Aya was standing on the rooftop, close to its edge. Her clothes were tattered and her face bloody. She put her hands in front of herself in an attempt to prevent two SM agents from driving her over the edge, but she was tired and out of energy, so she wasn’t doing a good job.

 

Baekhyun’s heart sank as he tried to arrive to the scene as soon as possible, because aeri was suffering and fear was evident on her face. He would do anything to save her. He would do everything he could to make her smile again.

 

The SM agents were people he knew well - or, at least he’d thought that, but it turned out that Luhan was good at manipulating minds and they were susceptible to his powers.

 

There would be no reasoning with them, Aya had warned him. So don’t even try.

 

Baek felt scared, because he wanted to save his brother and his girlfriend, too, but Aya was his priority. He felt tired and wanted to get under the covers and sleep for a couple of days, but that could wait.

 

Yes, he had no powers left. Yes, he was weak and didn’t know how to fight. But no, he wasn’t going to give up. He would rather die next to his aeri then watch them hurt her like this.

 

Help me, Baekhyunnie, he had heard her voice say in his mind. It seemed like they were connected now, and she needed him to save her.

 

So though he wanted to kill Papaya with his bare hands, though she was posing as his aeri, though he couldn’t handle seeing her and the way she’d manipulated everyone else, though he wanted to scream at them until they snapped to their senses, instead he ran away from the group that was moving through the city, trying to get to Luhan, probably to take more of his powers for themselves.

 

Aya had told him everything - how this was all one big trick in order to make him believe she was the evil Papaya so that he could do the dirty work for them and kill her. Never, never would he do anything like that because even if they managed to trick everyone else, they would not manage to make him believe Papaya was Aya - yes, they did look identical, but his heart knew who was the woman he loved.

 

And it was certainly not the angry evil witch looking at him with hatred in her eyes. The shawl around her head did nothing to conceal the truth.

 

His brothers were fussing around her and talking about Luhan, but his aeri had told him everything through this new mind-connection they had: they were all deceived, because Papaya had stolen Luhan’s powers and could now manipulate minds. They truly believed in everything she said and he couldn’t do anything to change it - only when Papaya was dead, would they become themselves again.

 

And then she’d been attacked, and couldn’t get to him in order to protect him from harm.

 

So now he had finally managed to get to the rooftop, in time to save her and at least run away temporarily, until he got his strength back and they found some way to get out of this mess. Perhaps his brothers could be reasoned with - perhaps at least Luhan, because he would be immune to mind-control, and maybe he could lift the fog from the others’ judgement.

 

But they would worry about that later - right now, he had to prevent his aeri from getting killed first, and since Sehun and Lamiya seemed like they’d been practicing their tag-team attacks for a long, long while, Baekhyun wasn’t sure if it would be an easy task.

 

“Now’s our chance,” Lamiya shouted, turning towards Sehun while they started creating what looked like a giant tornado. “While she’s still weak from the other attacks. Give it everything you’ve got, Sehun!”

 

Oh, no, they wouldn’t, Baekhyun thought, and ran into the person closest to him - his youngest brother Sehun, whom he loved more than anything. He was in the middle of a performance, waving his hands around in the air with his hair being lifted by the immense force of wind. It was a good thing that Baekhyun had the element of surprise, because Sehun surely would’ve been able to blow him off.

 

And since he seemed tuned into his powers, that meant that he must’ve stolen someone else’s energy. His poor brother… What have they made him do while mind-controlling him?

 

“Stop this, brother,” Baekhyun said as the two of them rolled on the ground, Sehun huffing as he tried - and failed - to push him away. “This isn’t you. Fight the mind-control, I know you can do it!”

 

“What the hell is wrong with you, Baek?” Sehun shouted at him, the perfect example of a lunatic - his forehead sweaty, his eyes wild and desperate, his whole posture aggressive. “Let me go, I need to help Lamiya before it’s too late! You’re endangering this whole timeline - we mustn’t let the future change!”

 

A total lunatic, delusional and talking about things that weren’t real and that were hardly even comprehensible. Poor Sehun, the mind-control must’ve brought him to the brink of insanity.

 

Baekhyun found his brother’s collar and started shaking him, though he didn’t have much strength. “No, brother, you must snap into your senses-”

 

“I’m sorry, Baek, but I don’t have time for this,” Sehun cut him off, and then Baekhyun felt a sharp pain in his nose.

 

Had Sehun actually hit him?

 

He felt another sharp pain in his temple, and then his world became nothing but an empty void.

 

When he slowly rose to consciousness, there was no sound. No ruckus or hurry.

 

All that was left was silence.

 

Baekhyun slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to still the image of the blue sky that seemed to be tilting to the sides every couple of seconds. His head was spinning and it felt light, though he felt a dull pain both at the bridge of his nose and at the top of his head.

 

He didn’t know what was going on, but after a second, it all started coming back to him.

