That morning, she’d finally felt like herself - for the first time in a long, long while, she woke up without a headache and when her cold feet touched the floor, she did not feel disoriented.

 

She could not remember when he’d disappeared. Hell, she couldn’t even remember half of the past day, let alone something that happened such a long time ago. All she could focus on nowadays was the prickling feeling inside of her which meant that her power was growing, slowly but certainly, and that it would be able to hurt him.

 

He was close now - she felt it the second they arrived to the cabin and wanted to do nothing else but follow his trail until she found him so that she could have the pleasure of strangling him swiftly and quickly. She’d waited for so long, and now that he was so close, sitting idly by was becoming very hard; every passing minute made her want to start a tornado, but that would be wasting energy she was already running low on.

 

Thanks to that jerk Kris, she thought with disgust. Had he not taken most of her powers away, she would’ve had loads of energy now, and her revenge would’ve been exacted a long time ago, but she was forced to wait for it to return and it was excruciating because the whole process was so slow.

 

She wasn’t too worried about the fact that she couldn’t remember how she found herself in her bed at least once a day. The others said she just slept too much, which was a subproduct of her shock over having lost Sehun or whatever, but she knew that the exertion of energy must’ve messed up her control and made her do something like sleepwalking.

 

She had to be careful now, more careful than ever before. Now that she remembered who she was, she had to realize her plan first before thinking about other things. Like finding Sehunnie. She struggled not to think about it, though it kept coming back to haunt her - Sehunnie was alive, if anything, which was enough for her, but if he really had gone into the future with Tao the elementary kid, it would take much effort to bring him back. She’d have to steal energy from people, preferably SM, but if it came to it, she’d do anything to bring him back.

 

And she’d have her revenge, that she was sure of. She flexed her fingers and created a fist, testing it by punching through the air. She didn’t need the power of the wind to be able to fight her way through the SM base. She’d just keep punching all of them until they told her where he was and only when he paid for his betrayal would she allow herself to think about Sehun.

 

She had loved him once… Fortunately, Sehun had come along when her mind was blank and she didn’t remember the epic story of the two of them. It would’ve been hard to fall in love again, had she remembered her past.

 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Sehunnie had saved her. He had put her in the space of his neck and protected her from the wind where she’d hibernated for such a long time, and she’d poured her energy into the oblivious him.

 

And then he’d brought her to Earth, where she left his body and turned into a butterfly again, drawn by the energy she could feel in someone.

 

It was her.

 

She’d become one with herself, not knowing how it was possible but knowing that the power inside of that girl was her own and then she’d fallen asleep again.

 

But now she was awake. Her two lives were finally aligned - she knew all about her past and present, and she knew that she was both the guardian from a couple of thousand generations ago and the high school junior who’d been swept off her feet by the mysterious alien asking for her help. She’d fallen in love for the first time when she met that snake Lee who’d pretended to be a lost guy who just happened to possess superpowers by accident, but her heart also fluttered for the first time when Sehun took her into the sky above that lake where she kissed him.

 

This morning, she was finally herself, and she knew there would be no more blackouts. The amount of power inside of her was finally sufficient, so today she had to play the final game.

 

She began with acting. She was such a good actor these days, when back during school days she didn’t even know how to fake a raised temperature so that she’d get a free day. She had to keep acting like she was the person they knew, the herself from before having woken up, and that wasn’t easy at all.

 

But they all seemed so intent on believing her that she could spill any kind of lie and they’d just nod along with their heads.

 

This morning, she told Kyungsoo she was feeling better and that she wanted to get some fresh air. He looked so happy - they were so desperate that they’d believe anything she said.

 

When they were in the woods, walking side by side, she pretended she saw something shocking on the ground, gaspek and kneeled, making the oblivious Kyungsoo follow along and kneel, too.

 

Then she did a karate-chop on his neck, making his already-weak form collapse and ran away without a word.

