72 Hours Ago
 

Three sharp knocks woke Sehun. It wasn't like the knocks that his father or Jongin did, it was much sharper and clearer, as if there was a purpose for entering.
 

Another three knocks sound as Sehun rises from his bed. Grogginess swims around his head like morning fog as he slowly makes his way downstairs. More knocks come, hard enough to shake the wooden door on its hinges. If Sehun wasn't awake now, he sure as hell felt wide awake.
 

It was a Sunday, a day that his family usually takes off. His father disappears in the early morning hours, only to come back mid afternoon with bags full of herbs and plants. Jongin always, without fail, disappeared to go sweep Kyungsoo off of his feet (never really worked).
 

Whereas Sehun typically took the opportunity to sleep in to stay out of public eye and ridicule. He never left the comfort of his bed unless the situation called for it. Sometimes someone would come knocking for a last minute purchase, but it was usually his father calling him down to help with the bags or to stop Jongin from dancing around in the shop for some godforsaken reason.
 

This wasn't a last minute shopper or his father or Jongin, Sehun thinks as he stands a few feet from the rattling door.
 

“Open up!” a voice from the other side demands. Sehun takes a single step closer, eyes darting to the nearest possible weapon: a hunk of meat on the counter. Sehun decides it would be better if he just opens the door.
 

He opens the door and immediately throws his hands up when something shiny and pointy is ed at him. Panic exudes from every pore in his body when he sees into the barrel of a rifle, gunpowder tickling at his nose at the worst moment possible.
 

“Wu Sehun?” the one with the spear cocked an eyebrow as he drags his eyes down Sehun's body. Sehun gulps and moves his head ever so slightly in a nod. The rifle and spear drop from his view, but relief is far from any emotion he's feeling as the spear and rifle are replaced with calloused hands twisting into his shirt as he pulled out of his house and out onto the burning dirt street.
 

Words of protest and pain are stuck in his throat when the spear pressing into his shoulder. Sehun pales as he feels the pressure gradually increase to the point where blood is trickling down his chest and soaking into his shirt. His jaw clamps shut as the spear slowly drags across his collarbone to the bottom of his throat where the pressure disappears. Only to reappear under his chin, forcing him to look up.
 

The eyes of the spear wielder grow cold as he he stares down at Sehun. “Thought you could hide from us forever? Didn't you?”
 

“What do you mean?” Sehun asks, voice surprisingly steady for the amount of panic and fear bubbling up in his chest. His eyes dart around as he begins to hear the distinct chatter of a crowd forming around them.
 

There's no way for him to explain why royal guards have come and asked for him. No way at all.
 

The man above him sneers. Sehun raised his arms as a wad of spit flies down at his face. A chorus of snickers fills the air, not just from the guards, but from the crowd around them. He desperately wipes at the spit trailing down his cheek, willing himself not to cry.
 

“You know why we're here,” he snaps, the wooden end of the spear ing into Sehun's abdomen. A scream, fear, and panic threaten to spill out from his mouth as he coughs his lungs out and curls into a ball.
 

“What's going on?”
 

Jongin.
 

Sehun can't will himself to look up, not when a gun is poking against his temple. He's already ed up. He can't make this any worse than it already is even though it feels like the world is crumbling around him.
 

“I said, what's going on?!” His voice thunders through the air, making Sehun flinch and the crowd freeze.
 

The guard with the spear puffs his chest out and walks up to Jongin. Sehun could hear the distinct voice of Kyungsoo, soft but firm, whispering words of comfort to Jongin. Oh how he wishes that someone would come to do that to him when he feels the indentations of a boot press into his ribs.
 

“What do you think you're doing?!” That isn't the voice of Jongin but rather the guard.
 

The weight on his ribs is released when he half hears and half sees the guard fall into his back with a thud. Frantic hands work to roll him onto his back when they disappear as soon as they come.
 

Sehun struggles to roll onto his stomach. He shakily props himself up onto his elbows and when he looks up, his surroundings blur into indescribable shapes. Yet he is able to make out the shape of a familiar dark haired boy on the ground being kicked around by the guard.
 

His breath catches in his throat when he sees Kyungsoo run out to cover Jongin from the blows. The scream that Kyungsoo lets out breaks Sehun out of his reverie. Adrenaline pumps through his blood as he sprints at the guard with the spear raised.
 

“Don't!” Sehun catches the spear in between two hands, struggling with the pressure that the guard is putting on to prevent the metal from piercing him. “Don't…”
 

A low rumble comes from the chest of the guard's chest and before Sehun could react a searing pain pulsed throughout his body and he crumples to the ground. A trickle of blood streams from his nose as he shakily raises himself up to look at the guard in front of him.
 

“Shoulda just stayed still,” he sings as he raises the spear over his head.
 

Sehun could only hear muffled cries behind him that sound too much like Jongin. Despite Sehun never feeling like he was ever up to par to his brother, there is no way in hell  he'll let Jongin watch him die like this.
 

