(trigger warnings: mentions of murder, , child molestation)

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As a matter of course, the antlered snowball headed towards their original destination, the Forsaken Forest, as they left the airborne palace of the Wing Demon and his intimidating sphinx guards behind.  Luhan was glad to be back on real ground, but Xiumin wasn't so sure where they were going was any better, in terms of threats to their safety.  The closer they got to the forest, the darker and more ominous it seemed, with the half-dying trees stretching their gnarled limbs over the root-covered floor and with every gust of what Xiumin hoped was just wind.  If not, then something else was rattling the branches and Xiumin would prefer not to have to face whatever it was.

"Actually, could the trees themselves be alive here?" Xiumin fearfully asked Luhan through his mind, stopping right at the edge of the forest where a dim path disappeared into the dark mist between the twisting trunks. "Like, alive with something.. abnormal?"

"I'm not sure," the antlers responded, sounding slightly spooked himself. "I may have heard something about the trees swallowing Forsaken Ones or the Forsaken Ones possessing the trees. Either way, I guess it's a possibility that some trees are not quite normal... But, w-what harm could a tree do.. right?"

Luhan definitely sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else, and Xiumin was seriously having second thoughts about entering the forest, but a raging whirlwind suddenly picked up right behind them and it took everything the snowball had to keep ahold of a root emerging from the ground to prevent them from being into the torrent of air.

"What the heck?! Where did this wind come from?" Xiumin yelled telepathically to Luhan against the hissing of air whipping around them.

Luhan was just as frantic and shouted back, "I don't know! But I'm barely keeping your snowflakes from being right off you so stop talking and just hold on!"

If the antlered snowball doubted that the whirlwind could get any stronger, they were proven wrong, as the intensity of the wind increased further.  Xiumin was now wrapped around the root, so it was practically pierced right through him, but he could still see some of his snowflakes pull off his ball and pass through Luhan's protective barrier to be swept up into the twister on their backs.  The snowball wasn't regenerating his snow as fast as he was losing it, so he would probably have to let go at some point if he wanted to stay intact.  But if he released the root, he would probably get swung around by the whirlwind until it smashed him to bits and pieces on the ground, so death seemed imminent regardless of his choice.

Again, Xiumin thought about how he failed to achieve anything meaningful while he existed in hell and was going to think his goodbyes to Luhan, but then a terrifying rumble erupted from the tree right in front of them.  The snowball realized he had been holding for dear life onto the root of that very tree, which had begun to moan and groan as it twisted its branches towards the antlered snowball.  The root helping to keep Xiumin anchored to the ground was also being retracted, almost as if to drag the snowball along with it into the ground.

"Oh my god, it's trying to eat us, isn't it?!" Xiumin shrieked to Luhan, barely managing to let the root pass through his ball without slipping off entirely.

Some of the tree's branches were already reaching down and poking at Luhan's barrier, and the antlers seemed to be at his limit, merely whimpering in reply.

Xiumin took a second to ask himself whether he'd prefer to be eaten by a tree or demolished by a whirlwind, but during that second of contemplation, the wind pressure and tree movement both lessened.  When Xiumin felt that his snowflakes were no longer being vacuumed off of him and the root had become immobile again, he looked up in confusement and noticed what had happened.  The tree was now directing its branches at the column of swirling wind itself, which bizarrely looked like it was fending off the tree, snapping off the twigs and thin branches that got too close to it.  But the tree was at an advantage, having numerous thicker branches that wouldn't break just from the small cyclone, and soon those branches were outstretched on either side of the whirlwind, ready to close in on it.

After raging against the branches in a futile attempt to break them, the whirlwind seemed to give up and dissipated into the air.  Xiumin quickly let go of the root and got ready to glide away as fast as he could, but the tree didn't resume its capture of the antlered snowball.  Instead, it creaked and sighed as it moved its branches back to their original positions and regained its motionless posture.

"I-I guess it's satisfied that we're not touching or bothering it?" Luhan spoke up quietly, now that the immediate dangers had passed.

