And here's the next chapter! Sorry about the cliff hanger on the last chapter! Don't worry, you'll get answers in this chapter! I hope you all enjoy! And I hope you don't mind these longer chapters. There's lots of stuff I want to talk about, and that makes it difficult to break them into smaller chapters.

Enjoy!


Chapter Five

Heights

It was a well-known fact within the Cooperation that Nat was terrified of heights. She'd made it common knowledge when she was asked to meet with the Wookies on Kashyyk about the Cooperation. She was on edge during the entire meeting, and had to explain that her problem wasn't the Wookies, but their preference for building up in the trees where there was little between herself and a very long fall to the forest floor. As such, most groups knew to warn her whenever it was impossible to avoid a meeting in a place with similar architecture. Unfortunately, this group of protesting Wizards were also aware of her weakness and were using it against her.

Nat had been growing a bit frustrated with the little group of protestors. She'd been working very hard for this whole year to bring them into the cooperation. She'd become aware of their existence on a trip with the Doctor when she met a Time-Traveling Wizard who had enjoyed discussing the logistics of time travel with the Time Lord. Nat had ended up chatting with the Wizard's pretty, young companion; a blonde 18-year-old who introduced herself simply as Libra. As soon as they'd returned from their trip, Nat began the process of contacting the Wizards and convincing them to join the Cooperation.

It had been a long, difficult road. Along the way, she'd discovered that it was easier for her to formulate her thoughts and convey concepts by speaking in Korean and letting the translation spell make her understandable to those she spoke to. She thought she'd done a good job. Unfortunately, there was a group of old Pure-blooded Witches and Wizards who were having a very difficult time accepting her proposals. She'd planned to address their concerns after Christmas was over, but they'd pushed her hand.

Now, they'd taken matters into their own hands. She was stranded in the middle of nowhere having been divested of her phone and any other communication devices. Not only that, but the Wizard who'd dropped her on this cliff ledge had only stayed long enough to ensure that the ledge only had enough room for her to lie on her side and hug the cliff wall before apparating away. She was trying to remain calm, but there was an extremely long drop below her and there was no way to shift positions without falling to her death. Instead, she was forced to cling to the cliff face as best she could and wait for rescue. Considering she had no idea where she was, Nat doubted rescue was coming any time soon.

"WHERE IS SHE!?" Baekhyun was not a happy person at the moment. He and the rest of Exo-K had been almost finished with their testing, meaning they'd be able to return to Camp, when an urgent message had arrived for Agent Coleson. After demanding to know what the concerned look on his face meant, Coleson had reluctantly filled them in on Nat's abduction. Jongin had immediately teleported to London to meet up with Yifan and Minsoek while the rest of Exo were left to follow him with the transporters from the Prometheus.

As soon as they arrived, Baekhyun began demanding answers from Yifan and Minsoek. He was just as angry with them as he was with the people who'd taken his sister. He had expected them to take care of her. To keep something like this from happening. Now she was gone and he was being told that the people who took her were nowhere to be found.

Zitao arrived not long after they did. The Doctor's ship materializing with a strange wheezing sound and depositing him and his temporary passenger in the chamber. Baekhyun had expected some support from Zitao. He wasn't blind to the way his Chinese bandmate felt about Nat. But, rather than demanding answers like the Doctor was, Zitao was standing a little to one side of the room examining the empty air in front of him.

Finally fed up with watching, Baekhyun went over to him and demanded to know what he was doing. "I can see where she went." That immediately got everyone's attention. The Doctor hurried over and started waving his Sonic Screwdriver around and babbling, but Zitao's eyes finally focused on Yifan. "You're the only one who can find her. The only one who can follow the trail with any reliability." In a move that held only the slightest hint of hesitation, Zitao stepped around the Doctor and reached out to his friend. He pressed his fingers against Yifan's temples and closed his eyes in concentration. After a few moments, he stepped back and Yifan gazed at the area Zitao pointed to.

Yifan had heard Zitao describe the energy that surrounded Nat in rather poetic language. But he could see now that his fellow band member wasn't exaggerating. Golden wisps of energy hovered in the air in the spot where Nat had been standing before she was taken. Not only that, but he could see a faint trail streaking away through the wall. He was just about to ask Jongin to take him to the surface when he spotted the Doctor and gasped in awe. The Time Lord was glowing with the golden energy. Not only that, but the TARDIS seemed to be creating the energy. It was dazzling.

