Lachlan had thought that his only powers had been telekinesis. He was wrong.

It had only been a day since he had gotten his powers, and he hadn't yet been prepared to face the outside world, feeling that he should at least get the hang of his powers first as to prevent any... accidents. The least that he allowed himself to do was to walk directly down the street to the café and at least get coffee, as he had run out at his house. He had made it there without incident, and the café was uncharacteristically empty when he arrived, the only people that he saw being a nervous looking barista behind the counter and a girl studying in the back corner, sipping her coffee quietly as she flipped the pages of her textbook .

It was strange, but as soon as he had walked inside, he felt a sort of presence in his head. Two, to be precise. He stopped walking for a brief moment, caught off-guard. He didn't know how to describe it, but it was as if he could sense the two girls in the café in his mind. He frowned, puzzled by the new development, but continued to the counter, trying not to act conspicuous. He rattled off the order to the barista (making it a simple coffee, since she seemed like she was new there), who nodded sheepishly and turned to start making his coffee.

Lachlan felt as if he could literally feel her nervousness coming off of her in waves, and he contemplated if he actually was sensing her nervousness. I can lift things with my mind. I can sense people around me. Being able to feel their emotions isn't really too surprising I guess, right?

But even as he tried to reassure himself that this would be fine, he couldn't help the feeling of dread crawling up his spine.

His thoughts were interrupted by a small squeak of "Your coffee, sir" by the barista who had slid his drink across the counter without him noticing. As he reached to pick up the coffee, he heard the barista again.

"Oh god, I hope I made that right. He asked for a grande, right?! Or was it just a tall? He ordered mocha...didn't he?"

Even though the barista was no longer focused on him, Lachlan raised an eyebrow at her. He took a sip from his coffee, noting that it tasted like what he ordered. "Don't worry about it," he said to her, "You made it right."

The girl just blinked at him in surprise, stammering, "O-oh, did I say that out loud? I'm sorry. Just a habit."

Lachlan hummed in response, now thoroughly confused himself.

He heard the studying girl speak now; "But she didn't say anything... Hmm..."

But only, when he turned to walk out of the café, he didn't see her actually talk when he looked at her. The voice had echoed in his head, and it only clicked in his mind what was happening to him when he got home.

He could sense people around him.

He could sense their feelings.

And now, he could read their minds.

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After discovering his telepathy at the café, Lachlan spent most of the following weeks doing two things. The first of which was fighting crime as the Prince, and the second was trying to understand his powers... the latter of which was quite intriguing.

He had gotten the hang of his telekinesis, for the most part. It was actually pretty simple in how it worked. As long as he concentrated on the object (or unsuspecting criminal) that he was trying to levitate, he could move it as he willed it to, enveloped in translucent yellow light as they floated into the air. Though, he sometimes ends up levitating things by accident then he is deep in thought about other things, unconsciously lifting random objects into the air, only to drop them out of surprise when he realizes that he's even doing it.

As for his telepathy, it had been hell for him to try and control it for a while... He could hardly walk into any place crowded with people unless he wanted to be bombarded with a whole sea of people's minds cascading on him at once. It had taken a while, but he eventually found a way to conceal their thoughts from his mind. It was simple actually; he just had to imagine that they weren't there. It didn't require any concentration, only requiring for him to will himself not to hear any thoughts. He was relieved by this for two reasons, the first being the obvious fact that Lachlan didn't have to endure all of those minds at once, and the second being that he wouldn't end up eavesdropping on anyone's thoughts on accident.

Lachlan had made a vow to himself to try to use his telepathy as little as possible, though there were certain situations where he decided there could be exceptions. Using it to anticipate attacks from criminals he was fighting? Good. Reading his friend's minds? Bad. After all, reading people's inner thoughts is basically the ultimate invasion of privacy, isn't it?

Granted, sometimes there were certain thoughts that Lachlan couldn't block out. Like when someone is specifically thinking about him, or when someone is thinking a particularly strong thought. Other than that though, Lachlan mostly had control over his telepathy.

Although, sensing people's presences and emotions? Yeah, he couldn't turn that off. Albeit, Lachlan didn't think that this was too bad. He could sense the presence (Minds? Hearts? Souls?) of people within a short distance of him, like a light, constant buzzing in the back of his head. He eventually got used to it, and now he has just accepted it as a part of his life. And sensing people's emotions was something he just couldn't help, and as much as he would have liked to be able to ignore it, he just couldn't. He could tell if someone was happy, sad, angry, the whole works. At first he had trouble distinguishing his own emotions from everyone else's, but like his mind-reading, he adapted to keep his feelings separate from the others.

Surprisingly, it wasn't hard for him to distinguish presences and emotions at all anymore, and he could match minds and their owners pretty easily. It was definitely a helpful skill to have.

Unfortunately, his powers also correlated to his persistent headaches, which, of course, hadn't only been a one time thing. The headaches came around when Lachlan didn't use his powers for a prolonged period of time (a few hours maybe... Lachlan wasn't exactly keeping track), and he had so far worked out two ways to make them go away. The first of which was by exerting his telekinesis for a second at random, but this wasn't his preferred method, as he found that his powers were sort of unstable at this time, and he could very well end up breaking things if he doesn't watch how much power he's using (which he has done).

