~Chapter 29~

Angel in my Dreams

Minho's POV~

            I wake up with a start. I haven’t dreamt about the white-winged man in a very long time. The last time I dreamt about him, Taemin was still alive. I wipe the sweat off my forehead and neck and walk outside, taking in some fresh air. The moon is full tonight and there is a warm light breeze despite it being autumn. I walk outside and see the night markets swarming with people. With the monster slayers around, the civilians are less scared and business has finally returned to its normal state.

            I get cheers and hellos as I walk around waving to people. Some fellow clan members bow to me as I pass by them. I wonder how the country would be if His Majesty was no longer the king. Will the people still be like this? The people are not living prosperous lives, but at least they seem at peace…I hear loud cheers from one of the alleyways and see a door that leads to an underground layer of the gambling house. I take a step in as the men tell me to join the fun. They hand me a wooden mask and urge me to put it on. I do so and they pull the curtain aside and let me through. The wooden sign hanging above reads “Monster Arena.”

            As I walk further down the stairs, the more I realize how large the underground layer is. The stone walls are lit by torches that stick into the wall and a large crowd of people in matching masks encircle something that looks like an elevated fighting ring. In the middle stands a masked man in the middle who is wrestling a bull-like monster. This monster is not in our book as we never encountered this monster before. All monsters resemble a creature since monsters all started off as animals, plants, or even inanimate objects in rare cases and evolve every hundred years and gain special powers or upgrades to their body.

            The bull’s eyes are blue, its body is red, and its horns are black. It is much larger than the bulls we see regularly. The bull-monster is at least two times as big as the healthiest bull that I’ve ever seen. I notice that the man fighting in the ring does not have a weapon and is surprisingly holding off the monster. He jumps up and attacks the bull-monster’s horn and after a while, the horn falls onto the ground. He rolls over onto the ground to keep himself low, grabs the horn, and plunges it into the monster’s eye. The monster viciously tries to shake the horn out of its eye but before it succeeded, it disintegrates. The crowd cheers and the fighter walks off the fighting ring into a separate room. I note it down in my book and make sure I draw the bull-monster as detailed as possible for future reference.

            The crowd’s chanting distracts me once again as I look up and see another fighter in the ring wearing the same mask as the last. I guess this fighting ring wants their fighters to be anonymous. People are betting on the fighters and if they will defeat the monster. This is clearly illegal as fighting rings are banned, especially with gambling over people and monsters. I can see why they do not want to reveal the fighters’ face and the crowd watching.

            The crowd chants “Bead Thief” over and over again as the fighter waves. That must be the name he goes by in the Monster Arena. I notice that the mask is different from the last although they seemed identical at first glance. The fighters have different colored straps for their masks and they are identified by a badge tied to the sash around their waist.

            “Excuse me, but do the fighters get to pick their own names?” I ask a random person in the crowd.

            “Oh, you’re new, are you? The fighters that enter the ring need to earn their names. The crowd eventually label the fighter as they progress and gain favor of the crowd. The newbies have a badge with a number on it to identify them and it gets changed to a name.”

            “How did he get his name?” I ask.

            “This fighter at first was very calm and eyed the monster very well like the way a monster watches its prey. His moves were very unique and he ended up clawing out the monster’s bead. Oh, the fight is about to start!”

            “Thank you, sir.” I bow and look back at the ring. If the story is accurate, that means that these fighters not only know how to kill monsters, but know that their bead is the source of their energy and life. The vital points we always attack is where the monster’s bead is located and both the injury and lack of a bead will kill them. The fact that this fighter tore out the bead puts him at an entirely new level. My question is…what does he do with it?

            The crowd cheers again as a tiger-monster enters the ring. The fighter crouches down and watches the monster. The tiger-monster snarls at the masked fighter and eyes him. The monster slowly crouches back and leaps forward for an attack. The fighter jumps up inhumanely high and runs over the tiger. He lands and curls his fingers like he has claws of his own. Instead of turning around to face his opponent, the fighter listens and waits for the tiger-monster to charge him again. With a quick swipe, the bead was torn out the monster and it disintegrates. I nearly drop my book in awe. He was too fast. He had no hesitation and his posture showed me that he was very confident. Does this fighter have experience in fighting monsters and if so, how was he able to be exposed to rare ones such as these and how was he able to get so used to killing them? What is he planning to do with the beads that he collects?

