PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE IN RED INK BELOW CHAPTER. NOTE THAT IT IS NOT AT THE END OF THIS PAGE. IT'S SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.

 

 

The night flew by fast. It was now dawn.

 

“No, no, no,” Yoora sobbed, “This is not happening, it’s not happening,”

 

Jinki looked at his wife sadly, “Jagi, it’s not your fault..”

 

“You don’t understand!” she croaked, “It is! Everything’s my fault! I should have.. I should have told. It was a big mistake..”

 

Lee Jinki looked at his wife peculiarly.

 

“What do you mean? Told what?”

 

“Told that.. Sungra.. “ she stuttered.

 

“Sungra what?” Jinki’s voice raised.

 

“The prophecy,” she sobbed. Her sobs were interfered as huge, loud knocks came from their front door. Muffled shouts were heard along with the demanding pounding.

 

“Onew! Yoora! Open up!” the voice of Lee Taemin shouted.

 

“Taemin!” Jinki gasped and opened the door. Taemin wasn’t alone. Jonghyun, Minho and Key accompanied him. They had grave looks on their faces.

 

“Is it true?” Minho whispered.

 

“Sungra’s gone,” Yoora squeaked, “She’s gone,”

 

“So is Sungjong,” Jinki said.

 

“Yes. I know and I shouldn’t have, but I heard you talking about the prophecy..” Key interrupted,

 

“Key! You shouldn’t have!” Minho sighed.

 

“I know, I know, I shouldn’t use my powers for eavesdropping, but I was worried, and you happened to mention it not long ago..”

 

“Jagiya..?” Jinki held her hand tightly.

 

Yoora took a deep, nervous breath.

 

“Twelve years ago, when I was checking on Sungra and Sungjong in her bedroom- “

 

“What was Jongie doing there?” Taemin asked.

 

“Sungra invited him over to a sleepover,” Yoora answered in-a-matter-of-factly, “A-and, A piece of paper magically appeared slightly under her pillow-“

 

“How did it appear?” Key asked.

 

“I-I don’t know, it just appeared, it just happened,” she stuttered, “And so, I read it,”

 

“What did it say?” Minho urged. Jinki hit his head for pressuring his already-panic-striken wife.

 

“I-It said,” Yoora drew a tiny piece of paper from her skirt pocket, “This..”

 

The paper read:

 

 

“This last prophecy should not be unmasked until the right time. It should not be revealed unless thae matter is questioned by any one of the Council Members. It should not be known that our long-awaited heroine is none other than the daughter of Council Leader Lee Jinki and his wife Lee Yoora; Lee Sungra.”

 

 

Tears brimmed in Jinki’s eyes as he bit his bottom lip to hold them back.

 

“Why,” Jinki croaked, “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

 

“I don’t know,” Yoora sobbed, “I just don’t know, I thought I was doing the right thing-“

 

“There’s nothing we can do about it now,” Key said sadly.

 

“He’s right, it’s up to them, now. It’s up to Sungra and Sungjong to find the other five.”

 

“So Sungjong’s the bunny, isn’t he?” Taemin muttered to himself.

 

“Yes,” Yoora smiled sadly, “Apparently.”

 

“Let’s hope Sunggyu gets to them before the prince gets to her,” Jonghyun finally spoke up.

 

“I thought he ran away because of this.” Taemin said out loud.

 

“And they ran away too, didn’t they?” Jonghyun pointed out, “Fate has its ways of making things happen in unpredictable ways.”

 

Just like it was unpredictable and completely unexpected that the kind, soft and handsome Nam Woohyun was actually the evil, arrogant, Red Prince.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

SO SO SO SORRY! I REALISED THAT YOU GUYS WERE LOST AND YOU NEEDED MORE EXPLAINATIONS, SO I DECIDED TO PUT IN A FOREWORD. TO ME, THE FOREWORD PRETTY MUCH CONTAINS MOST OF THE ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS AND WONDERS. BUT IF IT DOESN'T, PLEASE COMMENT AND I'LL ANSWER THEM, IF I DON'T, IT MEANS I'M RESERVING IT FOR THE CHAPTERS TO COME. :) THANK YOU~

 

THE FOREWORD:

 

12 years ago:

 

"Umma!" Sungra called out to her mom before she managed to take a step out the door. Her mother, Lee Yoora, looked back at her growing 5-year old daughter Lee Sungra.

 

"Yes, darling?" she answered. She was all ready for bed. So was her bestfriend, Lee Sungjong. He was sitting comfortably on a mattress on the floor.

 

"Read us a story!" she beamed.

 

"Yeah!" little Sungjong agreed," Please do, omonim!"

 

"Eo? Read a story to my baby Sungra and Jongie Bunny?" Yoora smiled.

 

"Ne!" they nodded enthusiastically.

 

She chuckled, "Well then, I gotta go get a storybook if I want to read you children a story, shouldn't I?"

 

"YAY!!"

 

Yoora left the room quickly to their small library. She walked to the very end of the room to an almost-hidden shelf. She the books and abruptly stopped to a really antique-looking book. Her fingers tapped onto the spine of the book hesitantly. After mentally arguing with her mind, her final desicion was to make her beloved daughter and her daughter's charming bestfriend of which she treated as her own, happy. Yoora pulled the book out and exited the library. She entered Sungra's room again. Little did she know that her husband Lee Jinki was peeking from behind their bedroom door.

 

"I'm back!" Yoora exclaimed happily. Sungra and Sungjong looked at her excitedly. They shifted to a comfortable position and leaned over to Yoora, anticipating.