Yifan glanced at Zitao. He had some of the energy around him, though not at the same level as the Doctor. He wondered if it was a result of being in the TARDIS, or if it was a mark of dealing with Time. Yifan shook his head. He'd have time to speculate later. When Nat was safe. He turned to Jongin, "Get me to the surface. I'll follow the trail." Jongin obeyed without question, grabbing onto him before teleporting them both to the surface. Yifan nodded and immediately took off into the sky. Once there, he could see the golden trail leading off into the distance. At top speed, Yifan began following it.

Nat had been clinging to the cliff for several hours. She was still terrified she was going to fall, but she was also starting to lose hope. She had no idea where she was, she was cold and tired, and it was starting to get dark. There was no way anyone could find her. In her fear, she'd forgotten about the sensors on the Prometheus. She also hadn't remembered that the Cooperation could call on the Federation to send help with their more precise sensors. All she could think was that she was going to die out here.

Then, with a gentleness that made her think, at first, that she was dreaming, a pair of arms slid under her and scooped her off the ledge. She shifted carefully, turning so she could wrap her arms around her rescuer. The voice that spoke soothing words in Korean was deep and gentle. As her body relaxed, her mind drifted. She was only able to open her eyes once before she faded into unconsciousness. In that one glance, she managed to make out the sharp profile of Wu Yifan, his eyes gazing out over the space before him. Her mind faded to black as she relaxed further in his arms, allowing herself to know that she was safe. Nothing could hurt her as long as he was here.

Nat woke slowly, blinking at the bright light above her. The beeping of a heart monitor allowed her to orient herself, and she glanced to the side, curious where she'd been taken. She was startled away from those thoughts when she saw the figure slumped in the chair beside her bed. Zitao's blond head was supported by a bundled jacket on the back of the chair. A set of white headphone wires could be seen trailing across his shirt, and she wondered how loud she'd have to be to get his attention.

She was just about to call out to him when a sound from her other side distracted her. Zitao wasn't the only one who'd taken up vigil over her. Baekhyun and Yifan were both sitting in chairs on her right. Baekhyun was curled comfortably in his, head resting on his hand. Yifan was rubbing his eyes and blinking. The noise Nat had heard must've been his foot slipping off the chair. This was evidenced by the fact that only one of his legs was curled under him.

He glanced toward her, clearly expecting her to still be sleeping. He jerked upright, his hand reaching out to shake Baekhyun's arm. The stream of rapid and concerned-sounding Mandarin seemed to penetrate Zitao's headphones and through his sleep to jolt him awake as well. Before she knew it, Nat was surrounded by three of her new closest friends, all of them asking if she was alright, all in different languages. Zitao spoke in Mandarin, Yifan had switched to English, and Baekhyun was babbling in Korean.

After letting them talk over each other for a couple minutes, Nat laid her hand on Zitao and Yifan's arms to get their attention. When Baekhyun caught her look, he went quiet as well, resting his hand on her knee beneath the blanket so that he could be in contact with her as well. "I'm fine," she assured them. "I was just cold and worn out from fear. To be honest, I need to get over that. It's becoming a problem."

"We thought they might've hurt you," Baekhyun said, leaning forward around Yifan's shoulder to get a better view of her. "They didn't even make any demands. They just grabbed you and left."

"They didn't hurt me," Nat assured him. "He just dropped me on that ledge then broke off the extra he was standing on. There was only enough left for me to lie on, and barely that. That was enough."

"I'm so sorry I couldn't stop them," Yifan said, his face downcast. "They got Minsoek with a spell, and then me. I tried to get to you, but they were too fast."

"It's alright, Kris," Nat said gently, running her thumb over his knuckles where he'd grabbed her hand. "Speaking of whom, where is Minsoek?"

"Our manager called while you were out," Yifan explained. "He had to go take care of some stuff with our new Winter album. He didn't want to go, but they insisted."

Nat nodded. "How's he doing? Stunning spells can be really rough on non-magicals."

"He's alright," Yifan answered. "We both are. We weren't frozen for long."

"That's good." Nat was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "How did you find me?"

