[title song: time to go]

chapter 8;

“You have five minutes before hyung starts to throw a hissy fit.” Jongin says as he lets go of Hyemi’s arm and nudges her towards her apartment door.

She frowns at Jongin as she digs through her pockets and fishes out her keys. “Five minutes won’t be enough. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to take. Besides, what if Minah is home? I have to say—”

“Four minutes and twenty eight seconds.”

She glares at Jongin as she shoves her front door open. “.” She mutters, loud enough for him to hear.

“Don’t make me take a minute off.” Jongin sneers, shutting the door behind him.

“Don’t make me punch you.” Hyemi replies, earnestly as she makes her way to her bedroom.

“That’s not a good idea. I can teleport.” Jongin smirks at Hyemi, his arms crossed and entire demeanor casual.

They’re at the end of the hall when a familiar voice calls out to her. “Hyemi-ah! Is that you?” Hyemi grins when Minah sticks her head out of her bedroom door, worried eyes quickly morphing into relief. Minah’s eyes drift over to Jongin and Hyemi watches as she looks him up and down, ogling a bit. “Who’s he?”

When Hyemi realizes that Jongin isn’t planning on answering and instead has resorted to tapping the top of his wrist impatiently, Hyemi sighs. “His name is Jongin. He’s, uh, Baekhyun’s friend.”

Minah gives her an incredulous look. “You’re hanging out with his friends now?”

“Actually she’s here to pack.” Jongin interrupts, smirking down at Hyemi as he eyes widen.

Minah blinks a few times, her frown deepening. “Pack?” She repeats, in confusion.

“She’s moving in with Baekhyun. Didn’t she tell you?” Jongin asks, in an innocent voice as he leans against the wall and raises his eyebrows.

Hyemi scowls at Jongin. What the hell does he think he’s doing? “He’s just kidding, Min.” Hyemi exclaims. “Right, Jongin?” Hyemi elbows Jongin in the side as subtly as she can, trying to tell him with her eyes how dead he is.

Jongin glares at Hyemi, rubbing his side. “No, I’m not, noona.” Jongin says, copying her tone.

Minah crosses her arms, her eyes darting between Hyemi and Jongin, “What’s going on?”

Hyemi sighs. “I’m just going to visit home for a little while. Jongin’s just being an idiot.”

“Stop lying to me.” Minah says, immediately, eyes fixed on Hyemi.

“I’m not lying. Please, just trust me.” Hyemi says, refusing to part with Minah on bad terms.

Minah looks exasperated. “Less than a week ago, you could barely handle talking about Byun Baekhyun. And now you’re hanging out with his friends and him almost constantly. Do you know how worried I was after the structure collapse at the university two days ago? I couldn’t get in touch with you at all. And when I finally got through Byun Baekhyun had picked up. This doesn’t make any sense, Hye. What is going on?”

“I can’t tell you anything. It’s too dangerous.” Hyemi sighs, hating the way Minah looks so distraught.

Minah lowers her voice, “Look. Is Baekhyun making you do something? Because I can kick his into next year, okay, Hye? You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Do you trust me?” Hyemi asks, staring at Minah and willing her to say yes.

Minah nods, “Yes, of course I do. But—”

“Then listen. Please, just listen. I’m going on vacation for a while. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but you need to trust that I’ll come back. I’m not doing anything I don’t want to do, Min. So just. Stop worrying, okay?”

Minah looks at you, suspiciously, before she turns her gaze on Jongin, eyes narrowed. “You’re not involved in some kind of ridiculous mafia gang business, are you?”

Jongin snorts, eyes glinting. “I used to be.” He says, wistfully.

Hyemi elbows Jongin so hard in the ribs, he whines breathily as he clutches his side dramatically. “You’re not helping the situation.” Hyemi hisses before turning to Minah, smiling softly. “They’re not. I swear.”

Minah rolls her eyes before she sighs. She holds out her pinky, looking at Hyemi solemnly. “Pinky promise?”

Hyemi stares at Minah’s outstretched finger for a moment before she intertwines her pinky with Minah’s. “Pinky promise.” Hyemi nods.

“And promise me that you’ll tell me everything when you get back. Promise me you’ll come back.”

“I promise.”

