With their enemies’ disappearance the room had fallen completely silent. No one spoke a word and waited for someone or something to break the tension. It was unusual for them to avoid speaking, since usually they would all be glad to give each other a piece of their minds, knowing that they were good friends and offending wasn’t intended. But now, even though it was partly due to an external cause, there was an immense amount of pressure on all of them. Hyunseung was standing at the spot, the three had been moments ago, while staring blankly at the wall refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Gikwang was right beside Baeri, but didn’t dare to even speak up nor even knew what to talk about. He made sure to stick by the elf’s side though, knowing that she’d burst soon enough. Heck it wasn’t even his brother who was involved in this and he was about to explode.

Dongwoon helped Junhyung to his feet and they approached the others in silence. Yoseob was inspecting the area around him in search of trails that were left behind. He didn’t find any useful  new information. There was a trail of presence prints all over the place, but three of them were cut twice in midway. The trail of presences were like strings of thread chaotically running throughout the place and those specific three were cut at least twice in midair. As if scissors snapped them apart. The loose ends were dangling in the air lifelessly, lost on their tracks. With a sigh Yoseob closed his eyes momentarily and changed his vision to a normal one. He could naturally feel presences, but making them visible for himself did need quite a bit of energy. A very annoying side effect was the itch and stinging he’d feel afterwards that always made his eyes tear up.

It took Baeri only a moment to realise there was a missing member among them. Her eyes frantically scanned the area in search of the missing head. She seemed to be the only one worried about this though as the others didn't seem as worried. Before suspicion, pure curiosity and mild surprise was directed towards the others' queer behaviour. Gikwang who took note of her attentive reaction, nudged her lightly with his elbow, to catch her attention. He felt her stir lightly, in surprise he figured, but she caught his gaze. When he tilted his head lightly in a nod to ask what was on her mind, she responded with a silent stare for a while until after seconds a sigh left her lips. She shook her head lightly and dropped her eyes to her feet. Only then she realised how exhausted she actually felt. Mentally and physically. Her emotional uproar had probably taken a toll on her friends as well and she found herself feeling guilty for it.

“Let’s go find Doojoon.” Baeri heard the words without being able to pay attention to whose voice it actually was.

When she looked up she followed the various gazes directed to Yoseob. He shrugged his shoulders and pointed into the direction of the doorway they had entered through. All eyes followed while his voice chimed through their ears.

“He made his exit a while ago.”

And then Baeri realised that her friends and allies had already formed a plan, while she was in her stubborn hotheaded moment of fear. They had already succeeded in protecting her brother, according to plan, without her knowledge. She should probably have paid more attention to them. She should have trusted them, but her mind was occupied with a thought they had deemed forbidden. ‘You don’t even know how I felt.’ It had become forbidden, because even when they didn’t, they tried, they showed compassion and when she couldn’t they thought for her. It had become an unspoken rule amongst them to take care of the ones in their fragile moments and she realised that she was now in her most fragile situation and despite trying to show otherwise, they saw through her facade as if looking through clear glass.

The group followed the words Yoseob had spoken and followed the spellcaster out off the ruined interior of the building. Just outside Doojoon was waiting with the familiar half elf’s weight fully supported on him. The smile on his face was mainly directed to Baeri and seeing it relieved the girl immediately. Everything was okay, or would be at least. She was completely out of the panicked and lightheaded mental state. If there was someone’s judgement she trusted, it was Doojoon’s, the group’s big brother. Realising she was back to her senses, Baeri heaved another sigh of relief as she approached the group. Her elven ears twitched sadly when she percepted the lack of presences in her hometown, that was once filled with life, despite the harmonious silence.

“How’s he?” Junhyung was the first to ask.

“Well… he’s conscious. But he’s being held conscious with a spell and it’s costing him a lot of stamina.” Doojoon replied. “What happened inside?”

While the group proceeded to discuss the unfolding events after Doojoon’s sneaky exit, Baeri concentrated fully on her brother’s recovery. With one touch of her hand, she brought his mind at peace and in a deep sleep. One he probably wouldn’t wake up from for a least a day. Once she was sure she had gone over all his injuries, Baeri stepped backwards and let herself fall to the floor with an exasperated breath. It was all too tiring. From the moment pure furious instinct had taken over her mind, until after patching up that idiotic brother of hers, she had used all of her energy and was now left with a low running battery.

“Mission failed, I suppose.” A familiar voice spoke.

