Chapter 21

To say that they are surprised was an understatement. All nine younger Anihumans are gaping their jaw at the two rulers, brain overheating as they slowly digest the truth spilled by Tiffany. To think that the actual truth greatly differs from what the media said...

There are some wrongs on the rulers' way, yes, but to twist their upheaval like that... that's just straight up heartless.

"That's all I could tell you," Tiffany concluded faintly.

Jihyo swallowed the lump in . The black haired ruler seems tired, defeated, as if everything's over for her. Seohyun silently offers her comfort by rubbing the older's upper arm and Tiffany simply answers with a broken smile.

The Phoenix coughed once, catching the attention of the other females in the room. "IU-sshi came here a few days ago."

Seohyun nodded calmly. "We know."

"Was... was that has anything to do with Taeyeon-sunbaenim?" Jihyo asked carefully.

Tiffany took her time until she exhaled. "Indeed. It was."

Nayeon leaned to the table, hand hovering in hesitation whether to touch Tiffany or not. "C-can you tell us?"

The black haired ruler cast a glance to the younger ruler, then turned to the nine Anihumans. "Taeyeon was spotted strolling at a reachable area near the border. We've been trying to track her for days but we couldn't find her. Even if her tracks are fresh, there are things that hinder us to proceed deeper into the NML."

"Because of the berserks?" Momo suddenly chimed in. She sat straight on her seat, almost looks like she's about to jump the ruler. Dahyun gripped her hand to stop the vixen. At Tiffany's sullen nod, Momo slumped back down. bobbed when she gulped and she closes her eyes as she continues. "Was... was the disaster at the JYP region two eras ago–"

Momo doesn't need to finish her sentence because the rulers understand perfectly.

"Yes, Momo," Seohyun answered. Voice firm with an apparent tint of guilt. "And, yes. Taeyeon-unnie's condition was what indirectly caused you harm."

Dahyun's grip tightened as Momo took a deep breath.

Jeongyeon rubs Momo's back before she focused her attention on the two rulers. "So you were trying to track down Taeyeon-sunbaenim? What are you going to do once you've found her?"

Tiffany sighed at the question and Jeongyeon frowned. "We're going to kill her."

A collective gasp.

"Why?" Tzuyu chases. "Why are you going to kill her?"

"Because her presence has disturbed No Man's Land environment. Ever since her arrival, NML has become a more dangerous, barren land unable to support life. No matter what, the berserks are living Anihumans too. They deserve to survive. Taeyeon-unnie's death will at least grants them a chance to live," Seohyun explained grievously.

"By killing her?" Chaeyoung asked, unbelieving. "Are there no other ways? Can't you guys revert her back? She was poisoned, right? Can't you guys... I don't know, find the antidote to help her?"

"We can't."

"But there is a way!" Sana suddenly exclaimed. Her eyes fired in determination. "The Flowers of Paradise! Found on Shinhwa region! Every literature said that the flower's essence could be used to heal a berserk Anihumans!"

Tiffany let out an exasperated laugh. "The Flowers of Paradise. Minatozaki, those are myths. No Anihuman ever found the flower. Or the Shinhwa region. I repeat, ever. Those are just stories parents made to alleviate their children of the fear of the berserks."

"But the G-Dragon?" Mina stubbornly insists. "The G-Dragon was born on the Shinhwa region, right? He's not a myth! He built the Big Bang region. Silver Moon region stood over what was used to be the Big Bang region!"

"Was he, though?" Tiffany eyed Mina coldly. "No one knows where did G-Dragon come from. There are speculations that he was born on some random region and grew strong enough so he became the first Dragon."

"But–"

"ENOUGH!"

Tiffany slammed the table, surprising the other ten accompanying her. Her pink aura leaked out of her skin, forming a sharp, glowing ooze that intensifies her authority. There are blue flashes in her eyes that made even Momo and Jihyo cower in fear. Dents are forming on the wooden table from where Tiffany's blunt nails dig.

