Kill me? Chanyeol is strangely calm about this, much calmer than he should be. Maybe it's because he believes that if he starts panicking, it'll make Baekhyun go crazy. Instead, he stands still where he is, and whispers out a soft 'Why?'

Baekhyun's hands are still trembling so hard that Chanyeol thinks the knife is going to drop, but instead, the boy is holding onto it fast. It takes a long time for the boy to reply, and Chanyeol can see with an aching heart the way Baekhyun is sweating, an obvious pained conflict in his eyes.

"If I don't ..." Baekhyun is stuttering now, and then he trails off. The lights start flickering on and off dangerously, spastically, such that if Chanyeol didn't know this was Baekhyun's power, he'd be pretty damn worried. Actually, he's still pretty worried, wondering what Baekhyun is thinking, how he's feeling inside. Through the light's uncontrollable flickers, Chanyeol can see Baekhyun's shoulders move up and down as he pants. "... they'll kill my parents."

The lights go off for a few seconds, then come back on, staying stable like that. This time, in the light, Chanyeol can see tears rolling down the boy's cheeks.

His student is in front of him, quite a distance away, but Chanyeol can see him. Chanyeol sees him trembling as if he had a panic attack. Chanyeol hears his voice shaking as if he's speaking while he's jumping. Chanyeol sees him sweating as if he had just emerged from a hot day. Chanyeol hears him panting too, as if he had been sprinting. Chanyeol sees tears spilling out of his reddened, pained eyes, letting the red fatigue and sickness on his cheeks shine, and Chanyeol hurts because he's hurting.

It hurts.

"Kill me, then." Chanyeol whispers, willingly, acceptingly. If this is what it takes to ease the pain from Baekhyun and himself, then Chanyeol is willing. After all, Baekhyun is his only student, isn't it his responsibility to make decisions for the younger?

Don't be conflicted anymore. I choose for you.

"Ah ..." Baekhyun is weeping, the little noises that leave his lips full of grief and pain. When he closes his eyes, more tears come out, and he's shaking even harder now. Chanyeol can't take this. He's endured through years of frustration, of injustice, had watched his family die in front of him with others of his own kind, had watched his comrades sacrifice themselves to achieve revenge, and he's endured through that. He survived through it.

And for the first time, watching this boy crying so painfully in front of him, he wants to break.

Chanyeol steps closer, wanting to close the distance between them, hold the boy in his arms and hug him to relieve him of the pain, but the moment he moves, the boy tenses.

"Don't come near me!" He screams, so hard that his veins are popping on his neck. Chanyeol stops immediately, afraid that if he moves any more the boy will explode in a mess of pain and fear. He freezes, watching as the boy continues sobbing, body still trembling but fingers holding so tightly to the knife as if that means everything to him. Chanyeol sees now, that the edges of the blade are made out of something special, something that Monsters are most allergic to.

Something that, once it touches a Monster's blood, it will kill a Monster instantly. When it touches the Monster's skin, it will rot away the skin. If it's crushed into dust and inhaled, it will make a Monster go crazy.

How could Baekhyun hold such a dangerous thing in his hands?

Still, Chanyeol stays where he is, trying to remain as calm as possible so that the boy can also calm down, for fear that the younger might start swinging the knife around and hurt himself. Baekhyun is still panting, still crying, still trembling, and this time he tears his eyes away from Chanyeol to stare down at his feet, as if still hesitant, still deciding.

"It's okay." Chanyeol says softly, and he realises it's true. All his hard work, his pain of enduring the presence of his greatest enemies, he had strived for a day where he could finally stand above them without hiding his identity and his own race. He had endured all that, aiming for a day where he will be able to see Monsters living, carefree and happy in an open space and an open sky.

But he realises now that it's not important anymore. It's okay now, if he doesn't live to see his own kind at peace, because at least he had contributed something to bring his fellow Monsters their well-deserved revenge. It's okay now if he dies, as long as Baekhyun is okay and alive and well.

Baekhyun whips his head up to stare at him, meeting gazes with him once more. Those eyes are wide and wet, pained but shocked, full of so much emotion that it's hard to tell what he's feeling. But Chanyeol can see that conflict is wearing away inch by inch, until it slowly fades away from the boy's eyes, and he's relieved to see that, because that had been the main source of Baekhyun's pain.

"Professor ..." Baekhyun mumbles, but he sounds much less agitated now and more like himself. Slowly, he stops shaking and slowly, he lets his left arm slide down until only his right hand is holding onto the dangerous knife. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, little one." Chanyeol says gently, but still afraid to move. Instead, he remains where he is, deciding that once Baekhyun's ready, he'll be the one to approach him. "I don't blame you. Just kill me."

He closes his eyes, waiting for the blow, willingly; acceptingly.

"I'm sorry ... I can't do it." When Chanyeol opens his eyes to stare at the younger, he realises with so much fear in his heart that the knife isn't stretched out towards him anymore. Rather, the boy is standing straight, eyes closed and neck exposed, his right arm lifted and blade flying towards his own throat.

No. Chanyeol wants to dive at him, do anything to stop him, but even he knows that he will have no time to save him.

There has never been so much fear inside Chanyeol before, not this much since the day he realised that he and his family might die in the midst of war.

Like a slow motion, he can only helplessly watch as the tip of the blade hovers towards the boy's skin, so close to cutting, so close to killing.

Then the knife falls from the boy's hand and the boy falls too, down, down and onto the ground. Unmoving.

The world is silent as Chanyeol tries to grasp what's happening. It's Baekhyun that's lying down on the ground and he's not moving. The knife is safely away from him, but it's too late now - Baekhyun's dead.

Then the world returns to him, slamming him awake, and he stumbles towards the boy, heart at his throat and beating like it's threatening to spring out from his ribcage.

But he doesn't get to the boy. Someone else does.

It takes him a while to register that it's Yixing, and it's Yixing that's carrying the boy in his arms. Right, it's Yixing, a fucking doctor. Yixing can save him.

Now he's the one that's shaking Yixing, and he knows he's trying to mutter out words but for some reason, he can't hear any of it. Yixing's lips open and move, but Chanyeol can't hear anything.

And then a new body presses up against his and suddenly Jongin is pushing towards the middle, one hand grabbing onto Baekhyun and another hand onto Chanyeol, and Chanyeol watches as two new hands reach out to touch Jongin's sunkissed skin, and then the entire world is sucked away from him.

