Random Rambles: So.... EXOLUXION IN SHANGHAI and FREAKING FOOTBALL CONCEPT FOR LOVE ME RIGHT COMEBACK??? What is this confusing mystery that is EXO? Though it feels a little like my story is as confusing as their concepts -kkaebsong xD But we're getting to the end guys finally omg!!! Few more chapters lol xD i love you all for sticking with me for so long and having so much patience with me. Thank you so much <3 

***

Let’s just leave it alone, why are you worried?

It’s alright, I know your heart. 

It’s alright, show me all your secrets…

My heart is covered black - Your heart is burnt white.

You knew everything from the start and now you’re blaming it all on me?

It’s out of your control… isn’t it?

I rubbed the side of my temple as Mr. Tabi led us through the research facility. Suho tried to explain to him what he had seen, but the biology teacher eventually brushed it off since he didn’t want to confuse himself further. He was satisfied knowing that the world was going to crap and that it was up to all of us to fix it. According to him, that was more than enough crazy he could already handle. 

“I should get you guys patched up first,” Mr. Tabi muttered in concern when we stepped into the elevators. “Some of you look really rough,” he noted, lifting Kai’s chin a bit as he inspected the wounds near the side of his face. 

“It’s fine, sir,” Kai promised, moving away. 

“Yeah, it’ll be over in a moment, seonsaeng-nim,” Lay tried subtly, as he was already trying to ever so subtly heal Baekhyun, who was standing behind him. 

“Over in a moment? You guys need medical care, Lay, not just a moment’s rest,” Mr. Tabi chuckled, his eyes then directed towards me. “Though perhaps a breather or two wouldn’t be so bad, huh?” he asked sympathetically while I tried to smile. 

“We do feel better than before, sir,” Suho reassured. “I think the light from outside has some bad effects on people.” 

“Oh man, don’t even get me started on that weird eclipse. I’ve never seen something like that before, I mean that’s a natural phenomenon if any,” Mr. Tabi rambled, his science geek showing for all to see. “The effects it’ll have on - well, everything, really, should be interesting…”

“You’re really into science, aren’t you, Mr. Tabi?” I quipped, arching my eyebrow at him in mild amusement. He chuckled at this, scratching his cheeks. 

“That’s a nice way of saying that I’m a nerd, Jae, thanks,” he retorted with a wink. 

“No, that’s not what I mean, sir. It’s just that most people would freak out when something like this happens, but you just seem to take all of it in stride. Isn’t there anything that scares you?” I clarified. 

“Well, that shadow thing was a surprise,” Mr. Tabi answered truthfully before letting out a deep sigh. “And the end of the world gets me a bit jittery, I must confess,” he tried to joke, but the nervous chuckle that escaped his throat said enough. The elevator doors opened and he walked out, prompting us to follow him. 

“I have to say that I’m not yet done with researching the specifics, but I’ve had some help and I guess that the smartest kids of the local high school being here can be helpful as well,” he told us, opening the door of my father’s office. “I don’t think I need to give you a tour, now do I?” he joked before standing by the door to let us in. 

“We do apologize for the uproar, sir,” Suho then said, guilt painted on his face. “We really didn’t mean to steal anything, but we wouldn’t have unless-,”

“It was important,” Mr. Tabi finished easily. “I know. Jae told me.” 

He opened the door to the hidden laboratory where we found the dagger in the first place and gestured for us to walk in. 

“Psst, you okay, Jae? You’re very quiet,” Kris whispered to me as we were the last two to get inside. “Those shadows didn’t hurt you that much did they?” he added, carefully tugging a stray of hair behind my ear. “Want me to signal Lay?”

“No, I’m okay, thank you,” I assured him, hugging my broken backpack to my chest. The dagger was placed inside of it and I wouldn’t let it out of my sight. 

“You sure?” Kris asked to be safe. 

“A little absent, maybe,” I admitted. “I guess I’ll feel better when we make a Tree of Life before the black snake does,” I then shrugged, though I doubted that was it. Since we got inside of the complex, I’ve been feeling strange. I kept hearing voices in my head which at first I thought it was Luhan channeling through me, but once I realized that it wasn’t him, I tried looking for the source. They were like faint whispers in the air. If I believed in ghosts like Tao, I would say the whole building was haunted, except that the voices seemed to come from one person? Maybe two? 

