Yuri POV

*Next morning*

Eversince last night's unexpected unfold of events, all of us barely slept a wink, especially Hyun Seung. He was so worried about her sister, which we just found out last night. But he never didmention a thing about her sister. Did he forget all about his past?

"Morning, Yuri-ah," Jun Hyung greeted as he entered the room.

"Morning, Jun Hyung-oppa.... Um...am I the only one asleep here?" I asked.

"Hm...nope, you're not the only one. I'm the only one up this early. I had to reconcile with the rest so please rest as much as you can," Jun Hyung assured as he went to grab his strategy book.

I just looked at him as he walked out of the room. I guess I must be over thinking about what had happened last night...I guess I'll just go to sleep for now and wake up 30 minutes later then...

As I was about to curl back to my sleep, I turned my back to the other side and surprisingly, I saw Yoseop! He was asleep just beside me with Buddy...since when did they got here without me knowing? I can't possibly just wake them up when they are sleeping so peacefully like this. Well, I had no choice but to sleep right now...

*30 minutes later*

"Yah yah YAH!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON THE BED?!" Someone yelled angrily as if an earthquake had started.

I practically jumped out of my sleeping position and look around. It was Gi Kwang, yelling at the sleeping beauty, Yoseop. Even Buddy jolted like thousands bolts of electricity until it scurried onto my hands.

"Huh...what did I do..?" Yoseop asked as he rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"You. On. The. Bed!" Gi kwang said as he crossed his arms.

"The bed? Oh, my goodness!!!! Mianheyo, Yuri-ah!!! I didn't mean to do this...I mean..." Yoseop apologised as he scratched his headwhile lookong around. "Buddy!!! It's all because of you, I had to be angered by Gi Kwangie!"

Buddy just looked at Yoseop with a puzzled look. It's not helping Yoseop at all. Yoseop pouted angrily at Buddy instead. These two are just like brothers. Then suddenly...

"Who's ON the bed?!" Aunt Kan exclaimed as the door bursted wide open.

"Eep...Naega anniya, cheongmal anniya!! It's this Buddy!!" Yoseop explained as he held up Buddy but earned a glare fromAunt Kan.

"Please go and hve your breakfasts now. You people need to plan for rhe upcoming battle," Aunt Kan said and walked away.

"Am I excused? Thank god!!" Yoseop asked as he felt relieved.

"You should be given a tougher treatment, which was what had happened to me last night!" Gi kwang pouted.

"Oppas, lets not fight. We don't want our breakfast to get cold, eh?" I suggested with a smile.

*timeskip*

After the breakfast, we, as in the oppas and me, locked ourselves in the base of operations. It was pretty awkward at first, after we tried to isolate Hyun Seung. But fortunately, everything happened smoothly, including the planning.

"So, as what we have planned, I will join the battle to synchronise the fight for you guys," Jun Hyun said. "And, we have no choice but to leave the big fighting scale for Gi Kwang and Dong Woon."

"Hyun Seung, Yoseop, Yuri, Du Jun and Yoon Ki, you guys will fight Skull as there will be loads of unknown traps hidden in his headquarters, so please be careful," Jun Hyung finalised with a grin.

Everyone agreed in a flash. Finally, tomorrow is the day that we will face the devil. Wait for me, mom, dad...I'l avenge for the both of you and also for the Shadows! With that, it concluded the end of the meeting. Everyone left the room and decided to relax for a short while.

"Everyone, I have some grave news for all of you... the villagers don't want to cooperate with people that are declared as betrayers and the absorption of Utopia field has increased to 50%! With about another 5%, we'll be doomed!" Aunt Kan exclaimed as she appeared into the livinng room through the backdoor.

"Oh gosh, give us a break will they? Can't they see that we were actually helping them or something?" Jun Hyung exclaimed with a sigh.

"Supports from the Shadows...why do we need them?" Gi Kwang asked.

"So that we all can fight for the Shadows, and liberate from Skull...that's the reason. We need high rate of morale now since I will be the one coordinating the strategy on the battlefield," Jun Hyung explained. "Plus, Geu Rim couldn't assist us with her telepathy."

"So, Jun Hyung's the one asking Aunt Kan a favor. But, I bet they won't be convinced easily since they hadn't see us properly...why not we all ask them?" Du Jun suggested.

"I agree! I guess I have to at least do something, for the Shadows as the princess!" I said, full of determination.

"Let's do it now, shall we?" Hyun Seung said as he was about to turn the doorknob open to the outside.

