It was a beautiful autumn day in Sarajevo.

 

She was in the middle of laughing to Kris’ joke about him being a famous painter in Korea. She liked him so much, she kept telling herself. Kris was funny, witty and so strong - she loved being carried around by him, even if he was only doing it for show.

 

Kris brought her flowers often - sometimes she’d find it in front of her house’s door, sometimes in her locker, and sometimes it was waiting for her at the desk where she usually sat in class. Mostly he’d buy her red roses - as cheesy and as direct as he always was.

 

He’d said he loved her a million times. Sometimes it was while a million miles away, taking a tray in the kitchen and winking at her as he passed by her. Sometimes it was while he was walking her to school and she was swinging their intertwined hands. And sometimes, it was while he was trailing kisses down , making her gasp.

 

Nowadays, the only thoughts that were in her head were about Kris. She kept replaying over and over again every single moment she spent with him, the words he told her and the love he’d showed her, focusing on the best parts. You love him, too, she kept telling herself. He is so nice and loves you and protects you and there is no reason for you not to love him.

 

But why did her mind keep coming back to that moment, even as he pulled her nape as he kissed her passionately? Why could she not focus on him or even close her eyes while he was loving her, instead venturing to other places?

 

It was just the setting, she kept reassuring herself. The place they were at reminded her too much of him.

 

Lamiya did not let herself think about him at all, except when she had to, and that was when her crazy mind decided to play games on her again and show her scenes of something that did not and would not happen.

 

She tried to focus on the kiss, to at least move or show some signs of life, because Kris would notice soon, and this would not be the first time. At times, he was very weird, because the fact that she kept zoning out while he was showing any signs of liking her didn’t seem to bother him at all - was that love?

 

It was just she setting, she repeated to herself. Why Kris loved to go to places that reminded her so much of him was beyond her understanding. He put a dandelion in her head not too long ago, and as he was kissing her, he traced it with one of his hands.

 

She kept telling herself she was not disgusted.

 

But why wasn’t it working? Why, no matter how hard she tried, she saw someone else in his eyes? Why did she keep imagining it was someone else laying her gently on the grass as he moved closer, telling her she was beautiful?

 

Why did she keep hearing someone else call her that in her mind?

 

She moved away from Kris, not able to hold on anymore. It felt wrong, so wrong, and she did not know why.

 

Kris nodded, putting a hand on his forehead. They’ve been together for almost half a year, so she knew what anger and impatience looked on his face - he was very close to yelling at her, asking her why he had to stop, why they always had to stop so soon.

 

But what could she tell him? That she was in love with a dream she could not shake away because she kept dreaming it every night? Because she wished the man who was holding her as close as he was right now, his hand playing with the hem of her shirt, was one of his best friends?

 

She was messed up, and she had to cure herself before things got out of hand. She had to fall in love with Kris, because he was perfect and everything she wanted in life.

 

He’d mentioned a wedding and taking her to China. He’d also mentioned that if he ever found out she liked someone else, he’d personally slit both of their throats.

 

She tried her hardest, but not because of what Aya and Suho and everyone else kept saying. They had a theory that if - and when, they were so sure - he got tired of her, he’d throw her away and hurt her badly, possibly even physically.

 

Seriously? Kris? He did have a dark side, but the guy was playing with a puppy in front of her eyes, looking like an oversized child. He could be mean when he wanted to, but in his heart, he was a very nice person.

 

It was because of his past, he’d told her once. Sometimes he had the urge to fight and break things - including people - because back at home, which was how he always called China or Canada, she was not sure - his parents made him fight with people all the time. He was forced to hurt others for such a long time that he got used to the feeling, even needing to feel it from time to time.

 

She could understand that - at least he was honest about it and he understood it was wrong! Someday he’d get a hold on himself and completely stop doing such things. He was already doing better - he did not target people often anymore. Bullying happened rarely, except to her friend, but that was entirely Baekhyun and Sehun’s idea, Kris reassured her. He could not make them stop no matter how hard he tried.

