It was quiet, in retrospect, the noise of the fighting on the battle field seemed like a far off memory. They weren’t too deep into the trees, and perhaps that he couldn’t hear the ruckus of the raging war was should have been a warning, but in that moment only one thing was burning into his mind.

They stood for what felt like years, the woman pressed against Kyungsoo’s back, her hair blowing forward to hug either side of his face in the gentle breeze that breathed past them.

Kyungsoo stood firm, his hands pressed against his sides as the woman’s hands ghosted along the outside of his arms. He wasn’t afraid in that moment, he was calmer than he had been in so very long.

That was the tell-tale sign to him that he was ready to end this once and for all, and whether that be by winning or dying in an attempt to, he didn’t know. But he knew that no matter what, he wouldn’t let her get what she wanted whilst he was alive.

There was a soft sigh that escaped from between the woman’s lips and then that warmth that had been pressed against him disappeared and so did the woman.

Kyungsoo did his best to keep his face neutral, he knew that she was still watching him, he could feel her eyes boring into his being and he would not let himself betray the emotions that whirred through him intensely. He was calm, that much was true, but by god was he frightened.

The woman that he was here with, this was the woman that took away his parents, the woman that instigated the torture of his best friend, the woman that was still a constant reminder of where his boyfriend came from, of what he could have become had it not been for his father. This woman was the root cause of everything that he hated in this world and he was dead set on letting this be her ending. He was dead set on being the reason that her world collapsed.

Kyungsoo worked with good people. He tried endlessly to be a good person and whilst he held himself in a high regard of maintaining that imagine, he wouldn’t fool himself into thinking that he held the moral standings of a genuinely, wholesome good person.

Kyungsoo was flawed and he knew that much too, the trouble was, he didn’t much care because he knew that today, in this moment, those flaws would become his reasons for continuing his journey and ending the torment that this woman wished to impart upon his people and the people that were mere bystanders in all of this. The Normals.

“Hush little baby, don’t say a word…. Mama’s gonna buy you a mocking bird”

The woman’s voice flooded through the still air of the forest, and Kyungsoo felt an ache in his heart as visions of his mother sitting on the foot of his bed came flooding into his head, visions of her hand on his calf as she smiled up at his sleepy face and sang him to sleep.

A sense of rage filled Kyungsoo, a feeling that he didn’t particularly like. This woman was mocking him. She was mocking him in ways that she knew would not only hurt him, but torment him mentally.

His heart clenched and dropped as he stood stock still on the spot she had left him, his feet planted firmly on the ground.

“And if that mocking bird doesn’t sing… Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring”

Kyungsoo’s hands balled into fists as a breeze blew past him and a blur of black hair crossed his vision, a sting hit his cheek, making him un-ball one fist and lift it to his face. There was a gash across his right cheek, deep enough that he knew that it would leave a faint scar, but not bad enough for the wound to cause worry.

“Is that the best you can do?” Kyungsoo demanded lowly, “Hide away and sing a song?! You think you can affect me so easily?!” he asked, only to be met with a whimsical laugh.

“And if that diamond ring turns brass” Came the woman’s voice in answer to his questions, “Mama’s gonna buy you a looking glass”

Kyungsoo took a deep breath as the blur of a woman returned the struck him hard in the back of the knees, sending him buckling to the ground.

“You’re good. But if you think that you can last this way then you are sadly mistaken!” Kyungsoo spat, getting back to his feet swiftly and turning in a slow circle in order to try and spot any sign of the fast, taunting woman he so detested.

There was no laugh this time, only a soft sigh of wind as the leaves on the mud below him began to stir gently as though dancing in the breeze.

“And if that looking glass gets broke... Mama’s gonna buy you a Billy Goat”

A sharp pain ran down Kyungsoo’s left arm. He looked to see a piece of dirty, jiggered glass sticking out of the top of it. With a slight hiss leaving his lips, he pulled it free and sent it thundering down to the ground. He watched it smash into small pieces with a fickle sense of satisfaction.

Destruction. How apt that it seemed to bring some sort of light to him. How ironic that the one thing he was set out to stop was the one thing that really got him going.

