Chapter 1: The Hole

Yona yawned as she stretched her arms over her head. Looking around herself she found herself smiling fondly at each of the sleeping faces around the camp. After her meeting with Princess Kouren and Tao, she began brokering peace between Xing and Kouka. It had not been an easy mission. Kouren hadn't liked Su-son's conditions, she had known there might have been some issues with it; but with Tao's help they were able to get Kouren to see the positive side of the conditions. This allowed a meeting between the two Princess' and the King; afterwords there was a rumor stating Su-won should marry one of the two Princess' to ensure Xing wouldn't attack Kouka. It was just a rumor though and Yona had no doubt it would not come true. After this her friends were released, much to her relief, they then joined Hak and Vold and met Kouren who stated that Yona would become a great leader of a nation after she had done the impossible; bring peace to all the region's and create bonds with all of the surrounding nations. A big order for someone so young as she was, but she believed Yona had the strength to do it.

Wiggling out of Yun's grasp, something that would've made the younger man blush, Yona began to feed the dying embers of the fire that had been going all night long. It had begun to get cold, which meant fall was soon to be on them; which meant winter was coming soon. She'd already begun to think what they'd do for those cold months. She wanted to go to Fuuga, speak to either Tae-woo or Mundok about them staying in the manor in the mountains in the Wind Tribe. Not many knew about Mundok's manor in the mountains, and Yona only knew about it because Hak had once spoken about it when they were children. It was there that he had been trained rigorously to become the warrior he was.

She turned her head and found her best friend laying with his face towards her. Her cheeks flushed as she recalled the kiss shed given him before she'd gone off with Algira. Even now her cheeks turned red at the mere thought of kissing him. I was so impulsive! She thought. He hasn't said anything about it. Did I overstep my boundaries? What if it had been horrible to him? What if I'm a bad kisser? Her cheeks became even redder from embarrassment. He had to have hated it, otherwise he would've said something. Her eyes began to fill with tears at these thoughts. Her chest ached at the thought of being hurt once again. I can't take another heartache. I just can't. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a groan. Turning her head to look behind herself, she found Jae-ha beginning to uncurl from his curled up position, his long legs stretching as he began to wake up. When his emerald colored eyes opened and brought the morning light into them, he groaned again.

It seemed his awakening was the signal for the other dragon warriors to awaken as one by one their groans filled the camp. Strangely both Hak and Yun remained asleep, though knowing them by their sleeping habits Yona knew they'd be awake soon. So walking over to her Ryokuyuu she bent down next to him and whispered his name. "Jae-ha?"

His eyes opened again, sleepily. "Yona dear." he answered softly before yawning. Sitting up he turned towards her causing Yona to giggle lightly at his bedhead he seemed to have with green strands of hair going every which way. He raised a hand to smooth out the errant strands and sighed. "It would seem I'm not very beautiful this morning." he tried to joke.

Yona helped him settle his hair by running her hand through his green locks. "Not true." she said with a soft shake of her head. "You're very beautiful this morning." she said as she cupped his cheek. "You shine as brightly and as beautiful as always. Even with a messy head." she teased at him.

Jae-ha blushed as he cleared his throat. "W-Was there something you wanted?" he stuttered.

She giggled at the stutter. Cute! she thought. "Yes." she gave a nod. "I was wondering if you and Shin-ah could get breakfast from the nearby stream so Yun doesn't have to work too hard on something for us."

Jae-ha sighed. "I suppose we could." he looked over towards the sleeping aqua haired boy and gave his shoulder a light shake. Shin-ah gave a light hum, an indicator that he was awake, but refusing to open his eyes. "Yona wishes for us to get breakfast."

Shin-ah yawned as he sat up and stretched his cramped muscles before standing. Leaving his fur behind, he picked up his mask and slipped it into place before opening his eyes and looking away. "Jae-ha," he said before nodding towards where the river was.

"Right." was his reply as he followed the young man into the woods.

A few moments after Jae-ha and Shin-ah left Yona felt two arms wrap around her. "Morning Missy!" she heard Zeno's exuberant voice as he released her and sat next to her by the fire as she got the pan ready for Yun to use.

"Morning Zeno." she greeted him. "How's my bright and shinning friend this morning?" she asked not even thinking as she spoke.

Zeno blinked in surprise at her words before smiling. "Zeno slept well and is just fine this morning." he smiled happily.

"Wonderful." she said with some joy in her voice before turning towards the shuffle of feet before spotting Yun behind her. "Morning." she said lowly.

