Chapter 23

The Ceremony

One day later…

                Katrina sat on the bed in her room that she now shared with her mother pondering what had happened in the past few days. They had all safely arrived at the Haven thanks to the Phantoms’ transportation. Leeteuk had decided that the Valkyrie could stay in the training room until Onew’s condition improved. And although the Valkyrie agreed, they all tended to stay in Leeteuk’s office where Onew lay on the couch. Leeteuk did not want Onew away from his sight, and neither did the Valkyrie. So they all stayed in there for most of the day, except for Philly of course. That boy couldn’t stay in one place if he tried.

                Philly did seem to warm up to the Valkyrie rather quickly, even though they had tried to keep him away from society back in Russia. While they were with Onew in Leeteuk’s room, he convinced Jonghyun to let him go back home, at least until the summer. Then they could go back to the Valkyrie lair and clean up the damage Morgana had caused. It didn’t take a lot of convincing though, since the Valkyrie weren’t too keen on returning to the place of their nightmares so soon.

                “Just the thought of going back gives me the shivers.” Taemin had said.

                And so, Atlas arranged for the Valkyrie to stay in the barn at the far end of his field back home. No one hardly ventured back there anymore, except for the occasional horse. It would be perfect for the Valkyrie to live in until school released for summer break; they would be away from people, but they could still keep watch over their prince.

                It was also decided that Atlas would return home as well. Shindong would move in with him, and since he was his half-brother, Atlas’s family was likely to accept Shindong’s request to move in. He felt that he needed to watch over Atlas, especially since he just developed his power recently. He was still a little unstable; even now he was transforming into a wolf at the most random times, including in the shower, during lunch, and while going to the bathroom. Atlas would need all the help he could get to keep his powers under control and under his mother’s radar.

                As for Katrina, she would be returning to the house in the morning with Christine, Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, and Yesung. Christine would tell Charles that she had returned from the “school” for good. She would just make quick visits to the Haven if needed, that way she wouldn’t have to leave Charles for extended periods of time. As for the boys, Christine would convince her husband that they were students of hers and that they needed a place to stay for the time being. This way, Katrina could be watched 24/7 while Christine did some much needed catching up with her true love. Katrina had reluctantly agreed. It wasn’t like she didn’t like the boys. In fact, she was glad that she wouldn’t have to leave Ryeowook behind. But she was a free spirit; she didn’t want to be watched around the clock. She wanted to be by herself sometimes.

                As Katrina mused about her predicament, Ryeowook slowly opened the door.

                “May I come in?” he asked shyly.

                Katrina gave him a small smile and nodded. Ryeowook walked slowly over to her, sat down gently on the bed, and slung his arm around her shoulders.

                “Look Katrina,” he started, “I know you don’t like the fact that Kyuhyun, Yesung, and I are coming with you-“

                “No,” Katrina interrupted with a smirk on her face. “I don’t like the fact that Kyuhyun’s coming. He’s gonna drive me insane.”

                They both laughed at Katrina’s jibe before Ryeowook started again.

                “Seriously though, I know that you don’t want us breathing down your neck all the time. But you don’t have to worry; we’ll give you your personal space.”

                Katrina smiled at this and hugged Ryeowook. “Thanks.”

                “But,” Ryeowook said, looking at Katrina straight in the eyes with a stern expression, “You have to promise me one thing.”

                Katrina raised her eyebrow. “And that is?”

                “Promise me that you won’t do anything stupid.”

                At this request, Katrina just stared at Ryeowook for a minute, and burst out into laughter. Ryeowook rolled his eyes.

                “Yeah, your right. That was a stupid request.” He gently took hold of Katrina’s shoulders, which caused her to stop laughing. “But seriously, please try not to do anything that will get you killed.” He suddenly held her tight. “I don’t want to lose you.”

                Katrina hugged Ryeowook as tight as she could. “I don’t want to lose you either Ryeowook.” She looked up into Ryeowook’s golden eyes and smiled. “Ok, alright.” she started, raising her right hand, “I, Katrina Daae, solemnly swear not to put myself or anyone else in harm’s way.”

                Ryeowook grinned as he gave Katrina one last squeeze and let her go.

                “Unless that someone else is Kyuhyun.” She laughed.

                “I heard that.” A voice came from the door.

                Katrina and Ryeowook looked up in surprise to see Kyuhyun, Christine, Leeteuk, Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Sungmin, and Siwon slowly entering the room in single file. They were all dressed up rather strangely; some had robes, others had fancy suits, and Donghae had a particularly odd black feather boa wrapped around his neck. Each one of them had a mask in their hands, masks that looked like the one from Phantom of the Opera. They lined up in front of the bed in a semi-circle as a confused Katrina and Ryeowook observed.

