<3 I am back! ==’ sorry for the long break . . .

ENJOY!

Kamsahamnida!

Oh, and updates will be every Monday from now on!( Unless I’m in a typing mood!)

*****

Taemin stood in front of a random old tree that he had picked. He looked at it up and down; around and around, hoping it would give some clue to the location of the library. He knocked at the trunk, pulled a couple of leaves, and even tried talking to the tree but nothing seemed to work. He sighed and stepped away from the tree and looked around. There were thousands of trees in this massive forest; he couldn’t possibly go through each one and ask for answers, now could he?

Frustrated he pulled out the leaf and shook it.

“Why can’t you give me some answers?!”

Gold dust fell from the leaf, hovering gently before the wind blew it away. Just one tiny miniscule speck of gold dust landed on part of a branch of the tree Taemin was standing in front. The instant the fleck of gold dust touched the tree, a glowing hole opened in the tree.

Taemin stared at the hole.

“Well . . . that’s a good start.”

Then, the sunlight streamed through the branches and leaves to touch Taemin’s body. The familiar tingle of transforming spread through his body and Taemin stretched out his arms which were turning into wings.

Soon Taemin was a swan again, standing in front of the portal in the tree.

Taking a deep breath he flapped his wings and dove right in.

Please, let the answer be here.

Please.

Great Librarian of the Forest; hear my thoughts  . . .

Help me.

*****

The maid walked into the room and looked around, a sinking feeling in her chest.  She squashed the uneasiness away as she approached the luxurious king sized bed and saw a human shaped figure underneath all the blankets. Her heart suddenly fluttered with hope and joy. Maybe this time, the Queen really had succeeded in curbing her son?

“Your Highness . . .”

She lifted up the covers . . .

To reveal a pile of pillows with a face drawn on a piece of paper attached on top.

Sorry!

I’ll be back in 6 days for the ball!

Don’t give me that look; at least I’m coming back right?

See ya!

The maid sank to her knees in horror.

“Onew-ssi! HELP ME!”

*****

Minho grinned.

He had 6 days, including today, to go crazy before his mum really tied him down. And he was planning on using all his time wisely. A part of him felt a little bad for letting down his maid, once again, but he immediately dismissed it to a far part of his mind. It wasn’t important.

He reined in his horse at the same spot as last time and walked through the cave.

As he exited the cave, a flash of gold caught his eye and he started walking in the direction. As he drew closer, it was apparent that it wasn’t that boy he was looking for but a girl. He stared curiously at her; her features were so similar to that Lee Taemin. A thought crossed his mind, perhaps, they were twins?

“Excuse me.”

He called, stepping out of the trees and into full view.

“Do you know a Lee Taemin by any chance?”

The girl jumped and started backing away.

“Y-yes . . . uh, n-no . . . I mean . . .”

Minho rolled his eyes.

Well, clearly they were related from the way they both acted when meeting a stranger.

“Um, he’s my oppa.”

Of course; they were siblings.

“Do you know where he is? I need to ask him something.”

Instantly, she got defensive and her eyes narrowed.

“Why? What do you need to ask him?”

“None of your business.”

“It is my business! He’s my brother!”

Minho took several steps until he was towering over her.

“You will tell me right now where he is.”

“No, she will not.”

A clear voice rang through the clearing, breaking up the tension.

Minho turned to see a white swan heading his way. Behind the swan was a man with odd coloured hair. The back hairs were a normal black-brown but starting from the top all down to the end of his fringe, it started fading from that colour and into a gold-ish/yellow colour, close to being white at the end.

They were both tense and wary of Minho.

“Step away from the girl and leave her be.”

The man with the weird hair glared at Minho while the swan just flapped its wings angrily, not saying a word. Somehow, it was a form of communication and the man understood what the swan had been trying to say.

“You’re that Prince from yesterday! What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here!”

“I’m just looking for Lee Taemin; I want to thank him for yesterday.”

And play around too.

“Well your gratitude will be carried onto him. Please leave now,” the swan finally spoke in a cold voice.

“B-but, Key-oppa!”

The swan directed his glare at Taeyeon.

“And you, you should be in your grove. What will Taemin do if he learns that you’ve been out once again?”

“But, oppa! He didn’t shoot Taemin-oppa did he?”

The swan blinked. So did the other man.

“So why are you treating him like this? We should thank him for not killing Taemin-oppa!”

Minho grinned. Now here was somebody who was on his side!

“Fine. Thank you for saving Taemin. But I must ask you to leave, today is not a good day to be in the forest.”

Taeyeon gasped, suddenly remembering something.

“That’s right! I gave him the key didn’t I? Today’s the day isn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s why he has to leave.”

Minho finally spoke up, sick of not understanding the conversation.

“Look. I have nowhere else to go for 6 days. I’m sort of  . . . um . . . taking a break. I get that this whole forest is all magical, and whatever, but-“

“And whatever?”

