I added something to taohun's story in chapter 14. it's important, so please read it

They promised to be together. They promised to make it through safely, alive. Zitao promised to never leave Sehun alone. But he told Sehun to run, and so Sehun did.

Because he didn't want to see the blood spray, splatter, pool by Zitao's lifeless eyes as they stared, unseeing, into the night sky. He couldn't bear to see everything end, refused to see the horrible reality shattering their dumb and naive dreams.

Because what use were promises when the hand was limp, the wish hopeless, the person dead, torn apart by bullets?

Sehun was alive because of Zitao. And now Zitao was dead, because of him. Because Zitao didn't want Sehun to dig any more bullets out of him, he was now riddled with them, life bleeding out from countless wounds. Because of Sehun, he was now an unnamed corpse, lying on the cold asphalt, sticky from the blood.

They had kissed, letting their tongues and bodies say the words that they couldn't the utter, all the "I love you"s and "goodbye"s that they would never be able to say again. Then Zitao shoved him away and now Sehun ran blindly with his eyes squeezed shut, trying to block out that sight, trying not to imagine what Zitao's corpse would look like, abandoned by him.

Jongin was dead too. And Jongdae. And Junmyeon. And the rest of his family.

It would be so easy to stop running and let his pursuers catch up. They were on foot too, for some reason, as if giving him the chance to escape and live. But did he want to live? He could stop and give up. He could veer into a house, one of those dark back-alleys that he often used as hideouts. But he just kept running, not escaping but not surrendering, just running towards nowhere. It was a dance of death, danse macabre. He danced around his coffin, feet pounding on the concrete wondering where everyone was.

It was the dead of night and everyone was dead.

He was the only one alive. He was all alone. Again. Of course.

So did he really want to live? He could go join them, be with Zitao forever, for eternity, evermore, in death. But no! He couldn't. He had to live; Zitao told him to take revenge. He had to. Zitao had died for him and he couldn't let this death go to vain. He had to live and fight back, let the rivers run red with his enemies' blood. But how?

The bullets were closer now -- whizzing past his ears, drawing a little blood. He had no weapon, he was all alone. All he had was the motivation, a sole reason, to keep going. It was the spirit of Zitao, the remembrance of their moments together. It was the sudden realization that Candy was still in their apartment, waiting to be fed. He wasn't alone, but he was so lonely. His thoughts were going crazy, joining the men chasing him and attempting to batter him to the ground.

He felt himself going crazy, but now there was only one thing on his mind: Zitao.

Why was this world so cruel to them all? Was this karma coming back around to stab a knife through his back? But what had he done wrong? They had all been only children, and they reacted to the world. They had to survive and now they all had to die. There was pain, pleasure and power in this world, but there was no room for love, no room for them.

Sehun was always the only one to survive and now it seemed impossible. But he had to.

He didn't care about the deadly cycle of vengeance, ineffective, internecine. It would be done, he would do it.

But he skidded to a halt.

Dead end. Of course.

How fitting.

He listened as the waves of the Han River crashed against the banks, listened as the footsteps and shouts at him to give up grew closer. It was as if the ghosts of his targets were whispering to him, inviting him to join them, laughing at his sad demise. They called to him, telling him what his fate was. Life was fragile and no matter how one lived, the ending was all the same.

He dared to look back towards his pursuers, emerging from the darkness. The streetlights here were abnormally bright, reflecting off the angry waves like stars.

Zitao.

He took a deep breath and gingerly, deliberately, stepped over the railings.

And jumped.

Time was at a standstill and in the moment where he froze midair, he had time to doubt everything. His mind was clear again and he realized how impulsive he was. What was he doing? Could he survive this? What would he do?

But then it was over. Gravity dragged him down mercilessly and he crashed through, was submerged.

The world was muffled and bullets plonked uselessly around him. He floated in the water and looked up at the stars. He couldn't breathe, but it was silent, peaceful and the darkness seemed almost safe.

And then he felt the presence of a song.

The quiet tuneless melody wrapped around him, gathering him in and crooned to him. It soothed his aching heart and smoothed his furrowed brows. He couldn't feel anything anymore, except for a serenity. He felt light, but heavy, his thoughts lethargic. It lulled him to sleep and he was crying. There was so much to cry about, but the song was so beautiful, so, so touching.

And then, a sweet whisper in his ear,

"Welcome to my Empire."

the end!!! but wait! there's more

1. i'm going to add a bonus chapter soon because i really like this au, and i want to reach my word count goal of 50K (i'm at 48K right now)

2. there's also going to be an explanation chapter bc i feel like i need to explain some stuff

3. while you're waiting, you can check out this fluff fic to heal your feels

thank you so much for reading this! i've seriously never expected to get this much love. my readers are part of the reason why i love writing. i guess i'm sadistic though because it made me really happy whenever there was a plot twist and everyone freaked out haha

i love love love you all. seriously.

thank you.

you all make me feel like this:

please tell me what you thought of this monster fic! and upvote if you liked it ^_^