“Chanyeol!” she screamed, terrified. “Chanyeol, quick!”

 

The slumped form in front of her had hair colored like ashes. All around him were flowers, and if she hadn’t known the backstory of everything, she would’ve found the scene beautiful.

 

Her stomach turned around and around as she leaned over him. He was not moving, but she did not let herself think of such things as she touched his chest to check if it was rising and falling, to check if she could feel a steady heartbeat.

 

He was alive.

 

It was nothing new, really - she’d felt his presence a bit less than an hour ago and after not being able to live in suspense anymore, she ran out of their temporary shelter in the mountains of South Korea like a madwoman. Not that they needed another one in the camp, but that was a different story - one she could not focus on when he was in front of her, alive and perhaps still himself.

 

“Baekkie?” she whispered as she took his weak, unresponsive form in her arms, trying to be fearless in front of the unknown. She put his head in her lap with uttermost care, noticing how hollow his cheeks were, how much weight he had lost and how deep the bags under his eyes were. His skin tone was pale but yellow-ish, as if he hadn’t seen the light of day for a very long time.

 

But the hair… the hair awoke a dreadful feeling inside of her, one she could not understand. It didn’t have to mean anything bad, but the grey awfully reminded her of oldness and his energy seemed somehow… different.

 

She’d never felt anyone’s energy before, but while she and the aliens were dealing with a crisis of another sorts, she’d felt that someone was somewhere close by, and she couldn’t help but go and investigate when the feeling persisted.

 

And now he was in her arms, and he was unconscious.

 

Chanyeol arrived a second later, panting as he kneeled beside them. “You’ve found him, Aya,” he said in astonishment, “You’ve actually found him.” Then he laughed in disbelief, and she suddenly felt the urge to cry.

 

She moved his hair out of his sweaty forehead. He was so cold. She couldn’t find any kind of blemishes on his face or bare arms, and she didn’t know how she felt about it - if they weren’t torturing his body, was it his mind that took the most of the damage, then?

 

She wanted to find out by touching the back of his neck, but she’d wait for his permission. She’d never do it again unless she had a very, very good reason to, and dubious curiosity did not satisfy those criteria.

 

His black T-shirt was damp and torn at some places, but it did not look like it had blood on it. She began to dread that the reason for his unconsciousness lay in the past two weeks that he was gone, but she also felt very relieved. He was finally home again. Whatever they’d done to him, at least he wasn’t in their control anymore, so they could begin with the healing process.

 

Chanyeol ruffled his brother’s hair. “Poor Baek. God knows what those freaks made him go through. The last time we freed him… it was not good, not good at all.”

 

“I know,” Aya said as she nodded at him. “I’ve seen it all. He doesn’t remember anything about his life except for the time spent at your home planet and the torture. They’d made him forget thousands of years… What if-?” She could not finish. What if he didn’t remember anything again? Would it be a good thing, forgetting about the past and starting fresh?

 

“Hey,” Chanyeol said softly as he put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t overthink it. Whatever it is, we’ll find a way out of it. The most important thing is that he’s alive and relatively well, at least physically. Now let’s get him back to the cabin.”

 

She looked at her friend as he got up, thinking how life really was strange sometimes. Just two weeks ago, she ran from Chanyeol as far as she could because he used to be one of the worst, most cold-hearted bullies who’d made her life hard at school for almost an entire school year.

 

“I’m sorry, Aya. I never wanted to do any of those things, but Kris was - is our leader, and we have to comply with his orders. His orders were to pester you whenever we could and act along with his bullying of others when he felt like it.”

 

She didn’t know what she’d done to make Kris do such a thing to her, but she believed Chanyeol. He was the one person she hadn’t expected to be there for her when Baekhyun was taken away, but even though he’d barely gotten his memories back, he was the first one to jump in and make her stop acting suicidal.

 

He’d made her calm down on that rooftop, while she screamed Baekhyun’s name, wishing they’d taken her with him.

