Fickle Travel:

Hayan:

When Hayan returned to the others they had already made the tepee and were roasting several pheasants on the fire in the center. She didn’t hesitate to stomp her way into the massive tent or claim the spot she had been forced to sleep in for almost two weeks. She was aware of the stares that were shot her way upon her entrance but she paid them no mind as she sat cross-legged and glared into the fire that gave the tepee a nice warmth against the storm outside.

She wasn’t sure quite what she was mad at; if it was the secrets her great grandmother had, the omen she had seen, or just at the world in general for just about everything. After about ten minutes of angry staring Hayan groaned and flopped onto her back, right arm thrown over her eyes while the left stayed in her lap still numb and unmoving. Maybe she was mad at the fact that she had lost the use of her arm and she now had to hide that from the others as well as finish the last of the tests Professor Haru had for them.

“Uh, Hayan?” Kyungsoo questioned hesitantly. He sounded like he was sitting on her right.

Removing her arm she turned her head to see she was correct, and that Kyungsoo looked apprehensive as his fingers drummed against his knees, legs crossed much like hers were. “Yeah,” she said in a neutral tone.

“Is, um, is everything okay? Junmyeon didn’t say anything when he got back,” he said diverting his gaze to the ground before looking to her with his brows furrowed.

Hayan bit her tongue. What did she say in this situation?

“I’m fine,” she replied flatly.

“Liar,” Baekhyun scoffed from across the tent.

Hayan bit her inner cheek to keep the snappy comment in. She never had trouble with controlling , but there was just something about that day that had gotten to her and wanted her to speak up for herself for once; against her grandmother, the guys that had ignored her as much as she tried to remain unseen, the universe that just didn’t appear to be on her side.

“I’m with Baekhyun,” Jongin said. His voice was muffled as he clawed his way free from his and Sehun’s mound of blankets, chestnut colored hair staticky and sticking out in every direction as he glanced about for Hayan. She used her right arm to push herself up to narrow her gaze at the boy who was running a hand through his messy hair as he went on to say, “There’s something wrong and Hayan isn’t sharing.”

“There’s nothing,” she grumbled defensively.

“Then why did you go pale in the field before?” Baekhyun challenged.

Snapping her head in his direction Hayan narrowed her eyes at him as her right hand clenched into a fist (the left a useless lump attached to her). Why couldn’t they but out of her business? They never bothered to inquire about her problems while they were at Elyxion, so why were they starting now? There was no helping, no solving this problem, no reason for Hayan to say anything to them.

Baekhyun matched her glare with one of his own as he pressed his mouth into a hard line. He didn’t back down like she had wanted, instead Hayan was certain she saw his resolve sink in and his determination to get an answer grow. She mentally cursed him.

“Come on Hayan,” Jongin said in a friendly tone that wasn’t helping the situation. “You can tell us. We’re a team. You don’t have to figure out everything on your own.”

“For once Jongin is right,” Kyungsoo said with a nod.

The brunet man whined at the older guy’s comment, but turned to Hayan with a smile to show that he was being honest with his earlier words.

“So just tell us,” Baekhyun said crossing his arms over his chest like that was the end of the discussion.

Hayan knew she at lying and that if she were to even try it would only blow up in her face and she couldn’t afford to give the guys the satisfaction of seeing her fail like that, so she settled for the truth that she could handle giving them.

“No I won’t,” she simply stated. “It’s not your concern, nor do I want you guys involved, so just but out,” she said in the strongest voice she could muster.

There was a short round of silence in the tepee before there was a sharp cluck of a tongue and then yelling.

“What the hell is that?” Baekhyun shouted. “Didn’t you hear what we said? We’re a team, we help one another, so let us help!”

“Why? I’m not on this team!” Hayan snapped. The weight that had accumulated on her chest since she arrived at Elyxion was slowly lifting as she finally let everything out. The tears, the frustration, the unending loneliness. Struggling to get to her feet Hayan glared at all the guys in the tent (which didn’t include Junmyeon and Jongdae, who were off getting firewood). “You help one another while I just stand on the sidelines! You are a team, I’m just sports equipment — if I’m even that. Stop acting like it matters if I’m here or not, because in the end it doesn’t.”

Baekhyun’s face turned a dark shade of crimson as he shot to his own feet so that he and Hayan were on the same level as they fought. She could feel the tears burning down her cold cheeks, as her right fist trembled with angry.

“It does matter!” he argued back, voice booming in the tent. “We couldn’t have passed all those tests without you.”