 

The torture, the dream, the mind-control, him arriving to the rooftop…

 

He sat up suddenly, and though he felt as if he was going to throw up, he got up immediately, wanting to find her, needing her in his field of vision in order to start breathing again.

 

But she was nowhere to be seen.

 

He noticed immediately how clean the rooftop looked - it used to be a pile of rubbles, but now it was a clearing without a single thing left to step on. What on earth had happened here?

 

He wasn’t at the top, where he last remembered rolling around with a manipulated Sehun, but instead halfway down the stairs which lead to the rooftop. He climbed the remaining few immediately, searching with his eyes but feeling dreadful in his heart.

 

His Aya had needed him to help her, but he was too weak. He had no energy left to fight his brother with. He just hoped he’d awoken in time, though everything indicated it was otherwise.

 

There were people standing at the edge of the rooftop in silence. One of them looked like Lay, his hands on his hips and his hands balled into fists. The whole world was silent, but he could hear faint murmurs, as if the people were speaking among themselves, but being careful not to disrupt the dreadful silence.

 

Baekhyun started walking towards them, careful not to make a sound.

 

“We couldn’t do anything,” he heard his leader say, putting both hands up into the air. “It wasn’t Lamiya’s fault - she gave her no choice.”

 

Baekhyun resumed walking.

 

“Maybe, if they’d tried reasoning with her…” Lay trailed off, his voice hollow.

 

Step forward.

 

“I was there - they tried, both of them, but even at the very end, she didn’t give up. I can’t even think about what might be waiting for us down there - what if Sehun-”

 

“I will ask you all only once,” Baekhyun said in a voice void of emotion.

 

Two people turned. Suho raised his eyebrows and Lay looked surprised to see him there. “Oh, you’re awake, how are you feel-”

 

“Where.

 

Is.

 

She?!”

 

The dam inside of him broke, because he couldn’t think about the possibility that she was… No, it couldn’t be true. The dreadful feeling inside of him wouldn’t go away, and though he was panting now, though his hands were shaking and he was looking wildly at the faces of Junmyeon and Yixing, trying to find the answer that wasn’t there, he could do nothing to calm his racing heart down.

 

He couldn’t think about the other possibility. It wasn’t true.

 

“Baekhyun, calm d-” his leader tried, but it seemed like the duo kept being cut off without getting the chance to finish their sentences. Good. This wasn’t about them - he didn’t want to hurt them, even though he would if they made him. Yes, he was tired and he could barely stand, but if they didn’t tell him where his aeri was right now, he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

 

He didn’t care who they were anymore - he needed to see that she was alive and well, and now.

 

And oh, did he have unfinished business to take care of.

 

“You really have no shame, do you?” the evil Papaya interrupted Suho, just a puppet whose strings she were pulling. She turned slowly, but even the glimpse of the image she was trying to impersonate was enough to make him want to puke.

 

She was still wearing the shawl and putting on that innocent face, as if she could ever even remotely look like her. Yes, the looks were there, but the life his Aya gave to them was missing. She was nothing like the woman he loved, and he needed to see that woman right this instant.

 

“As much as I want to finish this right now,” Baekhyun said in a voice full of venom, “And as much as I want to shred you for still impersonating her, I need to know where she is first. So tell me, you freaking witch, what have you done with her?” He screamed, putting his hands on her shoulders and shaking her violently. They were dangerously close to the edge of the rooftop, but he didn’t care.

 

He cared about nothing but the well-being of his love, his aeri, his Aya.

 

The world started spinning again and Papaya started swimming in his vision, and no matter how much he blinked, it wouldn’t right itself.

 

“Tell me one thing,” she said in a calm voice, as if nothing was wrong and they had all the time in the world to keep on chatting. Could she feel how out of his mind he was? Would she stop torturing him for one damn second and just give him the answer already?

 

He couldn’t do this anymore. He would kill her on this rooftop, he was sure.

 

“Was it all a lie?” she continued, and he wanted to snort.

 

She wanted to keep playing this game? Okay, he could do that.

 

She wanted him to explode and pour it all out into that treacherous face of hers? Okay, he could do that.

 

And then he would end her life here and find his aeri on his own.

 

“Who are you even acting for anymore?” he screeched, raising both of his hands high into the air before bringing them down onto her shoulders again.

 

“Aya,” Suho said uncertainly, but she shook her head, not even looking at him while he was talking to her.

 

“Let him be,” she said in a cold voice, still playing her game of puppets, “This is the last time anyway.”

 

The last time? Oh, of course it would be the last time, but she was wrong if she thought he would let her do this anymore. If they’d touched a strand of her hair, if they’d hurt her in any way…

 

“And you have the audacity to ask me if I loved you? Loved you?” Baekhyun continued, his voice raising higher and higher while he shook her and the world spun.

 

“There is nothing in my world but her, you hear me?” he screamed, bringing his face as close to her as it could get. “You may torture me and take all my powers and hurt me as much as you can, but the answer will always be the same. She is my everything. And I hate you and everything you represent, you pile of scum.”

