Taemin couldn’t say what possessed him to pass by that particular book store on that particular day, but fate couldn’t have aligned the events any better.

    The wind was chilly that morning, it had rained sometime in the night and the mist and smog from the city clung to the air and made it almost too heavy to breath. Taemin was walking with his hands stuffed into his pockets, his over-sized hoodie doing nothing to keep out the heavy chill and his shoulders were hunched over in a futile attempt to somehow trap his own body heat. Lights from the near by store washed over him as he continued down the sidewalk and just as he crossed the doorway a customer left, the dinging of the bell sounding too loud to his ears. However, it was the sudden rush of warm air that coaxed him to stop and brought him into the store, even before he thought to see what it sold.

    Once inside, he let his hood fall down as he looked around; it was a book store, judging by the shelves upon shelves of books all crammed into the tiny space. Up front, on the display shelf, was the current promotional book. It was a biography, and if Taemin didn’t care for books on a good day, he cared even less about biographies but this one caught his eye the moment he saw the man on the front cover.

It was Ren.

    Platinum blonde hair framed the too feminine face and only the strong set of his jaw marked him as masculine at all. His lips were perfectly bow shaped and a pale pink that mesmerized Taemin every time he saw a picture of the man, or saw him on TV, but most captivating by far were the icy blue eyes that pierced through Taemin from the cover of the book.

Taemin had a bit of a celebrity crush when it came to Ren; he had no money to buy merchandise, but he followed every one of Ren’s accomplishments closely. Reaching out, he picked up the paper back book, reading the words on the side of the cover which read: ‘Exclusive Interviews,’ including one with Ren’s mother apparently. There were also ‘Never Before Revealed Details’ of his childhood, but it was the last bit that caught his eye: ‘First Interview After the Fight; Ren Reveals his Plans, Thoughts, and Shares his Recovery Process’. There, that’s what he wanted.

    Glancing around, he checked to make sure no one was watching before he slipped the book into his hoodie pocket and walked casually out of the store. He needed this book, he’d been dying to know Ren’s thoughts when he’d faced that monster two months ago. It was the greatest fight in the history of the Guardians.

Taemin had been a fan of the Guardians even since he had learned about them as a child because around the area, stories of the Guardians were like bedtime tales. Children were taught of the heroes who protected this world from the demons that threatened to destroy the entire planet; they were told about the monsters that could kill everyone, everything, and make it a part of Oblivion: the world of eternal destruction and darkness that the demons called home.

    The demons sought the life force of humans, of anything that was light and thriving, their basic instinct was to destroy. They were powerful and sentient, able to change their bodies to adapt to the human world. They could be anyone, anywhere. Only the Guardians could detect them, and only the Guardians could survive in Oblivion to fight them in their true form.

According to legend, demons could only be killed in their true form, Taemin didn’t actually know if that was true or not, but he knew the Guardians had special technology that allowed them to create Oblivion whenever they fought. The idea was kind of terrifying to Taemin, but at the same time he found it fascinating. The Guardians were so cool and so lucky.

    Taemin had always held that childhood fascination of becoming one of the Guardians, unfortunately only a select few in any given generation were chosen and he hadn’t been one of them. He still liked to pretend though, and he followed Ren like a fanboy, he’d watched him climb through the ranks and become one of the most powerful Guardians in the world.

    As Taemin ducked into an alley, he was finally able to pul out the paperback book, examining the cover for a few long seconds. He always envied Ren’s looks, so completely unlike his own. Taemin’s hair a dull, dark mahagony and was too long, falling past his shoulders as a result of years of living on the streets. His eyes were so dark they were nearly black and even his skin was tanned from being exposed to the sun and elements for so long. Granted, he was more feminine than most, but that was the only resemblance he had to Ren. Where Ren was pale, Taemin was dark. So completely contrasting that Taemin almost couldn’t tear his eyes away from the image of him.

    Finally, though, he couldn’t help himself and he flipped open to the table of contents. He needed to find the interview with Ren after the battle. Taemin still recalled the battle, it had been the most epic fight to go down in history and Taemin had watched all of it. For a full week straight, a live streaming of the battle had been shown on every TV channel in every home, store, bar, and restaurant. Ren hadn’t even been the first one to fight that creature, he’d been a last resort and for a whole week he had fought that thing. He’d used every ability he had, every trick he knew, and adrenaline shots to keep himself awake. But in the end he had won, and it had never been revealed how exactly he’d done it and Taemin was dying to know.

    He had just found the page he needed and was flipping through the book when he was suddenly flooded with light harsh enough to force him to raise a hand up to cover his eyes. The moment he did, his wrist was grabbed and he was dragged to his feet, his book snatched away before he had time to protest. “Boy, you’re under arrest for theft.” The man snarled at him, forcing him to spin around so he could cuff his wrists behind his back.

    “What the hell? I didn’t steal anything!” Taemin attempted to deny, but he didn’t bother trying to struggle. He was screwed and he knew it. “Come on, at least let me keep the book now! I wanted to read that interview!” He begged, his voice coming out a hell of a lot whinier than he had intended for it to. The cop looked the book over before shoving Taemin towards his car which was parked at the end of the alley.

    “I don’t think he needs anymore pathetic fanboys.” The cop growled in response and he tossed the book to his partner just as he was forcing Taemin into the back of the car. “Next time, don’t steal the book and maybe you’ll get to read it.” He said with mocking amusement as he slammed the car door shut and climbed into the front seat.

