Jisung looks horribly like a child in the dim lights of the bar, with his wide, confused eyes and his subtly trembling lips. He keeps fidgeting with his hands and Seungwan keeps wanting to reach out, take his hands in hers, but always loses the courage when her own fingers twitch.

She doesn’t believe she has it in her not to break down at his touch.

Johnny gets there fastest, with the Vampiric speed and all. He gets there not a minute after Yuri sends the text, bursting through the doors and looking around for Jisung. He stops right at the door, stares at Jisung who’s not his Jisung. It can’t be.

Seungwan thinks she hears him gasp out a strangled sob, although with everything that’s happening, it might be her. The bar is deserted, aside from the Sirens and Mermaids, and Jennie and Sejeong who refused to leave Seungwan. The strangled sob echoes around the place.

“No,” Johnny whispers as he takes a hesitant step forward, faltering when Jisung looks up to watch him curiously. The blankness there is what breaks him, Seungwan thinks. It’s what broke her.

He doesn’t take another step. He crumples down on the floor right in front of the door, his face contorting into one of pain. Seungwan’s heart breaks at the sight and she momentarily wonders if she still has a heart left, what with all the breaking it’s been through.

The entirety of the Vampire clan gets there next, stopping in their tracks at the sight of Johnny hunched over on the floor and crying.

Taeyong looks up, finds Seungwan’s eyes before Jisung’s, and his jaw drops. He glances at Johnny before making his way over to Jisung, stopping a few steps before him with unmeasurable sadness in his eyes. “Jisung?”

Jisung looks up, tilts his head. “That is me.” He looks around at the others. “I’m sorry, I don’t know anyone here.”

His voice is low. Too low. He’s a child. His voice isn’t supposed to be that low. Seungwan bites back a cry of anguish when Jisung’s gaze brushes against her. He’s a child.

But the Vampire blood and training turned him into an adult. Not a century old soul hiding behind the body of a teenager like most of the locals – like Yerim, and Donghyuck, and Chenle. He’s more like a newly turned adult, so determined to prove himself worthy of being called one.

Taeyong hugs him tight, incoherently mumbling about his promises and his regrets and how he shouldn’t have let Jisung out of his sight, how he’s sorry, so sorry, and it’s all his fault.

Seungwan thinks she sees Sunmi in Taeyong’s suffering eyes.

The Witches arrive next, faster than the Werewolves who live just a few blocks away. Yuri says the Werewolves are in the woods, guarding, and they probably won’t see the message in a while.

Anyway, the Witches arrive next. Yerim runs to Taeyong and Jisung, enveloping them both in a fierce hug and blinking away the tears. Sooyoung stops by the door, glances at Johnny and Donghyuck and Chenle crying. She stares at Jisung, then back down at Johnny, then goes over to Yuri for a drink.

Seulgi takes one look at Jisung before the tears fall and she’s sitting beside Johnny, hugging him tight and making promises she knows she can’t keep.

Joohyun. Joohyun stares at Seungwan and Seungwan tries hard to ignore it, to ignore the hammering in her chest, the pain inside her. Sejeong and Jennie are at her sides in a flash, protective.

Joohyun catches the protective stances and flinches, looking away and walking over to Taeyeon and Seohyun, talking to them about their plans. All business like, professional. And Seungwan can see sadness flashing in her eyes at the sight of her sister and Seohyun.

Jisung looks so broken, so tired. So confused. Seungwan reaches out and he grabs onto her hand, much to Taeyong’s heartbreak. She pulls him close and runs her thumbs on his pink (flushed, full of blood, alive) cheeks and tells him it’s going to be okay.

Sooyoung steps forward and reaches out to Jisung.

Seungwan glowers at her, making her stop. “You’re scaring him!”

“They’re starting,” Taeyong announces before Sooyoung can retort, eyeing the venom in Sooyoung’s eyes with a cautious look. “The threat. They took Jisung while no one was looking and they — ” he stops, a pained growl rolling out his throat.

“We need to find Sunmi,” Joohyun says. Seungwan thinks she’s saying this now while Boa, and Kangta, and Leeteuk aren’t there as some sort of protection.

