“Hey, Luhan?”

“Huh?”

“Do you think you can erase my memories, too?”

Luhan chuckled, but there was a sad expression on his face. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

You sighed.

Tao stood next to you on your right. Luhan was on your left. You swung your arms back and forth, blinking to try to keep awake.

The sounds of crickets echoed. The summer breeze filled the air. Tao and Luhan didn’t seem to notice it, it wasn’t of their focus, but it was comforting to you.  The refreshing feeling invaded your senses. You thought that it was trying to warm you, comfort you, and hold you. You your lips, trying to make sense of everything.

Tao and Luhan continued to walk next to you, leading you to the clearing one more time. You were starting to get sick of it, but it wouldn’t matter since you wouldn’t have to go back according to what Tao and Luhan told you.

“Can I ask you guys something?” you questioned out loud. The path was leading into the opening, and from there, you could see the ten familiar males. This time, they wore casual outfits. It was surprising to see the sight. Chen in blue jeans, Suho in a plaid shirt, Xiu Min in sneakers. Their voices rang in your ears. Laughter, yells, chatter.

The two that accompanied you turned their heads to look at you with curious eyes.

“How long…” you began, “…will I be gone?”

They exchanged glances before looking back at you. Tao decided it was his turn to speak. “I’m sorry, we don’t know. It could take one Earth month…an Earth year…two Earth years, three, four.” Tao his lip, diverting his eyes away from yours because of his nervousness.

You blinked slowly. “How long is one Earth year compared to a year on Exo?”

Once again, the two natives of Exotic gave each other looks. “We’re not sure actually,” Luhan answered with a puzzled look. “I know we should know that, but…ask someone else.”

Your lips parted as you narrowed your eyes. “Mhm,” you mumbled. It bothered you that they didn’t know, but you decided you would just ask another one of the twelve.

The ten who were across the field turned their heads at the same time when they heard your steps in the grass. It was nerve-wracking, just like always whenever you were with them. You swallowed the lump in your throat and hoped that the cool breeze would take your troubles away.

“You came,” Suho stated with a soft smile on his face. You scratched your forehead with a slightly irritated look on your face. All you did was nod your head rapidly. “Is something wrong?”

You shook your head. Then, your eyebrows knit together. “Actually…there is.”

Everyone was looking at you. You noticed that Luhan and Tao were in normal clothes as well, not all black. You sighed. “It’s just…” You wanted to just give up on them. You didn’t want to be taken away from your parents, from your friends, from your home. Even though the thought of them having to be taken away from all of that was heartbreaking, you didn’t think it was entirely fair that they bring you with them.

“Don’t come then.”

You looked up from the ground. “What?”

“Don’t come. Don’t help us,” Luhan said.

“B-but…it’s just…I feel a little bad and-”

“Then don’t come!” Luhan yelled this time. It was silent all around you except the repeating sound of crickets. The wind blew through the tall trees in the forest surrounding you making the leaves rustle. It didn’t comfort you.

What is he saying? Luhan! I want to go though! “I WANT TO GO!” All eyes were back on you. “I want to go,” you muttered. The tears in your eyes began to form. “B-but I just don’t know if e-everything will be o-okay when I’m with you guys and when I come back here! That’s all, Luhan! I want to come! I want to help you!”

You covered your face and began to sob. This is so embarrassing! Tears pooled in your palms. Even your nose was running. Heavy breathing escaped your mouth. It was such a mess, but not much was going through your mind, nor did you care. Suddenly, Suho took one of your hands into his despite the wetness of it. You sniffled, squeezing your eyes shut for a good ten seconds before opening them to meet Suho’s eyes.

Suho tilted your head up with his chin. You couldn’t look away. “Everything will be okay.” The gentleness in his voice seemed to stop that nervousness from flowing through your body.

You took a deep breath in to try to steady your speaking. “A-are you sure? I’m just sc-scared that we’re going to-”

Suho repeated, “Everything will be okay,” with a warm smile. His hand let go of yours, and he didn’t hold onto your chin any longer. He stepped back to stand next to his fellow Exotics. “We promise.”

