Kai brought them back to his tent just as the sun was breaking, the smile already fading from his face, almost as if it had never been there to begin with. Luhan supposed the time for smiles had long since passed. And it would be a long time before it came again.

“I have to go,” Luhan said, lingering a bit, not at all wanting to go. “We’re having a meeting, just us guardians, a little later. But I need to spend sometime with my cousin, and Xiumin and all my best friends. I might not see them for a very long time. I also have some business that needs to be taken care of sooner, rather than later.”

Kai frowned. “If we’re about to die, you won’t ever see them again.” He winced and apologized.

Luhan said, “Maybe,” and leaned in for a final kiss. Then he added, “Please don’t say anything to the others about what I told you. Kris thinks, or maybe he’s just pretending to think, that we can fight and win. Everyone will fight harder and with more heart if they think we have a chance, even if it’s a slim one. That’s something they have to do, Kai. They have to fight as if they might win.”

“Why would it matter how hard we fight if we’re going to die?” Kai’s shoulders slumped. “I won’t say anything to anyone, but I have to admit, I’m having a very hard time digesting that you still want me to go out there, and pretend like everything is okay, and essentially march to my death. Why should I … why should I even go? Why can’t I be a coward and just run away? Why can’t I take you and go?”

Luhan shook his head. “Because that’s not who you are, Kai. That’s not the man you are. You aren’t a coward, no matter how badly you might want to be right now. And having courage right now, fortitude and strength enough to give your life for the protection of others, will mean everything in the after.” How could he explain it? How could he say it? How much could he say?

“The after,” Kai said gruffly. “Where you think we’re going to end up separated and forget each other, and that’s all after we’re apparently dead and gone, which is crazy and makes no sense. I’ve always found your riddles bearable, Luhan. They’re a part of you. But I’m tired of the guessing now. I’m tired to your lack of bluntness.”

“Kai,” Luhan said, “We have to prove ourselves as guardians. We have to prove ourselves worthy of the title. Chanyeol died protecting one of our own. He proved himself. His soul is clean. Mama promised me. He’s the phoenix. He is rebirth. He had to die first, Kai, he always had to die first, so that the rest of us could come after.”

“Wait. What?” Kai reeled back, his voice carrying far too loud for Luhan’s comfort. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? Had to die?”

Luhan pressed forward, his hands coming up to cover Kai’s mouth. They were hidden in the protection of Kai’s tent, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be overheard. “Lower your voice, please. No one else is meant to hear what I’m telling you. Maybe you’re not even meant to hear it.”

He took his hands away slowly, and it was an eternity more before Kai said, “That is bull, Luhan. Chanyeol did not have to die.”

No, Luhan supposed not. He told Kai, “You’re right. It was his choice. He chose to protect the person he loved. He chose to protect Baekhyun at the cost of his own life, and because of his sacrifice, the phoenix will rise again, making way for the rest of us. Mama has promised me this.”

“Luhan,” Kai breathed out, sounding utterly spent. “Chanyeol died after the last time you spoke with Mama. You spoke with her in the Forbidden City, and then Chanyeol died hours afterwards. Your connection broke before he died, didn’t it? How could you still be in communication? How could she have promised you anything after either of them died?”

Luhan cracked a smile. “I have Mama’s life seed in me, Kai. Mama and her life tree might be gone, but her soul isn’t. Mama will never fully be gone until all of us are. She doesn’t intend to ever let that happen. Now please, keep my secret, and please, uphold your promise to me. Everything depends on that promise.” Before he could say more, or reveal too much, Luhan ducked through the opening of the tent and headed back to where his husband had slept.

There was a beat of awkwardness the second Luhan was in front of Kris. Tao was already gone, and Luhan hadn’t expected him to stick around long enough to create an even more uncomfortable situation. Kris was having a merger breakfast, picking at it more accurately, making Luhan question how many meals he’d done the same at. He was looking thinner than usual.

“How was … ah …” Kris tried, almost adorably so.

“I love you,” Luhan told him, moving to sit in the adjacent chair. “You are amazingly selfless, cousin. But with all due respect, we should probably not talk about this. At least not so early in the morning.”

Kris took a drink of water from a clear glass and saluted him. “Fair enough, husband. But you should be well aware by now that I’m not nearly as selfless as you claim me to be. In fact I’m probably the opposite.”

