Seoul. 14:42.

march 8th 2012.

the tram journey seemed to go on for what felt like an infinity. pale streets flitted past as baekhyun stared out of the window. a blur of pinkish hues on either side, the milky sun resting lazily in between the white, modern buildings.

it was a somewhat odd day. not winter anymore, but the sky portrayed a similar image, one of dulcet hues and blank, misting colours, a chilled wind rushing in between the racing cars and huddled figures populating the streets and crossroads. even baekhyun's steady breaths were captured like a silvery mist against the glass window of the racing vehicle.

kai sat opposite him, a similar, bleak expression washed across his structured features. the pupils of his eyes darted rapidly at the outside world rotating before him, focused on nothing in particular, but doing anything to try and submerge the electrical current coursing between the two boys.

tangible. baekhyun could almost reach out and touch the metallic channels that connected them.

sighs echoed from their open mouths. baekhyun was trying his hardest, too, in attempt to allow his own body to relax and to breathe. forehead creased and focused on the perpendicular outlines of city streets; of the parallel alignment of the dashed lines on the tarmac, or the electrical wires of the circuit pylons.

bad idea.

he squinted his eyes shut, not before being unable to stop the panicked glance he threw towards kai, who similarly noticed. their eyes communicated. the current became stronger in a millisecond, like a heavy tie that rested in between their postures.

baekhyun looked around, but noticed that no-one else gave either of them a second glance. a small girl, sat on her mother's lap, was staring straight at him, her shining eyes looking directly at his odd behaviour, mouth slightly agape. she cocked her head to the side, never leaving his gaze, like she was deciphering the uncomfortable glance etched into baekhyun's features.

magnetic pull.

he almost felt the sky dim, slightly. sun transforming a deeper shade of pale-yellow.

kai's eyes reflected a kaleidoscope of monochrome. his tanned skin wavered.

their tram stop was announced, and the two boys were more than glad to be off the public space, out onto the student campus, where baekhyun's accommodation was. baekhyun locked gaze briefly with the child, big, curious eyes still following his movements.

concrete ground felt uneven beneath his trainers.

the vehicle sped away. people leaving.

kai and baekhyun were left on the pavement.

baekhyun squinted up at the sky. at the sun, its edges prominent in his vision, blazing alight, the light flooding his irises. uncomfortable, different to before.

"what the fuck is going on?" kai asked, interrupting his stream of consciousness. his voice sounded breathy and gasping, not scared, but unsure and panicked in kai's own, quiet way.

baekhyun observed as kai stuck his hand out slowly in front of the two of them, his skin flitting in between lines of visibility, as if he was disappearing. blurring out like a broken television screen. kai snapped his head up, searching desperately for answers in baekhyun's eyes. fear and panic.

"i don't know. let's go inside and figure shit out, because...yeah. i have no fucking clue."

casual statement, but was pierced with intonations of consternation and trepidation.

baekhyun really didn't know. his mind ached. he wanted the same answers as kai did. was just trying to remain level-headed and calm. wasn't going well so far.

still uneven.

they both looked down at the zig-zagging crack in the pavement, shrubs of greenery sticking out, breaking apart the concrete.

earth split.

baekhyun's bag was heavy with his textbooks and laptop as the two of them crossed the road and headed for his room. the electricity didn't seem to subside in him even as they were walking, each step seeming to add to the odd and foreign tension in his bones. blood being forcibly pushed through his body.

kai transformed.

the door of the building opened automatically. baekhyun decided not to question it, instead, grabbing his keys from his pocket and shoving them into the door of his flat. didn't want anyone else to see them.

baekhyun and kai both gasped at the huge puddle of water in the middle of his room.

he thought he was seeing things. couldn't be. baekhyun shook his head at what he wished was a mirage. the transparent object reflected their mouths hanging open, jaws locked. glistened and shimmering in the afternoon light that slanted through his blinds.

kai stepped forward, knelt down; dipped his finger into it slowly and carefully.