She snarled at the younger Anihumans before she speaks. "We've done everything. Everything, to try to heal Taeyeon. There's nothing else we can do, young ones. This, is what fate has decided for us. Taeyeon's death, or she'll find a way to breach the border and destroy the world."

The Pegasus bowed once then her heels. Seohyun followed hastily after muttering an apology to the younger girls.

However, Tiffany stopped just before she exits the room, exhaling heavily. Her furious eyes turned gloomy as seconds past. "I'm... sorry, for you girls to know about this. But, please, refrain from butting your nose into our problem. Just focus on your exam. We don't want anything bad happens to anyone, ever again. Especially not to you, our precious little dongsaeng."

Tiffany smiled brokenly at the young Anihumans, making their heart constricts in guilt.

"Annyeong, young ones."

With that, both her and Seohyun disappeared.

Silence engulfed the nine girls left by the rulers. They are all buried deep into their own thought, mulling over Tiffany's explanation words by words. The silence breaks when Momo stood up harshly.

"I'm leaving," the nine-tailed vixen announced and she strides away. Jeongyeon immediately went after her, bidding her fellow team goodbye with a worried look on her face.

The seven girls left behind glance to each other in confusion. Nayeon exhaled, leaning against Sana and laughs dryly into the empty air.

"That's some deep we're involving ourselves into, eh?"

###

"She hasn't come out?"

Jeongyeon shook her head sadly at Byulyi's question. She laid beside Byulyi on their wooden rug, crossing her arms above her eyes. Byulyi hummed and she Jeongyeon's head to soothe her sister's nerves.

"Unnie, what should we do?" the bear asked sadly. She's been banging on their shared bedroom door for half an hour straight, coaxing and patiently waiting for Momo to open the door. But Momo didn't bother to reply. The brown haired fox had locked herself inside after their meeting with the rulers.

Jeongyeon understands that Momo is upset, betrayed by the fact that she lost two eras of her life because of Taeyeon's accident. Moreover, the other Soshi team must have known about this, but they didn't bother to tell Momo beforehand. Heck, if Sunny and IU didn't come to the human world, Jeongyeon doubts that the rulers will tell them any of this.

"Maybe I should try to talk to her," Byulyi offers.

At Jeongyeon's tired, "Yes, please," Byulyi rose and went to their bedroom. She knocked thrice, softly, ears alert to catch any noises from inside.

"Momo?"

There's a muffled sound from somewhere within the room.

Jeongyeon groaned. "Favoritism."

Byulyi chuckled at her sister who is slowly turning into her animal form, searching for the best spot and position to have a nap. She turned back to the door, knocking to let Momo know that she's still there.

"Momo, can unnie come in?"

Silence save from the faint snore from the Kodiak bear behind her back.

Then a click, followed by the telltale screech of the door hinge as it slowly moved open. Byulyi counts it as an invitation and stepped inside. There's a strange smell of fire and something else as she gets inside the room, making her scrunched her nose. She found Momo perched on top of a wooden chest Byulyi uses to store her underwears, hugging her knees while playing with a white fire from her palm.

Momo looks up at the approaching human, sighing quietly. "Hey, unnie."

Byulyi raised her eyebrow as she sat on the bed. "Hey, Momo."

The fox smiled stiffly and she scoots closer to Byulyi, who wraps her arm around her sister's shoulder and pulled her close. Byulyi instinctively rubbed Momo's upper arm. The younger girl sighed contently, leaning herself against her sister's side.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Momo shook her head. "No. Jeong must have told you, anyway."

"Ah, so you know."

Momo chuckled. They stayed like that for a few minutes until Momo opened .

"Am I wrong?"

"For?"

The fox shrugged. "I don't know. Feeling like this?"

Byulyi denied that easily. "There's nothing wrong with your feeling. I didn't go through what you went, but I do get the gist of it. You've lost so much, so your feeling is justified. At least, for me. And for Jeongyeon, who both are simply outsiders in this issue of feeling."