Once a new world opens up before him, Chanyeol falls to the ground, knocking his head in the process. Just like that, the noise comes back again and he stumbles onto his feet.

"Yixing ..." He mutters quietly.

"Don't worry." Yixing replies. "I stepped in before he could do anything."

It takes a while, but Chanyeol finally understands what the older is talking about. Yixing possesses the power of healing, but when looking deeper into his power, in truth it's the ability to pass on energy onto another person. Energy, for Monsters, come in the form of breath and emotions. Yixing has the power to give energy to someone that can then heal certain injuries or wounds, but with that, also comes the power of taking away.

When advanced enough, a healer can also take away energy, which gave Yixing the power to take away Baekhyun's emotions for a while when they kissed. When advanced enough, a healer can take away energy, which gave Yixing the power to take away Baekhyun's breath for a while even from a distance away.

But despite this, the power of taking away is only temporary, and takes up a lot of energy from the healer.

"You okay?" Chanyeol mutters even as he approaches the unconscious Baekhyun. The boy is sleeping soundly now, and for the first time Chanyeol really, truly admires Yixing's advanced power of pulling the consciousness away from Baekhyun.

"Yeah." Yixing's voice is faint, and Chanyeol can see it coming.

"Jongin." He calls without turning to look back at Yixing, but even so, he knows that Yixing had fainted and Jongin had caught him successfully. "Take him to a room. He needs a lot of rest." Hearing footsteps fade away, Chanyeol can only stare at Baekhyun that seems to be unharmed.

But what hurts his heart most is that the edge of the blade had hovered over Baekhyun's neck for too long, and it had indeed begun to rot away the boy's skin.

For the first time, Chanyeol is grateful that Baekhyun is half-blood, because otherwise his whole neck would be red and raw. He's thankful that Baekhyun is part Lucky One, because only a small part of his neck is scarred.

Still, his heart aches because the boy's skin will never look the same again. Something that Yixing can't heal is something like this, once a Monster has come into contact with their greatest weakness; their kryptonite. No matter how advanced Yixing is, he won't be able to heal Baekhyun's skin. Even so, Chanyeol is relieved because at least the boy is still alive, breathing and okay right in front of him.

Still, this poor boy must've been so afraid.

Chanyeol wonders how the boy must've felt.

An excruciating pain shoots through every part of Baekhyun's body – his skin, his muscles, his blood, his bones. The pain is so intense that it wakes him up from the unconsciousness with gasps because he's so short on breath.

"Awake?" He hears voices in the distant background, made soft by his loud pants and heavy heaving. His vision focuses and once again those same men are in front of him, staring at him with masked faces and gloved hands that's beginning to scare him.

"Can you hear us, Byun Baekhyun?" One of them asks, voice muffled by the mask. Baekhyun nods absentmindedly, responding immediately by instinct, still panting and sweating.

"We will give you a chance to redeem yourself." The chair readjusts itself and this time Baekhyun is sitting up. They adjust the chair until Baekhyun's lets are spread apart as if he's sitting normally on a couch and relaxing, and one of the men walk in between his legs, couching down to stare up at him.

Baekhyun is blinking, his ears ringing as he notices droplets of water dripping down onto the plastic seat between his legs, and he realizes later that it's his sweat that's forming a pool on his seat.

"You understand?" Baekhyun nods.

"Only you will be able to get close to that Monster." The Experimenter says softly. "Only you will be able to get close to him."

Who? Baekhyun wants to ask, but his throat is too dry to form words.

"Of all people here, he will probably trust you most, and will try to get you out of here, because you're also part of his kind." The man continues. "So only you can do the job."

In his position, Baekhyun can't look away from the man no matter what, unless he closes his eyes.

"We're here to bring peace, Byun Baekhyun." The Experimenter continues, staring up at him with cold eyes. "You wrote that in your application, no?"

"Yes ..." Baekhyun finally forms a word. Peace ... that's what he wants most.

"If I say you're the only person that can do this, will you do it?"

"Y...Yes ..." Baekhyun whispers out, even though he's still unsure of what he's agreeing to.

"Then, Byun Baekhyun, we shall trust you." The man whispers, and Baekhyun's heart is skipping because yes, he wants trust. He wants to be trusted. "We will open up opportunities for you and that Monster, Park Chanyeol, to meet."

Professor? Baekhyun thinks to himself. Yes, he wants to see Professor. He misses Professor.

"When he finds you, he'll trust you not to hurt him, no?"

Baekhyun nods fervently, because no, he'd never hurt his Professor.

"He'll pull you away from this place." The man continues. "And at his most vulnerable moment, that's when you strike. You kill him."

Baekhyun stills, watching as those icy cold eyes bore into his.

"Don't let us down." This time, he feels rubbery hands grab onto his, and then he's forced to turn his head to stare at what the man's given him. In his hands is a knife, its silver blade glinting under the light.

Baekhyun drops it as if he had touched fire, and then he shakes his head as violently as he can in an attempt to express his refusal. Never is he going to kill Professor, no matter what. Not even for peace.

The man bends down to pick up the knife patiently and then appears in his vision again. That same rubbery feeling (that Baekhyun's beginning to really hate and fear) grips his chin tightly this time, forcing him to look at the knife.

"It's a normal blade." The man continues, turning the knife around for Baekhyun to see. Then, his thumb rests over to a little bump at the base of the hilt. "But when you click on this, magic happens."

The man clicks on it, and then the edges of the blade turns gold.

"I promise, he won't feel a thing." Then the gold specks disappear and the man lets go of him, disappearing for a while before returning, this time a cloth covering up the sharpness of the blade. The man then slips it inside the pocket of Baekhyun's shirt, right over his heart, and taps it satisfyingly.

But Baekhyun doesn't want to do this anymore, and no matter how much he shakes his head, the man ignores him.

"You will do it." The man's voice sounds in the air. "Otherwise, we will kill your mother and father."

Fear drops in Baekhyun's stomach, faster and heavier such that he coughs hard, so hard that something spills out of his lips and the metallic taste of blood taints his tongue. They must've experimented on him while he was sleeping, or maybe that's an effect of being electrocuted, Baekhyun doesn't know, nor does he care at that moment. All he's feeling, at that moment, is fear, desperation, devastation, and hopelessness.

So much pain, because he has to choose between the people he loves the most.

And he's afraid of what the outcome will be.

