Aurora knocked quietly first and then there was silence. The rest of the group remained hidden in the nearby trees of the forest with a listening ear as Aurora stood by the door. Realising that her knocking was too weak, she rose her hand to the door again, giving a louder knock on the door with a closed fist.
The sound of shuffling came from inside, footsteps growing louder as the resident came to the door. The handle twisted slowly before the wooden door to the cottage creaked open in the slightest, a slack chain still locked against the doorframe preventing Aurora from further pushing it open and entering inside. She couldn't see who it was, only that inside was dark, shadowing the person's features.
"What do you want." The male spoke bluntly, voice a little husky... underused almost.
Aurora parted her lips, "I um-" she paused, words becoming jumbled in her mind as she tried to figure out the best way to go about this. So calming herself, she took in a breath of air, "My name is Aurora Lane. I've come all the way from Seoul and I was wondering if I could have a talk with you-"
"No." the male spoke bluntly, voice emotionless from the other side of the door.
"Huh?"
"I said no." he repeated, a faint scoff being heard as Aurora watched him begin to close the door.
Her eyes were wide in disbelief, lips twisted into a frown as she stared at the closing door. There was no way the group had traveled this far to be greeted by the simple word of 'No.' So rolling her eyes, Aurora slammed a hand against the wooden door, pushing it open as far as she could before the chain stopped her from opening it any further.
"Please it's urgent and I really need to-"
"-Unless you wanna die, get the fuck off my property." he growled, voice low and intimidating as his hand emerged from the shadows of his house, grabbing a firm hold of the side of the door.
Aurora couldn't help but frown at the sight of the male wearing gloves, so odd for someone living out in the country. The male had come forwards in the slightest, but his features were still too dark to be described.
She gulped, taking a step back, "Please just let me..."
She wasn't able to finish, words cut short by the sound of footsteps sounding from behind her. Spinning her head in the direction of the forest, Aurora's eyes went wide at the sight of Yoongi stomping towards her, fists curled by his side.
Yoongi clenched his teeth, "okay tough guy,"
Shooting out from the forest behind him, Hoseok attempted to stop the male, "Yoongi don't-"
"Deal with this." Yoongi spat, ignoring Hoseok's protests as he slipped a hand out from the pocket of his jeans, aiming it towards the door. As he stood firmly against the ground his hair began to float, marking of a crescent shaped moon behind his ear glowing in the slightest as he pushed a hand forwards.
Within seconds the old wooden door of the cottage was blown open, torn from its rusted hinges, whilst the metal chain snapped like a thread.
"Yoongi! What the hell?!" Aurora exclaimed, eyes wide as she turned her attention back to the cottage. The door had been blown open, light seeping in through the entrance and illuminating the male now toppled over on the floor.
The male groaned, bringing a gloved hand to his head as he scrunched his fluffy brunette hair. He placed his hands firmly against the floor, ready to push himself back to his feet.
"Oh god! Are you okay!?" Aurora uttered, quickly dashing inside the cottage and leaning over the male, ready to give him a helping hand.
But to her upmost surprise, the male faltered once again, turning to face her with wild eyes as he rose his gloved hands in front of his face. "DONT TOUCH ME!" he shout, limbs beginning to tremble as his eyes grew wide with fear. His chest rose and fell at a rapid pace, breathing coming in nothing but short spurts as he began to sweat, "Don't touch me please..." he trembled, appearing almost small on the floor as Aurora stood over his form.
His intimidating aura had now been replaced with something more soft, troublesome almost. His doe eyes pleaded silently with the group as he shrunk himself against the floor, lower lip trembling in the slightest.
Seokjin was quick to fly in through the doorway, making his way to Aurora's side as he too stared down at the male. He stood silently for a moment, running a hand through his hair before he parted his lips to speak, "Do you..." he paused, taking back his words before muttering to himself under his breath, "Has he?" Seokjin paused once again, shaking his head before he took a small step towards the male on the floor, "Don't worry, I won't lay a finger on you." he spoke, voice soothing as he carefully chose his words, "I know what can happen if you touch someone." he commented, raising his hands in surrender, "I promise we just wanna talk."
Instead of calming the male on the floor, the brunette turned towards them with clenched teeth, lowing his hands from his face, "Who told you?" he spoke lowly, "No one knows!"
