~ Chapter Eighty-One: Phoenix ~

The Fallen

Random Rambles: Omo I don't know if I'm ready for the comeback, guys, it's suddenly so soon!! /)(OoO)(\ I'm mostly curious what the new song is gonna be like because I'm still not over "Call Me Daddy" xD Let's anticipate together! Waaahhhh (\(^3^)/) <3

***

“Oh, damn it!” Ryo cursed when he saw that the path ended and he wouldn’t be able to continue following Miss Kumiho through the forest. He pulled over, a little suspicious at seeing the fog roll in. He slammed his hand against the steering wheel, peering through the dark woods where he had seen Miss Kumiho disappear before. 

It worried him that he saw no sign of Jae, or her friends and this place was giving him the creeps. Ryo looked behind him and in front of him and saw that he was alone. Utterly so. 

What would have possessed Jae and her friends to go all the way out here? He thought it had been a relatively long drive as well, so it genuinely surprised him that none of them had stopped to rest along the way. 

“Jae, please tell me you’re not on drugs,” he huffed, trying to calm himself down. 

What should I do? 

Ryo clacked his tongue in derision and roughly unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car. The weather had changed drastically and it was already starting to rain gently. He rubbed his arms for warmth and chewed on his bottom lip. He made sure he had his cellphone with him and grabbed a flashlight from his emergency bag he kept in the trunk. 

“Alright, Ryo, I know that it’s been a while since boy scouts, but once a Fighting Monk Seal, always a Fighting Monk Seal,” he mumbled a bit nervously to himself, thinking about his boy scout’s mascot of a time when he grew up in Hawaii. 

Armed with a flashlight, he locked his car, did his best to remember where he had parked it, and walked into the unknown woods. He was vaguely confident that he had seen Miss Kumiho run through this way, but he kept a weather eye open. 

“Whoa, what in the world was that?!” he exclaimed as he steadied himself against a nearby tree. The earth had just shook and he was sure he heard something crumbling from a distance. He startled again when thunder sounded and rain started to pour down from the heavens. 

“!” Ryo cussed and pulled up the collars of his jacket in a poor attempt to shield himself from the rain. He continued walking, feeling more concerned about Jae at the moment than following Miss Kumiho. The local authorities had warned the island that people should stay at home with the liable weather conditions, since it could get dangerous. If Jae was caught up in the upcoming storm- well, Ryo didn’t want to hear the end of it. 

Why did they even go out in this weather to begin with? he grumbled, squinting his eyes and turning on his flashlight as the fog still hadn’t properly dispersed. 

Hyung! Hyung! Hurry!” 

Ryo froze when he heard the voice of alarm from the distance. Now, he didn’t care if he would be accused of spying or stalking, that voice was filled with dread and panic. Someone was in trouble. 

“Hello? Is there someone out there?!” Ryo called out, rushing forward in hopes that he could determine where the voice came from. 

Can anybody see them?! Can anyone see them?!” another voice called out, and Ryo spun confusedly in the dense fog and downpour of rain. The voices echoed around him so he couldn’t determine where they came from. 

“H-hello? It sounds like you can use some help! Tell me where you are and I’ll help you!” he called out, but it didn’t seem like anyone heard him. 

There! Luhan, can you hear them?!” 

Ryo’s eyes widened when he heard the name. That was one of Jae’s friends, wasn’t it? He worriedly ran forward, but couldn’t see where he was going. 

“Hey! Who’s out there?” he bellowed, but he doubted anyone could hear him through this wind and rain. 

They’re being pulled- hyung! The river!” 

Ryo listened breathlessly at the conversation, following the voices as best as he could. He finally saw a glimpse of a young man he thought was Suho, but they ran off before he had a chance to call out to them. 

“Hey! Hey! Wait a minute!” Ryo screamed and stopped just in time when he saw that he had been running near the edge of a cliff all this time. His brain started spinning as he tried to make sense of the conversation he had heard and he swallowed hard, looking down at the cliff. 

