Random Rambles: I haven't reread/edit this because it's 3.36am right now ^^; I'm tagging this chapter as "YE BE WARNED". Until the next update! <3

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A bright blue butterfly flitted around without a care in the world. It caught my attention when it landed on my shoulder, so delicate and small. I flicked the hologram away, dusting off my shoulder in the process, even though the light didn’t leave a mark behind.

The fake forest had come to live due to Tao tinkering behind the spherical computer. I saw a manner of woodland critters dash through the cover of the fake trees, and my paranoid mind sometimes thought it saw horrid shadow creatures as well. 

I took a deep breath before joining the pack, staring at the massive holographic tree that came out of the depths of the abyss below. The dagger felt cool and heavy in my hands while I wondered how we were going to turn this tiny thing into something that massive. 

“Alright, guys. The White Imoogi said it, we don’t have much time left, so, let’s try to figure this out, okay?” Suho ran his hand through his hair, a look of determination on his face. 

“Do you think there was more that we could’ve done for him and Miss Kumiho?” Tao then wondered, his eyes directed towards the metal door that now had us sealed in. 

“The best thing we could do for them now is to make sure that the black snake doesn’t win, Taozi,” Luhan ruffled his kid brother’s hair in an attempt to comfort him. 

“Right, and how are we going to do that again? Last time I checked, we still didn’t know how to work that dagger,” mentioned Sehun worriedly, rubbing his arm from time to time while still glancing towards the only entrance and exit of this chamber. 

“No worries, Sehunnie, we’ll figure it out in time,” Lay assured the maknae, patting him on the back. 

“So, the leylines are way down there, huh?” Chen pondered, carefully peeking over the edge of the cliff. “I can’t even see anything…”

“Hm, maybe I can fix that,” Baekhyun brought his hands together as a delicate orb of light floated from his hands and drifted into the crevice. We stared at it as it descended further, but it was troubling, to say the least, when the orb showed nothing else other than more darkness. 

“What? How is that even possible?!” Baekhyun pouted, shaking his head. “That thing goes way deeper than I thought.”

“Alright. Stay here, I’ll go check it out,” Kris suddenly said, stretching himself. 

“What?” I exclaimed. “Are you crazy? How are you planning to do that?” 

Kris smirked that smug grin of his that made me want to smack him. “Come on, Jae, you still forget that I’m the best flier around?” 

“Hyung, you’re going to fly into that thing?” Chanyeol asked, bewildered. 

“Kris, no. That’s a ridiculous idea!” Suho disapproved. 

“Well, it’s the only idea we have at the moment. Maybe there are more answers down there,” he shrugged, preparing himself to fly. 

“Right, and how were you going to see those answers once you’re down there, again, hyung?” Kai prompted dryly. 

“It’s pitch black down there, Kris-hyung, you won’t be able to see a thing,” D.O. deadpanned. 

“Oh! Oh!” Chanyeol suddenly reacted, looking oddly excited. “I can go with him! Look, fire!” his hand was immediately engulfed in wild flames which seemed to harbor the same kind of enthusiastic spirit of its handler. “I’ll light the way!” 

“You’re most likely to light the both of you on fire,” Xiumin remarked dryly. “Take Baekhyun with you instead.” 

There was something very endearing about how Chanyeol’s excitement doused the same time his fire went out. There was still a smile on his face, but he looked like a child who had been told that the thing he so looked forward to had been canceled. He nodded understandingly, but there was an obvious air disappointment lingering about him. 

“A-ah. Of course, I understand,” he added and even Xiumin looked like he regretted suggesting Kris to take Baekhyun with him. 

“It’s just more practical, Chanyeollie, I am the Guardian of Light, after all,” Baekhyun just couldn’t help boasting to tease his little brother further. 

“No, I get it. You should go and fly with dragon-hyung…” he muttered with a sad smile on his face. Dragon-hyung? Oh, right, of course… Chanyeol was the flightless phoenix and Kris was the fireless dragon. Chanyeol always wanted to learn how to fly…the poor thing. 

