After having his memories erased by Luhan, though they came back, most of them were hazy in Sehun’s mind.

 

Not the first moment he’d seen her, though.

 

Nor the first time he’d kissed her.

 

The first time she’d laughed at him, the first time she looked at him, the first time his heart started beating faster, the first time…

 

But as he looked at her now, Sehun could see clearly that this was not that girl. Yes, she looked the same, and yes, someone not close to her would say that she acted the same, too. That her curls stood upwards just because of the wind. That her eyes shone just because she was fighting an enemy who wanted to destroy everything she loved.

 

Not Sehun, though. Yes, this was Lamiya, but at the same time, she was nothing like the woman he loved and knew so well.

 

“You will pay for what you had done to him!” Lamiya shouted, her voice full of pure hatred he did not understand. Yes, Jessica was a very evil person, but this looked very personal - almost as if the two of them knew each other. As crazy as it sounded, it seemed to be real, because they’d called each other by their names - though Jessica had called Lamiya Na Eun, and Sehun had no idea what it even meant - and Sehun felt as if he’d started watching a movie after most of it had already stopped rolling.

 

Yet he was too busy realizing that he was alive and that the future would now inevitably change, that there’d be consequences they’d all have to face, to think into it too much. He knew Lamiya wasn’t crazy, but there was something different about her.

 

They would face whatever it was together, after Jessica was beaten and they actually had time to think about such stuff.

 

“I?” Jessica screeched back at her, avoiding another blow of wind - this was the first close shot, almost hitting her face but she managed to move in time. This time.

 

Sehun didn’t know if Lamiya was doing this in purpose, but it seemed like it was working - Jessica was slowly losing her temper and that meant that sooner or later, she would make a mistake, and then they’d be able to beat her. “Last time I checked, I was his woman and you were the messed-up lunatic who’d obviously managed to steal his powers from him!”

 

Who were they even talking about? Was this the mysterious Taemin whose name had been mentioned far too many times in the last couple of minutes?

 

“He loved me,” Lamiya roared, raising into the air after clapping her hands together. The sheer force of the clap was enough to send her flying upwards, and she flew towards Jessica like a bullet - Sehun took care to create a wave of air that wouldn’t let her get hurt while doing… whatever it was that she was trying to do. “He loved me, and you still gave him that order. You still made him do what he did.”

 

Sehun tried to detach himself from the conversation, attributing it to Lamiya’s craziness or some mind-control trick, but he wanted to know what the whole thing was about. It could wait, though - the most important thing was keeping her alive and beating Jessica.

 

He focused on doing just that when Lamiya pounced on her with another roar while Jessica started laughing maniacally. They both started rolling onto the ground, sounding like cats that were trying to strangle each other, and they didn’t look much different - both of their hands were in each others’ hair, pulling it and making each other scream in pain.

 

“I didn’t make him do anything,” Sehun heard Jessica huff while he ran over to where they were having their girl-fight that probably wouldn’t do any real damage. “He got the order to take your powers from you, and he did it all on his own. And then he came to me and we spent the night togeth-”

 

Lamiya punched Jessica straight into the face - it didn’t look like she would be content while looking in the mirror anytime soon, because she’d been hit already and now her face was just a bloody mess, making Sehun wince. “It’s all SM’s fault, you witch! You turned him into that!” she screamed again and again, before being pushed away by another blast of air from Jessica. Sehun immediately directed it away, and Lamiya was quick on her feet, getting up and wiping the blood from her face.

 

“You’d made him steal others’ powers for millenniums, you bastards!” Lamiya went on, now creating a wall of wind, raising and lowering her arms continuously. She looked completely out of her mind, and Sehun had no idea what he was supposed to do - whether he needed to help her beat Jessica or not hurt herself. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this opportunity?”

 

Jessica laughed, but Sehun could see that it was all an act - her eyes looked worried, even terrified of this person in front of her. Sehun couldn’t blame her - he kind of felt the same.

 

“What have you done with him, Na Eun?” Jessica asked, dodging another blow by pushing herself into the air, but Lamiya had expected that, and she hit her straight-on with the wall of air she’d prepared. Jessica made a pained sound as she fell onto the ground.