"You can thank Zitao for that one," Yifan said, nodding at the man across the bed. "He made it so I could see the energy that lingers around you. I've been meaning to ask you about that," he added, looking across at Zitao. "The Doctor was drenched in it, and the TARDIS seemed to be radiating it. Even you have some around you. Is it TARDIS related, or Time related?"

"It is Time," Zitao answered "The TARDIS looks like it is giving it off because the ship exists partially in Time. It was grown around a conduit in Time. It's a bit complicated."

Nat squeezed his hand gently. "Thank you, Zitao," she said, smiling up at him.

He smiled shyly and ducked his head. "We would've found you eventually. I'm just glad I was able to be there."

He was about to say something else, but was interrupted when the rest of the Exo members entered the room. Nat soon found herself buried under a veritable mountain of plushies and candy as everyone expressed their joy that she was back safe. Luhan and Yixing both perched themselves on the end of her bed and proceeded to tell her all about what happened at the Ministry after she'd been rescued.

The rogue group of Wizards hadn't gone far. They'd only been able to sabotage the anti-apparition wards long enough to get the one Wizard through who'd kidnapped her. The others had used the distraction to make a break for the Floos. They hadn't gotten far, and had been quickly arrested. The one who'd taken her had been found frozen in a block of ice at the entrance to the Ministry. Nat opened her mouth to ask it had been Minsoek, but Luhan answered her question before she could ask. "It wasn't Minsoek. He was with us the whole time. At least until he got called away."

A slow smile spread across Nat's face. "Jack, you old fox," she murmured. "Thanks for the backup."

"Who's Jack?" Sehun asked, leaning over Luhan's shoulder.

"Jack Frost is the Spirit of Winter and Guardian of Fun. He probably heard what happened and decided to take matters into his own hands."

It was only then that Nat noticed something was different. At first, she couldn't put her finger on it, but an unconscious motion to push up the glasses that weren't on her face made her realize it. "Yixing, stop that," she snapped. "I'm fine!"

Yixing pulled his hand away from her leg with a sheepish expression on his face. "At least let me finish your eyes. You'll never need glasses again."

Luhan reached across the bed and smacked his shoulder. "You should know better than to use your powers on small things that aren't a problem! You're going to burn yourself out."

"I'm almost done!" Yixing protested, rubbing his shoulder. "Besides, I'm fine!" he stood quickly and spun around once. "See, not dizzy at all." He sat down again, but Nat wasn't the only one to notice that he was blinking rapidly.

"Jongdae, would you get him something to eat, please?" Nat asked. Jongdae nodded once and left the room quickly.

A quick burst of warmth from a spot on her leg sent Nat blinking her suddenly clear vision. She leaned forward and smacked at Yixing. "Lay!" He had the grace to look apologetic again at the use of his stage name rather than his real name.

"I told you I was almost done."

"Don't move from that spot until Jongdae gets back with your food. Understand?"

"Yes, Noona."

The rest of the visit went by pleasantly and by the afternoon, Nat was discharged. The group escorted her back to her apartment. They ordered pizza and even managed to catch Minsoek at a good time in Korea to get him to come over for a bit to relax. After a few stammered words of apology, Natshut him up by pulling him into a hug. "There's nothing to forgive," she assured him. "I should've warned you guys about those spells. But that's beside the point. It's in the past now. Nothing we can do will change that."

They all settled down on the couches and chairs in the living room to watch a movie while they ate. It didn't take long for most of them to drift to sleep. Minsoek managed to sneak out from under Yixing about mid-way through the movie. Nat was already asleep, snuggled between Zitao and Yifan. Yifan had his arm around her, and Zitao was asleep on her shoulder.

Minsoek settled Yixing on the couch in his place. Yixing had passed out as soon as he'd finished eating. Healing always took a lot out of him, even multiple small things like he'd done like with Nat. "You look tired," Jongdae murmured. Minsoek turned, surprised. He hadn't noticed Jongdae getting up.

"I need to get back," he said, ignoring the comment.

"You need to rest," Jongdae insisted. "We still have our tests at SHIELD now that things have calmed down. Just stay the night. We'll go to SHIELD tomorrow, and then we'll all go back until the party for Christmas."

"I'm lucky my phone isn't blowing up as it is. They told me to get back as soon as I could. I need to go now."

"Take care of yourself, hyung."

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