The burn of rope branded your wrist as they rubbed upon your skin, securing your hands tightly behind your back. The small framed boy who pinned you down earlier dragged you violently through the forest, surprising you with the amount of strength his tiny arms possessed. You yanked your arms in attempt to pull yourself free but failed, the boys grasp tightening under your pressure. He glanced at your strangled face, sending you a stern glare, threatening you with his eyes. You returned the scowl unaffected by his silent taunt.

“Is this any way to treat a lady?” The boy pulled harder on the rope causing you to flinch. “That ing hurts! Just you wait ‘til I get out of these ropes, some asses are going to be kicked—”

A blade was instantly at your throat, halting your threat. The tanned boy who had been walking a few steps ahead of you had spun around with a dagger in hand and a growl in his throat. The group stopped walking and watched as he softly dragged his blade along your neck; not hard enough to actually cut you, but enough to stagger your breath.

“Your whiney voice is making my ears bleed. Do you want to get cut, little girl?”

You felt his eyes roll over you, his pupils scanning your every move; from the shiver in your breath, to the twitch in your eye. He raised his eyebrow, his stare curious yet untrusting. You scoffed, holding your head high in hopes to hide your suffocating nerves.

“Little girl...?" You forcefully pulled your lips upwards to flash a cocky smile. You hoped your shaky hands didn’t ruin your tough guy facade. "Heh, pretty sure I’m older than you, punk. Don’t act like you can—“ Your sentence was cut short, a whimper escaping your lips as the boy dug his blade a little deeper, enough to cause you further discomfort but again, not breaking the skin.

The one leading the group sighed, his eyes darting to the blade at your throat. 

“Now, now Kai, don’t get hasty. We’ll let Elder Soo decide what to do with her. Don’t forget whose fault it was that the little girl got lost in the first place.”

The boy named Kai withdrew his knife, his eyes dropping to the floor. A look of guilt overcame his face, before quickly turning back to anger. His eyes glazed over you once more before turning back to the road in front of him.

“Yes, Leader Suho.”

The rest of the walk was silent; the boys ignored you for the entire duration. Every now and then you complained of the pain in your wrists but that earned you no more than a sharp shove from the smaller wide-eyed boy who held your ropes. At one point you jokingly asked how everyone’s day was and commented about the weather but these boys didn’t seem at all impressed with your small talk and you ended up with a filthy rag tied around your mouth.  

 

The sound of distant voices hummed ahead. The surrounding trees became less clustered and the tops of what looked like bamboo structures could be seen amongst the foliage.  You sighed from under your gag, relieved that this walk might finally be coming to an end. However you were slightly worried with what you were be faced with; these people weren’t carnivorous, right?

Finally arriving at a clearing, you scanned your surroundings. There were many small huts and tipis scattered through the trees forming what looked like a small village. The structures were built out of bamboo, logs, branches, leaves and rocks.

 An uncomfortable hush settled on the once chatty ambiance. Wary eyes watched you from behind trees and within houses. Those who stood in your path scurried aside as you were escorted towards the centre of the village.

The boys halted when you arrived at one of the larger buildings. Its walls were decked with elaborate tribal paintings and its roof laid with lush green palm leaves. 

A sharp slap behind your knees caused you to buckle downwards, the gravel beneath you stabbing into the skin of your knee caps. You shot a glare over your shoulder, growling under your breath at the smirk that was painted on Kai’s face.

Your attention was forced back to the front when an old man appeared from within the building. The six boys bowed their heads as the grey headed elder hobbled towards you. The little girl whom you had rescued ran up to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. 

“Grandpa!”

The elder wrapped his arms around the small child, squeezing her with relief. He sighed.

“Mihyun-ah, where did you wander off to? I was so worried.” He sighed a second time, rubbing her back. “I’m glad you’re okay, my dear.”

Pulling out of the embrace, the old man looked up, his eyes fixated on yours. He stared into your eyes for the longest time before he looked over your state. He grabbed his granddaughter and pulled her behind him as he took a few more steps towards you, his eyes hardening as if confused by your presence.

