51. 2015

"Get dressed. We are going to take a tour to time."

Julia's words replayed in my head as I buttoned up my polyster black shirt. The hands were full sleeve, puffy but tight cuffs at the end. along with that I had a mini leather skirt and knee high leather boots. All that was left was my signature black trench coat.

Once done, I stared at all the new clothes I had bought, biting my lower lip and turning it even more crimson. Rows of vibrant color dress hung in one side, with skirts and summer dresses on the other sides. I shut my eyes tight, gritting my eyes as the memories of Alex's words replayed in my head.

He had known all along. I had been trying to change myself for him, a best friend I though he was. But he didn't give a crap about it. But that didn't anger me anymore. What angered me was myself.

How could I be so naive? Trying to change myself for a person that didn't like me for who I am? What would Heathens think of me? Victor? Is that what I learnt this whole time? This was just who Alex was, if he didn't bother changing his sick attitude for me, why had I tried then?

I sighed heavily, running my fingers through my thick raven hairs before giving one last look at the new clothes and walking away. But not before my eyes turned a dark shade of orange, and the newly brought clothes ignited in flames, licking at the fabrics greedily.

The Hounds won't detect me, considering the shield Jason and Julia had placed over the mansion, but that did not stop the throbbing pain from searing into my head. However, I did not care. Gritting my teeth to avoid the pain, I walked downstairs. I will not let anyone, not Lucifer, or even my fake best friend try to get the best of me.

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"Wow... Julia this is... this is beautiful." I said in awe, staring at the vast area around me.

"Welcome to time." Julia grinned, her blue hairs becoming more vibrant and her cheeks flushing with liveliness.

Julia and I had crossed the boundery to the time world with the help of a portal that Julia had opened herself. Once inside, we were greeted with the sight of an endless stream of colors, moving around like waves in a river as the floor and silk curtain as the walls.

But the thing was, there were no walls. No matter how close you came to touching them, you would only realize that they are further more away than your eyes can tell. Soft whispers or murmurs echoed across the space, with slight images of scenes amongst the colors. One minute the images were there, then they were gone.

"What are these images?" I asked Julia, still looking around me.

Julia smiled, her face glowing as if she had just returned home, to where she belonged. It was clear, Julia loved being here. This place was her life, and her soul resided here. I could understand why she felt so connected to this place. It was her secret sanctuary after all.

"Those or memories, more like incidents or moments in time. They come and go often."

"Whose moments?" I couldn't help but ask.

Julia chuckled slowly. "Everyone's."

"You mean the whole world?" I asked in disbelief, my eyes growing wide.

"That's right. The whole world. But they are not all in here. In order to see everything about ones  life, you should look for it from one of their memories that will flash here. Once you are inside that memory, you can choose from there on where you want to go." Julia explained calmly, but I couldn't understand anything at all.

Julia looked at my confused face before chuckling. "Okay, let's try an example. Cilia, whose life do you want to see?"

I stared at her intently before thinking about an answer. "Heathens?"

"Good. Now search for a single Heathens memory."

I stared at the vast number of scenes that passed through, some lingering a little longer. After staring for almost a full minute, I finally spotted something.

"There!" I said, pointing towards one of the scenes which showed a yellow school bus, seven boys dropping down one by one from it.

Julia nodded, not questioning anything before grabing my hand and running straight first into the memory.

I shut my eyes, bringing my hands up to shield myself from whatever we were going to hit, but nothing came. The only thing I felt was a sudden gust of wind slapping at me, and then, all was quote. Still.

"We are here, Cilia."

When I opened my eyes, I couldn't help but gasp.

I was in a set that had the feeling of a night sky above. Lights flashed at the set, followed by distant commands. In front of me were multiple carton boxes thrown around, trying to give the set a look of danger and dangerously people, but I must say it only looked cute.

On the very front, was a yellow school bus, from which Seven boys were toppling down, their faces a mask of seriousness, but I knew better than that.

My heart swelled and skipped a thousand beats at the same time. I felt like I was on the verge of crying, seeing the sight before me I never imagined I would.

"Do you want to know what year we are in?" Julia asked, but I shook my head, my eyes still trained on the boys who were in the middle of acting out their scene.

"It's 2013." I whispered, choking on the bile in my throat. Julia nodded with a soft smile but did not say anything after that.

"And cut! Okay." Said the director. One by one, the boys became their usual self, laughing and slapping each others back.

No one had seen the two of us yet, although we weren't invisible. We were in 2013, very much alive and present as everyone else in the room. I couldn't help but wonder, somewhere out there in Minnesota, an eleven year old Cilia is still alive and with her witch of a mother, basking in her love which was never real.