 

He’d made her eat breakfast and lunch every single day, though she wanted to throw up everything the second she swallowed a bite, remembering how Baekhyun maybe didn’t have anything to eat, how maybe he was screaming as they cut him open again, taking away something from him that was sacred.

 

Chanyeol’d let her take out her anger on him and punch him over and over again when she saw Xiumin, who kept repeating I’m sorry, Luhan was controlling my mind like a broken record.

 

He’d held her as she cried and screamed and begged him or anyone who was listening to let him go, to take her instead but leave his already scarred mind alone.

 

Chanyeol was a true friend, and even though only two weeks had passed since the two truly met for the first time, she held respect and love for him such big that it surpassed those of many friendships that lasted for decades.

 

And here he was again - the only one who’d believed her when she got up and said it was Baekhyun, her heart was screaming Baekhyun and she needed to go check. The others would’ve followed, too, she was sure, but Lamiya needed help much more than she did - even if SM kidnapped Aya, it wouldn’t have been much of a loss, since she’d probably just be hauled to where Baekhyun was and they’d have to save two persons instead of one. It’s not like she was of any use to them - she couldn’t even cook like a proper girl should.

 

All she’d done in the past two weeks was weeping and mourning for someone who was alive and needing her help somewhere, but she couldn’t help herself. She didn’t get to be with him for longer than a moment - they were only getting to know each other, only getting used to the strange love that was blooming between them, and then they took him away. She wasn’t angry or scared because of their love, but because he didn’t deserve to be in that position - especially since he had already been there before.

 

What more did they want from him? For the God’s sake, they’d already taken most of his powers away, were they going to use him as a lab rat now, too? She felt sick whenever she thought of such things, whenever she wondered if he even had air to breathe while she was lying like a log on a comfortable bed, doing nothing.

 

But Chanyeol had been there for her. He’d listened to her, reasoned with her and told her over and over again to be patient because he’d been in her position before and Baekhyun was stronger than she thought - she knew he would get out of there alive and that he’d be okay, eventually, no matter what they did to him. Acting rashly wouldn’t get them anywhere, so they had to lie low and at least try to avoid Kris and Luhan, which was getting easier and easier because the powers of the guardians were slowly disappearing - it was getting harder and harder for all of them, even the strong-willed like Kyungsoo, to reach them, so Kris wouldn’t be able to trace them that way anymore.

 

Suho was sure they were in South Korea. He’d been sure SM’s true base was in Seoul for a long time, especially after questioning the school’s principal, who was a well-disguised SM agent who wouldn’t tell them why they were at such a secluded country, so far away from their base, no matter how much they asked.

 

Luhan had said he couldn’t find the answers in her mind, so it must’ve been the truth. Or was it?

 

But why would Luhan keep it a secret, even from Aya? It was getting more and more complicated to track who was telling the truth, and who was lying, and more importantly, why. Nobody condemned neither Kris nor Luhan for their actions, but it was getting harder to try and fight against them because their brothers couldn’t hate them or even put up a real fight, no matter how hard they tried.

 

Was that why Baekhyun had let go, then? Would he have rather suffered if it meant his brothers would be fine?

 

Aya had spent many nights wondering why about so many things. Why was SM doing this to them, why would they have kidnapped someone whose powers they’d already taken, why were they making Kris and Luhan play along to their wishes, why… If they were so intent on killing all the guardians - like they were the previous couple of thousand times - why were they doing it this conspiratory this time? What was the point of chasing them around if all they wanted to do was confront them and end them, like they had so many before them?

 

And why was her Baekhyun in the center of it all? She knew how much suffering was in his heart, regardless of the fact that he acted all tough and positive. He was not nearly over any of his wounds, and she suspected it would take a long time to heal. The things they’d done to him, and for such a long time… SM was sick, to the very core, and she wanted to make them pay somehow.

 

But now here she was, and thankfully, thankfully, he started to blink slowly with his eyes as he whimpered. It was a small, broken whimper - did he even have strength to do anything much more than that?

