Suho had passed out the music sheet with the cleanly copied version of the lyrics Lay and Kai had worked on together in his hospital room. They were all together, himself, Taemin and the remaining members of EXO, in the same practice room where he had first proposed the group. He was holding himself together admirably, and so were the other guys.

"I wrote this music for Kai, and showed it to him at the hospital." Lay hugged himself tightly, his hands no longer burdened with the need to not crumple the papers he had carried. "He wrote the lyrics. He wanted to keep it secret. To sing it with all of you when he got better." Lay choked down a sob. "It was supposed to be his welcome back song."

"But now it's his farewell," Chanyeol said softly.

None of the other members of EXO seemed to be able to find words as they read over the music and the words Kai had written for them. To them. Kai's last words to them carried in a song.

"Can you," Suho's breath hitched as he looked to Lay after reading through it twice and he had to restart the sentence. "Can you play the music?"

Lay's eyes were filled with tears, but he smiled and nodded, taking his place at the piano. He began to play, and Suho stood next to the ebony baby grand and began to sing, the first time Kai's farewell song left the page was through the wavering voice of his black haired friend.

Suho smiled as he sang, even as the tears came. It was a good song, and his voice grew in confidence even as his expression crumpled under the weight of what the song was for him. A last farewell from a dear friend. He brought a hand up to cover his eyes as the tears kept coming and continued singing.

Kai, invisible to the rest of the room, leaned against his back, smiling gratefully.

"Thank you, Suho." He wanted to cry too, but couldn't. "You're doing great. Thank you."

The other members of EXO slowly joined in, supporting Suho's voice. The last to join was Kai, singing the ninth part to the song that they would never hear, but it mattered. It mattered to him, even if no one else could hear.

"Thank you Suho. I knew I could count on you for this."