I shrugged the thought away, turning to Julia instead. "Can just anybody visit the past once they cross over to the world of time?"

Julia shook her head, chuckling lightly and I felt like a child there and then. "No. In order to do this they will need my permission, which I don't plan on giving anyone. The only reason you are able to be here is because you have my permission."

"Won't it harm you? You know, like getting punished for letting just anybody inside?"

"No Cilia! I'm not a Grim Reaper and I make my own rules. And you are not just anybody. You are wanted by Lucifer, remember?" Julia said, laughing all the while. I however, grunted, rolling my eyes.

"Why, thanks for the reminder. Now we have everyone's attention on us."

True enough, everyone were already staring at us, wondering what a girl dressed in blue from head to toe and another dressed for mourning were doing in the middle of a to-debut groups set. Julia grinned sheepishly at the people looking, but I had my eyes on the seven boys, who had noticed us as well.

"Hello? Are you lost? What are you both doing here?" One of the staff questioned to which Julia gave her dazzling smile, nudging me to say something. But I couldn't. Heathens had noticed me staring and now they were squinting their eyes at me in confusion.

"Are they trainees... they are so beautiful... Itaka doesn't have female trainees... are they celebrities... her hair is so vibrant blue... red eyes..."

The murmurs continued on, increasing more and more in time as the confusion rose among the staff. All the while, Heathens stared back at me, and my heart broke to realize that they didn't know me, and they wouldn't know me in the coming seven years.

"Let's leave. Come on." I said to Julia, who looked at me in confusion.

"What do you mean leave? Don't you want to talk to them?"

"Yes but not here, not in this timeline. Let's go more forward."

Julia nodded finally, getting all business like. "Okay. So which year?"

I looked at Heathens again and although there was so much I wanted to say to them, so much I wanted to give them, I couldn't. At least not for now. This year was a very hard year for them, and there was nothing I could do but let them go, so that they could climb on to where they are now on their own.

But I had to give them something. So I did the one thing I felt right.

I smiled.

I smiled at them softly, the tears in my scarlet eyes making it look like a sad smile, which I guess it was. I watched as their eyes turned a little wide, but I smiled nonetheless.

I don't know how I looked, or what I looked like. I just wished they didn't look at me as a monster or predator but their Guardian whom they would meet after seven years from now.

"Let's go to 2015."

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"Congratulations, Heathens!

Loud cheers and claps echoed all across the hall as "Need U" played in the background, a surprised and shocked expression on the seven said boys faces.

Julia and I were on the stage as well, blending in with the other female idols and out of the view of the camera. I smiled and clapped as well, Julia following my lead.

Heathens accepted their first ever music show win, thanking all the people that helped them come so far, including their fans.

Everything happaned in a blur after that. The music show came to an end, but Heathens party had just started.

I had heard about this back in Minnesota. I was thirteen years old, and already a die heart fan. I still loved my mom, but I had started seeing the world differently from then on. Learning the lesson Heathens had left for us had given me a huge insight of the world we live in. I think I knew things about life better than a normal twenty year old would.

So back to the topic. When I was in Minnesota, I had watched Heathens winning their first music show and then taking all the fans present that day to the theatre to watch Fantastic 4 with them. I was so trilled to hear they did something like that, although I wasn't among those lucky fans.

And now, here I was, getting in line with the other fan's as we made our way into the theatre, taking our seats at the back while Heathens took up the first row.

Julia wasn't with me anymore. She had left saying she would come back for me once I was done. But I knew she wanted me to be alone, because that's exactly what I wanted.

When the movie finally came to an end, Heathens had delievered a short speech, thanking all the fans that came for the day's success and promises for better results in the future. The fans smiled and laughed and cried at the same time, one by one slowly taking their leave but not before screaming their love to their lovers.

Once the theatre was empty, there was no one else, save for Heathens and myself.

"Phew, that was one Hell of a great encounter! Our fans loved it! Don't you agree?" Heli beamed in delight, looking at his members who were also giddy with the days excitement but tired at the same time.

"Tell me about it. I didn't think it would come off this smoothly." Noah replied, running his fingers through his hairs, his signature dimple showing.

Victor was jumping up and down, followed by the whole vocal line. "I can't believe it!! We won! We won a music show!"

Slowly, one by one the members joined in, basking in their happiness of success. They tugged at Steven, who grunted in reply but held Jules by the shoulders anyway.

"By the way, where is our staff?" Steven suddenly asked, looking around only to realize that the whole room was empty.

