A/N: AND SO, IT'S A COMEBACK :-) I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH COLLEGE. Bow.

The twelve angels swiftly landed on the ground. They stood at least twenty feet away from Seohyun. They kept the distance for the reason that she might need more time to take in everything that she was seeing. But the way her eyes sparkled and just stared at them, Kris knew that instant that she was not surprised in a manner that all of them had expected. She was more like admiring them instead of condemning them.

Kris walked a few steps forward and slowly put down Lay as he carried his body in his arms. His muscles flexed upon the weight but he all he really wanted was to keep his brother in his arms a little longer.

Kris walked back to his brothers’ side. He did not even look at Seohyun. One by one, the angels folded their wings and in a matter of seconds, Seohyun longed to see those feathery wings again. She could see Kris was talking to Suho and as much as she wanted to listen to their conversation, she took more notice of the other angels. She started studying them, trying to guess how they perform their supernatural powers. She could just stand there and forget for a while, the real reason why they were all gathered in that place.

“Okay, I might have told her about us.” Suho admitted. Kris was clearly pissed as he just shook his head. “But she beat me to it, alright? She figured it all out by herself and she wouldn’t just shut up since last night.”

“Yeah, because she’s smart like that? Like I’m going to actually believe that.” Kris hissed.

“Yes, she is. And admit it or not, you know she is way smarter than anyone out there.” Suho pointed a finger to Kris. It was inappropriate but Suho was just trying to indicate something here. Kris only looked away from his eyes with his hands on gripping his hips as he stand there. “I’m telling you, she’s smarter than I am.”

“Whatever.” Kris wanted to walk away but Suho held him back.

“Hyung,”

“What?”

“I want to thank you for the opportunity to get to know her and make amends. Because right now, I can say I finally understand and see why you like her.” Suho nodded in approval. “She’s great, hyung.”

Kris heart almost skipped a beat and he swallowed a lump in his throat. “But maybe not great enough. She doesn’t have a heart, I bet you missed that last night.”

Seohyun’s smile slowly faded into a frown. She did not mean to overhear the last part of the conversation between Suho and Kris.

She stood there, frozen with her hands balled into fists. She could not understand why Kris’ words affected her so much. She quickly diverted her attention to the empty ground but she thought it seemed weird so she just turned around to hide her expression.

Kris’ words repeated over and over inside her head.

“That was too mean, hyung.” Luhan stepped up to defend Suho, “Did you see her face when we came?”

“She did not look like a vampire who’d harm us.” Xiumin said and Luhan nodded.

“Just—just drop it, guys. Really. We’re not here to argue about whether she’s safe to have around or not. We’re not discussing this now.” Kris walked further way from the other angels who busied themselves playing little tricks with their powers.

“Now, now. It’s time to cut your games, our friends.” A thin voice came through the air just as five ladies wearing black coats that reached their ankles started walking from different directions of the forest.

Kara arrived.

Seohyun fixed her face and made sure to look okay because this ritual has to work. She just focused her eyes on Lay on the ground and just like that, guilt, sadness and anxiety fill her up.

Her eyes glowed again and she just wanted to rip her own body into pieces out of guilt and regret but Nicole was fast enough to hold her in place.

“Everything’s going to be okay, honey.” Nicole rubbed her arms. “You just have to focus, okay? Trust us, the five of us have been your friends for a long, long time.” Nicole pulled her into an embrace which she gladly returned. She closed her eyes and just like that, her eyes returned to their normal state.

“We have to start before the sun fully rises.” Jiyoung said, checking the east skyline and the sun was starting to slowly draw out.

Nicole nodded and so did Gyuri.  Nicole started talking to EXO who nodded simultaneously in every instruction Nicole gave. Hara stood by Seohyun’s side. She was unfocused, clearly. Needless to say, she was oblivious to the fact that she had grown into a full, strongest vampire and that her temper and emotions should be controlled more carefully.

After a few seconds, the EXO members formed a big circle around Lay’s body. Seohyun was still standing a few feet away from Lay. Kara, then, made a smaller circle that surrounded Lay’s body.

Seohyun looked at Hara beside her, “No, this time I’m watching over you.” Seohyun was about to ask more questions when Hara spoke up once again, “Come on, they need you there.” Hara took her by her arm and led her towards the other four girls.

Gyuri took her hand. “We need your blood because this angel healed a vampire.” She pierced through her wrist and blood run through her arms. Gyuri took droplets of her blood to a container which contained more liquid—things Seohyun will never understand.

“We need you to step back.” Nicole whispered to Hara who nodded and took Seohyun again by her arm and dragged her a little farther from Kara but still inside the circle that EXO stood in.