“You’re a better man than you let people think you are,” Luhan determined. “And that’s a real shame.” Luhan reached for the small bowl of fruit left untouched by Kris and settled in for the last time.

Over the course of their meal Luhan made it a point to keep the conversation away from anything decidedly depressing, and steered it clear every time it threatened to go there. The end result was a good meal, probably the best they’d had together in ages, and faces that hurt from smiling too much at fond childhood memories.

“I’ve got to go talk to a couple of people,” Luhan said when they were done. “But I’ll be back before the lunch hour. I want to be present for the final meeting for both the guardians and the remainder of our forces. Kris, you know I’m going to fight whenever the next attack comes, right? It will be our last stand.”

His cousin’s face was tight lipped and unhappy, but he said, “I know you are. I don’t like it, but I accept it. And I won’t deny that you saved our asses yesterday.”

“Good,” Luhan said, and desperately hoped the next time he woke up, he remembered his cousin. “Now, do you know where Sehun’s tent is? I need to speak with him.”

When M had been lost, and Luhan had been forced to flee with Kris and their closest allies, he’d still been reeling in the shock of losing Mama. The wound had been fresh in his mind and heart, and though he had barely been able to recognize Sehun’s presence as anything but a nuisance, he did recall the endless ways Sehun had attempted to help him. Sehun had been at his side for days, caring for him, talking to him, and urging him not to give up … maybe on himself. Xiumin had eventually run him off, but Luhan was now forever thankful that Sehun had been there. Sehun had proven himself.

“Luhan,” Sehun called out the moment he was ducking into the small tent, announcing himself clearly. “I … didn’t think I’d see you anytime soon.”

“No?” Luhan frowned. “Why not?”

Sehun was perched on the edge of his sleeping cot, elbows on his knees. “Because Xiumin let me know that I was crowding you, and once you were able to function a little more, all that mattered to you was Kai.” Sehun frowned a little. “I’m not saying I don’t understand why Xiumin and Kai are more important to you. That’s not what I’m saying at all.”

“And you think you’re not important to me?” Luhan questioned. He crossed the distance to Sehun and sat next to him gingerly. “Maybe you’ve forgotten that Mama was sending me dreams about you long before we met. I may be in love with Kai, but you’re in my heart as well, and you are more important than you think you are.”

Sehun, who was so young, but so pure hearted, was someone Luhan was determined to protect. The others he could entrust to Kai, but Sehun was different. Luhan was determined to care for Sehun himself.

“You never told me what the dreams were about,” Sehun said, catching Luhan off guard.

“I didn’t?” Luhan inquired. “I thought I did.”

“I never asked. It never felt right.”

And now it didn’t matter.

“Well,” Luhan said, “I never dreamed about your childhood. Not like Kai’s. I got to watch him grow up. I know more about him than he knows about himself, which is a little odd even in my book. But with you, all I ever saw was one of the most precious friendships I was ever going to have. I saw us, Sehun, having meals together, confiding in each other, and embracing each other as brothers. I saw things that have already happened, things that will never happen, and all the proof I could eve need to determine that you are the one and only choice I could ever make to ask the favor of you that I have to.”

Toeing his shoes off, Sehun folded his long legs up on the cot, and asked Luhan earnestly, “What kind of favor?”

Luhan huffed out, “I feel like all I’m doing is asking things of people lately, but this is important.”

Sehun gave a firm nod. “No matter what it is, you can ask it.”

But could he? And essentially steal yet another life from Sehun?

“Luhan?”

Fingers curling up into the material of his pants, Luhan admitted, “Something very bad is going to happen soon. Something that changes everything. We’re going to be lost, Sehun. Scattered. We’re going to be in pieces and most of us won’t know how to put ourselves together. And no matter how baldy I want to protect the other guardians, that’s not my responsibility. Protecting the guardians until they can protect themselves falls to Kai. For me, and maybe for you, responsibility falls to protecting what I have in here.” He touched a finger to his chest and met Sehun’s eyes. “Do you understand?”

Slowly, Sehun’s own finger rose to tap alongside Luhan’s. “The seed?”

“The seed,” Luhan confirmed. “This is the last bit left of Mama. It’s her legacy. And I have to protect it so Mama has a future.”

“Then what’s your favor?” Sehun asked, eyebrows pulling together. “That I protect the seed with you? That’s not the kind of favor you have to ask, Luhan. Don’t forget, I felt the push from Mama to save it. I climbed the life tree. I felt its power in my hands before I gave it to you. I’ll protect Mama with my dying breath.”