Kris exchanged a look with Baekhyun for a moment and the two came to an understanding. Kris sighed deeply, as though he was annoyed. “Alright then,” he cleared his throat. “Get over here, we haven’t got all day,” he gestured towards Chanyeol, who’s enthusiasm came soaring back. 

“Really? You mean it?” he asked like an over-excited schoolboy. 

“Yeah, go ahead- but don’t blame me when you burn the whole place down,” Baekhyun warned in jest as Chanyeol’s grin widened and he high-fived the duizhang. 

“You hold on tight, got me? Don’t set us on fire,” Kris warned for good measure while Chanyeol nodded to every word he said. 

“No problem, hyung, I got you!” he swore. “Wah, it’s been so long since we’ve flown together,” he added. 

“Hey, don’t forget that this isn’t for fun. We’re pressed for time. If you can’t find anything you head straight back up,” Suho instructed sternly. “And be careful, the both of you!” 

Kris glanced at Chanyeol and the both of them simultaneously turned towards Suho. “Yes, mom,” they said in unison before hovering over the ground steadily and slowly entered the crevice. 

“I mean it!” Suho called after them as we watched tensely at seeing them make the descend to wherever the crevice led to. “Head straight up when you see something or when there’s nothing to be seen!” 

“Yeah, yeah, relax. Go figure out what else we can do if this doesn’t pan out,” Kris grunted, guiding Chanyeol along with him while the latter did his best to keep his flames balanced and bright. 

“See you in a few!” Chanyeol greeted, even waving at us like the happy little puppy he was. 

“Should we worry for them?” I asked, realizing how obvious that sounded.

“Absolutely, but they’ll be fine for now,” Chen assured me. 

Suho nodded in agreement and then looked at me. “What we should focus on right now, is that dagger in your hands, Jae,” he pointed out while we walked back towards the computer. “I thought I saw something the other time we were here. Uh, Tao, could you-?” he gestured at the computer, asking Tao to work it. Tao nodded and pulled up a schematic of the hologram projection of the entire forest inside the chamber. 

“This shows a demonstration of how the Tree is supposed to work,” Tao clarified, enhancing the footage like a pro. He could easily work at Stark Industries if this was the Marvel Universe. Tao worked the computer like a pro, as if he wasn’t used to doing anything else. 

“Exactly,” Suho nodded, watching the projection. “Look, this black line is obvious the crevice, but here- the image shows that all that needs to be done to make the Tree grow is to drop the dagger into the abyss where it should connect to leylines. The dagger has to be some kind of seed. Like a Tree needs water to grow, I think the dagger could possibly need leylines to grow. The leylines in the crevice act like a river, I think. It feeds the dagger so that it can grow.” 

“That sounds so simple,” I commented with a sigh, since I knew that this was anything but. 

“It’s been bothering me for some time now. It should be this simple, but it’s far from it,” Suho sighed. “Why would the black snake be continuously looking for something that’s missing, if he had all of this already at his disposal?” 

“You’re saying that we’ll definitely fail if we just throw in the dagger,” D.O. stated rather than asked. 

Sehun hummed. “But doesn’t that mean that the black snake will fail as well? It’ll be just as useless to him as it would to us.” I don’t believe I’ve ever seen the maknae so lost in thought before. His eyebrows were knitted together as he pondered and I could nearly hear the sound of his brain racking all the way from here. 

“Then what are we standing around for? Let’s call back Kris-hyung and Chanyeol, throw the dagger into the crevice, and we’re done!” Chen commented as though that would solve all the problems. “We won’t be able to make a Tree, but neither will the snake. That counts for something, doesn’t it?”

“Sure. Except for the fact that the whole world will probably explode taking everyone on it with it, since we need a new Tree to balance everything out, remember?” Kai replied, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Kai’s right. Without a Tree, our home will be destroyed all over again. As for the black snake, he wants a Tree so that he has a world to rule over. If this one dies, so will his one chance to gain the power he’s been craving for centuries. He won’t give that up,” Xiumin noted, looking to be the only one in the pack that kept his cool. 

