Taecyeon fidgeted when he felt someone ruffling his hair. He pried his eyes open, trying to configure out who it was despite being half-asleep.

"Good morning handsome," a delicate voice greeted him.

Taecyeon hugged the person without even looking, guessing it was Yoona who greeted him. Unfortunately he rubbed his eyes and yelled when he saw Wooyoung in front of him.

"YAH!"

Wooyoung was rolling on the floor, laughing hilariously. Taecyeon groaned to himself when he couldn't find Yoona anywhere in the room.

"Aigoo, hyung ah. Thanks for that morning hug~"

"Ugh. It's more like a nightmare for me."

Wooyoung pouted, "Aww~ But you still hugged me! HA!"

"I'd rather throw up. Anyway, where's Yoona?"

"They're up for breakfast. You're the only one who is sleeping, so stop being a pig for heaven's sake!"

"So, you've been watching me all this time?!"

"Nope. I just came into your room about 5 minutes ago. You should get your off this bed and join us now. They ordered me to wake you up."

Taecyeon sighed, "Why didn't she wake me up?"

"You must be really immersed in your dream land."

Taecyeon threw a pillow at Wooyoung, making him dash out of the room. He scratched the back of his head and felt his nose getting itchy. He rose his head high up in the air and sneezed abruptly. His nose wrinkled, followed with a sudden cough. 

"What's wrong with me?" he asked himself. 

He wiped his thoughts away and prepared himself for breakfast. Closing the door behind him, he headed to the dining room and found that everyone was eating and chatting to themselves. He sat beside Yoona and greeted her with a smile. 

"Morning oppa~" 

"Morning Yoona." 

"What's with your mood?" 

"Well, Wooyoung ruined my morning." 

She giggled, "How so?" 

"I was half-asleep and I thought I was hugging you but it turned out to be Wooyoung instead."

"Serves you right for waking up late." 

Taecyeon covered his mouth with hand and sneezed again. Yoona dropped her cutlery and turned to him. 

"Taecyeon ah, are you okay?" she asked with a hint of concern. 

He wiped his hand with the serviette and glanced at her. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a sneeze, why?" 

"You don't look so good." 

"What? Nah, I'm fit as a fiddle! Now, let me eat." 

Yoona's eyes focused on Taecyeon, feeling worried about his health. Taecyeon could feel Yoona staring at him as he ate but, decided to ignore her gaze and continued eating. Taeyeon could read Taecyeon's mind from her seat, configuring that he had caught a flu from the heavy downpour yesterday. 

Taeyeon leaned closer towards Wooyoung and whispered, "How's Taecyeon?" 

"I visited his room and I think he was shivering even though the blankets covered him." 

"I see. Wooyoung ah, keep an eye on Taecyeon alright?" 

"Don't worry, I'll look after him. By the way, what are we gonna do after this?" 

"We'll keep a look out in the woods together with the recruits. However, the four of us will take off at noon to travel to the next district. For now, we'll help to search for the immortals." 

"Okay then." 

Once everyone finished eating their breakfast meals, they headed out of the building and wandered around the district while Seulong insisted on guiding them. He explained and introduced some of the novices who were at work and elaborated further about North Club's history. 

"Here we are at the forest. The recruits are guarding this area to keep an eye on strangers or trespassers," he said. 

"Alright, Hyoyeon and Seohyun you two are in charge of the Club. When you have captured at least three immortals, report to the Palace at once. We'll head to the Eastern Diamonds right away. Be careful alright?" 

Taeyeon warned them, with Hyoyeon and Seohyun agreeing to her instructions. 

"Don't worry Taeyeon unnie, we'll be safe." 

"Ok good. Wooyoung, Yoona and Taecyeon, let's go." 

Yoona turned to look at Taecyeon, noticing that he looked weak and his face was turning pale. She placed her arm over his shoulder and held his forehead. It was slightly warm and she felt a hint of worry inside her. 

"Taecyeon ah, are you okay?" 

Taecyeon faced Yoona and gave a bitter smile, "Of course, I'm fine. I just got dizzy, that's all." 

However, he made Yoona even more worried since he appeared really pale. Taeyeon spotted Taecyeon disagreeing to Yoona's requests and ordered Wooyoung to accompany him during the journey, as Taecyeon insisted on not staying at the North Club's building to rest. 

"You should've listened to Yoona, dude."

