Everything silenced around him and no one spoke.

“I’ll prove I did it,” Luhan swore and turned toward a random guard.

Namjoo had explained to him before that her power was centered around hatred and anger, and he was pretty sure he had all of that right now. The guard’s feet shot up in flames instantly and he turned back to the King.

“She’s innocent.”

“Untie her!” the King ordered.

And when Namjoo was pulled up he saw those eyes staring at him. They were full of unspeakable shock, hatred, confusion, and anger. His heart was crushed when he saw how weak she was. How she wanted to fight against the guards pulling her away, but her body couldn’t act as her mind ordered. And those tears that immediately poured from her eyes made his heart ache even more.

Too pained he forced himself to turn from her as the other guards grabbed his arms and pulled him toward the plank. This was…really the last farewell. The grievance slowly spreading through his heart made it much more difficult to really let go. He really didn’t want to die…but neither of them would escape unless the other died and he’d rather have Namjoo continue living. He was most sorry for being unable to bid her farewell formally, nor could he kiss her goodbye, but he was hoping she’d live a better life than what he’d planned for her.

>_____<;;

Namjoo couldn’t speak. was hoarse. Luhan had taken her power…he’d taken her power! Why! Why! Why! Why!

The tears roamed out of her eyes and she watched the men bind him to the plank. She would have pulled free if it wasn’t for the fact that her life was being away at the same time making her weaker than she already was. Incomprehensible noises felt out of her lips as she tried to call out to Luhan. She almost hated him instantly for doing this to her.

What was he thinking!? Just…what was this?! How was this saving her when she’d have to live without him?!

And Namjoo screamed when the execution finally started. As much as she pulled and struggled she couldn’t get to Luhan. Her feet wouldn’t support her weight and she automatically fell onto her knees. She couldn’t run to him…she couldn’t run to him…

For the next hour as Luhan died before her she dropped onto her knees screaming deliriously. And then she saw it…the blue of his spirit floating toward her body.

Even when the execution field emptied, Namjoo wasn’t allowed to go to Luhan’s smashed body. She had to stay there. She had to be beside him. She couldn’t leave the execution ground with him lying there all bloody and lifeless, but even against her will she was dragged out and dumped outside. Until dawn broke out the next day she still sat there bawling her eyes out.

Her hair was a wrecked mess, hints of blood were on her tear stained face, and blood from her injuries were soaking up her clothes. Passersby stared, but Namjoo couldn’t give a damn about anyone any longer. She wanted to die. How…how could Luhan think about leaving her behind? Her heart ached, her body hurt, and her head did too.

Luhan was evil for doing this to her.

The doors creaked open during mid-afternoon, but Namjoo didn’t look up.

“If you want to see him, I’m cremating his body in the field,” one of the kind guards who’d overseen what happened stopped in front of her.

She limped along beside him as he brought her to a wide field of golden wheat. The sun was high in the sky and beaming an auspicious gold glow on them. The tears became heavier when she saw Luhan lying inside the sticks gathered around him to help catch fire. Namjoo’s mind immediately swirled back to the 24 hours before when they were still together before she was brought to the execution ground and Luhan came to her rescue. Painful…it was so painful. Her body almost shut down on her and she almost fell to the ground if it weren’t for the guard who caught her. Sobs wrecked her aching body and echoed throughout the field, but she could no longer feel the pain seeping from her injuries or hear herself screaming and crying.

Why had it ended like this? She raised a hand up to cover and cried harder than ever. She hyperventilated for a few minutes thinking she would suffocate to death before the guard lit a torch on fire and held it out to her.

“Why don’t you say goodbye to him?”

Squeezing her eyes shut she sobbed some more before realizing she had no choice. Luhan was gone and she was alone now. She couldn’t bring him back nor could she turn back time.

Namjoo let out a loud cry and covered with her hand. She couldn’t do it. For a long minute as the fire burned heavily on the torch she squeezed her eyes shut to help steady herself. And when she opened them again she ran her eyes over the damaged Luhan, who she almost couldn’t recognize anymore from how disoriented his body had become. And it hurt so much to see it.

“I…I…” Namjoo barely enabled the words to come out through her awful sobs. “I’ll always…love you. I’ll never forget you. W…wait for me…rest well.”

And Namjoo continued sobbing heavily as she finally lit his corpse on fire before crumbling down onto her knees as the fire blazed around him.

Now homeless and without a home to return to, Namjoo found herself wandering the streets. For months on end, she wept at night and slept wherever. Sometimes she would stand in the middle of the crowd and think about the days she’d walked so happily alongside Luhan. She’d clutch onto his arm tightly in order not to get lost from him. They’d eat a meal on the street together and he’d buy her pretty clothes because he liked keeping her pretty and well dressed.

People would bump into her, curse at her, and continue on, but Namjoo’s life would never move on. Nothing was ever the same. Then the tears would drop ceaselessly and she’d crawl to the corner of some store and cry before being chased away. Once, she’d tried hanging herself, but the tree branch she was hanging from broke. She’d also tried jumping off a bridge, but an old man had saved her.

