elevate | stray kids (feat. day6)

chapter nine: break open

"We need more force," Seungmin said, "And then we can get the portal to stay open long enough."

"That's great and all," Changbin said, rubbing his arm where it still ached, "But five hundred punches was a lot, even for me. The power nap hasn't magically made me fine."

"I never said you'd be doing that again. But on the topic of your power nap: you and Chan had some kind of dream?"

Changbin shook his head. "I don't remember it. But it was something to do with the shadows." Just vaguely dreaming about them had left him feeling shaken.

"Well, could you try to remember it?"

"It was to do with Jisung as well." Chan added, frowning. "But that's all I can really tell you, as well as the fact that I woke up with a really bad feeling. Like... the world had tilted on its axis."

"That's because you fell off the couch." Minho said helpfully.

"Yelling at people is not a nice way to wake them up," Changbin retorted spitefully, "I don't blame him."

"Next time I'll just let you sleep through the world ending, then."

"Are the stakes really that high?" Felix questioned, his eyebrows furrowing.

Minho levelled him with soft glare. "Can you imagine living in a world without them? We've been running around like headless chickens for long enough. Seungmin, whatever your fucking plan is, let's hear it."

Seungmin nodded mutely. "Let's put the dreams to the side, for now. We won't get anything out of them. If anything, it suggests some sort of connection or overlap between our world and the one Jisung and Hyunjin are stuck in. That's dangerous, and yes, actually world threatening, but we can use it to our advantage."

"How do we even know that Hyunjin went to the same place?" Chan asked. "We know that he is somewhere - we heard his voice - but there's nothing pointing towards Jisung being in the same place."

"You're technically, right, but... I've been going over it in my mind, trying to figure out how Hyunjin got there. If there is a link between that world and ours, a weakened divide, then it's only logical that he ended up in the same place. It wouldn't have been possible to go anywhere else, I don't think. But for us, for some reason, it's different. It's not so easy. I just wish... we knew what he did to get there."

Minho made a noise in the back of his throat. "You said the world was a mirror variation, right?" He exclaimed. "Some things are similar, some things are different?"

"Yes."

"Then... we can guess that a version of me exists in that world. That bomb that came through the portal had my signature on it, I'm the only person who could have made it. What if what's stopping us getting there so easily is the fact that there are duplicate versions of ourselves existing there? I'm willing to bet it would fuck with the multiverse if there were two of one person in the same place at once."

Seungmin's eyes widened. "It's all about balance. That's it. We shouldn't exist there as more than just one person. It would tip everything over the edge."

"But then how did Jisung and Hyunjin get through?" Changbin reiterated.

"Maybe they just don't exist there." Minho shrugged.

The air temperature seemed to drop as they all mulled it over. Like a cold draft was wafting in through an open window, or something...

Jeongin stood up, his face pale as he looked towards the door. "Shit, there's a shadow again! Fuck off, you piece of shit!"