final

At Midnight Circus;

A person was peacefully sitting on a wooden chair, and puffed out the smoke he held in from the cigar into the air. That person continued staring at the chessboard placed in the front, before smiling a little.

“Jongsuk,” the person called the other male who stood silently by the side. “Is Sun in her room?”

“Yes, Master Zeref.” the younger one answered with an almost unnoticeable worried expression.

“I see… is she fully recovered yet?”

Jongsuk subtly flinched back at the cold, mysterious and threatening tone of his master’s voice. The way Zeref said that sentence, it was as if Zeref already knew the answer to the question, but still decided to ask it because he wanted to make sure of something.

But what?

“Not completely, but she’s making remarkable progress.” the young male answered and then, he snapped his fingers. And when he did, a screen suddenly appeared in the air, and he flipped through it before landing on Sun’s file.

“It says here that she is now available for S-Class missions,” Jongsuk then snapped his fingers once again, and the screen vanished into thin air, leaving a puff of dark, midnight blue smoke lingering around.

“Would you like me to go and get her?”

The master’s left hand slowly went up to the other side of the chessboard—the white side—and with his index finger, Zeref placed it on the top of the king’s head before playing with it by twisting it around, and almost let it fall down. However, at the last minute, the master stopped and retreated back before placing both of his hands together.

“Yes… I believe it is time for her to get out of this place for a little while. After all, she has a thing for undiscovered worlds and meeting new people…”

Jongsuk opened up the room and was shocked to see that Sun wasn’t in her room. His usual calm and neutral expression was gone, and was replaced with a panicked and stricken one instead. And when he lost his cool, it meant that things were bad—real bad.

He quickly dashed out of the room, and searched for Sun. Not that he was worried about her or anything, but more like about the innocent bystanders. Sun was a good kid, she really was. But sometimes, she could get quite unpredictable and unfortunately, unstoppable.

And thankfully, Jongsuk happened to be the only one who was able to calm her down.

After the last incident Sun had caused, it led him immediately to that room. That was the only place he could think of, and he hoped that he was right. And when he opened up the room, he let out a big sigh of relief.

The girl was lied down on the ground, her eyes closed and her breath completely still. She looked like as if nobody could ever disturb her from her sleep.

How long has it been since the last time this place sounded so peaceful and serene?

“Sun,” a male’s voice woke her up. “Master has requested for your presence at the usual place.”

The said girl slowly opened up her eyes and let out a sigh as she looked around the place. Her last mission was quite hectic and her return had turned this place into a mess. There was a huge hole in the wall; a few lanterns were on the ground but thankfully, they hadn’t caused a fire; and the gears that used tie up the machine together were all scattered on the floor.

“You should change,” the male arched an eyebrow at her outfit and the girl let out a growl before replying.

“Shut up Jongsuk,” she scowled at her white dress. Her unusual black eyes suddenly turned red and flashed for a few seconds. When her eyes returned to her natural colour, her white dress was soon transformed in her usual outfit: black leather pants, black shirt and black leather jacket with black combat boots to top it off.

“Ah, much better.” Jongsuk smirked. “What are you doing here anyways?”

Sun ignored his question and turned her body around as she squinted her eyes to get used to the sudden light that went through the window. She then swiftly got up from the ground and exited the room whilst Jongsuk followed her close behind. They went to another path that led them to their master’s favourite place in the whole guild; it was a room created with his own magic and imagination.

The girl then opened up that door and entered it, though she was confused as for where was the master in question. Sun then blinked her eyes a few times, and the image in front of her flickered just slightly. When it was clear, she then saw their master sit in the middle of the room, surrounded by artificial greenery and huge sculptures that reminded her of something, but she couldn’t exactly pinpoint it.

“Master,” both Sun and Jongsuk bowed down at the elder and stood in front of the latter, who was concentrating on the chessboard placed on the wooden table.

“Welcome back Sun,” Zeref said and then moved a piece forward and the girl easily recognized it as the pawn.

“Do you know where we are?” Zeref then asked her.

“No, Master.” she answered honestly but the whole environment felt special to her, as if it was luring her in.

