When Hana opened her eyes, the first person she saw was Sehun. Then there was a sweet taste left on , probably blood. He was sitting by the window, his expression gloomy and dark, but somehow he looked more contented and peaceful.

            "You're here..." Her voice was hoarse. She rubbed her eyes and tried to get up, but Sehun stopped her from doing so. He gently held her down, and even sat by her side. It gave her a surprise. He was never this gentle and never this caring. "What happened to the fight?"

            "We won," He replied. And that was then, that Hana realized something. It might have sounded impossible, but his look was visibly different. His jaw softer, his eyes less cruel, losing the coldness it once held so fiercely. His eyes weren't dark like before, it was almost brown. "We won, but we mourned. We've lost."

            "It is inevitable," Hana sighed, seeing the smoke rose from the window. The moon seemed to hide herself behind the night curtain, the stars didn't shine quite as bright. "Are they cremating the dead?"

            "Yes," Sehun followed her eyes, looking over to the pile of dead bodies, the loss warriors and friends. "The mourning ends tonight. And when the sun rises again, they will spread the ashes around the woods, return the remains to Mother Nature. It's what they would've wanted, it's what should be done."

            "And us? What of the living ones?" Hana massaged her sore wrists from holding the sword for too long. When her fingers grazed over her shoulder, she flinched. The wound hadn't fully healed. The deep cut was still a cut, though much better than before. She remembered falling unconscious, and having a dreamless sleep.

            "We won't move anywhere anymore," It seemed that this decision caused an inner conflict for Sehun, seen by his unmoving, still eyes, glued on the window, watching. The crowd moved together in a circle, everyone having their own way of letting go. "They're building a fortress in here. A force field for protection."

            "A temporary one, I assume?"

            "Yes. Not for long now. I'm sure the Elders will strike anytime soon, with few of them left, they will attack all at once," He tilted his head and his eyes fell back to Hana. She recognized the emotion all too well. She had felt what he felt, too. "This time we hope it will be the last. But whose side will be winning? We can't know for sure."

            Instead of offering words of comfort, Hana placed her chin on his shoulder, and simply wrapped the arms around him. It was a kind gesture. Meaningful, but not too much. Both of them knew that silence comforted better than anything else could.

            "I also found out something else..."

            Hana pulled away, but Sehun held her arms still. He didn't want to look at her directly in the eyes and told her of his sins. He couldn't bear to see her reaction, what she could and would have thought of him.

            "Jaejoong didn't murder Soojung," His voice was clear. But there was deep sorrow to it. "My grandfather did."

            Hana's mind darted to the unfriendly face in the library, who had screamed at Jaejoong and called him names. He was a monster. A living nightmare. And even the mere memories of him still made her cringe in disgust. Kim Soohyun. Not much deserving of the 'grandfather' title.

            "All these years of believing Jaejoong did it," his voice turned into a whisper, haunting. "I became a Fallen because he killed them. And now... Now I don't know anymore."

            "Jaejoong is not more of a sinner than you are," Hana spoke, like a mother to her child. She remembered before when Jaejoong told her why he murdered his father. "It is not in my position to tell you why he did what he did, but the two of you are the keys in your grandfather's plays."

            "You mean..." Sehun was at loss of words. He looked fear-stricken, suddenly pale. All sorts of scenarios played inside his head, messing up his belief and faith. "You mean Jaejoong murdered Father because of grandfather?"

            "Words can be deceiving. It is no more than a brainwashing tools for some," Hana neither confirmed nor denied it. Only she could know the truth, and even in her death, would she tell no tales. She had sworn secrecy to Jaejoong, and she would reveal none.

            "And you keep quiet of such important matter! Why, Hana, why?" He was devastating, his haunting eyes were in despair. Accusing her, judging her, she thought of him in a broken way. A fragile doll, some would say. His heart was porcelain.

