Lay watched Chen from a distance. The Legend had woken up distressingly soon for the amount of healing energy he’d given him. Under normal circumstances, this amount would be enough to keep anyone knocked out for over a day. He’d used more on Chen than he’d used on Leo and yet, the Legend was up and about around the time Suho left with Angel, mere hours after Lay had knocked him out.

He frowned. Was it because the darkness that was now seemingly inevitably woven into Chen’s soul? Was it consuming the light like it had when Lay had taken Evil’s darkness in himself? If that was the case… he would probably had difficulty channeling his powers as well.

Lay bit his lip, worried. Chen’s health was deteriorating too rapidly – not that anyone else noticed. But because he was their healer, he was tuned to each Legend’s health, physical or otherwise, and Chen… was not in a good place. He wished the Legend would open up, if not to him, then to his own Shadow or mate. But he was holding himself off and it was the life out of him.

He watched the Legend bound up to Baekhyun and dance around, obviously teasing Kris and sighed. He trusted Chen. Whether he could see the future or not, he trusted his brother. But he didn’t trust him to not kill himself in the process.

This meant that he, as the healer, would have to keep on his toes and be one step ahead. Lost in his thoughts – thoughts that plagued him too often these days – he turned to his own room.

It wasn’t until he’d reached the door that the double assault of scents registered. He frowned, wondering what could’ve brought them here so early in the morning but a little glimpse into the future had him sighing. Humans in love turned into fools.

‘Do you guys want me die?’ he asked mildly in lieu of greeting, propping the door open.

It was bad enough that his room smelled like them without closing the door and implicating himself further. Legends in love were fools too but viciously possessive ones. And he’d rather not get hurt.

Kyra giggled at that but Lily only frowned. ‘I can’t go out there,’ she muttered, crossing her arms and holding herself protectively.

Lay sighed. ‘Hide in his room, at least. He won’t bother you, trust me.’

‘I trust you…’ she muttered, looking away, completing under her breath, ‘I don’t trust myself.’

He shook his head, turning to Kyra. ‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’ he asked, making room to move beside her. He gestured at her neck and she nodded, loosening the knot she’d tied around it.

The bite was still there, still as prominent but noticeably less inflamed.

‘It doesn’t hurt now…’ Kyra told him, delicately touching her own fingers to the indentation.

‘Hm…’ Lay bent forward to look at it more closely. ‘The redness is gone.’

Lily eyed them curiously. ‘Is that the beast’s mark too?’ she asked.

Kyra looked surprised at the question but Lay nodded, still looking at Kyra’s neck. ‘What about the fever?’ he asked.

‘Um… well, it felt like it was gone when I was spending time with him but… there were these… surges…’

Lay looked at her, his answer very obvious on his face. Kyra blushed. ‘I can’t just jump him!’

‘Ask him to claim you then, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. Go, before D.O comes looking for you. I’d rather not piss him off.’

Kyra giggled again and Lay rolled his eyes, smiling a little. Fools, indeed.

‘Talk to him for real, though,’ he advised as Kyra stood up, straightening herself. ‘He’s not going to do anything unless you make it very clear that you want this.’

‘Okay… I actually wanted to talk to you about Rose; I was just talking about this with Lily too. I think she might need help.’

Lay nodded. Both the human and the abby needed help. Lily looked at him. ‘Can we continue her treatment? She’s comfortable with her therapist…’

‘Letting her go out like that might compromise her own safety more than anything else,’ Lay pointed out. Lily’s shoulders slumped.

‘I’m sure, though, something can be arranged. Kyra has plenty of clinical experience…’

‘Would you do it?’ Lily turned to look at her, plea clear in her eyes. Kyra looked put on the spot. ‘Uh…’

‘Think about it?’ Lay added. She nodded. ‘Okay.’

‘Great!’

Kyra shook her head, turning to leave. Lay looked at Lily. ‘Why’re you hiding?’

‘I’m not hiding,’ she protested half-heartedly.

‘Yes, you are. You’ve been hiding since morning.’

‘I’m just avoiding people in general; like you said, it’s uncomfortable.’

Lay hummed, disagreeing but choosing to stay mum. Lily picked on it immediately.