“Cute” he snarled.

“And if that Billy Goat runs away…” a gush of wind and then nothing. Kyungsoo turned and came face to face with the woman, who offered him a sort of twistedly amused smile, “Mama’s gonna buy you another… some… day. Tell me, Kyungsoo. Did you enjoy when you mother used to sing to you?”

Kyungsoo’s eyes narrowed, “How do you know about that?” he asked, internally berating himself for allowing her to have such a hold over him. He was a grown man for crying out loud! How could he let her get under his skin like this. for years he had tried with all his might to not allow his parent’s deaths to be his weak link and yet still, they were. They would always be. And she knew that. She knew that with every fibre of her body. And she used it, just how Kyungsoo used Jongin against her.

Oh she was indeed a smart woman.

“You think I wasn’t keeping tabs on them?” She tilted her head to one side, “Oh you sorry son of a . You think I found them and struck right away? I was watching them for a long time, Kyungsoo. I played my part so very well. I waited until the perfect moment and then I killed them. And let me tell you something,” he said, leaning close to him. She let her hand come up to hold the back of Kyungsoo’s neck as her lips moved against his ear in an exaggerated whisper, “I loved every last minute of it”

“ you” Kyungsoo said lowly, shoving her away and landing a solid punch right to her jaw, sending her to the ground. There was a sick sense of happiness that flooded him as he saw the bruise that was already beginning to show on her pretty face.

“Your father,” she said, flexing her jaw and climbing back to her feet gracefully, “He didn’t really put up much of a fight. Oh no, he knew that he was done the moment he laid eyes on me. He told me to take him and just leave his family be. Ha, he tried so hard to convince me. He even cried. He was still crying when I killed him”

Kyungsoo flinched, “STOP!” he raged, springing forward and slamming himself into her, sending them both to the floor before he punched her square in the face, splitting her plump bottom lip right in the middle.

She let out a small hiss of pain, but otherwise looked unaffected as she grinned up at him sadistically. He had her by the collar, one knee by her hip whilst his other leg was stretched out to keep him balanced. Her hair was painted with leaves and dirt, but she didn’t seem to care, and Kyungsoo was more than certain his hair was in a similar state. Hell, his clothes had definitely seen better days. They were caked in dirt and damp in places. There was dried mud and dust all up his back. But the woman, without taking into account the state of her hair, looked pretty well kept together. Her black clothes still shining and clean, though he doubted that would last long in this fight.

“Your mum, now she was fun” she said, not bothering to even fight back, “I dragged her pretty body down that hall way, and oh how she screamed. She screamed for you to run and she knew that she wasn’t getting out alive. I look her into the basement. I tied her up and god I hurt her. She was all tears and pleading when I cut her to pieces. She begged and begged and even with her last breath, she was asking me to stop, to just… please… stop” she taunted Kyungsoo, “Do you know what her last words were? Her last words before the blood loss knocked her out cold and I slit ? She said, ‘I’m so sorry, Soo-Baby. I’m so…’ and that was all she had left in her” she laughed, her eyes shining with pure glee.

“I SAID STOP!” Kyungsoo growled, punching the woman hard in the stomach and making her cough violently.

The woman though, still laughed, “Oh silly boy, what makes you think I’ll listen to you if nobody else could make me?”

Kyungsoo was seeing red as he shoved her hard back down to the ground and got in blow after blow to her body and face, letting out everything he had in him. His powers didn’t even come into his mind, he needed to use his hands. He needed to feel this.

But it seemed that the woman had tired of letting him have his way as her hands came up and landed hard on his shoulders. She gave him a bloody grin before she shoved him, hard, sending him flying backwards and into a tree, knocking the wind out of him.

Kyungsoo tried to gasp as he slid down to the floor, unable to catch his breath. His lungs felt as though they were on fire as he crawled onto his hands and knees, but it didn’t matter, he was too slow.

“You think you stand A CHANCE OF WINNING THIS?!” the woman’s voice grew louder as she marched over and kicked him hard in the ribs, effectively tossing him up into the air and spinning him over so that he came back down to land on his back with a heavy thump.

