Kyungsoo groaned when he felt the slamming of his shared bedroom door reverberate round the room, before a loud screech hollered in his ear and a heavy weight landed on his still half-asleep body. He remained facedown and into his pillow as another heavy weight squashed his already flattened body. “I will kill you dwarf and giant…” Kyungsoo uttered. Though his words came out muffled, the two bodies above him immediately stiffened.

“You’re the real Kyungsoo right? Not the one back at Zökr’s fortress?” Chanyeol clarified a little hesitantly. He sighed and nodded as best as he could, instantly making the two above him relieved. Baekhyun smothered him again as he screeched into his ear, “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US YOU WERE BACK!” Chanyeol shushed the boy; “We heard from Luhan at breakfast… something about a demented Sehun giggling non-stop since he woke up because his certain best friend was back from wherever-the-hell-he-was land.”

Kyungsoo tried to wriggle his way out under the two boy’s bodies but failed. Instead, he opted to turn his face so that he could finally glare at them. “Get off me…” He warned. He was now fully awake, but the oblivious Baekhyun and Chanyeol continued to ramble on about how they were so hurt that he didn’t go surprise them like he did with Sehun; how they were so glad to have their real Kyungsoo back; and how finally they have their whole family whole again. “Get off me…” he reiterated but Baekhyun merely rolled his eyes and muttered a “What are you going to do if we refuse to?” They watched as Kyungsoo clamped his eyes shut and opened his mouth. “KIM JONGIN!!!” Kyungsoo screamed.

Half a second later, the boy appeared and a pair of knives were flung in the direction of Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Luckily enough for them, they were alert enough to scramble out of the way, and the two knives lodged themselves on the nearby cupboard. “HOLY FLYING BACON! Were you trying to kill us, Kai?” Baekhyun yelled, as he accidently pushed Chanyeol back onto the ground when he used the Elf as a springboard to stand up. Kai merely shrugged before coming across the room to take back his knives. “I thought you guys were Soo.” Freed from the human trap he was under just now, Kyungsoo stood up and pranced over to Kai, who pulled him in for a hug.

“Let’s get food hyung. You must be so hungry…” Kyungsoo nodded and together, they made their way out of the bedroom, leaving Baekhyun and Chanyeol staring after them. “We haven’t seen him in days and he ditches us immediately when Prince Charming appears… No ‘how are you Baekhyun’; no ‘I miss you Baekhyun’; just a bloody ‘GET OFF ME Grr…’ What am I now… a nobody?” Baekhyun huffed. Chanyeol patted him awkwardly on his head, “It’s ok… you have me.” Both boys flushed red at Chanyeol’s words. “W-What?” Baekhyun sputtered. ‘E-Erm, I meant that since my best friend was kind of stolen from me… that we could hang out more?” Chanyeol flashed his wide-eyed creepy smile at the other. “S-Sure…” Baekhyun said, trying to conceal his squeal on the inside. He dragged the taller to the dining hall though they just ate.

There was a great commotion in the dining area, no thanks to two jealous, possessive and clingy boys with absolutely no qualms about over-the-top skinship with regards to a certain big-eyed redhead. “What are they doing?” Chanyeol and Baekhyun stood and gawked. The nearest person to them, which so happened to be Chen, turned around and brought them up to speed on things.

“Oh hi guys! Basically, Kyungsoo and Kai came in when we were still eating… and you know how clingy Sehun can get with Kyungsoo…” The two nodded as Chen continued, “well, Kyungsoo was happily devouring his chicken when his best friend decided to latch onto him while screaming ‘DO KYUNGSOO IS MINE, MR. BARBEQUE’ at Kai.” He turned around to see whether Baekhyun and Chanyeol were still following. “And then?” Baekhyun prompted impatiently as Chen chuckled.

“Well, Kyungsoo choked on his piece of chicken needless to say. Sehun panicked and tried to kiss him… citing something about clearing his airway for him… and of course Kai would object. He said something about ‘already saving Kyungsoo from two rapists this morning, no way in hell he was allowing Sehun to kiss his bunny… and if someone was to give Kyungsoo mouth-to-mouth it’ll be him’, and he proceeded to grapple and tug at both Sehun and Kyungsoo. And that’s why we have what we see now, in front of us.” Chen pointed at the trio.

Kyungsoo was red in the face, and kind of still coughing out chunks of chicken bites. Sehun had two fingers digging into Kyungsoo’s mouth, his right leg wrapped around Kyungsoo’s own leg, and a rabid Kai was currently biting onto his left leg. Kai himself, apart from having his teeth embedded in Sehun’s flesh, had his left hand thumping Kyungsoo’s back to force out whatever was choking him while his right hand was smushing Sehun’s face. The other boys, like Chen, were just standing aside and letting the chips fall where they may.

