Chanyeol followed me around, barely leaving a foot between us as I went around waking the others. 

"What else did Kris say?"

I tried not to sigh too loud in fear of offending him. I'd mentioned Kris' arrival, the sight that we'd both seen, but I tried to gloss over our conversation as vaguely as possible. It would break the tall boy's heart to hear that Kris' only words for him were to leave. He already wasn't in the best shape, it had taken me way too long to wake him up.

"He didn't say much, I told you. He left pretty quickly."

"But he knows we're here, right? That I'm here..." I paused, bent over and about to shake Kai's shoulder, and looked at him. The hopeful gleam in his eyes was heartbreaking, especially combined with the weak grip he had on my arm. Had this been healthy Chanyeol, I would have lost all feeling in the limb.

Before I could say anything, Luhan rushed over. "Baekhyun, what are you doing? We have to hurry!" Luhan shook Kai for me, waking him and D.O. up simultaneously. Sehun was already awake, talking to Suho excitedly.

"Okay, guys," Our guide called out to everyone, gathering them over quickly. "Kris' home isn't too far, but I don't think it's all over yet. Baekhyun saw something earlier..." He looked at me, giving me the cue to explain what had happened when I chased down Yixing.

When I was done, the others were gaping at me, eyes like saucers. 

"Are you saying we have to fight more people?" Kai piped up, fear and annoyance in his tone, but I didn't miss the childish excitement at the prospect of more action that gleameed din hsi eyes.

"Most likely," I looked at Luhan and he nodded gravely.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," He quipped at D.O. making the older boy roll his eyes and nudge his cheeky friend.

"Let's get moving. If you  have questions, we can talk and walk at the same time." 

Without another word, Luhan his heel and continued our journey. The others seemed more preoccupied with Suho's recovery than anything else, quickly gathering around him as they walked. Chanyeol glanced at me then turned to join the other three, and I decided that now was as good of a time as ever to talk to Luhan.

"Yixing, he's one of Kris' friends. The ones you said weren't allowed to help," I said, matching his hurried strides.

"Yeah, there's him, Minseok, Jongdae and Zitao." It seemed that Luhan had lost all patience for secrets now, and as we were getting so close to the end of our journey, he was more open with me.

"Did they help us earlier too?"

Luhan nodded, meeting my eyes for a moment before looking forward again. "Zitao would be the one who fought with you guys, he's really good at martial arts. He also helped you at the river when we first arrived, if you remember." 

I nodded slowly, thinking back to the waters that slowed enough for us to safely cross them. That was him?"

"So he has magic too, just like Yixing and Kris."

"We all do."

I didn't miss the 'we', but decided to ask about that later. "And the other two? Jongdae and...."

"Minseok," Luhan replied. "Minseok froze the ocean for us, Jongdae was our own little lightning storm."

I breathed out, so my suspicions were correct. I would have to thank Jongdae if I ever got to meet him.

"Are they the only friends?" I thought back to the large castle with twelve towers. It seemed too huge for just the six of them.

Luhan remained silent for a few minutes, chewing over my words carefully. "Yeah, just us."

So much for no more secrets, I thought with a sight. "Luhan," I grabbed his wrist, making him look into my eyes. "Please. It could be important." I wasn't sure how, but I knew that if I'd known about Jongdae and Zitao earlier, the battle we'd faced could have ended much quicker.

Luhan sighed, the look of resignation on his face telling me that he'd finally given in. "There used to be twelve of us, now there's just the seven."

"Seven?" I blinked, counting in my head again. Luhan nodded back towards the others, and I turned my head. Oh... "Chanyeol..."

I was filled with a sudden sadness. When this was over, would Chanyeol remain here in Exo? He never had a good relationship with his parents and moved out when he turned sixteen, into a home that they still owned in the city. He had no reason to come back with us, besides his friends and I wasn't sure if we were worth it. Exo needed him, Kris needed him. If Kris were able to complete the transformation and turn Chanyeol into a god, there would be no other choice, would there?

"I'm sorry," Luhan seemed to have read my thoughts. "I wish there was another way."

I nodded. "It's best for him, for Exo."

"With Chanyeol, we might be able to finally stand a chance against the enemy."

"The enemy?" I thought back to the men in black, the sight from the cliff.

"Those men you fought. There's a whole army of them. Some even have magic and those who don't, they're still very powerful. Fighting just the six of us, it would be an easy win to them. With Chanyeol, Kris will be at the height of his power, the two of them can make a huge difference."

