Inside the darkness that was Abyss, Evil screamed, making the creatures inside – the ones left after the disastrous foiling of his last battle – tremble with fear.

Another mate had been claimed, the Tree gaining stronger foothold into Earth dammit! He glared at the spheres he used for spying, the dull red full of hatred so deep, it was tangible.

Useless, that brat was utterly useless.

His anger echoed around the depths of Abyss as fury overpowered him and he raged for a while before settling down.

The thing about big plans? The stakes were higher and if one did not succeed, the suffering was greater.

Evil's master plan had been grand and failsafe, foolproof… actually, he still wasn't sure why he hadn't succeeded. He'd taken into account everything, this time not even underestimating the weaker ones – the Healer and his weakling of a Shadow… yet, somehow they'd managed to outwit him again.

He'd invested so much power and energy into building the maze, to transpose Abyss over earth so that the Legends wouldn't be able to use their powers that he was utterly drained. He couldn’t risk going out to a few souls, regain his energy because they were literally crawling all over the city. In his current situation, he couldn't even afford to create a new portal.

And they were taking full advantage of their respite, of his absence. Two more roots had embedded in a mere few weeks since.

All was not lost, though.

It had come as something of a surprise but he'd managed to plant his minion right in their midst, one he could use at a moment's notice. And in their blind affection, they wouldn't see anything. Tch, these arrogant Legends were just too easy to manipulate.

The brat too. He couldn't deny her usefulness but she'd failed him this time, so he'd have to punish her. Again.

Geez, it wasn't just the Legends. Humans were too easy to manipulate.

He mightn't have succeeded last time but it was far from over. They still had six more roots to go and the ones that had managed to take hold… who said they couldn't suffer either? In fact, he was better placed than before to cause them harm and it was delightful.

Laughing to himself – thoughts of causing misery always lifted his mood – he connected to one of the few remaining minions on earth.

…………………………………….

'Two hours?' Baekhyun rose a judgmental brow, looking both irritated and pleased. 'You made out for two damn hours?'

Raina blushed, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Tao bristled beside her, blushing as well but more irritated. 'I didn't realize I'd speeded up, okay?'

'Hey, no need to hide,' Chen smacked his shoulder comfortingly, 'he's just jealous because he didn't get to watch.'

'ert!' Tao pushed him away, looking scandalized while the group laughed.

'How come you didn't freeze though?' Baekhyun asked, not denying he was indeed jealous he couldn’t watch.

Chen shrugged, smiling. 'Ask Tao, how the hell will I know why he didn't freeze me?'

'I wasn't doing it deliberately, okay?' Tao snapped. 'I have no idea why he didn't freeze.'

D.O was quietly observing the interaction, his eyes going to Chen for a moment before returning to his cellphone, re-reading Suho's text. The leader had relayed his talk with Raina and Tao so he'd have time to think things through before they met for the evening family meeting.

That was well and good but one thing disturbed him – according to the message, the abyss-girl Tao had found and lost, she hadn't been frozen by Tao's powers either.

He glanced at his Shadow again, taking in the bright smile as he laughed.

Chen looked and acted like they remembered him before Evil had abducted him. Lay had healed him completely and D.O had returned his Beast, so his powers were restored. Yet…

There were times when D.O wondered if Chen really was alright. He'd only spent a few minutes in Evil's presence, bound and completely at his mercy while the bastard tortured him and Chen… how many days did he have to endure? He wasn't sleeping well, D.O knew, because they shared rooms and Chen was almost always up before him – when that had been a rarity before.

And he never, not once, mentioned anything about his ordeal in the Abyss. D.O didn't push it either, figuring the guy hardly needed reminders of that terrible time but still…

More than that, though, Chen was blocking him.

They mightn't have been the closest amongst the Legends – that was an even competition between Tao and Sehun or Luhan and Kai but they were close. All Shadows were. And he respected Chen's privacy enough to never deliberately peek into his memories or emotions, unless given express permission.

He mightn't even have realized that Chen was blocking him but he had been quite restless one night, tossing and turning in his sleep, so D.O had tried to send his energy to Chen, to help him calm down.

But he'd been met with a barrier so strong that nothing could push through.

And now, Tao's powers apparently didn't freeze him.

He wasn't sure what to make of it. Staring at the phone again, he wondered if he was overthinking things – being a strategist had its drawbacks – but with Evil on the loose and this abyss-girl showing up out of nowhere… it put everything that had been happening in a more ominous light and he wondered if he'd missed something.