Seohyun was lost for a moment when all the angels’ wings unfurled, all at the same time. It was beautiful, a marvelous sight indeed. They did not fly but they floated at various levels and stayed there. Their eyes were closed and Seohyun was guessing they’re already under the spell. Their arms were wide open, as if asking for help.

Clearly, the ritual was giving them pain.

Seohyun stirred on her spot but Hara held her arm tightly to keep her in place.

All Seohyun knows was that she could see Kris’ eyebrows furrowed and she just wanted to bring him down and wake him up, and so as the other angels.

“They’re fine. The ritual has started. You shouldn’t disturb the witches.” Hara whispered and Seohyun pursed her lips, tempted to run and ruin the ritual because she couldn’t take seeing the angels suffer.  But then again, everything that’s happening was all because of her.

It wasn’t long enough when the strangest yet most magical thing happened. Blood from all the eleven angels, which came from their chest as if they had holes in them, started flowing through the air towards Lay. The four witches were holding each others’ hands, face slightly tilted upwards and muttering words Seohyun couldn’t understand.

It didn’t take that long before Seohyun’s nose flared and her eyes quickly turned into gold. Her hands formed fists again. She could smell blood and everyone knew she couldn’t handle it that well. And right now, there floated eleven blood streams in front of her.

That’s when Hara stepped up. She put her hands on Seohyun’s temples and casted spells on her to control her. Hara’s eyes also changed into their respective color. Seohyun was fighting the spell. She was strong. In fact, she was stronger than ever. Veins appeared on both ladies’ foreheads and their eyebrows creased. They were both fighting their own battles.

Nonetheless, Hara was holding up and needless to say that witches were really proven to be powerful creatures. Seohyun was just fighting with her might but she was still glued to the ground. And so the ritual continued without any commotion.

The winds blew harder and harder by the second and dried leaves rustled.

Just when Seohyun thought this was the most painful battle she had by just standing on the same spot, the worse came.

Every part of body felt excruciating pain that made her clutch her chest. She also ran her hands through her hair, tangling them in the process. She fell to her knees and she screamed in pain with gritted teeth. Tears brimmed in her eyes that were still shining in brighter gold. Hara lost focus for a second. She was alarmed by the pain Seohyun didn’t see coming, the pain that Kara missed to tell her because they believed it would be better to make Seohyun believe the ritual would be simple and easy.

For the witches, it was. But to her, it wasn’t. Though the angels were also having a hard time, they were put to sleep. Seohyun, on the other hand, was conscious and Kara couldn’t do anything about it. To successfully perform the ritual, it would take a vampire to serve as the gateway to let Lay’s soul through and back to his own body. It had to be a vampire because it was a vampire that Lay healed.

Now, Seohyun could feel the pain Jaejoong felt when he was bitten by the wolf. Other than that, she could also feel the pain that Lay underwent when he was dying. All the pain came through her body, all at the same time. And her blood problems also came in the way. Seohyun was fighting a huge battle by herself.

Hara focused once again and her eyes changed color again. She held Seohyun’s head on the sides and muttered more and more witch words.

Seohyun, on the other hand, did not stop screaming and shouting in pain.

On the last few seconds of the ritual, the pain was on its peak and Seohyun’s fangs already showed. Tears were shed and beads of sweat strangely formed on her forehead. There then, she shouted the loudest and passed out the same time all the angels fell to the ground. The wind stopped blowing and the leaves fell into place. Hara stopped muttering spells and panted.

Kara’s eyes opened and they put down their hands together.

Slowly, the angels started regaining their consciousness. One by one, they started sitting up. Kara stepped aside and made way for the angels to come closer to Lay’s body. It was still unconscious and lying peacefully. Just as Kris was about to speak and ask Kara what just happened and if something went wrong during the ritual, Lay’s eyes suddenly popped open at the same time he sat up. He panted, he gasped for air and his eyes wandered around.

On the other side, a louder gasp coming from Seohyun was heard. She was sitting up too—Lay and Seohyun woke up simultaneously.

Seohyun ran a hand through her hair and Hara cupped her chin and told her, “You did well.” She then wrapped her arms around the once fragile vampire. “I expected you to pass out sooner and mess up the ritual and spells but you were really strong.”

Seohyun shook her head and narrowed her eyes at Hara.

“Seohyun, you’re a full-grown vampire. Your eyes are now completely gold and I’m telling you, I’ve seen it in them, you were a full-grown before today.” Hara said but Seohyun couldn’t ask any more questions as Kara walked towards her. The four other girls smiled at her. Behind them, Seohyun could see the twelve angels, acting like kids, hugging Lay and probably suffocating him to death. They were happy and jumping around like children, too busy and too happy catching up with everything that Lay had missed.

