[KPOP RPS] Twelve Little Soldiers, All In A Row - Prologue {EXO}

Title: Twelve Little Soldiers, All In A Row - Prologue
Rating: R
Pairing: Kris/Lay, Suho/Kai
Warnings: Violence, general creepiness, Character death (See A/N)
Word count: 3,508
Summary: Legend says the Guardians will come, split into two groups they will work together to unite the Tree of Life and unite the world. Shame the legends were wrong. The Guardians were not just split into two groups, they were scattered, and now they are lost and alone with no knowledge of who and what they are. Time is running out, for them and for the world
A/N: While the outcome of this story relies on all the EXO members coming through relativity unscathed, the rest of the cast (SMTown, other assorted idols) might not be so lucky. There will be at least one major character (non EXO) death.

Prologues are supposed to be fairly short and this sort of isn't The actual chapters will be much, much longer.


ETA: Now with beta. Thanks ithilmenel

Twelve little soldiers, all in a row.



Prologue




I.


When Wu Fan wakes up it takes him a moment to work out where he is, it takes a few moments more to remember who he is, what his name is supposed to be.

He had that dream again. The one that’s so vivid, so real that it makes a mockery of the real world and the lies he tells in it. The one that leaves him feeling exhausted before he’s even gotten up to face the day.

He knows he needs to get up now, now that he knows who and where he is. Now that he feels steady enough to attempt standing. He shouldn’t lie here covered in his sweat slicked sheets much longer. But images from the dream still haunt him; keep him rooted to the spot. There is this irrational part of him that thinks that if he gets up out of bed he will fly away.

The dream wasn’t even about flying, not really.

So he doesn’t move, he just lies there watching the meagre morning light creep in through the crack in the curtains. He guesses that it’s sometime close to 6am, but he doesn’t turn to look at the clock next to the bed to verify this. It doesn’t really matter, it’s still too early. If he just closes his eyes maybe he’ll get lucky and doze dreamlessly for the hour he has before his alarm goes off. If he’s lucky, maybe the dream will let him rest.

Funny how he’s starting to think of the dream as something real, something solid.

Funny.






It’s not the shrieking of the alarm that wakes him who knows how long later. It’s not the sound of someone pounding on the door and it’s not the sharp bark of someone shouting his name.

“Kev! Hey, yo KEV!”

It was the dream that woke him. It was the roots of the tree that wrapped themselves around his heart and squeezed until he thought he might burst. It was the chanting of the monks and the eyes of the old man. Those eyes, they seemed to look straight through him.

Wu Fan jerks awake, the words of the old man still ringing in his ears.

“Take heed, young one. It is coming.”

He needs to get up. He needs to get out now. Get out of this room, this place, needs to get someplace where there is noise, where he wouldn’t sleep again. He crawls out of bed, his legs feel weak, shaky, they won’t take his weight and he crashes to his knees. Blindly he reaches out for something to hold to steady himself, his flailing hand hits out at his alarm clock and that too crashes to the ground. Smashed now, but Wu Fan can’t bring himself to care.

“Kev! Hey, Kevin! You ok in there?”

Kevin? Wu Fan thinks. Who is Kevin? The question gives his fogged up mind something to focus on. Who is Kevin? Oh, oh right. He is. Name Kevin Li; place Vancouver, University of British Columbia.

Wu Fan takes a deep breath, he tries to stand up again and this time he just about manages. He’s in his dorm room, his roommate Mark cut out early for the summer. That would be Dale trying to knock down his door.

He’s fine, he’s safe. There are no monks here, no chanting and no tree trying to squeeze the life out of him. He’s fine. He’s just fine.

“Take heed, young one. It is coming.”

Wu Fan shakes his head, trying to clear the last vestiges of the dream. He’s going crazy, that’s all this is. He’s been studying too hard.

That’s it.

That’s it.

Wu Fan staggers to the door and fumbles with the handle, for a moment he can’t remember which way to turn it. Dale stands on the other side of the door, one hand raised mid pound.

“Uh,” Dale says, he’s surprised, like he didn’t expect Wu Fan to actually open his door. “Hey.”

Wu fan has to look up to look Dale in the eyes, especially when Dale is standing so close like this. Wu Fan is tall but Dale is huge.

“You know,” Wu Fan says, trying for a wry, unhurried tone. “I heard you the first time.” He can think straight now. Things are good, things are just fine.

“Liar.” Dales says with a frown, Dale hardly ever frowns. “You look like shit, man. You want I should call a doctor?”

