Five sleepless nights passed without a sign of Yifan's return. Luhan kept his gaze on the sky as he waited, having been sitting out on a hill so he could be among the first to greet Yifan when he returned. The others had tried getting him to leave the hill, but he usually waited until no one was around to leave the hill for food and to use the bathroom. Yifan wasn't the only reason Luhan refused to move. The hill was the highest point to be found and as he sat there, he was able to watch all of the younger mages.

The lot of them seemed to have no energy because of Yifan's departure. Luhan wished he were different, but he knew that he was no different from the others. Yifan's planet shouldn't have been so far that it should take him this long to come back, so what was keeping him from returning? It was a selfish thought, he knew, since this was the first time Yifan returned home after centuries, but he missed Yifan.

He had already considered leaving the remaining mages so he could go find Yifan, but he didn't think that would sit well with the others. They would eventually push themselves to work without the two, but the mages were nothing if all twelve of them weren't together.

He enjoyed watching the other mages from on top of the hill, because they were all trying to keep themselves together. The younger mages laughed and the elders made sure no one was getting hurt. Luhan couldn't help but think of how lucky he was. He might have been the second to last one found by Yun Seung, but he was one of the elders for a reason.

At the beginning of the sixth day, as Luhan's gaze trailed after clouds that were quickly fading out of his view, he was joined by Minseok. He didn't notice the elder at first, since the clouds made him think of Yifan, but when the sound of footsteps hit his ears, he turned his head and watched Minseok take a seat beside him.

"He wouldn't want you to sit out here like this, Lu."

Luhan knew the elder was right. He might have left, but Yifan was one to put duty over pleasure, and he wouldn't want Luhan to sit around waiting for him.

"We have the whole field under surveilance, Lu." Minseok reassured him, and slowly, the pair got onto their feet to return to what they had decided to do,

"If he lands anywhere nearby, we'll know about it."

Minseok walked away then, leaving Luhan standing alone for a moment as he pondered the elder's words. Looking up at the sky once more, a lone tear streamed down Luhan's cheek. A moment later, he hurried off after Minseok. He was worried for someone who didn't need to be worried over. No matter what, Yifan would take care of himself, so there was no need to wait for him like he had been doing.

The first to have greeted the duo when they entered the town was Joonmyun. Being the only leader remaining after Yifan left was certainly taking a toll on him, as there was so much to be done on his own. Joonmyun had successfully cleared three towns without Yifan's presence, but the first leader looked worn out and helpless as he told the others what they had to do.

"There you are, Min, Lu." A wave of guilt flashed through Luhan as he took in Joonmyun's exhaustion. As one of the elders, it was partially Luhan's responsibility to take care of things in Yifan's absence, but there was little Luhan could do on his own.

"I was wondering if you could talk to the citizens. I would have Chanyeol do it, but you two are far more gentle."

The citzens were a challenge every town they had gone through, as most of them were terrified of the destruction magical beings could cause them. It was usually up to Yifan and Joonmyun to talk to them and sort things out, but without Yifan, Joonmyun had too many other things to do already.

"Of course we will, Myun." Luhan nodded, and after sending a gentle smile to Joonmyun, he walked away with Minseok.

Though the two readily accepted the offered challenge, finding the citizens would be a difficult task as most scattered themselves to be as far away from the destruction as possible. When they had spotted a group of citizens, the two elder mages froze and watched as Jongin and Sehun explained the situation to the innocent bystanders. The three younger mages usually didn't speak to the citizens and only were around to gather supplies for the mages as they reconstructed the town. It was heart-warming yet surprising to watch them be so social and so kind to people they didn't even know.

When Sehun noticed that Luhan had joined the two of them, a relieved smile lit his face. Seconds didn't even pass, and Luhan quickly found Sehun latched onto him like a child. The younger mage certainly did miss him, that much was for sure. Jongin turned to the pair when he realized Sehun had suddenly left his side, and when he saw Minseok standing alone, he grabbed the eldest mage by the wrist and pulled him along.

