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 Tokyo, Japan -  8:30 PM

CURRENT LOCATION: Xiumin's home

Is it just me, or is this getting more and more difficult as we go along?

You’re sitting down in one of the cushioned leather chairs, holding the note that was given to you byDonghae. You run your hand over the drawing in the middle - the dragon etched into the paper stares you down, threatening to jump off of the parchment and consume you.

You begin to wonder if this is just the beginning; if there will be more losses. You glance up at the group of people in the room with you: A cold and lonely boy who just lost the one person is his life, a tall kid with anger management issues, a girl who has been by your side since the beginning, a mysterious man whom you’ve just met, and then there’s him.

His body moves slowly as your eyes roam over every inch of him. He’s talking to Chanyeol, distracting the fragile giant from the scene in front of him. Even before you met him, Kai had been looking for you. Even before he had found you, he had sworn to protect you diligently. But would he be able to protect all of you?

No, that was your job.

You suddenly start to feel sick. The thought of having so many people’s lives in your hands churns your insides as you grasp your stomach, rubbing small circles through your shirt.

You’ve asked yourself the same thing every day since you’ve met Kai: Am I strong enough? Am I strong enough to protect them, the ones who are destined to save the world? Am I strong enough to care for them if they get hurt, and am I strong enough to continue on if I lose them? You hang your head, already knowing the answer to most of the questions.

A shadows blocks the light from the lamp next to you and you lift your head in response. Donghae stands in front of you, his face apologetic. He eyes the seat next to you and you give him a nod, inviting him to sit with you. His arms and legs are stiff as he sets himself beside you, a noticeable gulp coming from his throat. A few seconds of observing the others pass, until Donghae finally mutters a few words. “I’m sorry…”

You glance up at him from your seat - it’s odd to see him this cautious around you, compared to the confident and almost lethal aura he gave off when you first encountered him.

“I don’t think I’m the one you should be saying that to,” you spit back, looking in Kai’s direction. Donghae gives a small smile, replying, “It’s going to take more than an apology for him to forgive me.”

You fold your hands in front of you, turning back to him. “I hope you work hard, then.”

You leave Donghae’s stare on you as you return to focusing on the note in your lap, the dragon once again beckoning you. You can hear the chair squeak as Donghae squirms in his seat, and you feel him getting closer to you. You attempt to look up at him but realize that he’s much closer than  you anticipated, causing you to lean away from his curious eyes. “What?” you say to him, raising an eyebrow. He takes his time analyzing your face, eyeing every sensitive spot on your skin. You watch as a smile finally appears on his face, along with a satisfying laugh coming from his throat as he moves back into his original spot. “You love him, don’t you?” Your eyes go wide as the man continues to laugh, the heat rising to your cheeks.

“Come on, that’s why you’re mad, right? I haven’t done anything to you personally but because I hurt him, you’re mad. So, you must care about him. Right?”

You think for a few seconds, allowing the past few days to run through your mind.

“Of course I care about him,” you say, certain in your words. “But even if I didn’t, you still owe him an apology.” He leans his head onto the back of the chair as he stares at the ceiling. “This just makes everything more difficult.” Keeping your head lowered, you glance at him beside you, suddenly feeling as if there is something he’s not telling you. It seems that everyone, including the newest two members of twelve, has their own secrets they keep locked up tight. In an attempt to break the silence between you, you lean over and hold the note in front of Donghae, forcing him to break his eye contact with the ceiling and turn his focus onto the dangling piece of paper. “What does it mean?” you ask, almost hushed.

Donghae take the paper from you and holds it in both hands before taking a deep breath and folding the paper in half. “The Ouroboros– the snake, or sometimes a dragon, in a circle with its tail in its mouth. It represents a cycle, specifically in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, which is sometimes known as the eternal return.” You bring hands together in front of you and shift your body towards to Donghae as to make sure you’re fully focused on what he says. “The eternal return is an ideology that has been passed down for centuries. It’s the concept that everything in existence and all energy is recurring. Don’t confuse it with reincarnation, though, because it’s not about the spiritual aspect and being brought back into a different body, but rather the same one— an eternal circle of time.”