Baekhyun's parents?

Chanyeol straightens his back, heart dropping as he suddenly remembers that he didn't save them.

If Baekhyun wakes up and finds out that his parents are still back there, he will panic for sure.

Bending down to pick the boy up in his arms, Chanyeol moves over to the room that he had been sleeping in ever since he escaped from SQUAOII. Laying the boy down carefully on his king-sized bed, Chanyeol tucks him in and immediately heads after Jongin, wanting him to bring Chanyeol back, and then he moves to search around the rooms to find him. Eventually, he finds it, with Jongin whispering to Yixing quietly.

"Jongin, take me back." Chanyeol says, not caring that he's interrupting the both of them because right now, this is the most crucial moment and he doesn't want Baekhyun having those suicidal tendencies again, ones that only surfaced because he cares about others more than he cares for himself.

"What for? We just escaped –"

"I have to go back there." Jongin shuts his mouth, alarmed. "Take me back, now."

"Don't." Yixing's soft, weak voice sounds in the air, and Chanyeol's eyes flit over to Yixing. In the line of his vision, he sees Jongin turning around, and then Yixing is attempting to move into a sitting position.

"Hyung! Don't." Jongin calls out, reaching out to catch a hold of the older in case he falls and hurts himself.

"Rest." Chanyeol says coldly.

"You think ... they'll really let Baekhyun's parents go like that?" Yixing is trying really hard even though clearly, he's out of energy. "You know better."

It's obvious that Yixing is trying really hard to sit up and stay awake, even, and maybe that's why Chanyeol stops to think.

"If I don't ... they'll kill my parents."

Those bastards must've asked Baekhyun to choose between Chanyeol or his parents, and he realizes like a slap to the face that it's true. There is no way they would've let Baekhyun's parents go. After all, the moment Baekhyun's parents are found to have kept a Monster under their custody for over twenty years, they are considered traitors of Lucky Ones, even if they're Lucky Ones themselves.

They would've killed Baekhyun's parents, no matter what Baekhyun did to try and stop it.

"I saw them." Yixing says softly and with much difficulty. "They were tortured to death, treated like how they treated us in the labs."

Icy silence hangs in the air.

Then Chanyeol leaves the room, slamming the door behind him. Hard.

He returns to his own room, where he had kept Baekhyun, and he finds that rainbow-haired boy standing over the unconscious boy. All this time, and with everything that had happened, Chanyeol had completely ignored (or not noticed at all) his presence.

"Were you his experiment?" Chanyeol asks, even though the question sounds more like a statement. The boy jumps and turns around, staring at him with youthful eyes that reminds him of himself all those years ago. The boy nods.

Silence hangs in the air.

"H-He experimented on himself, instead." The boy stutters. "He wanted to make s-sure I wasn't hurt."

Even though Chanyeol already knows this, his heart breaks anyway, because that's Baekhyun. Baekhyun, the kindest person he knows, so kind that he'd rather experience the pain tenfold than hurt someone else. As he walks closer, he can't help but stare at the darkened skin on the boy's neck, an ugly mark forever tainting that beautiful body and soul.

Fury exploding in him, Chanyeol wants to grab the nearest thing and throw it to the ground. He doesn't though, because he doesn't want to wake the poor boy up. Fuck, he's just so goddamn pissed off and frustrated. Baekhyun doesn't deserve all this shit. He doesn't deserve that mark on his neck –

"You might want to calm down." A new voice says, and Chanyeol returns to himself, pulled away from the anger that's always possessing himself, as if becoming his other half. He notices that the floor and everything else near him is frozen by layers of ice, and the ice is melting. He turns around to meet a small man with a youthful face. The rainbow-haired boy is standing next to him, looking a little scared. "Don't want to burn the boys down."

Silent, Chanyeol can only watch as the small man walks into the room to stand next to him to take a look at the unconscious boy.

"That mark really is ugly." The small man remarks. Triggered, Chanyeol's about to explode again, but then the man continues. "But you don't see that on a lot of people, because they never live to possess that mark. At least he's alive, right?" Then the small man smiles at him.

Just like that, all the anger is swept out of him, replaced by overwhelming bouts of relief. He's right, and even if Baekhyun doesn't look how he used to, Chanyeol is okay with that because the smaller is alive.

"Hyung." Chanyeol calls, and the older chuckles.

"Finally acknowledging me, huh?" The small man turns around and gestures for the rainbow-haired boy over. "Hey, I'm Minseok and I'm probably a million years older than you. What's your name?"

"Oh ... Sehun." The boy replies, and even as he moves to stand next to Minseok, he's taller by half a head. Minseok is a dark contrast to Sehun. While Sehun has rainbow hair, Minseok has blue hair so dark that it seems almost black. His eyes are a dark blue-grey.

"Go take a look around, Hunnie." Minseok says lightheartedly, waiting for the boy to nod and bound off, and then he turns back to Chanyeol. Chanyeol blinks out of his dark thoughts when he feels Minseok pat him on the back.

"You did well." Minseok says softly, with a wide grin. "All these years, it's all thanks to you and Yixing. And I see it especially now, now that Yixing is back with you."

Chanyeol opens his lips, about to speak, but Minseok cuts him off.

"I'll visit Yixing now. In the meantime, you should probably find someone to check up on that boy." Then he walks away.

Taking one last look at Baekhyun, Chanyeol steps back and pulls out a phone, a rare device that only some of them have in this submarine.

"Come to my room, I want you to check on someone." Chanyeol says once the person on the other line picks up, and then he hangs up.

A few minutes later, a small man walks in with wide light brown owl-like eyes and short dark golden hair. Without any word, he moves to the bed, thoroughly checking the unconscious boy.

"He's got many internal wounds." The small man says, straightening his back. "Different from the others who were used as lab rats."

"Treat him now, Kyungsoo." Chanyeol whispers softly, heart twisting in pain at the thought that Baekhyun is injured. It angers him even more thinking about the fact that he can't see any of those wounds, and had underestimated just how much they had done to him.

"I can't." Kyungsoo replies, just as softly. "He's still got you inside him ... anything I try to put inside him will just be burnt off by your fire."

"Then why is he still hurt, then, if my fire inside him could just burn it off?"

"The things they put inside him are lethal, Leader." Kyungsoo says calmly. "It's a miracle he survives."

"Why don't you use medicine to heal him then?" Anger is beginning to blur his vision again.

