“You’re a girl?” Kyung says shocked, his jaw on the floor.

“I knew it! You owe me twenty bucks Kyung!” SooHyun says coming behind the Queen. “She just had to be a girl, she was wooed by me the moment our eyes met.”

“Oh stuff it, that’s not how you found out.” SooYoung said as she gave her brothers head a playful shove. “You wouldn’t leave Hyunsu alone till he gave you the 411 on Natsume.”

“Anyways come on in, let’s go see your father and tell him he has a special guest today.” The Queen smiles as she turns and flies into the opening at the bottom of the tree. We follow suit behind her, into the Tree of Fairies. You would think that outside this tree nothing existed, it was like its own little world inside this giant tree. As we head to the main palace where the Royal Family lives many people seem worried or distraught, this must be due to the Kings unnerving behavior.

“I will announce you, than he is all yours.” The Queen says to me as the Prince and Princess make their way to their rooms.

“I’m worried Ajumma, what if he thinks I’m the calamity that your daughter told me he is worried about. I don’t want to be the reason why your family is miserable.” I say with a slight quiver in my voice.

“Oh dearie no, I think you need to talk with him, it might help you too, sometimes the things we need to hear the most come from a place you never expect.” And with that she walked away leaving me in front of the grand hall doors, waiting to be allowed in.

“You may enter.”

“Good evening your majesty, I am so happy to see you after such a long time.” I say as I bow down, showing proper respect.

Surprisingly the King grabs me and pulls me into a tight hug.

“Oh Nana, how long it has been, look how much you have grown, seeing you like this is like seeing my own daughter after many years.” He says with a smile, but I can see falseness in his eyes, his happiness is a charade.

“It is so good to see you as well your highness, it has been too long.” I say with a smile, I know he is acting but a part of me hopes there is some of his honest feelings shining through.

“How have you been? I know the Elves keep my wife well informed of your whereabouts but I have been busy of late.” He brings up as I settle on the steps in front of his throne.

“Honestly things right now are showing a better outcome than usual and I’m feeling really glad to be home and able to see so many people whom I haven’t seen in a long while. How have you been my King, your subjects seem a little on edge as of late.” I say easing my way into the appropriate conversation.

“You know everyone has their own worries, I’m sure you just came on an off day. Now you must tell me what is going on in the world outside this vast forest?” Well that wasn’t subtle at all, he completely diverted the conversation to another subject.

“From what I have experienced things are ok, as you know I’m not big on putting myself out there so it’s hard for me to give you an idea on how the world is doing.”

“So the outside world is as unaware as the rest of us.” He says more to himself than anyone else.

“Unaware of what sir?” I persist.

 “A cloud of darkness is coming Natsume, and I fear for every one of my subjects, including those that live in this forest, we are all in danger!” He says going from concerned to almost hysterical.

What darkness sir? How do you know of this?” I need to know where all this is coming from.

“It has been passed down from Fairy Royalty, every King tells his Heir the story of how the world as we know it will end and are told the signs that could mean that very end is near. Many Kings have claimed that every year one or two of the signs may present themselves but as long as the third never happens we are safe.” He states looking more and more like a nervous wreck.

“Could you tell me these signs?’

“Listen Natsume, all you need to know is that the two signs have already happened much sooner than any other year in history. The only other time this happened was around the time the Queen was pregnant with SooHyun, and we dodged a bullet than because the third sign never appeared.” He states as I recall that was the time I was living here as well. I Knew the Queen had a young daughter around my age and was going to have another one soon. That was the last time I was here before I ran off due to a presence in the Forest that I have been running from for so long.

“I know you are worried and scared right now sir but from my view you are doing more harm than good right now.”

“How is my concern for my people causing a problem, who are you to come in after years and tell me how to rule my subjects, get out of my face little girl, return when you remember your place!” He yells at me and backs me into a corner then returns to his throne.

“Silly me how could you be causing a problem after treating me, someone you just confessed to seeing as a daughter, like a stranger and kicking her to the curb. You think I don’t know my place? You think I don’t know what it’s like to be lost in fear over the things I know will come someday? Excuse me while I puke all over your so called throne. You puny little fairy!” I yell in rage back at him.

His guards are on me with a flick of his wrist, this man who was like a cool Uncle to me just had his men point swords at my vitals.

