He counted down the seconds before the door to his room would burst open. He knew the wind Guardian would come running to him. Even though they had been with the others since birth, Sehun always hung around him the most. Sehun always counted on him the most. Especially after their mentors left them to watch over the Hall of the Guardians on their own.

Sehun always believed he could fix anything, do anything.

He believed him to be a miracle worker. And at times, he relished in such a title. Now, however, such a title was a misnomer. Such a title only brought upon Luhan burdensome feelings of guilt.

Guilt over the fact that he couldn’t do anything.

As he knew it would, his door was sent flying open, knocking hard against the wall before it slammed closed again, the room drowning in its own darkness again. Luhan spoke first, his back facing the Guardian who had just entered, “You’re upset.”

“Of course I am!” Sehun yelled loudly, his voice akin to a roar. He was blinded by his own rage, his own anger at the inability to defend the person who meant the world to the world itself. That’s why he went to the only person who he believed had the ability he lacked, “Can’t you do something about that?”

Luhan looked on at the images that reflected themselves in the translucent orbs that floated in front of him. Sector A was shrouded in a cloud of black. The Exotians who lived there themselves seeming to wear the black smog as clothes, their white shirts stained gray. Their faces stained gray. Light gray. Dark gray. Brownish gray. Everything had the same gray tone to it except for the streetlights that flickered a pale yellow, their bulbs having been replaced with candles for the time being. But, out of the kindness of their hearts, the Council had installed a self-powered holovision screen in the middle of the entire wreckage.

Out of the kindness of their hearts, the Council projected to the citizens of Exo planet their own misery. Their own grief. Their own pain. And they blamed this pain on their Seeress. Did the Exotians believe it? What were their own thoughts? Luhan had no idea. He had no access to a single one of the Exotians affected by this incident. He could only stay holed up in his room. He could only listen to the advice of his mentor.

Right?

It was what was right, wasn’t it?

Luhan shook his head, his perpetual conflicting feelings on a decision he thought he already made a long time ago tossed aside again for the umpteenth time, “I cannot turn back time and stop everyone on Exo planet from seeing that broadcast.”

“But, you can do something, right?” Sehun urged, his tone changing from one of annoyance and irritation to pleading weariness. It seemed as though the wind Guardian became attached to her highness faster than Luhan had originally predicted. Perhaps it was her speech that did it? Perhaps it was merely the young Guardian’s pride that was reacting to being so openly and unjustly attacked? “You’ve always been able to do something, Luhan.”

“Yes, I can do something.” Luhan responded, only to dash Sehun’s hopes with his next words that contained in them what Sehun knew to be the logical truth of this situation, “Though what image would we give to the Exotians should I interfere with the broadcast? I’d simply be giving more ammunition to the Council to use against us. And then her highness would be insulted even more. Do you want that?”

Amidst all the images that projected themselves in the spheres in front of him, Luhan could see Sehun’s reflection. His temper, like Kai’s, Chanyeol’s, and even Tao’s, was quick to rise. However, he was even more flighty than the three, fitting the power granted to him by the Tree of Life more aptly than he most likely even knew. At the drop of a hat, Sehun could twist out of control like a raging tornado.

It had been a long while since Luhan had witnessed an outburst like the one he just made in the dining room towards their Seeress. Most of the time, the skies were clear, the winds calm. An almost nonchalant calm. But underneath that, Luhan saw that same young child he grew up with. That same child who when he didn’t know how to respond to something, when he was faced with a difficult situation, he made accusations. He threw fits.

He threw his anger.

Like his younger self would have done in the past, Sehun projected his anger onto her highness. But, he wasn’t mad at her at all. He was mad because he couldn’t do anything for her.

So he had come to Luhan, his miracle worker.

Luhan, who only had logical reasoning to give in order to calm the tumultuous gust that stormed within Sehun at the current moment.

Reasoning that Sehun was willing to accept.

“Why are you always so snippy when you’re right?”

Sehun let out a groan of defeat, rubbing the back of his neck with his intertwined fingers. The sound echoed across the room, disappearing into the endless darkness that stretched out around them.

“I just, I don’t like it.” He paused as he took a sharp intake of breath, “How could they even say? Half of? I just. They don’t understand. Her highness—“ Sehun’s words jumbled together due to his sheer lack of them. His sheer lack of words to describe his frustrations which grew to insurmountable highs with each passing second as he replayed the words of that news reporter in his head over and over again like a broken record player.