 

He focused his anger on her instead, and she didn’t mind. That’s what people did when they loved someone - they understood, supported them and prevented them from doing stupid things that ended up hurting someone else.

 

Sometimes she could not understand why he’d trace the marks with his fingers or mouth, though. It was as he was worshipping the different colors of her skin and the bite marks his teeth left on it.

 

Today, it was her blue-and-yellow collarbone he was focused on. Just the other day, he’d hit her while he was pinning her to the wall too aggressively. Her crying out in pain only urged him on more. Her back still hurt, and she would not get out the feeling of his fingers pressing into it as he scratched it thoroughly from her mind for a long time to come.

 

It was okay, though. When Kris wasn’t in that mood, they had a pretty good relationship - he’d comb her hair and take her out, especially on windy days. He seemed to love seeing her hair ruffled by the wind, so he’d come up to her, hug her from behind, and smell her hair. It was weird, but it was fine.

 

As Kris hugged her, inhaling her scent and making her skin crawl, she closed her eyes and couldn’t help but remember dreaming of a similar moment.

 

“I can sense your power,” he’d said as he lifted her hair and searched for something she didn’t even know she had with his fingers. He then proceeded to start tickling her neck as his nose touched it while he sniffed.

 

“It seems to be…” then he nudged the place beneath her right ear, “Right here. Can’t you sense it? It seems to be restless. Mine is at my right temple.”

 

“I had no idea I even had it until you showed me the way.” She traced his right temple and closed her eyes, imagining the power pulsating beneath her fingers. She could not feel it, no matter how hard she tried, and she was desperate to keep confirming she indeed was one of them. If they did not let her come along, she didn’t know what she’d do.

 

“Sehunnie,” she started slowly, as he was still exploring the place where he said her power was located - not so innocently anymore.

 

“Hmm?” he hummed, seemingly not listening to what she was saying, though she knew he was. He would never disrespect her in such a way, though she did not understand why she was so important to him. Yes, she could control the wind, just like he did, but his love for her ran deeper than that, and he would never tell her why, even when she asked explicitly.

 

He would just nod at her and tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear as he smiled. And that smile he blessed her with would always be enough.

 

But now she was going to ask him an even more difficult - and more important - question. She did not have the heart to ask him ever before, because he seemed so intent on home, on introducing her to The Tree of Life and everything he loved, and she did not want to break his heart.

 

But she loved her world, too, and someone would have to protect its Tree, too. He’d said it himself a while before - that she was drawn to this place because its energy was calling her, and that even though she had not known, she was sort of a guardian of sorts, too. As long as it kept receiving positive energy, The Tree would not wither, and she was overflowing with the essence for its survival.

 

“Sehunnie, what happens if you don’t go back when the eclipse happens?” Her voice was shaking, and he immediately realized where she was going with the question. He pulled back, his eyes filled with confusion. Thankfully, she could not find hurt. Not yet.

 

“Well, of course, I’ll die,” he said matter-of-factly. “The eclipse allows us to get back to where we’re close enough to The Tree of Life’s essence, so that it can re-supply us with energy. This place is so far that we have to go back a couple of hundreds of light years every ten years or so. That’s why we were sent down here - since Suho and Kris could not agree on whether this place was really safe or not, they decided to send scouts to check whether their energy could felt anywhere on this planet.

 

It led me to this place… it led me to you. Your energy sang out to me - I thought it was them, but when I saw you dancing in the grass, controlling the wind… I immediately knew it was something else.”

 

The wonder and love in his eyes almost made her start crying right then and there.

 

“You’re my miracle. I thought I would find death at this place, that me not being able to return would warn the others of SM’s existence at this place, but instead, I found you. My nabi, my butterfly. I thought-” His eyebrows pulled together as he seemed to rethink his next sentence. “I thought you wanted to go with me.”

