Final

Lay sighed as he waited at the road that was supposed to be the location of his sister’s death.

He didn’t know how she was going to die so he didn’t know how he would prevent it. But he had a pretty good idea as to what her supposed death would be.

He thought back to the letter, *Seriously? First I die and now Lina is supposed to as well? What would happen to Mama? Both of her children dying, and in almost the same way as well?* Sometimes, Lay really didn’t understand his choices.

Lay checked the time, 4:30. He looked around to see any signs of Lina. None right now.

A couple more minutes passed, and Lay saw her come around the corner. She was holding a bag that Lay recognized from a bakery he, Lina, and Mrs. Zhang loved to go to. He stopped and stared at her as she waited to cross the road. She had grown so much in the past 2 years. Her hair had grown out and looked so much more mature than she did in grade 10. *It’s really been a while…..* Lay thought as he watched her wait for the signal to turn green. He wanted to run right now and tell Lina not to cross that street, but he couldn’t interfere yet.

The signal turned green and Lina started walking.

It all happened at once. Lina crossed the street. The speeding car came right at her. The bag flew out of her hands and landed with a splat on the floor. The car tried to stop, but it wouldn’t and Lina was hit. Hard.

Lay ran to the scene and dragged Lina’s body from under the car. Her body hadn’t gone completely under it, only part of her legs.

“WAIT!”

Somehow, Lu Han’s voice had made its way to that road in Changsha. Lay looked around in confusion when Lina had stopped moving, the cars had stopped moving, and the people rushing to the accident had stopped moving.

Lu Han was walking towards Lay and Lina. He jogged to where Lay was crouching.

“Hyung?” Lay asked, bewildered. “What are you doing here? How did you know I was here? Why are you here? Is Tao here? How’d time stop? Did you take his watch?”

Lu Han stopped when he arrived at Lay. He looked at the car and the almost-blood soaked Lina.

“Lay, you should know the consequences of what you’re about to do.” He said quietly.

Lay turned away, “If you’re here to tell me not to, then don’t bother. I know what I’m doing and I’m going to do it.”

Lay turned back to him, “How’d you know where I was anyways? And how’d you know my plans?”

“I saw your schedule lying in your room. I saw the name and realized that you had been missing since early morning. I knew you came here to investigate and get yourself into a mess.” Lu Han said.

Lay looked at Lina again. Her eyes were closed and she was as pale as a ghost. “Well, we’re wasting time. Gimme that watch thing.” Lay tried to snatch it.

“Wait” Lu Han moved it away. “Not yet.” He turned back to Lay. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Lay nodded. “I know what I’m giving up, and I’m fine with that.” He let out a dry laugh, “I’m dead anyways so it doesn’t matter.”

“Do you know where Suho is?” Lu Han asked out of the blue.

Lay stopped and stared at him, surprised, “No, do you?”

Lu Han nodded. “Suho found out that his dad was going to die when he was a trainee. I don’t know how his family life was or what the situation was, but I know that Suho was close to his dad. Very close. So he found a way to get to earth and saw that his dad was going to drown. Suho, being able to control water, moved the water and the waves and saved his dad. I don’t know how he did it, trainees can’t leave EXO, but he did.”

Lay’s eyes rounded, “Wow…..”

“And now he’s in the Spirit World.” Lu Han finished. “I don’t know if he’s happy or not, but he’s there. We won’t see him again. If you do this Lay, we won’t see you again and you won’t see us.”

Lay thought about it, analyzing his options. He could save his sister from her death and protect his mother. Or he could let his sister die and break his mother’s fragile heart.

The option he was going to choose was pretty obvious.

“Well it was nice knowing you, hyung.” Lay hugged Lu Han. Lu Han sighed in defeat. First they had lost Suho, now they would lose Lay. But it was Lay’s choice and Lu Han knew Lay probably didn’t want to leave EXO either. “See you……….. never.”

Lu Han stepped back and Lay glanced at the watch in Lu Han’s hands. “How’d you get Tao to give it to you? He doesn’t even let anyone touch it.” To stop time, Tao had a special watch that he used. He never let anyone touch it, and it was a wonder that he let Lu Han take it and use it.

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“Tao’s not hard to bribe.” Lu Han said with a dry chuckle. But his lips became straight again. Lu Han was saying goodbye to a good friend and ‘colleague’, he was going to miss him a lot. He, and the rest of their friends, had known Lay for two years. They had gone through death and the afterlife together, and trained together. Now Lay would be gone for eternity. Death loved doing things like this, loved taking people at the most inconvenient and hard times. Death did things to people (living and dead), and a lot of the times it wasn’t good.

