#findingeden

“So, what’s everyone else’s ability?” Linnea asks while munching on a piece of chicken. 

“That’s a good question. Since you didn’t get to see everyone fight or use their abilities,” Jaehyun says. 

“Let me spoil it for you. I manipulate gravity. Jaehyun controls time. Jungwoo manipulates water,” Johnny bluntly reveals, not minding the nonchalance at all since this topic was nothing special to him. 

“Yuta manipulates fire, as you know, but he can also do it with ice. I am a telepath, have seismic sense, and can heal,” Doyoung states. “That’s why I am everything but lethal. Hence the green eyes.”

“Oh, but I think your abilities are really cool. That seismic sense is very useful if you ask me,” Linnea responds, full of interest in what the guys tell her. 

“You know my ability already. But to phrase it properly, I will say it openly for the others,” Taeyong starts. His voice is as calm and soft as ever. “My ability is called bond weaving because I can manipulate the relationships of others freely. I can also manipulate emotions.” 

Near him, someone gasps. Hendery almost drops his chopsticks, too. “Whoa, that’s crazy scary. Now I get why Lini was so wary of you. Doesn’t matter that it’s not the strongest ability. But altering the way people feel about each other is insane,” he says with a bit too much emotion. 

“Yeah, yeah. We get it. But hey, we wanna know about your abilities, too. We already know the Dreamies. But what about you newbies?” Johnny downplays and curves the question right back at the mostly Chinese group. 

“Well, okay, so Kun regulates anything that has to do with Biochemistry. So he controls the functions of living beings like humans,” Linnea starts. 

“Ten is a mind controller. He will make you do whatever he wants against your will simply by speaking. I don’t know what else he can do with his ability, but he is crazy strong,” Chenle interrupts before the girl gets to continue her speech. 

“Hendery-Hyung can create things, which is also pretty cool and very useful. I don’t know if he has limits, though,” Renjun says, his admiration for the ability very obvious in his tone. 

“Dejun’s…,” Mark wants to start, but realizes he has no idea what his ability is. “Wait, what is your ability? I don’t think we ever came to that topic. Same for Yang Yang.” 

Dejun chuckles. “Well, let me reveal it then. For me, it’s that I´m a tracker. I can find you anywhere. So if anyone ever goes missing, I will track them down. It’s what I would have done if Ten hadn’t found Linnea. I can also cause hallucinations. But they aren’t as strong as Lini’s perception manipulation,” he says very proudly of himself and his capabilities. 

“And Yang Yang can create shields and barriers. He is a great defender thanks to it and knows how strong they need to be and everything,” Linnea concludes. “Oh, and if you wonder about me still, I manipulate perception as mentioned and also aura.” 

Taeyong claps his hands together once the girl is done talking. “Perfect. Now that we know how well-rounded the team is, I can rest assured.” 

“Did we officially join?” Yang Yang asks, confused, and looks at Kun for confirmation. 

The leader pauses his actions and considers the question for a second. “Does anyone have anything against it?” He asks instead of answering, looking at his longtime friends. 

When he sees how everyone shakes their head and looks at him, waiting for his words, he smiles. “Then I say we are officially part of this big group.”

Cheers erupt once he says this, and clapping echoes through the room. Linnea’s gaze wanders to the guys she met a few weeks ago. Her smile greets their happy expressions. 

“Welcome to the team,” Jaemin says and smiles. 

“Now that we are an official team,” Mark starts, his face turning a bit more serious again, “How about we finally discuss what we discovered inside that cave? The arrows.” 

“You are right. So you said the direction the arrows pointed to was North-east?” Taeyong gets serious, again. This is the whole reason why his younger friends are visiting them in the first place. 

“Yup. North-east of the caves’ location. We tried looking at the map, but honestly, the arrows could mean anything,” Ten concludes. 

“Hmmm, do we have a map here?” Taeyong asks and looks at his friends. 

“I think we should have one on the shelf in the room next door. Let me look for it quickly,” Doyoung says and gets up. He walks out of the room to retrieve said map and returns with it shortly after. “I was right. Here it is,” he announces and lays it out on the table after making some space. 

The boys quickly gather a bit to look at the piece of paper more easily. Mark points at Dusk a second later. “This is the town we stayed at for the past month. And the cave was somewhere over there,” he explains and points his finger at a spot south of Dusk. 

“Okay, so if the cave is there, and the arrows point North-east, then that would mean they point in this direction,” Kun voices his thoughts. His fingers point to the cave and then the compass. Then they draw a line in the direction. 

“Is there anything on the map that looks like Eden could be there?” Jaehyun asks and skims it. His eyes glide over the piece of paper. But there seems to be nothing. “All I see is forests and more forests, and then there is Dawn, but Dawn is not Eden.”

“What´s Dawn?” Chenle asks, his curiosity piqued by the foreign name. 

“Dawn is an outlaw city not too far away from here. It´s huge, but really nothing close to what the rumors say about Eden,” Johnny explains. The boys had been there before, but the place really isn´t for the weak. 

“Hmm, this clue really doesn´t do much for us. We only know a rough direction, but that still means Eden could be anywhere,” Doyoung says, a little defeated. 

“A direction is still better than nothing. Even though we don’t know exactly where it is, we can still narrow it down that way until we find more clues. Surely, this isn´t the only clue to it,” Linnea says, trying to lift the spirit. 

“She´s right. Maybe there are other caves or structures out there that act like way points. We just haven´t found them yet,” Jaemin supports her words with his own, which prompts the girl to give him a thankful smile. 

“Do we have the time and capacities to look for way points that might not exist? I want to be optimistic, but we are just speculating. What if trying to find structures like that is a waste of time?” Jeno asks. He doesn´t intend to go against Linnea´s positive words, but he wants to stay realistic and not base their efforts on a guess. If they are going to look for more clues, it should be a strategic approach. 

“Thanks to Renjun´s psychometry, we at least know that Eden definitely exists. Or was planned to be built,” Mark butts in. “So while I do agree to go with a strategy, we have to think of something that makes sense for us as a group.” 

“You are right. We´ve never really had a pattern in our travels. The fact that we found that clue was simply luck. So maybe we should figure out how to proceed in general instead of just focusing on clues,” Renjun says. 

“Now that our group is bigger, we have better resources, which is great. So I would say, maybe instead of focusing on finding clues, you guys just keep going your way. If fate wants us to find Eden, we will. So I am sure that at some point we will find the next clue,” Taeyong states. “With you guys being out there on adventures, and us as support for resources and other things, we have good chances.” 

“That sounds reasonable. But then, where are we going next? If Dawn is such a dangerous place, I don´t know if we should go there,” Hyuck wonders aloud. He doesn´t want his friends and sister to face danger again so soon. 

“Maybe we should take our time and decide on that when we’ve all had some more rest?” Renjun suggests. 

“True. This is the safest place for us compared to any other place. If the Entity ever ambushes, we have enough manpower to hold our ground. And it´s secluded enough for other groups to not find us so easily, either,” Jisung adds to Renjun’s suggestion. 

“Alright. Let´s end this discussion for now. You guys go and rest for a few days, and then we will try to decide again. There is no rush to find Eden. So why stress ourselves when we can relax a bit and have some fun in this cruel world?” Taeyong concludes and closes the map. 

The others nod in agreement and get back to eating lunch slowly. Some of them are still exhausted from practice fighting earlier, and having some fun while relaxing also sounds like a good deal to them. So, without any complaints, the discussion ends. The day keeps going once stomachs are filled to the brim, and everyone resumes individual activities. 

༺.༻ 

The next few days don´t look any different. Most of the boys either explore the place because it´s still very unknown to them, or they take their time to do individual activities like playing basketball, drawing, reading, and whatever else comes to mind. Luckily, the weather is good, too, which prompts them to stay outside a lot and do outdoor activities rather than staying inside their little houses. 

This particular day started as uninteresting as ever. At least for Linnea. She got up and ready, went to eat breakfast with most of the older guys, decided to inspect the lounge area, found some books, read half of them, and now she is stuck being bored. She has no idea what the boys are up to. But if she´s honest, she kind of wants to have a day to herself, too. It´s a rare occurrence for her to have time fully to herself. So when determination creeps in, she quickly moves to tell Kun about her plans and then jogs off for a casual run through the nearby woods. 

Kun, who thought her idea was great, only smiles when she tells him everything. He watches happily as she speeds off into the distance. Then he minds his own business and dives into some medical books he found yesterday evening. While reviewing the piece of literature, he feels he can learn a lot from Doyoung, too, since the boy is a healer, similar to how he fixes injuries and the like. So why not chat with him? 

Ten, Yang Yang, Hendery, and Dejun are busy playing Monopoly in the lounge area. They greeted Linnea earlier that day, already busy setting up properties and earning money. To their surprise, the game takes longer than expected, so they are still busy playing it. 

“It´s a great feeling to see Ten-Hyung fail so miserably. If he ends up on my property again, he will lose his last bit of money,” Dejun says, amused and happy about his success. 

Hendery looks at him with mischief, also enjoying the way the oldest among them fails to play the game well. 

“You just wait. I can still change everything and win back my money,” Ten argues, trying not to lose hope. 

“Only if you don´t end up in jail again,” Yang Yang juts in, trying not to laugh. 

The oldest in the round glares at him, but resumes the game as confidently as possible anyway.

And while the four of them keep playing, seemingly not finding an end any time soon, the seven Dream boys, who have been busy relaxing in their own little rooms, doing whatever, gather to watch some movies. 

They had discovered a TV in one of the rooms of the main house yesterday and are determined to find some DVDs to watch today. It´s finally time for them to accomplish this goal, so when all seven of them are finally in one spot, they start to move through the corridor of the main house. 

“I didn´t know it was this dusty and grey in here. Last time we came, everything looked a lot more homey,” Chenle complains, trying not to walk through another spiderweb on their way through the house. 

“Well, you really expect those Hyungs to keep everything squeaky clean?” Donghyuck asks ironically, while taking hurried steps. 

“You think we will find some good movies in the room with the TV? It´s very old,” Jisung questions, not addressing anyone in particular. 

“Oh, I´m sure of it. It´s an old TV, but I saw lots of bags in that room, and I`m sure it at least has to contain some movies,” Mark reassures. And when they finally reach the room they found yesterday, they unlock the door smoothly and enter. 

“The air is so damn stuffy,” Jaemin mutters and walks up to the TV. “Jisung, you gotta give this thing the necessary juice if the outlets don´t work in this room,” he prompts and brushes the dust off the TV screen. 

The others start roaming around and open the plastic bags lying around. Some of them, as they discover, contain scrapped pieces of electronic devices. Others have old clothes in them. 

“Yo, is this some sort of storage room? All of these things seem useless,” Mark mumbles to himself as he inspects one of the bags. 

The others keep looking around, moving away anything that looks useless for a movie afternoon, not giving up. 

When rustling has filled the room for over 15 minutes, a voice finally echoes through the room with a triumphant tone. “Hyung, I think I found something,” Jisung says and holds a disc up into the air to show it to the others. 

“Damn, nice Ji, you found something that could work with the TV,” Mark praises and hurries over to the youngest to inspect the bag full of discs. 

“What if those are for listening only, though?” Jeno questions, unable to enjoy the happiness of finding what they were looking for just yet. 

“We will have to find out, then,” Renjun says and takes the bag from Jisung’s hands to carry it over to the device. 

Jaemin, who took the time to lift the TV to the floor with his ability, looks into the bag, too, once it reaches him. “Which one should we try first?” he asks, seeing how none of them have any labels that indicate what movie it could be. 

“Let´s just take the first one we grab,” Renjun suggests and lowers his arm into the bag to grab one. When he pulls out a plain, grey disc, he gives it to Jaemin so the boy can insert it into the device. 

“Jisung, give it some juice,” Chenle demands and points at the TV with the DVD attachment. 

The youngest doesn´t take long to follow the demand. With a swift move of his ability, the TV lights up, much to everyone’s delight. Jaemin inserts the disc while all of the others sit down, waiting in anticipation for the movie to play. 

The screen flickers with vibrant pixels for a few seconds. The DVD attachment makes a few concerning sounds. Then, the screen turns a dark grey before it lights up with a scene a moment later. 

There’s a girl with blonde hair running through the woods. She looks scared, as if something is chasing her. Her hurried breathing and her alert expression are proof enough. A few moments later, she finds a house and runs inside, closing the door hurriedly. 

“Oh god, is this a horror movie?” Jisung asks, already a little uneasy about what´s to come. 

“Shh,” Chenle shushes him, not in the mood for any interruptions since the plot already starts very intensely. 

The girl rushes through the few rooms of the house. When she finds a closet, she quickly hides inside and tries to calm her breathing, afraid it will give her location away. In the next second, a loud thud sounds, making her flinch. Out of instinct, her hand covers her mouth to try to keep herself from being loud. 

Heavy steps echo inside the wooden cabin. The legs and big shoes of someone suddenly show up on screen. They slowly move through the rooms, directly going for the one the girl is hiding in, ignoring the others. 

Jisung, afraid of a jump scare, tries to cover his eyes subtly. The others tense up, too, ready for something scary to happen. 

The female protagonist is shown again. Her eyes are closed, and she is still holding her mouth to keep her breathing quiet. The steps come closer and closer. Then, they stop. There is a moment of silence. Then, the door is torn open. The girl screams. A big hand grabs her throat and pulls her outside. She flails, trying to free herself, but the man—his face masked—pushes her onto the bed. 

Jisung tries not to scream, too, when the man pulls her out of the closet. Jeno and Jaemin seem as unfazed as ever, totally having expected this. Mark and Chenle maybe flinch a tiny bit. Renjun tries not to flinch but fails. 

The girl tries to scramble to the head of the bed,  but before she really gets the chance to, the guy pulls her to the front by her ankles. Another yelp leaves her mouth. Out of panic, she starts hitting his arms and chest. 

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down. It´s me,” The man suddenly says, almost laughing as he pulls off the mask. A handsome guy with brown hair looks at the girl, whose expression slowly goes from scared to relieved. 

She hits his shoulder one more time before she visibly relaxes. “You are such an asshole. I thought someone actually was chasing me,” she complains, but eventually also chuckles. 

“You found yourself a nice cabin here,” the guy comments and looks around a bit. “Seems cozy.” As an answer, the blonde rolls her eyes in annoyance. Seeing this, the guy talks again. “Don´t roll your eyes at me, you naughty girl.” Then, he starts tickling her to tease her. 

The tickling quickly turns into both of them being fairly close to each other. And when the guy ends up hovering on top of her, he stares into her eyes with a fairly loving gaze. The woman returns his gaze. The silence stretches. And then, they lean in, and their lips touch.

“Is it a romance movie after all?” Renjun wonders in a mumble, a bit confused by what´s going on. 

“I don´t fully get the plot,” Jaemin also comments, but keeps watching on while the others keep quiet. 

The kisses between the protagonists turn heavier. Normal pecks transform into full-on making out. Hands start to roam. And before anyone knows it, they start undressing. First the tops, then the jeans. The girl giggles because of the wandering kisses. Clearly, the atmosphere has changed severely. 

None of the seven boys dares to say anything now. Their eyes are fixed on the screen. Somehow, this scene starts to do something to them. They don´t know why, but the air suddenly feels hot. Someone gulps audibly, trying to process what´s happening while the movie keeps going. 

The man´s hand travels over her body. She is visibly enjoying the attention he is giving her. His kisses move to her chest. The other hand shoves away the bra and exposes her nipples. His mouth immediately wraps around one of them, coaxing a moan from her. While she is distracted by the feeling of his lips around her breast, his other hand descends further until he finally reaches her underwear. 

The scene progresses. Neither of them wears any clothes anymore. The girl is already breathing heavily again as her partner pushes another finger into her cunt. “You like that, don´t you? You little slut,” he spits at her with a teasing tone and watches how her back arches. 

A few moments later, he pulls out his fingers and licks them while intensely staring into her eyes. The girl can´t even catch her breath properly when the guy suddenly pulls her closer to her and wraps her legs around his hips. He doesn´t say anything. Doesn´t ask anything. He just gives her a grin before he lines himself up and pushes into her. 

The loud moan that escapes her mouth upon the bold move travels right through everyone’s ears. Seeing so much skin. Seeing a naked woman make those faces. And hearing the pleasure from her has the air even thicker. No one dares to say anything. They all try to process what´s happening. Their own skin feels like it´s on fire. And they can´t help but each realize just how tight all of their clothes suddenly feel. 

The movie continues. The guy drills into her, gradually picking up speed as her moans increase. She tries to grab the headboard to steady herself, but the guy takes her wrists and holds them up above her head with one hand. His other slaps her thigh with a loud sound. “You do whatever I want you to, got it?” the guy asks with a groan slipping right from his throat. The girl nods, unable to give a proper answer. 

Her moans keep echoing through the room. No one realizes just how loud the TV is. But since they are all in some sort of freeze, unable to really comprehend anything else while watching the obscene act, they don´t care to lower the volume. 

So when Linnea comes out of the bathroom, done taking the shower she took after her run, and she walks past the hallway that leads to the room currently occupied by the seven boys, she can´t help but notice the weird sounds of pleasure. Curiosity keeps her steps going. She clutches the towel around her body tightly, having forgotten her change of clothes in her room. 

When she reaches the room and hears the sounds even louder, while the door teases her with the small gap, she can´t help but let her curiosity win. She opens the door a little wider and looks inside. There they sit, all focused on whatever is going on on the TV. 

She is no stranger to the material playing; however, she didn´t expect to ever get confronted with it. Especially not when her friends sit in front of it like stray dogs ready to pounce the only bone that´s left to feed them. 

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Her voice sounds strong, giving away the impression that she just arrived and looked inside. 

All seven heads whip around in surprise, big eyes facing her. Mark hurries to cover the screen, scared the girl will see any of what they just witnessed over the past 30 minutes. Donghyuck tries to find words that could explain any of this, but no sound comes out of his mouth. He is too shocked to see his damn sister here. Jisung tries to cover his face, too embarrassed to say anything. He only feels the prominent heat on his face and wishes to be swallowed by the floor. 

Renjun is too stunned to speak, too. His eyes dart around the room, trying to avoid landing on her at all costs. Chenle grabs a bag next to him, instinctively covering his legs with it, just in case. They all know what this kind of movie does to them, and there is no need to show any of it to Linnea. 

“N-nothing. Call it education. I don´t know,” Jaemin stammers, keeping his eyes closed as he tries to cover for them all. He knows there is no way any of his words sound convincing, given the way the girl in the movie still moans every second while the slapping of hips echoes through the room, too. 

Jeno, who only got a short glimpse of Linnea standing in the doorway with her towel around her body, fixes his gaze on that one stain on the opposite wall. He can´t really hear anything his friend tries to say, because his mind is occupied by involuntary thoughts. He is only a guy after all. 

“Ahh~ fuck! Don´t stop!” The moan sounds filthily hot. His hand grabs her hips to keep her steady as he keeps going, thrusting into her with precise movements. His eyes watch her come undone beneath him. Eyes closed, mouth open, back arched. Breasts that move in accordance with the rhythm he set. 

The image is fleeting, but it does so much. Knowing exactly what is playing in his head, he really tries his best to keep his eyes on the stain. It takes so much willpower; his knuckles turn white from gripping his pants so strongly. 

“Whatever. Just turn it down. It´s so fucking loud,” Linnea finally says, only taking in their reactions for a few seconds before she moves to leave. She doesn´t pay too much mind to their activities, only shaking her head in disbelief about their boldness. 

༺.༻ 

The second the girl is out of sight, everyone scrambles to shut off the TV. They hurry, take out the disc, and throw it away in shock, unable to grasp the situation fully. 

“This did not just happen,” Renjun mumbles, white as a ghost. He feels like he can start digging his own grave. 

“Y´all better not think about my sister in this kind of context! I will kill you if I get to know you do!” Hyuck bursts out, finally having realized the way his sister was dressed. 

“Why would you mention her?!” Jaemin asks, scandalized. “We are men! What do you think happens if you ask someone not to think of something?! ESPECIALLY IN THIS CONTEXT?!” 

“Woah, calm down, everyone,” Mark tries to save the situation before it can escalate.

“Calm down, my ass,” Chenle argues and looks at the leader in disbelief. “Try to calm down after this. Watching this shit is one thing. Getting caught doing it is so much worse! Fuck I´m so hard, it hurts,” he complains, making the situation very clear. 

“I want the floor to open up and swallow me whole,” Jisung mumbles. “I won´t be able to ever look her in the eyes ever again.” 

“That´s a bit dramatic, don´t you think?” Renjun tries, but gets met with the most horrified expression from the Maknae he´s ever seen. 

“Hyung, she´s my teacher. If I ever need help with my ability again, I won´t be able to ask her anything because of this,” he says in a fitting tone. 

“Who suggested watching this shit in the first place?” Jeno finally speaks up, too. His face looks tense. But that´s only because he is now haunted by the same thought over and over, and god, he won´t be able to live normally if his body doesn´t calm down already. He hates this so much. 

“Yah, don´t look at us like that. How could we have known it would be this kind of movie?” Mark defends, a little scared by the tense stare from his vice. 

“We are never watching movies here, again,” Jaemin says, a little defeated. And it all even started so normally. 

“Why do the Hyungs own this stuff?” Renjun whines, looking at the bag with the other discs inside. 

“Doesn´t matter. How do I explain that we aren´t weird creeps to my sister?” Donghyuck chimes in, already trying to think of plausible explanations to justify this mess. 

“We are so over,” Mark says, defeated as his shoulders slump down. 

༺.༻ 

Still amused and somewhat disturbed, Linnea makes her way outside to the Hyungs and the  Monopoly gang. She is still drying her hair with a towel when she plops down on one of the logs around the pit that´s usually filled with burning fire. On her face, a disbelieving smile presents her thoughts. 

“What has you smiling like that?” Ten asks, surprised by her expression. 

“Wanna share the fun with us so we can smile too?” Johnny asks, slightly teasing because he recognizes the disbelief. 

The girl can´t help but chuckle as she puts the towel down and holds it loosely. “Oh, you know, I´m still trying to wrap my head around the events of the past 15 minutes. That´s all,” she shares vaguely, not yet sure if she wants to actually say what she witnessed. 

“Huh? What happened?” Dejun wonders and lifts an eyebrow. The amused expression on her face doesn´t go away, which has him even more curious. 

