Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I stepped out of the portal, looking around at the world of the past. It was a lot more run-down than I remembered. I heard Chan’s voice in my head as I started down the hall. “You have five minutes, Minho. Jeongin will bring you back at five minutes whether you’re ready or not.” I took a deep breath, looking back as the portal closed behind me. “Your timer starts…Now”

~

I only have enough rations for two days. I’ve already tried eating less or even nothing at all, but he doesn’t like it. In two days, I will have to leave my home to get more supplies, and I’m not sure if I can handle it. Inside is safe. There’s no risk inside, as long as I let him out every day, but he’s greedy and takes more time than he needs, and sometimes I’m not myself again until it’s dark out. Maybe that’s for the best, though- leaving under the cover of the night.

I grab a granola bar, unwrapping it and munching slowly, flipping through the mountains of maps that I lifted in my last supply run. If I go to Gear it’s a two-day trek, but everyone’s already looted everything near me. Sunny brushes against my leg and I scratch under the old cat’s chin. I have to, and maybe he will help me, but it’s risky. There’s a creak in the hall.

I scramble for my knife, holding it towards the sound and backing away slowly. How did they get in? I have this place fortified against the strongest opponents, it should be impossible to infiltrate it. “Who’s there? Show yourself!”

A shadow is visible in the hall now, slowly approaching, hands raised in a placating gesture. “Easy there, Kitten. I’m from the future, we need to talk, and we don’t have much time.” He comes into the light, and he’s gorgeous. All sharp features and soft pouty lips. He flips his wrist to look at his watch, cursing and looking back at me. “I’ll get right to it because I only have three minutes. You need to leave. Go to Gear and find me. Lee Minho- I don’t know where exactly I’ll be, but I’ll be somewhere in the city. You’re not safe here anymore, something big is coming, and I’ll need your help to stop it.”

He sat on the ground in front of me, pulling his keys and phone out of his pocket and placing them on the floor in front of him. My grip relaxes on the knife, and I set it next to me, eyeing him warily. “Why should I trust you?” Even as I say it, I know that I can. Sunny rubs her cheek against his knee, and he moves a hand to scratch her ear.

“If Sunny doesn’t need a reason to trust me, why do you?” He’s right, Sunny scents him like she’s known him her entire life. “Listen, Jisung. There are seven people you need to find to stop the smoke.” Sunny licks his hand and he uncurls it for her, offering his palm to her. “You have to go within the next two days, because in two days I’ll be out of the city, and if I leave I’m not sure if you’ll be able to find me before the smoke comes.”

“Within two days? It’s a two-day walk from here! Even if I left right now, I wouldn’t even make it there before you left, let alone find you in one of the biggest cities in the country!” Even if I asked him for help, I still would never make it.

“I guess it’s a good thing I brought this then,” He glanced at his watch, eyes widening before scrambling to shove his keys into my hand, “It’s parked outside. Make sure to watch the battery, it’s solar-powered, just press the little sun button when you’ve stopped to let it charge.” He brought his hand up to my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb before swooping down to catch my lips.

I squeaked in surprise before leaning into his kiss; It held so much love, and no one has kissed me like this since he had come along. When he pulled away, his eyes were wet, “God I miss you, Kitten.” His forehead rested on mine, and the next thing I knew my arms were going through his body. “We’re out of time, Sungie.” He pulled away from me and I could see through him. Minho gave me a lopsided grin and dropped his hands to the side. “Say hi to Han for me”

He was gone before I could say anything. How did he know about him?

~

“Sunny I don’t have time to deal with this. Just get in the car, please?” As it turns out, Cats don’t like cars. I already had the rest of my food, blankets, a sleeping bag, and a couple of miscellaneous personal items packed into the spacious and futuristic car; but I wouldn’t leave without Sunny, and she was being difficult. At this rate, I would have to let him out before we even left- that, or face the consequences of keeping him locked up for too long.

I grabbed Sunny by her scruff, holding her up to my face. She stared at me with vicious eyes, holding her arms straight out, claws flexed. “Don’t you wanna see Minho again, Sunny? We can’t see him unless you get in the car and be a good girl, so will you please just cooperate with me?” This seemed to have worked, because she went limp in my grasp, allowing me to drop her in her bed that was situated in the passenger seat.

I got in beside her, starting the car and checking the battery. It was at fifty percent. We would have to stop halfway to the city to recharge. I pulled out of the driveway, bidding my house goodbye, taking one last glance at the boarded-up windows before speeding off in the direction of Gear.

The only thing that differentiated the miles of cracked road and desert wasteland was the music softly playing from the speakers. Whatever Minho was listening to was still playing through the device plugged into the auxiliary cord, and I can’t help but think of him. The way he kissed me like he knew me, his eyes when he pulled away, filled with sorrow. He said he missed me, what happens to me in the future? If I’m not with him, what does that mean for me?

An alarm screeches through the car, the lights flashing red. I pull off the road and stop at a small village, parking on the side of the road and tapping the smiling sun on the dash. The roof expands upward before splitting and flattening out into two large solar panels.

“Stay here, Sunny.” Sunny ignores me, stretching out in the newly exposed rays of sun before flopping down and going back to sleep. Looking at her, I feel a pang of guilt in my heart, she’s been without the sun for years just because I couldn’t handle the outside world. I shake it off, I can’t think about the past now.