I looked up at Luhan when he suddenly stood beside me, gently taking the dagger from my hands to inspect it. He paid close attention to the heart-shaped seed on top of the hilt. 

“The one who left its heart,” he murmured quietly to himself. “I don’t think this is just a mere seed,” he stated. 

“Well, duh, it’s attached to a magical dagger, Lu-ge,” said Tao, earning a derisive clack of the tongue from Luhan. 

“What I mean to say is that the White Imoogi pointed this out to us for a reason. Our memories are vague when we think about our Tree of Life, right?” he started, biting his lip. “Yongsun was the Tree of Life before the one that we served. Kumiho, Mr. Tabi and Mr. Kang, they were all his guardians…” 

“What are you trying to say, Lu?” Xiumin asked plainly, though the pensive look on his face indicated that he was trying his best to keep up with his friend’s thought processes. 

“I don’t know,” he sighed in reply. “There has to be a reason why our Tree wanted us to protect this dagger…” 

“Maybe that’s why the seed is shaped like a heart,” I prompted without thinking, as usual. “I mean, what if it really is a heart?” The boys grew quiet then, as a sense of revelation was ebbing towards all of us, until- 

“Ew. Noona, that’s nasty,” Tao made a face. “Why would the Tree put an actual heart on top of a dagger?”

“Maybe it was the only way for it to protect itself from the Black Imoogi?” I tried to reason, sighing deeply. “I don’t know…I ‘m making this up as we go along!” I argued out of frustration. 

“Well, if it is a heart, it would make sense that it needs blood to pump, right?” Chen frowned, whilst making a face. 

“But where would it pump to? Into the leylines?” Baekhyun wondered, though he kept his distance from the dagger in Luhan’s hand. 

“So we do need to give dagger-nim more of our blood?” Lay asked, doing his best to keep up, but he had been shifting his gaze towards the crevice where Kris and Chanyeol had disappeared in as well. I wondered how deep the ravine ran. Otherwise, they should’ve been back by now. 

“Hm, maybe if-,” 

Sehun was interrupted by a loud banging sound coming from outside the chamber, followed by something that resembled an explosion and voices raising and yelling incoherently. 

“Crap, they’re here already?” Baekhyun cussed, watching Kai move boldly forward of the group, his eyes fixed on the metal door that was still shut - for now. 

“We need more time,” I mumbled, grabbing the dagger from Luhan’s hands. I flinched when something banged against the door, the distinct clanking of metal beating in time with my heart. Lay waved his hand, showing the shimmer of his forcefield in front of the door- an extra measure to stall whomever was waiting for us on the other side. 

“Chen, tell Kris and Chanyeol to get back here,” Suho instructed, while he pulled me back.  

“Jae, you communicated with the white wolf the most. Think back. Is there anything else he told you? Anything that could help us do this right?” he pleaded, holding me by my shoulders and keeping me focused, despite the fact that the loud banging on the door behind him. 

“I don’t know,” I breathed, feeling the panic settle in. Once the Black Imoogi stepped through that door, crashed through Lay’s barrier- we’re done. He’ll kill us all and he’d have all the time in the world to figure out what to do- no. That’s not true. 

“Ah!” I ran my hand over my face, thinking hard. “There was something…Maybe it’s not important, but-,” I sighed, relying on my memory to help me. I looked up when Kai growled and changed into a wolf. Tao, D.O., and Xiumin followed his example. Chen was still standing at the edge of the ravine, shouting for Kris and Chanyeol to hurry back up. 

“Before we got back here, the white wolf did say something,” I started. “I brushed it off because I thought he was just being dramatic and overly cryptic like he usually is-,” I gasped when the metal door was successfully slashed, the iron bending slowly like a can of tuna being rolled open. A violet eye peeked through, along with slithering vines, making its way through the door. 