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened in pain as he was winded once again, he could barely breathe as the woman knelt down and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling up slightly before punching him hard in the face. She was saying something, spitting out something vicious by the looks of his but Kyungsoo’s ears were ringing.

He had just managed to get his breath back when she landed a kick to his head. His eyes began to water and his head felt fuzzy. The ringing in his ears got even louder as the woman pulled him back to his feet.

She didn’t look angry, she didn’t even looked annoyed. She looked passive and as though she had done this a million times before. Though Kyungsoo didn’t doubt that she had.

“Even if you kill me” Kyungsoo gasped, “Someone else will stop you. Jongin will stop you”

The woman looked at him pityingly, “Kai will join me when he sees there is no other way” she said defiantly.

“And if he doesn’t?” Kyungsoo questioned.

The woman smirked before using the flat of her hand to smack Kyungsoo violently in the chest, sending him backwards into another tree. She looked pleased at the cry of pain that fell from his bloodied lips. God, he was glad he couldn’t see himself at that moment, because he was sure as hell that he looked like a dead man walking and they had only just started.

“If he doesn’t” she purred, walking over and pulling Kyungsoo up harshly by the hair, “Then I’ll kill him too. I don’t have time for traitors. Of course, it’ll pain me to see him go, but death is a better fate for him than what I plan on doing to the rest of them”

Kyungsoo grabbed onto the wrist that was connected to the hand in his hair, “. You” he hissed, pulling her hand away and losing a chunk of his hair in the process. Though he refused to make a noise, he wouldn’t give her that satisfaction as he shoved her arm away from him.

She gave him a dirty look as she dropped the hairs in her hand before whipping it on her leg. Kyungsoo took in her appearance at that point, and was pleased to note that he had been right about messing her up. Her once shining black cat-suit was now caked in dirt to the point that he couldn’t see a clean bit of it.

“Oh now, don’t be so rude” she said, “Otherwise I won’t let you in on what I have in store for them,” she shoved Kyungsoo back and held him in place with her arm across his windpipe, not even breaking a sweat as his hands came up to try and pry her away, but she was a very strong woman. “I think I’ll start with the water boy. I didn’t care to much for him and his little play mate. So him first, and then the one that heals you. Oh, I’ll enjoy hurting him after what he did to my army. Collateral damage of course, but I don’t like it when people break my toys” she drawled. “Next I think the little love birds. I saw them together, the one with the ice and his little lightning friend. Oh I’ll hurt them in ways that they’ve never dreamt of. Perhaps I’ll give them a taste of their own medicine. Freeze the electric one and electrocute the frozen one. After all, everyone knows what happens when you stick a live wire in water…” a laugh left her lips as she pressed down harder on Kyungsoo’s windpipe, though not enough to cut off his air supply, she enjoyed taunting him and wanted to be sure he was listening. “Then the tall one with the dark circles. He looks like he’d cry easily. The scary looking ones always do. And by god I’ll make him hurt. I didn’t like him too much. Far too much of a child for my liking. Though of course the dragon seems protective of him. So he’ll have to be next. I’ll make sure he watches the little boy go before I burn him from the inside with his own dragon fire.

 “Once he’s gone it’ll be the one that makes the air bend and his little telekinetic friend. They tried to take one of my soldiers, so I’ll see to it that they never attempt it again. Perhaps I’ll kill them together, since they seem to like working as a pair. After that, it’ll be the fire boy. Oh I’ll enjoy that one. He seems far too full of himself. I’ve seen him before, you know. When he was young. He was born to be a killer and yet you still befriend him. He’s no different than me, Kyungsoo… He killed people before he could say a sentence and yet you still try and protect him! The hypocrisy astounds me!”

Kyungsoo snarled at that, “He didn’t want that life” he got out, still struggling to pull her arm away, “He’s a good person that was born into a bad life and he changed what he was trained to be. He chose to be good!”

“Don’t be so sentimental over friends, Kyungsoo. It’s boring” The woman rolled her eyes before smiling evilly, “Oh but I saved the best for last, didn’t I?”

