Chapter 13

Decoding Prophesies at Dinner

            Night had fallen, and dinner was almost ready. Ryeowook had made his famous kimchi fried rice, and Katrina attempted to make seaweed soup, attempted being the key word. She had burnt the water, over-cooked the seaweed, and added so much pepper that one taste made Ryeowook cry. So now she was sitting as far away from the stove as possible while Ryeowook made another batch of soup.

            “That’s ok, your mom wasn’t the best cook in the world either.” Ryeowook laughed, tasting his soup.

            “Ryeowook?” Katrina asked, breaking her stare at the dining table and into Ryeowook’s gentle brown eyes. “What was my mom like?” It seemed like everyone around her knew her mom so well while she, her own daughter, knew virtually nothing about her besides the fact that she liked Phantom of the Opera and that she couldn’t cook. Ryeowook was taken aback by this question, and it took him a few minutes before he started to answer.

            “She’s a very kind and generous woman. She’ll give you the shirt off her back if you need it, and I don’t think she’s ever met a stranger. If you’re lost or abandoned, she’ll welcome you into her family with open arms. That’s how all of us came here you know.”

            “Yeah,” Katrina interrupted, “Leeteuk said something about how she could locate Phantoms; that she knew where they were at all times.” Ryeowook nodded.

            “It’s true. When each of our powers got powerful enough, or if we needed a place to stay right then, she’d seek us out and offer us a home; a place where we could finally belong.”

            It was quiet for a few minutes, the bubbling broth being the only thing uttering a sound, until Katrina asked, “Where did she find you?”

            Ryeowook sipped his broth, using it as an excuse to think about his answer. Finally he replied, “She found me in the forest.” Katrina gave him a puzzled look.

            “Forest? Why were you in the forest?”

            “Because that was the only place I was safe. You see, I’m actually not a full Phantom. I’m half human, half spirit.” Ryeowook explained. Now Katrina was really confused.

            “How the heck does that work?”

            “Well, my mom met a mysterious man, and they fell in love. However, the “man” wasn’t actually alive; he was a spirit who was a Phantom in life, but he was able to trick her into thinking he was just a regular bachelor. By the time Mom finally found out what he really was, he had disappeared and she became pregnant with me.”

            “Whoa whoa wait!” Katrina interrupted again. “You mean your mom had se-“

            “Please don’t ask!” Ryeowook exclaimed. “It’s disturbing for even me to talk about it.” Katrina nodded as he continued.

            “Anyway, by the time I was born, it was apparent that I was different. I would constantly babble to someone that wasn’t there, I’d space out to where Mother would think I was dead, and my eyes would glow when I was upset. I was a freak. My uncle wanted Mother to put me up for adoption, but she loved me too much to obey his command. However, Uncle finally had a chance to rid of me when she died of the flu when I was six. When I was put into his care, I tried to run away, knowing his intentions of getting rid of me, but he caught me before I could escape and put me in a canvas bag. He wasn’t just going to send me away- he intended to kill me! He traveled to the nearest river and threw me in, thinking that I would drown in the bag. But unbeknownst to him, the forest spirits that dwelled nearby had seen all that had happened, and when the bag was out of Uncle’s range of sight, they rescued me and brought me into their forest, where I lived before your mom found me. They taught me how to astral project, how to pass into the spirit world, and how to destroy evil spirits. My powers developed, and that, combined with my living condition, was the reason Madame Christine brought me here. She offered to be my second mother, and I accepted. That’s what she’s been to me ever since; my second mother.” Ryeowook finished as he started plating the food.

Again, silence filled the room. Katrina started to help Ryeowook, pouring soup into bowls. This continued until Katrina suddenly asked,

“Did she love me Ryeowook?”

This caused him to stop his work and suddenly embrace her.

“Of course she did Katrina.” He replied. “In fact, she would get me to bring her when I astral projected to your home. She wanted to watch you grow up.”

This shocked Katrina. “You can bring other people when you astral project?”

Ryeowook nodded. “She came with me almost every night. She never wanted to leave you, but she knew she had to to protect you. So, she settled for visiting you in spirit, though she was sorry that you could never see her.” This made Katrina almost cry. Her mother cared. She really did want to see her daughter. Katrina looked into Ryeowook’s eyes.

“Thank you Ryeowook. For everything.”

Ryeowook smiled. “Anytime.” They finally released their hug, getting ready to place the food on the table, when Ryeowook remembered the thing he was going to tell Katrina before.

“Oh, by the way, your mom wanted me to tell you-“

“DINNER!!!” Donghae exclaimed as he ran into dining room/kitchen, almost knocking the table over.