“You should go or else the Council will suspect you for something.” Lay said, pushing Lu Han away. “Tell the others I’ll miss them and that you’ve all been great friends. But I have to do this.” He said looking at Lina again. He looked at Lu Han again, “Since you have Tao’s watch, and I’d rather not cause lots of confusion among these humans, only unfreeze Lina.”

Lu Han nodded. “Okay. Alright then Lay, goodbye.”

“Bye hyung.” Lay said softly as he turned back to Lina.

Lu Han walked back to a nearby light pole, leaning against it. When he had set the watch correctly, he pushed the knob and watched a heart touching, yet sad, scene unfold in front of him.

Lay quickly jumped into action again. He made himself visible to Lina. Well, he hoped Lina would see him; her eyes were still closed. It was time to put his power to good use.

Lay put his hand over her wounds that were overflowing with blood. A warm light emitted from his hand and he slowly healed her gashes and cuts. His hands went over her torso and leg, closing all the wounds and leaving a faint scar that would soon disappear.

Lina slowly opened her eyes, trying to look at her surroundings.

But all she saw was her dead brother, hovering over her with his hands over her and making the pain on her body go away.

“Yixing…..” she said softly, not believing it. Lay looked at her and gave her a smile, “Hi, cookie.”

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Lina tried to sit up but Lay put her down again. “You.” He pointed at her, “Stay alive, okay? Take care of yourself and Mama. I did this once, against the rules, and I can’t do it again. So stay alive and don’t die until you’re 100 years old.” He smiled.

Lina was confused, *H-How is this even possible?* but she felt herself nod.

“Great.” Lay said. “My work here is done. I hope to see you in 100 years.” he nodded.

“W-Wait!” Lina attempted to get up again. “What are you? Where are you going? Why are you here? Why are you going? Since you’re already here, you should stay. Wait, is this even possible? Y-You’re dead.” She said, shooting questions at him.

Lay shook his head, smiling, “Silly Lina. You’ll understand one day. But that day isn’t today.” He stood up.

“Don’t go!” she whispered. That’s when she noticed his wings. Brand new, glowing and shining, and she could see a faint glow around Lay’s body. *Whoah…..*

Lay ignored what she said and bent down, putting his hands on his knees. “Oh, and do me a favour. Quit your jobs. I don’t enjoy seeing you work.”

Lina’s face was pure confusion. Lay was dead, how was he here? And what had just happened? She had gotten hit by a car, and obviously Lay had saved her. Had she been dying? Had Lay saved her from the clutches of Death? How was this even possible? *Wait, has he been watching me? Is that he knows I have two jobs?* her questions were endless and she didn’t have one answer.

“I should go now. I’m awaiting a punishment.” Lay straightened up again. “Take care of yourself and Mama. Make sure I didn’t do this only to have you or Mama end up where I am.” He said in a joking manner. Then he softly smiled, “Tell Mama I said hi and that I’m doing well. I won’t see you both for a loooong time now.” he said, stepping back. “Oh, and time will be unfrozen soon so make sure you act normal. Don’t act like a lost unicorn.” He winked. “Bye, Lina.” Then he made himself invisible and Lu Han knew that he could unfreeze time for everyone now.

Lina looked around in bewilderment. “Yixing? Yixing?! Come back!”

Lay sadly watched her.

People crowded around Lina, asking her if she was okay. The driver of the car got out of his car and quickly apologized. But he was baffled; he could have sworn he saw blood on her. But there wasn’t a drop in sight.

Lina staggered up with the help of a young man. “Are you okay? You were hit pretty badly.”

Lina quickly nodded and tried to get out of the crowd. The driver took her arm.

“I-I’m so sorry, miss! Are you okay? Do you need a hospital?” he asked worriedly.

Lina nodded quickly, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

“I think you should still go to the hospital.” A bystander said. “You never know. Just get checked up a bit.”

Lina nodded, “I’ll be okay, I’m sure of it.” *Specially cuz I know Yixing just healed me…. Or something like that. Wait, did that even happen? Was it a dream or something while I was unconscious?*

She got out of the crowd and it soon dispersed after seeing that she was okay. She looked around frantically, *He was here, I’m sure of it! He fixed me. Where did he go?*

She looked around some more, and Lay turned away. He walked to the bakery bag that was lying on the sidewalk. He looked inside. There was a French vanilla cake. *Our favourite…* he thought. When Lay had been alive, they would always visit that bakery and buy a French vanilla cake. It was their mother’s favourite, which automatically made it their favourite.