Luhan reached for Sehun’s nearby hand, holding it tightly. “When I first met you, or rather, when you first met me, you were having such trouble controlling your gift. It was in control of you sometimes, and not the other way around. But I have always known that you were meant to be one of the most powerful guardians to ever exist. Mama used to whisper to me that you were exceptional, and one day you’d mature and be ready, and I think this is that time.”

Sehun squeezed Luhan’s fingers back “I’m going to fight with everything I have when the time comes. I’ll give everything.”

“I believe you.” Luhan nodded.

“But you still haven’t asked your favor,” Sehun inferred. “Why not? Is it that big?”

“It is,” Luhan revealed. “But I guess this is the time.”

Most of the time, Luhan let himself forget the feelings Sehun had for him. The kinds of feelings he could never return. And while he had no doubt that they were feelings that would fade over time, as Sehun grew older, at the moment, it would have been all too easy to manipulate them. There was nothing Luhan knew Sehun wouldn’t do for him, and the task at hand clearly was to ask a favor for utmost important without letting those feelings sway Sehun’s answer in any way. Luhan couldn’t let that happen.

“My job in the after,” Luhan started, “will be to protect the seed and the power within it. To cultivate and nourish what it truly is, and to keep it safely hidden. That will take everything in me to accomplish, Sehun. I don’t expect to have an unwelcome company while this happens, but just in case, I need someone to protect me, while I protect the seed.”

“And you want that to be me?” Sehun eased out slowly.

“I do,” Luhan agreed. “You’re a powerhouse, Sehun. You are strong and capable, but more than that, your heart and intentions are pure. I need you and Mama needs you, and this is asking more than you comprehend at the moment, but if you agree, it’ll be more than just guard duty. It’ll be secluding yourself away from others and waiting, and hoping, and it will be a long time of this.”

Years, Luhan tried to impart on him. It would be years before they could come out of hiding, until everything had stabilized enough to risk having normal, free lives.

“Away from everyone else?” Sehun asked.

Luhan replied, “For a while. In the after, I won’t know who to trust, so I won’t know who to expose the seed to. It’ll just be me and you, and it might get lonely. It probably will.”

Sehun’s hand wrung free from Luhan’s and he stood, hands on his hips as he clearly thought the matter over.

“I know it isn’t fair to ask you this--”

Sehun turned sharply to him and asked, “You do realize I’m in love with you? I mean, I get that you won’t return those feelings, but you’re telling me that I’ll get to be alone with the person I love, and protect them, and you think this isn’t something I’d want to do?”

Luhan stood himself. “I think you should take into account that even if we spent a hundred years together, we’d never be anything more than friends.”

“You’re my best friend,” Sehun said, shrugging a little. “You’re the person I trust more than anyone else, and the only person who took me exactly as I was, never judged me, always tried to help me, was patient with me, showed me care, and is more than worthy of being protected while he does the most important thing of his life.”

“You won’t be able to see your family,” Luhan offered.

“I don’t have any family, remember? Orphan.”

Luhan gave him a pointed stare. “You might not have any family here, but you likely will where we’re going.”

Confused, Sehun asked, “Where we’re going? We’re going somewhere?”

Instead of answering Sehun’s question, a question that Luhan wasn’t prepared to share the answer with, he posed, “Will you accept me asking this favor of you? Will you sacrifice years of your life and the freedom to do what you want, in order to help me? Please, don’t accept if you don’t completely understand what I’m asking.”

Sehun gave a pause then chuckled. “Luhan, no one really understands you.”

“Sehun.”

Luhan felt air wheeze from him as he was grabbed suddenly, but not harshly, and hugged tightly to Sehun’s chest. The taller boy wrapped heavy arms around him and said, “I’d willingly and gladly follow you to the end of the world, Luhan. And if that’s what this is, then it’s a favor you don’t even need to ask. I’ll be there for you, no questions asked, because that’s what we are to each other. Understand?”

Luhan hugged him back tightly. “Thank you.”

He left Sehun’s tent with his heart feeling a little less heavy, and enough stamina to make it through the last portion of the morning, and well into the afternoon. But by the time the sun was high in the sky, tension was starting to bleed through Luhan’s body, and he could sense how near the end was.

