Warning: This story will break your heart. Please prepare your tissues and sobs of heartbreak. :'( 

A Thousand Paper Cranes

'If you fold a thousand paper cranes, one of your wishes will be granted.' Every crane Baekhyun folds holds a little of his love, a little of his hope, a little of his desire for Chanyeol to wake up again.

(Baekhyun pulls a piece of square origami paper across the table towards himself. It's a shade of orange, and has beautiful white floral pattern designs on it. He folds the paper to form a triangle, then proceeds with more complicated steps to create a crane.)

One.

"Manager hyung, how's Chanyeol's condition?"

The members of EXO gather right outside Chanyeol's ward, peering in. The tanned man is on the bed, as if he is sound asleep - but he's actually in a coma and even the senior doctors don't presume he'll wake up anytime soon.

Baekhyun is right beside him. He is in a wheelchair, with an IV drip attached to his arm, but he's still grasping Chanyeol's own hand tightly in his. The man doesn't speak, he doesn't cry. Baekhyun just continues staring at Chanyeol's unmoving lids.

"Hyung."

Suho's voice gives them all a perfect reason to tear their gaze away from the painful sight. Their manager struggles to push his glasses up with his trembling left hand.

"He's still too sedated to give a precise diagnosis but it doesn't look good."

"Hmm? What do you mean, hyung?"

The said man inhales sharply, then clears his throat. "Even the experienced doctors we have here said that it's probably impossible for Chanyeol to wake up ever again."

The sentence hangs around the group, making the atmosphere more heavy and depressing. It's approximately thirty seconds later that Lay breaks it by asking another inevitable question.

"Then what about Baekhyun? Wasn't he in the same car as Chanyeol when the accident happened?"

"W-Well, the doctors ran some tests and for the time being, Baekhyun seems fine. Chanyeol protected Baekhyun and took the brunt so Baekhyun only has minor injuries, but-"

"But? Don't hide anything from us, hyung."

Their manager averts his gaze. It pains him to continue speaking. "-but ever since he woke up, he's been sitting beside Chanyeol's bed. He hasn't even spoken a word since then, or cried."

All ten pairs of eyes turn back to look into the ward. They focus on Baekhyun, noting how gaunt and worn-out he appears - then at the expression on his face.

"That's it. Kyungsoo, you'll enter the room first. Baekhyun opens up to you most, so make sure you understand what's wrong with him." Suho claps his hands together after he made the decision, and shoots pointed looks at each member in turn.

"Just make sure that you don't aggravate his condition, Kyungsoo."

"Good luck, hyung."

"Thank you. I'll do my best."

(The next is a green paper, then a pristine white one. The pure white folded crane seems so holy, so sacred, that Baekhyun spends a moment staring at it before setting it aside. He glances at Chanyeol - who is still asleep, and decides he has a long way left to go.)

Three.

Kyungsoo stands at the doorway to Chanyeol's ward, observing the situation before his eyes calmly. He can feel Suho and the others staring at him - he knows he has to speak, but he doesn't know how to start a proper conversation with Baekhyun because the latter has always been the one to.

"Baek... you haven't eaten. Don't you want to eat?"

The man is silent, sitting on his wheelchair with his shoulders hunched. He doesn't look up; he can't hear Kyungsoo.

Kris gives a soft rap against the door and Kyungsoo  in a deep breath before making his way behind Baekhyun and glancing over his shoulder. There is a stack of square origami paper on Baekhyun's lap and he is working on one of them, folding. And folding. And folding.

"What are you making?"

There's still no reply - Baekhyun doesn't even glance up. Kyungsoo is a little annoyed, even if he'll never admit to it. The Baekhyun he knows doesn't wallow in guilt or sadness. Kyungsoo turns to look back at Suho and the rest, then resolves to take a chance.

"Baek, even if you don't speak, Chanyeol won't wake up. Nothing will change."

Baekhyun's hands stop their actions, and the paper he's working on is suddenly torn into two. Something falls, then Kyungsoo notices the darker blue spot against the baby blue paper. More of such spots gradually appears, and Kyungsoo realizes it's because Baekhyun is crying.