"I hope so," Xiumin replied, making sure he wasn't standing on any other root overlaying the ground.  He would have liked to think of trees as gentle things that wouldn't go swallowing other living things left and right for no apparent reason, so if they merely wanted to be left alone and not be tugged at by a snowball trying to save itself from a tornado, Xiumin could respect that.  He just hoped the whirlwind wouldn't come after them again in the forest, or else he'd have no choice but to bother another tree and maybe get swallowed by it if he was unlucky.

"But I don't think that whirlwind will try messing with us again while we're in the forest," Luhan surmised. "I don't think the tree would have tried to swallow the whirlwind unless it was some kind of spirit or maybe even a demon, so it'll know better than to try coming after us and kicking up any dust in here."

"Heh, so the forest is actually safer for us?" Xiumin wryly commented, as he began to make his way into the forest, constantly having to hop over the many roots criss-crossing the vaguely defined path.  He tried to hop as lowly and lightly as he could, but it wasn't helping much to muffle the obnoxiously loud and cheery ring of Chanyeol's flame bell.

Luhan nervously chuckled, "I guess so. Safer, but still spooky."

As if on cue, they heard a off to the side and saw just a few yards away a purple flame flickering amongst the trees.  Xiumin froze in his tracks, afraid of calling the Forsaken One's attention to himself.  But the purple flicker seemed to be getting closer to the antlered snowball, probably having been drawn in by the sound of Chanyeol's bell, and Xiumin could neither run nor hide without making more noise.

"Remember, I told you Forsaken Ones can't hurt us physically," Luhan nudged mentally at Xiumin.

"Yes, but you said they might do other unpleasant things," the snowball whined back, "and I'd rather not become permanently depressed or anything like that, you know?"

"Just, let's hold still and maybe it'll just pass us," Luhan said optimistically.

But alas, the Forsaken One had other plans and came to a stop directly in front of the antlered snowball.  Xiumin couldn't help but tremble at the sight of the zombie-like soul cloaked in an eerie purple glow with sunken black hollows for eyes and a mouth.  It was pretty much what the snowball thought a ghost would look like, complete with the hovering off the ground and and all, and Xiumin desperately hoped Luhan's intel that it was harmless would prove to be accurate.

"You're a Loved One," the Forsaken One lowly croaked, inching closer.

"Y-y-yes, I am," Xiumin answered, despite himself.

"You were calling to me," the purple spirit leaned over the antlered snowball, blocking the sky.

"N-n-no, I wasn't!" Xiumin crouched back, shrinking from the Forsaken One's outstretched hand.

"You weren't calling me with your bell?" the spirit hovered its hand over Chanyeol's bell, as if it wanted to touch it but was afraid at the same time.

"No! I wasn't ringing the bell for you!" Xiumin hastily denied and shook his head fervently.  Something whacked the back of his head, nearly giving him a heart attack, but then he realized it was the tassel that was oddly stiff as a board.

"What?" the Forsaken One cried in dismay. "You didn't ring the bell for me? Why? Why does no one ring the bell for me?! Just because I got old, am I useless?! All my life, I spent every waking hour serving the master of the house, and no one cared about me, what I wanted, how I was doing. But I tried my best! Even though the master's son beat me when he was bored and the master starved me every time he blamed me for something his wife did, I put up with it! I had nowhere else to go, no family, no one who cared for me. But as soon as I couldn't chop the firewood like I used to, or make trips to the town as fast as I used to, I was deemed useless! I became 'a waste of space and air,' 'a greedy old dog that should just be put down,' and I was kicked out to the shed, to sleep on the damp ground and pick up scraps left over from their meals. If I didn't die from hypothermia first, I'd eventually die from malnutrition and starvation. But I couldn't leave just like that. I needed to remind them that I was still useful, that I could still do things, even if they hadn't ordered it."

The purple spirit began to cackle deliriously.

"So I went to each of their rooms that night. I stuffed a pillow over the son's face and beat him to death. I gagged the master, tied his hands and feet, and dragged him to his wife's chamber to have him watch through the door as she the stable boy for the fifth time that week. I went in, put the poor boy out of his misery, and tied up the missus just like her husband. Then I gave the master a knife, and you know what he did?"