Taemin sighed and leaned against the uncomfortable leather, staring out the window in vague misery. He felt a dull sense of emptiness inside him that he couldn’t explain, that had nothing to do with being arrested. He wanted that book back, he was so frustrated. He hadn’t even gotten a chance to start reading it.

He felt the car lurch into  motion after the cops radioed something to the station. “Can I at least read some of it while we’re driving?” Taemin tried again, only to be met with mocking laughter from the front seat as the cops ignored his request. Sighing, Taemin committed himself to never knowing and the cold comfort of a jail cell. He hadn’t thought stealing a book would get him into so much trouble, but then again, he had stolen a lot of things in the past and ran from the cops several times so chances were they knew his face and he was busted for more than just a book.

    Once they arrived at the station, he was fingerprinted and they had to run a DNA sample, some about him not showing up in the system and having to figure how who the hell he was. Taemin had tried to argue and claim it was against his rights to be forcibly tested but it had all fallen on deaf ears. Soon enough, he was un-cuffed and hauled into a cell, the metal door slamming shut at the click of the lock echoing in the near silence. He was all alone it seemed, he wasn’t sure if that was part of the whole experience though. They seemed convinced he was a worse criminal than he was and that he had somehow deliberately erased himself from the system. Like he knew how to do that . He hadn’t touched a computer in as long as he could remember.

    “Congratulations, we finally found you.” A cop announced as he came back a good half an hour later, finding Taemin sitting on the bench at the back of the cell staring at the floor. He stood up though when the cop spoke and walked towards the cell door.

    “And? What the hell did you find? I’m innocent right?” Taemin demanded, his voice a near growl. He hated being confined, it made his skin crawl uncomfortably and put his mind on edge.

    “You went missing about fourteen years ago, there was a city wide search and no one ever found you. You were considered dead, Lee Taemin.” The cop spoke in an unimpressed tone that made his opinion of Taemin very clear, regardless of him having gone missing this man clearly looked down on him. It was enough to set Taemin’s teeth on edge and low growl resonated from the back of his throat.

    “Well clearly I’m not dead.” Taemin snarled, his hands gripping the cool metal bars, his nails digging into his own palms, sharp enough to pierce the skin and the small shock of pain helped to keep his anger under control. He had been known to lash out at people when his anger spiked and he couldn’t control it. He was volatile and he knew it, but he couldn’t convince himself to back away from the cop. There might have been bars separating them, but he could easily reach through them and the cop’s throat was entirely exposed. He was relaxed, confident in his position of power and believing that Taemin was just another dirty street thief, hardly worth the cell he was staying in.

    “Yes, clearly.” The cop agreed dryly, his lips curving in the smallest smirk of amusement that made Taemin’s grip on the bars tightening forcing his nails in deeper to keep himself from striking out at the man. “We searched for next of kin, but found no one. We’ve notified the city that you’re still alive. You’ll be issued a new ID and given a new Identity Number, once that’s complete you’ll be released.”

    Taemin stared blankly at the man before he glared in disbelief, “What the hell do I need with an ID and a number?” He snapped, he’d been getting by just fine without one all these years. He begged for cash, occasionally got jobs that would pay under the table, and stole whatever else he needed that he couldn’t afford. This was ridiculous and pointless and Taemin just wanted out so he could figure out where his book was and jack it before he left.

    “It’s illegal to be without one, but since you went missing before you were an adult you’ve been given a pardon. Be thankful you damn thief.” The cop growled, sneering at Taemin before he stepped back, “You might as well make yourself comfortable, you’ve got a few hours, or days, depending on how much of a priority they decide to make you. If it were up to me I’d let you rot in that cell.” He said coldly as he turned and started to walk back to his desk, which was just within sight of Taemin’s cell at the far end of the hallway.

    Taemin bit out a curse and paced back and forth in the too-small cell. He was even more agitated and restless now than he had ever been. His anger always tended to make him impatient, twitchy, his thoughts raced faster and his eyes darted around searching for an exit, a way out before he lost his mind completely. He had to force himself to focus on a single point to keep himself from starting to instinctively panic at being trapped, he would start to hyperventilate if he didn’t. So he took a deep breath and focused his thoughts filtering through the anger until he only saw the gray concrete wall in front of him. He took in every bump and ridge and every odd stain that he didn’t want to identify. Taking note of every different shade of gray he could see until movement in front of his cell caught his eye and snapped him out of his trance.

    “Well aren’t you lucky.” The cop scoffed, glaring at Taemin as he pulled out his keys and started to unlock the cell, “Get out, there’s some people here to get you.” He snapped, reaching in and grabbed Taemin’s wrist when he didn’t react fast enough and yanking him out of the cell, slamming it closed behind him. “I don’t know who the hell you are kid, but you’re one lucky son of a .” The cop pushed Taemin down the hallway towards his desk and that’s when Taemin noticed that there were two men standing just beyond it, dressed impeccably in suits, one was a shorter male with brown hair, long bangs that swept to the side and faded to blonde at the tips. His partner was taller with more of a feline look to him with deeper brown hair that look like it had been styled to look casual, both looked grave as their eyes fell upon Taemin.

    “Lee Taemin?” The shorter male asked, stepping forward and looking Taemin up and down. “Congratulations we’ve finally found you, my name is Jonghyun and this my partner Key, we’re with Guardians here in Korea. We’re here to offer you your rightful place among us.”

“Your father was a powerful Guardian and you’ve been on our list since the day you were born.” His partner commented as he offered a smile that was likely meant to be reassuring. “We lost you when we thought you were dead, and now that we’ve found you again we’d like to make up for lost time. So what do you say Taemin, are you ready to be a Guardian?”