He reopens the paper in his hands and holds it up to the light, using a finger to follow the circle that the dragon makes. “Jiyong and his men are part of a group called the Hassansins. They are—“he suddenly stops speaking and clenches his jaw, trying to hide a furious expression that starts to form on his face. “They were scholars, like me… Like Siwon.” The enemy wasn’t always an enemy; they were once on the side of the twelve. “But one day they betrayed us,” he spits out, the words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Sekhmet found them and broke them down, promising things she could never give them, and knowing that, they fell for it anyway. That’s when everything began to fall apart…  They put everything on the line and risked our lives, but for what? False promises?” He shakes his head at the ground, his eyebrows furrowed. “They were going to tell her about Exo, about Luhan, about Kai— everyone. But most of all, they were going to tell her where you were.” He looks up and your eyes meet his, the shock of his stare chilling you to the bone. “Tell me about your eighteenth birthday.”

You try to breathe deeply as you think about what to say. “That was the day my brother left with Siwon. Taemin said that Siwon had come to the house to warn my parents about Sekhmet, but before he left the house, he asked to go with him.” Donghae nods his head, confirming the story. He takes over, continuing, “And he told you that he studied under him for a few years, right?”

You respond quickly: “Yes.” Donghae looks up for a moment, returning back to your face. “A year ago, we had found out that the Hassansins finally gave up our location on Exo, and they threatened to kill us and our families. We knew would couldn’t travel together and we knew we couldn’t bring our families along because of the risk, so, as a group we decided that it would be best if we... disappeared.” The last word comes out as a sad whisper as Donghae’s expressions drops into one of regret. “Because if we still lived, they would keep looking for us— If they knew we were alive, they would keep hunting us down.”

“What did you do?” You’re unconsciously gripping the arm of the chair you’re sitting in, the leather now wrinkly and warm from your hands. Donghae bites his lower lip, leaning all the way back into his seat. You follow his eyes and see that he’s staring at Kai, his eyes sad and distant. His voice escapes from his mouth, and with heavy words, he answers: “We set the lab on fire.”

A breath of air gets caught in somewhere in between your chest and your throat and you struggle to breathe as you process Donghae’s words. 

No wonder Taemin was so devastated; in his eyes, he had allowed his teacher die and couldn’t do a thing about it. Kai was a teleporter and Luhan was a telekinetic, but their powers couldn’t have protected them from something like this. All three of the boys had lost everything that day… everything except the small hope of The Keeper.

“We didn’t tell them anything before we left, if that’s what you’re thinking about,” Donghae cuts in. “That’s why it took longer for Kai to find you. Taemin was sworn to secrecy and wouldn’t have told anyone about your whereabouts, whether or not it was his best friend asking. We trusted him to keep that secret, and felt that he was the only one who should know, so we kept it from the others.” 

You sit quietly, suddenly confused. “But Kai said he went with Siwon the night of my birthday. He was the one that took Siwon to the house. That’s how he met Taemin.” Donghae smiles softly, letting out a laugh. “Yeah, he was there, but that doesn’t mean Siwon told him. He had no idea that you were right inside, sleeping in your bed.”

You cross arms in front of you, tilting your head. “Don’t you think that’s a little harsh? Making him run around to find me when you could have just told him about that night?”

Donghae’s face becomes serious as he stands up from his chair, turning to face you. “Not when your safety, and his, is at risk. If he knew, they would have taken him and probably tortured him to tell. And knowing Kai, he would have kept his mouth shut. The only option, then, would have been to kill him.”

He begins to walk away, turning to speak once more over his shoulder. “And we all know what would happen if one of the twelve were to die.” He lift his hands over his head, pretending to hold a globe in the air. He pretends to split the globe in half, accompanied by fake explosion sounds made by his mouth, and at this point, you know exactly what he means. 

You feel weird knowing the things you now know. There would have never been a time in your life when you thought the fate of the world would literally be just on your two shoulders. It's funny how even the small things could suddenly make all that come crashing down.

You watch as Donghae makes his way back to Xiumin, who is still beside his father's body next to the desk. He hesitates for a second as he stands over him, but then softly places a hand on his shoulder. Xiumin looks up at him, the bottom of his eyes puffy from holding in his tears. "We should leave soon. They could come back any minute and I would hate for the fate of your father to become yours, or anyone else's in this room." Xiumin says nothing, but turns his gaze back down to look once more at his father.

"I want to bury him. I need to bury him."

Donghae removes his hand from the boy's shoulder and nods at him. "I understand. But it would be too dangerous to do it here. We can bury him on Exo."

