12 — STRANGERS IN A DREAM

strange invisible guy appears in the picture. meanwhile, seungyoun starts to grasp the powers eunsang actually has.

—

the moment his finger touches the ice, suddenly the figure of the person materializes, revealing the person beneath it.

".. what?"

wooseok sprints his way back outside, now bringing along seungwoo with him. "no i didn't do it on purpose, he was already there! and it's strange because he appears to be the invisible— what in the world."

his eyes grazes upon the sight of the boy appearing beneath the ice. his mouth falls wide open. "yohan?"

"you know him?"

"of course i know him, he's the annoying kid who keeps stealing my colored pens!"

wooseok and seungwoo heads closer to the frozen man, staring at him in awe. "what are you waiting for? unfreeze him!" eunsang chimes.

with a flick of a finger wooseok turns the ice back into water, seungwoo catching the boy's body before he could tumble to the ground. "he's the person i least expected of an x1," seungwoo mumbles bluntly as he carries the boy's body.

they made their way to the infirmary, making a very panicked seungyoun even more panic. "THERE'S MORE OF THEM?!"

that's how seungyoun ended up having to take away the pain of 2 people just in the last hour. he touches the boy's skin, sighing restlessly. "he's alright, though he might've gotten hypothermia if you didn't bring him quickly to me. that's must've happened because a specific someone decided that freezing people's brains would be a great idea."

"well it's not my fault that i've never encountered an invisible person before." wooseok snaps bitterly.

seungyoun grins. "you must have never meddled with ghosts before, then."

"nonsense. ghosts aren't real.. aren't they?" wooseok assures to himself, now feeling a bit quite uncomfortable.

"anyway, the kid's just in deep shock." seungyoun continues massaging the boy's upper limbs. "invisibility, and also teleportation. spent the last hours confused, i bet he's been invisible since he woke up this morning. i don't think he knows what's he's doing—"

"AHH!"

"AHHH!" seungyoun backs away from the boy that suddenly starts screaming. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

yohan gets up, his stagnant eyes looking around his surroundings. "where am i? i'm not at the forest, am i? not in north pole? france? south africa???"

"hey dude, relax! you're in school now." wooseok approaches him, looking at him with concern.

yohan stares at them blankly, before he responds with an excruciating face. "HOW IS THAT ANY BETTER?!"

"easy now, buddy." seungwoo says calmly.

"i can't, i can't k-keep myself here, i just keep losing m-myself." yohan stutters, his whole body shaking.

"what do you mean you're losing yourself— dude, why are you flickering?!" wooseok shouts, patronized.

yohan's body starts to fade to nonexistence, yet again. opacity of his bewildered face starts to flicker. "i'm going to disappear again, i'm going to lose myself again, i'm going to— wait, is that red hair that i'm seeing?"

eunsang's eyes flutter, noticing that he's referring to him.

"am i at weasley's house?"

wooseok sneers "what are you talking about—"

"yes, you are in weasley's house." eunsang steps forward, furrowing his eyebrows. "in fact, you are in a dream. this is a dream, and you're just a few minutes away from waking up. so please, if you may, return back to bed and close your eyes.."

yohan leans back to the bed, his eyes locking unto eunsang's.

"that's right, just like that. you're going to wake up soon. all you have to do is close your eyes.."

his eyes slowly close, then his consciousness dissipates all at once. the boy passes out on bed, sounds of his snores heard just a moment after that. eunsang took his time to appreciate his own work, before he turns around to face his seniors who are apparently looking at him with surprised looks on their faces.

eunsang raises his eyebrow. ".. what? he's not going anywhere when he's sleeping."

—

"since when are you an expert of hypnotizing teenage boys to sleep?"

seungyoun and eunsang end up having their long awaited conversation in a restaurant near school, because the infirmary seemed to be too crowded to be occupied at the moment. it took a while for seungyoun to convince seungwoo that minhee and yohan are going to be alright without his superstition, all they need is plentiful amount of rest and sleep. seungyoun also emphasizes that he hasn't gotten any rest as well after absorbing the pain of two individuals in the last hour, so at the end seungwoo gives in and allows him to at least take a break.

eunsang shrugs. "i don't know, i didn't even know i had the talents—"

"wait, shut up our drinks are coming." seungyoun cuts off, his eyes shifting across the waiter that was walking towards them. after their drinks are served, seungyoun drinks his beverage so quickly to the point the sound of his swallows comes out inaudible.

eunsang squints his eyes. "why did you order a fresh-pressed only watermelon juice when you can just drink the juice out of an actual watermelon?"

"why, you got a problem?" seungyoun scoffs. "this is only a modest replacement. i usually drink ox blood."

eunsang eyes widen.

".. after i absorb people's pain. it's a great source of strength!" he reasons as he takes the last gulp of his drink.

"you want another?"

"nah, i'm good." seungyoun clears his throat. "anyway, about what i said earlier."

"yes?"

"before we continue this, i want to ask you a question." he leans to his seat. "and when i ask you this, i want you to be absolutely honest. you know i can't read your thoughts, so this is only about you and your dignity. you and your trust towards me and the rest of the team."

eunsang nods. he doesn't feel like he has anything to cover from seungyoun anymore. he feels like he's already a part of the group, although he did a somehow fatal mistake just before then, he still feels included to the team.

