Mei paced around nervously, tension vibrating off her in thick waves. Her fingers tangled with each other, twisting and turning the piece of tissue paper until it was completely torn. She threw it down and started chewing on her lips instead.

Lily watched her move about restlessly and resisted the urge to do exactly that herself. It was more nerve-wracking, sitting inside the deceptively calm silence of the HQs living room, not the slightest idea what was going on.

She knew something was wrong, very very wrong with Xiumin – the knowledge was like an instinct, the sixth sense, mate's link or whatever it was called, a gut feeling that came with fatalistic assurity – and it was gnawing on her insides like termites. But she resisted because Raina…

The girl was still in shock, not having said a word or even shed a tear since the moment she'd seen Kyra get… Lily swallowed the bile rising in . No, Kyra was going to be alright, Lay would heal her, he'd healed much worse.

She pushed her worry back because there was nothing she could do about Kyra but she could help Raina and that she would do.

'Raina…' she addressed her friend, hoping to drag her out of her shock. And maybe in the process, distract herself from the gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. Xiumin was fine too, he had to be.

Tiffany, who'd been sitting beside Raina, almost as shocked as the girl, seemed to drag herself out of her misery. 'Raina…' she whispered, voice husky and cracked due to dryness of choked tears and swallowed sobs. 'She'll be alright, Raina. Lay'll heal her, I promise…'

Raina blinked slowly, a sheen of wetness appearing in her eyes. Lily rubbed her back soothingly, 'That's right, he'll heal her and…'

'She's dead.' Raina's voice was barely audible, lips trembling. 'She Saw this, she knew she was going to die.' Tears gathered in her eyes, falling down her arms as she hung her head, trembling, 'She's gone… gone…' she started sobbing in earnest and Lily hugged her helplessly. Tiffany threw her arms around her as well, engulfing her from both sides and they just held her as she cried ceaselessly.

Mei had stopped her restless pacing to listen to Raina but she resumed it again, shaking her head determinedly. No, Kyra was not dead. Neither was anybody else; they were all coming back like they'd promised, Chen included, and everything was going to be alright.

She had to believe this or she'd go absolutely crazy, feeling Luhan's worry through their link, worry for Kai – her stomach twisted because Kai was in a bad way and Luhan was really, really apprehensive – and the others and the added pressure of being in charge now that Suho was out.

She glanced to the side where Angel was huddled in a corner, pale and chewing relentlessly on her lips, peeking out into the garden every now and then, as if she could see beyond the walls.

Mei wondered if she knew something had happened to Suho, then shook her head. Of course Angel knew – she was his mate, wasn’t she? It would explain why she'd suddenly abandoned comforting Raina and rushed to the window, standing on the sofa, rising on tip toes to see what was going on outside. Unable to see anything beyond the high walls, she'd given up on jumping – and getting dangerously close to cracking her head – slumping down and huddling in on herself, quite possibly praying for his safety.

Mei took a deep breathe and that's when she felt the sudden panic inside her. It rose suddenly and put her even more on edge than she already was. Almost automatically, her footsteps took her to the front door and she put a hand on the doorknob, her heart rising to for some reason.

Something was terribly wrong and Luhan was at the center of it. No, no, he'd promised to be safe and he was going to be alright.

There was a sudden emptying inside her – as if someone had suddenly pulled the plug of some unknown source of energy and it had started draining rapidly – followed by the most vivid image of Luhan meeting his end.

Unadulterated fear shot through her spine and she twisted the knob, yanking the door open and stepping outside. Only to stop and stare in shock at the bloody mess in the driveway.

No, oh god no!!!

Her eyes scanned the area, fear making her heart throb in , hoping to see Luhan among the fallen Legends. Only Baekhyun was sitting up, though. There was no Luhan.

No, he was alright, he had to be alright!

Heedlessly she ran outside, headed towards the gate because she could still hear the sounds of fighting and that meant…

'LUHAN!!!'

His eyes shone crimson as they met hers and expanded, fear taking the place of whatever it was that had been there before – resignation, maybe? Stubbornness? – and then, he lifted his hand.

There was a sudden pressure against her, pushing her back so quickly she barely had time to blink before she was standing back inside the doorway. Vaguely she noted that the rest of the Legends had been moved inside as well but it barely registered because no way…

'NO LUHAN, DON’T YOU DARE!!! YOU PROMISED!!! YOU PROMISED!!!' she started sobbing, trying to force his telekinesis aside so she could run back outside. 'You p-promised!!'

His lips curved into a beautiful, sad smile and she heard his voice inside her head. I'm sorry. I love you!

With that, there was one last jerk against her and she was literally blown off her feet – and her last sight was that of Luhan falling under the onslaught of abbies before the door slammed shut.