Key’s POV~

            Minho walks through the front door and I quickly run to him. He looks like he had something to say, but I cut him off with the news. “Hurry, the clan members have just been gathered by the gong. Jong Kook Hyungnim is calling for an emergency meeting.” I say and we enter the main hall. Jong Kook hyungnim welcomes us and starts the meeting. His Majesty is planning to recruit clan members to join the palace. Some will be assigned as guards, some will train soldiers, and some will be assigned to certain people of the royal family or those with high positions as their personal guards.

            Jong Kook hyungnim reads off the names one by one and told them their title. Most of the clan is staying behind whereas only about fifty of us are joining the palace. As Joon hyung and Onew hyung have been in the palace before, His Majesty assigns them to train the soldiers. Jonghyun hyung and I have been selected to protect Her Majesty and the princess. On the other hand, Minho, the White Masked Hero and Kai are protecting the crown prince and his brother, the royal scribe. I nervously look at Minho as he was assigned to protect the person that took over his title. His cousin was deemed crown prince as his uncle passed away and His Majesty adopted him as his own son. He must be devastated…I also do not get why His Majesty assigned three of our elite fighters when the crown prince has a loyal bodyguard already.

            His Majesty also assigned Mir and Thunder to be by his side as they are experts in poison and are quick since they are monsters themselves. I am sure he picked them since no one can sneak attack him with them around. The other clan members were assigned special teams in the palace. He also expects Nam Kyu to be his personal guard. This clearly translates to “you must return to the palace now. You thought I didn’t know?” Naeun looks at me and I pretend I didn’t mention her location in the letters I’ve sent to His Majesty before. We all were then dismissed as we were given the night to pack and prepare to leave the clan at sunrise. This means that His Majesty must feel that the war is close. The Peacekeepers and the dark clans must be stealthily preparing their attack. The clan prepared the citizens to fend for themselves against monsters and now the royal guards must do the same.

            The next morning, we all road horseback as His Majesty sent horses and uniform for us to wear. We all dress in white uniform with navy blue hemming as we are different statuses than the regular guards in the palace. The White Masked Hero is permitted to wear his mask as his health condition demands it. Minho and Kai also wear masks. No one knows the true reason, but we lied and said that they did not want to make the White Masked Hero stand out so his partners decided to wear masks as well, but the real reason is that Minho face did not change too much from his childhood so we are afraid people would recognize him. Joon hyung and I have to come report to His Majesty in our normal uniform as we both have statuses in the palace already and will change into the clan’s uniform once we are approved by His Majesty. His Majesty must have sent the horses and uniform to the clan and made us march to the palace to warn the dark clans that we too have officially joined His Majesty.

            “Psst~” Jonghyun leans over and whispers to me. “isn’t it nice that we got assigned the same position?”

            “Is this all you think about?”

            “Oh come on don’t act like you aren’t excited~”

            “I guess working with you will make the palace a little less boring.” I try to shrug my mutual excitement off.

“See?! You are happy to be with me~” His smile widens as he continues talking to me. “Now, we can drink fancy tea together and you don’t need to run off and steal—”

            “Shh!” I quickly shush him. “Me stealing from the palace is a secret.”       

            “Sure sure~ Make sure to give a few nice words when introducing me to Her Majesty! Oh my gosh I get to see a queen!!”

            “If you talk any louder I’m sure she can hear you all the way from her headquarters!”

            “Oh my gosh how much further until we reach the palace?! I’m so excited!!!”

            “Clearly,” I chuckle to myself. “A few more miles and we will be there. For the meantime, copy me and try to act cool. We are special guests selected by His Majesty after all.” I fix my hair and raise my head high. Jonghyun hyung quickly tries to calm his smile down and ruffles his bangs and tries to look cool. I smile and hold back a laugh as his posture reminds me of the eunuchs who are trying to look cool as they pass by the royal maids. I’m glad he was assigned as my partner.

