It seemed as if the world stopped turning and went completely silent.

Everyone’s head slowly turned towards the plasma screen. Twelve jaws dropped and twenty-four eyes widened.

Suho took a few steps forward, still not believing what he was seeing, “Oh, my …”

“Duizhang!” Tao screamed, pushing past the dazed leader with a dazzling smile.

Kris smiled and gave the Guardians a wave through the screen, “Hey guys.”

Everyone stared at him in shock while Tao pressed his hands against the glass, trying to push through the screen to get to his leader.

“Guys?” Kris raised an eyebrow but the Guardians continued to gawk at the fallen leader.

“Well,” an awkward laugh escaped his lips and he glanced down at something off the screen “This wasn’t really the reaction I was hoping for.”

You bumped Suho’s shoulder lightly, knocking him back to his sense, and gave him an encouraging smile when he turned around to face you.

Suho shook his head, clearing his throat before his lips formed into a bright smile.

“It’s great to see you Kris,” he said softly and you could almost see all the troubles and fears that were weighing him down lift off his shoulders.

“You too, Suho,” the elder smiled back.

“How are you doing this?” Luhan asked abruptly as he stared up at Kris in confusion.

“Oh, it’s easy,” he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned to one side with an arrogant smile, “There’s this mirror thing here. You basically just have to turn it on and you can talk to whoever you want to for all worlds.”

“But he did have a little help,” a girl said as she suddenly walked onto the screen.

She stood beside Kris and wrapped an arm around his waist, giving him a sweet, reminding smile which he promptly rolled his eyes to but still wrapped his arms around her shoulder and pulled her into his side.

She was beautiful, so amazingly perfect that you couldn’t help be gawk (and be slightly jealous). And based on her long brown hair and the way Kris looked at her, you knew exactly who she was before the other boys gasped her name with smiles.

Her eyes widened when they landed on you and you heard a small gasp escape her lips.

“Miyoung,” she whispered as she took a step forward.

“Hi…” you took a deep breath and stepped forward as well, “You’re Hyerim, right?”

“Miyoung,” she choked out, her eyes dimming and starting to fill with tears.

“Hey,” Kris gently turned her away from you and the others and ducked his head to look her in the eyes, “We talked about this.”

“I know,” she whispered, “but she’s my best friend.”

You frowned and bowed your head towards the floor, guilt starting to wash over your body. You looked up when you felt an arm wrap around your shoulders and saw Suho at your side.

“It’s not your fault,” he said softly, “Don’t blame yourself.”

You gave him a small, forced smile before dropping your eyes back down to the floor.

The other boys glanced between Kris and Hyerim, you and Suho, and each other. They silently motioned toward each other to say something to end the thick tension that was hanging in the room.

“Um, Duizhang,” Xiumin cleared his throat from his spot toward the back of the room, “About the Angel –”

“Sungmi,” Kai corrected him immediately on impulse.

He ducked his head when everyone turned around to look at him. You heard some of the other members snorting and a few blatantly laughing out loud. Even Kris was had his hand over his mouth to hide his smile.

“Oh, right. About Sungmi,” Xiumin corrected himself slowly, smirking slightly at the teleporter’s flushed cheeks, “How are you doing to help us save her?” 

“Well, we’ve been watching Kang and the Demons for a while now,” Kris answered, “Lay, could you pull up a floor plan of Kang’s lair for me?”

As Lay scurried over to the computer that was sitting on the desk near the window that over looked the forest, the other boys took their seats, pulling out their laptops and notebooks to take notes.

Outside the giant wall of glass, you could see that the sun was already setting in the background, the sky turning different shades of pink and orange.

You sat in the vacant sofa chair next to Suho’s and something on the right armrest caught your eye.

“Suho,” you called quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Why is there a ‘Y’ embroidered on this chair?” you asked as you ran your finger lightly over the silver stitching that contrasted with the black upholstery.

Suho looked up from his notebook and smiled, “That’s Kris’ chair.”

You tilted your head to the side and stared at Suho in confusion.

“My real name is Yifan,” Kris said as he placed two chairs down in the middle of the screen for him and Hyerim to sit on, “And that’s my chair so get off.”

You were about to jump off the chair when Hyerim whacked Kris on the arm with a scoff.

“Stop it, Kris,” she scolded.

“Yeah! Stop it Kris!” Baekhyun and Chanyeol chorused in high voices.

“Shut up,” he glared at the two Guardians and gave you an amused smile, “I was just kidding Miyoung.”

You threw a look filled with mock anger his way before crossing your arms and sinking into the chair as Suho chuckled next to you.

After a few clicks and keystrokes, Lay waved his arm in the air and gave Kris a thumbs-up. A small box with a blue print to a building popped up in the corner of the plasma and all the chatter and background noise calmed to pure silence.

