The deep loss and sacrifice of Yoona was still imprinted deep in Taeyeon's eyes and heart as they trudged forward, emotionally drained from all the killing each had made.

“I can't...can't..go on anymore.” Taeyeon collapsed to the ground, gathering her face onto her knees as she wept, the sore aching hole in her chest widening by the minute as she gazed at the endless stream and packs of monstrous soldiers that lumbered up to the front of the castle. “I…”

“You're still intent on finding Jiyong, aren't you?” Jessica's voice was brittle. “That demon king said he's the connection, so go and ing get rid of that connection, and perhaps we might just have a chance.” Taeyeon gazed upwards at Jessica, eyes teary.

“But all of you---”

“We swore ourselves to you. So either way we’ll always end up dying for you.” Taeyeon refused to look at her sisters in the eyes as they the unsheathing of their swords filled her ears.

“I’m fighting too.” Sooyoung demanded, and Taeyeon gaped silently at her sister.

“Soo, you can’t even shift! How--”

“Shut up! I’m going!” Sooyoung's eyes blazed as she turned towards Taeyeon. “You know what's wrong with me don't you?” She demanded. “Learning all that magic must have taught you a thing or two. Unravel the spell that was cast on me to restrict my shifting abilities.” Taeyeon croaked slightly at her sister's open palms.

“How long…?”

“Have I known?” Sooyoung's lips were curled but tight. “All my life, Tae. That's why I kept my mouth shut and never spoke a word when with my family, because I knew the risks others took to cover up for me. Now that that's gone, I'm done staying behind and waiting when I can and should be fighting. So, unravel that ing spell for me, now.” Taeyeon glanced up the solid but bright and determined eyes of her younger sister, before sighing.

“Come.” She cupped Sooyoung's hands and brought it close to her chest, right above her heart, before exhaling softly, a soft golden mist rushing from between her lips and crawling up and spreading across Sooyoung's body. Taeyeon watched through her magic filled eyes as the seven pointed star curse that bound Sooyoung's Bakeneko for years splintered, then shattered free.

Dark lines arched across Sooyoung's right face and into her eye, turning one a dark red with a pitch black sclera.

“Feel any different?” She smiled wanly at her younger sibling.

Sooyoung blinked.

“Just….free.” She leapt on top of the castle wall with a odd and strange feline grace, a hum that sounded between a exhilarated purr rushing from . “I haven't tried my powers since my birth, so this should be overwhelmingly fun.” She grinned a bright blinding smile in the direction of her sisters, before leaping off the edge, much to Taeyeon's screams of horror, to plummet to the ground fifty feet below.

A dull explosion of Earth and deafened impact rang in their ears.

“She's strong. She'll be fine.” Taeyeon stared incredulously as Hyoyeon pressed her back, unsheathing her swords to follow after Sooyoung. “Her feline entity is a necromancy entity after all.” They watched as the demons cut down with the slash of Sooyoung's claws violently expel demonic blood, before reanimating from the dead in a feline and cat like form, turning against their brothers and sisters barricading around the castle. “See?” A low hum of satisfaction was deep in Hyoyeon's voice. “Now, we'll hold them off, and you just have to find that breach to Jiyong and cross it to save him.” Taeyeon looked up hopefully at her blonde haired sister. “Don't worry, I've always known that you could do anything if you wanted to.”

“If I wanted to.” Taeyeon croaked.

“You want to save Jiyong, don't you?” The blonde’s voice was oddly soft. “And in war there's always necessary sacrifices for the good of the goal.”

“But that goal is not a goal if it means exchanging my lovers life for all of yours!” Taeyeon couldn't stop her tears from falling. “I've lost Hayeon, twice, then Yoong, then Irene and her sisters…” Her voice trailed off into a harsh whisper. “I don't think I could take much loss anymore.”

“Well, we won't die till you say we can.” Sunny's voice sounded briefly from behind Taeyeon, and Taeyeon stared at her oldest and longest living relative. “Until the end of time, remember? And it's not like we're incapable of watching each other's backs.” Sunny's fingers tangled momentarily with hers reassuringly. “So go, and bring back your lover in one piece.” Taeyeon picked herself up slowly from the ground.

“I’ll be back.”A wavering sense of strength and steel filled her voice. “I swear I will.”

“And like always, we’ll be fighting, and waiting, just for you.” Sunny barely flinches as she stares down at the battle occurring beneath them. “Hyo and Jes, you two are supporting Soo. I think she's a little overextended.” Taeyeon spares a glance back at her sister's just as Hyoyeon dives down with a war cry of exhilaration spilling from her lips, and the space she tears open with her fingers to connect herself to Jiyong closes tightly right behind her.

…

Taeyeon opened her eyes slightly to the blinding light, the chorus of sweetly singing birds echoing in her ears the contrasting irony to the metallic tinge that fills her very nose and nearly sends bile rushing up .

“Jiyong.” He dangled in a oddly barbaric fashion of a crude hanging cross, a mockery of the exact place that Jiyong had been placed in---a holy sanctuary of a church that should have meant refuge and shelter, not blood,death and gore. “Oh Ji.” Taeyeon could barely stop herse