I let out a breath. I felt sort of sad for them, the fact that they were fighting such a battle, but I really hoped that once Chanyeol joined them, they could end it for good. "You said there was twelve of you, what happened?"

"When the Red Forces started out, they were smart. The leader is a lot like Kris; he has a dragon form and a lot of power. It was his idea to take down Kris first, but he decided to be smart about it. He knew that Kris and Chanyeol completed each other's powers, and so he made a plan to trap Chanyeol. When he did, he knew that he couldn't kill him, he'd just be reborn. Instead, he sent his soul off to your world where it lived until Kris found it.

"Now, when Chanyeol was gone, we were all thrown off our game. We work as a group, each of us are paired up like Chanyeol and Kris were. To find Chanyeol, we'd send someone off to Earth to look for him. First, it was Yixing. But with Yixing gone, his counterpart grew weaker. It became easy for the Red Forces to corner us and kill us off that way, one by one. By the time Yixing returned, his other half was dead. This happened with Minseok too, and then we were missing three. 

"We stopped looking for Chanyeol and focused on defending ourselves but when Zitao's other half died, Kris got fed up and decided to come look for Chanyeol himself. We all thought it was a bad idea, Kris leaving would only make us weaker, but he went anyways. He's always been the stubborn one. I guess Kris got close to Chanyeol, and that would be when your friend got sick. When Jongdae's counterpart was killed, I came here as a last ditch effort to drag Kris back, and that's when I found Chanyeol. I brought him to Kris and came back here to help the others hold down the fort until Chanyeol could return, but you guys started getting in the way."

Luhan fell silent, and I guessed that that was the end of his story. I noticed that it was very quiet, except for the rustling of leaves and grass as we walked, and I realized that the others were silent, listening to the story too.

"All your other halves are dead?" Chanyeol asked softly, a frown on his pale face. "That's so sad." His voice was quivering, the bit of energy brought on by his nap was gone already and we'd only been walking. That thought worried me and made me angry at the same time. Why wouldn't Kris help him?

Luhan smiled sadly. "Yeah. That's why I don't understand Kris sometimes. Losing our counterparts... It hurts. It's like ripping our souls in half. And add that to the fact that Kris and you are in love, I can't imagine the pain he must feel right now, both emotionally and physically."

Chanyeol looked pained to hear that, and Suho wrapped a consoling arm around the tall boy. "We're gonna get you back to Kris though, don't worry."

Chanyeol didn't respond, the expression still on his face.

"It's weird though, since coming back to Exo, I feel much better." Luhan commented, drawing my attention back to him. 

"Really?"

"Yeah, I feel... It's weird, I feel less hollow. Maybe it's just being home again, or Chanyeol's presence. I'm not sure," Luhan shrugged.

We finally made it out of the woods, and I could see the remainder of the path down the mountain. The castle was visible from here and I could hear the amazed exclamations of the others around me. 

"That's your home, Channie," Kai said. "Dude, you're loaded."

I smiled, turning back to see my best friend's reaction, and my smile was quickly erased.

Suho still had his arm around the tall boy, but it looked more like he was supporting him now. Chanyeol's expression had worsened into a grimace, his eyes shining and skin shockingly pale. He looked at me, the two of us making eye contact, before it was broken by the closing of his lids and Chanyeol fell.

"Chanyeol!" Suho grabbed him tighter, holding him up before he could hit the ground, and the rest of us gathered around the fallen boy.

"He needs to get to Kris now. He's out of time." I heard Luhan's voice behind me but I couldn't register his words as I grabbed Chanyeol's face in my hands.

"Chanyeol, wake up!"

"Baekhyun, we need to go!" Luhan was raising his voice now to match mine, but I couldn't think or move. Chanyeol wasn't waking up and the castle was still so far. And how did we know if Kris was even in there or not? Chanyeol's breathing was becoming really shallow.

"Baekhyun! Now!" 

I shook my head. I could barely hear the others panicking over the pounding of my own heart. It was over; there was no way we'd make it even if we ran. Especially not if we had to carry the boy who was taller than all of us too.

Suddenly that familiar buzzing feeling washed through me and a hand grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around so I was looking up into a pair of dark eyes. I gasped, seeing another three people standing behind the newcomer, only one of which I vaguely recognized.

He stepped forward, coming to stand next to Luhan. "Let's go."