A Doctor? That’s the last thing Wu Fan needs, or can afford.

“Nah, it’s just a stomach thing, something I ate.”

Dale’s worried expression screws up into a grimace of understanding and he nods. “Harsh.”

“Tell me about it.”








II.


Joonmyun counts the seconds as they tick, tick, tick by.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

By the 30 second mark his lungs feel heavy. After 40 seconds his body is starting to strain for oxygen that isn’t there. Still, maybe half a minute before he really has to surface. It’s peaceful down here, quiet. It feels like home. A splashing from overhead grabs his attention, he looks up to the blurry surface of the pool. The chlorine is starting to sting his eyes now, the mild pain shifting towards uncomfortable and annoying.

Above him a hazy shape swims in and out of focus and a hand reaches down through the water as if to grab at him. But Joonmyun knows he’s too far down for this person to possibly reach him.

This person. Kyuhyun. Kyuhyun is the only person who would think to come down to look for him here, which means that whatever Kyuhyun wants it must be important for him to leave his most sacred lair. Joonmyun puffs out his last breath of air; he watches the bubbles struggle upwards for a heartbeat before kicking up from his haven at the bottom of the pool and making a break for the surface. Kyuhyun has to scramble back from the edge of the water to avoid getting splashed. He doesn’t quite manage. Joonmyun can’t help but smile at the scowl on his Hyungs’ face, laughing at Kyuhyun just makes his scowl deepen. As Joonmyun hauls himself out of the pool Kyuhyun says;

“I’m not a fish, unlike you.”

Joonmyun chuckles and turns his back on Kyuhyun for a moment while he looks for his towel; he put it down here somewhere.

“Neither am I your secretary.” Kyuhyun’s half joking tone turns all too serious, the sudden shift makes Joonmyun whirl around to face his friend. Kyuhyun is still scowling, but this time Joonmyun finds nothing funny about his expression. Kyuhyun pitches a wadded up ball of something at him, Joonmyun doesn’t catch it in time and it hits him square in the face, then falls to the floor. His towel. He doesn’t bend to pick it up, he just stands there waiting, waiting for Kyuhyun to say what he came here to say.

“Your parents called me.” Kyuhyun says after a full minute of silence. “Twice.”

Joonmyun doesn’t say anything, but inside he’s thinking ‘shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.’

“They couldn’t get through to you. Apparently your cell is turned off and you are never at home to answer your home phone.” Kyuhyun continues. “So they called me. Joonmyun-ah, they’re worried about you.”

Joonmyun doesn’t say anything, can’t say anything. He’s been ducking his parents’ calls, he knows this, he just doesn’t want to admit it. He’s a good son; his parents want him to be healthy and happy. He doesn’t want to lie to them.

“Call your parents.” Kyuhyun says sternly, but his tone lacks any real bite. “If they have to…YAH!” Kyuhyun yells and jumps back as a wave of water washes over their feet. “What the hell? Aish, I’m soaked!” Kyuhyun grumbles as he wipes ineffectively at his pants. “Did someone turn on the wave machine?” Kyuhyun looks over at the little lifeguard office at the other side of the pool. “YAH! Whoever is over there, don’t do strange stuff!”

Nothing, there is no reply, no movement.

“I don’t think there is anyone over there, Hyung.”

Kyuhyun just grunts as he sloshes over to the exit. “Then this place is haunted. Stop spending so much time here alone.” Kyuhyun stops when he gets to the door, turns around to look Joonmyun over. Joonmyun has a feeling that Kyuhyun isn’t impressed with what he sees. “Call your parents. If they have to call me again to find out how you are, I’ll tell them the truth.”

“What, that you’re not taking good care of me?” Joonmyun grins, an impish grin that Kyuhyun tries, and fails, not to return.

“Brat. I’m too busy to run around after you.”

Joonmyun can’t resist. “Too busy gaming or too busy looking at porn?”

Kyuhyun, unfortunately, doesn’t rise to the bait.


“Seriously, call your parents. And you look like shit, you’re not getting enough sleep.”

It’s not a question, just a statement of fact.

Kyuhyun leaves before Joonmyun can say anything in his defence. Kyuhyun always has to have the last word. Joonmyun looks out over the pool; the water is still, no sign of anymore coming waves. Odd, maybe this place really was haunted. Not that is bothers him any. Joonmyun stands there and he thinks about calling his parents, just get it over with. He shakes his head, dismissing it for now. He’s not going to call his parents and he’s not going to sleep.

