"Does it hurt?" Tao murmured as he quietly cleaned a cut on Minki's knee. The child nodded weakly as he let fall some tears. The man smiled softly and wiped away those tears before pecking the red cheek. "Don't worry, it just stings a bit. It's going to be fine." Minki smiled cutely and clapped his hands. "Papa, you're the best!" Tao chuckled and patted the kid's head, and he sighed when he ran away, ready to start playing again with his little friends. He smiled widely when he felt a pair of arms around his waist and he turned around to greet his lover. "Hey." Wu Fan mumbled, as he kissed Tao's neck.

The younger man felt slightly sad; in a few days, Wu Fan was going to leave. They didn't have much time anymore, every second meant much more than before. There was the possibility of him never returning back home; he could die while saving people, while freeing the entire humanity. He didn't like knowing that, and he surely didn't want to watch Wu Fan leave him behind. He didn't say a word, and closed his eyes as he rested his head on his lover's shoulder. "I love you." The taller man whispered in his ear; Tao hummed and smiled, knowing that it wasn't really necessary to answer. "I'll miss this." Wu Fan continued talking slowly, carefully choosing his words; after all, it wasn't easy for neither of the two of them.

"I'll miss you." The experiment murmured. Tao felt tears in his eyes and he immediately gave up; he started crying in silence, with some hiccups and sobs here and there, and he never looked up, too scared to start sobbing harder. "We'll make it fast. I'll be there next to you faster than you think; the mission last just one day." But the younger man was way too scared to think positively. "What if you're going to get hurt? What if you're going to die?!" He cried; Wu Fan tilted his chin up and kissed him on the lips, careful not to push too much. It was hard to let go, especially when there was the possibility that there were not going to be together again. No more kisses, no more smiles. How terrible was life going to be without Wu Fan?

When it finally the mission day arrived, everyone was gathered next to a van. They were saying their farewells to the ones who were going to wait, and many tears were shed, especially Tao and Luhan were crying hard, even if the alien was going on the mission he still was scared of dying and not returning to Sehun and the people he had learnt to love. Kyungsoo, on the other hand, bid his goodbye to everybody rather quietly; he didn't say anything to Jong In, who looked at him with a slightly hurt gaze. "Be safe!" Yixing said with a worried tone; he glanced quickly at Wu Fan, who was still hugging Tao, and shifted uncomfortably his gaze to the ground. His habits couldn't disappear just like that, and he kind of hoped that the war was going to help him to stop thinking about the experiment.

The small group finally hopped on the van, Wu Fan was the last one after a heart-breaking kiss and a whispered 'I love you' to Tao. Only when they couldn't see them anymore, Sehun broke and started crying. "I'm scared!" He admitted while trembling. Tao hugged him and quietly brought him away from the others; they went inside their house, while a curious Minki followed them. Tao made both of them sit on the ruined couch, and he wiped away Sehun's tears. "They will come back as winners." He reassured him with a soft smile. His eyes were red, but tears had stopped falling rather quickly; there was no reason, for Tao, to cry over something that still had to happen. Sehun nodded, still a bit overwhelmed by everything.

Minki pouted and hugged the young man. "Don't cry, brother Sehun!" He chirped after he pecked his cheek with a noisy kiss. Tao smiled and patted Sehun and Minki's heads before standing and slowly walking to his bedroom. The younger man looked at his back as he disappeared behind a door, and he sighed. He and Kyungsoo didn't have a real relationship with someone, but Tao was so deeply in love with Wu Fan that it hurt. Sehun understood that it wasn't easy especially for his friend, and in that moment Tao just wanted to wait, alone.

Meanwhile, the older man fell on his bed and closed his eyes. He was feeling tired, and the fact that Wu Fan wasn't there to cheer him up was depressing him. He sighed heavily, hoping that everything was going to be alright. His heart ached and his eyes were stinging.

Tao woke up with a start; he didn't remember falling asleep, and when he looked outside, he saw that it was already evening. Maybe he was tired and that was why he had slept for so long; he hoped that Wu Fan was already back, so he immediately got up and run outside of his bedroom. He arrived on the hall and found there gathered everyone. "What's happening?" He asked, as his heart started beating wildly. Suho shook his head. "They aren't contacting us. The mission should have ended an hour ago." Tao didn't say a thing; he couldn't start crying, because it would make things even worse, and he didn't know what to say. He couldn't go out and search for the group, they were too far from the village and it was incredibly dangerous in that moment.