The rope the soldiers had used to drag her with left a dark scar on her ankle and Namjoo would stare at it to remind herself that she didn’t deserve happiness. Then there was one day when she was wandering the market with her messy hair and dirty clothes that she came across this sketch of an angel flying into the sky. Her heart was captivated by it immediately and she thought she could see Luhan for a moment.

With her lips slightly parted like an idiot she slowly walked toward it and stared at the wings of the angel. It was definitely Luhan. Luhan was the angel. Crazy or not, she knew she saw him.

And a tear unconsciously slipped down her face. Her heart suddenly ached as it had the day he’d died. Too focused on the picture she didn’t see the person who just stepped out of the house behind it. Noticing her observing the drawing he smiled cheekily as he watched her from behind the portrait.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

And Namjoo’s eyes rose up to meet none other than Chanyeol. The tears continued streaming before her eyes rolled back and she dropped to the ground.

Everything then zipped by in fast motion. Chanyeol had come to her in place of Luhan and even when married to him, she’d been unable to stop longing for the person who’d died in her place. And as lifetimes moved on, Namjoo became lonelier waiting for the person who was supposed to be her soul mate, but none other than Chanyeol had come to her. Her soul continued becoming depressed without her body’s understanding.

Before waking up Namjoo saw a scene where Luhan had been confronted in front of the gates of Heaven. He wouldn’t be able to reincarnate for violating the rules. It wasn’t his spirit that was moving on; it was hers so he had no right to reincarnate. Because he’d initiated the switch, he was prohibited from becoming human. But because the angels sympathized with him, they then gave him an offer…

>_____<;;

The tears squeezed themselves out of Chorong even more as she reached a hand out to wipe the tears flowing out of Namjoo’s closed lids.

“Why is she crying so much?” Chorong asked turning around to look at Victoria.

Victoria looked around as if she was still waiting for Luhan to appear before walking over. Grabbing Namjoo’s arm she called, “Namjoo, can you hear me? Wake up. Please wake up. You’ve been asleep way too long. Come back.”

“Why is she crying like this?” Chorong’s voice squeaked.

About a minute passed by before Namjoo suddenly sat up with a loud gasp. She seemed to try to breathe as she made inaudible noises and reached a hand up to clutch her chest before letting out a horrific sob. Her sisters’ eyes widened as they stared at her.

“Namjoo, are you ok?” Victoria ran a hand through her hair, but she just shook her head and continued sobbing heavily.

“I can’t…I can’t…” were the only things Victoria understood through Namjoo’s terrible sobs.

Namjoo clamped her eyes shut and continued sobbing like a newborn. Her cries were desperate with overwhelming agony. Victoria felt her tears seep into her eyes feeling sympathy for her sister before she and Chorong pulled her into a long hug. Even so, Namjoo never stopped crying.

When another shuddering sob warped through Namjoo Victoria turned around. Luhan finally appeared. His eyes were sad and held a thousand apologies as he looked over at Namjoo. Honestly, the first thing to enter Victoria’s mind was how much she wanted to strangle him for not coming sooner.

Namjoo had her face turned away in resentment, but it was still visible that her body was shaking hard from her sobs.

“Namjoo, Luhan’s here,” Victoria said.

The tears continued falling, but Namjoo didn’t say anything. Her lips were shut tight and it almost looked like she didn’t want to see him. Worry crossed over Victoria’s face. Namjoo was never like this. She never disliked seeing Luhan, but why was she suddenly like this?

“Namjoo,” Chorong grabbed her hands.

“I don’t want to see him,” Namjoo struggled with the words through her sobs.

Victoria and Chorong glanced at each other before they stood and moved aside. When Victoria turned to look at Luhan he finally looked immensely worried and apologetic. What had gone so wrong between them?

>_____<;;

After looking at the ground he slowly walked forward and stood frozen in front of her. Namjoo still refused to turn to look at him.

“So why…did you go back?” he confronted.

He was a little angry, somewhat upset that she had recalled what he’d wanted her to avoid, but he couldn’t blame her for anything. And he knew he still cared for her too much.  

“I’m sorry,” Luhan apologized, “I know I did wrong.”

Namjoo’s breath quivered before she mumbled the words, “You betrayed me.”

Luhan stared down at her, “That was a long time ago.”

“I don’t care! It doesn’t change what you did! You still ruined everything!” Namjoo suddenly lashed out.

She shoved him back when she stood to her feet and he was slightly relieved that her anger was finally erupting.  

Namjoo’s head dropped against his shoulder as she gripped onto his shirt and cried, “Why did you do it! Why did you do it!?”

A loud sob came out of before she slid to the ground and hugged his leg. Hanging her head low she continued sobbing just like she had the last day he’d seen her as a human.