 

"What is it about, omonim?" Sungjong questioned.

 

"Well, it's not really a bedtime story.." she started, "But it's a myth of a really mysterious prophecy right here, in our very own land." 

 

Their mouths formed 'O' shapes.

 

"Shall I start?" Yoora smiled a knowing smile to them.

 

"YES!"

 

"Okay then," she smiled.

 

Yoora started to recite the lines in the book:

 

"Long ago, it has been foretold that our land will be slowly, and quietly, taken over by an evil prince. But this particular prince isn't an ordinary prince. Oh, no. He was magical and with no doubt possesses a variety of amazing powers like most of the rest of us, but his powers and capabilities were far more magical, far more powerful, and far more treacherous than the rest of us. But things will not be as far beyond hope as we think. As fate shall bestow a great gift; a heroine. A heroine shall enter this world and embark on a journey to restore the peace in our land. But before she does, our heroine shall encounter six more saviours; of which the prophecy has stated; the White Bunny, the Cat, the Caterpillar, the Twins and the Knight Guardian; to assemble and unite against the greater evil."

 

[There's more to the prophecy, but I won't put them all in words like above. Some will appear in conversations.]

 

Yoora looked up from the book to see her babies wide-eyed and patiently awaiting for the next lines of their so-called 'bedtime story'.

 

She took a deep breath and whispered, "I think that's enough for tonight, neh?" 

 

"Neh," they nodded, "Arasseo.."

 

Yoora smiled and tucked them into bed. She kissed each one of their foreheads with pure love and protection that naturally emits from a caring mother. After securing them into their beds (technically, bed and mattress), Yoora left them to their dreams silently.

 

As she went out of the room, a pair of arms encircled her waist.

 

"Jagiya, reading them the prophecy?" he asked softly, "Isn't that out of the line?"

 

"But it felt like I had to. I felt obliged to." Yoora escaped from his arms and spun around to face him, her hands resting on his shoulders, "Please understand me, yeobo-ya"

 

Lee Jinki sighed as he knew he could not argue with his wife's plead and determination.

 

"Arasseo, Yoora. But keep in mind that they're just children. This prophecy might not be true or maybe it is, but I don't know. I just feel really uneasy about this. All I want is for my family to be safe. That includes Sungjongie. And they might just be in danger by just knowing this.. And for you to be doing this.."

 

_________________________________________________________________

 

[A secret Council Meeting taking place somewhere deep in the woods]

 

The council members agreed to meet up in the woods. The youngest, Lee Taemin, called upon the meeting and described it as 'An extreme emergency'. The lit up  a small fire and waited for their friend's arrival.

 

"It's happening! The prophecy is happening!" Taemin rushed to the council members, "Word has spread.. that the king and queen has a son, the youngest son. He's nearly seven years old.." His voice trailed off.

 

"What? Why do we know this now? Why seven years after the birth of the child?!" Minho gasped, rising up from his spot.

 

"It seems like they DO believe in the prophecy," Key spoke up, " The last king banned anyone to speak of it. And banished anyone who claims that it is true. And now the prophecy remains unknown to the kingdom or forgotten. Too bad that his own son didn't have the same views.. "

 

"That's not the point! It's not just happening, it's true!" Minho cried.

 

"The original council members will pass down their responsibilities to their sons, and one of the descendants shall exist as one of the saviours.." Key recited.

 

"And we know the age arrangements of the characters in the prophecy.." Minho continued.

 

"Meaning.." Taemin's voice quivered.

 

"Jonghyun... Sunggyu.." Key muttered.

 

"But he's just a child! He's just nine! You can't expect him to take responsibility now!" Jonghyun shouted, on the verge of tears, "He's just," Jonghyun sniffed away his tears, "He's too young to-"

 

"Too young for what appa?" the voice of Kim Sunggyu replaced his father's, "What were you talking about? Did I do something wrong.."

 

"Aniya! Never! You're a good son, Sunggyu!" Jonghyun hugged his child who had suddenly appeared, "I'll explain when you're old enough.."

 

"Appa! I'm already old enough and you know that! I'm turning ten next year so I might as well know now." Sunggyu stated.

 

"Arasseo," Jonghyun took a deep breath. And with that, he started explaining. Explaining everything there was to know about the prophecy. After an hour or so, after Jonghyun explained everything, accompanied by a few nods from the rest of them, Taemin reminded them the most important thing of all. [Important without them knowing it]

 

"So what about Onew hyung? Yoora noona and Sungra?"

 

[The council members were leader Lee Jinki, second-in-command Kim Jonghyun, prophecy keepers Choi Minho and Kim Kibum and leastly, messenger Lee Taemin. Yoora was an exception as she was the leader's wife. The prophecy was written into two books only. One with Lee Jinki and Lee Yoora and the other with Choi Minho and Kim Kibum]

 

"We'll tell him when we get to him. Let him spend some time with his family before it's too late," Jonghyun said, "But now we need to make preparations. And get Sunggyu ready for his part."

 

That was one mistake the council made without knowing. They should have informed Lee Jinki and Lee Yoora immediately. Days turned into months and months turned into years. Little did they know that Lee Yoora knew a crucial fact. A crucial secret that should not be told until it was time. A secret that she found under Sungra's pillow that very night when she went to check on them. A piece of paper magically appeared stating that the heroine.. was none other than Lee Sungra, and that this piece of information should not be told until the secret council asks or brings up the subject. In which, it never happened. Until 12 years later..