His hands move with practiced speed as he swipes blood from his nose and places his hands on the ground. Slightly digging his fingers into the dirt, he raises his arms up with purpose.
 

He closes his eyes as he hears a sharp thud in front of him and countless gasps around him. But he doesn't hear Jongin or Kyungsoo.
 

“Blood magic?”
 

“I knew he wasn't to be trusted.”
 

“Something always seemed off about him…”
 

“Do you think he did anything else? To us?!”
 

Sehun slowly opens his eyes to be greeted with a crumbling wall of dirt in his face. A small piece of metal, presumably the metal tip of the spear, stuck in the wall is a mere inch from his nose. He presses a bloody finger into the small concave of the dirt and the dirt wall breaks apart with a red smoke, bringing down the spear as well.
 

A soft ‘Sehun’ reaches his ears, but he ignores it to look up at the guard smirking down at him with a metal ball rolling around in the palm of his hand. “Check mate.”

“Just don’t hurt them. Please,” Sehun pleads as he grasps the metal bars in front of him. “They had nothing to do with me. They don’t deserve to be put in jail. Please! It’s all I’m asking for.”

Sehun cradles his hands to his chest right before the metal bars start buzzing with shockwaves of electricity running through them. The guard laughs at him as he taps the lock on the door with his rifle. “You’re not the one who decides that. We do. Just be glad you got yourself a nice, comfy cart to be traveling in.” He lets out a roaring cackle as he walked around the cart to where Sehun could hear the neighs of horses.

Sehun stares at the small sparks coming from the bars to where Jongin, Kyungsoo, and Kris are talking to the other two guards. Kris looks like he’s on the verge of tears, but that’s not what’s making Sehun’s chest ache.
 

Jongin slowly looks from the guard to meet his eyes. He doesn’t see his brother-no. He can’t call Jongin his brother anymore. Nor can he call Kris his father anymore.
 

Sehun sees another stranger. No. Even the title of a stranger is wrong. Jongin is...Jongin is his friend. A friend who had taken care of him all of these years and Sehun couldn’t even repay him for that. All he wanted was a home and Jongin gave him that. Kris did. Even Kyungsoo did too. But now, there’s nothing for him here.

He is doomed to live out the rest of his life rotting in cold jail cell with only rats for company.

Even if he can’t do anything for them in the long run, at least he could do one thing for them now.

Sehun glances at the crusted blood on his fingertips then to the injuries dotted across Jongin’s arms and face. He feels around the wooden planks underneath his feet and finds a piece of wood sticking up. With a tug he pries it free. He holds between his index finger and thumb before grasping it tightly in his palm. Sehun opens his left hand to reveal his palm. He takes a deep breath and drags the wood across his palm, wincing at the sting that comes along with it.
 

He drops the wood to cradle his hand to his chest, making sure that the blood oozing out doesn’t drip all over the place. One step towards the buzzing metal bars is enough to make Sehun’s hand shake. One hand sliding through the bars is enough to make Sehun want to puke, but he forces himself not to once he gets his palm through the small opening.
 

The blood seems to move in slow motion as it falls from his hand to the ground. He slowly moves his hand back through the bars. Once his hand is back in the safety of the caged in cart, he falls back on his bottom, uncaring of any possible splinters he might get.
 

Sehun cradles his cut hand as he closes his eyes, channeling his focus on the feeling of the cut on his palm. His thumb runs along the jagged cut, sliding along the blood. In the darkness behind his eyes, he sees a small glowing dot and breathes out. The glowing dot moves forward with a small tail trailing behind it. A large figure outlined in white appears and Sehun breathes in and out, the images behind his eyelids disappearing.
 

He feels tears prickling at his eyes when he tilts his head back. His throat threatens to close up when he hears Jongin break out into a sob.

“Sehun! Please, dear god. No! Don’t go!” Sehun opens his eyes to see Jongin being held back by Kyungsoo and Kris. Tears fall from his eyes when he sees Jongin holding a vibrant red anemone in his hand as he struggles to break free. Sobs tear free from his lips as he crumbles to the ground, bringing Kris and Kyungsoo down with him.“Sehun...”

He feels the cart jolt and the cart creaks as it begins to move.
 

His world begins to blur as sobs wrack his body. He blinks the tears away to take one last look at the figures sitting on the ground.
 

And he says one silent goodbye to the world he once knew.

A/N: So I missed the registration deadline, so I’ll be taking the ACT later...Despite that occurring, so much stuff was thrown at me during these first two weeks of the new year that I just stayed with the semi-hiatus even though I was on it for a different reason than I specified on the last chapter. But yeah. This year hasn’t been all that nice to me so far. I’m back now! For now. Until I need to do other things. But I’ll deal with that when the time comes, so I hope you all enjoyed this update! Kinda short, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. Bye~