Three days. Three days had passed since Chanyeol's return, yet the mage of fire continued sleeping with no signs of waking up. Yixing had come and gone several times daily, perplexed as to why the mage would sleep even after being completely healed. The other mages kept their distance, because what if he woke up and was still being controlled by those sorceresses? They weren't going to be able to fight Chanyeol again, not even Baekhyun or Jongdae.

Baekhyun was the only one who hadn't left his side at all. They told him to countless of times, yet he shook his head and sat down near Chanyeol's bed, his gaze fixed on his lanky, unconscious best friend. His chest rose and fell quietly, being the only way the others could tell that Chanyeol was even alive. There were wires going into his arms to feed him, and Baekhyun felt nauseated as he stared at them in wonder.

Was Chanyeol going to be okay? Yixing wasn't sure for a while, and eventually, BAP had marched into the ward to check on the mage of fire. As he was able to use his powers to step into dreams, Daehyun had quickly explained he would go inside of Chanyeol's mind to see if something was keeping him from waking up. The mages had jumped at the oppotunity and waited anxiously as Daehyun pressed his fingers against Chanyeol's temples.

The warlock had pulled himself away just minutes after checking on Chanyeol's mind, his lips quirked into a frown as he stepped away. According to him, Chanyeol was stuck in a space between reality and afterlife and was still unconscious due to the shock his body felt since he was supposed to have died from the stab.

Jongin called Chanyeol an idiot after hearing what he was going through and slapped his palm on the mattress beside Chanyeol to see if he'd react. He didn't. Nothing bothered Chanyeol as he slept, and Baekhyun began wondering again if Chanyeol was alright.

On the third day of Chanyeol's sleep, Yun Seung walked into the ward. The other mages had reluctantly gone to bed in the bunkers, knowing that Baekhyun would be by Chanyeol's side, should anything happen to him. When he had passed out, Yun Seung was quick to press the ring with his symbol against his chest. The mages didn't know if it worked completely, since Chanyeol didn't wake up again after that, but she and the warlocks seemed confident in her ability to help Chanyeol.

Baekhyun was resting his head before Yun Seung had come in. He had been so tired that he just rested his head on the mattress beside Chanyeol's head, the small spark of hope diminishing as his best friend continued to sleep. His hours sitting there alone with Chanyeol were full of tears, and he would admit to having punched Chanyeol a couple of times to try and wake him up; but nothing worked.

"Are you hungry?" Her voice was quiet as she asked, and although he didn't want to acknowledge her presence, Baekhyun slowly lifted his head and turned it in the direction of her voice. He had missed her, as she was someone important to him, and that was the only reason why his eyes softened when he noticed she had a tray of food in her arms.

"Starving." He answered honestly, knowing that there was no point in lying. The others had tried getting him to eat several times, yet failed to make him move at all. Yun Seung was different, because if he rejected her, he knew she would be quick to hide her hurt and leave.

There was another chair set up next to him, for whenever Jongdae decided to come down and spend time with the two of them. Jongdae mostly stayed away, though, because he never wanted to see Chanyeol being weak again. The times that he had spent in the ward with Baekhyun, Jondgae's gaze was fixed on his lap and he'd nervously tell stories about him and Chanyeol as they were younger. Baekhyun knew every one of these stories since Chanyeol was incredibly fond of Jongdae, but listened with a fond grin playing his own lips.

"Do you mind if I stay with you?" Yun Seung asked carefully. If it were any of his brothers, perhaps Baekhyun would have said no and returned to his nap. He didn't want their pitying glances on him, no matter how worried they were about him. Without answering her, Baekhyun fixed the empty chair so that she could sit and leaned back in his seat so he could spend as much time with her as he possibly could.

"Still no improvement?"

"Nothing at all. He'd better be dreaming about something incredible, if it's keeping him from spending time with me." Baekhyun was grinning as he spoke, a feature that felt a little awkward as he looked down at the tray now placed in his lap. There was a roll of bread there, as well as rice and curry. Nothing seemed appetizing, but he picked at the roll anyway because he knew it would make her happy.

Yun Seung remained quiet for a long moment, watching Baekhyun eat the bread, her eyes slowly flickering between him and Chanyeol. "Do you... do you think he'll be okay?"

Baekhyun knew what she was asking immediately, because she was one to worry about everyone more than she worried about herself. She was asking about Chanyeol as a whole, especially as the whole experience could give Chanyeol trauma. There was the possibility that the sorceresses had even tortured Chanyeol before sending him to attack the mages, something Baekhyun didn't want to wrap his mind around.

Neither of them spoke after that, because there was no answer that was easy. Saying he'd be okay was wrong, because they didn't know for sure if he'd be okay. Saying he wouldn't be okay was wrong, because didn't that mean they would be giving up on helping him?

"Baek, Yun Seung." Both were suddenly knocked out of their thoughts when Jongdae's panicked voice shouted at them from the entrance to the ward. When they turned to the mage of lightning, they noticed in horror that he was bleeding and holding on to his side. "The sorceresses found us. They've launched a full scale attack on the town!"

Baekhyun didn't spare Chanyeol another glance as he got up and stormed out of the ward and onto the battlefield. It was obvious that the sorceresses had only used Chanyeol in order to track down the other mages, then launching an attack while they didn't expect nothing. Baekhyun was upset for two reasons; the first because his best friend was used by the same people who used him before. The second reason was Yun Seung, and the fact that the town had already gone through so much.

