Chapter 12: Dark and Light
The Light in the Dark (r)
"Hey how are you feeling?"
"...still the same"The latter murmured before falling back to sleep. The figure just sighed before running her hands on the girls matted hair from laying down on the bed all day.
"I'm sorry" It repeats once again.Everyday, everytime whenever the latter is asleep, the figure will apologized but it never gave any reason nor explaination at all so why? Who knows.
"I'm so sorry." It felt sadness creep from it's chest up to it's throat as it suffocated the air inside of it's body making it feel the painful sensation and in return, tears poured out,once again, from it's eyes.
"I'm really sorry." It's tears are now pouring as it dripped and trickled one by one on the mattress, on it's own clothes and on the latter itself until it wiped away it's own tears,afraid to wake the sleeping latter. The figure took noticed of the change that occured on the latter, not physically but it's personality. The latter when it was healthy was happy and cheerful and a smile that never went away from it's lips nor in it's eyes but after the latter got sick, slowly the latter turned dull and meek.
What happened? The figure wanted to ask but it knows it will never get the answer it wanted.Because whenever the figure asked something, the latter will not answer properly saying that it was tired and the figure understands, it always does but it just can't help but ask and wonder at the same time. Who wouldn't be right?
"Sigh" Something that also came out from the figure's mouth aside from the word sorry. They also had stopped reading as the figure has just resumed back to it's own old routine when the latter is still not here, reading the book to itself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 12------------------------------------------------
No One's P.O.V
The laboratory has once again regained it's original color as the darkness has been drained as everything settled down until that is a ball of light started to form before it grew bigger and bigger until it had swallow the laboratory and it's occupants once again.Once it settled down,no one was inside.There was no scientists, no man, no masked boy and there was no sign of the girls either. The room was empty as the only thing that filled it are marks and craters leaving a trace of whatever had happened there.
No one really knows what happened inside the Black Level.
After three days...
Ever since that day, Aduro has been as hectic as a raging tornado as guards roamed every area there foot stepped on.Classes has been suspended for awhile as teachers had aided the guards along with the students in the M division in search of the lost eight girls. No one was allowed to leave the city without any permission at all. Every employee in SM corps. are not any different from the guards outside the company except that they have it worst. All of this are under the order of Lee Soo Man.
SM corps | 2:00
"Tell me you have found them." A calm voice echoed inside the spacious office but it's face was rather agitated and stoic making the man in front of him cower in fear.
"S-si-sir. W-We-"
*slam!*
The figure flinched by the sudden sound causing him to tremble more.
"Straight your freaking tongue out and tell me like the man you are or else I will be the one who will pull your tongue out!" He roared towards the man making the man nod his head vigourusly.
"Wehaven'tfoundthemsir!"He said it as if he was a passing bullet train but due to his anger and irritation, his senses seems to have turned sharper than ever like a new sharpened pencil.
"Well what are you still doing here? Go and find them! If you came back here empty handed, I will cut your head off!" He roared.
"Ye-Yes, Mr. Lee!" The same man scurried away once again before opening the door and run away in haste.
"Sigh..." Mr. Lee just sighed before rubbing his temples as he leaned back into his chair.
"Just where are you girls? I have been looking all over for you for days now." He muttered sadly to himself as his stoic expression slowly melted as it changed into a more of a sad and worried one as he leaned forward and grab one of the frames on top of his desk before leaning back into his chair.
"I hope all of you are safe." He mumbled once again as he let his touch linger on the glass that protected the picture in which contains eight girls posing at the camera in front of a huge fountain in which can be located near a forest here in Aduro as you can easily see that fountain before exiting through the setting gate. Those eight girls were young children with smiles etched into there faces and just by the sight of it made him smile, forgetting his worries for awhile.
That is until something caught his eye. It was the trees around the fountain.He remembered those scratches on those trees, it was made by one of the girl's in the picture as she wrote that before the picture was taken. It was the girls favorite place to play in as that fountain was shaded by huge neighbouring trees making it a nice play for the girls to enjoy and rest in.
