The drama had ended. Heechul had explained everything to Pearl, the girl listened carefully to the elder’s words and almost faints, she never knew what her real parents did neither why Heechul had left her, but now she understood, now the girl believed that everything was going to be ok, almost everything.

Now the Guardians, the girls and the older Guardians were gathered in the dining room of the castle, the girls watched as the Guardians and the older Guardians looked at each other nervously and walked by the room with a frown covering their faces.

“Stop it!” finally Kayla snapped “this constant walking is getting in my nerves, so spit it out boys”

Kayla knew that the boys were nervous and eager to say something, and by the frown on the boys’ faces, it was something important, but she was becoming nervous by the constant walking of the boys, so it was better to urge them to talk now.

“ok…” Eunhyuk sat in one of the chairs that were in the back of the dining room ,the others followed his example and sat down, except the girls who preferred to stay still.

“the boys already talked to you about The Tree of Life, right?” Eunhyuk spoke to the girls ,who just nodded

“Good, so what do you know so far?” Eunhyuk spoke again

“They said that the tree is dying, and the planet along with it and that there’s a prophecy about the planet dying and another about saving the planet, but with our help, am I right?” Hanna stared a Eunhyuk

“Yes”

Hanna looked at Eunhyuk frowning “But, now, the real concern is what do we need to do to save the tree, right?”

Eunhyuk, and the other Guardians, including the older and the younger Guardians froze. Hanna smiled, pleased by the effects of her words in the boys. Hanna knew that the real thing was what her friends and her needed to do in order to save The Tree of Life, she certainly would do anything she could, but she wouldn’t risk her friends life.

“pretty and smart, uh?” Kyuhyun talked to Lay and Suho “you guys are lucky to have her”

Hanna blushed slightly ,but kept a serious face, while Suho and Lay blushed madly.

“yes, that is exactly why you’re here” Eunhyuk sighed  “Come with me”

Eunhyuk stood up, everyone followed him towards a hall, at the end of the hall there was a crystal door, Eunhyuk opened the door and the girls stared in shock at the sight in front of them.

There ,in the middle of the room, in a squared pot, with some crystals and other precious stones attached to it, laid The Tree of Life it self,but the tree didn’t seemed fine, it was obvious. The top of the tree ,was completely rotten and decayed, its leafs had fallen down and before they touched the ground they turned into ashes. The middle part of the trunk was covered by mold and its branches were bent down.

Suddenly, Pearl fall to the ground, clutching her head. Kris and Tao ran immediately at her and hugged her, her hair.

“what’s wrong?” asked Tao worried

“don’t you feel it?” Pearl mused, still clutching her head

“feel what love?” Kris asked this time

“the pain, it’s killing me, make it stop!” Pearl  shrieked

“what is happening to her?” demanded Kris

“Back off” Sungmin ordered to the two boys backed off, but kept their eyes fixed on their mate

Sungmin placed his hands on Pearl’s forehead for some moments and Pearl stopped clutching her head, she took a deep breath and tried to stand up, but the girl was dizzy so she stumbled, fortunately Kris and Tao caught her before she could hit the ground.

“wha-what was that?” Pearl managed to ask

“you felt the Tree’s pain” Sungmin answered

“what?” The young Guardians asked at unison

“yeah, I think it has to do with the fact that her parents were Guardians too, we can feel too the Tree’s pain, but we can bare it, but as this is Pearl’s first time in the Sanctuary, the emotion was too much for her to handle” Everyone gaped at Sungmin’s explanation

“so you’re saying that Pearl, as well as you, is connected to the Tree?” finally spoke Leila after a long silence

“Yes” Nodded Sungmin

“But wait, if Pearl is connected to the Three, that means that if the Tree dies ,you and she die as well?” Hanna murmured worriedly

“I’m afraid so” Sungmin’s face darkened

“How do we safe the Tree?!” Hanna shook Sungmin by his shoulders

She wouldn’t let her friend die or her mates, she had grown closer to them, so close that it hurt.

“calm down” Sungmin stopped Hanna’s actions “breath, just breath”

Hanna nodded and took a deep breath. Lay and Suho grabbed each of her hands tightly and smiled calmly to her.

“You see this?” Leeteuk signaled to the strange marks and stones in the pot of the Tree

The girls nodded.

“This are the Tree’s locks, there are exactly 6 of them, each lock represents one of you girls” Leeteuk showed the locks to the girls, each of the locks had the girls’ symbols “each of this locks need to be unlocked in order to save the Tree”

“How do we unlock them?” Storm asked eagerly

“this’ gonna be awkward” Leeteuk scratched his neck, then turned to the former Guardians “I leave this to you guys”

The Guardians glared at Leeteuk, who hid behind Kangin.

“To open the locks…” Chen suddenly grew quiet, then pushed Kai in front, Kai glared at his friend

“we-we-…eh” Kai hid behind Luhan, who opened his mouth to talk, but instead, grabbed Sehun and pulled him to cover himself.