Hyemi’s pulled into Minah’s arms and she squeaks when Minah squeezes her tightly, laughing breathlessly. Then Minah lets go of Hyemi and turns to Jongin, hands on her hips, her eyes filled with icy severity. “I expect her back safe and sound, you hear me?”

Jongin blinks, cowering a little under Minah’s intimidating gaze. Hyemi can’t help but grin at the sight. “Uh, yeah. Of course.”

Minah turns to Hyemi, eyes still intense. “I need to go to class. Stay safe, okay? Eat well and all that. I’ll see you soon.”

Hyemi nods, quickly, ignoring the way her eyes feel a little prickly and she has the intense desire to start sobbing and possibly drag Minah with her to wherever she’s going. Minah smiles before throwing one last glare at Jongin before she leaves the apartment, shoulders slumping a little as she walks away.

When the apartment door clicks shut, Hyemi slumps against the wall, blinking rapidly to keep away the tears. For some reason, she feels awful. She feels like she’s lied to the only person who truly cares about her wellbeing.

Jongin purses his lips and she notices that he’s looking everywhere but at her. “She’s kind of scary.”

“Yeah.” Hyemi mutters, walking to her bedroom door. “She is.”

~.~.~.~.~

“Is it cold there?” Hyemi asks, picking up a pile of thick sweaters.

Jongin shrugs from where he’s lying on his stomach on Hyemi’s bed, staring at her as she stares at her open closet. “Just pack light. We’ll get you clothes there.”

“But I need to know what I’m packing for.” Hyemi tells him, turning on her heels.

Jongin looks slightly exasperated as he pulls himself off Hyemi’s bed and steps into Hyemi’s closet. Hyemi watches in shock as Jongin picks up a duffel bag and plucks out a few sweaters, jeans, and shirts from her closet, dropping them into the duffel bag. Then he reaches for her underwear drawer making her blush and swat at his hand. “What?” Jongin snaps.

“You can’t just go through my clothes.” Hyemi tells him before she snatches the duffel bag from his hand and discretely drops underwear into the bag.

“Human women are so angry.” Jongin observes, eyeing Hyemi with a funny expression.

“And aliens are stupid.” Hyemi responds as she picks up her hairbrush and a picture frame of Hyemi and her father.

Jongin continues to look at Hyemi intently and Hyemi squirms a little because, well, she’s not denying the fact that Jongin is incredibly attractive and she’s not used to having an attractive (alien) boy stare at her like that. “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, you know.” Jongin says, suddenly, as he leans against the closet door. Hyemi can feel him staring at her even with her back turned to him.

“I already know I’m coming back.” Hyemi says, steadily. She whirls on her heels and looks at Jongin intently. “Right?”

Jongin doesn’t look at her, then, eyes drifting to her drawn curtains. Hyemi watches as he pulls back the curtain and peeks out the window, eyebrows furrowing and full bottom lip caught between his teeth. “We need to get back now.”

Hyemi shoulders her duffle bag and frowns at Jongin. “Right?” She repeats, in a louder tone, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

Jongin finally meets her eyes, then, and smiles reassuringly. “Of course.”

They teleport away and all Hyemi can think about is how Jongin’s smile never reached his eyes.

~.~.~.~.~

The five of them are waiting for Hyemi and Jongin in the kitchen, Baekhyun’s eyes narrowed in annoyance and impatience. “What were you doing? Packing your whole room?” Baekhyun asks, crossing his arms.

“So what if I was?” Hyemi responds, pulling her elbow out of Jongin’s grasp, roughly. She’s very aware that she sounds pissed off and she doesn’t care. Jongdae and Yixing share a glance and Luhan is staring at Jongin with a slight frown.

Baekhyun blinks, eyes flickering between Jongin and Hyemi, before his eyes settle on her. “Hey, are you okay?”

He reaches out for her and she steps back, away from him. “I’m coming back, right? I’m not going to be stuck there, am I?” Hyemi asks, her voice rising with each word.

“Of course you’re coming back. We’re not kidnapping you or anything.” Baekhyun says in an incredulous tone.

Hyemi stares at Baekhyun and Baekhyun doesn’t even look away. Either he’s a really good liar or he’s telling the truth. She doesn’t know which explanation she wants to go with. “Then tell me how long I’m going to be there.”

