CHAPTER 14: HUNT OF THE HARE

The King of Hearts was relaxing on his throne after reading a report prepared by his old-time secretary, Sandara. Sweet, blonde Sandara. It said that the Resistance's activity in Mermaid Cove is active again. The Minister of Internal Affairs was informed of it and was willing to investigate the area himself (How nice of him, thought the King). Somehow the residents of Mermaid Cove were stubborn. The King sneered. "The Resistance is crumbling down! Yet we have to cleanse the same area twice because of them!" He stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth. "And I thought heads were rolling!"

The Prince Regent kept his head down. Hmm... He looked rather different today. "What happened to you?" The King asked with another handful of chips.

"I dyed." The poker-faced Regent replied. Something made him resemble a fair folk from a storybook.

His rainbow hair glistened under the chandelier's light.

"It's good that you did, because they won't." The King flashed his Regent a shady look.

The Regent just stormed out of his sight.

"Wait, Rainbow-head! Stay!" Two card-soldiers seized the Regent by the arms and dragged him back to the throne next to the King. There was his seat—a lesser, hard wooden seat. The Regent sat down unwillingly. The wooden seat creaked as he did so.

"You changed my seat?" the Prince Regent was snapped.

"So yeah," The King shoved the whole bag of chips to his face. "You're being pretty uncooperative!"

The unsettled Regent shifted in his seat and every movement of his was followed by an ugly creaking sound. "Chanyeol hyung, it's not funny!"

"Well, it's funny to me, is it not, my people?" The King asked his royal subjects. They all forced a hoarse laugh. One minister even rolled on the polished marble floor when a card-executioner raised his sword. "See? It's fuh-nee! Like your head!" The entertained King placed his empty bag of chips over Regent's rainbow head, a matching hat.

And the seat creaked again.

Violently.

It had been the eleventh straw dummy so far. Tao and Lay shouted with their arms raised high, "No more!"

Kris, with a glint in his eyes and a raised eyebrow wouldn't give them a toss. He was very proud of his latest achievement. His face couldn't hide this fact. Look at those tell-tale eyes as he blasted a jet stream of water at the unsuspecting straw dummy!

The dummy disintegrated into an explosion of water, straw, cardboards and torn fabric. These pieces flew across the cave and Suho would have to duck. Tao and Lay would have to belabour themselves making another straw dummy. Kris would have known.

Who would have thought? At first, Kris looked hopeless, but now he could master the element of water since the freak snowman accident. It didn't leave even a mark on his skin, but it awakened a little of his potential. Suho was satisfied with his protégé’s performance. The Key of Fire, Eun-soo watched him from afar with pride and awe.

"Way to go, Kris!" she cheered. She only cheered into the wind. Kris paid her no attention and continued to blast another straw dummy. Another shower of straw-based confetti and she was disenchanted. Aigoo, not even a glance! That Kris!

"Good morning, Eun-soo ah~" a voice sing-songed. She whirled around and grunted. It was that strange guy Xiumin again.

"What do you want now?"

"It's your turn to help me." Xiumin smiled an enigma (she was too dumbfounded, even her language turned improper!). "You promised."

"Ah, you should've said that from the start!" Eun-soo fanned herself. "What is it, Xiumin?"

"I have a problem to solve. Follow me, please." he grabbed her hand and led her down the cave.

Down, down, down they went, down the stairs, passing Suho's other underground chambers as they walked. Eun-soo walked closely behind Xiumin, never minding to ask for a reason. A mere week in this wacky place and her logic went off her head. She might return Above as a mad woman. "Off!" Eun-soo gave herself a box in the ear for thinking nonsense.

"You were saying something?" Xiumin asked, hearing a strange noise.

"No. Please hurry. It feels strange here." Eun-soo bit her lip and laughed oddly. What are you doing, Eun-soo? She blushed and felt a dire need to box herself again.

"No. Don't worry. Everyone is strange here." Xiumin clapped her on the shoulder. "This is the problem."

A pebble-laden path led them to a frozen chamber. The chamber lacked the cave's dull purplish-grey colours, replaced by an even coating of white frost. The pond in the middle of the chamber was frozen, too. She could walk on the surface and still see silver fishes swimming beneath her feet. Several frozen fishes hung above her head. Was this place a cold storage room of Suho's? A giant underground refrigerator? Operating on what? If the cooler broke down, she wasn't the right person to help.

Xiumin stooped a little to meet her eye-level. She had a sight full of his face. The ageless beautiful face, gleaming like a full moon. His eyes, honest to God, those eyes were deeper than the ocean with the darkness of an abyss. Two endless trenches, a gateway to a different world, neither Above nor Wonderland. A pair of black-holes swallowing anything close to them. Anything.

Eun-soo immediately looked away.

"What's the matter, Eun-soo ah?" Xiumin asked, blinking. His eyes became ordinary eyes as he blinked.

"I'm a little disturbed." She couldn't keep a steady gaze at Xiumin because:

1. His eyes reminded her of an NDE.

2. The insecure feeling returned.

3. With her erratic breathing and heartbeat, she felt like drowning in the ocean once more.

4. How else can she explain this?

A sweet melody swam into her hearing. Ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling. The sound of tinkling icicles lulled her senses like a erse music-box. She was trapped in a trance.

He slipped his fingers between hers.

"Forget everything." he whispered as he began his spooky waltz again.

Her head went numb, or was it all that ice? BRAINFREEZE~!

"Forget everything. You're not the Key of Fire. You're a princess of ice."

Blank.

"My love had been yours since the day I saw you. Why won't you—"

Blank. Blank.

"Accept me." he pressed his forehead against hers. Her heart made its own gymnastic act, her ribcage a hall, her diaphragm a stage. But she could no longer be in control.

His cold skin left her frozen. Theoretically frozen, since her cheeks went warm. The distance between two pairs of eyes was diminished. Xiumin's direct eyes had met their target on the other side. Eun-soo was drawn into those two black-holes.

She couldn't pull away.

Arctic lips slid down the bridge of her nose.

Winter breeze brushed against her face once more.

"Resistance is futile." he breathed.

No, not those words!

Reality got her back. Then, she was released from her trance. She caught her breath and pushed him away.

"I have a responsibility of my own!" she yelled at the disappointed Xiumin and made a haste escape up the flight of stairs.

She was gone.

He got up on his legs and punched an icicle in fury.

He might be a good minister, but a failed actor.