Her hiding didn't last for long. Thankfully, after two days of barely surviving at the generic room of the castle Suho had bought for them, Aya had woken up.

 

Jongin had come into her room the day before, just to find her sobbing into the mattress, still remembering how Kris had shut off her windpipe, still feeling his phantom hands around , still hearing Sehun's desperate voice saying No, please no, the sound of it never leaving her mind.

 

He knew why she'd given her powers to Kris.

 

"He doesn't hate you, Lamiya," Jongin had said, not managing to keep his laughter in. "He loves you with his whole heart! Where did you get all that nonsense from?"

 

So she told him about everything - about Kris threatening to torture Sehun if she didn't let him have her power, about the lost memories she managed to get back and about Sehun being disgusted by her presence around him.

 

Kai's face darkened by the time she was done. He got up, crossed his arms over his chest and started pacing around the room. "Hmm," he started uncertainly. "So Chanyeol was holding him captive and Tao and Kris threatened to start torturing him if you didn't succumb. How can he be such a jerk, then? He knows why you did it and he's still throwing a fit over it? I'll go there right now and try to beat some sense into that thick head of his-"

 

Lamiya caught his arm before he made an even bigger mess out of everything. "Stop, Jongin," she said tiredly. "I don't blame him for not being able to love me anymore after all of this. I just... need some time to get over it myself."

 

Of course she understood why he hated her. What reason did he have to stay infatuated with her, now that it was gone?

 

She'd tried to reach her power so many times since that day when Lay healed her. She'd went to fields and woods and felt the wind around her, but she could not command it anymore. Kris had taken everything there was to take. Only when she'd seen him on that field below the hill after they'd found him did she manage to send a breeze to him. It had exhausted her, and she wondered if she would've been able to do even such a small things, had it not been him in front of her, seemingly begging her to show him she was still the woman he'd fallen in love with when he'd looked at her with his eyes which remembered her again.

 

She was not his miracle anymore. She was not the only other wind guardian there was. She was not the one. And she could not stay with him, for there was no reason why they'd take her with them.

 

She wondered if things would've been different had she remembered sooner, had she not forgotten at all, had there been no reason for her to get involved with Kris in the first place.

 

"If he'd give up on you because of your power, then he'd never really deserved you in the first place," Jongin had told her as he embraced her and cuddled with her for a while. "With or without the power to control the wind, you are an amazing person, Lamiya. You stood up to SM when none of us did. You didn't care about the consequences - you sacrificed yourself to save Baekhyun. I don't care about your power - you are one of us, whether Sehun likes it or not, and you're staying."

 

She felt so thankful for her friend's words - they offered her gratitude and reassurance she gladly took. It was nice to know there was someone who didn't consider her useless, even if she was.

 

Now, she struggled to keep her gaze away from his form on the other side of the room. His face was unnaturally turned to the side, giving her a clear look of his profile - he did not want to see her even in his peripheral vision.

 

She focused on what Aya was saying - this was why she had to leave her hiding place today. She woke up full of information she wanted to share with everyone, and Suho had demanded for all of them to get over themselves for once in their lives and focus on more important things than their own dramas.

 

To her, it seemed like there was only one drama going on in the room, and it was definitely not happening between her best friend and the sadistic bastard who'd kept bullying her for months.

 

Lamiya had no idea how it'd happened, but the jerk's ear-to-ear grin told enough, and so did the totally-not-suspicious shirt around her head, serving as a makeshift shawl which awfully looked like it belonged to Baekhyun.

 

Her best friend kept blushing whenever she glanced at him - and that happened, like, every five seconds - so Lamiya couldn't help but narrow her eyes while looking between the two. Aya had some explaining to do - what was she doing with that jackass anyway? Did he wash her brain or something? Didn't she remember all of the horrible things he'd done to her? She'd cried in Lamiya's arms so many times, and now the two seemed like newly-weds.

 

Well, at least someone was happy, she thought as she sighed and tuned into what her friend was saying.

 

"Luhan showed me," Aya was saying enthusiastically. "That's why I was out of it for so long. After that I touched Baekhyun's neck to try to calm him down, so that's why I had to go through his memories, too, but that came afterwards."

