Random Rambles: So...Exo's comeback...basically- I'm die TuT Bless the person putting up live audio streams to the concerts, their new tracks sound AMAXING- Xing? Xing... YIXING!!! GAH, someone contain that unicorn baby, he has gone wild! Keep me in your prayers T.T" Honestly though, that was the best concert I never went to OTL Guys, I'm sending you hugs and strength to survive this comeback. When Exo comes back- they freaking mean it! *Goes off to flip some tables*... On another note, here's another update; can you guess where the lyrics are from? ^^ I'm wondering whether I can keep this story below 100 chappies /)(OoO)(\ Enjoy <3

***

Raindrops are blown into flowers by the wind. 

Flowing time cannot catch up with the galloping white horse. 

Clouds rolling up and down in summer; tears are evaporated by flowing time. 

All of us along the way, did anyone get lost?

We promised not to leave each other, must always be together.

Snowflakes are blown into shining pieces by the wind… 

We said that we would venture into the world together. 

Do you still remember it?

You said that you would not part with me, and that we would be together – forever.

Was it just the mindless babbling of a child?

Oh, the heavy snow, please do not erase the traces of our past. 

Oh, the heavy snow must not be able to erase the memory we left to each other. 

Hand in hand, we may form a boat, carrying us across the river of sadness…

May the bright moon accompany you a thousand miles away…

I woke up with a sadness in my heart that spilled over to, and from my eyes. Confused, I absently wiped the warm tears away, though I wasn’t sure why I felt so sad. It was just a dream. A vague dream that made no sense. I was fine. I was safe and sound- for now. 

I blinked sleepily as I turned around, frowning, when I found myself wrapped in blankets and Chanyeol nowhere to be seen. 

Jack-knifing into a sitting position I tried to orientate myself. A cave? Wait. I’ve been here before…

“Chanyeol?” I called out into the dark cave, seeing the grey light of day spill in. It was still drizzling somewhat, and everything felt very moist and cold. 

I moved myself carefully since I remembered taking quite a beating in the river, but I couldn’t feel any pain. The scratches on my arms and legs had vanished and even the bruises around my neck didn’t hurt anymore. 

What happened again? I tried to process how Chanyeol and I ended up here, but all I remembered was falling asleep in his arms. His body was naturally warm, since he wielded the power of fire - being a guardian from another planet came with its perks, I suppose - and he kept me safe as I drifted off to sleep. So then, how did I get here? And where was Chanyeol? 

Startling lightly, I searched for the dagger and held it close when I found it. A sigh escaped my lips as I inspected the weapon briefly. 

“You’ve caused so much trouble, do you know that?” I muttered to it, the blade shining innocently, the green heart gleaming like a jewel. 

“ARGH!” 

I jumped at hearing the scream of agony, and looked outside.

“Chanyeol?” I called out, but there was no one that responded. When I recognized his voice cry out again, I kicked the blankets off and ran outside. 

A shiver of freaking freezing cold rippled through my body when the light drizzle of rain touched my warm skin. The wind wasn’t helping much either. It was a slight relief at least, to see that I was at the stone plateau the boys would always take me to, which probably meant that we were safe. But then, why would Chanyeol-?

“Holy Mother of Rilakkuma! HYUNG! That hurts!” 

A little to the side of the entrance of the cave stood a heightened platform of boulders where Chanyeol lay, being held down by Xiumin, Tao and Kris, while Lay was healing his shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, Chanyeollie, but if you would just sit still and not squirm so much, I can do this quickly and painlessly,” Lay told him strictly, pushing down on the injury, making Chanyeol hiss. 

Despite of seeing him in pain, I was able to smile because it was such a relief to see them. It explained how I felt perfectly fine since Lay must’ve healed me. 

“Ah, ah, ah! Xiumin-hyung, hands- cold!” Chanyeol yelled loudly, making a fuss. “Yah! Lay-hyung I wasn’t even struggling, why does it hurt?!” he scrunched his face in pain and discomfort as an awkward blast of laughter escaped his throat. “Kris-hyung, stop tickling my feet! Tao, stop laughing!” 