 

She did feel sorry… kind of, but not because she’d tricked Kyungsoo - it was because she was taking advantage of him while he was weak. She hoped she’d get to battle it out with him someday, when he was at 100 percent and able to cause a strong earthquake that would counter her wind skills. Right now, though, he was just a nuisance that was standing in her way, just like all of them, and she needed to get rid of them as soon as possible. She knew they wouldn’t be able to track her, not even Suho, because he began showing signs of weakness two days ago and that was what she’d been waiting for.

 

She didn’t want them to track her, because they’d just stand in the way of her revenge. As shocking as it sounded, though, she also didn’t want for any of them to get hurt - they were her friends, and only when all of this was over would she be able to explain everything to them and make them see the truth.

 

They thought she didn’t hear their whispers outside, on the porch. They thought she couldn’t hear their worried bickerings when they thought she was sleeping in her bedroom.

 

Crazy. Mad. Out of her mind.

 

She’d show them how wrong they all were, but in time. Now, she had to make Lee Taemin pay for what he’d done to her, and she would make sure that it happened today.

 

Her powers sang to her: she stood on a high rock that was giving her a clear view of the city below, and she knew they were in there somewhere. It was a small mountain town, with typical Korean architecture and a load of SM agents inside. She could feel their abominated powers, too, and she would make sure they all paid for their deception, too.

 

She would make sure that The Tree of Life got something out of this, just like Sehun. To Sehun, she would give the girl he loved, and to The Tree, she would give victory. Wasn’t that why she’d been brought to life, anyway? It happened so long ago that she’d almost forgotten about it…

 

She struggled not to go back to ancient times, because it’d take far too much time and she was not far enough from the cabin yet so there was still the slightest possibility that Kyungsoo would wake up soon enough to raise an alarm and have the others on her trail before she managed to disappear.

 

Her arms were bruised and cut from the forest vegetation and her hair was a bit disheveled, but she managed to get into the town without getting caught. Soo was probably still on the ground, sleeping and to remain like that for a couple of hours, when everything would already be over and perhaps she’d even be back in time and able to explain everything to all of them before they thought she’d betrayed them.

 

The town was empty - it didn’t look old and uncared for, like the ghost towns in the USA, but rather as if all the residents disappeared merely minutes ago, with half-full cups of coffee and open newspapers and half-eaten breakfasts left behind.

 

She laughed out loud. “I am here,” she sang as she raised her arms high above her head and started spinning in circles around the main street. “Come and get me.”

 

The air was still for a moment - she guided the wind towards the ground but held it in complete control. Yes. Today was the right day. Just tomorrow it may have been too late - her power would be too great to remain undetected by someone like Taemin. She couldn’t risk it: this way, they’d never see her coming and that would leave her enough space to do everything she planned to do, which was destroy SM and its best, sneakiest agent Taemin.

 

Then the moment passed, and all hell broke loose.

 

Dozens of agents were on her in an instant - they were all well-trained, with black marks on their skin from having received the energy of SM. They weren’t expecting her, but they were expecting a fight soon. Good. It wouldn’t have been interesting had she been able to single-handedly outsmart them.

 

Her first opponent swung a ball of fire at her while the others circled around her, as if waiting to see how powerful she was. She dodged it swiftly, moving out of the way with a little bit of propulsion from the wind while the fire-yielder sneered at her. He was a young Asian, perhaps of her age, and his dark pupils left little space for the ring of irises in his eyes. She doubted he was even in his right mind - perhaps someone like Lu was controlling them, though it could’ve been some strategically made serum, too. SM dealt with superpowers, but they also dealt with organic substances to enhance their control.

 

He then formed a wall of fire around her, and she lost her patience. She seriously didn’t have time for this. Playing with children was fine, but only for a little bit - now the grown-ups had some work to do.

