Jongdae had been running around in circles. Why? Even he didn't know the answer to that question. All Jongdae knew was that nothing was making sense. Whether it be Chanyeol's sudden wake up, the fact that the sorceresses managed to trick them again, Baekhyun's growing emotional distance, or Yun Seung's disappearance. Nothing made sense to him, so the mage of lightning waited until evening when the remaining mages had gone to bed and ran around the town screaming.

Now he was surprised that no one had noticed him, what with all the screaming. There were lights on in various houses, and guards would turn to stare at him in worry as he ran by for the tenth or so time, but none of them had bothered stopping Jongdae to make sure he was alright.

After running fifty laps around the town, an exhausted Jongdae collapsed onto a seemingly innocent patch of grass with a hand resting against his face as he heaved and choked on air. Slowly, the memories of their lastest battle replayed in his head; of how Baekhyun had been all over the battle field, and how Chanyeol had joined their group looking like a completely different person. That had been the start of the growing distance between Chanyeol and Baekhyun and Baekhyun and the rest of EXO.

At the end of the battle, Baekhyun had suddenly shouted Yun Seung's name and the mages looked around for their former master in a daze. It hadn't been too long since they were reunited with Yun Seung, but it seemed that staying with her was out of the equation.

The worst part of all of this was Chanyeol, and the fact that he kept his mouth shut even with the elders trying to understand what had happened to him when he first left the camp. He had told himself for a while that Chanyeol's memories had just been messed with, but when he snuck a glance at the straight-faced Baekhyun, Jongdae knew what Chanyeol was doing. Whatever happened to him was so bad that Chanyeol decided to hide it from the rest of the mages.

Did that mean Chanyeol didn't trust them? Or perhaps that they would do what he did and end up in a similar situation? Jongdae was tempted to ask, of course, but as soon as their debriefing ended, Yixing and the BAP warlocks pulled him to a separate sick bay to make sure his vitals were still working well.

"This is all so frustrating." He groaned, slamming his fist down onto the ground beside him. He expected to be alone, since he had escaped to be alone after all, but when he heard a scoff, his head turned to find Jongin himself laying down next to him with his arms tucked behind his head.

"You said it."

"Jong? What are you..." Jongdae looked around as he spoke, because Jongin was always either with Kyungsoo or the younger two mages.

"The same as you." Jongin let out a deep breath and Jongdae himself watched for a few moments as the mage of teleportation blinked and focused his gaze on the two moons in the sky. "Except I haven't been screaming like I'm on fire."

Jongdae's lips quirked upwards for a moment before he shook his head, knowing that Jongin was probably as troubled about Chanyeol as himself and Baekhyun were. Chanyeol impacted everyone differently, but was still a person in their lives that could not be replaced by anyone.

In retaliation to Jongin's insult, Jongdae punched his arm. Of course, since it was Jongin, Jongdae quickly found himself floating in a stream of water with Jongin rubbing his hands as to congratulate himself on a job well done. Jongdae thought of what he could do to get revenge on the younger mage, but eventually decided that he was just content with floating in the water with Jongin sitting on the bank of the stream with his own feet pushed into the shallow water.

"I have a question, Dae." His voice was almost too quiet for him to hear over the gentle water rushing into his ears, but Jongdae heard him anyway and pulled himself to sit by Jongin on the bank.

"I didn't know you valued my opinion, Jongin." Jongdae was grinning as he sat down by the younger mage, and Jongin chuckled as he bumped their shoulders together.

"I'm starting to regret it." The amusement in Jongin's voice said he was joking, so Jongdae only chuckled as he lightly bumped Jongin in return.

"Do you think we'll ever go back to how we were?"

"No," he didn't even think when he replied, and he immediately noticed how Jongin's expression grew grave as it focused on his lap. "But that doesn't mean we won't become better than what we once were, Jongin."

Jongin turned to stare at the elder for a few minutes in silence, and Jongdae silently watched the moons in the sky as they greeted each other and shone like brothers. After the few minutes of silence between them ended, Jongin let out another sigh. "I guess that's why we still keep you around."

