Regardless of the fact that Lay can heal, Suho insisted they all be brought to a hospital and inspected. The only ones really hurt was Sehun and the leader. If Sehun had to guess, Lay was exhausted from his fight with Heechul; using too much of his magic to kill him. When asked, the healer simply states that it was exhausting but he doesn’t regret it. Because of that fight, he hadn’t been able to heal the two completely; thus, both of them needing stitches. Sehun could see the guilt in his eyes but he constantly assures the healer that it’s fine.

As Sehun sits in his hospital bed, he sits with his back against the wall. He sighs and looks out the window. Even though they don’t have to worry about Siwon, he can’t help but worry. When the door opens, he tiredly looks over and frowns. “Suho, you need to be in bed too,” He says, watching as Kai and the leader approach him.

“My wounds weren’t as bad as your own, Sehun,” Suho smiles sadly as he takes a seat. “Sehun, I...I never thanked you. Even when you knew Siwon could potentially kill you, you…” He clears his throat and looks down. When he sees tears fall, Sehun slowly leans over and holds his hand.

“Suho, I’m…” Sehun tries to swallow the lump in his throat. “I'm sorry a-about Siwon…”

Suho laughs sadly and looks up. “I-it had to be done,” he says with false confidence. But his weak, hoarse voice betrays him. “Deep inside, I knew. But some small part of me wanted everything to end peacefully,” He admits. “So much death, blood, sadness.”

“But it’s over now.”

“Yes...I know.”

“But?”

Suho smile is tight. “It feels…” he pauses and seems to think.

“Bittersweet?” Sehun offers.

“Yes...that.”

“But it IS over now,” Kai points out. “We can...start being normal.” The wolf slowly crosses his arms. “I have no idea what that even...means.”

Suho hums as he leans back and crosses his legs. “Perhaps college?”

Sehun gasps and his eyes light up. “College!”

Kai laughs as he sits beside him on the hospital bed and holds him. “What? You want to go?”

“Yeah,” Sehun nods enthusiastically. “You could go too.”

The wolf frowns. “What good would my magic be in college?”

“Nothing, that’s the point. We could...all live normal lives, Jongin,” Suho puts in. Standing, he rubs his face, obvious fatigue written all over him. “I should...see how the others are doing.”

“No,” Sehun frowns. “Go sleep, Junmyeon. Please?” He gives the leader a pointed look. “We all need you well rested, okay?”

Suho stares at him for a moment before sighing. He nods slowly. “Okay, okay. You’re...you’re right.”

Smiling sadly, Sehun reaches over to grab his hand. “Junmyeon, I-if you ever wanna...talk about what happened…”

“Thank you…” Suho smiles falters but he’s able to hold it. He leans over and kisses him on the forehead before turning away and leaving.

The air-user sighs sadly. “I wish I could do something for him.”

“We just do what we always do,” Kai says. “We just...be there for him.”

Sehun groans. “I know I just…” He sighs and looks at his boyfriend. “I should have killed him, Jongin. I should have been the one to do it- not Junmyeon.”

Kai smiles tightly. “Yeah but...I think Suho always knew he needed to do it- deep down.”

“But to kill your own brother-”

“Sehun,” Kai interrupts. He stands up, taking a seat. He grabs Sehun’s hand tightly and looks him in the eyes. “What happened with Siwon...I will never...EVER let happen to you again,” He promises.

“Jongin, I don’t...I don’t blame you for what happened, okay?” Sehun smiles. “You trusted me and went to check on our leader- that’s alright.”

“But if I-”

“If you hadn’t checked on Junmyeon, then he would never have woken up and…” Sehun sighs. “Saved me. He…” He takes a deep breath. “I...”

Kai furrows his brows, staring into his eyes and seemingly searching for something. “You knew you couldn’t take Siwon,” He realizes. “You were just stalling until Junmyeon recovered long enough to take his brother by surprise!”

Sehun opens his mouth to argue but he stops. He sighs and looks away, out the window. “I wasn’t...expecting him to almost kill me.”

“Sehun!”

“Even after I went unconscious, it would have taken me at least a minute for my heart to-”

“Enough!” Kai cuts in, his voicing raising. Sehun jumps a bit and looks up at his boyfriend in surprise. “Stop, I don’t...want to hear about you dying or even the idea of it!” He rubs his face. “I just keep picturing Siwon...on you, killing you and I hate myself for letting Suho kill that bastard! I should’ve ripped him apart myself!”

Sehun leans over, taking Kai’s hand again. “Jongin, stop,” He laughs. “You’re getting all...worked up again.” He smiles up at him. “Look, I’m really tired, Jongin.”

“Sorry, I’ll go-”

“No,” Sehun interrupts as he scoots over. “Sleep...with me?”

“Sure, but we should wait till you feel better,” Kai jokes as he gets back on the bed with him, cuddling close. He grunts when Sehun gently elbows him in the stomach. “I was kidding!”

“Keep kidding like that and you’ll get air-shot outta that window.”