"There done!" A little girl with shining gold hair mused with a shiny rock on her little hand as she stared at her creation.
"What is that?" Another little girl with jet black straight hair asked as she stared at what the girl did.
"Our marks, of course" The golden haired girl answered. Soon other children started to go towards them and look.
"What is that?"
"our marks!"
"oh then what does it mean?" The golden haired girl just giggled before hearing someone calling all of them
"O.k! deidara! Picture time!" They all stood in front of the fountain and posed on there own childish ways with cute smiles all over there faces.
T+J+S+T+H+Y+S+Y+S+A=TOGETHER FOREVER
Mr. Lee snapped out of it before staring back into the same picture frame before making up his mind.
"Please be safe." He muttered to himself before fixing his tie as he placed the frame inside of his coat before proceeding outside of his office. After leaving, he saw hectic employees along with busy ones as they talked to each with papers on there hands, guards waiting for them to give them instructions before heading out. All of this has been continuously happening for three straight days.
Once they see him, they all stopped in there tracks and looked at him before they all stood up, straight and proper before they bowed as he bowed back with a nod of his head as they went back into there own activities.
"Leeteuk" He said then all of the sudden the said man appeared before him with messy hair, his tie loose around his neck while the rest of his office uniform looked messy with bags under his eyes.
"Yes sir?" Leeteuk asked.
"Didn't I told you that you could get some rest?" But the man shook his head before showing a small smile.
"I can't and I won't. I'm sorry sir but it's just that having the mere thought of Mortifer,no, the girls out there, missing after the dark breakout in the Black level is enough to make me stand on my feet and search for them once again. I won't stop until I found them, alive not dead"
"If that is so then why don't you come with me along with some students of the sanitatum category from the magical division in the senior year to aid us and some graduated ones in sanitatum and tutamen."
"Yes sir but may I ask why?"
"I think I know where they are." He smiled towards Leeteuk.
"So hurry up so we can go to them quicker."
"Yes sir!"
Setting Gate | 3:45
Just like what Mr. Lee had instructed, they all had arrived along with the people he had ordered to come. Just like what he had remembered in the photo, the huge fountain that made out of ceramic was there will small fissures and cracks on it's surface as it's ceramic walls was shiny although looking gray from all the years that has passed but in total, the fountain was such a work of art. He looked up and saw the same trees still there,surrounding the fountain but the trees were huge as huge as a trippled SM Corps. and wider too.
Due to the height of the trees, no ray from the sun ever hit them at that place and everyone was amaze for a second until Mr. Lee had ordered them to search the whole place for the girls.
"Sir, this trees are huge, are you sure we could find them in time before nightfall?" Leeteuk asked as he looked at the thinking Mr. Lee.
"Don't worry, we will find them." Mr. Lee assured the anxious young man. After that, they all resumed looking as tree by tree they searched and searched until one tree is left.
"Sir.Lee, this is the only tree left that is not searched by us. Should we proceed?"
"Yes and hurry, it is almost past 6 and I don't want everyone to search in the dark. It is too risky." The same person bowed and left immediately and had told everyone what Sir. Lee told him.
'Dangerous for them too'
Forest | 5:15
Two hours has passed since they had started there search but not a single clue was found by any of them. Mr. Lee has also started to help for searching the missing girls but in the end, there was still no progress and it was making him worried by the passing hour. The last tree turned out to be too huge and spacious the more they get near to it and so, there search is now on this tree.
"Where are you girls?" He muttered as he watched people going up the trees to start searching on the upper part of the huge tree.
Up in the tree | 5:30
Fifteen minutes has passed any the ones up on the branches still can't find a single thing as the sky has slowly turned darker making it harder to navigate and search on top of the tree until one of them spot something on the highest part of the tree. There was something sticking out from one of the top branches but he can't have a better look on what it is due to the lack of light so he went up and his flashflight as he made his way.