 

She would’ve preferred to scream her way out of the situation, but she didn’t need to, because the powers hummed in her veins as she let them out and the wind erupted, seemingly out of her, putting out the fire and hitting all of the silly agents around her while she walked straight forward the guy who’d made her angry. That fire could’ve ruined her clothes, or even worse, her hair.

 

She put a hand in front of herself as the guy tried to throw another fire ball at her, now panicking when she simply dodged it with her other hand. He’d pay for standing in her way.

 

She flexed her hand, and he started making gurgling noises. She made sure not to be interrupted by throwing another pulse of wind at the now-shouting agents somewhere behind her. She could not focus on anything but the insulting bastard in front of her.

 

“You thought you could beat me with your pathetic power?” She shouted and dodged a weapon being thrown at her from somewhere. They were all pathetic. “You are insulting me, Tae! You think these amateurs can lay a finger on me?”

 

She laughed hysterically as she now stood in front of her victim, who was holding his neck with both hands desperately with his face red and mouth wide open, but she didn’t let him take a single breath. The air smelled of ashes and had she bothered to look around, she would’ve seen houses on fire and expendable soldiers in all kind of states lying all around herself.

 

To make sure that was the sight she’d see when she was done with this guy, she made sure to raise pebbles lying all over the ground and throw them in all directions. She heard screams and whimpers, and laughed again. Good. This would teach Tae to give her a warmer welcome next time.

 

The guy was now shaking her leg violently, as if begging her to let him go while she looked at his hand pulling her pants, disgusted. He kept making her more and more annoyed, so she kneeled next to his nearly-unconscious form and narrowed her eyes.

 

“Don’t touch me, you filth,” she said harshly, tracing his lips with her fingers, “Or I will end you-”

 

“Lamiya,” she heard a voice behind herself. “Let the guy go.”

 

She giggled loudly as she looked at the soldier for the last time, deciding that he wasn’t worth of her time and that she had more important matters to attend to. Ah, this would be beautiful. She’d thought about this moment so much, and now she felt so excited because she finally held all the cards in her hands. She’d destroy them all, but not before she allowed herself to have some fun first.

 

She closed her eyes and let go of her rage, wanting to bask in her powers some more but knowing she’d be able to use it again and soon. She got up quickly and dismissed the panting, gurgling guy as her eyes settled on her prize.

 

He looked so weak, the poor little thing. Tae had probably made some organic mixture to keep his body on edge but his mind strong, so she decided to test the theory immediately.

 

She started walking towards him slowly and graciously, like the hunter dancing around his newest prey. Sweet little Lu, she sang in her mind, Do you know how much I’ve missed you?

 

Now she could see that his lips were chapped, his skin tone nearly white and that the bags under his eyes were a dark shade of purple. His hair was disheveled and he looked as if someone’d just woken him up - which was even highly likely, considering the fact that no one had saw her coming - with his plain white T-shirt and training pants.

 

His voice was firm when he answered her, the color of his eyes stable and bright, though she would’ve pretended it’d been otherwise. Soon. “You are not yourself now, so just get out of here before you get hurt.”

 

She put a hand on as she giggled again, loudly and dramatically. Oh, Lu, she sighed seductively. But I am more myself now than I’ve ever been.

 

Finally, finally he was close enough for her to be able to reach him, and he stood as still as a statue while her fingertips danced along the length of his cold arms, goosebumps raising along the trail. She tilted her head as she looked at him. My sweet Lu hadn’t missed me?

 

“It- it’s…” he stammered, obviously shaken by her sudden outburst of emotions. “Lamiya, please set your head straight. This is not the time to be playing such games - you need to leave this place-”

 

Oh Lu, she sang as she stood at the tips of her toes, pressing herself up against him. Don’t try to deny it. I know you’ve missed me, too.

 

“Lamiya,” he said in a voice that sounded both like a warning and approval, which was exactly what she wanted. She didn’t want him to be too submissive, but not too pushy either, so she kept pushing, knowing he was bound to break sooner or later.