Xiumin's eyes were wide with horror at the story unfolding before him and he couldn't even respond to the spirit's question, but it was rhetorical anyway.

"He killed her!" the Forsaken One screamed in hysterical delight. "Like he always wanted! He finally killed her! Then he killed himself after I told him his son was dead, too. It was beautiful! Just what I wanted. Just what I.. wanted.."

The Forsaken One suddenly began to sob and moan uncontrollably and a dark miasma oozed from its body, wafting thickly towards the antlered snowball.  Xiumin couldn't avoid it and he was soon engulfed inside it, unable to see anything in front of him.  He also felt extremely alone, and though he called to Luhan, both through his mind and aloud, he received no response.

Xiumin recalled Luhan having said something about despairing visions and figured this might be it, but he didn't think he had much of a despairing moment during his brief time in the Living World and tried to ease his apprehension with that in mind.

The snowball quickly learned that the vision didn't have to depict anything that occurred to him while he was alive.  Xiumin was now seeing the little girl who had created him being beaten by her older brother after she showed him the snowball.  The spiteful brother punched and kicked the little girl so that she fell down the snowy mountainside and sprained her ankle.  The evening grew dark and cold, and the little girl called out with her tiny, weak voice for her parents and even her brother, but no one came looking for her and she couldn't move herself.  The helpless girl was found crying and shaking by a man whose dog led him to her, and she thought she was saved, but then he took her to his truck at the base of the mountain and drove her to a cabin far away from her home.  And then he did things to her so horrible that Xiumin thought he would lose his mind out of despair.

"-min!"

"-umin!"

"Xiumin!"

Luhan's voice cut through Xiumin's head clear and loud.

"Wha- Huh?" the snowball regained awareness of his surroundings and realized the front side of his ball was wet with tears.  He sighed in relief to find that the vision he was lost in wasn't a reality, or at least he hoped with every fiber of his being that it would never become a reality.  Then he panicked because he was not sitting on the floor of the forest like he was before having the vision.  No, he was in a much more elevated position and when he looked at what he was now sitting on, he freaked out and went toppling to the ground.

It was a giant, blood-soaked thing, with four knobbly legs and a long neck and head.  If it weren't for such a gory appearance, Xiumin would think it looked like a horse.

"It is a horse, Xiumin," Luhan stated aloud, trying to calm the snowball down.

"What? Then why is it all covered in blood?!" Xiumin responded, not having calmed down at all.

"I-I'm sorry if I scared you," the bloody horse spoke up in a soft voice, "but I'm not trying to harm you."

"Xiumin, he saved us," Luhan added, explaining further, "he picked us up and pulled us out of the Forsaken One's miasma."

"D-did you see a vision, too?" Xiumin asked the antlers telepathically, hesitating because he was afraid Luhan might have seen an even worse vision of despair than he had.

Luhan's soothing voice entered Xiumin's thoughts, "Yes, but I sort of knew what was coming. I just... I saw the hunter that killed me do the same thing to other reindeer, so it wasn't too bad. Was it that bad? For you?"

"I don't even want to think about it," Xiumin answered glumly. "So what do you mean this horse saved us?"

"Well, I was in the middle of my vision," Luhan related, "but it suddenly cleared away and I got back to my senses to find that this horse had taken us away from the Forsaken One. If you look closely, you can see the white glow around it. It's another Loved One, Xiumin. Like you."

Xiumin was astounded to find that the horse creature was in fact giving off a subtle white glow.  He called out to the creature, "You're a Loved One?"

The bloody horse startled at the snowball's sudden address. "L-loved One? I don't know what that is, but I just wanted to help you get out of the vision. I've come across those purple ghosts and got stuck in visions myself. I know how terrible it can be, and I wouldn't want anyone else going through that. But don't worry about that ghost coming after you again. It got scared off by the trees that woke up and tried to devour it."

"I see. What's your name?" Luhan asked curiously. "Why are you here?"

"I-I'm Lay," the horse replied. "I... I somehow ended up in this forest, but it's a long story..."