The brothers still laughed at Chanyeol’s misfortune and when he was finally, loudly, healed from his injuries he looked to be more exhausted than when he had dragged me out of the water and saved my life. Remembering that made me feel thankful, of course, but it left a bitter taste on my tongue to know that I had escaped death again. I know a cat had nine lives, but it felt like I’ve been spared from certain danger more times than that and there was a part of me that was really starting to worry that my lot would be up one of these days. Especially with that woman being so determined to want to strangle me. 

I shivered again, but this wasn’t because of the cold at all. 

“Oh, Jae-noona,” Tao called out, being the first one to have noticed I was there. He left Chanyeol’s side without a hitch and ran to give me a hug. 

“You’re awake. Thank goodness,” he murmured, pulling gently away as he appraised me, as though he wanted to make sure that they had healed all of me. “We were so worried. Chanyeol-hyung was squeezing you in your sleep so we thought it best if we keep you separated as far as possible,” he spoke hastily, reaching in for another hug as I stiffly returned it, having processed what he just said. 

“Squeezing? What?”

“Yah! That’s a lie!” Chanyeol protested, panting heavily on the stone table he was draped on. “They found us at the bank of the river, noona, and after picking you up gently to not wake you, they scolded me for being too forward!” 

“Too forward?” I repeated again, letting out a chuckle. “You kept me warm, that’s all,” I said, looking at the others. “I was cold and Chanyeol couldn’t start a fire, so he let me rest close to him,” I explained, but it didn’t seem that Tao or any of the others were listening. 

“Exactly! Don’t pay attention to them, noona, they’re just jealous,” Chanyeol pouted, lying back down properly to catch his breath. 

“How are you, Jae?” Kris asked after shaking his head at Chanyeol. 

“Oh, you know, I’m positively splendid,” I replied sarcastically, followed by lifting a judging eyebrow at him. He bore a sympathetic expression on his face that made me sigh. “Sorry,” I apologized. “I’m fine, thank you,” I said more sincerely. “You know, considering someone nearly killed me and then I nearly killed myself by falling off a cliff, but yeah- who keeps track with all of that anyway?” I couldn’t help but add. 

The boys smiled at me nonetheless and in the silence I quietly regarded them. The dagger had given them their memories back. Their questions were answered now, their search for their origins story was completed. Strangely, though, none of them looked particularly happy about it. Not that they were given some time to breathe to process it properly and to react to it, of course, but I guess I had expected- hm, perhaps that’s not entirely fair. I didn’t really know what to expect, to be honest. 

“How are you guys doing? Everything must be such a shock, I mean- is it?” I asked, feeling a little awkward, pushing away my own fears and self-doubts about the fact that I was still nowhere to be found in their direct memory, and I only had the one waking up in a field, only to be killed by that black snake moments later. I subtly took steady breaths, figuring I’d deal with that later. 

“It’s weird, but it feels right,” Tao started, having trouble trying to say what he meant. “I guess it’s a shock as well, but it makes sense too, you know? I mean, well- um,” he pondered, finally looking at Kris. “Gege?” 

“A-ah,” Kris responded smoothly, running his hand through his short dark hair, eyes still red, though that was hardly noticeable in the grimy weather. 

“I think what Taozi means, is that it kind of feels like…” he paused a moment, pursing his lips together. “It’s like when you recover from amnesia,” he suddenly remarked. “That sounds silly, I know, but you know how you walk to your room with a purpose but then you forget what it was and you just pace around until you suddenly remember what you came to do? It’s that kind of feeling, of everything that never made sense, suddenly clicking into place,” he explained, using excessive gestures to make his point across. 

“I guess that’s why it doesn’t feel so shocking because it’s our memories. We lost them, but now that we have them back…” he trailed off, his gaze distant, before his eyes found me. “Well, most of them are back, anyway,” he suddenly corrected. 

“It’s a little difficult to explain, Jae-yah,” Lay tried. “But I think all of us feel normal, but with our eyes opened, this time.” 

“Like we were sleeping all this time and we’ve finally woken up,” Tao added whilst nodding, until his eyes widened and he covered his mouth with his hand, directing himself at me. 

