Friendly? Yes. Optimistic? A given. Adventurous? Most definitely. Normal? Well... Most of her life, Mina had walked that fine line between normal and eccentric; always with one and a half feet on the normal side and the toes of her other foot just grazing the other side. However, with this week she now completely fell over into the side of eccentricity. The only normal thing about her now was her appearance.

Yet, despite her new submergence into eccentricity, at her core, she was still just another 17 year old girl. So, like most girls waking to find not only a strange guy hover above them, but also one touching their lips to her own, Mina screamed at an unwordly pitch.

Just moments before Mina began arising from what felt like a deep sleep, the girl's eyes flickered open as she felt a fleeting sensation pass over her lips. When her vision focused, she was greeted by an unfamiliar set of eyes. Not belonging to Kris, nor Tao or even Daniel, Mina was initially confused by the peculiar bright eyes. Feeling the connection between them break after Chanyeol lifted his own lips away from hers, Mina finally realized the situation. Horrified and shocked, she forcefully pushed the boy above her away and yelled accordingly.    

"I thought it wouldn't hurt her!" Kris fired, angrily pulling Chanyeol back, helping Mina increase the distance between them. No longer screaming, Mina put her hand over and sat up on the couch, her eyes wide. 

Touching his own lips lightly, Chanyeol's expression was one perplexed. "That shouldn't have hurt her." He looked over to Tao, who shared the same confused expression. 

"That's unusual. But it worked! Mina's up!" Tao said grinning and waving.  

"Well apparently it did hurt," Kris replied, moving back to his original position guarding Mina. "Are you okay?" he asked, reverting back to Mina's language and kneeling down beside the silent girl.

Hearing the concern in his voice and seeing the sincerity in his eyes, Mina couldn't hold back any longer and allowed the oncoming tears to well up in her brown eyes. The boy, who she now realized to be the phoenix, had stolen her first kiss. She didn't want to be so upset but thinking about it only made her eyes water even more. Before the first tear streamed down her cheek, Mina threw her arms around Kris, grateful for his presence and concern.

Bewildered by Mina's actions, Kris was unsure of what to do. It was the first time the girl had ever embraced him so emotionally and the sensation of being clung to caught him off guard. However, the embrace was brief as Mina let go and tried to stop the watering in her eyes.

Seeing the tears on the girl's cheek, Kris started fuming. This unusual display coming from Mina greatly concerned all three Legends in the room, but seemed to affect the dragon more so, believing that Tao and Chanyeol had knowingly and intentionally hurt his host.

"Did that really hurt you?" Tao asked, approaching Mina only to be stopped short by Kris.

Upset, Kris had angrily grabbed Tao's wrist. Alarmed by the dragon's aggressive behavior toward Tao, Chanyeol moved and placed his own hand on top of Kris's. 

"You," Kris seethed, letting Tao go and directing his aggression towards Chanyeol. 

Newly freed, Tao continued his approach and voiced his question once again. "Are you really not okay?" 

Wiping her eyes, Mina finally responded coherently in between sniffles. "I'm sorry. I'm okay... I just overreacted."

"Overreacted?" Kris repeated, letting Chanyeol loose and turning back around to Mina. "You're not hurt?"

"No, I'm not hurt, just..." Mina paused a short while and looked at Chanyeol briefly before looking back at Kris. "Why did he kiss me?"    

"Kiss?" Chanyeol and Kris questioned in unison.

"What's kiss? Chanyeol was just returning some of your energy to you," Tao explained.

"What?" Mina uttered, now confused for a different reason. 

With everyone in the small living room now completely confused, they all stared blankly at each other allowing for an awkward silence to pass between them. As the sky began illuminating a spectrum of different colors, indicating the arrival of the sunrise, the quartet began to make sense of their current status. Tao explained in detail just how the Legends were able to transfer energy to other living being by means of airway passages, specifically through the mouth and consequently the lips. Mina found the best way to make sense of it was to compare it to CPR, without the chest compressions and with more lip action... just like mouth to mouth resuscitation.

Mouth to mouth resuscitation. Mina nodded. That was it. Not a kiss. Definitely not a kiss...but..." Shaking her head and shutting her eyes, Mina realized that Tao had asked her a question. "Huh?" she mumbled out, not hearing him correctly the first time. 

His sharp dark eyes sparkling with curiosity, Tao repeated his posed question. "What's a kiss?" At Tao's repeat of the question, the other two Legends's eyes also zoned in on Mina in anticipation of her answer. 

"Ah..." She felt at a loss for words. What was a kiss? 

"It must be something horrible right? You screamed so loudly," Chanyeol said attempting to guess.

"Is it something bad?" Kris asked, looking directly at Mina.   