"Poison can kill, but my medicine can't revive." The doctor is watching him gently, patiently. "But if your fire is enough to stop him from dying, then maybe it will slowly take away the poison in his system too."

"Or wait for Yixing-hyung to wake up, then he might be able to do something about it." Kyungsoo adds, watching as Chanyeol stares intensely at the unconscious boy. "... Sorry."

"Will he die?"

"No." Chanyeol moves forward again, watching the unconscious boy's chest move up and down ever so slightly as he breathes. He regrets doing that to Baekhyun, even though that was what had gotten Baekhyun out of there in the first place.

He will stay here, he decides, until the boy wakes up. Chanyeol can't bear to imagine how the boy must feel, when he wakes up in a foreign place, all alone, moreover thinking of his parents' safety when his parents don't exist anymore.

Chanyeol closes his eyes.

You don't deserve any of this.

"You would have to choose ... between your parents, or your professor."

What is your choice?

Right now, his beloved professor is standing right in front of him, wild red hair flying about and red eyes gazing into his so intensely.

Baekhyun knows it's a dream, because he remembers he had chosen his parents and decided to kill his professor. After all, he remembers the pain so clearly, as if he's the one that's being slashed inch by inch, even though he's the one that's supposed to do the slashing. Maybe he had already killed his professor, maybe this is a guilty nightmare that will haunt him forever, and Baekhyun knows he deserves the pain.

Or maybe this is a second chance, another opportunity for Baekhyun to choose again.

Once again, the conflict swarms inside him and infects his entire body. The conflict is like a pain he has never felt before, and he's experienced so much pain already. This time, though, his professor isn't reassuring him, isn't giving him permission to kill him.

"Don't do it ..." Chanyeol's deep, gentle voice is calling out, begging him. "I have a family ... They're depending on me ... If I die, they'll all die."

Baekhyun's heart twists in pain.

And then the scene changes quickly, and suddenly the knife has turned into a long sword, the blade buried deep in both the chests of his parents.

His parents are right in front of him, looking pale and betrayed. Baekhyun wants to let go, to reverse the process, but his hands are glued to the sword. His parents close their eyes and then fall limp, still stuck on the sword that he had impaled them with.

"Good job." It's that voice, that voice that had forced him to choose in the first place. Baekhyun can't move, but he can see the man standing next to him. "Now we know you are willing to sacrifice for EX'ACT."

"I ... I killed them, now let Professor go ..." Baekhyun whispers even though his mind is horrified. How can he say that? He just killed his parents ...

"But you don't deserve our trust, Byun Baekhyun." The scene changes again, but the voice stays the same. This time, Chanyeol is tied up in chains, kneeling on the floor, all cut up and bloody. There are whips, poisons, knives, needles, acids, all ready to be used on his professor. And they make Baekhyun watch every second of it – make him watch as they cut up his professor's limbs, pour poison and acid on his professor's skin, make him consume all those things that will kill him, and laughing while doing it.

"This is your punishment, for betraying our trust, Byun Baekhyun."

"This is your punishment, for falling in love with a Monster."

Baekhyun wakes up in cold sweat, screaming.

His entire body aches, has been aching ever since they had taken him to the lab and chained him up like he's one of their Experiments, and it's in pain now. Baekhyun's heart is beating fast, because he doesn't want it to be true. He didn't kill Professor. He didn't kill his parents. He didn't kill anyone –

"You okay?" Strong hands grab onto his shoulders firmly, and a familiar voice floats into his ears. Baekhyun isn't blind, not even in the dark, but right now he's blinded by the pain and fear that had accumulated into his heart from his nightmare, and he reaches out clumsily, grabbing onto soft, warm forearms. Tears are rolling down his cheeks and he grips tightly, wondering if he should believe this.

"I'm right here." There's that voice again. It's not a dream, is it? "Don't be scared."

"P-P-Professor ..." Baekhyun whispers, gripping tightly still, afraid that if he loosens his grip, his professor will disappear from his life.

"Little one." Just like that, his professor's nickname for him is enough to snap him out, and his eyes register to find his professor's whole, clean, and wound-less face staring down at him, those red eyes devoid of pain and betrayal and full of life.

His professor's not dead, right?

He didn't kill his professor, right?

"Profe...Professor ..." Baekhyun stutters, wanting to explain himself, wanting to apologise for wanting to kill the older, and wanting to ask whether it's true that he had been forced to choose, but before he can speak another word, unconsciousness takes over him again and he falls back into the darkness where he can't see anything.

"Choose ... between your professor or your family."

This seems to be the third time now, but Baekhyun's decided already.

"I choose myself." He replies into a darkness that he can't see. "Kill me and spare the both of them."

Even though he can't see anything, he's comforted because he doesn't have to face anything horrible that might come.

But maybe that thought had come too early, because he's pulled down into a free fall that's making his heart go crazy in fear, and he sees it again this time – both his parents and his professor laid out onto those horrible beds, tied up. This time, there is a huge chainsaw, rotating and rotating and then cutting through the stomachs of the people he loves, until it cuts them cleanly in half.

They're sobbing, they're screaming in pain, and then they're dead.

Is this real life?

It's not real, is it?

Please tell him it's not real.

"Wrong choice." The voice floats in his ears again, and it doesn't seem like it'll go away anytime soon.

Baekhyun wakes up again, sweating and tears rolling down his face.

He sits up so aggressively that he starts coughing. Blood leaks out from the corners of his lips and taints the palm of his hand that he had used to cover his mouth, but he's got no time to think about that now. He needs to make sure that they're okay.

Leaving the bed, Baekhyun stumbles towards the door of this unfamiliar room, hoping that if anything, his dreams aren't real and that he hasn't killed or tried to kill anyone.

Please please please ... Baekhyun thinks as he tries to run down the deserted hallway. Why isn't anyone here? Something happened, didn't it?

Maybe he's running too hard, or maybe the tears in his eyes are blurring his vision, but he doesn't see a wall in front of him and he slams into it. Except it's not a wall, it's a soft but firm body.

Baekhyun rebounds back by force, but the person he had bumped into catches him by the arm and pulls him steady. Baekhyun looks up, noticing that rainbow hair, but before he can say anything, his legs give out and he falls to the floor, coughing.

The boy bends down, holding him by the shoulders, but Baekhyun can't stop the coughs that are wracking his chest.