“Donghae! Be careful!” Eunhyuk scolded his twin as he entered the room and sat down at the table. Katrina glanced towards Eunhyuk, wondering if now was the time to apologize. As if she read her mind, Donghae met Katrina’s eyes and nodded. Eunhyuk was ok to approach. Brought them both some rice and soup, and when she served Eunhyuk, she bent down to his level.

“Eunhyuk?” she started. He raised his eyes to her, cocking his eyebrow. “I, uh, wanted to apologize for the whole “have a heart” thing earlier. I-“

“No,” Eunhyuk interrupted. “I should be the one apologizing Katrina. I shouldn’t have called you heartless in the first place. It’s just that I didn’t think you’d be so, so-“

“Rebellious?” Katrina offered.

“Well, yeah,” Eunhyuk admitted. “I mean, Ryeowook did warn us about your behavior.” At this, Katrina glared at Ryeowook, who grinned sheepishly in reply. “But I just couldn’t believe that you were so much more different than your mother. That is, until I actually met you. I expected you to be kind and generous, not, well, you.” Katrina was hurt.

“And there’s something wrong with me?” Katrina spat.

“No! Not at all!” Eunhyuk defended, “That’s why I’m at fault. I shouldn’t have expected something other than the real you to walk through our door, and if this is the real you,” he paused for effect before giving Katrina a small smile, “Well, welcome to our family.” Katrina returned his smile. This guy actually wasn’t half bad.

“Yay! We’re all a big happy family again!” Donghae grinned as he initiated a group hug, squishing the other two face to face.

“Does this happen often?” Katrina asked Eunhyuk. This was the second time she had been caught in a Donghae bear hug. Eunhyuk grimaced back.

“Very often.” He replied as Donghae suddenly released them in order to eat his food. After Eunhyuk repositioned himself on his seat, he followed suit, shoveling rice into his mouth like his life depended on it. Katrina was about to head back to the kitchen when Shindong suddenly bust down the door and scooped Katrina up in yet another bear hug, although this hug almost squeezed all the breath out of the helpless girl.

“Congratulations Katrina! You were awesome today! No one told me you could fight!” he exclaimed as Kyuhyun walked through the door.

“Shindong, Katrina can’t breathe.” He stated nonchalantly as he took his seat and Ryeowook served him. Suddenly aware of the situation, Shindong let go of Katrina as she gasped for air.

“Sorry!” he exclaimed as Katrina finally caught her breath.

“It’s ok,” she looked up at his face that reminded of her best friend. “You look like Atlas.” She suddenly blurted, causing heads to turn. Shindong scratched his head in confusion.

“You mean your friend from home?” Shindong asked. Katrina nodded. “Well yeah,” he smiled, “It makes since. After all, we are-“

Sungmin suddenly strode in with Yesung at his side who carried his black notebook.

“Alright guys, Leeteuk and Siwon won’t be joining us today, but they gave us orders to help Yesung decode the prophesy.” At this, everyone sat down at the dinner table. Yesung gave Sungmin the book before sitting next to Ryeowook.

“But doesn’t Yesung know what the prophesy means?” Katrina voiced. Yesung shook his head.

“No, he only knows the words the spirits told him, not the true meaning behind the words.” Ryeowook explained. Sungmin cleared his throat.

“Alright, we’re going to dissect this one line at a time,” he stated, turning the pages of the notebook until he found the desired page. “Nine plus three shall go to the land where darkness now reins.” Sungmin began.

“The nine is us,” Kyuhyun pointed out, “the nine clan members.”

“Yeah, but where does that leave Katrina?” Donghae asked. Katrina shrugged.

“I guess I’m part of the three.” She guessed.

“But who are the other two then?” Eunhyuk wondered out loud.

“Well in any case,” said Sungmin, “It’s clear that 12 people are going to Onew’s hideout, ‘the land where darkness now reins’.”

“But we don’t even know where that is!” Shindong exclaimed.

“Ryeowook’s working on that,” Sungmin replied. “Right Ryeowook?”

“Yes,” Ryeowook replied, “I’m using astral projection to scout out where Madame Christine is being held captive. I haven’t located the exact location yet, but I believe she’s somewhere north.”

“Yes, that’s not vague at all.” Kyuhyun muttered sarcastically.

Sungmin continued: “And will find the ones that are freed, yet are bound with chains.”

“Madame Christine must be the one in chains.” Eunhyuk added.

“Yeah, but who are ‘the ones that are freed’, and why are they also in chains?” Shindong asked. No one knew the answer.