 

She did not dare breathe as his eyes slowly and seemingly painfully opened. Her heart broke - they were his eyes, but they were so dark. Where was the warm brown, or even golden, color she’d gotten used to looking at?

 

“Baekhyun?” she started slowly, not wanting to overwhelm him. “Do you recognize me?”

 

His tired eyes blinked once as he squinted, unaccustomed to the light, and then his eyes lit up in recognition. Thank God.

 

Then he squealed and moved away as quickly as he could - which was painfully slow - recoiling from her. “No more,” he whispered, though she suspected he would’ve screamed the words if he could, judging by the bulging veins on his neck. “Please. No more.”

 

He must’ve been in some kind of a state of shock, because his whole body started shaking when she made a move to approach him. “Baekhyun?” she tried again. “It’s me, Aya. Don’t you know who I am?”

 

But he seemed to know who she was after all, because he wasn’t looking at her in confusion but pure fear instead. She furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding why he’d be afraid of her. Perhaps he wasn’t used to the light and it was making him feel very uncomfortable so that was why his face looked like that?

 

What had they done to him? A voice whispered in her head, but she pushed it down, following Chanyeol’s advice - first they’d assess the situation and then start fixing things in every way they could.

 

Chanyeol immediately jumped in, seeing Aya did not want to upset Baekhyun more by pushing herself onto him. There was something wrong, so right now the most important thing was to find out what, not make him even more scared than he already was. Perhaps he was hallucinating, or not completely conscious yet, stuck in some messed-up dream or something. There were so many rational explanations for his behavior.

 

Aya kept telling herself everything was fine and she wasn’t going to freak out or even make a sudden move because he was alive and awake as Chanyeol shifted Baekhyun’s focus onto himself. “Baek, do you recognize me?”

 

But Baekhyun just closed his eyes and whimpered again. “You’ve taken everything. There’s nothing left, so stop. Please.”

 

“Baek, we’re not going to do anything to you,” Chanyeol whispered, probably thinking that perhaps toning down would make him stop fearing them. “It’s okay. You’re with friends now. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

 

Then he touched his arm, but Baekhyun just whimpered again and moved away. So it wasn’t just her. But why was he thinking they were enemies? Was he really not recognizing them, or was he seeing them as someone else?

 

“Baekhyun,” she tried again.

 

“Stop using that voice,” he said through gritted teeth. “I told you so many times not to use that voice.”

 

Aya looked at Chanyeol, blinking fast. She was half-convinced that if she stopped blinking, she’d start crying. He just shook his head at her, but his face was calm - he had experience in this field, after all. The first time Baekhyun came back… he was a broken shell, one that couldn’t talk or eat or function at all, and Chanyeol was one of the people who’d managed to bring him back.

 

She wanted to be capable of something like that, too, but Baekhyun was not cooperating. What did the words he was saying even mean? What did he mean by that voice? What voice would she be using if not her own?

 

She was becoming more and more convinced that he wasn’t truly present, instead reliving some nightmare of his, and she knew the cure for that, but Chanyeol must’ve been aware too, and he still wasn’t giving her the sign. So she’d wait, no matter how much it pained her to see him like that.

 

“Okay, Baekhyun. Let’s try this - you tell me who you think we are and what you think we want to do to you. For starters, actually, tell me where you are.” Chanyeol raised his eyebrows as he spoke the words incredibly confidently, as if he was a psychologist or something. He was awesome.

 

Baekhyun seemed to be under some kind of sedatives or very tired, because his movements were still painfully slow. He looked at himself, then slowly flexed his hands and touched his wrists that, Aya only now saw, were red from shackles…

 

She would not think about what they’d done to him. If she did, she would fall apart, and he needed her to be more collected than that.

 

Meanwhile, Baekhyun slowly looked around himself and did not hide his surprise at the place he was in - a mountain meadow on a warm summer day.

 

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at his friend - for some reason, he seemed to be avoiding her, and she was becoming increasingly frustrated. She would be patient, though - God knew what he’d had to endure. Her happy greetings were the most unimportant thing in the world right now.