"Let's leave the children to continue on by themselves."

Minseok snickered along as Jongin pulled him and Luhan shook his head in their direction. Sehun slowly pulled himself away and rubbed at his eyes, though one hand was wrapped firmly around Luhan's wrist.

"I thought you would leave too."

Luhan didn't answer because he was guilty of having such thoughts, and after calming Sehun down, the two returned to acknowledging the citizens of the town. The day went by peacefully; no one was killed and the citizens were quick to accept the mages that promised to do good things for the town they were in. As the day progressed, Luhan couldn't help but think it was all too good to be true. He was right.

During the evening, while everyone was eating, someone stumbled up to them. They had been eating a stew prepared by Kyungsoo and were laughing as they told each other tales of long ago when they had first been given their powers. Luhan didn't want to take part, since it felt wrong to pretend Yifan wasn't there, but when his growling stomach had been heard, he had no chance of escaping. Zitao was the same, with Jongin and Sehun holding onto him so he couldn't run off.

"Who's there?" Chanyeol asked, and everyone stared at the mage of fire in a mix of surprise and fear. There was that look he had gained when he had been manipulated by the sorceresses, and he was the first to get up with fire covering his fists.

"R-run away!" Yun Seung's voice had everyone snapping into motion immediately. When she stumbled into view, she was covered in cuts and bruises and there were twigs in her hair and stuck onto her clothes. Yixing ran over to her and the three younger mages were quick to follow him. She collapsed into Yixing's arms as soon as the mage of healing reached her, and she grasped onto him tightly.

As the remaining younger mages went and surrounded Yun Seung, Luhan was left with Joonmyun Minseok and Chanyeol. The mage of fire had blanked out again much like he had done just a couple of weeks ago. He was trembling, as well, and when Joonmyun noticed it, he firmly reached out and pulled Chanyeol into a tight embrace.

"Why?" Luhan muttered, his gaze lowering to the ground powerlessly, "Why now when you're gone, Yifan?"

The next few hours were buzzing with movement. Yixing had healed Yun Seung and now she was resting in their presence with her head on Baekhyun's shoulder. There were dark rims under her eyes that had scared eveen Zitao who was born with dark skin around his eyes. They had finished their dinner and then sat in a loose circle, with everyone's gazes shifting between Chanyeol and Yun Seung. Chanyeol had declined his dinner and forced himself to sit with them even though there were subtle tremors of his body. Kyungsoo had gone and prepared another portion of the meal for when Yun Seung woke up and the three young mages sat close to Baekhyun so they could watch her and make sure she was okay.

"Does that mean they successfully performed the ritual?" Minseok asked, his eyes once again darting between Chanyeol and Yun Seung.

"If they did bring her back to life, what more of a use could they have for Yun Seung?" Jongin questioned, and Luhan ducked his head to ponder the answers to their questions.

"Something in her aura shifted," Yixing replied to them, and Luhan looked up to see him waving a hand in her direction, "She lost a lot of blood, too. I don't know why they spared her, but Yunso and Yunjee were able to use her and bring Yuna back to life."

"What did she do to deserve this?" Zitao asked, and the elder mages turned to him, noticing that his eyes had welled with tears as he watched her.

"What did any of us do to deserve this?"

"Why are we all so surprised?" Baekhyun snorted, his fingers running through Yun Seung's hair.

"All they ever did was manipulate us. We were mere performers while they continued growing stronger."

The mages tensed for a while and slowly, they each let out sighs. Baekhyun's words were true, without a doubt, but they couldn't deny that good had come out of the sorceresses' involvement in their lives. Luhan turned his head slowly to where an empty space sat for Yifan, and after a moment of thought, he got back to his feet.

"Don't go, Lu." Kyungsoo warned, and usually, Luhan would fear Kyungsoo enough to sit right back down beside them. This time, however, something felt off.