“Knock, knock, guess who’s here?” Mr. Tabi’s voice was clear from the other side of the door and in retaliation, D.O. bombarded him through the gap with a mudslide while Xiumin froze his slithering vines in place. 

“Jae, focus,” Suho then told me, making eye contact. 

“I’m scared, Suho,” I confided in him and his expression softened. “My chest feels tight and I feel like I can’t breathe. Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it.” 

“Shh, shh, hey, look at me,” Suho soothed, trying to calm me down. His hand was warm and soft against my cheek, reassuring and safe. “It’ll be okay. Nothing is going to harm you, we won’t let it.” 

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” I told him, blinking my eyes at the realization. “I’m worried about you. All of you…” 

“Why? We’re the guardians here, remember? There’s no need for you to worry about us,” he said and I knew that he made sense. I mean, compared to them, I was the one they should worry about, but still- I couldn’t shake this sudden anxiety I was feeling. I looked at the pulsating dagger in my hand. Was it transferring its emotion to me? 

“You’re right,” I said, shaking my head to clear my mind. “You’re right,” I repeated, taking deep breaths and focusing. “When the wolf took us to the other chamber, I asked him why he was here. He said something about a blood moon?” I jumped again at hearing the loud bang of metal but I concentrated. I could see the white wolf in my mind, the way his eyes shone with gentleness at me. Then, his voice sounded in my head, like an old, familiar melody that reminded me of the warm sun and of a place I could call home. 

“If you do not wake up before the blood of the moon is drained, then all of this has been for naught.” I repeated his words out loud staring at Suho. He stared blankly back. 

“Wha-? Is that Shakespeare?” 

I frowned at him before smacking his arm. “No! That’s what Yongsun told me before we got here. He wanted me to wake up before the blood of the moon is drained. Maybe he knew there was a deadline. If we don’t win then neither will he, and if none of us wins then our home will be-,” 

“Gone,” he finished and swallowed, looking around. “There’s no windows here,” he stated. “We don’t know how much time we’ve left… Kai!” he yelled the black wolf glaring angrily at the leader for bringing him out of his battle-mode. 

“Can you check how the moon looks like outside? It’s important!” Suho asked, rolling his eyes when Kai growled. “I know you can’t teleport outside, but you can look out, can’t you? Hurry!” Kai agreed with a snarl, disappearing in a blink of an eye. Another blink later he returned in human form. "It's still red outside, but the moon seems a bit brighter," he said. 

Suho hummed at this before he nodded a 'thank you' and then turned towards Chen, who was still anxiously gesturing at Kris and Chanyeol. 

“What’s taking them so long?” Suho demanded to know. 

“They’re coming, hyung. Kris-hyung flew in deep and Chanyeol- well, he’s not exactly light as a feather,” Chen answered, zapping a sudden bolt of lightning towards the fortified door when he saw that a shadow creature had tried to squeeze itself through. 

“Jongdae, was that you? I knew you were cheating when you brought in that so-called self-made tesla coil experiment to school one day. You’ve gotten stronger since then,” Mr. Tabi commented. 

“Stop playing with your pupils, Seunghyun! Get me their heads!” an evil voice hissed from behind him. “Have Dee get rid of this blasted enchantment so I can get through! It won’t take long until my brother’s spell wears out!” 

Dee? Mr. Kang is still alive and fighting for him again?! No way…

“What did you do to Mr. Kang?!” I shouted, seeing a glimpse of a crazed Mr. Tabi grinning at me. 

“The question, my dear butterfly, is what did you do to Dee? Convincing him to betray the master, turning against me…The master did what had to be done to save my best friend,” his look had turned dark now as he made more of his vines push and beat against the door, widening the gap. “There was no other choice but to inject his heart with a little bit of darkness…” 

“You mean poison!” I shouted, unable to fathom how the former biology teacher could laugh at this. Then again, I still can’t believe that he was so loyal to the black snake to begin with.

“I mean whatever is necessary to remind him where his allegiance lies!” he shouted. 