 

“Cha…” he whispered slowly, his voice thick with emotion. “Yeol? Is that really you?”

 

Chanyeol nodded at his friend. “Welcome back, brother. I know it’s hard to believe, but you’ve managed to pull through again. Good job.”

 

His gaze slowly, finally shifted onto her, and he did a sharp intake of breath, whimpering again as he shook his head frantically. “No, no, no, no. This is just another one, Byun Baekhyun, just another one. You need to stay strong - remember the first time they tried this, how did that end for you, huh?”

 

He was whispering things, obviously to himself, but both Aya and Chanyeol heard him clearly. The talking-to-yourself thing was very familiar to them, since they’d experienced it for themselves too many times in the past two weeks, so worry began to eat at Aya. Was the same thing happening to him, too? Would she lose him to the grips of insanity?

 

She could not watch the two persons she loved the most in the world disappear like this.

 

“Baekhyun!” she shouted. “Come to your senses, damn it! Nobody’s trying to trick you or do whatever you think it is we’re trying to do. Look at us! You know who we are. Why do you think we’re someone else? We’re not SM and you know that!”

 

By the time she was done with her crazy and desperate speech, she was panting and tears have begun streaming down her cheeks. She did not care. All she wanted was for him to look at her with something that wasn’t fear shining in his eyes.

 

His eyes widened as he began to shake his head again. “It’s not going to work twice - I don’t care what you say, I’m not going to let you-”

 

“Baekhyun,” she said desperately. “Please stop. Please.”

 

She suddenly thought of something - perhaps, if she showed it to him, perhaps he’d finally believe her.

 

She raised her hand, her sleeve falling and pooling around her elbow. He could clearly see his bracelet - the one that stayed with her when Kris and Luhan took him away - around her left wrist. It was the only thing that kept her sane at times - she would never take it off unless it was to give it to him.

 

Finally, finally, he seemed to understand everything. He blinked a couple of times, his mouth falling open, as a broken laugh started to come out of his mouth. “So I’ve managed to do it. I’ve managed to come back into the dream.”

 

She was about to become worried for his sanity again, but then he smiled sincerely as his eyes warmed up upon looking at her, and all thoughts disappeared from her head. “Aeri?” he asked slowly, rotating his head a bit, as if he was afraid she’d shatter his hopes with her next words.

 

She nodded at him as she wiped her eyes. Meanwhile, Chanyeol touched her shoulder in an attempt to calm her - it worked. She could finally breathe again.

 

“My work here is done,” her friend said as she looked at him, just to see him smiling in satisfaction. “You two have a lot of catching up to do. I’ll go notify the others and if anything happens, just call out - my ears are big enough to hear you from the cabin.”

 

He then turned to Baekhyun, his eyes seemingly watering now, too - Aya was so going to about the Great Chanyeol actually being emotional and not always cool. “It’s good to have you back, Baek. Just don’t get lost again, but if you do, we’ll be here for ya. Bye now!”

 

And then they were alone again, and Baekhyun lay down on the ground as he exhaled loudly.

 

She did not move - she wasn’t sure if she could, because she didn’t know what all of this meant. She decided to ask the only thing that was on her mind, stronger than all of the other questions she had for him: “Are you okay?”

 

He laughed - it was only a little bit hollow but otherwise sounded like him. “Of course. Now that I’ve managed to return, I’m perfectly fine.”

 

Okay. So he seemed to be back to being himself, with the exception of that “returning” thing. That was good. But what now? She did not know what to expect. She did not know what she was supposed to do or say. Her happiness was cut off, and now she just didn’t know what was expected of her now that he seemed not to want to run away from her anymore. What was even allowed?

 

“Come here, aeri,” he whispered then, his voice bubbly and bursting with happiness. “I’m sorry - I would, but I’m not sure if I can get up. I wanna be with you.”

 

Aya bit her lip - this was not his usual behavior. And how could it be that suddenly, he wasn’t afraid of her anymore? So now she was supposed to believe that after the initial crisis, everything was fine?

