It hurt.

Every part of her was hurting, her head most of all. Her body felt stiff, her joints tight – and she realized as her consciousness came back to her that she was leaning against something. She must’ve been propped up against it for who knows how long; no wonder she was stiff.

No…it was breathing. It wasn’t something. It was someone.

She completely missed the fact that there were no images in her head – it didn’t matter. Someone was touching her, and the nightmare she just experienced was too fresh for her to be able to take it.

With a shriek, Dahlia flailed her arms to free herself, her eyes snapping open as she heard the thunk of a body landing against a wall.

She saw the worried faces of Luhan and Lay coming into focus in front of her, Lay’s hands outstretched to calm her.  She looked behind her to see who it was that had been holding her and was met with the sight of a sniffling Tao, his eyes red and puffy.

“Did I hurt you?” She asked, noticing that he was rubbing the spot of his head that had hit the wall of her trailer.

“Did they hurt you?” Luhan turned the question back to her.

“How long this time?” She wondered, turning to look at the guardian who had previously knocked her unconscious.

“About five days,” Lay answered instead. “Not counting the couple hours the night you passed out.”

“Tao has pretty much been your own personal guard dog,” Luhan informed her. “You don’t even want to know how long it took to convince him to let us in here, and Lay’s the healer.”

“It was just so scary,” Tao admitted. “You were bleeding. And they wouldn’t let go.”

“I’ll go let the others know you’ve woken up,” Lay informed them, standing up and making his way out of the trailer.

“Don’t let them come over,” Luhan called after them, sending a concerned glance Dahlia’s way. “I don’t think she’ll be up for it.”

“I won’t be,” Dahlia confirmed.

Lay sent a rueful half-smile her way as he stepped out of the trailer. Dahlia sat up, disentangling herself from Tao’s arms, rubbing the stiffness from her neck.

“Are you okay,” Luhan asked gently. “And I don’t mean physically; Lay made sure you were okay in that department.”

Dahlia gave a heavy sigh. “No, not really. It was just…too much. Finding out about my mom and then having all that crammed in my head. I just…I hate it.”

“Do you really want to leave us?” Tao asked, harkening back to her words that night. “Do you want us to leave?”

“No,” she admitted. “But what good would it be if I stayed with you? I mean, you guys can’t very well stay with the carnival when you have a destiny to fulfill. And I don’t know if I can…”

Dahlia trailed off and lapsed into silence; Luhan and Tao exchanged curious glances.

“Can what?’ Luhan pressed.

Dahlia groaned, burying her face in her hands. “I can barely handle my own emotions, let alone the emotions of other people,” she whined.

“Uh…I don’t think I understand.” Tao remarked.

“It means she knows we all like her and doesn’t know what to do about it.” Luhan replied, giving the younger a light smack on his knee.

“Oh,” Tao blushed.

“Listen,” Luhan began, situating himself in front of her and reaching out for her hands. She flinched slightly at the contact, but was quickly soothed by Luhan’s soft voice. “It’s okay; it’s okay. No thoughts, see? No thoughts.”

“I’m okay,” Dahlia nodded, exhaling loudly as she readjusted herself to the sensation of being touched.

“I know what you went through was scary; I know that you don’t even like one person’s thoughts in your head, let alone three. I can’t even imagine what you must be feeling after that encounter with your mom, but I can promise you that you don’t have to be worried about being alone ever again.” Luhan spoke quietly, almost forcing Dahlia’s mind to be still so she could hear him. “If you need time away from the others, I completely understand. Tao and I will be here as a buffer if you need, but please don’t distance yourself from us or avoid us.”

“Are you forgetting the part where Kai nearly killed her?” Tao hissed.

“I don’t think any of us need reminding of what happened,” Luhan bit back, his soft grip on Dahlia’s hands never change despite the hardness of his tone. “Though I think you need to remember that Kai wasn’t the only one involved.”

Tao huffed, slinking back and leaning against the wall of the trailer in a pout. Luhan snorted.

“I think someone needs a nap,” Luhan teased the younger, earning a quiet giggle from Dahlia.

 “Shut up, I do not,” Tao argued petulantly.

“I think you do,” Luhan chuckled, “You’ve barely gotten any sleep since you were crying over Dahlia.”

“Hey!” Tao protested.

“You were crying?” Dahlia asked, her eyes widened in surprise.

“I thought you were dying!”

“Tao,” Dahlia cooed. “That’s so sweet.”

She didn’t think about it before she acted – if she had, she would have internally yelled at herself for being so impulsive. But on the other hand, those boys were changing her, and maybe for the better.

Without a thought to what she