Chapter Text
Blinding lights hit Soobin’s eyes as soon as he came to.
First, his only sensation was a blissful peace, his body numb to the world around him. Then, the world shifted on its axis, suddenly throwing an array of sensations at him all at once.
There was a beating pain in his head that he couldn’t locate or explain. It felt like waking up from a bad hangover, or maybe like someone had put a hammer to his head. He had no idea which one was closest to the truth.
Then there were his arms and legs. As soon as he tried to move, he found that he couldn’t. Something was strapping him down.
Soobin lifted his head, squinting as he struggled to keep his eyes open in the harsh light of the room. The moment he moved, however, the pain in his head increased, a stabbing sensation that forced him to return his head to its previous position.
As he tried to locate himself, his breath picked up. His mind felt like it was filled with cotton candy, as if he couldn’t quite grasp any thoughts other than a blaring alert telling him that something was wrong.
He lay there motionless and breathing heavily for a few minutes before his mind caught up to him. Still, even if he was capable of thoughts, he couldn’t recall any memory of this place.
Carefully, he moved his head side to side to take in the place. He was met with white walls, nearly bare of all furniture except a large cabinet – that one also white – in one corner.
Where was he? How had he gotten there? Had he been knocked out and strapped to this- this- what was he even lying on?
Squirming around, he decided it must be a table of some sort. It was as uncomfortable as it gets, and where his naked skin met the surface, he was left with a cold sensation. Surely a metal table, then.
Having already failed in figuring anything out with his vision, Soobin closed his eyes and tried to rely on his other senses. However, the room was empty and eerily quiet, the only sound he could hear being his own breathing.
His eyes flew open in frustration. What the hell is going on? He wondered, trying to lift his limbs again, only to grunt in frustration when the straps wouldn’t budge.
Someone must have put him there when he was out cold because he couldn’t remember even setting his foot in this room before. The last thing he remembered was-
He remembered-
No, wait. He didn’t… why didn’t he… why couldn’t he remember anything?! Why couldn’t he see anything in his mind?! What had he been doing? Who had been with him?
The realization hit him like a brick wall. He couldn’t remember anything at all.
But it didn’t make any sense. He knew his name was Choi Soobin. He knew he was 23 years old and born in South Korea. He knew how tall he was. But he didn’t know anything about his situation. Where he lived, if he had any friends, what he worked with or…
Or how he could possibly had ended up strapped to a metal table in what looked like some kind of research facility.
Soobin was smart. He should be able to figure this out. At least he thought so, as he found he had a sense of reliance on his own ability despite not remembering anything. So, he just needed to think, and he’d be able to figure it out. At least that’s what he told himself.
First, he contemplated the possible ways he could have ended up in this position. Since he didn’t remember anything before waking up, the most reasonable explanation would be that he had recently lost his memory. Maybe… maybe that was why he was there in the first place.
He couldn’t imagine himself agreeing to erase his memories and wake up in a situation like this, so it was more likely to have been forced upon him. Which meant he was not in a safe place right now. He needed to get out of there, if only he knew how to get those straps off him.
Soobin’s head snapped to the side when a sudden booming noise was heard from somewhere beyond the room. He connected it to the sound of a bomb. It must have been close, or he wouldn’t have felt the way the ground rattled.
As the seconds ticked by, the sounds from the outside grew louder. He swore they were the sound of rapid footsteps and yelling voices. People coming in his direction.
However, there was no sense of relief in knowing there were people close by, because Soobin had no way of knowing if they were a friend or foe. Rationally, he knew there was not much hope for him to get out on his own, so he had to put his trust in other people. Whoever they may be.
The noise increased instantly, and Soobin jerked at the loud slam of what he guessed was the door hitting the wall inside his room. The door was outside of his vision, but he knew someone had come through it when rapid footsteps closed in on him and he heard the door being shut again.
It took whoever had entered three seconds to notice him.