“Does that mean that you woke up as well, noona? Did we do everything the ghost wolf wanted us to?” he asked, the excitement clear in his voice. 

“Sorry, I don’t feel any different, to be honest. I actually feel a lot more confused now than before,” I chuckled. “Guess I’m the only one who’s shocked about all of this,” I shrugged, smiling apologetically. I felt uncomfortable, to be honest. I was glad for the boys that they knew who they were and that everything felt so natural to them, but I still felt none the wiser. 

“It’s not like all our questions are answered either, Jae,” Xiumin spoke gently, though that one sentence did have enough power for me to feel a little relieved as well. I may be the only one sort of shocked about everything, but at least I wasn’t alone in regards to being lost. 

“Hey, where are the others, by the way?” I asked, realizing that I had subconsciously started to look for them and couldn’t find them anywhere. 

Kris jerked his head to the side. “The others are-,”

“Right here,” Suho cut in from behind us, appearing with the rest of the pack in tow. “We were checking the area just to make sure it’s safe,” he elaborated, giving me a tentative smile. 

“Noona! You’re awake!” it suddenly sounded and I was surprised by Chen and Baekhyun rushing in to hug me. I steadied myself, and chuckled when an angry gust of wind tore them away from my side and Sehun appeared to take their place. 

I let out a soft shriek when he lifted me up to spin me around, hugging me tightly. “We were worried,” he mumbled, setting me on the ground, but refusing to leave my side. 

“No need, I’m fine,” I said, though I wondered how often I’d have to say that today to sound convincing. 

“Hey, and where are my hugs?” Chanyeol demanded, sitting up to pout at his brothers. 

“Ah, don’t whine, you’re fine,” Baekhyun waved dismissively, causing himself to be tackled by the much taller boy. 

“Okay, you won’t give me a hug, I’ll get one myself!” Chanyeol declared with a wide, nearly maniacal grin as Baekhyun desperately tried to escape. 

“Chen! Help!” Baekhyun called out, but the boy simply turned away, dusting off his shoulders. 

“Sorry, hyung, you’re on your own,” he grinned. Though, as he walked away, Chanyeol sneakily s an arm over his shoulder and pulled him down as well. 

“Wae?! Let me go!” Chen protested, but Chanyeol wouldn’t, of course. 

Suho shook his head as he watched the noisiest brothers wrestling on the ground. “Well, that hasn’t changed a bit,” he mumbled under his breath, and I felt a slight pang of regret and envy when he said it.  

I put up a polite smile when he turned to look at me. “Talk about a rough day, huh?” he remarked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “And it’s hardly midday. Still a long day ahead,” I huffed. “Oh,” I held out the dagger and handed it to Suho. “Chanyeol said that I should keep it, but I wouldn’t know what to do with it, so…” I trailed off and waited for him to take it. 

“Noona, I told you that you were the official dagger keeper, you should hold onto it,” Chanyeol protested after roughhousing with Chen and Baekhyun. 

“I know, but like I said, I could keep it, but I wouldn’t know what for,” I tried to explain gently. “I saw your memories and this thing seemed pretty important. So it’s best if you don’t go losing it again,” I really tried to be casual about this, like I wasn’t bothered, but… damn it! I was frustrated. It was awesome that the boys got their memories back, or at least a majority of it, really, I was happy for them - no sarcasm, promise! However, the ghost wolf wanted me to wake up, didn’t it?! Or was this my wakeup call? ‘Don’t get any ideas about belonging somewhere because it’s not true. You’re not a guardian like they are. You’re not part of their pack. Wake up and get the hint. I just reached out to you because you had the boys’ attention anyways’ - Was that what the ghost wolf was thinking? Was I dispensable? 

 All this time, Suho looked at the dagger in my hand but he made no move to take it from me. The others were silent as well, as though they could hear what I was thinking- oops, they couldn’t though, right? Not unless I gave permission. 

Sehun suddenly clacked his tongue in derision, grabbing the dagger from my hand and handling it roughly. 