It didn’t look like any of the past places she had visited before.
There was nothing like that outside of their guild. Then again, there was pretty much nothing in the outside world. Sun couldn’t even remember if she had ever gotten out of Midnight Circus since the day she officially joined.

“This is the place where you’re going to go for your last mission,” Zeref then motioned Jongsuk to come forward. “Jongsuk’s also going to accompany you.”

However, Sun didn’t catch that last sentence, and instead, was still hung up on that particular word in his first one.

“Last… mission?” she asked again to make sure.

Zeref smiled wickedly and nodded slowly at her. The usual Sun would freak out at this, but she was feeling too happy to even notice what was behind that particular smile. She didn’t care anymore because last mission, meant that she was going to be free if she succeeds at it.

Free.
Freedom.
It meant that she was not obliged to stay at Midnight Circus anymore.
It meant that she could leave and go fulfill her dream of discovering the world on her own.

It meant that she wasn’t going to be in Zeref’s clutch anymore.

Zeref would have no control or power over her anymore. And Zeref wouldn’t be able to make her fall into the depths of despair anymore.

Sun knew how Zeref’s mind worked.

It wasn’t that difficult to comprehend to be honest. However, it didn’t mean that anybody can figure out how that evil mind worked.

“Yes, as long as this mission is a success, I will let you go.” Zeref then turned around to Jongsuk, who looked like he didn’t expect much but his face immediately lit up as he heard the master’s next words. “Jongsuk, the same goes to you as well.”

“So, what is exactly our mission?” Sun stared at her master skeptically; there was just no way that there wasn’t a catch behind this.

“It’s really simple. You just need to go back in time and you’ll see.” Zeref said with a shrug while sliding a folder over on the table towards her.

There was definitely a catch, but what was it?

After they were done with the meeting, Zeref sent them to the room, the room that Sun was in a few minutes ago. Jongsuk then smirked at her while the girl simply rolled her eyes. It was a wonder how he can look so different in front of her and of their master.

Jongsuk then took out a pocket knife and cut his right hand’s index finger, and threw it at her, before contouring the guild’s emblem that was tattooed on his bicep.

“See you on the other side.”

And with that, a portal suddenly opened up and Jongsuk walked in. As for the girl, she simply sighed while shaking her head and then took the knife that Jongsuk had tossed to her. She stared at it for a few seconds, analyzing each and every detail about the weapon, before slowly cutting her right index finger as well.

Unlike her partner, the guild’s emblem was tattooed on her right wrist. And unlike him, she wasn’t proud that she was from Midnight Circus, despite the fact that it was the most popular guild in the whole country. Everyone wanted to join the exclusive and private guild, but not everyone could get in.

Sun scoffed at that fact. Outsiders simply didn’t know anything about them. After all, there was a reason why their guild was so mysterious or even mystifying.

She then squeezed the blood out of her finger—since it dried up—and contoured the emblem. A second portal opened up and the girl swiped her knife clean with her shirt, before entering the magical entrance.

However, she couldn’t help but to have a bad feeling about this mission when she entered.

I want to step out to the future.
But I’m like a clown tied with a string.
I’m locked in here like Dracula-Dracula.
This is a creepy place; I want to run away.

***

Buzzing.

Why were her ears buzzing?

And why did she feel like a thousand pounds had been dropped on her whole body, because clearly, her body didn’t want to listen to her, and she can barely move her arms and legs; let alone turning her head around a little.

At the very least, her ears could pick up a few whispered voices next to her. They were speaking in a very hush tone; Sun could barely hear them. Though, at least, she figured out where she was.

South Korea.

Although she couldn’t hear much, she recognized a few words. All she needed to do now, was to wait for Zeref’s orders. And now that she thought about it, where was Jongsuk exactly?

“Ah, you’re finally awake.” A tall male with platinum blonde hair smiled at her—it was a small, almost forced smile one though—before flipping his clipboard’s papers. “How are you, Miss Moon Sun?”

Sun, this is your mission. Your mission is to get out of this place. Not by sneaking out but getting out of this place properly. Meaning that this boy over here, has to give you permission to leave for good. Zeref’s voice echoed in her mind.

Yes, Master. Sun replied back to his order mentally before staring at the male in front of her. She frowned when she couldn’t hear anything, and suspected that her powers must have been restricted a little, or else it would have been too easy.