 

It was beautiful - the two lovers reuniting after a long time while the world burned around them, the flames and the smoke concealing them from the world’s eye.

 

He turned his head when she tried to find his lips with her own. “Stop this,” he hissed hotly, even as his arms settled at the small of her back and she pressed herself into him further in response. “I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, but I won’t give in. I’m your enemy, and you shouldn’t be here alone-”

 

Read my mind, Lu, she intercepted, raising her eyebrows as she gave him a predator’s smile. It’s all written there, exactly what I’m trying to achieve.

 

Her lips settled on his neck because she couldn’t hold herself up so high anymore and she didn’t want to use her powers, but she had to touch him in some way. He was beginning to respond to her advances, his arms tightening on her back as his breath got heavier.

 

I know all about what you want to do to me, she kept murmuring in her mind. I’ve seen the way you look at me - the way you want me.

 

As he looked inside of her eyes, his breath kept getting heavier and his grip on her tighter. He was reading her mind, she knew - her thoughts, her memories, and inside all he could find was a soft sigh of Lu, Lu, and she knew how much he liked it.

 

“What about Sehun?” he whispered in disbelief, all his arguments slowly fading away as he found out the contents of her mind. She wanted him so badly, she could barely contain herself.

 

“I don’t care about Sehunnie anymore,” she said out loud as she grabbed his neck and made him lean down so that his mouth would be accessible. “He is just a tool for me to exact my revenge. And Lu is…”

 

She bit his lip hotly, all the while staring right into his eyes which were not so light and calm anymore. His pupils began dilating, and she smiled as she kissed him, raking her nails down his back and swallowing his moans as she enjoyed herself for a moment.

 

The poor boy was completely shaking - she doubted he’d ever even kissed a girl, let alone been attacked like this. But he was just another sailor who’d fallen for the mermaid’s cry, and now the time had come for the mermaid to eat the stupid fool who was so naive to believe that beautiful women who’d give themselves to such brute and unimportant people existed.

 

Sweet, sweet Lu, she chanted as he closed her eyes and finally fell into the trap, his mind leaving her own and giving in to his desires.

 

And then she found his power, humming inside of his left hand, and she bit into the wrist swiftly and violently.

 

Luhan screeched and tried to get away, but it was already too late - his power was so strong and she took as much energy as she could, only caring to leave him alive because she wanted to continue from where they’d left off someday.

 

Tae had thought her this, ironically enough: the weapon he’d given to her would now be the tool of his demise. She would not be able to yield Luhan’s powers, because he hadn’t given them to her willfully, but she needed his energy and that she could get. He whimpered as it seeped out of him and into her, his weak legs giving out and leaving him as an almost-empty shell, leaning onto her with his wrist raised high as she took the rest of his energy.

 

“Sweet, naive Lu,” she whispered into his earlobe when she was done. “Thanks for the energy boost. It was wonderful. Now be a good boy and stay here until I come back, will you?”

 

She kissed him on the mouth for the final time before she giggled again and threw the slumped form away from herself, feeling more vigorous than ever before.

 

Lee Tae Min, I’m coming for you, she thought to herself while she hummed, enjoying the sight of the agents she’d burned and cut with pebbles. Blood and fire all around her. She liked the setting so much - if she’d chosen it herself, she wouldn’t have found a better one.

 

Her powers singing to her led her to an intersection at the end of the main street and she looked at the seemingly-ruined building at her right side. She didn’t even feel amused - all she wanted was to end all of this already, preferably with Taemin giving her back all her powers as soon as possible. She still felt partly incapacitated, even when having waited so much to gain enough energy and having taken a lot from someone as powerful as Luhan. She still couldn’t do everything she wanted to, and she was hating it so much that she wanted to just turn the ruins into dust immediately and enjoy listening to Tae’s screams from the inside.