But all she feels is anger. “No!” she screams, immediately regretting it when Jisung flinches. She pulls him closer and kisses the side of his head before turning to glare at an impassive Joohyun. “If you even try to put the blame on my sister, I swear to god, Irene, I will hurt you.”

Joohyun flinches, clearly hurt. But she’s soon growling back at Seungwan. “Your sister is the threat. I will do everything I can to protect this town and that includes taking care of threats.”

“Because you’re so good at protecting people, aren’t you? So good at saving!” Seungwan retorts before she can even think, red hot fury taking over her entire body.

Confusion flashes through Joohyun’s eyes before she reaches out to pull Jisung, immediately blocked by Sejeong and Jennie.

“This is clearly something you’re not supposed to be discussing in front of the ex-Super.” Sejeong doesn’t flinch under Joohyun’s glare. “He won’t understand.”

Jennie shifts uncomfortably beside Sejeong before her eyes darken. “Look, Joohyun, you’re clearly not perfect, okay? Maybe… just… Sunmi isn’t hurting anyone. I don’t think it’s fair that you’re putting the blame on her so easily. She just wants to protect her sister.”

“Protect her from what?”

“From things you can’t protect her from,” Yuri answers for them, voice cold. She rolls her eyes at the betrayed looks she gets, sighing. “They’re right. If we’re going to have a meeting, we need to have it where Jisung isn’t there. This isn’t going well for him.”

Taeyong shifts unsurely on his feet. “Can I take him home? Or not home, if that’ll only confuse him more. I just… can I be the one taking care of him?” he asks, sounding so desperate that the tense air dissipates and is replaced with solemn sadness.

Yuri checks Jisung’s expressions and when she finds him staring at Taeyong curiously, she nods. “Ask him first if it’s okay with him.”

Taeyong turns to Jisung, terrified. “Is it – ? I mean, is it okay with you if I take you somewhere without too much people? You can… you can trust me. I’ll protect you.”

Jisung stares at Taeyong for a long moment, studying him. Then, as if he’s seeing something worth trusting in Taeyong, feels something inside him that would gladly hand his life to Taeyong and know that he won’t ever be hurt, he nods.

He hugs Seungwan tightly – because even a memory-less Jisung gravitates toward her with a peculiar warmth a cold body shouldn’t have – before grabbing Taeyong’s hand and walking out the doors. The Vampires they walk past stare at him silently, their sob subsiding until he’s out the doors, and then they’re back to crying.

Joohyun’s staring at Seungwan, questioning. Seungwan hides behind the wall that is Jennie and Sejeong, truly afraid for the first time in a long time in the Witches’ company.

-

Boa is furious. She avoids looking at the Vampires at all costs and Seungwan comes to the conclusion that time doesn’t do much to help a heart that’s breaking. Boa, centuries old Boa, still can’t handle seeing one of her family members in such anguish.

Kangta is the calmest of all. He stands tall, with his hands clasped together – Seungwan notices his fingers trembling whenever he loosens his hold on himself, notices his knuckles turning white whenever he’s trying to speak – and he’s the one who starts the meeting when the Werewolves finally arrive.

Soojung is there, too, and stays at the back beside Seungwan wordlessly, ignoring the looks sent her way.

“They’ve struck,” Kangta announces in a low, authoritative voice. It’s eerily calm and Seungwan shifts in her seat. Sejeong and Jennie, who received a few wary glances but wouldn’t leave Seungwan, shift closer to her. “We need to eliminate the threat immediately, before they can get their hands on another one of us.”

Jisung’s asleep upstairs in Yuri’s room, He didn’t quite like going back to their place and Yuri offered her own room. But Seungwan still feels it’s unsettling, talking about this when Jisung’s somewhere near. When Soojung’s right here. When Seungwan, the girl they didn’t save, is right here.

“Protection should be increased, rounds around the woods should be increased. We need as much help as we can have. This is the second time in less than a month – ” Boa’s voice breaks and Leeteuk wraps an arm around her. She shakes his head against his shoulder.

Soojung tenses.