This time Luhan is the one to speak, eyes calm and collected. “We can’t tell you exactly how long you’re going to stay at EXO. It all depends on how quickly you can fix the situation. But we promise you’ll come back after everything is over. There’s no point for you to stay after you’ve fixed everything.”

Hyemi stares at Luhan, eyes searching his, and when he doesn’t let up on his calm demeanor, she finally relents. Even if she has a feeling they’re not telling her the whole truth, she can’t prove it. Maybe she’s just being paranoid. “Fine.” She sighs. “Let’s get this over with.”

She watches as Luhan beckons everyone towards the living room, where he’s laid out a few blocks engraved with symbols in a language she’s never seen before. Fingers brush along her arm, lightly, and she looks up, unsurprised to find Baekhyun standing beside her, eyes unreadable. He doesn’t really look at her as he speaks, eyes fixed on whatever Luhan is saying to Jongdae. “What brought that on?” Baekhyun’s voice sounds cautious.

“Nothing.” Hyemi responds, looking away from him.

Baekhyun reaches out, suddenly, and brushes a stray strand of hair out of her eyes, touch gentle. “On our planet, we take promises very seriously.” Baekhyun says, softly. “You should remember that.”

~.~.~.~.~

Luhan looks at Hyemi, reassuringly, as he holds out his right hand. “We’re going to hold hands and Jongin’s going to beam us up.”

“Sounds fun.” Hyemi mutters as she grimaces slightly, earning a chuckle from Luhan. Hyemi grasps Baekhyun’s hand on her own right and watches as Jongdae shoots a bolt of electricity at the blocks of engraved stone.

There’s a sudden jolt and Hyemi has the distinct feeling she’s being shoved through a very tiny tube. However, this time it feels like every single nerve in her body is buzzing and it feels like her body is receiving continuous shocks of electricity, one after the other. Every time she tries to breathe, the air gets pushed out of her lungs, leaving her heaving for air she can’t seem to get. Her fingers tingle and she feels prickly all over, like every cell in her body is being pulled apart. This is ten thousand times worse than when Jongin teleported her to her mother’s house. Instead of being over in a moment, she feels like she’s being squeezed through a tube thousands of miles long. She’s surrounded by airless darkness for what feels like an eternity, a heaviness filling her chest and her vision spotting.

Finally, finally, her legs hit solid ground, knees bending at the impact painfully. She still can’t breathe properly and her head is throbbing, but otherwise she’s in one piece. She looks up and Jongin is standing there, appearing completely unfazed. Yixing’s eyebrows are furrowed together as he clings to Jongdae’s arm (who looks strangely smug), Luhan has the most ridiculous expression plastered across his face, Sehun looks a little queasy, and Baekhyun’s nose is wrinkled. For some reason, the group managed to land on the ground with a few meters of space separating each other.

Hyemi barely has a moment to collect herself when she hears a loud, deep voice call out angrily. “Put your hands up where I can see them.” Hyemi jumps and she can’t believe her eyes.

They’re surrounded by a handful of armor clad people, long metal bars in their hands. The one in the front, a tall man with spiked knuckles and long, black hair, stands authoritatively, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. He’s attractive in this scary kind of way. “I said, hands up. Now.” The tall man booms as the armored people around him hold out their metal bars, blue electricity emitting from the tips warningly.

Hyemi immediately puts up her hands and she glances around at the others. None of them have put their hands up, as a matter of fact, Baekhyun just rolls his eyes. Is he trying to get them killed?

Hyemi watches as Baekhyun walks towards the tall, frankly scary man in an extremely casual way. Hyemi watches as the tall man holds out a hand, “Hands up doesn’t mean come here.” He says, condescendingly, fingertips lighting up with the tiniest balls of fire. What the hell?

Then Baekhyun stops in front of the tall man, the armored guards around them stiffening considerably, and he grins, holding out a fist. “Is this any way to greet your best friend?” Baekhyun asks with a tilt of his head, fist raised.

The tall man just stares at Baekhyun and Hyemi holds her breath, expecting the worst. And then the tall man bumps his fist against Baekhyun’s. “Shut up. I’m just doing my job.” He says and he waves his hand dismissively. The guards immediately drop their weapons.

“Are you actually taking your job seriously, Chanyeol?” Jongdae asks, incredulously. “That’s a first.”