If he sleeps he’ll dream.

He leaves his towel on the tiles; it’s too wet to bother with now. He’ll throw it in the wash later and grab a spare from the changing room before he leaves here.

He slips back into the water and the water welcomes him. Gently he lets himself drift to the bottom. There are cracks in the tile down here, funny how he’s never noticed that before. The cracks spread over and around like the branches of a tree. If he watches them for too long they seem to grow, grow and spread like the branches of the tree in his dream.

But that’s just his mind playing tricks on him. It’s the chlorine messing with his eyes.

That’s it.

That’s it.

Joonmyun counts the seconds as they tick, tick, tick by. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Maybe he’ll be able to stay under longer this time.








III.


“Wu Fan.” A voice calls out to him from out in the corridor. “Oh Wu Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!”

Wu Fan freezes, his pen still pressed to the page of his notebook. He presses down so hard that the nib breaks. He feels the blood in his veins turn to ice water. That’s Dale’s sing song falsetto. That’s Dale using his real name.

“yo, Wu Fanny bo banny.” Dale says with a devilish grin as he pokes his head round the door. Wu Fan tries to smile, tries not to look as shell shocked as he feels. “A call came through for you in the R.A’s office. Some old lady, says she’s your Grandmother, or was it Godmother? I couldn’t understand her accent.”

Dale shudders and shrugs, shakes his head like he’s trying to shake off a bad memory. Wu Fan can understand that. Talking to that fearsome old crone can have that effect on a person, even if it’s only over the phone. There is something about her voice.

“You should really answer your phone, dude. Some of us have better things to do that play errand boy.” Dale says, his smile still in place.

Wu fan tries to smile back, tries to laugh it off, but he can’t. Inside he’s reeling, he’s caught off kilter. He feels dizzy, sick, as he reaches for his cell to check for missed calls and messages. There aren’t any. His Godmother hadn’t tried to call him first before going ahead and blowing his cover.

Maybe she didn’t completely blow his cover, because Dale was still smiling, still blandly amused. Completely unaware there was something seriously wrong. Wu Fan pushes his chair away from his desk and stand; he’s surprised that his legs can still carry him. He walks stiffly passed dale and out down the corridor to the R.A’s room. He could feel Dale walking behind him, crowding in on him. Dale was one of those rare giants who was unapologetic about his height, and had no concept of personal space. Wu Fan had always liked that about him, until now.

“I thought she had the wrong number at first, no one called Wu Fan in this building. How come you have two names? That’s kinda cool.”

“It’s a family thing.” Wu Fan mumbles, he hopes Dale just accepts that and leaves it. Dale seems to do just that because he doesn’t say anything else, just ‘hmmmmms’ thoughtfully.

Robbie the R.A looks pissed when Wu Fan gets there, but he doesn’t say anything, he just hands Wu Fan the phone and leaves. He doesn’t shut the door behind him and Wu Fan doesn’t bother to close it either, it’s not like anyone will be able to understand him anyway. He can just about see the tip of Dale’s shadow as he stands outside waiting.

Wu Fan’s Godmother only speaks one sentence, short, simple.

“Come home.”

And then she hangs up.

Wu Fan stares blankly at the phone for a moment before he realizes that the people listening in outside would be expecting him to be having a conversation with a family member. So he spouts random things in Mandarin. He recites his shopping list, says a prayer he hasn’t said in a long time. All the while he’s frantically trying to work out what the old woman means.

His first thought is that she’s running a con on him, it wouldn’t be the first time. He could just picture her sitting there in her tourist trap of a shop, a gleeful grin on her weathered face.

But the more he thinks about it the worse the feeling in the pit of his stomach gets. If she wanted him to come home for selfish reasons then she would have someone else call him and say she was sick. The only time she’ll admit personal weakness would be if she could get something out of it. But she would leave him something to go back to, something to go back to after he was done rushing to do her bidding.

But if it were important, of it were life or death, if someone else from her flock was in trouble then she would so whatever she needed to. Including burning him. Dale knowing Wu Fan’s real name probably wouldn’t be a big deal in the long run, if Wu Fan came back from his unscheduled trip to China after the summer, it’s not like he was officially registered anywhere. But Wu Fan didn’t think he was going to be coming back anytime soon. Eventually someone would start to investigate and if they dig hard enough they’ll find that Kevin Li doesn’t actually exist.

