Kai looks around. “Lina?” He calls. “Lina, I’m not going to hurt you! Lina…” He sighs and looks at the ground. There are footprints, but none of them are female. Huh…
“Lina!” He shouts, continuing his search. Damn. That girl must really be scared. She’s extremely difficult to find. Maybe…since she remembers the Lord of the Lost City…I should act like the Lord of the Lost City.
He immediately sighs and slows down. “Lina, you’re terrible at playing hide and seek. You know I’ll be able to find you.”
“You never fail to…amuse me, my lord.”
Kai jumps, startled. “Shit!” He whirls around, and his eyes fall on Chaser. “Chaser.”
Chaser chuckles. “My lord.” He steps out of the shadows. “I’m curious. Have you lost Lina? I never expected you to look for her yourself. You would send someone else to do it for you.” He pulls out his curved blade and runs his thumb along the edge. “Then again, you always enjoyed playing games, boy.”
“I’m not stupid, Chaser,” Kai growls. “I’m not going to try to kill you while I am here alone.”
“You didn’t come here alone, did you?” Chaser asks. “You brought someone with you.” Chaser stands up straight. “You brought Follower.”
Kai sidesteps, and Chaser matches it. “You did something to Lina,” he says. “You made her forget. How?”
“She forgot her six and the Half Twelve, all except for you,” Chaser muses. “Almost as if I went back in time in her mind…as if meeting them—all of them—never happened.” He raises the blade, and Kai sees Tao’s ring on Chaser’s finger.
“You made her forget,” Kai says. “Why did you make her forget? You never do anything without a reason, Chaser. That’s one of the few things I know about you.”
“Very few things,” Chaser agrees.
“I could be wrong, though,” Kai says. “You allow Follower to tag along behind you like a dog at your feet for no apparent reason.”
Chaser pauses. “Follower…” He looks up. “Why did you bring her with you?”
Kai smirks. “Is that a problem? Did you not expect her to switch sides so quickly? Did you think she wouldn’t realize how terrible you are?”
“No,” a voice growls from behind Kai.
Follower appears out of the shadows. Lina stands behind her, looking extremely scared and confused. Kai glances at her, and their eyes meet. If there is any intelligence left in you, for the Guardians’ sake, don’t run, he prays.
Lina steps back. “You lied to me!” She exclaims. “You—all along—you were working with him!” She points at Chaser.
“Lina,” Kai says, turning. “Lina, listen to me—”
Lina’s eyes widen. “Look out!”
Kai quickly teleports, poofing away from the place where he had just been. Chaser’s arm fell down, his blade piercing the air where he had been. Kai’s eyes dart from Chaser to Lina. I could leave them here, he thinks. I could leave them here and take Lina back. But I have to get Tao’s ring…
Kai has to choose.
Kai growls at himself. I must be insane. He darts forward towards Chaser, who quickly readjusts to attack Kai. As soon as Chaser swings his blade again, Kai poofs out of range and appears behind the hooded fiend. He reaches for the ring, but he can’t steal it.
Chaser whirls around, managing to knock Kai back. Kai lands on the ground, and Chaser quickly pounces. Kai vanishes into a puff of black smoke, leading Chaser to fall on his face.
Kai appears in front of Lina and reaches for her. “Come on, let’s go!” He says, grabbing her arm. I’ll have to come back for the ring.
Follower quickly steps forward and pulls out her disc blade. She swipes it across Kai’s back, making him cry out and fall forward. Lina jumps back with a yelp. Kai clenches his jaw and struggles to get up. His hands are shaking. Damn… I should have known better to turn my back on her. He swallows and slowly looks up, twisting to glower at Follower.
“You’re no better than him now,” he says through gritted teeth. His eyes turn black—all black. “I knew you would follow him, but I underestimated the lengths to which you’d go.”
Chaser kicks Kai, flipping him over. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he says in his cold, composed voice.
Kai coughs. “You dog,” he says, spitting blood at Chaser’s feet. His eyes are still completely black, overwhelmed by darkness.
“Run back to the Half Twelve,” Chaser murmurs, leaning down towards the crumpled Lord of the Lost City. “See if they can heal you before you bleed out.”
Kai closes his eyes and vanishes.
Chris looks up as Kai reappears. His heart falls when he sees that Lina is not with him. Lae looks up and gasps as the Lord of the Lost City falls to his knees. His shirt in the back is stained with blood that is still spreading.
Lae runs forward. “Kai! What happened?”
“Chaser,” Kai whispers, clenching his eyes shut. Chris is unnerved when he opens them again; Kai’s eyes have become entirely black. “And Follower.” He looks up at Dai. “You were right. We should have just gotten rid of her.”
“Was Lina there?” D.O. asks.
Kai nods. “She was. I’m sorry. I couldn’t…I didn’t bring her with me. I should have teleported and left Follower and Chaser there.”
“It’s all right,” Suho says quietly.
Lae raises his hand and glides it over Kai’s back, not touching it but barely hovering above it. Kai winces as the wound slowly heals, knitting back together.
“You shouldn’t move for a little while,” Lae says firmly. “I’ve healed it, but you’re still weak.”
“Did Chaser tell you anything?” Chris asks.
Kai shakes his head. “I found him before I found Lina. I tried to get some answers out of him, but that dog is too stoic. I did find out that he deliberately made Lina forget all twelve of us. The only reason she remembers me is because of her life before she stole the Half Heart. She was a maid in my palace.”
“That explains why she still remembered Chaser,” Chang comments. He runs his fingers through his hair. “But how can we stop Chaser? We don’t even know what he’s planning to do!”
“He’s certainly not letting us stand in his way,” Min says coldly. “Just look at Kai.”
“We have to try,” Luke says firmly. “Lina needs us. All of us. And I don’t think Chris can take much more of this. Look at him.”
Chris was struggling to maintain control. He feels a rush of heat below his veins, and something inside him longs to be set free. He has never felt something so powerful, so animalistic—so angry.
Tao takes a step back. “Chris, your eyes,” he says.
Chris looks at the frightened younger boy. “What? What about my eyes?”
“They…they’re burning,” Dai answers. “Your eyes are flickering red and orange and yellow, like fire.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Chang admits, astounded. “It’s like Kai’s eyes, only… because you are a dragon…”
“Your emotions are overwhelming you,” Sehun says in a voice too old for his eyes. “Like Kai. Your powers are growing stronger.”
Dai’s expression darkens. Thunder rumbles in the sky above the boys’ heads. Chris’ eyes widen as Dai’s eyes turn electric blue. “Why not use it to our advantage?” Dai says darkly.