There seemed just enough time for one last moment between Luhan and Baekhyun, who was more like his brother now than anything else.

“Baekhyun,” Luhan called out, hurrying to his side as he caught the man existing the large tent they’d set up as a makeshift armory.

“Luhan,” Baekhyun returned. “Coming to pick up some equipment?”

Luhan shook his head. “Actually, I was looking for you. Chen said he spotted you in this direction. I wanted a word with you, just for a second.”

“Okay. About what?”

Luhan gnawed his bottom lip for a second, then asked, “You’re planning to fight, right? You’re going to stand with the guardians?”

“I am,” Baekhyun confirmed. “I might not have the kind of power that would benefit us, but I can fight in other ways, and I’ll fight until my last breath. I’m going to avenge Chanyeol and get justice for him, even if the impact I make is small.”

“About that,” Luhan said, hand waving a bit frantically. “I just wanted to tell you, I know you think your power is gone. You think you wasted it all, blew it out in one big explosion and you think you’re normal now. But our gifts don’t work that way. You may have burnt yourself out, but you just need time. You’ve been recovering. Your gift has been hibernating, in a word. It isn’t gone permanently.”

Baekhyun gave him a look of disbelief. “I appreciate you trying to lift my spirits or make me feel better, but you don’t have to. I’ve had some time now to get used to my sudden lack of abilities. I’m at peace with it.”

“It’s still in you,” Luhan argued. “And if you call for your gift in battle, it will come to you. I promise you, Baekhyun. I swear it to you.”

Suspiciously, Baekhyun asked, “What brought this on?”

“Just … trust me, okay?”

“I can’t feel my ability,” Baekhyun said simply. “Even when I wasn’t using it all those years, I could always feel it. That’s not the case now.”

Luhan started, “Baekhyun, there are times when--” but he was abruptly cut off by Tao dashing by, calling out a warning as he veered past them, hollering about movement to the west of their camp.

“You want to?” Luhan asked Baekhyun after Tao was gone, nodding after the younger man.

Baekhyun shrugged. “Might as well.” They took off after Tao together.

Tao, Chen, Kris and Commander Suho were grouped together near the far west barricade by the time Luhan and Baekhyun reached them.

Winded, Luhan asked, “What’s going on?”

“False alarm,” Kris assured him, trying to look at ease. “We thought it was enemy movement initially.”

“What was it instead?” Baekhyun asked.

“Civilians,” Suho said sourly. “They managed to pick up our trail and find the base. They’re asking to be admitted for protection.”

“And we’re having a disagreement about it,” Chen added quickly. “We should let them in. They’ve got someone with an ability. He said he’ll fight with us if we let him and the others in. We need to consider that some of them will fight, too.”

“This is a war camp,” Suho returned, voice like steel. “This is not a location for survivors to find asylum. It isn’t safe here. Every person at this camp at the moment is preparing for a last fight in which we expect to sacrifice everything to win. Everyone here accepts they may die at any time. We can’t afford to take on anyone that isn’t going to make that same sacrifice.”

“They have kids with them,” Chen shot back.

“Kris?” Luhan turned to him. “How many are there?”

“Too many,” Kris said with a sigh. “Around seventy of them. And the person they have with them, the one with a gift, it’s barely something we could use in a offensive manner.”

“He can go invisible,” Tao told Luhan.

Without so much as an inch of room for debate, Suho said, “Kris and I are in agreement. We’re going to turn them away. They won’t be safe with us. If anything they’ll be in more danger.”

Surprisingly it was Baekhyun who said angrily, “They came after us because they’re scared and they’re desperate. I don’t think they’ll care if they’re in danger. They just want to be with familiar faces and people they trust.”

Kris started to say, “We’re not equipped to--” but found his words trailing off as something odd began to happen.

“What the hell …” Suho let slip.

Luhan’s own eyes flew up to the sky where the sun was starting to blot out.

No. It was too soon. He’d thought he had at least a few more hours.

“Is that,” Chen wondered aloud, “an eclipse?”

Baekhyun ground out in a question, “It’s happening, isn’t it, Luhan?”

Luhan felt all eyes on him, his friends and family desperate for information.

“I thought we had time,” Luhan said, breathing deep. “But I suppose we don’t.”

Around them the ground began to shake under their feet, and then the sun was gone completely, covering them in shadow.

“We need to get ready,” Luhan told them slowly. “We only have a few moments left.”