I’ve been thinking as well. About what Kai had said earlier. The guys, they were guardians, but had to rely on Mr. Tabi to fix the problem. It wasn’t that I was ungrateful for that, but now that he said it, I couldn’t help but ponder about it too. It seemed a bit skewed- didn’t it? And if that solved the problem then… Why would the ghost wolf go through so much trouble trying to wake me up? Why the heck hadn’t I woken up yet anyway? Was I supposed to look for an alarm clock somewhere? Honestly! 

I suppressed my frustration by focusing on my surroundings again. I noticed then that Kris was still watching me and I sighed. “I’m fine,” I grumbled and blinked when he placed his hand comfortingly on my head. 

“You will be. I promise,” he whispered, smiling. 

“Now, I’ve got some ointment for your scratches, guys. That should soothe the pain at least,” Mr. Tabi said as he walked towards a cabinet in the large laboratory. “Naturally, only look around, no touching- Chen, I’m talking to you,” he remarked while grabbing bandages. Chen feigned being insulted, and as he was about to open his mouth to retort, Mr. Tabi turned towards him. “No protesting, I can hear those gears whirring in that head of yours, kid,” he commented with a smirk, throwing him some disinfectant spray. 

“I’ll help out,” Lay immediately proffered, taking the spray from Chen’s hands. 

“Good man, Lay,” Mr. Tabi answered amicably. 

“Jae said that you can help us out, sir,” Luhan started, watching the teacher closely. Was he trying to read his mind? Based on his expression it didn’t seem like it was working out the way he intended. 

“She did, eh? Well, she wasn’t lying, I think,” Mr. Tabi said with a small smile, grabbing his glasses to clean them. “I’ve been working on it after we met in the woods. We’re close, but-,”

“We? There’s someone else, sir?” asked Kai, suddenly looking on edge now. At that moment, another door opened on the other side of the laboratory. The boys and myself stood straight in response to the sudden arrival of the blonde stranger. Even though we noticed his presence, he seemed rather oblivious to ours, which was impressive,- given the fact that there was over a dozen of us here and only one of him. 

“Seung-hyung! I made the final calculations of the samples you gave me! You would not believe the results of the - oh,” the man’s words trailed off when he finally took note of us, suddenly looking shy and awkward, had he been excited a few seconds ago. He nervously held the glass tablet against his chest as he looked around from behind blonde bangs before settling his gaze at Mr. Tabi. 

“Um, I’m sorry, I had- I had no idea y-you were here, already,” he mumbled shyly. 

“Dee, good timing. I would like you to meet my students. I told you that I would be meeting them, and why,” he turned to us. “Everyone, this is my friend and colleague, the talented Mr. Kang Dee. He works at the biotech department and was chosen by Mr. Miyano to participate in the Yggdrasil project. He’s an excellent scientist and I’ve asked for his help in solving the secrets of the dagger,” he introduced as we gave tentative bows towards the new scientist. He returned them awkwardly, but genuinely. 

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on pressing charges on you guys for stealing the dagger, or anything. Seung- eh, that is, your teacher told me how the dagger might relate to recent happenings in the world right now and they’re plausible hypotheses if any,” he elaborated, sounding just as much as a science geek like Mr. Tabi, albeit a bit more childlike. “I would very much like to help you in any way I’m able,” he added sincerely, and perhaps it was the way Mr. Kang spoke or perhaps it was his good-natured demeanor, but I felt like I could trust him. Then again, trust might be a too big of a word for it, but I thought him sympathetic and genuine. Besides, I didn’t think that anyone who vaguely smelled like gardenias could be so bad. He seemed a bit scatterbrained though, but perhaps that just fitted the whole scientific researcher shtick. 

“You said you found something, Dee?” Mr. Tabi then continued, focusing his attention to his friend. 

“Ah, y-yes, though- well,” he stammered, continuing the conversation with the teacher.

 Luhan? Is everything okay? I asked quietly, since his expression didn’t sit well with me. He looked so troubled and I guess I was still worried about what he told me he saw in his dream. I didn’t want him to be thrown off by a mere vision, of course, but he looked frustrated. I followed his gaze as he looked at Mr. Kang. At first glance, it would seem that he was simply listening to the researcher, but the knitted eyebrows and soft huffs now and then, told me otherwise. 

