The wind howled through the empty streets mercilessly, nearly toppling Sehun over as he made his way back towards the others. He didn’t seem to notice it, though. There were too many thoughts tumbling about in his mind, thoughts that seemed to slip from his fingers as they replaced themselves with another. Perhaps madness had wholly consumed him, the Red Force filling his blood with bile and wrapping round his neck like a noose; offering a slow, miserable death. Of all people his subconscious would pull from the depths of his mind, what importance did Jaejoong have? Maybe the subconscious part of his brain, his instincts, were telling him to return home so he could die where he was born. Like an animal.

He stumbled through the doorway, tripping over fallen furniture as the winds shoved him into the hotel lobby. It hissed and wailed. In pain and suffering.

No one was there to greet him; they had all gathered in their own rooms, some of them holed up there the whole day. People like Xiumin and Kai had no desire to go wandering through the streets of Revelle. They had no desire to even see the light of day.

Sehun limped his way up the steps. It was only now that he realized how far gone the disease had left him. Even in the darkness, he could see the gray color on his hands. He could even see the frail metacarpals under the skin, veins laid between. There had been so much on his mind then that seemed to leave him almost immediately as he stopped in the middle of the staircase, staring down at his shaking hand. He began to feel round his neck, realizing his collarbone was now jutting out like a razorblade. Extending his other arm, he saw that he could wrap his hand around his wrist until his fingers overlapped. He may as well have been a skeleton.

“Sehun!”

His head shot up towards the top of the stairs, Kris looking down at him. The moment their eyes met, something disturbing caught them and silenced the both of them. Like some horrifying realization had left them mute.

Luhan came running behind Kris, aptly making his way to Sehun in the middle of the staircase. “Come eat something, you must be freezing.” He looked around, leading Sehun up the rest of the stairs. “Where’s Chen? Tree of Life, you look exhausted.” As the last words left his mouth, his voice faded, Lay’s words returning to him like a worm in his ear. Almost violating.

“I’ll tell you when we get upstairs. Bring everyone to one room or something. You’ll all probably think I’m crazy but I guess it can’t hurt to tell you,” Sehun said through moans as they made their way up the steps. His body was even more frail and sore. The glow root must have finally worn off.

Luhan and Sehun passed Kris through the hallway, his eyes wide and fixed on Sehun’s skeletal body. Why had it only been now that he realized just how much death was clinging to his baby brother? How much could he—should he have done for him before now? Guilt had coated his heart like a thick tar, suffocating and relentless.

As they made their way down the hall, Luhan began knocking on doors as they passed, informing the others to meet them in their own room. He could only imagine what Sehun would have to tell him, yet he couldn’t help but still be more concerned about Lay’s warning only hours ago. And seeing Sehun in such a state, it only became that much more real to him. It was like the infection had suddenly gone into overdrive.

The Blonde Brothers finally made their way into their room, the other Forces following close behind. Luhan helped guide Sehun to the edge of the bed, instructing Kris to grab the youngest Legend a glass of water. Upon entering the room, Lay pulled what he had left of the glow root from his pocket and prepared it for Sehun. Luhan went to take it from Lay for him, but Sehun reached a shaking hand out for it instead, more desperate for relief from his symptoms than he had realized. He forced down the sticky, syrupy liquid, guzzling down the glass of water Kris brought him with face scrunched up in discomfort.

“Where’s Chen?” Tao asked near the doorway, the first to speak as they all settled in the room.

Sehun sat hunched over his knees, his peers staring at him as though they meant to pull the words from his mouth. He swallowed a few more times, coughing here and there as the aftertaste tickled his throat. “Lully’s family is still alive. We found them and he wanted to stay there for the night, but we’ll have to go back for him tomorrow.”

“Should you really have left him?” Tao responded again, a very serious tone in his quiet voice. Like some kind of controlled viciousness.

“I’m not sure, but he was set on staying. I had no choice, I had to come back here and tell everyone what I saw. You guys remember the stories, right? What the Masters told us?”

The others looked at him in confusion. Memories from their training days had become such a blur when it came to studies, and there were so many things Sehun could have been talking about.

“What stories?” Luhan asked.

Sehun coughed, grumbling in frustration at his own weak state. His voice was hoarse and broken between coughs. He’d only barely gotten the words out as he struggled to even breathe. “Jae-Jaejoong… and his brothers.”

“The Harbingers of Death?” Suho asked, leaning into the conversation and unfolding his arms. Everyone else’s attention moved from Sehun to Suho now, waiting for him to clarify. “It was just what Sir Grand Master Soo Man had told me they were called by the Elder Legends and people of the era. I was doing a lot of reading and had a lot of questions, but he didn’t have much to tell me about them and I’ve never been sure why.” He paused, thinking. “You couldn’t have seen them, Sehun, they’re dead.” Suho grabbed Sehun’s empty glass of water and refilled it, knowing he’d need it if he ever wanted to get an answer out of the infected Wind Force.

Sehun took the glass and gulped down the water, gasping for breath before he responded. “It wasn’t all of them—just Jaejoong. I know it sounds crazy but he came to me and said we need to go to Ruk.”