 

“Baekhyun,” she started uncertainly, still not moving an inch. “I think we need to talk first. What had they done to you? You were gone for two weeks, you can’t just expect me to act as if nothing had happened. I want to know. And tell me - how are you, but really? Did they hurt you?”

 

She was sorry for throwing all of this at him, but she had no choice - if she went over there, they were going to reconcile and kiss until someone came to forcefully separate them. A big part of her wanted to do exactly that, but this was not a time to be selfish. She felt like she was sitting on needles because she waited for him to explode, to finally say what was wrong so that they could face and overcome it together. A make-out session was the farthest thing from her mind.

 

It seemed to be quite the opposite for him, though, because he sighed and pushed himself on his elbows weakly, seemingly trying to get up. It looked as if he would collapse in a moment, so she hurried over to him. “Don’t push yourself, okay?” she said worriedly. “We need to get you something to eat. You’re probably dehydrated, too, so let me just get you-”

 

She was starting to turn from him, but he caught her wrist, and thankfully, there was some strength behind the grip. He growled. “I don’t want to eat right now.”

 

He tried to pull her towards him, but he didn’t have sufficient strength. She complied anyway, but not without a sigh. “I don’t want to think right now.”

 

Why did he always have to get his way?

 

He only had eyes for the bracelet on her hand as she sat down next to him. He touched it many times, as if to check if it was real. The letters BBH were engraved into it and they stood there proudly as he traced his fingers over it.

 

“It has to be you,” he whispered, now looking back at her. He smiled again, and she forgot what she wanted to protest about - food? Who even cared about food when he was back with her again?

 

“Who else would it be, Baekkie? You know it’s me.” She smiled at him, still worried but calmer now that he was actually talking with her.

 

He stayed silent, again avoiding her questions. She struggled to stay patient - she would give him time and space, and she would be content with what she could get, even if it was his silence. The only thing that truly mattered was that he was fine.

 

“Aeri,” he started again. “Do you know how much I’ve missed you? Do you have a single clue?”

 

His hand slowly, painfully slowly raised to touch her cheek. It was a feather-light touch. It was the beating of her heart, trying to get out underneath his touch and hug him until he couldn’t be able to let go.

 

He smiled sadly as his fingers found a stray tear and wiped it away. “I know, I know. Don’t cry - everything is fine now, baby.” It was supposed to be her comforting him, not the other way around, but she couldn’t help herself.

 

She burst out crying as she embraced him.

 

His arms gave out and they fell into the grass. She sobbed loudly, not caring where they were as long as he was in her embrace, as long as she could feel his body underneath hers, alive and calm and real, but when he started coughing, she moved away.

 

“Sorry,” she said as she wiped her eyes. “I just missed you so much, Baekkie.”

 

He laughed then, and she looked at him - at the man who’d stolen her heart and who was now back with her, trying to act as if nothing had happened. All she could see was a green field full of violets swaying on the wind with ashes spilled all over it. It was a painting of colorful summer and the cold winter mixing together to take her breath away, and in the center of it was brown that was not yet golden, but that had gotten warmer and brighter since the moment he’d opened his eyes.

 

It was everything she’d fallen in love with and so much more, and she couldn’t help but wish to hurt everyone who’d tried to do anything bad to him. He was a beautiful boy who needed to be protected and cherished, told that he’s loved every day and embraced tightly - the same way he treated others.

 

He used to be her worst enemy, but she’d never regret the moment she’d decided to ease his pain and touch the back of his neck, unlocking his secrets to her forever. She’d never regret getting the opportunity to understand his motives, to stop hating him for taking out his frustrations on her and to having fallen in love with him.

 

“I missed you, too,” Baekhyun said slowly as his eyes searched her face - whatever he was searching for, he must’ve found it, because his smile got wider. “You have no idea how much. I tried to dream of you so much, aeri, but they didn’t let me. But it seems I’ve managed to come back to you after all.”