The waves of the sea were high and crashed wildly against each other. It was a long, painful fall. If he had fallen in, he would’ve most certainly- 

No. I-it couldn’t be…

Ryo looked down the cliff, looking for signs of someone having fallen in. He hadn’t seen Miss Kumiho, or heard Jae, for that matter. 

Oh God, please, no! 

“Jae?!” he shouted, the thunder mimicking his outcry as Ryo quickly regained himself to search for those boys. He growled in frustration at seeing them gone. He was alone- again. 

Didn’t they mention a river? 

Ryo checked the currents of the wild oceans below and saw that they moved inland. He made his decision and quickly ran back to his car. It was a wild hunch but his gut told him to get to that river as soon as possible. He would think about what all of this meant later. 

His phone started buzzing just when he started the engine, and for a moment he was filled with hope that maybe it was Jae calling him. However, he saw the caller ID and cringed. He didn’t have time to deal with Dee at the moment. Ryo clicked the ignore button and raced away. 

***

The water was freezing and unbelievably powerful. Chanyeol felt the shock throughout his body when he slammed into the water, making sure he’d be the one to hit the ocean first so Jae was mostly protected from the impact. 

It hurt, of course, and there was a part of him that thought that they would die on the spot, but they had luck on their side- sort of. Chanyeol grimaced as he struggled in the water, trying his best to keep hold of Jae, who bore an expression of pain as well, and he tried to pull them both up to the surface. 

When he attempted to use his left arm to swim up, he yelled, quickly closing his mouth again to prevent the water coming in. 

He felt Jae’s hand reach out to his left shoulder and she shook her head at him, holding on when the current of the water nearly pulled them apart. 

Chanyeol locked his right arm around her waist so they wouldn’t get separated, while they both looked up, trying to get to the surface. He felt that it was his responsibility as the man to look out for her, but he didn’t know what to do. His clothes was wearing them down and the injury to his shoulder wasn’t helping. He tried pushing them both up, but the wild waves kept them down. If they couldn’t do anything, they’d drown in a matter of seconds. 

Chanyeol reacted in surprise when Jae carefully moved away from him, but still firmly held his hand. He nodded when he realized what she wanted to do and they both swam up with all the strength they could muster. 

He gasped for air when they managed to get their heads out of the water, but it was just as wet on the surface as it was under the water. 

“Noona!” he called out, seeing Jae drifting away with the currents. He reached out to her, and pulled her in using only his right hand, embracing her tightly to prevent her from going back down or getting slammed against a rock. 

“Chan-Chanyeol,” Jae breathed, coughing. 

“I got you, noona,” he breathed, biting through the pain when a wave crashed down on them. 

“Can you swim?” Jae yelled at him over the deafening sounds of the ocean and the pouring rain. They were already drifting helplessly along wherever the water was taking them. 

“I don’t think so, noona,” Chanyeol answered in defeat. “My arm,” he pointed and she nodded in understanding. 

“Where is the water taking us?” she wondered out loud, trying to look for an escape. She cried out in alarm when she was being pulled down by the whims of the ocean and Chanyeol quickly grabbed hold of her, exclaiming as he pulled her back up. She was so unbelievably tiny and vulnerable in this mess. He had to do his best to keep her safe. He was, as he realized with mild shock, a guardian, after all.

“I think it’s going to take us back to the river- if we’re lucky, noona,” Chanyeol replied after orientating himself. He held in his breath when another wave washed over them. 

Jae coughed and inhaled sharply for breath, clinging her arms tightly around him. 

“Doesn’t that mean that we’ll be slammed against countless of rocks before we plummet down a waterfall?!” she shouted and Chanyeol cringed when he realized she had a point. 

“Well, the other option is that we drift out into the open sea, noona, and then we’ll be even farther from home,” Chanyeol breathed, being able to see the water bottlenecking back towards the shore. 

“This is gonna hurt, noona, but don’t let me go, okay?” he warned beforehand, knowing that his useless left arm was going to suffer the most of it since it was already injured. 

“Chanyeol, we’re gonna die if we keep going like this!” Jae screamed anxiously, but he managed to smile reassuring at her. 

