Timing. Most things in life were all about timing. Feeling her heartbeat quicken, Mina knew that the timing of her new thoughts were inappropriate. She shouldn't be thinking about how Chanyeol's soft lips felt against her own or how she liked the way he was gently holding her face in between his large hands. She should be thinking of the injured Suho and the Legends still risking their lives fighting off the Red Force. She shouldn't be thinking of the way her heart felt like it was going to burst. The timing wasn't right... but she couldn't help herself. She could only think about the things she wasn't supposed to. Including the idea that maybe she was meant to be with Chanyeol.

What if it was true? 

Feeling Chanyeol lift his lips away from hers only to meet them again with a little more force, Mina's eyes flashed opened in surprise. It was now apparent that she wasn't the only one who forgot what they were supposed to be doing. Chanyeol was now no longer transferring energy to give Mina an energy boost. He was actively and purely just kissing her.

Closing her eyes again, Mina felt one of Chanyeol's hands fall to her shoulder. Opening her eyes immediately, Mina lifted the hands that were resting at her sides and lightly pushed against Chanyeol's chest. Breaking their connection, the Legend let Mina go and bashfully turned his head away.  

Looking down, the girl realized why she pushed the Legend away. When one of the phoenix's hand fell on her shoulder, another Legend's image had ran through her mind. Though she had been wrapped in thoughts of only Chanyeol, another had managed to penetrate her thoughts. 

Feeling the rain begin to slow down and not letting another silent moment pass between them, Chanyeol pulled the girl towards the waiting Legends. "We're almost there."

Following behind, Mina finally returned to the right mindset. Getting closer to the two Legends, she noticed that they didn't wear the robes she expected them to, but regular clothing. Considering that it had been a while since they must have landed, she figured just like Chanyeol and Kai they had gotten help along the way.  Eyes falling on the one she knew was 'Chen' she watched as he looked away from the unconscious Legend laying in his arms, to the approaching couple. 

Of all the Legends Mina had come into contact with, Chen was perhaps the most human looking. That however, didn't mean he was lacking in terms of physical appearance.  

Not in the least.

With curved lips that reminded her of Tao's, a well defined jaw line, and dark hair that created a striking contrast to his lighter skin tone, Chen was unmistakably an unearthly Legend.

Gazing at him, Mina saw that just beneath his dark and wet short hair was a tense look in his deep brown eyes. It somehow looked unnatural. As if his face was not accustomed to brooding or harsh expressions.  

Stopping directly in front of the two, Chanyeol let Mina go, allowing her to get closer. 

Kneeling down, Mina felt Chen's watchful eyes follow her every move, but that didn't worry her at the moment. What worried her was the immense pressure on her to somehow tap into Lay's inherent abilities. She was told how she used the other powers before and now had the ability to use their ancient language casually. However, using their language was different than using their powers. She had actively worked on switching in and out of the tongue and was now able to control it. But she had never been able to call upon or tap into the other powers she had once used, despite trying on multiple occasions. 

"What is she doing?" Jongdae asked, looking at Chanyeol. 

"She's going to help."

Visibly nervous, Mina looked over Suho and then up to Chen. "What's wrong with him?" she asked, not seeing any visible injuries. 

Turning the guardian's position, and lifting his shirt, Mina saw a large marking across Suho's chest. A curious and unbelievable sight to see, the marking wasn't an open flesh wound, nor was it even bleeding. It seemed to be burning.

Speechless at what see was seeing, Mina was hesitant to touch the marking at all. But exhaling and placing her right hand above it, she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.  

- - -

As the clouds continued to disappear from the sky above them, Lyn tapped her fingers on the steering wheel in front of her.

"Please stop that."

"We should be going after Mina!" Lyn replied, slamming her hands down in frustration.

Sighing, Daniel looked away from the tablet screen in his hands, "She's safe with Chanyeol."  

"I know, but we might be missing something important!"

"It's best if we stay on the sidelines and wait."

"Ugh! I hate the sidelines!"

"Lyn, you're familiar with idioms right?"

Turning her head towards Daniel, Lyn titled her head in confusion. "Yeah, so?"

"A shrimp breaks his back when whales fight... So we need to minimize the collateral damage and stay away at times like these."

Scowling, Lyn nodded and looked back at the untraveled earth before her. Her eyes falling to the keys still in the ignition, she smiled. "Well I'm not a shrimp." Turning the car back on, Lyn went to put the car into drive, but was stopped by Daniel's hand. 

"Did you just not hear what I said?" Daniel yelled.

"I did, I just don't agree with it. Mina's a shrimp too, and she's not sitting around doing nothing right now."

"But Mina isn't like you and me! She's not normal. We are normal!"

"I have known her almost my whole life! She's practically my sister."

"That doesn't mean she's normal." Lifting his hand and sighing, Daniel looked away from Lyn. "No amount of my planning and strategizing can compare to what she's been able to do. I can finally admit it now... I've seen her abilities first hand, and so have you! Her place is out there with them. Ours is in here, aiding them when it's best."

