When Autumn woke up the next morning, Hurricane was nowhere to be seen, nor was there any evidence that he was in her room; even the broken vase was gone. She sat up and tip toes to the door and slowly opened it and carefully peeked inside, but Hurricane was nowhere to be seen. She went back inside her room and that was when she noticed that her Maids had come to wake her up. She didn’t notice the time until she saw the sun high in the sky. It was eerily quiet; she got dressed quickly and went through Hurricane’s place to the door that leads to the hallway. She opened the door, and opened it slowly, the door creaking loudly. She looked down the empty hallway, it was silent, and Autumn was starting to get a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“What are you doing?”

Autumn jumped at the voice breaking the silence, Hurricane stood beside her, pretending to find out what she was looking for.

“Don’t scare me!”

“Sorry Miss, I didn’t think I would have scared you.”

Autumn collects her thoughts, “Where is everyone?”

Hurricane’s face turns serious as he stood to his full height. “We’re currently on high alert.”

“What happened?” Autumn asks anxiously thinking back to Blaze’s talk of running away.

“The palace was attacked last night. The prince will explain more to you in more detail. I was told to take you there as soon as you were ready.”

As they walked away from her room toward the main part of the palace the evidence of an attack was evident. The large floor length windows in the main hallway were shattered, letting in a chilling draft. Hurricane stood by the half open doorway to the Dinner hall, normally a member of the staff would be there to announce her arrival but there was no one there except an increase in the guards by the doorway. Hurricane indicated that she should enter but she stood motionless by the door ways as she hears Taecyeon speaking in an urgent tone.

“Why are these people still unhappy?! I don’t know what else they want! I thought they would satisfied once Autumn arrived here!”

Autumn couldn’t listen any longer, “What are you talking about? What is happening and what does it have to do with me?”

Taecyeon looked surprised for the first time, but he soon composes himself as the Queen explains.

“Well Dear, How do I say this? There is unrest among some of the citizens, particularly those who come from different courts. We have tried to grant their request to the best of our abilities but some of them are just unrealistic, so Taecyeon thought it would idea of having a non-royal Queen would satisfy them.”

“But it didn’t work!” Taecyeon banged on the table hard enough for there to be a splintering sound.

“Honey, we still have many options, it’s not time to worry just yet.”

Taecyeon nods grimly, falling back into his seat once more.

The Queen got up from her seat and came to Autumn’s side, ‘But there is no need to worry, my dear, everything is still under control. The King is going to meet with the leader of the movement and sort things out. Don’t worry about it. How about you go relax in the library, I think that it would be nice, I hear you enjoy spending time there, but please stay away from the outdoors for the time being.”

Too overwhelmed by the turn of events, Autumn had no choice but to be led out of the room where Hurricane immediately materialized next to her.

When she got back to her room, Blaze was there waiting for her.

“I came back as soon as I heard. Are you ok?” Autumn nods, still feeling numb about the whole situation.

As time ticked on, Autumn’s numbness began to fade but at the same time, and unsettling sense of peace settle back in the palace, the hallways became as cherry as they usually were.

“Apparently this is not an unusual occurrence, we better get used to it soon, seeing as we’ll be here for the long run.” Blaze said with a bitterness that went unnoticed as Autumn tried to process everything. It’s not like she had never heard about these things before, Even in Fire Court there would be occasional complaints but they would soon be sorted out and things would go back to normal. Never would she have thought that there would be such unhappiness that they would attack the palace, which was unheard of in Fire Court; most if not all citizens of Fire Court, supported the Royal Family, especially Prince Chanyeol.

But just like the Queen said, soon the Palace returned to the usual routine. The windows were prompt replaced, all evidence of the night disappeared, to the point that the vase in her room was replaced with an identical one. And soon enough the event was a thing of the past and even Autumn was starting to doubt if the whole event happened in the first place, but there was still a lingering thought; what else was going on in this palace. Autumn wanted to know, but when all those surrounding her acting like nothing happened she found no one to ask; although one look in Hurricane’s eyes, confirms that there is more to discover.

Autumn was forced to push all these thoughts out of her head when Prince Taecyeon had requested to see her for the first time since their last encounter alone, and the thought of facing him brought shiver to Autumn’s core. Every time she tried to figure him out, he would change, making Autumn feel like she was trying to tame a wild wolf which refused to be tamed. She walked into the room to find the Taecyeon already seated staring straight at the empty seat opposing him.

‘Have a seat.” He says without moving, his eyes still fixed on the seat.

“I would prefer to remain standing.” Autumn says as she stops behind the chair and rests her hands on the backrest. Taecyeon’s eyes narrowed as is eyes finally move up to meet hers. He looks as at her for a long second, “Suit yourself.” He says maintaining the eye contact. Autumn feels an icy cool spread starting from her fingers spreading inwards as she keeps her gaze steady as Taecyeon’s eyes pierce though her soul, and for the first time Autumn noticed that icy blue of one his iris. If eyes were really the windows to your soul, what did Taecyeon’s eyes show?

Seeing as Taecyeon seems uninterested in making pointless conversation, Autumn broke eye contact first, closing her eyes slowly, shielding her eyes in case they held any secrets. Not knowing what to do, she started humming. She opens her eyes to see Taecyeon’s unmoving gaze; the longer she tried to hold his gaze the colder she felt and unknowingly her body seemed to move on its own. She found herself slowly dancing the steps to a little known traditional dance used by the Naturals of Fire Court to ward off any bad luck before a battle; her brother secretly taught her, telling her that it helped Naturals to gain strength. Autumn kept her gaze on Taecyeon but the only image in her head was on her family and friends; those she cared about, her brother, mother, father, Blaze… one by one they walked through her mind, and an comforting warmth swirled from her heart spread chasing away the cold and she started dancing faster and faster, a smile spreading on her lips. Images on her best memories swirled for a brief second before giving to the next, but as she could feel her feet pain, but her spirit wouldn’t tire, images of her brother laughing suddenly gave way to a new face, the undeniable face of Hurricane brought Autumn to a stop. She could feel Taecyeon’s eyes following her every movement; but suddenly they did not intimidate her.

“You don’t scare me.” She says; her sprit still flying high.

The prince smirked, ‘I changed my mind.’ He says as he gets up and strolls to Autumn’s side, stopping right in front of her. He reaches for her face, brushing the back of his hand slowly down her cheek. “I am serious about you.”

Autumn laughed bitterly as she stops his hand and releases it back to him.

“You sure don’t act that way.”

She gives him a smirk, her heart beating all the way up to ; but for the first time since she got here, she felt alive as she walked away from him.

Author's note: Hello i am sorry for not posting for a while I had some problems with my internet! But I am back now!