The members looked around confusingly as well, and it was then that I realized that I was not invisible and Heathens had very much seen me in flesh and blood. Their eyes grew wide as the realization hit them that I was still in the room. My cheeks flushed red in shame, wondering what they would think of me. An imprudent fan who decided to stay behind and eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Um... Excuse me, are you lost?" Noah asked but for sone reason, I could not find my voice. Looking at the seven boys staring at me had me going weak in the knees, turning my legs into Jello. My brain had turned to mush and I could not think straight.

I had anticipated this meeting for so long, prepared myself so much, but now when the time was here, I had no fucking idea what to do or what to say.

I might as well be branded a stalker.

"I... uh... me I..."

"Okay, so I talked with Mr/ Albright and guess what he told me? You guys could take the day- What are you guys looking at?" Came in Sejin, completely unaware of the tension in the room.

The boys looked at Sejin, as if demading an explanation. While Sejin's eyes turned to me and it took all my willpower not bolt out of the room there and then.

Good Lord! I'm as good as dead! Sejin will report me any second now. There will be guards dragging me by the elbows and I will humiliated in front of BTS big time. And they won't even know that that is their future Guardian being dragged out like that. Gracious Heaven's Cilia! Think! Think something!

I shut my eyes the very moment I realized they had turned violet. But my mind was focused on something else.

Sejin's mind.

I swirled around in his mind, feeling ashamed at what I was doing. My only job was to manipulate him, but that required me to look into his thoughts. Sejin was as confused as the boys.

'Who is this girl? Why is she still here when all the fans already left? Is she... by any chance... a sasaeng?'

Oh boy.

'Or maybe... Dispatch employee?'

What the fuck?

I couldn't help but frown at this. But soon, my frown turned from one of confusion to horror.

'Where are the guards? Why hasn't anyone taken her away? I should call them now.'

No!

Suddenly, Sejin stilled, his eyes turning foggy as I searched through his thoughts, easily manipulating him.

Within a mili second, Sejin was back to normal, turning to the boys with a huge smile in his face.

"Ah! That is Miss Cilia, Cilia Carpenter. She is your new sub manager. She will look after the things when I'm not present. Is that okay with you guys?"

I turned to the boys, who were taking Sejin's words in. They looked confused, then a little unsure, and then they smiled, turning to Sejin.

"Yeah, it's fine with us. But isn't she too young? Shouldn't she be in school?" Noaj asked, looking from me to Sejin.  Sejin looked confused, for I hadn't prepared for this part. Brilliant Noah and his curiousity. Can't you just not be so curious?

"I took a break. I won't be attending school for a few years due to financial issues. That's why I need this job. I hope I'm not a nuisense." I said slowly, walking down the stairs until I was in the front row with them. I felt terrible lying to them, but I had no choice.

The boys faces registered that of shock before turning to sympathy. "It's okay. You are very much welcome here. We hope to get along." Heli replied with his sunshine smile, and I couldn't help but smile as well.

"Thank you." I said with a bow, the boys nodding in acceptence.

"Well, as I was saying, I talked with Mr. Albright and he said you guys can take the day off as a congratulations gift from him. Believe me when I say, that old man is all talks. He just can't bring himself to face you boys in case he breaks down." Sejin said, shaking his head as the boys laughed at this.

"Impossible. You know Mr. Albright doesn't cry that easily." Jake said but Sejin continued shaking his head.

"Anyways. I wanted you guys to know that you have the whole day to yourselves. But unfortunately, I'm not that lucky. I still have to fix your sudden change in schedule, so Cilia here will escort you all."

Wait, me?

Sejin took his leave, leaving me with a responsibilty, I had no idea I so easily recieved. Heathens were giddy with excitement, unable to contain their joy, however, they wanted to leave now, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"Wait!" I called out all too suddenly, the boys stopping in mid way only to turn and look at me.

"What is it Cilia?" Justin asked as seven pairs of eyes once again stared me down. I gulped, feeling the nervousness coming back again.

"There is something I- WE fans prepared for you all. It's a surprise, I'm supposed to escort you guys there. Don't worry, I'm not a con girl or stalker or sasaeng. We planed this out a few days ago. Would you guys come with me?"

This sounded complete bullshit. What if they didn't take me seriously? What if they thought I was lying? I almost gave up until Victor squealed in excitement.

"Wait, a surprise? FROM FANS?? Wow!! Awesome!" The boy grinned as well as clapped, looking at his brothers one by one.

The other's agreed one by one, soft smiles appearing in their faces. I released a breath that I was holding in this whole time, glad that they believed me.

"So were are we going?" Jake asked, his face lighting up as the rest of them looked at me expectantly, making me smile.

"Let's find out."

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