I make my way to the grocery store in the center of town, an uneasy feeling worming its way under my skin at the lack of people. I’ve been walking for probably five minutes now, and I haven’t seen a single citizen. It’s almost as if the whole village is deserted.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind rushes past me, almost knocking me off my feet. Once I’m stabilized, I continue my trek - doubling my speed towards the store. The breeze brushes me again, and I stand my ground this time, continuing on and finally reaching the grocery store. Once inside, however, the phenomenon continues. The grocery store is deserted, as if everyone has just up and left, one of the conveyor belts on the checkout lanes still rolling. The uneasy feeling intensified, along with the anxiety that I’ve had ever since leaving Trix.

Trix was one of the great cities of the district, Gear and Sol the others. Ever since D-day, Trix had been looted and pillaged, the crumbling buildings ravaged of all supplies and valuables. People would steal anything in the hopes of making a quick luna. It seems, though, that I won’t need any luna to get supplies, so that’s good.

I grab a reusable tote bag from one of the registers and proceed to fill it with canned food, crackers, anything I can get my hands on that doesn’t need to be temperature controlled. Once I have two bags hanging from my shoulders, I grab a bag of cat treats and hold it in between my teeth before hefting two gallons of drinking water in each hand and leaving the store, making my way back to the car.

The breeze seems to have stopped as quickly as it came on. It does nothing to settle my nerves, the buzzing of cortisol racing through my veins almost too much to ignore. The car is in my eyesight when I glimpse something duck behind a building. My heart nearly stops, and I keep my eyes on the building, walking still, but waiting for the slightest confirmation that I’m not seeing things. About forty feet from the car, a humanoid figure darts from the building I was watching to another one, one closer to me. I set down my supplies.

“Who are you? Stop lurking. Come out!” My voice is deafening in the silence of the abandoned village. There’s a quiet gasp from behind the building, and then a boy side steps out from it. He has short brown hair and his hands are clenched in fists by his sides. “Come here! I’m not gonna hurt you, I just want to talk.” The boy hesitates for a second, swaying forward as if he was going to come towards me, then back again. Then I blink and he’s about ten paces in front of me.

Now that he’s up close, I can see his tan skin and a dark smattering of freckles. “Why are you here? Where did everyone go?” His voice was deep and filled with emotion. His hands clenched and unclenched by his sides.

“What do you mean? There were people here?” He nodded, looking towards the car, gesturing to it before speaking again in that abyssal voice.

“I was- I was, um, playing with my sister just- just before you pulled up, and now… now she’s gone, and-and so is everyone in the whole town. I can’t- I can’t be alone. I just can’t.” Tears dropped from his eyes and it hit me. It had been too long. This kid’s fear was beating out mine, so I hadn’t noticed. I reached out for him, gripping his shoulders in my hands.

“Are you scared of being alone? Is that your fear?” Once he nodded, I knew I only had two choices. Let him out, or take this kid with me. Any day, I would choose this kid over him. “Can I tell you something?” He nodded again, sniffling and wiping his eyes. “The reason everyone is gone is because of my power. If I go too long without using it, it brings peoples’ greatest fears to life, and since your greatest fear is solitude, everyone in the town is gone.”

The kid gasped, “You have powers too? I thought I was the only one!” He looked at me in wonder, eyes wide with hope. “What is your power? I’m super fast, that’s why I almost knocked you over earlier, I got a little too close, I’m sorry about that!” His brow eyes now held a hint of embarrassment.

“That was you? Well, now I know why you’re not affected by my power, at least. Let’s just say that my power makes me someone that I’m not. I’m sure that you’ll find out soon what it is, but I don’t know if I can trust you yet.” I picked some of the supplies back up, handing a bag of groceries to the kid, gesturing him to follow me.

We put the bags in the trunk, and I checked the battery real quick. It was only at forty-eight percent. We’d need a little more time. I turned to the boy next to me. “I’m on a mission. I have to go to Gear and find someone because something’s coming. Something bad. I was told that I need to build a team, and I want you on it. Do you want to come with me?”

The kid gasped, “Of course! I’ve been trying to get out of this damn town for years now, but when no one has a car, it’s nearly impossible! If I’m coming with you, we should get more supplies, it’s not like they’ll need it anyway, half of the stuff in that grocery store would expire before they ate half of it.” he turned around back towards the store and started marching towards it. I followed along behind him. “By the way, I don’t think you told me your name? If we’re going to go on a quest together, don’t you think I should know?”

I laughed, “You haven’t told me your name either, though. I’m Jisung.”

He turned around with a sheepish smile on his face, before shooting his hand out in front of him. “Hello, Jisung. I’m Felix”

Chapter Text

We drove for hours. Felix chattered away in the passenger seat, Sunny on his lap, eating out of a can of fruit cocktail. “So your power makes people’s greatest fears come to life? Not cool man.” He offered a chunk of pineapple to Sunny who, after an investigative sniff, took it gratefully.

My hands tightened on the wheel. I never liked talking about him, but if this kid was in for the long ride he needed to know- for his own safety. “That’s just one of the side effects if I go too long without using it. I don’t know if there are more because I’ve never been able to go without using it this long.”

Felix raised an eyebrow. “Why haven’t you been able to go this long?” He finished the can and reached back to tuck it in the makeshift trash bag in the back seat. “If your actual power isn’t the fear thing, then what is it?”

I thought a minute about how much I wanted to tell him. On one hand, I just met this guy, but on the other, I know him so much already. A road trip is probably the best way to get to know someone, especially when your power makes you the last two people in the world. As I open my mouth to answer, the cabin fills with red lights and blaring noise. Felix jumps and clutches his heart tight, fingers going to his neck to feel his pulse.

