Metal

84%

His world, it seems, will forever be plagued by nightmares.

It starts with the blind darkness that comes so often to Sehun in his sleep. He weakly claws his way through the black, his head aching with who? Who dies this time? His legs moved through the air, thick as jelly. At last, he reaches light, and with it comes a pounding sound from behind. Someone coming after him. He scrambles to get his feet moving again.

Him. It's him this time.

He can't help but be relieved it's not someone else.

The sound of a gunshot. Another.

Run, he tells his body. Why won't you run?

Another gunshot, closer this time. Behind him, he hears a whistling sound, getting louder and louder with every second. 

A sting in his back as the bullet strikes home. His last thought is, why am I always running?

He awakens to the sound of a hammer repeatedly slamming down. It's coming for me, he thinks, it's coming.

----

Tao jumps back from the counter, the chair crashing to the ground with a loud bang. He has half a second to think about this.

Yi Xing glances up. Tenth of a second.

As if stuck in slow motion, he comes to a stand. No seconds.

Tao throws his left leg into the air, aiming for the head and neck. Vitals. He has to hit the vitals. Yi Xing responds with instinct, forearm flying up to block, his face an unchanging mask of indifference. Their eyes meet in that moment, fire and ice trapped in the rings of their irises.

Fastest in his class.

Tao's leg swings back and out goes a fist, his teeth gritted in concentration. Yi Xing ducks his head.

Training is one thing. Experience is another. He's a little rusty on the latter.

Yi Xing's moves are sharp and precise. Block. Block. Duck. Tao hits anywhere but where he had aimed.

Fastest in his class but-

His third kick lands on Yi Xing's side, a solid blow to the waist. It leaves a satisfyingly heavy feeling against Tao's foot.

But not the strongest.

Yi Xing staggers, trying to regain his balance. He's quick on his feet, oh everyone had known that, but recovery takes time. Tao takes the opportunity to kick again, knocking Yi Xing to the ground. 

The tiniest drop of blood finds its way out of Yi Xing's lip. He wipes it off quickly, eyes narrowed as he stares at Tao standing over him.

"Sorry, Yi Xing," Tao says before grabbing the boy's head with one hand and shoving it down on the floor. There are no words to describe the sickening moan Yi Xing lets out before the lights dim for him.

Despite the doubtful fact that Yi Xing is now somewhere between this world and the beyond, Tao knows he might not have as much time as he'd like. If Yi Xing is still under Yi Fan, then who knows who else could be too?

He dashes to Sehun's room and knocks on his door, his knuckles hitting the wood again and again and again. It sounds like a woodpecker's pecking, almost a drone-like thrumming. "Sehun!" He can't call out desperately enough. "Sehun, open up!"

It's a thousand years, two thousand, three thousand, before Sehun finally opens the door, a blanket draped around his shoulders. He rubs his eyes before smiling at Tao, fatigue masking his face. "Tired?"