“Come on, tell us. Now we are curious,” Hendery whines, ready to make a move and tickle it out of her if she doesn´t relent anytime soon. 

A chuckle escapes her. Her hand covers her face for a second before she exhales audibly, trying to keep herself from breaking out in a fit of laughter. “Ah, you know. I was just taking a shower, because I got dirty while exploring the woods,” she starts and looks at her feet. The grin is still there as she continues. “And well, I forgot my change of clothes. And while I wanted to head back to my room to get dressed real quick, I passed by the hallway in the main building.” 

“Sounds boring so far,” Jungwoo comments, but Jaehyun holds him back from saying more. 

“Shh, she´s clearly building something up,” he says and looks back at her to not miss anything. 

“And guess what. There are very obvious, very weird, and very loud sounds. So, I go to explore, because why not? I expected everything. Really. But opening a door and seeing seven boys sit in front of a TV, watching very obvious porn, was not on my list of things I wanted to see. And now here I am, trying to erase the image of those idiots trying to explain themselves.” Another laugh escapes her due to the absurdity of the situation. She knows there is nothing about it. She doesn´t really care that much, either. They can do whatever they want, and she is sure they didn´t intentionally look for this kind of stuff. But seeing that still took her off guard. 

“Damn, didn´t know the youngest had it in them to be so… sexual,” Johnny comments, a wide grin now plastered on his face. 

“I didn´t know we had porn to begin with,” Taeyong says, slightly confused. 

“Ah, maybe that´s what´s on those discs we found half a year ago. Always wondered what they had stored. Good to know it´s filthy stuff,” Yuta guesses. 

“Anyway, I gotta cleanse my mind. I don´t want the nice image I have of them to be tainted by this, even if it´s not that big of a deal. But this was too unexpected, so I need to process it a bit more,” Linnea rambles on. She doesn´t look at any of them. Her cheeks feel a little warm, too. This flustered her a bit. Not too much, but still enough to bother her. 

The guys chuckle when they hear her words. It´s lowkey adorable to see her react like this, but the fact that their younger friends got caught watching porn is still too funny for them to let the topic go. 

So when Linnea gets up again, to go on another walk to clear her head, the guys remain seated and start discussing the incident. 

“Y´all think we should educate those guys on some things?” Jaehyun asks. 

“Do any of them have any experience?” Doyoung wonders, genuine interest evident in his question, because he knows if the answer is no, they will have to explain a lot of things. After all, the boys aren´t teens anymore. 

“I doubt any of them even know how to really talk to a girl romantically. And given our group’s history, the answer is a definite no,” Johnny says and claps his hands onto his thighs. “Sex Ed it is tonight. Get the books ready. We gotta talk about the birds and the bees.” 

“You guys have to tell Kun so he can keep Linnea and us away, though. We already went through the whole medical aspects of how intimacy works, so no need for a repeat,” Ten interrupts the chuckles from the others. 

“Oh god, please not those kinds of talks again. Kun kept it so dry and medically termed, it was so hard to go through,” Yang Yang starts, his face mirroring an expression of playful horror. 

“Remember when he started explaining periods, too?” Hendery joins in, looking at his friends with big eyes. 

“Please don´t remind me. He had Linnea repeat everything necessary because she´s a girl and directly involved with the topic,” Dejun says, trying to keep the memories from popping up in his head. 

“Well, have fun doing whatever then, while we explain how the biology works behind those things. Better late than never,” Jaehyun chuckles and looks at his friends, already thinking of the first topics. 

“I can´t believe it´s finally time for this kind of talk,” Taeyong mumbles in disbelief. “They grow up so fast,” he adds, overly dramatic and well aware of the fact that they haven´t known the Dream boys since they were kids. 

༺.༻ 

Later that day, when the sun slowly dips below the horizon, and a fire has started burning in the fire pit again, the boys gather one after the other. Most of them at least. Because while the Hyungs are about to lecture the younger ones, Kun and Ten made sure to take Linnea, Yang Yang, Dejun, and Hendery for a small game night. 

“Kun, why exactly are you keeping us inside while the evening is this nice? I wanna go outside,” Linnea complains with a pout on her lips. 

“Request declined. We are staying inside and playing some games like the good old times,” Kun counters, leaving no room for more arguments. 

“You make it sound like we´ve been together for over a decade,” Hendery remarks, but snickers. In the meantime, Ten throws Dejun and Yang Yang a knowing glance, while he tries not to start laughing. 

Linnea scrunches her eyes together a little, suspicious of their behavior. Something is definitely going on. She can feel it. 

And while Kun´s persistence keeps Linnea and the others inside, the seven youngest of the group slowly come outside, one by one. Some of them still have wet hair from a previous, long shower. Others wear fresh sets of clothing as if they had done some heavy exercise earlier and needed to change. When they see the knowing grins on their older friend´s faces, they already feel this sense of doom, knowing fully well that something teasing and embarrassing is about to happen. 

“Oh no. They know,” Donghyuck curses under his breath, dreading the conversation that´s about to happen. 

“Your sister is such a snitch,” Chenle says. Not in a mean way, but simply because that´s the first term that came to his mind. 

“Zhong Chenle, watch your mouth,” Hyuck immediately answers to his choice of words and glares at him. 

“Guys, relax. It´s not that big of a deal. I hope,” Mark tries to break up the tension and mumbles the last words in hopes no one hears him. 

“Hyung, we are fucked. Admit it to yourself,” Jaemin remarks and puts his hand on the leader´s shoulder to comfort him a bit. “They are so going to give us a lecture on decency and whatnot. So let´s simply endure it before they get another chance to embarrass us.” 

“How can you be so optimistic?” Renjun asks. 

“Well, I don´t know,” Jaemin says and shrugs. He just knows there is no getting out of it, so he has accepted his fate and wants to get it over with. 

“Wah, I´m so scared of what they will say,” Jisung mumbles, already uncomfortable by only thinking about the possibilities. 

“You are overreacting a bit,” Jeno says while looking at the Maknae with soft eyes that try to give him some reassurance. 

“Says the one who took forever to take a damn shower. There is no way you aren´t dreading this talk,” Chenle teases and grins when the captain´s glare hits him. “The hell did you even do for that long? There is no way it took you that long to-mph!” The boy doesn´t even manage to end his sentence because the hand of his Hyung is covering his mouth with a force that speaks loud and clear. Shut the fuck up. 

Jeno´s glare pierces into the Chinese boy to the point Renjun has to tap his shoulder to get him to stop. “Stop making a drama out of it. We are all men. It´s very obvious what the hell we all did,” he scolds and keeps walking. 

Only after waiting and glaring for a few more seconds does the black-haired guy let go of his friend. His eyes still warn him to keep quiet with the comments before he follows the others. Chenle can only exhale in relief and chuckle afterwards, knowing fully well what he was hinting at just now. 

As the group reaches the campfire, a voice chimes happily with a teasing undertone, “Ah, there they are. Had fun?” Jungwoo looks at them, a knowing grin plastered on his face as he waits for each of them to take in his words and sit down. 

“Hyung, please. Spare us. This is embarrassing enough as it is,” Mark tries to lessen the blow, but the other guys are grinning just as much as they stare them down in this teasing way that couldn´t mean anything good. 

“You know, we have to label those discs. Maybe someone needs to watch each and every movie we have so we can filter them by kinks and stuff,” Johnny suggests, enjoying the way all of them start to cringe the more he speaks. 

“Why the fuck do we have this kind of thing here to begin with?! This is all your fault!” Hyuck explodes. 

“We didn´t know. We got those bags six months ago and had no clue. You did the job for us in finding out what it is,” Jaehyun clarifies with an amused smile. 

“What was the mission that led you to that storage room anyway?” Doyoung questions in return. 

“We wanted to watch a movie. Nothing more. But not this kind of movie!” Hyuck explains simply. He is still mad about the whole incident and the teasing that they have to endure now. 

“Well, in the end, it doesn´t matter. What matters, however, is the fact that we have to fill you guys in on some important facts when it comes to this kind of activity. And I don´t mean watching movies,” Taeyong starts and earns himself a handful of groans. 

“Urgh, god no,” Chenle groans and covers his face with both of his hands. “This can´t be happening.” 

“But it is. Y´all are of that age now where this shit becomes a topic, and I would rather you wouldn´t embarrass yourselves the moment a girl decides to undress in front of you. We gotta prep you for the real deal,” Johnny counters, his grin audible in his voice. 

“Wait, what? The real deal? What are you talking about?” Renjun asks, scandalized, not sure he understood correctly. 

“Oh, come on. You are adults. There is no way any of you will stay a virgin until you die of old age,” Jungwoo says. 

“When would we even meet any girls? It´s not like we travel with anyone but Linnea, who identifies as one,” Jisung asks with this young innocence that´s fairly adorable. 

“Oh, don´t mention my sister, for fucks sake. I don´t want any of you perverts to look at her in that kind of way. She is off limits!” Donghyuck declares and glares at his friends. 

“Well, Dawn isn´t that far away. And even though it´s a messy place, there are still many hot women who live there. Same goes for other cities. So if you meet someone when the time comes, and you are down to fuck, you gotta know how you go about it to not make it the worst and most awkward experience to exist,” Johnny answers Jisung´s question and ignores Hyuck´s little declaration. 

“Oh god,” Renjun mumbles. The thought about this talk, and the filthy choice of words from his Hyung, makes him feel a little dizzy. 

“So let´s start with the basics. Anatomy. I hope y´all know what a dick is because I am not telling you much about that. Focus will be on pussy,” Johnny says and claps his hands together. 

“Don´t forget boobs,” Jaehyun adds proudly. 

The way the younger ones react to the more vulgar choice of words is the source of entertainment for Jungwoo, Doyoung, and Yuta. But they keep quiet about it, only chuckling to themselves and exchanging knowing looks. 

Johnny starts explaining how a vagina is structured and what parts are necessary for pleasure. He emphasizes the importance of pleasure for women in that same small speech, making sure all of them understood that sex isn´t something that´s only enjoyable for men. “So yeah, hitting inside might be the best for you guys, but don´t ever abandon the clit. That little button of pleasure is the key to an orgasm a lot of times.” 

Taeyong even whips out an illustration from a book to showcase whatever Johnny is explaining to them, so they have a visual in front of them. Whenever the oldest mentions an important term, he points his finger to the part that fits.

The talk hasn´t even been going on for more than five minutes, yet most of the younger ones sit there, a blush on their cheeks, while they try not to sink into the floor. Jisung covers his face with his hands, only leaving space for his eyes to look in between his fingers. Mark is fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt. Hyuck is bouncing his leg due to the adrenaline in his body. Jaemin and Jeno stare at their Hyung with the most serious expression ever, while their nerves go crazy on the inside. Chenle bites his bottom lip in hopes of not laughing away the tension that rises inside his body. And Renjun sits there, cheeks hot and red while trying to look serious too, because after all, this is an important topic, all jokes aside. 

“Okay, moving on. Hygiene is the most important thing next to consent. Wash your hands, shower, and wash everything. And I mean everything. Infections can happen fast. We don´t want that. And keep in mind, hygiene is attractive. No girl wants a dirty man,” Johnny keeps going. He makes sure to be serious about this because he, in fact, wants them to understand just how important this all is. “Okay, Jaehyun. Consent. Explain it to them,” he then adds, and looks at his friend. 

Jaehyun chuckles and looks at the seven boys intently. “Right. Consent. I hope you guys know the meaning of that word. Because, in this world, a real gentleman cares about consent over everything else. Anything that´s not a sure yes is a no. Got that? If you have to convince her to do something, it´s a no. If she is unsure about it, it´s a no. If she says yes at first and changes her mind later? It´s a no. I don´t want any of you to ever make a woman uncomfortable because your dick feels too hard to accept a simple no!” 

The boys nod. The concept of consent made sense to all of them. Even without much experience, they would never want anyone to feel uncomfortable because of them. The seriousness that settles on their faces is proof enough of their agreement with the sentiment. 

“Alright. Next up, contraception. We all know how babies are made. And I can reassure you that pulling out in time ends with unwanted pregnancy. So always, and I mean this when I say it, always use a damn condom. Any other contraceptives are very hard to get as an Amplified. So this is the only way to keep both you and her safe from pregnancy and illnesses,” Johnny continues. He even takes out a wrapped condom to show it to them. 

“This little thing is your life´s savior. You gotta take it out,” he says and demonstrates his words,” pinch the top because the sperm has to go somewhere, right? And then you wrap it around your dick. And don´t come at me with it doesn´t fit. These things will fit.” The moment those words leave his mouth, he makes sure to show them by shoving his whole hand into the condom. 

The eyes of each boy grow wide upon seeing their Hyung shove his damn hand into the latex. On one side, they are impressed with the fact that it actually fits so well and still has so much space for moving around. On the other side, they are a bit weirded out by the fact that he just shoves it inside without a second thought. But now, because of the way the conversation progresses, they slowly let go of the embarrassment from earlier and accept the information they are getting. 

When Johnny pulls the condom off his hand, Taeyong takes the time to mention another topic. “Since we mentioned pregnancies. Contraception is one thing. But part of what´s necessary for pregnancy is to know the cycle.” 

“What cycle?” Chenle interrupts, confused, and lifts one eyebrow. 

“Women usually get their period once a month. That period is part of the menstrual cycle. It has 4 phases and lasts roughly 28 days, plus or minus. It´s different for every woman. But what´s important is that in this cycle, the hormones fluctuate,” Doyoung explains. “You have the period, which is the phase of monthly bleeding where the uterus sheds its lining. It can last up to a week, if not longer, for unlucky individuals. It can be painful and involve cramps, so being supportive is always welcomed,” he keeps going, and explains the rest of the phases and the importance of how it can affect chances for pregnancies if one keeps track of the cycle. 

“Damn, women have it hard,” Mark remarks after taking in all of the medical information provided by his Hyung. 

“And the fact they have to deal with all that while still stuck in camps or a cruel, exploiting world like ours,” Renjun adds, his voice full of respect for them while also dripping with sympathy since it´s already hard enough as it is. 

While his friends stay silent or open up about their short thoughts on the topic, Jeno´s gaze wanders to the house he suspects Kun, Linnea, and the others are in. He starts wondering how hard life must have been for Linnea if she has to go through this every month. He also wonders how she manages to deal with this while traveling with them. He has not once noticed any signs that might imply any care of this cycle every woman usually has. Either way, he respects her for holding out so long and partly feels even more guilty about his harsh treatment at the very start. 

“Now then. Since the important topics are done, let´s move on to the actual act. Sex. Sounds simple and easy if you know what it is. But there is more to it. First of all, I want you to learn how to flirt at least a little bit if you want to land a fling. Be natural but confident, too. No need to be stiff and awkward. Y´all look good, so you can definitely pull someone. Just don´t embarrass yourselves with weird sayings and the like. Give honest compliments, be charming, play into what they give you if you feel the vibe,” Johnny says, switching to the next topic. 

“But don´t overdo it and be weird,” Jungwoo adds, warning them. “Things can go south very fast.” He knows this from experience. 

Yuta claps his hands and stands up to take the spotlight. “Foreplay is very important. If you don´t focus on it at least a little bit, there is nothing to go for either of you. She has to be wet for it to feel really good. For her and you. And to get there, you have foreplay,” he starts with a proud grin on his face. 

“Kissing, caressing, gentle touches on sensitive areas. There are so many things you can do to get that pussy wet and her in the mood. You just need to find the things that turn her on and then keep going at a good pace with a nice rhythm that´s not too much or too little. It´s as simple as that,” Yuta explains. “It doesn´t have to be long, but it can also be fun if you take your time. It´s up to preference, but don´t skip that part unless she already is wet as fuck and really wants you to get to it right away.” 

“Exactly. You can also use foreplay for prep. Not every girl will be able to take that cock fully right away. You gotta stretch her out and let her adjust to your size. The best way to do that is by fingering her at least a little,” Johnny supports and adds the next topic. “Okay, if you´ve done it every day for the past week, chances are there is no real need for prep. But if it´s the first time, this can save the experience. Pussies are individual. Some girls will take you more easily than others.” 

“But yeah, to prep her, you can finger her. You simply, gently insert a finger and explore. Gotta watch for any reaction you get because it will tell you a lot. What she likes, dislikes, and so on. If it gets wetter, you are definitely doing something right,” He speaks as if he is talking about the morning news, demonstrating certain motions to do with the fingers, and keeps explaining how fingering can go and look like. 

The whole talk about women getting wet, fingering them, and making them feel good immediately lets that red heat reappear on each of the younger ones´ faces. They can´t help but imagine what their Hyungs are saying in their heads. The visual certainly doesn´t help any of them stay calm. And while each of them may not have a defined image of a woman in their mind, Jeno definitely struggles to keep Linnea´s face out of his head. It´s so hard for him to keep his mind decent; his knuckles turn white once again today, due to the force of his fingers pressing into his palms. 

“So listen. There are two main ways to get a woman to orgasm. Okay, maybe three if we count fingering. But you can either go oral and use your mouth on her, or you can penetrate, and hit one damn good rhythm, it makes her scream your name,” Johnny goes on, ignoring the bushing messes in front of him. 

“You are forgetting about all those other ways to get a woman to cum. Clit stim, dry humping, toys-” Jungwoo interrupts but doesn´t get to finish. 

“I said the main ways. Obviously, there are hundreds of ways to get her off. Let´s stay with the basics here, okay? It´s not my part to get creative for them once they know how it´s done,” Johnny sassily retorts before he returns his gaze to the crowd in front of him. “So for oral, you gotta use your tongue. You can lick, swirl, whatever comes to mind, test it out. Don´t ignore the clit. But really, just test things out. You can suck on it, or go in with your tongue. It´s all so different for everyone. So simply focus on the response you get, and hey, if she tells you what she wants and likes, listen. Do exactly that. No need to switch up anything,” he keeps his speech going. 

“Same for penetration. Set a rhythm, maybe switch it up a few times. But if you get her close, and she likes what you are doing, you gotta continue. No switching that up right before because you think it will be better. Her body already tells you everything you need to know. So if she responds well to your actions, you have to keep doing them,” He says. 

“While we are on the topic of penetration. If she´s not used to you, you have to be careful at the first dip. It can hurt, so go slowly and wait for her to give you the go-ahead to continue. Give her a few minutes to breathe and adjust. Especially if she´s really tight,” Jaehyun adds, emphasizing the importance of patience. 

The Hyungs keep talking about many ways to fuck well. How to move hips and find the right rhythm, what to look for, and so on. Jungwoo even mentions a few positions that do wonders and change depth, and reach a lot. In the meantime, Yuta is sure that at least one of the younger ones has a hard-on again. But he gets it. They all start somewhere. 

“Right, don´t skip communication either. But yeah. Now, the last important thing. Aftercare.” Johnny does a hand motion to emphasize the word. “Aftercare is very important and not to be skipped. People can experience a low after a high. Besides cleaning up and cuddling, you gotta make sure that you two feel comfortable. Have a nice talk, take care of each other, and do loving things. Whatever it is that fits the mood. Just don´t ignore them and make them feel bad for anything.” 

The silence after his last few sentences is loud. Taeyong claps, praising his friend’s expertise and patience in telling them all of this. Yuta, Jungwoo, and Jaehyun look at the younger ones, though, and start chuckling to themselves. Their expressions are heavenly. The biggest amusement that evening. 

“I think you fried their brains,” Doyoung remarks, fairly seriously. 

“Doesn´t matter. I need you to remember every word I said. You will fail miserably if you do any of this wrong,” Johnny says, a little overly dramatic. 

“Don´t say it like that,” Doyoung scolds, however. “Listen, since none of you has experience in that department. Let me say this: Being nervous and cautious is okay. It´s a process of learning each other. So don´t worry about anything. Even if you don’t last long. That´s normal. Especially at the start.” 

“Yeah, there is no way any of them will last long once that dick dips in. I bet you, one of them will cum the second they are fully inside,” Jungwoo jokes with Jaehyun. 

“I will give you a tip to keep that from happening: Imagine something totally unrelated to sex. It can stall the release a bit,” Jaehyun recommends and earns a glare from Doyoung. 

“Or you can just be honest and tell her you are about to burst because it feels that good. There is no shame in that. We just established other ways to make a woman come even if you are the first and can´t bring her to an orgasm first,” he says, fairly seriously. 

The Hyungs keep arguing a bit more. But while they do, Taeyong tells the younger ones that they are free to go. So without wasting much time and needing to process everything, they get up one after the other, say good night, and leave for their rooms. On their way, they notice how dark it has gotten. Renjun even notices the lights that are off in the other hut, so he assumes the others have gone to bed already. 

“I am serious when I say this, but I think I need another shower,” Chenle reveals without a care in the world. Jisung, almost choking on his own spit, thinks the boy seriously has no shame in this world. It´s impressive but scary at the same time. 

“Fuck, I´m so tired. That was information overload,” Jaemin groans and stretches. 

“Let´s go to bed then,” Jeno comments and starts walking to his room with his best friend. 

“Wet dreams, y´all,” Chenle says before taking off to his own room. His comments make the rest stop in their tracks for a second, before they keep going. 

“That guy, Karma will get him one day, I am sure of it,” Donghyuck curses. 

Without much more to say, the boys divide and leave to get some rest, as they said. So with the distant laughter from the Hyungs and the moonlight illuminating their short paths to bed, the night goes on, and seven boys fall asleep, much smarter about intimacy than before. All because they wanted to watch a movie. 

A gentle breeze flows through his hair. The warmth of the sun’s rays meets his skin. When he opens his eyes, he is met with the calm sea. In the distance, birds chirp. When his vision fully focuses, his eyes land on a figure standing at the shore. Her feet are standing inside the shallow water as she watches the horizon.

A peaceful feeling settles in his chest. With a reassured smile, he starts to walk towards her. He comes to a stop right next to her. His feet are greeted by the cool water, but he doesn´t perceive it as uncomfortable. He doesn´t say anything. Just breathes.

His heartbeat goes at a steady pace, while his shoulders are relaxed. There is nothing to fear. Nothing to worry about. Just him and Linnea, standing there, enjoying the warmth of the morning sun.

The salty air smells refreshing compared to previous encounters. He knows it´s something he came to enjoy throughout their stay in Dusk. Seeing as the hut shines in the light, standing in the lush dunes of the beach, he feels like he can finally let go.