The eight heads turned into the direction of its source and identified the familiar figure. Jeffrey smiled reassuringly as usual, making the group feel an increased amount of disappointment. Silence enveloped the scene as disappointment washed over their facial expressions. Despite the dark atmosphere Jeffrey let out a soft chuckle. As if used by this, shoulders slumped even more and Jeffrey’s positive expression seemed all ignored. It couldn’t be helped and he couldn’t blame them for it one bit. Instead of darkening the mood even more, he wanted to lift it. Only Jeffrey’s attempt had the opposite result, like always. He still tried, knowing that they would find at least some reassurement in it. If he were to join them, they would panic, be scared and probably make the wrong decisions.

“Well. No need to sit around any longer. Let’s go back. There’s someone waiting for you guys.” He eventually told them as the man created another magic circle.

He was joined by the eight exhausted and one unconscious into the portal back to the base, back to safety. Again the scenery started to blur and deform until one more familiar took shape, surrounding them. It took seconds for the images around the circle to become stable. In the scenery  they perceived the grey walls and the beige marble. The familiar paintings and statues were hanging where Doojoon remembered them. In the midst of the crowd they could recognise something that was new to the scenery and yet seemed familiar. Although the time they had spent together was still short, only limited to several months, she had become part of their lives now. And right then, she had been waiting for their arrival, sporting a sweet smile that welcomed them home from their journey. Despite being away for only a few hours, five at most, it felt ages ago that he had last seen her innocent smile. There was a changed glint in the girl’s eyes, that the alchemist percepted. The events in the past few days made it almost seem like she matured.

“Welcome home.” Paro beamed at the group.

Her voice echoed as the scenes hadn’t become stable and solid yet. As soon as they did, Paro’s voice grew clearer and her image became normal. Exhausted the team scattered as soon as they left the borders of the portal’s ring. Baeri and Gikwang accompanied Doojoon, who still carried the elf’s brother, to the medical quarters, while Hyunseung, Junhyung and Chaima remained with Paro and went to fetch a well earned meal. Yoseob and Dongwoon joined Jeffrey to Carlo’s office for the report. In the dining hall, Paro for the first time was confronted with chopsticks. The boys had been easy on her, letting her eat with her hands and whatever other tools she could find, but the time had come for her to learn. After being met with several failures, the dark haired girl grew discouraged and started losing her appetite. Upon noticing, Junhyung found a solution.

“Here use this.” He instructed her after placing a plastic object in her hands.

Although unfamiliar to Paro, Hyunseung and Chaima recognised the object as training chopsticks for children, the kind with the action figure on top and the bridge that connects the two separate chopsticks to each other. It even had the rings attached that secured the fingers in place. Once Junhyung made sure that the chopsticks were placed correctly in her hand, he released her and made her try again. Paro, for a while, stared at the mysterious object in her hands. Her fingers moved about trying to understand how this device should be used. The discovery that the chopsticks closed with a pinch of her fingers, caused a smile to grace her face once more. She glanced back at Junhyung, as if seeking approval to try it out. Receiving the nod from him was the starting point of what Chaima later retold as “the chopstick war”.

Paro’s first experience with chopsticks could be called something in between a disaster and a job well done. It was not a complete success, but for a first time, she had done well. After dinner Hyunseung had decided to read books to Paro and teach her how to read. The main goal was to widen her range of vocabulary. And since the girl herself was eager to learn, Hyunseung had no problems with attracting Paro’s attention. And thus the two of them sat on the couch, with Paro sprawled over the young man’s lap. It was only a matter of hours, for Paro to memorise the alphabet and learn how to combine the letters to form words. Within a span of 2 hours she was able to read short words and sentences. This of course had surprised not only her teacher, Hyunseung, but also the sparring Chaima and Junhyung.

“Apple.” Paro read out loud as she placed a finger on the picture above the word.

“Minah … wants to …  eat … an ap-...ple.”

“Good job, little Apple.” Hyunseung complimented her as he the back of her head. “Did you understand everything?”

The girl nodded as she scanned the line again. Her eyes fell on a particular word in the sentence. She hadn’t grasped the define meaning of that word yet, despite knowing vaguely what it was. Her curiosity got the better of her when her finger landed underneath the word.

“What’s this?” She asked.

“Hmm?” was Hyunseung’s response as his eyes followed the trail of her finger. “Wants?”

Her eyes locked with his as she gave a firm nod, to which Hyunseung tapped his finger on the back of her head as he it. He tried to find the right words to give the definition of the word Paro didn’t quite understand.

“Wanting … is…”

As he spoke, the illusionist noticed a smile growing on Paro’s face as he patted the crown of her head. He abruptly stopped, catching Paro’s attention. Her glistening curious eyes fell on his complexion and he looked back.

“You liked that?” He asked her.