Sehun buckled over, burying his head in between his knees as he knelt down in the pitch-black room, groaning loudly in frustration once more. Luhan knew he was overwhelmed by the scornful proclamation made by the news report. He was sure everyone was. Though, there was one thing Sehun said just then that, to Luhan, to all of the Guardians, was a shared reaction. A single thought they all shared.

They don’t understand.

The Council did not understand the importance of the Seeress nor the strength she possessed. The question was, would they ever? Would they even make an attempt to?

Or would this all end up being a repeat of the incident of 4814?

Three nights later, Chen walked me back to my room. As he does every night when he’s here. Usually, Xiumin accompanies him. I never asked them to walk me to and fro but if they wanted to do it, then I wouldn’t complain and nag at them to stop.  Tonight, however, after a brief private conversation between the two, Xiumin told me he would be returning to his room instead. Which meant Chen wanted to talk to me about something alone.

And honestly, I didn’t feel up to it. I was mentally exhausted. I had been constantly racking my brain for what I could possibly do to combat this new troublesome predicament I found myself in. The one in which I was being labeled as the Seeress of Exo who, in the words of that reporter, “promises to run a mile but only gives half because her legs are tired.” She was calling me “half-baked.” A half-baked Seeress of Exo.

That’s probably the first time any Seeress has been given such a title. And while it’s something to laugh at in the future, it’s not something I find all too funny at the current point in time. 

The door clicked closed behind us, Chen and I alone in my room now. And perhaps I knew exactly what it was he wanted to talk about. Why else were his next words not in the least bit surprising? Though, I’m actually slightly surprised it took him so long to confront me about it. Chen would usually jump on top of any issue or problem he faced when it didn’t have any relation whatsoever to his fears that plagued him – something I respected enough to not bring up if he didn’t do so first. So, had he done it out of courtesy for me? Maybe that’s what it is.

If so, thank you Chen. Thank you for giving me time to deal with everything in my own way first.

If not, thank you anyway for the end result of the ensuing conversation we had then.

“Your highness, I have something to ask you.” Chen started, his voice strong and unwavering. He had been ruminating upon this issue ever since the day of the tunnel collapse. Ever since his name slipped from his Seeress’s lips, dictating him as one of the Guardians who was to aid in the evacuating of said tunnel. He knew that she would provide him the answer he needed to hear. The answer that alluded him up until now as he had been looking for the right timing to pose his question. 

“Yes?” She took a seat down onto the edge of her bed, patting the space beside her after doing so. He understood her gesture and came closer, sitting a good ways away so that he would be able to turn his body towards her own as he spoke to her. He wanted to watch her facial expressions as she answered his following question. He wanted to pick up any and all little quirks. Any and all shifts or aversions of her irises. He wanted to make sure, even though deep down he already knew, that she would provide him with the utmost straightforward answer.

Because it’s what he needed.

He reached back for the remote control to the holovision in the room. With a single press of his finger down onto rectangular cut glass, the holovision blared to life, the default channel the planet’s news station, EXON. He muted it. And then, he began to narrate the incident from his own perspective in words he had chosen carefully and had practiced in his head over and over again.  

“On the day the tunnel collapsed in Sector A, a collapse that risked the lives of forty-three Exotians, you sent Lay, Tao, Kai, Suho, Baekhyun, and myself to the city’s surface. Suho assisted in dousing the flames that threatened to cause further explosions to occur. Baekhyun aided Kai and I in seeing through the smoke which engulfed the tunnel. Kai teleported numerous Exotians to safety above ground where Lay was waiting to mend any and all wounds they may have had. And Tao slowed down the entire area, giving us more time to do what was required of us. But, your highness, this description of each of our roles during this incident is lacking. It is lacking in that I am the only one whose power was not utilized. I am the only one whose power was of no use to the situation.”

Chen paused, taking in her reaction. But, there was none. She was merely listening attentively, something that caused him to continue on despite receiving no response to his words yet, “So then, your highness, why was I sent? What could I do in such a situation? I know I saved lives but had you sent D.O or Sehun or Xiumin, I would have more easily seen the logic behind your reasoning. They would have been able to do what I did while using their abilities to improve the situation overall. However, you sent me. Why? What could I do that was specific to me, your highness?”