With a final hard thump on his back, courtesy of Kai, Kyungsoo could finally breathe again as the last bit of chicken was removed. “Stop it, you two!” Kyungsoo said before pinching hard on both boys’ cheeks. The two flew apart and almost ran back to Kyungsoo’s side immediately when the said boy stopped them. “I.JUST.WANT.SOME.CHICKEN.IS.THAT.TOO.MUCH.TO.ASK.” Kyungsoo yelled and settled between Luhan and Chen, leaving no space for either beside him. Begrudgingly, they sat on the remaining vacant spots and observed Kyungsoo eating.

After satisfying his stomach, Kyungsoo laid down his spoon and almost choked on air when he realized that there were eight pairs of eyes staring back at him. “How many days were you starving yourself?” Baekhyun gawked. He had eaten almost three portions of chicken by himself. Chen was more interested to know where did the food go in that small body of his. Kyungsoo shrugged and grinned as Kai applauded him. His smile froze when his eyes settled on Tao. Suddenly, there was tension in the air and everyone cleared their throats and stared between the two boys.

“Hello Zitao.” The said boy looked up into Kyungsoo’s expressionless face and gulped. “I know it’s not enough… but I just want to apologize to you and Sehun. For Kyōhei and Kruse.” Kyungsoo and Sehun’s fist clenched at the mention of their late mentor. However, Baekhyun, Luhan and Chen were staring around curious, for they hadn’t a clue who Kyōhei and Kruse were. “You didn’t have to kill them… even if Zökr told you to.” Sehun said calmly. Yifan wrapped his arms around Tao when the latter flinched under the cold stares from both boys. “I know. I’m really sorry.”

Kyungsoo could hear how truly sorry Tao was through his thoughts. Though he wanted to fully forgive the other, he was still aggrieved at Kyōhei’s death. “Kyōhei and Kruse were the last of the Invincibles dragonrider elders… they could have helped us to find the remaining dragons and defeat Zökr. He wasn’t only our mentor but he was like a father to me. I know you’re truly sorry and I think that the injuries Midnight and I dealt to you and Hunter during the fight in the Woods were enough to pay for your wrongdoing… but please understand that I’ll need time to fully accept you.” Kyungsoo stared until Tao nodded before he stood and left the room. Kai scrambled after him, leaving the rest of the boys staring around when Tao finally broke down in tears.

Sehun sighed and left the room as well. Chen, Baekhyun and Luhan crowded around the pair of Tao and Yifan. They were trying to console the crying boy but they also had half a mind to figure out the bad blood between Tao and, Kyungsoo and Sehun. Yifan knew the boys were curious and he did them the favor of letting them know. At the end of the informative session, they agreed with Kyungsoo and Sehun that his death could have been avoided but knew Tao regretted his action very much. “They’ll come around…” They consoled Tao and left to seek out the rest.

Apparently, the rest were talking to Lady Yura near the Pool of Tranquility. “Oh good… you guys are here. Kyungsoo has something important to say.” She beckoned for them to take a seat, “Wait. Where are Yifan and Tao? I think they should be hearing this too. Go fetch them, Kai.” The said man looked at Kyungsoo hesitantly. “Go get them, Jongin.” With that, Kai nodded and teleported away, returning with the two boys a few seconds later. “I think you should get the dragons too…” Kyungsoo sent Kai away for the second time, as everyone exchanged glances. This must be pretty important if it called for the three dragons to be here as well. Once everyone was present, Kyungsoo went ahead to recount what he found in Shadow Nation.

“I was at Shadow Nation, these past few days I wasn’t here… How many of you know of Razgard?” Kyungsoo looked up as only Yura, Chanyeol, Sehun and Yifan raised their hands. “What’s that?” Baekhyun voiced out. “Razgard used to be the home of the dragonriders… the headquarters and it used to be located at the eastern mountains of Shadow Nation.” Lady Yura replied. Kyungsoo nodded, “I was initially at Shadow Nation, seeking out information of the witches since Zökr found Heria at Shadow Nation. I did manage to find her hideout, and in there I found two crucial pieces of information.” Kyungsoo beckoned for Kai, who stepped forward to pass him the book of records of the dragon eggs.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the thick pages. “What’s that book about?” Lady Yura asked. “I’m glad I actually found this amidst her pile of stuff… this here is a book of records of dragon eggs.” He flipped open the book and showed everyone the first page. “That’s Midnight!” Sehun gasped. “Yes, there’s more…” Kyungsoo grinned as he flipped to reveal, first Hunter and then Whisper. “These three, as documented by Heria, have hatched… but what’s interesting is the remaining two.” Kyungsoo said. Everyone let out a collective gasp as he showed them the green dragon egg and the indigo-colored one. “Missing…” Luhan read out the red words in bold. “So we know