Aya was still held tightly by the SM agents, but now they were inside of what her clone had called their laboratory. Baekhyun was acting very strangely - he kept looking at her and shaking his head, making strange sounds but without forming words. She did not know what it meant; she didn’t know what to make out of anything that was happening around her.

 

Her clone’s phone rang and she let go of Baekhyun, making him sit on what looked like some kind of examination table. Aya wondered what they usually did at this place - maybe cut people’s stomachs and took their powers from them?

 

Baekhyun seemed unharmed, at least, though he hugged both of his arms and closed his eyes as he shuddered. Maybe he was afraid of this place, she thought. After all, this was probably the place where he was tortured, so perhaps it brought back too many memories and messed him up like this.

 

She tried to struggle against her captors’ hold again, but her muscles were already sore and she could not do a single thing to help Baekhyun.

 

“Oh, Yifan,” she said in a very different voice, and Aya narrowed her eyebrows. Kris? She’d almost forgotten about him, the second frenemy she had to fight against but didn’t want to. He was a different story than Luhan altogether: whereas Luhan was sick and weak, doing the things they made him do apologetically and trying to do as little harm as possible, Kris seemed to enjoy the stuff he was doing - like making his friends bully her for months in school, or harassing his fake girlfriend Lamiya.

 

She could not see Luhan as an enemy, but it was so incredibly easy to see Kris as one.

 

Aya couldn’t understand a word that her evil clone was saying to Kris - she suspected it was Chinese, because it didn’t sound anything like the sweet nothings Baekhyun would whisper to her in their bed - but her demeanor had completely changed and she made a face that seemed very distressed as she whined over the phone and bit her lip.

 

Soon afterwards, she put the phone away and turned towards her. She put her hands on her hips and addressed her as if they were old friends when she did everything she could to not start clawing at her like a raging animal.

 

“I’ll get back to you in a moment,” she whispered to Baekhyun and then walked towards Aya, who was already raging mad. She needed to get this - whoever and whatever this was - away from Baekhyun as soon as possible.

 

“Now, sweetheart, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” she said in a cheerful voice. “To be honest, I’d prefer the hard way, but it’s your choice.”

 

Aya just glared at her, deciding to wait for her chance - but oh, once she got it, she’d seize it alright, with both of her hands.

 

“I will ask you nicely, because you have a part of my powers,” the snake said slowly, putting a finger at the center of her forehead. She recoiled, but the finger followed. “You will give me all of your powers - you will return all my powers to me and I will let you both go.”

 

She laughed. “What do you think about that, Aya? You can get out of this room with your sweet little boyfriend and keep him alive for another day, maybe, since you won’t be able to give him those little boosts of yours anymore.”

 

Aya tried to get as far away from this witch as possible, feeling scared and uncomfortable, though she tried her hardest not to show it. How did she know about any of those things? And what did she mean by saying her powers?

 

“Or,” she said as she leaned in, seemingly oblivious to Aya’s fear, “You can defy me and then I’ll give you another gift - I will show you the truth about you and your seemingly innocent little boyfriend who is anything but.”

 

Aya stopped trying to move away and into the guards, snapping to full attention. This must’ve been another game, another trap of theirs, but she couldn’t help but wonder what she’d meant by that. Aya didn’t mind Baekhyun’s past sins - she knew all about those he remembered, but what about the part of his life he’d lost? Would it somehow help him regain his lost memory?

 

“So, what’s it gonna be?” The witch tilted her head and sneered at her again, like a wolf observing its prey, waiting for it to make a move so that it could jump at it and destroy it completely.

 

Aya tried to take a deep breath and looked over at Baekhyun, who was still sitting at the examination table, seemingly out of it with his eyes closed. How badly would it hurt him if they started torturing her?

 

But if she gave them her powers, they’d win, and that was the one thing they had to avoid. She’d endure until the others came, and if they didn’t… She’d never give her powers willingly, no matter what kind of torture they made her go through. No matter what the woman said, her powers were a part of her and she wasn’t going to give them a tool to potentially destroy all of the guardians. She wouldn’t let that happen, even if it meant sacrificing her own life.

 

So she said “No,” with a raised forehead and determination in her eyes.