She stared at him for a long while, her lips forming a neutral expression which gave away not a single inkling as to what she was thinking. Chen couldn’t help but wonder if this was the first time she contemplated the reason she sent him. Was it? Had it never occurred to her to think twice about it? Was sending him just a logical decision?

If so, how so?

Chen wanted to hear her say it. Chen wanted to hear her say the words that mimicked his own thoughts which dripped in uncertainty. He needed to hear them.

What was funny though is that she smiled then. She smiled as though she had reached her own epiphany. Her own “ah-ha” moment.

“What can you do?” She started slowly, cautiously. “What can I do?” Chen’s lips parted to interject against the turn her thoughts were taking. But, no words came out. How ironic that while what she said next seemed to be the perfect choice of words to counteract his feelings of inferiority and weakness, he had nothing to say in return against her own. Yet, despite feeling the same thing he was right now, she was smiling. And that smile fascinated him as much as her next words comforted him.

“I want to give Exotians a second chance. A right to choice when it comes to their future. But, what can you do? I sent you so that you could figure out what it is you want to do for Exo planet, Chen. Not just what you can do. Though I think you knew that already.” She paused, her lips pursing as she leaned back onto her bed, her palms holding her up. And she locked eyes with him, seemingly seeing through him. She could read his mind, yes, but it was as though she could also comprehend and understand all of his wayward, chaotic thoughts. And what hit him, what dazzled him once more, was that she smiled again, “And perhaps you’re angry about it?”

Chen shook his head, denying the idea on reflex. Vehemence exploded inside of him at the very idea, causing a vile, vomit-like taste to creep up his throat. Immediate regret struck him that he could have ever made her think he was angry. He was merely frustrated due to his inability to feel comforted by his own thoughts. By himself.

And he realized something then.

He needed reassurance. He needed to hear his own thoughts leave someone else’s lips. He needed to hear that his limitless intentions, not his limited ability, are what truly made a difference to the millions of Exotians who lived above them right at this very moment. But most of all, he wanted it. He wanted her highness to have been there from the very beginning in order to give it.  He wanted to believe in her beyond any and all doubt.

And, he did. Right then and there, he did.

He found himself drowning in his own epiphany. He found himself being overcome by it, all inhibitions cast to the wind.

“I’m not angry. You meant well.” Chen voiced, his facial features relaxing, no longer contorting into painful expressions. He looked like Chen again. He just, he didn’t look like himself earlier. He looked lost. And I had found him. Somehow, I had found Chen in his completely in sight hiding place. A hiding place that due to its obviousness it had taken me some time to find him. To bring him back. If only I could do the same for the Exotians.

“I did.” I sighed, remembering the looks of despair I had caught on the faces of the Exotians on the news broadcast. Rather than the woman, it was really them I paid attention to. Them, who looked as though a piece of their world had collapsed, “I really did.”

“You’re strong, your highness.” Chen asserted as though he believed nothing else more, a sudden, inexplicable force driving his words, “I can feel it, even if you can’t. You’re stronger than all of us.”

“I’m just a Seeress-in-training, I think.” I laughed not at his words that caused my tear ducts to begin to water but at myself. Because there’s always so much more I can do. There’s always so much more I’m willing to do. Because this felt right. Because even if I was a half-baked, Seeress-in-training, this all felt too right to be wrong.

Even if I’m caught in this eternal loop of doubting myself and my abilities, I wanted to do this. I want to be the Seeress of Exo. It sounds selfish. Horribly so. But, if I don’t want to do it, if I focus simply on what I can do and not what I want to do, if I have no goal to strive for, then I won’t be able to provide the Exotians with the right to choice they deserve.

That’s why I sent Chen even though he saw his ability as useless due to the situation itself. He was the one who was seeing it as useless. He was the one who needed to decide what it was that his power could do for Exo planet. What he wanted it to do for the Exotians living above us.

And judging from the look on his face that I fought to see through foggy eyes, he was onto something. He was onto something just like I had been before he had come to see me. And I felt like I had helped him conquer a section of territory that his fear had taken over in his mind.

“You’re only a Seeress-in-training? That’s what they’re so afraid of.” He moved closer to me, his arms reaching out to grasp onto my shoulders lightly. His grip now was different from the one he held me in the first time we met. A kind of different I couldn’t put my finger on. A kind of different that made my heart swell with gratitude when coupled with the words he said next, “If this is you now, if you’re this strong now, what can they expect for the future?” Chen pointed at the holovision that played soundlessly on the other side of the room, “That’s their fear talking.”