I sighed again. Looks like the battery lasts shorter than I expected. We were losing sun fast, so we’d need to stop as soon as possible to get the most battery. I glanced at one of the old battered signs that littered the road, leftover from D-day. There was a town in four clicks. We would stop there to recharge and replace the insane amount of food Felix had raided from the supplies we took from his hometown.

I pulled off at the exit, old asphalt giving way to dirt roads. We drove through the town, and for the first time since I met him, Felix was silent. The town-if you could call it that- was barely a cluster of shacks around a giant building labeled “CHARMER SHOPPING CENTER”. Felix turned to me, a grin on his face.

“You know what that is?” He asked me, practically vibrating in his seat, “That’s what the old worldies called a mall and we, my dear Jisungie, are going to it.” I rolled my eyes, I had learned on the drive that Felix had an obsession with the people of the old world, the ones that lived before D-day. I adjusted my course, heading straight towards the ‘mall’. Once we were close enough, I stopped the car and pressed the little sun, scratching Sunny’s head before following Felix into the mall.

~

“Look Jisungie! Clothes!” Felix pulled me into a store with a decrepit sign reading ‘Forever Young’ and started browsing through the stacks of outdated clothes. I wasn’t much into fashion, but the collared loose black tops with abstract neon lines going across them weren’t really my taste. I go to another stack and find a black T-shirt with blue smears in a wave pattern across the abdomen. There was also a magenta squiggle following the middle of the blue, and frankly, it was quite pretty.

I strip off my thin raggedy tee, the rough plant fibers scratching against my face. The new shirt is soft and thick as I slip it over my head, and I look around for an outer layer, as the nights are cold and there isn’t much time until the sun is completely gone from the sky.

On a rack further into the store, there’s an aqua hoodie that almost matches the color on my shirt, and I grab it, but when I go to put it on, there’s a stupid design of a hot dog on the back and a corny joke below it so I shove it back on the rack with a scoff. Felix calls me over, and he’s replaced his shirt with the collared abstract one, and he’s holding up a black sweatshirt with a magenta hood and I grab it from him and put it on. We make our way to the bottoms section, and while I grab a pair of blue pants, Felix goes straight to the skirts.

He looks at me nervously, before coming back over to the section that I’m at. “Ah, decided on some jeans, eh?” So that’s what this fabric was called. Jean. I looked over to Felix, he had a frown on his face as he perused the pants next to me. I turned to him and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Lix… If you want to wear a skirt, I’m not going to judge you. You may want to find some high socks or a blanket though because the nights are cold and we’ll have to drive through it.” Felix’s eyes widened and he darted over to the skirts, picking a cute pleated black skirt with a matching pattern to his shirt out of the racks, the hanger rattling as he drops it to the ground, and I turn around as he changes into the skirt. I pull the jeans on, the fabric hugging my ankles and resting snugly on my hips, the dark blue highlighting the curve of my calves and thighs.

I look over to see if Felix is done changing, only to see that he’s nowhere to be found. “Felix?” I call out, a pang of fear shooting through my chest.

“Over here!” Felix’s voice was further in the mall, and I stepped out into the corridor to follow it. The broken tiles and fallen debris guided my path as I made my way to a store with a sign that read ‘Peds’. Felix was sitting on a bench surrounded by shoes, currently examining the pair of neon blue velcro low-tops on his feet. “Do you think these are cute?” He got up and walked around in them before looking to me for my approval.

I glanced over them- they were cute. Especially paired with the socks he had picked out- they were black and frilly around the ankles. “Yeah, but are they comfortable?” His eyes widened and he pointed at me in a ‘you right’ motion before blipping off to run around the mall. I rolled my eyes, heading over to the section that Felix-presumably- got his socks from. I grabbed off a pair that went above my ankles. My old socks had a hole in the toe, and my shoes were worse. They had been repaired multiple times- having only been used on supply runs in Trix, I would’ve expected them to be in better shape, but the plant-based textiles of the new world were fragile at best.

As I threw my broken and torn foot coverings over to join Felix’s, he returned. He had handfuls of jewelry; various rings and necklaces spilling from his grip. He offered one to me, and I took it hesitantly. “I figured we might as well look pretty while we save the world. I picked those out for you. The shoes are really comfy by the way.” Felix was slipping his rings on his fingers, and I followed suit before pulling on my new socks. Just then I felt a rush of white-hot anger shiver down my spine. I paused, clenching my hands into fists as I shoved the anger into the back of my mind like I had done so many times before.

I straightened up and stepped over to the wall of shoes, choosing a pair of regular old black shoes with a white stripe down the side. Once my feet were fully covered, I went back over to Felix, motioning for him to follow me back out into the hallway. Felix walked ahead of me, chatting animatedly, his skirt swishing with each step. I was cozy in my jeans and sweatshirt, but Felix only had on a skirt and a button-down, and I knew he would get cold sooner or later, so we made our way down to the big store at the end of the mall labeled ‘Haven’.

Haven was filled with everything from couches to drills, but we needed the bedding section; and just as we were arriving at it the anger returned, heightened this time, enough to bring tears to my eyes and make me grind my teeth. I stopped walking and instead focused on my breathing, one big breath in, one big breath out. Slowly the feeling receded once again to the back of my brain but Felix, who hadn’t noticed that I had stopped, bumped into me at that exact moment and it all burst free.

I saw red- whipping around to shove at Felix, “What’s your fucking problem, dude?” Felix stumbled back, shock apparent on his freckled face. “Watch where you’re going, dumbass!” I reached forward to shove him again but caught myself. Why was I mad at him? He hadn’t done anything wrong. Tears brimmed in his eyes, and my hands shakily covered my face. “I- I’m sorry.” I dropped to the grimy floor, yanking at my hair and trying to grasp what I had just done. Why was I so angry?