 

“I do,” she reassured him, not wanting to make him feel hurt unnecessarily. “I just love this place, and you know how much. I thought that maybe, if we didn’t have to leave it, maybe we could stay to guard this place…”

 

She trailed off as he shook his head. “I’m sorry, beautiful, but it really isn’t possible. If I don’t leave after the eclipse happens, I won’t be able to regain the energy I’d already used up - which is almost too much, since we were planning to leave a month ago already. I’d have energy for another two years or so, but as time passed, I’d slowly lose my powers and eventually die.”

 

“Can’t you come back after getting your energy back?” she asked desperately, knowing she was pushing her luck, but having to try. She had to know whether she had to leave everything. She would, without a blink, but only if she had to.

 

He smiled at her sadly, as if he’d already thought of that possibility. “Oh, beautiful,” he breathed as he kissed her forehead, “But by the time I came back, thousands of years would’ve gone by. I would’ve lost you for nothing.”

 

Now Lamiya was the one to pull back. “Wait, how do you know any of this? The dying and thousands of year passing? Has anyone tried that before?”

 

He looked down and started tracing soothing patterns on her hand. “Kris… He once fell in love, too, with an inhabitant of a planet he was scouting. We’d asked for him to do what the Tree of Life said, which was never stay longer than fifteen years at a planet too far away from its essence, but he just wouldn’t listen.

 

He gave up after sixteen years, when we were all already nearly dead. After twelve years, we started to lose our powers… after fourteen, it was hard to walk. For a whole year, Junmyeon and Soo kept us all alive, since they felt less affected than the rest.

 

It was lucky that there was another eclipse soon after he came back, because we would’ve died for sure, all of us, had we stayed for a couple of more days. Even Soo was having difficulty with standing up when we left.

 

Kris, of course, demanded that we returned as soon as we refilled. We did as he said, even though Luhan had explained a million times that time was relative, and that the speed of light messed everything up.”

 

Now Sehun was the one who needed a pair of soothing hands. She pulled him down into the grass with her, immediately moving to start kissing his cheeks. She intertwined their hands as she said, “It’s okay. You don’t need to continue. I understand what happened next.”

 

Sehun sighed and shook his head. “No, you don’t, beautiful,” he whispered as he squeezed her hand. “I was there, along with Tao and Suho. The amount of pain he went through… when he saw a world devastated by some pointless war, its ruins thousands of years old… I don’t think he’ll ever go back to being the cheerful guy he once was. Most of us just do what he says out of respect for his pain and the person he once was, but the person he’s become now… He is empty. All he allows himself to feel now is pain, and he enjoys it the most when others feel the same.

 

It’s all just, really messed up. He often takes it out on Tao, who fights with him and lets him win, just to be able to make him let it out without feeling guilty. He once beat up Chen really bad… so Tao takes care of it now. I just hope he finds happiness again someday. I don’t blame him, because if I lost you…”

 

He shook his head, seemingly wordless.

 

“It’s okay,” she said as she kissed his cheeks again. “I’m here. I won’t leave you.”

 

“Never?” he whispered as he kissed her cheeks, too, his hands in her hair.

 

“Never.”

 

And so the promise was sealed as their lips met. They would not part, no matter what they had to sacrifice to keep their promise.

 

Lamiya slowly became aware of her surroundings once again. She was in a position similar to the one from her dream, she just wasn’t kissing Sehun. Instead, a very annoyed Kris was staring back at her, one hand supporting his head while his whole body was turned towards hers.

 

“Welcome back, princess,” he said as he grinned at her. “I wish I knew where you go when you do that thing of yours. Were you daydreaming about me?”

 

She pinched his nose, making him laugh. “Of course, silly. Who could I be daydreaming about, if not about my super-handsome, perfect boyfriend I was blessed with?”

 

He took her by the hands and moved her closer to him surprisingly gently. Then he pulled her by the hair, making her cry out in pain, but that was not his goal today. Today, it was just a necessity for making her bare her neck to him.

 

His mouth was at the same spot dream-Sehun had mentioned before - the position where her made-up power resided.

 

Sometimes, she did wonder whether any of the things she’d been dreaming about made sense. The lost love seemed like a pretty good reason why Kris was this dualistic person, though the real him told her an entirely different story.

