His eyes flickered open slowly, but when he turned his head and saw that the other bed in the tent was still empty, Baekhyun heaved a sigh and threw his arm over his face. It had been a week and Chanyeol had yet to return; and Baekhyun refused to leave the tent until he did. Of course the others got worried and even Jongin himself had come in a couple of times to try and convince Baekhyun that Chanyeol would be okay, but nothing worked.

And when Yifan walked into the tent one morning, Baekhyun knew everyone else was wrong. Yifan wasn't one to beat around the bush, and that was what gave Baekhyun some comfort. If it were Joonmyun that had come into the tent, he would just sigh at Baekhyun's hopeless expression and back away after telling Baekhyun to take a rest.

Baekhyun just watched, instead, as Yifan crossed over the small space of the tent and sat himself down on Chanyeol's bed. Yifan was already much taller than Chanyeol, and Baekhyun couldn't help the small smirk that graced his lips as Yifan shifted in his place and tried to make himself more comfortable.

"I have bad news for you." When he did make himself comfortable, Yifan's full attention was on Baekhyun, and the mage of light flinched at the serious expression on Yifan's face. Perhaps being blunt in such a situation wasn't best, and Baekhyun wished Joonmyun were the one to look for him instead. Shifting again, Yifan's gaze fell on the entrance of the tent where the other mages were waiting to see what the news was, "Chanyeol's presence disappeared."

Everything fell apart at once. The other mages crashed into the tent with the two youngest mages demanding an explanation. As the news had not yet been put together in his mind, Baekhyun watched with detached eyes as the others teared up and gathered around the second leader for any hint of the news being false.

"No, he couldn't be dead." Zitao's voice was wavering just slightly, and his gaze had fallen upon Baekhyun almost half-heartedly.

"That idiot. Why did he go alone?" Baekhyun's gaze fell to Sehun, who was on the verge of tears as he stood back. Baekhyun wanted to comfort him, he really did, but his heart was already in the process of shattering.

The mages had looked over at Baekhyun several times, as he had yet to utter a word, and his gaze had fallen to his lap. Baekhyun was still trying to process what he had been told, and as soon as he did, he noticed that his hands were shaking rapidly. Was he angry? Was he upset? Was there a reason why his heart was constricting so painfully?

"Jongin and I are going to go look for him." Yixing announced, and as the other mages turned towards the mage of healing, Baekhyun felt his head shaking ever so slightly.

"I can teleport us, and if there's a chance that Yixing can heal him, we'll take it." Jongin added on, and the other mages remained silent as they contemplated on the decision.

"I'll join. I didn't stop him, this is my responsibility as well." No one had blamed Luhan, since Chanyeol was a stubborn idiot, but Luhan had already let the guilt affect him.

"Don't be stupid." Baekhyun scoffed, and the other mages tensed as they turned back to him, barely noticing that he had gotten up and stalked past them to the tent flaps, "He went after Yunso, and that's why he's not around anymore. Do you think we can afford to lose any more of us?"

He already knew he wouldn't be left alone, what with the other mages being so clingy and all. That's why he let Joonmyun silently follow him as he walked down the side of a small stream. After losing Yun Seung, he never expected to lose one of his brothers so soon, and especially not Chanyeol. Chanyeol, who had been a brat and cried about the mages becomming more distant with each other.

"I know what you're thinking, Myun." He said it just loud enough for the other mage to hear him, but not so loud as to attract any of the other mages if they had also decided to follow him, "But I am not going to leave you all behind to find him. He wouldn't want that."

"I do know that, don't get me wrong." Joonmyun pulled forward and grasped onto Baekhyun's arm to keep him still, and the mage of light furrowed his eyebrows as he turned back to the first leader, "I also know how much you miss him, Baek. Don't think we don't know you well enough."

"We already lost too much, Myun. Our families, Yuna, Yun Seung... now Chanyeol? So what if it's one more."

And then, someone had punched him in the face, and Baekhyun staggered back for a moment before his eyes fell on an enraged Jongdae.

"So what? So what?! I thought Chanyeol was your best friend!" Jongdae snapped, and the sky darkened dangerously overhead. Baekhyun wanted to answer him, but found that his energy had been long gone, "Why are you so quick to give up? If it were you that had gone missing, Yeol would be turning over every rock!"

"I know." He replied, as Minseok wrapped an arm around Jongdae to keep him from attacking once more, and the other mages had assembled as well, some giving Baekhyun disapproving glances, while others seemed to understand his side well.

"Why do you seem so passive, Baek?" Kyungsoo muttered, and Baekhyun turned to the mage of Earth for a moment before turning away and scoffing as if it were obvious.

"I don't want to lose any of you, next."

Someone had chuckled as he spoke, but when Baekhyun had glanced around to figure out who it was, he was quick to realize it was none of the eleven present mages and that there was a ring of flames surrounding them.

"Chanyeol?" Minseok called out hesitantly, as he too noticed the ring of flames and stepped closer to the middle so his powers couldn't be canceled out.

As if to answer, spikes of fire spat out from the ground in rapid succession, and the mages were barely able to keep up as they were such a large group. Of course, the eleven of them jumping around blindly was a terrible idea, as it caused for them to bump into each other, get hit by the fire, and fly into the rest of them, knocking everyone to the ground. Suddenly, though, as the eleven of them found themselves in a pile on the ground and lifted their heads, they watched on in horror as the smoke left behind by the fire cleared away and left Chanyeol in their wake.

It was Chanyeol, but it wasn't Chanyeol at the same time. No, although there was only one person Baekhyun knew that could control fire so perfectly, this Chanyeol had lifeless eyes and his hair was spiked in all different directions with his aura screaming danger. Baekhyun was torn between running to his best friend and running away. It wasn't until Chanyeol lifted his hand for another physical attack that Baekhyun was able to pull himself together and shot off the ground with beams of light being created by his hands and then thrown back at Chanyeol to try and stop whatever attacks were coming.