“You never came back,” Namjoo cried, “and I was always waiting alone. It’s not fair.”

Luhan felt the tears dangle in his eyes and he slowly crouched down to hug her.

Placing a head on top of her head he whispered, “I’m sorry.”

And Namjoo cried harder than ever as she dug her fingers into his arm.

>_____<;;

“Ahh…” Chorong moaned as she pounded the back of her neck. “I’m almost exhausted. Namjoo really put us through a scare, didn’t she?”

Chorong wrapped her hands around the warm cup of tea and firmly smiled.

“I wonder what really happened…”

Chorong turned around to see Victoria’s sullen eyes staring into the sink.

“What are you thinking?” Chorong wondered.

“Namjoo’s ruined,” Victoria tilted her head up to stare at the wall ahead. “She’ll forever be depressed if Luhan isn’t here. What if he can’t be here forever? What will she do?”

“We’ll find a way for him to stay,” Chorong simply answered.

“There must be laws up there too,” Victoria tilted her eyes up.

“We’ll work something out if it comes to that,” Chorong tried, “and if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen for them.” Her eyes were downcast. “Something really terrible must have happened for her to cry like that. I’m envious. Even if for a short while, they have each other.”

Victoria turned her attention from the wall to look at Chorong.

“I’d like it if Woohyun could come back to me like that,” Chorong said quietly. “It’d be better if he could be my guardian angel.” Then she tilted her head and looked over at Victoria, “But that’s just my foolish wish.”

>_____<;;

After a long cry, Namjoo had finally fallen asleep in his arms just like the way he held her on sleepless nights. Her head was just right against his shoulder and he was listening to her constant breathing as he’d always done. This time it was much closer to his ear and gave him a warmer feeling than when he listened from afar.

Slightly leaning forward he ran his fingers through her hair before leaning to the side to turn the light off.

“Don’t go,” Namjoo’s hand shot out to grab his arm.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he assured her, “I was just turning the light off.”

And he finally tapped the lamp stand to turn the light off the immediate glow of the spring night’s moon filtered through the window as he sat there with her. This felt nice too.

For a long time the two of them remained in the same spot sitting in silence.

“If you didn’t die for me, we would have met again in the following lifetime, wouldn’t we?” Namjoo asked.

“Yea.” He quietly responded. “I messed up.”

He felt Namjoo’s hand move along his arm before entwining her fingers through his and he allowed himself to grip her hand in return.

“Do they still exist?” Namjoo asked.

“What?”

“Leech seeds.”

He lips curved and he lightly laughed. “I don’t know.”

Luhan felt Namjoo’s hair brush against the nape of his neck as she moved her head up to look at him. She moved her head back into her earlier position and leaned against him.

“So that’s why.”

“What’s why?” he asked.

“Because you took my powers and what I had with me,” Namjoo finished, “that’s why you have a part of me.”

“Just sleep,” he urged after a moment of silence.

“Don’t leave,” Namjoo pleaded.

“I won’t.”

And he thought about how much more troubled her heart would be now. Things would be a tad different than what he’d imagined.

What if he also wanted her back?

Luhan moved his eyes to stare at the hands tightly holding each other.

>_____<;;

Chorong was first to wake up the next morning. She expected Victoria to be the first to wake, which slightly surprised her. Assuming since it was a Sunday and no one was going to bother with waking up early she headed downstairs. As she passed Namjoo’s room she wondered how her sister was doing. Deciding not to bother with her privacy she walked into the kitchen to make herself something to eat.

To change her normal routine she brought her sandwich with her into the living room. Hoisting her feet onto the coffee table she turned the TV on and decided to watch a morning regular drama before the doorbell suddenly rang. Grumbling at the interruption she set the plate down and walked out into the hallway.

“Hi,” Suho smiled back almost nervously, “um…I just wanted to stop by and check on the door.”

Chorong’s mind blanked before a car from across the street suddenly drove off. Her eyes shot toward it strangely and she watched it disappear before another car slowly came down the street. Chorong stared at the car and watched as the tall crime investigator stepped out. Instantly suspicious she turned to Suho with an awkward smile.

“Hey, you want to come inside for a bit?” Chorong questioned to which Suho’s eyebrow shot up surprised by the invite.

Without waiting Chorong grabbed his arm and pulled him in before locking the door.

“Can you go in the kitchen for a minute?” Chorong asked.

“Oh…sure,” Suho nodded and she watched him walk off before dashing up the stairs at the speed of lightning. 

***Ok, so let me explain some of this to you. Remember the first time they were sent back to the Joseon Dynasty, and Chorong had her powers but Namjoo didn't? That was after Luhan already took her powers, so that was why she had none - she was a perfect regular human being. And, Namjoo got her healing powers back when she touched Luhan - she didn't tap into them or develop them like Chorong. So now you know why Luhan has a part of her with him.

***But HanJoo's unfortunate fate still follows them

***Now for some SuRong time

***And time to develop Changtoria