Heechul, who’s been quiet this whole time and nursing a drink, raises a tentative hand. “What if… this might be a crazy idea but what if… we’re looking at this completely wrong?”

“Are you saying you think we should just let the threat eliminate us one by one?” is Leeteuk’s sharp reply.

Heechul doesn’t flinch. “I’m saying what if we’re scared of the wrong threats? What if this isn’t a war against God Yang’s Town? What if this is a war that’s supposed to be fought with them?”

“Are you out of your mind?” Leeteuk yells, emotion finally breaking through his mask. “Who’s this war against, then? Humans? You think they stand a chance against them? I’ve been quiet about this dumb theory of yours, Heechul, but this is a stressful situation and we need you to be serious.”

For a few tense moments, the two just stare at each other. Then, Heechul shakes his head. “I think we don’t have a chance against humans.” He shrugs, drains his drink, then stands. “Call me when you’re ready to talk about this like adults.” And with that, he disappears with a loud pop.

Seungwan’s left to her own thoughts after, the meeting blurring all around her.

-

“It makes sense, doesn’t it?”

Yuri pauses. “What does?”

“That humans are the threats, not the other Supers.”

Yuri hums. “I guess in a way. They were the ones who burned down the towns.”

“But why are the others so keen on refusing that theory?”

Yuri laughs, and it sounds like a sob. “Because connections have been lost, trust has been broken. It’s hard to go back from that. Familial relationships are complicated.”

-

Seungwan’s been visiting The Rock more and more these days, finding solace in the cool sea wind and the soft sound of the waves. The memories on The Rock.

She spots a familiar head of messy hair peeking around another rock nearby two days after the meeting, like he’s hiding from something. Seungwan walks over to him, startling him. She frowns. “Don’t you have spidey senses?”

Johnny frowns right back at her. “Did you just call my hyper awareness spidey senses?”

“What else am I supposed to call it?”

Johnny shrugs, glancing back out at the waters. “I’m not hiding.”

“Sure,” Seungwan drawls, crouching beside him and following his line of sight. The view makes her breath catch in . “Oh.”

A glance is thrown her way before dark eyes settle on the shore again. At the teenage boy grinning at the magical waves and the obviously pained Taeyong and someone Seungwan remotely remembers to be called Taeil. “I miss him,” Johnny mutters softly, voice breaking a little.

Odd, Seungwan didn’t think Vampires were physically allowed to tear up, they just made sobbing sounds and ran out of breath, but Johnny’s eyes are watery. “How much better is he?”

“Not much. He’s—well, he’s reverted back to when he was human, obviously. Chenle’s been locking himself in their shared room so he doesn’t have anywhere else to sleep but with Taeyong, and it…” Johnny takes a deep breath, looking over at their leader. “He’s used to it, you know. Jisung likes to creep in Taeyong’s bedroom when he has nightmares and Taeyong always talked with him until he slept. Now I think it breaks Taeyong sleeping beside a kid who doesn’t know him.”

Seungwan tries not to feel so broken. “Who does Jisung think you all are?”

“He thinks we adopted him, I think. Which isn’t too far from the truth. And, sure, he’s drawn to us naturally because we did turn him, and he has our insignia at the back of his neck, we marked him. But he’s — there’s distance there that’s too big to be comfortable.”

“I miss him,” Seungwan mutters, shifting so she can lean her cheek on Johnny’s shoulder, basking in the cool of Johnny’s skin. “I really do wish I was there to do something when he was attacked.”

Johnny stiffens. “I’ll kill whoever it is. When I find out who they are, I’m gonna snap their neck.”

It’s a promise. And Seungwan might be seen as a goody two shoes who’s terribly disapproving of violence, but she finds herself repeating the promise.

Seungwan realizes with mild shock that she’s willing to die for these locals. Even after learning she’s been left to die by the same locals.

-

The nightmares are harsher now. The eyes are more familiar, the pain more real. Sometimes there are other pairs of eyes, three pairs all looking at her with unreadable emotions. Other times it’s just her and those eyes, the flame Seungwan’s feet. Sometimes there’s screaming, other times the screaming starts when Seungwan manages to wake herself up.

