He whisked her around the corner of the long hall with a single tug. Chills traveled down her spine, her toes grasping at the soles of her shoes for warmth, at their contact. Despite having heard of the lightning Guardian’s show of force the day before, she had never felt their power first hand. 

Right there, in the palm of her hand. Threatening to end her as pins and needles prickled at her fingertips, his hand slipping from hers and his cool breath on her face taking its place. 

“Have you checked on her highness today?” Xiumin questioned, expression deadpan.

“What’d I check on her for?” Luna retorted, pulling her hands across her chest, away from him. 

“She hasn’t.” Xiumin shot over his shoulder, ignoring her presence as the figures of four others appeared from the nearest, shadow-engulfed doorway. 

After the Chen incident, any time they’d gather together outside of their collective room they’d end up putting the Boards around them on edge. Due to the vigilance of all the guards since yesterday night, Tao had been unable to get out of eyesight long enough to utilize his newfound, still unreliable, ability to stop time. Thus the secrecy with which they now called upon Luna — the only person who could talk to their Seeress without arousing suspicion of the nonexistent.

Tao remained quiet behind Kris as he spoke, regarding Luna with much more respect than Xiumin had, “We’d like to see her, if you can make that happen.”

“All of you?” Luna guffawed, her utter disbelief with their confidence in the face of their less-than-favorable surroundings obvious from her dropped jaw and high-rising brows. 

“We have reason to believe she needs us.” Lay reasoned, brown eyes big and pleading as he stared down at her.

Realistically, she could have said no. She had no reason to say yes. Any one of her comrades would’ve laughed in their faces before leaving them there, dumbfounded as to how to go about solving their own problems themselves. In fact, she’d already resigned to handing off “Seeress Babysitting Duty” to someone else starting this morning. She hadn’t yet, but she’d decided to. So, there was no reason to go against a decision she’d already made. 

No reason at all.

“Which one of you does she need?” Luna asked, self-consciously eyeing around the corner, watching cautiously for any eavesdropping, gun-totting, high-on-adrenaline guards.

She didn’t have a reason to let the Healing Guardian Lay see their precious Seeress, but she did anyway. 

Seemingly drowning in her own sweat, matted hair framing her face, body curling into a fetal position, the legendary Seeress of EXO lay trembling on the bed before them. Luna didn’t know how to react, her body unmoving as the Guardian at her side rushed forward, holding the legend like he would a child. And yet, the longer she stared, the more she believed it was the farthest thing from how anyone would cradle a fragile babe.

“What’s wrong with her?” Were Luna’s words as she remained rooted in place, her fear of the unknown, of the pale green glow that flowed from Lay’s hands as he held his highness close, too inhuman to believe. To even fathom. And because there was no reason to, she didn’t. 

She averted her eyes, refusing to look.

“Self-induced illness.” Lay diagnosed, remembering the fits Cera would have every so often after Kai would visit her late at night. 

He still didn’t know what they did. 

He didn’t really want to, quite honestly. 

All that mattered was how he went about staving off the pain she’d feel for hours on end. Running a hand down her cheek, she shivered into his touch. Her skin was searing hot, her soft gasps for air not aiding in the least in her desperate search for a cool breeze. 

“She had a vision.” He laid her back down, pushing her hair out of her face, “And it overwhelmed her.”

At this point, Xiumin could help more than he could. He had his doubts, however, that Luna herself would be willing to help more than she already had. So, he made a smaller request of her. One he believed she’d be more likely to carry out.

“A bucket of water, comprised mostly of ice, and a clean rag. Would you be able to get that for her?” 

Not for him, for her.

For her highness.

And Luna gave her affirmation in the form of a shrug.

“Thank you.” Lay voiced, grabbing the backpack at the foot at the bed, pulling out a fresh set of clothes. It didn’t take long for Luna to realize what his intentions were, her feet finally moving her forward to snatch the bag from his hands.

“I’ve got this, so just get the water yourself.” A flush of pink crawled up her neck as she felt his eyes boring into her temple, his confusion apparent from his wordlessness. Stuttering out, she explained herself, “The guard outside’s a friend of mine. Tell him what you need and he’ll help you get it.” Still, Lay remained puzzled by her embarrassment, making her yell out shamelessly, “Whether you’ve set her aside into the platonic ‘Seeress Zone’ or not, she’s still a woman. You’re still a man, aren’t you?”

And yet, despite his previous ignorance, he answered her with a smile, immediate and unwavering, “Thank you.”

Luna cleared harshly, a signal that he understood with ease this time as he stood up to take his leave. But, not before she got out her own stubborn, “Don’t tell her I helped you help her.”

Lay, hand on the door knob, managed a light laugh, “I’m pretty sure she’ll figure that out eventually.”

“Then let her.” Luna’s eyes spotted a stray hair that tangled itself in her eyelashes, thick and long, full of droplets of sweat, “And don’t you dare drop hints.”

Hiding eyes full of unraveled mysteries. 

And Luna’s curiosity, rarely unbridled and flighty, got the better of her.

I was asleep for over a week. In and out of it, mostly. I can only remember fleeting images of it. Lay and Tao more often than not. Xiumin once or twice. Kris just once. Never Chen. Always Luna. 

She explained it herself, despite the vow she took to never speak with me again. She betrayed her thoughts, for whatever reason. To say I was grateful she did anyway would be an understatement.

