Warning: This prequel spoils a little of the rest of the story so I'd recommend reading this after reading the preceding chapters =3=)~ (But if you don't care--I'm not gonna stop ya haha). Hope ya like~

???, ???, April 29 (Evening)

---

It all happens too fast.

One second the ten of them are heading towards the ship, and then in the next, two red force soldiers rush out of the ship with their hands glowing red.

Almost everybody backs up except for Kyungsoo who roars and stomps on the ground--creating a ground-ripple that heads towards the soldiers. The soldiers easily dodge it though and raise their hands up and Tao's heart practically stops as his friends start falling one by one. But just as he hears a strange voice in his head speak in his birth-language, he quickly throws his hand up in the air to rewind time.

Everything turns into smoke-like recreations, the voice leaves his mind, the time-clock ticks again, and...wait.

What the--? he thinks before stumbling backwards.

The red force soldiers are going backwards just like everything and everyone else, but the frightening thing is that they keep becoming tangible and then intangible smoke over and over again. Tao curses as the soldiers seem to blink in and out of the time-rewind and decides to stop rewinding a few seconds before Kyungsoo shouts up at the sky. Then, he dashes towards his own smoke-like recreation as the time-clock starts ticking louder.

After stepping into it; time resumes again, the clock stops ticking, his eyes close, and he takes in a deep breath.

You're fine, he thinks.

Sweat's starting to drip down from his forehead but he ignores it as he opens back his eyes. Suho then brings up his hand to cover the cry that he wants to hide just like he did before and Tao quickly glances at Kai and Kyungsoo with wide eyes. Kyungsoo's face scrunches up in anger just like it did in the past and Tao quickly calls Kai's name--snapping the latter out of his daze and getting him to look at him. When Tao flits his eyes from Kyungsoo to him and raises his eyebrows in a panic, Kai blinks and whips his head to look at Kyungsoo only to curse right before his best friend takes a step forward and causes the ground to rumble.

With wide eyes, Kai quickly places his hand on Kyungsoo's back and starts rubbing little circles to soothe his anger, if only for a bit, and Kyungsoo looks torn between shrugging away and crying. In the end, he just groans in frustration.

Some of the others watch them and Tao sighs in relief before he turns to the others and informs them of what he saw in another future. Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Chen, and even Xiumin instantly start berating him and ask why he didn't rewind further back and Tao thinks that they're lucky he's tired as right now otherwise he'd kick their asses.

"Hey, don't blame--" Sehun starts to say.

" you!" Tao huffs, glaring at them. "You don't think I ing would? I did and the same thing ing happens. It's just...ugh." He looks down, unsure to tell them about what he saw.

"Just what?" Sehun asks, softly.

Tao looks up at him. "They're--" He looks at the other nine of his friends, before locking eyes with Kai. "--they're like what you said--they're here but not really like--like blinking lights or something."

Kai frowns at that. He's been trying to figure out how that'd even be but still hasn't come to a conclusion yet.

"Uh, who's they?" Chen asks.

"...The red force," Kyungsoo says monotonously. His head's now tilted to rest on Kai's left shoulder as the latter continues to rub circles on his back.

"Oh," Chen says before his eyes widen in realization. He then whips his head to Tao and exclaims, "Wait--so they're not--?!"

Tao looks at him in confusion, not really sure what he's on about.

"I think...they're kinda like me..." Kai says, and almost everyone turns to him. 

Xiumin though keeps flitting his eyes from his friends to the ship and back while bouncing on the heels of his feet. Anything could be happening to Luhan and Kris right at this moment. Heck, he'd say something to rush inside and get to them but this new information's making him want to peace out and curl up in his bed for say, a few years or so.

"Nah, I think they're like ghost pirates--like the legends say!" Chanyeol says, eyes wide.

"I guess so," Kai says, rubbing the back of his own left ear. "But they can't be ghosts if we managed to knock 'em out, right?"