 

He then used the strength he shouldn’t have had to bring her down next to him, and she became a part of the purple and green and grey. And brown, brown all around her, lighting her world up.

 

He his side so that he could watch her. It was still obvious that he was trying to make it seem as if everything in the world was alright, but she wasn’t buying it, so she ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to get him to answer to at least some of her questions.

 

“Baekkie, how much did they really hurt you? Tell me. I need to know.” She lay there, waiting, as his eyes closed and stayed that way for what seemed like a very long time. He was a sculpture of ethereal beauty - even at his present weak state, he was still the most handsome man her eyes had ever lay sight upon.

 

“Nothing,” he whispered after a long while, still not opening his eyes. “They did nothing. They just held me captive and exhausted me.”

 

“But why-” she started, and he cut her off immediately. He was still not moving, when usually he was always fidgeting with his hands and unable to stay at one place for more than a few seconds, and she wondered if her questions were hurting him. She knew that, to some extent, they were, so she bit her lip and told herself she’d just follow his lead after he explained the basics to her.

 

“They must’ve thought I had more powers in me. Or they thought it would regenerate or something. But when they saw I was getting progressively worse, they must’ve realized I was of no use to them.”

 

“So here you are,” she whispered after a while, tracing the shape of his cheek with one of her fingers. His skin was as soft as the finest cotton - how could anyone ever hurt him? “With me. Again.”

 

She knew there was so much he wasn’t telling her, so the hand that was caressing his cheek tried to gain access to the back of his neck. It was the easiest way for her to understand without him having to convey a single world. “Can I…” she whispered, unsure.

 

He mad a strange, desperate sound in his throat and moved away, but only an inch - not trying to run away from her, like when he woke up, but just trying to let her down gently. “No, aeri. I don’t want to think about that anymore. Now that I’m here… I just want to cherish this.”

 

He moved closer to her. “Tell me a story, aeri. One with a happy ending.”

 

She sighed, letting her hand fall to his shoulder along with her gaze. She would give him all the space and time in the world he needed. “I’m not good at telling stories, Baekkie. I only know those everyone else do, and I doubt any of them would be interesting to you.”

 

He smiled, shaking his head at her as he pinched her nose. “Make up one. Come on, I know you’re full of fantasy ideas. I wanna hear one of them.”

 

How could she say no to him? Especially when she knew this was his way of coping, and she desperately wanted to help him somehow?

 

She cleared , his hand finally finding hers and intertwining them. Half of her worries edged away because though he was weak, he was not broken. Whatever they’d tried to do to him… she knew they hadn’t succeeded. He was with her, with all of them again, and for now, that was good enough.

 

“A long, long time ago, there was a beautiful planet with a boy inhabiting it,” she started, and Baekhyun immediately snorted.

 

“Was the guy hot?” he asked playfully, turning so that he was looking at her upside down, like a bored puppy. He was beginning to look and act more and more like the person who’d run around chasing her in that Arizona forest after they’d found his best friend. Her heart started beating faster.

 

He was an adorable puppy indeed. “Actually, he was very masculine and very handsome and… tall,” she said with a giggle, to which he grinned. “But there was one problem - he had nobody to tell him all of those things, or anything at all. He was completely alone.”

 

She gulped - where was she even going with this? She did not know, but she hoped it would help him somehow, or at least not bore him. He subtly moved so that she was now able to hug him from behind, the back of his head touching her neck. His neck was bare to her, and if she’d wanted, she could’ve easily used her powers on him, but she never would’ve even thought of doing such a thing.

 

He was showing that he trusted her, though, and that thought made her smile. She began to rhythmically pull her hand through his hair, knowing how much the action soothed him and hoping it brought him peace.

 

“So the boy asked a nearby tree if it could help him, and the tree told him to go to a meadow similar to this one and close his eyes tightly. Only if he wished to get someone to be with him strongly enough would his wish be granted.”

 

Baekhyun hummed at her, his head now fully leaning on her, as if he didn’t have any more strength to pretend he wasn’t weak.