"I'm fine Woo." 

Wooyoung sighed, "If you say so." 

The four of them began their journey towards the Eastern Diamonds and Taecyeon felt even more weak and cold. Wooyoung supported him by hanging Taecyeon's arm over his shoulder as they walked. Little did the four of them know that someone was actually following them secretly. 

Kris peeked at the four of them from afar, hiding behind the trees to camouflage. D.O and Sehun accompanied their leader as they waited for his command. Kris was waiting for the right time to attack and noticed one of them feeling weak, he had sent the signal to the two to take action. D.O caught his signal and nodded, mentioning Sehun to attack instantly. 

Taeyeon halted in her tracks and focused intently on the orchard of trees by the side of the path. The other three stopped as well and were confused by Taeyeon's actions. 

"Taeyeon unnie, is there a problem?" Yoona asked.

"Someone's following us." 

All of a sudden, an immortal appeared in front of them. It was D.O, the earth element. Yoona and Wooyoung took out their spade and sword, preparing for an attack. Taeyeon gave a signal towards the two to take hold on their weapons for just a while. She stared back at the immortal, her mind filled with curiosity. 

"Greetings, D.O-ssi." 

D.O was taken aback by her greeting, not believing that she knew his identity.

"See you at the Eastern District." 

"What?" 

He remained silent and smirked. The four of them felt a sudden gust of wind approaching them, making their surroundings blur. The leaves of the trees trapped the four Solitarians from escaping, as the wind transformed into a fierce tornado. The four of them were forced to have their eyes shut, to prevent from affecting their vision. Kris took the opportunity to kidnap Taecyeon despite of the harsh wind. D.O made the ground shake by creating an earthquake, separating the two lands to prevent the Solitarians from heading to the Eastern District. Sehun and D.O retreated and escaped from their sight when Taecyeon was taken away by their leader. 

"Have you got him Kris hyung?" D.O questioned. 

"Yes. We've finally accomplished one of Leeteuk hyung's orders. Now, we have to get rid of him somewhere." 

Sehun creased his brows, "But Leeteuk hyung didn't want him dead remember? He just said to dump him somewhere in the woods."

"Sehun's right Kris hyung." 

Kris snorted, "Fine. Where do we dump him?" 

"Just drop him on the forest bed, away from both Northern and Eastern districts," D.O suggested. 

Kris flew up the sky and searched for an ideal spot to hide Taecyeon. He noticed an orchard of trees huddled into one corner of the forest and flew towards the place. He placed Taecyeon on a bed of sunflowers and left right away. 

"Leeteuk hyung! Kris, D.O and Sehun have finally hidden Taecyeon from the majesties," Luhan reported. 

Leeteuk smiled and clapped eagerly. "Well done to them. I shall send over OUR Taecyeon now."

He grinned maliciously and strolled to his experimental lab at the basement of the mansion. 

"Unnie what are are we going to do now?! Taecyeon's missing..." 

Yoona was trying to hold back her tears as she searched her surroundings, panicking at the same time. 

"The immortals must have taken him away, huh Taeyeon?" Wooyoung asked. 

"Most probably. I recalled one of them saying, 'See you at the Eastern District' so I suppose they must've hidden Taecyeon there." 

"Well what are we waiting for unnie? Let's go." 

Wooyoung helped Yoona and Taeyeon to cross over the huge crack of the ground, that was caused by D.O's power, by levitation to travel towards the Eastern Diamonds that instance. 

Taecyeon felt his head aching terribly when his eyes fluttered open. Stunned to see five strangers in front of him, he flustered. 

"Excuse me...who are you?" he tried to ask politely. 

One of them approached Taecyeon awkwardly. "Hello, my name is Onew. And these are my brothers, Jonghyun, Key, Minho and Taemin." 

"Ah, I see. Where am I? And who are you guys?" 

"You're in our treetop and we are the lost boys. Welcome to our territory," Onew bowed and flashed a warm smile at him. 

"Oh, I'm Ok Taecyeon. Thank you for taking care of me, Onew-ssi." 

"No problem. Four of us will head out to hunt for food. In the meantime, Jonghyun will look after you." 

"Alright then." 