“You think that you can come into my home and talk to me like that, even if you have grown up, you are still an ignorant child! Remove her from my sight, if she resists lock her up.”

“Oh how stupid you have become king. You think that by sitting in here scared your helping your people? What about your family? Don’t kid yourself, all you are doing is making things worse. Your own family worries for you, your children are scared and instead of being the man to protect them you have become a part of their fear!” I say not holding back. “Instead of being the voice of reason and the face for people to look to for strength you have become a failure, a king of nothing. You want to be able to survive this darkness, than be the light that is needed to combat it. Hiding in the darkness that wishes to consume you is only giving that darkness a head start.” I say as the swords cut into my skin as I struggle to get my point across as the guards usher me out.

“Remember Ajusshi, you once told me that we can only be stopped by one person, and that person is ourselves. Your destiny belongs to yourself and the biggest obstacle is yourself!” I say as parting words before my eyes start to hurt and I dash to the entrance of the tree slowly growing back to my proper size. I have to run, emotions are unstable, and nothing good can come from this.

“Has anyone seen Kai or Sehun?” Kris asks the rest of the boys who are just chilling around the house.

“I think they said they would stay late dancing today, it’s pretty late so they should be here any minute.” Suho responds from helping Kyungsoo in the kitchen.

“Secondly does anyone know where Natsume is, I give her a lecture about running off and she’s nowhere to be seen.”

“Oh yeah I forget to tell you, apparently she knows the Fairies and Sooyoung invited her to visit, she left with them after school ended. She told Sehun and he was going to tell you until you yelled at him.” Suho says in an informative manner while giving Kris a disapproving look at the same time. “You shouldn’t have yelled at him like that, Natsume already knew about us and we should be getting along for the Suju Hyungs as well. I think you should apologize for jumping down his throat like that over something he didn’t even have control over.”

“I know I know, I trust her too and I think that scares me the most. That and when he told me she knew who he was even though it was the first time she had even seen one of us like that.” Kris sighs running his hand through his hair. Suho could tell he was just frustrated and he knows that Kris can be overprotective. All the members of the pack have their own little ticks and issues that they all have come to understand about each other and now it is Natsume’ s turn to learn them.

“She is already having to deal with Kai and you know that isn’t an easy thing for him to overlook so give her a break. All we did today was ignore her and give her attitude, the only person genuinely nice to her today was Sehun and that’s saying something when it comes to that emotionless jerk.” Suho says with a laugh, he knows Sehun isn’t that way but he does come off cold to outsiders.

“Ok alright already I get it, I’m a jerk. I’ll apologize to both of them when they get back. Is that ok my darling wife?”

“Yes Honey, thank you.”

Meanwhile…

“Dude I can’t believe you?! It’s impossible!”

“No dude I’m telling you she knew and I transformed nowhere near her. I couldn’t believe it either. Something is different about her, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I just want you to apologize to her so we can hang out normally, do you always have to get so hurt, it wasn’t even that bad of a lie and it was for our sake.” Sehun whined at Kai as they were walking back home late from dance practice.

“You know I can’t help it. I wasn’t even really mad at her honestly, I was more concerned for her than anything and I think that scared me a bit. I knew that I usually would be mad but I wasn’t so I like, kind of faked it.. ow dude seriously I am older than you!” Kai said as Sehun smacked him on the back of his head. “I know and I had planned to apologize when I calmed down but she followed me, in that horrible condition and I felt like an idiot. I thought I had put her in trouble when Hyunsu came out and I couldn’t breathe when she hoped off that cliff, I thought she was an idiot! She could barely move and she was jumping off cliffs after Lay Hyung had healed her only a little bit and they were in the room together all intimate and…yeah”

“So you were jealous, ha I knew it Tao owes me money haahaa!” Sehun fist pumps as he had a feeling Kai didn’t like the way Lay and Nana were on the bed together.

 “I felt so stupid for getting mad at them I mean he was healing her and I was being an but don’t you dare say it was just me, I saw that shove you gave Hyung when you ran to check on her and you were pushing him away from her.” Kai says with that damned annoying smirk that suits him too well.

