Anyeonghasseyo... It's me HyunBin with another chapter of NBFTY, and I'm glad that I'm finally done with my try outs, so I can finally write in piece again :p... Anyways, thank you so much to those who have review and favorite my fanfic, I really appreciate it...
Well, without further ado, I present to you, chapter 13...
PS : I do NOT own EXO, only they own themselves. I only own this fanfiction, and Averna, and the quote that I made Suho say in the last chapter, "whether you think you can or you can't, you're right". That one's completely mine...
~oOOOo~
As the two walked, they suddenly saw something that caught their eyes, a woman. She wore a dark brown skirt, high heels, and a light grey raincoat. She also wore a hat and some sunglasses. Tao and Suho could tell that she was looking at the two of them. The woman then smiled a devilish smile as she removed her sun glasses, revealing her face. Tao and Suho's eyes had widened to see the owner of that face.
"Averna..."
It was her. It was really her, the woman who had made the feud between the wolves and the dragons, the woman who had nearly killed Tao and Kris, the woman who had begun all of this. It was the evil Queen, the evil Mama.
Tao looked at her. He gritted his teeth and clenched his knuckles, turning them from a light pink color, to a shade of bright white. He was no longer scared of her anymore. He was now furious. She had hurt Kris. From the very beginning, she had caused everyone to hurt, to hate, and to kill. Tao wanted to get back at her, he had to. He stepped forward, about to run towards her, until a hand tugged on his shoulder, telling him to stop. He looked back, to see that the owner of that hand was none other than Suho.
"Tao, don't-"
"Hyung, this is our chance to finish her..."
"Not now, not here. Plus, you're powers are barely even trained"
"But-" Tao stopped talking, as he looked back at Averna, who was now walking away. Tao's eyes had widened, the moment he saw Averna turn her body and started to walk away. Tao's mind told him to stop, while his heart told him to run. He had to get back at Averna. He knew he was probably not strong enough, but if he didn't act now, would he ever get another chance to fight Averna? Would there even be a next time?
Tao watched as Averna walked further away from him, and for every step she took, he felt as a piece of his soul is getting crushed. He couldn't avenge his father. Tao saw as Averna was now so far away from, he could only catch a glimpse of her dark black aura, which reminded him of the memory he saw from Luhan, the one where he saw Averna disappear and get away. Although that memory in Tao's mind wasn't even his, he still felt awful. Averna got away that time. That moment, was the moment he snapped. He wasn't going to lose her again, not this time. Without a warning, Tao ran after her, ignoring all the yells he kept receiving from Suho.
"TAO, STOP!". Suho saw as the teenage boy ran as fast as his feet could take him. Suho began to panic. He remembered earlier, as he looked into Averna's eyes. He saw nothing, nothing at all, as if she weren't even there. Maybe that really wasn't her, but if it wasn't her, then what was it? Only one thing came into his mind...
It was a trap.
Suho quickly ran after Tao, trying to catch up to him, but he didn't know that Tao was quite a fast runner, and Suho couldn't catch up to him. He knew Tao took martial arts, and was very good in sports, mostly basketball, but he didn't think he would be this fast and good. Suho kept running and yelling out Tao's name, hoping he would stop, but for some reason, he could never reach the boy. He then looked at Tao, who was so far, he could barely even see him, but he did notice something. How was he running that fast? The way he ran, it wasn't very humane. He ran very fast, super fast in fact. As if he had super speed. Did Tao also possess the power of super speed as well? Was it possible to have two powers at the same time? For now, Suho didn't care much for that. He had to get Tao back, and make sure he wasn't running into that trap. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let Tao get hurt. But Tao ran so fast, he couldn't get to him. He kept pushing his body to run faster, when something suddenly gave him a shock.
"Suho..."
Someone was calling out to him, calling out his name. That voice, he knew that voice, yet he couldn't really put his finger on it. Where was it coming from? He looked around, but couldn't find the source of that sound.
"Suho..."
What was it? Who was it? Where was it coming from?
"Suho..."
Suho's mind felt like it was going to burst. Tao was running into a trap, and someone is tormenting him. Who was it? What was it? Where was it coming from? Those questions kept spinning around in Suho's mind. Suho felt like he might run mad. It was when he heard the last thing it said he finally calmed down.
"Suho... It'll be okay..."
~oOOOo~
Tao raced off for Averna. He had to get to her, and no matter what, he had to avenge his father. Would he kill her? No, Tao could never do that to anyone. He wouldn't kill her. He wouldn't, but of course she would have to pay for what she's done. Tao kept running, trying to keep up with her. He was right on her tail, following her every step, always getting closer and closer, but one thing he didn't realize...