The man feels a pang of guilt and stretches a hand out to pat Baekhyun's shoulder, but withdraws it at the last moment.

"...Sorry for the insensitive words. Please just eat something or your body won't hold. You still need to take care of Chanyeol, right?"

Baekhyun remains silent; Kyungsoo sighs.

"Get well soon, Baek."

(Baekhyun barely notices when Kyungsoo leaves. He wipes his tears away and continues to fold crane after crane - making mistakes, smoothing out creases, inflating them - the entire night.

He's inexperienced. He still can't fold them perfectly, but he presses on, because it's his fault Chanyeol is in this state. If he hadn't been so insistent about them going out to celebrate their anniversary, if he was satisfied with just a simple celebration at home like Chanyeol proposed. If only...)

Thirteen.

Park Yoora arrives in the hospital late that night, after a long flight back from America. Her hair is in a mess, her makeup ruined, and she dashes straight towards Chanyeol's ward yelling "Chanyeol" but Kris blocks her way.

"It's way past visiting hours."

Yoora pants harshly but makes no move to push past Kris. She knows Kris is not here to stop her because of the rules but because he knows she wouldn't be able to take seeing her little brother in his current state. "I know of Chanyeol's condition already... How's Baekhyun?"

"He's fine."

"Fine? Define 'fine'!" Yoora demands and Kris cringes. He hates how Yoora simply labels it off as a woman's intuition.

Clutching today's lucky item in his hand, he invites her to join him at the pantry so they can discuss this in further detail. Kris tells her how Baekhyun hasn't slept for three whole days, rejecting food and water, and spends all his time folding paper cranes.

Yoora grimaces at the mention of cranes and covers her face with her hands.

"It's my fault. Because I told Baekhyun of how my classmate back in elementary school was healed after everyone in the class pitched in to fold a thousand cranes for her, Baekhyun, he's... Even though I told him it's only a coincidence, he remembered that story and..."

And suddenly Kris understands. He understands what Baekhyun is feeling - that sort of undying hope and desire for your partner to wake up and look at you once more. The desire for him to call out your name. The desire to play another match with him again.

Kris clenches his fists and bows to Yoora curtly before dashing out of the pantry and back to his office. The photo on his desk of Tao smiling while still dressed in his favorite basketball team's jersey takes his attention for several seconds before Kris tears his gaze and bends to retrieve a new notebook and pen from the drawer. Then he runs back towards Chanyeol's ward, pushing his way past a still-crying Yoora.

(Baekhyun doesn't know how long it has been, he can't feel anything. He knows something is terribly wrong but he doesn't find enough in himself to care. It's as if he's detached from the globe and all he's capable of considering is Chanyeol, Chanyeol, Chanyeol, guilt, cranes, and time.

Time.)

Sixty-five.

"Baekhyun!"

Kris's eyes glint with a new-found resolve as he bursts into Chanyeol's ward. As expected, Baekhyun is still beside Chanyeol and still folding the cranes - still closed off to reality. Kris strides up to him and throws the notebook and pen down before Baekhyun.

"I have enough of this, Baekhyun. Stop moping around!" He tugs at Baekhyun's collar roughly and ensures Baekhyun stares straight at him as he speaks. The dullness of the amber eyes unnerves Kris but he refuses to deter. "Look at Chanyeol. Look. At. Him. He's still alive isn't he? Bandaged, injured, barely hanging on, but he's still alive, isn't he?"

Baekhyun turns slowly. His eyes take in Chanyeol's form - the feet, the hands, the torso, the chest, the lips, the unmoving lids - and tears start to build up at the corner of his eyes, threatening to fall.

Kris grits his teeth.

"Suho, Yoora, Kai... All of us are all equally affected by Chanyeol's current state. You may say that it's probably not as bad as you have it, but your pain - I understand it."

The injured man turns his head slowly back to Kris.