 

Lamiya saw Baekhyun's posture tighten - whatever his memories were, he didn't seem to be that enthusiastic about her going through them. Jongin had only recently told her what Aya could do, and she was beyond surprised - why hadn't Aya ever told her about it? She didn't blame her, but she didn't like being the last one to find out about such things.

 

"What did Luhan show you?" Junmyeon asked patiently, though he was already biting his lip in anticipation. He must've blamed himself so much - Lamiya was hoping he realized none of this was his fault, and soon.

 

Aya blinked a couple of times, not sure where to begin. Lamiya didn't blame her - after remembering the year of her life that was supposed to be permanently erased, it was hard to sort through things - she hadn't managed to think about most of it, to be honest.

 

"Kris' lover... she's alive," Aya breathed. "SM is controlling him because they have her. He'd seen her, so it's not a lie - Lu read that in his mind."

 

"But what is the purpose of them attacking you and Lamiya?" Suho questioned, seemingly deep-in-thought. "And how is she alive? Thousands of years had passed since the time when she was alive - it did not seem like that for us, but the years had definitely passed for the rest of the universe."

 

"Maybe they were observing us for longer than we thought," Soo piped in. "Maybe they took the chance when we left to fill our energy supplies to kidnap her and use her for whatever goal they have in mind." Then he nodded at Aya. "Do you know what that goal is, Aya?"

 

Aya shook her head. "No, but we may be able to figure it out on our own from the information Luhan supplied us with. They'd approached Kris, telling him he had to take Lamiya's power from her, since they needed more - whatever that means-"

 

Suho nodded as he interrupted Aya. "We know what it means - they've already managed to do it once, back when she tried to save Baekhyun from getting kidnapped. But what do they need the powers for? Baek, you said your power was taken away with a syringe, right?"

 

Baekhyun gulped as he answered. "Yes, but they didn't know where it was - they kept cutting and beating me until I started using my power and they could see where it dwelled. Perhaps that's what they needed Kris for - out of all of us, he is the best at sensing power."

 

Lay nodded at this. "Definitely - he once found me when I went into a whole different galaxy to train. He said it wasn't even hard - he said he could smell me."

 

Everyone suddenly turned to Lamiya - she didn't even realize she'd whimpered. Sehun snorted, while Soo put his hand on her shoulder soothingly.

 

Suho cleared his throat as Lamiya struggled not to think about Kris' hands around her neck. Perhaps he wasn't a sadistic bastard, after all, but she still believed h'd taken it too far. If he'd told her what he needed the power for, she would've given it to him without a doubt, and there would've been no reason for Sehun to hate her and everything would've been fine.

 

It was his power she'd given Kris, Lamiya realized. Perhaps that was why he hated her - she'd given him something that was never hers to give.

 

Lamiya couldn't help but ask the thing that was on her mind. "But why didn't he just tell me? Why didn't he just tell all of us? We could've helped him, maybe we would've been able to save his girlfriend from SM! Why did he have to go so far in his acting?"

 

Sehun snorted as Aya shook her head at her friend. "SM was watching over him. He'd tried telling Suho, but it seems like they are physically controlling him somehow, making him feel immense pain whenever he does something that does not serve their purpose."

 

"Are you feeling that hurt because he wasn't really in love with you? Does it always have to be about you?" He suddenly spoke up, still not bothering to look at her, and she forgot how to breathe. "His lover is kidnapped and he's trying to do everything he can to save her, yet you can't think about anything but yourself?" He snorted again and she could practically hear him roll his eyes.

 

She was betrayed by the tears that started pooling in her eyes, no matter how much she told them not to. "I'm not asking because of myself. I'm asking because-" She stammered, wanting to tell him what Kris had done, but deciding against it after a moment. "-because he hurt his brothers with his silence, and I want to know why he'd do something so out-of-character for him."

 

Soo began soothingly rubbing her arm. "You don't have to explain yourself, it's okay," he murmured.

 

But it was not okay. What had she done to deserve this? Perhaps Kai was right - perhaps he'd never truly loved her. Perhaps he was just intoxicated by her power...

 

But she knew it wasn't true. Sehun had given her his power, he had saved her life by sacrificing a part of himself. Was that a lie, too?

