Chen sings.

He hadn't wanted to. Not when Suho was lying at Chanyeol's mercy with no one to protect him. Every instinct told him to go back, to save the boy he loved from his deadliest enemy, but Lu Han had asked him, no, commanded him was really the better word for it.

So he sings. He sings the song that runs through his blood and hums in his heart and calls rain to pour down on the sleeping sun. He sings, heart aching when he thinks of Suho. Suho and his kind heart and gentle hands and soft smile and everything that makes him Suho.

Suho.

As soon as he finishes the song, he turns to go, to fly back to Suho and save him.

"Wait."

He hasn't heard the voice of his lord for a long time, but he would recognize it anywhere and he'd be a fool to ignore it. He pauses, muscles tensed, before letting out a breath and turning around to sink into a deep bow.

"Welcome back, my lord," he says, eyes cast down. He sees the edge of Wu Fan's robe creep into his field of vision and then Wu Fan is lifting him up, face solemn. But then again, Wu Fan was always solemn. At least, that's how Chen remembers him. But it's been a long time.

"Loyal thunderbird," Wu Fan murmurs, and Chen blinks up at him, slightly confused. Wu Fan looks almost sad. Chen can't remember him ever being sad.

"I promised Suho I would give you a message," Wu Fan continues, and a terrible foreboding slams into Chen's chest, making it difficult to breathe. He doesn't want to hear this. He can't hear this. If he doesn't hear it then it's not true.

"He loves you," Wu Fan says, that same strange sadness in his eyes.

Chen forces himself to breathe, a smile spreading shakily across his face.

"I know that. I love him too. And he can tell me that himself when I see him," Chen laughs, ignoring the look of pity that Wu Fan gives him. "I have to go to him, Chanyeol still has him and he's hurt. I have to go."

Wu Fan blinks golden eyes at Chen for a few more moments before nodding, letting go of the thunderbird.

"I shall go with you. Chanyeol must be taught his place." Wu Fan's voice is hard, and Chen feels a surge of almost paralyzing anger when he remembers Suho's scream and the cold, manic smile of the phoenix.

"He and I have a score to settle," mutters Chen, as lightning crackles around his body, the storm inside of him roaring to be unleashed on the one responsible for Suho's pain.

Wu Fan nods and golden light sears Chen's eyes as the sun unfurls huge golden wings and flaps them experimentally. Warmth and light flood the huge mountain they stand on, and Chen smiles despite the dire situation. The sun is finally awake.

His clouds above have not fully dissipated and it takes him mere seconds to gather his lightning, calling it down to snatch him into the sky.

With another huge flap of his wings, Wu Fan dives off of the mountain, glowing brightly. He breaks through the clouds near the base of the mountain and flares his wings as a warm breeze caresses him.

"My lord," sighs a soft voice, and Kyungsoo materializes, floating next to the sun and looking grim.

Wu Fan nods in acknowledgment and Kyungsoo looks up as thunder rumbles, signaling Chen's progress across the sky, transported by lightning bolts jumping from cloud to cloud.

"Chanyeol will be waiting for him," states Kyungsoo, as his body begins to dissolve into leaves and air.

Wu Fan nods and takes off after Chen, Kyungsoo blasting by on a gale of breathtaking speed. Wu Fan can't help but look down, taking in the land he has not truly seen in centuries. He saw it while he was sleepwalking of course, but his dreams did not do it justice. It has changed, he knows, seeing rivers and towns and forests where there were none before, but the largest change is far ahead, where he can just see the heat rising from a massive orange-red desert. This is not right. Chanyeol's territory grew with his power and overtook much of the other Adar's lands.

Anger and a touch of shame rises up in Wu Fan's throat, his light flaring brightly. Chanyeol has been allowed free reign for too long. It is time the phoenix remembers who is a god and who is not.

Chen, speeding towards the phoenix's desert as fast as his lightning bolts can carry him, is not thinking of Chanyeol and what he has done to the land. All of his thoughts are focused on the boy who was left behind.

Suho.

"Suho," he says to himself, tears pricking his eyes and causing a small drizzle over a parched forest. When he reaches the edge of the desert, he doesn't pause, doesn't wait for Wu Fan or anyone else, simply throws his clouds forward and speeds along above the heated sand, desperation starting to control his actions.

He had seen Suho before Lay took him away, screamed at Lay to leave him behind and save the human boy, but Lay ignored him. If it wasn't for the tears in the Nightmare's eyes, Chen might have thought that the Nightmare didn't even care that Suho was hardly more than a charred husk. 

Equal measures of grief and choking fury seize Chen's lungs and he clenches his teeth, his clouds matching his mood by expanding, swallowing up the sky and crackling with lightning.

Chanyeol will pay.

As if on cue, heat slams into Chen, nearly knocking him from the sky. He catches himself and looks down. Chanyeol is staring up at the sky, teeth bared in a half snarl, half smile, and there's something next to him, about five feet to the phoenix's left. Someone next to him.