A noise that Kyungsoo had never made before tore through his throat, it was some strangely dangerous mix of a snarl and a growl, “Don’t” he warned.

“The light in your life” she purred, “Byun Baekhyun. Oh he is a pretty one, isn’t he? I’ll make sure to treat him extra specially, since we have so much history. I’ll start by breaking every bone in his delicate little body, but I’ll make sure that he doesn’t pass out. I’ll make sure that he feels every little snap and crunch” he smirked, and it disturbed Kyungsoo just how much she looked like Jongin when she did, “I’ll make sure he watches when I kill the fire boy. And just before I finish him off by frying the life out of him, I’ll make sure to drag your dead carcass in for him to see. I’ll make sure to get every. Last. Scream. Out of him. Every last bit of pain that I can put him through… oh you better believe he’ll feel it! I’ll make sure that Byun Baekhyun knows WHAT REAL TORTURE IS AFTER THIS!”

Something inside of Kyungsoo was boiling over. There was something in him that had snapped at the way she said Baekhyun’s name and now it he was going to let out the beast that had been laying dormant inside of him for all these years.

“I’m sorry” he whispered.

The woman smiled, “There, now was that so hard”

“I wasn’t saying it to you” he clarified, “I was apologising to the people that have held back something that I can’t control for all these years” his voice was calm, almost soft.

There was a look of confusion in the woman’s eyes as the ground below them began to shake violently and the trees began to sway dangerously. The sky was growing darker, greyer, and thunder was beginning to rumble loud and fierce in the sky.

The woman’s eyes moved from the darkening sky above back to Kyungsoo. A gasp left her as he dropped her arm and took two frightened steps back.

Kyungsoo was wearing a dangerous smile on his face, but that was not what scared her, no. What scared her was the black eyes that the boy was now sporting, and it was in that moment that she knew she had made a grave mistake.

--

Jongin looked around the battle field frantically, no matter where he looked there was no sign of Kyungsoo.

It had taken him by surprise as the sky had grown dark and began to scream down at them. Dark clouds had moved overhead and the sky had proceeded to pour down on them, the rain heavy and unrelenting.

He turned to ask one of the others if they had seen Kyungsoo at all, but what he saw made him stop in his tracks. The battle had stopped still and everyone was looking around in confusion. Half of the people on the battle field, Specials and Rogues alike, were frozen still, faces up towards the sky, their arms out and their palms faced towards the ground.

“H-Hyung…” Jongin voiced tentatively, reaching out to place a hand on Junmyeon’s shoulder, but he jumped back as Junmyeon’s looked down again and his eyes snapped open, as had every other Special that had been looking skyward.

Their eyes were pure black, and all at once they opened their mouths and let out a terrifying scream. He looked around at his friends to see who had been effected and from what he could tell it was all of those that happened to control an element. Chanyeol, Junmyeon, Minseok, Sehun, Jongdae. They were all sporting black eyes and letting out a banshee like scream.

“What’s going on?!” Jongin cried out as the rain became heavier and heavier until he couldn’t see even three feet in front of him.

There were cries of terror from all over the battle field as people tried to get a control of the situation, but it didn’t matter, all of those that were screaming couldn’t be snapped out of their trance, and nobody knew who was who as they tried to separate friend from foe.

“JONGIN?! JONGIN IS THAT YOU?!”

Jongin turned just in time for Yixing to slam into him frantically, he looked petrified.

“What’s happening?!” Jongin shot back, his eyes scanning over Yixing to make sure that the elder was okay, noting briefly that the elder was doing the same in return.

“I… I don’t know! We were fighting and then they… Just… oh …” Yixing’s eyes widened in realisation. “Kyungsoo…”

“Kyungsoo?” Jongin questioned, but Yixing had already taken off, leaving him on his own, confused and scared beyond his wits.

--

The woman fell backwards as an almighty scream left Kyungsoo’s lips. The rain was beating down on them, hard and heavy, but it was as though the boy had barely noticed as he stalked forward, his arms out and his palms faced towards the Earth.