Taemin’s POV~

            Hyung, aren’t you happy we get to finally be in the palace? I heard they have the best foods and everyone there is beautiful as well as the scenery. Gun Tae howls.

            “I’m just happy my hyungs are here with me and that they didn’t make me leave you behind,” I reply. “So, make sure you behave or else they’ll put a leash on you.”

            “You’re right about the leash,” Joon hyung chimes in. “And yes, the palace is very beautiful.” Awkward…I forgot Joon hyung and a few others are wolves too and can understand Gun Tae.

            I’ll shut up now…My cute dongsaeng took the hint. I still feel bad about not being able to turn him back into a human. Those that captured him a while back have been unheard of and he hasn’t been used for anything ever since he became a wolf so I’m not sure what to do. With everything going on, other things unfortunately are more prioritized than turning him back into a human. Luckily, he likes being a wolf at times since he gets to roll around in the dirt and eats like a slob without being judged.

            “Don’t worry, I have many hyungs and dongsaengs in the palace, they will take care of our clan members,” Joon hyung says.

            “They were very kind to me at my stay in the palace,” Onew hyung agrees. I forgot that he was able to be in the palace for a short while when Joon hyung saved him back when we first time traveled.

            “I’m so grateful that His Majesty paired me up with you,” Joon hyung says. Joon hyung and Onew hyung are riding their horses side by side and are lovingly exchanging eye contact as it would be strange to the public if they ride hand in hand, which they usually do. I’m happy the partners are happy with each other, but my partners Minho and Kai have been so quiet and distant lately.

“Kai, are you okay? You seem a bit off.” I ask Kai who quickly nods his head.

            “I’m okay hyung, just a bit nervous. I just don’t want to embarrass the clan by being vulgar.”

            “I see…” I say and the conversation quickly ends. I look over to Minho hyung who is staring into space. Key hyung pulled me aside last night and told me to keep an eye on Minho hyung since the people we are protecting are his cousins— one of which is replacing him as the crown prince. Unlike the others who are happily awaiting the arrival, I dread the start of a painfully tense and sad reunion between Minho hyung and his cousins.

            After the long ceremony, we were all officially welcomed and assigned our positions. His Majesty was exactly like how I imagined him— an old man with salt and pepper hair. He was surprisingly very gentle for a man who wanted to kill his son though. Kai, Minho hyung, and I walk to the crown prince’s hall. They made eunuchs hold onto our weapons so we do not hurt anyone by accident…more like they’re afraid we’ll act up since we are uncivilized men. I fold my arms as I wait for the three eunuchs to catch up to us. The eunuchs holding Kai and Minho hyung’s weapon are slowly following behind while the eunuch holding my spear is struggling as he keeps accidentally grazing the tip against the gravel. My poor baby.

            We finally reach the front doors of the crown prince’s hall and all the maids and eunuchs basically ignore us as they frantically run around waving nets and animal catchers. I exchange eye contact with Minho hyung and Kai as they are clearly confused. “What are you looking for?” I stop one of the maids and ask her.

            “The crown prince can’t find his cat and he is making all of us look. Whoever catches the His Highness’ cat will be rewarded!” The maid runs off.

            “It looks like we aren’t going to get a proper welcome,” Kai says.

            “Work is work. Now that we serve the crown prince, shall we find the cat for him?” I ask.             “Let’s do it. I’m already tired of watching the entire staff looking for the cat. If they keep this up, the mess will be even more annoying to deal with.” Minho hyung agrees.

            “The one that finds it gets dibs on the room they want!” I yell and we run off. “Take care of my baby for me!” I tell the eunuchs holding my spear and practically fly on top of the roof. I look around from above in case the cat is high up. There are so many rooms and gardens in the crown prince’s hall, almost like it’s its own palace. I smile to myself as I spot a white fluff ball chilling on top one of the roofs near a plum tree. The cat must have made its way up there while no one was noticing. I quickly run on the roofs and jump over the buildings to reach the cat. I leap onto the plum tree that is full of pink plum blossoms. As I nearly reach the cat, I feel a strong surge of energy. I turn and deflect the person’s attack and reach for the cat. I do not get much of a look as we are practically fighting to get to the cat. Who is this guy anyways? He is quick and has a strong energy and aura.

