"  Rain has blinded my eyes and steered me away from my original destiny." 

140509

It was cold. 

Minji loved winter more than anything, but she had never felt this kind of frigidness before. She was used to Korea's winter winds that nipped at your nose and bit your ears, turning everything rosy and red as your body tried to heat up. She loved the raw and brisk feeling that encased her, making her want to bundle up and curl into a ball.

Her kind of cold only affected her externally. This new sensation consumed her from the inside out.

It enveloped her body in a bleak and terrifying feeling. She felt desolately hollow as it shook her from head to toe. This new kind of bleak temperature was the poison seeping into her bones, causing her to shiver uncontrollably. 

She tried wrapping herself in blankets and clothing but nothing seemed to be able to warm her. She reached out around her for more layers to throw on, only to find nothing but air. 

She curled her body up and grasped the sheets around her. Minji couldn't understand why she was still freezing even though she had tons of extra layers on her. Seeking warmth, she rolled to the side where there was sunlight visible. Brightness flooded her eyes but gave no comfort to her body. It took her a few minutes to realize it was artificial light coming from a large light bulb.

She rolled her body to the other side of the room she was confined in. As she was turning her head to rest on the wall a horrific looking creature met her gaze. Minji wheezed out a hoarse shriek as whatever energy was left in her body was used to jump away from the monster. She hid in the opposite corner, covering her eyes and half screaming, half whispering at the beast to leave her alone.    

Some time later, Minji looked up again to see if indeed her warnings had worked. She glanced at the spot she had seen the creature last only to be shocked that it had moved directly across from her. She screamed all the more. 

Threats were thrown and pleas of mercy were beseeched. When Minji's voice finally could not verbalize anymore, the eerie silence made her realize that the rampant beast had yet utter a single sound. Tentatively, she looked at the wall opposite to her again. 

The monster stared straight back.   

Minji stifled a silent scream by clasping her hands over . To her surprise, the creature did the same. Minji shuddered, it mirrored her exact actions. She slowly brought her hands back down to her sides, it did the same. Coming to her senses, Minji slowly walked towards what she realized was a mirror.

The untamed looking creature was her reflection. 

She hesitantly raised her right palm up to meet the reflection of her hand in the looking glass. Her hair was a matted and stringy mess. Her eyes looked sunken in due to the dark circles that had grown underneath. Her grey eyes had a barbaricly wild look in them. The dull skin that rested on her face made her checks look empty and hollow, as if she hadn't eaten in years. 

Her body was dressed in a tattered, off-white dress. It was caked with dirt along the bottom and ripped up in a thousand different places. The condition of the dress looked as if she had run through a forest with her eyes shut, falling in mud and tripping over sharp branches. To make her current state even better, she was dripping wet.

Shocked, she stepped away from the mirror and hit her foot on a loose tile in the ground. Whatever she had accidentally stepped on appeared to be a button that released the walls of of her prison, causing it to shake and crumble down. It quickly burried her in an avalanche of bricks, plaster, and stone.

Minji opened to scream for help but her voice failed her, no sound came out. The last thing she saw before she out was a bright flashing light that penetrated her sore eyes.

140510

"Poor girl," an old and raspy voice said with pity.

"It's unfortunate isn't it?"

The second voice was deeper and spoke with an authorative tone. It was gruff and stiff. Words seemed to be forcing themselves out of the speaker's mouth in short and harsh blurbs. The way the man talked gave off a hostile feeling, a warning not to mess with this kind of person.

"It sure is..." the raspy female voice trailed off. A deafening moment of silence clung onto the surrounding room.

"But it is what fate decided. It must happen," the sharp male voice replied.

"I guess it was just not meant to be, the stars have already written what is to come despite how much I wish I could do something about it," the softer voice said with an exasperated sigh. 

"Haven't you learned not to meddle with fate? How many times have you gotten into trouble for trying to stop the inevitable?" replied the harsh voice brutally.

"B-bu-"

"It has been written Daphne, enough is enough."

The sterness of his voice was enough to make even Minji flinch slightly. She didn't know where she was or who the people belonging to the voices were. It was like Minji wasn't physically in the straw hut that the two strangers were staying in. The walls were made of an orange clay like mud that gave off a hot glow to the room. A straw roof shielded them from whatever was outside. The two were standing around a marbled round table with what appeared to be wooden chess peices, but when she looked closely, she realized that they were various little figurines in the shape of everyday objects. Minji seemed to be floating above them, observing their conversation in spirit form. 