The ground lurched again, Luhan stumbled. The sun seemed as if it had never been there at all and the terrified screams of those around him were all Luhan could hear.

In the end it was pointless to attempt to communicate anything further about the impending battle because they were dashing in different directions. He heard Kris calling for him to wait at their agreed upon spot, then he was racing off with Suho to rally the troops.

“Baekhyun.” With Tao and Chen going in opposite directions, Luhan caught Baekhyun’s arm in a fierce grip and told him sharply, “Mama told me. That’s how I know. About your gift not being gone. She told me that it’s still in you, and you can pull it out any time you need to. You’ve just been scared. You’ve been suppressing it whether you realized it or not. It’s still in you. She said to tell you, it’s in you and you have to use it.”

“Mama told you?”

“It never left you,” Luhan said, letting go of him a second later. “So use it.” Then he was sprinting away, heading for the battle armor he’d never worn before, and for the sword that had always been purely ceremonial. It probably wouldn’t be overly useful to him. He wasn’t a master at it like Tao, or even decent like Kris. But maybe if he got lucky he’d be able to cut through a shadow or too. They were wicked fast, but they lost body parts fairly easily and once they started bleeding out black, almost acidic blood, they were vulnerable.

The eclipse was fading by the time Luhan ended up next to Kris, weighed down by armor that was more than a little intimidating, standing on the overlook that gave them a perfect view of the battlefield.

“Guys,” D.O. said, eyes almost comically wide as he moved into his own position. “Remember that really scary looking picture from the book?”

Luhan felt his palms sweating. A fissure had begun to cut across the ground the second the eclipse had started and from it had emerged a shadowy creature easily five or six times bigger than what they were used to dealing with, and seemingly a whole army of smaller creatures to go with it.

“Are those teeth I see?” Sehun asked at Luhan’s elbow, a little pale. “Does that thing actually have teeth? You have got to be kidding me.”

Luhan spread his feet for a better sense of balance and told them, “That is the thing that has been hiding in the planet’s core for several hundred years, chipping away at Mama, waiting for the chance to gain the upper hand.”

And it had it, without a doubt.

Luhan almost startled as Kai inched in past Kris at Luhan’s other side, his hand slipping into Luhan’s, fingers squeezing reassuringly. “I’m here,” he said at a whisper, then louder, added, “You’re going to be ripping the place apart in a few seconds with your ability. I was kind of thinking I’d help you be as mobile as possible. Maximize our kicking. You game? We’ll pretend it’s a Striker match, and that thing’s head is the ball.”

Luhan could only grin foolishly back at him. “And here you are, cheering me on like you said you would.”

Kai gave him a frank look. “I don’t break my promises, Luhan, especially to people I love.”

Luhan couldn’t wait to see him again, no matter how long it would be.

There was no inspirational speech delivered by either Suho or Kris. There was very little rallying of the troops and hyping of the battle. Instead there was almost perfect silence, the air filled with their steady breathing and the occasional rattle of battle armor.

“Wait!” Lay called out sharply, rushing their way. He was flushed in the face by the time he reached them, in his own protective armor. Luhan knew he’d make his own stand as best he could, though in more of a defensive position. “Forget something?” He had their boxes. The boxes filled with their orbs.

“I say we go all out,” Chen said, reaching for his. Almost immediately the sky crackled, piercing light exploding from his lightening. Ahead of them the shadows shrieked from its intensity, and Chen gave a wolfish smile. “That’s what I’m talking about it.”

Kris gave them all a nod. “Now is the time.”

When Luhan had his own orb in hand, feeling the power sink into him as the orb disintegrated around his fingers, he felt an odd sense of serenity overwhelm him. He was ready to fight, ready to die, and ready for everything that came afterwards.

“Holy crap!” Xiumin called out, ice spreading out around him almost of its own violation as he grappled with the power surge.

Then it was Baekhyun who said simply, without an orb of his own, “I’m fighting today for Chanyeol, and to make sure no one else has to end up like him. What are you guys fighting for?”

D.O. made a low sound, then shrugged. “That sounds good to me. Any objections?”

Luhan cracked what he felt to be his last smile. “No. I don’t think anyone here has any objections to that.”

A shrill sound cut through the air and Luhan barely had time to register Kai wrapping an arm around him before they were teleporting, jetting everywhere, Luhan moving instinctively to call up every bit of power he’d worked so hard to reign in.