The snowball finally regained his bearings and grew hopeful at the thought of helping this Loved One, though it had initially helped them first. "We're all ears. I mean, as long as we're not getting attacked by another Forsaken One, you can tell us your story... Only if you want to, though."

The horse took a nervous step back, but then seemed to steel himself mentally and sighed. "I fell here, into hell, but while I was falling, I got swept away into a tunnel of wind, and the next thing I know, I wake up in a locked room. This.. demon came to me and asked if I had any powers, if I could do anything extraordinary, but I'm just a normal horse. The demon threatened that he'd kill me if I was lying and kept me in the room without feeding me, but I was telling the truth! I didn't have any special powers. And when I collapsed from hunger, a strong wind pushed me out to a courtyard garden that was in the fortress I was apparently being kept in. The courtyard faced the ocean, an ocean of blood, and I was supposed to feed on the plants in the garden, but I just wanted to end it all. So I made a run for the ocean, intending to drown myself. But.."

The antlered snowball waited patiently for the horse to continue.

"But I didn't die. I survived. I washed ashore in front of this forest, and I've been wandering through it ever since."

"And you didn't think to clean the blood off yourself?" Xiumin blurted out, but Luhan quickly interrupted, "How did you die in the first place? How did you end up falling into Hell?"

Lay the horse drew a heavy breath and informed them how his master was a boy when he was alive in the Living World, and the boy loved him very much.  The boy loved riding him out to the river bank and spent many hours grooming him and feeding him carrot and apple treats.  One day, the boy brushed Lay's coat until it shined, braided his mane, and stuck something on Lay's forehead, excitedly mumbling something about registering Lay for a Halloween contest and how Lay would make the perfect unicorn with his pristine white coat, but Lay didn't understand any of that at the time.  All he knew was that the boy suddenly lugged over what he realized after the matter was a big mirror, and it was the first time Lay ever saw himself clearly.  He was the only horse in the boy's stable and he had no recollection of seeing other horses, his reflection in the water trough or the river always having been blurry, and for the first time in his life, he realized that he was deathly afraid of horses, or at least the image of horses, despite being a horse himself.  Lay freaked out and in his frenzied panic, he accidentally knocked the boy over and fell down on top of him, breaking the boy's legs and causing serious injury to the boy's spinal chord, paralyzing the boy for life.  The sweet boy who loved his horse didn't blame Lay, but the boy's parents did, and in their agony and fury, they put Lay down, cursing him to hell in the process.

The bloody horse and the antlered snowball shared a solemn moment, but both Xiumin and Luhan soon opened up about their own circumstances landing them in hell and the antlers filled in the horse about the labels of Loved Ones and their Artifacts.  Luhan also educated Lay about the Forsaken Ones he had been dealing with in the forest and the antlered snowball profusely thanked the horse for pulling them out of their despairing visions.

Now that Lay was officially a comrade of theirs, Xiumin took on an air of familiarity and offered to try ridding the horse of his bloody coat.  Lay, who had been mindlessly and aimlessly wandering through the forest, never actually took a good look at his own hide and was appalled to find how horrendous he looked, caked in dried blood.  He gladly accepted the snowball's offer, but to the disappointment of all, no matter how hard Xiumin scrubbed his snowflakes on Lay's coat, the bloody stain would not come out of the horse's hide.  The best he could manage left Lay with a splotchy pink coat, but they all could agree that that was still much better than the blood that had given the horse the appearance of a monster from hell.

Now that he wasn't shuddering every time he looked at Lay, Xiumin relaxed for a moment while he sat on the horse's back.  He considered their situation and began to feel a sense of achievement and a bit of pride blossoming within himself.  They had finally found someone who might need their help, and though he'd only helped turn the horse from blood-red to pink so far, the snowball was sure they could do much more for Lay and Lay would definitely be grateful about it.

"He does seem very nice," Luhan agreed mentally, "though a bit depressed, but who could blame him after what he's gone through. I'm just glad he didn't actually drown in the Blood Ocean."