“Hyung!” a male voice yelled, and he heard the person start running his way. As the voice registered in his brain, he found that he sadly had no memory of him. It had been expected, but it still sucked. Especially when the guy reached him, and his face came into Soobin’s view.
It was a youthful, heart shaped face with big, dark eyes that held a myriad of emotions in them. Eyes that immediately scanned Soobin up and down before settling on his face.
“Oh thank god,” the guy mumbled the moment he noticed Soobin was awake. “Are you okay?” Without waiting for a response, he pulled at the restraints around Soobin’s arm. They did not budge, but the guy didn’t seem undeterred. Suddenly, there was a knife in Soobin’s view. “Don’t worry, Hyung, I’ll get you out in no time.”
Soobin nodded, slightly stunned by the interaction. It was evident that the guy knew him, likely well judging by his worried face and respectful way of addressing Soobin. He would have thought finding someone who knew him would instil a sense of relief or similar, but instead all he felt was dread.
To think that this was a person who knew him well and who Soobin most likely had held close in his heart before, and now he had no recollection of him whatsoever… it caused an ache in Soobin’s chest. Sadness as well as guilt washed over him, and he couldn’t imagine how he was going to tell the guy about what had happened to him.
One thing at a time, Soobin thought. First we get out of here, then we can focus on other problems.
As the guy managed to cut through the first strap around Soobin’s left wrist, the two of them flinched at the sudden increase of sound coming from the door. Soobin’s heart leapt in his chest as he realized the door must have opened again.
The guy standing above him released a relieved sigh, though, the moment he registered who had entered. “Great, will you guard the door? I just need a minute or two to get him out.”
“Copy that,” another male voice spoke. The door closed again. “Is he awake?”
“Yeah,” the other guy answered. His eyes were focused on where he was cutting through the strap around Soobin’s legs, and Soobin couldn’t remove his gaze from him even if he wanted to. “He seems alright, but you should check him before we head back.” Dark eyes flickered over to Soobin’s for a second. There was a calculating look in them that Soobin tried to interpret, but before he knew it the gaze had returned to focus on the knife work.
“Did you hear the explosion?” he asked Soobin as the knife tore through the second strap. Soobin hummed in answer, unsure if he trusted himself to speak words yet, and the guy continued, rambling a bit. “That was Yeonjun. He set it off at the other side of the facility, and then Tae started another distraction to allow him to get out. We’ve counted 10 soldiers, hopefully we won’t have to fight many of them to get out.”
He nodded thoughtfully, only to be reminded of the ache in his head. He winced and brought his free hand up to his temple, which caught the eye of his knife wielding friend.
“Are you hurt?”
Despite not knowing the extent of his possible head injury, Soobin didn’t like the thought of worrying them. “A slight headache, that’s all,” he found himself speak aloud, and it was the first time he remembered hearing his own voice clearly. The realization was a bit startling, although he was happy that he didn’t find his own voice foreign to himself.
When the third strap gave in, the guy came up to his right hand, and his face was more visible to Soobin again. He looked like he didn’t fully believe Soobin’s deflecting words.
“How are we getting out?” Soobin asked both to fill the silence and because he had so little information about their situation.
“Same way we got in,” the guy said. His head lifted for a moment as he glanced around the empty room. “But Hyung, where did the white coats go? I thought they’d be in here, as this was where we located the machine.”
Shit, was Soobin supposed to know the answer to that? What was that about a machine? What the hell had they been doing before Soobin lost his memory?
“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “I was out cold until a few minutes before you arrived.”
“They probably fled with it when they noticed the rest of us on their radar,” said the guy standing guard over by the door. “But Hyung, how did they capture you? There weren’t supposed to be anyone here, our plan was bulletproof.”
They would definitely see through him when he didn’t know the answer to that one, Soobin thought. He racked his brain, struggling to find words, when the guy next to him let out a sound of satisfaction as he managed to release the last of Soobin’s limbs.