“And who is this?” He asked, once again staring into your soul. 

“She helped me out of the trap grandpa…”

Mihyun told her grandfather her story. She went into detail of how she chased a pretty butterfly and got separated from Kai—who was temporarily looking after her at the time. She told him how she stumbled into one of the traps along the border and that the pretty big sister helped her out. 

You shuffled around on your knees, the grazes starting to really irritate your skin. The slight movement earned yet another blade held at your throat, this time by the tall one with the curly auburn hair.

The elder took his final steps towards you, standing only inches away. You squeezed your eyes shut, hoping that whatever pain was going to be inflicted on you, would be fast.

When nothing came, you slowly pried your eyes open only to be startled by the elder who had bent down to your level to stare at your face. His beady eyes analyzed every detail; from the small lines in your eyelids, to the clotted blood smeared on your temple. His eyes met with yours for the last time before his wary expression changed into one of awe and remorse. After taking in the rest of your disheveled appearance, he grabbed the tall boys spear that was still at your neck and moved it aside. He then reached behind your head and pulled off the cloth that was currently gagging you.

“Is what my granddaughter saying true? Did you in fact help her?”

You cleared your throat, swallowing your nerves.

“Yes.” You shuffled on your aching knees once again. “I only wanted to help. I didn’t mean any harm”

“Didn’t, or don’t?”

A bead of sweat rolled down your forehead.

“Don’t.”

His eyes travelled towards the six boys who stood around you. They shuffled in their spots, unsure whether to believe this story or not. While you did seem harmless, you could have easily have been lying.

“She…she could have other intentions, Elder.” The tall one with the large ears said, looking at you with distrust. “She has to be one of them. ”

The elder noted your foreign garments, made from materials he’d never seen before. He then glazed over your unusually delicate skin. Other than the freshly created wounds, there were no signs of any other imperfections that came naturally to any being who lived on this island.  

He nodded to himself, you couldn't be one of them. Picking up your chin, the elder moved your head to the side to get a better look at your features.

“Who are you? You don’t look like you’re from around here.”

You snatched your head away from his touch, your stare fixed on the ground as you decided to remain silent. The elder hummed and took a step backward.

“Untie her.”

The boys glanced between themselves, unsure if the order was wise.

“But sir, I—“

“Are you doubting my word?” The old man’s eyes grew dark as he looked down on the boys with authority. “I said. Un-tie her.”

The small boy with the large eyes let you go and you slumped down where you knelt. The taller boy crouched down beside you and loosened your ropes. You turned your head slightly to look at him. He had handsome features, big brown eyes and large ears that protruded from under his curly head hair. Your eyes met his and he flinched slightly, taken aback by your deer-like stare. He looked away and helped you up on your feet. You nodded and mumbled a small, nonchalant ‘thank you’. You rubbed the red marks on your wrists from where the ropes had buried themselves into your skin.

“Now. I’ll ask again. Who are you?”

You took a deep breath in and spoke as strongly as you could.

“Just a girl with a lot of bad luck.”

From the corner of your eye you saw Kai turn to look at you, his stare burning a hole in your head. You ignored this and continued.

“I was flying in a jet when it crash landed into the sea. I managed to get out alive and after hours of being stranded, I somehow washed up here.”

The village who had since gathered around, broke out into hushed whispers.

 “Jet?”

“Flying?”

“Did she say she was flying?”

“…what’s a jet?”

The elder loudly cleared his throat, his not-so-subtle hint for everyone to silence. His eyes were wide with shock and awe as he placed his hands on either side of your face, his mouth slightly agape.

 “You flew, you say? From somewhere outside the sea?” There was an eerie twinkle in his eye. “You’re from…the beyond?”

A flood of shocked gasps washed over the village. The six boys who surrounded you took staggered steps away from you, as if you had burnt them with your words. You looked around to see the astonished looks on not just the boys facesbut the whole towns faces too—some of them even looked a little scared. You let out a nervous laugh as a little boy squealed and hid behind his father, peeking out from under his arm.

