It's been a month. I'm so sorry! I'll explain my absense at the end... In the meantime, enjoy the next chapter~

… just as they dragged her through the doorframe, she screamed. “Help!!”

At her shriek, one of the men clamped a hand over Sun’s mouth to keep her quiet. The leader turned around to say something to her but froze. He watched as his two strongest men were ripped away from Sun and flung mercilessly across the yard.

Sun spun around and felt her knees buckle at the sight behind her. Her six once-tiny robots were towering above her, staring emotionlessly at her attackers.

“H-how?” she breathed, recovering a little from her shock. N’s attention focused on her and she was startled to see his eyes were an electric blue instead of their usual dark brown.

N reached forward and pulled her up behind them into the house. “We’ll be back,” he  stated before shutting the door. Sun was about to fling the door open again, but a loud thud from outside changed her mind. Instead, she tottered to the living room and sank down onto the sofa.

She only had to wait about a minute for the front door to open again and her six robots to stride leisurely into her living room, not a scratch on them. They stood in a line in front of her and stared, unblinkingly, with different electrically-colored eyes.

“Are you injured?” Sun looked up to meet Ravi’s intense red eyes.

“I… No… I’m fine. What’s going on?” she stuttered.

Ken’s neon green eyes met hers. “We were programmed to to activate when you were in danger. Your cry for help woke us up.”

Sun noticed their voices were surprisingly human-sounding, but there was still a hint of something mechanic. “So Dad wasn’t kidding…” she said more to herself.

“Did you doubt him?” asked Hongbin.

“Well, not really, but you were inactive for so long, it was hard to not wonder a little…” she paused for a moment, thinking, then jumped up. “Dad! He’s been kidnapped! What am I going to do? I have to call the police!” she cried, gripping her hair as panic threatened to overpower her. The robots, who had not flinched at her outburst, blocked her way to the phone.

“Unfortunately, this is beyond the power of the police,” said N.

Sun stared at him, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Your father knew this day would come, so he programmed us with information about his main rival. This group has been after his research for a long time. They finally found a way to capture one of the most protected men in the world, and now they’re after you,” explained N.

Sun sighed and sank back onto the couch. “So, what do I do? Can I still go to school and see my friends? Or do I have to start some sort of Witness Protection Program thing for myself?”

“For now, you may live life as normal, but it will not last,” explained Ravi. “And we suggest keeping contact with your acquaintances to a minimum. We are not authorized to protect them.”

“Can I ask you to protect them?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Your father knew you would ask something like that, so he programmed us to reject such an offer.”

“Of course he did…”

The rest of the night, Sun saw very little of the robots. The stayed outside and patrolled the area, keeping a lookout. She didn’t eat much dinner and had difficulty focusing on her homework.

Sun erased her incorrect calculus answer for the third time and sighed. What was she doing? Her dad was missing, her house was broken into by strange men, her once-inanimate robots were now walking and talking to her, and she was trying to do homework?

Sun slammed her textbook up and strode to the front door. She opened it just enough to poke her head through and looked around. Not seeing anyone threatening, she flung the door wide open and stepped outside. She barely managed two steps before an arm wrapped itself around her waist, picked her up, and practically threw her back inside before she could even blink. Slightly disoriented, Sun spun around to find N staring unblinkingly at her.

She opened to scold him, but he cut her off. “Change of plans. They’re closing in on your house. We have to leave. Now.”

“You think you can just - wait. Now? We can’t! My friends-!” Sun spluttered.

“They’ll still be here when all of this is solved. Hurry and pack some clothes and other necessities,” N deadpanned.

“You could at least say ‘please’ when forcing me to evacuate my own home…” Sun mumbled, not caring if N heard her or not. If he did, no indication flashed across his impassive face.

She dragged herself upstairs and into her bedroom. Her gaze instinctively went to the empty space where the six robots had once stood. Then, her gaze shifted to the framed photograph next to the empty space. A teenaged Sun and a slightly younger version of her dad beamed up at her. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes and before she knew it, she was sobbing. She was scared. Her dad was her only family. If something happened to him, Sun felt she would truly be alone.

Her robots were far from what she had dreamed them to be. In her daydreams, they had been fun and cheerful. In reality, they were, well, robotic. She knew she shouldn’t have expected anything else, but Sun was still disappointed. Still, she thought, better to have them than no company at all. She wiped her tears and packed a few clothes and toiletries. Heaving her duffle bag onto her shoulder, she made the trek back downstairs to find all six staring at her with their unnaturally bright eyes.

“I’m ready,” she announced, and they all did an about-face and walked out the door. Hyuk waited for Sun and took her bag without a word and threw it into the trunk of her father’s car. Ken sat in the driver’s seat, while Sun plopped herself into the passenger seat. The other five settled themselves in the back, their eyes constantly alert.

About five minutes into driving, Sun finally couldn’t stand the silence and asked, “Where are we going exactly?”

Ravi spoke up, “Your father has a house in a little village not too far outside of Seoul. We’re going there.”

“He does?” asked Sun. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

When no one answered, Sun looked away out the window and sniffled a bit. She couldn’t understand why her dad hadn’t told her about any of this. Ken, keeping one hand on the steering wheel, fumbled around in his pockets and pulled out a pack of tissues. He handed them to Sun who stared at him blankly. “I’m programmed to give you these whenever you’re upset,” he explained.

Sun blinked at him, then allowed a tiny smile to form on her lips before opening the packet. She wiped under her eyes and blew her nose a bit. Somehow she felt better. “Thank you,” she said to Ken.

He didn’t answer and continued driving silently. Sun looked out the window again and wondered just where her life was going to take her. She hoped her dad was okay. She glanced back at the robots sitting quietly in the backseats and knew, despite their lack of emotions, that they would keep her safe. Her eyes closed and she fell into a light sleep.

AFF keeps making the format go all wonky. If something is weird, let me know and I'll fix it...

Anyway, story time: So, my laptop stopped working on me. It would turn on, but the screen wouldn't and when I tried to force shut it down, it would turn itself back on. Creepy. So I had to get the only spare laptop in our house that unfortunately had a virus on it. (It still does, but at least it's usable now. The virus is constantly being blocked). So then I was really excited because I had a working computer again, but alas finals week was upon me. But I'm here now~ And it's Christmas Break~~

I'll see you all in the next chapter! Thanks for reading, you lovely person you <3