"I'm sorry I can't do anything about your destiny," Daphne said while looking straight at the tranclucent 19 year old's eyes. She was old and looked extremely fragile. Her weathered skin drooped along her body, each wrinkle represented every year she has been on Earth. Minji could tell that she was one of those old people that was full of wisdom and knew about everything that has ever happened...probably because they lived through it all.

"I can tell you more that what has happened, dear. I specialize in telling people about what will happen."

Minji was shocked that the women could read her thoughts. She opened to speak but realized she couldn't utter a single syllable. 

"Souls can't speak sweetheart."

"Daphne, who is it that you see?" the tall, blue-green skinned man asked. He had thick black eyebrows and Elvis Presley style hair. His face wore a permanent scowl and the lines etched into his forehead were evidence that he was always stressed and stern.

"It's the poor girl."

"You can see her? Right now?"

She nodded while pursing her lips together in thought. Her ancient fingers tapped her aged chin as she began to formulate a plan in her head.

"I know this look..."

She held her hands up, silencing the man standing next to her. 

"Hush, I'm concentrating," she stated hoarsely.

"No, don't you even think abou-"

The old women cut him off with an intimidating stare. The angle in which her chin was tilted and the obvious glint in her eye clearly screamed, 'interrupt me again and something horrible will happen to you, I'll garuntee it'. The man knew better, gulped and shut his mouth. The expression on his face clearly showed that he was displeased, his lips pressed together in such a way that it looked like he had eaten something horribly sour. He bit his toungue and sealed his lips, even though it looked like he was dying to say something.

"May fate have mercy on this doomed child."

Minji was extremely confused as to why the old hag kept mentioning fate, destiny and disaster. She also didn't understand why everything Daphne did seemed to be part of an elaborate ritual. 

She watched closely as the ancient woman grabbed a dusty book from the shelf in the corner of the room. Dust dispersed into the air as she carefully turned the crinkly yellow pages. Her eyes were shut while she mumbled in some language that Minji could not understand. It was ironically mesmerizing to see Daphne chant ancient secrets under her breath while her bony fingers hovered over the round table in front of her. She suddenly stopped her hand above of a figurine of an umbrella. Her pointer finger and thumb slowly moved down and picked the wooden peice up.

She moved the little umbrella to the opposite side of the table by waving her arms in a circular motion. She didn't stop until she placed the small toy next to a figurine of a seashell. Her thin fingers snapped and immediately, a wall sprang up in front of the umbrella and seashell. On the opposite side of the wall was a person holding a daggar. Daphne stood back and examined the newly positioned pawns on her strange chess board. 

The man finally couldn't stand watching the crazy woman anymore and blurted, "You can't entertwine someone else with her fate!"

The old woman was unphased by his sudden outburst, this wasn't the first time he had tried to interfere with her work.

"I shall do what I see fit."

"People are not toys, Daphne. You should know that by now."

"Of course I know that! Why do you think I'm trying to help her? This person was meant to be here as well, I wouldn't randomly throw someone in there! Do you think I'm that crazy? Look at the energy between them."

Just as she said that the seashell and the umbrella began to shake and moved towards one another, as if they were magnets drawn together by an invisible force.

"You're still not helping by bringing someone else into the problem!"

"What if this is the solution? Not everything is going to add to the problem so stop thinking pessimistically."

"I'm ju-"

"Erebus, just shut up already! I'm one straw away from turning you into a rat or something."

"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to warn you to be careful."

"I said, quiet."

Erebus gulped and shut his mouth again. His eyes wandered around the board frantically as they calculated what was going to happen to the poor lives of those chosen by the misfortunate fate.

"Thank you. Finally, I can hear myself think...now, where was I?"

Daphne drummed her fingers along the edge of the table with a concentrated look on her wrinkled face. A light gleamed in her eyes when she remembered the game she had started to play with. She hobbeled as fast as her rusty joints would allow her to the opposite end of the room and grabbed a small vile filled with a green liquid off a shelf that held over a dozen other concotions. What they were for, Minji could only wonder.

Erebus' eyes widened as he realized what she was about to do. He studdered and held his hands out as if he could stop her from acorss the room with some intangible string of power. 

"May the words and will of The Fates be ever on my lips," she cried out before downing the potion in one gulp.

A green mist spewed out of the mouth, nose, and ears of the ancient woman as soon as she swallowed every drop of the liquid that was in the vile. When she opened her eyes, they were a blindingly bright emerald color. She took a few staggering steps forwards towards Erebus. He had his eyes  and and face was shielded by his cloak as he hid from the glow that was coming from her eyes.

She stopped and looked up directly at the terrified 19 year old's soul.

"Oh Minji," she said in a reptillian like voice that sent chills through Minji's spirit.