"Maybe it's 'cause you caught them off guard," Baekhyun chimes in.

And so, a few of them keep talking about the red force and what they know about them from stories and now, and Kyungsoo takes a deep breath as he feels his own anger level now being low enough to concentrate. Then, he lifts his head off from Kai's shoulder and Kai keeps his hand resting on his back. "By the way, why didn't you two get them all?" he asks.

"I-I wanted to but--" Kai starts.

"I panicked, okay?" Tao interrupts and everyone turns to look at him. "Don't judge me. And I already know what you're gonna say, 'Oh, well you look fine now Tao, so why not freeze time again?'" Kyungsoo's eyebrows lift. He was actually about to ask that. "Well, I just freakin' did--but there's no way inside like that. We all gotta go--trust me."

Kyungsoo opens his mouth to say something but then closes it, and Xiumin gets even antsier as they all spend more time idling by. Sehun then asks what they all should do to get in and most everyone's taken aback by Lay flatly saying that they should power their way in. Chanyeol instantly says that he doesn't want to do that and a few of them ask him why not.

"I...I dunno, guys. I just feel like things'll turn to real quick," Chanyeol says, scratching at his own head.

"Gosh, don't jinx it, man."

---

Inevitably, after more arguing and disagreeing with each other over what to do, they all set out towards the ship with Kai and Kyungsoo leading the way. Kyungsoo said that he wants to be the first to smash a skull into the ground if need be, and well, nobody thought it'd be smart to argue with him on that.

The closer that they get to the ship though, the more mixed emotions they all feel and the tighter their grip is on whoever's hand(s) they're holding. Chen looks around at their surroundings and then looks up at the sky where the annular solar eclipse's still happening.

What should've been a day of having fun together turned into this.

He sighs and looks towards his friends who've stopped around the two unconscious guards splayed on the ground near the ship's door. Kyungsoo and Kai simultaneously look at each other and Kai whispers, "What now?"

"Ah you can port in, right?" Kyungsoo whispers back to him. Kai nods. "Port me in then."

"You sure?"

"Come on," Lay whispers a bit more harshly from behind them and Kai pouts before wrapping his arms around Kyungsoo and porting the both of them inside.

In an instant, an alarm consisting of whooshing noises blares off in the air. Then, they all hear (and feel) a rumble that shakes both the ship and the ground, and Kai ports back with Kyungsoo and shouts at them to head back. Everyone looks at him in shock and Kai looks down at Kyungsoo (who's grumbling from stomach pain) with a worried gaze and grabs onto his hand to bring him with him. They all quickly follow after the two, and some of them ask what happened and if they saw Kris and Luhan.

"We did but--!" Kai shouts before stopping when the ship door suddenly opens with two red soldiers rushing out. All of them turn to look behind themselves. "!"

As the line of trees leading to the forest gets closer, Sehun and Tao suddenly trip and stumble to the ground.

"Ah, come the on!" Chanyeol exclaims.

The others stop running at the sight of their fallen friends and quickly hurry to help them get back up. Then, the soldiers' hands start raising and Kyungsoo's eyes go wild again before he quickly stomps on the ground--creating a ripple that heads the soldiers' way. They easily dodge it though and so he stomps again and again, creating more ground-waves that break apart strips of the ground and shake it enough for everyone but him to stumble and sway on their feet.

Baekhyun quickly clenches his hands into fists and widens his stance to try and keep his balance as he starts shooting light-beams at the soldiers. Chanyeol stays near him; holding his waist to help him stay upright as the ground continues to shake and mentally telling himself that he shouldn't use his power unless he wants to start a forest fire.

As a light beam strikes both soldiers, their bodies twitch but otherwise they seem unaffected as they both raise their hands up with their palms facing the ten of them. Kyungsoo abruptly stops stomping on the ground and takes in huge gulps of air while Kai fans his face with his hands. Then, Sehun starts throwing wind-balls at the soldiers while