You don’t trust Mr. Tabi’s colleague? I then asked, to which he glanced at me for a second before casually turning his attention back to Mr. Kang. 

It’s nothing, Jae. Don’t worry. 

Hm. Well. Okay then. Not the answer I was looking for, obviously. The fact that he didn’t give it to me straight was only more reason for me to worry. I didn’t want to let it slide so easily, but the moment I wanted to ask him more, over a dozen pair of eyes were simultaneously looking over at me. 

“Oh- uh, what?” I muttered, dazed. 

“Do you have the dagger, Jae?” Mr. Tabi asked and I blinked before coming into action. 

“Oh! Yes, it’s here,” I dug into my backpack, wincing a little as I rummaged through my stuff.

“Oh dear, what happened to it?” Mr. Kang immediately asked once he laid his eyes on the dagger. He wore gloves when he carefully examined it, but for some reason, I still refused to just hand it over to him. He noticed when my grip on the dagger didn’t loosened up, but didn’t comment. He continued inspecting it, clacking his tongue when his gloved fingertips grazed over the corrosion, shaking his head ruefully. 

“We were right,” he muttered. “We were right, Seung-hyung,” he repeated, looking at Mr. Tabi. “The dagger is connected to the natural energy of the earth, though I still don’t know how-,” he scratched his head before glancing at us, a thoughtful look on his face. 

“It would explain the huge variety of DNA samples,” Mr. Tabi then noted. 

“Something so small, though- I’m not sure if we-,”

“But we have to try!”

They carried on their confusing conversation until Kris cleared his throat. “Sorry, don’t mean to interrupt, but does this mean that you can help us, or are we lost here?” he cut in, the two older men gazing up at the tall teen in bewilderment. 

“We can definitely try, Kris,” Mr. Tabi patted him on the shoulder and directed our attention to a glass screen. “Now, this next part might be a bit confusing , but try and keep up, okay? Now, this dagger is comprised out of a series of different DNA segments belonging to various organisms. Impossible, I know, but here it is,” Mr. Tabi showed us the results of their experiments on the screen, but I couldn’t really follow. Again, science wasn’t my strong suit. 

“We believe that the dagger is losing energy, possibly because the instability of its DNA. Now, perhaps, if there was a way to stabilize it, we can safely secure it to the leylines of the earth and this could produce the endless power source that Mr. Yok wanted to create,” Mr. Tabi explained carefully. 

“The endless power source wouldn’t happen to be a tree, by chance, would it?” Luhan asked and Mr. Tabi snapped his fingers at him in confirmation. 

“Sharp, kid. That’s why they called this Project Yggdrasil. We believed it was the intention of Mr. Miyano to create a Tree of Life of some sorts to benefit this world, but it appears Mr. Yok had different plans,” Mr. Tabi sounded disappointed, but I was focused on Mr. Kang. He pursed his lips and didn’t look up. 

“The only thing left to do is figure out what stabilizes it,” Mr. Tabi then sighed. “We need a little more time,” he said looking at us. 

“Sir, I don’t mean to pressure you, but have you taken a look outside recently?” D.O. started carefully. “We don’t have that much time left.” 

Mr. Tabi chuckled nervously at this. “Now, now, Kyungsoo, I never took you to be so dramatic,” he tried to joke, but once he saw the grave looks on all of our faces, he swallowed and looked at Mr. Kang, who looked to be just as worried now. 

“There’s-,” Mr. Tabi cleared his throat and I nearly felt sorry for the guy when I saw the look of harsh realization on his face. “There’s more to this than one man’s greed, isn’t there?” he asked carefully. 

“Hyung?” Mr. Kang then called in question, his gaze switching between the teacher and us. 

“It’s a really, really, really long story, sir,” said Suho. “But it’s important that we figure this out- fast,” he stressed. 

“Miss Kumiho is after it,” I blurted, visibly startling Mr. Kang. “I don’t know what might happen if she finds out we’re here and takes the dagger back to Mr. Yok.” 

Mr. Tabi took his glasses off, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment. I can’t begin to imagine what he must be thinking right now. It was difficult for me to straighten out my thoughts myself. I kept thinking about the ghost wolf. Kept thinking about what it said to me. Even now, inside of the laboratory, I could sense its presence, could sense like someone was watching me, watching us. 