"You're bleeding!" The boy exclaims, and Baekhyun shakes his head.

"My parents ..." He croaks. "Where ...?"

"You should be in bed, shouldn't you?"

Shaking his head, Baekhyun tries to push away those hands that are restricting him, palms flat against the floor as he pushes himself up.

"My parents ..." He whispers, a hand over his stomach that's starting to hurt as he attempts to run. A hand catches him and pulls him back, and once again he's met with the boy.

Why is he out here anyway? Shouldn't he be restrained in a room?

Not that he's complaining.

"They're safe." The boy whispers, catching his shoulders and staring into his eyes. "We're safe now ... We're not in danger of being killed anymore."

Baekhyun stops because that's what he's hoping, and he hates himself for always being so hopeful.

"Are you ... sure?" He asks anyway. It makes sense, because otherwise why would this boy be allowed to walk freely in this foreign hallway?

"The doctor and your trainer brought us here ... we're safe now." The boy reassures. "So don't be scared."

"Professor ... Where is he?" Baekhyun asks, wanting to make sure that this is true, and that no one died. The boy nods seriously and then grabs him by the wrist, pulling him. Eventually, they arrive at the doorstep of a room, and when Baekhyun peeks in, he sees his professor sleeping soundly on his bed.

The boy walks in, as if to wake the older up, but Baekhyun stops him, shaking his head.

Then they close the door quietly and Baekhyun feels his heart calming. They're really safe after all. His parents, too.

Suddenly feeling extremely exhausted, Baekhyun closes his eyes for a bit and falls onto the taller.

"Sorry." He mumbles as he pulls himself upright, but then he closes his eyes and faints again.

He has no more bad dreams and spends his unconsciousness fully in the darkness that he can only awaken from when someone seems to be interfering with him in the conscious world.

Opening his eyes, he blinks up and sees someone towering over him.

"Don't move." The man says strictly, and Baekhyun closes his eyes, feeling too tired to move anyway. Interestingly, this man also sounds exhausted even though those arms are strong as they help move him up into a sitting position. Baekhyun opens his eyes again, finding the doctor unbuttoning his shirt.

"What are you – "

"Don't talk." Yixing unbuttons the last button and then pulls open the shirt, revealing Baekhyun's flawless and unblemished skin. The doctor then moves his hands until they hover over Baekhyun's torso, closing his eyes as he does so.

Then, strangely, Baekhyun begins to feel a tingling sensation inside him, the kind of feeling he gets when Yixing slaps his miracle ointment onto his skin.

"So ... this is your power?" Baekhyun asks weakly, realizing now why it was so easy for Yixing to heal things. Of course it didn't make sense for him to heal so quickly and easily!

Still, his insides begin to hurt as if he's having a severe stomachache, and Baekhyun closes his eyes and his mouth, too pained to speak now. Instead, soft groans leave his lips for a long while until Yixing suddenly presses against his stomach, and Baekhyun can feel an invisible force pass through his stomach. The pressure is intense, and seems to have pushed all the air out of him. Baekhyun can't help it – he spurts it all out before he can stop himself.

Black liquid spills all over his exposed torso and Yixing finally pulls away, collapsing to the floor.

Feeling much better now, and more energized than he had in a long time, Baekhyun leaves the bed to help the doctor up, who looks much worse than he had before. Yixing confirms his suspicions when he reaches up to grip Baekhyun's shoulder tightly to steady himself, something he never does, and Baekhyun helps him to the bed.

"I'll get someone." Baekhyun says, turning to leave, but Yixing catches onto him.

"Rest ... is enough." The man croaks. "You wash up ... and rest too." Then the grip loosens and falls.

Baekhyun follows suit, including cleaning Yixing's body of that black liquid, and when he leaves the bathroom connected to the bedroom, a new person enters the scene.

"It's you again." Baekhyun says, surprised.

"Sh-Shouldn't you be sleeping?" The rainbow-haired boy exclaims.

"He healed me." Baekhyun replies, glancing over at the sleeping man. "He must be really tired."

The boy stands there awkwardly.

"What's your name?" Baekhyun asks kindly as he returns to the bed and then pulls the blankets over Yixing, relieved they aren't tainted by the black liquid he had spilled out earlier. "I'm Baekhyun."

"Sehun." The boy replies.

"Hey, sorry for hurting you the other day." Baekhyun says softly, genuinely as he stares at the boy before him. Did he grow taller? He wonders if the boy still has a scar from the stitches that he had sewn onto the boy.

"No." The boy shakes his head, as if he wants to say something but not sure what.

"Can I see it?" Wordlessly, Sehun stretches out his arm and exposes it, and Baekhyun can see the scar, faint along his otherwise flawless skin.

"... How old are you?" Baekhyun asks softly, guilt creeping into his heart.

"I just turned fifteen."

"I'm sorry." Baekhyun whispers.

"Thank you." Sehun replies, surprising the older. "For protecting me."

"I ..." Baekhyun's throat goes dry, but before he can say anything else, the door opens. Baekhyun turns, heart warming up when he finds his professor walking in, red hair flying about and red eyes intense.

"You're awake." Surprisingly, his professor doesn't run up to him with wide concerned eyes and an eager voice. Instead, his hands are shoved into his pockets and his face is devoid of expression.

Confused, Baekhyun blinks and stares at the ground.

"Y-Yes." He mumbles formally, not used to this man in front of him.

"I guess it's time to tell him about his background then." A new voice says, and Baekhyun looks up, realizing that there are new people that he's never seen before.

"We're all Monsters, in case you're asking." A young man with rose gold hair says, those violet eyes watching him intently.

"Not asking, because it's so obvious." Baekhyun mutters to himself, then closes his mouth, pretending he had never said that.

"I'm Minseok." The man with black blue hair and blue grey eyes says. "30 years old."

"Hello, I'm Kyungsoo." The man with dark golden hair introduces, smiling sweetly. "Same age as Leader." Who is Leader? Baekhyun thinks to himself, scanning the room.

"Jongin." The rose gold haired man mumbles. "20."

"Um. I'm Baekhyun." Baekhyun responds awkwardly when silence fills the air. "I'm 24."

"Actually, you're 18." Kyungsoo pipes up. "In Monster years."

"You're younger than me." Jongin shrugs. "Shows that I'm not the youngest anymore, now that you and Sehun are here."