“What, is that strange or something?” You rubbed your neck feeling a slight bout of anxiety hit. “I’m not going to eat you, ya’ll need to chill out…” You didn’t know what else to say or do. You hoped they weren’t going to burn you at the stake. 

The elder looked stunned. He looked off into the distance as if deep in thought or like he’d had some sort of epiphany. He looked back at you and smiled.

“Young lady, I am very sorry for how my warriors have treated you. Granted they were only doing their job, but at times they're not the brightest of fireflies.”

You scoffed.

 “Yeah, your warriors need to learn how to listen when someone is yelling in there stupid faces that they’re innocent.” Your fists clenched as you side eyed the six boys who were still staring at you in bewilderment.

“My face isn’t stupid…” You heard one of them mumble.

“You face isn’t stupid, Baekie.” The tallest one mumbled back to him as he ruffled his hair. You rolled your eyes. The elder looked towards the warriors and motioned them to follow him.

“EXO-K-warriors. I need to have a private word with you please. Angel from the beyond, please stay as you are, we will come back with haste.”

You furrowed your eyebrows at the strange title.

“Uh… ‘Angel from the beyond’?” You blinked at the elder in bemusement, but he ignored you and walked into the large building, his 6 warriors following behind him.

 

 

After what seemed like 20 minutes of being stared at by the locals, the 6 handsome warriors and the elder came out of the building. You noticed that the warriors’ expressions had changed completely. Their scared, shocked faces had been replaced with happy, excited ones.

The tall one that un-tied you started laughing insanely while shaking his smaller friend by the shoulder. It reminded you of how a 4 year old would act while waiting in line at the ice cream shop. What in the world did the old geezer tell these guys? 

Finally the elder cleared his throat and spoke up.

“We welcome you here to the Island of EXO, dear Angel. I am Elder Soo and I am in charge of our village of EXO-K. Please make yourself at home.” Elder Soo bowed his head slightly and gave you a warm smile before continuing.

“This here is my grandson, Suho. He is the leader of the EXO-K warriors. He is also single. If you have anything you need or any concerns, please feel free to ask him.”

You pretended to not hear the comment about him being single and looked towards the boy who Elder Soo was gesturing to. Suho smiled at you, just as warmly as his grandfather did.

“I would kiss your hand, but you have not yet been purified, Miss Angel.” Suho said with a nervous laugh. All this ‘angel’ crap was starting to get to you.

“Oh yes, you must get purified, Angel.” Elder Soo put his hand on one of the warrior’s backs. “Warrior D.O. will take you to the place where you will be cleansed.”

“Follow me, Angel!” D.O. skipped off on his own, expecting you to follow him. But you didn’t. You needed some explaining to happen.

“Hold on a second...!” You yelled causing everyone to stop in their tracks. “What's going on? Why is everyone calling me ‘angel’ and treating me so differently now?! I have a name you know? If you just asked me for it I—“

“No.” Elder Soo’s face was serious and unmoving. “We will not ask that of an angel from the beyond. We do not deserve to know such things.”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you! I’m not an angel. I’m just a normal human being!”

Whispers flooded the village and a smile crept up on Elder Soo’s face. The youngest looking of the warriors stared at you in awe from behind Suho. He had been quiet this whole time, you barely even noticed him.

“A human!” The one earlier referred to as ‘Baekie’ exclaimed. “I’ve heard about humans in the scriptures! That’s it! It's got to be her!” A mixture of ‘ooh’s’ and ‘ah’s’ were heard from the crowd.

You slapped your forehead in defeat—you really were not getting anywhere with this bunch of idiots. You decided to give up your argument and accepted your new nickname because, hey, it could be worse; they could be calling you dinner.