                “Hey guys.” Katrina said awkwardly. “What’s up?” She met eyes with Leeteuk, who was standing right in front of her. “Is Onew alright Leeteuk?”

                Leeteuk gave a small smile, absentmindedly brushing the dust off of his cream-colored dress shirt that nicely accented his black robe. “He’s fine, thank you. His wings have folded against his back now, and his breathing is steady. But we’re not here to talk about him right now.” He grinned as he nodded to Christine, who was standing right beside her.

                Christine smiled at her daughter as she reached into the pocket of her pure white dress and pulled out a purple mask accented with silver sequins.

                “We want you to have this Katrina.” She said with a smile as she placed the mask into Katrina’s hands.

                Katrina starred at the beautiful mask, admiring the patterns and colors. Suddenly, Ryeowook realized what was going on.

                “Oh! Hold on guys! Don’t start the ceremony without me!” he hurriedly shouted as he quickly vanished in a cloud of smoke.

                “Well, we kind of already started, but ok.” Kyuhyun muttered as he readjusted his robe hood.

                “I told you guys we should have waited for Ryeowook to change.” Complained Eunhyuk as he straightened his own black hood, which seemed to match the black tear on his face.

                “What ceremony?” Katrina asked as she slowly stood from the bed, holding the mask gently.

                “Your incitation ceremony!” Donghae exclaimed with a grin, his boa shaking with excitement.

                Sungmin sighed with frustration. “How many times do I have to tell you Donghae? The word is initiation, not incitation.”

                Yesung gestured to Shindong, smiling widely. Shindong made a sound of disappointment as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a few gold coins. Yesung snatched them from Shindong’s hand, humming with glee. High roller Yesung had just won another bet apparently.

                Leeteuk ignored Donghae and Sungmin as he stepped forward. “Whenever a new member enters the Phantom clan, we perform the a little ceremony which will give you your powers of transportation.”

                This explanation was met with a blank stare from Katrina. “But I already have my smoky disappearing trick.”

                Leeteuk chuckled. “Well yes, that’s true. That usually doesn’t happen. Usually, a Phantom only has his or her individual power until the ceremony, where they gain transportation, the signature power of our kind. Of course, you obviously didn’t need the ceremony for your powers to form.”

                Siwon nodded in agreement. “The initiation symbolizes our unity as a clan, since the inductee gains something that makes them one of us. One in the same.” He explained as Ryeowook finally returned, dressed in his white dress shirt and white coat and holding his blue and gold mask.

                “I’m ready!” He exclaimed as he joined the line.

                “It took you long enough.” Kyuhyun muttered.

                “That’s enough negativity out of you!” Shindong chided as he ruffled Kyuhyun hair, causing the hood to slip off. Kyuhyun huffed as he, once again, readjusted it.

                “You know guys,” Katrina smiled awkwardly, feeling a little weird that there was so much attention focused on her all of a sudden, “I don’t need this whole ceremony thing. Like you said, I already have my power.”

                Christine smiled at her daughter’s modesty. “We know, but this is tradition. Besides,” she reached into her other pocket and pulled out her own pure white mask, an exact replica of the one she had Leeteuk leave with Charles, “Like Siwon said, this is an act stating that we are one.”

                Leeteuk nodded. “We are family.” He said as he lifted his white and gold mask up to his face. Everyone followed suit, raising their colorful masks up to their eyes.

                At first, Katrina just stared at them incredulously, but then Christine nodded towards her, a sign that she should put on her mask as well. Katrina did so, and as soon as she did, a surge of powerful energy coursed through her veins, slightly relaxing her. She suddenly felt so alive. As she looked at the other members of her clan through her mask, she smiled as she came to a realization:

                I belong with them. I found my place! I finally belong.

                As the power from the mask began to fade, everyone slowly took off their mask, with smiles on their faces. Even Kyuhyun was glad that Katrina was finally part of their little family.

                Suddenly, Katrina ran up to her mother and embraced her. Christine grinned at her beautiful daughter and hugged her tightly back. Everyone smiled at the heartwarming sight.

                “Aw! Group hug everybody!” Donghae exclaimed as he rushed up to the female duo. Eunhyuk rolled his eyes with a smile.

                “You and your hugs Donghae.” However, he didn’t hesitate to join the others as they all gathered around into a group hug. They were all finally united. Their Madame was back, the madame heir was officially one of them now, and the evil force that they had fought for so long was finally defeated. Things couldn’t get any better.

                Of course, good things can’t last for long.

                “Leeteuk!” A voice shouted frantically from the hallway.

                “Guys!” Another voice yelled.

                Everyone turned to the doorway as Philly and Atlas skidded to a halt, breathing heavy.

                “It’s Onew!” Atlas panted, “He’s awake, but he’s hysterical. He doesn’t know what’s going on.”