“No, we’re not, I won’t allow it,” he told her. “See it as a water slide, noona,” he attempted before pulling her protectively closer. 

“I like water slides,” Jae said, smiling weakly at him, bracing herself bravely. 

It wasn’t the first time Chanyeol had wished that he had the ability to fly, but he was a wingless phoenix and this was the best he could do. He’d use his body to protect Jae, he could bear that pain far better than the mere thought that she got injured instead. 

The river was as wild and merciless as the ocean had been, with the additional rocks, boulders and fallen trees scratching their skin, beating them up. Chanyeol made sure to take most of the beating, even when Jae tried to do the same thing. He didn’t yell out when he got hurt. He just bit it down and made sure that Jae couldn’t see him suffering. 

However, he couldn’t hold it back when the water pushed them against a boulder, hitting his left arm. 

“Chanyeol! Hold on,” Jae screamed out in alarm. 

“I-it’s okay, noona, I’m fine,” he tried, too late to respond when the girl managed to reposition herself so that she would be able to protect his left side from any incoming beatings. 

“Eh, Chanyeol? I don’t think I like this water slide!” Jae called out  as he could feel her trying to fight the current. His own eyes widened in fear at seeing the approaching waterfall, but where else could they go? The water was too powerful, so they couldn’t even try to hold on to a rock if they tried. 

“Chanyeol!” Jae cried out helplessly which woke up a fierce desire to protect her. 

“Noona! Jae, hold onto me!” he said, but he screamed just as loudly as they plummeted down the waterfall. He lost grip on Jae along the way, but after enduring more tugging and pulling of the water, things quieted down significantly, and Chanyeol felt himself floating in space. 

He shook himself awake, quickly moving to the surface where he gasped for breath. Only the rain caused the ripples in the water and he frantically searched for Jae. 

His heart stopped when he saw her body bobbing up, floating along, unmoving. He made his way towards her as quickly as he could, clacking his tongue in derision when he saw the dagger still in her hand. 

“Noona? Noona, wake up,” he called out, gently carrying her as they floated along the stream. He panicked when she didn’t respond and he placed his hand over and nose. She wasn’t breathing. 

“Noona?” he mumbled, frozen with fear. “Jae!” Chanyeol quickly used whatever strength he had left and guided both of them to the shore. His wet clothes weighed him down, and he couldn’t use his left arm much. Still, he managed to pull Jae safely onto the shore and knelt down beside her. 

Chanyeol watched her helplessly for a moment, pushing his hair back and biting on his nails. 

“Jae-noona? Wake up,” he murmured, brushing her hair from her face and tilting her head back slightly. He made sure that she lay flat on her back and carefully leaned down to press his ear against her chest. 

He lifted his left arm and forced himself to use it when he started to perform CPR. 

“Come on, noona, don’t do this,” he muttered under his breath, pushing down repeatedly on her chest, keeping count before listening again. When Jae still didn’t respond, he gently lifted her chin and overcame his own shyness as he carefully pressed his lips against hers to blow air into her lungs. 

He immediately pulled away when she stirred and coughed out the excess of water, Chanyeol patting her back in utter relief. 

“Thank God,” he muttered to himself. “You’re okay, noona, you’re okay,” he soothed, seeing her look around frantically. 

“Chanyeol?” she questioned, catching her breath before she narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you- did you just kissed me?” she asked, obviously still dazed. Knowing how she tended to react when she got upset, Chanyeol quickly scrambled away, trying to shield himself as best as he could with just his functioning right hand. 

“N-no! Why would you think that, noona?” he rambled, waiting anxiously when she looked at him. 

“Thank you,” she said unexpectedly, lying back down to relax. Chanyeol huffed out some air as well, finally allowing himself to calm down and regain himself. 

“Are you okay, Chanyeol?” she asked beside him. 

“I’ve had better days, noona,” he chuckled. Chanyeol startled when Jae loomed over him and started hitting him. 

“Yah! What the heck, noona?” he asked, trying to evade her little fists. 