Xiumin grimaced at the image of such an ocean and vowed to himself that that would be one place they would not be adventuring to.

The antlers did not object to that vow and instead asked, "So what next?"

"Well, now that we've found a Loved One, I guess we should call Chanyeol to come get us."

"Ah, but first we should ask Lay what he wants to do."

"Oh. That's true," Xiumin acknowledged, telling himself not to get disappointed if Lay happened to refuse their help.

The snowball hopped off the horse's back and went around to the front of the horse.

"Umm, Lay?" Xiumin called for his attention. "We have something we want to ask you."

Hearing the seriousness in the snowball's voice, Lay knelt himself on the ground to make the conversation easier. "Yes?"

"So, you know how I'm a Loved One, like you?" Xiumin began, seeing Lay nod in reply. "Well, when I was falling into hell, I was helped by a demon, a Fire Demon. His name is Chanyeol."

"And he's very kind!" Luhan chirped in. "Lord Chanyeol is not like the other demons, he tries to help Loved Ones and Artifacts as much as he can, and he takes good care of us!"

Xiumin rolled his eyes at the antlers making the Fire Demon sound like some saint. "Anyway, Chanyeol usually helps Loved Ones and Artifacts get settled in hell, either letting them stay at his place or with one of his demon friends."

"Then why aren't you with him, or one of his friends?" Lay interjected. "Why are you in a dangerous area like this?"

"Well, I was getting to that part next," Xiumin answered, chuckling at how the horse reminded him of his own suspicious self when he first dropped down in hell. "You see, I'm on a mission, with the great help of Luhan here, who's keeping me safe. I wanted to have some sort of purpose in my existence in hell, I didn't want to just survive for the sake of surviving."

Lay blinked, not really following the snowball's existential issues.

Xiumin continued, "So Luhan gave me the idea of going out and searching for other Loved Ones and Artifacts that might be lost or maybe even kidnapped against their will, and we'd bring them back to Chanyeol who could help protect them. That's why we're out here, adventuring through the lands of hell, trying to find anyone that might need our help."  The snowball took a deep breath. "And so we wanted to ask you, would you like our help? Do you want to get protection from Chanyeol?"

Lay blinked slowly with eyes so unfocused that Xiumin wondered if the pink horse had even heard the question, but after a moment, Lay fixed a grave look straight at the antlered snowball and spoke in all seriousness. "You have to be honest with me. Chanyeol doesn't have a- a long face and h-hair growing out of his neck and behind, does he?"

"You mean, like yourself? Like, a horse?" Xiumin clarified, scrunching up his face as he imagined the Fire Demon with horse proportions.

Lay nodded grimly, to which Luhan burst out laughing, "Lord Chanyeol has a tail but it's not hairy at all and he looks nothing like a horse, so don't worry!"

"If you say so..." The pink horse rose uneasily to his feet. "But I'm going to run away if he scares me or threatens me in any way. Okay?"

"Of course," Xiumin reassured him, "You won't be forced to do anything you don't want to do. Now if you think you're ready, I'll go ahead and call Chanyeol."

Having confirmed Lay's nervous nod, the snowball hopped lightly thrice and spoke aloud the Fire Demon's name with each jingle.  Five seconds passed with nothing happening and Xiumin was beginning to think he made a fool out of himself, when suddenly the top of Luhan's protective bubble grew extremely bright.  As if the bell itself was an overpowered flame thrower, fire erupted in a column right over it straight up into the sky, painting their surroundings in orange and gold.  Xiumin could glimpse blue hues in the center of the column and he shuddered to think what it would feel like if he was trapped in there.

"We probably wouldn't last a millisecond," Luhan thought to him. "It's practically radiating off the top of my barrier, but somehow, it's not burning me. Lord Chanyeol's magic is truly amazing."

The flame column lasted about ten seconds and then disappeared into the air, leaving behind a light snowfall of ashes from falling leaves that had gotten caught in the blaze.

"Woah," Lay uttered, and the antlered snowball was surprised and relieved to find that instead of looking terrorized, the pink horse had a mesmerized look as he stared after the last of the flame.