Ew, what if this place really is haunted? 

“Alright,” Mr. Tabi breathed. “I need to think,” he crunched his nose and looked at his colleague, who looked a bit panicked as well. “We don’t know what could stabilize the dagger.” 

“We thought that perhaps another source of energy could fuel the dagger, but it seems that it doesn’t bind to the properties of the weapon as it should,” Mr. Kang then added. 

I looked up when Lay had quietly shuffled towards me, spraying disinfectant spray on my arm, whilst hovering his hand over it. My wounds immediately felt better, but when he grabbed my hand again, he pouted a little when he my palm. There it was again. A faint, green line where the blade cut me before. Why wouldn’t it heal?

“So, what you’re saying is that the dagger most likely needs more energy to make up for the energy it’s losing?” Xiumin proffered. 

Mr. Tabi and Mr. Kang nodded simultaneously. 

“And just fusing it with the leylines doesn’t work?” Xiumin asked. 

“Tests indicate a high risk of failure. If we lose that dagger, there’s no way of getting it back. Maybe it could create another Tree, but the energy would be wasted,” Mr. Kang said as he tapped on his glass tablet. “It’s important the dagger gets a particular form of energy. Personally, I believe it may need a living host- or rather, living energy, if that makes any sense.” 

“Ah, but Dee forgets that the dagger also contains properties that we haven’t been able to decipher yet. According to Mr. Miyano, Mr. Yok found this thing when it fell from the sky. It’s obvious it’s not human, maybe the energy it needs is - for lack of a better word - alien,” Mr. Tabi interjected, sighing deeply as he was growing frustrated. 

My eyes shot up towards the guys now, but I tried my best to mask my nervousness. I mean, weren’t the boys- weren’t we sort of kind of alien? Earth wasn’t technically our original home. Exo planet was. 

“So, say that we know what kind of energy it needs,” I started, several heads turning my way. “How would you fix it?” I held up the dagger, its shine having diminished, the heart barely glowing. 

“Well, hypothetically speaking, the dagger would need to fuse with it, absorb it. As it is a living entity, I take it that it has certain properties that we don’t understand quite yet,” Mr. Kang said, carefully looking at the weapon. 

“It’s a weapon, though,” Mr. Tabi mused, staring at the dagger. “Maybe there’s a reason for that,” he said, looking at his colleague. “Let me think a moment,” he then stated as Baekhyun subtly patted Suho’s shoulder. 

“Hyung,” he whispered, “didn’t that Kumiho woman get strands of our hair that night? Do you remember?” he asked. “What if she wanted to get our DNA because of the dagger?”

“That’s possible, but it must’ve been a test,” Suho mused back quietly. 

“Wasn’t it not long after that those weird tornadoes suddenly showed up and died down again?” Sehun recalled as I listened in, all thirteen of us huddling around while we let the two scientists do their own thing. 

“You think it’s connected?” Chen wondered. 

“There had to be a reason why she wanted our hair, right? What if she was trying to find a way to replenish the energy and thought that we were the answer?” D.O. then said. 

“It must’ve not worked the way she wanted, though,” Chanyeol breathed. “She seems to care more for the dagger than us.” 

“Unless the hair alone wasn’t enough,” Suho remarked and I felt a chill run down my spine. 

“Why would you say that? Maybe it really doesn’t have anything to do with you,” I said softly. 

“No, Jae, Suho has a point,” Kris told me. “That night she specifically told us about how Mr. Yok had been paying attention to us. The dude knows about us, long before any of this started.” He rubbed his cheek. “I’d almost forgotten about that. He thought we were important to unlock the dagger somehow.” 

“What if he was wrong, gege?” Tao swallowed. “What if his memories are jumbled too, somehow and he knows just as much as we do?” 

“The only one that would know the answers was the Tree itself,” Luhan replied instead of Kris. “The black snake is searching, because that knowledge was never passed to him.”

“Wait. I’m confused. You’re saying the Tree knows what to do, but how can we find the answer then? We’re supposed to make another Tree, right?” I asked. 

“You’re talking about the voice,” Xiumin looked at his best friend and then heaved a deep sigh. “Then we’ll never know.” 