Each time, the eyes stare at her and as familiar as they are, Seungwan doesn’t believe she knows them.

-

Jennie, Sejeong, Yuri, and Seungwan like to talk and drink together.

Soon enough, Wheein and Hyejin join them.

A few days later, Soojung walks in the bar and asks for a drink and she stays to talk.

Johnny walks in a week later, his eyes bloodshot and his cheeks red with tears – Seungwan finds out from Yuri that Vampire’s tears are venom – and he also stays.

Wheein and Hyejin get painful flashes of memories for some reason. There are times when they’re laughing over some incredulous story Sejeong’s telling and then they’re suddenly clutching at each other, out of breath. They’d look at each other with new eyes, emotions too intense to vocalize so they stay cryptically on their faces.

After a few days, Yuri decides on her own that Wheein and Hyejin deserve to know the truth.

Wheein and Hyejin leave and the next few days are spent with two empty seats.

-

Sunmi and Hyuna are always there to help her after a nightmare. Hyuna fixes her a cup of tea and Sunmi hugs her tight. Sometimes Seungwan wonders if they have nightmares too.

Sometimes, she wakes up and finds one or both of them awake, eyes haunted and she knows.

They all have pasts crawling through the depths of their brains, attacking when they’re most vulnerable.

-

Seungwan’s been seeing Jinyoung and Jackson more and more these days. Not to talk, and they rarely greet each other. But they’re usually there, walking past the classroom she’s in, getting a drink at The All Nighter, hanging out in the woods.

And they’re always staring. Always sneaking glances. Seungwan would feel unsafe if they didn’t look so lost. If they didn’t look like they just don’t have the courage to reach out each time. If they didn’t look like they’re looking at Seungwan with homesick eyes, like Hyuna does.

Seungwan doesn’t ask Sunmi or Hyuna about it. She figures she either wouldn’t like the answer or the two wouldn’t like the question.

-

When Wheein and Hyejin come back, they’re in tears. They gasp when they look at Yuri and they stare at the sea with severe longing.

They don’t have most of their memories back, they’re still unable to figure out which is real and which isn’t; but Jennie, Sejeong, Yuri, Johnny, Soojung, and Seungwan are there to answer their questions as much as they can.

They’re all there when they’re reminded of Sooyeon and both Yuri and Soojung break down, arms around the two as the waves brush against their toes.

They’re there whenever Jennie and Sejeong remember their old towns. Jennie’s always remembering, but she shrinks every time like it’s a new sensation: the burning pain in her chest and the loneliness that can only be cured when they’re four again. Sejeong, who didn’t actually lose anyone, remembers the town itself and the grin slides off her face, replaced with homesickness that is so familiar in this town, full of souls lost.

They’re all there when Wheein and Hyejin get flashes of memories, their hands pressing firmly against their temples, fingers pulling on their hair, as they scream out in pain. There’s always a potion of some kind from Yuri and warmth from Sejeong when they shiver in the cold. Losing their memories have rendered them too cold, like the water they drowned in seeped into their skin and made their home there.

They’re there whenever Taeyong leaves Jisung with them, because Taeyong may be strong willed and he does love Jisung with his whole heart, but Taeyong can only handle too much. Jisung sits with them with a grin, tells them about school and Donghyuck’s latest prank. Johnny has a hard time breathing every time.

They’re there when the Witches come over for drinks, circling Seungwan with fierce protection, scowling whenever one of the Witches try to talk to her. Seungwan finds herself unsettlingly thankful each time.

Sometimes Seungwan looks around, finds everyone smiling and Yuri shoving Johnny, Wheein and Hyejin leaning against each other, and she thinks maybe this is enough. Maybe these Supers, along with Hyuna and Sunmi, are all she really needs in her life.

Sometimes Seungwan looks around, hears the hollow laughter and sudden, deafening silence after it, and she knows it isn’t enough.

-

Sooyoung corners her. She really should’ve known Sooyoung would find her. Is Sooyoung anything other than determined, anyway?

She waves off Wheein’s and Hyejin’s concerns as she follows Sooyoung to Monster Diner, not talking unless Sooyoung asks her a question, and even then, only answering in clipped sentences.