Momo was silent as Byulyi continues.

"But do you justify your feeling?"

The fox cringed at that, moving away from Byulyi's embrace to once more hug her knees. Momo lets out a dry laugh as she summoned another flicker of fire from her finger.

"I don't... I don't feel good, about this whole ordeal, yeah. It hurts me to know that they've kept this information for long, and it hurts me more because it's actually them that made me like," Momo gestures to her whole body. "Like what I used to be."

Byulyi nodded in acknowledgment. She chose to Momo's fisted hand that is not juggling the spark of fire between her fingers. The young Anihuman whimpered, shutting her eyes tight.

"But I don't... I don't feel any, resentment? Why, unnie? Shouldn't I be mad? Angry at them? But I'm not! I don't actually feel anything aside from the shock when I heard that! I don't know what's wrong but, no matter what, I can't really be upset at them."

Byulyi smiled. "Maybe... it's because you've actually accepted that everything simply has... passed."

"...passed?"

"Yes, Momo," the older girl patted her younger sister's head, urging Momo to look at her. "You thought you've lost two eras of your life because of the accident. But did you, really?"

Momo took her time to think over Byulyi's words. When she failed to understand, she stares helplessly at her sister who chuckled. Byulyi leaned back to lay on the bed and Momo took the cue to curl beside Byulyi.

"Mo, you might think that you lost two eras of your life because of the accident. Well, from my point of view, you lost nothing. Instead, you gain more."

"How so?"

"Easy," Byulyi laughs softly. "What did you do for the whole two eras since the accident?"

"Hmmm," Momo stares at the ceiling and shrugged. "Training my off?"

"Exactly," the older girl smiled. "Mo, you've trained harder than anyone else in your team because of your accident. You trained and fought with your disability. That gave you a wider skill set because you have your 'healthy skills' and 'sick skills'."

Momo grinned. "Sick skills... that sounds cool."

"I know, right?" Byulyi chuckled when she noticed the joyous twinkle returned into Momo's eyes. "You grew stronger, Mo. So strong that you become a Legend. That's a feat not many people could achieve, ne? And your disappearance for two eras made you realize, just how much your friends, your team, love you. You understand the feeling of 'coming home'. You experienced a lot of things your friends didn't, and those are not losses."

The fox Anihuman nods slowly, agreeing with Byulyi's words. But she keeps her silence as she gestures Byulyi to continue. The human simply took a deep breath before she speaks again.

"Everything happens for a reason, Momo. That's what we called as fate. It's not a coincidence that you, a person whose life was thrown into a mess caused by their wrongdoings, end up challenging the throne as the next SM ruler. There has to be a reason, Mo. Maybe.. it's for you to realize that, the hardships you've gone through, made you a better person. For you to cherish what had passed, no matter how hard, how painful, how disastrous it was. So you can appreciate your life more and live life to the fullest."

Momo considers Byulyi's speech thoroughly. Her sisters words helped her to sort her feeling, and at the end of her thinking, she found herself agreeing fully with Byulyi. She couldn't be mad at the Soshi team because deep down, she'd never think of her disability as a misfortune. It was simply an accident, she took the risk to protect her dear friends, and took the chance to rebound to her stronger self despite the wounds.

And now, not even a single scar left on her body.

But she still has the abilities she gained when she's being crippled.

She took a deep breath, gradually coming to terms with her feelings, and opened her eyes.

"A reason..." Momo whispered, realizing something. "I... I grew to be a Legend because Taeyeon-sunbaenim became a berserk.."

"Mhm."

"If.." Momo whipped her head to face her sister. "If she didn't go berserk.. I might not become a Legend like I am right now. Because I didn't grow strong enough. Jihyo might not, too."

Byulyi raised her eyebrow. "Well, maybe."

Momo hummed, her chin seriously. "Soshi team... are not strong enough... because none of them are Legends."

"Momo?"