 

She was such a good actor, he could give her that - there were actual tears in her eyes while he told her all of this. Crocodile tears.

 

“You may look like her, but you can never be one percent of her actual self. You can try to be her as much as you want, but I will always know who the real her is.”

 

He threw her body that had gone slack away from him in disgust, wanting to throw up from seeing her tear-stricken face. She must’ve wanted to make sure that Suho and Lay would be on her side when the mind-control subsided, but he would deal with that later, when she was in his arms, safe and sound.

 

“Now tell me where she is while I still have some patience left,” he finished, feeling Junmyeon and Yixing’s judging looks on his face and not caring the least about the brainwashed sheep at the moment.

 

Papaya finally showed her true face, laughing in spite of her theatral tear fest. She was kneeling, her hands at the edge of the rooftop, and if he didn’t know better, he would think that she was about to throw herself off it.

 

The world kept spinning. Why wouldn’t it stop?

 

Papaya turned her head and looked straight into his eyes. Her eyes were dark and full of hatred, and he didn’t understand why his brothers believed this evil-doer.

 

“She is on the ground in front of the building,” she said filthilty. “Where she deserves to be.”

 

The world stopped.

 

Everything was silent once again.

 

No.

 

No.

 

He could do nothing but turn around and start running.

 

The silence was deafening. The feeling in his stomach intensified, and the world stopped spinning once again, black spots dancing in his vision now.

 

“Let him go,” Aya’s distorted voice was carried to him by the wind, “I want him to hurt, too, at least for a little while.”

 

He ran and ran, through the rubbles and wondering if the building would collapse under his weight combined with the force of his running - he hoped it would.

 

He ran and ran, using every atom to get out of the building as quickly as possible, suffocating and wanting for the resonating silence to stop already, wanting for Aya’s distorted voice to be normal again, wanting to see her, hold her and kiss her while she laughed at him with love.

 

Where was she?

 

He somehow found the exit and stopped when the sunlight reached his broken body. No, he wasn’t broken yet - aeri would fix him, she would kiss the pain away and make everything right again.

 

Why didn’t the sunlight make him feel warm? Why did he feel like a block of ice, sailing across the ocean with no goal, bound to melt sooner or later and dissipate, drowning in the salty water?

 

Why did he feel like there would never be anything but the silence in his world?

 

Why was his aeri lying there, a red trail around her body, immovable and her eyes closed?

 

Why would she never open them and smile at him again?

 

He screamed, though he felt nothing at all as he ran towards her.

 

Tears started sliding down his cheeks, clouding his vision, but he could see her perfectly well.

 

She must’ve been so afraid…

 

SM had won, and he had lost. They had all lost.

 

It was a relief that he wouldn’t have to live for much longer. Soon, he would have no energy left, and he would be able to stay with his aeri forever, and they’d be happy and together and they would never leave each other again.

 

“How could you leave me?” he screamed, sobbing loudly and not caring about anything anymore - his energy, SM’s winning, their task, The Tree of Life, nothing mattered anymore.

 

“What do I do now, aeri?” he sobbed, cradling the broken form in his arms. He started rocking while the tears kept flowing and with them everything that that had any worth, out of him and into nothingness.

 

First, he would kill Papaya. And then he would die and rest next to aeri.

 

And then the torture would finally stop.

 

Someone shushed him and put a hand on the back of his head. The hand was gentle and familiar and…

 

Aeri?

 

He was not in that broken, nightmare-ish world anymore.

 

Instead, he was running through the forest with his love in front of him, giggling as she tried to get away and he let her for now, though he wasn’t using even half of his strength.

 

Was he dreaming again?

 

Or was he finally waking up?

 

She turned, the sunlight reflecting in her eyes, making them look like molten gold. He knew she could see the same color in his own, letting her know exactly how he felt without him having to voice it.

 

She giggled again as they both slowed down, and started fiddling with the hem of her shawl.

 

If it was a dream, it was a beautiful one indeed.

 

Even the dream-him felt tears prickling in his eyes as he laughed, happy and without worries and so complete because this girl was next to him and they loved each other. He needed nothing more.

 

“Shh, Baekkie. Everything will be okay. Let me take the pain away now.”

 

The shawl flew away and he followed it with his eyes for a second while the wind carried up and up, over the branches of the trees and into the great unknown, where the sun would shine forever and it would never be cold.

 

He looked at his aeri again. At her golden eyes and the hair she did not have to hide anymore.

 

Because she was his.

 

And he was hers, only hers and forever in her command.

 

He would recognize her among a million other women. Among a million Papayas, evil clones meant to confuse him and make him unfaithful to her.

 

A stray tear started rolling down his cheek as he started running to catch up with her, to catch her, to touch her again and kiss her and promise her that he would love her forever, and that he would never leave her.

 

I hope you’re happy now, Baekkie.

 

“Baekhyunnie,” she sighed.

 

Baekhyun smiled and dove in for a kiss.

 

He was the happiest man alive.