“Kyungsoo please” the woman pleaded, tripping over a misplaced log and falling back into the sloppy mud of the ground beneath them, still Kyungsoo trudged forward until he was towering over her cowering body. “Please, this isn’t you!”

“THIS ISN’T ME?!” It was Kyungsoo that spoke, but from his lips seemed to come a thousand voices, all speaking at once, all angry beyond anger. “HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT THEM?! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO USE THEM AGAINST ME!” The voices spoke, piercing through her like a knife.

She could only cower in fear as Kyungsoo’s black eyes glared down at her, his wet hair dripping and sticking to his beaten and bruised face.

She dared to look away from his face for a moment to trace the blood that poured from his knuckles, mixing with the water and dropping to the floor before her eyes landed back on his. She had never seen anything like it before.

“Please, this isn’t you. This isn’t how you handle things, you know that!” She pleaded again.

--

Jongin flinched as every black-eyed Special and Rouge began, once again, to shout in sync.

“THIS ISN’T ME?! HOW WOULD YOU EVEN BEGIN TO KNOW ME! YOU KNOW NOTHING! YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A PATHETIC LITTLE COWARD WITH A POWER COMPLEX!” They raged, still unmoving from their positions, “YOU THINK YOU KNOW POWER?! I’LL SHOW YOU POWER!”

Again they began to scream, and Jongin was forced to slam his hands over his ears from the sheer piercing volume of it.

Thunder still boomed down from above and forks of lightening crashed to the floor, smashing up bits of the ground and sending debris flying everywhere as it did.

A hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he turned to see Kris, who looked as afraid as he felt. He had Tao close by his side.

“Have you seen Yixing?!” he shouted above the combined noise of the storm and the screams of their friends and foes alike.

Jongin shook his head, “I saw him a while ago, but he said something about Kyungsoo and took off!” he shouted back, reaching up to hold onto Kris’s hand. “Where’s Luhan?!”

“I’m here!” A muffled voice came from his other side, and the three of them turned to look at the soaked telekinetic, “What the is going on?!” he demanded hotly.

Kris shrugged, “We don’t know! Half of the ing armies are frozen like that! What the are they talking about?! Did you catch any of it?!”

“Something about power!” Tao shouted over the noise, “I think this has something to do with that woman! The leader of the Rogue army!”

Jongin felt his blood run cold. The woman. The way Yixing had taken off after saying Kyungsoo’s name.

They were together.

They were fighting.

Kyungsoo had tapped into the power of all of the elementals out there and he was using them to beat her. He was going to do it. He was going to win the war, and he wasn’t going to do it alone.

“It’s Kyungsoo! He’s the one doing this! Remember before, when we all linked powers?!” Jongin said, grabbing his friends attention, “He’s linked them all! He… he’s ing fighting her! He went after her and now he’s using them all to beat her!”

“TELL ME AGAIN HOW YOU’RE GOING TO WIN THIS!” The frozen soldiers roared in a rage that Jongin had never heard before. A chill overtook his body and the pent up anger that everyone was realising because of Kyungsoo, his Kyungsoo. “TELL ME AGAIN HOW YOU’RE GOING TO HURT MY FRIENDS! MY FAMILY! TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU KILLED THEM AGAIN. TELL ME WHAT YOU PLAN TO DO TO THEM ALL. TELL ME…. DO YOU THINK I WILL LET YOU LAY A HAND ON THEM! DO YOU THINK YOU’LL HAVE THE CHANCE?!”

Even Kris flinched at the cold, unattached tone that came out of the mouths of the people he loved. Seeing them all like this was heart breaking and there was nothing that he could do. Nothing that any of them could do. They could only watch and hope that Kyungsoo knew what he was doing.

All at once the elementals lifted their arms skyward before slamming them back down again, their hands always facing towards the Earth.

“NOT SO COCKY NOW, ARE YOU, ?!” they screamed.

Jongin had never wanted to cry so much in his life as he looked around the battle field, unable to see anything. Unable to do anything.