“What were you thinking? Jumping after me so carelessly!” she scolded. “Just because I’m an accident-prone idiot, doesn’t mean that it gives you the right to be the same way! You could’ve gotten killed!” her attacks became weaker and Chanyeol knew that she was angry because she was just as scared for his safety as he was for hers. 

He smiled. “I’m okay, noona,” he said calmly, Jae looking up at him with soft brown eyes, pouting slightly when she saw his left shoulder. 

“Are you really?” she ever so gently pressed on his injury, but the pain shot up through his body anyway and he hissed. “Oh yeah, you’re a picture of health,” she tsked, glancing at the dagger for a moment before she put it safely away. 

“Can you stand?” she asked, suddenly starting to examine him for injuries. 

“Hey, I’m the one that’s supposed to protect you, noona, so don’t fuss over me,” he stated boldly, though his exclamation lost credibility when he let out a whine while attempting to get to his feet. 

“Here, come on. There’s a big tree over there. We can hide under it for a while,” she helped him and looked around. “Where are we, anyway?” 

“I don’t know, somewhere on the island. It’s better than being lost at sea, though,” Chanyeol replied, wincing again when he leaned his back against the tree. 

“I guess,” Jae looked him over and pursed her lips together. Chanyeol’s eyes widened and his cheeks flushed when she suddenly removed her vest, leaving her in a snug, wet tank top that seemed to hug her tightly. 

He tried to nonchalantly look away, blinking at her as she approached. Neither of them spoke when Jae carefully bound his injured arm to keep it steady, and Chanyeol resented his lack of self-control. He couldn’t stop staring at her face as she worked on his arm seriously, and sometimes, he embarrassedly admitted, his eyes shot a bit further south from her face. He swallowed hard as heavy drops of water slid down her neck, over her collarbone, dipping down onto her-

“Ahem,” Jae cleared in warning and he quickly looked away, though he grimaced out of embarrassment again when she gently flicked his ear which was probably burning red. He grinned sheepishly when she glared at him for a moment, but then she managed to smile back. 

“There, that should hold for the time being. I’m sorry I’m not Lay,” she apologized. 

“This is fine, noona, don’t worry about it,” Chanyeol said, looking at his arm. “Thank you.” 

Jae sat down beside him, rubbing her arms which were covered with bruises and cuts as well. Without thinking, Chanyeol reached out to touch her skin, following the lines of her wounds. 

“S-sorry,” he apologized when she watched him. 

“It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt,” she said quietly, but Chanyeol didn’t believe her. He continued watching her until he caught sight of her neck again and he frowned this time. 

That woman… 

It was scary, suddenly getting all of his memories back. He felt strangely at ease as though his entire life made sense now, but at the same time, he felt like having more questions than answers. It still wasn’t clear to him, or to any of his brothers, who Jae was exactly and why she wasn’t in their memories with them. Most importantly, why did that woman want to kill her? He only had a faint idea who that woman could have been, but he felt like that was a memory before his time. Of course he had seen what Jae had seen, but he still didn’t understand where Jae was concerned. 

She was part of the pack, so why wasn’t she there, in their memories? 

“Chanyeol?” Jae suddenly called, pulling her knees up. 

“Hm?” he asked in a daze, blinking at her. 

“You’re staring,” she said in a shy whisper.

“Ah? Ah! Sorry, I didn’t mean- I mean, don’t misunderstand, noona, I wasn’t- ehehe,” he lowered his gaze. “How does your neck feel? Those bruises look bad,” he asked instead. 

Jae carefully touched the red, sensitive skin and retracted her fingers. “I’ll probably feel it in the morning, like everything else,” she joked, gesturing at her entire body. 

“Are you okay, noona?” Chanyeol inquired, his voice low and soothing. 

“Yeah, fine. Don’t worry, I’m really not hurt,” she said and turned away to look at the rain falling down. “You think the others will know where to find us?” she asked, changing the subject. 

Chanyeol smirked gently behind her back and subtly inched closer to her. 