Baekhyun blinks, remembering that Monster years are different. Even so, he can't seem to figure it out properly.

18 ... seems too young.

That means ... my age gap with Professor is real. Baekhyun realizes, a little shocked. He's ... a grandpa.

The laughs that fill the air startles him, and he realizes that he had spoken his thoughts aloud.

Too afraid to glance at his professor that doesn't have a smile on his face ever since he had walked in, Baekhyun stares down at his feet again, cheeks pinking.

"He's not that old, I promise." Minseok says, with humour in his voice. "He's only –"

"I'm 26." The red-head says quietly, but it shocks Baekhyun enough to make him jump again.

"Don't lie, you're 27." Jongin blurts, and Baekhyun misses the glare that passes through Chanyeol's face.

"You can still date." A new voice jokes, lighthearted and bubbly, but the person that owns that voice is someone that looks anything but. The man, with light pinkish orange hair and dazzling peach eyes enters the room, but on a wheelchair that moves on its own. "9 years is a bit of an age gap, I'd say, but still all right."

Some of them chuckle lightly, and Baekhyun reddens, wondering if they've figured out his feelings for his Professor.

It's not too late to turn back now.

"I-It's not like that." Baekhyun says quickly, glancing at his professor that still has a slight frown on his face. Maybe they had made things awkward. "It's not like I'd like a grandpa like him ..."

Silence fills the air.

"I'm ... a grandpa?" The older mumbles, even though his youthful face screams anything but.

Maybe ... he had made things worse.

"Tell him his background." Sehun talks. "Tell him everything you've told me!"

"Right." The crowd silences. "So ... who's going to speak?"

"You guys are so loud ..." A voice from behind Baekhyun mutters, and Baekhyun turns around immediately, running to the doctor who is sitting up slowly, but looking much better than he had been before.

"Doctor ..." Baekhyun can't help it. "You're not a grandpa too, are you?"

This time, some of the crowd laugh and Baekhyun reddens again. Still, he doesn't want to look at the foreign crowd so he focuses on staring at the doctor, who is watching him with a very strange expression in his ice-blue eyes.

Sky-blue eyes.

"Oh ... blue ..." Baekhyun mumbles, pointing absentmindedly, and Yixing slaps his finger lightly away.

"Yes, my hair is black and my eyes are blue." Yixing says, sitting up completely. "It's rare for Monsters to have black hair or dark brown eyes, and even rarer to have both. So yes, I'm rare."

Absentmindedly, Baekhyun turns back to face the others, but instead of staring at them, his eyes are darting around sneakily.

"You have black hair and brown eyes as of now, Byun Baekhyun." Jongin deadpans, so Baekhyun stops trying to look for a mirror immediately, flushing at how easily he had been caught out.

"Ah, cute ..." Minseok mutters, a large smile on his face.

"Monsters usually evolve when they Mature, which is an average of 9 years." Chanyeol speaks. "Continue."

"... Early bloomers are 6, late bloomers are 12." Baekhyun replies, remembering all the times he had shared a table with his professor and his professor had told him all this. That seemed like such a long time ago.

"And now, a very late bloomer is 15, aka Sehun here."

"Why haven't I ..." Baekhyun trails off, wondering if he really is a Monster at all, and whether he's in the right place.

"You're half-Monster, half-Lucky One." Yixing says. "It's not surprising that you haven't Matured yet. You will soon, if you haven't already."

"How do you know ...?"

"Tell them, what else Monsters will have once they Mature." There comes Chanyeol's voice again. He's really acting as if they're still professor-student, and Baekhyun is so confused by that that he replies anyway.

"Their powers ... will reveal."

"What do you think your power is?"

Throat dry, Baekhyun tries to gulp saliva down his throat, and then suddenly something flies across the room, hitting the wall loudly.

Shocked, Baekhyun yelps and recoils, and the lights flicker off.

"Hyung!" Someone scolds.

"Oops." The man in the wheelchair says. As Baekhyun straightens his back, he realizes that all of them are staring at the spaces in front of them, as if they're blind. When Baekhyun turns around, he finds that Yixing's eyes look the same. Curiously, he waves and makes a face, but Yixing's facial expression doesn't change.

Turning back, he finds the man in the wheelchair stretch his hand out, blindly touching the floor, then retreat it back to his lap.

"Get that for me, will ya, Baek." The man says, leaning back on his wheelchair.

No. Baekhyun thinks, noticing the glass shards shattered on the floor, and just like that, the lights flicker back on.

"Okay, thanks." Lu Han replies sarcastically, startling the younger. "Yes, I can read minds."

"So?" Those red eyes rest on him again, and Baekhyun gulps once more, except this time he knows his answer.

"Light."

He flinches again when the wheelchair hovers off the ground and inches towards him. Then from out of nowhere, something flies through the air from the bathroom and ends up in the wheelchair man's hands – a plastic bag. Then those shards, as if possessed, lift off the ground by itself and creep inside the plastic bag as if they're alive.

"Hyung, you broke a glass bubble." Jongin complains, bottom lip pouty. "Those were pretty."

"Luhan, come back here and stop showing off." Minseok calls, and Luhan chuckles.

"Hey, at least it worked." Obediently, Luhan retreats his wheelchair back and lands near the door again. "Had to scare him for him to figure it out."

Baekhyun is slightly annoyed, but he doesn't want it to show, since after all, most of them are his seniors. Still, the lights flutter slightly.

"Someone's a little pissed."

"I'm not." Baekhyun flushes, and the lights flutter again.

"You're slow when it comes to academics, powerful when it comes to physicality, you have a large appetite, you feel different with other Lucky Ones than you do with us." Chanyeol says, speaking as if he's informing or announcing, and Baekhyun can't quite get used to it.

"Those are your Monster traits."

"You can still catch up with academics, your physical strength does not exceed the norms of Lucky Ones and neither does your appetite, you have retained the physical characteristics of Lucky Ones that comes in the form of black hair and dark brown eyes, and if there had been any chance of it changing, those chances are demolished by the very old age in which they accept you."

"Those are your Lucky One traits."

Silence fills the air.

"Now onto the past."

"Wait." Baekhyun interrupts a little timidly, upon realizing that everyone here is older than him except Sehun. "Is it true ... that the connection is mutual?"

"What connection is he talking about?" Jongin asks.

"Ah! The connection!" Sehun exclaims before running up to Baekhyun and clasping his hands in his. There it is, the warmth sizzling between them.