"It did make her cry," Chanyeol answered, sure about his assumption that a kiss was bad.

"Let Mina explain," Tao said, hushing the other two and smiling at Mina waiting for a response.

"Well... A kiss can be bad, but, hmmm... do you you know what love is?"

"Of course we know love! It's universal!" Tao answered confidently.

"Okay, so how do you Legends express your love?" Mina asked, trying to find a simple way to explain.

"Like this!" Tao said jumping up and hugging Mina.

"Right!" Mina said as Tao stood back up. "A kiss is just a way people here express love. A sign of affection like hugging but not!"

"With lips?" Kris asked intently. 

"Yeah..." Mina trailed off. Why was it harder to explain what a kiss was than accepting the fact that she had come into contact with aliens with supernatural powers? Fortunately enough, the three before her seemed to accept her answer with Chanyeol even finding a familiar example.

"Oh! Like Sehun and Luhan do!" Chanyeol chimed.

"Right! Okay I understand," Tao replied, thinking of Chanyeol's example.

"Yeah, I get it too," Chanyeol said nodding his head, a grin decorating his contented face.

Though he didn't realize what a kiss meant at the time, and the fact that Mina was not a participant but only a recipient; watching the boy grin widely, Mina couldn't help but feel her cheeks flush knowing that they had 'kinda kissed'. Just as tall as the other two, Chanyeol's greatest feature was his full toothy smile that seemed to be easy to receive from him. In contrast to Kris and Tao, his features were not as defined or sharp but rather soft and gentle. His eyes specifically were a unique  almond shape with a slight but attractive curve. Then there were his lips. His lips, they... were soft.

"Are you okay? You look like you're burning up," Kris said, watching Mina's face slightly change color as she became lost in her own thoughts. 

"Eh? I'm fine," she answered, waving off Kris's concern. 

"So you screamed because you thought Chanyeol was expressing his love for you?" Tao asked, summarizing everything Mina said. 

"Um, not exactly. He just... Oh! He said something about Kai!" Mina said changing the topic to one she felt was more important. "You two were together right?" 

"Kai! That's right!" Chanyeol responded, easily jumping into the new topic. "I had found him and we had traveled a bit together. He was really really weak when I found him, we both were."

"So where is Kai now?" Tao questioned, also forgetting the old conversation quickly.

"I don't know, we were attempting to transport together but I guess he was still to weak to take me with him. I told him we should wait but he was stubborn and didn't want to wait to find everyone else. I should have been more persistent with him." Finishing his sentence, Chanyeol's voice sounded somber.  

"Your clothing, was someone else helping you?" Mina asked, looking once again at the modern clothing Chanyeol wore.

The boy's slight downcast face immediately brightened recalling the help he and Kai received. "A little girl helped us. She hid us and gave us better clothing. I wish I could have thanked her properly."

"So you did get help then, I hope the others also have gotten help," Mina said, thinking of the eight others yet to be found.

"You helped Kris and Tao then right?" Chanyeol questioned.  

The upward curve of his mouth increasing, Tao nodded. "She's the best."

Tao and Mina explained their own first encounters, while Kris remained part of the audience along with Chanyeol. Bringing Chanyeol up to pace, Mina finished her story of meeting with Tao and was just about to ask about Chanyeol's other abilities, when she was interrupted by the sound of her door bell.  

Right on time. Daniel had arrived promptly at 6:30 am, an hour and a half before school in order to move the guys and get them resituated and ready to go to find the others of their kind. Begrudgingly answering the door, Mina opened the door revealing a smiling and overjoyed Daniel. Standing in the door way and looking to the inside of Mina's house, Daniel saw a new face and instantly realized that it belonged to yet another Legend.  

"You found another?"

"Yeah! Chanyeol, the phoenix."

Walking inside the home, Daniel was thrilled to meet yet another one of the Legends from the book he treasured so much. With some brief explaining of how and what had transpired in the early morning hours, Daniel and Chanyeol were soon caught up and ready to execute the next part of the decided plan. 

"So we're going to find everyone else now?" Chanyeol asked beaming. Just like Tao, he was ready to reunite with everyone and finish their interrupted gathering. The phoenix was also specifically anxious to find Kai, the one he had lost contact with and the one he knew was still very weak.   

"That's the plan!" Daniel replied excitedly. "So, is everyone ready to go?" he asked, looking at the three. 

"I've decided not to go."

- - - 

A/N: You guys seriously humble me so much. I've never had so many comments or subs after a chapter released and, and... ;~; I really do mean it when I say I appreciate it all because I really really do. It makes writing stories so much more fun knowing others also find enjoyment in reading what I've written. Thank you!