"Behold, your fate," she said again in her even raspier and hoarser voice.

"A promise that was made to be broken shall return to haunt,

The one you are searching for shall become the one you will not want,

To sea and sky the world must fall,

An ancient story will stir the fatal sprawl,

Another promise to keep sealed by death,

Everlasting suns or storms with one's last breath."

As soon as the last words of Daphne's phrophecy was spoken, the green mist vaporized and left the old woman on the ground hacking and struggling for air. Erebus rushed to her side and frantically began to recite some kind of a spell while his hands touched her forehead. When he was finished, color started to return to the ancient one's face. Her wheezing subsided and her breathing became more steady. 

"You wretched girl," he roared as he looked up to the ceiling of the room.

"You've heard your fate, now be gone! Bother us no more."

Light began to flood into Minji's eyes, washing out all color as it bleached everything she saw into a painfully bright white until she could see nothing but the stinging flourescent hue.

140511

"Has she gained conciousness yet?" an exhausted looking Sydney asked.

The usually perfectly put together girl was shockingly out of character as she walked into the hospital room with her disheveled hair in a messy bun, sweatpants and slippers. Her face was bare as she didn't even bother to cover up the dark circles that had begun to grow underneath her eyes.

Baekhyun lifted his head up off of the hand that it was resting on. He slightly opened one of his eyes but let it flutter shut again after seeing that it was just Sydney returning from her trip to the cafeteria.

"Not yet," Baekhyun half replied, half yawned. 

She hobbled her way over to the chair next to the equally as tired boy and plopped a plastic bag on the table that seperated them.

"Eat up," she sighed as she sank into the chair that had been her home for the past two days.

"I'm not very hungry though," the still half asleep boy replied.

"It's fried chicken," she said while stiffiling a yawn.

Baekhyun suddenly jumped out of his seat with a strong leap, surprising both Sydney and himself.

The chestnut haired girl managed to let out a laugh as she watched the excited boy dig through the bag for his precious chicken.

"Someone's gotten a renewed burst of energy..." she trailed off as he began stuffing his face.

Baekhyun mumbled something uncomprendable through his mouth full of food which just earned him an eye roll from the girl next to him.

"Swallow first so that you don't get indigestion. I don't want to have to deal with you too when you end up in a bed next to Minji."

The boy obediently followed her orders and swallowed his food before opening his mouth once again.

"I was just saying," he began, "That chicken is my daily dose of caffeine."

Sydney snorted as Baekhyun flashed her his signature eye smile. It had been a rough two days for the boy and girl that sat in Minji's hospital room. Over the course of those days, Sydney and Baekhyun have somehow bonded and established a mutual respect for each other after seeing how loyal they each were to the unconcious girl that lay beside them. Sydney found it cute that despite Baekhyun only knowing Minji for a short amount of time, he still chose to stay next to her until she woke up. She already found herself secretly shipping the two, no matter how may times she tried to push those thoughts out of her mind. Meanwhile, Baekhyun became very fond of the way Sydney cared for her best friend, never once leaving her side for more than a short period of time.

"I know I've already asked but, how did you and Minji meet and how long have you guys been friends for exactly? I want specific details," Sydney asked innocently.

So that I can torture Minji later for not telling me about this kid sooner.

"Well we were on the same shuttle about a month ago because I guess we go to the same university. And then she came in and sat down next to me, ever since then I've been seeing her everywhere I went. The last time we met was because she was giving me a check for the money that she needed to pay me for my car's repairs."

"Wait, she owed you money?"

"She kind of crashed into my car..."

"Oh my God, I'm going to rip her IV fluids out of her arm right now."

"Woah! It's ok, it's taken care of."

"But still, that girl really doesn't know how to leave a good first impression does she?"

"Let's just say that I've definitley had better experiences meeting people for the first time."

Sydney sighed and sunk even further back into her chair as she watched the line on the heart moniter at the side of her friend's head jump up and down. Sometimes it would jump rapidly and other times it would be even, moving up and down at a normal pace. Whenever her heart started to beat rapidly, Sydney would walk over and squeeze Minji's hand tightly. 

Maybe it will help ease Minji's horrible hallucinations or whatever dreams she's experiencing...

A life threatening dose of DMT, specifically engineered to activate itself in the body a few days after being consumed somehow found its way into Minji's system. When taken in large amounts, DMT causes hallucinations and vivid lucid dreams that are often terrifying to the victim. Neither Sydney, Baekhyun, or anyone else close to Minji knew how she could have possibly obtained that much DMT in her body. The Oh Minji they knew would never do anything that would harm herself, she wanted to be a doctor. It was hypocrisy for Minji to take harmful substances.