“So…D.O. right?” You asked the skipping boy in front of you. He turned his head around to nod at you, a smile in his eye. “Why do I have to be ‘purified’? And what exactly does this involve?” You were hoping it wasn’t anything like being dipped in boiling hot water until your skin melted off together with all your impurities.  

“It’s just a small procedure we do whenever foreign objects from the beyond fall upon us.”

“Oh and I’m a foreign object now, am I?” You raised you eyebrow at him, faking an offended expression.

“O-oh, no! No! I didn’t mean it like that!” D.O. whipped around in panic, scared that he might’ve offended you. “I’m sorry, Angel! I didn’t mean to call you an object. Really. Please accept my apologies. I should have chosen my words better, oh my goodness, please don’t tell Suho I offended you! He’ll kill me.”

You stared at D.O. rambling on like a little kid begging you not to tell his mum on him. It was hard to believe that this little jumpy boy was the same fierce guy that pinned you down earlier today. You chuckled at him.

“Relax, relax. You’re forgiven.”

 

You finally arrived at another hut which was covered in vines and beautiful coloured flowers. D.O. signalled for you to stay outside while he went inside first. After a few minutes he came back out with a somewhat buff looking middle aged man dressed in very weird attire. He had banana leaves wrapped around his pecs like a crop top and a long grass skirt with flowers fringing at the waistband. Wrapped around his large square head he had a band with colourful feathers sticking upwards all around the band, creating some kind of feather crown. He looked like he should have been the 7^th member of the Village People.

“Angel, this is Park Jinyoung. I’ve explained who you are to him already. Go in with him, I will wait here for you to come back!” D.O. smiled and sat down against the wall of the hut. You greeted Jinyoung as he studied you curiously. After a few seconds, he nodded his head and motioned you to enter.

Inside the hut was a large hole in the floor that seemed to be lined with large leaves. The hole was filled with clear water— it looked like a makeshift bathtub.

“Uh, Park Jinyoung sir?”

“JYP,” He whispered in your ear, looking at you intensely, “Take off your clothes.”

“WHAT?!”

“I said take off your clothes.” Jinyoung continued to stare at you, not bothering to turn around to give you any privacy.

“Uh-uh, no way you sick ert!” You backed away from the man with the angular face, but you bumped into the ‘bathtub’ and couldn’t move any further. ”If this is what the whole purifying is all about, I don’t want to be purified!”

“Why? Have you got something to hide, ‘angel’?” He eyed you suspiciously obviously not fully giving in to D.O.’s ‘angel’ story.

“Uh, well under my clothes, yeah? Like my actual purity?” You stated, as if that was not obvious. He looked unamused. He walked up to you, looking like a complete e.

So this is it huh? This is how I lose my purity. To this scary looking uncle in a grass skirt.

“Take off your clothes. Or else.”

“No! I will not! You can’t do this to me! I-I’m the angel from the beyond!! This is unjust and—WAHHHHHHH—“

Before you could try and come up with more bull to spew to stop the man, Jinyoung picked you up violently and threw you into the bathtub fully clothed. You hissed at the temperature of the water.

“F-F-FUUUU—COLD! SO COLD. MY N-N-N-S ARE GOING TO FALL OFF!” You scrambled towards the edge of the tub to get out of the freezing cold water.

“I can assure you, the temperature of this water will not cause your s to escape from you,” He grabbed a hand full of your hair, your eyes widened, unsure of what he was going to do.

“Hold your breath.”

Before you had any time to react, he had pushed your head under the water, holding it down there for longer than you wished.

 

 

 

D.O. sat patiently outside of the hut playing with the rocks that were at his feet. He’d hold a palm sized rock in his hand and squeezed it with all his strength until it broke. After that he’d try to break the next rock in a shorter amount of time than the last.

He heard the commotion going on from inside, but he didn’t worry too much about it, as the witch doctor JYP was a very trustworthy guy.