“They’re looking for us as we speak,” he confirmed. “And,” he continued, moving just a bit closer so she’d notice. “That wasn’t what I meant,” he said, seeing Jae sigh before she chuckled. 

“Yeah, I know that’s not what you meant,” she cleared , hugging her knees tighter. 

Chanyeol waited patiently for her to say more and Jae ran her fingers through her wet, sleek hair. 

“It’s a lot to digest, you know,” she started, nodding mostly to herself as she carefully grabbed the dagger. Chanyeol was mesmerized for a moment as well, now that he knew that it was the weapon the Tree wanted them to take care of. He found himself in a strange state of not believing anything that had just happened, even though he knew that they were real. 

“You probably do know,” Jae then said with a light shrug. She then handed the dagger to him. “You want to keep this? It shouldn’t really be in my possession, I think,” she mused, waiting for him to accept it. 

Chanyeol read her expression and narrowed his eyes slightly at seeing a sadness in them. 

“I’m not a guardian, after all,” she breathed with a wan smile. “It should be kept by a proper guardian,” she decided. 

The dagger shone in her hand, the green heart still emitting a soft glow. Chanyeol looked at the weapon, this strange object from Exo planet, and smiled. He pushed the dagger back towards Jae. 

“Then I hereby dub you, Miyano Jae-In, as the official keeper of the dagger,” he said with a big grin that only widened when he saw that he was successful in making her smile. 

“So, noona,” he then asked after a moment of silence, “was that the only memory you have? Waking up and then- you know,” he stammered. 

“Yeah,” Jae nodded, rubbing her arms again. “Doesn’t make a lot of sense though, huh? I only feel like half of the puzzle is finished,” she said quietly, leaning her chin on her knees and sighing. Chanyeol nodded absently, knowing exactly what she meant. 

“Do you feel like you’ve woken up, noona?” he then asked gently, wanting to wrap his arm over her shoulders when she heaved another deep sigh and leaned back on her elbows. 

“I don’t know,” she breathed. “This is a lot to digest, I mean- what, we’re aliens from a planet called Exo? We’re supposed to save this world because we couldn’t the last time? I mean, I say ‘we’ but, judging from what I saw, I don’t think I was one of you…” she trailed off and Chanyeol tensed up, unsure what to do. 

“So, how did I even get these reflection powers? And why does that woman keep wanting to kill me?” 

“Because she’s crazy, noona, haven’t you figured that out yet?” he answered, shaking his head and shivering when he thought back to her. 

“Does she seem at all familiar to you now? Can you place her in your memories?” Jae wondered, resting her eyes on him. 

“I’m not sure, actually,” he replied. “She’s bad news, that’s for sure. Let’s just hope that she’ll take a while to get to us again, provided that Kai brought her far enough,” Chanyeol mused, watching the rain fall. “But you don’t have to worry about her, noona. Now that we’ve our memories back and know that our powers have a purpose, we won’t let her harm you,” he stated determinedly, puffing up his chest a bit and lifting his chin, grinning widely until Jae would mimic his expression. 

“That’s a comfort,” she replied in a gentle voice. “I’m sorry,” she suddenly said, looking at him. “This can’t be easy for you either,” she said, shivering slightly and rubbing her arms again. 

Chanyeol chuckled to keep the mood up a bit. “I’m still figuring things out and putting everything in place,” he admitted. “It’s kind of like my brain is scrambled and I have to rewire some things. But I think we’d both feel better to sort it out with the others, when they finally get here,” he stated and Jae nodded in agreement. 

Another silence fell and Jae looked ahead of her to watch the rain fall, shivering as she continued rubbing her arms. 

“Are you cold, noona?” he then piped up, putting more cheer in his voice. 

Jae chuckled shyly. “A bit,” she nodded, smiling apologetically. 

“Aha! Say no more, Chanyeol has got this covered!” he focused on a spot on the ground in front of them and snapped his fingers. A tiny spark came to life and danced before them. He smiled proudly and looked to see if he had impressed her. She was smiling at first, but then pursed her lips together as though she prevented herself from laughing. 