The swan approached Minho with a menacing glare.

“You think this forest is fun; you think this whole magic thing is all cool?

Do you even have the slightest idea how much danger you are in right now, you stupid fool?

Do you want to be a swan like us too? Trapped here for ever?”

The swan ruffled its feathers angrily.

“Well, do you?!”

Minho didn’t how to reply.

“Well, she’s human.”

He pointed at Taeyeon who just sighed. The swan sighed too.

“Forget it. Just go. Now.”

All the anger seemed to rush out of the swan all at once as soon as he mentioned the girl. It was replaced with sadness and a bitter look to his eyes. Minho realised that there was no point arguing, he would just have to find Taemin himself.

“Fine, I’ll go.”

Minho turned and walked away. They said he had to leave right?

But they didn’t specify how far he had to go, did they?

Choosing a random direction as soon as he was out of sight, Minho set off.

*****

The Queen crushed Minho’s note in her hand after she read it.

“6 days! Is he mad?! I’ve always given him some free reign but this is senseless!

Send out a search patrol at once to the all the places he might have gone.

Check the town, the forest, mountains, everywhere!”

Onew bowed.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

*****

Taemin landed on hard marble ground.

He tucked his wings away and anxiously searched for the Librarian.

“Um, excuse me?”

He coughed. There was so much dust in this dimly lit place; he could barely see where he was going.

“Who are ya?”

A voice boomed out of the darkness ahead. Candles, which Taemin didn’t even see before, were abruptly lit and soon he could see a dark shadow coming down a flight of stairs.

The shadow rounded a corner and Taemin saw that it was just a miniature troll.

“What are you doing ‘ere?”

“Um, I need the, um, Book of Forest Law.”

The troll stomped its feet angrily.

“The Book of Forest Law? Well, you can’t have it!”

Taemin felt like he had just been slapped in the face.

“W-why not?”

But before the librarian could reply, the portal opened and something tumbled out of the hole.

(Something that looked very much like the Prince that he had saved just yesterday.)

“What the-“

The Prince stood up and dusted himself off.

“Well, you’re certainly a hard one to find, Lee Taemin.”

Taemin blinked several times.

“Your Highness?”

Minho nodded.

“Just came by to say thanks for yesterday and all.”

Taemin raised an eyebrow.

“You came all the way from the palace, passing the town, through the forest and even found my portal . . . just to say that?”

“Well . . . yes.”

Taemin scoffed.

“How did you even find the portal? I thought it closed behind me!”

“I dunno, I just got a feeling that you were somewhere in a tree so I touched it and it me in.”

At this point, the librarian, who was watching the exchange between the two very carefully, laughed. The troll his beard and nodded happily.

“Ahh, I see.”

Taemin and Minho both turned to stare at the troll.

“See what?” Taemin asked.

“Something . . .ok, I will give you the Book of Forest Law on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

The librarian pointed an old gnarled finger at Minho.

“If both of you work together to find it.”

“WHAT?”

Taemin groaned while Minho looked confused.

“So, why do you need this book?”

“It’s going to help change me and the others back into humans. Permanently.”

*****

They spent the whole day searching high and low for the mysterious book but there was still no sign of it. The sun had set and Taemin had already turned back into a human, but they kept on looking. Minho finished looking through a shelf, coughed, then walked around to where Taemin last was.

“I finished this section-“

Minho broke off when he saw Taemin asleep in a chair; his body slumped over a table.

Minho grabbed a chair next to him and sat down.

The prince quietly observed the mysterious boy next to him. Minho had no idea what drove him to do these crazy and impulsive things for this boy, but there was something about him that drew Minho in. Taemin was so young but it seemed like he had a huge burden on his shoulders. A boy this innocent and pure shouldn’t have gone through whatever he had gone through before. Then there was the mystery of the Taemin already knowing that he was the Prince. It obviously meant that he used to live in the village, but why did he leave?  Why did he take his sister with him? Who were the other swans and other people? All the questions swirled around in his mind.

Still, despite all the information he desperately wanted to know, he pushed it aside.

Taemin shifted a little in his sleep muttering about something that sounded like banana milk.

Shaking off his outer coat, Minho placed it on the sleeping blonde.

They didn’t talk much today; mainly just searched in silence. It was comfortable and Minho never questioned what he was doing and why. He just did it. It was simpler that way. Taemin didn’t say anything either.

It was weird; they barely knew each other . . .

So why did it feel like that they had known each other for much longer?

Minho stifled a yawn.

Slowly, he placed his head too on the table and fell asleep.

Taemin . . .

Just who are you?

*****

ARGH! This is sooo bad! Feel free to pelt tomatoes at me in your reviews!

I’m very discontent with this chapter! >.< ARGH!

But I had to post something up and just when I going to, I realised we haven’t seen some 2min action in a while, so I chucked the last scene in.

Asdfghashfkjdjlhfajfhgljh

>headbash<