"Hak's not up?" Yun questioned as he looked t towards the still sleeping thunder beast. "He's usually up before anyone."

"Raiju has been busy lately." Zeno stated. "So has Missy."

"Yona?" Yun began as he blush slightly before scratching the back of his neck. "Thank-you for doing what you did in order to save our lives. I especially owe you."

Yona smiled softly at him, gently touching his cheek she spoke from her heart. "You're my friend Yun, I could never live with myself if I were to loose any of you. You are my precious friends and my only family I have." she pulled him closer to her. "You, Zeno, Jae-ha, Kija, Shin-ah and Hak are irreplaceable to me and if I lost a single one of you, it would be like losing a piece of my soul."

The two young men felt their chests tighten at her meaningful words. They didn't even hear a person sit up from their bedding. "Is that right Princess?" came Hak's voice from behind them.

Yona froze at the sound of his voice. "Hak!" she squeaked causing him to smirk at being able to surprise her.

He moved from his bedding and made his way over to her and the other two. "You didn't answer me." he said as he sat down next to Yun as the young man handed him a cup of tea.

"Of course I meant it, otherwise I wouldn't have said it." she defended herself.

Hak paused before drinking his tea. "Good to know." he drank his tea silently while they waited for the other two to show up with their breakfast.

Kija eventually woke up before he quickly made sure no bugs had crawled onto his body while he had slept. As he joined the group, after he had picked up his bedroll and put his things away, Yun spoke up. "You know, most bugs are beginning to hibernate now that fall is here." he told Kija.

"Really?" the silvery haired man asked gaining a nod from the young man; this caused him to sigh in relief.

Hak couldn't help but jab him with this one. "Yeah, but the key word is they like dark places to hide in."

"True." Yun agreed.

"I remember Gramps telling me of this man he once knew who had fallen asleep one night and woke up with a trail of bugs going to his head." Kija cringed. "He said the bugs were crawling inside of the man's ears to get away from the cold."

"W-What happened to him?" Kija stuttered.

"Died a week later." Hak stated causing Kija to faint.

"Hak!" Yona yelled causing him to burst out laughing at Kija's reaction.

Yun sat stunned at such a story. "Was any of that true?"

"Yes."

"No."

Both Zeno and Hak looked at each other causing Yun's head to turn between the two while Yona tried to wake Kija. "Oh?" Hak asked Zeno who laughed.

"Zeno has seen that happen once or twice, but usually they're meat eater insects." he admitted.

"Hope it wasn't you it happened to." Yun mumbled just as he saw Jae-ha ans Shin-ah appear with breakfast in their hands, fish and apples.

"No." Zeno stated as Kija sat back up. "It was in a town filled with disease many, many years ago when the then young Mundok was Mister's age."

Hak looked at Zeno with a raised eyebrow. "You met him?" he asked as Yun began to clean the fish with Yona's help.

"Very long time ago I met him." Zeno's eyes became distant as nostalgia entered them.

Once breakfast was done with Yona picked up her bow and a quiver full of arrows before walking into the wood, Hak following her. After a few moments of being left alone Hak finally gathered up enough courage to speak when her voice beat him to it. "Hak?"

"Yes Princess?" he answered, his heart hammering against his chest.

"What's that?" she asked as she pointed to something ahead of them. Hak looked beyond the trees ahead and saw a swirling black hole that seemed to blinking in and out of existence. He was about to answer when suddenly the hole expanded and seemed to be sucking them towards it. Fear entered his being as he pulled Yona's body to his and put her between his body and that of a tree trunk as the winds around them picked up and the force pulling at them tripled. Hak's muscles protested as he tried to hold onto the tree and keep the woman he loved safe.

Yona began to scream in fear as the tree behind her shook from the strength of the winds. Suddenly the roots gave way and Hak lost his grip on the tree. He pushed her onto the ground and kept her in his arms. The sucking feeling grew. She suddenly saw Kija's face as he wrapped his dragon arm around Hak. Behind Kija was Jae-ha and Shin-ah; along with Zeno and Yun. All of which were yelling for the other to hold on. However the winds proved to be stronger than any of them as they were pulled into the hold. Yona's screams were the last thing any of them heard as darkness overcame their consciousness. Hak's arms never releasing her, even as the hole swallowed them up.

Once the chaos was over the hole vanished from existence and the area once again became calm and serene.

M-Angel: Hehehe...I started a time traveling story. I cannot help myself! *cries* LoL. I hope everybody enjoys this story. ^_^