Seohyun was softened.

Gyuri offered her a hand which she gladly took. As soon as she stood up, Nicole smiled at her. But her eyes looked sad. “I wanted to run to you when you started screaming and shouting.” Nicole pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m going to miss you.” It took a few seconds before her words sank into Seohyun.

“Wait, what?” Seohyun disentangled herself from Nicole and held her arm-close.

Nicole looked at the other four Kara members who also looked apologetic. “This is the last time you’ll be seeing Kara together.”

“We’re going separate ways.” Hara said and Jiyoung nodded and looked down.

Nicole avoided Seohyun’s eyes as she said, “What we did today will be the last thing we’ll do with the five of us together.”

“What? I—I don’t get it. You guys just—“ Seohyun was cut off.

“Our lives’ in danger.” Gyuri said. “Look, we can’t tell you every detail but what you have to know right now is that yes, we’re in danger, but we can protect ourselves. Even if the only way to do it is to separate ways.”

Nicole took Seohyun’s hands in hers, “We’ll really miss you. You’re the only friend we witches have had for the longest time. It’s either people are intimidated or crept out by us. You’re different and that’s why we love you.”

Seohyun wanted to cry but she still couldn’t understand. Besides, what a way for these five girls to break this news when she couldn’t even recover yet from the ritual.

Each Kara member hugged her and Nicole was the last to do so again. “Listen, Gyuri-unnie’s right. We may be in danger but we can protect ourselves. But them,” Nicole looked behind her and Seohyun followed her gaze, “You need to be there for them.”

“They’re also in danger.” Gyuri said. Seohyun couldn’t help but look at how innocent the angels were. They were laughing and playing jokes on Lay. It was really overwhelming to see Lay back to life. Seohyun almost smiled but when Lay met her gaze, she recalled the pain she went through during the rites of curing him and it just made her even more guilty that Lay felt a part of that pain when he was dying.

“What do you mean? I, I don’t get it.” Seohyun asked.

“Oh, you’re wearing that necklace.” Nicole looked at the pendant of Seohyun’s necklace. She took it in her hands and run a finger through it. “Such a beautiful vintage necklace.”

Seohyun was distracted as she looked at her own necklace, “I only wore it today, for good luck, maybe.”

“Good,” Nicole looked at Seohyun again. “You should take good care of it.”

“It’s the last piece of my parents. I can’t afford to lose it.”

“It was an honor to have you let us study it back then. The wonders of your family in the past are astonishing. You came from a really nice family, Seohyun.”

Seohyun then felt someone staring at her from a distance, it was Lay.

Seohyun quickly looked away and averted her gaze back to Nicole, “Look, I wish you best in your separate journeys and I really wish you well. And thanks for this.” She held her necklace, “But I’m—I’m gonna go.” She hugged Nicole once more before she disappeared into the dark forest.

Kara was about to follow to leave but Kris ran to them and held them back, “Wait up!” He jogged towards them, “Thank you very much.” He emphasized every word.

Nicole chuckled, “That’s nice to hear but we bet you wouldn’t be thanking us if you only knew what happened to Seohyun back there.” Nicole knew that Kris liked Seohyun, even from the very moment she first saw him.

Kris was about to ask what she meant but Gyuri stepped in to answer, “You guys didn’t feel anything but the ritual pretty much gave you pain too. But all of you guys were unconscious. It was different on her.”

Kris didn’t notice Lay was already standing beside him until he said, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank us because that’s what we do.” Hara said and Nicole nodded.

“You should thank Seohyun. We wouldn’t have done that without her.” Nicole said and the other Kara members nodded.

Lay looked around and noticed Seohyun wasn’t there anymore. Suho and Chanyeol then stood near Kris too. They started asking what happened during the ritual and that they were really interested to know every detail. It amused them—the witches were interesting to them. Kara did not hesitate telling them about their spells and the things they do.

Kara also explained what really happened to Seohyun in the process of healing Lay. They needed a vampire to represent Jaejoong, or the vampire that Lay healed. Since they couldn’t risk bringing just any vampire, they settled with Seohyun who knew everything. They explained all the excruciating pains that Seohyun had to bear during the entire ritual and that she was awake while everything was going on, unlike the unconscious angels.

Suho and Chanyeol gasped at the information while Kris’ hands just balled into fists.

Lay couldn’t stand listening further so he swiftly took off without anyone noticing.

Seohyun halted from running. She held on to the hard, dry and uneven bark of the huge tree that towered beside her. Looking into Lay’s eyes reminded her of the pain she felt during the ritual. All those things brought her back to the thoughts that she was the reason why Lay had to suffer like that. Seeing Lay, she felt guilty. She didn’t want him to see her, she didn’t want him to think she had the heart to even look at him.