“I’ve never felt so comfortable with someone, and the way the wind circled her just, I don’t know it just made me look her way, and she hasn’t even been here that long. I wanna blame it on the whole dressed like a dude thing but I very much know she’s a girl.” Sehun admits to Kai as he nods in agreement. Even if she hasn’t shown a very feminine side they are both well aware that she’s a girl. “Well whatever it is I like it and I don’t want to stop being with her so hurry up and fix this awkward behavior so we can hang out again, all this silent treatment we are supposed to be giving her dude.”

“I know I never expected Kris to react so harshly, I thought everyone was going to treat her nice and just tell her I was overreacting and not to be bothered by it. Apparently Kris wanted her to feel some sort of isolation for whatever reason but even I thought everyone was being a jerk today, and it was my fault. I’m just glad she didn’t get into any trouble today and hopefully this will mule over soon.” Kai sighs, he knows Natsume went to the fairy palace today but he figured everything would go fine as Sooyoung was responsible and they seemed to know Natsume from when she used to live here.

“Still, the part where you say she drop kicked you to the ground after stopping a punch still weighs on my mind. That isn’t human at all, also she seems unusually athletic and nimble.” Sehun says after thinking about all the weird things Nana has done since they met her.

“I know, it’s on my mind too.” Kai agrees.

As they get home, Suho asks them to do the boundary check and see if Natsume needs to be picked up from the fairies palace. As they approach the tree they smell something completely foreign, a smell they have never smelled before.

“Thank goodness you guys are here!” Sooyoung says as she flutters around them, the Queen coming up behind her.

“What’s wrong, we just wanted to see if Nana was ready to head home.” Kai asks raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Apparently my father was beyond rude to Nana and she stormed off, we were hoping you were here to tell us she got home safe but was upset.” Sooyoung cries getting teary eyed as she starts to realize that Nana didn’t return home.

“Wait her, she told you about her disguise?” Sehun asks

“Look that isn’t important right now, I have known that girl for a long while so I made her tell my kids the truth, anyways I need you boys to go find her and protect her, the poor girl poured her heart out and my husband hurt her, she was bleeding from gashes on her body that our guards inflected, I’m so sorry. Please find her before something else does, the forest has been getting more and more dangerous at night as you boys have noticed.” The Queen says with tears in her eyes.

I was running, that was all I knew at the moment. My eyes clouded by tears and my heart aching. I could feel the blood seeping out of my shallow wounds, leaving a little trail of blood behind me. It wasn’t until I needed to catch my breath that I realized how far I had run. I thought to Sehun the other day and how he had seemed to have done the same as I am doing now. Just the thought of him made me calm down and try to assess what I was doing. When I noticed part of the stream in my view I knew I needed a drink. As I looked at my reflection in the stream I realized how stressed I had been when I rushed out of the Fairies home. I haven’t seen this me in so long, yet I recognized it as myself instantly. Smiling because I felt so right at the moment and a tear slide down my cheek as well as I knew it was so wrong. I was proud that I could be in this state without noticing while still keeping my aura as hidden as I could. I heard twigs snapping under something’s weight and immediately hide myself in the tall brush along the water.

“How are we supposed to find her when we don’t even know what direction she ran?” I hear someone whine.

“We have to no matter what, otherwise the Hyungs are really going to abandon us.” Another voice responds.”

“Still this smell is so, so different from any other smell, I hope whatever it is it isn’t chasing Natsume.” The first voice says as I recognize it as Sehun’s voice, the second one must have been Kai.

“…”

“Come out of the bushes now or we won’t hesitate to attack!” Kai says as I feel the wind pick up around my hiding spot.

As I am about to step out from my spot, I hear something laugh or snicker and it sends shivers down my spine as I don’t move from my spot by the river.

“Show yourself now!!” I hear Sehun growl out.

“Calm down little boy, I’m not here for you, I’m looking for an even bigger pray. Leave now before I change my mind about killing you.” He says to Sehun as he takes a few steps in their direction I hold my breath hoping they won’t retaliate.

This mysterious person continues to look around, is he looking for me? He looks like the grim reaper, a long black cloak covering his body with his lower half exposed which is also clad in black. The only distinguished thing about him was the skull mask he wore to cover his face.

“We aren’t the ones that need to leave, you are. We are the guardians of this Forest and you have come here unwelcome. We ask you leave now in one piece or you can leave in pieces if you don’t comply.” Kai is getting cocky, this guy is dangerous and I need to do something but I’m frozen in fear. I know he is looking for me, if I save them I kill myself, if I don’t than I have let them die. What do I do?

