Ducking hastily behind the looming trees and hiding in its shade, Chanyeol clamped a palm over his own mouth. hoping to not make or emit a sound from the back of his throat unintentionally. As much as he wanted to jump in and save his friends, the shocked man knew that there still would be a slim chance of him getting Baekhyun’s team out of the sudden ambush without extra help. His team of four wouldn’t be enough. Chanyeol swallowed dryly when he heard the whirring sound; possibly indicating that the small bullet ships were already taking off. It still surprised him how soft they sounded; the engines. Chanyeol was sure the whirring sounds were just the ships moving off the ground but, there wasn’t any loud noises when the man watched it take off. Gulping dryly, he turned to his men and his lips.

“We should inform both Kai and the Prince.” Chanyeol directed, pointing towards two of the man, “You two go back to the ship, tell the others what we saw but make sure units A and B are still stationed; in case anything happens.”

“I’ll go tell the Crown Prince and you—”

“Kai, got it!” His third teammate scurried to his left while Chanyeol nodded to the other two, running off in the opposite direction with a heavy heart but a determined body. He could only hope that Baekhyun wouldn’t be put into danger alongside Shixun. The latter especially, has suffered almost all her life and Chanyeol would probably hold it against himself if anything horrible were to happen to them.

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Luhan hissed loudly when the tracker on his wrist tightened, alerting him with the alarming red blinking light gliding swiftly across the screen. His eyes doubled their sizes when he realised how fast the red light was moving.

“What’s wrong?”

Krystal asked in a low voice as she neared her brother, noticing the change in his expression when he looked over the black strap on his hand. She didn’t know what it was at first, but judging from the blinking screen and the infamous red moving dot, she deduced that it was a tracking device. But on whom, well— she was about to find that out soon enough.

“I think, Shixun’s in danger.” The Crown Prince his lips in worry as he squinted his eyes in a distance, hoping to see if he could make out where Shixun’s initial location was. But to his regret, they were too far already from where Baekhyun’s team was dispatched.

“From the looks of it, she’s moving— rapidly.”

“And involuntarily as well.” Luhan added to Krystal’s already obvious statement. Usually if anyone moves on their own accord despite any speed, the tracker wouldn’t give such a distressing alert. And just then from a distance, the siblings’ heard a loud and crystal yell from behind. Whipping their heads simultaneously, they watched with knitted eyes as Chanyeol caught up to where they stood.

“We need to hurry! Shixun and Baekhyun, they’ve been taken!”

The man rested his hands on his knees as he bent slightly forwards to catch his breath, but Luhan didn’t allow him to even spare the details. “What do you mean, what happened!?”

Krystal swatted her brother’s hand away, her face contorted with worry and concern. “Let him explain later, we’ve to board the ship to catch up to Shixun and the rest.” The princess whistled, letting out an ear-piercing sound so that the boys would come and cease their search, ordering them to get back to the ship. “I’m assuming Kai’s being informed the same thing as—”

She didn’t manage to finish herself when Luhan’s holo-phone beeped, showing Kai’s figure vividly and clearly on the disappearing image. “The ship’s coming to you in 3.”

The Crown Prince brought his head up, seeing the vague figure of the ship hovering over them. Sturdy ladder ropes were being thrown down, with Kai knowing that there wouldn’t be enough time if they were to land the whole ship. There were only four ropes, making Luhan grab onto one of them before reaching out for his sister. Wordlessly, Krystal reached out and clung onto her brother’s abdomen, waiting to be pulled up from the ground. As they were being pulled, her eyes darted to Luhan’s revealed collarbone, where his shirt was tugged because of her grip on him. She swallowed to herself when she saw the thick, infamous jet black line across his pale skin. 45 minutes were barely up and they were not even halfway through the time yet; Krystal was certain that none of them had found the ingredients for the antidote. And with the uncooperative atmosphere, they’re getting nearer to death each passing second. Were they ever going to succeed in this? Or were the days they’ve spent already wasted?

The princess didn’t realise they were already in the ship until Luhan loosened the grip on her waist.

“Wendy, could you get us the tea.” Luhan ordered once he saw Krystal’s helper. He didn’t have to ask his sister to know what she’s feeling. Her discoloured lips and pale skin were already enough to tell him that her condition was getting worse. “Why don’t you sit there for a while okay? I’ll talk to Kai,” Krystal wasn’t given any room to protest when Luhan ushered Taeyong to tend to his sister. “Could you just, make sure she doesn’t do anything exertive.”

Kai walked up fast to Chanyeol, eyes filled with uncertainty as he worried over his bottom lip. “Where’d they go? Where’d she go? Did you see what that ship looked like—”

“Calm down Kai,” Luhan sighed, walking towards the white table in the middle of the control area. He pushed a button and took off his tracking device from his wrist. Dismantling the back swiftly, the Crown Prince pulled out a black chip and inserted it into the empty slot; allowing it to connect to the big holo-screen in the middle of the table. He expanded the screen further with both his hands before turning to Kai, “The red dot is where Shixun’s going to be, follow it.”

Kai’s eyes narrowed before he knitted his brows together, “You’ve a tracking device on her?”

“Yeah, I needed to make sure I knew where she was going, in case she got into danger; especially after the incident.”

Kai his lips when Luhan purposely hit a sensitive spot. He still didn’t know how to make it up to the girl, and now that she’s suddenly being captured, it made him even more worried. Why did they pick her team out of all the others? Baekhyun’s team was the farthest to see, especially since they entered the forest area. The team that was least concealed was Luhan’s team. Ships from above would be able to clearly see where he stood.

Turning back to Chanyeol, Kai questioned him about what he saw; hoping in his mind and heart that nothing could’ve happened to them. Because Kai was certain already by now, there weren’t as many inhabitants on the planet as he was told to expect. Could something have happened? Are they people here who knows of letalis, and the girl who’s blood runs with the antidote?

~”~

Strong scents of forsythia petals and antiseptic, or more specifically iodoform, filled every corner of the room she was in. They weren’t at all a perfect combination but that was the least of her worries. Shixun’s heart palpitated unhealthily as her eyes darted around the dimly lit room. The bulb emitted a soft yellow hue, making it hard for her to see what was around her. But what the girl can confirm was that the room was as big as one-third the size of a throne hall. Slowly, her eyes moved from looking at the ceiling to looking to sides. Shixun tried to move but her heart skipped a beat when she realised that she was being tightly fastened onto the bed that she was laid on.

A soft but shocked gasp escaped her lips when she realised too that right beside her, was a surgical table. The top had an ivory coloured cloth covering the metal surface and above it—

There were needles.