 

She looked like a complete mess, her hair a giant nest on her head, her face bloody with the blood openly flowing from her nose, and as she got up, she cradled her left arm to her chest - had she broken it? “What have you done with him, you crazy witch?” she screamed, throwing a blow of light straight into Lamiya.

 

It was something she didn’t expect, and Sehun immediately tried to cancel it out with a blow of wind, but it didn’t work - Baek’s powers were too strong. It hit Lamiya’s chest and she gurgled, stumbling and holding her chest with both of her hands.

 

They came up red.

 

“Lamiya!” Sehun shouted immediately, but she raised the hand at him in warning, and so he stopped.

 

Why was she wounded like that? Baek’s light was strong, but it wasn’t supposed to made her start bleeding and with such intensity - the blood was too black, making him sick to his stomach.

 

Tao’s voice echoed in his head. Trying to tamper with the series of events only leads to the same series of events repeating but with bad side-effects.

 

He would still die, but now Lamiya would, too.

 

What have you done, Tao?

 

Sehun called upon his powers and made them coil around Jessica, raising her up in the air and immobilizing her. “Enough of this!” he roared, determined not to let her make any more damage to Lamiya.

 

He put her down and brought the force of air down on her while she put her hands in front of her, obviously not able to keep up with everything that was going on.

 

“Now’s our chance, while she’s still weak from the other attacks,” Lamiya shouted as she threw another ball of wind at the vulnerable SM agent. Perhaps the wound wasn’t that serious after all. “Give it everything you’ve got, Sehun!”

 

Sehun nodded and began calling upon everything he had in order to help in creating the giant tornado that Lamiya was forming, seemingly effortless. She wouldn’t have been able to do this, had she been wounded seriously, so a great weight slid off his shoulders - she would be fine, the wound was probably just superficial.

 

Something suddenly hit into Sehun and he fell onto the ground. Was Kris back and still on Jessica’s side?

 

But the voice saying, “Stop this, brother! This isn’t you. Fight the mind-control, I know you can do it!” wasn’t Kris’ voice. It was the voice of his older brother Baekhyun, who seemed equally out of his mind like everyone else, with his face being very pale and eyes bloodshot.

 

What was he even doing here? Tao never mentioned him, so he wasn’t supposed to play an important role in the whole situation. Was this a side effect of having attempted to alter the future, or would he simply fail to make a ruckus?

 

Lamiya shouted, and Sehun knew he didn’t have time for thinking and contemplating. He needed to help Lamiya, now, or else her life would be in danger.

 

That was so much worse than living happily ever after with Kris after Sehun died. He would take that possibility over the dangerous, uncertain one presenting itself in front of him every day.

 

“What the hell is wrong with you, Baek?” Sehun tried to move him out of the way, but it wouldn’t work. Why was he even fighting him? Did he even know they were on the same side, or was he another crazed-out pawn in this chess game that was about to end? “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!”

 

Talking to a rock would’ve been more productive. Instead of nodding and moving out of the freaking way, his brother started shaking him, a crazy, glassy look in his eyes. “No, brother, you must snap into your senses-”

 

Sehun felt an immense force arising somewhere on the rooftop, and he knew this couldn’t go on any longer. He cut his brother off swiftly, feeling sorry for what he was going to do. Baek would forgive him, hopefully. “I’m sorry, Baek, but I don’t have time for this.”

 

He punched him into the nose before Baekhyun even had a chance to understand what was happening, and then he grabbed his hair and hit his head on the ground - he was careful to be gentle, but at the same time, he had to be harsh enough for him to lose consciousness.

 

Sehun quickly got up, abandoning his brother’s unconscious form. He would be fine. Hopefully, he would be brought back to his senses when he woke up, too.

 

Jessica was standing at the very edge of the rooftop, her hands in front of her, dark energy coming out and forming a nasty-looking orb.