“I’ve had enough of this,” D.O. called out, pushing a wall of mud and earth against the gap so Mr. Tabi’s face disappeared. 

“Whoa! You think this will keep us out? Kyungsoo, this must be you,” he mused laughing mockingly. “If you think that a bit of dirt will stop us, you have another thing coming!” His vines suddenly shot through D.O.’s wall but Xiumin was there to freeze them all effectively while Tao shattered them using amazing Kung Fu moves. 

“Oh, come on now, boys. Is this really how we have to deal with this situation?” Mr. Tabi suddenly cooed as if he was trying to make amends. “You’re sitting ducks inside there. No escape. You can’t keep guarding this door forever,” his deep voice, which I once thought was soothing and smooth, gave me chills. 

“You’ve two options,” he continued. “One, we’ll continue this useless fighting and end up dead while Mr. Yok takes what is rightfully his,  or two; You hand us the dagger like obedient little cubs and we’ll consider sparing your lives. Mr. Yok has even agreed to be merciful towards you once he’s the ruler of the world, as long as you surrender yourself wholly to him.” 

The pack exchanged glances with one another, but it was obvious that the boys were insulted by the demeaning suggestions made by our former teacher. 

“We’ll go with option three,” it was D.O. that shouted at him. “Live or die, we won’t let you win!” 

I didn’t like that it fell silent after D.O. made his statement and I was distracted when I saw Chanyeol’s head finally peeking out of the crevice. He climbed out of it and rolled away, still lying on his back while he looked at Suho. 

“There’s nothing down there, hyung. It’s completely black,” he breathed as he scrambled towards Kris who was slowly ascending as well. 

“Not completely,” Kris grunted, heaving himself over the edge, making me wonder why he wasn’t just flying, until I noticed the sweat beads on his forehead and the way his chest heaved when he was breathing. He was exhausted. The ravine must run deeper than we thought. 

Kris looked around, eyebrows lifting at seeing the newly fortified door and turned towards us. “We miss something?” 

“Mr. Tabi is at the door,” Luhan answered. “I don’t think we’ve much time left. We have to act now or we’re screwed.” 

“What did you say you saw down there?” Suho asked, after telling the pack to keep an eye out for any movements coming from the door. 

Kris looked at Chanyeol and rubbed the back of his neck. “We went in deep and far-,” 

“It was awesome, Kris-hyung flew so fast!” Chanyeol interrupted in his excitement. He shut his mouth when his two elder brothers arched an eyebrow at him. “Sorry.” 

“Anyway, I thought we were going to end up in China until Chanyeol noticed something glimmering below us. I thought it was water, but upon closer inspection…” he trailed off, nose scrunching up in mild disgust. 

“Upon closer inspection? What did you see, hyung?” Sehun pressed curiously. 

Kris swallowed and exchanged glances with Chanyeol before answering. “Blood,” was the curt reply. 

“Blood?!” I repeated in astonishment. That was definitely not what we learned we could find underneath the earth in geography class. 

“I can’t be sure, but it looked like it. Maybe that’s the energy of the leylines manifesting itself, or something,” he shrugged, trying to find a reasonable explanation for what he saw. 

“Yeah, or it’s really blood. A huge river of it flowing right beneath us as we speak,” Chanyeol added.

“Are you sure you didn’t mistake it for magma, or something?” Chen prompted, in disbelief that his brothers saw blood deep within this ravine. 

“Come on, Chen, we know what magma looks like and this was definitely not magma,” Chanyeol insisted. 

“But it can’t possibly be blood either, can it?!” Tao yelled from near the door, having heard the entire conversation while keeping guard with Kai, D.O., and Xiumin. 

“The four of you get back here, don’t stand so close to that door!” Suho warned, urging them to step back, which they fortunately did. I still didn’t like how quiet it was on the other side though. They were planning something. I could feel it. 

“Well, it wasn’t red lemonade either, Taozi,” Kris sighed. 