Felix wiped his eyes and crouched down next to me, sniffling as his hands laid themselves on mine, stopping my pulling. He pulled me into him, laying his head on mine and bringing his mouth down to my ear. “There’s someone watching us.” I stiffened in his arms. “Act normal, let’s get what we need and get out of here, then we can talk.” His grip fell to my arms, hoisting me with him as he stood back up. I wiped my eyes, looking into his steely ones as they glance infinitesimally to the side.

I turned back around, swiping my gaze over where he had looked as I do so, catching the shadow of a person from behind one of the fixtures. Like robots, we marched to the bedding section, grabbing a couple of patterned blankets before marching back out of the store. We continued down the halls, making our way back outside. The whole way, the fury I had felt before nagged at my mind, but now that I knew it was probably caused by whoever was following us, it was easier to keep it in check.

We reached the mall entrance and I turned to Felix. “I’m gonna confront them.” Felix’s eyes widened at my hushed exclamation and they flickered behind us before pressing his lips into a thin line and nodding curtly. I handed him my blankets and the car key, jerking my head toward the entrance. Felix gripped my hand tightly before blipping out of sight. I turned back to the seemingly empty hallway, clearing my throat and raising my voice. “Stop lurking and explain yourself to me!”

A boy stepped out of the shadows, a mischievous grin plastered across his face. I only caught a glimpse of him before pain filled all of my senses and I crumpled to the floor.

Chapter Text

When I came to, I was bound to the broken-down carousel horse ride that sat just inside the mall entrance. My wrists were tied to the horse's reigns and my ankles were bound together just under its belly. I knew that whoever tied me up probably did it well, but I gave the binds an experimental tug anyways, not shocked to receive no slack. I looked around, my vision slightly blurry. I groaned and slumped against the cold metal of the horse, the energy leeching out of me. I heard the crunch of glass, the ruins of the mall hard to sneak in due to the rubble littering the floors. I drag my head to the noise, grunting at the boy with the grin that slowly paced towards me.

“I bet you’re wondering, ‘What happened?’, ‘Why am I so tired?, ‘Who is this guy?’.” His voice was so soothing. I wanted to slip off to sleep, but this sense of urgency kept me awake. Why was I here again? I needed to do something, but I can’t fathom why I would leave my home for the outside world. “I’ll answer your questions in due time, but first I need you to answer a couple of questions for me. Why are you here, and what happened to everyone when you pulled into the parking lot? Now, I’m going to give you your energy back, and if you do anything except answer my questions, I’m going to knock you out again.”

Slowly, my brain started waking up. I lifted my head, letting out a yawn before blinking the haze away from my eyes. “You know, the theatrics aren’t necessary.” I smacked my lips, tilting my head side to side before resting my chin on the the top of horse’s cracked, glossy head. “You’re still here because you have powers. I have them too, but if I go too long without using mine, the worst fears of the people around me start coming true. The boy I was with- Felix- his greatest fear is being alone, so as far as I know, everyone within like a twenty-mile radius just ceases to exist when he’s near me. We’re here because we needed to find a place to stop and charge our car’s battery.” I yawned again before raising my eyebrows at the boy in expectance.

“Oh...kay. So you weren’t looking for me?” The boy stopped his creepy pacing, instead standing there awkwardly, “Why are you traveling out this way, anyways? I would've expected people like you to be ransacking the city or something like everyone else.” The boy’s voice held a disdain that made it clear he had a vendetta against vandalism.

I squinted at him, “Do I really look like I’m up for ransacking?” If the dark circles under my eyes weren’t enough, the gaunt look and gray pallor gained from my reclusive lifestyle back in Trix were definitely enough to throw someone off. “Look, I’m heading to Gear. I’ve been given a mission to assemble a team and stop some mysterious force called ‘The Smoke’ and so far I’ve only got one person. If you’d like to come along, great, but we have to hurry, I’m kind of on a clock here.” I jostle my restraints to emphasize my point, and the boy looks around the mall, contemplating his choices.

Having seemingly made up his mind, he hustles over to me and starts tugging at the knots on my restraints. “You know, I’m sorry about all this, it’s just my best friend was kidnapped a while ago and I’ve been paranoid ever since. They just came out of nowhere, and I couldn’t take them all on at once so my friend- we’ve been friends since we were children- hid me and gave himself up so I could get away.” He moved away from my wrists, wrapping the rope through one of his belt loops.

I flexed my fingers, trying to get the blood flowing again as he knelt down to work on my ankles. “I’m sorry about your friend.” He gets the knots done on my ankles a lot quicker and soon, I’m hopping off the horse, giving a little stretch, and motioning for the boy to follow me. We walk towards the entrance of the mall, the sun filtering through the doors and glinting off the shattered glass scattered on the floor. “I’m sure he didn’t deserve that, but he sounds like a hero.”

The boy nodded solemnly, eyes trained on the ground, placing his feet carefully on the floor in front of him. “He was. Is.” He trailed off, looking back at me before picking up the pace to open the door and hold it for me. I muttered my thanks before taking the ten steps to the car, sliding in and avoiding Felix’s questioning glance. I hit the sun button, the roof folding in on itself once more as the boy from the mall slides into the back seat before exclaiming, “Oh, I’m sorry!” Sunny gives an indignant trill before jumping to the front seat and curling up next to Felix.

Felix lifts a hand to smooth down the raised fur on the length of Sunny’s back. “I’m Felix! My power is speed!” Felix blurts the information, going red around the ears almost immediately after.

