The Invasion (Part 2 of the KaiSoo Fanfic Series)

Chapter 12

"'And it came from the sky.' 'That's right,' the old man said. 'Just the way it used to.' 'Before Sameness. Before Climate Control,' Jonas added. The man laughed. 'You receive well, and learn quickly. I'm very pleased with you. That's enough for today, I think. We're off to a good start.' There was a question bothering Jonas. 'Sir,' he said,' The Chief Elder told me-she told everyone--and you told me, too, that it would be painful. So I was a little scared. But it didn't hurt at all. I really enjoyed it.' He looked quizzically at the old man. The man sighed. 'I started you with memories of pleasure. My previous failure gave me the wisdom to do that.' He took a few deep breaths. 'Jonas,' he said, 'it will be painful. But it need not be painful yet.'"

There's a new found happiness in listening to Hanjae read to him that Asher has only recently begun to take notice of. It's what makes him dread the nights that come when it's his turn to read and his turn to stay inside and make sure his guardians are still taking their evening rest. Perhaps it's because he's just accustomed to hearing the narrator rather than being it, but regardless of the cause, Asher likes it when Hanjae reads to him. He loves it actually. It brings him a certain type of peace and comfort that only Jongin could before; a kind of peace and comfort that can make him forget that he lives in a world where those two concepts are foreign and forbidden. 

"Jonas obeyed cheerfully. He dosed his eyes, waiting, and felt the hands again; then he felt the warmth again, the sunshine again, coming from the sky of this other consciousness that was so new to him. This time, as he lay basking in the wonderful warmth, he felt the passage of time. His real self was aware that it was only a minute or two; but his other, memory-receiving self felt hours pass in the sun. His skin began to sting. Restlessly he moved one arm, bending it, and felt a sharp pain in the crease of his inner arm at the elbow. 'Ouch,' he said loudly, and shifted on the bed. 'Owwww,' he said, wincing at the shift, and even moving his mouth to speak made his face hurt. He knew there was a word, but the pain kept him from grasping it. Then it ended. He opened his eyes, wincing with discomfort. 'It hurt,' he told the man, 'and I couldn't get the word for it.' 'It was sunburn,' the old man told him. 'It hurt a lot,' Jonas said, 'but I'm glad you gave it to me. It was interesting. And now I understand better, what it meant, that there would be pain.'

He comes to a stop right there and exhales lightly as he turns to look over at Asher, whose head is about halfway from being on his shoulder. "I think we should stop there for tonight," he says to him softly, gently dragging a few fingers down his cheek in order to wake him up. "It's getting pretty late."

Moaning tiredly, Asher sits upright and looks toward Hanjae's bedroom window, licking his lips a little. "It must be," he says, voice groggy and still caught in his dreamland. "It's so dark outside. I don't think I've ever seen it be so dark before."

"Hmm," Hanjae hum in agreement, his eyes now pointed out the window, too. "I guess that's what happens when the sun goes away." At these words, Asher turns his head to face Hanjae, the elder looking back at him a few moments later. He closes the book with another sigh and hands it back to Asher, who smiles briefly as he takes it from him, rubbing his thumbs across the slightly bent paper cover as he gazes down at it. 

"Hanjae?" he says while still maintaining eye contact with the book. 

"Yeah?" he responds as he rubs his tired eyes. 

"Can I tell you something?"

Hanjae stretches his body out and then sinks back into his bed. "Sure, what is it?" At first, Asher swallows hard and tries to gather the words in his mind. It's something hard to say, though, what he wants to say. Not even he fully comprehends what it means, which for him means it that this night could end better than he expected or worse.