"what the fuck," baekhyun muttered underneath his breath.

in a rush, he dumped his bag on his desk chair, similarly kneeling down to inspect. confused and blurred gaze was mirrored. the water was absolutely freezing, a starker hue of blue up-close. almost got lost in its navy mass.

silence symbolised both of their brains at work, desperately attempting to come to some form of plausible explanation or conclusion.

the crack in the earth, this puddle of water, the electricity between them, the sun being way too bright.

shift.

baekhyun hoped more than anything that all of this was just coincidence. at the back of his mind, he knew, of course, it wasn't. stupid, irresponsible thing to think.

felt a weight, a heavy presence, resting over him.

he stood up abruptly, heading straight for the closed door of his bathroom.

crack. electric impulse: he'd left the bathroom light on, too.

could've sworn he'd turned it off before he'd left this morning.

he'd apparently left the shower on, too.

a wave of water enveloped his shoes, wetting his jeans, gushing torrent, causing a louder gasp to sound from behind him.

his bathroom was completely flooded. water overflowed the bathtub, the sink, the tiles on the floor, the taps turned on to their fullest. various items knocked over. an iridescent glow of aqua-blue besieged his vision, reflecting; polluting the reality that he was witnessing before him. he froze, and as he did, felt the chills running up and down his arms.

baekhyun wished he had any explanation for what was going on.

he broke free from his locked stare, immediately beginning to panic, rushing for the taps on both the sink and bath and using all of his strength to turn them off. silence ensued. masses of water had gushed out from the enclosed bathroom and reached kai, who was also rushing up from his kneeled position to investigate.

waves of splashing water, and then silence.

words couldn't be devised, couldn't contribute any kind of comprehension to their situation.

kai stared at him.

baekhyun stood up straight, viewing his ruined room from his stance in the bathroom, shock and confusion and an unawareness of what to do forming into the creases of his features.

beside him, kai's vision was travelling slowly from one end of the disaster to the other, his eyes widening gradually. the electricity. it was prominent, dominant: in their veins. baekhyun looked down at his overturned palms. the blood was pulsing blue. turquoise lines etched into his skin, bulging out from underneath, rough and stark against the soft pigment of his skin.

turned his head to the side, only to see kai carrying out a similar inspection, hands open and apart, black pupils widening in astonishment.

pulsating veins.

"we need to, i don't know, call someone. or something, i don't..." kai started, panic woven into his serious tone. he looked incredulous, shaking his head profusely.

"who are we gonna call?" baekhyun barked in response, the stress getting to him, putting his hands behind his head.

"junmyeon. the others. i don't fucking know," kai let out in exasperation, barging through the bathroom door and beginning to rummage quickly through his backpack. grabbed his phone.

everything seemed to happen in slow motion. baekhyun's eyes squinted, configuring; his mind at work, using the broken pieces of glass on the floor and the condensation on the mirror to try and piece together any correlations.

kai was stood between baekhyun's bed and desk, hand and phone pressed to his hear. the ringing sounded in the emptiness. waiting.

must have picked up.

"hi. yeah, junmyeon, we don't--"

kai was immediately cut off. a serious look drained into his eyes, removing the colour, his lips paling. muffled voice on the other end, seemingly explaining something. baekhyun wanted to know; he left the bathroom and joined kai's side.

"what's going on?" he asked out of curiosity and fear.

eyes communicated. kai signalled for him to wait a moment, as junmyeon continued to speak. to explain. or, baekhyun didn't know.

"put him on speaker," he asserted.

kai did so.

"...just left. he went and got the first plane without really saying anything. sehun is with me now at mine, and minseok's on his way. i'm assuming you're experiencing the same thing."

"junmyeon, it's me, too," baekhyun added, waiting for him to finish. "what's happened--"

"yeah, we need to stop it. leave yours and come here," he said.

"but what about--"

"we just need to figure this out, okay. just get to mine as soon as possible?"

moment of sudden realisation.

baekhyun coughed.

"oh, yeah. yeah, we'll leave now, but--"

junmyeon ended the call.

baekhyun practically threw kai's phone at him, aiming straight for his trainers and bag and grabbing them on. kai followed suit, doing the same, frenzied state taking over both of their bodies.

left the room behind them. slammed the door.