"alright, eunsang." seungyoun puts his hands on the table. "yesterday when i fell on stage because of seeing you, did you really not feel anything? did something trigger your senses to the point you looked so shocked?"

eunsang pauses, unable to answer. what happened in the hall, the first encounter he had with them that felt ages ago, it appears as a blur in his memory. in fact, he's not actually quite sure of what happened that day. all he knows was that.. "we looked at each other. i saw you, and i felt like i've seen you before."

"you've seen me before?"

"yes, it's like we've met, i felt like i knew you, but those memories are locked away in a certain part of my mind that i couldn't grasp." eunsang continues on. "your name, seungyoun, immediately appears in my head. and like a struck of lightning, i felt suddenly.. sad. distressed. like i felt like i had the immediate response to cry."

seungyoun nods, surprised to hear his part of the story. "so what did you do?"

"nothing, really. i wasn't able to think straight, it's like i wasn't really in my right mind. i didn't even get to see you fall at that point, my thoughts only focused on the grief.. whilst another part of me focuses on searching for this memory i thought i never had."

seungyoun looks at him, stunned.

"...don't tell me you remember me too." eunsang raises an eyebrow.

"you think this is a soap opera? of course i don't." he answers. "however, i'm sure that means something. you recognizing me though we haven't even met—"

"maybe we did, though. you just don't remember it."

"no one can mess with my memories, so that's very unlikely."

"anything's possible at this point. someone could've rendered your memory."

"or someone could've rendered your memory." he strikes back, now feeling a bit threatened. "don't think about it too much, maybe you're just thinking of another person."

eunsang nods. just like wooseok had said, seungyoun is quite selfish when it comes to expressing his opinions, so he's not surprised of this rude reaction. "alright, i told you what i saw. how about you? what did you have to say to me?"

seungyoun sighs. "your powers, i think i'm starting to get a hang of it."

"i'm sorry?"

"after a few incidents that feels like a coincidence, i finally have made up my mind. you are of the same essence. if something unusual happens, it usually leaves with your tracks."

"i still don't understand."

"everyone has their own essence, eunsang. i could see it if wooseok was the one who did it, or if seungwoo-hyung was the one who did it, their powers usually leave tracks to the one they left behind." he explains. "but after i examine of the things that happen, i'm quite sure that these things that happen, they happen because of your powers."

"my powers?"

"when my head stung, that was your doing. when hyeongjun explodes into great light, that was your doing. when minhee fell and somehow survived, that was your doing. wooseok told me that yohan didn't appear until you touched him, that was definitely your doing." he states all of his proof. "those things that happened, i just knew it happened not because of the person who did it itself but it's because of you. you are the source of power. the power didn't respond to its owner, it responded to your plead. your command."

he remembers the thoughts that appeared on his head during the incidents said earlier.

"so you're saying.. i controlled them?"

"you saved them. you were the one who helped kickstart their power. that's why i can't read you, it's because you're position's right above me, eunsang. you could control me whenever and however you want and because of that.. it makes you stronger."

eunsang shakes his head. "no, it must've been a coincidence. i can't just wish for something to happen to a person and it just.. happens."

"but the thing is, you can." seungyoun says with a spark of hope. "and you're just getting started, this is just nothing compare to what you have in you, eunsang. you're not just above us x1, you have the power over us."

eunsang wasn't used by the thought of him overpowering anyone, especially a group of great individuals with powers of their own. "that means i could control you?"

"if my theories are correct, yes you can." he answers. "and if you're as strong as i think you are, soon you could take control of everyone. i do also have another theory in mind, but i have to check it's credibility before i can proof that i'm correct."

"what is it?"

"wait— ah just in time!"

eunsang turns around to see wooseok, seungwoo, and yohan walking towards them, with yohan still holding unto wooseok's shoulder. "seungwoo hyung, come here!"

"what is it again, seungyoun-ah?" seungwoo walks a bit faster, his hair covering up his eyes. "you need me to massage you again?"

"no! i just want you to light up a little fire, that thing that you do with your hand?" seungyoun says as he gestures at his hands. "that shooting fire pew pew thing?"

"like this?" fire appears on seungwoo's hand, burning quite frivolously.

seungyoun gets up and heads closer to him. "yeah.. now if we try doing this!"

he grabs eunsang's hand and put it right through seungwoo's blazing fire. eunsang shouts in pain, feeling the burning sensation right on his fingertips. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR, YOU'RE GOING TO KILL ME!"

"yeah, i don't think so.." seungyoun mumbles.

eunsang opens his eyes, a bit of his pain dissipates as he did so. he looks at the hand in which should've had caught on fire. it looks surprisingly normal. no burns, no blisters. "what happened..?"

"my hypothesis has turned out correct." seungyoun grins. "you're not just immune to my powers, you're immune to everyone's."

—

ooOoO eunsang power reveal #1 (because x trainee eunsang is very cool)

happy birthday cho seungyoun, may you enjoy your first birthday alongside the other x1 members~

70 votes for next chapter~