 

“Little girls shouldn’t play with things they know nothing about,” she heard him say from somewhere closeby. She couldn’t help herself - she shuddered as she turned completely toward the ruins.

 

He was standing there, tall and blonde and with that mischievous smirk on his face - the same as she remembered him.

 

“An awfully long time had passed, baby,” she spoke while she grinned widely, attempting to look as if she was still as madly in love with him as a couple of thousand years ago.

 

She attempted not to think about taking his air away right this instant, but she failed miserably. It was hard trying to justify the prolonging of her punishment’s execution. She felt her power inside of him - the power he should’ve given back, just like he’d promised.

 

She thought she was even doing a good job pulling off this cool demeanour, considering the fact that he’d left her powerless to die on that planet.

 

“What are you doing here, Lamiya?” Taemin asked cheerfully, his eyebrows raised and his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned on the outside wall of the ruins. “You seem awfully powerful for someone who’d had their memories erased not a long time ago.”

 

She couldn’t help it - she laughed out loud. The audacity that snake had! So now he’d play dumb? Of course he knew who she was. He knew exactly who the woman in front of him was and why she had such a good control over her powers.

 

But Tae was never a brute; the one thing that drew her to him was his style. He never did anything harshly and without style - he’d be a gentleman even when he stabbed people in the back.

 

So she kept up the act, no matter how impatient she was to just finally end him. “Well, what can I say? I guess I’m just a fast learner.”

 

Now the two were standing in front of each other, and she was afraid that the fire inside of her eyes would betray her, but even if it did, Taemin wouldn’t be able to change things, not the slightest bit.

 

As sudden as everything seemed, she’d actually carefully thought out every step, except for what happened after the moment Taemin was within an arm’s reach. Would she refrain from using the wind and instead strangle him with her own two hands? Oh, that would’ve been very nice, but the bastard deserved to go out in flames and by the powers he’d stolen from her.

 

“So tell me, Lamiya,” he encouraged and challenged, “What are you really doing here?”

 

She approached him slowly and carefully, determined to play one last game before everything was over. He wasn’t as stupid as Luhan - he wouldn’t fall for it, but if he thought she was aiming to do the same thing she’d done to Luhan, it just might work.

 

She leaned into him, looking straight into his eyes as she whispered harshly, “What could I be doing here, baby? I’m here to see the hot guy standing in front of me, of course,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

 

She was struggling not to lose it while he touched her cheek lightly. “I’m not stupid, honey,” he answered in a very gentle voice, tracing a finger all the way down to her neck. “If you think your lover boy Sehun is with us, you’re badly mistaken. I think you should go back to your doll house before someone,” and then he pulled at her hair harshly, “Breaks you instead of your dolls.”

 

Ah, how she missed the sadistic bastard. In another world, had he not been an SM agent that was intent on crossing her instead of making the two races stop fighting like the two had promised.

 

“I need your powers to demonstrate them,” Tae had said such a long time ago while she lay in his embrace. “If they see how good they are, what things we can do with them, I am sure they will see reason.”

 

“I don’t want to hide anymore, Tae,” she’d whispered against his lips as she shuddered. “I love you, and I want everyone to know that.”

 

She narrowed her eyes without losing the style he preferred so much, all the while smiling as if they were merely exchanging pleasantries. “Oh, but I got sick of playing with dolls, baby,” she whispered. “Now I wanna break you.”

 

Then she finally let go of her control. The whole world was a swirl of wind as she put her hands on his throat and kissed his breath out of him. Tae was older than her, wiser and smarter than her, but he’d always said how he could never get used to how different she was, always doing things on impulse and without prior thought or plan.

 

She hoped he enjoyed her character as she strangled him slowly, keening while she ruffled the hand that was not on his neck into his hair. He’d let go of her ages ago, having been caught on surprise.

 

She wondered if he really knew who she was - perhaps he had forgotten in the thousands of years that had passed? Perhaps she was really that expendable to him, just another stupid girl he’d taken powers from, that he didn’t even remember how her powers felt like?