Thankful for the distraction, Soobin moved to a sitting position. He paused briefly to steady himself when his head spun and beat painfully before he jumped off the table. He saw the knife guy moving over to the door where another stranger stood, this one being taller with seemingly blond hair covered by a cap. Soobin followed him, moving as quickly as his stiff legs allowed. When he reached them, the shorter of the two reached out a hand to help steady him.
As he saw their eyes on him, he remembered he’d been asked a question. He couldn’t muster coming up with a believable excuse, so he just sighed and glanced at the door. “I’ll tell you later.”
Thankfully, the guys accepted it easily. The taller of the two turned and put his hand on the door handle, glancing back for confirmation before proceeding to open the door once again.
Two pair of eyes fell on Soobin, who stared out into the empty corridor in confusion. He had no idea what the plan was, but it didn’t seem like too much danger was awaiting them out there. When he realized the others were waiting for him to act, he startled into motion.
Soobin took two steps out into the corridor, only to throw his hands in the air and scream when two shots sounded in the air. Bullets barely missing him.
Before he could react, he was pulled back by strong hands. “What are you doing?!” was yelled in his ear, the voice sounding bewildered. The two guys shared a look, as if they couldn’t believe Soobin just did that, but Soobin didn’t notice. All he could think about was how he could have been shot – could have been killed – just then.
A hand grabbed his arm, squeezing hard as if to ground him. Looking to his left, he locked eyes with the tall guy, who was apparently speaking to him, if Soobin understood the moving of his mouth correctly. Soobin’s ears were still ringing, though, and he didn’t catch any of the words that were spoken to him.
I could have died, repeated over and over in his head. I could have been shot and died, just now.
It wasn’t until he felt himself being shaken harshly that he was able to focus on the reality around him again. The tall guy was face to face with him now, and as Soobin’s hearing checked in again, he heard his name being said repeatedly.
“Soobin? Soobin-Hyung!” When the guy seemed to register that Soobin was responsive again, he released his tight grip on him. “You okay? What happened? Why didn’t you use your powers?”
Powers? What the hell is he talking about?
There was a mix of worry and confusion on tall guy’s face as he ran his eyes up and down Soobin. Soobin hadn’t expected to be called out on his bluff this early, so he watched the thought process play out on the guy’s face warily.
“Are you zapped?” asked the other guy from Soobin’s right. He had a deep frown on his face, and Soobin couldn’t tell if it was a worried or suspicious expression he was seeing.
Soobin realized he was in well over his head by now. He had no idea what the hell was going on and what this guy was talking about… he was not going to be able to keep up his facade for very long, was he?
Well, better to go along with it than not answering at all.
“Yeah,” he said, adding an ounce of exhaustion to his voice, hoping that would sell it.
The tall guy watched him for two seconds, as if judging whether Soobin was telling the truth or not, then he turned to the other guy. “We need Taehyun, then. Can you reach him?”
He nodded firmly. Soobin watched him in confusion for the next couple of seconds, wondering what it meant when his eyes glazed over, as if his vision unfocused. He remained like that for several seconds, the rest of his face also completely still. Then, suddenly, his eyes moved, and he was back to normal.
“He’s far,” he stated, “but he will try to get to us. He said to bunker up and make sure no one comes any closer until he’s here.”
Did this guy just talk to someone in his head? Soobin wondered. Was that what just happened? Was that what they meant with powers? Do I have some kind of power like that as well?
Soobin was completely lost.
Tall guy nodded, raking a hand through his hair. It was just as he moved that Soobin noticed he was carrying a machine gun. “Okay, that’s our best shot for now, then. Yeonjun-hyung should be prepared with the hanger for take-off; he’s probably back there already.” He eyed Soobin – was he looking for a reaction? – before turning back to the other guy and continuing. “Guard the door, Gyu? I’ll take a look at Soobin-hyung.” He handed the machine gun over before turning to Soobin.
The shorter guy – Gyu – nodded and turned to face the door. Meanwhile, the other guy motioned for Soobin to follow him to the middle of the room. He indicated for Soobin to sit on the table he’d been strapped to before, and without thinking Soobin did so.