The vixen grinned wide, turning to her sister with a new determination flared in her eyes.

"I know what I should do."

###

"WHAT THE ?!!"

Momo wiped her face from the iced tea Jihyo spat at her. The two Anihumans are currently sitting in a cafe, having a private meeting courtesy of Momo's request. Jihyo had innocently come, unaware of everything and calmly ordered a glass of iced tea, only to spat it all back to her fellow Legend when Momo explained her plans.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!!"

Jihyo continues her yelling, pointing an accusing finger to Momo. The fox raised her eyebrow.

"Maybe I am. Maybe I am not."

"AND YOU BRING HER ALONG!" Jihyo turned to the other Anihuman sitting beside Momo.

Chaeyoung grinned and waved. "Hi, unnie."

"DON'T 'HI, UNNIE,' ME!" Jihyo hollered. She once more whipped her head to the older Anihuman, slowly going crazy by her previous revelation. "WHY IS CHAEYOUNG HERE?!!"

Momo shrugged. "She's a Special. She's going to be a formidable ally if we're going to continue this."

"AND YOU AGREED?"

Chaeyoung nodded her head. "I feel bad for the Soshi team. At least, we might be able to help ease their worry by trying."

"No, no, no," Jihyo slumped down on her seat, arms crossed over her chest as she looks at her teammates incredulously, "No, this is suicide. You're going to help Soshi team, by challenging Kim Taeyeon? Momo you've got to be kidding me."

"I'm dead serious, Jihyo," the fox sipped her lemon tea calmly. "We are Legends. Plus Chaeyoung is a Special. If we aid the Soshi team in their hunt, they might be able to found Taeyeon-sunbaenim and... do the deed."

"Mo," Jihyo moaned tiredly. "Mo do you know by what name does Kim Taeyeon called?"

Momo nodded. "The 8^th Dragon. The only born Dragon in 500 eras. The second strongest Dragon ever alive. The strongest living Anihuman. You name it."

"Exactly," Jihyo reached over the table to flick Momo's forehead. "She's like... the Legend of Legends. We can't challenge her! We're just normal Legends! We have more possibility to die than hers if we fight her!"

"But there's the two of us," Momo raised her index and middle finger. "Plus the Soshi team, and Chaeng. And her power had been stolen by Tiffany-unnie. Moreover, she'd been living on the NML for two eras. It's constant fighting inside that hell, Jihyo. She can't be that strong now, considering everything."

"Still.."

"Unnie," Chaeyoung cuts their argument with a firm voice. "Look, even if you refused, Momo-unnie and I will still offer our help to the Soshi team. I just can't... see them like this. And maybe, what Momo-unnie said is true. We are destined to stop Taeyeon-sunbaenim. We wouldn't know if we don't try."

"One way or another, we're still going to fight her," Momo adds. "Remember what Tiffany-unnie said? NML has become a land unable to support life. One of these days, the berserks are going to breach the border so they can continue living. That includes Taeyeon-sunbaenim. We're going to fight her sooner or later, and by God, I prefer soon because I don't want another disaster happens like what JYP-region went through."

Jihyo moaned again, louder and more tired than the previous one. She eyed her teammates who are looking at her hopefully and groaned. She lifts her hand to massage her temple.

"So even if I say no, you're still going?"

Momo and Chaeyoung nodded.

"Why didn't you tell the other girls?"

Chaeyoung answered lightly. "We can't risk them. The power level is too far-fetched. At least, the three of us could survive if the berserkers attack, but the Rares and Commons? Not a chance."

"So you decided to keep this a secret?"

Momo shook her head. "Not really. At least, not to our keepers. I've talked to Byulyi-unnie. Chaeyoung has also received permission from Hyejin-unnie. We're only waiting for you."

Jihyo contemplates her choices. After a few moments, she sighed.

"Well, damn. I'm your leader. I can't let you roam around without my supervision. Give me a day to talk to Yongsun-unnie and we'll beat the outta that Dragon."

To be continued...