Nicole's POV

"Kai killed Chen?!" I whisper, not daring to believe it.

"I think he did... I'm so sorry Nicole..." Rachel says awkwardly, patting my shoulder. Tears well up in my eyes.

"He shouldn't have died... he doesn't deserve to die..."

"I know, I know..." she says sadly. She hugs me. "But we have to fight now, okay? We'll bury him properly and do a nice funeral. Okay?" I nod miserably and sniffle. She suddenly looks up and flicks her wrist, quick as lightning. She's thrown a chair at Baekhyun. He hurls the chair away and runs at us. Rachel wraps her arms around me tightly and from the cracks between her arms a blinding light shines through and I squeeze my eyes shut.

Rachel lets go and shoves something at me. "Put this on," she instructs urgently and turns her attention on Baekhyun. I look at the thing in my hands. It's a pair of sun goggles. Like sunglasses, but in goggles form. She's got a pair on already so I put mine on obediently. My vision is still crystal clear, not darkened like with usual sunglasses, and with a pang I realise this is one of Chen's inventions. A lump forms in my throat but I swallow it forcefully. No crying.

"Help me out here!" Rachel's half-whispering.

"How?"

"Lightning!"

"I can't," I answer. "The ceiling will collapse."

"Damn," she curses. Baekhyun is trying very hard to get to us but Rachel has really quick reflexes and stops him every time, flicking at him so that he can't come near us. She's getting tired though and she slips and Baekhyun's knife manages to scratch her hand.

"...whatever you do, don't let them spill your blood. Not even a drop." Adrienne's voice says in my head.

A drop of blood squeezes out of Rachel's wound. Rachel flicks at him again but nothing happens anymore.

"No..." she breathes in horror. Baekhyun advances onto us and I pull Rachel away just in time and she seems to wake up, looking determined, and ducks and avoids Baekhyun's s and stabs. I follow her example. He flashes us that blinding light again but through the lenses of the goggles, the light is no more than normal light from a light bulb and our eyes are safe.

Thank you, Chen, I say gratefully in my head.

Baekhyun remains expressionless but he changes his grip on his knife. I know that position. He's going to throw the knife instead of ing with it. Chen taught me. Chen--- I push the thought away.

"Watch out!" I yell, but the words haven't even left my lips when he throws the knife at us with deadly accuracy. At Rachel.

In that split second, I make up my mind. With Chen gone this world means nothing to me anymore. Nothing. Empty. Devoid of happiness. And there's this possibility that I'll be reunited with him after death. Who knows? Maybe, in the afterlife, we'll finally be together. No one knows what will happen and I'm willing to take that risk. Anything but this miserable existence without Chen. And Rachel doesn't deserve to die. She has got so much to lose. So much ahead of her. Such a bright future. Unlike me. I'm a coward for not telling him how I feel towards him but right now, I feel reckless. Fearless of death. 

I throw myself in front of her, taking the knife instead. It buries itself into my chest right up to the hilt.  The pain is excruciating but I welcome it.

"NO!!" a scream breaks out of her lips as she catches me but she staggers and we fall down together, with me still in her arms.

"LAY!" She screams. "JADE! HELP!" Blood is pouring out of the wound in my chest and I can feel already myself dying. Fading away. Baekhyun has incredible accuracy.

"It's okay Nicole, it's okay," she tells me, tears streaming down her face. "Help's gonna come, you're gonna be fine, just hold on okay?" She says desperately, but I shake my head weakly.

"No need," I croak out, but it's barely a whisper and she leans down to hear me properly.

"Don't be stupid!" she cries. "You'll be alright! You'll live!"

"No," I smile. "Chen." And she understands and smiles through her tears, but my vision is blackening. "I love you, Chen," I say. I can see Chen smiling at me and finally I feel at peace. I'm not afraid. Wait for me, Chen. Wait for me. I'm coming.

Nicole's POV end

Adrienne's POV

I don't know what Luhan and Sehun's got up their sleeves but it better be good. Sehun's ideas are sometimes too wild to be trusted.

"Kris, can we really trust Suho?" I ask tentatively. We're still sitting behind the sofa while waiting for Luhan and Sehun to launch their grand plan.

"Yes, we can," he replies firmly. "He's not really the type to hold a grudge, and I know him. He used to be my best friend."

"But---"

"No buts," he says sternly. "I can tell if he's lying and every word he said just now was true. Trust me. He wants this over as much as we do."

"Okay." Not okay but then what choice do we have? And he's the leader after all he has the most experience.

"And if you ever fight with Baekhyun..." he adds thoughtfully.

"Yes?"

"I want to be the one that kills him."

"Turn into your dragon form then," I suggest. "That way you can see."