"I know how it feels to lose someone precious to you. The feeling of how you want to be beside him every single second despite knowing that you can't do anything, and despising yourself over your lack of power. And that's why I decided to become a doctor after Tao's almost death - because I can't bear to see more people suffering in that same manner." But I still haven't become one.

Kris loosens his grip around Baekhyun's collar and allows the latter to fall back onto his wheelchair.

"I'm not telling you to give up hope. I'm not telling you to stop folding those cranes, because Chanyeol is still alive. There's still hope. But you should look at how everyone is beside you, and notice how different your condition now was from mine. You can still live the life Chanyeol saved to the fullest and he'll still be able to see."

Baekhyun numbly reaches out for the notebook and the pen.

'I know. Sorry for making you remember about what happened to Tao.

Thank you, Kris hyung.'

Baekhyun offers a smile and Kris turns, pretending to stretch when he actually wipes at his tears with his sleeve.

Baekhyun notices this and smiles again.

(It's as if his world is a little brighter and bigger after he obtains the notebook and pen. It widens up merely a little but enough to allow his friends to join him - and suddenly he notices how each of them are affected by Chanyeol's condition, even if they attempt to hide it subtly.

He's not the only one suffering, Baekhyun realizes.

And suddenly, the pain becomes just a tad bit more bearable.)

Two hundred and seventeen.

Lay only enters Baekhyun's ward after five in the evening. The man's room is clustered with gifts which Kris could, oddly enough, easily determine which was from who.

Baekhyun waves at Lay, getting his attention, then proceeds to show him the words he scribbled.

'Lay hyung looks furious, what happened?'

"Nothing much. How's Chanyeol's condition, and where's the rest?"

'Well, Chanyeol is still as usual. Suho went back to the hotel to prepare for a shoot, Tao and Kris went to a basketball match, Luhan and Sehun went for bubbletea, D.O had to go back for shooting, Chen went to SM building, Xiumin went for grocery shopping, Kai went to dance practice and Yoora went home for a change of clothes before she comes back to take care of Chanyeol later tonight.'

Lay scans through the lines of words swiftly. "I... see."

'There really is something wrong with Lay hyung. Come on, tell me! Tell me!'

Lay clicks his tongue in annoyance. "Maybe I shouldn't have told Kris to give you that notebook. You're becoming as annoying as you are back when you can speak. No offense."

It's like a taboo to mention of Baekhyun's psychological wound which causes him to temporarily lose his voice. Baekhyun cringes and holds his head, writhing in pain. Lay flinches at the realization of his mistake and tries to apologize.

Then he notices that Baekhyun is having a nosebleed and dabs at it with a wad of tissue. But there's something wrong with the blood. There's two distinct shades to it - as if it's watery.

Watery.

Lay's eyes widens almost comically as he recalls that he doctors never actually did a full body check for Baekhyun. There was one part which they left out because there were no visible injuries and objects around the accident site which might have hurt it.

The brain.

(Baekhyun knows he's dreaming. Either that, or he's dead - because his surroundings are all a shade of comforting gold and he inevitably smiles. The migraines which he's been suppressing lately seem to all be gone too, replaced by the comfortable whistle of a chuckling man and the squeaking of sneakers.

"Oi, Baek! I told you they had a sale on Korean beef!"

Baekhyun turns, staring at the form of the taller man he respects, admires and loves so dearly, running away from him. He doesn't follow.)

Four hundred and eighty-five.

"Baekhyun."

'I don't want to undergo treatment. 'I don't need it. It's not painful at all, you guys are exaggerating! Things like that wastes time. I'll die anyway, right? Instead of treatment, I want to see Chanyeol. Let me see him!'

Baekhyun doesn't hesitate before scribbling that chunk down and handing the notebook over to Suho and the rest.

The man is pouting and visibly sulking at a fuming leader and members before the latter relents and pushes Baekhyun to Chanyeol's ward. Along the way, Baekhyun continues folding the cranes. He doesn't stop, not anymore, because he has no more time to waste.