“I think this thing is broken,” he announced. “How come would it show us our memories, but only give noona the one memory? Makes no sense. And why did it erase her from our memories to begin with? She wasn’t there, only at the end!” he said indignantly.

“There’s still a lot of things that don’t make sense, Sehun,” D.O. remarked, taking the dagger from his hand. “For instance, how we got here on earth if we came from Exo, for starters. And why the dagger was unable to explain Jae’s role in all of this. I, for one, refuse to believe that she was only a peasant girl who happened to be there at the right place at the right time to prevent the black Imoogi from getting this thing,” he lifted the dagger briefly before handing it back to me with a reassuring wink. I smiled a tiny smile, the dagger feeling cool in my hands.

“Exactly. Still a lot of questions left unanswered,” Luhan agreed. “Though I’ve thinking about how we ended up here, if we remember falling from the sky and Jae actually witnessing us fall,” he mused pensively. “The Tree died moments before that, didn’t it? What if it sacrificed itself to take us, and whatever or whomever was left of Exo to safety, to earth?” he proffered. 

“If that’s the case, then that dagger is more important than we know,” Suho said, his hands suddenly holding mine while I was still staring at the weapon. “We weren’t the only ones to have survived. The black snake had this in its possession, which probably means that it wants to use the dagger for harm.” 

Wow…dramatic, much? With that one sentence, the elated atmosphere from before turned thick with tension and foreboding. I had so many questions. Where would I even start? 

“The black snake, the emo- eh, thing-,” I stammered.

“Imoogi,” D.O. corrected for me.

“Right. Imoogi, what exactly is it? Or, who is it? Is that woman the black snake?” I asked. 

“I doubt it. If she truly had so much power then none of us would have been alive right now, I think,” Kris replied in such a neutral tone I wondered whether he realized how scary that was. 

“Don’t remind us, please,” Suho answered a bit nervously. 

“Mr. Yok,” Xiumin suddenly spoke, meeting our gazes as we looked up at him. “Didn’t she mention that name? We heard it again at E.T. Corp, in the room with the fake forest and hologram projections,” he touched his chin as a thoughtful expression graced his face. “It’s odd. All our personal memories have come back, but not all of it. There’s still gaps here and there. I can’t remember Miss Kumiho or Mr. Yok at all, but I get a bad feeling when I mention Mr. Yok’s name. You think he’s the one that’s behind all of this? Could he be the black snake?” 

I got goosebumps as the boys started their speculations. My father worked at E.T. Corp, he worked for Mr. Yok. I remembered the name as well since Dad told me that he was the founder of E.T. Corp. Why would a successful entrepreneur like him wish for the destruction of the world by means of a dagger? 

“What would he want with this?” I cut in abruptly as they were discussing things. 

“We don’t know, Jae,” Luhan shook his head. “But it can’t be good.” 

“You think he’s the black Imoogi? I don’t know what that is,” I asked, trying to make sense of it all. 

“Do you remember telling us that the ghost wolf showed you the history of our world? Of Exo?” Luhan asked and continued when I nodded. “There were two enormous snakes encircling the world, do you remember? One was white and the other black. These creatures are very rare and responsible for the world they inhabit. They’re called Imoogi, which are serpentine creatures that one day wish to become full-fledged dragons. From what I recall, they need a yeouiju, a dragon orb, that fell from heaven to be able to become dragons and gain immense power,” he explained. 

“And you think that the dagger can give him that power?” I wondered breathlessly, seeing the world going to crap if an actual real-life dragon started roaming the skies. 

“It’s very possible,” he said quietly. 

“Then the ghost wolf really wanted us to help. It wanted us to prevent the black snake from getting the dagger and using it for bad things,” Tao piped up. 

“But how? What are we supposed to do now?” Sehun asked. 

“And I still don’t understand what I have to do with any of this,” I breathed, feeling a little more than dejected. “Also, if all of us are from Exo planet, then what’s up with us losing all our memories in the first place? And what about our families and everyone else on the island? They’re from earth, aren’t they?” 

I wasn’t going to lie. It sounded hella crazy to even utter those questions, but there was a lump in my throat this entire time and the longer I thought about things, the harder it became for me to ignore the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. 