Biting his lip, upset at the thought that he was even considering this, he made a mental note to keep an eye on Chen for the time being.

……………………………………………….

Tao wasn't sure he could handle so much power.

His power had always been one of the strongest because, as the Elder who'd chosen him as the guardian Legend had explained, time was perhaps the one thing that differentiated god from man, was perhaps the one domain they really had no business playing with.

And yet, he had been given this power.

And now, after claiming his mate, it was boosted to a level he, even in his wildest flights of fancy, hadn't imagined.

It literally took him a blink of an eye, a mere thought, to manipulate time.

Like the two hours he'd apparently spent kissing Raina? He'd only been thinking that he didn't want this moment to end and it had stretched out.

Chen, who'd remained unfrozen for reasons he couldn’t fathom – maybe he'd unconsciously left him out? – had counted the time because he'd been bored since everyone else was frozen and had thought to seek Tao out, to chat with him and had ended up walking in on him making out with Raina, breaking him out of his trance and restarting time.

It was amazing.

And scary.

But mostly amazing because there were just so many things he could do… or maybe undo.

He'd missed his class and Raina had been whining about having to catch up on the assignments they'd been given, wondering how she'd cover what she'd missed because the lecture had been important. Of course Tao had offered to teach her and she'd cheered up, happy for any excuse to spend more time with him – blushing when she realized he could hear her thoughts – but still…

Experimentally, he looked down at his wristwatch, eyeing the clock hands and just… turning them back.

To his complete surprise, everything around him melted and he found himself blinking at the sight in front of him.

He was looking at himself arguing with Raina, exactly two hours earlier.

Before his past self could turn around and look at him – he might be new to this time reversal thing but he knew enough not to create any paradoxes which would risk the future as it had unfolded… he quite enjoyed having a mate, thank you very much – he ducked out of sight and watched as the duo marched towards the toilets.

Shaking his head in wonderment, he concentrated again and bam, he was back at the table.

'Tao?' Everyone was looking at him strangely.

'What?' He asked, not sure where he'd left off.

'Aiya, not the least bit ashamed…' Baekhyun shook his head in mock irritation. 'What has the world come to?'

'You're just jealous you didn't get to see,' Chen chimed. The sense of déjà vu was kind of overwhelming and his heart started racing fast.

The Elders who'd trained him had warned him about it – how nothing happened exactly the same way twice but this was the first time he was actually experiencing it.

It was exhilarating and terrifying. He could turn back time, he could actually go back in the past and change things… he could undo things that had gone wrong. The possibilities were endless.

'Tao?' Raina's voice was soft and he met her serious eyes, something in them telling him she was aware what he'd done.

Not surprising because they were mates, of course she'd sense his powers. He smiled to show her how excited he was and she smiled back before turning back to focus on the people around them.  

He tried to bring himself back into the present as well, stop his mind from racing as it was now when his eyes landed on the tall Legend making his way towards them, one hand thrown around Lay's shoulder as the healer talked to him, smiling the happy-sad smile he had on ever since he'd come back.

All the thoughts racing around in his head screeched to a halt, only one word echoing.

Undo.

All that had happened to them since they'd landed on earth all those years ago flashed before his eyes, thoughts flying rapidly through his head – thoughts he'd had numerous times when Kris had left them the first time, broken by his mate's death; thoughts that came back when Kris left again, chasing after a revenge that would bring him no peace and cost him nearly everyone he loved. He remembered the feeling of utter helplessness, inability to do anything despite having the strongest power.

No one can change the past…

But then again, no one had been given the power to do so.

Raina caught his eyes again, looking worried by his train of thought and he smiled, shaking his head to tell her not to. He knew his limits, knew there were things he couldn't mess with.

Just… having this ability was exciting.

She smiled again before shifting closer and slipping her fingers between his, squeezing his hand.  

…………………………………….

Nara was lost deep in her thoughts when Tae found her.

Which wasn't such an unusual thing because Nara was often lost in thoughts and Tae did not comment on it.

Or she wouldn't have if Nara didn’t sigh like the most lovelorn maiden in the world.

It was a heartfelt sigh, seemingly coming from the depths of her heart and it made Tae stop in her tracks, hitting her knee in the reception table behind which she was sliding.

Nara didn't notice the slight bump, staring at the screen she had opened in front of her and frowning lightly, chewing on her bottom lip.

Tae wondered if she should bother her friend – Nara tended to shut herself off when she was intensely researching something and right now, she had her most intense researcher face on, even though she was sighing like a maiden in love.