 

It was as if she was indulging the clone’s wishes; she laughed again and clapped with her hands, her gestures nothing like Aya’s, for which she was thankful for.

 

She went over to where Baek was huddled and circled his shoulders with her hands. “Lock her up,” she said to the guards, “And then you may leave. I can handle it from here.”

 

A minute later, Aya’s hands were in shackles and she was tied securely around a chair in the center of the room. The guard didn’t treat her too nicely, instead hurrying about after the clone barked out orders in what still sounded like Chinese, and Aya wondered what was happening outside. Have the others arrived? Were they going to save them?

 

Aya remembered Suho’s words about her being the most important one. She remembered the state the guardians were in and she knew it wasn’t possible. They were on their own, and Aya had a lot to lose so she had to find her way out of this situation as fast as she could. If she lost her powers, it was over.

 

“You see, Aya,” the witch started, her hands moving on Baekhyun’s shoulders and making her growls, wanting to shout Get her filthy hands off him, you witch, but still refraining herself from doing that because she wanted to find out what the game was about first. “There is a reason why the two of us look exactly the same. It’s not just some coincidence, you know? Coincidences are just an explanation for the fools.”

 

She wound a hand into Baek’s hair and pulled lightly, to which he seemed to respond, his eyes fluttering open as he whimpered, following the hand. Aya did not know what was happening - she did not want to watch this, she just wanted her to let him go already and come over to hurt and start punching her or whatever.

 

“When you were a baby,” she continued as Aya watched Baek’s movements, entranced and confused, “We decided to try something new out - something we’d never tried before, and after our success with Lamiya, we decided to be daring and ambitious and try this new thing with you.”

 

What was she even talking about? Success with Lamiya? Aya could not understand a single thing the witch was saying, but she was morbidly curious to find out, and she had a very dangerous feeling that that was exactly what the witch would do, and that must’ve meant that what she’d reveal was very messed up.

 

“With Lamiya, we only put Tae’s powers inside of her,” The witch said as she leaned and nuzzled her face against a complying Baek’s cheek, “But that power was stolen anyway, so it was logical to assume that her body would accept something so good and right with the whole rainbow-and-butterflies thing.”

 

She giggled to herself as she turned her face so that she was looking straight at Aya. “But with you, my dear sister, we used my DNA and my powers, and I assure you that they are nothing like Tae’s. We also put in a little bit of mind-controlling, similar to what Luhan can do, and hence your abilities exist.”

 

She then finally let go of Baekhyun, who just whimpered again, as if he was in pain, and went over to his unresponsive state at the table. She stood next to him, grinning at her like a hyena. “The name’s Papaya, though,” she said as she covered with her hand to giggle, “Which sounds very similar to your own. Such a coincidence, don’t you think, honey?”

 

She moved so quickly that Aya barely registered the movement, but instead of going over to her to begin the torture, she stood close to Baekhyun, her back turned towards Aya as she hummed her next words. “Since you chose the hard way, my dear, I guess it’s about time I began persuading you to give me back what I’d so generously given to you.”

 

And then she kissed Baekhyun, and Aya finally realized what the whole thing was about.

 

She wasn’t going to torture her the old-fashioned way, cutting and bruising her until she couldn’t take the physical pain anymore. No, this was something entirely else: she was going to mentally torture her by taking the one person that she valued above everyone else and doing this to him.

 

She could’ve handled seeing her kiss him. She could’ve explained to herself that she was forcing herself on him and that it was just a facade meant to make her break.

 

But she couldn’t handle Baek’s whimpers, his mouth whispering “More,” loud enough for her to hear, his hands finding their way into her hair and pushing her towards him as if they’d done this a thousand times.

 

Aya would not watch this anymore, she decided. She closed her eyes and turned her head towards the side just in case while the duo made already-too-obscene noises for her shattering heart. She kept telling herself that this was not real, that maybe this wasn’t even Baekhyun at all, that she was having a nightmare or that he was drugged or anything but what was in front of her-

 

When Baekhyun and Papaya moaned in unison, she couldn’t help but open her eyes again and take a peek through her eyelashes. What kind of torture was this?