He launched himself against the opposing army as soon as he saw them, knowing that his brothers were all doing the same. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the warlocks and even the warriors as they fought, as well as Yun Seung, but none of that mattered to him. To Baekhyun, nothing mattered more than getting them out of that town so he could save Chanyeol and everyone else that was pointlessly hurt by Yunso and Yunjee.

"Baek!" Suddenly, Baekhyun noticed that he was fighting side by side with Joonmyun, who was throwing balls of water at his own opponents, "Where's Jongdae?"

"He went down into the ward." Baekhyun answered, his mind flashing back to when Jongdae had run in bleeding.

"What?" It took him a moment to realize it, but Jongdae had also joined the duo and the three fought back to back. Jongdae was completely unscathed, unlike only a little while ago.

"Baek, I've been out here this entire time!"

"Yeol!" Baek stopped fighting immediately and turned in the direction of the sick ward, running towards it even though Joonmyun was calling him to stay where he was.

As he neared the bunker, he collided into Jongin. Jongin, being experienced in street fights, was quick on his feet and often left the enemy second guessing. However, when he stopped paying attention, he tended to be a hassle to the other mages.

"Woah there, slow down!" Jongin had caught on to his wrist as Baekhyun threatened to tumble over, and though Baekhyun wanted to glare up at the mage of teleportation, he quickly pulled himself away and kept running.

Zitao and Sehun were fighting side by side as well, as their powers aided each other easily. The two of them had also accidentally slowed him down, leaving the mage of light to gape in horror as he was blown away by a gust of wind Sehun created.

"Hyung!" Sehun wailed, and a moment later, he was standing over a winded Baekhyun, all puns aside.

Zitao was close to follow and threw himself onto the ground beside the fallen mage of light, then turning his head to the side quickly. "Yixing! Yifan!"

Both of the called mages appeared within moments, and as Yixing looked over Baekhyun's body for pressing wounds, Yifan hovered over him with his arms crossed over his chest. "What are you doing, Baek? You do realize we're in the middle of a battle?"

Baekhyun kicked about as he remembered his original intent, although Yixing was quick to hold him back and fix him with a stern glance. "Hold still, I'm almost done."

He explained the situation quickly, getting onto his feet. There were tears stinging the back of his eyes as he stood, as he noticed that the other eleven mages had all grouped together to form a circle of fighters. His eyes flew over to where the ward was, knowing that the sorceresses could have easily taken Chanyeol by now or even worse, return him to what he had been earlier.

"We'll create an opening for you, Baek." Luhan explained, and Baekhyun slowly glanced between his brothers. They were all bruised and battered as they stood by each other, yet they nodded and Baekhyun couldn't believe it for a moment. Even if they didn't show it as well, the other mages loved Chanyeol more than the mage of fire could even tell, and wanted to protect that love.

"Make sure they don't hurt him again, Baek." Kyungsoo chimed in, and like that, the wall of mages broke apart and the mages continued charging at their opponents. Baekhyun stood still for a moment as he watched on in awe, because there was always something beautiful about his brothers that no one understood unless they were a part of it.

"We're counting on you, Baek!" At hearing Minseok's encouragement, Baekhyun's feet finally started moving again and he booked it towards the ward.

Enemies started appearing more frequently the closer he got to the ward, though his brothers were quick to take out the enemies before they could even touch Baekhyun. He made a mental note to spare them from groveling at his feet and soon found himself by the entrance to the ward. It was then that an explosion occurred from the inside of the ward, having a blast radius that was wide enough to have Baekhyun flying backwards onto the ground. He didn't even realize that his body had been beaten up by the explosion, as he quickly shifted to look at the ward where flames seeped out of the entrance.

"Chanyeol!" He cried out in horror, because Chanyeol's presence had flickered out right as the explosion occurred. His heart shattered into pieces as he watched, tears freely streaming down his face as he waited for any sign that could show him that his best friend was still alive.

The fighting stopped as soon as he cried out Chanyeol's name, the other mages' attention fixed on the ward as well because they felt the shift in Chanyeol's presence. Just as he was about to throw himself down into the ward to at least find Chanyeol's body, a figure stepped out of the ward, and Chanyeol's presence returned, burning brighter than it had before.

"Did you miss me?" The grin on his lips was as idiotic as it always was as he cracked his knuckles, and the mages let out a collective sigh as they saw him. Baekhyun could do nothing but stare, however, because how was he still alive after all of that? How was he okay?

Baekhyun didn't fight after Chanyeol joined them on the battlefield. He deemed himself to be too injured to fight and sat with his back pressed against a tree, although he wasn't as injured as the majority of his brothers. Instead of fighting, he absorbed, because something was different. Something in Chanyeol's presence had shifted, even if he couldn't put his finger on it completely. Chanyeol fought the way he always fought, but something in him had changed. It wasn't until Baekhyun caught a glimpse of Chanyeol's eyes that he understood what had changed. There was pain in Chanyeol's eyes, a pain and lonliness that Baekhyun recalled from when the two fought a few days earlier. He didn't know who this Chanyeol was, but it wasn't his best friend.

Three days passed, and Chanyeol has yet to return.

Sorry. -RawChicken

I apologize for all this. I really don't know what our author is trying to do, to be honest. *sighs* Still, we hope that everyone will enjoy this chapter and look forward to the next one. Thanks for all the comments and have a good day!

ps. my invitation from the previous chapter still stands. -Dal