Jongdae was going to question what the younger mage had meant by saying such things, but Jongin had already disappeared and left him to stare down at the empty space in longing. He shivered then, because he had just been floating in the cold river after all, and brought his hands together in hopes for some warmth.

"You'll catch a cold sitting out here like this." Chanyeol's voice suddenly appeared beside him, and the mage of fire took up the seat that had been left abandoned by Jongin. Jongdae refused to look up at him, because this Chanyeol was not the one he had considered to be best friends with for years.

Jongdae tried inching away for a moment, but when Chanyeol lifted his hand and a small flame danced in his palm, Jongdae was drawn closer to him immediately. The flame hadn't changed over time, continuing to burn and protect, and when Jongdae looked up at Chanyeol, he was surprised to see Chanyeol was watching the flame with the same curiosity on his face. Chanyeol's hair and eyes had returned to how it had looked before his disappearance, but though he tried locking his emotions away, Jongdae could see the slight tremble in his shoulders.

He opened his mouth to speak, but when remembering how nonchalant Chanyeol had been about the situation earlier, Jongdae shook his head and instead wrapped his arms around Chanyeol's side. The mage of fire flinched and accidentally scorched his arm, but Jongdae couldn't care less; because a moment later, Chanyeol was weeping in his arms.

"Dae- Dae it was..." Chanyeol didn't finish, or he couldn't. Jongdae didn't know which of the two it was, but he knew he was holding a broken Chanyeol that wanted nothing more than to keep everyone else together.

"You're here now, Yeol. We'll protect you." Jongdae rubbed his back slowly, knowing that Chanyeol only needed some time to wrap his head around what had happened to him. They sat there for hours, and Chanyeol eventually cried himself to sleep in Jongdae's arms. Jongdae wanted to move him to a bed, of course, but Chanyeol looked comfortable, and the rising sun was so beautiful he couldn't move.

He half expected things to go back to normal in the morning when the other mages found him and Chanyeol, but nothing did. As soon as Chanyeol had acknowledged their presence, he had gone back to hiding his trauma and kept himself quiet until the other mages directed a question towards him. Baekhyun had grown impatient of Chanyeol's attitude, and Jongdae watched Baekhyun's eyes follow Chanyeol throughout the day.

"Yun Seung went missing." Kyungsoo informed the group, and everyone tensed. They had all noticed her disappearance, but after what happened to Chanyeol, they didn't know what could have happened to Yun Seung.

"I talked to the warlocks," continued Joonmyun, his arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his lips. "Himchan says that as long as he could see her future, she is still alive. They believe she was taken by Yunso and Yunjee when we weren't watching."

"Where could they have taken her?" Sehun asked quietly, and the mages slowly turned to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol was barely paying any attention to the conversation, as his gaze focused on the clouds above them and his body stiff. Perhaps Chanyeol was thinking about what happened with the sorceresses when he had gone after them, or perhaps he was thinking of something completely irrelevant.

"Chanyeol." Luhan called, and Chanyeol flinched as he looked back to the mage of telekinesis.

"Can you think of a place they could have taken Yun Seung?"

Chanyeol flinched again and his fists started trembling at his sides. He shook his head once, then twice, then several more times in rapid succession. Perhaps he did know where they had taken her, or maybe he didn't and the possibilites that swirled in his head haunted him.

"Calm down, Yeol." Minseok's calm voice called, and Chanyeol stilled immediately. Minseok had walked over and placed a hand on the back of Chanyeol's neck to cool him off and cancel off both of their powers in case Chanyeol got violent; but he didn't. Chanyeol stood there with vacant eyes as the others continued discussing what could have happened.

"I heard something." Zitao announced, and everyone slowly turned to the mage of time. "When Sehun and I were fighting, I had slowed time down. Yun Seung was shouting at someone, but when I turned to look over at her, she disappeared."

The mages went silent after that, and Yixing let out a sigh. "That could also mean she took the sorceresses somewhere."

"I wouldn't be surprised. She has a knack for getting herself in trouble." Yifan muttered, and the mages chuckled as he spoke.

"A cave." Slowly and surprised, the mages turned to Chanyeol. His expression hadn't changed at all, but his lips were moving as if on their own.