Once he was in a close proximity, he shined his flashlight on that direction and saw something. It was a body of a girl who was leaning on the trunk of the tree with one of it's leg dangling off the branch. He tries to get a closer look but he can't see the face because it was covered by some hair. By now it was already six o'clock so it was very dark on the man's sight but once he aimed the flashlight properly on the girl, he saw a flock of grey hair as the girl was wearing the same uniform as the girls that they were searching for.Although he was sure he wasn't told that one of them has grey hair,only white hair he still assumed that it was one of them due to the given uniform. Thinking that maybe the others are around he looked around and saw two pair of bodies near each other on one branch.
"Sir. Leeteuk! I found three of them here!" He yelled and soon he heard some rustling noise and saw Leeteuk.
"Where?"
"Sir, I found one on the right top branch and two on the left top branch but I have not found the others." He reported earning a nod from Leeteuk.
"We have found the others already by the bottom part of the tree, this three are the only ones that are missing." After that, they slowly picked up the girls and went down but on the way there, Leeteuk felt something odd in his hands and looked as he saw that the girl was covered in blood along with the two as there blood kept dripping everywhere even at his own clothes.
"Hurry, they are injured!" Leeteuk yelled, He can't believe that the girls were in this kind of situation as he asked what kind of situation the girls were put in for them to disappear then appear being bathed in there own blood. It was like they were dumped in water but this time in blood.
"What happened?" Mr. Lee asked as soon as he spot Leeteuk. He was suprised to see the girls in that kind of state.
"I don't know sir but he had found this girls on the top branch with injuries and blood all over." Leeteuk reported.
"Okay, hurry and board them on the car so we can go to the hospital. There injuries looked severe and fatal." And as they left, they didn't noticed as the same tree where the girls are in slowly withered as it's healthy green color slowly changed into a lifeless brown as the huge tree bended down while it's leaves dried and dropped from the branch into the ground.
Hospital | 6:25
Soon they all arrived and the girls were rushed into the emergency room. Good thing that they were advanced on equipments or else the girls might have suffered. The sanitatum tried to heal them but nothing worked so they had resulted to different ways.
"I don't understand, why weren't the sanitatum able to heal them?"
"I don't know sir but one things for sure, those injuries were inflicted by something out of our league and knowledge."
"What do you mean different?"
"What I mean is that there is something that we have not encountered, something more dangerous lurking around near us as it has already aimed for the girls. Whatever happened on that Black level, the girls are the only one who has the knowledge. The surveilance cameras were all destroyed so we were not able to see what had happened there." Mr. Lee didn't said anything as he just kept quiet and stared at the door of the emergency room where the girls are.
"I just hope that they are okay."
"I'm sure they will be. They are Mortifer after all."
"I guess so." Soon silence enveloped them.They were waiting for the operation to be done. Lee Soo Man can't explain what he was feeling. He felt so lonely, so worried, so anxious and...guilty.
'Just what did you girls do? What happened? Sunny please be alright.' And soon all of his worries disappeared when the light of the emergency room turned off and the doctor went out to talk to them.
"So how are they doc?" Mr.Lee was the first one to ask as Leeteuk just watched and listened.
"I'm going to be frank with you as I don't want to tell you some sugar coated words when it comes to the girls. Each of them suffered from severe internal and external injuries as they also suffered from deep lacerations on there skins. We are still trying to find the cause for such deep cuts but we have found the cause for there severe internal injuries. It was caused by some tiny bugs released into the air as they feed on the insides of there targets therefore taking away the target's slife force. Those bugs are simply called as 'virus'. We also observed an extreme loss of blood paired with extreme internal bleeding caused by those viruses. Thus, I don't think I need to tell you there overall condition but I just want you to know that three of them suffered from brain damage affecting there senses like hearing, sight and smell along with sense of touch and taste while four of them has suffered from major damage in there damage but there brains were not that affected. We also found some scratches in there brains that may affect them in ways that we do not know. Let me tell you this, those girls are now in a life threatening situation as we had did whatever we can to help them as the rest of there recoveries lies to them let alone waking up. IF they did woke up, do not suprise them or do anything to make them strain themselves physically,emotionally and also mentally. Remember they are severely wounded." The doctor just left with a word as Mr. Lee and Leeteuk only stood there, shocked at the sudden news about the girls.