Where was he going?
Where was Averna leading him to? He had been running and following her, he hadn't been aware of where he's been running to. Tao looked around, trying to recognise his surroundings, hoping he was somewhere he knew. It only took him seconds before he found out he was in the small forest right outside town, the same exact place he was the night before, when he had fought against her. In only a mere moment, Averna had stopped running. She stood there, in the middle of the field. To Tao, this was his chance. Tao ran himself into Averna, about to kick her (even though she was a girl, he didn't care anymore), yet suddenly, she disappeared. Tao's eyes widened, as he wondered, where did she go?
"Looking for someone?"
Tao looked towards the source of that voice, to see Averna sitting up in tree. She sat there, as the wind blew through her long dark brown hair, covering part of her face. Although her hair had covered most of it, you could still see her eyes. The moment Tao saw them, he suddenly remembered the incident that had happened the night before. The horror he felt, thinking that his father was going to leave him, and join Averna. He was quite relieved when he figured out he wasn't himself, and was only hypnotized, but it was still not okay to Tao. What kind of son is okay with having his father being hypnotized by an witch, or alien, or whatever she is.
But the point is, Tao would never let ANYONE hurt his father. Kris had given him everything he could ever ask for. He adopted him and raised him as his own. He cared for him, and Tao thinks he can never repay him enough.
Seeing the woman sitting in front of him makes him feel sick and nauseous. What kind of person could treat their son the way she treats Kris? It was just inhumane. Well, maybe because she literally isn't human.
"What's wrong Tao? You seem tensed. Am I making you feel uncomfortable?"
"Not uncomfortable, but disgusted"
"Well, you must know, that I'm the one feeling disgusted. Knowing that you're my son's son, making you technically my grandson. And the reason I'm feeling this way, is to the fact that you look like you're 17, maybe 18, making me feel old"
Tao looked into Averna's eyes. He doesn't know whether it was real or not, but he felt like he had Suho's ability. He looked into her eyes, and through those eyes, he saw the need for revenge, mixed with hatred. Was it real? Does Tao now possess the power which Suho claimed? Or was it just his imagination? For now, it really didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was going to get back at this woman for hurting his father. Tao eyed the woman in front of him and said to her...
"What are you really here for?". Averna looked at Tao, as the edges of her lips started to curl, forming a devilish smile upon her face. She may look beautiful on the outside, but to Tao, all he saw was a horrifying witch.
"You took my son away from me, and for that, you will pay". Without a moment left to lose, something came out of Averna's mouth, something Tao couldn't understand, but even though he didn't know the meaning to what she was saying, he already knew what she was doing. She was chanting out a spell. Averna's eyes suddenly went from black to purple, as dark purple smoke started to appear from her hands. Tao's seen this before. He remembered seeing this in one of the memories Luhan had given him.
In an instant, Averna's body was covered with smoke, and as the smoke faded away, so did she. She was gone. Or so Tao thought. He suddenly felt a shiver run up his spine when he heard her voice right behind his left ear.
"Looking for someone?". Tao spun around, ready to fight, yet was shocked to see that she wasn't there. No one was near him. Where was she? He suddenly heard her voice again, but even though he could hear her, he still couldn't see her.
"Where am I?". Her whispers started to fill the air, giving Tao goosebumps. Tao tried to find the source of the sound, but no matter what, he couldn't.
"Can you find me?" Tao started to spin around in circles, hoping he might suddenly see her, and he could hit her, or maybe kick her. Don't forget, that Tao's not as weak as you think. Although he's human, he had been learning the wushu and martial arts since he was kept walking and spinning around, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a fireball went flying right at him. Tao widened his eyes, as quickly ducked. As Tao ducked down, the fireball went had passed right above his head. He got back up, and across the field, he saw Averna standing beside a tree.
"Hmm... I have to say, you have good reflexes. Maybe getting rid of you will be harder than I thought" Averna said. Suddenly, she had disappeared again. "Oh what to do, what to do...". Averna's whispers started to fill the air again, and this time, Tao heard it was getting louder.
All of a sudden, Tao felt a hand on the back of his neck. Although he didn't look back, Tao had already known the owner of that hand. It was Averna. Tao was about to fight back, when he suddenly felt a stinging shock enter his nerves. Tao suddenly felt tired, as if all his energy was completely sucked out of his body. Little by little, his body was weakening. He was breathing heavily as his vision went blurry. His legs were not supporting him anymore, and Tao's body went crashing as he landed on the rough soil. He felt a foot go under his stomach, as it started to turn his body, so that he was lying on his back. As he laid on the ground, he saw Averna standing in front of him. She bent her body down, so that she was closer to his face.
