James released a dry, humorless cackle upon hearing the bold comments from the sisters. He just found it all to amusing that finally, after all these years, that he may finally get worthy opponents. He paced around, with the sisters matching his every move. 

Coming to a halt, he took one last lingering look at Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber. "No doubt, the three of you will die by my hands. But before I send you to join your family, I have a question. Where is my dear brother? Where is Jae?" He asked in rather curious, authoritative tone. Seeing that all he received as an answer were unwavering glares of hatred and anger, he chuckled at the sight.

"Are the three of you in a rush to die that you can't even answer the one question that is prolonging your lives for a few more minutes?"

No sooner did he asked that question that he swiftly dodged the onslaught of TaeSooBer's secret daggers. Landing on his feet, James slowly stood up and smirked. "Well done. But not fast enough."

"It wasn't meant for you." Sooyoung answered. James eyes followed Sooyoung's and saw that the daggers have penetrated rocky walls. Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber have purposely thrown those daggers to keep James away from the bomb device. James rleased a small huff and snickered. He underestimated them...

"You're not the only ones who have their eyes on the remote." Amber retorted before charging forward with a horizontal slice, but James avoided it. And he easily dodged Sooyoung's attack from the side as well. 

But he wasn't so lucky when it came to Taeyeon. Taeyeon was able to successfully land a kick to James' abdomen. 

"Impressive. Not bad." James complimented. "I underestimated all of you. But now, watch me." As soon as those words left his mouth, James charged toward the sisters. He was too fast for them though. Avoiding all attacks from TaeSooBer, James delivered a kick to the side of Amber's head, a punch to Sooyoung's stomach and face and a kick to Taeyeon from behind.  

Getting back to their feet, they attacked James from different sides. And yet, their sword and hits didn't even touch James. He was too fast for them and dodged their every move. James would easily deflect and hit them twice as hard. Everytime that TaeSooBer would attack, James would end up hurting them instead. TaeSooBer was able to dodge some hits but not most. 

After intense battle, Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber layed on the hard, dirt, ground, bleeding with cuts and bruises. Meanwhile, James stood tall, smiling wickedly with little injury and cuts. Yes, despite his skills, his body had a taste of TaeSooBer's sword too. 

"I'm impressed!!" James yelled as he walked over to Taeyeon, who was laying down on her side, and kicked her hard on the abdomen. Taeyeon released endless groans of pain as he pulled her up, shoved her to the rocky walls, and pushed her head against it. "You lost!!" He slammed Taeyeon's head against the wall before releasing her. Taeyeon was bleeding now from her head. 

James turned his attention to Amber and delivered a hard kick to her stomach too. "You girls are the most fun I've had for a long time!!!" He pulled her up, punched her a couple of times before shoving her against the rocky walls too in pleasure. "It's a good thing you three survived after all! So much fun!!" He maliciously commented, looking at the bloody Amber in satisfaction. James expression then changed again to that of a dark, evil person that he is.

"Pathetic! Just like your parents!!!" He grimly exclaimed and pulled Sooyoung to her feet. After slamming her head against the rocky wall too, James had Sooyoung in a chokehold cave walls. "I can kill all of you right now!!!" He tightened his hold on Sooyoung as the latter struggled to free herself. James looked at the weak, hurt Taeyeon and Amber on the ground and laughed. " What? I thought you girls will kill me? Is this it? All these years....you three make me laugh." He blurted out and carelessly threw Sooyoung to the ground. 

James scoffed and walked over to the remote. He picked it up and juggled it in his hand. "Victory is mine." He proudly proclaimed, looking at TaeSooBer, who tried to regain their balance. James pulled Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber by their hair and dragged them to be huddled together. 

"Now to finish off what I should have done 14 years ago." James raised his sword, ready to deal the fatal blow to Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber. "Any last words?"

"Yeah." Taeyeon coughed out as she wiped the blood on her lips. " You hit like a b*tch!!"

James' raised an eyebrow in annoyance and clenched his fists tightly at the insult. "Do you have any idea-"

"That's because he is one!!!" Sooyoung and Amber said together and spit at James' feet. They then high-fived each other and smiled at Taeyeon. 

"Damn right!" Taeyeon agreed.

"Give my regards to your parents!" He angrily yelled, swinging down his sword for the fatal blow. 

"JAMES!!!" a voice boomed from behind James, stopping the said man from his murderous deed. TaeSooBer panicked when they saw who it was.  It can't be....

"DAD!!!!" 

Jae smiled at his daughter and waved., as if they were just having a picnic in the park. "Hello darlings. Seems that I came at a very good time."

-----------------------------------------------------

James scoffed at Jae's caring gesture and stepped away from TaeSooBer so he could have a better look at his long, missing little brother. "It's been a long time little brother. How have you been?" They were now having a stare down, observing each other's move.

