“What?”

Taeyeon took the news in dumbfounded.

“I-I...that's not possible! I saw Hayeon die myself!” She swallowed violently. “I saw her hang by the noose off the platform and die!”

“Sha's a demon, Taeyeon. There are many ways to clone a human body. Especially one that you've possessed before.” Taeyeon frowned slightly.

“Hayeon was never possessed. She--”

“Was she?” Jiyong's voice fell onto her ears like a hammer. “There was something that both Hyoyeon and Seohyun refused to tell you, wasn't there?” Taeyeon's head jerked upwards abruptly.

“How did you know that?” She said sharply, turning her eyes sharply to Jiyong. “Jiyong, what you just said only happened moments before I came--how did you know Hyoyeon was keeping something from me?” Jiyong smiled sheepishly.

“It was a feeling in my chest. And I tend to see flashes of possible futures in my wrestling with the king over the possession of my body and soul. It's a side effect of his demonic powers, I believe.” A golden glow lit his palm lowly. “It's more of a burden than a blessing.” He gave her a wane fragile smile. “It tires me out. Easily.”

“Tell me more about what you know. “Taeyeon pressed.

Jiyong grinned lightly at her.

“Even I don't know what I see sometimes. It comes to me clearly and vaguely, depending on the situation and time. Seohyun would have a much better grasp over this power compared to me. Hence she would be able to give you a more accurate answer.” He paused. “But I can give you a secret that I learnt in soul imprisonment.” He smiled wanly. “The reason to why my demon father is so interested in you is this---you have a kind of blood running in your veins. A certain kind of blood that he fears and would like to keep a close eye upon. This dates back to your old lineage of your family households. “ He grimaced slightly, holding his head in pain. “Its also the very reason why Sha didn't want me with you, or with the demon king either.” He murmured slightly.

“Taeyeon, the problem is, you've got a kind of demon slaying blood running in your veins. I've got demonic ones. We were both born to..”He waved his hand slightly and vaguely, “To counter each other. Perhaps that would be a much more accurate saying. Apparently, the land your family used to own.” He grunted slightly. “It's holy ground for angelic Halfings. When demons desecrate it, it turns into a safe haven for them, hence your family was tasked with the job of protecting that land for many years.”

“How did you know that?” Jiyong chuckled at her stunned face.

“Oh Tae, there are lots of things a man who's in love is willing to tell their rival in order to goad them into giving up.”

“Sorry. In love?” Taeyeon stared at Jiyong incredulously. “I didn't hear you wrongly, right?”

Jiyong barked out a soft laugh.

“Maybe you are that daft as you are to his feelings.” Jiyong glanced at her amusedly. “Taeyeon, he was severely affected by the only thing that I clung to help my soul survive the struggle---my love for you.” He smiled gently, watching as understanding crossed her eyes. “It affected his judgements right from the beginning. Or else, why would he defend you from Kiko Mizuhara when she's his demon kin, while you were merely someone he had just met?”

“So..I should thank you for your irrevocable feelings?” Taeyeon attempted to joke, only for Jiyong to smile lazily up at her.

“Maybe.” His cheekiness drew a smile familiar smile upon her face. “But you shouldn't be staying here. You need to get to the bottom of this. I know---” He coughed slightly, his lips reddening slightly. “I know how important Hayeon is to you.” Taeyeon stilled for a moment, a soft but sad smile crossed her face.

“She is. But not as important as you are.” Jiyong froze at her words.

“What?” He turned his head disbelievingly to look at Taeyeon with wide eyes.

“I said.” Taeyeon raised her voice slightly. “Hayeon is important to me, but not as important as you are to me!” A lopsided cheeky smile slowly grew across Jiyong's face.

“Is this an indirect confession of love to me?” Taeyeon gasped, scandalized and shy, slapping his chest slightly. Jiyong choked, then coughed out a hacking laugh.

“Still as shy as ever.” A fond smile graced his lips. “You should go.” His burning fingertips grazed her cheek gently. “I won't go anywhere. I promise.” He added as he watched the reluctance in her eyes and lingering worried gazes on his lips. “I'll be right here, waiting for you as I have always been.” He pushed her back gently, and Taeyeon squeaked with surprise at his sudden show of strength. She skidded back on the floor, stopping right outside the door with accurate precision, and Jiyong waved his hand, the door closing loudly upon his familiar gentle face.

