It's one o'clock in the morning when Minseok had done the half hour check on Yixing's symbol. Just when Minseok nears the tree in which Yixing is restrained Luhan pops up, looking frantic. "No!" Luhan screams when he notices the missing symbol on Yixing's wrist. Minseok runs to Luhan before noticing the lost symbol. 

 

"Luhan-Luhan? What does this mean?" Minseok asked.

 

"I'm sorry Minseok" Luhan looks at the other with tears gathering in his eyes. "I couldn't save him. I'm sorry"

 

"Don't play with me Luhan" Minseok backs away before running up the stairs and into Jongdae's bedroom where Baekhyun is softly sleeping, hands tightly holding onto Jongdae's limp once. Minseok takes tentative steps towards the sleeping figure before a loud shrill baby cry jolts Baekhyun up. 

 

"What?" Baekhyun rubs the sleep away before he notices that his no longer holding his bestfriend's hand. He shakes himself awake when he sees that his hand goes through Jongdae's whenever he tries to grab it. Minseok and Luhan stays frozen on their spot by the door. The baby's cry doesn't stop and as Baekhyun tries desperately to hold onto Jongdae's hand the cries goes louder. 

 

"The baby" Luhan says before rushing towards the bed and noticing a translucent little figure right on Jongdae's middle. Baekhyun looks up at Luhan, eyes glistening in tears. "I'm sorry"

 

Luhan then grabs hold onto the translucent figure and just like that Jongdae disappears into nothing. Minseok and Baekhyun is immobilize in their position, eyes focused on the bed where Jongdae had slept, before flashing on the baby in Luhan's arm. A fragile human being with Jongdae's eyes and nose. A fragile human being crying his eyes out and with shaky steps and hands Baekhyun takes the child from Luhan. 

 

"Hey baby Zhihan" Baekhyun cried while holding the baby tight. Minseok slumps on the floor in defeat. "It's Uncle Baekhyun. I'm gonna take good care of you, now"

 

---------------

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I'm not" Jongdae winks, standing up and heading towards the door. 

 

-------------

 

"You wake him up"

 

"I don't think I could. Chanyeol, you wake him up"

 

"What if he screams for Yoona?"

 

"Kick him in the groin"

 

"Would you guys just wake him up already" Luhan growls at the four imbeciles in front of him. Zitao, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Minseok exchanges looks of apprehension before pushing one another towards the tree of doom. Chanyeol gets pushed in the back throughout the whole commotion while Minseok gets to be the unlucky soul to wake up a sleeping Yixing. 

 

Minseok presents a fist towards his friends who just gladly ignored him, in favor of getting Yixing awake and tell the baddest bad news ever. That is if Yixing wouldn't go berserk on them and keep calling Yoona at seven o' clock in the morning. "Yixing?" Minseok takes a stick from the ground before poking Yixing in the face with it. "Yixing wake up"

 

"Yoona?" Yixing murmurs.

 

"I knew it! I knew it! I knew he would still be crazy" Zitao stomps his feet in frustration while Kyungsoo does the liberty in hitting him over the head. 

 

"It's just a first word. Don't get ahead of yourself" 

 

"Y'all should have known by now. Jongdae is dead and that means Yixing is fully under Yoona's control forever. That's a fact" Zitao huffs.

 

"No! What's a great fact is you dying in my own hands" Minseok glares at the younger menacingly. "I don't want you reminding me about Jongdae's death. Thank you very much"

 

"Sorry"

 

"Guys!" Luhan calls out with a groan. "Can you please just wake the unicorn up? We can't really reverse the love potion in his system if he continues to sleep"

 

"Right" the four winks at the witch before Minseok continued onto his duty. Poking Yixing with the stick to wake the younger up. Yixing's nose scrunches in annoyance before blazing eyes snaps open to glare at Minseok.

 

"Can you please stop" Yixing hisses at the elder, mad at being awakened unconventionally. He tries to bat the annoying stick away from his face to only be restrained by the binds tying him to the tree. "Why am I stuck to a tree? Did I fight with Jongdae or something? Untie me peasants!"

 

"Peasants?" Kyungsoo raises a brow. "We are not your peasants Mr. Zhang. Don't call us something we are not"

 

"Sure" Yixing rolls his eyes before wiggling desperately out of the binds. No wonder he felt stiff and achy all over his body. "Help! Let me go! My back is aching and I'm allergic to tree barks"

 

"Oh shut up, Mr. Zhang" Luhan says, waving a hand, and the binds falls to Yixing's feet immediately. Yixing breathes a sigh of relief at being finally free before looking around his surroundings and his friends. He remarks the heavy eye bags on each male's faces and he wonders what had happened after Jongdae collapsed.

 

"Jongdae" Yixing says and the five males in front of him stiffens at the name. "Where's Jongdae, guys? Is he alright?"

