Sehun and I hurried outside to join the group around the fire pit. Chanyeol was just lighting the fire. He held up his hands to the smoking embers and they immediately snapped back to life with leaping flames and an immense heat. Sehun and I slowed down, not wanting to get fried to death.

Thankfully Suho reacted quickly, putting up a wall of water around the fire to help lessen the chance of being burned.

“Control yourself!” Kris shouted.

“Mianhe,” the flame thrower blushed, and quickly lessened the fire’s intensity until all that was left was a small campfire.

“Now that that’s settled,” Kris lowered his hands and brought everyone to attention. My brother and I hurried to take our seats. “We have three important topics of discussion for tonight’s meeting. Suho?”

“First order of business,” the other leader stood. “As many of you know, our food production is lacking. Baekhyun’s and my greenhouse provides us with some food, but not nearly enough to live off of. D.O., have you had any progress with growth in the topsoil?”

“Very little,” D.O. replied. “Anonymous may have left us our planet, but the damage they left is deep. There’s no sign of life for more than a mile down.”

Kris sighed in frustration. “And Baekhyun, have you succeeded in claiming full control of the light?”

“I’m sorry,” the normally happy guy frowned. “The debris left from the attack are still so great that much of the light is still being blocked. If I increased the sun’s luminosity any more, it could put our atmosphere into danger.”

“Luhan?”

I immediately snapped to attention.

“Do you think you could move the debris?” Suho questioned.

“I have tried, but it takes a lot of power because they are so far away and have such a great mass. Even if I could get close enough, I don’t know if I could move them far enough from our atmosphere so that they wouldn’t just get pulled back in. I’m sorry,” I looked down at the ground in shame. If only I could do more…

“Thank you for your efforts,” Suho nodded. “The next order of business is Phoebe, our Earthly guest.”

“She has to be different,” Tao said while staring at the fire. “She would’ve died as soon as she passed through the atmosphere.”

“Well there’s that possibility, or something else…” Kris suggested solemnly.

Lay stared at him in shock, “You don’t think she could be part of Anonymous, do you?”

“Anything is a possibility at this point,” the leader nodded.

“But like that old Earthly law; she’s innocent until proven guilty, ne?” I chimed in, causing everyone to stare at me and Sehun to give me a nudge. “I’m just saying. I mean, what if she doesn’t have a force, nor is part of Anonymous? What if she’s a whole other species that was being ‘grown’ on Earth and can also withstand our planet’s climate?”

“Luhan’s right,” Suho sighed. “We have to keep the door of possibilities open to anything.”

I sighed in relief, but caught my breath at Kris’s icy glare. I knew he didn’t trust her one bit. How could I blame him though? He’d seen some terrible things in his life; cheating, death, lies, war; he was internally scarred.

“Last order of business,” Kris stood up and paced around the fire. “I took a trip to Exopil the other day. In my exploration I found something disturbing, but important.” He took out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and began to unfold it. “From the ground, it’s impossible to see the message, but flying over head it was clear. Anonymous left us a message using their path of destruction.” He stopped walking right in front of me and I looked up at him fearfully. “Luhan, will you please read Anonymous’ message?”

My shaky hand took the crumpled paper while I boosted myself up from my seat. I stood nervously before the group, scanning over the short message on the paper. My throat felt bone dry and I surely would’ve fallen over if Sehun hadn’t created a sudden gust of wind to keep me up.

“Well…?” Chen asked in annoyance.

I swallowed hard and my voice finally creaked the three scariest words I’d heard in all my life, “W- we’re not done.” The paper slipped from my fingers to the lifeless ground.

Everyone was silent; taking in the message for its full worth. No one dared to speak or move; for fear that Anonymous would strike them dead on the spot from somewhere above.

Finally Kris broke the painful tension, “There’s nothing we can do but prepare for battle. Training starts tomorrow; I expect to see you all at the dining hall by sunrise.”

--------------------------

“Luhan?”

I rolled over in bed at the sound of my little brother’s voice. “What is it Sehun?”

“I’m scared,” he whispered. “What if they come tonight? I can just hear it all over again. The screams, the shooting…”

I could tell he was crying by the sound of his voice and the amount the wind had picked up outside. I crawled out of bed and made my way across the room to the light switch.

“Don’t turn it on!” Sehun exclaimed. “What if they see us?!”

“Sehun,” I hurried to his side and sat on the edge of his bed. “They’re not here yet. You don’t have to worry about anything. Plus you have me, your big brother! I won’t let them hurt you.”

“Don’t say that,” he sniffled. “That’s what Umma said.”

“But she didn’t; did she? You and I are here, alive today.”

“But she isn’t.”

I took him in for a hug, trying to calm him down while also hiding the tears behind my eyes. After all, our mother was really my mother. Just hearing her name made a lump form in my throat. I could remember everything perfectly…

The siren sounded in the distance, though there was not much need for it. We already knew Anonymous had breached the city limits and was closing in. We also knew that our father and his army were mostly likely gone; slaughtered by the ruthless killers.

I remembered our mother ushering us into hers and our father’s bedroom. We helped her move the bed and open the hatch door in the floor which was a surprise to Sehun and me.

Our mother helped us own into the tiny space. I held her hand and told her to hurry in, but she only shook her head. The next thing I knew we were in complete darkness and the sound of the bed being pushed back over the opening could be heard.

The next sound that met my ears drove a steak right through my heart. It was the sound of glass shattering, mixed with my mother’s blood curdling scream. Next was a round of gunshots. No, it wasn’t just one shot. With each shot I could hear my mother’s screams becoming weaker and weaker. I covered Sehun’s ears, wishing he didn’t have to go through all of this, especially while feeling so vulnerable since he wouldn’t get his powers for another two years when he turned eighteen.

Finally there was one last shot. It pierced my heart as if I was the one taking the bullet. No scream followed; only silence. That’s when I knew my mother was gone; tortured to death.

I hope you're enjoying the story so far!^^ For those of you who did not see it in the foreward, I am on a semi-hiatus and will only be updating on Sunday nights (New York time). Once summer is over I will probably update more often. Thank you for reading!!^^ Saranghae<3