 

The real Sehun, though… he was nothing like the man from her dreams. He was someone who turned from flowers and swatted butterflies away. There was no love for her in his eyes - instead, every time he was looking at her, it was hatred and contempt, as if he did not like her being with one of his best friends.

 

The ironical thing was, he was kind of the reason why she was doing this in the first place - after the drama that happened on that day when he’d obviously thought she was someone else and acted like a lunatic, she’d begun to dream of him and this was her way of making those dreams disappear and making her realize that the real Sehun was not someone she should’ve been in love with.

 

But she was, and it was hard to come to terms with everything. It was as if she was leading a double life - during the day, she was the girlfriend of the most popular and powerful boy at school, and during the night, she was the wind-yielding lover of an alien.

 

She was messed up, and she needed to come to her senses before she did something stupid - like losing Kris.

 

“Would you give it to me?” Kris asked as he nuzzled his nose against the same spot. “Hmm, babe?”

 

“What, darling?” She did not know what he wanted from her - what more could he need?

 

“Everything,” he whispered and then proceeded to pin her beneath him as he kissed the spot again. “I need your power, Lamiya, and I want you to give it to me.”

 

“W- what power?” she said as the situation grew increasingly uncomfortable for her. Her pinned wrists were starting to ache, and it seemed as if Kris was not playful anymore - now he was aggressive again, and that never ended well for her.

 

“You know very well what power, babe. Now stop playing and let me have it!” He pushed his whole weight onto her, and it was becoming increasingly hard to breathe. Now he was biting her neck, marking that spot as if there was really some power there.

 

“S- stop it,” Lamiya barely managed to breathe out as she struggled against his steel-strong hold. “Kris, you’re suffocating me-”

 

“Give it to me!” he roared, and she stopped struggling as she tried her best to gasp for another gulp of air. The extra space managed to get her only one, because he pressed on her harder and now moved his hand to , squeezing a little bit.

 

It was enough to make her gurgle. She tried to shake her head, tried to make him see she had no idea what he was talking about, but his eyes as dark as the longest night did not believe her. Instead, he screamed, “Stop acting already, you lying !”

 

Thankfully, he shifted his weight on one of his hands, because Lamiya was already seeing stars and saying goodbye to life. He then proceeded to one of her cheeks as his other hand stayed firmly on , which almost made her puke. “You think I don’t know about your sweet little lover? You think I don’t know how you imagine it is him touching you, kissing you, owning you, while I kiss you?”

 

She barely managed to shake her head, now completely sure Kris was insane. “No, Kris, what are you talking ab-”

 

“You think I don’t hear you gasp his name when I slide my hand up your leg, Lamiya? You think I don’t know the look in your eyes, while you are wishing - while you are imagining it’s-”

 

And then her fear turned into utter and complete terror.

 

“Oh.” He dug her nails into her upper left arm.

 

“Se.” He bit her ear.

 

“Hun.” He took several locks of her hair in his hand and pushed.

 

His eyes as she screamed in pain were ecstatic.

 

How did he know? How could Kris now, when she had never told anyone about the dreams, only Aya - and Aya would never uncover her secret?

 

How did he know, when it was all just a dream?

 

“But no matter how much you want him,” Kris whispered in her ear as he started to squeeze the hand that was on , “He will always hate you. So give me your power, now!”

 

She was going to die. He was going to kill her for sure. Too much was going on, she couldn’t focus on anything but he’ll always hate you and she did not want to leave the world with those words in her mind.

 

She was sure she lost consciousness for a couple of seconds when a slape made her refocus again. Kris was looming above her, his teeth bared - he was a wolf who would tear to pieces if she didn’t give him what he wanted from her. No, he’d kill her regardless, but if she failed to satisfy him, he’d torture her slowly and for a long time before he ended her. His eyes promised her that, and so much more.