The boys looked frustrated at this, but I had to ruefully admit that I wasn’t sure what they were talking about. Why was it so difficult to figure this out? Was it really because we’re missing something? Was it really because the answers lay hidden in the memories we still lost? I angrily thought of the ghost wolf, how it was trying to help, but really, didn’t do that much at all. It said, find the heart and you’ll get your answers. Well, here I am, holding onto the so-called heart, but I was none the wiser- unless… 

I looked at the faint green marking on the palm of my hand, literally hearing the cogwheels spinning in my own mind. “Hair doesn’t work. Hair dissolves easily, it’s fragile, it’s not stable, it’s not alive,” I muttered, letting my brain do all the work. I was the daughter of the CEO of a scientific innovation research company for God’s sakes, whether they were my real parents or not, that still counted for something in my book. 

Come on, brains! I know there’s more to you than social awkwardness and sarcasm! 

Tracing the line on my hand, I knew that it was a shot in the dark, but it was better than nothing. “What if it needs blood?” I asked out loud, so the scientists would hear as well. 

“Ew, noona, why do you say that?” Tao protested in a whine. 

“No, I mean, Mr. Tabi, you said it yourself. If this thing is alive, then why is it shaped like a dagger? The only thing a dagger is good at is drawing blood. What if that is how it absorbs the living energy of another organism? What if it just needs a bit of blood to, I don’t know, replenish its energy?” I knew how crazy this sounded, but after all the magical wolf business, lost planets and black snakes, I didn’t want to risk making fun of the most insane theories. 

“That is absolutely morbid, Jae,” Mr. Tabi started before glancing at his friend. “But not necessarily unreasonable.” 

“Seung-hyung, you can’t be serious. You want to bathe the dagger in blood?” Mr. Kang asked in disbelief. “If, and I do mean if, we decide to do this, whose blood could we even use? With the unique properties of the dagger, we would need a similar DNA pattern for it to even accept it. There’s nothing in this world that comprises out of various DNA segments! And no, mutants from comic books do not count, hyung,” Mr. Kang chuckled despite the obvious disbelief in his voice, and I suppose he thought we’d all lost our minds. Really, who could blame him? Here was a legitimate scientist, having to listen to a bunch of kids with crazy theories concerning a living dagger. How is this even reality?

“What about our blood samples?” Lay suddenly spoke, biting his lip thoughtfully. “Maybe if you put all thirteen of our blood samples into one and have dagger-nim absorb that, perhaps it would be enough to at least prepare it to fuse with the leylines?” 

“Why would you think it’s your blood that could do the trick, Lay?” Mr. Tabi then questioned, though I could tell that he was considering the suggestion. How was Lay going to explain this though? We’re alien humans with the ability to change into wolves and do magic tricks- you do the math, sir! Yeah. He’s totally gonna buy that. 

“We’re young,” it was Sehun that replied instead, shrugging casually. “Don’t they say that the young have endless energy? We should at least give it a shot,” he said with such unwitting innocence it made me smile. 

The two researchers looked like they were about to argue, but apparently couldn’t find an argument to retaliate with. They looked at each other then and it was Mr. Tabi that shrugged first, his hand in his hair. “I’ll see if I got a bowl somewhere. You mind starting with getting some samples?” he patted Mr. Kang on his shoulder and went on his way. I quickly exchanged glances with the pack, but still held on to the dagger, even when Mr. Kang came to collect a vile of blood from me. The others were hoping, like me, that this would work. 

Mr. Kang had an unexpectedly gentle touch. He was extremely careful when he went to prepare my arm so he could tap some blood from me, smiling politely but sincerely, treating me as though I were made from porcelain. As I got to take a better look at him, I didn’t know why I suddenly felt at ease. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but the way he handled me, his touch, the way he worked- why did it seem so familiar? 

“This won’t hurt, Miss Miyano, I promise,” he announced before he cleaned a spot on my arm. 

“Call me Jae,” I corrected him good-naturedly, since he seemed a bit anxious. “So, you’ve been working with my dad all this time, huh?” I tried to make conversation while he carefully punctured my skin and we waited for the vile to fill. 

“Oh yes. A great honor and pleasure, I assure you,” he smiled. “Your father is a good man, Jae,” he complimented and this had me smiling shyly. 

“Yeah, he’s pretty awesome,” I agreed. “Are you and Mr. Tabi the only ones working with my dad on this Yggdrasil project?”

