It was only a matter of seconds before the entire group of elementals broke out into chaotic yells, curses, and protests as they looked incredulously back and forth between Jeno and me.
"Fiance?!" San exclaimed, looking like he was about to burst into flames himself which was honestly terrifying to watch.
I facepalmed, holding my head in my hands and wanting to curse out Jeno for even mentioning it.
The fire elementals seemed shocked by the commotion, moving forward in order to protect Jeno.
That immediately got the others' attention, and they once again got ready to fight, squaring up and pushing at the newcomers who only pushed back harder in retaliation.
Jeno took a step forward, protectively moving in front of me.
I rolled my eyes. This was useless.
"Oh stop it, would you?!" I yelled.
Everyone froze, coming to a halt as their attention shifted from the fight onto me.
Sparks flew from the seven fire elementals.
In the middle of Wooyoung's mop of pink hair, his signature flame of frustration flickered wildly despite the lack of wind.
"We are not doing this here," I said, more of an order than a statement.
The others looked confused, a little embarrassed, even, and stepped back.
"This is what we're going to do," continued, stepping forward and eyeing the group of elementals.
"We're going to go somewhere quiet, and we're going to talk. There will be no fighting, or I'm going to finish this on my own. Understand?"
Everyone nodded their heads, their glowing eyes dimming slightly as they calmed down, though they looked more scared of me than the fight that had been on the verge of breaking out.
"I know just the place, "Jeno said, pulling me close to him once again as he draped his arm across my shoulders.
Apparently, being the prince og Ignia had its perks.
Those perks being a beautiful villa in the center of District 1.
I felt a little jealous, though I quickly realized that, having grown up in the Royal Palace of Avalon, complaining about something like this wouldn't have been right.
The villa was enormous.
Built from white stones, it glowed beautiful hues of orange and red as we passed the endless goblets of fire that lined the hallways, their flames licking up the sides of the walls.
Columns held up the red-tiled roof in the outdoor areas, making it feel like we were both inside and outside at the same time, able to enjoy warmth and shadow from the burning sun but still near the beautiful flowers and fountains in the garden.
Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun, Haechan, Chenle, and Jisung were chatting ahead as they walked in the front with me, the rest of my group sulking as they trudged after us.
We had a lot to talk about, I told myself, sighing at the thought.
I was relieved when Jeno invited us home, though, as the last thing we needed was more attention than necessary.
We were an odd group, and I knew what it felt like to be an outsider in a foreign district.
The hallways opened up in front of us, revealing a lavish living room decorated with luxiurious furniture; lounges, chairs, intricately carved tables, and heavy curtains along the open windows, all crimson red.
Everything about this house screamed fire.
Jeno beckoned for the group to sit down, and all fourteen men happily did so, looking exhausted and tense as they leaned back in the plush chairs.
I stood next to Jeno, realizing just how many people we had suddenly become.
Sixteen was too big of a number for me to handle. I could barely control the 8 original members of my quest, and I definitely didn't need any more.
"Sit down, y/n," Jaemin said.
"You could probably use the rest."
He sent me a warm smile, his beautiful red eyes glinting as he patted the seat next to him excitedly.
I was about to make my way over to him, happily accepting his offer when Wooyoung's sharp voice cut through the air and made me come to a halt.
"Who are you?" he snapped, looking Jaemin up and down with distaste.
"What if she doesn't want to? You can't just order her around like that."
Jaemin cocked a brow, cracking a smile as his face twisted into a look of surprise and astonishment, turning his attention back to me with an almost comical look.
"Order her around?" he laughed as if he found the comment ridiculous.
I sure did.
I turned to Wooyoung, sending him a frustrated glare.
I really wanted to sit down as well.
"He's also a prince of Ignia, though further down the line to the throne than Jeno because he's the king's nephew and not his son," Seonghwa explained.
He looked less annoyed and angry than the rest of the group, simply sending the fire elementals opposite him a look of exhaustion.
Before I got the chance to say anything, I felt a hand wrap around my arm, yanking me down onto one of the soft lounges.
I turned to look at San, but the ice elemental stayed quiet, sending Jeno a look of displeasure.
I was a little surprised by his actions but decided to follow his example and stay quiet as well.
I pulled my legs up on the lounge, wrapping my arms around them and leaning back into the plush pillows behind me with a contented sigh.
"See, y/n?" Jaemin exclaimed, a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Even Seonghwa knows that I'm a prince as well. Stop telling me that I'm not."
Wooyoung looked like he was about to explode into another fit of questions, wanting to know how the two elementals even knew each other in the first place, when Jaemin turned to face him.
"She's the crown princess and yet, she still goes for the one who's first in line for throne even though she'll be a queen either way."
Jaemin turned his attention back to me, "I'm a perfectly good choice as well, you know."
"I'm handsome-" he continued, though he was interrupted by Jisung as the youngest whacked him on the head, rolling his eyes at the comment.
Everone looked beyond shocked.
Everyone except the fire elementals. Not counting Wooyoung, of course.
Jeno and Jaemin's friends were long used to this by now, but my group simply continued to stare back and forth between us, mouths hanging open in surprise.
"I haven't chosen anyone, though," I mumbled, emphasizing the word 'chosen'.
I felt incredibly uncomfortable by the turn that the conversation had taken, wanting to curse out Jaemin for his unnecessary comments.
The attention shifted back to me, and I didn't fail to notice the eight smiles that crept over the faces of my group.
Not very discrete, I thought, laughing a little.
