Baekhyun blinked as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and the ceiling fan rotating slowly above his head gradually came into view. He looked around in mild confusion, unsure why on Earth he was awake so early in the morning. Soft snores echoed in the quiet night air, but Baekhyun found himself unable to return to sleep. Groaning, he slipped out of the bed and exited the room, moving slowly so as not to wake his slumbering housemates. He wandered down the hall, scratching the back of his head as he mulled over what to do to make himself drowsy once more. As he passed by the open bedroom of his door, he instinctually glanced inside, and he immediately halted in his tracks.

Mi-young? He thought in a panic, shoving the door open to storm into the room. Her bed was made; it had not slept in at all. Where is she? With panic rising inside of him, he ran through the house in a flurry, checking every area where the mermaid could be. The bathroom was vacant, the couch in the living room was unoccupied, and the kitchen was empty. Where could she have gone? He thought as he pulled at his hair. His heart was pounding against his ribcage, and his chest was constricting so he felt like he could barely breathe. Mi-young, oh, God, she’s gone, she’s gone! What did I do? Why would she leave? He thought miserably as he leaned against the wall, feeling slightly faint.

I can’t sit around here. I have to find her! He thought and dashed down the hall, pounding on his housemates’ doors in a frenzy.

“Get up! Get up!” he shouted impatiently as he made his rounds once more. As he hovered in the entryway, pacing back and forth in irritation, his sleepy friends shuffled out of their rooms in a chorus of yawns and curses.

“What in the hell is this about, Baekhyun?” Kai muttered bitterly as he flopped face-first down onto the couch, and after a few seconds, he was already snoring. Nearly manic, Baekhyun grabbed a throw pillow and beat him over the head with it until he shot up, shouting, “Okay! Okay! I’m up!”

“Baekhyun, what’s going on? It’s three in the morning,” Luhan groaned, rubbing his eyes miserably.

“Mi-young is gone,” he replied breathlessly. Instantly, eleven pairs of eyes shot open, and the group of idols was wide awake.

“Gone? Gone? What do you mean, gone?” Lay cried.

“She’s not in the house. I can’t find her anywhere, and I don’t know where she could have gone,” he continued. As he paced the floor, he felt tears of frustration forming in the corners of his eyes. I can’t believe this. Why would she leave? Where could she have gone? How long has she been gone? He thought. Slowly, his panic turned to shock, and he covered his mouth as a nauseous feeling came over him. He sunk down into the recliner, staring at nothing as he attempted to process what his mind was telling him. Mi-young…

“We have to go find her!” Chanyeol cried, and a chorus of agreement echoed around the room. Baekhyun shook his head sadly, leaning his forehead into his hands.

“We'll never find her. There are a thousand places she could be!” he moped miserably. She’s out there somewhere, lost and alone, or God forbid locked up in some tank or hurt… I’m such an idiot! How could this happen? He screamed at himself. The other boys would not let him give up so easily, however. Suho walked over to him, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him hard.

“Get ahold of yourself, Baekhyun!” he snapped at him, slapping him lightly across the cheek for good measure. “Mi-young needs us. She’s out there somewhere, and we have to find her. Now get your in gear! We're going to go look for her. Sehun, get the keys,” he demanded, and his cohort obediently snatched the keys to their large van off the key rack by the door. Baekhyun, mind still reeling, only watched as his housemates formed a plan to search for the missing girl. As they began to march determinedly out the door, he rose to his feet to go after them.

“No. You’re not in the right state of mind, and someone has to stay here in case she comes back,” D.O. ordered, pushing him hard in the chest so that he flopped back down into the recliner. “Chanyeol is gonna stay with you. We'll call you if we find her, but for the love of all things good, stay here,” he ordered firmly before exiting the house and closing the door behind him. As silence descended, Baekhyun found it disturbing; he wished more than anything to hear the sound of her voice echoing through the house, her joyful laughter bouncing off the walls and filling the darkness with light. All he got was Chanyeol flipping on a lamp.