Sooyoung looks at her like she’s sad. “We miss you,” she says. Seungwan finds herself scoffing.

With what she knows, it’s hard not to be bitter. Numb.

“There’s history between your sister and Joohyun, okay? It’s hard to explain, but there’s bad blood between them.”

Seungwan shoots her a glare. “And that means it’s okay to try to kill her? Under the guise that you’re protecting me?”

“It’s all complicated, Seungwan.”

“I know. And I’ve stayed the whole time, haven’t I? I’m sorry that I draw the line on violence against my family.” She rolls her eyes and glances at Chanyeol, who’s manning the counter with flattened ears and a pout. “Besides, I don’t have time for whatever was between your leader and I. I’m pretty busy trying not to crumble under all these revelations and the impending war and trying to protect my sister from said ex.”

“I’m sorry, okay? Can we have a truce? Just… I’m tired, Wan. Can we talk without fighting?” Sooyoung asks and Seungwan almost retorts, but something stops her. “I just want to talk to someone.”

They sigh simultaneously and Seungwan finds herself getting tired of being mad, of being on edge. She feels her walls crumbling around her as she stares at Sooyoung. The Witches are few of the ones who don’t look any different from when Seungwan still had her mortal goggles. She looks the same, aside from the scars everywhere on her skin aside from her pretty face.

And the grief in her eyes, the apparent age in the way she stares. Sooyoung is old, has been through so many painful years. Seungwan finds herself nodding. Sooyoung deserves one dinner without the looming threats, of war. Sooyoung deserves this

Seungwan wonders how long ago Sooyoung last felt at ease.Sooyoung smiles at her and they eat their meal in complete silence until Sooyoung clears . “Please don’t say you have no time for love.” Sooyoung’s eyes glisten as she smiles at Seungwan. It’s dull, her smile. Drained. “You should always have time for love.”

Seungwan frowns at the hypocrisy. “What about Seulgi, huh? Why don’t you guys have time for love?”

The Witch’s gaze snaps to Seungwan, eyes almost vacant. Then she laughs, shrugging. “It’s what Seulgi wants. To focus on this… situation.”

There’s an intense amount of suppressed anger and sadness in Sooyoung’s voice that makes Seungwan lean over the table, chin propped on her palm as she looks up at the Witch. She finds herself forgetting about the betrayal. Besides, it was Joohyun who left her to die, not Sooyoung.

“What’s your history? Why the tension? Are you exes?”

“No,” Sooyoung answers quickly, but not as if she was caught off guard. Just quick, sharp. She retracts her gaze from her plate and smiles down at Seungwan. “That is, of course, what she would tell you.”

“Why?”

“We dated for a year. Which is like a week in immortal time.” Sooyoung inhales sharply, blinking rapidly as she pokes her chicken with her fork. “It was too short. If you add the sad pining and horrible childhood crushes, of course, it wouldn’t be that short. I liked her for fifty years before we got together.”

Seungwan winces. “Fifty?”

Sooyoung chuckles, nodding and rolling her eyes. “Yes. Fifty, more or less. See, most of us locals grew up in this town. We were all between 19, Yerim, and 38, Kangta, when we were turned immortal in this town, thus we never aged. Seulgi lived a few houses down where I lived, and I always watched as they played around in the fields.”

“You didn’t join them?” Seungwan asks.

“I thought I was too pretty for all the sweating,” Sooyoung answers, no hint of sheepishness in her voice. Seungwan scoffs. “I was born rich. Not as rich as Junmyeon’s family were, not nearly as rich as Siwon’s either. But… we were definitely upper class. I didn’t like playing with children with tattered clothes and bleeding knees. I hated them.”

“But you didn’t.”

Sooyoung rolls her eyes, sighing. “But I didn’t. They looked like they were having fun. They looked like I want to have the same kind of fun. Especially Seulgi.” A fond smile takes over her lips, eyes looking out the window. “She cries when she’s happy, you know. Like, full out cries.”

Seungwan finds herself mirroring Sooyoung’s smile. It’s agonizingly obvious how in love the Witch in front of her is. “How did you get together?”