Chen can taste his fear. It's bitter and claws at his throat, ripping into his lungs and making the air go deadly still. Without thinking, without pausing to consider what Chanyeol will do to him, he streaks to the ground in a purple-white thunderbolt, turning the sand around him to glass. He doesn't notice that, however, as he stumbles forward and falls to his knees next to the small, blackened someone on the ground.

Suho is barely recognizable. His soft, dark hair is gone and he's curled into a ball. His skin and his clothes are fused and resemble bloodied charcoal more than skin or cloth. His face is unseen, and he's still. So, so still. Chen can't stop his hands from trembling as he reaches out to touch Suho's cheek.

"Suho?" His voice is so small, so quiet, but he can't bring himself to speak louder. Suho isn't speaking. Suho isn't moving. Suho isn't breathing. Suho is de-

No. He can't be. It's not true. It's not true. 

Chen reaches for the connection between them, the spark that he passed to Suho on the day he claimed the human boy as his own, and he feels nothing. Nothing. A blank space where Suho should be, a hollow place in Chen's very being. Nothing.

Suho is gone.

Chen can't breathe. It's like the world has stopped moving. This isn't right. It's not supposed to be this way, he promised to keep Suho safe, he swore that nothing would ever hurt Suho, he was supposed to be Suho's guardian and friend. He promised himself he would keep the boy he loved safe.

Suho is gone. Suho is dead.

Suho is dead. And as the world slowly begins to filter back into Chen's senses, he hears something that sets his whole body buzzing with fury.

Chanyeol is laughing. He killed Suho and he's laughing.

Something snaps inside of Chen and he slowly brings his eyes up to look at the phoenix. Every inch of his skin burns and prickles as his lightning snaps across his skin in violent arcs, the clouds above echoing his emotions with huge flashes and deafening rumbles.

For the first time, Chanyeol's smile falters. He looks at Chen, and a flash of something that might be called fear crosses his face.

"You," the phoenix begins, but Chen doesn't want to talk. He doesn't want to hear Chanyeol's voice, doesn't want him to speak, doesn't want him to draw breath ever again. So he stretches out his hand and cuts Chanyeol off with a massive bolt of lightning aimed directly at the phoenix.

It hits the phoenix with a bright flash and a loud crackle of thunder and Chanyeol staggers, eyes narrowing to orange slits. Chen stares back, face creased in silent anger as he calls down another thunderbolt. And another. And another.

Flash after flash, crack after crack, Chen rains down a merciless onslaught on the phoenix, not giving the other Adar time to recover or gather himself. At some point, he starts screaming. At first he thinks it's Chanyeol, but when he has to stop screaming to draw breath Chen becomes aware of the agony ripping through his lungs and throat and pouring out of his mouth in a drawn out wail.

Suho is dead.

The thought brings on a fresh scream and the already blinding flashes of light become more frequent. Chen feels like he's shattering. Each broken piece of him calls down another deadly bolt and drives into the already huge crater where Chanyeol stands. Or perhaps stood is a better word.

Chen loses count of how many lightning bolts he's shot at Chanyeol. It doesn't feel like enough. He's crying. His hands are shaking as his lightning starts to falter. It hurts too much. Suho is dead. His chest feels hollow. Suho is gone.

With a sob, Chen falls to his knees, tears flowing freely down his face. Suho is dead.

The clouds above go silent, before a light drizzle starts, almost a fine mist that evaporates almost as soon as it lands on the hot desert ground.

A quiet groan comes from the lightning strike crater.

Chen's head snaps up, the rain ceasing as a low chuckle echoes out across the flat desert before rising to a full blown rumbling laugh.

Chanyeol, cloaked in red flame, rises out of the depression in the ground with a triumphant grin.

"You really thought you won," he says, equal parts disbelieving and amused. "You really thought you won, when I have thousands of followers and you have no one to help you."

Chen can't even bring himself to stand. He's so tired. Suho is dead and it hurts to breathe.

"Kill me then," he tells Chanyeol. He's died before, or so he's been told. Maybe he'll be with Suho again.

Chanyeol's smirk as he lands in front of Chen is mocking and triumphant.

"As you wish," he sneers, flames spreading out from his feet and at Chen's black feathers.

Chen closes his eyes, smoke filling his mouth and nose and making him cough. He's just feeling the first burn on his skin when silver light flashes through his closed eyelids and Chanyeol yells in pain.

Confused, Chen opens his eyes. A huge silver stag stands in front of Chen, head lowered and antlers aimed directly at the phoenix. Chanyeol is clutching his side, blood leaking from between his fingers.

"Damn you," he hisses at the stag. "You'll pay for this, Lu Han."

The stag snorts and scrapes the ground with a front hoof, clearly challenging the phoenix to go ahead and try. Chanyeol takes a step forward, sparks trailing from his fingers, when a gust of wind knocks him back, pushing him almost to the crater before he digs his feet in enough to stop.

Kyungsoo steps from the air, his huge eyes burning green and his thick eyebrows pulled low in anger. Chanyeol sweeps his hand through the air and a wall of fire rushes forward. Kyungsoo doesn't move but a sudden rush of air leaves the fire without any fuel and it dies a foot from the sylphid.