"Jongin-ah, you're never around the other race enough to know how much it sucks to touch them." Minseok explains. "You grew up here, where you had no contact with Lucky Ones whatsoever, so you probably can't imagine how it feels to be them."

Even though Baekhyun doesn't really initiate physical contact and hardly ever feels natural in it, this time he squeezes the younger's hand, feeling the warmth bubbling inside him, making him feel as if he really belongs. This time, there is no need to question why he only feel this connection between specific people, no need to question whether this is ... a side effect to falling in love, because this is real and happens to every Monster.

Thinking about this, Baekhyun sneaks a glance up at his professor, who is still frowning as he looks another way.

What's up with him? He thinks to himself, wondering if something bad happened to his professor. He wants to ask, but he's not sure if it's appropriate in front of so many people.

Yet, he desperately wants to ask, because right now Chanyeol's happiness means too much to him.

"He's fine." Luhan replies for him, and Baekhyun forgets that the older can read minds. "This is how he always is."

Then ... what ...

This is the real him. This time, Luhan's voice appears in his mind. Everything you've seen at the Lab ... is him pretending to be someone else.

Baekhyun doesn't want to think about it, for fear that Luhan might read his mind, but he can't help it.

Pretending ... does that mean all his kind actions towards me ... his smiles, his gentle ruffling of my hair ... is that all just a fake?

Is our relationship fake?

For some strange reason, despite not wanting Luhan to hear his thoughts, he still somehow expected an answer. However, when he looks up, the older is turning away, speaking to someone else as if he doesn't hear anything at all. And Baekhyun is grateful for that.

"Can I ... hear about Professor?" He whispers instead, wanting to confirm to himself whether this is true and whether everything he's known of the older is just a façade. When he dares to look up at his professor, the older is gazing at him, the red bright and almost furious. Baekhyun wonders what the older thinks of him.

"Ah, that's easy." Minseok says with a grin. "So your Professor here is much greater than you think he is."

He's greater than I think he is? That's impossible, he can't be better than he already is in my head! Baekhyun thinks to himself, shocked, and flushes when Luhan chuckles softly.

"Your professor here, established this place for the remaining Monsters during the war, before you were even born. He was only around your age, maybe a bit older, when he did this. With the help of Kyungsoo here and two others, they built this entire submarine for the Monsters to hide in when the other race were out to kill all of us, and he brought all of us here."

"Wow ..." Baekhyun whispers. That reminds him of Freqse, who had saved the Lucky Ones from the Monsters.

"That's why over here, we call him Leader."

Still in disbelief, he turns to his professor, who still isn't watching him, staring at something else in space and still looking really serious.

"Then he decided that this wasn't safe enough a place to hide forever, so he decided to confront the issue. That's when he entered their Lab undercover as our spy, and that's where he's been ever since."

"His goal is to protect all of us Monsters, at all costs." Jongin cuts in passionately, and if Minseok had been talking about Chanyeol objectively, like a narrator telling a story, then Jongin is like a spokesperson for Chanyeol, talking as if he's there to promote him. "He would do anything to save you if you're a Monster. Everything he's done for you so far is to protect you, because you're a Monster."

"Ah." Even though that's supposed to be touching, somehow Baekhyun is slightly disappointed. He's not sure why.

"Okay, let's move on." Kyungsoo says quickly. "Let's explain to him his experiences in that bubble."

"It's not like we really know about it ... we never lived there." Jongin mutters.

"I'll explain." Sehun cuts in. "Okay, so what they told me is that humanity didn't always live in that bubble – we came from the outside!"

Silence.

"Oh, I guess you already knew that. I guess I did too." The youngest mutters. "But anyway, point is if we ever felt like we can't breathe inside there, it's because we were meant for big spaces and open skies."

"I've ... never felt as if I couldn't breathe." Baekhyun whispers softly. He always felt normal in there.

"... Uh, I don't know. I felt like I couldn't breathe in there." Sehun shrugs. "This place is no better, to be honest ..."

"What does it feel like?"

"Feels like I'm being squashed down ... you know, like ... sorta like always being stuck in one place ... one room! You know? That really sucks ... the feeling of being stuck in one place and you have four walls all around you ... I always hated that." When Baekhyun looks up, he finds that the others are nodding absentmindedly, as if they understand.

But for Baekhyun, he's never thought about it.

"Anyway, that's because Monsters love big spaces. And also ... I didn't know what Monsters even looked like! I thought they looked like beasts ... Everyone around me did." The Monsters around him nod, listening intently, but looking a little confused. "But yeah. Also have you wondered why we eat so much and never eat enough?"

"Isn't it because the food doesn't supply us enough nutrients?"

"... Hyungs, it seems like he knows everything already." Sehun complains.

"We eat meat." Luhan explains. "Meat is basically the flesh of living animals, and that gives us enough energy to function every day, whereas for the other race, plants are what fuels them."

"We're slow learners when it comes to academics." Kyungsoo says, lifting his glasses. "Anything that requires learning about numbers or letters or anything we need to read on paper ... yeah, we suck at that. We're better at doing things with our hands and feet."

Honestly Baekhyun should've seen this coming. After all, he had always been physically stronger than everyone else around him, so when Yixing and Chanyeol overpowered him so easily he should've known. He just assumed that it was because of their intense training at EX'ACT that had rendered them to be so physically fit, but in the end they were just Monsters.

"I guess I'm just bad at everything then, by both standards." Baekhyun mutters, realizing now that if he's half of both, then that means he's just not good at anything.

Silence. No one dares to cheer him up, probably because they don't know a thing about him.

"To be able to pass the tests of EX'ACT in first place as a half-Monster is not a person who's 'bad at everything'." Yixing speaks up, causing Baekhyun to blink in surprise and turn to the older, whose cold eyes are staring at him emotionlessly. Yet ... Baekhyun is starting to see the warmth in them.

"Moving on. At EX'ACT, they put in a tracking device inside you on your very first test. Did you know that?"

"... No." Baekhyun blinks, then jerks a little, turning to stare at his arm – he remembers when he woke up, there was a bandage over it, and they had said that they had inserted a needle in there to take his blood test.

"We knew you were one of us." Yixing says. "That's why we kept an eye on you."

"Leader, who had never had a student in his entire life and had refused to become a teacher from the very start, for the first time requested for a student." Jongin continues. "Then he changed the system so that he got you as his student."