“How are you holding up, bud?” Chanyeol gave him a strained smile as he sat down on the couch, gazing at him with eyes full of concern and slight pity. Baekhyun rubbed his temples, trying to wrap his brain around why Mi-young would steal away in the dark of night. She was naïve enough to try and sneak out to surprise Baekhyun with some trinket from a shop, or buy ingredients for some meal she wanted to make him, or venture to a place that had garnered her interest. Nightmarish visions of late-night predators preying on his beautiful Mi-young began to dance in his head, and he shook his head violently in an attempt to clear them away before flopping back in the chair and putting his head in his hands. “So, not good.”

“I just don’t get it,” Baekhyun sighed deeply, shaking his head again. “Why would she leave?”

“I don’t know,” Chanyeol frowned as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Mi-young just… does things. She’s still so ignorant about how the world works.”

“Yeah. I know,” he murmured sadly. He glanced out of the window, staring out into the night, and praying that his friends could somehow find Mi-young and bring her home safe and sound. He then clapped his hands against the arms of the recliner, jumping to his feet and heading towards the front door.

“Where are you going?!” Chanyeol cried as he leaped to his feet to hurry after him. “You heard D.O.; someone has to stay here just in case she comes back!” he protested as he followed his dark-haired friend out of the door and across the yard.

“I’m just going next door,” he replied matter-of-factly as he cut to the side and walked across the stone path leading to his old neighbor's house.

“What? You’re gonna wake up Grandma Lee at this hour? You can’t do that! She’s a little old lady! She needs her sleep!” Chanyeol cried, reaching out to grab his shoulder. Baekhyun shoved him off, hoping that his gut instinct would pay off. She loves the old lady. Maybe she walked over without me knowing and just fell asleep here… This was all just one big misunderstanding, and she'll be here, and I can bring her back home, where she’s safe… Resolute, he marched up the porch steps. Alerted to his approach, the little dog the old woman owned began barking madly, and Baekhyun heard him scurry across the house and begin scrabbling at the door. After a few minutes of ringing the doorbell and listening to the little dog yap, Baekhyun heard Grandma Lee cursing loudly as she unlocked the door and swung it open.

“Baekhyun! What in the blazes is going on?” She demanded, standing grumpily in her nightgown and slippers as she glared at him.

“Please, Grandma Lee, it’s an emergency. Is Mi-young here?” Baekhyun asked politely. He hated awakening the woman at this hour, but he was crazed with concern for the lost mermaid, and he was not going to leave any stone unturned. As he mentioned the girl's name, the old woman frowned deeply and tutted. She knows something.

“Oh, dear…” she began, and her tone of voice made Baekhyun’s blood turn to ice.

“What? What is it?” he demanded, his voice shrill. She looked up at him with a slightly guilty expression.

“Well, she stopped by earlier today. She was a sad little thing, all lonely,” she explained. Lonely? Baekhyun thought in shock, puzzle pieces beginning to fit together in his mind. “She was beginning to feel like she was a burden to you all. Perhaps she took my advice a little to much to heart, and wandered off to think on things.” Baekhyun stumbled out of the doorway, every word piercing his heart like an arrow. It’s my fault, he realized. I pushed her away… And now she’s out there, alone, scared, maybe hurt, and it’s my fault. Mind reeling, he eased himself down into the old lady's rocking chair.

“Baekhyun? Hey, man, snap out of it,” Chanyeol frowned as he waved a hand in front of his face, but Baekhyun kept staring out into the night. Mi-young… I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry, he thought as he felt guilt tearing his inside to shreds. This is my fault. Please, please be okay… Please… He looked up at the sky desperately. I don’t know if anyone can hear me up there, but please keep her safe…

Please bring her home to me.

Kai pursed his lips as he stared out the window of the van, watching the empty road sweep by. He was leaning his cheek in his hand, fighting off sleep as he kept his eyes trained on the sidewalk. Where could she have gone? And why would she go, in the middle of the night? He thought as he yawned loudly. He pursed his lips again, worry gnawing at the back of his mind. She’s so innocent and naïve… Being out in the dark like this, anything could go wrong… They pulled into an empty parking lot of a convenience store and hopped out, splitting into groups to search the surrounding area. Kai paired up with D.O., and they began strolling through the streets, armed with only their phone flashlights and their wits.