                “You have to get back to your office Leeteuk!” Philly exclaimed, panic filling his eyes. “Onew is going crazy, asking where you are and-“

                “LEETEUK!” A shout came from the hallway, followed by a blast of energy that vibrated the whole mansion.

                “Onew, calm down!” Key could be heard, along with the others, but Onew wouldn’t listen. The shouts became louder and louder until Onew was seen in the doorway. However, instead of entering the room, he merely passed it up, stumbling forward and trying desperately to walk straight.

                Leeteuk raced after his brother into the hallway. The Valkyrie were only a few feet away from the door at that point. Leeteuk was about to catch up to Onew when Jonghyun suddenly shouted.

                “Leeteuk! No!”

                But he wouldn’t listen. He grabbed hold of Onew, turned him around, and folded his little brother into his warm embrace.

                “Oh, Onew! I’m so glad you’re awake! I was so worried!”

                Onew struggled against Leeteuk’s grip at first, but then slowly calmed down as he settled into his big brother’s arms.

                “Leeteuk?” he asked, “Is that you?”

                Leeteuk chuckled. “Of course it is! Who else would it be?”

                They stood like that for a while as everybody gathered around. Everyone smiled at the touching scene; everyone, that is, except the Valkyrie. Philly looked up at Jonghyun’s solemn expression.

                “Why are you guys not happy?” he asked innocently.

                Jonghyun turned to Phillip and sighed deeply. “Because we found out what he lost due to the side effects of the potion.” He stated with a frown. Phillip glanced back at the two united brothers in worry. He hoped Onew was ok.

                “Leeteuk?” Onew suddenly asked. Leeteuk let go of his embrace and stepped back in order to look into his face.

                “Yes Onew?” Leeteuk said with a smile.

                “If you’re here with me, then why can’t I see you?” Onew’s voice slightly trembled with fear.

                “What do you mean? Why can’t you-?” but as Leeteuk lifted Onew’s face to his own, he noticed that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

                “Wh-why are your eyes so cloudy Onew?” Leeteuk whispered, tears threatening to spill out of his eyes. Everyone gathered closer together to see what Leeteuk was talking about. Sure enough, Onew’s once chocolate brown eyes now looked like a brown and white-mixed mess, like someone had put too much cream in their coffee. Ryeowook gasped.

                “He’s… blind.” he said, shocking everyone else.

                Leeteuk was trying so hard not to break down, but it was becoming harder with every second. “Oh Onew!” he cried, grabbing his brother and his hair.

                Onew became very confused. “Blind?” he muttered to himself. “I’m blind?”

                All this time, the Valkyrie dropped their heads in sadness.

                “The potion has never done anything this drastic before.” Taemin stated.

                Katrina turned to Taemin. “How was he able to even get around if he’s blind?”

                Taemin opened his mouth to answer, but was beaten to it by Minho. “I think he’s using his power to get around. He produces energy waves, which bounce off objects and comes back to him. He then uses those vibrations to know where to go.”

                “You mean like echolocation? Like how bats navigate?” Atlas asked, knowing a thing or two about animals.

                Jonghyun nodded. “At least he’ll be able to get around, though this means we’re going to have to keep an extra eye on him. He could easily hurt himself.”

                Leeteuk heard all of this, and looked Onew in the face again. “Are you really ok Onew? You’re not hurting or anything?”

                Onew cocked his head and started to shake his body parts, making sure they were in working order. “Yep, everything seems functional. And nope, no pain.” Onew gave Leeteuk a big grin, which cheered the leader up significantly.

                “Good.” Leeteuk smiled.

                Onew then realized that he had something on his back. He wiggled his back, making the hallway rain with black feathers. “What this that I have on me? A backpack?” Onew asked as he continued to shake his hind side. Everyone suddenly chuckled at Onew’s unexpected childish behavior.

                Jonghyun smiled as he and the other Valkyrie made their way towards their new member.

                “Come on Onew,” Jonghyun said as he grabbed the young boy’s hand. “We need to talk.”

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Ok, I lied, this is not the last chapter. The next one wil DEFINATELY be the next chapter. We only have the Epilogue to go :)

Also, I couldn't wait because I was just itching to get started on my new story, The Light in the Darkness, so I will be posting the first chapter up tonight. Here's the link: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/344761/the-light-in-the-darkness-a-phantom-backstory-fxband-joon-ryeowook-supernatural-beige. It tells the story of Ryeowook's childhood and how he eventually found his place in the Phantom clan. There'll be action, new characters, and wierd spiritual stuff. It's gonna be awesome! :D

Anyway, thanks to everyone who commented and subscribed! It's good to see comments and subscriptions again. Haha! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

~Justjoking <3