Her screams rang around the deathly silent living room.

…………………………….

It all happened too quickly for them to really process any of it and even later, when he was more in possession of his faculties then he'd been at that instant, Baekhyun couldn't recall exactly what had happened. Only, that it led to their downfall.

Kris was the only fighter left standing, or rather, flying – Tao couldn't really be expected to jump around with D.O on his back and Lay was occupied with Xiumin, deliberately carrying the Legend so Kris would be free and Baekhyun was never so delusional to count himself as a fighter. But that was okay because Lay's earlier prophecy seemed to be coming true.

The burning Sun was indeed their only hope at this point, to navigate them through this sea of darkness to the other side where Luhan had concentrated his shield so no abbies could cross him and get within the boundaries of HQs.

Kris was burning the abbies rapidly, hovering over their group and creating a circle of fire around them to keep the creatures at bay and for a while it seemed like the tide was finally turning in their favor.

Baekhyun rose on tiptoes to see how much ground was left to cover and was pleasantly surprised to find himself much closer than he'd anticipated. Yeah, beat that! He smirked to himself, inwardly cheering Kris as the flames from the fiery ring outwards to clean the abbies trying to get through. He turned his head up, hiking Kyra up with a jerk of his shoulder and managed to throw a thumbs-up in Kris's direction. The stoic Legend gave him an achingly familiar gummy grin, returning his gesture.

In his defense, he'd been too shocked by actually seeing the Legend smile like that – it had been a long, long time since he'd seen it, before Chen's abduction in fact – but he didn't immediately register the droplets that fell on his face or the way Kris's grin turned into a pained grimace.

But there was no way he could miss the black claw sticking out of his brother's chest. His eyes expanded in disbelief, much like Kris's had as the Legend glanced down at himself. Then the claw withdrew and a veritable fountain burst from his chest, dousing them in red as his flames went out.

There was a moment of deafening silence – less than a second in reality, though it felt so much longer – as he watched Kris, the burning Sun, their only hope against this encroaching darkness, begin his descent towards the ground. He watched it happen with utmost clarity, in slow motion, each instant etched into his memory, a nightmare he would relive long as he would live.

Lay, his idiotic, stubborn, self-endangering excuse of a Shadow ran forward and pushed Baekhyun back, carting Xiumin in his arms and making him stumble under the sudden additional weight. He only had time to blink – and open his mouth to ask what the hell did he think he was doing – before the same black claw was protruding through Lay's chest, a mere inch away from Xiumin's back.

Baekhyun did stumble then. He all but fell to his knees as resounding pain crashed through him, flowing like tidal waves as Lay swayed on his feet, hands hovering around the claw like he was unsure if he should pull it out or let it stay – don't, Baekhyun wanted to cry, don't pull it out, you'll bleed to death idiot – but of course, the claw retracted.

Another crimson fountain burst and his ears suddenly whistled, vision going unbearably bright. He shook his head resolutely and stepped forward only to stumble and sink to his knees. Lay was twitching nearby on the ground and that was all he could see. His Shadow was dying and he knew he should be worried because it meant he, himself, was dying as well but all that registered was unbearable ache, an insane grief at the loss of his Shadow, his brother in the truest sense of the word.

'BAEKHYUN!!!' Tao's frantic voice, accompanied by the ruthless shaking of his shoulder made him look up – slowly because for some foolish reason he felt like he would lose Lay if he looked away for even a moment. Tao's face was covered in drops of blood and Baekhyun wondered, with a detached sense of shock, if he looked as ravaged with grief as the cub, then tried to pay attention to what he was saying. It was important, though he couldn't remember why.

'I'm holding them in stasis so they are safe but we have to move now.' Tao sounded strained and Baekhyun noted, with the same detachment, that he was moving strangely. Then he blinked and realized the cub was fighting, waving his sword about. Huh.

'Baekhyun!! Get up!!!' Tao shouted again and Baekhyun stood up, though he swayed on his legs under the combined weights of Kyra and Xiumin in his arms. He wanted to drop them because Lay was on the floor and the abbies would try to eat him because he'd bled out. Nausea tried to rise inside him again but he pushed it back because he had to… what?

'MOVE!!!' Tao's push nearly made him fall and he straightened, then stumbled again because wow, carrying two people while he was on the verge of passing out with phantom pains from his Shadow was hard. Luhan was really strong to have survived pain from both his mate and his Shadow. Wait, Luhan… they had to get to Luhan.