The truth was, Luhan had never tried to exercise everything that he was capable of. He knew people feared him and his ability, or rather the extent of it. And frankly, with his position as Kris’ betrothed, there had never been a need for him to use it for anything more than minor tasks.

Now, however, Kai controlling the flow of the fight from their end, it felt like coming home as he let it surge out of him.

He could feel the shadows around him, as his power rippled out. He could catch them so easily with his ability, immobilizing them, damaging them, and he could rip them into tiny pieces before they even registered the danger they were in.

Some he flung so far away it would take ages for them to be found, and others he smashed into the ground with all his might.

It was draining in a way he wasn’t prepared for, but there was something oddly empowering about the way Kai held tight to him, almost lending him all the strength he had. Luhan had never felt so powerful. Even as the battled pushed on, his strength waning with how he exerted himself, he felt invincible.

The battle itself was almost beautiful, in an absolutely horrible way.

Kris soared above them, unleashing his dragon, working perfectly in synch with Tao who was able to hold large groups of shadows in place more than long enough for both Kris and their regular troops to take a crack at them.

Suho was easy to spot, directing his water at Xiumin who could manipulate and freeze it faster than he could manifest it himself. Together they were working their way through to the large beast who was ravaging through their regular soldiers without so much as batting an eye.

“Look!” Kai shouted, pointing over to D.O. and Chen who’d moved to protect the recent civilian arrivals. They were impossibly complimentary, D.O. pulling up the ground and Chen bringing the sky down.

As the battle pushed on, hope began to build in Luhan’s chest. They weren’t meant to win, Mama hadn’t thought it was possible, but against the odds, they seemed to be pulling ahead. They were beating back the shadows, driving them into the ground and killing others outright.

A win wasn’t looking like an impossibility, which was something Luhan had never stopped to consider.

Luhan gave a loud cry, chest burning in exhaustion as he used his ability to slam several shadows back into the fissure and stop others from emerging up from it. There was no telling how many were down there, but he was hoping to dissuade some of them from entering the battle. If they were even capable of such thoughts.

“Sehun!”

It was Kai, who’s mouth was too close to Luhan’s ear at the time of the yell, who broke Luhan from the trance he was in.

It was all too easy to determine what had happened as Sehun was flying through the air, tumbling head over feet before slamming into the ground too hard to be well. Lay, who at his current position was trying to heal the surrounding soldiers as quickly as he could, shouted his name loudly. And with a terrible drop in Luhan’s stomach, he realized the huge shadow they’d always feared, The Great Destroyer, was too close and focused on Lay for there to be any question to its intention.

“Go to Sehun!” Luhan called to Kai. “Make sure he’s okay.” And before he could make sure Kai was following his directions, Luhan cut towards Lay, determined to protect his friend.

The huge shadow turned towards Luhan instead of Lay when he was close enough, probably sensing him as the bigger threat.

“Okay,” Luhan mumbled to himself, his fingers tingling and head pounding with a headache, “I can do this.” He pushed at the shadow with everything he had, every bit of telekinetic strength he had, needing to get it away from Lay.

The shadow didn’t even budge for the first few seconds, roaring loudly, swiping at both the soldiers and other shadows who were too unlucky to be in close enough range.

Lay dashed out of the way at seemingly the last second, cutting around Luhan who was digging himself in for what could end up being his last stand. He felt Lay’s cool fingers on the back of his neck a second later, and a burst of energy returned to him.

“You can do it,” Lay mumbled in his ear. “You’re stronger than it is. There’s no one stronger than you on this planet.”

Luhan pushed harder, pulling up the last of his reserves, and he was rewarded with the shadow starting to inch backwards. Luhan recognized the burst of iron at the back of his throat, felt the warmth under his nose, and still he urged himself on. He had to do it. He had to win. He had to. It didn’t matter if it took every bit of him, he had to win against the gigantic shadow.

Behind him Lay wilted down to the ground, gasping hard, completely spent. Luhan couldn’t imagine how much of his ability he’d exerted, or how hard he’d pushed himself. But he looked as if he’d be able to offer Luhan no further help.

Kris, in the periphery of Luhan’s vision, dipped too close to the ground and was caught by a shadow at the ankle. He crashed viciously to the ground, and at the same time Suho gave a strangled cry, a shadow wrestling him down to the dirt.