I look in the rearview mirror and meet The boy’s eyes before focusing on the dash, putting my seatbelt on, starting the car, and putting it in drive. “I’m Jisung, and I’d rather keep my power secret. Though you know the side effects already.” My fingers grip the wheel a little tighter, and if either of them notices, they don’t acknowledge it.

The boy nods, following suit and clicking his seatbelt into place before folding his hands in his lap. “I understand that you aren’t comfortable sharing your power, and I respect that. My power is emotion manipulation and I’ve also recently developed the power of suggestion, though I’m not doing very well in controlling it.” He wrings his fingers together, before shooting straight up with a shocked look. “Oh! I totally forgot! My name is Seungmin, it’s nice to meet you!”

Chapter Text

At some point, Felix and Seungmin had dozed off, both leaning their heads against their respective windows. I was starting to get tired too, but being the only one that could drive in the group, and the time limit still pressing on us made me persevere. We had just barely made it to the outskirts of the city when I nodded off, the vibrations provided by the rumble strips jarring me back to consciousness.

Unfortunately, this also woke my passengers, Felix grabbing the handle attached to the ceiling with one hand and feeling his pulse in his neck with his other. Seungmin leaned his head through the gap between the front row, eyeing the bags beneath my eyes.

“Maybe we should call it a night? We can stop over there- the place with the lights.” He pointed towards the left, the shining spotlights gliding through the sky. I nodded and swerved towards the off-ramp, keeping my eyes on the swaying lights as I navigated through the back roads of the city of Gear. When the lights were mere meters away, I parked the car around the corner of an adjacent building, motioning to the guys to get out of the car before placing Sunny’s bed on my seat and allowing her to nap once again.

After a series of long yawns and languid stretches, we set off towards the spotlights.

~

“Come one! Come all! To the Circus Fairytale!” An announcer stood on a platform in front of a red-and-white argyle-patterned tent with a creepy clown peeking off the roof. “Acrobats! Magicians! Strong men!” The man continued, flamboyantly gesticulating from his perch.

“Oh nice, Seungmin. Take us to the freak show,” Felix muttered, rolling his eyes before grinning to himself, “What could go wrong?”

Seungmin scoffed, glancing at the announcer and then the jesters that stood on the ground next to him, directing the streams of light coming from their hands. “It’s not my fault you’re finally where you belong.” A smug look laid across his face, flinching when Felix drew his arm back in a threatening stance before both shaking their heads and focusing their attention back on the path ahead of them.

“Come one, come all!” The announcer shouted once again, “Aerialists! Face Changers!...” Seungmin stiffened and grunted at his words, drawing my gaze to him. He looked distraught, eyes shimmering with unshed tears, but it was only for a second before he dropped his shoulders and focused his gaze straight ahead- steely and cold. I quickly glanced away, feeling that I was witnessing something private.

When we passed through the tent flaps, the bleachers surrounding the circular pit in the middle of the room were practically empty. There was another curtain on the other side of the pit, and painted faces peeked out of it, nervously glancing at the sparse seating. As soon as they appeared though, they disappeared without a trace.
Our party found seats in the front row on stage right, and soon after we settled down, the announcer closed the flaps that we entered from, swirling his capes as he sauntered into the middle of the room. “Attention ladies and gentlemen! I see we have a full house tonight!” The audience took a collective glance around the room, perplexed expressions painting every face. The announcer noticed the problem with his script, apparently, as he cleared his throat and smiled abashedly before sweeping his arms wide in a welcoming gesture.

The quirky music in the background continued along jauntily, not noticing the announcer’s mistake, though Seungmin shook his head incredulously, brown hair swishing bouncily. He grinned and looked to his left to me, rolling his eyes before looking back at the man on the floor.

“We have a spectacular show prepared for you today, as it’s the day we have our more…” He looked to the ceiling, gathering his words in a ridiculously embellished manner before looking back to the audience with an unnerving cat-caught-the-canary grin. “Red-letter performers showcase their talents.”

Seungmin and Felix both turned to look at me warily, and I didn't need to speak with them to know what they were thinking. This guy was unnerving. Up close, his clothes were faded and eaten by moths, his face gaunt and gray. Even his face paint was cracked and caked as if he kept re-applying instead of starting fresh. His bony hands waved wide in a gesture of welcoming, showcasing his tattered outfit.

“I am your ringleader, and I promise you an evening filled with chilling wonder and uncanny excitement! Now, let’s welcome to the stage…” A drumroll sounds throughout the showground, “The Oaf.”

Chapter Text

A large, hulking figure stepped his way out from behind the curtain that lined the back of the circus floor. As the figure came into the light, it revealed a man with black hair and an undercut, a sharp chin, and two slashes through the hair on his brow. He was wearing an interesting shirt-half of it being a flannel print and the other half being a gray sweatshirt material- and it was layered on a pair of tight denim jeans.
There was a gray choker around his neck that read “OAF”.

“Welcome, Oaf!” The ringleader announced more to the crowd than to the performer. Oaf swept a theatrical bow before reaching up to his shirt and peeling it off. Underneath he was wearing a black tank top that showcased his unnatural physique, broad shoulders, and defined muscles. “Why don’t you show us your skills? I’m feeling the Savannah today.”

Oaf nodded, cracking his knuckles and stretching his neck before flexing his muscles and getting onto all fours. Felix and I looked at each other, pursed lips struggling to keep our laughter from bursting out. We turned our attention back to the ring and noticed that the man standing like a dog in the middle of the ring had taken on a gray pallor. Like he was literally gray. Then, all at once he burst out of his clothes and grew to be ten feet tall with large ears and a snout longer than he was tall.