 

"There's something else you need to know," Aya said quietly, after a couple of seconds. Now she was staring at Lamiya, just like she saw Baekhyun staring at Sehun. But it was not her fault, so she had no reason to be looking at her as if she'd done something bad! So she crossed her arms over her chest and sighed as Aya said her next words.

 

'It's not just Kris. They've also done something to Luhan, making him feel very sick," Aya continued. "He'd asked Lay whether there was something wrong with him, but Lay couldn't find anything. But Luhan is feeling increasingly worse every day - he has to receive some kind of an antidote on a regular basis to be able to function normally."

 

Lay tapped his a chin a couple times and then made a sound of surprise. "Oh right! It was that one time when Lu had asked me to check whether he was sick because he said he felt tired, but I couldn't find anything wrong with him. But that happened way before Baek was kidnapped, back when we first arrived to Earth..."

 

Kai, who looked like a lost puppy during the whole conversation, finally spoke. "Those bastards! But how did they even manage to do those things to them in such a short time and without us suspecting anything?"

 

Soo seemed to be the main comforter today, because he put his other hand on Jongin's shoulder and told him, "Don't worry, Jongin, we'll find them and get them back for everything they'd done."

 

"So at the maze, when Baekhyun tried to save you from Luhan and hit you with that ball of light, Luhan made you see all these things?" Suho was still immersed in the story while everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts.

 

Baekhyun growled and started to get up, and Aya put a hand in front of her face, making him retreat immediately. The guy was totally under her spell, and it was very entertaining to watch the whole exchange. "First of all, Baek hit me with that ball because I was protecting Luhan - it was after he begged me to touch the back of his neck, because he said it was the only way for me to understand. Then he told me not to be scared and put a hand on my chest to take some of my power, but Baekhyun didn't understand he wasn't hurting me, so I moved in front of Luhan and got hit instead."

 

Her new boyfriend didn't seem that enthusiastic about the thought of hitting her with a light ball, but she giggled anyway. "And when Lu thanked me and ran to find Kris so that they could fly away, Baek was raging mad and about to unleash an immense power - power he was already running low on, power which would've been wasted for nothing. So I touched the back of his neck and brought him to his happiest memories, hereby distracting him from his mission of chasing Luhan."

 

"But he took your power," Baekhyun whined as he hopped on his chair. "I couldn't let him get away with what he'd done to Aeri. He'd insulted me - you aren't supposed to let anyone else have it!"

 

Lamiya thought about Baekhyun's words - what did they mean? Why had he felt insulted because his love had let someone else have a bit of her power? Why was he supposed to have a part of her power?

 

She decided to voice her thoughts. "What does Baekhyun mean? Why is giving her power to him such a big deal, apart from the obvious fact that he got her powers?"

 

Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy. Suho sighed, Soo whispered how he'd explain it to her later, while Baekhyun rolled his eyes at her. He started to answer her question, but Sehun was quicker to respond.

 

"Is it really not enough for you?" he said coldly as he finally looked her in the eyes. "Do you really have to play stupid now, trying to get some kind of pity or whetever? Kris told me, you know. He told me what and why you'd done it, so you might as well cut the act already!"

 

"What?" she said, dumbfounded. Now both of them had gotten up, while others pulled at their arms, trying to make them sit back down. "What did Kris say to you?"

 

Sehun snorted for the millionth time. His face was a mask of sarcasm and disgust. "Do I really have to spell it out for you? Have you no shame? You remembered, but you still did it regardless! You knew very well what it means, just like you do now! Why do you keep lying anyway?" Now he was desperate as he threw his fist on the table. "Is my suffering not entertaining enough for you? What else do you want from me, you deceiving witch?"

 

She did not understand why he was acting this way or of what he was accusing her. This had to be some kind of a misunderstanding, she kept telling herself. Kris must've said something that was not true to him.

 

But even as she struggled to ask him what was going on, she knew there were no misunderstandings. He loathed her - it was clearly visible in his eyes. "I'm sorry that he doesn't love you back, but it's not my fault!"

 

Now others were shouting - asking them to calm down and work things out slowly, but she didn't care about them. All she cared about was finding out why Sehun hated her so much - what made him feel disgusted with her. Perhaps it wasn't the lack of her power - perhaps it was the fact that Kris was the one who had it now.