Luhan chuckled aloud, "Well, that should help to keep any Forsaken Ones from bothering us for a while. I'm not sure how long it will take for Lord Chanyeol to get here, but we should stay in this clearing so he can find us right away."

Xiumin and Lay agreed and settled down on a spot clear of ashes.

"So, how did you do that?" the horse asked the snowball interestedly. "I thought you didn't have powers and that Luhan could only make protective barriers."

"Oh, no, that wasn't me," Xiumin quickly corrected him. "It was the flame bell Chanyeol gave us. He's a pretty powerful Fire Demon; you should see his phoenix."

Lay's eyes lit up excitedly. "That sounds amazing. So you can use the flame bell to call him whenever you want?"

"Not exactly," Xiumin answered, "just if we're in an emergency or if we find someone to rescue."

"Or if we get news about someone we're looking for," Luhan added purposefully. "Which reminds me, Lay, have you seen or heard anything about someone named Baekhyun? He's a Loved One, and he used to be a Light Guardian, if that rings a bell."

Lay furrowed his brows. "I don't know if he's a Loved One or whatnot, but my master talked about him when I was alive."

Luhan could not suppress his astonished gasp. "Your master knew of Baekhyun?! But, wasn't your master a human??"

"Yes," the horse insisted in earnest, "and he didn't just know of him, he said he absolutely loved him."

"B-but Baekhyun was a Light Guardian from Heaven," Luhan sputtered, "Humans shouldn't have even been aware of him."

Lay shrugged, "Well, my master said he couldn't live a day without him. Said he tasted so good, even if he felt bad for pigs, he would never give him up."

"Wait, hold up. 'Tasted so good'??" Xiumin interjected. "I don't think we're talking about the same thing here. Lay, who was it that your master loved?"

"The person you're looking for. Bacon," the horse answered innocently.

"No, we're looking for Baekhyun, not bacon!" Luhan groaned exasperatedly, emphasizing the difference in enunciation.  He had to enlighten both the horse and the snowball about the greasy pork strips that Lord Chanyeol had for breakfast on days he had torture duty at the pig slaughterhouse.  That was where Hellseekers who were condemned to swine forms due to their greedy and disgusting deeds in the Living World resided, but of course, Lord Chanyeol didn't actually eat any of the Hellseekers.  That would be in bad taste, and Hellseekers reeking of their sins would taste bad anyway.  No, the Fire Demon got his bacon expensively imported from the Living World, so he saved the delicacy for when he'd get a boost in torture efficiency as well.

Unfortunately, with the correct name in mind, Lay could not find anything in his memory about the missing Light Guardian, and the hopeful Fire Demon who arrived just then received the disheartening news with a poorly hidden crestfallen face.  But seeing the pink horse marvel at his giant fiery phoenix waiting patiently for the ride back home, Chanyeol quickly recovered his gaiety and sincerely congratulated the antlered snowball for their accomplishment.

"I didn't know you'd be able to find a Loved One so soon!" he admitted. "Actually, to be honest, I was expecting to see the flame signal as soon as you left. You didn't run into any trouble this whole time?"

"Well, we only nearly died about a dozen times, no biggie," Xiumin shrugged nonchalantly, before turning serious. "The only reason we didn't use your bell all those times is because we physically couldn't. I am so lucky to be alive right now."

"Yeah, we definitely have luck on our side," Luhan agreed emphatically. "Lay was actually the one who found us- saved us- from a Forsaken One."

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "Helping strangers in Hell without an ulterior motive? You Loved Ones are the only ones who'd do that."

"But you do it, too, don't you?" Lay pointed out, "You're helping me and you're not asking for my soul... or are you?"

"Nah, you're already in Hell, so your soul has no market value," Chanyeol dismissed him. "But it looks like I'm going to need help bringing you back to my place. I'm the only one who can ride my phoenix and I don't think you'd be very comfortable in my Shadow Bag, so I'll have to ask Kai to come transport you for me."

"Kai? As in the shadow reaper lord guy?" Xiumin asked.