When he eventually turns his head, he is met with her smile and those gentle eyes he enjoys looking at. He can´t help but return her smile with one of his own. “You finally accepted it,” her voice rings in his ear. The soft sound makes his cheeks heat up. As a response, he only nods, unable to say anything. He fears his voice will break if he tries to.

“I´m so proud of you,” she continues, her smile growing. Her gaze averts back to the sea, again. And then she leans her head onto his shoulder, basking in the comfort it brings her. As a reaction, he shortly stiffens. Not because he dislikes the gesture, but because it took him off guard. He instantly relaxes right away and leans his head onto hers, enjoying the closeness they share.

“Thanks for being so patient with me,” he mumbles when he finally gains the courage to speak. Linnea chuckles upon hearing his words. There is nothing to thank her for. But he won´t accept that if she says it. So she doesn´t.

They keep standing there, just watching the clouds that fly over the horizon, and listening to the distant chirps. The salty sea air frees their spirit, and the small breeze adds to the atmosphere, granting them this moment of calmness.

Then, the scenery shifts. The image blurs heavily. But in the next moment, Jeno finds himself lying in the dunes. He is watching the sky, trying to decipher the shapes of the clouds that pass by. He isn´t alone. Linnea lies with him. The girl is playing with his hair while he leans onto her stomach. He could stay like this forever, but he knows that´s not possible.

By now, he has recognized the patterns. He knows this isn´t real. That´s why he wants to cherish every second of it. He can ignore the pain of reality here and focus on what his heart really longs for. “You’d better wake up soon. Everyone is worried about you,” he mumbles absentmindedly.

“Are they really?” the girl asks, tone still soft.

“Yeah. I am worried, too. It´s been a good week, and you show no sign at all. We are starting to fear for the worst. Even though Kun keeps reassuring us,” he says, closing his eyes because the feeling of her hand in his hair is just too nice.

Linnea doesn´t say anything anymore. She just sighs in a relaxing manner, enjoying the warmth as much as he does. The day is so beautiful in this realm. Everyone else would take the time to just be, too.

At some point, Jeno feels like he is getting drowsy. He knows he is already sleeping, so he has no idea if one can fall asleep inside a dream. But he doesn´t care. He just knows that he wants to fall asleep like this more often. So when his eyes fall shut, and his breathing steadies, his full focus is on the hand in his hair, and the calm breathing of the girl he lies on.

The realm shifts again. He slowly perceives the cries of seagulls in the far distance. His surroundings smell like wood, sea salt, and disinfectant. The feeling of fingers moving through his hair is still there. He slowly feels the soft blanket below his arms and face become more apparent. It smells like his own blanket that´s lying on his side of the bed that he keeps stepping out of every night. There is just a small difference. It also smells like someone else. Someone familiar.

His eyes slowly blink, and he stirs slightly. The world comes back to him with every second, and soon he realizes that he is no longer dreaming but instead waking up. When he shifts and moves his head to the side a bit to see what´s going on, he is met with the softest eyes staring at him.

“I didn´t realize your hair grew out so much over the past weeks,” a raspy but warm voice greets his ears. He feels like he is dreaming, but he knows he is not. So he blinks. And blinks, trying to comprehend the situation.

Linnea is awake. She is speaking to him. And she is running her hand through his hair as if it´s the most normal and natural thing to do. He is left speechless. And can only stare at her with an incredulous look.

This causes a chuckle to escape from her. “Don´t look at me like I´m something made up,” she mumbles and exhales heavily right after. Her back hurts from lying down for so long. Her throat is as dry as a desert. All she wants to do is get up and drink some water.

Jeno moves his body up. He fell asleep while sitting by her side the night before. He is sure everyone else is still sleeping, too, judging by the silence inside and outside the house. “You are awake,” he finally rasps, clearing his throat the moment after. Why is he acting so awkwardly now?

“I am awake,” she retorts playfully. Then she finally moves to sit up. The blanket that covers her upper body falls to her hips. She rubs her eyes and stretches before she sees the IV in her arm. Annoyed by it, she moves to fumble with the tape that keeps it in place, but a hand stops her wrist.

“What are you doing?” he asks, concern evident. The look of uncertainty makes her melt on the inside, unbeknownst to him.

“Kun always overdoes it a little. He probably could have taken it out a few days ago,” she explains. “Can you give me a tissue?”

Jeno gets up and moves quickly. The girl doesn´t have to ask twice. He looks around the room, almost stumbles over the carpet, and grabs the box of tissues on the table. Then he returns to her side and gives it to her. A thankful smile meets him, and Linnea takes one out. Her fingers are delicate with the tape. She doesn´t react in any way when she carefully takes out the IV. Once the medical item is out of her body, she holds the tissue over the puncture to stop the small bleeding.

She faces him again after that, waiting long enough not to remove the tissue too early. “How come you are lying at my bedside?”

Jeno´s eyes dart in every direction except hers. He can´t face her right now. For some reason, his cheeks feel extremely hot. He has no idea how to answer her, either, so he avoids the question altogether. “Do you need something to drink? A glass of water?”

Linnea chuckles. This side of him is so adorable. But why is he acting like this all of a sudden? Did something happen? “A glass of water would be great,” she answers, deciding to ignore the observation.

The boy hurries to get a glass of water from the kitchen. He is back by her side within less than a minute, giving her the cold liquid. Thankful for his gesture, she takes it and takes a big sip.

“This was probably one of the best rests I´ve had in a while,” she mumbles, kind of trailing off. Some of the memories from the incident come back to her. With it come glimpses of other memories she doesn´t know she made. The worried faces and voices of the boys. Jaemin telling her the weirdest stories ever. Kun checking up on her regularly to see how her recovery is going. It´s as if she´s watching a short movie about herself.

“I wasn’t aware of the fact that you were afraid of the dark before your ability developed. It´s really cute if I think about it,” she suddenly says, glancing at him with a mischievous grin to gauge his reaction.

“Wh-what? How do you know that? I don´t think I ever told anyone this,” Jeno stammers, surprised by the sudden comment. He can´t help but scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. Did she say that was cute? What the hell is going on?

“Jaeminie told me. I don´t think my mind made that up. He told me lots of fun stories of your shared journey,” Linnea explains, enjoying his reaction a little too much.

“Well, I guess this is my Karma, then,” he mumbles and finally looks at her again, a smile on his face. There is a pause before he says, “I take it… You are no longer mad at me?”

That makes the girl laugh out loud. She shakes her head before she speaks again. “I forgave you the moment you told me everything you did. I just like to be petty from time to time and really wanted to teach you a lesson. Don´t you ever dare to ignore me again, though, Lee Jeno. I won´t be as nice next time.”

“Yes, Ma´am,” he says and smiles at her. He is so glad that there is no bad blood between them. He doesn´t know if he could have lived on like this if she kept this up even longer.

“Can you help me up? From experience, I know I might still be a bit weak on my feet if I do it alone,” she then asks, looking at him expectantly and holding out her hand.

Jeno nods and moves to help her get to her feet slowly. He holds onto her hand and supports her upper body while the girl scrambles out of the makeshift bed. Once she stands, she exhales, determined, and sets the first step. Her body, still weak from not moving for days, gives out a little. She drops down a bit, unable to hold herself up, but Jeno is there to catch her. He holds onto her even tighter and steadies her. “Careful. Take it slow,” he says instinctively, making sure to hold her as gently as possible.

“Thanks,” the girl says and takes another step. Thanks to his support, she has an easy time moving a few steps until her body regains the security she used to have. Once she´s fully adjusted, she looks at him with a reassuring smile and nods, signaling him that he can let go.

Skeptically, he lets go of her, but his arms hover, ready to catch her if she needs the help again. He watches her every move to make sure everything is fine. When he sees her walk without issues, he lets go of the breath he was holding unintentionally.

“All good,” she says and gives him a thumbs up.

“You know I really thought we might lose you,” he suddenly reveals, speaking all seriously.

“I am not that easy to take down, don´t worry. I made a mistake in the fight and didn´t focus on every aspect equally. That´s the only reason he got such a hit on me. But hey, I told you, I won´t leave you, didn´t I?” she explains, grinning at him with beaming eyes.

In return, his eyes grow wide. He never had such a conversation with her. Only in his dream did he beg her not to leave him.

His exasperated look makes the girl laugh. But before she can say anything else about it, steps hurry downstairs, and a moment later, Dejun, Hendery, and Yang Yang storm into the living room. Upon seeing Linnea stand there, they run over to her and press her into a tight hug.

“Lini!!! You are awake!” Yang Yang sort of yells, pulling her close into his arms while the other two boys embrace her from her other sides and semi-hug Yang Yang, too.

“If you hug me this hard, I will pass out right away again, ” Linnea struggles to say.

“You three, calm down, you will bring her back into the sleep if you go overboard like that,” another voice says. Kun has descended the stairs as well. Just way quieter than the three boys currently hugging her.

One after the other, the boys all wake up and come downstairs, realizing that Linnea is awake. When Renjun and Jaemin notice, they are audibly happy about it. Renjun can´t help himself and hugs her, while Jaemin goes on with his weird voice and starts talking to her as if she’s a small child.

“Jaemin, can you behave and treat her like an adult?” Mark scolds.

When Hyuck comes down from the bedroom and sees his sister, he storms over and hugs her. “You—don´t ever do anything alone again. I swear. I won´t forgive you if you get hurt like that ever again,” he scolds in this brotherly tone that´s fairly unfamiliar, but welcomed.

“Guys, I promise I am fine and that nothing will happen to me ever again,” she says. Her heart is warm with all the welcoming hugs and the relieved expressions. She truly appreciates these boys. They mean a lot to her. And clearly, she means a lot to them, too. It almost has her tear up.

༺.༻

Throughout the day, Linnea doesn´t get to do much. Every time she tries to do something remotely exhausting or something any of the boys consider too much too soon, she gets scolded gently before one of them takes over for her. It´s kind of amusing to her, but also insanely sweet, how everyone is so caring.

Millie, when she got to know about the girl´s waking, came over, too. She knows that the group is leaving very soon. Kun has already told her about their plans to visit friends of theirs once Linnea wakes up. So the old woman tries to cherish every minute of their remaining stay and makes sure to cook the biggest meal yet.

“I will miss all of you so much. I can´t believe it´s finally time for us to part ways soon,” she says, her tone sad and sentimental, but also understanding.

“We will miss you too. Maybe in the future, we can come by and visit again. Once we achieved our goals,” Linnea says, giving her a reassuring smile. Mark and Jaemin have told her about their plans and about the clue they found earlier. She knows they will leave tomorrow morning and drive to N-City. The girl must admit that she is really curious to meet the rest of the group. After all, the seven boys she´s met are only part of a bigger one. And since Mark had mentioned Taeyong in the past, she is looking forward to finally seeing a face to that name and meeting the leader of the others.

Millie smiles at the girl. “I am so glad you are well again, too. I was really worried. The whole town spoke about the explosions from your fight. Luckily, they are all thankful that nothing got destroyed in the process. They see you as some sort of hero because they think the boy who attacked tried to attack the town,” she explains, full of emotion because she pictures what the other townspeople must have envisioned.

“Well, as long as they don´t see us as a threat, that´s good,” Linnea says after listening to her.

“I can´t believe it´s already evening,” Renjun then juts in, simply voicing his thoughts as he watches the sun move towards the horizon.

“Which reminds me, dinner is ready soon,” the old lady says, and goes to look at the casserole in her oven. That´s when Jeno, Dejun, and Jisung come inside.

“Are you guys done with packing our stuff?” Chenle asks, a small grin on his face.

“Yup, all done,” Dejun says and moves to wash some dirt off his hands in the kitchen sink.

“Would have been done quicker if you´d helped us,” Jeno says in a judgmental tone.

“Couldn´t. Had to make sure Linnea doesn´t stray from the couch,” the Chinese boy excuses himself poorly, which prompts the captain to roll his eyes. Linnea also looks at him with an incredulous look.

“Sure. When we arrive, I will make sure you are the only one unpacking everything,” he warns, and moves to sit down to drink some water.

After that, the boys slowly gather to enjoy their final dinner with Millie. The mood is great, but also laced with a hint of sadness, because they truly enjoyed staying with her and living like normal people for once.

༺.༻

When dinner is done, the conversations from the evening fade into busy silence between them. As the sky turns from orange to blue, somehow, everyone seems really tired. It´s uncharacteristic, but most of them drift off to bed earlier than usual. Maybe it´s all the excitement for tomorrow. Or maybe it´s the stress of waiting for Linnea to wake up, finally falling off everyone´s shoulders. Either way, night comes around quickly.

As the clock ticks in the distance and echoes through the quiet bedroom, Linnea stirs. She just can´t seem to fall asleep. Her eyes keep snapping open, and there seems to be no comfortable position in the bed. The soft snoring from the four boys next to her also doesn´t do its usual job of distracting her from fleeting thoughts.

Deciding for herself that she´s had enough, she slowly sits up and gets out of bed. She stretches her limbs before she exits the room and descends the stairs as quietly as possible. In the living room, she sighs. She´s in no mood to read or do anything in particular. She doesn´t know if it´s the excitement for tomorrow or the week-long sleep that keeps her awake, but she definitely knows she needs to do something to make time pass. Because if she stays up all night, she doesn´t want it to be boring.

Her eyes drift through the dark space. Only moonlight aids her slightly in seeing the outlines of the furniture. When her gaze flickers to the window, she pauses. Before she knows it, her feet carry her in that direction. But instead of just staring outside, she moves further to the door and steps outside.

The cool night breeze hits her skin as she exhales the fresh air. Her eyes close on reflex to take in the feeling before they open again. That´s when she sees something. The ocean that’s usually still and only rarely disturbed by waves reflects the moonlight as if it´s a dreamscape from a fairy tale. In the middle of it stands a figure, submerged halfway by the dark blue liquid.

She steps closer, walking through the fine sand. Her gaze is fixed on the boy in the water. She doesn´t say anything as her eyes adjust to the darkness. The girl knows who it is, given her strong senses. When the cold water hits her feet, she stops.

The boy in the water turns around, his senses having told him someone is looming. When he sees her stand there, so innocently and embraced by the moonshine, his breath is stolen for a few seconds. He hadn´t expected anyone to come outside at this hour. It´s not the first time for him to cool his head with a swim in the ocean. But this time he has company.

They stare at each other for a few seconds. No words are spoken. Until Linnea resumes her walk. She comes closer, walking into the sea for the first time since they arrived in Dusk.

“What are you doing?” Jeno asks, alarmed by her coming into the water. He instinctively moves closer to her to meet her. Just in case.

“I am cooling off because I can´t sleep,” the girl states bluntly, as if silently asking him if she´s not allowed to. “What are you doing?” Her voice comes out a bit sarcastic. She can guess what and why, but she asks the obvious anyway. Just because.

“Cooling off, I guess.” He scratches the back of his head, seeing exactly how stupid his question now seems. When Linnea finally reaches the same level as him, she stops and looks at him.

“First time going for a midnight swim?” she asks, keeping the conversation going. The boy shakes his head, but he doesn´t elaborate on his answer, either. There is no way he´s going to tell her he´s had trouble sleeping ever since she started ignoring him out of spite.

Silence fills the air again. They don´t look at each other anymore and instead, face the full moon that illuminates the sea. Or at least Jeno does. He feels that if he keeps his gaze on her, he might feel even hotter than before. He doesn´t understand why, but simply being in close proximity now has his heart racing like crazy.

“The water feels nice,” Linnea mumbles sort of absentmindedly. Unlike Jeno, she keeps her eyes fixed on him. The darkness makes it hard for her to fully see, even as her eyes adjust, but she takes him in as much as possible regardless. His hair is wet, and some water droplets run down his neck and bare chest, reflecting the bits of light from the moon.

The others have teased it here and there, but only now does she realize how fit he looks. She´s used to the more skinny looks of her longtime friends. The contrast of the man in front of her has her gulping. Out of fear for her own thoughts, she peels her eyes away from him and looks at the water.

“Yeah. It´s still warm enough from the earlier sun. A nice contrast to the cool air,” Jeno mumbles. He can feel her eyes on him, but doesn´t dare look. If he meets her eyes now, he might lose it completely. He needs to calm his mind first. The t-shirt she´s wearing to sleep clings too close to her skin, too. He fears he might think inappropriate things if his eyes wander.

The girl starts walking again, wanting to go further into the ocean. Before she can get far, though, a hand stops her. “What are you doing?” he asks, voice stern, but the worry beneath his tone betrays him.

“I want to go in further. This isn´t enough of a cool-off,” Linnea explains and looks at him. She sees how he is contemplating his next words.

A sigh leaves his mouth before he gives in. “Fine. But let me go first. Sometimes the sand suddenly dips deeper than you might expect,” he says, and starts moving. When he reaches her, he leads the way, always a step in front of her while holding her wrist.

Linnea´s focus is entirely on the warmth his hand provides while guiding her through the water. The way he wants to make sure that nothing happens to her at any moment is really sweet and has her cheeks heat up as well. He still remembers that accident at the lake and her words of explanation.

How can he not?

When he feels like they are deep enough, he stops. “Is this better? If we go on, it will reach a point where we have to swim.”

“This seems fine to me,” she admits. Being submerged up to her chest is a different feeling from just being in the water up to her hips. It has her heart racing. If a big wave were to come, she would totally get submerged by it, fully.

Seeing the thoughts run wild all over her face, Jeno sighs. “Can you swim?” he asks seriously, having a hunch for the answer.

“Huh? What? Can I swim?” she repeats his words, flustered. Does she want to admit the truth?

“You can´t,” he points out bluntly. His hand moves to cover his face for a second, the disbelief too obvious. “Seriously. Do you have a wish for accidents? This is so dangerous,” he starts, almost lecturing her.

“But you are here,” she argues. Which shuts him up. The words stun him. And then a feeling sinks in. One of realization. She trusts him.

“We are not going any further,” he states, trying to keep his face as neutral as possible, not to give away his inner turmoil.

“Okay.” Linnea keeps her face just as neutral. Until she starts to grin a little. Mischief blooms in her mind. He is all cute like this, trying to take care of her and protect her from possible danger. A little teasing won´t hurt.

Before he knows it, a splash of water hits his face. He closes his eyes shortly and wipes the excess water off his face. Then he looks at her with disbelief. “Did you just? You sly fox.”

Laughter echoes through the air as the girl splashes him again. He tries reaching for her to stop her from doing it for a third time, but she is quick enough to escape before he manages to do so.

She keeps splashing him here and there while running through the water as best as possible, exploiting the fact that he can´t do the same to her. It´s amusing and the most fun she´s had in the past week.

When she stops to change direction, she feels the change in surface below the water. The sand is gathered with more stones than before. She takes note of it and keeps in mind to be careful.

“Linnea, I swear. Stop it. This won´t end well,” Jeno tries to warn, aware of the possible mishaps that can happen.

As a reaction, the girl sticks her tongue out, not relenting or giving in. She strides backwards, wading through the water as carefully as possible to keep the distance while Jeno follows her, not letting her out of his view. “You naughty girl, you will regret this,” he says, trying to keep the smirk on his face from growing.

“What are you going to do, huh?” she dares, matching his energy.

In the next moment, the boy leaps forward, making a swim for her. The sudden jump startles her and makes her yelp in surprise. She tries to somehow swim backwards, but with her little experience in the water, she isn´t quick enough.

He closes in on her, reverting to walking through the water again. When he is about to grab her by the arms, something slimy touches her leg, which results in a yelp and a sudden jump.

The scream alerts him as she jumps away from the source, ready to plunge into the water with her shoulders. Out of reflex, he moves forward quickly. He slips slightly, but manages to grab her before her neck can touch the surface of the sea. Due to the unfortunate line of events, he submerges in the water shortly, his face dipping into the cold.

When he comes back up, he has his hands wrapped around the girl´s thighs, holding her above the water as much as possible while her legs wrap around his hips. He exhales in relief upon seeing her face and hair as dry as before. “This is exactly what I meant when I said not to go too deep,” he scolds, still unaware of the intimate position they found themselves in.

Linnea’s arms are propped around his shoulders, holding onto him like that. “Oh, please, nothing happened,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Besides, it´s not my fault if something slimy touches my leg,” she then defends.

“You are unbelievable,” he says and shakes his head. That´s when it dawns on him. He is suddenly very aware of the whereabouts of his hands and the way she clings to him. He can´t help but gulp. All words have vanished from his mind as his gaze is locked on her face. He tries really hard not to think of anything in this moment, fearing he might embarrass himself.

“And I was right. Because you were there, nothing happened, so stop arguing,” she retorts. The lack of a response after that has her focus her eyes on him, too. She sees the sort of flustered state he is in and then realizes the sudden height difference. The warmth radiating off his body also settles in, making her aware of the situation.

It´s only in this moment that they fully grasp how close they are to each other. The eye contact has the air thicken and sizzle with heat. Linnea hears her heartbeat in her ears, loud and steady, and she´s afraid he might hear it, too. What she doesn´t know is that he feels like his heart is about to jump out of his chest with how aware and nervous he suddenly is. Both their breathing is uneven, be it from the activity a few minutes ago or the sheer tension that rises between them.

Jeno´s gaze flicks down to her lips, not intentionally, just instinctively. Linnea´s breath hitches. There is a sudden pull between them. One that´s hard to resist. Somehow, the distance closes a little. Her mind shuts off, while his is racing with thousands of thoughts at the same time.

Then, a sudden cry of a seagull startles them. Linnea´s gaze snaps up to try to locate the source on reflex. Her body jolts with the surprise of the sound, and she is snapped back to reality. Jeno also comes out of the trance he has found himself in, seeing the slight goosebumps that form on her skin. So he breaks the silence. “We should go back inside. You are getting cold.”

Cold? In contrast to his words, the girl feels rather hot, but when she looks down on herself, she sees the sign of her body freezing a little. So she relents and nods. “Yeah. You are right.” Her gaze moves to the shore and perceives the dark hut at the edge of the beach.

Both their hearts are still beating really fast as they make their way out of the water. Their minds are stuck on the moment, but neither of them says anything about it. When the water level isn´t as deep anymore, the boy lets go of her as well, letting her walk the rest of the way on her own.