“The only thing we can conclude from this statement is that there are more people that need to be rescued from Onew.” Sungmin decided. Everyone nodded in agreement before he read the next line.

“When the lights of truth and deceiving darkness battle, one will remain.”

“That’s easy!” exclaimed Donghae. “We, the light, will fight Onew, the darkness, and one will win.”

“Yes, but I’m sure there’s a hidden meaning in this obvious statement. That’s how prophesies work after all.” Kyuhyun pointed out. Yesung nodded in agreement.

“Well anyway,” Sungmin replied, “It seems as though we can’t fully decode this line yet. So, moving on.” He looked back to the page. “But the one who holds the Earth will bear the burden once again.”

This was probably the most cryptic line in the whole prophesy. No one said anything at first due to the lack of answers.

“Maybe it’s talking about God?” Ryeowook suggested. Yesung shook his head, and Kyuhyun read his mind.

“He’s saying that there was no divine energy in that sentence when he spoke them. There would have been if the prophesy was talking about God.” Kyuhyun explained.

“Then who else could hold up the Earth?” Donghae wondered, and then came to an ‘epiphany’. “Shindong! Shindong can hold up the Earth with his strength!” His answer was met with silence before it was broken by Shindong’s laughing.

“I may be strong, but I can’t hold up the world Donghae.” He ruffled the younger’s hair, causing him to pout.

“Alright, looks like we can’t decipher this line either.” Sungmin read the last two lines. “And only time will ever tell, / If his doom can be avoided as well.”

“‘His doom’ is probably referring to ‘the one who holds the Earth’.” Eunhyuk concluded.

“And Katrina has something to do with preventing that person’s doom!” Donghae exclaimed. Katrina crossed his arms.

“Why me?” she asked. Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow.

“Isn’t it obvious? ‘Only time will ever tell’, the word ‘time’ referring to you since you can control time.”

Katrina shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose. Of course, it could just mean that we will have to wait for something. Isn’t that what ‘time will tell’ usually means?” Katrina replied. Everyone was silent as Sungmin closed the book.

“Well, it seems the only thing we can take from the prophesy right now is that we will be fighting Onew soon.” He concluded as he went to get himself some rice, signaling that the decoding session was over. The rest of the dinner was spent mostly in silence, though Eunhyuk, Donghae, and Shindong were conversing amongst themselves quietly. Katrina, on the other hand, was deep in thought.

I’m now officially part of this clan, and they’re counting on me. This is serious.She realized. Ryeowook started cleaning off the table as Donghae, Eunhyuk, Shindong, and Kyuhyun started leaving. Katrina started to help as Yesung yawned. Ryeowook patted him on his shoulder.

“Maybe you should go to bed now Yesung. You’ve been through a lot today.” Ryeowook suggested. Yesung smiled and nodded as he took his dish to the sink. Before transporting, he bowed to Ryeowook and Katrina, thanking them for the dinner. As Ryeowook went to bow back, Yesung suddenly took Ryeowook’s face and kissed his cheek, making a big show out of it. Sungmin and Katrina laughed as Yesung’s victim wiped his cheek furiously. Yesung gave one final wink and a sly smile before vanishing to his room for the night.

“He has no concept of personal boundaries!” Ryeowook exclaimed, though he secretly found Yesung’s gesture amusing. Sungmin smiled as he stood up.

“I’m going to see if Leeteuk and Siwon are done with their meeting yet.” He went to leave before he suddenly remembered something, “Oh, Ryeowook. Leeteuk requested that you stay in Katrina’s room tonight. He wants to make sure she stays out of trouble.” He stated as he closed the door behind him.

“Hmp! Get into trouble! When do I ever get into trouble?” Katrina rebuked. Ryeowook snorted.

“Oh, I don’t know. Every minute of every day?” Ryeowook answered, receiving a face full of rice for his trouble.

“Shut up ghost boy!” Katrina teased as they finished cleaning the dishes. When they were done, they both headed to Katrina’s room next-door.

“So, this astral projection thing-“ Katrina started, before Ryeowook interrupted.

“You want to come with me tonight don’t you?” he asked. Katrina beamed.

“I see Kyuhyun has taught you well.”

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So, I'm back to updating in cosectutive days, for now. :) Hope this chpater wasn't too boring, but I felt some background was needed, so here you go. Next chapter will include Ryeowook and Katrina's astral projection adventures, and you'll see more of Atlas and Phillip too. Please be looking foreward to it! Please comment and subcribe! Thanks! :D

~Justjoking <3