>_____<;;

“Who was it?” Chorong asked when Victoria walked back into the house.

“Daesung told the cops about you,” Victoria informed. “That crime investigator is getting suspicious. They even had a pro do a sketch of you, but that’s not the worse.” Victoria turned to stare at her sister. “Daesung also spoke about the tricks you pulled on him.”

Chorong’s lips fell apart in panic. “Why would he even talk about that!?”

“Obviously he must’ve been scared and thought it was something worth talking about!” Victoria snapped, which left Chorong frowning at her in disbelief.

“And what did you say?” Chorong asked feeling the tension coming from Victoria.

No, actually she and Victoria had become extremely sensitive the moment Namjoo had gone to the past. They were both scared and worried, she knew that and that was why they were lashing out at each other.

“I told him to get his of our porch,” Victoria replied.

Chorong blinked her eyes and stared at her sister. “Thanks.”

“It’s for us all,” Victoria turned away. “We’re turning out to be creeps anyway.”

“Do you hate them?”

“Hate what?”

“Our powers,” Chorong said, “Namjoo hates her powers for being able to hurt others. Do you hate yours?”

Victoria turned to look at Namjoo whose face was an expression of calm.

“No.”

“Me too,” Chorong agreed, “I don’t hate them.”

Victoria turned back to look at Chorong and the two of them stood around in silence. When they tired they’d sit and when bored they pace around. Namjoo was definitely sleeping much longer than she’d thought. About an hour and a half had passed already. What was her sister seeing? What kind of life had she led? Had she been happy at least? Did she have parents? What were the people around her like?

Victoria stood up from her chair when Namjoo’s body twitched and her legs and hands moved. Namjoo was visibly panting and gasping for breath as a pool of blood soaked up her shirt.

“Oh my god…” Chorong cried from beside her with a hand over her lips. “What’s happening?”

Victoria felt her eyes go wide before the blood started disappearing. For a long time she and Chorong stood in silence trying to absorb their shock. She was immensely worried and she wished Namjoo would stop where she was and wake up already.

“Maybe Luhan was right,” Victoria said her voice in a low whispered. “Namjoo doesn’t need to know about their past.”

“Oh my god,” Chorong squeaked again and turned away while clutching onto Victoria’s arm when holes an inch wide appeared in Namjoo’s lower leg and her shoulder.

Victoria felt her lips quiver when a minute or two passed and the injuries weren’t going away. Maybe it was time to try to call Luhan out.

>_____<;;

“Give yourself up.” He suggested defiantly.

Ignoring him Namjoo let out a loud and deep gasp as she courageously pulled the spear out of her. A loud pant coursed through her as she struggled to catch her breath and waited for her body to heal itself. She wasn’t about to die here. She didn’t want to die here. Her mind raced as she tried to think up of a solution. A second later she grinded her fingers into the dirt never minding that she was getting it into her nails. Escape was more important right now.

“Go kill yourself!” Namjoo screamed and swiped the dirt up into the horse’s eyes.

As it jumped up onto its hind legs in terror Namjoo seized the chance and made a run for it. She was going to escape; she was going to escape at last. As quick as the thought came, her hopes went sliding down the drain. Something cried in the air before it shot through her calf forcing her to the ground. The pain was overwhelming and Namjoo couldn’t get into her brain fast enough that she need to get up and keep running.

The sounds of people breathing and horses sneezing above her caused her to look up to finally see the arrows pointed at her. She was surrounded by men on horseback. Escape had disappeared as quickly as it had come. Another one shot through her shoulder and she felt her head hit the ground.

For a long while she couldn’t move, but she could hear a few of them jump off their horses, laugh and around her. Her eyes lolled back and she realized that dawn was in the air. She’d been running the whole night and at last she felt a tear slide out of her eyes. Why couldn’t she move? Why was her body in so much pain?

A hard grunt escaped when the men broke off the end of the arrows and she felt someone lift her leg up before wrapping something coarse around her ankle. The men laughed again and patted each other’s backs.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“No worry, she’s a witch. She’ll make it back alive. If not, the King will still see her dead body anyway.”

The men laughed to each other again and climbed onto their horses. In due time, the men kicked their horses and shouted signaling for them to move on. Unable to save herself Namjoo felt herself slide forward as the horse dragged her along. The desire to see Luhan again was slowly slipping out of her grasp as tears helplessly rolled out of her eyes. Sticks and stones cut her skin, but they didn’t hurt as much as her heart was.

>_____<;;

He wouldn’t go back. He wouldn’t return to the city until he found Namjoo. Luhan was determined to find her. And if she was already dead, he would die after her.