“Let’s just end this” Sehun huffed “We need to kiss in order to open the locks”

“k-ki-kiss?” Leila stuttered

“yep”

“…” The girls were speechless, none of the expected that

“so,if we kiss, this ends?” Kayla talked “I guess that’s easy, right?”

“Not exactly…” Chanyeol murmured

“no?”

“nop”

Kayla raised her eyebrows and frowned “ok, explain then”

Chanyeol looked at Suho “I’ll leave the explanation, after all, you’re the leader”

“Yes, we need to kiss to open the locks, but this kiss needs to be especial, it has to be a true kiss”

“What do you mean a true kiss?” Hanna asked Suho

“it means a kiss filled with love” Moon finally spoke, clarifying the girls’ doubts

“what?” Hanna froze “your saying that we need to be in love?”

“yes” sighed Lay

Hanna backed away from the boys, I mean, this is too much, she had handled this situation as calmly as her nerves allowed her, but now, this was just crazy.

“I-I…” Hanna stuttered and looked at her friends, who were shocked as well “we-we need to think about it”

“Of course” Eunhyuk said “we understand”

The girls speed up their room, as soon as they were in, they locked the door at stared at each other.

“I..this…too much” Leila muttered incoherencies

“I feel…” Storm talked

“Surprised?” Hanna said

“Shocked?” offered Kayla

“Speechless?” Pearl commented

“Confused?” added Moon

“Dazed?” Leila finally said

“yeah, all that”

Unknowingly to the girls acknowledge, the boys had followed them and they currently stood behind the room’s door, listening to the girls’ chat.

“ Y’know what?” Kayla let herself fall on the bed

“what?” asked Hanna

“to be honest think it’s easy”

“what is easy?” Pearl stared at her friend, confused

“Unlocking the locks”

“Didn’t  you her what he said?” Leila shouted “we need to be in love ,IN LOVE!”

Kayla shrunk at Leila's  yell “C’mon, admit it, you like them, in fact, I bet you feel butterflies in your stomach each time they look at you”

Leila huffed in frustration, knowing that it was true, she did like D.O and Kai, a lot actually, more than she should “ the butterflies, I’ve got the whole damn zoo in here”

Kai and D.O smiled at their mate’s words from behind the door.Now,they were sure she did liked them.

“Ok,I like Sehun and Luhan too, heck, I think I’m falling in love with them ,I even dream about them” Moon punched Kayla in the shoulder “and no, not in the way you’re thinking,ert!”

Kayla just pretended to not hear her friend’s last word and just smiled.

Now, Sehun smiled and Luhan was practically jumping of joy behind the doors.

“you know, I feel like I’m betraying my own principal” Kayla talked, her friends sent her confused looks.

“what principal?” Hanna asked her

“I swore I would be an independent woman, but look at me now, I’m head over heels over two hot strangers”

The girls laughed at Kayla’s words, while Baekhyun and Chanyeol hugged in other and smiled like two crazy madmen.

“I’ve always told myself ,’Follow your brain because your heart is stupid as ’ ” Hanna declared “but now, even my thoughts are about them, no matter how hard I try, Lay’s and Suho’s faces are always present”

Suho and Lay smiled joyfully at Hanna’s declaration.

“I feel like I’m betraying my true love by liking Chen and Xiumin” Storm muttered

Outside the room, Chen and Xiumin froze, true love?

“what?” Hanna spoke confused “again,what?”

Storm smiled cheekily “yeah, remember ‘Me + Wi-Fi’ “

Hanna smacked her friend in the head at her silly joke. “This is not the time for your stupid jokes”

“but I do like Chen and Xiumin, in fact ,I think I’ve never liked so much someone”

Chen and Xiumin let out a breath of relief, Storm was just joking and she did liked them.

“Kris and Tao…” Pearl sighed “I don’t know what to do”

“What do you mean?” Hanna placed her hand in Pearl’s shoulder

“One part of me is telling me to let  go of my insecurities and love, and to accept their love, that they’re going to keep me safe and never hurt me” Pearl looked through the window “but another part of me is telling me that this is a lie and that their going to disappear and to leave me alone”

“aaaw honey” Hanna hugged the baby of the group and so did the others “don’t worry, those boys’ love you with all their hearts, I’ve seen the way they look at you, with love and adoration, they’re not going to leave you alone”

“thanks” Pearl smiled to her friends "and i think your mates love you girls too"

Kris and Tao had listened to every word Pearl said and nodded at Hanna’s statement, they loved Pearl, they would never leave her alone, never, from now on, they promise to make her happy and to never disappoint her.

“This is driving me crazy” Hanna finally broke the silence that made up after the confessions,it had been almost 2 hours trapped in their room, because each of the girls had summed herself in her own thoughts.

“I know, me too” Kayla massaged her temples

Pearl smiled to her friends “ I got an idea”

“uh?” Storm muttered

“yeah,C’mon, follow me” Pearl stood up and her friend followed her

The boys quickly ran from the door and hid behind the wall of the hall before the girls could catch them.

“Where are we going?” Leila asked Pearl, who merely smiled and kept walking.

Hey! I'm back again~ Hope you don't mind!

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year guys!

<3