"How is Taemin today?" Onew asked while skimming Minho's report like he always did at the end of the day.

"He's like always. Eats well, plays hard and sleeps a lot. But I'm able to study his wings' new form today. I've put it in my report, there." Minho turned the report in Onew's hand to the third page. "I would call it as dandelions. The feathers were small in size, lightweight, soft edges, and fluffy. They are not harmful, as I observed, but can cause minor incident due to its detachable property - like dandelions."

"I see. Taemin's wings formed this shape the first time yesterday. Glad that he could keep the form. We haven't seen this before, it's not even in any of our previous records." A smile appeared on Onew's face unconsciously. He was always excited about new findings. But his smile thinned out when his eyes ran through the last page of the report. There was a sentence that was crossed out by Minho but was still readable.

He might have lost his memory again.

"Did Taemin not recognize you?" Onew enquired.

Minho somehow regretted writing that sentence - the reason he crossed it out - but he wished he had not written it at all, to avoid this question. "No, Taemin knew me - my name. It's just that he seemed to be a little confused." He tried to explain.

"Confused?" Onew demanded a better explanation.

"He asked me why I haven't come to see him for many days and - "

"But you see him everyday," Onew gasped. "You never missed a day since he woke up two months ago!"

"Yes." Minho took a moment before he continued, "and he asked me where was his banana milk that I promised him."

Onew's eyes grew wider. "I thought he got tired of it, didn't he?"

"Yes, he said he was tired of banana milk last week. That's why I don't bring them anymore."

"This happened before, right?"

Minho didn't answer because he knew it was a rhetorical question. Onew knew it well that it had happened a few times before. It had happened every time Taemin wings gained a new form. The first time it happened, it was only a week after he had awakened and the second was on the 32nd day. On both occasions, Taemin seemed to forget events that happened a few days prior but retained the skills that he had learned during the period.

Both of the researchers didn't say a word for a long minute. They knew that they both somehow had the same conclusion but were not sure if it's alright to say it with so little evidence. Onew was the first one to break the silent.

"I think the wings are feeding on the host's memory."

Minho stayed quiet but he couldn't agree more. It explained why Taemin had lost his memory after his awakening episode. He had always known that such a great power would require a price. He used to be afraid that the power was eating Taemin's life source. At least, if Onew's theory was true, it meant that Taemin was not in danger. However, to think that there would be a day when Taemin might not recognize him, he felt sick. He had experienced it before, but he didn't know if he could face it again. It took him everything not to break down that day. He wished he would be stronger when it happened again. Cross that, he wished that day would never come.

XXX

Minho was the first to rush into the Nest. He ran straight to the cabin and when he opened the door, his blood ran cold. The room was covered in blood. Maria's body was impaled to the wall with knive-like-feathers all over her. Her small body was buried under the sharp feathers, blood dripping endlessly - no matter who saw it, there was no way she could survive that. But it didn't mean Minho was going to ignore any possibility of saving her. He tried calling for Maria, trying to get her response as he plucked out the feathers from her body. He avoided the ones at her vital points to make sure he didn't worsen her condition. He was able to get her off the wall, but no matter how much he called for her, there was no response. Her heart had stopped beating and the blood didn't stop gushing. Onew appeared with three paramedics just as soon as Minho shouted for help.

The paramedics only examined Maria for a minute before declaring - she's gone.

Onew refused to believe it and had ordered the paramedics to take Maria to the Emergency Room right away. They obeyed, while a bit reluctantly.

Minho knew Onew was overwhelmed with emotions as he was, but he forced himself to be collected. He had to calm Taemin down. Taemin was still on the bed, he was writhing. This was the first time Minho saw the wings to be this huge since Taemin lost all of his memory. The wings suspended in mid air and coiled as if they were snakes waiting for preys. Some parts were stained with blood but at least they were still. Minho approached Taemin.

Onew called him in panic but he ignored it. Minho tried to make as small noise as possible and to not touch the wings. From a close distance, he was able to see the real shape of the feathers clearer. They were about 7 to 10 inches long, the edges were as sharp as a knife and the they were see-through like glasses or crystals. He thought he could hear faint glass clinkings when he went pass them. When he reached Taemin, he kneeled near the bed and examined Taemin, he knew it better not to touch him. Most of the previous incidents were due to Taemin's reactions towards unpleasant stimulants such as pain, loud noise or surprised physical contact. Minho didn't want to risk another aggression, especially when he was surrounded by dangerous wings.

Taemin's face was flushed, and his breathing was ragged. He was writhing and his eyes were closed tightly that his brows creased. It was as if he had a nightmare.

"Taemin," Minho whispered his name. There wasn't any reaction at first, but when Minho called for the second time, he saw Taemin's eyes were opened slightly. Their eyes met.

"Minho... I.. I feel... weird," Taemin gasped. He was the first to grab Minho's hand.

Minho placed his other hand onto Taemin's hand and caressed him carefully. His temperature was slightly high. "It's okay, Taemin. I'm here."

"Take him down!" someone shouted.