A shiver is now running through Linnea as the cool air hits her wet skin. Noticing this, Jeno grabs the t-shirt he discarded before going into the water earlier, and drapes it over her form. “Let´s get you inside before you become a popsicle,” he teases slightly, trying to keep the mood light.

Linnea thanks him for the gesture, and as they walk inside as silently as possible, trying not to disturb anyone who´s sleeping, the girl mumbles, " Thanks for not letting me dip under the water.”

“Thanks for giving me a heart attack,” he answers, his eyes turning into crescent moons as he chuckles.

The girl slaps his upper arm playfully upon hearing his comment. Then she hushes up the stairs to sneak into her room and dry herself. With a fresh towel in her hand, she looks through the doorway to look for him.

When he comes up the stairs, too, ready to head to one of the bathrooms to take a quick shower, she whisper-yells one last thing. “Sleep well.”

Seeing her smile and hearing her words, he answers quickly. “Have a good night too.” Then he watches her sneak through the hallway into the other bathroom. Only when the door shuts does he keep going.

Both of them take showers that take way longer than usual that night. There is just too much to think of. Even after they are dressed in fresh clothes and back in bed in their respective bedrooms, their minds are as loud as ever. And while the cooling off in the sea was supposed to help them feel calmer for sleep, they are facing the opposite effects now.

While everyone else is still soundly asleep and resting throughout the night, neither of them can close their eyes and join them in their slumber. Linnea lies still, staring at the ceiling. Her mind replays the events of the past hour. She can still hear her pulse beating in her ears. What were they about to do? What was she about to do? Why did she lean in? Was she really about to kiss him?

In the other room, Jeno tries to close his eyes. But whenever he does, he is reminded of the way he held her so close to himself. He can still feel her skin on his hands. And while he would usually not mind thinking about these things as much, he struggles really hard to keep himself in check. Suddenly, his mind feels like it´s about to wander into dangerous territory, and he really doesn´t want that to happen. The fact that her face came so close to his also reminds him of the possibilities. If that seagull hadn´t yelled, what would have happened?

༺.༻

A few hours later, when the sun is rising over the horizon further and further, the seagulls are awake and enjoying the cool wind that comes with the early summer.

And while the birds have their daily fun, the boys are all up and running around. There isn’t much time left before they leave. And while most of them just clean up the last bits, like blankets and whatever they used during their stay, others are checking the engines and equipment to avoid any breakdowns.

Millie is in her last efforts of preparing bento boxes for everyone while hoping time stops entirely.

Linnea, who hasn’t slept much at all due to her night adventure, rubs her eyes and yawns. She tries to help Millie by making the table for their last breakfast, but she almost drops a few plates due to her sleepiness.

“Dude, what happened to you that you are so sleepy?” Mark asks, catching the plates before they can drop out of the girl’s hands.

“Huh?” Linnea just stares at him before her brain catches up and understands the question. “I had trouble sleeping last night.”

“Why’s that?” Mark wonders. He can’t think of any reasons.

“Well, I had a week’s worth of sleep. It’s not unlikely to have energy to stay awake for 48 hours. Having to wake up at the crack of dawn is not the ideal thing in that case,” she argues.

Her reasoning satisfies the leader. She won’t tell him about the fact that she went for a swim, though. With his vice at that.

“Right. True. I forgot about that.” His statement makes her eyebrows rise in disbelief. How could he forget this so fast? She literally woke up yesterday.

“Let me take the task from you then. You’d better rest a bit before you stumble and fall,” Mark says and takes the next stack of plates from the counter, totally ignoring her protests.

In a sulking manner, she moves and sits down on the couch, crossing her arms. She watches the others go about their individual tasks and sighs. Why is everyone moving so frantically as if they are running out of time? She wonders in her mind.

When Jeno comes down the stairs, followed by Jaemin, her attention snaps towards them.

“How come you didn’t sleep well last night? I thought our talk fixed things,” Jaemin says, confused about the groggy state of his best friend.

The black-haired boy rubs his eyes and stretches as he reaches the ground floor. “What do I know. Maybe it takes a bit more to get rid of the weird dreams,” he mumbles. Then he stops in his tracks as his eyes land on the girl sitting on the couch. He meets her gaze by accident and quickly looks away. His mind starts to play images in his inner eye, much to his dismay. Why is he thinking about the swim? Everything is fine.

Linnea’s gaze moves from Jeno to Jaemin, who looks between them for a few seconds, having noticed the tiny stare down. His grin that pops up a second later is telling, but she doesn’t understand the cause for his reaction. Obviously, he knows something. But what?

“Now then. All that’s left is breakfast, and then we can leave,” Kun announces when he enters the living room and kitchen area. Seeing the boys slowly gather is pleasing in his mind. So he walks over to the table and puts on the last few dishes that Millie didn’t manage to put there yet.

When everyone is finally gathered and sitting at the table, most of them are happily talking and excitedly anticipating what will happen once they reach N-City. Jeno and Linnea, however, are either staring at their plates or chewing while absentmindedly looking into space. Chenle notices this and looks back and forth between them. He sees the dark circles and the way they are both sleepy. And while both could have their individual reason for it, he still thinks it’s suspicious. So he smirks and gets back to eating his own breakfast.

Once everyone is finished, they get up and do the dishes one final time. It’s done quickly because everyone is helping. And when it’s time to say goodbye, Millie gives Kun the stack of bentos. The leader thanks her a lot. And Linnea also sweeps in to tell her a big thanks for letting them stay for so long.

The old lady waves their thanks away. “I grew to like you so much. It’s nothing, really. No need to thank me,” she says, trying to hold it together. Her life feels so much more alive ever since the group started living here. It’s going to be hard for her to get used to the old ways again.

“We can’t thank you enough, though,” Kun says, and pats her shoulder. “Thanks for everything.”

“I will miss you guys,” Millie answers and wipes away a tear that’s threatening to spill.

Some of the boys move in to hug her while others wave at her with big smiles. Linnea joins in on the gesture and gives the woman a long hug as well. “Call us when you need help with anything. I’ve left a device for such needs in the bedroom. So if any danger ever comes, use it,” she whispers while hugging her.

Millie nods and thanks her, hugging her extra tightly. Then, when it’s time, they all leave out the door and go to their assigned vehicles. Mark, Donghyuck, Renjun, Ten, and Yang Yang to the van. Kun, Hendery, Dejun, and Chenle to the camper. And Jisung, Jaemin, Jeno, and Linnea to the car.

Once everyone is inside and they are all ready to go, Mark honks as a signal, and then everyone waves at Millie before they start the engines and drive onto the road. They don’t stop waving until the house is out of view for them.

Inside the car, sitting on the driver’s side, Jaemin sighs in satisfaction. “I can’t believe our time in Dusk is over. I will miss it so much. The beach was fun,” he says while keeping his eyes on the road, following the van.

“Yeah. Me, too. Say, though, why am I stuck in the back?” Jeno asks after his comment. He doesn’t mind sharing the back seats with Linnea, but usually, and especially when Jisung also sits in the car with them, he sits in the front. Somehow, his pride feels a little hurt, given his position in the group.

“It’s so you can rest and I have someone to talk to who won’t fall asleep in the middle of the conversation,” Jaemin explains, giving him a small smirk through the rearview mirror.

“Did he ever fall asleep mid-conversation?” Linnea asks curiously, leaning forward a bit.

“Only once. And that was because I didn’t sleep for over 30 hours straight,” Jeno explains. He feels like his best friend has other reasons besides the one he mentioned. But he won’t challenge him on it. Not now, at least.

“I feel honored to sit in the passenger seat,” Jisung mumbles awkwardly and rubs his neck. He feels a certain tension in the car, but can’t decipher it.

“Enjoy this privilege while it lasts,” Jeno says and leans back, stretching his legs as much as possible so he can relax a little. In the corner of his eyes, he sees the grin Linnea throws his way before she decides to look out of the window. The good mood translates over to him, so he starts smiling, too, and closes his eyes to rest some more.

༺.༻

When the sun slowly starts to set, most of the way is completed. There´s maybe a 20-minute drive left, at least by Jaemin’s memories. The scenery has also changed from sandy dunes to a more grassy, forested landscape. The seagulls have vanished and have been replaced by other types of birds.

Linnea has rested fairly well for the past few hours. They only played a few games of spotting certain things, and the others had to guess it, or two truths, one lie. Jisung is surprised to know that Linnea has never eaten a lollipop in her life.

“Have you eaten any other candy in your life, then?” he asks, still in disbelief.

“Well, if cake and pastries count as candy, then yes,” she answers while looking out of the front window of the car.

“We have to find some candy at some point and have you try it,” Jaemin says, determined.

Before anyone else can say anything about it, Linnea´s eyes flicker alight with a red glow. It´s gone before anyone can comment on it, but the girl is quick to say what she discovered. “We´ve got company,” she says dryly and fairly calm.

In the next moment, the speeding roars of two engines are heard. A few seconds later, two motorcycles are visible in the rearview and side mirrors of the Mazda. Jaemin takes a glance at them and exhales calmly. “No need to worry about it.”

“Pretty sure that´s Johnny and Yuta,” Jeno adds to his friend´s comment. The confused look on Linnea´s face vanishes for a split second before it returns.

“They are from the group. So no strangers,” Jeno adds, trying not to chuckle because of her reaction.

Understanding seeps into her, and she nods slowly. Her gaze focuses on the two guys on the motorcycles, again. Then she activates her ability.

“Are you reading their aura?” Jisung asks once he notices.

“Yup.” It´s a simple word, but the three boys chuckle anyway. The way she starts to use her ability more often now is an interesting development compared to the way she used to avoid using it so openly when they first got to know her. They can sense something has shifted.

Johnny and Yuta stay close to the group with their motorcycles and basically escort the group to the hideout, or rather, N-City, even though it´s not actually a city. And truthfully, it only takes roughly 20 more minutes for them to finally roll into the grassy meadow of the little complex of houses.

When the engines die and the vehicles stop, a group of older boys starts to gather, while Mark is the first to get out of the van. The leader greets the guys with a welcoming hug. He is saying something, but Linnea can´t hear it. She waits, not in a rush to open the door at all. Instead, she keeps watching how the other boys get out of the van. Even when Kun takes his steps out of the camper, she still waits.

“Is everything okay?” Jeno asks. He looks at her with a hint of concern.

“Yeah. The amount of aura is just a bit overwhelming,” she lies, not averting her gaze. In reality, it isn´t that the amount is overwhelming. But someone close by has a certain vibe to his aura, which makes her wary. It´s not that the aura is very strong in particular, but she knows the ability can change a lot of things very quickly. So naturally, she is cautious.

Jeno notices the way she seems a bit absent. Somehow, his gut feeling tells him she´s not telling the truth. He doesn´t call her out on it, however, thinking there might be a reason for her not to say the real reason outright. The boy still tries to reassure her, though. “Don´t worry about them. They are all nice. I am sure they will welcome you with open arms.” After that, he opens his door and gets out of the car. His first instinct is to stretch. Then, a boy with black hair and a slender figure approaches him and greets him.

“Jeno, you grew up quite a bit since I last saw you. Have you gained muscle?” the boy says after hugging him.

“I don´t know, you tell me, Doyoung-Hyung,” the captain answers. Then he walks away with him to get closer to the others.

Linnea is the last one to open her door and step outside. Due to her caution, she moves closer to her brother, knowing he knows these guys quite well. She takes his hand and kind of hides behind his body a little. She still doesn´t know who emits this vibe, but she knows she has to stay alert. At least for now.

The new faces of the five guys who just approached them look from her friends to her figure. The way she stands close to their friend has them wonder. Are they dating? Who is this so close to Hyuck? Did he ever mention a girl?

“Can y´all stop staring at my sister as if she´s some prey to hunt? I will kick all your asses if you keep this up, I swear,” Donghyuck´s voice cuts through the air.

The expressions on their faces change immediately. Smiles grow on them, and they stop instinctively closing in on her. And before anyone can actually open their mouth and say anything, a sixth presence appears.

“So this is Linnea,” A boy with blonde hair approaches. That´s when the girl finally sees the source of the aura that has her on high alert. It´s this guy. “It´s nice to finally meet you. Mark and Hyuck have told me about you briefly. I´m Taeyong, the leader of the group.” His voice is unexpectedly soft, and the way he presents himself is also less scary than his first appearance. Warily, Linnea stretches out her hand and shakes his.

“Nice to meet you,” she says, still keeping some distance between herself and any of the strangers. It´s one thing for her to deal with twelve guys. The addition of six others is a bit much, though. As the only girl, at least. It feels a bit like she´s the bird in a cage full of lions. And while she knows her own capabilities and that none of them will ever do something to her, she still feels a bit outnumbered.

“Byul, why are you so timid? This is so unlike you,” Hyuck remarks in a whisper and looks at her with a lifted eyebrow. He presses her hand as a means of reassurance while waiting for an answer.

“It feels a bit suffocating with this many boys around. I´m not used to the number of people,” she says and looks at him.

“That´s okay. Let´s fully settle first before we go into a big introduction round. Should I help you?” he asks and rubs her shoulder. As an answer, the girl nods and starts following her brother. The pair ignores the lingering stares, not bothered by them at all.

“I thought Hyuck´s sister was dead,” a deep voice says, still watching the two of them disappear into one of the houses.

“He thought so, too. But turns out, Linnea is his sister,” Mark explains to the tall guy.

“How did you find out?” the guy asks and looks at Mark.

“She carries a pendant. And Donghyuck has the key to it. If you don´t believe it, ask her to show you the images inside. They are old family photos,” the leader explains.

“Interesting.” The word leaves his mouth, and before he can say anything else, someone very excited interrupts.

“Johnny-Hyung, let´s play basketball!” Chenle yells, already holding a ball in his hand. The tall boy rolls his eyes but chuckles at his request.

“I guess you are busy now. I will help settle in with the others, so feel free to enjoy a game or two,” Mark says and watches his younger friend spin the ball on his index finger.

“Seems like it,” Johnny chuckles and turns to look at someone else. “Yo, Jaehyun. Join us for a game,” he yells and waves his hand. In the meantime, Mark moves to Kun and the others.

“Sorry for the chaos. These Hyungs are very excited when new people join,” the black-haired leader explains.

“It´s fine. Let´s unpack first, and you show us the area after? How does that sound?” Kun asks, smiling. He is used to the chaos of many people coexisting, thanks to his childhood in the orphanage.

“Sounds good,” Mark only answers. Then, both of the leaders move to help the rest of the boys with their stuff.

“Sooooo … that was a camp? Damn, it looks so inconspicuous on my map. I thought it was just some run-down building. But a damn prison?” Mark says, looking at the map in his hands.

After Jeno, Jaemin, and Linnea returned in the evening, they got swarmed by the others. Mark made sure they could rest a bit first before spilling the beans about everything. And now here they are. Sitting on a log, discussing everything.

Mark holds a map in his hands. One that has every road mapped out, but also pictures are taped to certain points on it.

Jeno told him about the whole setup of the facility a few minutes ago. Now they are reviewing the piece of paper again to decide their next destination.

Jaemin is busy telling Renjun every detail about the room that had EDEN carved into the wall. The latter trying to draw everything he could grasp onto a piece of paper with his old pencil.

Linnea tells Chenle and Jisung everything that happened. Donghyuck sits on the sidelines, watching everyone with a curious gaze, listening in on everything at once, trying to piece the whole story together for himself.

“Are you okay, though? You have quite a few bruises on your arms,” Jisung says, concern in his voice.

Linnea nods, “I´m fine. It´s just a few bruises. The other two have it worse. Jaemin got punched pretty badly, and Jeno has a few scrapes on his arms that were still bleeding earlier.”

“Ah, they won´t die from that. So no need to worry bout them,” Chenle chuckles, swatting his hand. He has seen worse in the past.

“Hold on Jaemin, you are too fast with your explanations. I can´t follow,” Renjun complains loudly, next to them. His hand moving as fast as possible.

“I´m telling you, it was written bigger. And there were a lot more chairs scattered too,” the other keeps going, urging his Hyung to correct his drawing.

“Jeno, let me take care of your arms now before we keep discussing things. Let me at least disinfect the wounds. What even prompted you to take the route through the window?” Mark finally says to his Captain.

The dark-haired boy doesn´t care much for the few cuts on his arms. He just gives him a bored look.

“We both know this is nothing. Our next destination is more important. We can´t stay here much longer. It could risk discovery. Those strays were annoying to deal with, and I´m not in the mood for an ambush. Besides, you’d better ask Linnea that. She was the one hearing voices,” he complains, and redirects instead.

The leader sighs. He understands his reasoning, but it still bothers him. He gets a bit concerned when he hears Jeno´s last words, though.

“I am not crazy, okay? I swear it was like whispering. And it came directly from the carvings in the wall,” the girl immediately defends, breaking the conversation she had with the two youngest.

The others give her weird looks for a second, but then Renjun argues nonchalantly, not stopping his drawing process, “It could be your ability making you more sensitive to whatever that was. It was a prison, so lots of Amplified used to be there. That means lots of aura. And I am pretty sure they also carved Eden into the wall. So let´s not overreact, okay? Everything is possible in this world we live in.”

Everyone is silent for a bit, thinking over what he said.

Mark then decides to address everyone, “Is everyone really fine? Being inside a camp after so long, even if it´s an old one that´s no longer in use, can be pretty exhausting. I want you to be honest with me. Putting aside the whole Eden thing as well.”

He looks at Jeno, who doesn´t respond besides a small nod. Then to Jaemin, who smiles at him and gives him a thumbs up. When his gaze lands on Linnea, he sees her gulp. She looked pretty shaken earlier, but didn´t say anything.

“I´m fine. I promise,” she says, voice tired now.

She doesn´t tell any of them about the flashbacks, afraid it is too much information to share. She also doesn´t fully understand them herself, so she wants to reflect on them some more. The memory of her camp entry made sense. The board triggered it. But the keychain? Why did she see that? She can´t even remember the faces or names of the people anymore.

Mark isn´t fully convinced, but he lets it be.

༺.༻

Later that evening, when everyone else is already ready for bed, he approaches her again, crouching down next to her as she was already sitting on the blanket she had been sleeping on the past few nights.

“Hey, uhm, I wanted to give you something. I found this earlier in your jacket. I hope it´s okay that I washed your stuff too. Thought it would be more comfortable for you if you could wear your own clothes again,” he says, holding out a thin, silver necklace holding a locket.

She looks at him and slowly takes the necklace.

“Thanks. I really appreciate it,” her voice is calm, but hesitant.

She moves to put it around her neck, afraid of losing it. In the meantime, Mark keeps going.

“Are you actually okay? I didn´t wanna push it earlier in front of the others, but you looked pretty shaken when you guys came back. Did something happen?”

“I-I´m fine. Just got confronted with some memories. That´s all,” she mumbles, looking at her hands.

She doesn´t have the courage to face him, afraid she might falter and spill more than she wanted.

“I get it. It´s okay. Take your time and rest well. We will move tomorrow. Just so you know. I know Jaemin still couldn´t fix your watch, but we will find a way for you to reunite with your friends. I didn´t forget about that,” he says, smiling. He wants to brighten the mood a bit with it.

“Thank you,” Linnea responds, mirroring his smile in appreciation.

Mark nods and gets back up. He gives her another smile before finally retreating to his own sleeping spot.

༺.༻

“Mark? Can I talk with you for a minute?” Renjun asks.

The leader, busy with washing some clothes, looks at him and nods.

“Sure. What´s up?”

“I thought back on the vision I had a few weeks ago. And I didn´t tell you everything about it back then. Because I saw us finding a clue for Eden. And I think I saw Linnea in it. We struggled with the clue a bit, you know, it was just how we usually deal with such situations. But then Jeno talked to a girl I hadn´t seen before. And I´m pretty sure it was Linnea.”

Mark looks at his friend, his full attention focused on him. He doesn´t dare speak up until he is finished.

“So what I concluded is: we will definitely find something important that brings us closer to Eden. And Linnea is still with us when that happens. No bad blood between any of us, either, because we all seemed very close. I don´t know when we will find it. But I´m sure your intuition was right. So I am glad you were so persistent on us accepting that she stays,” he finishes.

Mark smiles and looks away for a second before he chuckles.

“Thanks for telling me that. I am glad I was right about it. I have no idea why, but my gut simply told me to have her stay with us.”

Renjun nods and smiles, too. He is happy he can finally name the girl in that vision. And he is glad he can put more meaning into it.

༺.༻

“I think it´s suspicious,” a deep voice mumbles

“I get it, but can you stop finding new reasons to doubt her?” another familiar voice responds.

“All I´m saying is, she isn´t telling us the whole truth.”

“Jeno, please. She won´t harm us.”

“But being honest is important too, Hyung. There is something. I know it.”

“There could have been other reasons as to why the fight went that way. Just because some things are odd doesn´t mean Linnea is hiding anything.”

“You don´t understand. You weren´t there. The way that one guy flinched out of nowhere made no sense with any of the abilities they showed.”

“Maybe because some have two or even three abilities and don´t show all of them at the start of a fight? What makes you think Linnea is the deciding factor for it? My gut told me from the start she was alright. Can´t you trust my judgment?”

“Hyung, I do. I really do. But I think I saw her eyes glow for a second. And that´s when it happened. It´s not that I think she should leave or anything. I am just saying she isn´t being fully honest.”

“Well, she is not obligated to share everything with us.”

“But it builds trust to mention the important things.”

Someone stirs. A groan sounds. Then, someone sits up and rubs their eyes.

“Can you two argue somewhere else? It´s still too early for it. Even with the move later. My sleep is precious, you know?” Donghyuck complains.

He is glaring at the two leading figures of the group. Both Jeno and Mark look at him.

“What? Surprised you two woke someone up with your talk? Seriously, get a grip. Who cares if she tells us everything? If she does stupid shit we will simply deal with her. That´s it. Y´all literally have THE Lee Donghyuck with you, a level 9.5 Amplified. And come on Jeno, as if you actually care about the whole honesty thing. There is no swaying Mark in his decisions. So just accept it. You won´t get rid of her. Why not try and befriend her instead? Maybe you will even fall in love?” he rambles, wiggling his eyebrows in the end to tease his Hyung.

He is seriously not in the mood for such things this early in the morning, though.

“Anyway, now that you two woke me up, mind making breakfast for everyone so we can eat well before we pack up and move?”

The guy stretches, ignoring the groans from the two men who were busy with talking a few moments ago.