"There was a cave... somewhere in the Arctic region. The sorceresses trapped me there so I couldn't use my powers. That's where magic is its strongest for the two of them. There were cauldrens and potions, and spirits and moving corpses. I also... there was also..."

And then he stopped, as if he shut down completely. They searched for some sign in his eyes to see if he'd continue, but Chanyeol had closed them and his body slouched forward in exhaustion. Jongdae was quick to keep him up so he wouldn't hurt himself.

"Don't you dare shut us out again, Chanyeol." Baekhyun's voice had everyone snapping their attention to him, even a weakened Chanyeol.

"This is the first time you've said anything about what happened. Don't you dare stop us from helping you."

A moment later, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were fighting. Baekhyun was the one who started the fight, throwing his right fist right into Chanyeol's cheek. After stumbling for a few moments, Chanyeol returned his punch with fire lighting his eyes. The youngest mages wanted to stop the fight, but Jongdae had grabbed them by the arms and pulled them back.

"It's the only way Baekhyun can reach him now." Jongdae pleaded, and after they looked up at Jongdae, the younger mages nodded and stepped behind him. In case the two fighters were to get out of control, he was the only one with a power that could mirror theirs.

"You idiot!" And with a final cry, Baekhyun had slammed Chanyeol onto the floor, and the mage of fire remained there, panting. He was laughing as he fell, because Chanyeol was that kind of person, but when he regained his breath and sat up, it was Jongdae who started crying.

"Yeol!"

Hours later when Yixing had finished checking on Baekhyun and Chanyeol, the twelve of them were sitting around a fire Chanyeol had made, and their gaze was fixated on Chanyeol as he started to explain what had happened to him.

"I had found the two of them a few days after I left you guys. It had been in a nearby village, and they were using their powers in order to the youth out of the citizens. When I had battled the two of them to stop them, they used their prey as sheilds and I was quickly overpowered. A day later, I awoke in a frozen prison. They had..." Chanyeol almost reverted back to how he had been hours before, but he somehow kept himself together long enough to finish his explanation. "let's just say the next few days weren't very fun. They had taken advantage of the fact that my powers can't work in the cold, and had used some curse on me. They wanted to find the rest of you because they knew Yun Seung would be nearby."

"Yun Seung? Why did they want Yun Seung?" Jongin asked in surprise, almost jumping off of the ground in anger.

"They have no use for her now that we are free." Yifan continued, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"When I was still there, I saw... I saw the corpse of Yuna." When Chanyeol finally spit out what he was holding in, the other mages made faces of disgust and of shock.

"They had started a ritual to bring Yuna back to life using some wizards they had picked up on the other side of the world but none of them had enough potency. They had tried to use my power, as well, but when my own potency proved to be too limited, they decided to go after someone with stronger magical potency."

There were several of them who wanted to interrupt, of course, because it still didn't make sense as to why they wanted Yun Seung, but then Jongdae pieced everything together.

"They're going to use Yun Seung to revive Yuna."

When Chanyeol gave him a solemn nod to answer his question, Jongdae looked around at the other mages to see everyone else had also grown solemn as they sat in the circle. Jongdae was the first to leave the meeting that night, because he felt as if bad news were piling on him one after another. Yes, Chanyeol was now safe and sound, but what about Yun Seung? Do the twelve of them even stand a chance against Yunso and Yunjee if they were to go and rescue Yun Seung?

That night, Jongdae returned to running around the town, screaming.

Honestly, I'm picturing a screaming Jongdae running around my neighbourhood as I'm beta-reading this and it's hilarious! This chapter helps to lighten things up a bit, don't you think? We know what had happened to Chanyeol now and we can also see how close Jongdae, Chanyeol and Baekhyun are with each other. The previous chapters were quite serious and intense, and Jongdae and his slapstick comedy totally helped to calm things down a notch xD Good job, dear author!

As usual, RawChicken a.k.a Chicky and I would like to thank you for all your support, comments and upvotes. It means a lot to us to have you guys enjoying this story. We hope to hear or read more from you guys as we update. Thanks again, and have a nice day!
-Dal