*Timeskip*

WOOWWW...the whole village is covered in snow already. It was really cold somehow and unpleasant.

"It's alot colder than expected," Hyun Seung stated as he blew onto his hands. "Oh, guys...isn't that black pegasus like thing absorbing the Utopia there?"

"Yeah...we're going to fight something that large tomorrow. Gotta prepare our 'weapons' later!" Gi Kwang said as he looked at the Core.

As we were looking around the outside, we suddenly heard a man's voice, shouting towards our direction. Our eyes diverted to the sound and due to the fact that we saw them holding torches and pitchforks and are ready to fight, we all raised both of our hands into the air, signalling them that we don't want unecessary bloodshed.

"Oh, if is isn't the rascals that betrayed the Shadows and fleed to somewhere else like cowards!" One of the man holding a torch said.

"You may think we betrayed you but we are actually banished by Lord Skull when we didn't even know what we did that made him do that," Jun Hyung explained politely as he slowly walked away from the group and towards the villagers.

"Lord Skull again?! But he told us you brtrayed us first! So, it's all in your wrong doings that we don't want to work with!" He stated again, which made the Beast felt guilty.

"Tell us, how did we betray the Shadows itself?" Jun Hyung asked, in a demanding voice.

"He told us that you guys murdered the royal family and escaped the Shadows on your own accords thus you guys are betrayers!" One of the villagers explained.

"That's not true, villagers! Lord Skull set us all up! He was the one that banished them without any reasons and he was the one who killed my parents!" I exclaimed, earning shocking looks from everyone in the crowd including the Beast members.

"And who on earth are you?" A tall stern looking middle aged man asked with a deep voice.

"I am the real Princess of Shadows, En Crest," I introduced as I showed them the necklace as a prove.

"The real princess?! But I thought Lord Skull was taking care of the princess himself...plus, that necklace. That's the real thing!" One of the man said.

"Don't be fooled that easily. It might be a fake jewelry that resembles of the original," one of the men said.

Since it had came to this, I just had to show them how the necklace works. As I took the necklace and place it on my palm, it glowed magically and somehow made everyone felt better.

"This is really the En Crest! Princess, we are very sorry for treating you without any manners..." most of the villagers said as they all quickly knelt down on the cold snowy floor to beg for mercy.

"As long as everyone here join forces with us and fight Skull, all of you are forgiven! So, please be ready for the worse as we will fight tomorrow!" I announced, which made all the villagers cheered loudly in unison.

"I guess luck is on our side," Gi Kwang said, which the rest nodded with a smile.

"Everyone, please rest well and be prepared! We need people to tend the hurt and have enought food supplies! We need to evacuate the minors and the elders to a safe place as soon as possible!" Du jun shouted on top of his lungs.

"We will plan out battle strategies right now and make sure to gather on this spot by tomorrow!" Jun Hyung added.

I'm really glad that I'm not alone in this fight. I hope things goes well during the fight tomorrow...

"Yuri-ah, come here for a bit...I have things to tell you," Dong Woon said while facing me.

"What is it?" I asked but he turned and walked infront of me. I think he wants me to follow him.

As I tailed him, I found out that we were at a place where the walls surrounded us, where no one could see us. Dong Woon turned and faced me, with a very bashful look.

"Yuri-ah...I know I shouldn't say this but I can't take it anymore!"

"Um...what do you mean?" I asked as he covered his face with both of his hands.

He then walked towards me and held both of my shoulders and pulled me towards his chest, falling into his embrace. What is happening?!

"I like you very much! I can't resist it any longer...I'm scared that I might lose you after the battle and all," Dong Woon explained as he tightened the hug.

"Oh...I see..." I said softly while thinking back of what Aunt Kan had said to me.(refer to chPter 12). "You won't lose me...I'll always be by your side! Right inside here." And poimted my index finger onto Dong Woon's chest.

"Yuri-ah...thank you, for everything," Dong Woon said and asked if he can hug me. I allowed him to.

Immediately, he wrapped both of his strong arms onto my torso and rested his chin onto my shoulder. I could feel his warm breath on the nape of my neck. His embrace felt so warm until I didn't want him to let go of me. If only we could stay together for a longer time.

"Oh, before I let you go, I need you to do something that Jun Hyung wanted you to do," Dong Woon whispered with his husky voice onto my ear.

-To be continued

I'm very grateful for some that still continued reading this crappy story of mine. Yes, I went out of ideas and had to add some romance bits in the story... if you were Yuri, who would you want to fall for?