"Great. And no need to say James. I know just how happy you are knowing that I'm alive and not dead." came Jae's sarcastice answer, causing James to release a dry, emotionless chuckle. 

"Why come here and look for death? No doubt your daughters wanted you to live."

"True." Jae shrugged. "But I'm their father. Even though they locked me up and refused to let me out, I forgive them. Because we're family." He smiled at his fragile, bloody daughters as he uttered those words. 

"Dad...leave. This is not your fight." 

"That may be true Taeyeon. But if I didn't hold back 14 years ago, none of this would have happened. The three of you wouldn't have suffered so much." He walked closer to James as he spoke. "This will end with me." 

And with those words, Jae launched at James, with the latter expecting it to happen. Jae quickly grabbed  a hold of James' wrist, twisted it, causing James to let go of his sword. Now, it was hand to hand combat. 

Both of them fought and fought, punches cancelled out each other and so did kicks and every maneuver. Eventually, both were in an arm lock, staring each other down. 

"You've improved little brother." James snarled, pushing forward strongly. Jae stepped to his right, swung James's arms over his head and swiftly delivered a perfect, hard palm punch (like those in wuxia dramas.lol) to his chest. James staggered backwards and held on to his chest as he coughed out blood. Jae has gotten faster and stronger....

James spit out his blood and wiped his mouth. "Blood is thicker than water." He said, eyeing TaeSooBer with a diabolical smirk. "We can have all the power in the world after we kill them. Let the past be the past." James offered with open arms. "What do you say...brother?"

"I am no longer your little brother. Your brother died 14 years ago with our master." came Jae's cold answer as he stood with his hands behind his back. "And you, are not my brother."

James expression darkened once again when he heard these words. He got into his fighting stance and glared at Jae with murderous eyes. "Then today you will die...I guarantee it."

"Then so be it. But I will bring you along to seek redemption from master and all the innocent people you have killed."

"Not if I kill you first." James declared before charging toward Jae. 

At first, it seemed like Jae had the upper hand but as the fight continued, James began to overpower Jae. 

"Dad!!" TaeSooBer yelled, feeling useless and angry when they saw James deliver a round kick to Jae and then a hard hit to the chest with his fist. James was merciless. No matter how much Jae defended or tried to get the upper hand, James easily dodged and attacked. 

James stood over the fallen Jae in happiness, hatred and disgust. He repeated kicked Jae in the stomach despite the fact that Jae had a stab wound, courtesy of James' sneaky attack with a combat knife he had hidden.

"I-am-the best!! You-will-never-win-me!!" Every word uttered was a kick to Jae's stomach from James. James stopped and wiped his sweat, laughing mockingly as he saw TaeSooBer trying to come to their father's rescue. 

"Imbeciles!" James yelled and delivered some more kicks to TaeSooBer. "He-is-not-your-father!!!"

"Ugh!!" came their groans of pain but they never stopped trying to get to their father. Seeing this painful scene before him, Jae used all the strength he had and tackled James down. In anger, James punched Jae and purposely squeezed the bloody wound, inciting cries of pain from Jae. 

"You! You were always master's favorite!!" James started, throwing James onto the ground harshly when he had enough of hitting Jae. "Master never cared about me! It was all about you!!" James pointed at Jae accusingly. "You were the next in line as master to our clan! Why you?! I'm stronger than you!!" A kick to Amber's face. 

"I'm older than you!" a kick to Sooyoung's face.

"And I'm the one fit to be the next master! Not you!!" one last kick to Taeyeon's face as well. "I'm better than you in every way Jae! What do you have that I don't?!"

James walked over to Jae, crouched down and held him by the collar. "Tell me! Now tell me who's stronger huh?! I beat you and master! Master should have listened to me if he wanted to live!"

Jae, even though weak, managed to let out a chuckle, angering and confusing James. "You make me laugh James."

"What?" James challenged.

"Master loved and cared about you. But he was right. All you cared about is power and money. That's why-that's why he didn't choose you."

"Bull-sh*t!!"

"You would assert your dominance with your power and violence. Master knew this. I-I-"

"You what?!!"

"I-I refused to be the next master. So-our clan was going to be disbanded. Master rather disband the clan then let you take over." Jae laughed at his revelation. "Go ahead and try to be master...be the master of nothing. Even if you get the spring, you are nothing!" Jae let out a crazy laughter as made such comments. "You will die James. People like you don't deserve to live."

James' face contorted and his twitched, anger rising up within him. James released his hold on Jae and walked over toward his sword. TaeSooBer saw this and was horrified. 

No....

James picked up his sword and began walking back to Jae, eyes focused, expression stoic. He only had one goal in mind at that moment. Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber knew exactly what it is...