“We need to protect them, just in case” Luhan said suddenly. He looked around before nodding. Pieces of grass began to lift from the ground and twine themselves together, becoming thicker and longer the more they went on. None of the other three said anything as the grass rope wrapped around their left wrists, “Spread out, find every Special you can that’s not under this…. trance… and tap them, the rope will connect to them too, get them up towards the front, we need to make a shield of bodies, we need to make sure that none of the awake Rogues can get through to our side. Go!” he demanded and just like that, they set out to work.

--

The woman let out a scream of pain as she was lifted high into the air, branches from the trees hitting her harshly as she was before she was slammed back down to the floor. She cried out in pain as she felt the bone in her left wrist snap.

She brought it close and cradled it to her chest, cringing as Kyungsoo and the voices within him let out a bitter laugh.

He spoke again but she couldn’t hear anything over the pounding rain. It was all too much.

Never had she expected it to go like this, never had she expected Kyungsoo to pull something like this out of the bag. She knew that she was done for.

She still tried to fight, but every time she so much as got to her feet, Kyungsoo had her on the floor again, bleeding and broken.

A gasp left her lips as Kyungsoo reached down and grabbed her left arm, he looked her dead in the eye as he took it in both hands and crushed it. The bones in her lower arm shattering.

The cry that left her was intense.

Her eyes became blurred as she looked towards the trees lining the little area which she had sought out for this fight. She could feel hear head swimming as she saw a figure running from out of the trees and towards Kyungsoo.

“KYUNGSOO! KYUNGSOO STOP!” the person cried out.

It was the healer.

And she wasn’t foolish enough to think he was here to help her. She knew exactly why he had shown up. She knew exactly what was next to come.

She couldn’t move, too in pain as she watched Yixing move between her and Kyungsoo, forcing the Earth Special to drop her shattered arm.

She watched as Yixing placed a hand on either side of Kyungsoo’s face, but he didn’t heal any of the cuts or bruises that the boy had. He simply looked at him.

“This has to be you” She heard Yixing whisper.

Kyungsoo didn’t react, not at first. He said nothing, he only stared blankly back at the healer. Only looked at him with emptiness until Yixing leant in close and rested his head against Kyungsoo’s, whispering something that she couldn’t hear.

She watched as Kyungsoo’s fists balled up and began to shake, and the rain began to fall heavier. The thunder grew louder and the lightening crashed down at an alarming rate, but the healer refused to let go of Kyungsoo, refused to move.

It seemed like forever until Kyungsoo’s fists relaxed.

He looked past Yixing to where the woman lay, a broken, bloodied mess on the floor. His black eyes peering at her almost pityingly.

Oh how she loathed it.

“They helped me get to this point, but I won’t make them into people they aren’t. I’ll finish this on my own” The voices spoke calmly.

The woman watched in something akin to awe as the blackness from Kyungsoo’s eyes began to fade, though the storm that he had created raged on.

He looked at Yixing calmly and gave him a nod.

Yixing pressed his forehead to Kyungsoo’s one last time before shooting the woman a look of utter disgust and then he disappeared into the forest again, and she didn’t doubt that he would not be back.

“So” The woman coughed up a mouthful of blood, spitting it to one side before looking back at Kyungsoo, “This is how it’s going to end, huh?”

Kyungsoo swallowed, “I guess it is” he said, kneeling down beside the woman, but making no move to touch her.

“How do you feel about this outcome?” She got out hoarsely. Her eyes heavy as she peered uneasily through the heavy downfall to look at Kyungsoo.

His face was passive, as though he was simply watching the sun rise or reading the newspaper on a tired Sunday afternoon. “Disappointed” he admitted, “I never wanted to be this person. I never wanted this life and yet here I am. You forced me into it. But I’m also proud, because I’m taking my life back, I’m taking back everything you took from me. Everything you took from them. And I’ll be sure that the kids out there grown up in a safe world, away from people like you”

“Can you really do it?” The woman asked softly, all the fight gone out of her, “Can you really kill me?”

Kyungsoo said nothing as he looked over her, it didn’t look as though he was going to answer.

She opened to ask again, but all that came out was a sharp gasp. She looked down to see that Kyungsoo’s hand was buried in her chest, clutching her heart. She looked back up in time to see a tear roll down his cheek before he tore her heart from her chest.

