Jongdae awoke from his dreamless slumber with swollen eyes. He sighed at them, sat up, and wrapped his arms around his legs. It was dark out, and he looked to the side to see Jongin lying down beside him. His eyes were also a bit swollen and Jongdae once again felt guilty for causing the younger male so much worry. Luhan and Kris were on his other side, Ace snuggling into Kris’s chest, wrapping his wings around him.

Jiyoung. He looked around for her rock form, sighing in relief when he noticed it in Jongin’s limp hand.

How many times has he needed to depend on her? He was a wreck; he was aware of that. His hands rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm them from the chilly breeze that struck his bare skin. His fingers brushed against that familiar area, emitting a strike of pain and he bit his tongue, grunting. With a gulp, he timidly moved a part of his shirt, inhaling as he saw the scar.

It was the same, but it was so painful. Jongdae put the shirt back down, shaking his head and made sure not to touch it, so the pain would hopefully subside. He grunted a few times, trying to soothe the itchiness in his throat, until he ended up in a coughing fit. His hand flew to his mouth and once he was done, he took it away, paling when he saw blood.

Whimpering, he wiped it in the grass, looking up at the moon and gulping when another wave of calmness hit him. He shook his head. The moon used to be so soothing, but now he understood. Magic. He felt calm because of magic. Somehow, they were connected. He could feel it. Everything came down to magic. He bit his lip. The pain beginning to come back as he got bombarded with millions of thoughts.

How was he ever going to take down the council when he can’t even get ahold of himself? He was spiraling out of control! His powers were acting on their own and the fact that he lashed out on Jongin and could have killed him and the others made him tear up. It wasn’t his fault. He just wanted to be helpful. He didn’t want to depend on the others and become a burden, yet no matter what he did he became one anyways.

His head fell forward and he pulled at some strands, staring at his dirty, scraped knees with furrowed brows. His powers were too dangerous. Jiyoung and the others didn’t understand, but he did. If they knew what went on inside that dark abyss with his aura, they would flip out. Force him to start working with it to learn how to handle the power but if he did that he’d be giving his aura what it wanted. Him to give in. He couldn’t. He was stronger than that, he could do this on his own!

I gave into my powers when I fought that monster. I won’t do it again.

A yawn sounded through the silence and he froze, breath halting as he listened intently.

“…Jongdae?”

He felt his shoulders sag in relief before they tensed again. That soft, gentle voice that said his name – it was just Jiyoung. He turned to the rock, gingerly grabbing it out of Jongin’s hand and clearing his throat to try and pretend he was fine. “Hey Jiyoung,” he said, toes curling in the grass.

She yawned again. “How was your sleep?”

“I had no nightmares, or dreams for that matter.” His chin laid on his knee, hands interlacing. “So I guess you could say it was pretty good.”

Stay calm, Jongdae.

“Really?” She giggled. “That’s good. I had a dream that I was a lion.”

He raised a brow. “A lion?” He took a deep breath, slowing his beating heart.

"Yeah, want me to tell you about it?"

"Go ahead."

“Okay. It was the strangest thing, Jongdae” she said. “So I’m a lion in the middle of some sort of jungle, right? There’s no other sign of wild life and get this, one of my front legs is, like, mangled, believe it or not. I’m limping around and whimpering ‘cause I’m in pain, and then out of nowhere, an elk just zooms past me.”

Jongdae hummed. “Wait a sec, why was your leg mangled?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Dreams are ing strange.”

He smiled, snickering, and started tossing her rock around. “Alright, continue, all powerful sorceress.”

“So once the elk runs off, I guess something clicked and I remember thinking oh , I need to run, but my leg was injured so I was really slow. And when I say slow, Jongdae, I mean irritatingly slow. ing hell, cripples could walk faster than me,” she muttered.

“Hey. Don’t say things like that.”

“Sorry. It just felt so real, and it was super frustrating.” She huffed. “Anyways, my leg hurts like hell, and I’m moving as fast I can until I’m knocked over by some strong force. I look over and there’s another lion stalking towards me. Now, I don’t know about you but I’m not one for cannibalism, so you better believe that I fought that guy, or beast, because he looked a little too excited to see me.”

Jongdae’s shoulders sagged as he shook his head with a grin. Jiyoung was really goofy sometimes.

“My memory’s a bit fuzzy, but I remember trying my hardest to fight with my injured paw. The lion was ruthless, too. It swiped its claws at me and bit me, and just as I was on the verge of dying something amazing happened,” Jiyoung said.

A couple seconds of silence passed until Jongdae asked, “What?”

“An arrow hit the beast’s side and it let out this deafening roar!” she exclaimed. Jongin groaned beside them and she giggled sheepishly. “Whoops. Forgot about them for a moment."

Jongdae stood up and walked off a bit, stepping over charred leaves and grass, and settled underneath a tree a bit away from the others, as to not disturb them. “Now you can be as loud as you want.”

“Alright! So then, the other lion turned around and began running at whatever shot at him when another arrow hit the side of its face. It was insane, Jongdae, the thing was still alive. It stumbled back a bit and I took the chance to bite the side of its neck somehow.”

“You remember how it tasted?” he jokingly asked, placing the rock on his stretched out legs, while picking up some leaves to observe.

“Oh heavens no, thank god. That would be disgusting.”  She pretended to retch before letting out a chuckle. Jongdae’s eyes shut as his grin widened. “Oh, yeah, after I bit off a chunk of its neck, another arrow hit its head and then it died.”

Jongdae snorted. “Now that was anti-climactic.”

“Yeah, it was, buuut the ending is the best part!” Jiyoung cleared . “So I’m still injured on the floor when I feel someone start bandaging my leg and petting my fur. They had the most soothing voice I have ever heard and they’re telling me it’s going to be alright and I’ve got you.”

“Who was it?”

“You,” she answered.

He stopped looking at the leaves, wide-eyed. “Me?”

“My reaction exactly. It was so ing strange,” she said. “You were wearing robes people used to wear back in my days. The robes belonging to a warrior, and damn, you had some nice biceps, which was how I just knew it was a dream. Plus you had a bow and oh God, Jongdae you need to become an archer you'll get all the ladies.”

He glanced at his arms, playfully flexing them and scoffing. “My muscles are on par with Hercules,” he quietly jested, a soft smile playing on his lips.

“Right, right, I would’ve opted for skeleton instead of Hercules, but you know, whatever floats your boat.” She let out a content sigh. “The dream ended after you saved me. I guess the reason I told you all of this is I want you to know that even though I lash out on you and we bicker and argue, like I said yesterday, I believe in you. We’ve come such a long way since the beginning of our journey, and you are capable of so much. No ma