Although some didn’t wear the same friendly expression as Suho’s, you knew that there were no lies behind what Suho said. Even Luhan who had shouted earlier. It didn’t change your mind entirely, but you could feel yourself slowly but surely putting your trust in them.

“Promise?” you sniffled one last time.

“Promise,” they said in unison.

It was quiet for a few moments before you realized how awkward it was becoming. Your tears had dried, but the redness of your face wouldn’t go away for a while. Kris had beaten you to speaking first.

“Before we go, we have something special for you.”

You were dumbfounded. “Huh?”

“Claire.”

“What?” you snickered. Your mood was already lifting. “Who’s Claire?”

“You are,” he said.

You tilted your head in confusion. The males in front of you tried to hold back their smiles. “What do  you mean?”

Kris answered with a teasing tone in his voice, “Your name is a mouthful!”

You scrunched your nose up in protest. You rolled your eyes as you mumbled, “No, it’s not.” A quiet scoff came out of your mouth.

“Well, it’s a human name.”

“So is Claire!” Your jaws dropped, and your eyes widened. Claire is a human name! What is he talking about? My name is not that hard!

“Well,” Kris smirked, “Claire is your name to us now. Think of it as…a nickname. It’s our nickname for you.” Kris looked deep in concentration for a few seconds before snapping back to reality. “Nicknames are human things, right?” He shot a look at you, and you only nodded.

“Um…” You bit your lip. “Why Claire?”

“It means clear or bright in French,” Kris replied. “Of all the things happening to us right now, being thrown onto Earth, trying to understand you humans, you seem to be the clearest thing to us. You’re a pretty bright girl, too.” A smile appeared on his face, taking you off guard. Your heart beat wildly, but it was always like that when you were in their presence.

You questioned, “Um, you know French?”

“Hey!” Kris exclaimed. “Did you not hear everything I said?” The others were busy laughing at Kris’ attempt to be somewhat sentimental.

“I-I did!” You frowned. “I was just wondering if you know French though!”

“We do!”

“Okay…” You ran a hand through your hair. “Um, thanks, I guess, for the nickname. From now on, I’ll be known as Claire? Okay.” You smiled, staring at the grass beneath everyone’s feet. “I’m kind of flattered.” I’m the clearest thing to them? Like…the brightest thing to them? Your smile only widened.

All of a sudden, someone shoved something right in front of your face. You lifted your head to see Tao holding whatever it was. “What is it?” You took the small slip of thick paper from him and studied the text on it.

“An airplane ticket.”

“An airplane ticket!”

“Yeah.”

“For France?”

“Yup,” Tao grinned. Your mouth was still hanging open with your fingers barely holding onto the plane ticket. “Our first stop. France!”

A/N: GUYS I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SO LONG. I don't know why, I just lost some feelings for EXO, but don't worry ^^ It passed :3 Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to the wonderful AHNCHEONSA! Thank you for bringing me back :D lol, thank her for making me update. So, this was a pretty crap chapter. I just really wanted to update, and I wanted to get to the travelling and whatever. So, now you/Claire is off to France with the Exo members :) I reeeeally want to go to France. DO I HAVE ANY READERS FROM FRANCE? OR HAVE BEEN THERE? DO YOU GUYS WANT TO HELP ME? Aw, just comment below if you have. I need to do some research and whatnot. Look forward to the updates to come. I am SO excited to write again :) Although, I may be a tad slow in updating. But please forgive me ;A; Also, I'm going to go through some more editing of this and clean it up because I still feel like I need to edit. Anyway, if there's anything else, I'll let you guys know. Thank you guys so SO SOOO much for waiting. I know I haven't updated in, like, more than a month. Thank you guys for sticking around. I'm back to writing and working on The Power of Twelve. /sigh/ It's almost 1:30 in Toronto. Please get good sleep guys! So you can read my story and register everything in your brains lol Um, lol. Thank you guys once again! Please subscribe and comment if you haven't and would like to :3 Also big thanks to Azziana_azmy, Mio_Chan, and minime96 for the name suggestions ^^ Have a wonderful day, you guys!