“Even if he told you that, even if you really saw him, how can we know to trust him, Sehun? He killed people over a misunderstanding, placing blame on the wrong people for his brothers’ death. Wait, this is all too much at once. How do you know you weren’t hallucinating?” Baekhyun replied, head shaking as he tried to gather all the information.

Everyone became quiet in thought. Oddly enough, the master of silence was the one who broke it yet again. “Given the restlessness of the dead, I have no reason to think Sehun was hallucinating. Chen has seen the girls and so have I. Of everyone here I have no reason to hallucinate them, and of all people, why would Sehun have visions of Jaejoong? The Harbingers of Death were merely bedtime stories to us.”

“Tao’s right. Besides, I’ve always had an odd feeling about the stories. And we’d only head to Ruk eventually, anyways,” Suho added, eyes on the floor as though he were assessing the information as he spoke.

Tao’s piercing eyes met with Sehun’s. “What did he tell you was in Ruk? There must be a reason.”

Sehun sighed. “He didn’t really explain. Only said there was… something there. Something that would be just as useful as he would be if he were still alive. It’s weird… he knew that was born in Ruk. He knows a lot about us. He even mentioned Chanyeol.”

Baekhyun stiffened, then his face grew angry. “See, that’s bull. How could he know, you were seeing things Sehun! Your mind is playing tricks on you!”

Lay made his way to Baekhyun whose jaw was clenched and eyes glossed over with tears already. It was so hard just to hear Chanyeol’s name. It felt bringing him up like this now were disrespectful. As if it were like using his name in vain. When Lay’s hand met his shoulder, Baek seemed to fall into it, desperate for the comfort his healing touch offered. “Relax, Baek. You’ll say something you don’t mean if you don’t,” Lay’s voice was so calm, like the coo of a mother.

“It’s not entirely bull. The souls of those who have passed return to the Tree. They exist forever with the Tree as a part of the Tree. They become an extension of the Tree of Life. If we are all born from the Tree, if our soul is a part of the Tree, then the Tree knows everything about us and all that which inhabits the planet. When we return to our place with the Tree, we gain the knowledge of the Tree,” Suho explained, having revisited all his old memories of Training and tutelage under Grand Master Soo Man.

Silence yet again infected the room for several minutes before another one of them spoke. “Something as useful as he would be? What the hell could that be, and what would a Necromancer like Jaejoong be so useful for?” D.O. thought aloud.

“Well, we’re surrounded by death. Controlling it would be incredibly helpful, I would imagine,” Lay replied, arm still around Baekhyun as they all wondered what would be waiting for them in the fields of Ruk.

~  ~

Lully’s mother and little sister left Chen to wander the house, allowing him to sleep in Lully’s old bedroom for the night. He’d learned that her mother’s name was Stella and baby sister was Lulu. Lully and Lulu. It was crazy how much Lulu looked like her older sister. It was even crazier that because of training, Lully never spent much time with Lulu; she hadn’t even been born until after Lully left home.

Entering Lully’s room, it was like being reunited with the eight-year-old version of her. They hadn’t even been friends at that age, but he remembered her pretty well. She was particularly feminine—always had been. One would think she fancied herself a princess by looking into her bedroom. The walls were painted lavender, dresses hanging in the closet and a dainty vanity sitting beside the bedroom window. There even sat a short, standing mirror that he imagined her posing in front of all the time. Being in this place, he constantly felt her presence, looking over his shoulder waiting to see her. Wondering if maybe she were merely invisible on the bed or near the window.

Chen found his way to the edge of her bed, falling into it and breathing in deep. Even though she hadn’t been home for years and never would be now, her scent had still been kept in the corners of the room. It only made her feel that much nearer.

A knock came at the door, his heart stopping as he was taken off guard. “Yes?” he called back, trying to gather himself.

Stella peeked in the doorway before fully entering, something held carefully in her hands. “I found something when I was going through some old letters Lully had sent me. She was really fond of you, you know. When I saw this I knew it was something you should see. I thought maybe you would really appreciate knowing about it.” Still gazing at the picture herself, unable to pull away from her daughter’s face in the photo, she slowly began to hand it to Chen’s weak, shaking hand.

He looked it over, taken back to the Switching of the Moons Ball. It hadn’t been that long ago, and seeing her face in the photograph, he realized just how much of his memories had failed him. He’d almost forgotten what she truly looked like. No matter how long he looked at it, he couldn’t bring himself away. He’d been trapped back to that day, he didn’t want to part with it.

“You can keep it,” Stella finally said, “I’ll probably find more pictures of you two that she sent me. I’ll gather them for you so you can visit with them later, but it’s getting late now. You should get some rest, Chen.”

Finally pulling his eyes away from the photograph, he looked up at Stella, struggling to find his voice. “Yeah, I will. Thanks for having me, Stella.”

“Thanks for doing everything you could for my daughter and making her time at the Hall memorable. Thanks for being her friend.” Stella’s voice faded as she struggled for the words before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

He sat there in the dark room, Stella’s last words echoing in his head. He fell over, letting his head hit the pillow and disturb the dust, tossing Lully’s scent back up into the air. The smell of it, while comforting, stung like lightning to his chest. The tears came again, and the more he buried his face into the pillow, the more her scent filled him, the more his fragile heart shattered.