So it wasn't fate that pulled us together ... It was him.

And no wonder Doctor was always there when I'm hurting myself ... Baekhyun realizes, glancing at the doctor who's still staring coldly straight ahead.

"We needed to take the tracking device off your body if we were to take you here." Yixing is speaking now, turning to him. "And to do that, we needed to transfer our energy to you."

"Wha –" Baekhyun wants to ask, but the moment Yixing fully turns to meet his gaze, Baekhyun understands. All those times he was kissed by the doctor without a proper reason, and then he felt something wash over him like magic – that was him trying to cleanse Baekhyun's tracking device off.

"But that didn't work!" Jongin cuts in now, looking as if he's enjoying being the storyteller. "Yixing-hyung's kiss didn't work. So this time we needed a riskier move."

"Did you know that Leader's fluids can't be shared with anyone? It burns some people and kills the other race. It burns me." The others put up their hand in agreement except Sehun, who looks lost. Baekhyun flushes immediately, wondering if they know what had happened.

"But Fire is an element of Light, and Light an element of Fire, so it worked out for the both of you. Then his kiss definitely burned off the tracking device."

He didn't just kiss me ... Baekhyun thinks to himself, flushing. Then he remembers Luhan can read minds.

He didn't ... read my mind, did he? Baekhyun wonders, staring straight at the older while doing so. Luhan lifts his head up, turning to Baekhyun.

Your thoughts will pass off as whispers to me unless I focus on you, or unless you focus on me, like you just did before. Luhan smiles at him gently. So don't worry. I didn't hear anything.

"That's so brave ... to kiss someone just to save them." Sehun whispers, and Jongin agrees, looking very proud of himself and of Chanyeol. Hearing that, Baekhyun's heart sinks as he reminisces that intimate night that they shared, remembering the way Chanyeol kissed him and held him. He thought it was special ... he thought that maybe Chanyeol really did return his feelings after all.

But what is he saying? Chanyeol dated Dara beforehand ...

Dara ...

I shouldn't worry. She's in safe hands. They will protect her. He tells himself. After all, she is definitely a Lucky One, and she's an innocent. They won't do anything to her.

Once again, thinking about her hurts, because when he thinks about her, he thinks about the relationship she shared with Chanyeol. She said she was hypnotized by him, but maybe that's because Chanyeol might have loved her too much. But then he would be putting his own professor in a manipulative, bad light.

Whatever the reason, Chanyeol still chose Dara and not him.

How could he ever have thought that when his professor decided to be intimate with him that night, it meant that they had mutual feelings?

Of course not, and now proves it, proves that his professor was only a brave man who would do anything to save his fellow comrades.

That night ... doesn't mean anything but that.

Heartbroken, Baekhyun looks down immediately, not knowing how to tidy up his feelings in front of so many people. This may be why the older is now looking at him, and when devoid of all the facades that he had put up during his time at the Lab, with so much coldness in his eyes.

Trying to change the subject in case tears start slipping out of his eyes, he quickly blinks and looks up.

"Can I see my parents?" He asks softly, the pain beating in his heart accompanied by laces of hope. Silence fills the room.

Maybe they don't know what they look like.

"My parents ... my dad is small with a nearly bald head ... his eyes are sort of curved, and he has tan skin. My mum ... she's just as small, with medium-length wavy hair and smiley eyes ..." He explains, searching to see if anyone recognizes them. After all, if he's sure, no one's seen what they looked like. He's afraid to glance at his professor, but even in the corner of his eye the older isn't looking at him at all.

"Don't worry, hyung!" Sehun cuts the silence. "I don't really know what they look like, because there were too many people that were saved! But they're all safe, and getting treatment. I promise." He smiles so genuinely that Baekhyun believes it.

"Hey, maybe I can take you there!" Sehun continues, his warmth spreading, and Baekhyun nods, about to let Sehun drag him away from this place so he can finally get away from his professor, but then someone catches his arm.

"No, you need rest." Yixing says firmly, before sending a strict glare towards Sehun, who gulps and lets go. "Stay here."

"I'm fine ... I need to know that they're okay." Baekhyun argues, trying to fight against the grip, but alas, his Lucky One trait shows itself and he can't fight against Yixing's strength at all.

"Stay." Yixing's sky-blue eyes flash, but Baekhyun can't listen to this man when his parents might be somewhere in this submarine, confused and lost and scared.

Before he can do anything, an invisible force pulls Yixing's hand off Baekhyun's arm and pulls him up in the air, putting him to bed, and Baekhyun realizes he can't fight against this invisible force at all.

"Isn't my power great?" Luhan says, grinning madly. "It's Telekinesis."

"Let's go." One by one, everyone files out, including his own professor. Luhan, too, leaves, and even though he's gone, the force doesn't waver.

I'm going to let go now, but if I find out that you leave the bed, I will restrain you again.

Then the force disappears and Baekhyun drops onto the bed lightly. He's panting softly, giving up upon realizing that his physical strength cannot be compared to the others. There are so many of them, and only one of him, and no one's going to let him see his parents until he's completely okay.

Even though he wants to get better quickly so he can see his parents, the moment he clears his mind of his parents, a certain professor enters it, and his heart aches once again.

He doesn't love me. Baekhyun thinks to himself, curling into himself on this large, large bed. He doesn't feel the same way. I was just overthinking.

You idiot. Idiot Baekhyun. The more he thinks about his professor's gentle touches and gentle words, the more it hurts, because he knows that even though Chanyeol cares, Chanyeol cares because Baekhyun's part Monster and not because he's Baekhyun.

He would've done the same thing, for anyone else that he felt like he needed to protect.

Baekhyun wasn't anything special.

All those touches, those grins ... were all just facades to get Baekhyun to trust him, so that it will be easier to pull him into this new world that consists of just Monsters.

And the worst and best thing is, it worked. It worked so flawlessly, because here is Baekhyun, supporting his professor even before he realized he was a Monster himself. He was wholeheartedly on his professor's side, even though his professor turned out to be his enemy. It worked so beautifully, and Baekhyun is frustrated that he fell right into the trap.

He didn't do all that in hopes of making you fall in love with him ... He only wanted you to trust him so you can be pulled into this world. He wanted to take you away from that world, in case you were in danger there. He wanted to protect you.

Yet, thinking about this hurts him so much, because in the end, the only fool in this entire world is him.