Kai's face suddenly goes pale at the thought of having to transport the body, but Donghae sees him and places his hand up before he can say anything. "I will take the body and leave before the rest of you to prepare, and you should follow after when you are all ready." Without waiting for an answer, Donghae bends down over the body, causing Xiumin to take a few steps back. Donghae's hands runs over the man's face and he whispers a few soft words, eyes closed and breathing steadily. Xiumin blinks and suddenly, they're gone. 

"How... how did he?..." he starts, pointing at Kai. "Are you related or something?" Kai's resting face becomes cold and he stomps away while biting back his words. He moves out of the library and into the hallway, away from everyone.

You sigh heavily while picking yourself up out of your seat, giving the group a quick glance before following after the boy.

When you exit the library, in front of you sits a long hallway, with several doors that lead to unknown places. To the left of the hallway, a staircase snakes its way up to the ceiling, revealing a second floor that beckons your curiosity. Directly in front of you across the hall is what looks like a living room area; you you walk closer to it and stand in the doorway. There is a vintage chesterfield brown leather sofa that wraps around a lacquered coffee table, a mug sitting comfortably on top of a coaster in the middle of it. The sofa looks like it hasn't been sat in in years and you begin to daydream about all the naps someone could be taking on it. You allow your mind to turn off and entertain the idea of even enjoying a nap yourself, when a noise from the end of the hallway jolts you back to your senses. It only sounded like a mere thump, but it was too loud to have been a small thing or a small animal. 

You cautiously turn your body to face the hallway, peeking around the doorway to look down the almost neverending corridor. You can see another door facing back at you, and through that door, you spot an antique, industrial looking oven.

Kitchen? Maybe it was just a mouse...

You take a few steps forward, the wood floor underneath you screeching with every step you take. Or maybe it's a really large cockroach...

You cring at the thought of meeting a beast like that and try to lighten your steps so as not to scare it off. When you reach the kitchen, you hear the noise again, but this time louder. You peek into the kitchen, twisting your head around to look into the small room. Pots and pans neatly hang from a rack nailed to the wall and you slightly smile at the happy little plants on the windowsill. It seems like everything is in its right place, so you turn around to walk back but are suddenly thrown backwards into the oven, the rough metal edge digging deep into your lower back and the pain beginning to spread down to your legs. When you hit the floor, your hands are too busy holding onto your back to catch you from hitting the ground full force. Your body drops heavily onto the tile and you writhe in pain, feeling it radiating through your entire body. Your movements become limited as old back pains from long ago resurface, your nerves screaming as they tremble in shock.

You look up from the floor through tear-filled eyes, the figure before you a dark blurred form. You don't have to see his face to know who he is when he says, mockingly, "Oops. Didn't see you there."

You grit your teeth at the man, your jaw tightening as your hand grips into a fist. He laughs at you on the ground, his medallion clinking against its chain as his chest moves up and down with his laughter. "Cute," he mocks. "You were always a fighter. Even as a child." Hearing this, your hand suddenly loosens from its grip and you look the man in the eyes. "What?" you say in an audible whisper through soft grunts as the pain continues to surge through you. From the corner of your eye, you see movement and dart your eyes to the side for a second, barely catching a glimpse of Kai peeking around the corner of the doorway down the other end of the hall, signaling something to you.

Assuming he has a plan, you quickly return your eyes to the man in front of you, his feet firmly planted between you and your only escape route.

"You don't remember me, do you?" he says calmly, a devilish smile pasted onto his face. "It was a long time ago, I don't know why I even expected you to remember." He takes a few steps closer to you, squatting down in front of you and matching his eye level with yours.

"Everyone was so damn excited when you were born," he says while leaning forward towards your face, examining it with his beady eyes. "And for what?" His hand comes up to touch your cheek but you instinctly move your head away, leaving his hand hanging in the air. "You're pitiful. Your mother would be so disappointed in you." At the mention of your mom, you softly gasp. When was the last time you had even thought about your mother?

"My... my mom..." you struggle to speak. "What do you mean?"

Just when you think you're about to get an answer, you feel arms around your body and the last thing you see is that devilish smile again before you feel a drop, landing in a pair of strong arms.

Kai looks down at you, his face full of worry as the pain in your back returns. You beg him to put you down, and he complies, setting you upright on both of your feet. Your hands immedately find their way to the source of you