The forest was like a deep maze. His parents had told him before that nature was the balance of everything. If you gave to the land, it would give back to you. He’d been good to the spirits in the forests, but why…wasn’t he being given any help in return? Had the things his parents told him been lies?

He could feel the tears hanging on the brim of his eyes again. He was at fault. He should have never left Namjoo alone. What was she going to do without him? What was he going to do without her? Luhan had been so sure they’d be able to leave the city someday, build their own home and have their future together. She would always be with him and he with her. Why couldn’t it be like that?

“Do you…do you think something bad has happened to her?” Luhan’s voice shook as he asked.

Lee Hyun didn’t answer him.

Luhan felt hopeless, useless, and helpless. What could he do now if he couldn’t find her? He just wanted to drop onto his knees and cry out to the gods to hear him. He’d want to tell the gods not to take Namjoo from him and he’d do anything in return for the favor.

“Young sir!” Lee Hyun shouted a few seconds later. “Blood!”

His heart thrashed against his ribs as he rushed over to where Lee Hyun was with a knee on the ground.

“Do you think…” he looked up at Luhan and couldn’t finish the sentence when he saw the appalled shock on Luhan’s face.

Luhan’s eyes swiveled around the forest before he ran up ahead. Now that the sun was beginning to rise he could see better. There were little parts lying on the ground that looked like sticks. Inches away he spotted the tails of two arrows and his heart sunk. His lips shook as he looked up further ahead to see blood streaking against the ground.

Anger shook his heart so hard that his fists shook from realizing how brutally they’d treated Namjoo.

“Dammit!” he screamed and punched the tree beside him unable to feel the pain of his torn skin. “Namjoo…”

He covered his face with his hand as he wept. He’d come too late. She was probably exhausted by now and unable to fight back. Why…why had he come so late? Why had he allowed them to torture her like that? The thought of it devastated him and he was unable to understand humanity any longer. How…how could they hurt a woman…

Gripping his hand into a fist he stared up the path ahead that had been streaked with Namjoo’s blood.

“They must have used leech seed on her,” Lee Hyun said coming up behind him.

Luhan narrowed his eyes on the fresh blood up ahead. “When do you think they’ll execute her?”

“Young sir…”

Luhan turned away and walked around the forest before kicking away some braches a few miles away from where Namjoo had been dragged off. Before him grew the bush his parents had told him about when he was younger. The green beads growing out from the branches were what he’d been warned off.

Lee Hyun grabbed his arm to spin him around. “You’re not!”

But Luhan’s eyes had grown hard. He was determined on doing this. He’d promised Namjoo he would protect her and what kind of person would he be if he didn’t keep his words to her? Namjoo…was waiting for him.

Luhan pulled away and reached his hands forward, but Lee Hyun stopped him again.

“You can’t!”

Luhan looked into his servant’s worried eyes before putting his hand over his, “Thank you, for being so loyal and remaining by my side all this time. I’ve hidden some money underneath the tool shed I used to hide in. There should be no one at the manor by now. It’ll be safe for you to go back there. And…when you find the others…do apologize for me.”

Tears lurked in Lee Hyun’s eyes when Luhan probed his hand away.

“And if…you ever come across Namjoo on the streets, tell her to live well and forget about me,” Luhan said before turning away.

He used up most of his efforts to resist the dozen tears that were threatening to fall before he plucked the leech seeds from the bush. If he also used the leech seeds on himself, he’d be able to neutralize the flow of his powers. Once his powers were neutralized, he’d be able to absorb Namjoo’s powers into his body, but all this would have to be done quickly. Namjoo without her powers meant she would die without them. But he’d fix that; he’d be able to fix that.

>_____<;;

Namjoo’s eyes opened when water was doused on her. A cough escaped her painful body and she realized she was lying inside a cold jail cell. She could see the horses in their stables across from her feeding on the hay they’d been given in the early morning. Namjoo couldn’t move even when a rat climbed over her leg to feed on a rotten carrot in the corner. Her body was sore; the entire whole of it and it didn’t take long to realize they’d used leech seed on her. Her powers were useless by now.

“Finally awake?” the soldier asked. “About time, you little witch.”

Namjoo let out a painful groan when she tried to flex her fingers. If she could, she’d throw some hay at him.

“We smeared those arrows with leech seed. Don’t think your powers can save you this time. Your execution time will be in 2 hours. Enjoy the last of your breath. No one’s going to save you this time.”

He chuckled before walking away. Namjoo continued to watch the horse munch on their hay oblivious of her presence. She couldn’t move in the least to save herself from this terrible position she’d been left in. Her neck ached the way her head was twisted. She was sweaty and smelled terrible, but there wasn’t anything to be done about that. She was going to die here and that was the end of it.

