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Minghao shifted around in his sleep, bothered by the awful dream he was having. His whole body shivered with goosebumps and a breeze of cold air brushed his face. Slowly his eyes began to open again, blinding by the bright light of the ever shining sun in the aero district. Minghao raised his hand to cover his face, squinting his now awake eyes at the rays of sunlight. Yet there was something off about the area around him.

He heaved himself up, feeling something stuff under his hands instead of the hard ground. That's when he decided now was probably a good time to take a good look at the room he was in. It wasn't anything special, with one window opened on his side and a desk next to (what he now figure out was) the bed. Minghao narrowed his eyes as he stared at his surroundings, pulling one of his legs close to his chest. "How... did I get here?"

The last thing Minghao could remember was collapsing onto the ground and passing, but he was definitely outside. He never woke up and walked into a building. So... how did he go from outdoors to indoors. The door to the room suddenly squeaked as the door knob turned, slowly opening up. Startled, he whipped his head towards that direction, trying to see who or what was entering.

In stepped a boy, probably just a little older than him. He peered his head through the crack he made with the door as he spotted Minghao. "Oh, you woke up!" He spoke, genuinely glad to see him. He took one step forward and all of the boy's defenses were put, not trusting a stranger so easily. He's learned that that's kind of a bad idea.

"Woah, woah, don't get any closer to me." Minghao stated, scooting back on the bed so there was a bigger distance between the two. Though he ended up falling off the edge, not paying attention where the ends of the bed lie. He hit the ground with a thud in a very inelegant way, which probably lowered the intimidation level may or may not have had.

"Ow... God that hurt..." He muttered, getting off the ground and rubbing the back of his head. Minghao heard stifled laughing behind him, and he quickly turned to the stranger that had entered the room. The boy quickly shut himself up, whistling go distract him from the laughing that had occurred.

"Are you okay, though?" He asked, walking towards Minghao. When he saw Minghao tense up as he got closer, he stopped and put his hands up. "I'm not just talking about when you fell. I meant last night, I saw you collapsed on the floor so I brought you here."

A stranger? A person minghao has never met before in his entire life found him and attempted to take care of him while he was passed out? Though the gestured sounded nice, he didn't trust it. He needed to get away just in case this guy was just like the rest of the district when it came to lepers. So he did the only thing he could do in this situation.

Minghao slid open the catch of the window, and pulled up the rail so that it was wide open to the outside world. The stranger seemingly caught on to what was going on and started to panic. "Wait, what the hell are you doing?! Don't jump out the window!" He exclaimed, rushing over before Minghao could get a single limb part out of the room.

The stranger grabbed a hold of his waist and pulled him back, reaching for the catch to close it back up. "Hey! Let go of me!" He exclaimed, kicking his legs around and trying to pry him off. What if this stranger was with those boys from earlier? Is that why he didn't want him to escape the room? Desperately built up in him as he tried his best to get out of the stranger's grasp, his hands dimly glowing as he used as much strength as possible to get away from him.

After a couple of seconds, a sizzling noise could be heard, and a little bit of smoke began to arise from Minghao's hands. The stranger helped, dropping Minghao as he went to inspect his arms. "Ow, ow! That burns so much..." The stranger hissed, slowly on his now fresh burn wounds. Minghao only stared at him before looking down at his own hands. How... did he do that? Did he just burn this random person? But how? He doesn't have any powers!

And then it struck him, the event from yesterday that happened. He could suddenly remember how he got out of that sticky situation he was in with those boys who were attacking him. He used some kind of magic blast that was emitting off of his body and sent them flying. Yet that didn't make any sense. Minghao was a leper! He had no magic abilities like everyone else. He was ordinary, powerless!

"I'm in the right district right?" The stranger asked, looking back at Minghao. "This is the District with the wind users right? People here are supposed to use air magic right?" He question him. All he could do was nod, answering the boy's question willingly. "Then... you must be the Pyro District! Why is a fire user all the way in the Aero District?"