An elephant. We had just watched this (very good-looking) man turn himself into a trumpeting elephant. The crowd- all ten of us- went wild with raucous applause, and someone to our left whistled, while the elephant slowly made his way around the circle of the ring. “Ah, there we go! Now, Oaf, I think we should make a stop in China!”

The elephant threw his head before stopping in his tracks. The gray pallor of his skin slowly morphed into an orange and black striped pattern, shrinking until he was about the size of a small human, ears twitching and tongue licking the sharp teeth in his mouth. He continued walking around the ring, this time his gait was predatory and languid.

The ringleader kept calling out different areas, “Mexico!” Oaf turned into a large green snake, slithering his way around the stage, “Antarctica!” A penguin, squawking and waddling in circles. Each time the Oaf turned into another animal, it took more time. His breath got heavier with every transformation, too- watching a blue macaw pant is something I’d never imagined seeing. “And finally…” All of the spotlights in the room flashed toward the grounded bird, his eyes squinting at the bright beams shining upon him. “Dragon.”

The crowd let out a collective gasp, moving to the edge of their seats in anticipation of the large scaly creature. The bird on the floor let out a loud caw, twitching around and molting feathers as the blue bled from his skin and green replaced it. The last transformation took almost two minutes until the giant slithering figure of a traditional eastern dragon sat curled up on the floor, blinking anticipatorily.

The ringleader produced a plump rat from his pocket and tossed it towards the ground, the rat shocked for a second before scurrying against the wall away from the large coiled predator. The dragon perked up, uncoiling and slithering to follow the little rodent in its fight to escape from him. The rat was fast, but the Oaf was faster. Once he caught up to the skittering figure, the Oaf blew a puff of smoke at it, a small stream of fire cooking the rat alive with a squeal before snaffling it up and eating it whole.

The crowd was silent as the dragon slithered his way to the ringleader, slowly morphing back into the short boy that he was at first, though this time he was only wearing a pair of boxers and nothing else. The muscles on his abdomen rippled with effort as he gasped for breath, “Everyone! Let’s give it up for our amazing Oaf!” More applause rang through the arena. We stayed silent, examining the Oaf standing silently next to the ringleader with downcast eyes and slumped shoulders.

Once the applause died down he swept a low bow, and I must have been hallucinating because his back seemed pinker than the rest of him, but he straightened so quickly that it must have been a trick of the light. The Oaf stepped backward through the curtains, keeping an eye on the ringleader until he was engulfed by the velvety sheets.

Chapter Text

“Our next act is gravity-defying, dizzying, and dangerous! Please welcome… The Acrobat!” The ringleader swept his arm wide again as a woman came down from the ceiling, dangling from a ring by her legs. I took this as my opportunity to investigate the circus following The Oaf’s act. I turned to both Seungmin and Felix, miming that I would be leaving and that they could stay before slipping through the velvet curtains at the entrance of the big top.

I kept my footsteps light, listening for the ringleader’s voice to make sure he wouldn’t catch me as I made my way around the back of the tent towards the roped-off area. There was another voice as I drew near, this one nasally and light- “You know there’s only so much I can do, you need to stop angering him. One of these times, I’m not going to be able to fix the damage, and–” he stopped abruptly as my foot nudged a broken bottle sending it rattling across the floor. I waited for them to begin speaking again, but a hand shot out from the curtain and fisted itself in my shirt. A face poked through the same curtain, revealing the owner of the voice. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

I raised my hands in surrender, “Listen, I was just worried about your friend’s back. Seems like you’ve got that covered, though, so don’t mind me.” I tried to pull away from the hand grasping me, but the grip was hard and weirdly wet. The wetness made me glance at the hand; there was no distinction between his fingers and the space separating them, only the thinning of the skin between each muscle and bone. They were webbed. I looked back up at his face and the odd sheen of color across it. “You’re a mermaid.” The long-haired boy gasped and pulled me over the rope and into the area behind the stage.

“What do you want and why are you back here!” There was an unsettling hiss to his voice now- a high-pitched screech underneath his words. Tears beaded in his eyes with the intensity of the words. The shapeshifter behind him had a dubious look on his face, but hadn’t moved from his position on the bench of a rickety vanity placed on the grass of the backstage area.

“Jinnie, I don’t think he meant anything bad-” The Oaf was standing now, and grabbed the mermaid’s shoulder, rubbing it consolingly while eyeing me up and down. The mermaid’s grasp softened as his eyes scrutinized me. “I think he was just shocked. You know how rare you are.”

The grip on my shirt slackened before he completely let go of it. “You’re right. I just wanted to check and make sure you were alright after your performance. He was pushing you too hard out there.” I thought back to the labored breaths each animal took and shuddered at the thought of using my power that much. “I’m gifted too, so I know how much we can be exploited. Haven’t you wondered why it’s so empty in the arena?”

The boys looked at each other, silently communicating before fixing their gaze back on me, “So what are you saying? You can make people disappear?” ‘Jinnie’ asked defensively, shuffling back towards his friend and away from me.

“I’m saying that there are side effects of my power, but they don’t affect people like us. One of the people I’m here with- Felix- his biggest fear is being alone, so my power makes it come to life around us, but it doesn’t work on people like us.” I looked between the two, their faces shifting from apprehension to doubt and then, finally, disbelief. “Look I’m not gonna sugar coat it- it’s crazy. Some dude came to me, saying he’s from the future, told me to get together a group of 7-including me I guess- and then go find him in Gear. Which! Is one of the biggest cities in the nation and I don’t quite appreciate the vague directions, especially when we’re supposed to be stopping this unstoppable force that I have no clue how to beat or even what it is. So yeah, join us if you want but we have to decide now.” I shook from the force of the words, catching my breath and regretting each one.