"Yes, but just call him Kai when he shows up. He hates being called a lord." The Fire Demon rummaged behind himself and pulled out the mouthpiece of a megaphone; he dragged it around to his front and the snowball could barely make out the end of it because it was swallowed by so much darkness.

"Lord Chanyeol only pulled the megaphone halfway out of his Shadow Bag so he could shout into the Shadow Dimension, which connects him to Lord Kai," Luhan quietly whispered to Xiumin and Lay.

"Kai! I need your help with something. Come over here!" the red demon shouted into the megaphone. "I know you just got back from a job and have nothing to do, so come help me! Kai! Kaikaikaikaikaik- OW!"

The Fire Demon doubled over, clutching his shin, and then Xiumin realized there was a disembodied foot hovering midair after delivering the silencing kick.  Looking more closely, he saw that the floating limb cut off into a blurry blackness he could not put into focus no matter how hard he tried.  Though he had an inkling the reaper lord would appear through shadows, it was still quite astounding to see a whole body climb out of a black rip in the air.

"You forgot to say 'please,'" the tan-skinned figure drawled disdainfully, though he sported a satisfied smirk at Chanyeol's pain.  Unlike the Fire Demon, the Reaper of Tainted Spirits did not have horns or a tail and in fact looked quite human in his black tee and jeans.

"You didn't have to kick me in the shins for that," Chanyeol whined and pouted.

"Oh, that was for waking me up when I finally got to sleep," Kai retorted.

"But you sleep all the time, except when you're not working or eating," Chanyeol deadpanned, but gave up the quibble in favor of getting down to business. "Look, I need to bring this Loved One back to my place, but I didn't want to stuff him into the Shadow Bag. Can you bring him over for me?"

The reaper glanced at Lay and the antlered snowball and grimaced. "You are way too obsessed with your Loved One . When are you gonna stop collecting them like a freak."

"Call me a freak, call it a , I don't care. I'm still going to do it," Chanyeol shrugged. "So are you gonna help me or not."

Kai groaned and glanced back at the pink horse, who flashed a nervous smile.  Luhan piped up with a saccharine sweet, "Please?"

"Don't get cute with me, Luhan," Kai grumbled but nevertheless beckoned Lay closer and began stretching a tall shadow gash.

"Awww, I knew my best friend would come through," Chanyeol cooed, chuckling when he got a glare in return.

Despite his sullen demeanor, the reaper explained things quite earnestly to the horse. "If you don't want to get lost in the Shadow Dimension, you can't get separated from me, but the shadow vortex will try hard to pull you in another direction. Since you can't really grab onto anything with your hoves, you're gonna have to let me grab your neck or something."

"You could mount me, too, if that makes it easier," Lay offered.  Though slightly flustered, Kai couldn't deny that it would facilitate the trip, so he hopped onto Lay's back and wrapped his arms around the horse's neck in a tight grip.

"See you there," Kai spoke over his shoulder and before Lay got a chance to say goodbye, he pulled on the shadow vortex, which rapidly consumed the both of them in a matter of seconds.  The last of Lay's tail disappeared into nothing and the black rip zipped shut as if it had never been there.

"So I guess we're riding the phoenix?" Xiumin asked, growing concered for the antlers. "Are you going to be okay, Luhan?"

"Oh, don't worry about me," he replied, sounding resigned. "I've been through a shadow vortex just once and it was much, much worse than having to fly at high altitudes. I'm more worried for Lay, but at least they'll arrive quickly and he'll have time to rest. He'll need it."

"Yeah, I'd say it feels worse than a day-long hangover packed into a few hours," Chanyeol added, though the snowball couldn't really relate. "You can ride on my shoulder, if you want, since you're small enough. Ready to go?"

"Yes, sir," Xiumin answered, secretly a bit excited for the glamorous transportation.

The Fire Demon scooped the antlered snowball up onto his shoulder and with Luhan's silent swearing filtering into Xiumin's mind, the phoenix took off into the sky.

 

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A/N: it's been nearly a year since the last update, but i hope at least someone out there will enjoy the continuation of this story (which is all planned out and just needs to be written, i swear!)

anyway, thank you for reading!! <3