“Yes” He answered quietly as he watched and felt the life drain out of the woman. He was sure to crush her heart in his hand, his face screwing up in sadness as it crumbled into dirt in his hand and fell to the sopping wet floor, “I can.”

--

The skies slowly began to calm, the rain slowed and the thunder quietened as the lightening had all but disappeared. It remained grey and dreary as the late afternoon drew on.

People all over the battle field had dropped and it was abundantly clear that they were dead.

The people that had been fixed in a trance knew exactly what had gone down in the forest and were doing their best to explain it to their friends, to their team mates, but living it and hearing about it could never be the same.

Jongin was listening to Chanyeol explain when Baekhyun’s cry of “No!” interrupted them.

They all turned to see him on the soaked floor, cradling a lifeless Hani in his arms as tears poured down his face relentlessly.

“No, no! Please no! Please! Hani! Hani wake up, please! Wake up. Please, for Oppa! Hani! Hani please!” he begged. He looked up and his eyes landed on Yixing, “Heal her! HEAL HER!” he screamed. “PLEASE…. P-Please…!”

Yixing choked on his own held back tears, “You know I can’t” he whispered. “She’s gone, Baekhyun…”

“No” Baekhyun whispered brokenly, “Please, no…”

Chanyeol moved forward to pull his unwilling boyfriend away from the girl’s lifeless body, his voice stuck in his throat as Baekhyun held onto him tight enough that it hurt, but there was nothing he could say that could ever make his better.

“This…” Baekhyun sobbed into Chanyeol’s shoulder, “This is what she told you, isn’t it?”

Chanyeol nodded, unable to find his voice as silent tears ran down his cheeks. He briefly noted that his friends were crying also, though they had met the girl only a day before, she was someone that was hard not to fall in love with. Jongdae and Minseok were clutching onto one another, they had known her better after all, but more than anything, it was the sight of Baekhyun that had everyone feeling broken beyond repair.

“Why…. Why didn’t you tell me!” Baekhyun screamed through his tears, pulling back to hit Chanyeol harshly on the chest, “Why! WHY!”

But Chanyeol only pulled him in close and held onto him tighter. He knew that anything he said wouldn’t make this better. He knew that anything Baekhyun heard couldn’t fix this.

There was nothing that anyone could do.

All they could do was mourn.

Around them Rogues were being arrested, many without a fight, though there were a few that tried, they were taken down easily.

They had won. The Specials had won the war. But in doing so they had lost so much. It was clear that nobody would be celebrating. Not yet.

Jongin eyes wondered over to the edge of the woods where he noted a person was stumbling out, a lump thrown over their shoulder as they limped onto the battle field.

And then it clicked.

Kyungsoo.

He took off to meet him half way, not stopping Kyungsoo when he gently placed down what had been over his shoulder.

A body.

Her body.

He had barely stood up straight before a swarm of people had enclosed around them.

“That’s her. Their leader” he said as their Sargent came to stand in front of him, he gestured towards the dead woman on the ground, purposely not mentioning the gaping hole in her chest. “Just… I assumed you’d need proof it was over. There it is. Just… Get it away from here. Please”

The Sargent nodded, “Lee, Choi. You know what to do”

Kyungsoo and Jongin watched as Siwon and Donghae stepped forward, they both looked worse for wear as they picked up the body and made away with her. Though the crowd remained.

“What are you all looking at?!” The Sargent demanded, looking around at everyone, “Scatter! This isn’t a ing show to gawk at. Piss off, the lot of you. Go get cleaned up. There’s a lot to be done! Off with you!”

The crowd scattered and only The Sargent, Kyungsoo and Jongin remained.

“I’ll give you boys a moment” the Sargent said. Not bothering to shoo away the ten boys that then approached.

Hani’s body had been taken away to be cleaned up and buried with the rest of the brave soliders that fought on their side, the bodies of the Rogues were being I.D-ed and sent back to their families. They might have been evil, but they were still people and The Specials were not monsters.