“That’s right. Well, us and Miss Kumiho- sort of. She’s Mr. Yok’s liaison, strictly speaking” he elaborated, shaking the filled vile a bit before taking out the needle from my arm and quickly pressed a piece of cotton on the tiny wound. 

“I’m sorry you had to deal with her on a daily basis. Must not have been very pleasant,” I breathed, slightly shivering as I thought back to the memory of her being on top of me, trying to strangle the life out of me. 

“Oh, please don’t misunderstand, Jae,” came Mr. Kang’s surprising reply. “Miss Kumiho does come off rather intimidating and scary, but, well… eh, never mind,” he chuckled apologetically, bandaging the puncture wound on my arm, cleaning it again for good measure. “All done,” he announced with a wide smile, but my curiosity wouldn’t let him off the hook that easily 

“Wait, please,” I urged, watching him. “What can you tell me about that woman?” 

Mr. Kang cast his glance away at this, and if I wasn’t mistaken, it appeared as though the dude was actually blushing. Was it because he was shy? Or did I make him feel uncomfortable? It couldn’t be because he was thinking about her, right? 

“There must have been mistake,” he then started, letting out a soft chuckle. “Miss Kumiho…she’s many things, but she’s not a criminal. I mean, I have no doubt that she’s after that dagger, but there’s more to her than the coldhearted, cruel woman you’ve had the displeasure of meeting,” he tried to explain, sighing halfway because he probably realized how unbelievable it sounded. “Everyone has their reasons for being the way the are, for doing the things they do,” he then said, a sad smile on his face. “Sometimes, Jae, people don’t have a choice, sometimes they don’t see a way out. They’d do anything to reach their goal.” 

Were we still talking about Miss Kumiho, or…?

Mr. Kang smiled a little wider and a little brighter when he glanced back at me this time and I blinked in near astonishment at him. “You care for her,” I stated rather than asked, and the deep flushes of red that flourished on his cheeks was a good response as any. A sweet, unassuming guy like Mr. Kang, crushing on a psychotic, heartless woman? What doesn’t seem right about this picture? Should I tell him what she’s really like? 

Mr. Kang suddenly let out a short blast of laughter. “You look like you wish to send me your condolences,” he remarked with a smirk. “Has she been that terrible to you?” 

Oh, buddy you have no idea- trust me, you do not want me to open up that can of poisonous worms. Knowing her, she’d probably already found a way to pop out of that can, having scared those worms along the way. 

“The heart loves whom it loves. I’m afraid there’s very little control I have over that,” Mr. Kang quietly confided, though he didn’t dare to look at me. 

“I suppose you’re right about that part,” I then mused, scanning the room and seeing the boys. “It’s a strange thing, that. Love, I mean,” I remarked to which the researcher nodded, chuckling. 

“A teenager should definitely know that much,” he jested as we smiled at each other. Even though I doubted his tastes in women, I decided then and there to like Mr. Kang. Poor bastard. How was it possible for him to have fallen for someone like Miss Kumiho, of all people? 

“Miss Jae- I’m sorry, I mean, Jae,” he suddenly stammered. “I hope- no, uh…” he had trouble getting the words out and I could only wonder what he possibly wanted to say to me. “I hope this works,” he finally managed to say, though something told me that that wasn’t what he really wanted to tell me. Ah, what is it about this guy? Why did he sound regretful just now? Didn’t he have faith that this might work? 

“Yeah, me too,” I smiled. 

“Alright! Let’s give this a shot. It’s not like we have anything else to lose, right?” Mr. Tabi then announced after gathering our blood. He looked expectantly at me and I carefully placed the dagger into the square tub he had prepared. 

“Okay, everyone step back just in case,” our teacher then warned as he took a deep breath, grabbing the closest vile near him. “Suho,” he muttered, the leader himself perking up at the mention of his name. Mr. Tabi carefully poured the vile over the blade of the dagger, but nothing remarkable seemed to happen. Until…

The little heart atop of the hilt of the weapon had started blinking, as though it was reacting. We gathered around the tub, watching breathlessly while Mr. Tabi nudged Mr. Kang to record this for scientific purposes. 

The little amount of Suho’s blood rippled and glided over the blade like water, before the dagger truly did absorb it within the green heart. I looked up at Suho when I noticed him rubbing his left chest. 

“Okay, I don’t know what just happened, but-eh,” Mr. Tabi muttered, looking at his colleague. 

