elevate | stray kids (feat. day6)

chapter four: bittersweet reunions

"I caught him falling out of a portal." Minho said, standing up as if he meant to leave the room. "Did you see it, or something?"

"No, I..." Chan looked at Hyunjin with an... intense look. His voice became quieter, as if he was thinking out loud, and Hyunjin could only catch part of what he was saying. "...both ... must be..."

"Chan," Hyunjin said sharply, cutting off the muttering, "What's going on in this world? Everything feels off, and Minho told me that Jisung and I are dead here... How did that happen? What's going on?"

"You both died in an accident." Chan said without hesitation. "This world has become a hotspot for portals opening up, and that brings a lot of dangerous things with it. We don't know what it was exactly... but it killed both of you."

A loud bang echoed through the apartment. One of the bedroom doors had just slammed shut behind Minho walking inside.

"Is... he okay?" Hyunjin had felt disturbed by Minho's behaviour this whole time.

"It's hard seeing someone you thought was dead." Chan replied. "He's just upset."

"That's... He seems more angry, if anything."

"Tell me about where you came from. Your world." Chan said suddenly.

"I don't know what there is to tell," Hyunjin was bewildered by the question for a second time, "It's normal. There's not much to it. Unless you count when we had to fight against these sentient shadows a year ago..."

In a split second, the air became colder. And even though the lights were on, the room seemed to become darker, somehow. Chan was strangely still, and staring at Hyunjin unblinkingly.

Instinctively, Hyunjin stood up as a shiver ran down his spine. "There's something you're not telling me." He said.

Chan tilted his head. "It's nothing."

"It's clearly something! Why are you lying to me? I don't know what the hell is going on here, but I just want to find Jisung and go home!"

"Jisung?" Chan raised an eyebrow. "Why would he be here?"

"Because he's an idiot, and I'm an idiot too, because I went after him. So if you're not gonna tell me what's going on, can you at least tell me if you've seen him?"

Chan hummed, sitting down on the couch. "I haven't seen him." He then gestured to where Hyunjin had previously sat. "Sit."

The air was still cold.

"No." Hyunjin said, shaking his head. "I need to find him. I'm sorry."

He began walking towards the door, when something grabbed him from behind. A wisp of shadow, clinging onto his jacket harshly.

"I'm sorry too." Chan's voice was emotionless. "I can't let you go."

Darkness, falling, consumed by the infinite nothing. The memory was alight inside Hyunjin's mind again, as was another one.

It was a conversation he'd once had with Seungmin.

"There's an infinite number of worlds. That means there's a world where none of us met, or a world where we're a fucking idol group or something. Whatever you can think of, it exists."

"What about a world where we're evil?"

"Well, duh. I just said it can be anything."

Falling into the darkness. How stupid had he been to not have his guard up? To trust a familiar face just because it was familiar?

He was shaking, overwhelmed with fear. But slowly, he reached into his back pocket, fingers enclosing around the pistol. He had to find Jisung, which meant he needed to get out of here. He needed to fight back.