Well…at least she’d be able to be ridden of this misery. She’d lived far too long with this awful fate. Namjoo…had had enough. For the last two hours she closed her eyes and patiently waited. At least…she’d fallen in love with the right man and they’d done many happy things together. There was nothing to regret.

And Namjoo felt a sob wreck her chest, but even crying right now was too painful for her body to handle. She realized she really didn’t want to die. She still wanted to be with Luhan. She still had the desire to be in his arms and have that family with him.

Those two hours came and went like the wind. Her eyes finally opened again when the metals clanked and two soldiers appeared. Unable to get up on her own, they pulled her up and lugged her along. The rope that had choked her ankle had eaten into her skin leaving it almost raw. No wonder the rats had been around.

Namjoo was dragged to an execution site and she felt her eyes run over the personal guards standing around. So this…was her end.

“Bow for the Majesty!”

“Bring her forward!” the King ordered when he had finally seated himself in the throne too expensive for an old man like he.

Namjoo was shoved in front of him and held like a prisoner. Her feet ached from running and she could barely stand without the help of the soldiers.

“You refused to become concubine to the Prince and killed him with your wicked magic!” the King shouted. “Now his wives have no husband, his children have no father! My country will rot because of you! Do you have anything to say for yourself!?”

And Namjoo was reminded of that day when she’d never been so terrified. What he’d almost done to her…The agonizing memory angered her suddenly. If he’d never come that day, she and Luhan could have been happier right now. They would have been on that trip Luhan had promised, but instead his loved ones had been killed. He was now alone.

“The prince deserved it!” Namjoo screamed with all her anger.

“Kill her!”

And Namjoo wasn’t able to fight back even if she wanted to. They tied her to the plank and beat her. And she’d let them kill her.

>_____<;;

Chorong’s sobs filled the room as the blood continued seeping through Namjoo’s closed lips. All that she could think about was how Namjoo was being killed on the other side and the thought that she wouldn’t return petrified her the most. She hadn’t expected this outcome. She hadn’t wanted to witness such cruelty done to her sister.

“Namjoo,” Chorong sobbed grasping onto Namjoo’s hand, “please wake up. Come back. Please come back already!”

And she felt sorry for all the times she’d ignored Namjoo when she was younger. Her sister really didn’t deserve this.

“Namjoo!” Chorong continued crying.

“Luhan!” Victoria yelled a few feet away. “I swear, if you don’t show up right now and save my sister, I’ll kill you the next time I see you! Don’t you think I’ll allow your sorry little to ever touch my sister! Do you hear me!?” Victoria’s heart was racing. She was freaked out and severely at her wit’s end right now. “Luhan!”

>_____<;;

Luhan finally appeared at the gates an hour later. The guards standing outside pushed him away from the door when he neared it.

“Unless you are an official, we cannot let you in,” one of them warned.

Impatient, Luhan sent them a glare which sent them flying yards away. Turning toward the heavy royal doors he watched as they flew open and walked through. There were pavilions every which way he turned. There was no more time to waste, so randomly grabbing a guard he threatened him to show him the way or else Luhan would blind him.

With the guard under his control he was led toward the execution ground. There were two more guards holding long thin spears blocking his way. How many damn guards were there in this damn palace!?

“You can’t go in!”

Luhan hardened his stare on them and watched them fly back before he stomped his way through. Shoving the guard he had no more need for aside he ran through the entrance and turned to see the most terrible thing happening to his beloved. Namjoo was helplessly tied down like an animal and being beaten. His lips quivered as the guards tensed up around him.

“Who is this!? Who allowed him in!?” the King screamed.

Luhan’s heart went out to Namjoo who had been tortured for so long. He was so apologetic. Ignoring everyone else he dashed forward and sent the man who was about to stone her hurling into the air.

“I’m so sorry I came late,” he cried when he approached to untie the ropes binding her wrists.

Namjoo stared back up at him unable to mutter a word, but he knew she recognized him by the tears that were welling up in her eyes. He felt tears rise in his eyes before grabbed her hand and held it tight.

“Forgive me,” he whispered to her before he straightened beside her and stared right at the King.

“What manners is this!?” the King bellowed.

“I did it,” Luhan stated.

“Take him away! Guards!”

The guards ceased their steps when Luhan yelled, “I killed the prince!” 

***The next chapter summons up the rest of the past. You might be able to guess what already happens ;A; 

***Anyway I might skip the update tomorrow or maybe not. I'll probably be able to write the rest of it up tonight, since I'm not going to class tomorrow anyway. -.- My eye is bruised up and my cheek is swollen ~.~ and there's no way I'm going to school like this -.- 

***I'll be introducing more of SuRong next as Namjoo falls into a deeper pit by struggling to keep Luhan in her world, and Victoria will probably go head to head with Changmin huhu~ but SuRong will come first