Hyemi watches as her group gathers around the tall man—Chanyeol—and Hyemi has never felt more confused. “Uh. What’s going on?” She asks, dropping her hands to her sides when Chanyeol looks up at her, suddenly realizing that she still had her hands up, embarrassingly enough.

Baekhyun holds out a hand to her, looking entirely too amused for her taste. Hyemi steps forwards, still frowning, ignoring his outstretched hand. Baekhyun brushes light fingers along her forearm as he gestures towards Chanyeol.

But before he can introduce Chanyeol, Chanyeol opens his mouth, breaking into a slightly maniacal grin. “I’m Chanyeol. You must be Song Hyemi. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Chanyeol says, his grin widening exponentially at the last sentence as his eyes slide over to Baekhyun. Baekhyun grimaces and Chanyeol laughs loudly, volume rivalling Jongdae’s.

Baekhyun glares at Chanyeol before he glances down at Hyemi, rolling his eyes. “Chanyeol’s the leader of the King’s Guard.”

Chanyeol nods before he glances up at the sky. Hyemi looks up to and her eyes widen when she realizes that the sky is a sickly yellow. She takes a moment to actually look around and she realizes they’re in a clearing filled with short, golden bushes. Everything is some type of variation of brown and it reminds her of a dead garden. It makes her a little sad.

Chanyeol looks down at her before his eyes drift to the others. “Speaking of King’s Guard, I wasn’t kidding about earlier.”

Luhan sighs, from directly behind Hyemi, startling her. “Seriously?”

“The King’s kind of…stubborn, you know.” Chanyeol shrugs, frowning.

Chanyeol then grins sheepishly at Hyemi and Hyemi can feel Baekhyun stiffening beside her, “Song Hyemi, you’re under arrest for treason, among other things. King’s orders.”

“What?” Hyemi blinks, scowling. She’s under arrest? Why?

Suddenly the metal bars emitting blue streaks of electricity are in her direction and Chanyeol looks grim. Baekhyun’s fingers tighten around Hyemi’s forearm and Hyemi feels so, so confused.

“Sorry, Baek, but I have to take her. King’s orders.” Hyemi watches as he stares at Baekhyun as he flips over his wrist and displays a tiny little symbol etched into his skin. It’s glowing a little and Hyemi can’t help but stare at it. “She’ll be okay. Trust me.”

There’s another moment of silence before Baekhyun nods briskly. “We’ll get you out of there soon, okay? Just. Be polite.” Baekhyun says, eyes incredibly serious.

“Why am I getting arrested?” Hyemi asks, quietly. “And I’m always polite.” Hyemi adds, grimacing at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun bends down a little, so he’s eye to eye with Hyemi. “Don’t worry. It’s just a precaution...” Then he rolls his eyes and pats her cheek gently. “Seriously. Be polite. Don’t piss anyone off.”

Before Hyemi can respond or even process anything, Chanyeol grabs her by the arms and pins her arms behind her back, securing them there.

The next thing she knows, she’s being pulled back and away from Baekhyun, and her heart sinks to her stomach because, well, she has a really bad feeling about this. Baekhyun’s jaw is clenched and his eyes are dark and the others look just as irritated as Baekhyun. Chanyeol pushes Hyemi forward, forcing her to turn away from the boys. She keeps glancing back though and she hates the visual, the fact that every time she looks back they’re further and further away.

Chanyeol has a hand pressed against the middle of her back, guiding her forwards. Chanyeol sighs, smiling slightly. “This is a ty first impression, isn’t it? Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, I guess. You’re just doing your job, right?” Hyemi shrugs, making Chanyeol chuckle a little. Hyemi bites her lip, finally speaking after a moment lost in her thoughts, “Can I ask where we’re going?”

“You’re going to meet the King.” Chanyeol says, eyes darkening slightly.

Hyemi lets Chanyeol guide her forward and glances around the dead wasteland Chanyeol’s guiding her through, fleetingly wondering if this was all her mother’s fault. She gulps when she spots the castle just ahead, cracked spires looming just beyond the sickly yellow horizon, suddenly hit with a wave of anxiety and the sudden urge to run as far away as possible.

a/n: THIS is what Chanyeol kinda looks like:

Who do you think is the king??

Tell me all your thoughts and feelings (or lack of thoughts and feelings idk)~~

As always upvote, subscribe, and comment (comments are my motivation and i read all of them tbh)

xoxo