Random Rambles: omg what's gonna happen? I've no idea myself...guess I'll have to keep on writing until we'll all figure it out eh? ^^; thank you always for subscribing, taking time to comment and still reading this loooong fic. Have I told you lately how much I love you guys for it? WELL HERE I AM TELLING YOU! GOLD STARS AND REPACKAGE ALBUMS FOR EVERYONE (if I had the means I'd sent one don't even xD) <3 

***

Dee was still shaking even after the earthquake had long ceased. He walked the quiet halls of the research facility, feeling somewhat like a trespasser even though he worked there. 

Everyone had been given the order to go home. No one would be working until everything had settled down, but Dee couldn’t leave it at that. He jumped a little at seeing the reddish light spill on the clean floor of the laboratory of the biotech department and swallowed. Still trembling, he looked at the angry sky, wondering what he was still doing at the company. 

He hadn’t heard anything from Seunghyun, or Mr. Miyano, for that matter. Dee could’ve gone home and try to put all of his work behind him, but he knew better than to wait at home for everything to blow over. He was smack in the middle of everything after all. What was happening to the world right now- aish, Dee thought, why do I feel guilty? 

Dee fiddled with his phone, wondering if he should call Mr. Miyano and ask what he should do with the dagger-experiments. Then again, he was more inclined to call Seunghyun, as his friend and colleague would probably know what to do now. Should he wait? Should he try and fix things? 

Ah… When had this job become so difficult? 

When he went to check his phone for messages and looked at the newsfeed, he let out a tiny squeal. 

Woman escaped prison. Highly dangerous. Suspect is female, of Asian descend, green eyes, black hair. Authorities ask for vigilance from the public. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the fugitive, please contact Hanwol PD. 

Was it just him, or did someone he knew fit that description eerily well? Dee swallowed and continued his journey to the basement of E.T. Corp. His stomach turned when he thought about how he had kept this secret room from Mr. Miyano, but he had hoped to surprise the boss, to show him that they were close to uncovering the secrets of the dagger. 

When he walked through the hole in the wall and entered the forest simulation, he started up the computer and looked around as the hologram brought the room to life. 

A gentle smile graced his lips as he saw holographic butterflies flit about, saw how rivers streamed beside his feet, how small critters sipped the water. Outside it may be chaos, but in here…this was the future he hoped to see. 

“You shouldn’t be so careless, Dee,” a deep voice boomed from the shadows, startling him half to death. 

Dee turned around to see Seunghyun approach him with a smirk on his face. The younger scientist grasped his chest and let out a deep sigh of relief, rolling his eyes. 

“That wasn’t funny, hyung!” he whined, trying to calm his heartbeat. “When did you get here? I thought you went -,”

“I just got here,” Seunghyun interrupted, though he looked tired, as though he hadn’t been sleeping for a few nights. “You left the door open, that was careless of you,” he scolded again, causing Dee to cringe apologetically. 

“Sorry, I didn’t think anyone else but me would be here. Everyone else were told to go home, so they did,” he quickly explained. “What made you come here, hyung?” he questioned before his eyes widened slightly. “Did you find the dagger?” he asked, excited. 

Seunghyun rubbed the back of his neck, the smirk fading a bit. “Well, you could say that,” he sounded hesitant and Dee wondered why, though he didn’t ask. 

“Did you happen to speak to the boss? What should we do now? Oh, did you see the sky?” he then asked, stringing his questions together without giving Seunghyun the chance to answer them. 

“Calm down, Dee,” the taller scientist said, donning a white lab coat. “We stick to the plan,” he said. “And yes, I’ve seen the sky…” he mused. “I need your help with something. We’re close to cracking this thing, and I think I know what we have to do. Will you help me?” he asked the younger researcher, and of course, Dee was more than happy to oblige. It gave him something to do and it was better than waiting around. 

“Of course, hyung! But, wait- shouldn’t we tell Mr. Miyano? Oh! And did you see the news? What happened to Miss Kumiho?” he asked again as Seunghyun sighed. 

“I-,” he was cut off when the phone rang and Dee blinked as Seunghyun frowned, reaching into his pocket. He kept politely quiet so that his friend could answer his phone. 

“Hello?” 

Dee startled himself when he noticed the alarm on Seunghyun’s face and something changed in the atmosphere. It made him feel uneasy. 

“Mr. Y-Yok, h-hello,” Seunghyun replied rather unsteadily and Dee’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. He panicked at hearing his friend speak to the big boss himself and didn’t know what to do with himself. Why was Mr. Yok calling Seunghyun?! 