 

She raised them into the air as he gasped against her lips that were now biting into his, drawing blood and not stopping. She wanted him to suffer, but before killing him, she’d first get her powers back - she could the energy out of him, but she wanted the powers behind it, so she closed her eyes and leaned away from him.

 

The hand on his neck wouldn’t move, though. She couldn’t resist keeping him close to death; by her own standards, she was being pretty merciful as it was.

 

It took a minute for him to get back to his senses, probably partly due to the fact that she was still squeezing his neck a bit. She waited patiently as they were propelled in the air and she took them to the top of the ruins, finding what looked like a stable platform to drop him on.

 

“You crazy ,” he said as he rolled on the floor, coughing violently. “You have no idea who you’re messing with - I will kill you, you psycho-”

 

She cut him off with a laugh, being brave enough to turn her back on him and wave her hands in the air, creating a whirlpool to show off. “Oh, I know exactly who I’m dealing with, Tae. I think you’re the one who has no idea what he’d gotten himself into.”

 

A long silence stretched between them, but she resisted the urge to turn around. She’d wait until he refused to give her powers back to her and then take her anger out on him. And it would be glorious.

 

“Na…” he stammered weakly. “Na Eun? What the hell are you doing here, you lunatic? Shouldn’t you be stranded at that stupid planet of dines and sand?”

 

She bit her lip to stop from smiling. In a way, she felt so happy that he remembered her, that she’d meant more to him than just her powers. For a moment, she ached to kiss him, to forget about the present and feel his body against hers, but the poison running through her veins, screaming at her to draw some freaking blood already and bathe in it was stronger, and it prevailed.

 

“I am here to kill you, you bastard,” she breathed, still not turning around. She was daring him to try to do something to her - she needed a reason to be able to completely let go of her control.

 

“Oh, don’t be like that, honey.” His voice was a breath dancing on the line of her neck while his hands gently, oh so gently settled on her waist, restless and sinful. “I know that somewhere deep down inside of that messed-up head of yours, you’ve missed it when I cut you with that knife.”

 

She smirked and turned around - the snake was looming above her, ready to strike. Too bad for it that she was immune to its poison, though his voice did things to her.

 

For the last time, she told herself while his mouth moved to her ear. “I still have that knife, you know? Out of all the dolls I’ve broken, you were the one I enjoyed breaking the most.”

 

They kissed then, slowly and passionately, and for a second, she was the girl who’d said Yes, Tae, anything for you.

 

“Anything,” she whispered against his lips.

 

“Anything,” she sobbed while the knife cut the whole length of her arm. She hated and loved the feeling of the blood seeping out of her arms while he smeared it all over her skin, grinning mischievously at her.

 

“Anything,” she nodded when he told her that he’d come back in a month with news about SM’s decision. He told her to wait for him at her home planet, where she’d get most of her powers back and they’d turn it into their home together, since he could control the wind, too, now.

 

Imagine her happiness when SM’s decision arrived in form of her dying in the sand, alone and powerless and full of anger. He’d betrayed her. He’d stolen her powers and let the stupid little girl hope for a romantic escape from the war between her and his race.

 

And now he’d pay. But she’d enjoy this moment first and then she’d carve his heart out of his chest and stab it over and over again, just like he’d stabbed hers.

 

“Baby,” she whispered against his lips, not opening her eyes yet. “I really hate to be doing this, but nobody crosses me like this.”

 

“Now give me my powers back!” she growled as she slammed his head into the ground.

 

But Taemin wasn’t stupid or incapable - he moved out of the way and put her hands in a lock. She growled again, knowing that if it came to raw force, she’d most likely lose against him, even if she was going berserk like now.

 

Instead, she called upon the power of wind with everything she had and began taking his breath away. He gurgled and panted for a couple of seconds, but she knew it wouldn’t be that easy. She’d caught him by surprise before - now he was aware of who she was and of her abilities, so she wouldn’t be able to catch him by surprise.

