo has to squint against the whitening of the light.  It’s bouncing off of Xero’s hair.  This has nothing to do with that first night in the snow.

Xero has stopped pulling but his eyes are fixed in the distance.  “I want to know what it feels like.  To try to hold it. Just to see if I could.  There’s so much of it.”  His eyes are full of longing.

Sangdo has no idea how to stop him.  “What do you think would happen if you tried?"

“I think I would explode.”

Sangdo is close enough to hear the younger’s breath shaking.  He takes hold of Xero’s other elbow, spinning the younger to face him.  There's a frightening joy in his face.  He finally understands.  Almost under his breath, Sangdo confides, “There are times when I wonder how long it would take something to burn.  I get it, Xero.  I really do.”

Slowly, understanding leaks through Xero’s features.  He throws an alarmed glance back at where the power plant would loom in the distance under brighter skies.  The street begins to soften back to a glow.  “Oh—” is the only sound he is able to muster.

“Come on,” Sangdo says lightly.  “Let’s take a walk.”  He pulls Xero away from the road, though he can feel the younger’s eyes lingering behind. 

A/N:  This is kind of a two part chapter.  I'm mostly done with the second half but it was getting too long for me to handle so I split it up and decided to post this first half today. The next part should be up soon, too, so don't be surprised if this ends up being more of a double update depending on when you log in next.

I had a really hard time transferring this from my head to the page, but I really like seeing interactions between different character that we haven't gotten a chance to see.  This chapter (part 1 and 2) is where the conflicts start to all twist together in the story.  There are a lot of different things happening at once and between this chapter and the next one, we'll hopefully see the set up for a lot of things to come.  

This will be the chapter you accidentally come back to one day and go oooohhhhh~ I see what she was up to now, haha. 

So this one's a bit short and then you'll have a long one after this. :)