“We became really close during Witch classes. Leeteuk taught it with my mom and Seulgi’s dad. There were seventeen of us — ”

Seungwan stares as Sooyoung stops, just staring ahead like she’s hypnotized, suddenly not there. Her jaw clenches, fingers on the table tense. Then she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, then smiles.

“Yerim and Joohyun were in that class, too.”

Thirteen of them didn’t survive. Seungwan finds herself shuddering at the thought.

Sooyoung takes another deep breath, this time her eyes water and she doesn’t bother trying to blink them away. “I’m not an only child, Seungwan. Neither are Seulgi and Yerim.”

Seungwan’s mouth dries at the implication. She leans back, stares at Sooyoung breaking in front of her. “They didn’t survive.”

The witch swallows, throat constricting in a way Seungwan can’t look away from. “Yes.” Then to herself, softly, “Yes.”

“Don’t talk about it if you can’t.”

Sooyoung nods. Then doesn’t talk about it. “Seulgi and I, and Yerim and Joohyun, we bonded over being Witches. Centuries of being grouped together really doesn’t give you that much of a choice, you’re bound to be close friends with them. In Seulgi and I’s case, more than just that.”

Sooyoung looks like she’s desperate for a change of topic and Seungwan feels like she’s desperate for answers.

“Do you save everyone you come across? Or at least try to?” Seungwan asks, not bothering to fight the urge to ask. She needs answers. Needs to know it was merely a mistake. That Joohyun wasn’t an emotionless Witch when she first met her.

Sooyoung stares at her, curious at the sudden change of tone of voice. She nods. “I do. I try my damn best to save everyone. It has repercussions when you don’t save someone. When the Sirens and Mermaids weren’t able to save your Siren friends, they spent weeks being horribly guilty about it.”

“Is everyone worth it?” Seungwan asks, her voice suddenly small. “Worth saving, I mean.”

“Of course,” Sooyoung answers sharply, her gaze cutting. “Of course, everyone is. Why – why do you ask that, Seungwan?”

Seungwan shrugs. “Just curious.” She smirks, devoid of any emotion other than intense loathing. For what, she isn’t sure. “You were trying to kill my sister.”

Sooyoung flinches then, hurt flashes through her eyes. Seungwan thinks she’s about to remind her of the truce, but instead she mutters, “Your sister is different.”

“We’re the same,” says Seungwan before standing up, suddenly not in the mood for reconciliation. “I’m looking after Jisung tonight, I’ve got to go.” She drops a few bills on the table, avoids Sooyoung’s hurt eyes, then leaves.

She doesn’t know why she thought this was a good idea.

The others are there by the shore when she arrives, ready to engulf her in hugs. This should be enough, Seungwan tells herself as she goes through her fourth bottle.

This should be enough.

-

Seungwan finds her smile, slowly. Or, well, her smile finds her. Is it even really her smile?

Sunmi and Hyuna try to hang out with her group of friends these days and Seungwan finds herself a little contented. These are all the souls she needs.

Without worrying too much about the new threats, without having to go to trainings and spending so much time with the Witches, always hearing about a town problem every now and then, she’s free to just be herself. To just laugh. Or at least pretend to.

Sunmi and Hyuna tell her stories about their childhood, it brings white hot pain to Seungwan’s skull, but she clamps her lips pursed and ignores it in favor of the warmth in their eyes when they remember. Wheein and Hyejin hover close to her and take her hands every time. They understand.

Yuri and Johnny are on the verge of getting kicked out of the local meetings, but they hardly care. Johnny’s too busy trying to take care of Jisung and Yuri’s too busy being numb. Soojung says “good riddance” and Sejeong talks about Heechul crashing on their couch, apparently thrown out of the Devils’ house because of his conspiracy theories.

Seungwan feels bad for him. Or she would if she wasn’t in such a happy daze. She thinks it’s Yuri’s drinks. Jennie always seems to laugh louder after two drinks, Yuri always stares smugly at them. Seungwan doesn’t have it in her to care.

She just needs this daze. She needs this happiness, no matter how fake it is. She just wants to not care. Even if the smile is a stranger on all of their faces.