"They promised. He promised." He murmured. Kyungsoo stood up and walked beside him; he patted his back, with his eyes shining with pity and sadness. "We must wait, but you know very well that this is just the beginning of a war. People are going to die." Tao nodded weakly and sat on the couch, next to Sehun who was falling asleep. Time went by incredibly slowly, and Tao felt hope slipping away from his heart. After another long hour, he stood up and walked outside; the atmosphere was heavy, and he couldn't bear it anymore. He sobbed quietly as he sat on the ground, covering his face and not caring anymore if people saw him in that state. Was Wu Fan not coming back to him? Did they fail as everyone thought? He was crying so hard that he didn't hear the sound of wings flapping and the roar of a engine.

He gasped loudly when he felt a hand on his neck and when he looked up, a wide smile found place on his lips. "Wu Fan!" He cried, immediately wrapping his arms around his lover's neck. Wu Fan smelled like burned things, blood and dirt, but he didn't care anymore: he was alive! He was there, he returned to him! Wu Fan kissed him, as he lifted him from the ground. When they parted, Tao looked at him: his lover had some scrap here and there, his clothes were ripped, but his eyes were beaming and his smile was wide. "We did it." He whispered to him. Near them, everyone was cheering and screaming with joy.

Everyone came back home. Even if it was dinnertime, people were starting to come out from their houses to cheer and celebrate; someone had started singing, somebody had started playing music, and everyone was happy. "It's just our first win." Wu Fan grinned. Somewhere, in the middle of the crowd, Chanyeol was spinning Baekhyun around and Luhan was hugging Sehun. "The guards, they—they helped us, almost every guard decided to help us. Tao, they were so many, and there were so many experiments, but now they are free!" They laughed together as Jong In walked next to them, with red cheeks and a wide smile. "I teleported in other cities… It seems like people are starting to rise up against the Government, and everything thanks to us!"

Soon, the other part of the group joined them and cheered even more after hearing the news. "Tonight it's just a few towns, tomorrow will be the entire world! The Government is weak, they don't have guards and the citizens are tired to live in this situation… we're going to win!" The celebration went on for long, but the group who went on mission was tired and hurt; Yixing gladly helped everyone, and he didn't stop curing them till every little scratch disappeared from their skins. Soon music stopped and the town returned to what it was before the celebration.

Wu Fan fell on his bed together with Tao and sighed heavily. He was happy they had won, but he wasn't because people had died. Some experiments were so scared that they just killed themselves, thinking that death was sweeter than any other thing, thinking that it was better dying than keeping being alive and suffer. Tao pecked his cheek and smiled at him, interrupting his flow of thoughts. "Does it still hurt to use your wings?" He asked quietly. Wu Fan nodded weakly and he turned around, his back facing the ceiling. He was wearing a new shirt; the one he wore had two big holes on the backside. He was glad that Minki, that night, had decided to sleep somewhere else; he wanted to have Tao all for himself.

"I'm glad to be home." He whispered as he felt Tao's hands caressing his skin under the shirt. Those light touches relaxed him and soon he was falling asleep. "I love you." The younger man murmured with a soft smile. "I love you, too." Wu Fan answered. Tao lied next to his lover and sighed; he thought of what happened that day, and he remembered how Kyungsoo hugged Jong In but did nothing else, and he remembered how everyone started crying of happiness after seeing that no one had died during the mission. He remembered Yixing's worried look as he was healing Wu Fan, the same look he reserved for everyone else, and he remembered when Suho patted Project Angelus' back, earning a smile. He remembered Sehun stealing a kiss from Luhan, and they both blushed while smiling hard.

Was winning that easy? Tao knew that it wasn't, but he also knew that nothing was impossible in that world. He felt it in his heart: they were going to win. People were going to get their freedom; he was going to get his real happiness. His life was next to Wu Fan and no one else. He closed his eyes and put an arm on his lover's back. "I love you." He repeated. Yes, finally everything was going to be alright. 

A/N:
Sorry for the very late update.
I started writing a new fic, and I had to study, too... Also, I broke up with my boyfriend; everything was really tiring.

Also, I'm very sorry to say that next chapter is going to be the last one! ^^;

Please, do keep supporting me and read my new fanfic, Dreaming. ^O^
Write me on tumblr, too! I hope to receive some asks ^w^''

Until next time, and please, write me a comment! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! >w<