He looked inside, the cake was a little smushed, but other than that it was fine. He took his fingers and wrote in the icing at the side of the cake. Then he placed the cake in front of Lina.

Lina looked at it with wide eyes, *So he was here….*

She gently picked the cake up, not looking inside of it to see if it was okay. She shook a bit as she held it and looked around once again to see if Lay was there, but he wasn’t.

She sighed and decided to just continue to the hospital. *I just saw my dead brother…...* Lina thought, dazed. *Glad to see he’s okay....*

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lay turned away from watching Lina walking away.

He found himself face-to-face with a dark angel.

The angel swept Lay up in his cloak and Lay peacefully went with him.

*Goodbye Lay.* Lu Han thought sadly as he watched the dark angel and Lay become nothing but black smoke.

Lu Han dismally summoned a portal and went back to EXO.

The dark angel brought Lay right in front of the Angel Council. The angel dropped him off and then disappeared in the same puff of black smoke.

“Zhang Yixing.” A booming voice said. The Head of the Council. “You have broken the first, and most important, rule in the Angel Law. You interfered with the death of a human. You broke the law by interfering with human matters and changing the fate of a human. Are you aware that what you have done is breaking the Law?”

“Yes, I am.” Lay said straight forwardly.

The head of the council looked at him weirdly. “You are a rookie angel, and literally just got your wings. Why would you break the rules on your first death? You ruined your chance before you even fully started it!”

“I had my reasons.” Lay said simply. *I guess I’ll get to see Suho now…*

“Very well then.” The head said. “It is quite simple, really. You broke the law; you go to the Spirit World along with all the other spirits.”

Lay nodded, “Okay.”

The head looked very confused, Lay wasn’t even fighting back. Not even begging for mercy, for another chance. It was as if he was welcoming his ‘punishment’. Most angels had pleaded for another chance, a chance to prove themselves. But there was no rule-bending. If you did it once, you could do it again and they could not take the risk of someone interfering with another human’s fate.

Lay wasn’t so sure why he was so calm either. Half of him was extremely sad that he was leaving his friends. The other half was at peace, knowing that his family on earth was safe.

“Um, okay then.” The Head said. He looked at the council members for approval and they all nodded. The Head stood up, and opened a biiiiiggg, white portal.

“I’m sure you would have been a great angel, Yixing.” The Head said sadly. “It’s too bad you made one big mistake that changed your whole future in the afterlife. You might regret doing what you did.”

“No, I won’t.” Lay stated. “I know I did the right thing, and I will never regret it.” he looked at the Council, “Besides, you guys are making it sound like the Spirit World is Hell or something. It’s not, and I’m sure I won’t be unhappy there.”

“Yes, but nothing is like EXO.” The Head murmured. Lay had to agree with that, EXO was an amazing place with mostly amazing people.

“Zhang Yixing,” The Head said. “Please step into the portal that will directly transport you to the Spirit World. You are not going to ever be able to return here after you step in there. There is no exit from the Spirit World once you enter it for the common spirit. The Spirit World is where you are going now, for eternity.”

Eternity. That was a long time. But Lay didn’t mind, the Spirit World wasn’t so bad. He was sure he would get used to it and like it there soon enough. Now he would get to see Suho and his dad. That had to be a plus, right?

But he also felt a little scared. He wasn’t going to see Earth ever again. He wasn’t going to see any of the laughing or smiling faces of his friends either. That thought saddened him a lot so he put it away and stepped into the cloud of white smoke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lina walked to the hospital, this time watching for any cars, and headed for her mother’s room. She had to go her other job in an hour or so, so she didn’t have much time to waste. *Sorry Yixing, you saved my life and since I’m still alive I have to be able to fend for Mama and I.*

“Mama,” Lina called as she entered her Mrs. Zhang’s room.

Mrs. Zhang smiled and her face became much brighter, “Lina, you’re here. What took you so long?”

Lina hesitated; she wasn’t sure whether she should tell her mom about her getting hit by a car. She definitely wasn’t sure whether she should tell her about Lay.

“Um, well.” Lina started.

“Well, what? Did something happen, child?” Mrs. Zhang asked, worried.

“Nothing big.” Lina said, sitting down. “I was just on my way here, and uh, a car hit me.”