The group understands and doesn't stop him. They are in no position to do so. All theh can do is to ring up their manager and tell them of Baekhyun's current condition and decision.

(Baekhyun doesn't know how long he spent sitting beside Chanyeol's bed. It feels like when he was first hospitalized - he doesn't see, he doesn't hear, and this time he doesn't mind. All he does is continue folding. Because at this point, it's all that matters. Chanyeol is still in a coma and his own time is running out.

Chanyeol.

Time.)

Seven hundred and twenty-five.

Kris grits his teeth against the pain as Tao presses an alcoholic wipe against his wound. It's a scratch mark, raw on his skin.

"You've done something stupid, Kris. Why would you pick a fight with a doctor?"

"I didn't do anything," Kris spits, then clenches his fist. "And he's the incompetent one who never performed a head CT scan for Chanyeol even though it's the most obvious thing to do after a traffic accident. And he dares to drag your accident into this."

Tao sighed, reaching into the first aid kit for a band-aid. "What did he say about me?"

"That bastard was asking if I was pissed over Chanyeol's condition because the same ing thing almost happened to you."

Tao chuckles at Kris's cuss words. It's enough to shake an irate Kris out of his ire since it's not often that Tao laughs in a situation like this. "That's not a good enough reason to hit someone, Kris. Besides it's perfectly fine if you're this concerned because this incident reminds you of mine."

The taller man opens his mouth but Tao interrupts him and subtly reminds the latter why he's here today. "How's Baekhyun?"

Kris isn't stupid. He knows what Tao is asking - whether it's true if Baekhyun cannot be cured.

He nods.

"It's a little too late. And the hospital is refusing to take responsibility because it has nothing to do with the accident. It's something that developed on its own after the accident. But we've scheduled his first treatment session two days later, even if Baekhyun himself refuses it."

"And Chanyeol hyung is?"

"As usual."

"Seems like we're back to square one then."

Tao holds out a band-aid which Kris stiffly accepts and proceeds to cover his wound with it.

(It hurts. It's like all the pain which he hadn't felt in the past few days are coming back to him all at once. It's excruciating. Stifling. Suffocating. Baekhyun swipes everything off the table then grips his head with both hands, mouth open in a silent scream. His voice refuses to come out and the button he has to press to call the nurse is located too far away.

Baekhyun shakes his head fervently, opening one eye through the haze of pain to spot Chanyeol's still form. He reaches out to the piece of paper that is fluttering to the ground.

Just one more to go.

He'll be able do it, right?

For Chanyeol, he'll be able to...)

Nine hundred and ninety-nine.

Yoora places the pristine white crane on the right of Chanyeol's pillow and withdraws her hand, wiping at her tears. Baekhyun lies right next to Chanyeol, his body covered by a white piece of cloth, and a card attached to his hand with the time of his death written on it.

"What did you think Baekhyun wanted to wish with these cranes?"

EXO's members turns to face Yoora upon hearing the question. Only the eight of them are present - with Kyungsoo and Suho still on board a plane back to Seoul.

"Baekhyun probably wants Chanyeol to wake up again."

Kris reaches below the white cloth to pull the last unfinished crane from Baekhyun's grasp and smoothen out the creases before continuing from where Baekhyun left off.

"No, I'm sure what Baekhyun really wanted was to have one more pointless argument with Chanyeol again. He wants Chanyeol to play with him again... Because it was the same for you and I, Tao." Tao sadly smiled.

Kris sets the paper crane down on Chanyeol's chest, right above his heart.

Lay blinks at it -his amber eyes blinking quite fast - and for once, he admits his mistake.

"Is that so..."

The fingers on Chanyeol's left hand twitches.

*Sobs* My heart literally broke when I wrote this. I mean, Baek died! And Chanyeol's STILL in a coma. And Tao was in an accident before. And etc, etc, etc. :'(

BUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTT, look at the bright side! Kyungsoo is finally in one of my stories! :D Not just an extra. 

This story is for you! <3 

See you all soon!

Bye~