Minho managed to turn around and saw five security guards entered the cabin, they were armed with batons and stun guns. Before Minho or Onew could say anything, they hit the floating wings with their batons, trying to make way to Taemin. As soon as the baton hit the wings, the feathers clicking loudly, and suddenly Minho felt a sharp pain at his chest. Two sharp feathers penetrated Minho's flesh. Minho heard Taemin gasped and saw the horror in his face. He wanted to tell Taemin to calm down, but the pain was getting to him. The wounds hurt and they became worse with every muscle of movements. He mustered his strength to squeezed Taemin’s hand, to get his attention. Taemin’s teary eyes met him again. He tried to tell Taemin that it was okay, even though he didn’t even know if he was going to be okay. He never knew such a short sentence needed so much effort from him and before he could finish his sentence, Minho was zapped with a high voltage electricity and unknowingly lost conscious. Before everything disappeared into a void, he heard a scream - Taemin's - and followed by a terrible clicking noise. He imagined a furious bird.

Minho woke up three days later at the institute's medical centre. He was a bit taken aback when he met the doctor. He was the same doctor that had treated him in Korea last year - Dr. Cho Kyuhyun. Minho had visited the medical centre a few times before, but he never met him. The doctor said he was lucky that the injury missed his vital organ - it was less than an inch away from his heart. His lungs were punctured but he received immediate help, so it wasn’t life threatening. He fainted because he was electrocuted accidently by a stun gun when one of the security guards tried to aim at Taemin. He was forced to stay in bed for another week. Just like before, the doctor didn’t answer any of Minho’s questions about the incident and he made sure the door was locked from the outside.

Minho didn’t have his phone with him, so he couldn’t contact any of his friends. However, Junghyun did turn up at his room on the second day. He was so worried about Minho and Onew. It was his fifth visit and it was the only time he was allowed to see Minho. He said still wasn’t able to see Onew. Jonghyun had heard that both of his friends were injured but he was clueless about what had happened at the Nest. Minho didn’t plan to drag him into the mess and told him the accident was due to a collapsed structure at the testing ground instead.   

Through out his days at the medical centre, Minho couldn’t sleep well. He couldn’t stop worrying about Taemin, Onew, the other staff and … Maria. He knew Maria most probably didn’t survive but he needed to know for sure. He couldn’t forget the image of Maria being impaled to the wall. It made him felt sick in the stomach. What could had happened? He knew Taemin had done a huge scale destruction when he awakened last year, but this time, Minho couldn’t think of the trigger. Taemin had never reacted that extreme since he had lost his memory.

Everything was answered when Onew visited Minho on his discharge day. He had changed into his casual clothes which was brought by Jounghyun a few days prior and tidy up his bed. He was waiting for a discharge note from the doctor when Onew knocked on the door. Onew had his left arm in a cast and there was a fading bruise on his chin.

“You look well. I’m glad,” Onew offered a smile with a cup of coffee that he got from the café downstairs.

Minho accepted it but didn’t drink it right away. He watched Onew dragged a chair to sit across him.

“How’s Maria?” Minho asked.

Minho saw Onew’s eyes became glassy, but he quickly looked away. “She lost too much blood and the organs were in bad conditions. She couldn’t make it.”

Minho had expected it but to have someone confirmed it, the sense of loss had become real. He remembered someone used to say that first place we go when we’ve died is in someone’s memory. At that time, he couldn’t agree more. He might have known Maria just for a short while, but all of their memories just came flooding to him. The first time they met, the days they have spent with Taemin, and the day he last saw her alive. No matter how much he was against the project, Maria was not at fault. She was a young innocent girl – she didn’t deserve that gruesome ending.  

“What about the others?” Minho remembered the other guards who entered the cabin that day.

“One of them was not seriously wounded and was discharged a few days ago, two of them had to be taken to a bigger hospital at the main city.”

They were seriously wounded.

“They couldn’t save the other two of them.” Onew added regrettably.

Minho gasped in shock. "I don't understand. Taemin never did that. He never reacted that way before."

Minho tried to make sense of what had happened. He was involved with the project since the beginning together with Onew. He knew that he knew Taemin better than the others and he had never imagine this to happen. They had taken all the precautions to prevent the disaster like in Korea a year ago.

"It might be because of the stimulant." Onew confessed.

"Stimulant?"

"Siwon - no - we asked her to give that to Taemin. We thought it would help her... do it." Onew stammered unwillingly, guilt catching up to him.

Minho remembered the candy that Maria offered to Taemin that day. It was after taking, the two teenagers acted strangely. The realization of what the candy really was made Minho’s breath hitched.

"You gave a drug to Taemin?"

Onew hug his head low without any reply. Minho felt anger boiling up inside him.

"We never gave him any drugs before! We never studied the reaction." Minho shouted, as if he could change what had happened. But of course, it all became an empty argument now. The lives had been taken. "How could you? Maria, those people... and Taemin." He accused, feeling devastated and betrayed.

“I know!” Onew shouted back. He too, was crying and felt an enormous of guilt. “I know… It was all my fault” he sobbed.

The sight of Onew sobbing reminded Minho of that day, the day all of them thought that Taemin would die. Onew had the same devastated expression and Minho knew he sincerely regretted what had happened. All of these years working under him, Minho knew Onew was not a bad person, he never meant to hurt anyone. He might not be friendly and awkward, but he had a soft heart. He truly cared for his teammates, his friends and his family. There’s no way Onew would agree to this if he knew the outcome. But everything had been done.

“You have to see Taemin.” Onew said just before the left.