Frowning, Chanyeol followed his gaze and saw that his flame had been doused by the moist atmosphere. 

Omo,” he exclaimed, snapping his fingers again to ignite another flame which he hoped would turn into a nice campfire for Jae to warm herself with, but the flame danced and flickered and was doused again. 

“Damn it. This is why I don’t like water,” he complained, sulking a bit. 

“Don’t worry about it, Chanyeol, I’ll stay warm,” Jae tried to guarantee, but Chanyeol could tell that she was freezing. After a moment’s thought, he snapped his fingers again, but this time it was because he had thought of something, though it made his ears burn once more. 

“Noona,” he started, wondering how he could tell her how to stay warm without sounding like a creep. “You know, I’m kind of- uh…” his brain deserted him when Jae glanced up in expectation at him. “F-fire, me, uh,” he stammered, feeling the heat inside of him grow. “That is, um- oh, what the hell,” he eventually decided and moved to embrace her. He crushed his eyes shut and his body tensed, however, hoping that she wouldn’t go and start picking up pebbles and branches to throw at him. 

“Chanyeol, what are you-?” Jae exclaimed in surprise until she relaxed and leaned into his embrace. “Wow, toasty,” she mumbled into his shoulder. “You’re so warm,” she carefully embraced him back and he could feel himself glowing out of glee. He was happy that he could at least be of some use to her, though he’d be lying if he said that he didn’t like the fact that he got to hold her close. 

She smells so nice, he thought to himself, blushing, making sure to remember this particular scent. She always smelled like jasmine, but this was jasmine in a spring rain, mixed with a hint of tinder. Since he felt so relaxed, Chanyeol moved to lay back, Jae exclaiming in surprise again, but not necessarily struggling. 

“You should take care of your shoulder, Chanyeol,” she warned him, but he had already closed his eyes, pulling her close. He hadn’t realized how tired he was. Jae must’ve felt the same way. 

“We should rest until the others get here,” he mumbled, already starting to drift off. He only opened his eyes briefly to see her shift her position so she could comfortably rest her head on his chest, though she made sure not to burden his injury. 

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind resting,” she replied, suppressing a yawn. 

“Then rest, noona, I’ll keep you safe,” he promised, her wet hair until her breathing became steady and even. She wasn’t shivering anymore. He hoped that she would dream good dreams, and quietly pinched himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming himself. Jae-noona looked small, lying with him like that. Of course it urged him to want to keep her safe and protected. 

Chanyeol sensed around to make sure that there was no threat nearby until allowed his own exhaustion to take over. He listened to the rain fall, to Jae breathing. Finally, this lullaby sang him to sleep himself.   

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Nin-Nin
Hi guys~ my first original ebook is available on Amazon and I'm having a lot of feels. If you have the time, check out my previous blog post for more details - I'd appreciate the support <3 Thank you and have a lovely weekend! Love, Nin-Nin

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Wanderer_bj
#1
I don't even know how many times I have read this.😍
BeckyBooGirl
#2
Chapter 4: This is one of my favorite exo fanfic. I have read this story 5 or 6 times already and still love it like i did when I first read it❤
InspiritCarolyn
#3
This is one of those fics I can come back to again and again without getting tired of re-reading it. Each time I read it, I love it the same as the first time.
aonani_k
#4
Chapter 109: I finished it once again and as before, I enjoyed reading such a great story. Hope all is well. :)
aonani_k
#5
Chapter 2: It's been years since I read the story and today I just felt like re-reading it! Glad it's still here. :)
Sehixneeo
#6
Chapter 109: Argh, I will never ever forget this story. Ever. 🥺💛
Jaerin
#7
Chapter 109: This story will always be one of my favorite, a masterpiece 🤧💞❤️
Pxnellyxq #8
Chapter 107: WHAT IM LEGITIMATELY SHOCKED AND TEARING UP
Pxnellyxq #9
Chapter 100: why is the white wolf making me feel emotional :///
Pxnellyxq #10
Chapter 61: Stinky kumiho