“You’re praising me too much, you know?” I say, a smile on my face.

He released my shoulders from his grasp, letting his hands drift back down to his side, “And anywhere you go, you’ll hear this same praise.”

And for a single second, he looked as though he wasn’t sure what he was doing right now. Only for a second before it faded and his serious eyes landed on my own once more. Only for a single second before he looked as though he was completely sure of what he was doing right now. “So, you shouldn’t let the bad overwhelm the good. You shouldn’t lose your virtues, your morals, your own reasons, just because of something like this. Just because the Council is making you into the bad guy. Just because one of your Guardians isn’t as strong as he’d like to be. Just because doubt plagues us no matter where we go or what we do. It’ll only make you stronger. It’ll only make us stronger in return.” He stood from my side then, a wave of blissful content appearing to wash over him as his features relaxed. As his entire frame relaxed. A wave whose effects I felt then as well. “Thank you for speaking with me, your highness.”

And with that, he turned to leave. But, before his hand could settle itself onto my bedroom door, I spoke up. I spoke by impulse once more, as he also seemed to be doing this entire time.

“It’s because of you.” I thought back. Back to how I felt when I saw them all home once more after sending them out to help Exotians in the blast. I felt relief, yes. But, I also felt pride. They, the guardians, were my strength. “It’s because of you and all the Guardians that I can watch this,” I gestured to the images that glowed on the holovision once more, “and yet simply feel even more motivated to continue on. My strength is the strength I receive from you.” And to admit such a thing, to be able to say it out loud, to hear it myself, was liberating in itself. I wasn’t alone. I’ll always have the Guardians by my side. And with that final though which was soaked in its own uncertainty, I bided farewell to Chen for the night. “Good night, Chen.”

And he replied, “Good night, my Seeress.”

That was the first time he called me that. “My Seeress.” It felt more personal – it felt more intimate – than the usual “your highness.” And for some reason, I liked it.

And for some reason, I hated that I liked it.

“You’re looking better.” Kai commented as we stood side by side in front of the entrance to the Hall of the Guardians. It was night out now. And finally, tonight, I would be able to fulfill the request Kai made of me. A request I would have made of him had he not been the first to say it.

“I talked to Chen.” I admitted without the slightest bit of hesitance. Kai nodded his head in response, his arms crossed against his chest, as though he understood exactly what we talked about that made me considerably happier.

“You memorized the address, right Kai?” Kris interjected, posing to Kai the same question he had over four times already since I told everyone I would be going to the city with him today.

“No, I’m just going to teleport us to whatever place just feels,” Kai breathed in dramatically, “right.” He finished, his fist pounding against his chest where his heart lay. It was a joke. A joke that Kris wasn’t all too amused at, causing Kai to correct his words, “I’m joking. Of course I did. We’ll be back before you know it.” He reached forward, giving Kris a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“Do make sure you take care of him, your highness. Who knows what kind of trouble he’ll get into if you even look away for a single second?” Kris directed towards me, joking right back at Kai in his own sarcastic manner. He earned a broad smile in return from Kai himself.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you, your highness?” Tao questioned.

He was uncomfortable with me leaving with only Kai at my side. According to Luhan, the Council was the one who set up the broadcast yesterday, the newswoman who gave the report actually the daughter of one of the higher-ranking individuals belonging to the Council. Which meant that hostilities towards me in the city were incomprehensible. Incomprehensible in that the Exotians’ true thoughts about the Guardians and I were a mystery.

This is what made the place Kai and I were going so much more important.

“Yes, I’m sure.” As soon as my words left my lips, I heard his voice echo through my mind in the form of an unsettled whimper. 

I don’t want to simply sit around waiting for you to return, your highness. 

I thought for a moment, only for one single moment, before I responded to his thoughts, “I have something else you can do, Tao. Are you willing to hear what it is?”

“I’m willing to accept it before I even hear it.” He truthfully replied, his eyes sparkling as he gained a laugh from both Kai and Kris.