 

“It’ll take a little bit more than that to persuade me, honey,” he said as he started laughing. “I’ve got your powers, remember?”

 

Then he seemed to see something in the background, because he stood up and shouted, “I ordered you not to interfere! I will take care of this.”

 

“No,” Kris said from behind her. “No, you won’t. You’ve made a big enough mess as it is - I will take care of this swiftly and quickly. We don’t have time, seargent - the Exoplanet’s guardians have found us thanks to her and madam said I needed to take care of this as soon as possible and bring you back to help her.”

 

She turned, in shock - Kris was standing on the roof behind her, as menacing as ever and wearing white clothes and even a white cape. Did he think he was superman or something?

 

A part of her struggled not to remember his hands around her neck, but she wasn’t scared anymore. She was more powerful than Kris, than all of them, and she would show them.

 

She raised her hands, summoning a hurricane and raising the rubbles around them. She wasn’t going to play anymore - she’d kill them both, kill them all mercilessly. They didn’t deserve any better than that.

 

Taemin directed the pebbles away from Kris, but he couldn’t shield him from the strong wind. Kris seemed awfully unaffected, though, advancing towards her as if he was The Terminator, the wind making his cape stand straight upwards while he got closer to her, his face turned in a sneer.

 

She could handle Taemin single-handedly, she knew that, but there was something different about Kris. He seemed much stronger than how she remembered him, messed-up but not tuned into his powers completely.

 

Now, he was a different person, dodging her every blast swiftly and flying into the air above her while she tried not to be distracted by Taemin, whom she tried to suffocate once again but failed, instead settling for a punch of air into his stomach.

 

She couldn’t see Kris anymore - where was he? Had he lost the nerve to fight her and flown away for backup? She needed to get rid of Tae and fast-

 

He hit her like a fast train, falling directly onto her straight from the sky, and she gasped as her head made an impact with the ground. The whole world started spinning as she tried to get up and put some distance between her and the giant, but in a millisecond she was caught and so she started desperately flailing with her arms, trying to make some damage.

 

But he was so much stronger than her, so it came down to the usage of wind.

 

“Oh, no you don’t, honey,” Taemin said from somewhere above her, and she was suddenly unable to breathe as she felt electricity hitting her straight-on. Taemin was using his initial powers on her. If she was in the position to do so, she would’ve smirked, because she’d managed to piss him off that much, but she was too busy trying not to black out from the amount of pressure she was receiving from all sides.

 

She screamed, calling upon all of the force she could and directing it at Kris, who was shoving her head into the concrete floor, because she was too disoriented to be able to feel where Taemin was. She’d deal with one at a time - if she didn’t get Kris off her, he’d kill her within a minute, and that was not going to happen.

 

She wobbled as she got up, holding her left temple with her hand and feeling that it was wet and sticky. Kris seemed to have been out of it, at least for the moment, so she to the person who was still throwing lightnings at her; this time, she countered all of them with the wind.

 

“You know what?” she shouted as she turned around and raised both of her arms, floating in the air theatrically. “I don’t care about my powers - I’ll just kill you with my bare hands.”

 

Then she copied Kris’ invincible attack, striking Taemin from the air and letting the sheer force bring them both to the ground but with her having the upper hand. She screamed as she put her hands on Taemin’s neck, deciding to screw the wind, screw the powers, screw everything; she just wanted to kill him already and she did not care what happened next.

 

Taemin must’ve seen the look in her eyes that said it all, because he started shaking his head violently as her fingers pressed his windpipe while she leaned over him, both of her legs on either side of him. He tried to kick with his arms and legs, but she pressed down harder and his movements grew weaker.

 

Finally. Finally, she’d exact her revenge. “This is what happens when you try to cross me, you filth,” she spat at him, triumphant, as the blood slowly drained from his face and his movements turned desperate.

