~ Shifting Universe ~

~ The Merge ~

Jiniret: Minho...gather all the members and take them up to the roof. We need to brief them on what is going on. And to get ready.

Minho: Get ready for what?

Jiniret: I'll explain once we are all together. It's a lot.

Shay cast a glance sideways at him, her stomach starting to knot nervously. She didn't like the heaviness of the tone in his voice.

Jiniret met her eyes, and he saw concern and fear creeping into her green irises. He reached up to stroke the pad of his thumb on her cheek.

"Everything will be alright...I promise."

She nodded but then she smiled. Up on the rooftop, they waited patiently for the rest of the members to arrive. Once they did, they were surprised to see that his hair had changed. Jiniret smiled.

"That's not all."

Yongbok gasped.

"Jiniret??"

Chan frowned.

"What are you doing here? Where's Hyunjin?"

"Hello, everyone. It's good to see you all again. As for Hyunjin, he's alright. Shay and I put him in an induced coma to slow down the bondage of the new nanites."

The members all exchanged nervous glances. Jiniret started to explain quietly.

"As you all remember, the reason that we had to rescue Hyunjin quickly was because he was being taken in for experiments. After what happened earlier in the cycle, Shay sought me out and informed me about the seemingly new personality changes. We consulted with Dr. Yang and started to suspect that Hyunjin might have been injected with a different set of nanites. If you all are infected with the new nanites, we have to move quickly. Dr. Yang is testing his blood right now. We also need to test yours as well."

Chan nodded as they stood around in a circle so Jiniret could take a sample from each of the members. Shay watched as each wound sealed up with black thread. She met Jiniret's eyes.

Shay: We're all affected...

He nodded as he turned toward Shay.

Jiniret: Your turn...

"So if we're all affected, what happens now?"

Jiniret replied as he scanned Shay's blood into his wrist pad.

"I'm not sure. Dr. Yang will explain once he calls us with the results. The sentient was also trying to communicate with him as well when we were speaking with him."

Jisung frowned as he asked, "How come the sentient has been able to communicate with us now?"

Jiniret shrugged.

"The sentient is an advanced being. There's a lot that we don't understand and probably won't be able to."

Minho sighed as he leaned back against the railing.

"I just want to go back to normal..."

Jiniret smiled apologetically at him as he murmured, "Soon. Once you are selected to debut and produce a song that charges the power source to full capacity, Dr. Yang will be able to render the nanites inert."

Minho straightened up, the others were leaning attentively toward him.

"Why can't we do that with Hyunjin now?"

Jiniret grimaced.

"Because he's an important part of the process, otherwise Dr. Yang would give me the go ahead."