After crushing 22 rocks, D.O. heard the hut door opening and you walked out. His eyes widened as the sunlight hit your face and bounced off the glaze in your eyes, making them sparkle like stars. He looked at your new clothes that you now wore in place of your old dirty torn up ones. It was a fawn coloured dress woven out of the substance that silk worms made their cocoons out of—so silk. This fabric was only worn by people of importance in the village. Only the village elder was privileged enough to wear such hard to make material.

The dress hugged your figure, the top being held up with a fine rope tied in a halter neck fashion, the hem finishing off at mid-thigh. You had to admit, it wasn’t bad for something made in the jungle. You had thought you would be given to wear something atrocious like what that e witch doctor was wearing.

You blushed when you saw the way D.O. was looking at you. You tugged at the hem of the dress and looked away uneasily.

“Does it…look okay?” You looked back up at him to see him gaping at you. “Okay yeah, it’s stupid. I feel stupid. I must look stupid. But I have nothing else to—“

“You don’t look stupid.” D.O. rebutted, finally coming out of his trance. “You…you look b-beautiful, Angel.” He looked down towards the ground shyly as he began to play with his hands. “J-just like an Angel.”

You rolled your eyes at the nick name that you really didn’t approve of, but you could help the smile that grew on your face as you watched his embarrassed reaction. He was simply too cute for words.

 

 

You arrived back at the village centre where you felt people watching you, some even stopping in their tracks to bow their heads to you.

This is ridiculous. These people can’t honestly believe I’m a freaking angel! What the hell man.

At the far end of the village you saw the tanned boy and Elder Soo talking. You couldn’t remember the boy’s name, but he was bowing continuously in an apologetic manner. His eyes were down cast and he kept his head bowed. Elder Soo raised his voice one more time and finally dismissed the boy. With one last bow to the elder, he scurried off, his imaginary tail between his legs. His eyes met yours for a quick second before looking away and disappearing into the trees.

You turned to D.O. who was still by your side.

“What was that all about?” 

“Oh. He was the one that was meant to be watching Mihyun remember? Elder Soo was just yelling at him for being reckless.” D.O. looked towards where the boy has disappeared off to, his eyes showing concern.

“What was his name again?”

“Kai” D.O. replied.

Kai. That’s right. Bit of an odd name. How could I forget that.

“Angel!” You heard a voice call you. You turned your head to see the leader of the EXO-K warriors Suho and the young quiet warrior you saw earlier. Suho placed a hand on the young boy's back.

“Angel, this is Sehun. He’s the youngest amoungst the EXO-K warriors.” Suho pushed Sehun in front of him and he did a stiff 90 degree awkward bow.

“Nice to meet you Sehun.” You bowed back and offered him a sweet smile but he just looked away shyly, avoiding eye contact and shuffling his feet nervously. You didn't miss the corners of his lips tugging upwards slightly, his hands clasping the hem of his poncho. He had the mannerisms of a small child who was too scared to do something wrong. You wondered how on earth someone like him had been chosen to be a protector of the village. 

“Sehun will show you to the hut that you will be staying in.”

Hold on a second.

“Wait. Stay? I’m sorry, there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding here,” You said, Suho giving you a questionable look. “I’m not here to stay. I need help getting off this island and back to my country. I can’t stay here in this icky jungle.”

“Icky?” Suho asked, feeling slightly offended.

“I mean…no offence. I’m sure it’s fine for you guys, but this is just not my scene ya know? Nature and dirt and insects…” You shuddered unable to continue with other aspects of the wild that you couldn’t stand.

“I understand that this may be a lot different to the Beyond where you come from, but you cannot leave us just yet,” Suho gave you a hesitant smile. “You have yet to save--mmm. Nevermind.”

You gave Suho a puzzled look.

“Save? Save what?” You crossed your arms and glared at the leader. You hated when people started sentences and never finished them.

“All in good time, Angel. All in good time.”

Before you could fire back angrily for more answers, Sehun grabbed your arm and pulled you away gently with an apologetic smile. You let out an annoyed groan, but let yourself be dragged away by the blonde haired boy.