“N-no, sir, I wasn’t aware of that… I have no idea where she is, sir- ah, I-I see…” Seunghyun paced about the room and Dee subconsciously mimicked his movements. 

“Y-yes, of course, sir. Right away, sir. But…Well, is it safe to travel at this time, sir? Of course, what was I thinking?” Seunghyun laughed nervously, a sign that Dee knew to interpret as him being frightened. And if Seunghyun was frightened, Dee knew that it was wise for him to be worried as well. 

“Very well, sir. Thank you, sir.” Seunghyun hung up the phone with a deep sigh. 

“Mr. Yok?” Dee questioned and the taller man only looked at him to confirm it. 

“He’s coming,” said Seunghyun gravely and Dee swallowed deeply, his mouth dry like sandpaper. 

“You seem nervous about that,” he noted, though he fully understood why his friend looked worried. 

“Wouldn’t you? Ah, I thought I had more time- this is not good…” Seunghyun muttered to himself, but Dee was lost this time. As he was about to ask his friend what he meant, the phone rang again. Seunghyun seemed surprised again this time, but seemed a bit more relaxed when he answered. 

“D.O.? Did you pocket-dial me by accident, kid?” he said lightheartedly and Dee understood this to be one of his students. He didn’t know how he could sometimes forget that Seunghyun was a part-time teacher at the  local high school. His students must be fond of him, and he of them if they had each other’s number. The young scientist bit his lip pondering about this and focused his attention on the holographic Tree that grew from the deep abyss. He tried not to listen as he had before, but he couldn’t help but be curious. 

“What do you mean?” he heard Seunghyun say. “Yes, I spoke to her, I understand the situation you’re all in is no laughing matter- wait, what?” 

Dee frowned a little, fidgeting with his lab coat. His palms were sweaty. 

“Who is chasing you? D.O., if you guys are in some kind of trouble- oh? I-I see…but it’s dangerous, too risky- of course I can help you!” Seunghyun raised his voice in worry and Dee couldn’t help but turn around to look at his friend. What’s going on? 

“Alright,” Seunghyun then nodded. “I’ll meet you there. Be careful- I mean it!” 

Dee didn’t skip a beat this time once Seunghyun hung up the phone. “Who was that?” he asked, though he knew the answer. 

“A student,” Seunghyun replied. 

“Hyung?” Dee asked, hoping that his friend would explain. 

“It’s a long story, Dee,” he started. “So, I have to ask you…” Seunghyun approached while Dee looked at him, ready to answer whatever his hyung asked. 

“You trust me, don’t you? We’ve known each other for a long time, and I need to know this, because I need to know if I can trust you,” Seunghyun started, which surprised the younger researcher. 

“Of course I trust you, hyung!” he said, feeling a little insulted. “What kind of question is that?” 

Seunghyun chuckled and nodded. “Good. That’s good. And you still wish for the same things I do, regarding this crazy experiment?” he gestured around him. 

Dee looked around as well, his eyes following the holographic birds that flew among the treetops. “Yes, very much.” 

“Then will you help me? The student that just called me, he’s not alone. It’s a long story to explain, but they have the dagger. I need your help to finish the experiment. Will you help me, Dee-yah?” Seunghyun inquired, and even though the shock was evident on Dee’s face when he heard that a group of teens possessed the dagger, he still managed to nod solemnly. 

“Any way I can. But I don’t really follow- why-?”

“It’ll make sense eventually,” Seunghyun smirked. “We can do this,” he said, grabbing Dee’s shoulder in encouragement. “I’ve told the kids to meet me outside of the facility. They should be here soon.” 

“You mentioned something about them being chased?” Dee then asked when Seunghyun was about to leave. “Who is chasing them?” 

Seunghyun went quiet then. “We never thought that any of this was going to be easy, was it?” he answered instead, and of course Dee was well aware that his friend was dodging his question, but he still chose not to ask him anything about it. 

“Come on, we gotta get to work,” Seunghyun said, closing down the hologram projections as Dee watched him walk away. He sighed to himself, hesitating a moment. He took a step forward, when, out of nowhere, a butterfly flitted around him. The computer was shut down, but what was this hologram still doing there? 

Dee followed the beautiful, little butterfly with his eyes, trying to see whether it was a computer program or whether it was real. The butterfly flew lazily towards him and landed on his chest, where it vanished. 

“Dee? Come on, time is running out!” Seunghyun shouted after him, prompting him into action. 