            “I need to deliver the crown prince’s cat. Please get out of the way,” he says.

            “My room depends on this cat so no.” I click my tongue and reach for the cat again. The male and I exchange a few other moves and he is putting up a good fight. Before I realized it, Kai and Minho hyung have already joined the fight over the cat. With Kai and Minho hyung on my side, I quickly look for the right moment and lock the male’s acupuncture point, making his freeze. Now with him out of the way, the cat is mine— “Minho hyung no fair! I saw the cat first!” I whine as Minho hyung runs off with the white cat.

            “I want dibs on the room too~” Minho hyung laughs as he hugs the cat.

            “Looks like I can’t win this time,” I pout and unlock the male’s acupoints and let him free. “Now where’s this crown prince…?”

            “I shall lead you three heroes to his chambers.” The male bows and jumps down. Kai and I exchange displeased looks at Minho hyung who’s eyes are smiling. Must be nice. I wanted to get dibs on the room! I whine a bit more and follow the male. The maids and eunuchs are now frantically cleaning up along the path and bowing as we walk pass them, as it finally registered in their minds that we are the honored guards His Majesty personally chose for the crown prince. The three eunuchs holding our weapons also found us and are following behind. The male stands in front of the doors to the crown prince’s room, leans forward, and knocks a certain code.

            “Jiminnie~” I hear a cheerful voice from behind the doors.

            “Eh hem,” ‘Jiminnie’ clears his throat. “The heroes have arrived.” I hear shuffling from behind the doors. The crown prince must have not expected us to come this early.

            “Baekhyun hyung, help me get dressed!” I hear frantic whispering with even more shuffling.

            “Umm…to be frank, if His Highness isn’t ready, we can leave and come back later when he is ready,” I say. I honestly want to leave, go eat, and come back after a nice nap. It’s not like the crown prince needs any protection in the palace. Besides, monsters tend to roam around at nightfall so there are no immediate threats. I just want to eat.

“My apologies for the delay; His Highness had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. He will be ready in no time.” ‘Jiminnie’ says.

            “Jiminnie— eh hem,” the crown prince tries to change his voice to a more serious tone. “You may enter.” ‘Jiminnie’ opens the doors and reveals a thin male dressed in an elegant regal blue dragon robe— just like the ones I saw in dramas. Although he may seem dignified at first sight, his robe is tucked unevenly and his hat thingy is slightly cripple. His hair is sticking out of it messily and his sleeve is not straightened. I guess I should have him props for trying to at least be polite at our first meeting. Since he is our superior, he could have just greeted us in pajamas or not greet us at all for all it matters.

            The crown prince greets us in a very polite manner and gifts us with pendants to hang on our sashes with his name, indicating that we are now his men. “May you tell me your names?” he asks.

            “My name is Kai.”

            “Thank you for protecting our citizens by heroically slaying monsters,” the crown prince bows. Kai quickly bows back.

            “I’m the White Masked Hero,” I say and he looks at me with awe. His serious face switches to a childishly surprised look and back to a composed expression. 

            “So you’re the White Masked hero? I’ve hear many things about you. I especially admire your skills and I heard that you have an inhumane level of energy such that you run like you’re flying and fight like you’re dancing.” Luckily my mask is hiding my blushing. I can’t believe such rumors exist. I sound kind of magical. “I also hear you do not kill people, but lock their acupoints.”

            “I have experienced this myself,” ‘Jiminnie’ says. “The White Masked Hero locked my acupoints while retrieving your cat atop the blossoming plum tree.”