"I will finish what I didn't 14 years ago Jae. You have nothing of value to me no more. I would perhaps consider letting you live longer if Master taught you 'Rise of the Phoenix'. But since he neither taught you nor I, I have no use for you."

"You were dead to me a long time ago James."

James brought down his sword and Jae closed his eyes, ready.

-----------------------------------------------

Jae never felt the slash from the sword. Perhaps...is he in the afterlife already? Is the afterlife suppose to be painless? Aside from the throbbing pain from his abdomen and whole body. He felt no pain for the sword. 

Listen to Evil Eyes-Gu Family Book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIppERJQHhM

Opening his eyes, he saw the sword inches away from his face. And he saw James in front of him. But what surprised him most were the hands that were holding onto the blade of the sword...

Looking up, Jae finally realized why he never felt the death blow. 

Standing between him and James, wereTaeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber. And each of them had used their hands to trap the blade of the sword between their hands. Their hands were bleeding from the blade but nonetheless, it was as if they were numb to it. TaeSooBer simply kept a menacing, emotionless stare at James.

"What the-?!!" 

Before James could finish his sentence, he felt a hard blow to the side of his head and kicks to his abdomen. Somehow, TaeSooBer had managed to get thh sword away from James and attack him successfully. James didn't even see it coming. 

Staggering to his feet, James looked at TaeSooBer in anger and confusion. He launched himself toward them but that only earned him some more hits. James was confused...how can they recover that fast? Judging by their current physical condition, they shouldn't even be able to stand up.

Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber picked up their swords and smeared their blood on the blades. Making the imprinted words on their swords to glow as soon as they fed on the blood. This was a surprise to James.

"What is this?! I didn't see this before!" James exclaimed, taking a step back as Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber slowly took steps forward. "What have you done?" His question was ignored.

Bring their sword to eye level, TaeSooBer said aloud the inscriptions on their sword.

Taeyeon: "Live or die, there is no fear."

Sooyoung: "Death brings a new beginning."

Amber: "From the ashes, life is reborn."

James was speechless but he didn't let this mishap bring him down. Taking up his sword again, he fully charged toward TaeSooBer. Attacking Amber first, the moment he swung his sword after a failed attempt at hitting Amber, Amber used her own sword to break his in half. Without time to recover from his failure, Taeyeon jumped in, diagonally sliced James across his front. Sooyoung quickly bent a knee, punched him on the stomach then a crescent kick to James on the neck.

James fell to the ground, bleeding, hurt and vulnerable. He coughed out his blood and glanced up at TaeSooBer, who simply stared down at him emotionlessly, holding onto their swords.

"This-this is not over." He spat out, limping to stand up straight. "This is far from over!!" He yelled, running toward them again. 

Sooyoung threw her sword, impaling James' abdomen as they charged toward him as well. Before James can fall, Amber used her fingers to hit the nerves on James' temple causing him to feel the blood in his head to stop flowing, causing his eyes to be bloodshot.

Taeyeon then closed the pressure points on James' left chest that would circulate blood to his heart with her quick hands.

Sooyoung mercilessly pulled out her sword and used two of her fingers to tap hard right in the middle of where James' heart was located. As soon as she did that, James fell on the floor, slowly dying inside. In a few more seconds, he will be dead.

As TaeSooBer watched James on the floor, helpless and in pain, Jae joined them.

James mouth opened a little, as if wanting to say something. Jae knew exactly what James wanted to say or rather...ask.

"That's right. Master taught me 'Rise of the Phoenix'. He taught it to me in secret, knowing that you will only use it to kill for greed and power."

James' expression looked like that of the famous 'Scream' painting. 

"And I taught it to Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber."

"How..how-"

"How can it be? This is retribution James."

James weakly chuckled at this claim, earning pity from Jae. "All of you--will die with me!" And with those last words, he used all the short amount of life he had left to press the bomb remote he had in his pocket.

*Boom!!!" 

James took his last breath the moment he pressed the button. 

-----------------------------------

Listen to Eden (inst.)-Yisabel (Gu Family ost): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuskapesXqw

Unfortunately, Jae couldn't go any further and neither could TaeSooBer. They were all too weak to escape. And it was no use, the exit was blocked by the rubble.

"I-I am glad and proud of all of you." Jae was getting pale from his loss of blood as he held onto his daughters' hands. "I'm sorry for everything."

"That's not true appa. You came to save us." Taeyeon smiled as she gently squeezed her father's hands. "You're the best." She uttered, crying as she remembered all her times with her sisters and father.

"Thank you for everything. We love you." Amber added, tears streaming down her eyes. The tears and laughter they shared will never be forgotten.

"We're family and we will never forget each other." Sooyoung tearfully added. They won't change what they shared and have for anything else.