“It would make sense though,” Lay started carefully. “You all saw how dagger-nim responded when it touched our blood.” 

“Yeah, but whatever is flowing beneath us isn’t our blood,” Baekhyun reminded his hyung, lost in thought like the rest of them. 

“Maybe it’s the blood of the world?” Chen then proffered.

“Or the blood of the moon,” I murmured, looking at Suho. “Maybe the red beams outside affected something. Did the blood or whatever, look strange to you? I mean, did it appear inconsistent somehow?” 

“It did seem like some parts were shimmering as if they were glitching, noona,” Chanyeol mumbled, squeezing his bottom lip with his thumb and finger. 

“Maybe that’s it,” I breathed. “The blood, this dagger being alive, the heart attached to it… What if the one thing that it’s missing is an actual physical body? I mean, the blood in the ravine must be the Tree’s blood, its veins. The earth, Mother Nature, must be its body! Everything about this world is alive, as the Tree of Life is, isn’t it? Maybe we have to find a way to connect the heart with the body!” I nearly yelped out of joy at this wondrous eureka moment, while I gave the boys some time to process it as well. 

“Wow, pretty, strong, and intelligent- where have you been all my life?” Luhan managed to tease, stepping back when I grinned and punched him against the arm. 

“It makes sense, right?” I asked for good measure, the boys agreeing. 

“It does, except for two little things,” Suho warned cautiously. “First of all, how do we connect the heart with the body? Throwing the dagger inside won’t work- you’d drown the heart in the blood. Second, the white wolf may have mentioned something about the blood of the moon, but he also said that you were supposed to wake up. How does that tie in together?” 

I felt my own heart sink into my shoes. “Alright, that’s a good point,” I pursed my lips together, thinking hard. “What if he meant that I have to wake up because I know how but I’ve forgotten, like everything else of my old life? What if I do know the answer but I just can’t seem to get to it?” 

“That’s a lot of ‘what-ifs’, noona,” Kai mentioned. “We can’t rely on ‘what-ifs’. We need to know for sure and make the right decision and stick by it. We don’t have room for error.” 

“Well, I’m open to any other suggestions,” I then shot back, feeling a little annoyed. I know that they wanted certainty, I was aware at what was at stake here too. But so far this seemed like the only explanation I could think of and my feeling says I’m on the right track. Maybe if I keep this up, I might be able to wake up just in time. No pressure, of course… 

“Jae might be right,” Luhan then spoke, breaking the silence. “We should give it a try. It’s worth the shot.” 

“But how? What are we supposed to do?” Suho voiced out loud, worry gracing his gentle face. 

“Live or die, you said,” a deep voice suddenly said, echoing throughout the fake forest. My eyes widened in fear when I saw that the gap in the metal door had been quietly opened, and my heart stopped when I saw Mr. Tabi appearing from the shadows, tailed by a legion of shadow creatures, a dazed, brainwashed Mr. Kang beside him. Too late did we realize that we were slowly surrounded by shadows. 

“Very well. I’ll choose option two,” Mr. Tabi cracked his knuckles, violet eyes shining horridly. “Die.” Out of nowhere, thorny vines shot out like spears towards an unsuspecting Chanyeol, who was closest at reach. Eyes wide, Chanyeol fell over, landing on the floor, a confused and shocked look on his face. Breathing heavily, he looked up towards Kris, who had pushed him aside for safety. 

Everything seemed to stop at that moment. Everything stilled. Kris was still standing, breathing shallow, unmoving. I was only aware of the sharp gasp that escaped my mouth when my eyes wandered to the vines sticking into his chest, his abdomen, protruding his back where drops of blood dripped down onto the floor. 

“H-hyung?” Chanyeol murmured in shock, calling out to his brother. Kris blinked slowly, tears falling from his face, though he smiled softly when he looked at Chanyeol. 

“I lost you once,” he breathed heavily. “I wasn’t going to let that happen again,” he stated. 

“Hyung,” Chanyeol’s voice cracked, unable to say anything else. “Hyung!”

