“There’s only Xiumin left for you to meet now, your highness.” Suho told me as he led me back towards the more populated areas of the city. I was beginning to recognize a few places here and there now, a good sign we were going in the right direction. Perhaps I would have noticed them earlier on if it were not for the rather distracting thoughts of the guardian named Sehun who walked behind me.

She’s really our Seeress? She’s kind of a bit off isn’t she?

“We should be home soon, your highness.” Suho spoke to me again, causing me to flinch out of my daze. There was that word again, “home.” It was nice hearing it again, even if it was coupled with what seemed to be Suho’s new favorite way to end his sentences; your highness. I wasn’t about to suggest calling me by my name to him like I had with Kris. Suho might just faint again if I did. I could just imagine his crying face if I told him to stop calling me his highness. Weirdly, it felt like I knew him so well already.

“Okay.” I answered back. I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for that expectant look he was giving me. As though he wasn’t going to continue walking forward if I hadn’t. And it was funny, so I smiled. Apparently, it wasn’t that funny to Sehun, whose thoughts once more invaded my mind.

She’s grinning as though it’s a normal, sunny day. Is she a bit empty in the head? She’s definitely not what I expected her to be.

I stopped walking and my heel, startling him. His eyes went wide as I grinned the largest smile I could at him before turning back around and following Suho again. Suho, who had seen the exchange, began to laugh softly to himself. I caught up to him and nudged him in the side, causing him to clear his throat and stop laughing. However, he still had a smile on his face. It was then that Sehun finally realized the obvious.

Ah, she read my thoughts.

“I did.” I said to no one in particular as I continued walking next to Suho, not glancing back at him in the least. I heard him laugh from behind me and I scowled. Suho explained to me that he was one of the youngest ones along with Tao. While he may have been careful when it came to his outwards actions towards me, it seemed that his thoughts were not deterred by the fact that I was his “Seeress.” I had to admit, I liked it better that way. Better I know how he really feels about me than see how his highness clouded mind feels about me. Now if only I could get the rest of them to act this way towards me.

As though it were installed in him since birth, Suho catered to me once more. He took hold of one of my hands in his own, “Your pulse is irregular. Are you feeling alright?”

I would’ve said yes. I would’ve been able to hear and answer his question. If only there hadn’t been something just then. Something that flashed across my eyes in white blurs. What I saw was difficult to decipher. Much more difficult than when I saw through Baekhyun’s eyes; through his eyes what would happen if he didn’t interfere with the woman who was about to cross the road. It was difficult, and my eyes felt like they were failing on me. I gripped tighter onto Suho’s hands. His hands that once more washed over me a lukewarm, calming feeling. A feeling that allowed me to see more clearly.

To see rain. Rain falling down upon the city street from above. Roughly falling, pelting the ground as though not drops of water but balls of hail. And I heard it, the sound of people screaming. The sound of metal ripping against metal. And I saw it, the shard of metal that went flinging outwards. The dark figure it went flinging towards. And my vision became stained in red. Stained in red before a large cracking noise rang in my ears and my vision became glazed over in white. A white screen that shattered like glass.

And then, over that noise, I heard someone call for me. Call not my name but instead a panicked “your highness.” And I was back. I was back on the city street, holding onto Suho’s hands.

“Your highness.” He breathed a sigh of relief. My eyes scanned from him to the person beside him, Sehun. He looked confused. His lips parted as he looked back at me, wondering in his head what he was supposed to do. What he was supposed to say. And I would have answered. I would have answered if not for the tightening in my chest.

“Sehun.” I called his name, getting his attention immediately. I found my words coming out slowly, despite my desire to say them as fast as possible. To transfer to him their meaning as quickly as possible, “You’re wind. Is there ice?”

He didn’t answer for a moment. He stood there, staring at me as he processed my question. As he processed what my question meant. What I was trying to say. The question of if there was a guardian who controlled ice. His mind answered faster than his lips could.

Xiumin.

And now I had a face to put to the name. A blurry face in a dark gray cloak to put to the name. A blurry face who towards it, a shard of metal flew. And the ice cracked. And my vision was stained red.

My feet began to carry me quickly down the street, towards the familiar street I had seen the rain falling down onto. The street that led to the People’s court. The People’s court which housed the Hall of the Guardians beneath it.

“You found nothing. Exactly what do you mean by that?” Kai’s voice resounded within the large black space. The large black space in which one man in white stood, surrounded by glass spheres. He had come here for answers, answers he didn’t want to wait for.

“Once everyone knows, tonight, I’ll tell you all what I found.” Luhan answered without turning around to face him. He didn’t like being rushed, especially when things were going so smoothly as they were.

Kai had been the first one to find the Seeress, so it was understandable he had grown more attached than the others. Luhan wouldn’t lie. He was jealous that he could not find her first despite his specialty being what it was. However, that did not make what he had to say any less important that it could be shared whenever someone requested it of him. He was going to wait until everyone knew about her. Until tonight, whilst she, his Seeress, slept peacefully. That time was fast approaching judging from how close Xiumin was to her, Sehun, and Suho now. But unlike that time that was draining by the second, Kai’s patience seemed to wane by the millisecond.

“I thought you found nothing.” Kai’s tone was one of irritation. Irritation that he had to wait longer. That he couldn’t find out why their Seeress had only shown up now. That he couldn’t find her until she was about to die right in front of him.

“And when one finds nothing, one digs deeper until they find something amidst the nothing. Unless you want to impede upon my discovery, I suggest you wait until tonight.” Luhan was still digging. Digging for information within the Council’s database. He had access to almost everything. Almost. So when he tried to access something beyond his reach, if he tried to without taking precautions first, they would grow suspicious of his digging. He needed a little more time to gather everything he had found. To reorder it all so that it made sense. Time he was losing as Kai continued to distract him.

He heard a defeated sigh from behind him and then, the sound of wind ripping through the air. A sound akin to when rope is swung through the air quickly. The sound of Kai leaving, teleporting out of the room.

Luhan turned his attention back to what he was doing before Kai visited, only to be interrupted once more by the calling of his name. He looked towards the sound of the voice and one of the glass spheres at his feet rose from the ground. In it reflected D.O. and Chen. D.O.’s voice was coated in worry as he spoke, his eyes looking upwards, “She’s not back yet. Did something happen?” Chen behind him had a tight frown on his face, not pleased at all that the Seeress had not returned yet.

A second glass sphere rose from the ground, smaller than the one he looked at D.O. and Chen through. In it reflected three people walking down the street of the city. “She is with Suho and Sehun.” Luhan answered back and he saw D.O.’s facial features relax yet Chen remained unsatisfied behind him.

Someone called his name again, and it was neither of the Guardians who had called out to him just moments ago. The smaller glass sphere shifted back as a new larger one took its place. He saw Baekhyun through it and the room he was in belonged to the Seeress. He had in his hand the handle of a brown, leather suitcase.

“Luhan,” he repeated his name again before continuing, “this suitcase isn’t heavy.”

The observation was random to be sure. Luhan did not understand why such a thing was relevant. That is, until he heard the next words come out of Baekhyun’s mouth.

“But, she had trouble lifting it earlier.”

It clicked inside of his head just then, what Baekhyun was insinuating.  Without even a moment’s hesitation, the glass spheres around his feet rose all at once as he searched for one specific person. And it didn’t take long, merely a second went by when he found who he was looking for. And when he did, he called out to them.

“Sector A. Main street.” 

A/N: I really liked this chapter for reasons unknown to me. Xiumin will be in the next chapter though not entirely a good thing now that the Seeress has had a vision about him that's not so great, huh? Thank you for the support everyone!