‘Jinnie’ and The Oaf glanced at each other. They seemed to communicate for a second before turning back to me and speaking, “We’re in.” Jinnie took a step forward and continued, “But you have to wait until after my performance. The Ringleader will know if we’re missing much sooner if I miss my act.” The Oaf nodded along, seemingly having forgotten about that aspect of their lives.

“Okay, then. Meet us at the car out front after you go on.” I gave the two a look, raising one eyebrow in sarcastic affront, “Should we exchange actual names now or?” They both laughed.

“I’m Seo Changbin, and this slug is Hwang Hyunjin. Everyone around here calls us ‘Binnie and Jinnie’.” It was ‘The Oaf’ (Or Binnie) talking as he gestured between each of them to introduce themselves.

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Han Jisung.” I gave them both a bow before turning to walk back out the way I came. I stopped, calling back over my shoulder, “And Hyunjin?” Hyunjin made a hum of acknowledgment at his name, “It’s your last performance… Make it good.”

Chapter Text

Whirling around and slipping back through the curtains, I hurry back to the open flaps of the tent. Before heading inside, I sneak a glance at the car, hoping to see Sunny and reminiscing about the short-lived meeting of the gorgeous man- who could very likely be my future soulmate- that it belonged to. My eyes lock onto the futuristic body and wide-open solar roof, feeling a restless and overwhelming sense of Deja Vu the longer my gaze lingers on the vehicle.

Suddenly, my vision goes foggy, and my feet trip over themselves as I’m launched into a memory that definitely wasn’t mine. It feels foreign, like I’m remembering someone else’s life, though I know it’s still my eyes taking in the scenery- the same car is now parked on a sandy dune, solar charger still active, and the ocean stretched into the distance behind it as far as I could see. The sun burned brightly behind the double silhouette Minho and his car left in the late afternoon haze.

The intermittent spray of saltwater made the air around me taste dry and chalky as I caught my bearings in this new, temporary world. I could smell my soulmate’s cologne despite the distance, the same warming scent that wrapped around me when we kissed, lulling me further into the hallucination. A bird cried a short, high-pitched squaw behind me as I glanced down at my now-bare feet, digging my toes into the warm sand and sighing at the serene scene.

As I finally met Minho’s eyes, he extended one of his hands out to me, patting the passenger seat of the car with the other to lure me into the spot. Apprehensively, I weighed my options: Option 1- give in to this gorgeous man and do whatever he wanted, or Option 2- stay grounded, snap out of this mirage, and follow his directions in real life. Minho sensed my hesitance to join him and started towards me, still reaching towards me with one of his hands, the other tucked behind his back as if to hide it from view.

Despite the seemingly peaceful environment, Minho’s gaze was anything but innocent as his bare feet padded through the sand- his dark eyes heated and alive. I felt my hand come up instinctively to reach out and meet his as he closed the distance. A pair of sunglasses slipped down the bridge of his nose as he knowingly watched me wet my lips, thinking back to the charged kiss we shared earlier in the day.

Dragging my focus down his body, past the subtle gray of his shirt and the deeply scooped neckline that threatened to expose his chest with one wrong move, something uneasy gurgled in my stomach, my heart palpitating with it. I ignored it. Minho’s strong thighs were encased in the softest blue jeans, and I suddenly felt the urge to run my hand down the appendage to feel the fabric and, subsequently, the muscle underneath.
Somehow, I knew the way that Minho would hiss if I dug my fingernails into his leg, or the whine he would make if I did the same to his scalp as if I had already experienced the effects firsthand. This must’ve been another aspect of the hallucination or memory or whatever it was- knowing things about the man that I couldn’t possibly know after meeting him one time.

Minho’s presence felt unreal, and the whole thing felt like a memory I had since forgotten or perhaps hadn’t experienced yet. As he got further from the car and closer to me, his loose-fitting shirt blew softly in the breeze, his hair mirroring the movement, and revealing a large, angry scar underneath his collarbone. My heart ached at the thought of the man getting hurt, but in his wind-swept state, Minho’s adoring gaze overwhelmed the feeling and made the moment feel somehow electric. “Come on, Jagiya… have a little fun for once.”

I felt Han roar in protest, and his presence bubbled up in the back of my throat, fizzing like Pop Rocks as he tried to take over control of my body. These are lies! Leave me be! The demonic voice is almost enough to make my ears bleed. The side effects of locking him away were increasing in number. It had been far too long since I had let Han take over, and I won’t be able to hold him back for much longer until he assumes the position forcefully himself. Knowing that letting him out now would have immense repercussions, I stumbled out of the vision with a sob, clawing at my throat as I swallowed down the foamy substance fizzling in the back of my throat.

When I look back at the car after shoving him down, there’s nothing there- no Minho, no beach, no blinding sun. I shook my head and resumed my trek back into the big top, still anxious from the sense of foreboding caused by the vision. Han would need to be let out soon; the visions were only one of the side effects of his lack of freedom, but if I let him out now, it would be hours before he wanted to turn over control again. I had people that needed me and a mission to complete; there was no time to lose to my greedy other half. I’d just have to hope that the rest of the journey went without incident.

I finally made my way back to my seat on shaky legs, ignoring Felix and Seungmin’s questioning glances as I settled back into my seat between the two. The acrobat had finished their act before I returned to my seat, and the next one was a pointy-eared lady who seemed to be able to change the direction of her throwing knives as they flew towards their target. I leaned back in my seat, motioning for my companions to do the same.