Before I can even decide the boys have transformed into their wolf selves and assert their authority at him, this will surely lead to their Hyungs coming to help but I’m not sure they will survive until they do.

“Oh wow real pureblood wolves, what a rarity, but what I want is rarer than even yourselves. I sensed that it was in the area not too long ago. Oh how I have been dreaming of capturing it, I won’t let two silly wolves stand in my way.” He says in a sinister tone, that low husky voice causing my mind to go on full alert. It’s him, he is a part of the people I have spent my life running from, I have to do something, and if he finds out that they are an elemental and hereditary power user they will end up on his list as well. I have no choice.

As he prepares to attack the boys the surrounding area goes black, none of them can see an inch in front of them. Before Kai and Sehun freak out a small blue flame appears to them beaconing them to follow it. Not sure if it is a trick or not they hesitate until they hear the cloaked man yelling in the darkness, demanding whoever did this to stop before he murders them.

Deciding that following it is the best option they do so until they reach the end of the darkness and find themselves still in the forest just that the area they walked out from looks as normal as can be, they even see the cloaked man yelling and acting as if he still is in the dark yet they see him and everything else just fine.

“We need to go, now guys. The second that illusion wears off he will be in a rather sour mood.” I say as I pop up behind them. They jump but don’t scream or make a noise.

“Natsume? Where have you been? What the hell is happening?”

“No time to explain, we need to get as far away from him as we can. I made a mistake and now he knows I’m here, we need to move!” I encourage as they run to keep up with me.

I can see the looks on their faces as they follow behind me, I’m running faster than they are and they are in their wolf forms. I know I will have to explain it to them but I know there is only one place that I can. As we continue to run I hear Kai make a sound.

“This is where I was the other day when you came to look for me the other day isn’t it?” Kai questions.

“Yes it is, have you ever noticed that the spot behind that waterfall is undetectable or that even when your Hyungs should be able to find you there they can’t? Well there is a reason.” I say as we pass through the water and into the cave, it isn’t small but not too big either.

“What in the hell just happened? Why are we hiding from that guy? Do you know about him Nana?” Sehun asks completely out of breath.

“Not much just that they are always on the look for treasures, SN’s that have special powers that they can use to their advantage. I needed to get you away before you used your powers, showing him the strength you possess will only make him want you more. Rumor has it he belongs to a group of Warlocks that wish to control the Supernatural World, but in order to do so they need to have the powers that they cannot gain through knowledge, like hereditary powers such as Kai’s and a few of the other boys. However that doesn’t exclude those with elemental either, they will capture strong users of the element, especially if you are a SN that has a deeper connection with nature itself such as fairies, elves and wolves or an type of creature that has a form other than human.” I explain. I should know, he is probably here for me, when I raged at the King my powers flexed and he must have been waiting for this moment. Maybe I am the one that will ruin this forest, but I can’t run anymore. The Queen was right, all those things I said to the King could apply to myself, I guess she knew that what I had to say to him is the same thing my Hyungs have been trying to explain to me.

“So what now? Do we stay here till the rest of the guys get caught by him, because I’m sure they sensed what happened and I’m sure they are looking for us, or do we wait for him to find them first?

“He should have left by now, the illusion should be gone and he won’t stay here long, they never do because they can’t get caught by the Elves, the council would have his head on a platter if they caught anyone working for those barbaric warlocks.” I say as I pop my head out the cave to see if the cost is clear. I sense no intruder, but I can hear the thud of paws running toward our general direction.

“You boys go out and see where your brothers are, please don’t tell them I was involved, and then come get me later ok?” I ask, I need to stay in here until I calm down.

“What? No way! It is way too dangerous to be out here alone, I’m not leaving you. I don’t even know what helped us out back there but we need to keep you safe!” Sehun yells at me as he cups my face in his hands to make me look at him.

“I know what you are saying but I am very safe here, you need to stop your Hyungs from going near to him. I don’t even want to think about what would happen if he got his hands on any of them.” I say as I look straight at him, bring my hand to cover his. “Trust me on this please.”

