The day of Chen's funeral everyone arrived with a blink of an eye and the atmosphere was awkward, as expected. How do you greet distant friends at a friend's funeral? Lay was quiet as usual, Chanyeol and Baekhyun avoided eye contact with everyone, Sehun refused to speak while Suho actually tried to make amends, Kai and D.O were in mourning, and Tao hasn't said a word. Kris and Luhan tried to get everyone on speaking terms but they all woul not budge. Everyone shed a tear when Chen was laid to rest, Tao knowing he was next. He kneeled in front of the fresh grave, mirroring Lay and Xiumin, but the only difference was he didn't brush everyone off.

    "How have you guys been?" Kris tried starting the conversation.

    "Pretty good actually, I just got a promotion at my job." Suho spoke quietly.

    "Jongin and I got engaged." D.O blushed slightly.

    "Congrats." Lay spoke quietly, leaving everyone confused.

    "I think that's the most I've heard Yixing say." Baekhyun teased.

Lay smiled slightly and the atmosphere wasn't so painful anymore.

    "Joonmyeon doesn't let me out of the house much." Sehun joked.

    "That's not true!!" Suho cut in.

Luhan smiled at the conversations then looked over at Tao, who hasn't moved from his position at all.

    "Baekhyun and I are adopting!" Chanyeol exclaimed.

    "Please don't name them Baekyeol." Kris groaned.

Baekhyun blushed while Chanyeol laughed at the comment. Luhan walked over to Kris and cleared his throat.

    "Why don't you go check on Zitao and I'll keep everyone company here." Luhan suggested.

    "I was about to do that anyway." Kris ruffled Luhan's hair before making his way to his grieving best friend.

Kris put a hand on Tao's shoulder and kneeled next to him.

    "Look on the bright side, you guys weren't married so it doesn't hurt as much." Kris laughed awkwardly.

Tao pulled a ring out of his pocket and showed it to Kris, making him bite his tongue.

    "I'm so sorry." Kris apologized, feeling like a jerk.

    "It's fine, because I know you're trying to cheer me up and are doing a ty job at it." Tao chuckled.

    "This is more Luhan's forte not mine but I'm trying." Kris shrugged.

    "Do you think he's happy?" Tao stared into the distance.

    "Yeah, I think he's kind of happy but you're down here."

    "I'll be up there soon, he shouldn't worry about it."

Kris bit his lip and imagined Tao's name next to Chen's and laughed to prevent himself from crying.

    "What's // funny?" Tao glared at Kris.

Kris wasn't sure if he heard Tao right or not so he decided to shrug it off.

    "Nothing is funny, it's just me trying to cope with my feelings. I want to keep them in control for as long as I can." Kris admitted.

Tao slung his arm around Kris and smiled sadly.

    "You can't deny this any longer, Yi-// body has grown significantly weak-// past couple of days and I don't know if I'll // Hong Kong."

    "Why am I only hearing part of your sentences?" Kris grew concerned.

Tao's eyes widened in realization, pulling Kris close.

    "I'm starting to glitch... You can only hear part of my sentences bec- // pausing time without even knowing it." Tao sighed, "Soon I'll join Minseok and Jongdae..."

Kris buried his head into Tao's chest and cried silently, he wasn't going to show anyone else he was vulnerable because he couldn't be. Tao knew his best friend was broken and refused to show it because Kris was to be strong for a lot of people. Kris has to maintain Xiumin's promise and now Tao's, it was all too much for him even though it isn't much.

    "P-Pleas-se stop talk-ing like th-that." Kris sobbing quietly.

    "And you have stop pretending to be strong. I know you've been keeping a cold exterior to prevent yourself from cryingand I bet you hide it from Luhan too, Yifan." Tao responded.

    "I am strong... Just not strong enough. I have to keep Luhan safe... I have.. to... I have to keep him safe." Kris wiped his eyes.

    "Oh Yifan, what are you going to do without me?" Tao pat Kris's head.

    "Be careful, I'm still taller and older than you." Kris hit Tao's hand away.

    "You might want to put that mask back on because Luhan looks like he wants to go home." Tao chuckled, standing up.

Kris laughed and wiped his eyes one last time before joining his small boyfriend. Luhan beamed as he took Kris's hand as their friends were finally opening up to each other again. Everything took a dark turn as a dark van drove by them, shooting repeatedly, on an already gloomy day. They all ducked in fear as Kris pushed Luhan towards D.O who fell into Kai, who fell to the ground with them on top of him. At least they weren't in harms way. Everyone was either ducking behind tombstones or covering their heads on the floor except for Kris. Luhan yelled for him, extending his hand trying to get up but D.O wouldn't let him. Amazingly Kris saw a stray bullet head straight towards him, slowly. He closed his eyes, bracing for impact, but when he didn't feel anything he opened his eyes. Turning around he saw Tao standing a few feet away with two fingers in the air, pointed in his direction.

    "Zitao..."

In a swift movement of Tao's hand, everything was playing backwards. Kris watched the bullet move back towards the gun it was shot from, Luhan retracted his hand and everyone was getting up to the position before they fell. The van was gone and everyone had a smile on their face, especially Luhan. Kris knew that he was about to get shot but he could actually care less about that, he almost cried due to the fact that Luhan and everyone else would have been safe. He put one of his hands on Luhan's cheek and smiled widely. Tao put his hand down and sighed heavily, falling to his knees. Time resumed its normal flow and Luhan blinked upon feeling Kris' hand on him, blushing. Kris quickly retracted his hand and cleared his throat, his face burning hot with embarrassment.

    "Zitao!"

Kris quickly turned around to see Lay trying to help the fallen panda.

    "Kris, go! Take everyone else where, anywhere but here!" Tao yelled pushing Lay towards Kris.

Lay looked shocked and confused as he was pushed into Kris's arms and then pushed towards the others.

    "What?" Luhan was starting to get scared.

None of them had the slightest clue what was going to happen next expect for Tao and Kris.

    "Guys we need to go now!" Kris urged, pushing Luhan to move.

    "Where would we go?!" Kai barked.

Again, the van was driving quickly past them and this time there were no multiple shots being rung out, but only a single one.

    "YIFAN!!!"

Clouds covered the sunlight, letting its tears fall.