Lu Han nudges Chen to his feet and stands at his side, cool air radiating out from his fur and cutting through the desert heat.

Chanyeol steps forward again and is blasted back again by Kyungsoo's winds. The sylphid is motionless, arms crossed over his bare chest, but his eyes dance with flickering hues of green as the wind swirls around him.

Chanyeol snarls, lashing out with long tongues of flame that Kyungsoo deftly deflects.

"You'll burn for this," Chanyeol growls. "Just like the hyperion."

Kyungsoo's eyes flash vivid spring green and he finally moves, reaching out a hand and bringing it down in a broad sweep.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, a cloud high above the battling Adar starts to swirl, a long tendril snaking out and reaching for the ground. Chanyeol raises his hand, about to shoot a fresh spout of flame at Kyungsoo, when a tornado touches down in front of the sylphid with a terrifying howl, kicking up a cloud of sand and wind.

Chen braces against the furious wind, grains of sand stinging his face and eyes. Lu Han lowers his antlered head and acts as a windbreaker for the exhausted thunderbird, and Kyungsoo pushes the tornado forward, green eyes focused on Chanyeol's now truly frightened face.

The phoenix throws flame at the huge spinning pillar of air, backing away as the cyclone swallows it with a howling roar and continues to bear down on him, spitting out sand and rock in every direction.

Chanyeol tries to back away, only to find that his feet are trapped by a sheet of rapidly growing ice. A whirl of fog and snow sweeps past Chanyeol and Xiumin steps out next to Kyungsoo, shaking from the effort of holding Chanyeol with his ice. Chanyeol screams in frustration, but as fast as he melts the ice, Xiumin refreezes him and still the tornado charges towards him. Just as Chanyeol blasts the last of the ice off and Xiumin collapses from exhaustion, the tempest swallows up Chanyeol. With a burst of orange flame that's quickly extinguished by the raging wind, Chanyeol disappears.

"Enough."

Wu Fan's voice rings out over the desert, and with a visible effort, Kyungsoo unravels the enormous tornado and a ragged crimson-feathered heap falls from the sky and lands with a dull thud on the sand.

Hearing his brother's voice, Lu Han shifts out of his stag form and looks up, eyes bright with relieved tears as Wu Fan touches down lightly in front of Chanyeol.

"Phoenix," Wu Fan rumbles, and Chanyeol raises himself up shakily, seeming to crumple in on himself as Wu Fan surveys him with quiet, cold anger.

"I revoke your fire," Wu Fan says calmly, and Chanyeol's eyes widen as he backs away, pressing a hand to his chest.

"N-no!" Chanyeol whimpers. "You can't!"

A pulse of light and raw power forces Chanyeol to his knees, where he stares up at Wu Fan, terror leaking into his face.

"You," Wu Fan almost spits, the light shining out of his skin blinding and searing hot, "do not tell me what I can and cannot do. I made you what you are. I can unmake you just as easily."

Chanyeol whimpers again as Wu Fan stretches a hand out and presses it to the kneeling Adar's chest. When he pulls it away, a long, shining string of red flame follows. A cry of pain, raw and desperate, comes from Chanyeol, and he lifts shaking hands to his chest, trying helplessly to pull his fire back inside of him.

As Chen watches with a sense of grim satisfaction, Chanyeol seems to shrink, the color leaching out of his hair and clothes and eyes and skin, small feathers sprouting all over his body. White feathers spring from his hair and hands and keep growing all over his skin as his eyes remain fixed on Wu Fan, who is still pulling fire from Chanyeol's body. Chanyeol's pleas for mercy turn to bird squawks as his lips and nose melt into a beak. Within a matter of minutes, the phoenix is no more. In his place is a large, pristinely white swan, honking confusedly.

Wu Fan, holding the phoenix's fire in his hand, gives the swan a look of disdain before waving his hand. The bird blinks stupidly before spreading its wings and flapping away.

Chen lets out a shaky breath. It's over. Chanyeol will not hurt anyone ever again.

Not like he hurt Suho, Chen thinks numbly.

Chen manages to make his way back to Suho's side. Xiumin and Kyungsoo are already there, haggard lines etched into their faces. Chen kneels next to the body, more tears filling his eyes. Softly, under his breath, he sings.

He sings the song Suho only heard once, so many years ago, when they were both small and knew nothing of the pain and troubles ahead. Suho had tied a bandage around Chen's knee and smiled that kind, gentle smile of his, the one that had touched Chen's heart and made him start to care about the little human boy.

The clouds above respond to Chen's song, even though his breath catches on sobs and his voice trembles and breaks. Rain, gentle and warm, falls across the land, from the vast expanse of the desert to the far northern mountains. For the first time in many, many years, the drought is truly broken.

The rain keeps falling, even after Chen finishes his song and presses trembling lips to Suho's cold forehead.

"Rain for Suho," he whispers, lips twitching into an almost smile before he presses them together and tears roll down his face.

Chanyeol is defeated. Wu Fan is awake.

And Suho is dead.

Chen knows they've won, but it feels like he's lost everything.

------

A/N: It's not over yet.