She settled for clearing . If it distracted Nara, maybe they could talk – otherwise, she'd just slip beside her friend and see her work until her break was over.

However, -clearing seemed to drag Nara out of her thoughts and she glanced over, sending her friend a strained smile. It was a smile usually reserved for occasions when Nara got stuck on a part of her research and couldn’t find an immediate answer.

'Hey,' Tae nodded, slipping in the seat beside her friend. 'What's up?'

Nara blinked once, then glanced at the ceiling overhead before looking at Tae again, confusion over her face.

Which just went to show just how involved in her work she'd become, she was forgetting colloquial and slang terms.

'That means…' Tae began.

'I remember,' Nara cut her off with a sheepish grin. 'Nothing much, I'm just working on my project.'

'Your project about social roles or your thesis?' She pulled out a packet of juice from her bag and offered it to Nara, ignoring her disapproving stare.

'No food or drinks allowed in the library,' Nara mumbled, looking torn between taking it away from her friend and letting her get away with it.

'Chill, will ya?' Tae slurped on the juice before pulling out crisps as well. 'Have some fun.'

Nara eyed her for a moment before grabbing a handful and stuffing and taking a sip from the packet. Tae felt successful, having pushed her friend out of the boring-rule-following zone to fun-rebellious one.

'So, whatcha doin'?' She asked, swallowing her drink and peering over Nara's shoulder to look at her desktop screen.

The articles weren't the typically boring ones, with white or heaven forbid, yellow, backgrounds and small, black text; instead, they were vibrant red, pink and purple with huge letters and loads of pictures. Of couples.

Tae blinked, glanced at Nara who was frowning at the screen before leaning forward to read the topic.

Is he not that into you?

Why didn't he kiss me?

Ten reasons why he is not making the move

'Er…' Tae glanced between Nara and the screen, 'is everything okay honey?'

Nara chewed on her bottom lip before looking at her. 'Yes. I think.'

'Then why are you reading that?' She pointed at the screen, 'I thought you said you had your first kiss with Chanyeol…'

They'd danced for a solid hour to celebrate the news, dragging a reluctant Ken and his younger brother who'd been visiting, Hyuk, in their impromptu party.

'I did.' Nara muttered, sounding confused and dissatisfied. 'But…'

'But…' Tae prodded encouragingly.

'He… um, he was actually leaving without kissing me,' she muttered, twisting her fingers around each other and looking absolutely lost. 'And I… I asked him to say goodbye properly, so he leaned down but…' She glanced up, meeting Tae's eyes, her own tormented, 'I think he only wanted to kiss my cheek.'

'Oh?' Tae didn't know what else to say but there was an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. Had they all misinterpreted the signals Chanyeol was giving? Or was he the type to kiss after they'd developed some sort of bond?

'H-hey, don't worry, I'm sure he wanted to kiss you…'

'He ran away the moment we parted,' Nara muttered, sounding dejected, 'and he didn't contact me afterwards. I thought… well, I thought it was okay but then, I came across this article and well…'

'… if he's acting like he's avoiding you, then maybe he's not that into you. That's always a possibility and some guys are just too polite to say no…' Tae read the line Nara had highlighted, frowning.

'Ya, this is just a stupid article,' she stated dismissively, smiling at Nara. 'He obviously likes you.'

'Does he?' Nara muttered, staring at the computer screen. 'I mean… the instrument we made indicates that he does but it's still being developed and I haven't had the chance to check its psychometric properties, so how do I know if it's sensitive or specific enough? Maybe I… moved too fast…'

'Look at you, mixing research and slang at the same time,' Tae patted her head proudly before hugging her. 'Don't worry, I'm sure your scale is adequate for this purpose. And kissing at the end of the date is hardly fast, so relax. Maybe he's just… shy?'

They fell silent, trying to imagine Chanyeol – with his megawatt smile and loud laughter and boisterous gestures being shy – then shook their heads simultaneously, shuddering a little.

'Okay, maybe he just needs a little time,' Tae said after a moment, 'Tell you what, give him until the end of this week and if he still doesn’t talk to you – come by the library or message you or something… we'll think about what we can do, okay? And don't worry.'

Nara nodded, looking much more cheerful that before. Tae smiled at her friend, patting her back again and engaging her in a meaningless chatter about Baekhyun's glorious abs – she had no idea if that was true but she needed to distract the girl – and texted Ken from underneath the table.

Looked like they needed to have another chat with Chanyeol.

…………………………………….

A/N

Hey eveyrbody :) Sorry I missed an update last week - its been a hectic fortnight or so for me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you guys later <3