“Kris,” Suho called out. 

“Kris,” I whispered, feeling breathless. He turned to smile at me before he fell, the light leaving his eyes. “No,” I shook my head, every fibre in my body trembling. “No!” I yelled near hysteria, his name on everyone’s lips. 

“Kris-hyung! Kris-hyung, no!” Chanyeol crawled towards him while we still stood by in shock. Lay was moving from the corner of my eyes. 

“Kris-ge!” he yelled, rushing towards him. 

Mr. Tabi watched him, standing motionless. “Get the healer,” he instructed, Mr. Kang suddenly moving. Through my tears and shock I somehow still managed to keep myself together and shouted at Lay to warn him. Mr. Kang moved towards him like a vicious animal, sharp metal objects slithering along. They changed shape into tiny metal orbs, until I realized that they were bullets. 

Luhan having heard what Mr. Tabi said as well, moved towards his younger brother in an attempt to shield him. “Lay, watch out!” he called out, the healer stopping in his tracks, turning around. Mr. Kang shot the rain of bullets towards him, Luhan stepping forward and stopping them with his powers. He pushed against the bullets while Mr. Kang did the same. Eventually, Luhan managed to move them away, the majority of the bullets lodged into the trees. 

“Are you okay?” he asked Lay, but before his younger brother could answer, the whizzing sound of something being shot through the air caught our attention and my heart stopped when one bullet found its way through Luhan’s head. He didn’t even get the time to scream as he fell limp onto the floor.  

“Luhan!” Xiumin’s voice was the one I registered, as everything blurred around me. At some point, Mr. Tabi gave the order to the shadows to attack and everything went so fast. I was still processing what had happened to Kris and Luhan, unable to believe that this was happening. This couldn’t be happening! This shouldn’t happen! This was not the way this was supposed to end! This couldn’t be real…

Tears flowed silently from my eyes as I stood paralyzed. I couldn’t do anything when I saw Lay fighting off the shadows as best as he could before he attempted to heal his brothers. I couldn’t do anything when I saw him get overwhelmed by those creatures, vicious vines holding him in place to render his escape impossible. I picked up all the screams when those same vines impaled him and the screams died down. 

Shadows moved like flashes around me, while I caught a glimpse of the pack fighting back out of fury and grief. Mr. Tabi grabbed Kai and I covered my ears at hearing his neck snap before falling to ground. And I? I did nothing. I watched as I saw my friends fall, one by one, like stars from the sky, whom never stood a chance against the darkness. 

This isn’t happening. This isn’t real. Someone is playing a trick on us! 

I desperately looked at Luhan’s still figure on the floor, though I didn’t dare look at his face. 

Luhan, wake up! I yelled at him, knowing that he has to hear me. I flinched at the heat of Chanyeol’s flames nearby, looking away when Mr. Kang had fashioned knives this time, soaring through the air like his bullets. 

I screamed when a shadow crept up on me. Its hands wringing my neck. I crushed my eyes shut when a laser of light flashed against the creature’s head, searing it off. Baekhyun appeared, grabbing my arm. 

“Noona, you have to get out of here!” he warned. 

“Wha- no! No! I’m not leaving!” I shrieked, face wet with tears. Baekhyun didn’t look much different from me, he was crying too. 

“Please, you have to go while you have the chance!” he pleaded. 

“Baekhyun, behind you!” I screamed, a small horde of shadows approaching us. They were an arm’s length away when they were mercilessly zapped by lightning, a wounded Chen looking at us with a small smirk before sinking to his knees. 

“Chen!” Baekhyun cried out. “Noona, get out of here!” He urged strictly. “Tao!” he then called out, seeing him fight with all his might against the shadow creatures while evading Mr. Tabi’s vines. 

“Tao! You and Sehun take Jae-noona to safety- now!” he instructed, but Tao broke out in tears at the mention of Sehun’s name. 