The nod from her was all he needed to find the correct way to describe the verb.

“Should I continue?”

Another nod. And with that he continued patting the girls head, which she seemed to enjoy, much to Hyunseung’s satisfaction. Even he showed a small smile.

“Well, Paro. That is wanting. When you are hungry, you want to eat food. When you are tired, you want to sleep.” He explained. “Get it?”

“I think so.” The girl responded unsurely. “I want hyung to teach me more!”

The exclamation made Hyunseung smile and their tutoring session continued.

* * * * *

That same evening, the group had gathered in a resting lounge with snacks, drinks, board and card games to fill the night with a well deserved rest. When Baeri arrived at the room, the drinks were already poured and the chatter had already filled the room. Although she would rather stay by her brother’s side instead, she didn’t want to take this small moment of joy from the others, knowing that they would immediately quit if she showed any signs of discomfort and objection. That’s what they were like, idiots who were too compassionate to be selfish. She had to admit, that despite the reluctance she looked forward to laughing herself a headache and worry about the world in a few hours. With the stress piling up more and more, she and all the others knew that the turn of events for them and Cube was only a matter of time. Carlo had assured them that he was doing his best to formulate a plan. Until then, the least she could do was be a little patient, cautious and of course be ready for action at any time.

Looking around the room, Baeri noticed that she wasn’t the last one to arrive. Chaima and Hongjung had busied themselves with figuring out the rules of one of the games, while Dongwoon poured drinks and Doojoon and Junhyung discussed a new alloy mix that could prove useful in battle. Yoseob and Gikwang had started arguing about the rules of a card game, claiming that the other had mistaken the rules. Amongst the chaos Baeri seemed to feel quite at home. She adjusted pretty quickly to the atmosphere smacking both Gikwang and Yoseob to teach them the rules of the discussed game. It was a matter of minutes before she as well got mingled into the argument. Where the boys only had gotten verbally violent, Baeri already made up with her physical violence. Soon enough the door opened to let two figures in. The first being the illusionist, followed by a face the group hadn’t seen a long time.

“Kim Hyejoon!” Doojoon exclaimed surprised.

The other eyes were directed towards the doorway and fell on the person in question. Said girl grinned at the group as she stepped into the room.

“Hi guys. Long time no see.” she responded with a small wave.

“Where have you been all this time?” Baeri asked the girl.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the maknae Hyejoon-ah.”  Hyejoon heard from another corner in the room.

A smirk replaced the grin on her face, as she shot a glare at the source.

“It is always lovely to see you again, firebrain-unnie.” She shot back.

“They’re at it again.” Dongwoon sighed.

And with that the laughter returned to the scene. It didn’t last long though, as it was interrupted by the voice of the missing member among the group.

“Hyejoon-unnie!” Paro’s voice boomed through the hallway leading to the room.

“Oh. Paro. You really found your way. Good girl.” Hyejoon praised the shorter girl as she turned around.

When her eyes captured the girl’s frame however, her eyes widened and a malicious chill ran from the top of her head, down her spine and up to the tips of her fingers and toes. Arms circled around the girl as a dark grey fog spread around her. Paro stopped in her tracks as one of the two arms wrapped around her waist, preventing her from getting closer to the group. While the other hand moved itself around her torso, Hyejoon’s eyes turned red as she leaped forward. Along with the dash, a tail grew from her back followed by the dark bat-like wings, each being about as big as her whole body. Her nails grew into claws and at an incredible pace she dashed the few metres towards the captured girl. As she moved forward, the walls were engulfed with a sea of fire that moved in a protective tube around her. Despite their quarrels, both Chaima and Hyejoon worked decently together. It was in vain though.

“PARO!” shrieked several voices as the girl’s form dissolved right in front of them, just as Hyejoon leaped through the dissolving image.

She landed a few feet away from where the girl had disappeared and turned back, looking at the scene, displaying only regret. Soon enough she was joined by the nine others who circled around the place.

Author's note:

Hello lovely readers, new and old.

First of all, let me apologise for neglecting this story for almost half a year. I actually have written a lot of chapters, but I never got to beta read them. And yes, it is highly necessary as English isn't my native tongue. I really really am sorry to everyone who waited and thankful at the same time for waiting. The story is taking an intense turn from this point on. And yes... capturing the protagonist is a bit cheesy and old-fashioned, but it all has its reasons. We have a lovely new line of character's introduced in the past few chapters and I hope you will enjoy them. I'm hoping to include some more k-idols too and it will happen, I just can't say when.

So without any further rambling. Thank you all and I hope you enjoyed reading this.

To be continued <3 

Lot's of love,

Saenan