'Where…?' He glanced around with barely-open eyes, question not forming quickly because he was exhausted. All he wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep forever and…

'Baek…'

Tao prodded him between the shoulder blades and tried to move forward again but the abbies crowded in and it was all he could do to push them away from crowding on Kris and Lay's bodies like vultures. He glanced over his shoulder to look at Baekhyun who was barely managing to keep his feet, swaying like a drunkard under the combined weights of Xiumin and Kyra. The guy was badly disoriented, maybe more so because he'd seen his Shadow get piereced through his heart. Tao prayed he'd acted quickly enough and that Lay and Kris would still be alive but at this point, he was holding so many different people in stasis, it was difficult to say how his powers were holding.

Besides, none of that mattered if they were stranded here, unable to get to Luhan who'd send them all inside. , he needed to get them to safety because Luhan could only hold off the abbies by himself for so long. Tao couldn't even ask Luhan to help him because the guy was already too busy shielding the injured and the HQs. No, he would have to figure something…

He was fortunate in that he saw the claw coming and jumped out of the way. The black claw belonged to that same monster which had attacked Suho earlier. Only then, it had used them as tendrils to wrap around but now, he'd straighted those tendrils into sharp, cutting claws which spread out for miles, or that's how it seemed.

Sadly, he'd forgotten he was carrying D.O – the guy was too light and really, Tao was used to weight lifting so he really had forgotten he had extra baggage.

It almost cost him his life.

………………………………

It was a good thing he'd glanced in their direction when he had or they would all be dead.

As it was, he was now faced with a simple choice - who to save?

See, he had been holding his shield up for hours now, without rest and with the additional strain of whatever Evil had done to this place. So it wasn't really a surprise that he was running a little low and now, he only had enough power to either maintain the shield or use a burst of energy to send them all inside.

He might've been able to do both if Kris and Tao had managed to bring the others to him but now…

In the end, it wasn't a choice at all. How could he sacrifice his brothers? He'd have to lower his own shield – the one he held, almost unconsciously around himself – and focus all of his energy on lifting his brothers and pushing them inside the HQs. With the first wall fallen, the second line of defense would engage and they'd be safe.

He felt bad, though. He'd promised Mei he would stay safe and now, look at him, blatantly planning to break it. He thought for a moment, maybe there was something he could do… if he pushed them inside and then really, really quickly reengaged his self-shield maybe? Hmm, that could actually work.

Decided, he concentrated inside himself and focused all his energy, gathering all the wayward tendrils as he'd learned to control them when he'd been practicing with Xiumin and Kai and combined the power in one gigantic ball. It thrummed with energy and he held it for a moment, cherishing it before directing it outwards, to span the area they were in and take hold of all his brothers.

He adjusted his position slightly, scanning the field to mark the clearest paths so he wouldn't have any trouble carting the brats and inhaled deeply. Then he let it out slowly and gestured.

There was a rapid blur of movement and he put everything inside himself to push them as quickly as they could go – faster than light, if need be, so they could all get into safety.

The sudden draining of energy left him exhausted and breathless. He used his powers yes but he'd never used them so… absolutely. He'd gathered every little reserve inside of him and thrown it all out because desperate times called for desperate measures.

And if one of them had to die… well then, better him than the rest.

He only wished he'd kissed Mei properly – in case he didn't make it out. Though of course he was going to fight because why the hell not? The massive burst of energy had left him weak but he pulled out the knives he'd been hiding inside his jacket all this time and lifted his arms in a fighting stance. Good thing he didn't rely exclusively on his powers.

He didn't even know he had another reserve of energy – the unconscious, innate sense of survival had held just enough energy back that his self-shield would work – until he heard Mei's voice. Fear shot up his spine because she was right at the gates and what the hell was she even thinking???

'LUHAN!!!'

. He didn't even think about it, gathered all the energy inside him again and pushed, uncaring of everything except getting her to safety. It was uncontrolled and messy because he was at the end of his rope and utterly exhausted but she was in the doorway and all he had to do was close the door. She would be safe.

'NO LUHAN, DON’T YOU DARE!!! YOU PROMISED!!! YOU PROMISED!!!' Her hysterical screams only strengthened his resolve. He had to keep her safe because before he'd promised her anything, he'd promised to himself to protect her, with his life if need be.

'You p-promised!!'

He knew that he had but unfortunately, it was a promise he couldn't keep. That last burst of power he'd used left him utterly defenseless and his body, already exhausted, was at the point where he was moving only on adrenaline. There had been a tiny chance for survival but he'd tossed it away in favor of saving her life. And that was alright because she was his mate and her life was more important, always more important, than his.

His lips curved into a nostalgic smile, knowing he was writing his own name on the tombstone by doing this but really. He'd do it all over in a heartbeat. He just wished she'd stop crying.

I'm sorry, he thought, I love you.

Then he pushed again, that last burst of power inside him leaving and locking Mei – and the rest of his brothers – inside the HQs and he was buried underneath the onslaught of abbies.

……………………………….

A/N:

I'm sorry T_T