            “That’s quite impressive. Our Jiminnie— erm. Let me clarify, this is my personal guard and his name is Jimin. I call him Jiminnie…Uh anywho, our Jimin is one of our best, so you being able to lock him is amazing. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t get to see it myself.” The crown prince tries to hide the excitement in his eyes. “And this hero?” He adverts his attention to Minho hyung who has been silent since his entrance.

            “I am Minho, Your Highness,” Minho hyung says slowly and bows. I can feel my heart drop as I feel the pain in his voice. He has been keeping it together very well.

            “M-Minho…?” The crown prince’s focus wavers as he searches answers by looking at the masked man in front of him. He can’t be thinking that Minho hyung is the ex-prince is he? I mean, Minho hyung’s name isn’t entirely rare. I’ve met a few Minhos here and there. “You were not assigned to be my guard originally.”

            “Ah, their leader recommended Minho himself and this was approved last minute.” The crown prince’s brother named Baekhyun explains. He is standing next to the crown prince holding a book and brush. He is the royal scribe and he personally is assigned the job to write down every interaction involving the life of the crown prince. His goal is to have an accurate and personal narrative of the crown prince for history to pass on and learn from.

            “I see,” the crown prince nods and tries to take his eyes off of Minho hyung. “Thank you for being a protector of our people.” He then looks at Jimin and his brother Baekhyun. “Shall we show our heroes around and start the welcome feast?” I smile widely at the sound of food. Luckily they cannot see how excited I am since I would be embarrassed. I wonder if they’ll have meat…

Jonghyun’s POV~

            “Nam Kyu is a woman and the freaking princess?!” My jaw drops as Key explains everything after we settled into the queen’s hall.

            “Will you keep it down?!” Key cups his hand over my mouth and hushes me. He looks at me with narrowed eyes. “Your wide eyes are telling me that you are still screaming inside…” I blink a few times and calm down; my eyes now back to normal size.

            “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I treated her like a bro. I could have done something ridiculous enough to get me flogged…if anything, beheaded!” I grasp onto my neck at the thought of being beheaded.

            “Don’t worry, Naeun and I grew up together and she loves me. I would have talked her out of it if anything.”

            “Gee, thinks.” I pout. “On the bright side, I don’t have to worry about protecting her.”

            “Which means more free time for us.” Key smiles.

            “Indeed,” I smile and wrap my arm around his shoulders. “Sir Kibum, would you care to show me around this beautiful palace?”

            “It would be my pleasure,” Key smiles even more. “This way hero Jonghyun~”

            After a nice walk around the huge palace— we weren’t able to go everywhere since each location splits off into different halls and chambers for the royal family or forbidden ground— Key and I return to the queen’s hall. Her Majesty has not left her chambers ever since Minho was sent to die since the king did not want her life to be in danger. If anything, I think keeping her locked up will do more harm than good, but that’s not my job. My job is to protect the queen as monsters have been invading the palace at night, which is why His Majesty recruited us to the palace. The dark clans are clearly testing His Highness and of course he has to show them that they are not easy to pick on. Nightfall will soon arrive and Key and I are sharpening our weapons and making sure we are ready for any attacks.

Onew’s POV~

            “Men, now that day one of training is over, I hope you will out the skills you have practiced to good use,” Joon says as we wrap up. Immediately after His Highness welcomed us, Joon and I have been training the palace guards. Since their weapons are not blessed, it will be much more difficult for them to kill the monsters. “There is about two hours left until nightfall. Eat well, take a nap if you must, and report back here for your rounds.” The guards bow and depart.

            “Great job today,” I say as I wipe off the sweat off his forehead with my sleeve. Joon takes my hand and leans his cheek on it lovingly.

            “Thank you for being my strength. Everything is so much easier with you around.” Joon smiles warmly.

            “I heard the other members are feasting at their halls. I’m kind of jealous of how much free time they have to be together, but I appreciate just standing next to you.”

            “As long as we are together, everything is bearable.” Joon walks with me hand in hand toward the kitchen where he will personally fry chicken for me.