 

"Yixing don't you feel anything weird?" Luhan asked.

 

"Nope" Yixing answers walking towards his friend. "Just tired and itchy but I'm good"

 

The five males looks apprehensive at his answer, exchanging looks of concerned, before Kyungsoo steps forth to ask a serious question. "Yixing. I want you to answer me truthfully. Who are you currently in a relationship with?"

 

"Jongdae of course" Yixing grins. "My eternity and beyond."

 

There's silence between the boys before Zitao lets out a loud wail of sadness. "I can't do this! It's like I'm living in a drama"

 

"Shut up, Zitao" Minseok puts a sock on Zitao's mouth without a second thought but Zitao continues to bawl his eyes out. 

 

"His eternity and beyond!" Zitao blows the sock away to continue his outburst. "We lost his eter--"

 

"Zitao! Shut. Up" Chanyeol glares at the younger. 

 

"Shutting down" Zitao closes his mouth before retreating behind Luhan, making himself small as possible. 

 

"Yixing" Luhan says with enough bravery and seriousness. "I think we need to talk"

 

"About what?" 

 

"About Jongdae" a loud baby cry from inside the house that has everyone wincing, "and that"

 

--------------------------------

 

"Why isn't he here yet?" Yoona paces all over the room. Jessica looking at her boredly while sitting cross legged on a violet sofa. "Didn't you tell me the effects were immediate?"

 

"Yeah" Jessica speaks. "But knowing my brother and his friends they probably had tied Yixing up to a tree. Yixing won't be zombie walking into your life yet. Patience is a virtue my dear friend"

 

"How about Jongdae? is he gone for good?" Yoona asked the witch.

 

"As if he never existed." Jessica smiles pulling Yoona down to sit beside her. She brushes the loose hair from Yoona's cheeks before continuing. "Jongdae's gone, Yixing's yours, so stop worrying about this. All will come in due time"

 

"Why didn't you kill the child?"

 

"I wanted to" Jessica answers her charge. "But the protection charm manage to save the baby. Luhan managed to preserve another life but not his friend and that is kind of sad and satisfying. The mother's life in exchange for a little rascal that wasn't meant to be born. A tragic end to an unconventional family."

 

"I want you to claim the child's life. Why would Jongdae's child with Yixing live if mine didn't?" Yoona eyes flashes darkly and Jessica eats up all her anger with a smile. "His biological child in exchange for mine"

 

"Anything you wish, Princess"

 

---------------------

 

"No" Yixing whispers in sorrow. Hands supporting his head while trying to process the death of his bestfriend. Baekhyun is by the door with baby Zhihan on his arm, sleeping soundly. The other's right beside the male watching Yixing breakdown while Luhan remains stoic in his sit. "Nononono! Yoona's gonna pay for all of this!"

 

"She will" Luhan agrees with fresh anger in his eyes. "I promise you she will but now we need to focus in protecting your son"

 

"Yoona expects you to be home by now" Kyungsoo pipes up from his position on Baekhyun's right. 

 

"I'm not going back to her." Yixing balls his fist. "I would die first before she could drag me back to her hellhole."

 

"You have to" Baekhyun hands Zhihan to Chanyeol. "If you continue to stay here, she'll continue being a bastard. Yixing we don't need eyes following us around. We don't want to endanger Zhihan's life more and if you care about your son. You'll go back to her"

 

"It's not that easy Baekhyun"

 

"Life's never easy" Baekhyun counters with a growl of frustration. "I'm ing sick of all this drama. I lost my bestfriend, my only family, because of this twisted love story. I want Jongdae back as much as you do Yixing. I want to protect Zhihan for Jongdae and i know you also do. But Yixing you need to go home!"

 

"You can't tell me what to do"

 

"I just did" Baekhyun takes hold of Yixing's shirt, pulling him up to meet him eye to eye. "Listen to me! We have a plan to get your queen back to safety. There's no guarantee it will work but we have to try for the cult's sake and your happily ever after."

 

"But first you have to go home" Chanyeol continues after Baekhyun finally loosens his hold on Yixing. "You have to go home and act like a nice little fiancé to her."

 

"We also need three drops of her tears" Zitao gives Yixing a transparent vial. "Nothing more, nothing less"

 

"What for?"

 

"A reversal spell" Kyungsoo screams an answer behind Chanyeol. "We're going to Hogwarts tomorrow for an adventure"

 

"Hogwarts?"

 

"We need to get some magic water and Luhan offered us a free trip to Hogwarts" Minseok looks excited at the prospect of finally visiting his dream school and perhaps meet Harry Potter. The once depressed cult was now in a happy mood at getting a vacation from the mess and visiting a magical place only found in London. Yixing envies them but maybe if the gang were successful in their mission then he, Jongdae, and Zhihan could visit Hogwarts with all of them. That would be exciting. "We'll be back before you notice. So hold on tight for maybe a week and then we'll come get you. This time we'll be prepared."

