[Sera]

I had been drifting.

I didn’t know when I lost consciousness. I didn’t know if I was dead, or alive. I didn’t know if Yixing-oppa successfully completed the mission Oh Jaehyun gave to him — to finish me off. Because if he had, that would mean that I was dead, killed by my loved one. Oh the irony.

Yet, I find myself gazing into the eyes of a brother I’ve always secretly looked up to (even if he was one-third of a very noisy, always overly dramatic trio of beagles; and he does not need to know that Oh Sera actually freaking admires him), and I thought to myself as his large orbs (not larger than another brother though) continue to pierce through mine, oh I’m not dead.

Unless I was in heaven, of course, and I’ve had the unfortunate luck of having Byun Baekhyun with me.

But, I was alive. Alive and aching, it seemed.

Every muscle in my body seemed to scream ouch! at me, even though I’ve never moved a millimetre. This strange phenomenon in my body piqued my curiosity (and annoyance), for I’ve never once felt at one go, so much– pain. Whatever happened to me while I was unconscious definitely caused this anomaly, this weird sensation of everything being ed up within me. The intense aches; the irregular flow of blood in my bloodstreams; the searing heat spreading across my skin; as well as my heart not beating. Not. At. All.

Well, that something whoever did to me be damned. I’m officially a zombie.

The organ wasn’t beating. My heightened sense of hearing heard nothing from it, none, zilch. Trying to focus on the singular muscle that laid between my lungs, I tried to not visibly flinch when the aching muscles surrounding it greeted my mental visualisation, but I managed to get a view of the still piece of muscle. It really wasn’t beating. Oh dear.

It was then did another anomaly caught my attention.

Like a desert, or a well that had dried up completely, my throat was dry. (Okay, dry might be a severe understatement, but you get what I mean.) I swallowed, a very minute movement of my throat, and it hurt. Saliva just didn’t seem to be producing itself, thus there was nothing for my oesophagus to gulp down eagerly. It was strange, once again, because even though I rarely drank the red liquid vampires need, I was never thirsty.

Yet this thirst, that was beginning to be of discomfort to me, was there. In my throat, burning, demanding my attention. Like a hungry beast, it obviously wanted the liquid, the liquid to flow down and satiate its raging hunger.

Where the hell am I going to–

“Hello.”

–find– Wait.

“You’re awake, it seems.”

I tore my blank eyes away from Baekhyun-oppa, my pupils dilating to find my biological brother looking back at me. His eyes brimmed with life, a clear indicator of the fact that he wasn’t under Oh Jaehyun’s control; and it was then did I realise that he was in the same boat as I was; Baekhyun-oppa too. We’re alive.

But how?

“Sehun-oppa…?”

“How are we alive?” He seemed to know, and I wouldn’t have expected any less of him. He is the prince, and my brother after all. It would be rather shocking and a large bout of utter disappointment on my end if he hadn’t asked that question, honestly. “Have you moved your tongue yet, dear sister?”

The inculcated younger-sister-obedience had me moving my tongue the moment he told me to, and a liquid that had stealthily hid itself within the crevices of my teeth uncovered itself. I would have gagged, because I identified the substance for what it was, if not for the liquid’s familiar taste that washed over my tongue. It was so familiar, so him.

“It seemed that you were the first, Sera.” Sehun-oppa mused, his eyes still latched onto mine, refusing to release them even though I could feel Baekhyun-oppa’s gaze on me. “Then, me, and Baekhyun-hyung, and right now, probably some of the others.”

His words prompted me to tear my eyes away from his, to finally dart them around the Room. Nothing had changed. We were still fighting one another, parents dueling child, brother engaged with brother. Healer losing to waterbender.

Perspiration continuously form at the top of his forehead, beads of it sliding down his still-handsome face, despite it being littered with small cuts and as I continued to affix my whole attention on him, I horrifically realise that the cuts were not healing as quickly as they should be. My eyes trail down his lean figure, taking in the lumber of his movements, the hesitation in his limbs as they deflect the blows directed at him by his same-aged friend. Orbs of water flew his way, transforming into knives just before slicing his skin, and red liquid appeared. I shut my eyes for a moment, the sight of the boy suffering physically too much for me to handle at that moment. Big mistake.

Since I couldn’t see, I heard. His wheezes, his loud pants of exhaustion that had overwhelmed him. His mutters of curses, his grunts of pain. The inhumane speed of his heartbeat. The sounds filled my head and it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

I willed my eyes to open then, just in time to see him take a blow as Suho-oppa skilfully landed a kick on his stomach. My breath hitched, a stupid move really, for anyone could have heard it. I know who did.

He looked over immediately, lids almost shutting as droplets of perspiration slid dangerously close to the corners of his eyes. They were warm, his eyes, warm and so full of th