 

As she watched her hands sneaking below his shirt just as his own did the same thing at her back, she felt as if someone was making her drink liquid metal and it was slowly burning its way down her insides.

 

Baekhyun was kissing his way down her evil twin’s neck when she turned to look at her, grinning as if she had just won the lottery, not doing such awful things in front of her.

 

“You just stay silent while we have some fun, honey,” she called over to her, and Aya reminded herself that this was all some kind of game - a game Baekhyun seemed awfully good at playing. “It’s been so long since I’ve gotten all hot and bothered with my Baekhyunnie over here anyway. What do you say, baby?”

 

Aya didn’t even have time to process this newest information when Baekhyun just growled “More” in approval.

 

What was this feeling inside of her chest? It wasn’t just the feeling of betrayal, because deep down she knew this was not the real Baekhyun, that something was awfully wrong with him, but she felt so insecure because Papaya was something she could never be - he didn’t have to follow any silly rules with this woman, he could watch her hair for as long as she wanted and touch her in any way he wanted, the same way he was doing it now: his hands were swift as they ed her shirt and threw it away as soon as it was able to come off.

 

Those hands were not of a drugged man. They were not of someone who was sleepwalking or unresponsive. They were the hands of the man who’d begged her for More in much the same way that he was right now, chasing a sensation that she never even dared to think about because of how forbidden it was.

 

When he began to kiss his way down her chest, she heard herself whisper, “Stop.”

 

“Baekhyun,” she whispered brokenly, unable to watch this torture any longer. Okay, he didn’t love her - she understood that now, but did they have to go this far to prove that point? “Please stop.”

 

Baekhyun looked over his lover’s shoulder and at her. His pupils were dilated and the ring of his brown irises barely visible.

 

And no light.

 

A part of her was still yelling at her that it was all an illusion, but this was the ultimate proof of how stupid she’d been.

 

Baekhyun had never loved her.

 

He was someone who could control the light: of course he could control whether light appeared in his eyes or not. It was a fairytale for stupid schoolgirls, one she was so desperate to believe in that she couldn’t see reason.

 

And he didn’t stop like she’d asked him to, of course. Instead, he let the wicked witch Papaya pull his shirt over his head, revealing the scarred and pale frame she’d thought of as something that would someday be hers and hers only to look at.

 

How much energy had he stolen from her already? She was beginning to feel dizzy again, though she didn’t know whether it was from the lack of energy or the shock of finding out about this newest information.

 

She wished she’d never entered this building. She wished she’d just run away like he’d told her to, thinking he’d died when he never came back.

 

She did not know how to handle this pain. She did not know how she’d ever be able to unsee the sight before her, Baekhyun lying down as he grinned at Papaya and touched her cheek lightly, as if confessing of love.

 

How much had they laughed together, reminiscing on all of the things he’d done to her and enjoyed doing, like shaming her in school over and over again and later pretending it was all just an act?

 

“Still not budging?” Papaya asked as she leaned over the person she’d once called her boyfriend, the person she would’ve given her freaking life for, but her answer remained the same because of her other friends who weren’t deceiving like Baekhyun.

 

Papaya laughed again, seemingly reading the answer on her face. “Good,” she whispered hotly, “Because I’ve been wanting to do this for a very long time, and I hadn’t gotten nearly enough of him.”

 

Aya almost missed the sudden movement, but she knew it all too well to not understand what it was.

 

Papaya had put her hand on the back of Baekhyun’s neck - the neck he’d so willingly turned towards her, as if this was their routine, and the moan she heard when her powers flowed out of her and inside of him made her stomach turn upside down.

 

So her powers…

 

Papaya had said that her power was something created out of a mixture of multiple different energies, so that meant Papaya did not have the same power like Aya did.

 

And that meant that Baekhyun had given the powers he’d received from Aya to her, and that would’ve happened only if he’d willingly done that.

 

The puzzle pieces seemed to started falling into place: that was why Baekhyun had recoiled from her when she’d tried to touch his neck when he’d returned from the SM base.

 

Nothing, he’d said. They’d done nothing to him. But was he afraid that maybe, if Aya sorted through his memories, she’d find proof of his betrayal?