“Mi-young!” he called out into the dark. The only response he received was a cat hissing and slinking away into an alleyway. “Mi-young, are you out here?” he shouted, then sighed in exasperation. “We'll never find her like this. Why would she be out here, anyway?”

“Hell if I know,” D.O. frowned as he shone his phone flashlight down an alleyway. The darkness revealed nothing but a dark green dumpster. “I mean, it's so weird for her to just take off like that… I’m sure she wouldn’t do it without a good reason, you know?”

“Yeah, but I can’t imagine what that would be…” Kai frowned, and shouted the missing girl's name once more. “This is hopeless. Is there anywhere at all she could be? There has to be some place she would go that has some semblance of meaning.”

“Well, doesn’t she like the beach?” D.O. considered thoughtfully, cocking his head to the side. “Baekhyun found her there. Maybe she recalled a memory or something, and wandered over there. Or she could be a sleepwalker,” he theorized, but Kai was not concerned about his crazy hypotheses. He clapped his friend on the shoulder and took off in a jog, causing his friend to cry out and rush after him. They ran along the gray sidewalks, passing under the bright circles of light that poured from the streetlamps and illuminated their path, slowly making their way across town to the long stretch of beach that the city prided itself in. Concrete gave way to planks of wood as they made it to the boardwalk, then soft sand as they edged their way down to the water. Flashing the phone lights, they called for the girl, but received no response but the rhythmic crashing of the waves. Kai was ready to give up when he spotted a dark shape at the edge of the surf just a few yards ahead.

“Hey, what’s that?” he called to D.O., who was a little ways behind him canvassing the sand dunes. As his friend joined up with him, they slowly approached the immobile lump situated half-in, half-hour of the water. For a brief moment, the clouds passed over the moon and light spilled onto the beach, briefly illuminating the unconscious form of Mi-young collapsed in the wet sand. “It’s her!” he cried, taking off for the unmoving girl. They kicked up sand as they ran frantically to her, falling to their knees beside her as they rolled her onto her back. Kai pressed his ear to her chest, and was relieved to hear her heart beating quietly within. He sat up with a grin on his face to find D.O. staring wide-eyed at the lower half of the girl's body. Thinking the worst, he glanced down but did not find what he was expecting to see. Instead, he saw a massive scaled fish tail where the girl's legs would be.

“Mi-young is… A mermaid,” D.O. said dumbly, and Kai could only not slowly, too thunderstruck to do or say anything. It seemed that she had been attempting to swim out to sea, as she was wound tightly in a half-ripped fishing net. Numerous fishing hooks were embedded in her skin all over her body, and in her attempt to fight them, her skin was ripped open in several places, still leaking blood. The sand was dyed a burgundy color where she had lay bleeding, but as the waves beat back and forth against them, the color slowly faded. Abruptly, she groaned and reached out, mumbling something, and Kai caught her grasping hand in his own.

“Mi-young?” he whispered, drawing his face closer to her, and he could barely see her bright blue eyes gazing unfocused up at him underneath her long lashes.

“Kai… D.O.,” she groaned miserably, and as she tried to sit up, she cried out in pain as the fish hooks dug deeper into her. “It hurts!” she wailed, and tears spilled down her cheeks. She squeezed his hand as she lay there, suffering, and all Kai could do was gently her jet-black hair and try to soothe her.

“It’s okay, Mi-young, just relax,” he whispered gently. I can’t do anything for her… he thought sadly. “It’ll be over soon. We'll get the others here, and we’ll fix you up…”

“Just lie still,” D.O. urged her gently, shuffling to her other side to hold her other hand. She whimpered and cried, every breath causing the hooks in her stomach and chest to pierce her deeper. After a few minutes of fighting the agony, her head flopped back into the sand, and she fell still as her consciousness slipped away. Kai ran his free hand through his hair as he attempted to process the strange scene before him. This is wild. Does Baekhyun know? Of course he knows; he probably found her this way. Why would she try to swim back? The bay is a minefield of fishermen and nets and lines… It’s a wonder she escaped alive! He stared down at her miserably, unsure how to help the wounded mermaid.

Mi-young… What on Earth would drive you to this?