"tram will take too long, let's get a taxi," baekhyun said, to which kai didn't argue, simply nodded his head.

as baekhyun called a cab, they both looked up. the sky had visibly and significantly darkened, the clouds swirling into a vortex, a deep indigo and violet tinge shading the opaque objects, hanging precariously in the mass of deep colour.

the pavement cracked in half. baekhyun squeezed his eyes shut. fire danced in his eyes.

loud vibration of an airplane crossing the paths in the sky resounded around the shuddering city.

everyone else was unaware.

the taxi rushed through the streets. kai bit his nails anxiously in the passenger seat. baekhyun drummed his fingers nervously on the window.

they arrived, running out of the taxi, feet hammering on the ground. sky was darker; swirling black and blue, like the blood coursing through his fragile body.

burst through junmyeon's front door.

sehun and minseok, sat on the sofa, eyes immediately darting to their intrusion. junmyeon was on the phone, stood up in the middle. it was fucking freezing in the room. baekhyun noticed the mist covering the large window, coiling across the glass. their heavy breaths were visible in the tense atmosphere, the temperature allowing their breathing to fog over.

three pairs of eyes. now five.

junmyeon got off the phone.

five of them together.

baekhyun heard the airplane again. in the sky.

too much: altogether. the room couldn't handle it. the void, black space, couldn't handle it.

storm, outside.

thunder. rain. cold. wind. no light. transmission.

heat and power.

transfiguring, joining connections, bonds forming.

no way out of it now.

"chanyeol and kyungsoo have gone," junmyeon stated, looking straight at baekhyun. what? why? where? "they took the first plane out of here."

"where'd they go?" baekhyun strained, attempting to contain his shaking voice.

junmyeon shrugged.

"jongdae's gone, too," sehun interjected. his stance on the sofa was serious, leaning forward, hooded eyelids adding to the look of exhaustion spread across his sharp facial features.

minseok was opposite him. quiet and brooding, as usual, but the slight glint of trepidation in his eyes didn't go unnoticed by baekhyun.

"what? when did jongdae leave?" junmyeon asked sharply, hands pressed to the couch, behind sehun.

"a few hours ago," sehun said, his eyes communicating many different emotions.

"what the fuck?" kai suddenly interrupted. "did he say anything? he left, just like that?"

sehun looked bleakly at kai. staring deeply into him.

"no. he didn't. he just told me he was leaving," sehun replied, projecting his answer more towards junmyeon. he seemed to have taken some form of control on the situation. baekhyun knew he was the most knowledgeable on this subject.

sudden crack of lightning shook the foundations of the house. some of them ducked.

dark eyes.

a sudden, searing pain crawled along the length of baekhyun's spine. a dull, aching jolt, taking over his system. all the way from his legs to his head. electrical sparks attacked him; fingertips, his arms, elbows, eyes stinging and smarting against the heavy, humid atmosphere.

"we can't all be here anymore," junmyeon stated. matter-of-fact.

mutual understanding. they all knew that. all too well.

pain increased, getting worse. baekhyun didn't know if they could all feel it, too.

"...have to go," junmyeon was saying. "there's...it's unavoidable."

"but, what's actually caused--"

sudden roar of torrential downpour hammered down on the rooftop. the glass of the windows reduced visibility of the outside world, rain obscuring their view. the ground mumbled: opened. rush of wind screamed in his ears.

he felt heartbreak.

he felt everything all at once.

and, then, nothing.

we can't all be here.

time was coming.

it seemed to go black. completely obscuring his view. power stretched across a thin spectrum. no colour: just black and white. electricity.

the lights flashed ominously on the edges of his vision. headache. déjà-vu. could see himself, running away, running fast through the streets. he saw the clock-tower, and he saw the gate towering above him. he felt it beneath his touch.

but now. all he felt was a surge of power taking over his weak system. he knew what he had to do; what they all had to do.

it went black.

there was quiet.

and then all he saw was white light.

//