“Keep going, hyung,” Mr. Kang urged, breathlessly. 

“Kris,” Mr. Tabi called out, pouring the blood. He jumped back when the drops floated around the dagger before also settling within the green heart. It nearly looked as though our theory was right. The blade was slowly repairing itself. Mr. Tabi kept on calling out our names, trying his best to keep his sanity intact when the blood was absorbed in different ways. We did our best to act surprised as well, of course, but we knew why the blood reacted that way. We knew why and how the dagger was absorbing the energy. 

Xiumin was still rubbing his hands together after his frozen droplets of blood quite literally crashed onto the green seed on the hilt when Mr. Tabi held the last vile containing my blood. 

“Our little Common Jae,” he mused. “Best for last,” he winked a little nervously, pouring the crimson fluid over the dagger. How would the weapon react to that? I was the hidden variable to this whole thing and now we could all see whether I was just a contaminator, or not. I pursed my lips feeling antsy seeing that the dagger didn’t seem to be absorbing my blood. 

“Hm. That’s odd,” Mr. Tabi said as I started gnawing on my lip. “Could it be that the dagger is full now?” he wondered. 

“No, hyung, look!” Mr. Kang pointed out and sure enough, slowly, the blood was absorbed through the blade rather than the green seed on the hilt. Why was it different? We watched as the dagger shone like it had been polished, how the corrosion had disappeared. 

“Dee, could you get the-?” Mr. Tabi pointed at a device while he ever so carefully lifted the dagger with gloved hands, letting the device Mr. Kang was hovering over it, scan the weapon. We simultaneously turned our attention to the glass screen, the results of the scan being displayed there. The two scientists went to work as we exchanged nervous glances amongst each other. Mr. Tabi typed loudly on the computer before looking up when a beeping sound echoed through the lab, a green warning blinking on the screen. 

“Hyung,” Mr. Kang called, looking somewhere between excited and dumbfounded. 

“I see it, Dee, I see it.”

“Sir?” asked Suho curiously. “Does this mean…?”

Mr. Tabi cracked a smile so wide I was afraid his cheeks would rip. “I don’t know what’s in your blood, kids, but it’s stable.” 

“Does this mean that we can create that tree you were talking about, sir?” I asked. 

“We can definitely try, Jae,” Mr. Tabi chuckled. “We can definitely try!”

“We should head over to the basement, hyung,” Mr. Kang suddenly mentioned. 

“You’re right. Jae, you hold on to this,” Mr. Tabi then told me as I held the renewed blade in my hand. It was buzzing with familiar energy once more, but I wondered how long it would last. “All we need to do now, is head downstairs,” the teacher spoke as he led us out of the laboratory. “We pop this thing into the simulator, and presto- oh! Whoa!” 

I jumped at hearing the sound of an alarm go off throughout the building and heard Chanyeol yelp when the door of the hidden laboratory closed shut on its own. 

“Mr. Tabi?” Kris called out, the teacher panicking himself.

“I don’t know what happened- eh, Dee?” he called out to his colleague. The blonde scientist moved forward tapping vigorously on his glass tablet. 

“I don’t understand- the security system shouldn’t have been activated! Hyung!” he called out. “The building is going into an automatic lockdown. We have to move!” 

“Okay, everyone stay calm, run to the stairways, hurry!” Mr. Tabi commanded as we started to make a run for it. I clenched the dagger tighter to my chest, D.O. and Kai by my side. 

“Guys?” I asked quietly while we were on the move. “Do you think it’s-,”

“Just keep moving, Jae,” D.O. told me calmly. “We’re almost there,” he urged. 

“How are we going to explain everything after we’re done, though? I mean, what will happen once we make this tree anyway?” I asked. 

“I think you should focus on other matters first, noona,” Kai grunted, holding me steady when my elegant self managed to trip over my own feet while running down the stairs. “Like not falling,” he scolded, pulling me to my feet and dragging me by my arm. 

“Keep going, Jongin!” Mr. Tabi yelled behind us as we finally got to the main floor. Kai kicked the door open before it went on lockdown. In the hallway, the lights had dimmed and a red light replaced it, blinking softly to add to the alarm that was resounding all around us. 

“Hurry, this way,” Mr. Tabi took the lead as we followed, but as we were running I felt uneasiness creep over my skin once more, and I kept looking behind me to see if there was someone following us. 