 

She did not know if Kris was conscious, but she wasn’t going to take any chances, so she hummed the melody of her wasted life as she raised a storm that would probably make the building collapse, but she didn’t care.

 

She might end up in the rubbles, too, but that was kind of her goal - all she’d wanted was to get Taemin back for having betrayed her like this. What would she do after that? She might as well get consumed by the flames, too, and go out as a torch together with him - with them all.

 

As the wind swirled around her and Taemin still spasmed violently, she heard shouts but could not discern where they came from or what they were trying to say - nothing mattered anymore.

 

She would be put to rest soon, and she was looking forward to it: soon, she would be able to rest peacefully at this planet she’d roamed as a restless butterfly. She’d lived her day, kissed her lovers and sang her songs, and now it was time to say goodbye.

 

She closed her eyes as she brought the tornado on them at full force. Goodbye.

 

Then her head was slammed into the ground again, and black spots started to dance around her vision as the wind dissipated. But how was it possible? How could have Kris been stronger than the wind when she’d used such a tremendous amount of power that would’ve brought everything down with it?

 

He growled from somewhere above her, and she blinked violently but she couldn’t see anything but the black marks on his arms, revealed by tattered clothes. She understood immediately: Kris was stronger than her indeed, because SM’s menacing energy was running through his veins, and no matter how much energy she managed to gather, she’d never be able to beat the raw hatred of that black magic.

 

She whimpered, trying to get away, but he punched her straight in the face and began kicking her all over her body - she did not know whether he was using his arms or legs or both, because all she could feel was pain and the world was nearly black, her sight and hearing giving out together with her body.

 

She’d lost. If only she’d lasted for another moment, Taemin would’ve been gone. But now he’d survive while she turned to ashes. It wouldn’t be him who’d go out in flames - instead, it would be her.

 

How ironic life could be sometimes.

 

She didn’t have a big wish to live, especially after her life goal was completed and that was avenging her hurt pride and broken heart, but in that moment, all she wanted was to stay for another moment, just to be able to see them fall before she died.

 

But that was impossible, so she gave up. There was nothing left for her in this world anyway. Perhaps she would’ve been better off dying on that planet like Taemin had believed, and not becoming a part of this girl that she was now.

 

But she was one with her, neither Na Eun nor Lamiya but both of them at the same time, and she knew this was how things were supposed to play out. She just never considered the possibility that maybe, at the end, she wouldn’t be the victorious one in this game.

 

“Lamiya?” she heard a heavenly voice somewhere far away in the distance. “Come on, I know you’re alive.”

 

“Come back to me,” the voice urged, and she wanted to say Let me sleep, I don’t want to come back.

 

But she knew that voice. It was not Taemin, her first love who’d betrayed her. It was not Kris, the guy she’d wanted to be her first love, who’d betrayed her in the similar way that Taemin did. It wasn’t even Luhan, the sweet stranger who’d watched her from afar, never daring to want her but yearning for her.

 

No. It was the one person who’d never betrayed her, who’d never betray her, and who was her one and only first love.

 

She was neither Na Eun nor Lamiya, but both of them at the same time. And they both loved him with their whole heart and just wished for the noise to stop so that they’d be able to hear his voice more clearly as they died.

 

Sehun, she tried to say. I love you.

 

“I know, beautiful,” the voice said, this time closer than before. “Just hold on. Tao, get me some water!”

 

Tao? She remembered that name vaguely, but couldn’t connect it to a face or a person. If this was her guide towards heaven - or wherever it was that their souls went to after they died - why would that person be mentioned? Would he go together with them?

 

Then she felt a cold sensation, and she gasped as she blinked her eyes open.

 

All she could see was sand - the warm, familiar sand that she’d waited thousands of years in, the sand that was shaped the same way like her soul, the sand that was her very being and her only sanctuary.

 

And he was smiling.