"NO!!" someone screams. Our heads snap up at the direction of the scream. It's Rachel and she's holding a body in her arms.

"Damn," I curse and I jump up. Kris grabs at me.

"What is it?" he asks urgently.

"It's Rachel. I think somebody's hurt."

"Go," he releases me. I leap out from behind the sofa and run towards them. Rachel's yelling for help and with horror I realise the body in her arms is Nicole.

"I love you, Chen," I get there just in time to hear her say. She smiles and I've never seen a smile so peaceful. A final sigh escapes her lips and her body goes limp.

"She's dead," Rachel says hollowly and gently takes off her goggles. I bite my lip and pat her back awkwardly. I promised to protect her. I promised.

"I didn't keep my promise," I mutter, half to myself. Rachel looks up at me, her face glistening with tears. "I promised I'd keep her safe."

"She died to save me," Rachel sobs. "But she's in a better place now."

"Better place?" I echo.

"She's with Chen now," she explains, sniffing. "And that's better than being here."

"But I promised--- I promised---" I choke.

"She chose to die, Adrienne," Rachel says firmly. "She chose to be with Chen. She could've let me die, but she didn't. It was her choice, and it's nobody's fault. Especially not yours. Alright?" I never knew she was in love with Chen. I never got the chance to thank her. To apologise for being a jerk to her just because of my conflicts with Elise. To apologise to Chen, for doubting him. So many things I could have said, should have said. Who would've thought I would grow to care about Elise's zombie minions?

"Rachel," I start, grabbing her shoulders. I take a deep breath. My ego can go die for all I care right now. "I'm sorry for being an before. I'm sorry pulling you into my fights with Elise. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. Please don't hate me." Her eyes widen but she smiles.

"It's okay," she says comfortingly. "I don't hate you. We were being immature. That was partly my fault too." She holds out her hand and I gladly shake it, but she pulls me into a hug.

"Come on," she says. "Let's go fight EXO-K."

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you! We've got a truce with EXO-K," I lean in to whisper the last part. "So right now it's all of us against Kai and Baekhyun." Her eyes widen again but she doesn't comment.

"Okay." Then she looks over my shoulder. "Damn, Baekhyun---" I whip my head around to see Baekhyun circling Jade and Tiffany like a snake bidding its time. My blood runs cold.

Baekhyun strikes but Jade leaps away nimbly, and the cycle repeats. Then I realise what exactly Jade is doing: dancing and improvising dance/fight sequences from her favourite music videos and movies, while Tiffany cowers behind Jade. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. But I rush over to them, just in case.
I look back at Kris for a moment. He's already transformed into a dragon. I smirk. Perfect timing.

Drawing my sword, I run silently at Baekhyun and do what I've been doing a lot lately: slash at their legs. A nice, long gash appears in his thigh and blood oozes out. He stumbles and his head whips around to glare at me and he advances. Jade meets my eyes for a brief moment and seems to read my mind.

"Over here, !" she cries bravely and Baekhyun growls at the name-calling, turning back on Jade.

"Ow, damn," she whimpers and I act quickly, slamming both hands hard onto his temples on both sides. I had no idea if it'll work. I've only seen it in movies but luckily it works and he collapses, momentarily unconscious.

"Help me," I grunt, hoisting him up by the armpit. Jade takes the other side and we half-drag him to Kris.

His beady dragon eyes light up at the sight of Baekhyun, but he sort-of-not-really-glares at me and I think I can guess what he's thinking.

"You want him to be awake?" I ask. He nods his giant head. I snort. Thought so.

"Wake him," I tell Jade. She looks at me in panic.

"What?"

"Kris wants to finish him off," I explain. She looks at Baekhyun and looks at Kris. She sighs.

"Alright, fine." She puts her hand on his shoulder and Baekhyun shudders and his eyes snap open. Jade instantly leaps back to a safe distance. The first thing Baekhyun sees is me and his hand grasps at empty air for a weapon but Jade's taken it with a cheeky grin. I wave mine around temptingly and he runs straight at me, right into blasting range of Kris' hellish fire. I dive away in the nick of time and I roll over just in time to see Baekhyun being roasted alive, screaming but for a brief while. The screaming stops befor Kris stops the fire and by that time, all that's left is a skeleton with black charred skin on what is left of the flesh. I walk over to inspect the corpse and I cluck my tongue.

"Nasty," I comment. Kris gives a cough that sounds somewhat like a chuckle before turning back into human form.

"Man, that felt good," he exhales happily.

"Bacon," Jade sputters all of a sudden.

"What?"

"Baekhyun. Bacon," she explains, giggling. Kris rolls his eyes but laughs too.

"Good, now we can focus on Kai."

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re-uploaded because AFF ate it up.