“Did they do anything to you, Hyung? They didn’t inject you with something, or anything like that?”
At least he could answer that truthfully. “I don’t know. I was out the entire time, I think. How long has it been since I was… taken?”
“Almost seven hours,” he said with a grimace. “Yeonjun-Hyung’s been beating himself up for it. Can I see your arms?”
Soobin complied, lifting his forearms to make them accessible. “Well, you got me back now, so it’s fine, isn’t it?”
Except it isn’t, a voice in his head reminded him. You know it’s not fine.
His arms were lifted and turned around; his sleeves pushed up so the guy could study the skin on the inside of his elbow. “Yeah, we just need to get out of here first” he answered absentmindedly, his eyes and fingers studying Soobin’s skin thoroughly. “I can’t see any obvious pricks. Either they didn’t do anything, or they found a very discrete place to nick you.” His eyes found Soobin’s. “Are you sure you’re not in any pain? Not even a little bit, anywhere?”
“Well, I’m sore from lying on this table,” Soobin said, slapping his hand on the cold metal next to him. “And my head hurts a little still. Other than that?” he took a moment to think it through, really going over his body to see if anything felt wrong.
Now that he thought about it, there was a slight burning sensation at the back of his head. He told the guy as much, tilting his head to the side to show him where he was talking about.
“Oh,” the guy said, and Soobin’s head flipped back to watch him. “It kinda looks like they’ve had some kind of wires taped to your skin. There’s, like, two burning rashes… were they, um, electroshocking you?”
“What?” he felt at the back of his neck with his hand, as if he could find the marks and figure out what had been done to him through them. “I… I don’t remember, in that case.”
There was a thoughtful, concerned look on the guy’s face. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, when Gyu called on them from the door.
“Taehyun’s almost here now,” he said as the two of them reached him. He handed the gun back to Tall guy – Soobin really wished he could remember his name – before giving a nod to Soobin.
Soobin suspected that nod meant Soobin should know what he was supposed to do in a situation like this, which was unfortunate. Well, he decided he’d just have to stay a step behind the other two and follow their lead.
“Tae counted six of them in the corridor,” Gyu commented, most likely relaying what he was told in his head a moment earlier. “He can get to the three on our left easily, and if we let the smoke fill the corridor, we should be able to sneak out and take down the other three. Sound good?”
To his surprise, they were looking to Soobin for confirmation. He simply nodded, hopefully in a convincing enough way.
Gyu nodded back, and then he got a focused expression on his face. “One down,” he recounted, pausing for a few seconds. “Second one down.” He let out a yelp in pain, right hand flying to his upper left arm. Soobin saw a red spot starting to spread on the grey fabric and his eyes widened. “It’s fine,” Gyu reassured, “it was just a graze.”
Soobin’s head was spinning as he tried to keep up with what was going on. He had no time to figure things out before Gyu finally said,
“And the last one’s down. Now we let the smoke spread.” He reached for something in his pocket, taking it out and handing it to Soobin. “Take mine. It looks like they emptied your pockets, and we don’t have time to go looking for it now.”
Soobin looked down at the thing in his hands. It was a mask – an oxygen mask of some sort, Soobin guessed. He quickly understood that if they were about to step out into toxic smoke, it would not do good to breathe it in. But then, if he took Gyu’s mask from him, wouldn’t he endanger himself-
“Take it,” Gyu said, probably having noticed Soobin’s inner turmoil. “I can hold my breath for longer than you, anyways.”
He studied Gyu’s face for a moment. It surprised – and impressed – him how there was not even an ounce of fear on his face, just strong determination.
Soobin glanced at Tall guy, noticing him putting his own mask on. He sighed then, accepting that one of them would have to go without a mask, and it was likely that they wouldn’t want to endanger Soobin even more after they just managed to get him back. Without another word, he put the mask on.