            "Because Jaejoong never did accuse your grandfather for anything. See, Sehun, he blames himself for everything, and I pitied him," Hana responded in a defensive manner. "It never changes the fact that he killed your father. He said he doesn't regret it, and maybe he never will, but that's because he lacks of your father's affection and attention. He grows up with no one wanting him, with his mother resenting everyone in the world."

            Sehun swallowed in all her words. He drowned in grief for his brother. It didn't help that Hana added on more. More for him to reflect on, more for him to realize that sometimes everything he saw wasn't a clear black or white, good or bad, wrong or right.

            "Your grandfather triggers the weak, insecure part of him, and he triggers the soft, lonely part in you. Neither of you should blame yourself, or each other for this," She sat a little further away, watching as he turned his back to her and trembled. He looked so weak and vulnerable right now, unlike the Sehun she usually saw.

            "It's just that..." Sehun stopped midway, his voice raspy. He tried to hold himself together, but even at his strongest, he still fell apart. There was almost nothing to hold on to, and it just seemed like a free-fall from her downwards. "This is bitter."

            "Life is, Sehun. Life really is," a soft mutter.

            Sehun blinked a few times. He wouldn't cry. He never had since he could remember. He just shook a little, and turned back. He knew her warmth would always be there to welcome him back. So he scooped her closer and buried his face on her neck. Her soft, delicate skin was tempting him to take back what he had given hours before, to finally claim her as his mate. But Sehun wouldn't do that without Hana's concern.

            "Let me stay like this for a little while."

            Hana hummed and placed her palm on his back, caressing it up and down to soothe him. It was a bedtime lullaby her mother taught her before. Memories from her early age was still clear in her mind as if it happened the day before.

            "You're really warm," Sehun mumbled against her neck, and she shifted a little, feeling ticklish. "That's good to hear. I am like a heater. And you're welcome anytime. Wait, don't take that sentence the wrong way. What I mean is..." Hana tried to explain but couldn't find the right words. "I have no idea. Forget it."

            Sehun chuckled, and Hana wanted to pull away so bad. Because she was really ticklish, especially on the neck area. "Okay, time's up. Now, break away, please. I need to..." The girl tried to push him away, but he wouldn't let her go. He was stronger, and his touch made her weak. "Let me go, Sehun."

            "What about a 'no' for you, Lady Jung?"

            "You're a big boy, you can afford rejection," Hana struggled in his arms. "Sehun, let me...oh God, don't do that!" She shrieked when Sehun's hand accidentally brushed her waist area, and she  burst into a terrible series of uncontrollable laughter.

            "You're ticklish?" Sehun looked up, and Hana hit his hands repeatedly. "Let me go, I'm warning you, Sehun." He reached out to trace her neck and she jumped up, shivering. The red blush on her cheeks was too amusing for him. "What can you possibly do to threaten me, Hana?"

            "Well, I can think of a few," Hana pretended to think for a while, but that gave Sehun a chance to pin her down to the bed. Him on the top, trapping the girl down with his arms. "You can't do anything right now, can you?"

            "This is scandalous, Sehun. You'd better stop," Hana warned him, suddenly serious about this whole situation. She was very well aware of her own condition, flushing beet red, heart thumping wildly.

            "It isn't scandalous if I'm with you," Sehun kept their distance apart. "You're my mate. Everyone knows."

            "You're a Fallen, they said you weren't a possible choice," The girl replied, instantly regretting gazing to his eyes. It held depth no one knew.

            "I'm no longer one."

            Hana stopped struggling and instead widened her eyes so big in shock. If Sehun was joking, he wouldn't have said something so outrageous, would he? Hana knew Sehun would never joke about his Fallen identity, no more than he would joke about his revenge, which was impossible.

            "You're not a Fallen?" Hana asked carefully to make sure what she heard was right. Sehun's hand went to her cheek, and she clamped shut tightly. "You... You aren't one anymore? But how...?"

            "Because I wanted to save you," Sehun replied, slowly, leaving the bits of puzzles for Hana to figure out. "Lay said you might not wake up. And so I saved you. And with that I saved myself." The girl looked so clueless at the moment. Her eyes wide awake, but she still dint quite understand how it all happened.