 

Another puzzle piece was his addiction to Aya’s powers. She’d never touched anyone more than once, so she couldn’t know for sure but it did seem awfully strange that Baekhyun had gotten so hooked to her powers from having received it only a couple of times.

 

She now knew that wasn’t the case at all: the witch must’ve been giving him this kind of treatment for God knew how long and Aya wanted to throw up from having been so naive to believe a word of what he told her.

 

When he’d returned from the SM base - which now seemed awfully fishy, too, just leaving him very close to the cabin - he’d insisted that he was fine and that he didn’t need to receive her touch anymore.

 

The same night, he’d moaned over and over again that he needed it, that he’d die if she didn’t give it to him, that she didn’t understand and so her hand settled at the back of his neck while he moaned into her own neck, shuddering as if he was in excruciating pain, though the sounds he was making and the movements of his body seemed to tell a whole different story.

 

But she struggled to understand him and why he claimed he was fine when he cried and demanded her touch every other night, which she gladly gave to him.

 

Now she understood everything.

 

Still, it didn’t make it hurt any less when they kissed again and his eyes opened as he leaned into her touch, just to show a ring of light inside of them.

 

Papaya pressed her body tightly against Baekhyun’s, and it was getting impossible to watch the whole scene. Baekhyun growled as his back arched up from the table and he whispered “More” again, seemingly not satisfied by this already-too-dirty display that Aya was forced to watch.

 

She didn’t remember when she’d first started crying, but thankfully, her tears were silent and she at least kept her dignity while the duo in front of her seemed awfully unbothered by her presence.

 

She would not call for him, Aya told herself again and again, even as her lips formed Baekhyun’s name and silently begged him to stop - stop what? Breaking her heart? Kissing the woman that was his enemy?

 

Papaya seemed anything but at the moment, guiding his hands to the clasp of her bra and whispering seductively, “It’s been a long time since we’ve done this, baby.”

 

“Please,” she found herself begging. “No more. Please.” Aya was now out of her mind: she couldn’t handle so much betrayal all at once, so many things that she saw in a completely different way and that now made perfect sense, making her heart break along the way.

 

Baekhyun had said at times that he’d managed to get back into the dream.

 

Aya now knew how he’d felt: she wanted to get back into her dream where he’d loved her, too.

 

“So, what do you say, honey?” Papaya called over to her once again, while Baekhyun still seemed to be trapped in the world which consisted only of her, his mouth on her stomach as she giggled at him, “Have I proved to you that Baekhyunnie here isn’t the man you thought he was?”

 

Aya closed her eyes shut tightly and tried to take a deep breath, but it just came out as a whimper instead. It sounded like enough of a defeat to Papaya, though, because she got up and sat next to Baekhyun, who didn’t seem too happy about the prospect of her leaving his side.

 

“You know what, let me make it easier to you. I’ll let you see my memories if you promise to give me back my powers, okay?” She raised an eyebrow at Aya, her hand petting Baek’s head as if he was her overgrown puppy she liked to play with.

 

Suddenly, the aspect of striking some kind of a deal with this witch seemed like a good exit from this situation. After all, she’d only thought about saving Baekhyun, and it turned out that he didn’t need to be saved at all, so what was the point?

 

At least, if she lost her powers, in return she would get all their plans from the past so that they could find out what it was they wanted to do in the future.

 

After all, she could just make her fall asleep after she was done using her powers, so Aya agreed to do it, knowing she didn’t have much of a choice in this game anyway.

 

Baek went back to his unresponsive state, as if he could only be conscious while Papaya was around, and she didn’t even bother to put on some clothes as she walked over to her again.

 

“Poor thing,” she whispered at Aya, wiping the tears off her cheeks. “You must be very shocked, so let’s get this over with as soon as possible.”

 

She pushed in a code too fast for Aya to memorize in order to free her hands from the shackles, though she stayed bound to the chair like a true prisoner.

 

Papaya guided her hand towards her neck, grinning at her as she said, “Knock yourself out, but don’t forget to keep your end of the deal.”

 

And then Aya was stuck in a memory herself, and she didn’t know how that had happened.

 

“Baekhyunnie,” she whispered against his lips, “Do you love me?”