"Baek?!" Jongin was surprised that Baekhyun would be able to fight Chanyeol, but Baekhyun was convinced this Chanyeol was not his best friend and would fight him if it meant protecting his other ten brothers.

"Is that really you, Chanyeol?" Baekhyun tried looking for any signs of recognition, but Chanyeol's eyes remained void of such emotion and his eyes flickered behind him for a moment before landing on him with absolute hatred; as if Baekhyun were just getting in his way.

Baekhyun took the silence and following ball of fire as an answer and was quick to strike back, though he certainly wasn't as powerful as Chanyeol happened to be when angered. Plus, while Chanyeol's powers were much more destructive, Baekhyun's powers were more suited for passive users.

"Duck!" Just the one word from Joonmyun behind him was enough for an agreement, and as soon as Baekhyun moved aside, a burst of water had hit Chanyeol's body full on, and Minseok was quick to react by freezing him.

"We don't have much time now that he's frozen." Minseok warned, and as soon as he got the few younger mages off the ground, he shoved them back towards the camp, "Jongdae, take the others back."

Though he hesitated, Baekhyun knew Jongdae understood why he was given such orders. The elders didn't want the youngers to see such a fight that could possibly sever the ties between their group permanently. Jongdae eventually pulled Jongin, Sehun, Zitao and Kyungsoo with him, and eventually, Yixing had agreed to go and keep them safe.

"You should go too, Baek. This might get ugly." Although Yifan's warnings were supposed to push him away, hearing such words only convinced him to stay. Even if he didn't consider this Chanyeol as his best friend, the truth was that it was still his best friend's body and powers.

As soon as the ice melted away, Yifan charged an attack that could have killed Chanyeol. It didn't simply because Chanyeol was smart enough to heat the air around him and slow Yifan's movements enough to send him flying back into Joonmyun. A growl escaped Baekhyun's lips as he saw this, because Chanyeol was being absolutely ridiculous and attacking their leaders, something he would never do if he were in his right mind.

"Chanyeol, stand down!" Joonmyun ordered, and usually, a direct order was something they could not ignore, as they were chosen to be leaders for specific reasons; but Chanyeol carried on like Joonmyun had been completely unheard, and the mage of fire had sprinted forward in order to attack his leader instead.

"I can't tell if this is the real Chanyeol." Yifan grumbled, and Baekhyun looked at him for a quick moment before turning back to where Joonmyun was fighting to keep Chanyeol distracted from the rest of them. Luhan had joined him, throwing whatever he could using his telekinetic powers, although he was a lot slower than the other two fighters. "His presence has been twisted into something different entirely."

Baekhyun thought about answering immediately, but he couldn't. Chanyeol had already thrown Joonmyun and Luhan aside again with the two mages crumpled onto the ground, and the mage of fire had turned his interest to the other three mages that charged at him with whatever they had. Instead of answering, Baekhyun fought his best friend to protect his other friends; because he knew the real Chanyeol would want him to do just that. He might not have been as powerful as Chanyeol, who was now smirking as his strength overwhelmed the rest of them, but he knew this Chanyeol wasn't his best friend. Chanyeol didn't find pleasure in the pain of others, but held pride in how quickly he could cause a smile on someone's face.

A moment later, Baekhyun watched in horror as Jongdae rammed himself into Chanyeol. Jongdae had obviously come back believing the others could use help; and though it was true that they could use the help, the elders had already told Jongdae to take the others and leave so they wouldn't be harmed. Why was he disobeying a direct command?

"Dae!" Yifan called, and though he wanted to jump in and stop the mage of lightning, but other than Jongdae, no one was able to stand up long enough to pull Jongdae away.

Baekhyun knew why Jongdae was fighting after all; because he too found Chanyeol to be a friend worth fighting for. Idiots they may be, but the trouble making duo would never leave the other to suffer alone. Watching as Jongdae, whose powers were just as dangerous as Chanyeol's, faught his best friend, Baekhyun stopped for a moment to look over his shoulder, where the youngest mages had come back and were collecting each of the elders as Jongdae kept fighting.

"No, we can't leave him to fight alone!" Minseok shouted, but his voice was unheard as they were forced to group together. Jongin reached out his hands so the lot of them could teleport away, but no one wanted to go and leave Jongdae alone to fight a Chanyeol that wasn't in his proper mind.

"Hyung!" Sehun called, and before anyone could realize what was happening, Sehun jumped over to the fighting and clapped his hands together. With the movement, a large gust of wind had escaped his hands and hit the brawling mages. Taking the time as an opportunity, Zitao hurried and pulled Jongdae back, and then they were waiting as Jongin thought of where they would go.

"Wait!" Chanyeol's voice yelled; and just before they teleported away, Chanyeol's aura flashed into what it had been before.

And Baekhyun closed his eyes, letting good memories of his best friend filled his mind as they were pulled apart once more.

I need to stop slacking on updates. Geez, by the rate i'm going, Chanyeol's going to be evil until January. Oh gosh, I hope he's not evil until then, that's a long time in story world. These chapters one by one are getting intense and I'm already worried that Dal is eventually going to kill me for the way I write this story, orz.

The next chapter will be in our Duizhang's chapter before the cycle starts again, though I don't know when it is I'll reintroduce Yun Seung again. I know for certain that Chanyeol has to be an evil presence for a few chapters, but I don't know how I'll figure that out yet.

Huh, this is fun.

Anyway, thanks to all of you for your support! Please enjoy this chapter and have a brilliant day!