"I was wrong. Getting rid of you is going to be as easy as pie" She said. She tilted her head sideways as she smiled beautifully, showing off her innocent look, but to Tao, nothing about it was innocent. She suddenly took out a blue crystal dagger from her jacket. Tao looked at the dagger. It wasn't an ordinary dagger. Tao had seen it before. It was the same dagger Kai had used to stab Kris the night before. It was the Exotic. "Where did you get that?" Tao asked. Averna looked at Tao. "I have my ways. You don't need to know"
Another devilish smirk had appeared upon Averna's face. She lifted the dagger, and held it above Tao's chest. "You'll be gone now, and you will NEVER meet MY son ever again..."
Hearing the words that came out of Averna's mouth, Tao suddenly thought of his dad. Kris. What was going to happen? How would Kris feel if he found out he had died? How would he ever live with himself? He remembered the words Kris had said to him once when he was younger.
#Flashback
It was the last and final round, before his victory. Tao looked at his opponent, as he also looked back at Tao. The two of them stood still, as they bowed at one another. The two of them stood there, as they hear the audience cheer on for them. He looked through the audience, as he saw a tall man with dark blonde hair cheering on for him. That man, was Kris. As soon as they heard the bell *ding*, they ran towards each other. Tao's opponent, Jong Jiweok, was now complete focused on this match.
Jiweok quickly lifted his leg, as he aimed to kick Tao. Tao blocked that kick with his left arm as he quickly used his left leg to trample Jiweok down. Jiweok fell, but then quickly got back up. He was about to give Tao an upercut, a punch up the jaw, but Tao had already kicked him right by his waist, and punched him in the chest. Jiweok panted, as that was a pressure point Tao had punched. Jiweok suddenly felt as he was running out of oxygen. He couldn't breathe, and in an instant, he let his body drop heavily onto the floor.
"The winner is Huang Zi Tao!". The crowd went wild, as the saw the winner of the martial arts competition. He looked at everyone who was cheering out for him, and couldn't help but notice Kris there, smiling at him. Tao looked at Kris, and returned that smile.
~oOOOo~
"Congratulations, Martial Arts Master". Tao looked at his father. He smiled. "Gomawo, appa". The two of them were now walking back to their apartment. Kris looked at his son. He stared at the medal which was currently around his neck. He smiled.
"I'm so proud of you, son"
"Thanks, dad". As the two kept walking, Kris suddenly thought of something. Kris looked at Tao as he opened his mouth.
"Hey Tao, let me ask you something"
"What is it, dad?"
"Why did you choose to be a martial artist in the first place? Why did you choose to learn wushu?". Tao looked into his father's eyes. He smiled. "I did it for you". Hearing Tao's statement, Kris cocked an eyebrow at his son.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Dad, when you first saved me, I felt very grateful, and I one day want to repay you. I'm training myself. One day, I want to be the one to save you, no matter what it takes. I would do anything for you, even if I had to give my life". Kris widened his eyes when he heard the last sentence Tao said.
"Tao, don't say that..."
"But it's true..."
"Tao, listen to me. How would you feel if I had died for you?". Images of Kris dying suddenly went into Tao's mind. Just imagining that, Tao felt a pain in his chest. He didn't want Kris to leave him.
"I don't want that..." Tao said.
"Exactly. You wouldn't want me gone, and that's the same feeling I would have if you were gone. Tao, listen to me when I say this. People think it's very heroic to die for someone, but to me, it's not. I think it's something very evil and inhumane. Does the person risking his life know how the other person would feel? It's just sick and awful". Tao looked down. He was starting to feel bad. His father was right. It would be awful if something like that happened. Kris looked at his son.
"Tao, don't feel bad. Just remember this. Don't die for the ones you love, but instead, live for them. Be with them, and protect them, and care for them. If you go, it's just the same thing as hurting them". Tao looked up and faced his father. He smiled.
"Okay, dad"
#End of Flashback
Averna stared at Tao. "You'll be gone now, and you will NEVER meet MY son ever again..."