-

But when do plans ever go Seungwan’s way? It all comes crashing down too quickly. Seungwan finds it sardonically hilarious.

She’s on her way home – and home these days means the cabin in the woods with Sunmi, Hyuna, and Soojung – when she’s pushed to the ground, a knife pressed against her neck. She blinks at her attacker, finds herself staring up at a black mist that’s way too heavy for it to be simply mist.

She doesn’t bother to fight back. Her attacker doesn’t do anything, just presses the knife harder. She thinks they’re staring at her, she isn’t sure. There are no eyes, but she feels the unsettling goosebumps.

She thinks she hears her sister scream, but it’s the eyes that Seungwan has learned to despise who gets to her faster, axe slashing sideways up the mist, careful so it doesn’t touch Seungwan.

Joohyun’s peering down at her with concern, but all Seungwan can see are flames. She’s in a daze when Joohyun pulls her up, dragging her to where the coffee shop is. Sunmi’s screaming, she thinks. Hyuna too.

Johnny and Soojung are there, she sees them huddled close together and watching worriedly. Yerim’s sobbing.

Seungwan frowns. What’s there to sob about? Slowly, she becomes aware of hot liquid flowing down her arms. Her hand shoots up to her neck, finds a cut there. She raises her hand to her eyes and feels her surroundings spinning.

Joohyun stops and stares at her.

Seungwan stares back, her eyes blurry with tears and oh my god so much blood. She yanks her arm from Joohyun’s grip, her heart clenching tightly.

Irritation flashes in Joohyun’s eyes. “I’m saving you! Will you get over the fight for one moment and let me save you?!” she snaps, anger etched on her face.

Seungwan stares back, tears falling. The daze leaves. She needs Yuri. “Bit too late for that, don’t you think?” She looks around for Yuri, she isn’t here. She wishes they’re here. Jennie, and Sejeong, and Wheein, and Hyejin, and Yuri – god, she needs the protective circle. Soojung and Johnny tense up at her wandering eyes.

Once again, there’s irritation in Joohyun’s eyes, now with impatience. “What are you talking about, Seungwan?”

“You didn’t save me!” she screams, fists clenched by her sides. Well, there it goes, every bit of self-restraint Seungwan has. Repressed emotions breaking through. She glares at Joohyun and there’s that bitter feeling of hatred again. Something she thought she couldn’t feel for Joohyun.

Joohyun’s face freezes. Anger doubles. She takes a step forward and Seungwan instinctively takes a step back. Worry overrides the anger in Joohyun’s eyes. “Why’d you… you know I wouldn’t hurt you, right?”

“I don’t.”

Joohyun blinks. There’s heartbreak now, eyes unsure. “Seungwan, I would never hurt you.”

“This is your fault, Joohyun.”

“What is?” Joohyun asks softly. She still sounds heartbroken, but she’s so patient. Seungwan gets the urge to throw her arms around Joohyun, hold her close and apologize.

But she firmly stands on her spot. “You’re too late.”

“What?”

“I was a Slayer. I was strong. My parents loved me, they were proud of me! I was more than able to protect my sister the way she’s protecting me, but you — ” she gasps, the tears breaking her words. “You left me in my bedroom, looked at me through the flames and decided I wasn’t important enough to save, huh?”

Joohyun frowns for a moment before realization kicks in and an utterly shocked expression takes place. “No…”

“Do you know that you’re part of my nightmares? You are my nightmares. I keep getting flashes of these eyes. They’re so cold, so unloving. Inhumane. I… I didn’t know at first what they meant but they always end with those eyes staring at me from the safe side of the flames and then leaving.”

It's getting harder to breathe. Seungwan isn’t sure if it’s the terrifying gash on her neck or Joohyun’s eyes or her own damned ribcage crowding around her heart again.

Heartbreak breaks into Joohyun’s expression and instead of taking another step forward, she clasps her hands to , stopping the cry that’s threatening to rip out of . “No…”

“When the pieces clicked I just… I’m so mad and tired and I know you didn’t know me back then but,” Seungwan looks up and catches Joohyun’s watery eyes with her own filled with so much pain, “why didn’t you save me? That’s the question I keep asking the eyes in my nightmares. Why? Was I not worth it?”