 

This was what everyone was warning her about, she now knew. This was what Suho meant when he said she couldn’t handle Kris. She still did not understand why he said things would be even worse because of Sehun, because he liked her, because she shouldn’t throw herself into the fire just because she didn’t understand it.

 

All of these Asians were completely crazy, and somehow, she’d found herself at the center of it, with the craziest of them all.

 

It didn’t matter why he was the way he was - whether it was because he was forced to be a bully or because he’d lost his love; Lamiya knew that she was the source of his anger now and that he would gladly let her be the channel of it, too.

 

She closed her eyes as she expected him to start suffocating her again, thinking of the field and the Earth’s Tree of Life and butterflies and eyes the color of sand-

 

“Tao,” a voice she did not even recognize anymore growled. “Tao, bring me the phone.”

 

She did not know how much time had passed before Kris was holding the phone in front of her face, nearly blinding her unfocused eyes. She kept slipping from consciousness, provoking him to be even more violent towards her - her whole scalp was numb from how hard he kept pulling her hair whenever her head lolled.

 

“Now, babe,” the voice she’d come to hate in these past few minutes - or years, as it seemed to her - said sweetly, kissing her cheek lightly. “You will rustle the leaves over there, or I will kill you.”

 

She knew he would kill her, but- rustling the leaves? Was he crazy?

 

“H- how…” she tried, still constricted by the hand that was still holding it in a tight grip. “How could I ev- ever… do t- that?”

 

She tried to cough and half-succeeded as Kris’ face transformed into a new mask - now he was sneering at her, as if she was trying to trick him and failing. Was he dreaming the same dream she was? Because if he was, it was just a dream-

 

Then he slammed her head into the ground, and she was pulled into a new dream.

 

“Beautiful,” Sehunnie said as she lost consciousness, “Are you okay?”

 

“Beautiful?” She could not hear him, could not see, could not breathe. She was slipping away- but she promised she’d stay with him always, she couldn’t-

 

“Lamiya! Lamiya, listen to my voice! Take this- please, take this…”

 

“Is she dead? You might’ve been too rough, she’s a girl after all-”

 

“Shut up! She’s not dead; I can still feel the power in her. I’m not an idiot.”

 

“Wake up, princess,” the beat spat. Lamiya could not open her eyes - she did not know how she was still alive.

 

“Rustle the leaves or I kill you,” he said again as she tried to focus on him. How did he expect her to do it if he didn’t give her a chance to even take a breath?

 

She raised a shaky hand, barely seeing what was in front of her. She recognized the silhouette next to Kris as his best friend and underdog, Tao, but not because she could see him clearly, but because Kris had called out for him earlier.

 

He wanted her to rustle the leaves?

 

Hell, she wouldn’t do that - she would do so much more.

 

Lamiya let go of sanity, let go of everything but the feeling the dream was giving to her.

 

“There, there,” his angelic voice sang. “Take it, beautiful. You’ll be okay in a minute, you’ll see.”

 

She could feel his power flow out of his fingertips and into hers; into her whole being, filling it with life, with the urge to do good, to prevent SM from taking Baekhyun-

 

She let go.

 

Lamiya let out a scream as she released the power of the wind out of her palms, blowing both Kris and Tao away.

 

The dam broke.

 

“Beautiful.”

 

She remembered meeting him at the field - at their field. She remembered him smiling at her as the butterfly landed on his arm.

 

“Wake up, beautiful.”

 

She remembered loving him and being loved by him - his stories about his planet, about the villains they were chasing, about the energy they had to refill after a decade of being close to Earth.

 

“Come on, beautiful. I know you can do it.”

 

She remembered learning how to control wind - their hands moving in same gestures as he taught her how to let it all go and imagine they were in a desert, dancing along with the wind, protecting the butterfly.

 

“You are not going to die on me! Damn it, I am not going to allow it!”

 

She remembered him taking her to their leader, Junmyeon. He was going to let her come back with them, or at least stay with them until they found SM and destroyed them.

 

“Please, beautiful…”

 

She remembered Baekhyun’s screams as he was taken away. She remembered trying to save him and getting her power drained by enemies far too powerful for her only-recently-acquired powers.