“Fine. I will go and make some breakfast Ramen for everyone,” Mark gives in, his shoulders slumping.

“Yah, you better stop with the teasing if you don´t want me to actually hit you,” Jeno threatens, too defensive because of the whole talk Donghyuck just gave them.

The brown-haired boy, who was still in his sleeping spot, chuckles. “Can´t accept I´m right for once, Samoyed?” he grins.

“Right my ass,” the captain mumbles under his breath before leaving the guy behind to do his own things.

༺.༻

After packing up everything, eating breakfast, and stuffing whatever fit into the compartment inside the benches and trunk of the Mazda they owned, they were on the move to the next location.

Mark and Jeno came to the decision to move south. A small town near something that looked like a forest on the map, and close to it, something marked as shopping, was their destination.

The estimated time of the drive was supposed to be around a day. They have to refuel once on the way, but the chosen route is supposed to have a gas station, so that should be settled.

Linnea ends up stuffed in the back of the van with Chenle and Jisung. Mark is driving, while Renjun manages the map so they stay on the right roads.

Jeno, Jaemin, and Donghyuck are in the car, driving right behind the van and keeping the backside safe. Jaemin is the one driving, having won rock, paper, and scissors when they couldn´t decide on it earlier.

The other two complained about it greatly since the younger one didn´t sleep well the night before, but still insisted on driving. So when he won that game, groans were loud.

Hyuck warned him that if he fell asleep while driving, he would kick him out, so he had to walk the rest of the way.

Linnea is kind of glad she didn´t end up in the car with the other two boys again. Being stuck with them for a whole day, with all the tension still around, isn´t something she had the nerve to deal with right after the mission.

So here she is, sitting on one of the benches in the back of the van, watching Jisung and Chenle play a heated game of UNO.

“Hah! You have to draw four cards!” Chenle yells excitedly.

Jisung groans at this and draws the cards.

“How is it that you have two draw four cards? Are you cheating?” the youngest questions.

“Me? Cheating? For what? You just suck at games so much it´s not even necessary to cheat,” Chenle teases and places a yellow seven on the pile of cards resting between the two.

“Uno,” he says, a grin on his face.

Jisung groans again, having to draw another card as he has no yellow cards in his hand and no seven either.

His friend then discards his last card, throwing both arms in the air as he celebrates, “Uno Uno! Hah, I won.”

Linnea chuckles as the game ends with Jisung´s third loss.

“Hyung, you are too mean celebrating like this when I lose,” Jisung says, gathering the cards so he can shuffle them again.

“Wanna join?” asks Chenle, ignoring Jisung’s whine and looking at the girl next to them.

She shakes her head and chuckles, “No, no, I am not good at card games. And I don’t like losing that much either.”

“Naw, someone is scared of losing,” he teases her.

“You two seem very close,” she notes.

“That´s because we were roommates in our camp,” Jisung answers, biting his bottom lip right after, because he wasn´t sure if he should have said that.

“Well, yeah, so naturally we got pretty close. We got to know Mark, Renjun, and Hyuck at the camp too, but a bit later. It was only when Mark convinced Jisung and me to join them for lunch one day that we got to talk. Eventually, it became a daily thing, and we became friends,” Chenle explains, without missing a beat.

Linnea is stunned by the sudden drop of information because she didn´t expect it.

“Damn, so you all have history. I get that the two of you must have been best friends from the start, then, and the others joined the group. Or, well, you two joined their group.”

Both nod as Jisung distributes the cards for another round.

“So what about Jaemin and Jeno?” she asks, curiosity blooming.

“Oh, those two went to a different camp. But it wasn´t far from ours. We met during the breach,” the brown-haired boy says, picking up his pile of cards, a grin finding its way to his lips.

“Breach?” she questions.

“Yeah. Somehow, both our camps got breached at the same time. Apparently, they were sister camps, so their technology was connected. And we also kinda had the same idea at the same time, because Mark-Hyung started making a plan for it while Jeno-Hyung and Jaemin-Hyung also had reasons to escape,” the youngest explains, picking up his pile and smiling upon seeing some cards.

“Sounds like fate brought you all together,” Linnea thinks out loud. “It´s interesting, though, because I also got out of my first camp because of a breach,” she then wonders.

“You were in more than one camp?” Renjun suddenly asks, having turned around because he was listening in on their conversation.

The girl looks at him and nods.

“Yes. I was around 16 when I got out of the first one. After that, I got captured again and ended up in a second one. I only had a few months of freedom. But my friends got me out of the second one when I was 19,” she says in a way that makes it sound like she was talking about the options of their next lunch.

“Damn, how unlucky,” says Chenle, lightening the mood that was about to drop.

“Eh yeah, it is what it is,” Linnea shrugs.

It´s not like she could go back in time and change the outcome of whatever happened. So why dwell on it now? The whole world they are living in is fucked up, so there is nothing that could have happened that could have made it better.

“Say Jisung, did you practice your flow?” she then asks, looking at the Maknae.

“I tried to. But it´s still scary. So I´m struggling a bit.”

“I see. Well then, once we settle, let´s keep practicing. I’m already thinking of something that helps you practice it more.”

The boy nods, then groans when he sees the plus two card Chenle just put on the pile.

༺.༻

The drive went on. Eventually, Renjun switched with Mark so he could relax a bit. Donghyuck also joined them, complaining about Jeno and Jaemin´s argument about the lack of sleep of the latter.

In his words, Jeno was acting like a mom, while Jaemin kept arguing that it was just a nightmare that kept him up. Just like a married couple. So now he was sitting next to Linnea.

“Wait, wait, wait. You mean to tell me you went to two camps? How unlucky can one be?” he almost yells, all dramatic.

“Fuck my ear. Donghyuck, calm down. No need to be such a Drama Queen,” Chenle complains.

“Woah, but watch Jeno´s face when I tell him that. He will feel so bad about being such a meanie. I mean, I wasn´t exactly happy about you staying with us either, but I am getting used to it, and the way you have this tension going on with Jeno is such cinema. So by all means, keep going,” Hyuck says, looking at her.

She chuckles and shakes her head, amused, “You have it out for him, don´t you? You guys like teasing each other quite a bit.”

“That´s just Karma,” Donghyuck shrugs and leans back, resting his head on his hands, his elbows resting on each side of his head.

“Hey, but I understand the skepticism completely, you know. I am a stranger. I could be your doom by all means. I mean, I am not, but you know what I´m saying? I don´t think it would have been any different if the roles were reversed. One has to be the voice of reason, no?” she defends.

“Oh, come on. Don’t defend him. Not you of all people. That´s not just being reasonable anymore. That´s simply his trauma acting up. We all went through fucked up shit. But you gotta learn to trust sometimes. So don´t just forgive him for it. I want the drama to continue. You better keep the whole attitude up. No going easy on anyone,” he instructs.

“But trust is something people need to earn. And that takes time. So I won´t push it. And I´m sorry to disappoint, but I am not exactly resentful.”

“Why does it feel like I´m getting lectured and you are the teacher with empathy?” he looks at her.

She shrugs and chuckles, “Maybe because deep down you know I´m right?”

“Damn you two get along so well all of a sudden. It´s crazy. I can still hear Hyuck´s complaints about a girl joining the team,” Chenle teases again, his grin very telling of his intentions.

“Yah, you shut up. You and Jisung only agreed to let her stay because you wanted to prank her. Don´t act like you are innocent,” he retorts.

Linnea can´t help but let out a genuine laugh at the casual banter between them. It catches everyone’s attention because it is the first time she actually sounds happy.

Mark smiles as a result. Renjun also feels the warmth in his chest bloom, and the three guys in the back can´t help but join in on the whole smiling. The overall atmosphere taking the color of joy.

༺.༻

After refueling and driving for the whole night, they finally reached their destination shortly before noon. Since they didn´t wanna stay inside the town, the van and car got parked at the edge of the forest nearby.

Both trunks face the woods. Renjun and Jaemin start hanging up a few hammocks. The others take out a few things deemed necessary.

While unpacking, Donghyuck made it his mission to annoy Jeno.

“Can you believe it? She had the bad luck of getting captured twice! And you still go on about her being part of the Entity,” he says, voice annoyingly high.

The muscled guy, busy carrying a few boxes around, ignores him at first, choosing not to react to him. However, when he keeps going on with the same talk over and over, he snaps.

“Stop spitting bullshit. When was the last time I went around and said anything in regards of the Entity?! There is nothing wrong with not trusting people as quickly as others. So shut up, or I will actually hit you,” he threatens, jaw clenched with agitation.

To de-escalate the situation, the only girl in the group rushes over and pushes Donghyuck away.

“I am so sorry that he is holding this over your head. I didn´t expect him to be this kind of annoying. Please just ignore everything he said just now. My past doesn´t matter. It has nothing to do with you guys,” she stammers, unable to fully meet his eyes because the situation is a bit awkward.

“Whatever. Just keep helping,” Jeno retorts, tone fairly distant.

He then just leaves her standing there and keeps doing what he was doing before Hyuck decided to make him his source of entertainment.

Linnea sighs defeated as she watches after him for a few seconds. Then Jaemin suddenly swings his arm around her shoulders in a casual manner.

“Don´t worry about it. He is used to Hyuck´s antics. He knows this is not on you,” he says, smile on his lips.

The girl looks up at him from the side, “It makes things a bit awkward, though.”

“Oh, but that´s just how it is now. Believe me, eventually even his shell will crack. I mean, he and I are the ones hardest to crack. And even I´m starting to like you a little,” he chuckles.

His arm leaves her shoulders, and instead, his hand pats her back. He starts his walk again when he turns to face her.

“By the way, I tried working on your watch the night before the drive, when I couldn´t sleep. I sadly have no idea what kind of watch that is so it´s damn hard to understand how to fix it. I don´t wanna kill your hope, but I am slowly reaching the ends of my capabilities when it comes to technology.”

Linnea simply nods, and Jaemin starts his walk once more. Well, this is getting better and better, she thinks, leaving her shoulders hanging.

༺.༻

Later that day, when everything was done and the whole spot looked more homey, Jisung approaches the girl.

He finally wants to ask her about the training they started. A bit nervous and shy in nature, he taps her shoulder to get her attention.

“Hey, uhm, do you think we could uhm maybe discuss the whole training again? I´m getting a bit restless. I don´t wanna pressure you, but-”

“Jisung. It´s fine. No need to worry about asking me about this, okay? I have lots of time on hand, and I offered it. So just ask whenever you feel ready,” she smiles at him and gets up from her seated position.

“Let´s go and find a spot with less of an audience so you can feel more relaxed,” she suggests, and Jisung exhales in relief, glad he was nervous for nothing.

They walk for a few minutes, finding a small meadow away from the rest of the boys, and stop. They could see a bit of the small town in front of them. Behind them are the van and car, still visible, but smaller. Only faint movement perceivable.

“This time we don´t need to sit down. I wanna show you a technique I used to gain control of my ability. With it, I could feel a lot more secure in my perception of my aura flow,” she explains, looking at him.

His eyes gleam in admiration. He didn´t expect her to teach him something personal like this. From the few movies he watched with Chenle, Jaemin, and Mark in the past, he learned that usually people liked to keep these kinds of things a secret so no one else could get an advantage from it.

“Okay, so what´s important is both how you breathe and your movements. I got inspired by some stuff like Yoga or Qi-gong when I first came up with it, so don´t feel too awkward about it. But you can laugh if it makes you feel amused about yourself,” she chuckles.

He can´t help but join in on the short laugh. He can imagine that it might have been a bit weird at first, but he still admires the effort and thought behind it all.

When she moves into a specific stance, he copies her, watching her closely.

“Alright. You have to stand comfortably but stably. Nothing should be able to bring you out of balance easily. Now you start breathing in through your nose, and out through your mouth. You pull the breath down into your stomach. That´s very important. Because it helps you ground yourself. If it helps, you can close your eyes to focus better. Make sure you feel it," she explains.

He nods and looks forward. His eyes close on instinct, and he starts breathing the way she just described, making sure to feel his stomach lift with every inhale.

“That´s it. Can you feel how much calmer you are? Can you feel your heartbeat slow down a bit?” she asks, voice calm and eyes watching him.

Jisung nods, not letting go of his focus. He can hear the faint beating of his heart and next to it the slow pulsing of his aura core. Unexpectedly, he already feels strangely calm, even though, in his mind, he hasn´t done all that much yet.

“Now then, I want you to lift your arms to your chest, hands almost touching, but they only face each other. Move them with your breathing. Up when you inhale, and down when you exhale.”

He follows her instructions, doing exactly that. Inside of him, he could feel the energy bloom. But instead of sudden fear, like he usually would, he feels a strange kind of excitement.

“Now I want you to slowly open your arms along your chest with your next exhale, until they are stretched out to both of your sides.”

“Then you move your right arm over your head until it reaches your left. After that, you slowly pull it back to your chest, along your other arm that´s still stretched, until it is fully stretched out again.”

She calmly talks him through the motions, watching exactly how he follows her instructions.

“Now your other arm follows the path your right arm took and meets it on the other side.”

“Once your hands basically face each other again, you pull your left arm to your chest again, but this time your right one follows along a little delayed. They should end up back in the position we started. To end the whole thing, you slowly guide them down in the direction of your legs to release the flow. You did it right, if your hands end up relaxing on the left and right of your sides.”

When he is done doing the full circle of motions, he opens his eyes again and looks at her. “Did I do it correctly?” he asks.

Linnea nods and smiles. “You did. When you repeat this now, I want you to actively focus on the flow of your aura. You know how to perceive it. Eventually, it will start following your motions, and your flow will stabilize. If you do this for a few minutes every day, you will start to naturally stabilize your flow, and it will happen intuitively, like breathing.”

“Woah, this simple bit of movement will help me stabilize my flow? Just like that?” he asks, surprised.

The girl nods again as a response, and Jisung says, "For some reason, I thought it would be way harder than that.”

“It might feel weird at the start. So don´t get startled by that. Just let it flow. It may take a while, though, because fully perceiving your aura is something not everyone can naturally do well.”

He nods in understanding, and after this conversation, he gets right back into the stance and starts over, kind of excited to try it out now. Linnea joins him for the first few rounds, simply to calm herself down a bit, too, the past days having taken their toll on her.

In the distance, Donghyuck, Renjun, and Mark watch the two figures do their little ritual of movements.

“Whatever they are doing over there, it looks damn funny,” Hyuck says.

“At least it´s something. I mean Jisung can finally learn to handle his ability. That´s a win for everyone,” Mark retorts, happy the youngest could finally feel less anxious about this part of himself.

“I am so glad I don´t have to try teaching him anymore. I wasn´t the best fit as a teacher anyway, but the rest of you were even worse options,” Renjun says bluntly, watching the two in the distance with a smile, and ignoring the offended look Donghyuck threw at him.

༺.༻

As the sun sets, a fire is burning in a pit of sand in the middle of their new, little, temporary home. Most of the members are sitting near it, warming themselves in the cooler night air of spring.

Chenle is the one responsible for cooking tonight. Even though he doesn’t look like it, he is one of the guys in the group who actually likes to cook from time to time, having learned a lot of recipes from his grandma and mom as a child.

Linnea doesn´t like seeing him all alone, responsible for the meal of eight people, so she joins him in the task. Usually, she was the one cooking for her group, too, so this wasn´t any different.

Jisung ends up sitting close to them too, in the mood to talk with his friend. He isn´t allowed to touch anything in the tiny kitchen set up they created. Apparently, Mark and he were the ones forbidden from cooking because they would make everything inedible. So here he is, simply watching.

“We are making something besides Ramen, right?” the girl asks, slowly getting sick of the dish, because it seems like it was the standard meal for everyone, every day, all day.

“Well, we have limited things to work with. We need to go shopping soon too, or else we starve,” the Chinese boy says, stirring something in a pot.

“That sounds miserable, not gonna lie,” she chuckles. “Where did you guys find that damn generator by the way? That thing is really useful. Giving electricity and everything.”

“We found it in one of our hunts for food. Made everything a lot easier after. We could finally enjoy something that didn´t require a whole fire to cook,” Jisung explains, thinking back on the times of the same meal every day. Even though now they were basically back to that, just with different foods. But he can´t complain since he loves Ramen.

The girl listens to him and nods. If it wasn´t for their secret link in Soul City, her group wouldn´t have a lot of the things they have either.

“Eyo, Chenle, be careful so she doesn´t poison our food,” Donghyuck jokes from the sidelines all of a sudden.

All three look at him and witness the slap he earns from Renjun for it. The older mumbling something about being nice and no more teasing. But Chenle just chuckles at the comment.

“Oh, no worries. I would know if someone poisoned my food,” he says proudly.

“Hmm, why is that?” Linnea asks, looking at him in surprise.

Chenle flashes her a grin before his eyes shortly glow a bright orange, “My ability is poison.”

Her mouth forms an ´O´ as her head slowly moves in a long understanding nod.

“So, no use trying to poison anyone. It´s not gonna work,” he teases and keeps stirring the noodles in the pot.

“Hey, even if I wanted to do that, I wouldn´t even know how. It´s not like there is just some random poison lying around to use,” she replies in a joking manner as well, earning a chuckle from the two boys near her.

“Poison isn´t my only ability, by the way. I don´t wanna flex it, but I also control magnetism,” Chenle then drops, demonstrating it by making a metal spoon stick to his hand and swinging it around, the spoon holding on like it’s glued to it.

“That´s cool,” Linnea says.

The boy gives her a deadpan look before he says, “You are so not impressed by it. How boring.”

To that, the girl can´t help but laugh out loud. She did not expect this kind of reaction.

Jisung also chuckles but tries to lighten the mood of his Hyung, “I think it´s really cool. With you, we never lose any accessories.”

“Yeah, and how many times do I tell you guys to not use me as a damn metal detector? Y´all just don´t listen and like to use me anyway. I don´t know why I always end up saying yes to helping you. I should let you suffer by finding it yourselves.”

“You know, I think I´m slowly getting to know you guys better. You are a lot more open to sharing things with me, and it makes me happy,” Linnea states, the conversation getting a bit more serious again.

“Oh, do you now? Shall I test you on that?” the brown-haired boy cooking next to her challenges.

“Go ahead. I will prove my point,” the girl grins, accepting the challenge.

“How old am I then?” he starts, and Linnea deadpans. “Are you serious? You really think I can´t remember that you are 21 years old like me? Come on.”

“Fine. Then state all our abilities. I´m pretty sure we didn´t openly say them out loud to you, so did you pay attention to our actions?”

She sighs, “You really make it too easy for me. You have poison and magnetism. Jisung has electricity. Mark manipulates air. Jaemin has telekinesis. I am pretty sure Jeno manipulates darkness or shadow or both. Donghyuck has something that could seem like it´s telekinesis, too, but it´s not. If I go by what my ability tells me, I would say it´s something on a molecular level, hence why his eyes are a dark red. And well, Renjun has never shown or talked about his to me. So I don´t wanna assume anything.”

“Damn, you sly fox really notice more than you let on. I will give that to you, you are quite attentive. To enlighten you, you are right. Hyuck´s ability is molecular manipulation, Jeno manipulates both darkness and shadow, and Renjun can see the future, but also the past. He is psychometric.”

“Do I get something for being right?” she asks jokingly.

“You can do the dishes,” Chenle suggests, earning a playful gasp from the girl.

“What a great reward. Will you assign Jisung to help me with it so it´s done faster?” she plays along, Jisung´s eyes growing wide at the sudden involvement.

“Pff nope. You are a smart girl. You can figure out an efficient way to do it.”

“How mean of you. And here I am helping you with cooking so you don´t have to do it all alone.”

“No one told you to do that,” Chenle retorts, grinning.

“Can you believe the audacity Jisung? Is he always like this?” she keeps going with the playful teasing.

Jisung looks like a deer in headlights, not knowing how to respond, and because of that, the other two start laughing again.

From the sidelines, watch the others. Mark is smiling, happy that they get along. And Jaemin mutters in a neutral tone, “They are having quite a bit of fun over there.”

The response to that is a group of hums. One content and happily agreeing, the other sceptical and low.

༺.༻

The sun has long set. The fire is still crackling in the sandpit. The boys and Linnea have settled around it, some leaning onto a fallen tree, the others lying on blankets on the floor. Jeno is holding a guitar, trying to tune the strings, while Donghyck is humming a melody.

The atmosphere is calm. No one is really talking. At least until Jaemin suddenly murmurs, “I still can´t get over the fact we went to a damn prison.” He is staring ahead into the night, kinda zoning out while thinking back. “It makes me think of the time we actually were captured and had to live there,” he goes on, voice not losing its calmness.

“Well, it was an eventful day. And we broke out successfully in the past. Nothing can stop us now,” Mark says, his tone also calm and soothing.

“I think the realization of it makes me see some memories I couldn´t access anymore. And now I keep thinking back on the days there,” Jaemin mumbles, blinking once and facing Jeno afterwards. “Can´t believe we made it out without injury. It´s crazy how we found Mark and the others right after.”

“Who would have thought they would be stupid enough to build two camps so close to each other. Using connected technology at that,” the boy with the guitar comments, not lifting his gaze from the strings, still working on the right tune.

“You call that fate,” Donghyuck says bluntly, “But what´s it with the sudden topic of prisons? Are we dwelling on old times? Because I remember plenty shitty things.”

“Can I ask you guys something about your experiences in the camps?” Linnea asks carefully, breaking the conversation a bit.

The guys eye her for a moment before Mark nods and says, “Sure. What is it?”

“Did you all have roommates and access to community rooms of sorts?” she asks, holding her blanket close to her body.

“Uhm yeah. I think Jaemin and Jeno shared a room or were neighbors in theirs, and I shared a room with Hyuck. Renjun had a room of his own, but was in the same corridor as the others, and you know about Chenle and Jisung. The five of us ate together in a cafeteria and had training together sometimes, don´t know too much about Jaemin and Jeno, though,” Mark explains.

“Did you not have that Linnea?” Renjun asks, careful in his tone.

The girl stares at the flickering flames in the middle and shakes her head, “I was isolated in my own cell. I didn’t get to meet a lot of others in my first camp.”

“That sounds very boring,” Chenle mumbles, trying to lighten the mood as it seemed to dip into one of sadness.

“I mean, it could have been worse. I at least had the few memories they didn´t erase,” the girl mumbles.