Tao felt like a fool. An idiot. Why did he run after her in the first place? Tao stared at the blue dagger above him. He didn't have any energy to move his body. He was helpless. Tao was gonna die. He knew it. He was going to die now, and that would mean, he would be breaking his dad's promise. Tao didn't want this. He wanted to go back home, and meet his dad, the wolves and the dragons. But what Tao didn't want, was to die. He doesn't want to hurt his dad. He wanted to be there and to care for him. If he lost his life, Kris would be heartbroken. Tao looked at the dagger, as he started to tear up. "I don't want this. I want to be with my dad..." He thought. Tao's thoughts started to grow louder and louder in his mind. There was one sentence he kept screaming in his head...
"I WANT TO LIVE!"
Tao closed his eyes, not wanting to see the dagger in front of him cut through his skin. He waited for it, hoping he would be able to bare the pain, yet for some reason, he never felt it coming. Tao opened his eyes, and there he saw something. It was the same thing that had happened the night before.
Everything had stopped.
Tao couldn't believe his eyes. One thing came into his mind in that second, Time Control. It was really true. Tao had the power of time control. He looked around, and noticed something. He saw that everything was somewhat blurry. This was what the world looked like if it was frozen.
It was as if a lock in his heart had suddenly unlocked, and with that, for some reason, Tao had regained his energy. Tao now understood. For some reason, he couldn't explain how it is, but now, Tao knew how to control his power. Not with his mind, not with his gut, but with his heart.
Tao shifted himself to the side, moving away from Averna. He stood up and looked at the blue dagger in her hand. He walked towards it, and pulled it away from her hand. He backed away, and whispered one word...
"Play..."
With that, time went back into motion. Averna widened her eyes, when she saw that the boy wasn't below her anymore, and that she wasn't holding the Exotic anymore. Where did he go? What had just happened?
"Looking for someone?". Averna looked up, to see Tao standing up, and with the dagger in his hand. How did. her do that? What did he do? Who was he? What was he? Averna quickly stood up. Although she panicked, she wasn't gonna go down without a fight. She lifted her hand, as she started to generate a fireball to throw at him. As Averna was getting ready, she looked at Tao, observing the boy in front of him. Something was different about him now. For some reason, she noticed that Tao was calm. He wasn't shivering or nervous or scared like he was before. He was completely calm. She blasted the fireball, as it lunged in straight for Tao. Tao only stared at the fireball, as it came closer and closer, and then suddenly he said...
"Stop"
As if the fireball was alive, it had obeyed Tao's orders and stopped right in front of him. Tao smiled, as he saw what he was capable of. He was able to control time. This time, what Tao did wasn't like what he did earlier. Earlier, he stopped everything, this time, he only stopped the fireball. Was that possible? Isn't that suppose to be telekinesis or telpathy maybe? Actually, it was. What he did was stop time that was being used by the fireball to get to him, but he didn't stop everything else. Averna widened her eyes as she saw this. How was he doing that? The edges of Tao's lips started to curl, forming a smile as he looked at Averna's expression. Tao's smile was not devilish like Averna's, just his normal smile. Tao then opened his mouth said another word...
"Rewind..."
The ball started to move back quickly towards Averna, but this time, it wouldn't stop. Averna quickly ducked, avoiding the as it passed right above her head, and had hit the tree behind her. She looked back at Tao, who was currently still standing in the same position he was earlier, still so very calm. She looked into his eyes and said...
"Who are you? No, I mean WHAT are you?". Tao looked at her, and smiled. "I am the HUMAN son of Kris, the prince of the dragon"
"That's nonsense, humans don't possess such power"
"Well, believe it or not, but I'm human"
Averna looked at the boy in front of her, as she gritted her teeth. She was actually losing to this boy. Without any more time to lose, she quickly disappeared again. She walked around as he saw the look on Tao's face. He wasn't scared, he wasn't panicking, he was full of determination.
She stood right behind Tao, as she put one hand on his neck, ready to suck out his energy again, but before she could, Tao had pushed her out of the way. He looked at her. She was just about to make a spell, but he didn't know what it was. Either way, he didn't want to see it anyways. Tao thought for a while. He thought of something he wanted to try, a knew thing he could do with his powers. He took in a deep breath, and concentrated. He looked at Averna, and said...
"Slow motion..."
Tao looked around, and saw, that what he did, worked. Everything except himself was getting into slowmotion. He then had just realised something. He had done this before. When he ran away from Chanyeol and Kris the other day, and when he ran away from Suho just a while ago. He thought he was running fast. He was wrong. Time was running slow. With that, Tao ran straight for Averna and pushed her down, stopping her from doing the spell she was about to do. He looked at Averna and quickly whispered...