So she decided to run away.

And she can’t stop running now.

Just as when she started walking to further increase her speed and run, she was scooped up by a strong pair of arms. His scent was something familiar yet new to her. In a blink of an eye, she heard flapping of wings and the same golden pair of wings was right before her eyes. The cold morning breeze brushed through her hair. She held on tightly around the angel’s neck until they landed on a solid branch of a tree. He set her down gently. They stood on a high and overlooking branch tree. She could see the city so distant in her peripheral vision.

She couldn’t take her eyes off Lay’s.

Seohyun’s eyes almost moistened as she was left speechless. Emotions started to creep inside of her all at once—happiness, relief, guilt, regret and pain. Lay just stared back at her. For once, he was contented just by standing across from her. What was is like dying? It was not seeing her.

“Lay, I—I have to go.” Seohyun said which meant Lay had to help her get down from where they were standing. She took one step back. “Look, so much has happened lately and I think I need some time alone.”

Lay then took one step forward. “It’s really nice to finally hear your voice again.”

Seohyun sighed as she stepped back a little more. “But maybe right now, I’m going to take the chance to apologize for what I’ve put you through.” She heaved a sigh once more and continued, “I don’t know what came to me that time, and I just told you how badly I wanted for Kim Jaejoong to be to be healed, I guess I was just desperate and confused at that moment. And I didn’t know you’d actually do that and help him out.”

Lay pursed his lips and smiled a little, his dimple showed. “It’s really nice to see you right now but I didn’t do that for him, I did that for you. I will heal a person who’s important to you, it didn’t have to be Kim Jaejoong. It just happened to be him.”

Seohyun was deeply moved when Lay said that. That just proved how kind-hearted angels could be. Lay is definitely one of the best friends Seohyun have had outside SNSD. “And after everything that happened, I guess I’m just thankful, really thankful, for what you’ve done. Not just for what you did to Jaejoong, but for the thought that you’d do such thing for me.”

Lay took another step closer to Seohyun but she instinctively took another step back—which made both of them realize they were so close to the edge of the branch they were standing on. “I heard a little of what you’ve gone through back there. My brothers kept on asking your witch friends about how they cured me.” Seohyun looked away from Lay this time—she was just reminded again of the pain she felt. “So if you’re thankful, I’m most thankful. Seohyun-shi, you were so brave out there. I hope you don’t feel bad or guilty about anything because if it’s anything, that was the most beautiful pain I’ve ever felt and it was a death I’d love to undergo over and over again,” Seohyun looked at Lay confusedly. “Because they’re for you.”

“But if you die because of me—“

“No, it’s not because of you—it’s for you.” Lay said in a sincere voice. Both of them fell silent until a bright ray of the sun peeked right through the branches of leaves. They both looked to their right and saw the most beautiful sunrise they’ve seen in their existence. It’s not just because they were standing on a high tree but it’s because of the company they were with.

“It’s breath-taking.” Seohyun mumbled.

“Yeah, incredible, right? That there could be something so beautiful and real right before your eyes. And you can see them clearly like you never did before.” Lay said this, without breaking his gaze from Seohyun.

Seohyun looked at him and just smiled, “Look, it’s really nice to see you too. And hey, welcome back to life,” she sighed. “But I really need to go now.” She took one more step and both of them heard a creaking sound. Their eyes widened when they saw where the squeaking sound came from. In a second, Seohyun felt the tip of the branch she was standing on declining but Lay’s reflexes were fast enough to hold her close. He stepped back a little with Seohyun in his arms.

“Okay, let’s get you down safely.” Lay said as he held her arm-close by her shoulders and just admired the sparkle in her eyes. She was always beautiful in his eyes. He pulled her close to his chest and tightened his arms around her body. Slowly, he put Seohyun down back to the ground. Just like always, Seohyun admired the enormous wings before her eyes. She could never get used to seeing them.

When they settled down, Seohyun moved out of Lay’s grasp and smiled at him weakly. “You should go too before your brothers start to get frightened and look for you. They missed you a lot and you wouldn’t want them to think you’re missing.”

“They sure do.” Lay chuckled before looking once more at Seohyun. In a split of seconds, Lay disappeared in the forest. Sometimes, Seohyun wondered how angels trained to act like vampires and improve their reflexes almost as good as theirs. They were indeed amazing.

Seohyun smiled to herself at the thought. She was just about to run again when a familiar growl sounded behind her. She slowly turned around and knew at that moment, she’s going to have to run for her life.