“R-right! I’m coming, hyung!” he replied, quickly following his friend’s footsteps, however, even though Seunghyun told him what the plan was and why he wanted to help those kids, it still bothered him that Seunghyun never seemed to tell them that Mr. Yok was coming as well. Had he forgotten? Shouldn’t they worry about that first and foremost? 

He turned his head to look over his shoulder. He blinked when he thought his eyes deceived him again when he saw the projection of a white wolf watching him briefly from the trees before disappearing as well. 

***

“I don’t feel so good,” Sehun panted as he caught his breath, leaning against a great oak. 

“Yeah, is it just me or does everything we do seem to take more effort?” Baekhyun added nearly breathlessly as he held on to his sides before bending over to lean on his knees. “This is tiring,” he huffed. 

“Think it’s the light that’s affecting us?” asked Kris, motioning at the reddening moon. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Suho muttered, panting himself. “Are you okay, Jae? You seem to be keeping up pretty well,” the leader then asked me as I took calm, steady breaths, holding the strap of my bag tighter. We were somewhere in the middle of the forest and the red beams of light gave it a creepy vibe. The boys insisted they take a quick breather, as the strange atmosphere was starting to take its toll on them. I, surprisingly, didn’t seem to be bothered by anything at all. Sure, I was a little tired, but who wouldn’t be after running all this time? The guys seemed to be genuinely struggling, though. Xiumin was sweating and Chanyeol looked like he was about to blow chunks any second now. 

“This isn’t good,” I stated the obvious. “If you guys are in such a poor condition like this already, only by running, what’s gonna happen if we find ourselves face to face with the black snake? Or Miss Kumiho?” I remarked in concern. 

“We won’t let it get that far, Jae,” Luhan breathed. “With help from Mr. Tabi we might be able to recreate another Tree of Life long before the black Imoogi even has the chance to hiss at us.” 

“Don’t take that enemy lightly, Luhan,” I warned him, the image of the black snake coiling around my body still fresh in my memory. I flinched and looked away when I heard the sound of bone snapping in my mind. I swallowed. “Don’t presume that the black snake won’t fight for this. He seems to have been waiting for a really long time to get what he wants, so don’t expect him to be careless.” 

“Jae is right. We have to get ourselves together and be ready for a fight,” D.O. nodded. 

“In this condition? Oh yeah, we’re gonna kick for sure,” Chen couldn’t help but be sarcastic and I couldn’t blame him. I’ve never seen the boys in such a condition before. They looked genuinely tired. 

“We should keep moving,” I then said, wincing a little when I saw the looks of fatigue on their faces, their eyes pleading me to give them a little more time. “I know you’re drained, and I’m sorry,” I quickly added. “But, what if this light really is affecting you? What if it drains your energy for whatever reason? The sooner we get inside a building, the sooner all of this might stop,” I told them. 

“I guess it’s worth a shot,” said Suho, peeling himself off the bark of a nearby tree. “The facility isn’t much further,” he said, eyes gleaming red. 

“Mr. Tabi said he’d wait for us in front of the building,” D.O. added again, doing his best not to appear tired, though his shoulders were heaving. 

“About that- we’re sure we can trust him?” Kai asked. 

“I think, at this point, we don’t have much of a choice, Kai,” Suho replied before I could. Kai looked like he wanted to argue, but eventually decided against it.

“You don’t think Mr. Tabi is trustworthy?” I asked carefully, and Kai started pacing about like a wild wolf. 

“It’s not that, noona,” he grunted. “None of this seems to add up. There’s something- it doesn’t feel right. We’re supposed to be guardians, that means something, right? So, how come we don’t know how to fix the world? How come a plain scientist like Mr. Tabi has the answer? Does this make sense to anyone?” 

“Did you forget that our memories haven’t returned in full?” Chen said, still sitting on the ground. “At least, mine aren’t. There’s still bits and pieces missing…” he rubbed his head. 

“Maybe the Tree did tell us what to do with the dagger, but we just-,”

“Forgot?” Kai interrupted Luhan, shaking his head in disbelief. “How could we forget something that important?”

“In all fairness, a lot of memories tied to the Tree are hazy,” Tao mumbled. 

“We should consider ourselves lucky instead, Kai. If Mr. Tabi hadn’t been working on the dagger at all, we may have stood completely clueless and defenseless against the black snake,” Suho tried to reason and Kai nodded slowly, but his eyes signaled how dissatisfied he was with the answer. 

“Let’s get going before anyone can pick up our scent,” the leader then suggested, looking a little replenished now. “In formation, everyone. Let’s go,” he ordered as he dashed off. I took a breath and made sure my backpack was secured before starting to run. 