 

“Please… Don’t leave me…”

 

Lamiya gasped, falling to her knees. She did not manage to incapacitate Kris and Tao - or either of them. She looked at her hands. They were shaking. Did she just…

 

“Yes!” Kris roared in success. “I knew you could do it, babe! You can feel the flow now, right? Quickly, give it to me!”

 

She raised her hand again, trying to defend herself by throwing another ball of wind at him - or at least she hoped she could make one-

 

In an instant, Tao appeared beside her, quickly putting her hands behind her back and restraining her. He was not gentle, but this was better than being tortured by Kris. She did not know how she could even breathe, let alone be a part of this madness. She must’ve been dreaming again, finally dreaming about something other than him…

 

“You said you’d stay with me, beautiful.”

 

“Now, babe, that you’d decided to drop the act and show us what you’ve got,” Kris said as he kneeled in front of her and traced the shape of her lips with his hand. She turned her head to the side and he dropped his hand, laughing. “I really hate having to throw you away, but you’ve gotten a bit boring, my dear. I just couldn’t pretend anymore - watching you has become really impossible.”

 

She turned back to him, her eyes wide. So it was all an act? But wasn’t he madly in love with her…

 

Kris was suddenly too close to her again, his hand on again. “This is the last time I’ll ask it nicely. Give it to me, and I’ll let you go. You can walk away from here as if nothing happened.” She knew he would not do what he promised with a sweet voice - his eyes yearned to crush her with his fingers.

 

She kneeled in front of him, her mind empty and her head held high. She would die with pride - it was sad that she could not find out what was going on, that she could not finish the dream and perhaps get some answers, but it was how it was and she’d endure her destiny bravely.

 

She closed her eyes and said her goodbyes.

 

“Beautiful, you promised. You promised!”

 

“Okay then. I really hate to have to show you this, but you’ve made me do it. Remember that well - none of this would’ve happened if you just stayed freaking unresponsive and just let me take it, you stupid witch!”

 

She did not care what he did. She was ready for everything - if he stabbed her, or shot her, or suffocated her, it was all the same to her anywhere-

 

“Damn it, breathe! Please… Why isn’t it working?”

 

Then she heard a scream, a scream that sounded awfully familiar somehow.

 

“No!” his voice screamed in desperation and what sounded like true fear. “No, please, no!”

 

She opened her eyes, not understanding what was going on. Kris removed the phone from her ear and returned it to his pocket.

 

“Chanyeol has received my order,” Kris said as he grinned. “Right now, he is doing nothing much - just criss-crossing his chest with a knife. But I am thinking of sending him a quick message, perhaps suggesting that he cuts his fingers… or tongue? What do you think of it, Tao?”

 

“I’d just cut out his liver,” Tao said in a perfectly calm voice, as if he was talking about the weather.

 

“You hear that, babe? If you don’t give it to me right now, I’ll tell Chanyeol to cut out Sehun’s liver. How would you like that? Would you like me to send you a photo of it after it’s done? Oh, you’ll love it-”

 

“But it’s supposed to work…. Please, beautiful, please…”

 

“Stop it, you monster!” Lamiya screamed as she fought against her restraints. It did not phase Kris at all - if anything, he seemed to be enjoying her pain. “Don’t touch him! I’ll give it to you, whatever it is you want - just don’t hurt him! He’s got nothing to do with any of this!”

 

Tao let go of her hands, and suddenly, Kris was all around her - he was cradling her body against his. She was in the embrace of a serpent, one that would suffocate her and throw her dead, empty body away when it had no more use of her.

 

But she could not let him hurt Sehun. No matter what she was dreaming about, the guy had no connection to her, and there was no reason for him to suffer because of her… even though she did not know what she’d done to deserve any of this.

 

“Let me have it,” Kris said in a maniacal voice as he kissed the spot where her power was dwelling.

 

And she let him.

 

“I’m nothing without you, beautiful…

 

I’m nothing.”