Worry and anger filled her chest to the brim as she thought back on Jiyong's words.

She'd start things first by finding out what exactly was this...secret that Hyo and Seo were hiding desperately from her.

~~~~~

Hyoyeon grunted in surprise as Taeyeon slammed her back roughly against the wall, utterly stunned by the sheer strength that was displayed by this small petite girl before her.

She gripped Taeyeon's hands in a firm grip, careful not to crush her sister's hands as she tried to pry off Taeyeon's firm grip on her collar.

“Tell me what you saw! No more lies!” Hyoyeon huffed in surprise as her sheer strength didn't work on her sister, instead, Taeyeon's strength seemed to grow in spades, and she hoisted her up, Hyoyeon's feet barely brushing the ground.

“When did you get so strong?” She barely managed to choke out, watching as shock flit across Taeyeon's face, and then her sister released her grip on her collar. Hyoyeon collapsed to the floor, gasping in air into her lungs.

“Don't deviate from the question!” Tears had already begun to gather in Taeyeon's eyes. Hyoyeon snarled slightly. That demon that Taeyeon had just met--he must have said something to agitate Taeyeon to such a state--or else why would her sister suddenly become so confrontational?

“So what now? Did that demon lover of yours tell you some lies about us that you believed instantly?”

“No! Jiyong didn’t--” Taeyeon struggled to explain and form the words out of as she saw Hyoyeon's dark and angry eyes.

“Don't you forget, Jiyong's the one who's gone! We've been the ones that stood by your side all this time! If you're going to raise a hand against us because of some bull your lover cooked up--”

“It's not about him!” It was Taeyeon's turn to scream this time. “He told me that Hayeon's in Sha's house!” Hyoyeon and Seohyun immediately stiffened, and Wendy shifted uncomfortably behind her mentor. Taeyeon watched their uncomfortable expressions with a deep sense of horror in her heart.

“Oh my God. It's true isn't it?” Hayeon's really held hostage by that ing demon.” Tears threatened to spill down Taeyeon's face.

“Yes.” It was Hyoyeon that chose to divulge the piece of information that she had been holding back. “I didn't mean not to...tell you. You needed to concentrate on our planning. Telling you such sensitive information could make you make wrong decisions, or even lose focus! We couldn't have that! No--we can't afford such a loss. You know it more than any of us, Taeyeon.” Taeyeon deflated at her sister's words.

“Then how about you, Seo? Jiyong told me that clones of a dead body cannot be made by a demon unless they've possessed them before.” Seohyun fidgeted in her chair.

“It wasn’t the right time.” Taeyeon whipped around immediately, staring disbelievingly at her youngest sister. Seohyun looked at her impassively, then repeated. “It just wasn’t the right time.”

“What wasn’t the right time.” Taeyeon’s voice was dangerously low, the heat of her anger palpable in the air. Seohyun didn’t flinch, instead, she simply stared undaunted at Taeyeon’s angry eyes.

“It wasn’t the right time to tell you about Hayeon having been possessed once by a demon. You wouldn’t have accepted it. It wasn’t a strategic thing to tell you then too.” Taeyeon jerked back at Seohyun’s unfeeling statement.

“We wouldn’t have accepted what, Seohyun.” The one that sensed the implication behind their sister’s words was Jessica, and she steadied Taeyeon slightly as the girl reared back at the change in their youngest sister. Jessica threw an apologetic glance towards Taeyeon momentarily before turning her attention back to Seohyun. “Tell us, now, Seohyun.”

Seohyun simply shrugged and nodded.

“Hayeon was possessed by Sha before her death. And while Sha possessed our sister, he forced her to kill Jiwoong Oppa and Father, before hanging herself.” Seohyun simply dropped the bomb tactlessly, before turning in her chair to focus her reading on yet another piece of old parchment.

“What?” Taeyeon lunged forward and gripped Seohyun’s shoulders painfully. “What did you say?”

“I did tell you guy that another person killed Father and Jiwoong Oppa.” Seohyun said a matter of factly, unfazed by her sister’s emotional distress. “It was Hayeon. Well, Sha in Hayeon’s body, that is.”

“You’re lying.” Taeyeon stared at her incredulously. “You’re lying! Hayeon would never--”

“I never said its Hayeon.” Seohyun interrupted firmly, slightly annoyed. “How can you not see it when its so simple? Sha simply made use of Hayeon’s body to kill Father and Jiwoong Oppa.”

“Yes, but how can you say this with not a care in the world? They were your relative as much as they were mine! They took you in--”

“I don’t know.” Seohyun cut Taeyeon off abruptly. “I just don’t feel anything anymore.” She glanced up steadily at Taeyeon with clear unshaken eyes.