Chapter Text

There were only two acts between Changbin and Hyunjin’s performances. In hushed voices throughout the second act, I filled the boys in on the plan to include the carnies in the rest of our journey. “One of them is about to go on, and the other one is Oaf- the shape shifter from earlier?- his name is actually Changbin.” Giving Felix a sidelong glance, and smirking at the blush sweeping its way across his freckled cheeks. “In case you hadn’t noticed, they've not been treated very well, so try not to stress them out… Seungmin.” I gave the grumpy boy a pointed look, and Seungmin gave a huff of indignation but didn’t otherwise argue the point.

I turned back around, clapping politely as the knife lady swished off stage. The ringleader made his way back to the center of the ring again, his yellowed and crooked grin strained- no doubt a result of the dismal audience and especially the unrest that must be among the cast at Jinnie and Binnie’s backstage scheming. He raised his arms wide, twirling a cane in one of his gnarled hands- the contrast of the birch wood handle to the stained scarlet tip shocking under the stage lights.

Alarm bells rang in my ears as I thought back to Hyunjin and Changbin’s conversation from earlier. What did Hyunjin mean when he told Binnie to stop angering him? Was he talking about the ringleader? I knew that my companions noticed the cane’s odd coloring too, a sudden stiffness in their demeanor. Felix’s delicate hand clenched in his lap, and Seungmin coughed loudly- as if he had gagged and covered it up with the action.
Despite our disturbing revelation, time continued to move, as the despicable man continued hosting his human zoo. His voice rang out across the arena as a shadow moved behind him, “Our last performance for the night is one unlike anything you've ever seen before.” I moved to the edge of my seat at his words. This is it… The caped man’s “All the way from the deep sea- a land of deceit and wonder- welcome to the stage… the face-changer.”

The ringleader spun away behind the curtains, revealing the mermaid’s form, yet when my gaze landed on his face, confusion left me gawking at the miniature replica of the otherworldly host who had disappeared backstage. The boy just laughed, his gangly form bowing and moving towards our side of the crowd.

Once he got closer, I could see the difference between his outfit and the original inspiration showed, as Hyunjin’s was clad in an opulent pearl-studded black jacket, the tails swishing elegantly behind him, and the baggy pants flowing freely as he shuffled around the arena- a stark difference to the moth-riddled clothes of the costume’s inspiration. I was enthralled. I haven't seen this aspect of his powers yet, and his theatrical ability was undeniable the longer he was on stage.

I felt like I had to watch closely to see if Hyunjin would take my advice and go out with a bang as he walked further into the ring, producing a bottle of water from his coat pocket, a mischievous grin on his face. I hear a soft gasp from Seungmin beside me as he scooches to my side to match my precariously perched stance in his seat. The mermaid took the top off the water bottle as he looked around, zeroing in on the only other member of our section, a middle-aged woman with purple irises and a braid down her back.

Hyunjin narrowed his eyes and focused hard on her face, his eyes going distant for a moment before coming back to himself and taking a swig of the water bottle, followed by a mouthful so big that his cheeks puffed with the fullness of it. He held the water in his mouth, closing his eyes before swallowing it and relishing in the moment for a second, relief smoothing out the crease in his brow that I had begun to think was just a staple to his character.

He then held his hands out in front of him, palms facing upward as water started to drip from seemingly nowhere on his wrist, only to trail down to pool in his cupped hands and settle there. He pulled them apart and straightened his hands out, the water coming to wrap around his hands as it swirled there. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought he dipped his hands in paint.

Hyunjin pulled his water-paint-covered hands to his face and smeared the water around, moulding it in a mask over his face. Hyunjin then stretched and shifted his features with the water, slowly changing one mask into another as he cracked his nose out of place, and finalized the new mask with an angry red scar down the neck of the man’s olive-pitted face.

There was a gasp from the female audience member, and she started weeping and reaching for the mermaid across the short barrier before remembering herself and clutching the offending hand over her heart. The performer shook his head in like an Etch-A-Sketch, and the appearance of the other man fell away back to the unsettling imitation of the macabre showman.

Hyunjin moved down the line, the boy next to me chirping in surprise when the performer locked his narrowed eyes with Felix’s. His freckled face flushing red as Hyunjin moulded his face into his friend’s, a face that he knew very well. A chuckle settled in my throat, low and teasing as I watched the interaction, glad that my radar hadn’t been off when I’d clocked the way that his posture changed and his breathing had quickened before he had crossed his legs and played with a thread on his skirt for the rest of Binnie’s performance.

As Hyunjin went through his motions, shake, regain his bearings and then pivot his step to face the next audience member for his read the next person, I crossed my legs to hide my hand against my arm, ready to pinch or dig my nails into it to keep at bay the fizzing anger that started churning at the back of my throat again. As Hyunjin’s eerie ringleader-replica face turned to face mine,and we finally linked eyes, I could feel something move into my brain, like fishing wire pulling at my eyelids, drawing out information that I tried to yank away from him.

When the mermaid probed my I felt Han shift in the back of my mind as if in defense against the intrusion of my mind. Hyunjin’s hands were covered in water again, and once again he pinched and pulled his features until his face was one I recognized very well, with sharper features and cat-like eyes. A shiver ran down my back as I was met with the face of the man I had met not even 24 hours before, even though it felt like a lifetime ago. Water was coming out of his wrists again, this time to drop onto his legs and feet, shrinking and growing in size until he matched the man’s body type in every way.

I allow myself to get caught in my head for a second, the beautiful face of the man who probably knew everything about me in the future staring back with a smug grin on his face.