Taecyeon observed the five of them and noticed that they weren't even wearing any tops on. They just wore shorts that were probably made of silk or cotton. However, he felt safe and comfortable with them since they were compassionate enough to let him stay in their territory. They even took care of his fever since there was a band of leaf encircled around his forehead. He thought about Yoona and the others, worrying about their state at the moment. He sat up and rubbed his temples. 

"I wonder how Yoona's doing..." he murmured to himself.

"What?" Jonghyun pulled out a stool from the side and sat beside Taecyeon. "Who's Yoona?" 

"Im Yoona-ssi, the Queen of the Solitaire. Do you know her?" 

Jonghyun pondered for a while and snapped a finger, "Im Yoona...the royal majesty?" 

Taecyeon nodded, "I was just wondering where she is right now, as well as my other friends." 

"Hmm. So that means...you're a majesty too? You seem close to the royal highnesses." 

"I'm a Soldier of the Solitaire. I am working with the royal highnesses. Don't mistake me for a King, because I'm not." 

"Eh? No way! You look like a King yourself." 

"Thanks. But I'm yet to be one. Actually, I'm currently on a mission and our task is to capture the immortals." 

"Immortals? You mean the 12 Princes?" 

"12 Princes? There are 12 of them?" 

"Yeah, they are creations of Master Leeteuk. You ended up lying around along the forest bed because one of them took you away from your friends." 

"Is that so? Wait...how did you know about Leeteuk? And why do you call him master?" 

Jonghyun sighed, "Well basically he's not our master anymore after he abandoned us a decade back. We were his creations too but eventually, Leeteuk's brothers didn't approve us so we were kicked out of his mansion." 

Taecyeon leaned closer to Jonghyun, "And so you guys formed up as the 'Lost Boys'?" 

"Yes, we are. We were forced not to reveal any of our identities but we were being rebellious now so..." 

"Apparently, you do know that the Kings have been deceased except for Leeteuk right?" 

"Eh?! Since when?" 

"We got rid of them a year ago. Now, Leeteuk's just getting his revenge at us."

Jonghyun shook his head in disbelief, "Not to worry Taecyeon-ssi. We will help you." 

"Thank you. I just need to get better first before I set off." 

"We'll give you a herbal cure if you'd like to heal faster." 

Taecyeon glanced at what Jonghyun's holding onto and swallowed hard out of disgust when there was something moving inside the potion bottle. 

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll just recover over a period of time." 

"If you say so~" 

Dusk was setting in and Taeyeon, Wooyoung and Yoona finally arrived at the Eastern Diamonds district and was welcomed by a group of novices at the main gates. They headed towards the chiefs' building to meet the ones in charge of the district. The novices opened the double doors for the royal highnesses. 

"Oh? Taeyeon ah, you guys came so fast?" Tiffany asked while she was sitting on the couch with Minjun, Sooyoung and Chansung. 

"Wait...how come there's only three of you? Where's Taecyeon hyung?" said Chansung. 

Taeyeon focused intently on the four people on the couches and firmly said, "Taecyeon's missing. We need your help." 

"WHAT?!" 

All of a sudden, the double doors opened once again and seven men marched in the room. 

"Ah, Taeyeon-ssi and Yoona-ssi have arrived. Good evening your highnesses," Kevin greeted politely followed by the other six men. 

"Nice to meet you again Kevin-ssi. We're currently in an emergency right now," Taeyeon replied. 

"Emergency? What emergency?" 

"Our friend's missing. Taecyeon hyung," Wooyoung added. 

"Ah, is it him?" 

Kevin pointed at the man who was hidden behind them. A tall, masculine figure approached them slowly. Everyone gasped in disbelief when they glanced at the person who was coming towards them. 

The young man flashed a smile, "I'm Taecyeon, nice to meet you chiefs. Hey guys, I'm back!" 

No one muttered a word and stared blankly at him. Yoona rose an eyebrow and observed him strangely. Taecyeon...is that you? 

______________________________________

Hey guys...okay I'm REALLY SORRY for updating late T_T I forgot to mention that I actually went on a short hiatus...so the update was slow ;_; and also because I had a terrible writer's block for this chapter T_T *bows 90 degrees* At least I managed to update now ^^ [despite my hectic schedule] and uhh...the Taecyeon that appeared in the end of the chapter...he isn't Taecyeon ;) [SO BASICALLY HE'S THE TAECYEON YOU ALL WANTED FOR THE YOONA IN SEOUL LOL] Alright I have said too much, Ppyong~ :D