Kai wanted to know. He wanted to know if he made the right choice. That’s why we were sitting here now. That’s why we were sitting in the pale gray, monochromatic themed living room of a young, Rank 2 couple. At least, I was. Kai had been whisked away into the kitchen by the woman with long, chestnut brown hair named Kalil. She was cooking dinner for us.  Us including Kai and I along with her husband of two years now, Derek.

They were the couple I had seen in my vision. They were the couple that Kai saved from the rubble of the collapsing tunnel three days ago. And they, upon opening the door after hearing us knock, recognized him immediately. They pulled him inside before he even said a word and offered us a seat at their table. Despite the electricity being shut off in their neighborhood of Sector A, a good forty percent of the Sector itself, they used candles to light the rooms of their apartment and a portable burner stove from an old camp set they had in a closet to cook meals. As Chen had said, they were living just fine without electricity. In fact, Derek told me they were striving in it.

“It’s just good to be alive, you know?” He had said, “And we have you and the Guardians to thank for that.”

I told him his thanks wasn’t needed and he laughed.

“What do you mean? Of course it is. All of us think you deserve that and more, your highness.”

And that was the only reasoning he supplied. “All of us.” All of the Exotians rescued who had not been represented in the news broadcast about the incident itself were thankful. It was refreshing, to say the least. It felt good, to say the least. I don’t regret a single thing, to say the least.

I don’t regret sending the Guardians to help the Exotians as much as they didn’t regret doing so, no matter the media backlash the incident received as a whole. As much as Kai himself didn’t regret saving this couple who despite seeming so ready to embrace death as flames erupted on either side of them, to let death take them as long as they were together, strived in a less than comfortable situation.

They were happy.

They were alive and they were happy.

And thus the outcome of Kai’s decision was one that allowed him to smile, his laughter echoing into the living room from the kitchen, right at this very moment.

It was late by the time he arrived at the decrepit cottage that was hours away from the center of the city. It was secluded in the middle of a thriving forest, tall oak trees as far as the eye could see. Away from the city, out from under the ever-asive eyes of the Council, nature had laid its domineering claim. Vines grew up the faded white painted wood of the cottage. Shrubbery masked the path to the front door in its green mesh.

The man who lived inside had a personality that matched the hidden, masked appearance of the cottage itself. He was a hermit by design.

By nature.

By fate.

The young man cloaked in black made his way up the steps of the porch. With each step, the wooden stairs creaked underneath him. It had been a long while since he had visited him. Almost two years. And then, it had been on better terms. Today, however, he hadn’t come with the intention to have a conversation about the weather or the changing of the seasons.

Today, he came to talk about something much more important. Something that had plagued his thoughts and ate at his mind to the point where he needed to talk to someone. Where he needed to do more than simply talk to someone.

That someone being the person who opened the door after he knocked, a face that seemed to defy age and the passing of time altogether greeting him. The face of his mentor.

“Luhan?” The older man questioned, black, tousled hair shifting across his forehead as his lips formed a curious frown on his face, “What are you doing here?” Luhan looked up, locking his blazing bronzed eyes with the man’s languid coffee toned own.

“I’ve come to argue with you.”

He had come to argue against his fate. 

A/N: 

Ayo, waddup my readers?

What do you mean it's not Sunday? Pish Posh. I think you may just be stuck in a time warp!
Why else would you think this update is late?

Is it because I'm a lazy, chubby bunny? Yes? So what? So everything?
Darn...I must quickly think up of a diversion in order to draw attention away from from my lazy self!
Must induce spazzes of Excitement about Exo Comeback within Readers! Yes! That will work! 
On a scale of 1 to 10, rate how excited you are about Exo's comeback in the comment section below. Go! 
(I wonder if anyone actually went through the trouble of reading this. I guess we'll see in the comments!)
Also, I rate my excitement a 5. Because the other half will be gained once Exo actually release their MV and show me their epicness. 
(Because teaser pictures lie sometimes. Darn those lying teaser pictures. But, the teaser for the MV is coming out soon, so I'll check have to check
back in with my excitement scale later.)
I believe in you EXO!
Also, was there enough Chen in this chapter?
There can never be enough Chen in any chapter. There can never be enough EXO, period.

EDIT: Okay, guys, did you see it? Did you see the teaser for "Wolf"? There's no way you haven't. 
Just...oh my! Oh my goodness! Did anyone else burst out laughing? 
Oh man, this is going to be an interesting comeback. Excitement level now a 7/10 due to hysterical nature of MV teaser.