"Do-doc." Leeteuk called out.
"Yes?"
"When will they wake up?"
"..."All he received was a long pause followed by a string of silence and the anticipation for the doctor's answer just made his heart thump faster,louder inside of his chest and he scared him, made him terrified for the upcoming. Whether he was ready to hear the news or not, in result, he waited and waited.
"I don't even know if they can survive"And that's it, he felt the world around him crash down and burn in the flames of depression and helplessness.
"Why?" He muttered to himself as he stared at both of his hands that bathe in the blood of Sunny when he carried the girl towards the car. The sight was sickening if it was another person suffering but no, it was Sunny his friend, his dear donsaeng that he had come to love as a sister over the growing years. No one really knows except Lee Soo Man himself that Leeteuk was the one who helped and raised the girls when they were only little. He had bowed along with Taeyeon that they will protect the girls and keep them from harms way as over the years, he fulfilled his promise of protecting them as he even went to the extent that he fought with other children, forgetting his work and prioritized the girls just for the sake of his love to them as his litte sisters and the feeling to protect those little children urged him to go on. If only he was able to keep that promise to the very end, if only he was strong enough to go with them, if only he was able to save them from whatever there is in that black room then maybe they won't be in such a state that the doctor is even doubting there chance to live, if only he was able to do what he was supposed to do then maybe Taeyeon is whacking him in the head for doing something so dangerous with Sunny trying to appease the girl's worried anger right about now with him laughing it off.
But no.
He wasn't there when they needed him.
He wasn't there to save them.
And
He wasn't there to fulfill his promise to them to the very end.
And it made him feel pathetic, worthless and he felt shame to himself. He wanted to go down his knees, to cry and yell out of anger but he knew those were only temporary ways to appease the guilt that had formed itself inside of his mind. He knew that the only way for that guilt to be removed is for him to see the girls fluttering there eyes, waking up, showing signs of life in front of his eyes. They were the only way but with the doctor's answer, his hope was near zero-his hope is already at zero.
Nothing, a void.
His heart is filled with a void as soon as his eyes landed on the nurses that are wheeling the girls out of the emergency room in front of them as he stared at the bandages and whatnot wrapped around those fragile bodies as those girls laid on there bed, unconscious,asleep and dying. He knew they weren't dead, unless they stopped breathing but seeing them in that kind of state, he thought otherwise.
Once they were all settled inside of there rooms, only then did Leeteuk felt the silence that covered the two of them as he saw the way Lee Soo Man look at the girls with those saddening eyes of his. He looked so distant, broken and devastated as he searched for the man that was always optimistic, so confident in everything he does and the man who had so much life in him but he couldn't find that same man but how could he when his eyes are blinded by never ending tears.
So much pain, so much shock, so much hurt, so much devastation, so much guilt and so much darkness.
Life? It's on the verge of sinking into death and no one can do a single thing to save it even the girls as they rendered weak and fragile to everything as they laid on there beds and sleep on the neverending darkness.
"Goodnight"
---------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 12------------------------------------------------
*drip*
The figure didn't bother wiping it, as it just closed the book and put it back to the shelf as it stood up and went towards it.
*drip*
In every step of the way, those precious tears would fall and the figure never wiped it leaving a trail in it's clothes and sometimes on the floor. Once the book was already placed inside the shelf, the figure went towards the sleeping latter before bending down and kissed it on the forehead not realizing it's tears are falling on the latter's skin before walking away and exiting it's room finding a place to clear it's head but before it did, it said one thing to the latter.
"Goodnight" And if you look closely, the figure are not the only one who has tears running down it's eyes.
"I'm sorry."
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Hello readers ^-^ I put some changes on the previous chapter so you might want to check it out but don't worry the change is only small and you might easily spot it. That's all for now and new readers, welcome and thank you for your update :) Misaio out~
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