 

Now she laughed out loud as she blinked rapidly, black spots showing in her vision. "Love me back? Are you crazy? This whole thing was never about love anyway! If it bothers you that much that Kris has your power now, then you should've never given it to me in the first place!"

 

She knew she'd made a grave mistake the moment the words were out of . The hurt in his eyes was palpable, and she kept reminding herself that it was her who'd caused it. "I don't care what happens to my power," he said slowly. "But it seems that giving it to you indeed was a mistake. Coming to this planet in the first place was the biggest mistake I'd ever made."

Then his eyes lit up with an emotion she'd never seen in them before as he looked at her. His voice was cold and emotionless, not angry anymore, but instead a mixture of defeat and determination. "We're done. Just... get the hell out of my face and never come back."

 

And then he moved away from her sight, with Baekhyun shouting, "Don't be like that, Sehunnie! Come on, come back here!" and going after him along with some of the others - Lay? Kai? She wasn't sure, because the black spots in her vision wouldn't go away, no matter how much she blinked.

 

"Lamiya? Are you okay?" she heard Soo's concerned voice, but it sounded awfully distant. She felt as if she was in a tunnel - why was there so much noise? She put her hands over her ears, begging for the noise to stop. She felt as if tiny razors were hitting her, her whole body aching from the pain. She sobbed, falling to her knees and not knowing what was going on.

 

"Lu," his emotion-laced voice said from somewhere in the distance. "Is she..." he couldn't finish. But she was alive! She couldn't move or even reach her body, but she was alive.

 

Instead, she was surrounded with the wind - it was so, so strong, threatening to carry her away if she didn't do something to protect herself.

 

The black spots faded from her vision as she finally realized what was causing her pain and what the source of the noise was - it was the wind, and it was so strong that she couldn't even breathe, let alone move away from its path.

 

"But if she's alive, why isn't she responding?"

 

She turned around, trying to find him, but all she could see was the wind. There was nothing else in this place - thankfully, he wasn't suffering with her. She was alone.

 

"Where are you?" she shouted, covering her face with her arm. "You said you'd be waiting for me!"

 

But he was not there - she knew as much, and she knew what that meant for her. She was trapped in this world, without a way out, without her powers to control the wind and stop it from harming her. Now she was just another victim whose bones it would claim for itself and carry away into the oblivion.

 

"What do you mean, she's going to go crazy? What's going on with her, Lu?"

 

She whimpered as the sand kept cutting her. It hurt so much. Why wasn't Sehunnie there to save her? Why was he saying that she was going crazy, when she was trapped in this hell, afraid and alone?

 

She took a deep breath, trying to connect with The Tree of Life for the last time. She wouldn't be able to hold out for long, but perhaps it would be long enough.

 

"I was tricked," she spoke as the cuts on her body deepened and it became hard to stand, "And I want you to keep me alive until he is found and punished. I want you to connect me to his energy so that he can never be fully capable of using his powers - my powers he'd stolen from me."

 

"No! No! What do you mean, erase her? No, Lu, I can't let you do that! There has to be some way..."

 

"I cant lose her, Lu. Please don't let it happen. Please."

 

"Avenge me!" she screamed, and the wind could not hurt her anymore. Now she would wait - she knew the time would come and a new wind guardian would emerge. Their power was too strong for The Tree of Life to never grant it to anyone.

 

When that happened, she would be ready. Her revenge would be complete someday.

 

"Beautiful, I know you can hear me. It seems that, to keep you alive, Lu is going to have to erase your memories... only then will you be able to live a normal life." He sobbed loudly, and she screamed that she was alive, that she was okay, that he didn't have to do anything like that, but he couldn't hear her. Where was he?

 

"But don't worry - I will find you again. We'll keep our promise, beautiful. Even if you don't remember me, I'll always remember you - with my heart. We'll find out way to each other again, beautiful..."

 

She didn't know for how long she'd slept - it could've been days or eons. She didn't care.

 

She only cared about the boy who'd awoken her - the boy who would lead her to the completion of her revenge.

 

"I love you. I love you so, so much, beautiful. Never forget that." She tried to tell him that she loved him, too, but the wind was so strong - she could barely hear his words.

 

"When you're done, Lu... I want you to erase me, too."