He didn’t do everything he could. She was gone.

~  ~

She couldn’t pull herself away from the mirror, fixing her hair, her dress, and then fixing it all again within a moment. Her make-up was never good enough and she hated her smile more than anything. How on Exo was it that she looked so awkward no matter what she did? Her hips jutted out so strangely, one rib stuck out more than the other. And sometimes she could swear she had the manliest shoulders and the widest face.

“You’re beautiful. You’ve made me very proud,” Nana said in passing, fixing her own hair. “Now get the out of the mirror, it’s my turn.” By merely invading Lully’s personal space, she was able to get the older girl to move from the mirror’s view.

Lully looked Nana over, lips pouting. “Easy for you to say, you always look gorgeous! I’m jealous, and your hair is so long! I could only dream of having hair that beautiful.”

“Shut up, do you want to get killed?”

“Just take a compliment, Nana.” Peeking in the mirror again, Lully grimaced at her reflection before groaning loudly and falling into the nearest wall. “Why do I always look so awkward Nana? That’s it, I’m not going. I’ll only go if I can be invisible the whole time.”

Nana rolled her eyes. “I swear to the damned Tree, if you don’t stop being so self-conscious I will actually fight you. You’re only being like this because of Chen. I’m getting real sick of this, to be honest. Come here and hold my hair out of the way so I can put this necklace on.”

Lully did just as she asked, gathering Nana’s dark hair and holding it above her shoulders while she fell into deep thought. “I feel like an idiot.”

“You are.”

Lully scoffed, smiling knowingly. “Thanks. But seriously, Nana. I’m embarrassed now, actually. I put all this time and thought into my outfit for this, hoping maybe he’ll notice me or something.” She laughed weakly, frowning. “I’ll probably just get left behind the whole time.”

Nana pulled away from the mirror, rolling her eyes at Lully. She put a hand on each of her shoulders. “He’s stupid. Men are stupid, Lully, how many times do I have to beat this into your head. Forget about him. It’s been how long and he’s been blind, just give it up. Let me set you up with someone, better yet just be my wife.”

She couldn’t help but laugh a bit at Nana’s words. “I thought I already was your wife? Is something going on that I don’t know about?”

“Well we could always have our vows renewed,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“Tree of Life, Nana,” Lully snorted.

“I’m ready, let’s get going.”

~  ~

Grand Master Young Min finished with his speech, allowing for the citizens and the Forces to take over the court floor and begin dancing. Lully saw all the other girls and especially the other Forces, the Elder Legends and her peers. Their dresses were so beautiful, their hair was almost so naturally beautiful and their smiles lit up the entire ballroom. How could she compete with everyone here?

Nana had been stolen away by Chanyeol and Baekhyun, and having stolen Kris away with Chen to make way for Sehun and Sydney to have time alone together, the dance had been going on for some decent amount of time now. Kris had already begun to enjoy himself far too much, and since Lully had grabbed him away, he decided she wouldn’t be getting away from him too quickly. He danced with her for a while, reminding her that she got herself into the mess and now she would just have to suffer. Chen had grown bored waiting for Lully to be available and he made his way off into the crowd for drinks.

“Are you really going to keep me prisoner like this all night?” she laughed absent-mindedly, trying to find Chen in the crowd again.

Kris was practically throwing her around on the dancefloor. He knew she would be all too easy to just play with like a rag-doll and he quite enjoyed keeping her off balance. “Nah, there’s a few other babes at the other end of the Court. Think I’m gonna try and get to know them, huh Lulz?” His brows wiggled and she rolled her eyes.

“Oh jeez, Kris. Well you have fun with that!” Finally making her way out of his grip, she forced her way through the crowd, dress bunched up in her hands so it wouldn’t be stepped on and ripped. There were so many faces, so many bodies. As much time as the two of them spent together, she was having a hard time recognizing him in the room.

Finally, somewhere deep inside the dancing crowd, she found him with Luna. His face was lit up in that smile she so adored, eyes looking right back into Luna’s. They were laughing about something together, arms swinging back and forth. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. And then Luna reached her lips up to Chen’s ear to say something so he would hear it. She couldn’t know what it was they might have been saying, but Chen replied back and let her with a kiss on the cheek.

And Lully’s heart sank.

She dropped her dress from her hands, legs going in and out of invisibility. Her eyes were already glossy with tears. She felt so foolish. Part of her was saying she was overreacting, but the other voice was so much louder. The voice that reminded her of how awkward she looked, how annoying she was, how all of her nightmares were bound to come true.

Lully shoved her way out the double doors and into the hallway, her dress catching on one of the doors and ripping up the side. A defeated sob finally escaped. She tried so hard to suppress it, but failed. Panicking, she looked up to be sure she was alone. In the far corner, she swore she saw a tall, dark figure, but within an instant it was gone. She assumed it were her mascara blurring her vision and she made her way somewhere at the end of the hall to fall to the floor and cry.