“Moon Sun…?” the girl tilted her head and frowned a little at the same time. “That’s my full name?”

“Yes, Moon Sun.” Sehun repeated her name, liking the sound of it and the way it easily rolled off from his tongue. Not only that, if he was going to translate her name to English, her last and first name would be contradictory. And in his opinion, it was quite interesting.

“It wasn’t necessary to repeat it, you know.” Sun rolled her eyes, but then something flashed in her eyes. And the next thing he knew, Sehun’s back was against the wall, and Sun had one of her hands around his neck, and the other was formed in a small fist. And even though Sun had a petite and frail frame (from what he’d seen in her medical records), he actually feared for what was going to happen to him if he let that fist get anywhere near his face.

“Actually, who the hell do you think you are for even daring to say my name out loud, you low-life piece of human trash.” Sun bore her eyes into him, but then suddenly remembered her mission.

She desperately tried to calm down; she really did. And when she finally did, her mood went to a whole new other level.

“Oh my God, what am I doing right now? I am such a horrible person! I actually dared to attack a doctor. Oh God, am I going to get arrested soon. Please forgive me, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s okay,” Sehun managed to choke out but kept pointing at his neck repetitively, but Sun kept acting innocent. She tilted her head in confusion, and it took her a good few seconds before realizing what the male meant.

“Oh!” she quickly released her grasp. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what got to me.”

With that said, she bowed her head a little before slowly returning to her bed. As she settled in, she pulled the comforter over her head and breathed out. She then pulled down her left arm’s sleeve and stared at it—Midnight Circus’s emblem had disappeared.

Was this the cause of some of her powers’ sudden disappearance?

“Jongsuk… I have to find Jongsuk…” Sun muttered to herself and suddenly sprung from her bed before running towards the door.

“Where do you think you are you going?” Sehun muttered through his teeth and glared down at the girl.

“I need to find—” Sun’s eyes then widened; she didn’t know where Jongsuk was. Sure they had the same mission, but there were always a few small chances of him getting teleported to another place because the portal was so unpredictable. However, Sun was confident to know that Jongsuk was in the same building as her.

The accuracy of their location when they arrived at the destination depended on the level of skill and power the user had. So basically, the more powerful they were, the more chances they’ve had of landing in the right place. Knowing Jongsuk’s rank among Midnight Circus’s members, the girl’s small, unnecessary fear suddenly vanished into thin air.

“I need to find my friend,” she answered quickly. “Do you know where he is?”

“Sun… I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to see him for now.” Sehun frowned at the girl’s unusual request. Sure he knew they were friends, but Sun had never requested to see him before. She had never asked to see her friend outside of her break times.

And this unusual behaviour worried Sehun a little.

“Sun, you can go see him later. You don’t—”

“NO! I HAVE TO SEE HIM NOW.” Sehun swore he saw her eyes flash red. He forcibly brought her to her bed, and pushed her to it. He then forcibly pulled the comforter over her and sighed when she kept struggling.

“Sun, you need some rest—you’ve had a rough week.” Sehun then ran a hair through his platinum blonde locks. “Look, when you wake up, I promise I’m going to bring you to him, okay?”

Sun’s eyes turned into slits as she heard him say that. She had never been someone who trusted other people easily. Not only that, Sehun was her supposedly new doctor, meaning that she didn’t know him that well and today was the first time meeting him. So, why should she trust a complete stranger?

No, this won’t do. I have to find Jongsuk to form a plan. Sun thought and decided to trust her instincts. She then jumped from her bed, before shoving the male away, while Sehun’s eyes then widened in disbelief and as he was about to get up, Sun gestured him to stop moving.

And he did.

“At least not all of my powers are restricted.” She then muttered to herself before walking towards the door. However, as she opened it, everyone outside of her room was still fine and walking around as if nothing happened, as if her power didn’t affect the rest of them.

She then felt a hand on her shoulder and she instinctively turned around while grabbing the unfamiliar hand, and twisted it around while at it. She was about to throw a punch at the male, but refrained herself of doing so when she saw the look on his face.

He looked… afraid but shocked at the same time.

But Sun felt exactly the same as him.

Why was Sehun abl