Jae took a breath and winced in pain but forced a smile. "I-I love all of you."

"We love....you too, appa." TaeSooBer's confession trailed off, closing their eyes, feeling tired and super weak all of a sudden. 

Jessica, Tiffany and Krystal...the last word and name in Sooyoung, Taeyeon and Amber's heart and mind before succumbing to the darkness. 

------------------

*At the same time in Seoul, Korea*

"Your daughters went into shock. " Donghae informed the nervous and anxious Hwang and Jung family parents. "It sometimes happen."

"Why did it happen to our daughters?" Mr. Jung asked, curious. "Is something else wrong with them?"

Donghae shook his head. "No. Other than the bullet wound, their psychologically fine. Nothing else is hurt. I do not know what could have brought your daughters to shock."

"What-what does that mean? Are they okay?" Mrs. Hwang, as well as the others, had to know. 

"They lost more blood due to the shock. "Donghae sighed. "We did not have any more blood packs that matched your daughters. But-"

"So what now?! How will we get the blood?!!" Mrs. Jung clung onto Donghae's arm in hysteria. 

"Don't worry. As I was saying, we were lucky to have some blood in reserve."

"Thank goodness. Thank you so much." Mr. Jung thanked Donghae, absolutely elated to know that his daughters will be okay.

"But you say reserve. What do you mean by that?"

Donghae sighed and forced a weak smile. "Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber donated some more blood for them before they left. It was done for emergency situations. That amount was just enough for your daughters. Thank them, not me."

The family members wanted to say more but just then, one of the nurses interrupted. "Doctor Lee! They're awake!"

"Who?"

"Ms. Hwang and both of Ms.Jung.!"

Upon hearing this, all of them rushed to the designated room of JeTiKrys. 

"You guys are awake." The parents rushed and hugged their daughters while Donghae stayed behind, not wanting to interrupt the family reunion. 

"Where's Amber?" 

"Sooyoung isn't here?"

"Where's Taeyeon?"

Those questions that were muttered with a weak, soft voice yet followed by a smile was more than enough to entrap Donghae. What is Donghae to answer?

"Taeyeon visited me."

"So did Sooyoung."

"And Amber."

JeTiKrys looked at each other and smile while the parents exchanged confused looks. Even Donghae was confused.

"They did?"

"Dae."

"What did they say?"

"For me to recover soon and be happy." Tiffany answered. "And that she loved me."

"Sooyoung said the same thing."

"So did Amber."

Donghae nervously chuckled. "Wow...creepy." He joked, but he couldn't help but be scared. 

"I know right?" Krystal chuckled at the comment. "But then Amber left."

"So did Taeyeon."

"And Sooyoung."

"Left? Where?" Mr. Hwang asked. 

JeTiKrys shrugged. "We tried stopping them but they kept walking away."

Tiffany smiled. "Wait until I see her. I tried to go after her but she just ignored me. Telling me to stay and not move. When I see her, she will pay."

"Same here." Jessica and Krystal answered. "Making me scared like that deserves punishment. I was so scared."

"So was I unnie." Krystal shared Jessica and Tiffany's fear.

The parents merely agreed, not wanting to do or say anything to make their daughters angry. Especially when TaeSooBer have been forbidden to visit them and have not been here since 3 days ago.

"That dream must be why they went into shock" Donghae thought to himself. "It must have triggered it."

Just then, Hyoyeon entered the room with a rather somber expression. "Donghae. We need to talk. There are some preparations we need to make."

And that was all Donghae needed to hear to understand the meaning of those words.

With a heavy heart, Donghae turned to JeTiKrys and forced a smile. "Even if they're not here right now, they're not far." 

JeTiKrys smiled and nodded their head. Eager but patiently waiting for the return of their lovers.

But as soon as Donghae closed the door....he knew...

that the dream JeTiKrys believe was reality...may have been the very last image of Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber. For when there is death, there is also life that is given. And maybe...just maybe...that is the last gift from Taeyeon, Sooyoung and Amber to Jessica, Tiffany and Krystal....

....the gift of life.

Live or die, there is no fear...

Death brings a new beginning...

From the ashes, life is reborn....

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I hope this very long chapter makes up for my absence. I know that the death of James may have seemed rush but honestly, I tried my best. lol. And there are still some things I have to write about to end this story. Yes, this story is coming to an end soon. I just don't know when but soon. 

I hope I get lots of feedback from this chapter. If I get alot of comments, I usually try to update faster. :D

And just in case some of you don't know, I started a new fanfic called Collide. The main couple is JETI and then SoojinxMichelle. Just go to my story collection and you'll see it. But heres the link too: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/895933/collide-jeti-romance-snsd-yoonyul-sunbyung-girlsgeneration

-anightangel