FIREFALL, OR IN EXO WONDERLAND ▷ COMPLETE

Battenberg and Rattle, Interlude II

CHAPTER 39: BATTENBERG AND RATTLE, INTERLUDE II

Eun-soo sat on a sofa by the main door of the Scientists' Domain. She didn't want to join the others in their Mock Turtle soup fiesta. She was content sitting here.

She stared at her hand, at the spaces between her fingers.

Between her fingers, the spaces were pale, decorated with unfathomable patterns. People of different ages had tried to decode what lies behind these patterns, and what message do they tell. Nothing more than practical usage, that is; spaces meticulously folded into criss-crossing diamonds.

And Kris's fingers had crossed those spaces.

Space.

270,000 miles per hour of speed.

A space documentary she had loved as a child played in her ears:

Scientists predict that after four billion years, our native Milky Way will collide with a nearby, yet far away galaxy, Andromeda. When two galaxies orbit each other, they will slide into each other—where the spaces of stars and planets fit perfectly.

Two galaxies will intertwine into one.

'Lucky' humans on Earth would see a wonderful spectrum of light passing over their heads, flying in the sky...

In this suspension of disbelief, Eun-soo used her fingers wisely—to flick herself on the forehead. Han Eun-soo! Had the soup gone to your head?

"What do you think happened that the card-soldiers attacked us again?" inquired Kai.

"I guess the King of Hearts is still alive..." guessed D.O.

"No way! I've seen him drowned in the Pool of Tears!" Kris denied D.O's statement.

"Maybe, he could, eh, swim?" Lay raised an eyebrow.

"Nonsense! He'll be extinguished that way!" Luhan propped his chin with a Battenberg cake.

Tao took a pinch of the Battenberg cake. "What if someone else ordered the card-soldiers?"

"Obviously not the Prince Regent. He loves bubble teas more than cards... And this is mine!" Luhan snatched the Battenberg from Tao. Tao winced. He wanted to eat something less crunchy.

"What do you think happened to the missing Xiumin?" Kai posed a question.

"I'm not sure either. But, being captured by the King of Hearts is not a good thing for sure!" Chen shuddered.

Tao gave up from snatching the Battenberg and tried to finish his soup instead. The soup had cooled, tasting less like a food by now.

Kai put down his spoon after finishing three bowls in one sitting. "Why, Tao? Don't you like the soup?"

"At least it's better than D.O's Jubjub bird eyeball bologna!" Chen stuck out his tongue.

"Eek..." Luhan rubbed his eyes, as if remembering something regarding eye-sockets and ice-picks.

"So, the soup's quite good. Oh, Luhan, please give me half a plate." Lay pushed an empty plate to Luhan.

"Half a plate." Luhan wriggled his fingers in the air and—clang!—broke the plate into two. "Half for me and half for you!" One half of the plate floated back to Lay.

"Come on, Luhan!" Lay moaned. His eyes were fixed on the broken half-plate. "Which part of it don't you understand?"

"Don't take it seriously, Lay-ssi. I just want to lighten the mood. Too much critical thinking bores me." Luhan scooped some soup into the half-plate for Lay. "There you go."

Sparkly black 'seeds' lathered with tomato sauce and soup resided on the broken plate... then lifted by an incoming spoon. Lay opened his mouth wide.

Kta-kta-kta-kta.

There was a rattling sound.

Everyone eyed Luhan with a blame. They shouldn't. He wasn't the one playing with cups, plates, bowls or anything porcelain. The tableware stayed obediently in their places. There wasn't even a wave of a hand.

The front door rattled. The teasing tug-of-war between the safe, warm indoors and the mysterious, noisy outdoors jolted the Scientists' Domain's inhabitants into a watchful silence. All eyes were enlarged to the size of teacup plates (or precisely D.O's). All heads were flung upwards. Gone were the chatters of the Resistance of Shuffling Decks challenging each other, proving whose theory was closer to the truth.

Someone needs to move closer to the door.

Who?

Eun-soo, the one sitting closest to the door, enclosed her hand around the knob and twisted.

"What are you doing?" Kris yelled and pushed her hand away. "What if behind the door is a card-soldier? Pabo!"

"Mianhae..." Eun-soo bowed her head. An arm passed over her shoulder, and the other safeguarded her.

Kris tensed his wrists and tugged the doorknob.

A surge of coldness stung her skin, gnawing on every inch. Only when Kris brought his arm closer to her did the gnawing stop.

The door was open. The sight beyond the door was less than welcomed—a visitor no one expected.

A visitor not in its concrete sense, but a peculiar weather. Strong winds were raging outside, accompanied by delicate snowflakes falling in slanted spirals.

Wonderland was drained of all its glorious colours. Every surface, every rock, every grass and every dead flower was covered in white. It was as if the world had bled itself to death in despair. Wonderland is cold, stiff, pale and dead.

Is that what we think it is? An underground snowstorm?

And everyone went out of Luhan's forbidden room to see the front door for themselves.

"Goodness gracious!" exclaimed Tao. He approached the door and plucked some snowflakes with his bare hands. Panda eyes began their scrutiny. The snowflakes melted between his fingers. That didn't convince him much. "Wonderland had never snowed for ten years! Yes, we do still measure time in terms of seasons passed, but physical changes never happened! No bright sunlight, no autumn leaves, no snow!" said he.

And with scrutinising comes analysis.

"Oh dear," Lay placed his hand over his mouth, shocked, "That means we have to go to Baekhyun's grandma's house!"

A/N: Sorry for the unannounced, late, lame and short update! I was too busy and lazy (buzy) to write! But don't worry, things will get better. So much better.

XOXO,

HCl