Gallop sounds filled the quiet night as the rider urged his horse to go faster. It hadn’t been long since he received a desperate plead from his dear friend; a letter telling him that not only his life was in danger, but also the lives of his loved ones.

“My Dear friend, it is with great urgency that I write you this letter; please as soon as you read this, come to meet me. I’ve made some terrible discoveries that put your clan’s existence in great danger; Discoveries too dangerous to be put in a simple letter; in fact, my life also might be at stake at this very moment,  but I could not keep you in the dark about this. Please my friend; come to meet me so we can do something to stop this threat. Hurry, lives are on the line here; we must take action.

Sincerely, Your friend Chou Minho.”

The words he read on that letter echoed on his head, and his mind wondered what could have been that imminent threat his friend talked about; whatever it was, it sure was serious for his friend to write him such an urgent message. The rider had his suspicions, they’ve been making him lose his sleep for a while now; that was the reason he was riding so late into the night towards his friend’s home, and also, the urgency of his request made him uneasy.

“Well… he did said to meet him a soon as I read the letter, not my fault his letter was delivered to my brother by mistake and only now I got my hands on it…” was the thought of the young rider. “I’m sure he won’t mind a little late visit” With that thought on mind he went ahead on his mission.

Smoke and fire blurred his vision as the young warrior woke up in the middle of the night, his wife equally disoriented beside him. As soon as he noticed what was happening his body reacted and he was on his feet.

“The children!” He could hear his wife shout, now equally awake.

As if on command they both reacted and quickly ran out of the bedroom, each one of them towards one direction. It was hot, too hot to even think, but they had to, they kids were depending on them. The man found his son already awake on the corridor coughing.

“D-Dad?” he asked trying to see past the smoke. “What’s happening?” The young boy was still confused from waking up with the room too hot and hard to breathe.

“It’s okay son, I got you.” He said lifting the child on his arms. “I’ll get you out of here, I promise.” With that he ran towards the back door with the child still on his arms, it was getting harder and harder to move around the burning house, harder to see, harder to breathe. Finally at the door, he was alone with his child, his wife was supposed to be back with their baby girl by now, but she wasn’t behind him as he pushed the door open, the hot knob burning his hand. “Mingyu look at me.” He tried to get his son’s attention once they were out the door. “I’ll have to go back to help your mother and little sister okay?” he said putting down the kid.

“B-But dad… it’s dangerous.” He was scared, now seeing from the outside he could see what was actually happening.

“I know son, but I have to! They’re still in there and they need my help.” He kneeled before his son. “Here, take this.” He took off the medallion hanging on his neck and put it around his son’s. “Listen to me; I want you to run, okay? Run to Mrs. Kang house, tell her to get help and stay there.” He ordered.

“But, this is your medallion dad.” The kid said looking closely at the item; a medium sized black medallion with a silver Lotus flower engraved on it.

“I know, I know. But I want you to have it for now. Can you keep it for me?” The boy nodded. “Good. As long as you have this you’ll be close to us. Now go to the Kangs, you’ll be safe there, as soon as I get your mother and sister we’ll go to get you.” He looked straight into his son’s eyes, before finishing. “I love you Mingyu, you mother and I love you so much. Be strong right now okay? Mrs. Kang will take care of you while I’m gone.” He took one last look at the small Mingyu in front of him, face dirty with grime mirroring his own. “Go! Now!” He ordered one last time watching as the little boy his heels and started to run, as the man turned around and went back inside the burning hell that once was his home.

“Yoona! Yoona!” Came the desperate cries from her husband.

“I’m here!” was the equally desperate answer.

“Yoona!” He called out as soon as he spotted her, hands and forehead bleeding, behind the crying woman a large piece of debris, part of the roof that gave out, blocking her way.

“I can’t get to her; please help me, I can’t get to her.” Yoona pleaded her husband. On the other side of the debris, stood a door, their daughter’s room. They could hear the baby crying. The man tried to move the debris away from the door with his wife’s help, but they weakened bodies could no longer respond properly. Pieces of wood stood on their way, some burning like everything else in the house, but they kept trying so desperately they did not see the rest of the wood threatening to fall; not until a large piece broke down hitting the man in the head and part of his back making him fall unconscious. “Oh my god! Minho! Minho, wake up!” Yoona pleaded to no avail. She tried to move the big piece of wood from the top of her husband, to no avail; with the fallen debris now out of the way she finally reach the door; she tried to pry it open, but only managed a few centimeters, something on the other side was blocking her way, probably more parts of the fallen roof; as she tried and tried her body slowly started to give out since she was inside the house for too long already, breathing more and more of the toxic smoke that now started to come out from underneath her daughter’s door. The only thing she could do was call out her baby girl’s name and pray for some divine miracle as she slowly lost consciousness. “Please… Someone… Please save her…” And those were the last words Chou Yoona said before slipping into unconsciousness right beside her husband.

The flames could be seen from far away, so as soon as the rider saw them his heart stopped for a second; right there, at the exact same place the flames were coming from stood his friend’s now burning house. “No! Minho… Yoona… No!”  Was the only thing rider could think.

As he finally reached the scene, he grew even more anxious at the sight. “Minho! Yoona!” He called out in hope his friends would answer him. He went around the house and to his surprise, the back door was open and for a moment he had hope that maybe they escaped, until he saw footprints going back inside the house. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” He said to himself as he ran towards the open door.

The situation inside the house was as bad as it looked from the outside, everything downstairs was burning, there was no way there was someone in here. “Yoona! Minho!” Still he tried, until something caught his attention; a faint sound of crying coming from upstairs, he decided to check. Getting there wasn’t an easy task but he managed, the situation wasn’t as bad as downstairs, the crying got louder and he noticed it was a baby; following the sound he found a scene he would never forget, right there in front of him laid the bodies of his friends; “No!” Minho and Yoona, both bleeding and unconscious in front of a slightly open door; the crying was coming from inside the room. “I have to do something.” He grabbed the door knob ready to pull it open, a big mistake since it was burning hot. “Fu ck!” He kept trying to open the door hitting his shoulder against it, whatever it was that it was blocking it from the inside must be giving in cause he was managing to open it more and more; there was finally enough space for him to go through;  once inside he ran towards the crib cradling the baby on his arms. “Hey, shh. It’s okay.” He tried to calm down the baby. “You’re safe now. I got you little one.” The savior said looking into the small girl’s eyes who now looked at him with curiosity. He could hear a big part of the roof falling down, the house was going to collapse at any moment, they had to get out of there. “Let’s go little one.” With that he ran out, taking one last look towards his best friend and the woman he always loved making them a silent promise to take care of their daughter as if she was his own, and from that day on she was. The little Chou was now a Minatozaki, daughter of Minatozaki Taecyeon, her savior.