“It was setup to be that way!” Hayan shrieked. “Are you so blind and dumb not to see that? Don’t you find it ridiculous that only I had the answers to those tests? That I got “special” lessons with the professor? Lessons that would have greatly helped all of you? These quizzes are rigged,” she ranted.

A pause as the guys took in her words.

“Why?” Minseok questioned.

“Why don’t you ask the professor, maybe you’ll get more out of her than I ever could,” she hissed back.

“Then why you?” Jongin asked in a quiet voice like he was scared to speak. “We’re all guardians. . .”

Hayan scoffed under her breath as she reached for her left hand and the glove that covered the rune there. “There are nine guardians this generation, each with their own element, but there is a block that each must overcome to gain full control,” she vaguely quoted Haru in a dry and lifeless tone.

“What does that mean?” Kyungsoo asked genuinely curious.

There was a rustle from the entrance of the tent and in entered Junmyeon and Jongdae who looked a little anxious to be entering such a tense atmosphere. Hayan turned to look at Junmyeon with a heated gaze that he visibly shrunk back from. Swallowing he turned away from Hayan as he moved deeper into the tepee with his arms full of tree branches.

“Have you figured it out yet Junmyeon?” Hayan challenged with a tilt of her head.

Everyone looked to the self-proclaimed-leader who froze under the attention. Slowly glancing about at all the guys he dropped the wood and straightened his posture as he dusted off his hands. “Uh, well,” he stammered unsurely.

“Wait, Junmyeon knows? How? Why?” Baekhyun demanded.

No one responded to his outburst.

“Hayan,” Junmyeon went on to say as he wrung his hands together. “I don’t think she’s a guardian at all,” he stated.

“Good job,” the girl sneered. She really was at her breaking point. “If I could I would clap to your fine detective skills. I’m—”

“What?” Kyungsoo cut in quietly.

“— not a guardian. Now stop,” she hissed out the word as she glanced around the place at every face that was staring at her, “trying to say we are a team. Because I’m nothing more than a key for you guys. I’m not part of your team, none of us are even friends, so focus on one another and just leave me and my problems alone!”

With that Hayan stormed out of the tepee and out into the down pour. She had no plan once outside, just that all she knew was that she wanted to put as much distance between her and the others as possible, so she started walking in a random direction and didn’t stop.

•••

Jongin:

It was painfully quiet after all the yelling and Hayan’s departure. No one could look at one another, nor did anyone want to bring up what just happened. Yet they all knew it had to be dealt with. Jongin pulled his blanket tighter around him for comfort while Sehun buried himself away, having said nothing during the exchange and probably would have only added to the fire if he had.

Nearly an hour passed before any of them dared to speak, having eaten in silence. The eight of them were sitting around the fire, Chanyeol controlling the heat with his ability so it stayed the perfect temperature inside the tent. He had gotten a lot better at it since the dragon incident Jongin noted.

“So,” Kyungsoo was the brave one who ventured to break the eerie silence that hung around the group. His voice deep and serious as his lifted his head to look at one of them in particular. “How did you come to that conclusion, Junmyeon?” he inquired. “That Hayan isn’t a guardian.”

“Ah,” Junmyeon said like he was snapping out of a daze. “Her runes,” he answered.

They all made a face at that answer. “What runes?” Baekhyun questioned before anyone else could.

“Apparently,” Junmyeon began, his hands running through his hair as he released a heavy breath. “She’s been gaining runes since the start of this trip. She has one for every test we’ve accomplished, plus an extra from before attending Elyxion,” he explained.

“And how did you find out about this?” Minseok inquired with a raised brow.

“During the water nymph test. Hayan was kind of wasted and I saw the runes and she promised to tell me about them afterward. She was convinced I would be mad if I knew,” he muttered.

“Why didn’t you tell the rest of us?” Jongin jumped in on the question train.

“She made me promise. It was suppose to be a harmless secret,” he said with his hands clenched in his lap.

“Not so harmless,” Sehun scoffed.

“What are the runes of?” Kyungsoo questioned ignoring the youngest.

Junmyeon shrugged. “I don’t really know. They look familiar, but I haven’t been able to place them no matter how hard I think about it.”

“Great, very helpful leader,” Baekhyun snapped.

“Baekhyun don’t start,” Chanyeol warned in an unusually serious voice for him. “It’s not Junmyeon’s fault.”

“They who’s fault is it? Professor Haru’s? Hayan’s? She didn’t seem all that thrilled to be in this situation,” the