“I can’t. I just can’t.This is not happening.” Taeyeon threw up her hands in desperation. “I--”

“Maybe you should take a break from here and the palace.” Seohyun interrupted her again. “Staying away from us would do you some good. After all, you need to meet this man in the mountains.”

“What man in the mountains?” Taeyeon pressed a hand against her forehead.

“He knows details of your heritage. I’ve only managed to foresee that far. That is, the part where you going to him and learning about your purpose.” Taeyeon stiffened.

“I’m not leaving.”

“Even if you didn’t leave, the amount of time Jiyong would be able to stay with you without the demon king taking over would only be at most two to three days.” Seohyun’s words stirred a flurry of tears deep in Taeyeon’s chest.

“Then all the more I should stay with him!”

“Then all the more you should take the effort and chance to prolong it or make it permanent.” Seohyun stared at her emotionlessly, her breath already frosting in the autumn air that billowed through the windows. “Go look for Wyran. You will meet Tiffany in your way out of the citadel. She will lead you to him. After all, the nomads are the last ones to know the details of the last sighting of the last Master of the Angelic Runes, Lord Wyran.” Seohyun rose to her feet slowly, turning towards the window with a preoccupied stare. She sat on the ledge silently, and a chill ran through the air as her eyes filmed over again to a milky white. She paused in her instructions, reading into whatever vision she had just seen. “Oh.” She barely turned back to face her sister. “Perhaps you might want to tell Jiyong about this mini trip of yours. That way we can prolong his time here before the demon king takes over to almost around..four to five days instead of the original two to three.”

Taeyeon simply stared at her incredulously.

“You should be making a move right now, Taeyeon.” Seohyun’s cold words hit her hard in the chest, and Taeyeon stumbled back, fleeing the room which held a sister whom she loved so ardently yet felt so unfamiliar.

“Taeyeon!” She barely heard Hyoyeon and Jessica’s desperate calls behind her, her feet pounding the cobbled stone floors, scraping against her bare feet.

Their voices vanished slowly as she got further and further from her rooms, her legs taking her to unknown places that she had not seen before---before she came to a stop before Jiyong’s chambers, her cheeks flushed pink, confusion broiling in her mind as she reached forward and pushed open the doors.

Jiyong turned his head up from the parchment scrolls he had been perusing, surprise written clearly on his face as he stared at her distressed and tear stained face.

“What happened?” He reached for her automatically as she opened her arms, a soft cry escaping from her lips. “Are you hurt?” The door closed behind her slowly as she fell into Jiyong’s strong and enveloping arms, with his lips pressing a kiss to her forehead and hands running soothingly down her back and hair..

…..

And back in Taeyeon’s chambers, Seohyun exhaled slowly, her eyes slowly receding its milky white film to look indifferently at her other sisters, all who crossed their hands and looked at her with a mix of worry and anger.

“Finally.” Seohyun barely stirred from her seat. “She went to look for Jiyong. Everything is on the right course now.” The corners of twitched slightly. By forcing Taeyeon to go to Jiyong of her own accord, she had at least confirmed and affirmed at most the fact that Taeyeon would definitely go to find Lord Wyran right after leaving Jiyong’s chambers. As for the other plausible ending...that was much more disastrous should it happen, it had disappeared as soon as her sister had unconsciously made the choice to appear before Jiyong’s chambers and seek him out for comfort.

Her fingers rubbed against each other contemplatively.

She was still quite raw in her handling of her powers. She needed to be able to see more..clearly and accurately in order for things to turn out well.

Not to mention, faster too.

She had barely just made it in time in glimpsing the result of the first crossroads. If she had been any later…

Seohyun shook her head.

Of course, forcing her power to overwork itself had a price itself.

In exchange for the extra knowledge, her power chipped away at the pieces of her soul that held her emotions, taking piece by piece different emotions forcefully as she forced herself to see further and faster.

Seohyun shut her eyes in resigned silence.

She needed to look further again, before another crossroad of choices came upon them.

Under the watchful eyes of her sisters, Kim Seohyun took a deep breath and surrendered herself to her Truthseeking Powers, her head slamming forcefully against the headrest of the chair she sat upon as she forcefully projected herself forward into the near and far future.