His second method was what Lachlan was currently doing at the moment.

He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, his eyes shut as he took deep breaths as he focused on keeping himself levitated in the air, floating a foot or two from the bed's surface. He looked almost serene, enveloped in the translucent yellow light as he meditated silently, the only movement inside of the light being the light rise and fall of his chest, and the ruffling of his hair and clothes as he stayed aloft. Around him, some random objects had begun to float as well from his desk and his dressers, but Lachlan paid no attention to it, deep in his own thoughts.

Meditation took much longer, but Lachlan liked having a moment or two to collect his thoughts and just ponder for a bit. It was quite relaxing, really.

He was currently thinking about his friends. Specifically, the Pack. More specifically, how in the ever-loving hell he was going to keep his powers hidden from them while they're all off in Canada (which was happening in a month). As if he wasn't already afraid of telling his friends back when he thought that he only had telekinesis, now he was absolutely terrified. He could just imagine the panic if they knew that he could infiltrate their thoughts at any moment. They would probably be angry... upset... they would be scared of him.

That's what made Lachlan's heart ache the most. What made him contemplate whether or not his powers were actually something that he should be glad for.

Even worse, his headaches were going to be absolute pains. He wouldn't have enough privacy to meditate, and he couldn't just throw things around at random either in fear of exposing himself.

There was another option that Lachlan was considering though. Who said that the Prince could only operate Australia? Lachlan knew that it would be a bad idea, sneaking out of Rob's house in the middle of the night to fight baddies while the rest of the Pack is asleep... So many things could go wrong. Someone can walk into his room only to find him missing; one of them could catch him acting as the Prince (maybe climbing through a window or something)... But Lachlan didn't see any other option. His headaches only worsen the longer he doesn't tend to them, and he didn't know what would happen if they lasted for days on end. He wasn't keen to find out, either.

Speaking of his friends, Lachlan's worried thoughts were interrupted by the presence of someone coming up the stairs towards his bedroom, and his eyes shot open, his glowing golden eyes fading back to deep blue as he gasped in surprise, completely losing his focus as the yellow light dropped around him, noisily dropping him onto his bed as other objects fell around him while he bounced lightly on the mattress.

Well, I guess he's home early... He thought to himself, running a hand through his hair and fixing his clothes, pulling himself off of the bed just as there was a knock on his door. "Come in!" Lachlan yelled, trying his best to act natural as his door creaked open, his friend poking his head inside.

"Hey, I heard some thumping from down stairs. Is everything okay?" Vikk asked him, his head tilted slightly to the side as Lachlan felt a bit of concern radiating from his friend.

"Yeah, yeah, I just fell of my bed, that's all..." Lachlan laughed nervously, hoping that it wouldn't raise more questions.

Vikk looked to the fallen items now strewn across the floor with a raised eyebrow, and though Lachlan knew he was skeptical, Vikk only shrugged. "Alright then... I'm just going to go and record for a bit. I'll be in my room if you need anything." And with that, his door shut as Vikk left the room.

Lachlan released the breath he didn't know he was holding, allowing himself to plop back down on the bed. That had been a close one.

Vikk had been crashing at Lachlan's place for the past month, and Lachlan only had the scarcest hint as to why.

One day he had just called Lachlan and asked if he could crash at his place for a little bit, that he and the Sidemen had a bit of a falling out and that he had nowhere else to go. Lachlan could hear it in his voice, and it was heartbreaking. The sadness and fear in his voice was one that Lachlan would never be able to forget.

Lachlan had sometimes wondered what the minds and emotions of his friends would be like when he saw them in person. He figured that Jerome and Preston would be happy and excitable to the point where it could be overwhelming, and was genuinely curious as to what Rob and Mitch would be like in their heads (note that this was before Lachlan vowed that he would never read their minds).

He figured that Vikk would be the welcoming, witty, and ever-positive person that he always seemed to be whenever they talked or me up before... Like the Vikk he had always knew.

Which is why Lachlan was shocked the first time Vikk's emotions entered his thoughts.

He felt sadness, regret, heartbreak, anger, fear... guilt.

Lachlan could feel it... Vikk trying to force the illusion that there was nothing wrong with him. When Vikk spoke to him now, he seemed perfectly normal, and had Lachlan not have his powers, he would've believed it. But now he couldn't stop worrying for his friend. Sometimes Vikk's emotions would be close to normal, when Lachlan was doing something with him to try and distract him from whatever was ailing him... Other times though, when he left Vikk alone, he could feel his friend on the urge of having a mental breakdown. And Lachlan didn't know what to do. Sometimes Vikk would tell Lachlan that he was heading out at random points during the day, and Lachlan, figuring that he was just going to clear his head, let him go.

What could've happened to him to make him like this?