Sydney's peaceful staring was disrupted by the sudden slam of he door. Both Baekhyun and Sydney jumped when Suho made an agressive and loud entrance into the room. His mouth twisted into a scowl as his eyebrows knitted in frustration.

"What happened here?" he shouted angrily.

"Suho, calm down," Sydney said timidly, still surprised by his sudden entrance and confused at the anger in his tone.

"As soon as my plane landed in America I had to book the first ticket back to Seoul. Now tell me why she's like this," he snapped coldy.

"W-well, we d-don't know why, b-but she kind of-"

Sydney tripped over her own words, unable to compose herself in front of the agitated Suho. He was rarely upset, but when he was, scary was an understatment.

"She overdosed on DMT, a hallucinogenic drug that when consumed in large amounts is life threatening," Baekhyun answered for her.

Suho's eyes narrowed as he turned his attention towards the unfamiliar boy that he had just noticed was besides Minji's hospital bed. 

"And who are you?"

It was Baekhyun's turn to be at a loss for words. Suho's glare was suffocatingly sharp, Baekhyun didn't want to anger the guy who supposedly was Minji's boyfriend.

"He's a friend of Minji's who was with her when she lost conciousness. He's been here ever since," Sydney answered after sensing Baekhyun's sudden stiffness.

"You may leave now," the blond haired boy ordered with a dismissive wave of the eyes.

"B-but," Baekhyun began but was cut off by Suho's harsh glare once again.

"He's been tending to her well and wants to be here until she wakes up," Sydney said in attempt to defend the boy with jet black hair.

"What did I just-"

Suho was cut off by the faint and barely audible mumble that came out of Minji's mouth.

"Minji," Suho immediatley ran to her side and grasped the her hand. Sydney took the other hand, leaving Baekhyun hovering awkwardly next to Suho as the three of them waited anxiously for another sign of conciousness from the dark auburn haired girl lying before them.

"I-I," she began to say. Her eyes still shut tight while her lips moved slightly to form barely recogizable words.

"What is it?" Sydney encouraged.

Her eyelids began to flutter slightly, a rosy hue was already present on her cheeks, but she spoke no more.

Sydney quickly left the room to go call the nurses and doctors. Suho left the room looking like he was on the verge of spilling a storm of tears, leaving Baekhyun and Minji in the room alone. He just stared at her, waiting for her to fully awaken. His eyes traced every detail on her face, from the tip of her chin to the hairline that outlined her forehead, for the thousandth time since he had gotten to the hospital. 

Please just wake up and be ok.

He slowly walked over to the side of her bed, accidently grazing his hand against hers as he walked past. At the sudden contact of their skin, Minji's eyes started to fully open, making Baekhyun step back slightly in shock. 

"M-M-Minji?"

She slowly craned her head around as she observed the room she was in before her eyes met Baekhyun's. 

"Y-you," she managed to say faintly.

Despite the condition she was in and how frail she was, Baekhyun couldn't help but notice that her eyes were still as grey as ever, perhaps even stormier and deeper than before. With just one look she had him feeling strange and different, he didn't know what it was but it was driving him crazy.

"You need to help me," she whispered again weakly, snapping Baekhyun out of his trance.

"With what?"

"With my tw-twisted future, p-please," there was a wildly crazy look in her eyes, it confused and scared the jet black haired boy at the same time.

She must still be hallucinating a bit...

Her eyes widened when she saw who had come into the room, it took her a few seconds to process what was going on before her facial expression went from surprised to angry. Baekhyun whipped around just in time to see Suho stride into the room. 

"Minji, I-," the furious girl's palm connected with the side of Suho's face before he got a chance to finish his sentence.

Baekhyun started to slowly make his way to the door, not wanting to disturb the couple's business.

"Leave," she ordered icily.

"Let me explain."

"No, leave now."

"Min-"

"I said get out!"

Defeated, the blond haired boy left the hospital room, leaving Baekhyun and Minji alone once again. His face was as hard as stone as he made his way to the parking lot. Sitting down in his car, he composed a quick text on his cell phone, sent it, and deleted it immediately before he buckled his seat belt and sped quickly away.

***76:

Phase two of plan has been initiated.

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A/N: OMG IVE BEEN WRITING THAT LAST PART FOR THE PAST 4 HOURS. ASIAHDKSDHSD. I updated pretty quick this time yayayay! Anyways, if there are any questions and unsolved mysteries about this chapter, most will be revealed next chapter. Anyways, I really hope you like this chapter, it's not too interesting but it took forever to write omg. Leave feedback and comments on what you think and don't forget to subscribe/upvote! XOXO.