‘I’m not hiding!’ she protested.

He smiled, not looking at her. Instead he picked the book he’d left bookmarked and flipped it open. It was an old medical text, one of Suho’s, which he’d recently begun reading to brush up on his knowledge of human anatomy.

Beside him, Lily huffed irritably. ‘You know what, I’ll just leave.’ Lay’s smile widened.

‘Goodbye!’ he replied cheerily, turning a page.

She let out an irritated sound, all but stomping off. It was kind of funny to see the ever calm and collected Lily so obviously flustered. The door closed a little more harshly than necessary but he hummed, satisfied.

The words of the anatomy book started blurring together as he stared at the same place on the page, mind wandering. The tunes that were always playing somewhere in the back of his mind came to the forefront and he closed his eyes, the book forgotten entirely, as he chased the elusive melody that had been plaguing him since last night.

He had decided to call it the Siren’s Call – he would run it by Angel once to make sure – because that’s how it felt, enchanting and seductive, yet destructive. Giving up on the book entirely, he turned over, resting his head in the palms of his hands and starting at the ceiling, unseeing. He hummed, trying to figure out the chords, to see where it went.

The serenity of the room was disturbed, not by a sound, but a scent, pleasant, potent, yet layered with a distinct other musk of the Abyss. Rose, probably coming to meet Leo.

He didn’t move but his eyes cleared, the room coming into focus, colors turning brighter, his vision sharper, as the beast came to the forefront, sensing its mate.

We have to wait, he told the creature. It whined but made no move to take over.

It was a little known fact – probably only Suho and Baekhyun were aware of it – but his beast Legend was the strongest, simply by necessity. He needed to be able to overpower even the alpha, allowing him to take on the various forms the Legends took, to withstand disease and even defy death. Baekhyun, likewise, was capable of a lot more than he let himself believe.

Even less known fact – probably only to himself and perhaps his Shadow – was the degree of control he had. Xiumin was the one to tame his beast the earliest but Lay hadn’t even needed to do that. His beast had merged with him, the fit between them so good it was difficult to separate where one began or the other ended.

He let the beast do what it wanted and it returned the favor, allowing him to keep his Second Sight that he’d inherited from a generation of Seers before him, oracles who served the Temple under the Elders.

Now that they’d identified their mate, his fever would set in soon enough. But both he and the beast could sense the conflict inside her and his first instinct was, not to claim but, to heal.

And sometimes, healing meant leaving things be, even when his heart insisted otherwise.

He sighed when the scent faded, turning to his side and staring at the door instead of the ceiling. A moment later, there was another scent, again marked with the otherness he associated with Abyss, steps slowing outside his door before rapidly moving away.

He wanted to help, so badly that his fingers itched with it, wanting to dig into the darkness and force his light inside. But that would tear his brother apart, just like it would tear his mate apart. He curled his fingers, digging the nails into his palms and distracting himself with the sensation.

After lying like that for what felt like hours, he slowly sat up. A moment later, the door to his room slowly opened, his Shadow peeking inside cautiously. He felt a smile tug on his lips, a natural consequence of his Shadow’s presence.

Like his power, Baekhyun embodied light, his presence alone enough to banish the darkness. His grin, mischievous even when he wasn’t up to anything, felt a lot like what Lay thought his own healing would feel like.

‘You okay?’ Baekhyun asked, seemingly nonchalant, but his eyes taking in everything.

He caught sight of the book Lay had discarded over the side of his bed, the sheets messed up from where he’d rolled around, feet hanging off the bed. His eyes were red but thankfully not yet bleeding. It was perhaps the weirdest sight – at least for him – to see his Shadow drip blood instead of tears but that was what happened when his beast acted up.

Lay smiled dopily, looking a little stoned and a lot high. ‘A-okay,’ he replied, giving a thumbs up. Baekhyun nodded, backing off before reconsidering and stepping inside.

‘Scoot,’ he told his Shadow when he’d reached his bed, getting in with his Shadow and pulling him into a much needed hug. Maybe Lay needed it, maybe he needed it for himself. Either ways, it was comforting and the way Lay snuggled into his side confirmed his suspicions. Whatever he’d been thinking about had been bothering him.