And suddenly, as Luhan felt his own weariness start to seriously threaten him, he realized that the situation had turned for them.

Tao wasn’t holding the shadows for more than a few seconds now.

Chen’s lightening strikes were slowing.

D.O, was quiet and still on the ground.

Sehun wasn’t moving either, and Kai was shouting hoarsely for Lay who was pale and shaking.

A scream broke out from Luhan’s throat and the shadow matched it, pushing back, throwing Luhan’s power to the side. It made a suspiciously victorious sound, regaining its posture while Luhan crashed to his knees.

“Luhan!” Lay caught him, a last burst of healing cutting through him.

Luhan pushed him away, able to roll to safety just as one of the shadows’ gigantic fists came down, spreading death and decade to the ground under them. Lay tumbled away, not moving, and Luhan gasped for air as he felt his upper lip wet with what could only be a nosebleed.

He noticed something beautiful then.

“There it is,” Luhan found himself whispering, catching the remarkable sight of Baekhyun, light blaring from his hands, fighting back to back with a regular soldier.

This was his chance. The shadows were distracted, even the big one, by Baekhyun’s magnificent light show. He had to capitalize on it.

Expending everything he had, unleashing every bit of power left in his body, was the most excruciatingly painful thing Luhan had ever done. He screamed with all his might, his skin feeling like it was going to peel off, and with his hands braced on the ground, he did his best to tear everything to shreds.

And when he staggered the huge shadow, forcing it down to its knees as it wailed in pain, Luhan felt something snap inside himself. But harder he still pushed himself. He had to give everything he could, until his last ounce of strength was gone.

With one final desperate and sacrificial explosion of power, Luhan ripped through his huge enemy, shredding it to pieces and spraying the surrounding area of sizzling, black blood.

A half second later Luhan was falling, crashing down the dirt, spent and dying.

Kai teleported immediately to Luhan’s side and then they were gone, to the edge of the battle.

As Kai hissed at Luhan, demanding to know what to do, Luhan watched from as distance as the life faded from Sehun, and it was as if he could sense it was already missing from D.O.. Was it the life seed in him that convinced him that he could feel every soul that was lost? Was it the last bit of Mama’s power in him? Or was he simply losing his mind?

“Luhan?” Kai shook him a bit, trying to wipe at the blood on Luhan’s face with his sleeve. “Luhan, please. I need to know what to do.”

Luhan gave a wet cough, spilling blood down his mouth as he gasped for air he couldn’t quite draw in.

“Luhan,” Kai choked out, holding him preciously. “Please, no.”

A sob clenched at Luhan’s heart as his cousin lay sprawled out below them on the battle field, chest unmoving.

It was just like his vision he’d had so many weeks ago. It was the exact scene that he had seen with traumatizing clarity, with everyone dying, the ground turning to ash around them, and the sky falling. He hadn’t been able to contextualize the vision at the time, but now it was so horribly evident that he’d been seeing a final, terrible battle that they were always meant to lose.

“Luhan!”

He couldn’t breathe! Luhan’s hands tore at his own throat, fingers sliding through the blood coating his skin as if trying to coax air through the passageway.

“I don’t know what to do!” Kai shouted, tears streaming down his face. “Luhan! I don’t know how to help you!”

“Your promise,” Luhan gasped out, coughing out more blood as everything started to blur around the edges. It was going dark so fast.

Kai clutched Luhan tightly to him, rocking them as the planet seemed to shudder around them. “My promise,” Kai swore at him. “If I lose you, if we’re separated, I’ll find you. I swear I’ll find you! I’ll get the others and I’ll never forget anything.”

The sky was breaking into shards, falling down around them, and they were sinking down as the ground collapsed in on itself.

“I love you,” Luhan managed, his vision going completely. And he wanted to believe, with every bit of his heart, that he was certain he heard Kai say it back. .

It would be hard at first. Luhan was under no false belief that it would be anything but difficult. They’d be scattered, spread out everywhere. It would be hard to come together, and they might not recognize each other. But they’d be together eventually. They’d have Earth. And in time, because Mama had promised it, they would find each other again.

Kai wouldn’t stop looking. Kai would find and unite them all.

“Luhan!” Kai shouted desperately.

As Luhan died, his soul leaving his body, it wasn’t scary in the least bit. If anything, it was a comfort to finally be able to rest and dream, and be free.