“What do you mean by that?” Mark asks curiously, but carefully.

“They had methods to make us obey them. And the ones they used for me slowly erased almost everything I could remember from my childhood. They called it the side effect that kills attachments. Stuff that keeps us from cooperating because it fuels hope,” the girl explains, voice monotone.

There is a short silence. No one dares to say anything about it.

“I think I get what you mean. They did similar stuff to me, so I wouldn´t act out. They were scared I would try anything if I had too many attachments left to my old life,” Donghyuck then says, sympathizing with her.

“All I remember from my childhood is that I had a big brother. He had an ability, too, but - I think he´s long gone. The saddest thing about it is … I don´t even remember what he looks like,” she goes on, absentmindedly playing with her fingers, a habit she picked up when she talked about things that weighed more heavily on her.

Silence stretches across the place again. The boys just look at her. Donghyuck in particular thinks heavily about her words. He somehow feels like he can relate to her.

Linnea chuckles, looking at the faces of the guys now, “I´m so sorry for ruining the mood with this sad ass talk. I guess I drifted off topic …. Can we maybe continue with the humming of melodies? It was quite nice to listen to.”

Reacting to the suggestion a bit late, Mark stammers, “Uhm sure….”

“Jeno! Play the guitar!” Renjun suddenly instructs with a lot of enthusiasm. His mom-mode springing into action to lift the mood.

Almost startled by the sudden volume of his voice, Jeno looks at him before randomly strumming a few strings of the guitar.

Renjun starts to hum a fitting melody. Eventually, Jaemin nods along to the rhythm.

With a bit of creativity and recognizing the melody that became a familiar one after a while, Chenle and Donghyuck start to sing in harmony, Renjun eventually joining them.

Linnea closes her eyes, listening to the angelic voices of the boys and calming down. Her mind leaving the haze of faint memories that kept surfacing here and there. With it, she slowly drifts off to a dreamless sleep.

The others keep humming and singing for a while longer, letting the late evening fade like the final notes of a lullaby.

Eden—a place that exists, a place that’s defined by what one’s heart truly seeks out. A paradise one can only dream of, a city full of life, full of opportunity, and most of all, a city that promises peace.

Peace is something that´s not part of reality anymore. Not in the reality Linnea and the boys live in, at least. Or well, that´s what it seemed like when their journey first started.

༺.༻

Im Himmel und auf Erden, bin einzig ich erhaben. Ein Land für alle und doch für keinen, der nicht würdig meiner Wahrheit ist.

(In heaven and on earth, I alone am exalted. A land for all - yet granted for none who are unworthy of my truth.)

Im Himmel und auf Erden gegenwärtig, doch verborgen vor jenen, deren Absicht nicht dem Pfad des Friedens folgt.

(Present in heaven and earth, yet veiled from those whose intent strays from the path of peace.)

“Dude, can anyone read what it says?” a boy wonders.

“What language is this supposed to be anyway?” another questions.

“No idea. It´s not Chinese, though. That´s for sure. Renjun and I would know,” a third says.

A fourth responds, “Hyung, that´s not helpful at all.”

“Sounds like some European language if you ask me,” the fifth in this group voices his thoughts.

“Well, no one asked you, Jaem,” the second boy retorts in a lighthearted tone, earning himself an annoyed glare from the one mentioned.

“Y´all are so not helpful at all. We are trying to find out what this clue could mean, so stop joking around and take it seriously already!” a female voice chimes in.

“Hey, calm down ɭเภภєค, the guys are just exhausted. It took forever for us to get this far. And you know, it´s just how they are.”

A sigh. The girl looks to the floor before looking back up at the boy who addressed her just now.

“I know Jeno. It´s just … I´m worried we are reaching a dead end, you know? We went through so much to get here. This can´t be the end just because we can’t figure out how to overcome this language barrier,” the girl says, her gaze filled with frustration and worry.

“Hey, I get it. You aren’t the only one who´s worried. But let’s not give up this easily, okay? We will figure it out eventually. We always have and we always will,” the boy responds. His hand reaches her shoulder to lightly squeeze it in an attempt to comfort her.

“Ay, can you two stop flirting and instead help us figure this shit out?,” the familiar voice interrupts.

“Hyuck, you better shut up, you don´t even know what language this is.”

“Oh, come on Mark, you know I´m right. Those two get so annoying when they get all worried for each other. It´s kinda gross,” Donghyuck says. His attention already going back to the riddle written on the wall.

The two people addressed can´t help but roll their eyes in annoyance.

“I swear he needs a beating sometimes. I don´t care if he´s a dark red on the scale,” Jeno let´s out. He doesn´t actually intend to harm the other boy, though. He´s simply fed up with his antics.

“You know how he is. That´s just Hyuck for you,” the girl responds.

“Maybe Renjun could touch the wall and see into its past?”

“In what way or form would that be helpful, Jisung?”

“It´s worth a shot, Chenle. What´s the worst that can happen? We will just be as clueless as before. So why not try?” Mark answers in Jisung´s stead. The younger boy smiling at his Hyung´s words of support.

“Renjun. Hey! Earth to Renjun. Are you listening?”

But Renjun doesn´t respond to the boys’ words.

“Ay, why is he not responding?” the same voice asks.

“Maybe he is out of it again, Jaemin?” Donghyuck suggests.

“Seems like he is deeply in his thoughts?” Mark wonders.

“Looks more like he is seeing a vision again. Even though his eyes aren´t glowing this time, which is weird.” Jaemin mutters, one hand coming up to cup his chin.

“Hey, Renjun!” he tries again, “Wake up! Renjun!”

༺.༻

With a jolt, the boy wakes up from his vision.

“Hey, you okay?” Mark asks, worry evident in his tone. Everyone is looking at him now.

Renjun, who was stuck seeing one of his usual visions just now, blinks a few times. The six pairs of eyes, who were focused on food and the fire, centered in the middle of the group, are now focusing on him instead.

“What did you see? You were out of it for quite a while,” Jeno says. He´s curious about what could have been the topic of the vision. Usually, Renjun doesn´t stay in this state for that long.

“I honestly don´t know,” Renjun admits. He isn´t sure what to make of the vision he just had. All he knows is that he saw a new face in it. One, he can´t point back to any of the ones he had seen so far.

“I guess it´s nothing important for now,” he adds after a short pause. He chooses not to reveal what he saw, simply because he thinks it isn´t relevant to them just yet. He would eventually tell his friends when the time came.

“Well then, please eat before your food gets cold. Can´t keep the fire going forever. We have to move early in the morning,” Mark says, his tone lighter now. He trusts the judgment of his friend not to talk about his vision. After all, Renjun is the one who knows how to interpret the future he sees the best.

Reaching the house, they hurry inside quickly. “I need a table or something to lay her down on,” Kun orders, still a little wary of the condition Linnea is in.

The boys who stayed back all look at the group that brings back their friend with shocked expressions and big eyes. Mark is the first to say something. “What the fuck happened?” His voice almost breaks because he can´t comprehend the fact that Linnea is unconscious.

“Someone attacked her. He wanted to avenge his friend,” Jeno says in a deadly voice. Thinking back on it makes the rage he felt boil again.

“Hendery, make me an IV, a Ringer´s bag, a dextrose bag, and prepare some antibiotics I can push into the IV,” Kun instructs, whilst the others swarm around, freeing the table in the kitchen for now. Jaemin carefully lays the girl down on it, making sure her head is in a comfortable position.

“Oh my god, I knew this wouldn´t end well. The vision was so accurate,” Renjun worries, and sits down on the couch. His face is visibly pale as the shock of the situation sinks in. Jisung tries to comfort him by placing his hand on his shoulder.

“Hyung, you did everything you could. Thanks to you, the others arrived to help her,” he says, but avoids looking in the direction where everything else is chaos right now.

Hendery, who clearly understands what exactly needs to be made, gets to work quickly. Dejun provides some water and snacks for him, because they know how draining it is for him to create all this from nothing. It burns a lot of his energy, so eating and staying hydrated help immensely. His eyes glow as strongly as ever while he does what he needs to do.

When the IV is done, Dejun hands it over to Kun, who immediately begins searching for a vein. He has experience with medical stuff, and his ability is also a big asset. In this situation, he uses it, too, to look inside the girl´s body. He places the needle, slides it in, and tapes the line in place.

When Hendery is done creating everything else, the blue-haired leader connects the lines of the IV drip the way they need to be—a main Ringer´s bag, and a dextrose bag attached to a second line. Before he connects it, though, he injects a bolus.

Once everything is set in place and Linnea is treated for the things that are important, Kun tells everyone to leave. “I advise you to leave the room. I have to take care of the cuts and burns before they leave scars.”

Mark nods and takes care of it. He tells his friends to go outside. He even takes Dejun and Yang Yang with him. Hendery stays behind and says, “If you need anything, call me so I can make it for you.” To that, he earns himself a nod of understanding.

Jeno and Donghyuck are the last ones to leave. They only reluctantly get moving. It takes convincing from Mark for Hyuck to even consider averting his eyes, while Jaemin struggles really hard to push his best friend outside.

When everyone is gone, Kun keeps going with his work. He takes care of every single burn mark. Every single cut. Any bruise that´s visible on her body. All while constantly scanning her vitals to make sure her heart keeps beating and her lungs breathe the air she needs.

Outside, the boys are pure chaos. There is a lot of pacing around. No one really talks. They all just think the worst possible outcome. Jaemin tries his best to keep the mood as positive as he can. “Kun Hyung said she won´t die. So let´s trust him.”

Donghyuck is close to another crash-out. He really can´t keep still. He starts throwing around insults and ends up in a discussion with Mark, who tries to calm him down. Obviously, it´s simply the fact that Hyuck is frustrated. He wasn´t there to protect her. He wasn´t on time. If they had arrived any later, who knows what would have happened. It eats him alive, even if it´s not his fault, and he did what he could.

Jeno, on the other hand, is eerily quiet. He is staring into the distance while trying not to explode. Inside his inner eye, he is haunted by the image of the girl´s motionless body. All he can see is this near-dead vessel. And it makes his stomach churn. He knows why Riki attacked. Seeing Jay confirmed it. And when the boy told him the exact thing he thought was the reason, it was over for him.

The fact that his past comes to haunt him another time is beyond the realm of coincidence. By now, he is sure this is the universe making him pay for his wrongdoings. He trusts the wrong person. He fucks it up with another person he actually cares about. And now he has to witness the end of a fight, which again has to do with his life in the camps. His former friends.

He can´t take it anymore. The anger, the frustration, it´s all too much. Before he knows it, his fist connects with the nearest log, crashing into it with full force. He can feel the pain bloom in his knuckles right after, but he doesn’t care. He does it again, a second later, too, feeling the need to just let out all the emotions that mess with his mental state right now.

Jaemin, concerned for his friend, rushes over. “Jeno, stop it,” he tries, but his words fall on deaf ears. He has to physically hold him back to stop the black-haired boy. “Jeno! Snap out of it!” He yells, grabbing his friend´s face in his hands to look him in the eye. “Get it together. This won´t turn back time. And it for sure as hell won´t help Linnea recover!”

This finally reaches him. Jaemin´s words echo inside his mind, and his eyes finally refocus on the boy in front of him. His hands slowly fall to his sides as his shoulders relax a little and he sinks to the sandy floor, defeated. “I will never forgive myself for giving her the silent treatment if she doesn´t wake up,” he mumbles weakly.

Jaemin rolls his eyes at him. “You are being dramatic. It´s not like this is the end of the world. Sure, that was a stupid idea, but she is definitely waking up again, so she can give you a piece of your own some more. There is no way Lini will leave this world without teaching you a lesson. So get a grip. If it´s not for yourself, then do it for her sake!”

His words land again. Jeno takes them in and considers them. Then he slowly nods. “You are right. I´m being really pathetic.”

“Yeah. Great to see you finally realize that,” Jaemin says, giving him the final blow before he gets up and looks at the others. “Let´s gather and make up a strategy on how we handle the next few days.”

His announcement reaches everyone else and is met with heavy agreement. So as he said, they gather and start discussing. Frustrations lay in the air, and tension is high throughout the discussion, but they don’t leave out any detail. And while they talk, putting in as much effort as possible, Kun almost finishes his work on Linnea´s skin, making her look like nothing had happened.

༺.༻

It´s eerily quiet. The wind blows through his hair whilst the cold hits his skin. The moon shines high in the sky. When he looks around, he sees nothing but the ocean, the beach, and the grassy dunes that sway with the breeze. A shiver runs down his spine while goosebumps bloom on his skin.

The feeling that rushes through his body sits uncomfortably in his stomach. He´s in Dusk. He recognizes the scenery. But why is the house gone? Why is no one else around? Why is he alone?

He can´t remember how he got here. But he knows he wants to leave. His mind is pacing with endless thoughts. He tries to find a way out of this loneliness. However, he can´t seem to move. His body stands frozen in the sand. He knows he is screaming. But no sound leaves his mouth. It feels like a waste of time at some point. Hopeless. So he stops trying, almost accepting defeat.

But then, a warmth reaches out to him. He can sense it before he actually feels it. A small hand touches his back, immediately filling him with warmth. Suddenly, he can feel how he regains control over his limbs. His lungs no longer feel like stone. He can look around, breathe, and move. So he turns around, feeling the need to see just who gave him back the control over himself.

Upon seeing the figure, the corners of his mouth lift. He feels his body shift. And before he knows it, she embraces him in a tight hug, meeting him in his tilt towards her. Her head leans onto his shoulder, while her arms sneak around his back. She closes her eyes, taking in his scent. He can´t help but wrap his arms around her, pulling her impossibly closer to himself. If he lets go of her, he fears she will vanish into thin air. His eyes close on instinct, to fully relish in the moment.

“Please don´t leave me,” he chokes out, muffling the words into her hair.

“I won´t. I promise,”she mumbles with a hint of amusement.

A gust of wind flies by, hitting them with slight force. Linnea shivers shortly. When they open their eyes and look at each other, their smiles grow wider. That´s when they realize it. Rays of sunlight slowly break through the clouds as the sun rises behind the horizon. The light carries the warmth of the summer. With its waking, the sun sweeps away the wind. Darkness vanishes, and Dusk no longer feels like a prison.

Linnea giggles at the irony. “Scary how quickly nature can transform.” Her laugh breaks the hold the negative feelings had on him, freeing him of the uncomfortable sensation. Suddenly, he feels so alive again; he wonders how she can have such an effect on him. “Let´s go,” her voice breaks through his thoughts. They no longer hug. Instead, the girl holds his hand gently and looks at him expectantly.

“Where do you wanna go?” he asks, a little confused, but she enlightens him fairly quickly.

“Let´s just go on a walk. We have the whole beach ahead of us,” she says, squeezing his hand lightly.

He considers it, then nods and starts walking. Linnea leads the way, frolicking happily while still holding onto him and pulling him along. There is something so freeing and calming about the way she just seems so happy and unconcerned. It makes him loosen his shoulders a little more, enjoying the pure moment.

As they keep walking and jumping around, Linnea eventually turns to look at him, throwing a bright smile at him. She then lifts his arm and twirls below it like a princess. It makes him chuckle. She is adorable in his eyes, and he can´t find anything that brightens his mood more than her right now.

“Dance with me,” her voice sounds, and a flicker of something shines in her eyes. Of course, he can´t really refuse her. So when she starts swaying around, turning, and skipping in the sand, he just follows along. He never thought he would end up dancing at the beach. But with her, it´s such a different experience.

The two of them have fun like this for a while, laughing and dancing like two young people, embracing the warmth they give each other in the vast sea of loneliness that lies ahead of them. In their happy motions, Linnea eventually does a turn and accidentally bumps right into him. The thud makes him stumble out of his rhythm, and because of the sand, he can´t hold his balance well enough, so he falls to the ground and pulls the girl along through their connected hands.

Laughter echoes as Linnea lands right on top of him. They lie in the sand, trying to calm down from the giggles about the little accident. It´s such a lighthearted moment, Jeno can´t help but forget about the events of the last few hours.

His arms sneak around her waist, holding her loosely as she stays on top of him, laughter slowly dying down. When it fully stops, they look at each other with warm smiles gracing their faces. “We should do this more often,” she says.

“Maybe not in the sand, though,” he retorts, reminding her of the situation they are in. He keeps looking at her, all sorrow forgotten. Even the previous paralysis he was in no longer lingers with its looming fear. He feels relaxed and balanced, all thanks to her. So he uses the freedom and leans his head back, taking in the color of the sky with the few clouds traveling through it.

“Jeno?” He hums when she calls his name, waiting for her to continue what she is about to say. He doesn´t avert his gaze from the endless blue, though, knowing she is right there. “You should accept it already.”

The words take a few seconds to register. He is confused about the sudden topic change. Because of it, he decides to look up after all. But Linnea is no longer there. Panic surges again. A feeling of unease creeps back into his body as he frantically looks around, trying to find her. He is up on his feet before he knows it. They carry him through the endless field of sand that starts to feel colder and colder. “Linnea?” he calls out. But to no avail. The girl is gone. And with her, the sun sinks back into the ocean, taking away every ray of light that brightened the day for him.

With a gasp, his head snaps up. He wakes in the dark room and looks around, trying to orient himself. He is inside the living room. No one else is around. It´s quiet, the clock is ticking, and from outside, the moon shines into the room, only giving little bits of light.

His heart is racing, and sweat is trailing down his forehead. In front of him, his ears slowly pick up on the even breathing. Right, he fell asleep while sitting here, hoping for a miracle to happen. Kun said she´s fine but that it would take a few days for her body to fully take his treatment and regain enough energy for her to wake up.

Unconsciously, he grabs her hand that lies close to where his head had lain a minute ago. His thumb starts circling the back of it while he absently stares at her sleeping form. “Please wake up soon,” he mumbles. Then, after looking at her for a moment longer, he gets up.

He needs another dive into the sea to calm his mind.

༺.༻

When Jaemin wakes up, the sun is barely above the horizon. He didn´t sleep as long as he usually does. Oddly enough, he feels like he slept for eight hours straight. After stretching and yawning, he rubs his eyes and looks around. Mark, Renjun, and Donghyuck are still sleeping in the big bed, tangled in each other and adorably snoring away as morning slowly greets the group. He notices, though, someone is missing.

It´s the second night in a row in which Jaemin assumes his best friend hadn´t slept well enough to stay in bed like anyone else. A morning ago, they found him snoozing on the couch in the living room, for whatever reason.

He wonders what´s up with his friend for him to stray from bed so easily. So he gets up, stretches his limbs, ruffles his hair, and leaves the room quietly. He descends the wooden stairs, trying to be as silent as possible. When he reaches the living room, he doesn´t see much. The few rays of sunlight illuminate the room enough for him to discern Linnea sleeping on the table. They cushioned it up before they left for bed, knowing they can´t move her body around too much, so with the help of a few abilities, they at least made the temporary bed—the table—as comfortable as possible.

When his eyes skim over the couch, he doesn´t see Jeno there. So he´s not sleeping on the couch again, he thinks, and looks around. Where could he be? Jaemin rubs his chin, trying to think of any plausible locations for a grown man to sleep in. He can´t be far. After all, Dusk is small, and there is no way Jeno would sleep outside alone.

Eventually, Jaemin decides to go outside to catch some fresh air. The morning breeze might be a great asset to help him think of his best friend´s whereabouts. So he opens the door, steps out onto the porch, and inhales a big breath. When he looks ahead, wanting to see the calming sea, he spots a figure sitting in the sand.

Determined, he starts walking, approaching the guy with steady steps. He sits down next to him and stays quiet at first. Together, they watch the liquid blue in front of them as it reflects the shine of the early sun.

He can only assume why Jeno is outside at this hour. But seeing the dark circles under his eyes, it´s clearly an issue for him. So he tries to find the source of his friend´s current misery. “Is there a reason why you are not in bed anymore this early in the morning?” he asks, voice calm and still a little raspy from his sleep.

Jeno stays quiet for a bit. His mind is racing. He can´t catch a clear thought. Jaemin´s voice breaks him out of this state a little, but not enough. He can´t help but ruffle his hair in frustration.

“I mean, yesterday you slept on the couch for some reason, and today I find you sitting outside at the crack of dawn. What´s working you up, Neno?” The addition of a cute tone for the nickname breaks Jeno out of his messy thought process. It makes him chuckle. And then, out of frustration and some sort of relief, he sighs and looks at Jaemin, who meets his gaze expectantly.

“I just have weird-ass dreams. That´s all,” he starts, which causes Jaemin to raise an eyebrow.

“Are we talking about nightmare weird, or what do you mean?” the boy asks, a little confused.

“No. It´s more like- they feel fairly real, but then the scenery distorts, and it turns into sort of nightmares,” Jeno explains a bit further. His words don´t clear up Jaemin´s confusion completely, though.

“Can you tell me more about them? Maybe I can somehow help you get through the trouble they cause,” Jaemin says softly, still taking Jeno´s struggle seriously.

The boy plays with his fingers while his gaze averts. It´s a bit awkward to talk about it, but thanks to Jaemin´s patience, he eventually speaks. “It´s just, suddenly, I dream about things from way back. Like camp time. But then I´m also stuck in this dreamlike world where everything seems so fine, as if nothing was ever an issue.”

He pauses for a moment, trying to phrase his next words in a way that doesn´t sound weird. “She keeps appearing, too. And I don´t know what to make of it.” Saying it out loud somewhat makes his stomach churn. When he looks at Jaemin and sees his raised eyebrow and skeptical expression, he chuckles, knowing he has to elaborate some more.

“Linnea, I mean. It´s been two nights in a row where she suddenly appears in my dreams. And it´s kind of scary, because whenever she´s around, everything seems fine, calm, as if nothing was ever wrong to begin with. But then she vanishes. Be it through fire that swallows her whole, or suddenly disappearing. It´s a bit uncanny,” he explains, still fiddling with his fingers. His heartbeat starts to pick up a bit when he mentions her, remembering exactly what he dreamed.

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. I don’t know if I follow completely. So you mix memories with made-up scenarios. And whenever Lini shows up, you feel how exactly?” Jaemin questions, trying to understand what he´s working with.

“I-I feel happy, I guess. Unbothered? Calm? I don´t know. I´ve never felt this kind of security before. It´s weird,” Jeno stammers. His ears feel a few degrees hotter when he tries to name his emotions from the dream.