Taemin’s POV~

            Ahhhhhhhh! I internally scream. I don’t know what to do since I know Minho hyung is struggling but I am in no place to comfort him. Kai on the other hand has been so silent and I am not planning to be friends with the crown prince. Being friends with the royal family is just asking for your own death sentence. I’ve watched enough dramas and read enough to know that those closest to the kings all end up either sacrificing their life due to loyalty or being murdered because of some severed friendships. After the silent meal, we have been resting and waiting for the monsters. I am currently laying on a large branch of the plum blossom tree. I took a nap for about a half an hour and now I am just bored and being bored makes me think and thinking gets me stressed since I don’t know what I should do.

            I stand up and stretch. I look down at the eunuch who is drooling on my spear as he has also fallen asleep. My poor baby. In just one day, it has been dragged against the pavement and drooled on by this eunuch. I look around and notice that no one is around. I slip down and grab my spear without the eunuch noticing. I quickly take the hem of his clothes and clean off his drool. I sit down on the trunk of the tree and take out my water, wet a piece of cloth, and clean the spear. I trace every design on the spear and clean between every line of detail. I notice someone’s presence and stand up just to see Jimin standing on top of the roof, looking at me from a distance. He jumps down and walks toward me, nodding.

            “Impressive,” he says. “You were able to sense me from such a far distance.”

            “What do you want?” I ask. “Shouldn’t you be watching His Highness?”

            “Baekhyun hyung is tucking him in.”

            “He still needs to be tucked in at this age?”

            “You see, now that you are one of us, you have to know a few things about His Highness in order to protect him.”

            “I guess,” I sign and sit down with him under the tree. “What do you need me to know?”

            “I trust you as you are an honorable hero,” he sits down. “His Highness likes to be called by his name, not ‘crown prince’ or ‘Your Highness.’”

            “So what’s his name?” I ask. I sense a familiar presence from afar.

            “Taehyung. As you already know, Taehyung and Baekhyun hyung are siblings, but have different mothers. As Taehyung is His Majesty’s brother’s son who was bore from a royal marriage, he was adopted to ascend the throne. The reason why His Majesty has to adopt a new son is because had two sons and the first died in battle. The second one was erased from history and the people even forgot that His Majesty even had a second son…this is why Taehyung is so upset since the second prince used to be his best friend and now he has to pretend that he never existed and has to take over his place.”

            “Why are you telling me this?”

            “Because I’m sure you know who Minho hyung is.” Jimin looks at me, almost like he is begging for a confirmation.

            “Sorry, I do not know what you are talking about. Also, this doesn’t explain why the crown prince gets tucked in at night.” I get up.

            “He has nightmares,” Jimin says. “Taehyung keeps hearing Minho’s voice calling out for him and asking for his position as the crown prince. He cannot sleep because he has a heavy conscious.”

            “Cool story,” I say, clearly not interested. I cannot show him that this matters to me since it may seem like I know Minho hyung is the real crown prince. “Unfortunately, you told me that I should know His Highness in order to serve him well, but I saw no use in what you have told me thus far. If you don’t mind, I’d like to end this conversation.” I stand up and bow a goodbye and walk away with my spear.

            “You don’t understand,” Jimin stands up as well. “I want to protect Taehyung and if this masked Minho is the real second prince then—”

            “Do not put this burden on my hyung. He is not the second prince and I believe you have made a mistake by reaching out to me. I am here to protect him from monsters, not to protect him from himself.” I walk toward the presence I felt a while back and see Minho hyung. “Hyung…”

            “I knew he would ask you,” Minho hyung says. “Thank you for not ratting me out.”

            “Why would I do that hyung? I’m on your side after all.” I nudge his shoulder and walk with him toward the nice room that he was able to claim after saving the cat. “Can you tell me if you’re okay?”

            “I am,” Minho hyung says. “Surprisingly, I’m okay. I thought coming back would hurt me a lot, but everything has changed. My father is old, my cute cousin is now the crown prince, and I am simply the renowned hero here to protect them from monsters. As long as I don’t think about the past, everything won’t hurt as much.”

            “You know, I’m no stranger. You can tell me anything.” I say, clearly not buying his act.

