Tao's POV

I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this.

The room we were taken to had a great number of clear cages and tanks full of weird creatures that swam, sniffed, sneezed, and flew. Small plots of dirt, clay, and some other substance that looked oddly like the gel patch on my arm with plants of all kinds sprouting from them were spread out across the floor in square openings in the smooth material. Xiumin pressed fingertips to the wall and the bright lights above lowered considerably. And that was when everything began to glow in colors of light blue, deep dark purple and red, lavender, and green, green everywhere.

“They'll be a little less feisty if they think it's night.” he explained in a whisper. “Sometimes they can get out of hand especially the-”

Xiumin was cut off as a low drumming sound of many little feet could be heard getting closer and closer.

“Hyenas.” he sighed loudly over the sound.

I didn't understand, couldn't see anything in the dark except fast moving shadows along the floor, but they were far too small to be hyenas. Why did they have hyenas here in the first place?

That's when one of these shadows sprung up and pelted it's self at me, climbing up my torso with tiny fistfuls of my suit. By the sounds Kris was making to my left, they had gotten to him too. Lay got hit as well, spouting question after question about what was grabbing him.

Around my shoulder and down my arm this little shadow went. A second one joined it, and I bit my lip in order not to scream (I didn't want them to bite me). At a complete loss what to do, I tensed and froze, breathing as evenly as I could while I waited for Xiumin to explain.

Calmly, Xiumin picked up a small empty container lying on top of a tank with what looked to be a large dismembered pig's head with far too many eyes pickled in a strange yellowed liquid. Opening the container, he plucked a glowing orange mushroom and placed it inside before shaking it to increase it's brightness. It was a lantern of sorts, I realized.

And now I could see the little creatures who “attacked” me, currently trying to rub their necks all over my thumbs. They were kind of cute, actually. Their eyes were big and blue, their fur soft and the same lavender that glowed in the plants not far away. They were almost like cats, well except for the long ape-like arms and hunched backs, not too mention each one was smaller than the palm of my hand.

“But why are they called hyen-” I asked, interrupted by a sudden loud laugh that was unmistakably Kris'.

The hyenas who got to Kris were tickling him.

“As you can see,” started Xiumin in his best teacher voice, handing Luhan his lantern and going back to prepare another. “These are not Earth hyenas. We have been using Earth names for all our new projects, since it's easier for you visitors to pronounce and it takes away all the pressure to name it something original; it was difficult for a while, trying to find so many new names. For some reason, this breed of hyena really like thumbs, also they can't stand being caged so we let them roam free. They're harmless in any case.”

“How come they don't like me?” asked Luhan, completely hyena-free.

Xiumin replied simply, “You aren't sad.”

“I'm not sad either.” I said confusedly examining the big blue eyes that blinked innocently up at me and the swinging tails that curled around my wrist. I was looking forward to seeing Kai and properly catching up with him after this. Maybe I would bring him the old panda plushie just to see him hug it tight like it was the most precious thing anyone could ever own.

“Maybe they're psychic.” said Luhan, waving his fingers at me mockingly. “They foresee sadness in your future-”

“Guys help!” shouted Kris, trying to pull off the tiny creatures while clutching at a stitch in his side from laughing so hard. They were too fast for him, always able to climb away so he grabbed at empty air. I tried counting how many were on him, but the task proved impossible. There were at least six anyways.

“And that's why we picked hyena for the name.” Xiumin explained, clapping his hands together excitedly. “They tend to cause a lot of big laughter, plus they have a very feline-like outer appearance. They target anyone they think is sad and do anything they can think of to make their target happy again. We made them about two years after we came back when it seemed like everyone was too depressed to get any actual work done-”

“Guys-” pleaded Kris, gasping for air. The hyenas joyfully tickled away, oblivious to the fact that they were not welcome.

Luhan grinned widely. Even if Kris was getting even grumpier, I had to admit, it was pretty entertaining. “You have to convince them that you're happy?” he said, looking to Xiumin for confirmation.

“Or that tickling isn't helping.” his boyfriend added with a nod.

“It's not helping! Please get these things off me-”

Curious if it would work, I let myself slip into the reality that I was incredibly far from home and it was entirely possible that either me or someone I cared about would die out here in this strange world and was able to conjure up two heavy tears sliding down my cheeks before snapping myself back into denial. Like this, the hyenas that had surrounded Kris (and Lay) were now more interested in me. Nine new hunched little feline creatures hopped up my pant leg and looked at me with big, worried eyes.