After the boys leave to catch their brothers I final y take a chance to catch my own breath. I have never been so frightened before in my life, and as I finally start to comprehend everything I begin to realize that I was more frightened for them than myself. I was glad I was able to force my appearance so I dint have to explain too many things but now that they were gone I didn’t have the strength to hold it anymore. This cave was made by Hyunsu for me and the Hyung’s enchanted it so that if I ever lost my cool I could hide here till they came to get me. As a few hours passed I started to think they weren’t coming back. Maybe they were tired of me and left after telling their brothers about the problem I was.

Fortunately that wasn’t the case as I heard them approaching, my nose completely recognizing their personal scents. I knew I was barely conscious as they came through the water but I wanted them to see me for who I really was because nobody but a few select people had ever seen me this way and it was time for me to listen to my own words.

“Dude no way. How did you even get here? Are you lost?” Sehun asks as they slowly approach me, in all their wolf glory. Two beautiful wolves stand before me, both bigger than me in size as I finally get a chance to compare us.

“Was there a girl here before you? Did you do something to her?” Sehun asks his eyes glowing red as he growls at me.

“There was a girl here earlier but she left, and I don’t think she is coming back.” I say to them.

Kai sighs as he plops down on the cold ground. “I knew it, she got scared of us and left because we failed to protect her, damn it!”

“Well I guess we should at least look for her right”

“What’s the point man? We could barely keep up with her back there and she was injured!” Kai yells out as he puts his head between his knees.

Sehun does the same and I can’t help but feel cared for by these boys. They really did trust me, well now I will do the same.

“Anyways I’m curious as to why you are here. I didn’t even think there were any of your kind left in the open, I thought your kind had moved to a safe zone like most of our kind had centuries ago.” Kai deduces as they can’t seem to stop staring, though also not recognizing me at all. “I never thought the day would come when I would meet one around our age. Seriously do you need some assistance? You can trust in us, we are the protectors of this forest so please help us help you, we really need to do something right as our list of wrongs keep getting longer.”

“I am what you call a loner, I don’t have a family so I wander around from place to place keeping myself hidden from those who still believe that my kind are a danger. I am surprised to see such young wolves out by yourselves in such a vast forest. I know your situation isn’t as dire as my own but you are also considered rare are you not?”

“We used to be but repopulation has been easier as more of our kind created their own community of sorts. Though rules are still very strict on the new generations like ourselves.” Sehun says with disgust in his eyes.

“Says the guy wandering deep into the forest as just the two of you are.”

“Complains the one who is literally alone and lost in the woods.” Kai smirks back.

“I am not alone and I am certainly not lost Kai.” I say after giving them plenty of time to try to recognize me. I also cannot stand that smirk of his.

“How do you know my name? Who are you really? I know what your kind are capable of, are you messing with us? Using your tricks to deceive us? Did you eat that girl we asked you about?!” Kai threatens as he and Sehun start to corner me.

 “Well I am messing with you but I didn’t eat your friend. I really hate that people think we eat humans, that’s just nasty. I wanted to keep this secret a little longer but I guess the events of earlier caused me to reevaluate the way I have been living, that and I really don’t have the strength to keep up my charade.” I says as I step forward causing them to step back. I notice Sehun staring at my eyes, really hard, like he did that night by the stream.

“I’m confused.” Kai says as Sehun’s eyes begin to widen.

“NANA?!” Sehun asks completely at a loss.

“You finally got it, I was hoping you would be able to tell as quickly as I had when I noticed who you were in your true form. I guess I’m just too good at hiding myself  huh?” I get out right before I feel my knees buckle under me as I slowly lose consciousness.

“You have got to be kidding me?” Kai responds to Sehun’s outburst.

“You’re a ___?!”

Author’s Note

YAY! I finally decided who my antagonists are. If you are curious to know what he looks like I would say he looks like Reaper from Overwatch, a game I am currently obsessed with. He originally was going to look like Vincent Valentine from FFVII but I thought the skull mask was cool, maybe underneath he still has the face of Vincent cuz Reaper isn’t all that attractive and this is a Kpop story lol attractiveness is key!lol. Anyways let me know what you think about this chapter and any improvements or typos that are bugging you so I can fix them.

P.S Honestly that wasn’t blank before but I thought, what the hell, let’s leave this chapter as a cliffhanger too lol. That gap will be filled in the next chapter. See if you can guess what she is by all the subtle clues I have left so far throughout the story.

Till next chapter,

Natsume