“God, you’re a bit sensitive when you’re wounded.”

Sehun rolls his eyes as he turns his back to Jongin, letting the man wrap an arm around his waist and pull him close. He sighs softly as he stares out the window beside the bed. He his lip before speaking. “Do...you think Junmyeon will...ever get over it?”

Jongin swallows hard. “I don’t know,” he admits. “We can only hope.”

Sehun stares at the fire, watching as the smoke flows into the sunset air. He glances over at Suho. The man hasn’t smiled they returned, seeming too tired from his lack of sleep. Their leader fiddles something in his hands as his eyes finally settle on the embers. He takes a step closer. “This is our final goodbye,” He whispers and takes a deep breath. “For those we’ve lost,” Suho begins as he puts Siwon’s necklace in the flame. His hand trembles as he does so but his voice is full of forced confidence.

“For our friends we lost,” Kyungsoo speaks up.

“And for those who saved us,” Sehun puts in. He holds hands with his mentor as they approach the fire together. They place Ryeowook’s rock and the sewer key in as well. When Kyungsoo falters a bit, his pupil tightens his grip.

“From now on, Let’s all hang up our weapons. No more violence,” Their leaders finishes. When motioned, everyone steps forward and tosses their different weapons in. From Baekhyun’s daggers to Kyungsoo's bo staff. They all take a step back together and watch in silence.

“It’s gonna take a while to burn all our weapons,” Chen finally speaks up after minutes of silence.

Suho lets out a sigh. “Then so be it. We’ll take as long as we need.”

“What...what do we do now?” Baekhyun asks, glancing around at everyone. “If we don’t have missions or training…”

“One step at a time, I think,” Kai replies instead. He crosses his arms and looks at Suho. “Let’s just...give ourselves time to mourn.” Sehun gives Kai’s arm a tight squeeze before heading over to the leader. He silently wraps an arm around the man’s shoulders and leans a head on it.

“I couldn’t do it,” Suho whispers. His breathing is shaky and he seems close to tears. “I was so mad...so angry, after the failed treaty. But after he died…” He trails off and closes his eyes tightly.

“You’re not angry anymore,” Lay speaks up. He steps up beside them now as well. “After Heechul died, when I killed him,” He begins. “All my...anger and hatred remind. Revenges helps nothing, death fixes nothing.”

“Death fixes some things,” Chen points out. “Like...I don’t know, how we’re no longer in danger? Or how we don’t have to fight for our lives?”

Chen jumps a little when Xiumin slaps his arm. “We’ve talked about this, Jongdae! You HAVE to work on your sensitivity!”

“Sorry…”

“It’s alright, Minseok,” Suho laughs weakly. “Yes...it’s true,” He sighs. He turns to face everyone and back up a bit. “No, you’re all right. We need to have time to mourn and now that there’s no...danger, we can do that,” He pauses. “Let’s worry about that. After that, we can celebrate. Because for the first time, in forever, we can do all of that...in peace. No more missions, training, no fighting for your lives.”

“No more losing friends,” Baekhyun puts in quietly, holding onto Chanyeol’s arm tightly.

“I...don’t like fighting anyways,” Chanyeol admits.

“Me neither,” Xiumin agrees.

“I’ll miss it a bit,” Jongdae sighs. “It gave me a bit of a rush, you know?”

They all go silent as they look amongst each other and then to the fire. Sehun feels relieved when he thinks about not fighting. But then he thinks how long the other boys have been fighting, training; Suho the longest. He was practically brought up with all of this violence. With his parent’s death and then preparation against his own brother. Or how young Kai was when he got mixed up in all of this. If anything, Sehun’s experiences were nothing compared to everyone else’s. Everyone here killed out of anger. Everyone but Sehun. “Come on, everyone,” Suho speaks up. “Let’s go out and get something to eat.”

Sehun stops and watches as everyone chatters among each other and head back into the house. He sighs and hugs himself, turning to look back at the fire. He smiles weakly when Kai steps up beside and wraps an arm around him. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Sehun pauses. “I don’t know- everything ended so...quickly.”

“Well,” Kai sighs as he gets in front of Sehun, grabbing his boyfriend’s shoulders. “I know it feels weird, trust me. For the last past years, all we’ve known is fighting. It’ll take most of us a bit of work but you’re untouched.”

“That’s...a weird way to say it.”

Kai gives him a pointed look. “You know what I mean; you’re the only one who hasn’t killed anyone.”

“And I plan on keeping it that way,” He laughs and shakes his head. “I don’t know what the future-”

“Hey, you heard Junmyeon,” Kai cuts in. “No thinking about it; all we have to do is mourn and celebrate.”

Sehun shakes his head as he wraps an arm around his waist, letting the man pull him towards the door. “Mourn, celebrate, don’t think about the future. I’m getting mixed messages here.”

“One step at a time, love. One step at a time…”

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I really loved writing this fic! Thanks for reading it <3

Oh, and I have some special bonus chapters upcoming <3