Jaemin stays silent for a moment, taking in his words. “You do know that dreams are a way for our mind to work through events of the day, right? And that they also show us what we sometimes want or need,” he starts, trying to guide his friend to a certain conclusion.

Jeno stays quiet. He knows this. He also deep down knows what his dreams want to tell him. But he is scared to admit it. Acknowledge it. Eventually, he nods slowly to give his friend an answer.

“Can I ask you something?” Jaemin asks, his tone a little more serious but also careful. When Jeno gives him his approval, he continues. “Is it really that bad to openly admit that you like her? I mean, what could possibly happen? Realistically.” He lets his words linger, clearly seeing the way they move his mind into action, again. “What could go wrong if you name your feelings? And admit it to yourself?”

The fidgeting of his fingers stops. Jeno truly thinks about the questions Jaemin asked him. What would happen? What if he names these weird emotions? What could go wrong? He thinks back on the things Linnea said to him in his dreams. You should accept it already. Why can´t you accept it? Why can´t you accept me? It dawns on him. The thing his mind keeps trying to tell him. He needs to face these feelings and acknowledge them. He is clearly afraid of losing her in one way or another. It doesn´t matter how she sees him. The point is, he doesn´t want to push her away anymore. He likes her too much for that. She´s a friend. She´s part of the family, too. And most of all, he likes her.

What can realistically happen? She´s the one who doesn´t let him push her away. She´s the one who keeps holding on. Who accepts his thoughts and feelings the way they are, without trying to bend them in a way that fits her narrative. The worst that can happen is literally nothing. There is no way she will judge him or suddenly throw him away.

Jaemin watches as Jeno wrecks his mind about his questions. He waits patiently for his friend to finally realize the obvious. And when Jeno slumps his head, and his fingers trace through his hair once more, he knows something clicked for him. His friend finally faces him again, an awkward but somewhat relieved smile gracing his features. That´s when he knows for sure.

“I guess, nothing?” Jeno finally answers. The confession of this simple fact lifts heavy weights off his shoulders the moment the words leave his mouth.

“So is it that bad?” Jaemin prompts. He wants him to say it out loud. To finalize the decision of acceptance.

“No…I guess, it´s okay to like someone that way,” the black-haired boy mumbles, not fully able to jump over his shadow yet.

“Someone? Just anyone?” Jaemin teases a little. He needs him to say it before he lets him off the hook. His grin is evidence enough for it.

“Linnea. I guess it´s okay to like her like that.” The words leave his mouth, and for some reason, it makes him smile slightly. Saying it to himself. Admitting his feelings openly for the first time. It feels freeing.

“I am so proud of you for taking this step, Jeno. Seriously. I know it´s hard, especially given our past experiences. You just gotta keep in mind that you are the one in control of what you do with this knowledge. You like her. It´s totally up to you what you do with that realization,” Jaemin says, a smile on his face as his hand moves to pat his friend´s back. “You can keep it to yourself. You can tell it to someone else. It doesn´t matter. All I know is, no one will judge you for it.”

Jeno chuckles. “You sound like a mom lecturing a kid. I got it, okay?” he reassures after joking. “Thanks, though,” he adds, smiling at Jaemin, who raises his eyebrow again.

“What for?” the boy asks. All he did was something totally normal that any friend would do.

“For talking some sense into me. And helping me realize things,” Jeno answers.

“Nah, no need to thank me. It’s what family does. We help each other out. It’s only natural,” Jaemin deflects, even though he still feels a warmth inside him because of the captain’s genuine words.

They sit a little longer there, just staring at the calm water and watching the sun rise further into the sky.

Eventually, Mark calls out to Jeno. They have planned to patrol the area the day before, to make sure there is no lingering threat. The leader wanted his vice on the patrol with him. That’s why he is now calling out to him.

Both boys look to where Mark stands waiting. Then they stare at each other. Before Jeno can say anything, Jaemin pats his back once more. “I will keep her company. So don’t worry and focus on the task at hand,” he reassures, already knowing the boy’s concern.

“Thanks.” With that, he finally stands up and moves over to the waiting boy.

“You good?” Mark asks, seeing the dark circles.

“Better than ever,” Jeno answers, granting him a small, reassuring smile. “Let’s go,” he then prompts and moves to the van, where Donghyuck, Renjun, Ten, Hendery, and Dejun are already waiting.

༺.༻

They have planned to patrol the area. To make sure there is no other threat lingering. With Linnea knocked out, they are weakened. No one cares if they gained manpower through Kun, Ten, and the others. They want to make sure it´s safe to be in town regardless. For Millie´s sake, too.

So here they are, sitting in the van while looking out for anything suspicious. They decided to scout the area south of Dusk first, leaving behind the hut and the beach with determination. There is nothing but sand and dunes near the road they are driving on.

“So you knew that guy who attacked Linnea?” Ten asks at some point, thinking back on what Kun had told him the night before.

“Sort of. I know his friends better. We used to be friends at camp, but when we escaped, we didn´t stick with them,” Jeno starts, scanning the map Mark gave him 30 minutes ago. “That guy is called Riki. He is fairly strong, from what I remember. But he was like 10 years old or something when I was still at camp. I don´t know. The dude who came to get him after the attack is Jay. Jaemin and I used to play with him.”

“Who´s Jungwon then? He mentioned something like revenge, right?” Ten keeps questioning. With the consent of Kun, he read his mind to fully understand what went down.

“Jungwon is their close friend. He lost his ability years ago in the camps. With everything I know now, I´m sure Linnea took it from him. But yeah, I don´t know the details behind it. Must have pained Riki to see his older friend like that,” Jeno explains, trying to suppress his emotions so he wouldn´t feel another rush of anger while thinking back on the fight he witnessed the end of.

“I see. Makes sense. That guy not knowing the full story and everything. Lini once told me how deeply the guilt eats her sometimes. Had to explain to her that she did what she thought was best back then. She´s too kind for this world. Perhaps even her abilities,” Ten rambles on.

Jeno and most of the others look at him when he says this, feeling a little sad that the girl carries such a burden with her. “How exactly does she take abilities away, though? I still don´t fully understand it,” Mark eventually asks, trying to focus on the road ahead.

“She breaks the aura core while using her ability. The temporary effect lasts when she only blocks your channels. But if the aura core is broken, there is no way for the body to restore it, so it loses the ability to produce aura, which in turn causes you to lose your ability and any benefits you gain from aura flow,” Hendery jumps in to explain this part, proudly presenting a grin because he still recalls the full explanation Kun gave him after they first got to know the girl.

“That is… really scary. Not gonna lie,” Renjun mumbles, realizing again just how much power Linnea holds. He is really glad she has such an empathetic spirit.

“My sister really is so special. I can´t believe I didn´t sense it from the start,” Donghyuck adds his own thoughts, recalling the innocent smile of the little girl laughing heartily on the swing in their backyard.

“Well, I am sure she has changed a lot over the years. And both of you thought you were dead. It´s only natural not to assume stuff like family relations,” Mark tells him, knowing fully well how his friend sometimes feels like he failed as a brother, which isn´t true in his or everyone else´s mind.

The conversation dies down after that, and everyone focuses on the mission they are on again. Eventually, they reach a hill-like area that looks suspicious enough for them to feel the need to check it out.

“Let´s see if someone is hiding here,” Dejun announces, rubbing his hands in mischief, ready to storm down to the stony beach to see what´s there. The other boys follow, carefully taking their steps to not fall down or get hurt. When they reach the calm shore, a small cliffside greets them. There are holes in it everywhere, which gives the impression of a lot of small caves.

“Is this some sort of maze? Are all of these caves?” Hendery asks, inspecting two holes that look a bit deeper.

“I think a few of these could be cave entrances, but we will have to explore to make sure,” Renjun says, presenting his thoughts verbally.

The others agree to his statement and start to slowly look into each of the holes. Some really aren´t that deep, only being washed out groves from the higher tides over the past decades. Others are really small caves that quickly lead to a dead end. But then, one hole is an actual entrance to a cave. It´s a bit hard for some of them to squeeze in, but once they all make it, they are greeted by a dark hall of rocks. The air in this cave is really humid, and the oxygen is sparse in certain areas, which prompts them to be careful.

“We should have brought a lighter or a lamp or something. It´s so dark all of a sudden. Well, for everyone but Jeno,” Hyuck says, annoyed by how little he can see in front of him. He is sure he will bump into someone at this point.

“Luckily, we took Hendery with us. He can just make us one,” Dejun says proudly.

“That sounds like I´m some shop for everything because you just get to ring me up to get what you want,” said boy says, trying not to chuckle too much.

“Well, in some way you are, no?” Ten juts in, grinning from ear to ear.

“Yah, I don´t want to hear that from you, Ahjussi,” Hendery claps back, sensing the shocked and fake-insulted expression from his older friend.

“Well, can we get a lamp or flashlight then? I´m not in the mood to bump into Jeno. He will break my nose if that happens,” Donghyuck sort of complains.

“My muscles aren´t THAT hard,” the captain retorts, rolling his eyes.

The boys chuckle shortly, while Hendery gets to work, using his ability to make a set of flashlights. When he´s done, he gives them out. The cave illuminates a second later, showing them the wet and dry sandstone walls.

“The tide must flow into this cave as well. We should hurry before the flood rushes in,” Mark remarks after observing the stone a bit more. The group agrees, and together they walk further into the natural structure. The cave isn´t too long, but it´s still impressive how big it is compared to the overall landscape in the area.

“I don´t think anyone´s here and hiding. Don´t think this is the best spot for it, either,” Dejun says, getting a bit of a spook from the eerie atmosphere.

“Let´s turn around then,” Mark responds, ready to turn on his heels and return to the van.

They all turn, ready to leave, when suddenly, someone gasps. “Okay, this is creepy,” Hendery says. His head is lifted and his gaze fixed at the cave ceiling.

The others face him in surprise and confusion, wondering what exactly he means. When their gazes follow his, they all see it. Countless arrows, all pointing in the same direction.

“How did we miss this while coming in here?” Ten wonders aloud.

“The hell is this?” Hyuck mumbles, trying to inspect the arrows a bit more.

“What direction is it, tho? Like, surely, these mean something, right? Maybe a way pointer or something?” Dejun asks, not making sense of any of this.

Renjun wanders a bit closer to one of the carvings in the rock wall. His fingers trace the outlines of the arrow in front of him. That´s when a sudden familiar flash sparks in his eyes, and he starts to see images.

“Carve them deep enough! People need to be able to still see them hundreds of years from now!” a male voice instructs. “The tides are strong here, so listen to the old man!” a female voice rings right after. “Exactly. We have to make sure they can find Eden this way!” a third voice adds, motivating everyone else present to do their best in carving the arrows into the rock.

Renjun gasps. The way the memory of the stones just appeared and vanished as quickly has him in shock. Mark, Hyuck, and Jeno look at him with concern, ready to jump him to make sure he´s fine.

“These arrows are a marker to show a direction. Of course! Why did we not think of the possibility? This is a clue to Eden!” the Chinese boy announces, still in disbelief.

“A clue to Eden?! Are you sure?” Mark, Hendery, and Dejun yell in unison. Everyone´s eyes are big upon the revelation, and suddenly, everything makes sense.

“What direction are they showing?” Ten rushes his tone, too excited to keep himself from speed-talking. “We gotta figure this out! Quick!”

“Calm down, we have all the time in the world,” Donghyuck retorts, not in the mood to deal with unnecessary stressing around.

Mark scrambles to try and get something to mark it down, but realizes quickly that he doesn´t have anything with him. “Shit. Hendery, can you maybe make a pen for me? And some paper or a notebook?”

“Sure,” the boy says, quickly materializing what the leader asked for and giving it to him.

“Where was the cave entrance again? We gotta make sure we aren´t totally lost with the directions,” the leader stammers, trying to mark a few of the arrows down even though one would have probably been enough.

“I can tell you that we have to consider the curve on the way here. You guys didn´t see it, but we definitely did a bit of a direction change,” Jeno says.

“This is too complicated. Why doesn´t Ten just go outside, walk on top of this weird ass cliffside, and listen to our minds so he knows which direction we are facing?” Renjun cuts in, having had enough of their unnecessary and complicated thinking.

“That´s actually a good idea,” Dejun says, looking at the other guys.

“Alright. Let´s do it. I will go outside and use my ability. Think loudly because my range isn´t as big as Linnea’s,” the older guy says and starts to move.

“Can you actually do your mind thing without seeing us? I always assumed it was a vision-based ability,” Donghyuck asks before Ten can fully leave to go outside.

“Well, it is actually. But with Linnea around, and her teaching our group a few basic things, my aura sensitivity increased. So I can faintly sense all of you if I stay close enough and still use it, because I can shape your aura form in my mind,” Ten explains, leaving Hyuck a bit of a confused mess. After all, he didn´t even know that was a thing.

“Lol, okay, I had no idea something like aura sensitivity could be taught and improved. Now I have to ask her to teach me too, once she wakes up,” Mark says in awe, stunned by the new information. It´s crazy how people learn something new every day.

“Okay. Ten Hyung, get going, I´m getting impatient,” Dejun says, signaling him to go out of the cave with a hand gesture.

Ten chuckles at his reaction and keeps going. Once he´s outside, he activates his ability and moves to climb on the small cliff while trying not to lose the connection he senses with his ability. When he finally reaches the top and is basically above the other guys, he concentrates hard and focuses to try to see into their minds. When he perceives the arrow direction, he moves his body and points in the direction, making a mental note of where exactly the arrows point. Then he uses his ability to manipulate Hendery´s mind in a way so he knows he has it, and they can come up, too.

“Oh, I think he found it. He gave me a signal,” Hendery says inside the cave. Dejun gives him a look of raised eyebrows, and Hendery just nods, telling him it was Ten´s weird way with his ability.

“Let´s get out of here then. I fear the sea might plunge in any minute,” Renjun says, a little paranoid. He isn´t in the mood to drown, so he hurries everyone outside with frantic gestures.

Once the group reaches the outside, and they reunite with Ten, the oldest shows them the direction. “It points north-east. Interesting. I will mark our location on my map and point an arrow in the direction of north-east. Then we can see everything that´s on a line in that direction,” Mark mumbles, verbally noting his thoughts before he moves to do exactly what he just said.

“Hyung, should we tell Taeyong-Hyung about this?” Jeno then asks.

There is a pause in the leader´s movements before he faces his second in command. “You are right. We are getting ahead of ourselves here. It´s not like we can just drive in that direction without a real destination. We should discuss this with him and the others first and make a plan,” Mark answers, lowering the map he is holding now.

“Who are the others? Who is Taeyong?” Dejun asks curiously.

“It´s the rest of our group. Technically. We just travel separately,” Hyuck explains.

“Interesting. So even more people belong to your group. Damn, Linnea really found a whole pride of lions instead of a small group,” Ten says.

“In what world is a group of seven small?” Hendery asks, but doesn´t get any answer. His comment makes Mark chuckle. But then they get serious again. They decide to note down any necessary information and then go back to the van to drive back to the hut in Dusk. The day has been eventful enough, so they will continue their patrols tomorrow and the days that follow.

༺.༻

While the group of boys is on its way to patrol the area, Jaemin sits down beside Linnea´s makeshift bed. The girl doesn´t move much. The only evidence of her being alive is her slow and steady breathing. It pains the boy to see her like this, but he really can´t do anything but wait and give her time to fully recover. Kun has done everything in his power. Now it´s up to her will and body to get back the energy she lost.

Sitting on the chair next to her, Jaemin at first only stares at her. His mind is busy thinking about the conversation he´s just had with Jeno. To think his best friend would actually admit to his feelings. Fucking finally, he thinks.

After roughly 15 minutes of a busy mind, he starts to ramble about the most random things, as if he is actually talking to the girl. “You know, the guys are patrolling the surrounding area to make sure no one else is after you,” he says, his tone a little defeated but only because he is a bit tired from waking up so early.

“I had a fun conversation with Jeno. He really regrets giving you the silent treatment. Maybe, when you wake up, you can shorten the lesson you wanted to give him. I know it´s fun to be petty like that, but I can reassure you he understood. And even though I also find it amusing to see how much it bothers him to get ignored by you, I still feel sorry for him and want his suffering to end,” his voice rambles on.

His eyes aren´t focused on anything, really. He just leisurely hangs onto the chair, plays with the hem of his t-shirt, and does other random habits while he keeps talking to her. He has no idea if she can hear him, but because he read somewhere that people in a coma also sometimes hear what their relatives say to them while they are asleep, he just does it too. For the fun of it.

That´s what he ends up doing for the next few days, while Linnea keeps sleeping and showing no signs of waking up. More than a week passes, during which the same group of guys keep patrolling while also making a detailed plan about visiting N-City. Jaemin tells the girl random stories from his camp days, or the fun adventures he had with the boys after meeting Mark and the others. It´s a fun thing to reminisce like this. And deep down, while his worry for her grows, he also feels like talking to her eases his mind a bit.

“She will wake up eventually. Just give her some more time,” Kun had said at some point when it took longer than expected for her to wake up. They all started to worry more and more with each day that passed. But if he knows one thing, it’s to trust the one boy with the ability to see into one´s body. So he trusts Kun´s judgment. Not just because he is basically a doctor in a sense. But also because he has known Linnea way longer than Jaemin has.

Two days later, the sun rises, birds start chirping in the distance, and two of the boys are awake, loading a bit of food into the backseat of the car. They don´t care about Donghyuck still sleeping there, since he has to get up soon anyway.

Jeno and Jaemin are getting ready for their next mission. Mark stayed true to his words and assigned them to one. One that includes the newcomer, whom they still don’t trust.

“You think she will be here on time?” Jaemin asks.

“Let´s hope she sleeps in so we have an excuse to go alone,” Jeno mutters, opening the hood of the car to take a look and make sure everything is intact.

“Sorry to disappoint, but I´m ready to go. Unlike you guys, it seems,” sounds a female voice.

The girl they were talking about just now, stands near the car. A big black T-shirt falls over her form, one she didn´t wear the days prior.

Both boys look at her, a little disappointment evident on their faces, but they don´t make much of an effort to care.

“There goes the hope,” Jaemin says to himself in a more sarcastic manner.

“What are you wearing?” Jeno sneers, looking at her, eyes scanning her with an intensity she doesn´t expect.

She looks down at herself before facing the gaze of the older boy. “What? Am I not dressed accordingly for the mission? Wanna complain about some non-existent dress code now too?”

Jaemin, not having paid much attention to her looks until now, faces her too. Curious as to why this was a topic all of a sudden.

“Where did you get that from?” he asks, amused by the reaction of his friend. He can’t care any less. It´s just a piece of fabric.

“Mark gave it to me. Can´t keep wearing the same thing for a whole week, you know. It´s unhygienic. So I am lending this until I can wash my clothes,” Linnea explains, emphasizing the topic of hygiene as the whole reason.

“Is it a problem? Because I can also go back to wearing a sweaty, stinky tank top and a jacket if you prefer that,” she challenges Jeno. “I don´t understand why this bothers you anyway, it´s Mark´s T-shirt.”

“Well, except it´s not. I bet he got it confused again. We sometimes share clothes and also have similar stuff. But yeah, this is definitely not Mark´s,” Jaemin chuckles, even more amused by the situation.

“Then whose-” she stammers, getting interrupted.

“Mine.” It´s blunt, and just one word, but it hits weirdly hard when Jeno says it. Now this makes the whole situation more awkward. Linnea is at a loss for words, feeling as if she has done something forbidden.

Focusing on the preparations again, Jeno decides to simply ignore it. He won’t focus on such trivial things.

The silence is loud, tension high. The girl has her arms crossed, trying to ground herself and shed the weird feeling that bloomed inside her. This weird discomfort of intruding on someone´s private space.

“Alright! I think we are ready to go. Let´s throw out Hyuck so we can get going,” Jaemin eventually exclaims, clapping his hands together, mood bright and energetic.

What´s said is done faster than one might think. Donghyuck was roughly woken by the shaking of Jaemin’s hands on his shoulders. The sleeping guy groans a few times, mutters something about five more minutes, and then groggily sits up to rub his eyes. He blinks a few times, even yawns, and then, before he can decide to fall back onto his back to keep sleeping, he gets shoved out of the car. While he exits the car in this rough way, a thin necklace with a tiny key attached to it almost falls off his neck.

“Now, no need to be so mean, Jaeminie. I will go,” he complains, rubs his neck, and fixes the necklace while he slowly moves to one of the hammocks.

“Such a meanie,” he mumbles and lies back down, quickly falling asleep again because it was way too early for him to be awake.

“I will drive!” yells the brown haired boy, lifting his hand.

Jeno throws him the car keys before sitting down on the passenger seat, without any comment.

Linnea quickly moves to get into the back of the car, still stunned by the way they just got the other guy out of it.

The engine starts, doors close, and in the next moment, the car is carefully navigating out of the forest.

༺.༻

It smells like leather, a hint of cologne, and the faintest bit of gasoline and motor oil. Her eyes dart around the car, inspecting the neat and clean interior. A seatbelt is resting around her chest for safety. The scenery slowly changes from grassy hills to dusty, stony, old roads with cracks in them.

The hum of the engine is low, the radio is silent, no signal reaching them to convey any announcement. The boys don’t talk either. Jaemin is focused on the road ahead. Jeno is reading a journal he took from the glove box. Linnea has no idea what is written down in it. She would be lying if she said she isn´t curious, but she doesn’t wanna intrude.

Her eyes drift from the window to the rearview mirror, a little dice charm hanging from it and dangling with the movement of the car. They move further, Jaemin’s hand is resting on the gear stick. The next thing she sees is the key, stuck inside the ignition. On it hangs a key chain with a dog charm, a tag of pearls that spells `Snoopy`, and a peanut charm.

For some reason, her heartbeat picks up a little when her eyes land on it. She can´t help but stare at it. A faint ringing grows louder in her ear.

Suddenly, she is not in the car anymore.

“Look! …… look what mommy got me!” A little girl was running across the backyard of a house. In her hand a silver keychain.

“It has Snoopy on it! I love Snoopy so much!” the girl shouted, grin on her face. In the distance, a magical, almost fairy tale-like tune of piano notes drifted through the warm air.