“So that's how you always got Kris to buy you stuff.” Luhan surmised before openly laughing at Kris' exhausted face.

With these eleven friendly, furry companions purring and playfully batting at my ears, I couldn't imagine anything on this planet being dangerous.

But something had made that loud roar back in Kyungsoo's old lab, and it wasn't the hyenas.

***

Kai's POV

I change my mind. I don't want to go, don't want to leave Tao behind-

But what I feel doesn't matter. My planet needs me.

Still, how could they ask me to leave without even saying goodbye? I should be given the opportunity to tell him that I love him and that he means the world to me and that I promise to get back as soon as possible and that I'll miss him-

No. That I already miss him.

With the SHINee division and a few spare volunteers from the Super Junior division, our group had grown to a noisy band of eight. After a brief review of stealth, weaponry, and survival basics, we were given the okay to go outside in the fierce wilderness wearing weighty backpacks (an invention from Earth we found to be incredibly useful) and a few layers of thick organic armor plating over our most vital points.

Everything I wore was originally made to fit a much older adult me, so I looked out of place and small in my huge chest plate and loose arm guards.

It didn't matter that I was young; my mind still knew every emergency procedure and military strategy by heart from our days out in the field gathering information. My body felt weaker, but I was certain I would relearn the extent of my strength soon enough that I wouldn't be in any danger. This job would be simple and easy as long as I kept both eyes open and didn't let myself think to much about how long it would be before I saw Tao again. I could do this.

I just hoped our visitors wouldn't head back to their home planet before I got back. Or really, just one visitor in particular.

I needed to hear Tao's (surprisingly high-pitched) laugh again before he left. I needed to make him blush at least once before I could let him go. I needed to hug his wide shoulders and nuzzle into the warm scent of his neck in order to feel complete again.

No, no, I needed to beg him to stay with me and never leave before he could ever set foot in a travel pod home. We've had enough time apart already. I miss my Taozi.

***

Tao's POV

“And this is a frog.”

“That is not a frog.” said Lay with disgust as we stared at something that looked oddly like a tree stump with bulging eyes and a long red tongue topped with what seemed to be a waving lotus flower. “Nothing about it looks frog-like except the eyes.”

“Well, it's green and we used a lot of frog DNA to create it.” I don't know what Xiumin meant by green, since the “frog” was more a sickly shade of burnt yellow than green. “Currently, we use this breed to bring down the number of fairies-”

“What are the fairies like?” I asked eagerly. It's been bugging me for so long now. They couldn't be anything like the glittery winged beings of children's tales, could they?

“I'll show you those soon enough, but we're talking about frogs right now.” Xiumin scolded me for being impatient before proceeding to explain how dangerous these frogs were and why we should never, ever touch the pink flower-like thing on the end of it's tongue. He said something about strong stickiness and wide, flat teeth that would mash down on whatever it got ahold of, no matter how long it took. These frogs weren't meant to eat anything big and meaty, but it would certainly try.

Moving on, he showed us a giant dead bird-thing preserved in liquid, walking around with his lantern so the light would hit it at different angles.

“This is a red-ed robin.” The robin looked more like a dinosaur crossed with a butterfly, but Xiumin explained carefully about things like the blue color to it's eggs and the similar vocal patterns in it's call. It's ears were simply elephantine. Calling this thing a robin was completely absurd! Xiumin told us that this particular species used the big eye-like pattern of it's wings to distract it's prey.

“That doesn't sound right.” I remarked, idly nudging aside a hyena tail from my line of vision to get a better look. These little guys didn't want to leave. “Butterflies and some birds on Earth carry those kind of markings to trick predators into thinking they are bigger than they are and scare them off.”

Looking into my eyes seriously, Xiumin explained, “The red-ed robin of this planet has no predators. So far, we haven't been able to create anything that could kill it. Our planet is overrun with this species. It is number three on our list of most dangerous animals.”

“What are the other two?” gulped Kris, peeking over my shoulder.