Jeno, on the other hand, blushed, clearing his throat awkwardly as he combed his hand through his dark hair.
I wasn't engaged to anyone.
And I wasn't planning on becoming engaged to anyone anytime soon.
I wanted the choice to be mine and mine only, completely free of any expectations and rules when the time finally came.
"That doesn't mean that you won't, though," Haechan said, winking at me before breaking into a smile.
The temperature in the room suddenly fell drastically, and I turned to face San beside me as his grey eyes began to glow dangerously
They looked like storm clouds, I realized, shivering at the thought of lightning strikes shooting from those grey orbs of his, figuratively, of course.
San made a move to get off the lounge, but I quickly placed my hand on top of his in an attempt to calm him down before he did anything stupid.
I could feel him stop shaking at the contact, seemingly relaxing a little, though the change was barely noticeable.
"Why are we here, though?" Mingi asked.
The redhead fit perfectly into the living room with his bright red mop of hair, though his purple eyes glinted almost electrically, giving away that he didn't belong here.
"That's what we want to know, actually," Renjun said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I don't know who you are but, considering the fact that you're escorting y/n, you should know better than to bring her to District 1 with a price on her head."
"Escorting her?!" Wooyoung exclaimed, scoffing at the other pink-haired man.
"We're not escorting her," he said, emphasizing the word as if it brought a bad taste to his mouth.
"We're on a quest."
"For what? She should be somewhere safe right now, like Ignia, not Avalon," Haechan countered.
"We've been keeping her perfectly safe so far, thank you very much," Jongho said.
His words brought waves of memories and images of our quest to my mind, and I shivered at the countless times we had almost died during the last couple of weeks.
They had partly, no, definitely, been my fault as well.
"I'm fine," I told Jeno, most of all because I knew that he was the one who held the final say in their group.
"But as Wooyoung said, we're on a quest and we have to finish it, Daios or not."
"I really don't-" Jeno began, but I interrupted him before he got the chance to finish his sentence.
"I know that it sounds stupid and dangerous, but we have to do this. What I want to know, is how you knew that we'd be here, and how you found us so quickly."
I wasn't surprised to hear them tell me about the storms, the threatening clouds visible even from across the Untold Ocean as they loomed over Agora.
Ignia's ships were waiting not far from Avalon's shores, ready for battle.
Jeno and the others had come to help, visiting District 1 first as it had been the obvious choice for a fire elemental to visit.
It was stupid, so of course, I'd be here, which turned out to be true.
Fair enough.
"And I'm really grateful for that," I said, thanking the group once again, "but-"
"Let us take you back to Ignia," Jaemin said.
"You'll be safe there."
Jisung nodded enthusiastically at the elder's suggestion, but San shot up from the lounge before I got the chance to answer, Yunho and Seonghwa following his example.
At the same moment, the door flew open, revealing yet another fire elemental.
He looked confused as he took in the group, shaking his head and smiling as he caught my eyes.
I recognized him easily.
"Looks like you found her, then," Mark said.
"Are the ships ready?" Jeno asked.
Chenle got up from the couch as well, moving to stand beside Mark who nodded his head at the prince.
"They'll sail as soon as you give the command."
"Wait-" I said. San huffed next to me, and I put my hand on his shoulder in an attempt to keep him calm.
"Send a message to father," Jeno said, nodding, "Tell him-
"Wait!" I exclaimed. Everyone turned to look at me in surprise at my sudden outburst.
"Jeno," I began, "Again, I'm really grateful but I have to do this. You may not understand but it's the only way for me to save Avalon. I have to."
"y/n, it's not safe," Chenle said.
Jisung stood up as well, looking worriedly at me.
"That's why she has us," San said, finally speaking up as he walked up to face Jeno. The prince cocked a brow at him.
"That's a little strange coming from someone like you,"
"Someone like me?" San scoffed, stepping even closer to the brunette.
"Fire and ice don't mix," Jeno spat.
"Well neither do fire and water," Yunho countered, his blue eyes swirling with power.
"Or darkness, Jeno, but as you may have noticed, I'm still here," Seonghwa said, stepping forward as well.
"y/n is staying right here if that's what she wants to do."
A look of grudging admiration flashed across Jeno's eyes as he glared at the darkness elemental, though they almost burned through San.
"I could still use you help, though," I mumbled.
Jisung quickly pushed past Seongwha, seemingly unfazed by the darkness elemental's height.
"Anything, y/n. What do you need?"
"Hey, I'm the one in charge here, Jisung," Jeno scoffed before turning to me as well. "What do you need?"
"Well," I began, telling them everything about our journey so far and the plan from here on.
The meeting stretched out into the early evening, the crimson sun slowly setting somewhere in the distance behind the dark houses of District 1.
Despite the time, the city didn't become dark; the glow from the volcano in the middle of the city as well as the flickering lights from the fires and lights in the windows keeping the district wakae.
When we finally went to bed, the plan had been settled.
The nine of us would continue as planned by sunrise, and the rest would return to Ignia, spreading the word to the other provinces, calling for help, and getting ready for battle.
They would meet us in the capital, Agora, in three days.
Tomorrow, I realized, it would only be two.
It wasn't much time, but it had to be enough.
It was all we had.
Jeno and the others had been hesitant as first, but in the end, they had agreed, and for that, I would forever be grateful.
Now, I didn't just have eight men at my back.
I had fifteen.
But the eight of them were something special.
They were my new family, and I wouldn't change them for anything else.
A/N:
If you enjoyed the story so far, please leave a vote on the little star in the corner. It would mean the world to me :)