“Mr. Tabi?” I called out. “Mr. Tabi?”

“Not now, Jae, come on, don’t dawdle,” he told me and lead us to the end of the hallway where we had been before. I caught Sehun glancing over at Tao and I recognized the door the maknaes found that night we stole the dagger. Mr. Tabi was running towards it when we were caught off guard by the screeching wail of audio feedback through the speakers. Having wolf senses in this case was not an advantage at all. I nearly clawed at my ears upon hearing the terrible noise, but the sound that came after that, was worse. Infinitely worse. 

“Once upon a time, a great king came to the horrid realization that the endless power he possessed, was waning,” an ice cold voice regaled through the speakers. 

“Hyung, is that-,” Mr. Kang started, but Mr. Tabi quieted him down, as if he was afraid that the person who was speaking could hear us, could see us. He signaled us to see if we could get another door to open. 

“He found that there was a pack of playful little wolves that had intruded into his mighty kingdom, wishing to steal what was rightfully his…” 

If you thought that the creepy voice was enough to riddle my entire body in goosebumps- you would be right, except there was something else about the transmission that really had my hair spiking. A laugh. Soft and barely audible, but it was there, a throaty, feminine laugh intertwining with the icy words spoken by him. How did they know that we were here? 

You’re preyed upon. Take heed! 

“Luhan?” I tugged at his sleeve, but he was preoccupied. “Luhan, tell me you heard that,” I asked, but he looked so dazed. “What’s wrong?” I looked at the others, but the boys all looked so lost, bewildered, and very on edge. I glanced over at the scientists then, but they were only looking to find a way out- although, was that the case? Why was the scent of lupines so sharp? 

“There’s no point in running. You’ve stepped into my playground. There’s no escape.” I could almost hear him smirking. 

“Boys? What’s wrong? Come on, we have to get out of here,” Mr. Kang spoke, having noticed the boys’ sudden absence as well. I looked around when laughter boomed through the speakers and I nearly rolled my eyes at the painful cliche. Of course he sounded like a Bond-villain. 

“You’re not getting this,” I said, since I had a feeling that he was probably monitoring us from wherever he was. 

“Oh, but that is where you are frightfully wrong, my dear. That is my Yeouiji, whether you hand it over willingly or not, does not matter. It already belongs to me. You see, you have found yourself in a situation where you have less than zero chance of winning- Jae-In Miyano.” 

I gasped audibly. How does he know my name? I startled when a pair of hands wrapped around my ears and I glanced in panic at Luhan while he held me closer towards him. Don’t listen, he mouthed, but how could I not? 

As Mr. Tabi was trying to kick in a door for us to get out- the electricity was cut off and we were riddled in darkness. 

“Jae, stay close to me,” Luhan whispered in my ear, and I had absolutely no intention of moving away. The clacking of heels approached us in the dark and the only thing I heard was faint scuffling, someone moving amongst us? 

Luhan, what’s going on? 

I don’t know, Jae. I don’t know. 

I startled when I thought I heard someone growling, but the soft, vague voices and noises confused me. I held in my breath when I saw a pair of green eyes flash within the darkness. I was frozen when I saw those eyes, swallowing hard. 

Jae…I heard Luhan question, followed by a muffled gasp. Jae! Watch-

Luhan? Luhan?! Luhan, where are you?! I reached out behind me, but there was nothing there. I was grasping for air. Oh God, no… Luhan? Guys? Anyone?!

Green eyes approached me, a face appearing from the darkness. Red lips smirking, pale face nearly glowing amongst all that black. “We meet again, darling,” Miss Kumiho grinned. 

“Stay away!” I warned, using the dagger to slash at her, but she simply grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards her until our nose were nearly touching. 

“Tsk, such a naughty little ,” she murmured. “You’re lucky, darling. The only reason why you’re not dead yet, is because there’s someone who wants to meet you,” she breathed into my neck and I writhed, trying to move away. “But once he’s had his fun with you- you’re all mine…” I struggled in her grip when she moved to whisper in my ear. “No worries. I promise I’ll take my sweet time with you, darling.” 

I screamed when she dug her nails into my arm and I lost consciousness, not being able to discern what was real and what wasn’t. 

…Mianhae…

Who was that? Was that real?