            "'You're my redemption to this life''," He recited what he once said. "So I gave you my blood, Hana. I gave you my blood, and entrusted my life with you..."

                                                                        ***

            The three males didn't know what to make of when they saw Sehun. He was exactly how he was once, before he became the Fallen. The hauntingly beautiful vampire with no smile at all, but eyes warmer than the sun. They could only guess what had happened.

            "You're not a Fallen anymore," Luhan was the first to speak, and Kai swore that when he spoke, there was something so heartbreaking about his tone. Or maybe he was the only one who noticed. It was a sort of congratulatory, but at the same time... a commitment to let go of his feeling and moved on.

            "I'm not," Sehun shook his head and took a seat between Luhan and Kai, facing Jaejoong.

            "I'm guessing it goes well with her?" Kai didn't notice that he, himself was in the same condition as Luhan. Maybe not that bad, since he liked her for a month they knew each other and were always together. Still, no broken hearts could be compared from one to the other. "She reacted well, I s'pose?"

            Sehun watched as Jaejoong began to shake a little, his eyes on the table that separated he and the other three. The silence was confirmation for all of them, and all grimaced for the different grief they had in hearts.

            "How dare you, Sehun?!" Jaejoong's voice was a whisper at first. "How dare you take everything away from me? Father, Mother, my family, the clan. And Hana." His voice had a finalization to it. "Hana. You take her away from me."

            Sehun remained expressionless through Jaejoong's outburst. He had been expecting worse than this. Confrontation via words sounded nicest of them all. But it could also hurt more than anything else. Luhan watched, from the corner of his eyes, how his former best friend sat very still, waiting. Or maybe contemplating.

            Kai knew better than that. He knew his cousin was trying his hardest not to tear his brother apart. Jaejoong was always a broken person. Which wasn't supposed to be a justification of everything he had done. He'd seen the way Jaejoong looked at Hana, and vice versa. It wasn't love. He just had to see that.

            "Brother," Sehun started, very, very softly. Sehun was always anything but soft, so when he did, there was usually something terribly wrong. "Jaejoong, Brother... I am deeply sorry. Please forgive me."

            The three stared at Sehun, bewildered. They hadn't expected him to apologize. Jaejoong especially, was in deep shock.

            "I became the Fallen because of you. Because I wanted a revenge on you. You killed father and Soojung, and I want you dead to pay for their lives," Sehun closed his eyes and remembered everything Hana told him before. He felt a surge of sadness for his brother. He called it pity. "But then I realize you are just like me. If we ever hate each other, it was because we were so alike, yet different in many places."

            "I hate you," Jaejoong bluntly, brutally throwing those words at Sehun, but the later seemed calm. "Thank you, I do appreciate your opinion. But I don't hate you. Strange, isn't it? I'm supposed to, but then... I think so much about what Jiyong, the Elder had told me before. And I know, that both of us are just grandfather' spawn to regain the throne. He played us like fools, both you and me. And we fell deep into his game."

            "I don't blame you for everything anymore, Jaejoong," Sehun continued, taking a deep breath of air. Relief swelled up in his heart after he said those words. "You have your own reason for everything, and I have mine. I was blinded by hatred. I forgot that even after all those fights, and wars, and hurting each other, that you're my only brother."

            The room was suddenly very quiet. Not a single sound. Not even the clock seemed to be ticking anymore. Jaejoong had gone completely pale and grim, but Sehun knew he was listening well. He didn't want to repeat this for the second time, after all.

            "I should've trusted you a little bit more," He confessed, "Maybe not completely, but I should've put a little faith in you. We let outsiders ruin this family. 'A broken family will be one's greatest weakness'. If our family is torn apart, the whole clan will be, as well. And neither of us want that."

            "I have forgiven you for everything, so forgive me for what I've done to you," Sehun stood up and took one last look at his brother, who sat there, seemingly reflecting upon everything. "That's all I want to say. Good night, everyone."