Listening to Daniel, the girl knew he was right. But she believed that if she accepted that mentality, it meant that Mina belonged with them, in their world. It was something she didn't like thinking about. Removing her hand from the gear shift, she turned off the car and crossed her arms and sighed, "Why Mina?"

- - -

Unbelievable. There was no other way to explain it. The fact that the Red Force had been able to match the Legends in strength for so long was nothing short of unbelievable. It was fair to say that it was only that way because there were only four Legends actively fighting, but taking into account that the Red Force had entered the new world later than them and still managed to concentrate in such a way, was unnerving. 

Nonetheless, the Legends managed to snuff out the majority of the formed Chasers but could not stop the Red Force entirely, before it retreated on it's own; leaving the Legends to recuperate.  

"Stop moving." 

"Can't you do this faster? We need to go catch up with the others."

"I can if you stop moving," Lay replied, tightening his hold on Kris's wounded arm.

"It was almost at the same level it was when we had to leave Exo," Tao said worriedly, still thinking of the battle that just occurred.   

"For some reason it's been able to thrive on this planet," Kyungsoo added, the cogs in his mind actively turning. "I wonder why."

"Are you done? I feel fine," Kris asked Lay impatiently.

Not taking Kris's attitude, the healer was short with his words. "You were the only one constantly targeted, and you were the only one actively hit. Let me heal you properly."

Watching Yixing heal Kris, Tao also recalled seeing the Chasers target Kris. Why?

Walking over, Kyungsoo nodded. "I noticed that too. But I'm not sure, maybe they sensed that he is weaker than us?"

"I'm not weaker," Kris replied hotly.

"Well, it was just a guess," D.O. replied. "I'll think about it more and try and come up with an answer. I want to know why myself."  

"Done."

"Finally!" Taking back his arm and not wasting a moment, Kris leapt up into the air and took off, leaving the others to take off running directly behind him. 

- - - 

"Is it working?"

"Are you trying right now?"

Opening her eyes and looking at her hands, Mina saw that nothing had happened as the mark remained.

Crouching down beside her, Chanyeol moved Mina's hands to touch the mark she had yet to make contact with. But before she touched the mark, the phoenix engulfed her hands in a bright blue flame. Recognizing it as the eternal flame, Mina looked over to Chanyeol as he guided her hands down.

"The mark won't hurt you, just try concentrating like you did when we were jumping in and out of your language and mine."

"Okay..."

Watching as the girl touched Suho's chest, Chen's hardened gaze shifted into one of intrigue. "She's going to heal him?"  

"She's going to try," Chanyeol replied, letting Mina's hands go.

Closing her eyes again, Mina took even breaths and tried to remember how she concentrated when speaking and listening to Chanyeol and the others. Speaking the other language was now second nature to her, and it was hard to remember what she did to achieve that. Still, she had to at least try now.

Feeling the pressure, Mina wondered how Yixing dealt with these situations so calmly, or how doctors and nurses dealt with it on a daily basis. It was too stressful. Shaking her head and trying to push her distressing thoughts to the back of her mind, the girl refocused and cleared her mind. As the Legends watched her on bated breath, things became quiet.

With time passing them by in complete stillness for what seemed like an eternity, a sole gasp finally broke the silence. 

Jongdae had seen others being healed and had been healed many times before, but the fact that it was someone other than Lay doing it, shocked him. Seeing the mark begin to lift off Suho's chest and disappear as the girl kept her eyes shut tightly, Chen began to wonder what many of the other Legends had already wondered about Mina. But more than feeling curiosity towards her, he was thankful.

Entering the world on his own, the scorpion was lucky enough to come across Suho after two days of restless searching. Once reunited, Suho took the reins as the Guardian and lead the pair competently. And thanks to his efforts, the duo had managed to acquire aid from multiple humans along their way.

So for the past week things had been fine in terms of progress for the two and until today there had been no conflicts or issues. Today marked the first time either of them had come into contact with the Red Force since entering the new world. And being ambushed so suddenly, it was no surprise that Suho had almost instantly gotten badly injured. 

But now that injury was fading away right before the Scorpion's dark eyes.

Looking up from the girl's flame engulfed hands to her opening eyes, Chen watched as a golden glow faded away and returned the girl's eye color back to their original shade of brown. Her eyes closing again, she then slowly fell forward, towards Suho's bare chest but was pulled back when Chanyeol reached out to her. 

With Mina falling back into Chanyeol's hold, she smiled briefly at him before calmly zoning out.

Returning the small smile, the phoenix spoke quietly, "I knew you could do it."

Picking Mina up, and adjusting her in his arms, Chanyeol noticed that Chen had been starting at him with a perplexed expression on his face. With Suho now healed, Chanyeol allowed himself to chuckle at Jongdae's confusion. Titling his own head and grinning wide, Chanyeol gave Chen's expression a reply.

"It's a long story."

- - -