Mrs. Zhang’s eyes widened, she sat up, “What? You were hit? Are you okay? How badly were you hit? I’ll call the nurse to check up on you-” Mrs. Zhang reached for the remote but Lina stopped her.

“I’m fine, Mama, really.” Lina assured her. “It wasn’t a big deal, I’m perfectly fine. More than fine actually.” She decided not to tell Mrs. Zhang about Lay. Her mother might think she was a psycho and she would know that it wasn’t a minor hit. She wasn’t very concerned about the first reason, but she still felt that she should keep this little incident to herself.

Mrs. Zhang was still uncertain but didn’t press the matter on further.

Lina smiled, “I brought us French vanilla cake.”

Mrs. Zhang smiled as well and watched Lina open the bag.

“It’s a tiny bit squished, cuz I dropped the bag.” Lina said, not telling her mom that the impact of the car had been so big that the bag had flown out of her hands and landed on the sidewalk.

“Are you sure you’re okay” Mrs. Zhang asked again.

“I’m fine Mama,” Lina repeated.

Mrs. Zhang was still worried, but decided not to show it. After a couple of minutes, Lina asked, "Mama, how do you think Yixing's doing?"

Mrs. Zhang's face became grave, after a moment of silence she said, "I think he's doing fine. He was a good kid here on earth, so I'm sure he's doing well wherever he is now..... At least, I hope he is."

Lina smiled, "I'm sure he's doing good too. Actually, I know he's doing well. I'm sure he wouldn't want you worrying about him so much. He's probably in perfect shape and is more than fine."

Mrs. Zhang smiled softly, "If you say it, then I believe it."

They talked for a couple of minutes after that. Mrs. Zhang asked her about school and how Amber was doing.

Lina explained how she was going to apply for Univeristy, and Mrs. Zhang started asking about her condition again.

"I'm fine, Mama!" Lina said, as she opened the bag and took the cake box out. She opened the box and lifted the cake out if it. As she was putting it on the table, she noticed something at the side of the cake where it was supposed to be smooth and nothing but endless frosting. Someone had written in the icing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lay and Suho stood side-by-side at the sparkling waters of the Viewing Lake. It wasn't a bright, sunny day because the Sun only shone on earth. But it was bright and lively enough to illuminate the entire universe. There was a sparkled in the sky and a shimmer to the grass. The beautiful scenery would often take it's inhabitants' breaths away.

It was called the Viewing Lake because it was roughly in the shape of a human eye and if you put your hand in it and thought about what you wanted to see on earth, you would be able to see it in the lake. But you couldn't come to the lake everyday, every spirit could only dip his/her hand in the water once a year.

Lay gently put his hand in the water, keeping it there for a while. When he removed it, he saw Lina, Mrs. Zhang, and her hospital room materializing in the water.

Lina told her mom about the accident, and Mrs. Zhang immediately started worrying.

"Oh Mama," Lay chuckled softly. "You always worry so much."

Then the topic of the conversation turned to him, Lay watched his mom and sister with a twinkle in his eyes. A smile played on his lips, *So she is giving my message to Mama.*

“If you hadn’t done what you did,” Suho said after a while. “Your mom probably would have had a heart attack if she found out Lina died.”

“Yeah.” Lay agreed.

“You gave up a lot.” Suho commented.

“I know. But I don’t mind.” Lay said. “I would have come here anyways if I hadn’t decided to become an angel. Besides, I’m glad to see them both happy.”

Suho smiled and clapped a hand on his shoulder, “You did good Lay. I won’t be so lonely here anymore.” He joked.

“I’m gunna miss the others.” Lay said sadly.

“I know, I do too.” Suho responded. “But now we can keep each other company! And they’re going to join us soon enough.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Lay smiled as he turned back to the lake. Lina was once again, reassuring her mom that she was okay. Then she took the cake out and Lina's face was filled with astonishment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lu Han watched Lina and Mrs. Zhang. Lina was assuring her mother that she was fine.

*Yeah, you’re fine.” Lu Han thought. *Because of your brother who gave away his hard work for you.* he smiled softly. *We sure are gunna miss him. But I’ll watch over you for him, he would want us to do that since he won't be able to watch you very often. I'll make sure you and your mama are safe and sound.*

He gazed at the mother and daughter, promising to remain loyal to Lay and to watch over his family that he cared so much for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lina’s eyes widened as Lay’s beautiful wings appeared in her mind. The faint glow around his body, his angelic smile, and most importantly, his angelic personality.