"Play..." And everything went back to it's normal speed. Averna was now panicking and breathing heavily. From Tao's point of view, everything went slow, but to Averna, Tao went fast. By every second, Averna's body began to shiver, and she didn't know what to do. Out of no where, a fireball came out and tried to hit Tao. Tao looked at it, and said, "Stop". It did as he command but when he looked at Averna, he noticed that she was gone.
"Stop hiding, and fight me!"
Tao walked around in circles, trying to find Averna, when he suddenly felt a sting in his shoulder. Averna had electrocuted him, taking away a tiny bit of his energy. Tao turned back to face her, and hit her as hard as he could. Averna now knew, that it was pointless to use her powers against him, because he could always make it run back at her.
Now, the battle had begun, and this time, Averna didn't use magic. She stepped up and kicked him by the chest, something Tao didn't think she would do. Tao was actually expecting her to use magic, but she didn't.
Averna tried to find something she could use that she might be able to use against Tao, but it was very difficult. Time control is one of the most powerful abilities, because with that, you could move back time, you could prevent bad things from happening. Even if she won, wasn't it possible for Tao to move back time and fix his mistakes? How would she be able to win?
As Averna was buried deep in her thoughts, Tao had stepped forward, held her by the neck. He held her up, as she suffocated. Tao walked, as she was now held up on a tree, with her neck still being held and choked by Tao. Although Tao was upset with her, he still pitied her. He never hurt anyone like this before, and so, he dropped her down, but even so he did, he grabbed onto her hand, and held it tight, making sure she wouldn't go anywhere.
"Tao, please... I'm sorry..."
"After what you did yesterday, I don't trust you-"
"No, you don't understand. Please don't hurt me...". Tao widened his eyes. Please don't hurt me? After she hurt his father? How was it possible not to hurt her? Tao's hand gripped onto hers even harder. Averna moaned of pain.
"Tao, please... I didn't hurt your dad". Now Tao was furious. What on earth was she saying? How could she say that? Tao couldn't hold in his anger, and punched the bottom of her jaw. Averna could only cry, as she started to cough out a thick layer of red liquid, as it started to flow down from her mouth.
"Tao, I'm begging you. I'm telling the truth...". Tao felt like he was a volcano about to erupt. What kind of sick woman is she? He felt so much anger bubbling inside him. He had to finish her. He had to, but the moment he was about to say a word to her, he was then suddenly startled by a voice calling out to him from behind.
"TAO! STOP!". Tao knew that voice, it seemed familiar to him. Tao turned around, to see that the owner of that voice happened to be Luhan.
"Luhan-hyung, what are you doing here?"
"Tao, please stop what you're doing"
"What do you mean?"
"Tao, stop". It was another man talking. Tao's eyes had widened, to see that his father had just walked out from the bushes, and stood right next to Luhan. Other than that, more exo members started to walk out, both from dragon and wolf clan. Even Suho was there.
"What are you all doing here? What are you all talking abou..." Tao suddenly stopped talking. While he was yelling out to Luhan, he turned around to look back at Averna, and was terribly shocked to see the sight in front of him. Averna was gone, yes that's very shocking, but what made him freak out, was that at the same exact place where Averna was, sat another person, which happened to be so familiar to him.
"SEHUN?". Tao suddenly screamed in horror as he saw Sehun sitting in front of him, with his clothes ripped up, and his face covered with blood, which was coming out from his mouth. What had happened? Where was Averna? Why was Sehun there?
Tao looked at every single person there...
"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON?"
Cliffhanger... Haha, mianae, but as normal, I had to cut it off somewhere, and this was perfect. You better thank me, cause originally, I was gonna cut it off when Tao had stopped time, but I gave in a bit more of the story. This chapt is so long, my hands are tired.
Well, I just wanted to say, that I'm pretty happy with this chapt, and I'm glad I made it Sehun instead of Kai this time, because I think that Kai had been beaten up so many times in this fanfic
Kai : You got that right. You're lucky I've got Lay with me, cause if not, I would have beaten you up already...
Hyunbin : Well at least you're one of the main characters, if you don't want that, I can change the leader of the wolf pack
Kai : Woah, I'm sorry. Don't do that...
Haha, anyways thank you for reading. Try and guess what's gonna happen in the next chapter. It's pretty unexpected. My friend tried so hard to figure out what would happen, and she hadn't succeeded yet.
Please R n R, and motivate me to write faster. Unless you want to wait for another 2 weeks or something :p
Gomawo!
Hyunbin