~~~~~~

Taeyeon jostled uncomfortably the scarf she had donned with her attire to conceal much of her face. The seasons were getting closer to the bitter winter, and hence it also became a easier task for Sooyoung to help dress them rather concealingly---after all, a Queen could not simply abandon her post to go out of the palace, no matter the legitimate reason. Her fingers clenched tightly over the pendant Jiyong had relinquished back to her, a physical promise of the effort he said he would put in to stay the same till she came back, and Taeyeon sighed softly, feeling the cold pinnacles of air frost before her heated lips as she breathed out resignedly.

“Its ing cold.”Hyoyeon announced.

“Gee. Thanks. Thats was obvious.” Taeyeon fought the flickering smile at her sisters’ familiar bickering as they stayed together as a group, hands brushing each other gently--a fond reminder that they were by each other’s side.

“Like you could say anything better!” Hyoyeon raised her voice, nose stuffed and red as she glared at Yuri, who’d stuck out her tongue.

“Yuri!” All three girls immediately turned at the familiar call of a male voice, and both Hyoyeon and Taeyeon grinned as a tall male, with Chaeyin well bundled in his arms made their way towards the small group of girls.

“Oh .” Yuri mumbled, ducking behind Taeyeon. “Pretend you didn’t see me.”

“But why?” Hyoyeon grinned at her embarrassed sister. “It rare that a man likes you so much he’s openly chasing after you. Even better, he’s a Prince.” She turned towards the well clad male and waved.

Taeyeon smiled softly at Youngbae and Chaeyin, whose cheeks were flushed red like ripe apples from the cold.

She beamed at the small girl, holding open her arms for a gentle hug.

The young child squealed, then beamed, leaning forward from her father’s secure arms, struggling a little with her over done autumn thick clothes to collapse into Taeyeon’s arms.

“You’ve grown more since I saw you, haven’t you?” Taeyeon said, delighted as the small girl played with her long strands of dark hair cheerfully.

“Where are all of you going?” Youngbae peered behind her, grinning from ear to ear as he noticed Yuri’s flaming face as she ducked behind Taeyeon.

“Just..travelling.” Taeyeon said vaguely. “Its best for us if you don’t know.” Youngbae’s smile disappeared from his face immediately.

“That serious?” Youngbae mumbled softly, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in contemplation.

Taeyeon shrugged.

“Maybe.” Taeyeon avoided his eyes slightly. Chaeyin squirmed in Taeyeon’s arms uncomfortably, jostling a little as she peered over Taeyeon’s shoulder.

“Yuri-nee, why are you squatting behind Taeyeonie’s ?” The little girl scrunched up her nose, not heeding Yuri’s frantic gestures for her to keep quiet. “Do you like butts like Taeyeonie?” Youngbae grinned at his daughter before peering at the doubly annoyed Yuri.

“I was wondering where you were.” He adjusted the cap on his daughter’s head, gently ruffling her hair. “And I didn’t know you had such erted tendencies.”

Taeyeon chuckled.

“I don’t!” Yuri shot up immediately, stomping her foot slightly before turning away. “Can we go now?” She hissed at Taeyeon, who glanced amusedly at her sister. “We’ll be late and then we’ll miss Fany.” Taeyeon grinned lazily, letting Yuri drag her and Hyoyeon towards the gates, the latter fighting as fiercely as possible to wrestle her hand out of Yuri’s grasp.

“We’ll see you when we get back!” Youngbae called after their receding figures.

“No thank you!” Yuri hollered back, pulling her sisters forcefully out of the city gates. “Now.” She let go of Taeyeon and Hyoyeon’s arms immediately, her eyes darting around the gates that were teeming full of people. “Where is that pink monster?”

Taeyeon brushed herself down, catching Hyoyeon’s sly grin in the direction of Youngbae, who still stood by the gates, watching them--or more specifically, Yuri fondly. She shook her head, a laugh exploding from .

“He’s so whipped.” Hyoyeon crowed, much to the embarrassment of Yuri and the amusement of Taeyeon. “So so whipped.”

“KIM TAEYEON!” Taeyeon gasped as her eardrum nearly blew out fr