“Good,” Gyu said with a nod. He turned to the door, placing his hand on the handle. “You guys ready?”
The two of them nodded. Gyu stood ready, waiting for the word from Taehyun, and it took nearly a minute until anything changed in his expression. “Tae took out another one. There’s two of them coming from our right. Time to go!”
Gyu pulled the doors open. Instantly, a bout of smoke fell into the room, clouding Soobin’s vision. Gyu and Tall guy stepped into it immediately, and Soobin didn’t hesitate to follow. If he fell too far behind, he would surely lose them in the thick smoke.
Soobin jumped but didn’t stop running when the sound of shooting erupted in the corridor once again. He felt his heart beating violently in his chest, more out of terror than out of physical strain. While he knew the shooters wouldn’t be able to see them, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be able to get a lucky shot in.
A couple of shots sounded from their end, probably Tall guy shooting in the direction they were going in hopes of hitting anyone.
The adrenaline was pumping through Soobin’s veins. He felt like he was in a haze, barely aware of what was going on around him. It was almost like a drunk feeling, and it was all he could do to stay on his feet. More and more shots sounded around them, and each time he jumped and tried to feel if he had been hit anywhere. So far, he was pretty sure he was okay.
In front of him, he could just barely see Gyu’s outline, and the sight calmed him. Even if he didn’t know the guy, Soobin didn’t want him to get shot for trying to save him.
After what couldn’t have been more than a minute – the longest minute in Soobin’s life – the echoing gun shots fell quiet, and all Soobin could hear was their feet rapping on the floor as they ran. He moved his eyes from Gyu’s back and noticed how the smoke was getting thinner up ahead of them, and soon he could see the tall guy up front as well.
By that point, Gyu was coughing violently even as he kept going. He started slowing down, Soobin noticed. That wouldn’t do, Soobin wouldn’t let him fall behind. He moved closer and wrapped his arm around the smaller guy’s waist. Gyu gave a nod as he allowed Soobin to pull him with him to make sure he kept up the pace.
When they reached the end of the corridor, they passed two side passages where Soobin briefly noticed two guys with guns lying, bleeding out on the floor. He couldn’t tell if they were alive or not, only that they were incapacitated for the time being. To his own surprise, his first thought wasn’t about how horrible it was that they had done that, but instead it was one word.
Good.
Well, he could ponder about what was wrong about that later. Now they needed to get the hell out.
They went through a door, and when they closed it behind them the smoke stayed back there. They had come out into a bigger room, thankfully an empty one, looking like an empty warehouse of some sort. The air around them was clear, and Soobin felt the need to remove his mask.
Immediately, he offered it to Gyu, but he just shook his head, holding his hand up. “I’m fine.” He coughed twice before straightening himself and taking in a deep breath. “The air out here’s fine enough.” He stilled, probably listening in his mind, before adding, “Taehyun’s on the other side. He’ll meet us by the hanger.”
“Okay, no time to waste,” Tall guy said, also having pulled his mask off. “Anyone hurt?” when they shook their heads, he nodded. “Let’s go, then.”
They took off again, running across the room to where Soobin could see an exit sign. “Are you sure there’s no more guards around?” Soobin asked as they ran. It was surprising how little exertion it took for him to run; he wouldn’t have pegged himself as physically fit.
“We scouted them out on the radar before going in, none of them should be around where we landed,” Tall guy answered.
“And if they are, Yeonjun-hyung surely took them out already,” Gyu added, a few steps behind Soobin.
After that, they ran in silence for several minutes. They entered new rooms and ran down corridors until they finally arrived at an open space, where in the middle some sort of aircraft was parked. It was huge, looking almost like some sort of UFO with its circular layout and lack of wings. Soobin felt like he should know how this thing was able to fly, but at the moment he was unable to imagine it even lifting from the ground.
“Taehyun-ah and Hyung are already inside,” Gyu supplied, and so they ran all the way up to the aircraft. When they arrived, a door of some sort opened from the bottom, creating a ramp to the inside of the ship for them to enter through.