“They’ve got that lightning Guardian pumping electricity back into the Sector’s lifeless, thanks to the Council, generators. It’s the deal Henry made with him in exchange for letting him out of his cell a fews days ago.” Luna wrung out the towel in her hands, a rainfall of water colliding into the bucket at her feet, her knuckles turning white, “You almost kill a man and you get out of it by providing people with some regular cable. A raw deal if I’ve ever seen one.”

I didn’t say anything.

She took my silence as an argument against her claim — that she then reevaluated all on her own.

“Granted, Donghae’s responsible for those scrapes on your elbows and that bump on your head, but I heard he received anything but reciprocal punishment for his crimes.”

“Chen’s strong point is that he acts before he thinks—”

“Sounds like a weak point to me.” Luna interrupted my softly-spoken words, scoffing as she sent her eyes rolling to the left.

I gulped down, wetting my parched throat, still not used to going unconscious for hours, days, weeks, and even months at a time — no matter how many times I had done it thus far. 

“He’s a glass cannon.” I said.

His strong point is his weak point. If a problem takes more than a quick act to solve, he’s left vulnerable by any and all possible counterattacks, I meant to say. 

Understanding the only words I could get out in my own weakened state, Luna committed her favorite action: a pointless shrug of her shoulders.

“How lucky are you then that he’s your first line of defense, your highness?” 

She declared in an exaggerated manner, eyes rolling and rolling and rolling to the point where I felt my vision blurring, caught in a dizzy fit, as I tried to keep up. She took the flow of our conversation somewhere I didn’t expect as I rolled together with her, along for the ride whose destination I knew not. 

“I wouldn’t say I’m rooting for him. Though maybe that’s because he hasn’t been in the limelight as much as the others have.” An excited smile washed over her, as though she’d been wanting to talk about this for a long while now, “We’ve made a game of it, you see? It’s like a way to distract ourselves from the fact that every second could be the one we die. The one in which the Council decides to get rid of our revolution for good. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?” Once more, she took my silence to mean more than I meant it to. “No, you probably don’t. You see, us common Exotians have this thing we do called ‘shipping.’ Still clueless?”

She took my eyes that lit up at her voicing of that single word as anything but naive.

“See, you do know.” 

Her ears began to pink, her hands fumbling to fold the damp towel in her hands. 

“Admittedly, even though I hate the entire system of the Seeress of EXO as a whole—“

I myself have to admit, that stung a bit.

“All girls’ve got a romantic side to them that just eats this stuff up.”

I didn’t have to ask what as she immediately elaborated, spilling much more than either of us wanted her to.

“Will the Fire Guardian finally work up the guts to hold the Seeress’s hand? What’s the secret hidden behind the rarely seen smile the Wind Guardian’s got splayed out across his face today? Or will the Earth Guardian come up out of nowhere and claim the mighty Seeress’s heart?”

I choked on the laughter that bubbled up from my throat, feeling my own face blooming red at her words.

“And that’s the more innocent stuff. Because who knows what goes on behind closed doors? Usually, that’s the Teleporting Guardian’s domain,” my toes curled inwards as I choked for the second time, laughter the farthest thing from being the cause as she continued unabashed, “but really, it’s all fantasy. All just our own imaginations running wild. Because there’s a difference between interaction we can and can’t see, who’s to tell what reality really is?”

I smiled. She was definitely right on that one.

“So which one?” She pressed the folded towel to my forehead, mumbling out, “Just for the sake of knowing.”

And I decided I’d live in the realm of fantasy for a bit too.

“Well, I’ve kissed one of them.”

“So what?” Luna tsked, displeased with my reasoning, “I’ve kissed my own share of guys. That doesn’t mean I’ve fallen in love eleven separate times.” Restating her question in a way she believed I would better understand it, she said, “Who do you care for the most?”

I didn’t think nearly as long as I should have. Whether that was because I was influenced by her earlier words or because it really was true, I’m not sure. I’m not sure of this or that. That, in reality, I cared the most for the person I both can and cannot interact with. The person I both can and can never see. 

“Luhan.”

Who?

Her immediate inward confusion was understandable. He’d never appeared on television. He’d never walk with me down the streets of the city. He’d made his own vow, for his own reasons. 

Wait, the one with Telekinesis? 

She dawned, having done the matching up of names and abilities in her head well enough to reach this accurate conclusion. 

“What makes him so special?” 

She asked, curious — a look that became her more than I think she knew.

And the answer wasn’t as simple as my hoarse, shaking voice would allow. 

Because whenever I’m with him, no. No, whenever I talk to him, I feel like I’m holding onto something incredibly precious. Right there, in the middle of my palms. Right here, I’m holding onto this small, fragile thing. I don’t know what name to give it. I just know it’s there. And I’m protecting it as well as I can, I really am. I’m fighting for it as well as I can, believe me.

Yet there’s always this overwhelming fear that, one day, my trembling hands will give way. One day, I’ll let it slip between my fingers. One day, I’ll break it, for my own reasons. And, subsequently, I’ll break him.

Even when I’m with him, I’m not. Even when I need him, I can’t. And I feel like crying at the thought.

“He could disappear while I’m not looking.”

While I’m not paying attention. While I’m busy bending to his whims. While he’s busier setting up boundaries between us.

She thought over my answer for a moment, a single moment, before concluding with:

“But that’s not love.”

I frowned. Was it not?

“Maybe.” She briefly entertained it, only to give it up, “I don’t know.”

She shrugged again, leaving without supplying me any reason at all.

A/N: I updated fast this time, ey? The next chapter will end the Sector E Arc. Tata for now! (click?)