"What? I'm not from the Pyro District. I was born and raised here." Minghao explained, caught off guard by the stranger's conclusion.

The stranger narrowed his eyes as he spoke,"So... you're a hybrid...?" Minghao shook his head a no in response. "Purebred? You're a purebred from the Aero District? No way!" He opened his mouth to speak, but the two were interrupted by loud banging at the door. It took the two by surprise, not expecting anyone else to be arriving.

"Hey! You were supposed to be gone days ago! Your time at this inn has been up and you never paid!" They shouted him, aggressive deep in their tone as they counted to bang on the door. The stranger panicked looking around for a way to escape since the door wasn't a option. He bit his lip as his eyes landed on the window Minghao had attempted to open earlier.

He gave him a awkward smile as he opened the catch of the window. "So... can you do a perfect landing after jumping out?" He questioned as he urged the boy to the window. The banging only got louder and louder as Minghao stared at the stranger witha hypocritical expression. Yet in the end he opened up the railing and stepped outside the window without a second thought.

"If you fall, I'm not catching you." He stated, looking back at the stranger. There was hint of shock on his face before smiling back and climbing out of the window after him. Once the two were both out and on the roof, they clung to the wall so they wouldn't fall. Fortunately, they'd escape the inn keeper. Unfortunately, they were on the fourth floor which was extremely high for them. If they fell, it was over.

"Look, that building over there." The stranger exclaimed, pointing out to what he found. "It's as tall as the floor we're on, why don't we try and climb in there to get in the ground." Minghao froze, his breathing hitched as he saw the abandon building he was talking about. It was the same building that he passed out at, the building that belonged to the boys who tried to torment him.

His whole body told him not to go inside. What if those boys from yesterday were there? They would just jump him again like they did last night, and Minghao didn't know if the same thing would occur to save him like it did. "I-I can't." He stated, his feet shifting backwards so that he was a little farther. "Going there is a death sentence for me, I can't do that!"

"You'll have to, that inn keeper is searching for my head. It's the only way to get away." He tried to convince him.

Minghao frowned, whipping his head towards the stranger. "That sounds like a you problem! I don't even know why I'm following you, I have my own life to live!" He yelled, his feet slipping off the roof. He let out a gasp and he slid down, almost falling off the building entirely. That was until he was caught by the stranger, who was struggling to keep himself and Minghao from falling.

"You have... to trust me!" He told him, heaving as he pulled Minghao onto the roof again. Minghao frowned, yet his grip tightened on the stranger as he began trying to get on the roof with his help. Once he was finally on it once again, the two shuffled their way towards the abandoned building. It would his first time ever entering this building... would he now be technically trespassing like those boys claimed.

Once they were close enough, they moved from the roof of the fourth floor to a balcony that protruded of the building's side. The stranger stepped onto the balcony first, making sure that it was safe to walk on. He then urged Minghao over, signaling that it was safe to cross.

Skeptical, he placed one foot on the balcony in caution. It creaked with an awful noise which set Minghao back. "If I walk on this balcony it's going to fall." He stated, keeping away from it fear of possibly falling through. The stranger have him a look, not really wanting to deal with him being extremely cautious.

"I promise it won't fall. It's perfectly fine! See?" He questioned, jumping up and down on the balcony. It squeaked and creaked like madman, shifting up and down as the stranger continued to jump. Yet it never wavered to the bring of collapse, which somewhat proved his point. With a little bit of frustration, Minghao bit back any fears of falling and joined the stranger.

He flinched when the balcony creaked, but nothing happened afterwards. For the most part, everything was fine. Nothing was breaking and nothing was snapping to startle them. "See what I mean, it's perfectly fine—" The stranger grinned though it was only for a second. Boards began to snap in half and the floor began to sink on the two before breaking into pieces and forcing the two to fall through. "Oh goddammit!"

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took a lot out of this chapter and replaced it with something new 🤔