“Stop running away ……. let me show you! ……..! ………!” the little girl called after a boy, who ran ahead of her, giggling. Eventually, he sat down on the swings and waited for the girl to catch up.

When she did, she held out the charm. He looked at it and smiled. “It´s so pretty. Just like you,” the boy said, ruffling her hair playfully.

“It´s the best birthday present ever!” the girl beamed and sat down next to him.

“…….! .……! are you two coming? We need to cut the cake!” a male voice shouted from the terrace door.

“Yes papa!” both kids yelled in unison, laughing as they jumped up and ran back inside.

…

…

“Mommy, I´m scared,” the little girl whispered, shivering as she clung onto her mother´s neck.

“I know, Sweetie. It will only take a short while, okay? Hold onto dear Snoopy for me, okay?” Her mother´s voice was soft as she tried to soothe the scared child, rubbing her back in calming circles.

The little girl nodded, gripping the key chain she´d gotten for her birthday, tightly.

…

…

“Are you scared?” the little girl asked. A boy sat in the corner of the bright room, head buried between his knees.

Slowly, his head lifted, and he nodded.

She stepped closer, trying to keep her head held high to not show any fear, like her brother used to do when she was scared of the dark or a thunderstorm.

“Take this. It will protect you,” she said, voice trembling.

The boy stared at her, then reluctantly took the key chain.

Then a door slammed open. Both kids flinched, frightened by the sound. A strange man in uniform entered and grabbed the little girl´s hand. She didn´t pay much attention to what he said; her gaze fell back onto the boy sitting in the corner of the room, holding the key chain.

She mouthed what she heard from her mother so often—stay strong —then the doors shut.

…

…

A distant cry is still ringing in her ears. It feels like she is watching a scene of a movie, standing by as an invisible third person, watching everything unfold. It feels so real and so close, yet so distant at the same time; she doesn’t know what to make of it.

Then she hears a faint snapping. Her ears barely register the sound. Her vision is blurry, but she makes out the movement of a hand in front of her. She blinks, trying to get back to reality.

“Hey, you okay?” a deep voice asks, hand still shaking in front of her face to grab her attention.

She blinks again and shakes her head before facing Jeno, eyes staring directly into his.

“Hmm? Yeah. I´m good. Why? What´s up?” she asks, still slightly disoriented and confused by whatever just happened.

The black haired boy raises an eyebrow, unconvinced by her stammering, but he also doesn’t care enough to question her on it, so he lets it go.

Jaemin is watching her through the rearview mirror, too, confused as to why she was just spacing out the past few minutes and not moving.

“Eat something. And give us a bottle of water. Jaemin is thirsty,” Jeno says, not looking at her anymore.

The girl takes a second to register the words, then she moves to grab a water bottle and gives it to the front. She also grabs two pieces of bread and gives them to them, too.

Jaemin mutters a small “thank you,” while Jeno just takes the things and focuses on the journal again.

She glances at it shortly, only seeing handwriting she can’t decipher fast enough before the page gets turned, so she sticks to munching on a piece of bread herself and looking out the window again.

The car ride is filled with silence once more, only occasional questions about the direction they are going are muttered here and there.

The scenery resembles a wasteland, no more plants in sight. Only the occasional thorned bush is passed by the car. It is a single road in front, and a jeep in the distance catching up to them.

A jeep in the distance catching up to them? That doesn’t seem right.

“Uhm, boys, I think we´ve got company,” Linnea exclaims, sitting up straight, eyes not leaving the jeep out of sight.

Jeno notices too. “Fuck,” he curses and says, “Hit the gas.”

Jaemin does exactly that, not thinking about it twice. The car speeds up, engine roaring. The jeep in the distance comes closer, reaching the road behind them with a little jump before it heads after them.

“The fuck do they want from us?” Jaemin mutters, keeping his eyes focused on the road but occasionally glancing into the rearview mirror to gauge the distance they have.

“For a jeep, the thing is fairly fast,” Linnea says, and she can feel the glare on her face.

The jeep was getting closer, only a good 20 meters behind them now.

“Can´t you speed up more?” Jeno asks.

“It´s harder than you think. The road sucks, and I am trying not to hit all the damn potholes it has and hurling us off the street,” his friend responds, also annoyed that they are getting tailed by a stupid jeep.

“Surely they are not here to greet us, right?” the girl asks rhetorically.

“Of course not. They are strays, trying to loot whatever we have on board. Acting like damn pirates or some shit.” Jeno´s gaze follows the jeep, and when it gets too close for his liking, he starts to move.

“Focus on the road,” he instructs his friend, earning a nod in response. Then he climbs to the backseat.

One hand grabs the headrest next to Linnea´s head, startling her slightly at the sudden proximity. His knee follows, and before she can think much more, he is already situated in the middle of the backseat, looking out the window.

The girl next to him looks at his face for a second before her gaze also drifts out through the window of the trunk.

“They must think we are loaded, judging by the literal sports car we are driving,” she voices her thoughts, the spoiler sitting on the back, not helping with the view.

The black haired boy ignores her comment and instead tries to grasp how many people they have to deal with. He could see a driver and someone in the passenger seat. But it was likely that there were more people in the back.

“Jeno, black out their vision,” Jaemin instructs, trying to keep the car steady while not losing speed.

“I can´t, I´m not close enough. My ability doesn’t reach that far,” he retorts, annoyed by his incapability.

“Yes, you can,” Linnea suddenly declares, earning herself the direct attention of the man next to her while she unbuckles her seatbelt and climbs to her knees, facing the backrest with her upper body. She then looks at him, too, a stern expression on her face.

“What? You forgot who you have sitting in the car with you, huh? If I remember correctly, I said I can amplify abilities, a few days ago, no?” Her voice is almost mocking, but because of the situation they are in, she doesn’t focus much on being mean right now.

“Just do your thing,” she instructs, and puts her hand on his shoulder.

Keeping his mouth shut, he looks at the damn jeep again. His eyes start glowing a bright red, and he can feel the surge of aura in his body upon her touch. His eyes darken slightly, and he concentrates on the perimeter of the vehicle tailing them.

Then, the inside of the car visibly darkens until nothing can be seen anymore, only black space left. The jeep swerves, losing control, and hits a pothole, maneuvering it off the road.

It hits the brakes hard, trying to stop any more wild movement, to avoid flipping over on its side. Jeno keeps his ability activated a bit more until they reach a good distance. Then the glow fades, and he exhales.

The girl’s hand lets go of him and returns to her side immediately, not overstepping any boundaries as they are anything but close enough.

“Good Job,” Jaemin says proudly, the grin on his lips audible.

Jeno rolls his eyes at the teasing undertone of his friend’s remark.

“Just keep going. And hit the gas. I´m not in the mood for them catching up,” he says and climbs back to the passenger seat, ignoring the girl in the back completely.

༺.༻

Once the car is parked in a secure area, hidden behind boxes of old rubble and a tarp cover lying on top of it, since no one is supposed to find it and try to steal it, they move to the entrance of an abandoned building. There was a big fence stretching around the whole area this building was in, so it must have been something with high security in the past. The next town is two hours away by car, so no civilization anywhere either.

“What is this?” Linnea asks, obviously meaning the building in front of them.

“Let´s find out,” Jaemin answers, lowkey excited.

The three of them move inside slowly and wary of their surroundings. The girl is using every bit of her senses to make sure she detects any aura activity before something can surprise them. Jeno gets comfortable with the absence of light immediately and navigates the place as if he knows it by the back of his hand. And Jaemin trots behind them, looking around in hopes of finding anything interesting, no fear in sight, even though he has a hard time seeing everything in detail.

“What are we looking for anyway? Like, what´s the goal of the mission?” her voice echoes through the facility.

She doesn’t get an immediate answer. It upsets her a bit because she wants to help, but can´t. The boys don´t make any move to give her an answer either, so she stops in her tracks.

“Guys, listen. I get that you don’t trust me. I totally understand it. But you have to deal with me regardless. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not. I am here with you, and I wanna help. So for fucks sake, what are we looking for?” she demands, having had enough of this secrecy.

Jeno sighs. He hates to admit it, but she is right. It´s not like they can just ignore her the whole day. And he also can’t ignore the fact that she helped him fend off the strays earlier, too. So he turns to face her, even though it is dark and hard to see.

“Have you heard of Eden?” he simply asks.

“Eden?” she thinks out loud. Of course, she has. She nods on instinct. “Yes, I have.”

“We are looking for clues. We want to find it and move there. It´s supposed to be safe and secure. A home. A permanent home. So we explore to find every clue we can find,” he explains.

Now that makes a lot of sense. It´s the same goal her group has. Kun´s dream of a secure home for all of them. Eden. A place every Amplified wishes to find so they don’t have to run away anymore and can rest from the lifelong chase that defines their lives.

“Alright. Let´s find clues then,” she says, determined.

Jeno nods and turns around. Then he starts walking again.

༺.༻

The building they entered feels odd. It has an energy about it that feels familiar, yet hostile, and Linnea doesn’t like it one bit. It feels unwelcoming and makes her want to turn around and leave. Her body definitely knows something she doesn’t. It´s as if it wants to tell her something important—give her a hint. Her intuition is screaming at her, but she ignores it for the sake of the mission.

They enter a room on the side of the hallway they pass. A cracked window lets in a hint of light, making it possible for her to see something more than the moving shadows of her two companions.

The room seems to be some sort of office, but also an examination room. There is a desk in one corner, and a broken chair lies on the dusty floor next to scattered documents and rubble. On the other side sits an examination chair, a machine floats above it. The glass of the lights and scanners in it broken. And on the wall, next to the window, a sign. One so familiar, the hairs on her skin rise in discomfort.

It´s the same feeling she got earlier. It´s as if she is floating. One moment she stands inside this room, and the next she is an observer of something she is willing to call a memory.

“Linnea was your name, right? Linnea Lee?” the man in the white coat asked, not bothered to look at the small girl sitting on the chair across from him.

The little girl nodded, not daring to utter a word, too scared of the consequences. She only dared to look around a bit. The office in which she found herself after meeting other children in a waiting room greeted her with its sterile atmosphere and the unwelcoming scent of antiseptics and old paper.

“Let´s do the test then and see what aura level you possess,” the man said. His gaze found hers, and her breath hitched, fear creeping up her spine. The girl reluctantly got up and moved over to the examination chair.

After she got situated, the man sat down at a computer, pressing a few buttons, and a machine above the little girl´s head started to move.

“Now don´t you dare move,” he instructed, pressing the final buttons. Then a beam glowed, scanning her whole body.

She didn’t move throughout the whole analysis. After it was over, she kept lying still, only listening to what the man instructed next.

He kept calm, writing something into the electronic device. She couldn´t read yet, so she didn’t know what. His expression didn’t tell her much either, so she dared to exhale slightly, letting some pressure go.

“Let me explain something to you, since this will be your new home from now on,” the man started. He then pointed towards a board on the wall that displayed many colors and some sort of table with numbers on it.

“This is the aura scale. It determines when one level starts and ends. Each level range has a distinctive color that tells us what danger level you can expect from aura-sensitive people. Do you follow along?” The girl nodded slowly, afraid to utter a word.

“Alright. Let´s start from the bottom. The harmless ones. The greens. As you may know, every human has an aura core resting next to their heart. We normal humans emit a level range of 0.0 to 0.9. That´s why we have no weird ability that harms others,” the man continued.

“Greens have a level of 1 to 2,9. They are basically harmless. Most of the time, at least. Their abilities are quite useful, too. So the ones with green, glowing eyes are the ones you wanna befriend,” he smiled at her, but she knew it wasn´t genuine.

“Next are the blues. Their level ranges from 3 to 5.5. They can be dangerous, but it´s still possible to deal with them. Nothing a gun can´t take care of, but nothing to be underestimated, depending on the level. Can´t compare the five-pointers to the threes.”

The girl listened intently. She felt like this was something she had to remember at all costs. Her eyes didn’t stray from the board, taking in the colors and numbers.

“Then the yellows. Level 5.6 to 6.9. They are dangerous. If they know how to use their ability. It´s annoying to deal with those if they are smart and less impulsive,” the man grinned, thinking of a past event the girl couldn’t have known about.

“After, follow the orange ones. Their level starts at 7 and ends at 8.4. They are dangerous, can kill, and if they have the nerve for it, take out a group of soldiers on their own.”

The little girl on the chair wondered if a group of soldiers was strong. Why would anyone fight soldiers, though? Weren’t they supposed to protect families?

“Then the top of the scale. The reds. There are two categories for them. What counts is, the darker the glowing color, the deadlier. The reds start at level 8.5 and end at 9.2 if they don´t exceed the bright red. But if you encounter a dark red, you’d better run. Their level goes from 9.3 to 10. There are few to live and tell stories of fights with them. Depending on their ability, they can take out a country,” the man chuckled. His crazy tone made the small girl shiver.

“What´s my level?” she asked carefully. She was scared of his answer. Was she dangerous? Did she hurt her mother? Is that why she was here?

“Well, your level is ……. So you better listen well. We don’t want you to cause trouble with the bigger kids and the staff here, right?” he grinned and looked at her with intensity. All the girl could do was nod, intimidated and scared.

Her ears are ringing again, faint crying is something she perceives, too, but she knows it’s not reality. The moment her back hits a cabinet, she gasps, getting thrown into the dark room she is standing in. Eyes flicking to each side in short panic. It is the moment she realizes where they are. The moment she realizes why she feels so uncomfortable.

Both guys look at her because of the sudden gasp. They were busy looking through the documents when they heard it a few seconds ago. With a hint of worry, they immediately shoot up to look for the girl, in case something is happening.

But she just stands there, eyes wide, a mix of fear and recognition shining on her face. Her hands grab the cabinet tightly, and it’s obvious she is trying to steady herself.

“You good?” Jaemin asks.

“This is a prison. A camp,” the girl mutters, still shaken by the sudden memory.

“Yeah. But no one is here anymore. So no need to get scared,” Jeno mumbles.

He doesn’t mean to sound as harsh as he does, but he can’t take it back anymore. He earns a small hit to the arm from his friend.

“Hey, it could be trauma, you know,” he mumbles, earning a sigh from the black haired guy. Jeno knows that, but his distrust keeps his walls up.

“We aren´t alone.” That´s what snaps both their attention back to the girl.

“What do you mean-” Jaemin starts, “A group of Amplified just entered the building. I can feel them.”

Linnea was sure of it. Five people. All above a 5. Coming in through the back entrance.

“Let´s keep going,” Jeno mumbles and actually takes her hand to guide her out of the room. Her eyes are still blown wide from the realization, so he doesn’t deem her fit enough to manage on her own just yet.

༺.༻

The trio stays quiet as they navigate through the upper floor of the building. Linnea grounded herself a while ago and is able to focus on the mission again, the memory not messing with her anymore.

“They are still downstairs,” she whispers. Both guys nod in understanding and keep moving carefully.

They move through the corridors like a harmonized unit, surprisingly acting fairly intuitively and with few words, understanding what has to be done and what should not happen.

When they arrive at a door that is locked and also marked with lots of barrier tape and a sign that says keep out, they know they have to enter.

“This will attract their attention, so we will have to be quick,” Jaemin says, having something in mind to open the door.

“We can fend them off. Don´t worry,” his best friend reassures.

Can we? Linnea thinks. She isn’t sure since she can’t detect their actual levels from this distance without fully activating her ability.

Jaemin takes a few steps back, urging the other two to move a bit so he has enough room to move. Then his eyes glow a strong orange. He takes a big swing with his arm, as if he is about to punch someone in the face. With it, the door creaks and cracks, and a few seconds later, it swings open with a loud thud, hitting the walls inside.

“Clean cut,” Jeno compliments, since there was no splintering when his friend opened the door.

“Quick, they are moving!” Linnea urges. All three step inside the room.

There are a few tables inside the room. It resembles something she knew as a classroom from her time at her camp. However, on the wall, in big, bold letters, a word stands out.

E D E N

There is sudden whispering. She hears it on both sides. Many voices whisper, disorienting her focus a bit.

“Get out.”

“Leave.”

“They want us all.”

“Run.”

“Find Eden.”

“Stay away from them.”

“Free us.”

“They listen to everything.”

“They see everything.”

“Guys? Do you hear that too?” Linnea asks, fear creeping up her spine. The whispers are getting louder, and it’s throwing her off.

“Let´s get out of here,” Jeno urges. He feels heavily uncomfortable with the fact that the girl next to him starts to sound a bit crazy.

Jaemin can’t agree more with the statement his friend made. He is more than willing to get out of the building, too. He can´t hear anything, like Linnea apparently does. But he feels something is off. His gut tells him to run. He doesn’t wanna argue with that. Besides, there is a group of strays on the hunt for them.

They run through the building, jumping over rubble, fallen walls, and other obstacles. Their breaths are audible, and their steps echo through the building.

“It´s so hard to see,” Jaemin complains, trying not to stumble over a stone in front of him.

“Just follow our steps,” Jeno instructs, knowing fully well that his friend is more than capable of following him without issue.

The girl who’s with them stays quiet, her focus not shifting away from the presence looming close and following them.

“We need to get to the car, quick,” huffs the black haired guy leading the trio.

There is a hallway up front, in it a row of windows closed by wooden panels. Making a quick decision, he fastens his pace and runs right in the direction of one of the widows. Then, with lots of force, he jumps into it, breaking the panel and falling through.

“Damn, do you want to kill us?” Linnea exclaims, following him and jumping out of the window too. She lands on a pile of trash and an old mattress, using the higher ground of it to jump to the floor. It almost makes her fall over and stumble, but she manages to stand.

Jaemin follows her, landing next to her after almost falling too. “Hey, you good?” he asks his friend, who is already scanning the area.

The one addressed doesn´t look at him and just nods. A few scraps are visible on his forearms since he used them to shield himself while jumping through the wooden panels. “Let´s find the car and leave,” he simply says, catching his breath.

Easier said than done. The strays hunting them came crashing through a door on the bottom floor, after the three of them rounded the corner to get to where they hid the car. Surrounded by five strangers, they stand back to back to avoid any blind spots.

“What do we do?” whispers Linnea, her eyes not leaving the figure in front of her.

“We fight. What else?” is the answer she gets from Jeno. Determination evident in his voice.

The sigh that escapes the girl´s mouth is loud, but she sees no other option either.

There isn´t much time to dwell on the decision, because the strangers move quickly. Their eyes glow from blue to orange, all activating their abilities.

Jeno and Jaemin also activate theirs. Only Linnea hesitates. She doesn´t want to go all out. In her mind, she needs to keep herself at bay to not give the two guys on her side more reasons to distrust her.

A guy with orange eyes, dressed in beige clothing, hurls himself at Jeno, a knife appearing in his hand, ready to slice the bigger guy´s face. Luckily, his reflexes are fast, because Jeno dodges the attack, ready to throw his fist at the opponent.

The whole attack causes everyone else to move. Suddenly, Jaemin is surrounded by two people in similar attire to the one who attacked first. He quickly pushes them away with a movement of his hands to create space. His telekinesis comes in handy with the number of people surrounding them, as they are outnumbered.

Linnea, faced with a girl around her size, locks eyes. The girl has her blue ones flash at her; a sudden feeling of disorientation hits and takes her by surprise.

She still doesn´t dare activate her ability, deeming it unnecessary, so she takes a fighting stance and lunges forward with precise movements, trying to hit certain points that would knock her opponent to the ground.

The fight moves fast. The fifth guy—one who moves insanely fast— joins his friend with the knives. Both attack Jeno in a simultaneous rhythm. However, he takes both of them with grace, using his dark matter to create armor against the knives. Dodging attacks from the speedy guy. Hitting them with punches right after their attacks. No unnecessary movements. He isn´t making it easy for them.

Jaemin deals great damage too, keeping the strays at a distance. One of them copies his movements to try and hit him with it, but fails. Even though the execution of the movements was a perfect copy, he never gets a hit in because the telekinesis keeps him away.

His friend then uses his ability to distract the brown haired boy, making him stumble in confusion for a second. This time, a punch hits. But Jaemin recovers quickly. He turns. Uses a lot more force than before. And slams the guy that just hit him with an image of his days in the camps, to the ground, leaving him unconscious.

Agitated by the unpleasant flash of memory, he focuses on the guy copying his movements again. A flicker of fear appears and disappears on his face upon Jaemin´s change in attitude. He messed with the wrong guy.

Linnea, busy with hand-to-hand combat, gets annoyed by the girl in front of her and the repeating disorientation. She can´t land any critical hits because her focus vanishes for a split second every time she gets close enough to successfully land a punch.

Glancing over to her companions, and seeing both of them busy and too distracted to pay her any attention, she makes a decision.

Her eyes light up for a quick moment. The girl in front of her goes to the ground immediately, pain coursing through her whole body. Using the opportunity, Linnea hits her near the shoulder, and she falls unconscious, knocked out by the hit.

Turning to the shadow user close to her, she sees how he is keeping up with the two men, attacking him rhythmically. Since there are only three left, she feels the need to make it quick.

Using the same trick she used a minute ago, the speedy kid flinches in the midst of his movement, giving Jeno the opening to land a serious hit and knocking him out.

He then dodges another knife attack. With the added focus, it´s easier for him to fight the guy. One of his hands creates a shadow that swallows the next knife stab head-on, making it possible for him to grab the guy´s hand. The stray can´t dodge the punch that hits him, and because of it, he drops to the ground, nose bleeding and limbs filled with vibrating pain.

Jaemin doesn´t need much effort to knock out the copy guy either. A few slams with his ability, and the guy is knocked down, unable to fight anymore.

Huffs and heavy breathing fill the air.

“Are you guys okay?” rings the female voice in the ears of the two men by her side.

Both nod, calming down from the action.

“Let´s go. Before they regain consciousness,” Jeno mumbles.

With fading adrenaline, they rush to where they parked their car. The stuff hiding it is thrown to the side in a rush. The tarp is torn off, too, leaving the car free.

They get in. The key hits the ignition. The engine roars, and with it, the tires grind on the dusty floor when they start to move.

The ride back is silent. All three of them too tired to speak. Linnea is barely staying awake. The whole day, having hit her with memories and flashbacks, was too much.

Jaemin takes a little nap in the passenger seat. His head rests on his arm in a position that doesn’t put any pressure on the part of his face that got hit.

And Jeno just drives. He looks focused, but his mind is racing. Reviewing the events of the day. Unsure of what to make of them.