Like the others had said, Yunso and Yunjee had no use for Yun Seung now that they had Yuna back, so why would they return Yun Seung to the mages? Another question that arose was how the sorceresses knew where the mages were. He found his answer as he climbed onto his favored hill. In the distance, there were thousands of them heading for the town. Jongdae had run after him to make sure he was okay, and after letting out a loud gasp, he raised one hand to the sky and a strand of lightning danced in the sky to warn everyone else of the danger that was coming.

"So that's why they let her go." Baekhyun hissed, and the remaining mages lined up as they watched them get closer.

"To warn us." Chanyeol added on, and the mages turned back to the mage of fire. He had grown to be dangerous again, and although the others wanted him to calm down, it was obvious that he was right to be so angered. The sorceresses were playing with matches, and when Luhan felt his own body twist in rage, he knew destruction wasn't far off.

"Lu, what are you doing?" Luhan should have stepped back when Joonmyun hesitantly called for him, but he pretended not to hear.

Without Yifan being around, Luhan knew it was up to him to make sure his brothers stayed safe. It didn't matter if he wasn't as strong as the second leader and it didn't matter that it didn't feel right to fight without Yifan. Like Yifan always preferred, duty was much more important than his individual pleasure. He lifted his hands silently, his eyes flickering as magic coursed through him and hit the enemy, their soldiers colliding into each other without any reason in particular.

"Their dead bodies will become my medals." Luhan said in a tone that was just above a whisper, and the mages looked to each other behind him before nodding and letting their own magic build so they could fight alongside each other.

"We're going to make history, today." Jongdae grinned, and the mages turned their heads to make sure Yun Seung was still sleeping peacefully in a small shelter Kyungsoo had made.

"This battle, we win for Yifan!" Joonmyun cried out, and all of the mages cried out with him, their hands raised to the sky.

Then, they charged. Luhan could barely pay attention to any of the other mages as he fought, but he knew they would be okay. If they could handle each other for as long as they did, they would be just fine against them. It was a long and drawn out battle, with enemies running at them from all sides. Luhan was already bleeding in several places and he wasn't sure but there was a possibility of him having broken a couple of ribs. The mages might have been powerful, of course, but without the twelve of them together, their powers were outmatched easily.

"Yifan, now would be a good time to come back." He muttered to himself, and then he looked up to see a strange space object hurling towards them at a magnificent speed. Luhan was frightened at first, as it could easily destroy everyone in the vicinity, but when the object got closer and Luhan noticed it was a giant dragon with familiar glowing swirls of letters all over his body, he let out a cry of joy that had the other mages turning their heads to the same direction he had been looking in.

After keeping his gaze focused on the sky for six days, Yifan had finally returned.

So I would be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to have both Luhan and Tao leave. I know, I know, it's really cruel of me to say such things. I am glad that I didn't follow through on my plans, though, because this story is meant to be ot12 all the way through. I'm pretty sure I started writing this right afer ot11 became a thing, too, so this is not going to stray from ot12 to anything less, so don't worry, you guys! (Plus, Kris was my EXO bias. If I wrote this without Kris in it, I would die.)

ALSO, I've put some references in here to several things. Do not be offended by my dissing SM. I do not like SM and the company is a major reason as to why I was never a fan of EXO. I was a fan of SHINee for a while, but SM is just so irritating to me that I don't even listen to my bias group. I have been listening to some SM stuff lately but I do not expect myself to start getting into any of the artists again. SM is not a company I respect.

I was going to try and do daily updates again because that had been a thing for a while but it's just too much work right now. It took like two days for me to complete this chapter itself. Ah, but at least I'm not making just one update a month... >.> <.<

I have questions today. They are going to be quite general so you can answer however you'd like. What do you think about EXO 9 and the three soloists? Like what you think about all of this personally. If you want to rant, rant. If not, no one will hurt you here! ALSO, I hear that the CEO of SM is thinking of debuting a completely Chinese group into the K-pop market. What do you think of that?

Once again, thanks to all of you guys for supporting this story. I keep looking at the gold star and it's just surprising to me because I don't find my story to be that incredible. Please continue supporting this story and thank you all for being so great. Enjoy this chapter and have a wonderful day!- RawChicken.