The Mystic 4

The Annex

Key laid down in the practice room. He'd been crying for an hour. After the conversation with Minho, he needed to be alone for a bit. That was the first time he talked about his brother since he died. He didn't want to cry in front of Minho so he left the guys. They didn't ask any questions about his lame excuse though. He was finally starting to feel better when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." The door opened at the sound of Key's voice. Minho walked in. His face had a blank expression as he sat down in front of Key.

"You okay?" Key nodded. Minho knew he was lying but he wasn't going to push it. "Well, I found something that you might be interested in. The guys are already there. You wanna go?" Key thought for a moment before nodding. Key stood up with a smile. Minho did the same before grabbing Key's hand. Key raised a brow.

"You want to hold my hand?" Minho only nodded. Key could only shrug as Minho led him to where they were going. It was a five-minute walk across the building. Key looked around wondering where they were. Then, he realized they were on the closed-off side of their hallway. At the end of the hallway, there was a metal door. Minho pressed his hand to what looked like a palmprint scanner. The door opened, revealing another hallway. They walked further in to see another door. Minho motioned for Key to scan his hand. There was an expression of shook on Key's face when it opened. Minho smiled at Key before pulling him closer. There was one last door at the end of the hallway. Minho opened it, revealing a room that looked similar to a bunker. Taemin and Onew sat deep in conversation at a table in the middle of the room. They looked up when they heard Minho clear his throat. There was a smile on both of their faces.

"Hi, Key. Hi, Minho." Onew said, with a smile. Taemin didn't say anything. He seemed to be zoned out. It took him a good minute to see the guys. When he did, there was nothing but a nod from him. Key and Minho wondered what going on but Onew just shook his head, motioning them to not ask about it. Key and Minho sat down at the table. Onew smiled at them before he began talking.

"I've already scoped out the place. It doesn't seem too special. It's kind of like a bunker. The only weird part was that we were able to get in with the handprint scanners." The other three nodded at his words. This was all their first time at the school. They were anxious at the thought but the one that seemed the most anxious was Taemin. He looked very uncomfortable with the silence of the unknown room they sat in. Onew laid his hand on Taemin's arm and squeezed it lightly. Onew looked at the distressed younger for a moment before talking again.

"I'm gonna get Taemin out of here for a bit. It seems that something is troubling him." Minho and Key nodded as Onew took Taemin's hand and pulled him out of the room. Key turned to Minho with a raised brow. It was Minho who spoke.

"Something going through his head?" Key nodded with a frown.

"I'm not exactly sure what it was. All I could get was that the feeling he got was something similar to what he felt as a kid. I can only imagine that it was a horrible memory if it affected him that badly. Give him time. He'll come to us when he's ready. For the time being, let's explore this place and see what we find." Minho nodded and stood up. He walked to the far corner of the room where there was another door. Key was behind him and holding onto his arm. Minho lightly smiled. With all the crap Key went through, he found it kind of cute that Key was leaning on him for comfort in that moment.

********************

Onew held onto Taemin tightly as they walked out of the Annex. He could sense Taemin's anxiety so strongly that he wasn't sure if it was Taemin's and not his. Taemin was fighting it. He obliged to being dragged out by Onew. If Onew hadn't dragged him out, he was afraid that he would have frozen from fear. When they finally got out, Taemin took a deep breath to calm himself. Onew still held onto Taemin's hand. Taemin didn't mind though. If anything, he needed Onew right now. Onew seemed to feel without having to hear the words spoken. They walked over to the steps and sat down. Onew was afraid to go any further with the look Taemin gave him. He decided to ask the younger. It took him a good moment to find the right words.

"Can you tell me what happened in there?" Taemin looked up at Onew, feeling as if he needed to cry. He couldn't though. For some reason, his body wouldn't let him.

"I don't know." He whispered. Onew rested his hand on Taemin's knee in comfort.

"Why's that Taeminie?" Taemin did cry then. He wasn't sure if it was the situation or the softness in Onew's words but he sobbed then. Onew felt helpless at that moment. He wanted so badly to help Taemin feel okay but he didn't know how. He had never so badly wanted to wrap someone in his arms and make all their pain go away. Taemin looked up at Onew's eyes. The was the first time in 10 years that he'd genuinely seen someone hurt for him. He decided to do something then. Maybe it was a want. Maybe it was a need. Either way, he wiped his tears and pressed his lips to Onew's. Onew was genuinely surprised for a moment before kissing Taemin back. He could taste the salt of Taemin's tears on his lips but he didn't care. If this is what Taemin needed, he was willing to do it. Not because he felt bad but because he could feel the need Taemin had to escape to safety. Onew was more than happy to be Taemin's safe. He indulged even. This was the first time in his life that he didn't feel scared to care for someone or to love someone. The kiss lasted for what seemed like an eternity to them. They only pulled apart when Taemin lost his balance and fell backward. Onew quickly put his hand behind Taemin's head to make sure he didn't get hurt. Onew only ended up falling on top of a laughing Taemin.

"It's as though I literally fell for you, Hyung." Onew laughed deeply before brushing some hair out of Taemin's eyes.

"It does seem that way, doesn't it?" They laid there laughing for a while, completely oblivious to the two guys at the top of the stairs smiling down at them.

*************************

That's it for this chapter. Don't worry. You guys will find out what happened to Taemin in the next one. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Also look forward to Key and Minho in the next chapter. Hehe. Bye Bye, lovelies.