            “You saw right through it, didn’t you?” He chuckles and rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Hell yeah it bothers me. My hall has been changed entirely and it’s as if I never existed. My father still has the same exact face and what hurts that most is that I remember the disgusted look he gave me back then when I hurt the queen and the princess. Being here just drains me. I want it to not bother me, but how can I act like nothing is wrong?” I hug Minho hyung.

            “Hyung, I know that I can never replace Lee Taemin in your heart, but can you please just let me be here for you?” I ask quietly. It’s strange how I talk about myself like I’m an entirely different person, but it’s true. Lee Taemin is dead.

            “I-I…I’ve been really conflicted. I-I…I honestly don’t know anymore. Taeminnie…he was my everything. I wanted to protect him so badly and I wanted to be with him at all costs. When he died, I wanted to kill myself as well but I knew that if there is a heaven out there and Teamin were to see me, it would hurt him to know that I ended my life because of him. I tried to live on in honor of him and I wanted to be a great hero in his place. After you joined the clan, the strength and motivation that I lost was coming back and I started smiling more. You reminded me so much of him that I thought I could just live on with you…but then I feel like I am betraying him. Now that I am back in the palace, it’s as if the past keeps haunting me. I cannot escape the fact that I was supposed to be dead and I cannot forget the fact that I wasn’t able to protect Taemin…I don’t know what to do with Taehyung. I’m afraid that I am the problem and being around me is what harms those I love. What if my return will hurt Taehyung?”

            “You heard what Jimin said, didn’t you?” I say.

            “He’s being haunted by my nonexistent ghost. He’s hurting because of me.”

            “And I know very well that you cannot reveal yourself because Taehyung would want you to be the crown prince and His Majesty will kill you once and for all. You being alive will also harm those of the clan that protected your identity and Kay hyung as well for saving you.” I say. He nods, signaling that what I said was right. “But you also want to be around these people because you were their family and you love them.” He nods. “Because Taemin died, you want to be able to be there for everyone else you love and this is also why you are afraid you’ll get close to the clan members because you have so many people you care about and you do not know if you will harm them.” He nods. “But hyung,” I hold onto his hand and look at him straight in the eyes. “You know that the members are strong enough to not need your protection and you know very well that the royal family has been living well without you. You are your own person and your existence isn’t just for others. Live for yourself.”

            “I’m so selfish.” He starts crying and I embrace him again.

            “No, you are not. You have been selfless this entire time and now you are finally starting to think about your own feelings. You aren’t selfish for wanting to come back and you aren’t selfish for trying to move on from Taemin’s death either. By living a life that you are pleased with, you are living on for Taemin and you are reassuring him that he did not abandon you in this cruel world. He left you with beautiful memories, great lessons, and the strength to move on and live a beautiful life in his honor.”

            “You really think so? You think Taemin will forgive me? You think…you think I can try and start anew?”

            “I do. I really do.”

Hello subbies! I know Jonghyun just passed away and we are all mourning. I read online that “Kim Jonghyun is not dead. He lives through his music. He lives through SHINee and he lives as a part of you and me, so please keep him living,” and I believe in this. Although it hurts and you may not agree with this, I will continue to have Jonghyun in my stories as my imagination will keep him alive and I will continue thinking about him. Please respect this decision and I hope my fanfiction will be a nice way for you to relax and enjoy some entertainment. Keep in mind that my fanfiction only uses their names, images, and some qualities in characters I write and I am in no way disrespecting their true selves. Also, I have added new characters but I do not really know about BTS and the members well and wanted to use them since they are friends of Minho and Taemin is real life. Please comment down below if the idols the characters are based off of have any unique or fun qualities so I can picture their characters better! I hope the addition of characters will not confuse you too much since this is the sequel to Angel Wings and that story did not have too many characters. Because this is a lifetime after all, I believe that it will be realistic and that it will give me more to play around with if there are more characters to interact with. The plot is now moving onto the palace and war which will help cause a greater challenge to SHINee in their quest to ficing the past and creating great memories with their friends! No worries, we will get more information on the purpose to them going back in time eventually! Comments are loved~