I nearly yelped when someone tugged my hand and I looked at Lay, who was calmly inspecting the hand I had accidentally cut with the dagger. 

“Um, Lay? What are you doing? We have to move,” I told him, seeing the boys run off ahead of us at great speed.

“Sorry, Jae-yah, I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just that I noticed something about your hand,” he mused, and I saw the light appear from the palm of his hand. 

“Lay, save your strength. My hand is healed. You healed it before, remember?” I told him, but he seemed a bit flustered. 

“I know, Jae-yah, but this doesn’t look right,” he showed me the palm of my hand, where a faint green scar was etched where the blade had cut me. 

“What the-?” I traced it with a finger, gently checking to see if it hurt, but when I felt no pain, I started rubbing. “It won’t come off,” I murmured, looking at Lay. 

“It’s okay, calm down,” he told me, folding his hands over mine. He closed his eyes and focused as I felt a pleasant warmth spread over my body. He removed his hands the moment he opened his eyes and when I turned my hand to look at the scar, it had faded. 

I frowned. “I don’t get it. What was that?” I wondered out loud to which Lay rubbed my shoulder to ease me. 

“Dagger-nim isn’t a regular weapon, Jae-yah. I think it just took a little extra to heal it a bit more,” he shrugged, gentle smile on his face. 

“Right,” I nodded, closing my hand. “Thank you.” 

“Anytime, Jae-yah,” Lay chirped and I smiled at him. Would nothing get him down? 

“Here,” I put my hand on his chest and concentrated. I could feel his fatigue pressing down on him like an anvil and I focused to relieve that weight. 

Lay sighed in content after I healed him, smiling brightly. “Thank you, Jae-yah, but you should save your energy.” 

I chuckled at this. “Hey, for once I’m the one that’s perfectly fine, you know. You guys are having a hard time keeping up,” I reminded him. “This is the least I can do. I don’t know what might happen, but taking into consideration what happened on Exo planet… if it comes down to a fight, we want the healer to be fully energized and ready,” I told him quietly, plucking imaginary dust from his shirt near the shoulder, just so I wouldn’t have to face that damned dimple beaming at me. I hadn’t meant anything serious when I said that, but Lay seemed to have interpreted in a certain way. 

“No worries, Jae-yah. I won’t let anything bad happen to you! I’ll protect you no matter what- all of us will, even if it means giving up our li-,” 

I put my hand over his mouth so he couldn’t finish that awful, clichéd sentence, though knowing Lay, he probably meant every word of it. “I’m good knowing that we’re in this thing together, okay? But, thank you,” I told him, and he seemed to understand. I happened to look past his shoulder when I removed my hand from his face and startled when I saw something shift between the trees. Lay sensed it as well and turned quickly around, making sure I stayed behind him. 

“You saw that?” I whispered to him. 

Lay hunched a bit as he peered at the woods. “I don’t know. I think I saw something, but- I don’t know,” he muttered, shaking his head. 

We both startled when twigs snapped behind us and Kris had showed up, looking annoyed. “What are the two of you still doing here? Come on, time to go! Hurry up!” he yelled. Lay and I checked the area behind us one more time before following Kris. 

I had ran a few steps forward, when I couldn’t resist looking over my shoulder one more time, just to be sure. The air left my body when I saw green eyes peering through the thickets, my heart thumping as I recognized the ghost wolf. 

“You…what- what are you doing here?” I demanded to know. The wolf, per usual, only glared at me. 

“Jae! What’s keeping you?” Kris shouted from the distance, but I didn’t reply just yet. I kept my eyes fixed on the white animal. Was this a sign? It had said that it lacked the power to help anymore, so what was it doing here? 

I took a step back when it bore its teeth at me, snarling at the red sky. The ghost wolf seemed to accuse me for that. 

“Hey, I’m working on it, alright? The least you could do is help-,” I was silenced when the wolf growled at me before its lips. 

I am helping. Never let your guard down, was all it said before it sprinted off into the woods. 

“Wait! We- ugh, yes, I can see you are very helpful,” I huffed soon after the creature bolted away. 

“Jae!”

“Jae-yah!” voices called from the distance. 

Jae… you are preyed upon. Take heed. You will know what to do. Wake up. 

The faint scent of burned wood lingered through the air this time, and now my feet weren’t so hesitant to move. I caught a white figure flashing beside me as I ran, though it vanished each time I tried to get a better look. Was the ghost wolf protecting us? Or was he leading us a merry dance? I picked up the pace when I thought I saw calm green eyes turn a fiery red and I ran faster, with the wail of a lonesome wolf accompanying my journey.