 

Lamiya was standing further back, her arms above her and the wind coming out of them so strong that it seemed to be altering the sky, the clouds into the leech of air. Thunders began rolling around it, and Sehun felt both amazed and terrified - he had never seen something so strong. This went beyond what he even thought he was capable of - where did Lamiya even get all of these powers from?

 

“I hope you’re watching this, Tae, wherever you are now,” Lamiya said in a hollow voice, an immovable statue contrary to the whole world, swirling and roaring around her. “I hope you are at peace, because justice will be served now. She will pay for everything she’d done, for all of the pain she’d inflicted to everyone.”

 

“I will kill you, Na Eun, hear me loud and clear!” Jessica screeched, but her scary phrase ended with a cough. Sehun knew that now he could beat her on his own - there was no need for this sheer amount of power to be used on her. He had no idea how she was even controlling the tornado - it looked horrible, and the more of the atmosphere materials it in, the faster it spun and the more lightnings it contained.

 

“Lamiya,” he said, going over to her. The wind was so strong that he had to shout in order for her to hear him. “There’s no need for you to do this - Jessica is badly wounded and we can beat her easily now. Come on, you’ve proved your point - you can let go now. She won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again.”

 

“Oh Sehun,” she said in a commanding voice he’d never heard her use before, “This is none of your business. My fight with her is personal, and thank you for your help, but I will finish this in the way I feel is right.”

 

“This isn’t you,” Sehun said desperately, feeling as if his words were just an echo of Baekhyun’s from mere seconds ago. “You don’t need to kill her to prove your point-”

 

“And what would you know about the point I’m trying to make?” Lamiya screamed at him, cutting him off swiftly and effectively. Her eyes were wide open and there were veins bulging on her neck while the thunders rolled above her, at her command.

 

The whole world felt as if it was going to shatter any moment now, and he was the only one who possibly had some chance of calming everything down.

 

“You are a child, and you know nothing about pain!” She continued, and Sehun felt as if he was looking at a stranger. She paused to bring a hand in front of her, blocking a blow of light - Jessica had obviously used the spare moment to her advance, but thankfully, it didn’t succeed.

 

Everything was falling apart.

 

Was this how Tao felt every time he came back? Was this how he felt when he realized that the future he’d altered had come to haunt them all?

 

How would he live with the consequences? Would he be able to save Sehanna, or had Tao already killed that possibility by sacrificing himself to save his brother Kris from finding out the truth about the duality of Papaya and Jessica?

 

Could he be as brave as Tao, making the sacrifice that needed to be made, when it needed to be made?

 

Sehun took a deep breath. “Whatever’s clouding your judgement is just a product of your mind, Lamiya. You are not Na Eun or whatever it is that Jessica has been calling you - you are here, with me, on Earth, and there’s no reason for you to be doing this…”

 

He trailed off because Lamiya began laughing while looking at the ground, the only moving part of her being her hands, her fingers swirling and swirling around as the clouds accumulated and the sky turned to black above them all. The mass of the clouds was blocking the sun; it would rain any moment now.

 

Sehun hoped that rain was the thing they needed to fear the most, not something far worse and dangerous.

 

“I can’t cope with this right now, Sehunnie,” she said as she raised her head back up, still laughing at some joke unknown to him. She looked much like Jessica had not too long ago, and that was a very bad sign - what was happening with her? He had no idea.

 

And then she brought her hands down, and the horrible tornado started going down, too.

 

She was the most powerful guardian to ever exist. The fact that he wasn’t a guardian at all was very ironic indeed.

 

Sehun tried to make the air mass dissipate, but it was in vain - it wouldn’t budge or react to anyone but her commands. He felt another, weaker and darker power trying to help him, but it simply wasn’t enough. The nightmare would stop only when Lamiya said so, and she was too busy laughing maniacally and putting her arms above her head as if she was victorious already.

 

Yeah, they sure had a lot to talk about once this whole situation ended - if they survived, that was.

 

“Stop this!” Sehun shouted as the air started to hit the rooftop. He suddenly remembered Baekhyun and turned to see whether he was safe, and he did it right in time to see Baekhyun’s still-unconscious body being thrown towards the entrance to the rooftop and into it, down the stairs. He would be safe there, Sehun hoped. If anyone could be safe from the force Lamiya had conjured.