 

"The Daexing cult had failed once and we won't do it again" Kyungsoo declares. "We'll fight back hard."

 

"And this time we'll make sure Yoona's gonna pay for all her sins" Baekhyun follows and the gang nods. They were too weak to protect their bestest best friend in the world. Yixing sees the determination in everyone's eyes and he straightens himself, gathers enough courage, to win this war between him and Yoona. Yixing needs to protect his family. It is his main priority at the moment. He'll protect his son even if it costs him his life.

 

"Oh my gosh!" Chanyeol shrieks while trying to hold Zhihan away from him. Nose scrunched up in disgust and it hits the gang like a bomb. The smell of horror mixed with milk. "Someone change him"

 

"Nope!" Baekhyun raises his hands in surrender. "Let the father change him. I've done my part" 

 

Chanyeol then stomps towards Yixing to hand his son over. "Change him"

 

"Uh...okay"

 

-------------------

 

It's seven in the evening when Yixing comes home to Yoona. Chanyeol and Luhan accompanying him home to make sure nothing bad would happen to Yixing. Luhan had whispered their plan to Yixing before handing a familiar ring back to the latter. "It's your eternity ring. Jongdae left it after he disappeared and I want you to keep it. Hold on to it , don't lose it, it'll come handy soon"

 

"I miss him" Yixing clenches his fist around the ring.

 

"We all do" Luhan cleans Yixing's shirt as they near Yoona's condominium. Luhan could already smell his sister's evil scent and he tries to hold back a growl of disgust. Jessica had always been jealous of him and his achievements. She's just like her charge, selfish. And if there's one thing Luhan hates the most it would be selfish individuals that needs to have their own place in hell. "Now remember, always be kind to Yoona. If she gives you anything suspicious never accept. Turn it down gently and also get out of Jessica's way. She'll know if you're pretending."

 

"Got it" Chanyeol pulls to a stop before Yixing gets out of the car with Luhan in tow. It takes five minutes for the duo to reach the 51st floor of the building and another five minutes just for Yixing to knock on the door. Luhan waits patiently for Yixing to gather all his courage and when Yixing finally knocks on the door, Luhan lnows their mission has begun. 

 

"Welcome" Jessica greets as she opens the door leading to Yixing's former apartment. Luhan fights the urge to growl at his sister's face. Violence never solved anything for Luhan and it would continue that way, as long as the witch would live. "It took you awhile to come home, Yixing."

 

"They tied me to a tree" is Yixing's robotic answer. 

 

"Have you met your baby?" Jessica taunts the male. 

 

"No"

 

"You didn't let him see his baby even once. How could you Luhan" Jessica says to her brother mockingly. 

 

"I wouldn't want someone hurting baby Zhihan" Luhan answers truthfully. "Plus Yixing doesn't even associate himself with the child anymore. So why bother?"

 

"That is true" Jessica plops on the couch, smirk still on her face. Yixing could only stare at the witch blankly before putting all his stuffs to his old bedroom. Luhan watches the boy from the corner of his eyes. "Yoona wants me to kill the child"

 

"What?" Luhan squeaks.

 

"You heard me. Yoona wants me to kill the child." There's a sudden gentleness in Jessica's tone and Luhan thinks he might be dreaming. Jessica is always heartless and a liar. Jessica always lies. She's the Azula to Luhan's Zuko-like way of life. "But I decided I would spare the child. This is a fight between three adults. Why should we include a innocent child into this?"

 

Luhan could only stare at her blankly. "The poison's not that strong to kill anyone" Jessica checks her nail boredly. "If anything it's just a distraction, an illusion. Your little charge is still alive and well. Gone but not permanently."

 

"Why are you telling me this?"

 

"Because I want to" Jessica chuckles at her brother's confused face. "There's always a way for all of you to bring him back but I guess you already know that."

 

"There's no guarantee it would work"

 

"It will" Jessica assures her little brother. "Trust me it will. I know."

 

"Why are you helping us?" Yixing says just when he steps out of the bedroom. 

 

"Yoona's crazy" Jessica answers. "I've placed lots on spell on you and Luhan's charge but nothing ever works. It goes to show that true love conquers all. Your baby with him is enough proof for that." The female witch stands up to pat Yixing on the back, with a tired smile, before disappearing into thick black smoke. Luhan is still wary with the way his sister is acting but doesn't comment much on it. 

 

"My sister always lies" Luhan sighs after the three second silence between him and Yixing. "But sometimes she could be a little helpful. Yixing, she might be on our side now but that would soon change. Keep a good eye on her. She's planning something."

 

"I will"