 

She ignored it and continued, hoping she’d distract them both from such things. He was safe. “The boy found the meadow, and it was full of violet flowers - just like this one. He closed his eyes tightly, but as he made his wish, he could not stop thinking about the flowers, so when he opened them, in front of him was not a male friend, as he’d initially imagined, but a beautiful girl instead.”

 

“Oh?” he piped up. “Would the girl happen to have been wearing a badass shawl around her head?”

 

She giggled and kissed the back of his head before continuing. She hadn’t even begun her story properly and she was already busted. “He did not like the girl, because he did not know much about girls, so he tried to push her away from him as much as he could. But the girl kept following him around, which was beyond annoying. He told her all kinds of things to make her leave him alone, trying to hurt her so that she’d give up.”

 

Baekhyun giggled. She could not see his face, but she imagined it was already flushed from the amount of smiling he’d done, and she felt so honestly happy because of it. She wanted to erase the signs of torture off his face as soon as possible.

 

“But the girl was very persistent, so one day he turned around, looked her straight in the eyes and told her how he hated her and not to follow him anymore. And this time, she complied - she left his side.

 

Not much time passed when the boy started to feel strange. He’d turn around, expecting to find the girl behind him, smiling as she took a violet flower from the field and putting it in her hair, but there would be nobody behind him to look at.

 

He’d miss her humming he once found irritating and on cold nights, he’d wonder if she was as cold and as alone as he felt.

 

He’d tried to convince himself he hated her, but he realized she was exactly what he’d wished for - someone to ease his loneliness, to look at him and see the real him, to always support him and be by his side.

 

But it was too late.”

 

Baekhyun was already half-asleep - his head was lolling from side to side as he whispered something to her tiredly.

 

She smiled and kissed the back of his head again, deciding to finish the story regardless of the fact that the one who’d asked for it wasn’t quite listening anymore.

 

“So the boy decided to go look for her, but he could not find her, no matter where he looked. He’d searched the woods, the fields, he’d even ventured to the far deserts and shouted her name, but there was no answer.

 

The boy went back to the tree that gave him the advice the first time. This time, it laughed at him, telling him that he was silly for having hated her, for she was only what he’d wished for when he’d closed his eyes tightly on that day.

 

The tree told him that he would only be able to find her if he truly repented for his mistakes, and that if he truly wanted to find her, he would have to search for her not with his eyes, but with his heart.

 

Instead of trying to search for her again, the boy went to the meadow where he’d first met her - the meadow was now an empty field of yellow, dry grass that had received too much heat during the summer. It was nothing like the field he’d first wished a wish upon, just like his heart.”

 

She paused to smile and listen to Baekhyun’s soft snores for a little while. He had a habit of making strange sounds just before he fell asleep, but it seemed that he was too tired to do it now.

 

Her whole world. She’d protect him from now on and she wouldn’t let him go, even if it took her everything to keep him safe. No matter how powerful they were, SM couldn’t pass through the barricade that was her love for him.

 

“The boy fell on his knees, regretting his decision to let the girl go, and he cried on the empty meadow,” she whispered more to herself than the sleeping boy in her arms.

 

“He wished to be able to see her again. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was, and that she was beautiful just the way she was - everything he’d said was out of fear that maybe she’d get through his defenses and laugh at him if she found out his true colors. He wanted her to know that he loved her, and that he missed everything about her.

 

And you know what he saw when he opened his eyes?”

 

She smiled sadly, plucking a violet flower and putting it into the boy’s hair, purple burning together with the ashes, together with her whole being.

 

“The meadow was green again, and it was full of violet flowers.”

 

She thought about what Baekhyun had whispered just before he’d let go and fallen asleep, yawning as she kissed his cheek. He was home again. He would be fine, because he was surrounded by so many people who loved him and who’d do anything to help him.

 

“If this is a dream, aeri,” he’d whispered and she closed her eyes, letting go, too. The world was violet and grey, and she was the ember burning inside of it all.

 

“I never want to wake up.”