‘You See something?’ Baekhyun asked after a while, the silence making him sleepy.

‘It’s going to be okay,’ Lay muttered in response. ‘Don’t worry, it’ll be alright.’

Baekhyun thought the healer was saying those words to himself. ‘That’s great to hear,’ he muttered. ‘It will be alright, okay?’

Lay nodded, burying his head into his side and squeezing him hard. Baekhyun smiled and returned the favor.  

……………………………….

‘Where were you hiding?’ was the first thing Tiffany said to her.

‘For the last time, I was not hiding!’ Lily exclaimed.

‘Uh, defensive much?’

‘Ugh!’ Lily buried her face in her hands, not sure what to do. After leaving Xiumin, she’d taken refuge in Lay’s room but the healer had thrown her out. Well, he hadn’t, not really, but she felt weird being alone with him. Not that she didn’t trust him but… well, he seemed to be able to see right through her and Lily didn’t like that. She’d rather keep up the pretense of resistance.

So she’d headed to see Rose and check on Leo but of course, Raina and Tiffany were already there, comfortably seated around Leo, who’d been in the middle of retelling one of his adventures from when he was a gangster, an arm thrown protectively around Rose, who looked perfectly content in her place.

Tao, half leaning against Raina, was listening keenly and vehemently shushed her when she knocked to announce her presence but Raina and Tiffany immediately broke away and of course, this was the first thing they had to say to her.

‘I mean it,’ Lily repeated, much more calmly. ‘I was not hiding anywhere. I just went to meet with Lay.’

Raina’s eyes widened significantly. ‘Was it about… that?’ she asked in a whisper.

Lily nodded. Raina let out a dramatic gasp, naturally making Tiffany curious.

‘What are you two talking about?’ she demanded immediately, leaning close. ‘What is that?’

Lily opened but Raina beat her to it. ‘She and Xiumin are it!’ she chirped happily. ‘He marked her!’

Seriously, this was what Raina got out of it?

‘I knew it!’ Tiffany pumped in the air, cheering. ‘What do you mean though? How did he mark her?’

‘It’s…’

‘Oh, you’re here!’

Because of course, her life wasn’t already hard enough. No, he had to show up as well.

‘Hey Lily!’ Ken waved from behind Xiumin, who’d just entered. ‘We’re leaving for the Black Pearl, wanna come with?’

Tae peeked around Ken. ‘Yeah, come on, it’ll be fun!’

‘Uh…’ Lily cast about to say something, to politely turn them down but with her luck, she should’ve expected Leo telling her to leave.

‘I have Rosie to take care of me,’ he assured her, ruffling Rose’s curls affectionately. Her sister nodded in agreement.

‘Yeah, you’ll probably get sick if you stay still too long,’ Rose told her, snickering at the glare she threw her way and highfiving Leo.

‘Come to think of it, that’s probably why she did get sick yesterday,’ Leo guffawed. Lily rolled her eyes so hard her vision blurred. ‘Seriously, why do I even bother with you two?’

‘Because you love us!’ came the prompt reply, making her sigh.

‘I guess…’ She really didn’t think she was ready to spend any more time around Xiumin right now.

On the plus side, she’d probably find a ton load of work to do and keep herself busy, which was always a better option in her book. Plus, she was actually feeling refreshed for once, so…

And who knew what the condition of the books was?

‘Terrible,’ Ken replied, shrinking when Xiumin glared at him warningly. ‘I mean, boss man was busy with other stuff, so…’

She arched an eyebrow at ‘boss man’ who had the grace to look sheepish. ‘I was going to look at them today,’ he defended himself.

‘Right…’ Lily dragged out the word, disbelief obvious, turning to Raina and Tiffany. ‘What do you guys say, want to come along? It’ll be fun, like old times…’

‘Hell yeah!’ Raina agreed immediately, making Tao splutter in protest. She ignored him, elbowing Tiffany. ‘What do you say?’

‘Sure thing!’ Tiffany agreed, making her friend whoop. Tiffany eyed Lily meaningfully. ‘Besides, we have a lot to catch up on.’

Lily bit her lip nervously. Her friends were gonna eat her alive.  

………………………………………