“I’m so… you’re so worth it, Seungwan but I – ” she stops, still shocked. She shakes her head, palms covering her face. “I’m… sorry.” Their gazes brush for a moment before Joohyun turns and runs.

Seungwan her lips, sighs. She looks blankly around at the other shocked faces. “Please don’t bother us again.” She nods politely before turning and walking back to Sunmi, Hyuna, and Soojung, all staring at her sympathetically.

She watches as the other Witches dejectedly walk away, Yerim’s sobs only turning louder the farther they walk away.

There’s anger in Sunmi’s eyes that immediately melts as she grabs Seungwan’s shoulders and hug her sideways. There’s also mild shock there, curiosity. Seungwan’s too drained to think about it.

Johnny takes a step forward. “I’m sorry that happened to you, Wan.” He takes a deep breath before reaching out to hold her hand hesitantly, only taking it when Seungwan doesn’t flinch away. “I might be Joohyun’s friend but I’m not defending her, okay? We always leave no individual behind and I don’t know why she—I just… can you promise me you’ll let her explain? And then decide if you still want her in your life then.”

Seungwan looks up at his eyes, sincere and warm and Johnny. She squeezes Johnny’s hand and nods. “I will. I just need to rest for now.”

And cry. And toss and turn in bed wondering if after knowing Joohyun’s her worst nightmare alive, she’ll still love her as much as she does. And then fall asleep knowing that she will. It’s madness but Seungwan’s more than capable of being angry and in love with Joohyun at the same time.

God, she feels so pathetic.

And as if it everything wasn’t enough, Sunmi holds her far enough so she can stare at her. “This is impossible.”

Soojung tears her gaze away from the Witches – her family – to watch them curiously. She gasps. “No.”

Seungwan sighs. “What is it this time?” She’s tired. Can’t she have a break? She’s suddenly angry that the mist didn’t finish her off.

“Your wound healed,” says Hyuna, voice small and amazed. Her gaze snaps up and meets Seungwan’s tired ones. “You’re supposed to be a mortal, I don’t understand – ”

She raises a shaking hand to her neck, expecting to feel the gut-wrenching squelch of flesh. All she feels is blood, and a scar. A scar that’s quickly disappearing under her fingertips.

She shoots Sunmi a panicked look, her head burns as she hears Sunmi’s voice, younger in her head, screaming her name. She feels Sunmi’s arm around her waist, hoisting her up. She feels the tears raining down on her, sees Sunmi’s panicked eyes. Screaming for mom and dad. Someone. Please help. My sister!

Hears her promise she’ll kill whoever left Seungwan, get her revenge. They’ll regret they ever left her little sister. She’s only a kid! She’s worth it!

When she opens her eyes, Sunmi doesn’t have tear tracks down her cheeks. Her skin doesn’t burn. They’re not in an unfamiliar backyard, there are no ashes around them, no heat suffocating Seungwan.

She feels something new shooting through her veins, feels her muscles tensing. Feels her surroundings, hears a bird chirping too far away, hears Yerim’s sobbing too far away.

Feels her fear disappearing, replaced by newfound courage that she grabs onto. Her mind is still hazy, but she’s sure when she snatches Hyuna’s bow and arrow, turns and shoots, hears the thud of the bird falling to the ground.

Somehow, she’s got her abilities back.

The others look equal parts shocked, proud, and terrified. Seungwan, aside from the numbness she’s used to now, just feels energized.

A/N:

Hiii. So, I want to thank everyone for the feature! I’m still giddy when I think about it. Thank you so much!!!

I wish I could say there’d be happy times ahead of Seungwan, but I’m honestly not so sure??? I’m not sure if I could fit some light parts next chapters, because there will be another revelation then. The war’s coming in a few chapters, too.

The title’s from The Broken Hearts Club by gnash, and honestly the whole song fits this whole chapter so well and it was hard to pick one line so I settled for the title instead. I rec the song so hard.

Anyway, thank you for reading! Leave a comment!

thepurplewan