When he thinks he’s talked long enough he hangs up the phone and walks out of the room. Dale is still standing there, still waiting. Something of his apprehension must show on Wu Fan’s face because Dale’s jovial expression turns serious.

“Something wrong?”

Wu Fan shrugs, fumbles for an answer. Finally he settles on something close to the truth. He likes to tell the truth when he can.

“Family thing, looks like I’ll have to take a trip home this summer. Home home.”

“Whoa, harsh.”

“Tell me about it.”









IV.


Han Geng doesn’t even want to be here, not anymore. It’s not a sudden realization he’s had. It’s more of a slow growing suspicion that’s been confirmed. It was confirmed a few weeks ago, when his uncle brought the boy here. Boy, kid, young man.

This last year, Han Geng had watched as his Uncle became more twisted as his faith became more fervent. Han Geng’s own faith had been next to non-existent for a while and now, now watching the man his Uncle was turning into, Han Geng wants nothing to do with it at all.

But it’s not a tug of family loyalty that keeps him here. Han Geng can’t leave. The order would find him wherever he went.

“It’s coming,” His Uncle says, his hands raised in rapture. “It’s coming my friends, last night I again dreamed of the tree.”

Han Geng tries to keep the disillusionment out of his expression. From the rapt faces of the others gathered here today, he is the only one not buying into the rhetoric. His Uncle had been dreaming about the tree every night since the boy was brought in, and he’s been recounting it in excruciating detail at every meeting since. Though honestly. Han Geng didn’t think that tree roots trying to squeeze the life out of you while also trying to rip the heart from your chest could be a metaphor for anything good.

“That which has been foretold will soon be upon us. This is the time, this is our time. We shall be the ones who will see the work of our ancestors brought to fruition.”

Han Geng bows his head as if in respect, but really he’s trying to keep his face hidden. If he had an American dollar for every time someone had a dream that prophesised the return of the Guardians he wouldn’t be living above his Mom’s dumpling shop.

“We have already discovered one of the chosen, and soon, soon fate will deliver the rest of them to us.”

Every nerve in Han Geng’s body wants to protest at this. If the boy was who his Uncle claimed his was, if he could do what Yi Feng claimed he saw him do, then the boy would have escaped long before now. There is no one here who could stop him. Han Geng doesn’t see a Guardian when he looks at the boy; he only sees the truth of the matter. Han Geng sees a scared kid who’s being held against his will by a bunch of crazy cultists.

But Han Geng doesn’t say anything. He just sits there and feels like a coward.

“The Guardians once again walk upon this Earth, an event that many of us believed we would never live to see. It is gratifying that in these dark days our faith has been rewarded.”

His uncle easily holds the attention of the small gathering, they watch avidly. Han Geng is sure that most of them daren’t even blink least they miss even one hand gesture.

“Soon they will awaken to who they really are; their true power will be revealed. They are closer to each other than even they know. That which we already have in our possession will lead them here. We, my friends, we will unite the Tree Of Life and greatness will be achieved.”

There is a disconnect, Han Geng knows, between what his Uncle says and what he actually means. Han Geng has had to study the Book of Life ever since he learned to read, he knows the legends backwards. Legend says that uniting the guardians and uniting the Tree Of Life would also unite the world; humanity would live on forever in a state of utopia. This is what the Order of the Guardians has believed since time began. There may be a few people in this far flung section of the order who still believes this, but Han Geng doubts it. He knows that what his Uncle seeks is not peace, but power.








The meeting doesn’t last long, they never do. The few that bother to come anymore have jobs, lives to get back to. Han Geng stays after everyone leaves because he knows his Uncle will have work for him.

“It’s exciting is it not, Geng?” His Uncle says.

Han Geng only nods; he’s unwilling to say the lie out loud.

“Yes. Yes. Now, go feed the boy. And make sure he eats this time, it wouldn’t do to have him starve to death on us before the others find him.”

Han Geng just nods again and leaves, grateful to be away from his Uncle’s overwhelming presence. Getting the boy to eat is almost as impossible as getting his uncle to see reason.








Han Geng knocks on the door to the boys’ room. Prison. He doesn’t have to; the scrape of the key in the lock is always loud enough to announce the imminent entry of a guard. But Han Geng knocks anyway. It’s cold inside the room; the thin figure huddled on the bed is shaking from more than just fear. When Han Geng returns later for the plates he thinks he’ll bring an extra blanket.

“I brought you some food.” He says softly as he sets down his tray on the rickety old table by the the bed. “Are you going to eat today, Lu Han?”






.end prologue



Chapter One