There were many times when Lachlan was tempted to break his vow and dive straight into Vikk's mind, reading it like a book to find exactly what was wrong with him and how to fix it. Was it really something related to the Sidemen? Or was that another part of Vikk's façade to convince Lachlan that he was okay? Lachlan had come so close so many times to doing it, but something always held him back. Was it guilt over invading his friend's privacy? Or was it because he feared what he would see? Lachlan didn't know himself.

All he could do was help distract Vikk from his misery, and try his best to be there for one of his best friends.

Maybe Vikk will confide in him, but until then, he'll just have to wait.

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"...Don't do this!"

Lachlan was startled awake by the screaming thought echoing in his head, shooting into an upright position in his bed, clutching his sheets to his chest as he looked wildly across the room, searching for the source of the voice.

Vikk?! Lachlan thought to himself, panicking as he jumped out of bed and ran across the house and down the stairs to the guest room where Vikk was resting. The house was pitch black in the night, and it took Lachlan a moment to navigate the dark to his friend's room.

He froze at Vikk's door, hesitant to enter. Vikk's plea had been in his head, but that was the first time that a thought had been so loud and clear in his head that it could stir him from slumber. Regardless, Lachlan shook his head and opened Vikk's door, ready to fight whatever was picking on his friend.

All right! Who wants... a piece of... Oh.

There was no threat in the room at all, only Vikk lying in his bed, fast asleep, stirring at the noise that Lachlan had made.

Regardless, Lachlan's eyebrows furrowed in concern. Vikk was fidgeting under the sheets, his face pale and sweat rolling down his face as he mumbled whimpers under his breath, a faint expression of fear etched on his face.

He's having a nightmare? Lachlan realized, walking to the bedside with a look of deep concern on his face. He knew that Vikk had been having nightmares, but none had been bad enough to raise Lachlan's attention before. Or maybe you just haven't noticed. A part of him reasoned. Should I wake him up?

Lachlan frowned, before reaching over to shake his friend's shoulder to wake him up.

But the instant Lachlan grabbed him, he felt himself lurch, the room around him blurring around him as his eyes screwed shut, trying to fight the sudden nausea in his head...

When Lachlan opened his eyes again, he was somewhere completely different, the bedroom replaced with what appeared to be a backyard. It looked familiar to Lachlan, but he just couldn't think of where it was. He could see the side of a huge house behind him, but that was it. Where am I? Lachlan asked himself, looking around with a confused frown.

His attention was grabbed by a sudden sob from in front of him, and his head whipped around to the ground in front of him, where Vikk was sitting in the grass on his knees, his head facing the ground as his body shook with quiet sobs. "It was my idea... He didn't deserve that...!" He was mumbling under his breath, the pain in his voice sending chills down Lachlan's spine. "Simon...How... How could you do that to him?!"

Lachlan was scared. What was happening? Is this Vikk's nightmare? Lachlan thought, the realization hitting him a bit late. How am I here? Is this because of my powers? Lachlan made a mental note to add 'dream hopping' to his list of psychic powers.

Lachlan couldn't sense Vikk or his emotions, nor could feel anything else. It made Lachlan shiver, making him feel empty at the lack of response from his powers.

Lachlan stepped forward, reaching a hand toward his friend when he noticed what appeared to be shadows slinking in the grass around him and toward Vikk, who seemed to notice them, indicated by a hitch in his breathing, but he made to move to avoid them.

"He was a traitor."

The voice spoke with such intensity that Lachlan could feel it vibrating in his bones, and it sent a shiver down his spine. Vikk's breathing quickened at the sound of the voice, his head whipping around to find the source of the voice. He eventually responded, with a quiet, "He was one of your best friends..."

"So were you."

With that, the world blurred around Lachlan again, and he once again found his eyes shut as another wave of nausea rushed through him as Vikk awoke from his nightmare...

Lachlan found himself back in the bedroom, in the same position as before, a look of shock still on his face. Vikk's eyes were wide open, looking at Lachlan with a surprised expression as he took long, gasping breaths, obviously fatigued by his nightmare.

"Lachlan...?" He asked, drowsiness still present in his voice. "What are you doing...?"

"Oh-" Lachlan stammered, still trying to process what he had seen. "You sounded like you were having a bad dream... You were talking in your sleep."

"Oh... I'm sorry if I woke you. It's no big deal, I'm fine..."

No you aren't. Lachlan chided to himself grimly.

"... it was just a crazy dream."

"Alright," Lachlan said with a nod, trying to feign an unconcerned look as he exited the room. "Good night, Vikk."

"Night, Lachlan."

Lachlan closed the door lightly behind him, before slowly making his way back to his room. He was trying to comprehend what he had just seen.

What the hell has Vikk gotten himself into?!

(A/N: Oh hey wasn't that an interesting chapter! We get our first look at Vikk and what led him to where he is now... I decided to give you guys a little taste of it with the dream, both for dramatic effect and a hint to his backstory, since you guys won't get that for a while. Who was the voice haunted Vikk's dream? Who was the 'he' that he kept referring to? Who knows? I know. 

My summer vacation's just started, so I want to get more chapters done, hopefully. 

Next chapter we'll get more of our favorite butt-kicking duo, Wild Time and Iron Ram, as they have certain things to discuss before the Canada trip...)