“Se-Sehun’s-,” he choked on a sob and I shook my head, feeling like I was losing my mind. Baekhyun’s grip tightened around my arm as if he needed the support. He was fighting the tears, fighting the sorrow. 

“Tao, take Jae-noona, now!” he pushed me towards his younger brother, voice cracking as he continued the fight. 

“N-noona, come-come with me,” Tao trembled as he took my hand, and running away from the pack while they needed us most was beyond heartbreaking. 

“There’s nowhere to go, Taozi,” I muttered, a sob escaping my lips. This isn’t happening. This isn’t real. “There’s nowhere to run. We have to do something-,” I started, my voice breaking as we stopped at hearing the pack yell and scream. “We can’t leave them! I’m going back!” I pushed myself away from Tao and ran back, hearing him call out my name and running after me. I stopped abruptly when I saw D.O. lying on the floor, gasping for breath. There was fear in his eyes when he looked up at me and I sank down to my knees to hold his hand. 

“D.O.!”

“What are you still doing here, you i-idiot?” he grunted. “Get out of here,” he urged, but I couldn’t move. 

“Let me try and heal you-,” 

“Go away!” D.O. yelled angrily, pushing me away. “Please,” he added in a whisper. “It’s too late. I can’t- don’t make me watch you die as well…” 

“You’re not dying!” I yelled. “Don’t you dare!”

“Jae-,” he breathed. There was something he wanted to say to me. I could tell by the way he looked at me. “Jae-,” he reached to my face and I bent down so he could me. “Tao,” he suddenly spoke. “Get to him. Go!” 

I turned to see him catching up to me, and I was about to reply when I let out another scream of utmost pain. Mr. Kang stood at a distance, but his aim was unfortunately true. I looked to my side, where a tiny, metal tomahawk was embedded there. 

“No!” D.O. exclaimed, letting out a growl as he used his last bit of strength to send an earthly tidal wave towards Mr. Kang, but instead of shooting him up towards the sky, the earth beneath his feet crumbled and he fell into a hole. 

“Noona!” Tao called out, so fixated on me that he didn’t see Mr. Tabi about to attack him with one of his thorny vines. 

“Tao, watch out! Behind you!” I shrieked with all my might. Thankfully, his reflexes were fast and he managed to evade the attack, but in the process, Mr. Tabi managed to impale Tao’s calf and he fell, a few feet away from me. 

Everything slowed down. We were surrounded by flame and smoke, by shadows and fear, and pain. My friends lay strewn over the floor and those few who were still fighting, were injured, close to death. The air left my lungs at catching sight of Xiumin getting the side of his head slammed against a rock and falling down, never getting up. Chanyeol was still fighting, several knives sticking out his back, though he burned whatever came close to him. 

This wasn’t suppose to happen. This couldn’t be it. I saw my friends dying and I did nothing to prevent it. I failed. I failed. I failed. 

“N-noona,” Tao whispered, trying to crawl towards me. I looked at my hand that was still holding onto D.O., but his hand felt limp in mine, his chest wasn’t heaving… I closed my eyes a moment and gently pulled away, attempting to meet Tao in the middle. 

“Noona,” Tao called out again, his bottom lip quivering. 

“Shh, it's okay,” I lied, knowing that neither of us believed those words. “We’ll- we’ll get out this,” I tried to soothe. 

“Everyone is-,” Tao gasped for breath, crying softly. “I want this to stop,” he confessed. “Please, I can’t take this pain.” I knew that he wasn’t talking about the wound on his calf. I felt the exact excruciating pain he was feeling. “Can we make it stop?” he asked, sounding so much like a little boy that my broken heart broke all over again. 

“I wish we could, Taozi,” I whispered, cupping his cheek and leaning my forehead against his. “I wish we could.” 

“I’m so sorry, Jae-noona,” he whispered back to me and I shook my head, caressing him gently, hoping that it would bring some comfort to him. 

“I’m the one who’s sorry, Taozi,” I told him, kissing his hair. We looked at each other as our hands intertwined. 

Then, we closed our eyes, and everything went quiet.