Zelo woke up in the morning to find that he wasn’t in his own room. It took a couple of seconds before he remembered his nightmare and where he was. He tried to stand up, but realized that Yongguk’s arm was wrapped around his waist. With a small smile, Zelo shook the older slightly.

“What?” Yongguk grunted.

Zelo giggled. “Wake up, hyung! I have to get up and make breakfast and it won’t work like this.”

A bit shocked by his own actions, Yongguk immediately pulled his hand away. “Sorry.”

“No problem, hyung.” Zelo’s voice was cheerful and the younger happily bounded out of bed and into the kitchen. Yongguk smiled at his innocent behavior. He lazily rolled out of the bed and walked out the door, when he heard a voice coming from the front door.

“Hi, Jello.”

“Minzy noona, what are you doing here?” Yongguk saw the blonde boy making his way towards the older girl.

“CL sent me here. She said I should… hello, Yongguk.” Minzy’s eyes were turned to him.

Yongguk smiled awkwardly. “Hi.”

“CL wanted me to apologize for yesterday and spend some time with the two of you. So here you have it. Sorry.” Her voice didn’t sound sincere, but neither of the two males were surprised.

“You should be nicer to hyung,” Zelo murmured.

“Hyung? You guys are that close?”

“Is there a problem with that?” Yongguk wished he wouldn’t sound so hurt.

“I don’t like… humans in general. I’ve had bad experiences, and so did CL. I’m surprised unnie accepted you that quickly.” She sighed and pushed her hair back. “So what do you want to do, Jello?” Yongguk felt a pang of jealousy at the nickname.

“I need to check on my garden. I don’t want to run out of food and have to go to the city to buy it.” Minzy nodded at his request and turned to open the door and step outside. Yongguk followed the two rebels silently.

The next half an hour was even more boring to Yongguk than a lecture from his much-hated Professor Kim who managed to make the most interesting topics sound flat and gray. Minzy was hanging upside-down from a tree (what and how?) while Zelo fluttered around his garden with a happy sparkle in his eye. Yongguk casually opened and closed his fist out of boredom – and then it happened.

“What was that?” the maknae asked with wide eyes.

Minzy dropped down from the tree and landed on her feet. “Did you do that?” She looked at the oldest of the three in shock.

“I… I have no idea.” Yongguk stared at the patch of grass in front of him that had been green before. Now it was black and dry, burned from the flame that shot out of his hand not too long ago.

“We need to tell CL.” Minzy’s voice was loud after the short silence. Zelo nodded without another word. His eyes were glued to Yongguk’s hand as if he expected another flame to burst out and burn down the house.

Not long after, the other three members of Quaerimus Veritatem appeared. CL immediately rushed to the black spot in the grass and gently ran her fingertips through it.

“How did you do that?” Daehyun asked with wide eyes. Yongguk shook his head in response. He didn’t know.

“Did something like this ever happen before?” Jongup inquired. Once again Yongguk responded negatively.

“Fire powers… they are rare. They don’t come alone; there’s always at least one other power that accompanies them…” CL stood up and looked Yongguk into the eyes. “You have another power, but I don’t know what… damn, this is strange.”

“Maybe something triggers his powers,” Zelo suggested. “Fire responds to negative feelings.” He turned his head towards the man he was talking about. “You were probably bored since you had nothing to do and therefore the fire grew and came out.”

“Maybe there’s something in Jello’s house that can help. There are around 500 books or something.” The members of Veritas approved of Minzy’s idea and went to find something that could be of use.

Yongguk was second-to-last to enter the house, but CL stopped him before he could. “I’m glad you’re taking good care of Zelo. He doesn’t show it but his past haunts him. However, since you came he’s been in a much better mood even if he seems cold when we all meet up. Thank you. He needs someone like you to be there for him because even though he’s part of a rebel group and has a strong power like time manipulation, he has to be protected. He’s fragile, like a piece of glass. Be there for him even when you’re at your worst and you won’t regret it. Zelo’s the most loving person I’ve ever met. Trust me.”

“I’ll protect him. I promise,” Yongguk replied with a rough voice. CL smiled gratefully and slipped past him.

“Where’s Jongup?” Minzy, Zelo, and Daehyun were already searching through books, but the mentioned man was nowhere to be seen.

“He went to his apartment to check if he has anything useful,” Daehyun answered without looking up. As if on cue, Jongup appeared in front of them in that second. He held a crumpled yellow-ish paper. His eyes were hard.

“What happened?” CL’s voice wavered a bit as she looked at the paper Jongup gave her. “.”

“What’s wrong?” Minzy rushed to the leader’s side. Daehyun followed and gasped.

“What is that?” Zelo hadn’t moved, he just stared at Jongup in question. The latter placed the paper on the floor so that everyone could see it.

There were drawings of the members of Quaerimus Veritatem. Not detailed, more like silhouettes, but it was obvious who they were supposed to be. Below the figures were nine words:

Wanted for rebellion and murder. Dead or alive. Reward.

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And here is Yongguk's power... one of them, at least.

Sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter, but I needed to put up something.

And... that... was... really the best picture I could find :/ sorry.

I love you Pancakes! All of you! <3 you rock