Baekhyun was being pulled along gently by Chanyeol, though Kris stood close to his other side. Tao following close behind. Junmyeon, Yixing, Jongdae and Minseok walked together, and Luhan and Sehun followed up close behind until they all came to stand with Kyungsoo and Jongin.

“So…” Kyungsoo said, breaking the thick silence, “We all made it”

Baekhyun let out a wobbly laugh as he tore from Chanyeol’s arms and launched himself into Kyungsoo’s, the latter was quick to wrap Baekhyun in a tight hug, pressing his face in Baekhyun’s neck.

“Don’t go getting soft on me, Baek” Kyungsoo let out a choked sob as Baekhyun clung onto him tighter.

“I wouldn’t dream of it” Baekhyun cried, pulling back to look properly at his best friend. “I’m so glad to see you. I was so frightened. So ing scared that you wouldn’t make it back to me after you…”

Kyungsoo nodded understandingly, “I’m sorry for dragging you all into that” he said honestly, making sure to meet the eyes of those that had helped him, Chanyeol, Junmyeon, Jongdae, Minseok and Sehun.

“We all wanted this to end” Sehun said, he looked a little beaten up, and it was obvious by the way he leant on Luhan that he had hurt his leg rather badly. “I’m just happy we all made it out of this. If I’d have lost any of you…” he cut himself off.

“We were never going to go down so easily” Kris said, “We’re one. We’ve always been one. And we’ll be one until the very end”

Kyungsoo nodded, taking a moment to go around and hug all of his friends before finally coming to stop at Jongin, who shook his head and finally let out the tears that he’d been holding in as he pulled Kyungsoo into his arms.

Neither of them cared that their friends were watching as they shared a rushed, needed kiss. It was something to tell one another what words couldn’t.

It was a way of saying ‘I’m here. It’s okay now. It’s finally over. It’s finally over’

Kyungsoo pulled away first, his thumbs brushing away the tears that fell down Jongin’s cheeks, “Hey, you” he whispered.

“Hey yourself” Jongin said, “You’re one stupid son of a , you know that?!” he choked, “I could have lost you!”

Kyungsoo nodded, “But I’m here aren’t I” he said, “You really think you can get rid of me that easily?” he smiled sadly.

“I know what she was capable of” Jongin said firmly, his hands clutching onto Kyungsoo’s upper arms.

Kyungsoo smiled again, “Well she clearly didn’t know what we were capable of” he said, “Kris is right. We’re one. She had no chance”

“Kyungsoo”

“Jongin, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m here, I’m alive. And she’s gone. She’s never coming back. We’ve won Jongin, we’ve won”

Jongin sighed, “But at what cost?” he asked. “So many people lost their lives…”

“And so many more people lived because of what we did,” Junmyeon spoke up, taking a step forward and placing a hand on both of their shoulders, “Think of all the lives we’ve saved. All the lives we have created because of this. War is never easy and innocent people lose their lives. People who don’t deserve to die, do. But so many more people live because of their sacrifices” he said softly. “We’ve done a good thing here, Jongin”

“It doesn’t feel like it” Jongin said.

At this Baekhyun stepped forward and forced Jongin to turn around to face him, “I’ve seen a lot of bad in this world, Kim Jongin, and let me tell you. What we’ve done here isn’t bad”

“How can you say that when Hani-” Jongin cut himself off.

But Baekhyun shook his head, “What happened to Hani,” he said with a thick voice, “was terrible. But there are some things in this world that happen and we will never be able to understand why. Bad things happen to good people, Jongin. But it’s the way that we learn from our experiences that define who we are. We have done a lot of good with such a bad hand. And the things that have happened here are awful, and we’ll never forget them, but because of us, because of Specials all over the world, we’ve created a new world where people can actually be safe and live in peace. Tell me, would you have preferred a world where Rogues ruled everything?”

“No” Jongin admitted.

Baekhyun smiled a sad smile, “Then be sad over the lives we lost, but don’t ever regret what we did here, don’t let those lives have been lost in vain. Make them mean something. Help us to build a better world now that we have the foundations to do so”

“We’re all together in this, Jongin” Kyungsoo said, stepping forward and placing a gentle hand on Baekhyun's shoulder, “Until the very end”