Soobin didn’t have to think twice about walking inside. When the doors closed behind them, he wondered if he should feel wary about being taken away in an unknown vehicle with people who he did not know, with no idea of where they were taking him. But he didn’t feel unsafe in there. He could tell that these people cared about him, and he believed his own intuition telling him he most likely knew these people before he lost his memory.
The inside of the ship was just as large as the outside. Soobin took it all in with awe. Around them there was a sort of common space, with places to sit, a table and even a sofa to slouch on.
A sudden, unexpected movement of the ship made Soobin almost fall over. They were taking off, he guessed, and briefly he wished there were window so he could have seen with his own eyes that they were truly lifting with this thing in the air.
Next to him, Gyu and Tall guy were taking off their clothes, changing into what looked like more comfortable ones that were hanging on the wall close to the entrance. Soobin watched and contemplated whether he should do the same, but he didn’t know which ones were his and didn’t feel like looking like an idiot trying on the differently sized clothes. He could just change later.
When a turbulent movement actually did make him fall to his knees, Soobin went to sit down, just for safety. They really should have some kind of seat belt, he absentmindedly thought as even when he was sitting down, he was flying this way and that.
After five, maybe ten minutes, they seemed to have stabilized in the air. Gyu had been sitting next to him, going over everything that had happened since Soobin was taken and how they had gone into the building to come get him. It sounded like they’d had a solid plan, and it was impressive how so few of them had managed to take out the security of such a large building.
The sound of a door opening had Soobin looking over to what he guessed must be the cockpit where the pilot sat. An intimidating looking guy stepped through, closing the door carefully behind him. Soobin couldn’t help staring at him.
There was a deep frown on this guy’s face that made him look like the whole world had done something against him. His hair was brown and long enough to cover his ears, and even longer at the back. It was fluffy, Soobin thought, but it looked ruffled, as if he’d been running his hand through it roughly.
His angry expression changed into one of pure relief, though, when he caught sight of Soobin. It shifted his entire face, and Soobin couldn’t imagine anyone more beautiful.
The guy started moving in Soobin’s direction, making Soobin’s breath catch in his throat. Without thinking, Soobin was on his feet, just in time to catch the guy throwing his arms around him.
“Soobin.”
His name came out as only a whisper from the other guy, the sound so tender and full of emotions Soobin couldn’t detangle. Who was this guy to him?
Hands came up to cup the back of his head in a mothering way, and then the guy was leaning back so he could look at Soobin’s face. “Are you alright? Are you harmed?”
Soobin’s voice came out a little roughly as he answered. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” the guy gave him a once over, trailing his eyes down and up Soobin’s body, landing on his face again. His hands came down on Soobin’s arms, one on each side, holding him steadily. “You look tired. Maybe you should get some sleep.”
Soobin shook his head. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”
The guy nodded. His eyes kept watching Soobin’s face, some deep emotion in them that Soobin didn’t quite get. All he could think of was whether this could be the Taehyun who Gyu was talking about before, or if it was the other guy they’d mentioned – Yeonjun-hyung?
“Soobin,” the guy said again, and before he continued his hand left Soobin’s arm, lifting upwards to caress his face. Surprised by the action, Soobin flinched slightly, glancing at the hand that had yet to touch his face.
A shocked look came upon the guy’s face before all emotions were shut down and his face became stoic and cold. Wariness washed over Soobin; he didn’t like the sudden change. He wished the guy would smile at him again, it was such a pretty smile.
“Beomgyu, where’s Kai?” the guy asked, raising his voice while his eyes stayed on Soobin.
“Uh, I think he’s at the toilet,” Gyu – no, Beomgyu, Soobin understood now – said from where he was sitting just behind Soobin. “Why?”
The guy didn’t answer, he just kept staring at Soobin. Soobin, who could do nothing but stare back in confusion.
He blinked, and suddenly there was a gun in his face.