 

“Of course I do, aeri,” he answered, kissing the edge of her lips sweetly. “You see, there’s this thing I can’t control - The Tree of Life told me that when i fell in love, my eyes would shine like this.”

 

She bit her lip as the eyes shining with a strange light looked at her. She felt so incredibly happy that she was lucky enough to have found such a beautiful person to be with.

 

She felt like she was drowning, but she was pulled into another memory, without having any kind of control over it.

 

“Baekhyunnie?” she whispered, terrified. “Baekhyunnie, where are you?”

 

She was lying in a cold bed, alone and feeling used with a dreadful feeling clawing its way at her insides. Where was he?

 

She knew he’d left even before she searched the empty apartment, left with her heart and powers, leaving her empty and feeling dirty for what she’d done.

 

Tears began streaming down her cheeks again, but now it was not because she felt hurt - it was the raw intensity of the memories that kept suffocating her, switching from one to another more quickly than she could comprehend.

 

She stood in the club, the people around her dancing and laughing, having the time of their lives while her heart was shattering in a million pieces.

 

He was dancing slowly and sensually with a pretty tall blonde, and the duo was kissing not-too-innocently in front of her very eyes.

 

It was the very same place where he’d kissed her yesterday in much the same way.

 

She could not comprehend anything anymore, but the person she saw in the memories was her Baekhyun, and she wished once again that she returned into her dream where his past was buried and he was not this awful man without feelings for the women who loved him.

 

“What’s your name, babe?” he whispered seductively, his hand settling on her bottom, making her recoil immediately, moving away from him a couple of steps. “You look very hot. I think you and I could use some fresh air, what’d you think?”

 

He didn’t even recognize the person who’d given him her sacred powers last night. He didn’t even remember her name.

 

“Do you understand now?” Papaya whispered as the torture finally ended and she slumped into the chair, shaking violently.

 

It was too much. She couldn’t handle any more revelations, any more betrayals and shocking truths about people who were nothing like the persons they tried to sell themselves off as.

 

“Give me back my powers so that I can avenge my dignity,” Papaya said in a sad voice, and Aya found herself believing her and wanting to get back at this fraud and playboy who cared nothing about the women whose hearts he broke.

 

She nodded with her head. “Okay,” she whispered, and started to put her hand on Papaya’s temple to give her most of her powers - she’d leave something for herself too - but then the door opened harshly and she was surrounded by familiar faces.

 

“Don’t believe her!” Soo shouted as he shook his head at Aya.

 

“Aya, get away from her, quickly!” Suho said while he ran over to where they were positioned.

 

“Are you okay?” Lay said, his arms positioned as if he was going to have a kung fu fight with the Tibetan monks or something.

 

Papaya growled, but Suho jumped onto her and they started rolling on the ground, punching and hissing at each other. Lay and Soo went to help their leader, but she couldn’t help because she was still tied to the chair.

 

Even if she wasn’t, she didn’t think she would’ve been able to stand up, let alone fight someone in her present state.

 

All she could see was the menace in front of her, his posture peaceful as he kept his eyes closed, refusing to take part in the events taking place before him while he enjoyed the feeling Papaya had induced in him.

 

She hated him with every cell in her body.

 

She did not want to go back into the dream anymore: dreams were for little girls who believed in fairytales and their prince charming coming to rescue them.

 

Her prince charming was a lying bastard and she would make sure he paid for deceiving her like this, for putting up such a good act in order to get a hold of her powers in the easiest way possible.

 

So when Soo untied her, she didn’t even look his way as she exited the room.

 

She did not want to see him ever again, or the lying ring of light inside of his eyes.

 

It was all a lie, and she’d fallen for it like the fool she was.

 

But no more.

 

Her heart had shattered, but she would not pick up the shards and try to bring it back together.

 

Instead, she walked over them, hoping to break them into pieces that would be too small for ever being brought up together again.

 

And she’d enjoy the pain of the shards cutting into her feet.

 

It was the only thing she could feel anymore.

 

She would not drown yet: first they would bring SM down, and then she would close her eyes and let the water carry her away, deeper and deeper and to a place so dark that no light would ever breach it.

 

Not even the light of the warm, brown eyes she’d fallen in love with.