The Monster Under The Bed

16. Welcome

Suho knocks before he enters Autumn and Zitao's room. After few moments, the door creaks open, revealing Autumn. Her hair was wet, she must've just gotten out of the shower.

"What's going on Suho?" she asks in a hushed voice.

"Can I come in?"

"Z's still sleeping," she tells him before opening the door wider, granting him entrance.

Can we talk like this?

Per usual, her voice in his head temporarily shocked him. But he quickly settles and replies.

Yeah.

What's wrong?

We need you to find Chanyeol and Yixing.

I figured you'd ask me to do that.

You did?

I heard some of your conversation earlier.

Oh.

Yeah, I already tested it on Sehun.

Sehun?

I figured he was still asleep. He wouldn't feel anything in something went wrong.

What about Chen?

She doesn't reply for a while.

I thought I'd see perverted images in his dreams, so I chose to not try it on him...

Her mental voice gets softer, he can barely hear what she thinks next.

...But I'm not sure if that was the smartest decision.

Why?

She jerks to attention, as if she wasn't aware that they were still talking.

No reason. Who should I try it on first?

Yixing, he's much calmer than Chanyeol usually is and will likely put less strain in you.

Okay.

She closes her eyes and concentrates. For a while, she doesn't move. Then suddenly, her eyes fly open. But they weren't her eyes. The shape and color of them had changed to Yixing's.

She cries out unknowingly, waking up Zitao. Suho grabs her and attempts to shake her out of the state. It doesn't work, and her body begins spasming.

"What's going on?" Zitao asks, his voice panicked. He rushes over, "What's happening to Autumn?!"

"I think she's going into shock," Suho replies, doing his best to stay calm, "Zitao, go get Leeteuk."

"Leeteuk, why?"

"Because it's his power, he might know how to fix her."

"O-okay?"

Zitao runs off and Suho continues to try to snap her out of it. He doesn't know how long he waits.

"What the hell?"

Leeteuk's voice makes Suho turn. The older man looked shocked.

"She was testing out how to use your power, and this happened," Suho explains, leaving out the detail that she was trying to use it to find Yixing and Chanyeol.

Leeteuk walks over to get a better look at her.

"She's probably trying to do something while in that state," he states, "My power is not taking over the body of someone else, it's looking through their eyes and observing what they see. Her body is paralyzed whilst she is observing. Her desire to move before she is able to take herself out of the state is causing her body to spasm in an attempt to snap her out of it. But at the same time, she doesn't seem to want to come out of it."

"How do you make her want to come out of it?"

"You can't," Leeteuk says, "It has to happen on its own. Besides, this may look dangerous, but as long as she is kept within a safe environment, she won't even know it happened when she snaps out."

"And how long should that take?"

Leeteuk shrugs.

"A few hours, a few days, a few months, who knows."

Suho's eyes widen.

"What?!"

Leeteuk raises an eyebrow.

"It's her fault that she didn't ask for help when she was going to try it for the first time. The consequence is that there's no telling how long she'll stay like that," he replies, "You can do anything with her right now though. Anything."

Suho understands the implication and shakes his head.

"Not a chance Uncle Leeteuk," he hisses, picking Autumn up and putting her on her bed.

"You can't keep her innocent forever," Leeteuk comments.

"I can sure as hell try," Suho snaps, "Starting with keeping you and Kyuhyun away from her."

Leeteuk lets out a short laugh.

"Let me know how that goes."

With those words, his uncle leaves. Once he's gone, Suho immediately turns back to Autumn. The spasms had slowed, he hoped that was a good thing.

He had had a sister once, before Yixing was around. A twin. He had few memories of her, as she had died when they were around three. But he had pictures that his mother had taken and printed in secret. Even without knowing his sister, he loved her.

As he stares at Autumn, he wasn't sure if what he felt toward her was what you were supposed to feel about your sister. It was a bit, softer, than the way he felt toward the other boys, but still just as protective.

He sighs and shrugs the thought away. He'd worry about that later. Right now, he needed to worry about finding his missing brothers. Despair settles on his heart as he realizes that their best hope of finding Chanyeol and Yixing was laying on the bed in front of him.

Frustrated, he ruffles his hair. He then proceeds to pull out his phone to text Chen to watch Autumn.  When Chen arrives, he leaves to lead in another likely to be fruitless hunt.

🔼🔼🔼🔼

Luhan moans as he wakes up, braced for pain. But other than a slight headache, he felt fine. He sits up carefully, still no pain.

"You're finally awake," someone says, his head swivels in that direction. He has to blink several times before his eyes focus on Chanyeol and Yixing.

Instinctivly, he backs away as fast as he can, causing Chanyeol, the one who had spoken, to roll his eyes. Yixing seemed to still be asleep.

"Relax, we're not going to hurt you. Yixing heard you earlier agreeing to join us or them or whatever," Chanyeol informs, gesturing to a still Yixing, "He's the whole reason you're with us right now. When we woke up earlier, he begged Heechul to make Yesung stop hurting you, and that you were no longer an enemy."

Luhan doesn't reply for a while.

"Why?" he finally asks.

"I guess it's his instinct as his power is healing."

Luhan nods slowly.

"You can join us if you want, it's kinda cold and I am literally a space heater."

Luhan hesitantly moves closer. When he's within reach, Chanyeol reaches out and grabs him, pulling him into a hug. At first Luhan is surprised, but relaxes a bit at the larger boy's warmth.

"Welcome to the family Luhan."