 

“I am not going to stop,” Lamiya shouted back at him, her hands effortlessly bringing the tornado further down and closer to a now-panicking Jessica who was trying to fly away on the air manipulated with her powers, but it seemed as if she didn’t have enough left, because it wasn’t working. “Not until she is dead and he is avenged.”

 

It was hard to breathe, let alone walk from the strength of the wind - the tornado was right above them now, threatening to pull all of them in - but Sehun somehow made it over to Lamiya, who thankfully wasn’t far away. “You are not a murderer,” he said quietly, his hands finding her own and trying to make her stop.

 

There was no reaction. “The woman I fell in love with would never kill someone who was weaker than her and harmless. She would find no joy in such a victory, because she would know it wasn’t a victory at all.”

 

Lamiya closed her eyes and sighed, and for a second, Sehun thought that he might’ve finally managed to get through to her.

 

But when she opened her eyes, they were still desperate, bloodshot and moving fast. Their color was blue, but it wasn’t the right shade, or perhaps it was just his delusional mind playing games on him.

 

“But I am not the woman you fell in love with - not completely, at least. You don’t understand, Sehun,” she said gently, addressing him without shouting for the first time. “I have to do this - for all of us. Not because I’ll find joy in killing her, but because destroying her will save the entire universe. Even me, who had to kill the only person I cared about.”

 

“Even at the expense of our lives?” Sehun questioned, his hand tightening in hers, deciding to ignore the strange words that he knew were sincere. Her staying alive was more important than everything, even the two of them staying together. He would not think about the outcome in which she died, no matter how worried the wound on her chest made him.

 

Lamiya nodded, and seeing how confident she was about the whole thing, the only logical thing Sehun could do was turning so that he was next to her, taking a deep breath and intertwining their hands.

 

“Forgive me for this,” she whispered, and then they were enveloped by wind, a whistling sound accompanying them along with a shout somewhere in the distance - Sehun thought it was Jessica - and coldness, together with darkness.

 

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Sehun whispered back, knowing they had just a couple of moments left and in the best case possible. “I’d thought your motives were selfish… I should’ve known this wasn’t about whoever Taemin is - not completely, at least.”

 

Lamiya’s hands were on his cheeks, moving slowly in a soothing motion. “Oh, but it is, Sehunnie. My present self loves you with her whole soul… But my past self belongs to him, and nothing can change that.”

 

I don’t understand, he wanted to say, But I trust you.

 

They closed their eyes as the wind enveloped them both, carrying them away God knew where, but at least they were together. Sehun wrapped his hands around her in an attempt to keep her safe from possible objects flying around in the tornado, but a moment later, something hit him at a great velocity into the forehead.

 

He slipped away into unconsciousness, feeling his hands loosening their grasp and hearing a distant voice say…

 

It’s okay, Sehunnie. It will all be over soon.

 

When Sehun woke up, the first thing he noticed was the silence. His ears were ringing, but the whistling was gone.

 

Whatever had happened, it seemed like it had taken place and ended long ago, because when Sehun opened his eyes, all he could see were the stars - the sky was littered with them, and he seeked out his galaxy, knowing he could not see it from this distant place but finding himself missing home profoundly anyway.

 

There was a steady throb in his head, and as he sat up and put a hand on his forehead in an attempt to sober up, the events that took place before he’d lost consciousness slowly came back to him - Tao, Jessica, Lamiya, Kris, Baekhyun, Lamiya…

 

Still disoriented and having no idea where he even was, Sehun got up immediately, feeling as if someone had just thrown a bucket of cold water at him. Where was Lamiya?

 

Thankfully, it was a cloudless night, and the moonlight was shining on the world like a lantern. It revealed that Sehun was standing in a grassy field full of flowers he could not identify because their petals were closed for the night.

 

The whole world was calm, even the wheat swaying in the wind. The wind was a friend once again, and Sehun couldn’t help but caress the wheat by sending a breeze through it. Meanwhile, his heart constricted, refusing to let him breathe properly. Where was Lamiya?