“We don't currently have those two creatures in our possession. Lucky for us, robins drop like Earth flies. This guy here died of a broken heart- don't laugh Xiaolu,” Luhan put on a more serious face and Xiumin continued. “Robins of all kinds on this planet experience their emotions on a strong physical level. They get stronger with happiness or anger, and they get weaker and even very ill when they feel saddened or rejected. Most of those who live to old ages have lived their entire lives with one partner at their side. Very few make it to an old age on their own, as they get so lonely that they move sluggishly and get themselves eaten or commit suicide by flying into lakes filled with super frogs-”

“Okay, now you're just making stuff up. Super frogs? Really?” scoffed Luhan. On the other side of the tank, I could see Lay holding back a laugh through the distortion of liquid and glass.

Xiumin wasn't joking though. “If you saw one, you'd understand. Let's just hope it never comes to that. The super frog – or if that name sounds weird to you, we can call them lake frogs – anyways, the lake frog is number two on our list of most dangerous animals. We don't even have proper pictures of it in storage because every probe we send in to capture images usually gets crushed within seconds of breaking the surface of the lake. Avoid stepping in or around the lakes at all costs.”

“Okay,” Lay answered for us. “But about the fairies-”

“Those are for last.” said Xiumin, visibly paling. “Let's go see the plants first.”

***

Kai's POV

Here we stand, me and Suho, mere centimeters from the chaos of our planet's broken ecosystems, waiting to hear from the other divisions with us if it was safe to venture forward.

Suho gripped my shoulder, adjusting the eyepiece connected to his helmet. The device could slide up under an organic covering if needed and currently displayed a small photo that Kris had brought with him from Earth of the both of them in China. With a little typing on the side of his helmet, the image went away to be replaced by a map of the area nearby.

“Our trackers are still in working order.” he assured me. “We should be back very soon and I'm sure we can find the missing men easily enough.”

“Unless we die at the hands of the Anonymous.” said Kibum, a SHINee division member with black hair. “Look lively, comrades. We leave in five minutes.”

***

Tao's POV

After viewing plants of every size, shape, and color, Xiumin finally brought us to the far back of the room where a dark covering hid something spherical in shape. Soft giggles could be heard from under this veil and the alien chewed at his nails before pulling it back to expose what was inside.

In this globe, a thousand pairs of eyes turned to look at us, pupils dilating into sharp vertical lines and nearly transparent wings going still.

At first, I thought they looked puny and in no way as terrifying as Xiumin seemed to believe.

And then these pink-skinned creatures flushed a violent red and hit the wall of their spherical container with loud thuds, piling on top of each other and bearing grins wider then their face would allow. All I could see was sharp-toothed maniacal smiles and red limbs fighting to claw out of their cage. These were not the cute glittery things of children's tales for sure. They looked like demonic, evil little nightmares with a twisted sense of humor and an insatiable thirst for blood. I could only imagine what kind of trouble Kai and the others got into as they tried to escape these things.

Xiumin covered them back up again in no time at all, sharing a gruesome story of when the fairies actually got free of their last cage and began eating everything in sight because they had never encountered so much “food” before during their strictly regulated cage diet.

“Where's Tao?” asked Lay, looking around in the dark.

In his surprise at seeing the fairies, Kris jumped and managed to knock me in the shoulder. I fell backwards into a tree that instantly curled it's branches around me and my furry companions. At least this tree wasn't dangerous like some of the other plants Xiumin had showed us. Still, it's leaves were slimy and sticking to my hair. The hyenas had fared better, able to squirm out of the branches and dodge the leaves before they got hit.

“Here.” I sighed, attempting to tug at the branches around my middle. They didn't budge and I never really expected them to.

Luhan took it upon himself to lend a hand in my escape before Xiumin could tell him not to and only ended up wrapped and sticky right next to me. “Looks like we'll be taking another shower together, Panda.” he said as Xiumin brought over a special spray that smelled horribly like old gym socks and toothpaste to fight the leaves that clung to us.

“You're moving out anyways, just go take a shower in your new room. I fully intend to shower with Kai when I get back.” I could picture it now, washing Kai's golden hair and feeling his hands rub small circles on my back.

“Ew, too much information.”

“As if you haven't said worse, Lu.” I laughed, not understanding why Xiumin was giving me a sad look. It didn't matter. Soon I'd be back with my snuggly alien and everything would feel right again. As long as I didn't get nightmares filled with fairies, I couldn't see how anything could bring down my good mood.

***

Author Note:

I have some quick sketches (doodles really) of these creatures

I'm reluctant to share them because, you know - they are just embarrassing.

Everything I create is embarrassing to me.

Would it make things easier for you guys to see them though? I really will post them if you need them.