Seokjin took another step forwards, "Look, I promise you we can help-"
"GET OUT!" the brunette cried, dropping his gaze to the floor as his bangs fell softly over his eyes. He pointed a finger towards the door behind them, voice slipping into something soft once again,
"Just leave me alone."
Aurora didn't know why she felt so breathless at the male's words, almost like the brunette was beginning to pull on her heartstrings, "But-"
"Aurora." Seokjin spoke softly, placing a gentle hand against her shoulder, "Lets give him some space." he muttered, cocking a head towards the door.
She felt herself flinching, hesitating as to whether or not she should walk out on the brunette. The male was clearly troubled, something causing him to break down in fear at the sight of people.
She let out a sigh, gaze falling to her feet, "Okay."
~*~
"Jin." Aurora spoke bluntly, her worn out sneakers landing heavily against the dirt at her feet as she trudged through the forest.
The group were now a mere five minutes gone from the small cottage in the woods, Seokjin deciding for them to distance themselves for the mean time. But Aurora couldn't understand why. If Seokjin wanted to gather all the elementals so quickly in the first place, why was he hesitating on this one!? "I need an explanation now." She voiced, earning the gaze from the male upfront, "I know..." she breathed, "that you know about his element... you know something!" she exclaimed, bringing the groups movements to a standstill.
The early morning sun was still brushing against the horizon, grass shining like it had it's own gentle flow from within. The trees rustled slightly in the breeze, birds chirping as they began to awaken, and despite the warmth of the sun's golden rays on her skin, the air felt refrigerated, a result of the changing climate.
Aurora continued to tap a foot against the ground impatiently, arms crossed over her slender form as her eyes remained ridged on Seokjin. It was unlike her to ever get so worked up with emotion, but the fact that she had just failed her job as the collector sent her into a state of anxiety, not that she was showing it, more so hiding it under a facade of anger.
Bringing a hand to his head, Seokjin began to pull at his hair in the slightest, letting out a tired sigh as he turned towards the group, "I was suspecting at first... being so isolated and all, but now I'm certain I know what element he carries. And I know for a fact he's already awoken his ability." he began to explain, finally giving the group insight into his thoughts.
Creasing her brows, Aurora let her lips fall into a frown at the male's words. The more she mulled over the explanation, the more her brain became a spinning top, always finding more questions then answers, "Really?" she commented, "Is he an original?" she asked, suspicion growing as to how an elemental had awoken their ability without her.
Seokjin simply shook his head, "No, certainly not." he spoke bluntly, not hesitating in his words. "I was close with the last one, he's a reincarnation just like you... a young one too."
"Then how..." Aurora spoke, voice slightly wavering, "He doesn't look like an intergalactic mixed-raced child. So how would he know to awaken the ability?" she asked, expression falling into something troublesome.
Following her expression, the rest of the group also turned to Seokjin for answers, eyes boring into his own as they waited for the most knowledgeable person to speak.
Letting his hand fall back to his side, Seokjin let out a sigh, "Let me explain this simply to you all." he began to speak, placing a hand against his hip as he turned fully towards the group. "There is one primary way for an ability to be awoken after reincarnation, which is the touch from the collector of the elements, Aurora in this case." he spoke, making it clear that Aurora was the primary source of an elemental's awakening. "But, their's also an off chance they can awaken it themselves. If put in a life or death situation, the element can awaken itself to protect its user." he finished.
"That makes sense." Hoseok piped up, a hand rested against his chin in ponder as his eyes drifted to the dirt path at their feet.
Aurora gulped, "So he knows?"
Seokjin paused for a moment, eyes drifting to the sky in thought before his gaze returned to the female, "He doesn't actually know about the elementals... my good guess is he thinks he might be cursed."
Yoongi frowned, "Cursed? What's so bad about his ability that he'd wanna distance himself from people though?"
"It's a troublesome element." Seokjin replied
Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, Yoongi rose a brow, "What element is so troublesome that they might cause someone's death?"
Seokjin bit down on his lower lip, the soft breeze of the wind entangling itself through his tousled blonde locks as he diverted his eyes to the sky once more,
"Life."
{Author Note}
Holy crap I barely edited that chapter so sorry if it's really sloppy compared to the others.
In other news... long time no talk guys! I haven't updated for a week, mostly because I'm moving in 2 days. I've been living with my mum for all 18 years of my life and now I've decided to move in with my dad. Low key gonna miss my younger sister :(
(unedited)