 

It was nighttime, but Sehun sensed something approaching him from the end of the wheat field. He couldn’t see properly - was it a small bird…

 

His good friend, the butterfly, flapped with its beautiful wings and flew over the wheat and towards him. It was playful and fast, and even though Sehun had no idea how it was even alive anymore, now he wondered how it could be a daylight and nighttime butterfly at the same time.

 

It was a strange place, this Earth. Here he had found love, lost and saved his older brother Baekhyun, was protected by Tao and almost lost him. Here he found their worst enemies and fought them together with the only other wind guardian he’d ever seen.

 

Here he'd found the butterfly which he’d tried to protect at the planet of wind… And now it was here again, his friend of happiness.

 

Now it was swirling around him, lost in some game whose rules Sehun did not know, but somehow knew how he’d play.

 

He raised into the air using his powers and began dancing together with the butterfly, flying up and then down towards the wheat, then raising his hands while trying to catch the butterfly and caress its small wings, always being unable to.

 

Was this what life was? Constantly chasing some beautiful dream that was flapping its wings in front of his eyes but always failing to catch it, always deceiving oneself that the dream would be reachable because it was so beautiful but not understanding that if he managed to catch the dream, it would never be free.

 

No, instead it would have its wings crushed and die. Pointlessly, for no reason.

 

No, he would not catch the dream. Beauty was not meant to be had; no, it was meant to be admired, not from far away but from a place close enough so that the butterfly would always be able to sense the warmth following its path.

 

But the butterfly had its own road, and Sehun could not follow. His heart belonged in another place, a place he had yet to find, a place where he would be able to stay forever.

 

He could only follow the butterfly with his eyes, laughing as it touched the place between his neck and shoulder but did not remain, as if knowing it was time for them to say goodbye.

 

“Perhaps we will cross paths again someday, my friend,” Sehun said through laughter and in his native language. “You stay safe until then.”

 

The whole world was glittering, from the moonlight or the stars or some ancient magic he did not understand, Sehun was not sure.

 

It was beautiful.

 

He smiled one last time, watching the butterfly swirl again in the air in a silent message of farewell he understood perfectly well.

 

Then it flapped its wings, the strong, brave warrior it was, and flew up and up, towards the stars and a happier, more peaceful world where it would praise life and love forever, right where it belonged.

 

Perhaps it would reach his home, its small wings strong enough to carry him to the place where there was nothing but the murmur of the waterfall, an eternal summer day and the laughter of his brothers.

 

And happiness.

 

The glittering air which the flaps of the butterfly’s wings had left led Sehun to the edge of the field, where the wheat was shiny and white from the moonlight and a sea of familiar curls stood, oblivious to his presence and to the cardiac arrest in his chest.

 

Beautiful, is that you? He wanted to ask.

 

She turned, her eyes the steady blue sea he could finally drown in without having to worry that it would ever run dry.

 

He was a soldier following her commands, his feet not touching the ground while he went over to where she was kneeling, her smile encouraging him and making a new feeling appear somewhere deep inside of him.

 

Beautiful, are you alright?

 

In her hands was a small makeshift tool, and it took Sehun a moment to understand what it was meant for.

 

Then his eyes settled on an inscription on the tree’s trunk, its words perfectly understandable to him, though he knew Lamiya had no knowledge of the Korean language.

 

Na Eun and Tae Min, the inscription read. May you both reach a place where you will be able to love each other without fear.

 

He could not contain himself - the world was shining, glittering, warm and peaceful and finally the same as the dream he’d had ever since the day that he was born.

 

Beautiful, I love you.

 

The butterfly would carry their love to that place, and he would let the dream go, but now, he would settle for kissing her, the person holding his heart, the person who’d become his home, the person who was alive and well and his and who loved him as much as he loved her.

 

As they found each other again, a small, nearly indiscernible word stood proud close to the ground on the tree’s trunk, there to stand witness to the end of a love story started millenniums ago.

 

There to stand witness to the beginning of a love story that would last for millenniums to come.

 

Forever.