Sehun let go of your arm when he noticed that you were going to continue following him whether he held on to you or not. You were lead to an area where 4 small teepee’s stood close together. Over hanging trees provided a natural canopy over head.  Sehun walked up to one of the teepees and motioned to you to follow him inside.

You entered the teepee after Sehun, stiffled by the grassy smell that came from within it. Looking around you saw it was quite roomy.

You put your backpack down in the corner and stood awkwardly as Sehun started to roll out a mat made of woven grass. At the top of the grass mat, he placed another bundle of soft looking leaves that were tied together with string. Over the mat, he threw a blanket that looked like it was made from the same material as your dress. Sehun sat down next to where you were still standing and swivelled around on his bum to look up at you with a big smile on his face. He pointed to the pile of leaves and grass on the floor that he’d just laid out to signal he was done.

Does he think I’m going to sleep on that!? That has got to be the most uncomfortable ‘bed’ I have ever seen.

When Sehun saw the puzzled and almost annoyed look on your face, he tugged on the skirt of your dress and stared up at you with hopeful eyes. He fluttered his eye lashes and cracked a sweet little smile.

Heh. He thinks he's cute.

“Sehun, what is that?” You pointed to the bed, the disapproval in your voice obvious.

The boy looked up at you nervously, shifting his weight under himself awkwardly. After a few moments had passed, he mouthed the word ‘bed’, but no sound came out.

Your eyes widened.

“I didn’t hear you, what did you say this was meant to be?”

Sehun’s discomfort grew and you saw his eyes darting towards the door. He gulped and looked at you again with scared eyes. He opened his mouth slightly, hesitating before mouthing the word ‘bed’ again silently. He looked down at the floor, patting his throat. The boy was mute.

“Oh. Uh...you…you can’t talk huh?” You asked him apologetically as you knelt down on your knees in front of him. He looked down at his crossed legs and shook his head sadly.

You watched him as he grabbed onto the hem of his poncho again, his whole body tense and unmoving. You smiled sadly and ruffled his hair, causing him to flinch at your touch. Sehun watched you with big puppy eyes as you got up and tried out the bed. To your surprize it was a lot comfier than it looked.

You saw Sehun watching you and studying your reaction, hoping to gain approval. You chuckled at his cuteness and gave him a thumbs up.

“This’ll do. Thanks Sehunnie.”

Sehun couldn’t hold back his big derpy smile and blushed slightly at his nick name. He felt so relieved that you liked the bed he prepared for you.

Okay, so maybe he is kinda cute.

You stifled a yawn and Sehun stood up and bowed to you knowingly.

“Sorry Sehun, I’m a little tired. Didn’t exactly get the best nights sleep last night. Mind if I rest for a little while?”

Sehun gave you a happy nod and bowed again before leaving, pulling the teepee door shut behind him.

You lay down pulling the blanket over you and stretched. You felt every ache in your body screaming at you. You wished you were at home where you could be prescribed painkillers. Mr ert had treated all your wounds with weird herbal medicines that smelt like but it didn’t stop the pain. He said that it would make your wounds heal faster. He also bandaged up any open wounds you had. He was actually pretty nice when he wasn’t almost drowning you in purifying, dropping cold water.

You reached over to where you had put your bag and took out your watch. You put it back on your wrist and looked at the time. 12.46pm.

“You are so lucky you’re waterproof,” You said to your watch, “or else you wouldn’t have made it out alive after Mr ert threw us into the tub!”

Oh god, I’m talking to my watch. I need lunch. And sleep.  

You yawned once more.

I think sleep is first on the priority list. 

 

 

 

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A/N: Lots of things happened this week! I had my uni graduation, me and my bf's anniversary, my friends birthday, baby sitting. Busy busy busy! But I'm a lot more free now so I'll try update more often :)

So what did you think so far? :) Let me know in the comments section if you have time! ^^

 

Thank you so much for reading and thanks to all my subscribers and commenters! I really appreciate every single one of you! See you next chapter!