“Okay, so from what we saw, the Demons don’t have any heavy security on the west wing of the lair,” Kris explained, “That is probably your best bet to getting in and getting out.”

“There will be a few Demons on guard, but I’m sure you guys can handle them quickly without drawing any attention,” Hyerim spoke up with a serious tone.

“Then you guys can make your way to the room where …” Kris’ eyes flickered toward the side of the room where a certain Guardian was sitting, “Sungmi is being held, get her out, and get her back to Homebase.”

“And then we can figure out what Kang wanted with her,” Kai nodded as he scribbled something in his notebook.

“But don’t we already know that?” Chen looked around at his fellow team members, “He wants her for her blood, right?”

“He apparently took at least ten syringes full of Miyoung’s blood the last time,” Suho shook his head, “That’s enough to last him for at least a century. He doesn’t want Sungmi for her blood, he wants her for something else.”

“And that ‘something else’ is probably super evil and we’re going to have to go back there again and confront him about it,” Sehun whined as he slouched down in his chair, rolling his head that thrown over the back of his chair from side to side.

D.O rolled is eyes and shook his head before looking up at Kris and Hyerim, “But how are we going to find where she is? I mean Kai said that he just stumbled upon the room that she was in. He could probably visualize the room and teleport in there, but what about the rest of us?”

“And what if she’s not even in that room? Like they moved her somewhere else?” Baekhyun added.

“Well I’m sure you guys can hack their security cameras,” Hyerim answered, “Figure out what room she’s and find a path to get there that way.”

“Already on it,” Lay called from the desk.

Kris nodded with a proud smile.

“Okay, but how are we supposed to know if we’re on the right track?” Tao asked, “What good would tapping into the security cameras do if we don’t have someone to relay the information to us?”

“Well that can be Miyoung’s job,” Hyerim grinned.

You were watching Luhan make a time table on his laptop, mapping out every members move and how long it would take each action would take down to the second, when you heard your name.

“Me?” you looked up with wide eyes.

“No, absolutely not,” Suho dismissed the idea immediately, “I don’t want this mission to have anything to do with Miyoung.”

“But Suho – ” Hyerim looked at him with pleading eyes.

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea either,” you interrupted timidly, “I could mess something up and the guys could get in trouble or hurt.”

“But – ”

“Hyerim, stop,” Suho sharply cut her off, “We can have Lay do it. He always does the tech stuff for us anyway.”

“What if Sungmi’s hurt?” Kris spoke with a leveled and controlled voice, “You guys might need Lay there with you.”

You glanced over at Suho and saw him staring down at his notebook, his pen gripped tightly in his hand and his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

“And she’ll be here at Homebase, safe from all the Demons and protected by concrete and bulletproof windows,” Hyerim added, “We’ll be here to talk her through everything too.”

“Okay,” you nodded once, a bit of determination surfacing from deep within you, “You guys just have to promise to help me.”

Hyerim’s eyes lit up and a bright smile stretched across her face.

Suho looked up at you in shock, “Miyoung …”

“I think I can do it, Suho,” you said softly, “I kind of remember what the room looks like and the hallways we ran through to get to the main entrance.”

“You don’t have to do this,” he shook his head with worry in his eyes.

“Last time, I was the Angel that was in trouble. But this time, I can actually help. Please at least let me try once,” you pleaded.

“Aw come on leader,” Luhan sighed, “It’s not like we’re throwing her to the Demons as a distraction. She’s going to be sitting in front of a computer and talking into a head set.”

The other members voiced words of agreement and you could see Suho’s mind wavering and his resolve crumbling at your small pout and wide eyes.

He turned away from you and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh, “Fine.”

Hyerim cheered and clapped her hands before high fiving Kris.

“But, she doesn’t leave this room when the mission starts. I don’t want her wandering around the house when none of us are here,” Suho crossed his arms over his chest and looked at you with a small, bitter frown, “So if you have to go to the bathroom, you better hold it.”

Even though he wasn’t joking or trying to be funny, you, along with everyone else, couldn’t hold back your laughter and rolled your eyes while shaking your head.

“Okay, okay, I won’t,” you promised.

“Then everything is settled,” Kris nodded, “We’ll talk to you guys tomorrow night.”

The Guardians nodded and started closing their notebooks and laptops.

“Oh and one more thing before we go,” Hyerim said, “You know that Demon Hyukjin?”

Silence fell over the room as you exchanged a glance with Suho.

You looked back at Hyerim and Kris and nodded, “What about him?”

“Trust him.”

And then the screen went black.  

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A long overdue update, but this one was a doozy! With almost 2,000 words, it's the longest chapter of The Return so far. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

~Admin Kelc