“Wow. Never thought that finding the answers to our questions would raise more questions,” Suho muttered, heaving a sigh. “We’ll figure this out, Jae,” he then said in a stronger voice, though his face was telling me that he was as lost as I was. “One way or another. Though, something tells me that keeping this world safe has priority, right now. But, as long as we stick together and have each other’s back, everything will be fine,” he stated confidently, smiling. 

“Alright then, leader-hyung, what’s the next step?” Chen immediately provoked to tease Suho, and laughed when the leader was caught off guard. It helped to lighten the mood a bit and it helped me to get rid of all the negative thoughts and feelings. The boys had been given their answers, after all, so maybe mine would be next. 

“I’d like to try something,” Luhan said, looking at me. “The dagger was responsible for giving us most of our memories back, and I’m wondering whether it may hold the answer to how we can use it to stop the black snake from messing up this world as well,” he reasoned. 

“You wanna try and read its mind, Lu?” Kris asked a little skeptically. 

“It may work,” Luhan shrugged. “The Tree left it for a reason, maybe this is why,” he tried. 

“You’re welcome to give it a shot, no harm done, right?” Xiumin said. 

“Right. Thank you, Baozi-ge,” Luhan extended his hand towards me. “Jae, if I may?” 

“Oh, sure.” 

Luhan was far more cautious whilst handling the dagger this time, carefully studying it and letting his fingers run over the weapon with controlled gentility. Something about it made me shiver and I blushed inexplicably since I suddenly imagined what it would be like if he trailed his fingers like that over my skin. I thought for a moment that I could nearly feel his fingers ghosting over me when he wrapped his hand carefully around the hilt and I quickly looked away before my idiotic thoughts would lead me to forbidden places and I’d never be able to look Luhan in the face again. 

Sheesh, I’m an idiot. just got real and that’s what I think about?! I nearly groaned out loud as I felt a wave of embarrassment wash over me. The idea of me being a lowly peasant girl in my former life on Exo planet seemed very likely now. No way that I had the grace, strength, sophistication and nobility of these guardians. Come to think of it, if they were guardians who looked after everyone in Exo, wouldn’t that have made them famous? Popular, no doubt. 

I briefly thought I lost my mind officially when I imagined that maybe I was their fangirl…Might be a legit reason why I’m so involved with everything right now- sort of… Ugh, stop thinking, Jae. Focus!

Obviously I was battling with myself to maintain the last scraps of sanity I had left and I wasn’t about to lose this fight. Not yet, anyway. 

“Anything, hyung?” asked Baekhyun, watching Luhan with much interest. 

“It’s too quiet. I think it’s resting? Seems like its energy is waning somewhat,” Luhan replied. 

“That doesn’t sound like good news,” I prompted. 

“It’s not. The dagger is weak, but maybe…” Luhan mused and suddenly turned to grab my hand. “We could try to do this together, Jae,” he said, hands warm as they wrapped themselves around mine. “Just you and me,” he winked cheekily, the blushes reappearing on my face again. I trusted him enough to know that he couldn’t have heard my thoughts from a few moments before, but still, there was always that little chance… 

“Yah, hyung, you shouldn’t pressure Jae-noona like that, she’s still recovering,” Chen complained. 

“Indeed, tell him, Lay-hyung! Jae-noona should relax with me,” Sehun replied boldly. 

Lay was actually nodding when he turned towards Luhan. “Lu-ge, Jae-yah does need her rest, so it’s better if she sits here with me, right?” he said innocently, though the playful glint in his eyes was evident when he looked at a startled Sehun. 

“Hyung! With me, not you!” the maknae immediately whined. 

“Exactly, Sehunnie, with me, not you. That’s what I said,” Lay teased. 

“Yah! What’s with this hyung?!” Sehun sulked, crossing his arms across his chest when Lay stood up to wrap an arm over his shoulder as comfort. 

“Jae,” Luhan’s voice called to me and he waited for me to connect to him. 

I nodded. “Let’s see how we can save the world,” before I go completely crazy…