"Yixing," I whispered.

He nodded, giving me a kind smile. A dimple was created in his cheek, and I had to admit that he wasn't as threatening this close up. Although, I couldn't say the same thing for his other friend, the only person I recognized. Black hair matched his all black outfit, and those dark eyes stared into my soul as he stood, watching me closely. It made me afraid, unsure of whether or not he would attack me too.

And then he opened his mouth. "We need to hurry. I can slow down the progression of the sickness in his body, but only long enough for us to reach the castle," He spoke in a suprisingly high, soft voice.

Well then.

I nodded, still slightly put off by his voice. You'd think that I'd have gotten used to suprising voices by now, with Chanyeol's extremely deep one. "Thank you," I paused briefly, "Zitao."

He nodded his head at me and held his arms out. I didn't understand what he wanted from me at first, but then realization hit me and I reluctantly handed him Chanyeol's limp form. 

Zitao pulled Chanyeol close to him, running a hand over his face and down his torso. The frown on Chanyeol's face softened, and he looked peaceful, almost deadly so. My heart lurched at the thought. "I'm the fastest, I'll carry him," Zitao said. "We have to hurry, my magic won't be so effective on him."

I briefly wondered if Yixing could help, but then figured that his magic probably wouldn't work on the illness either. The man put a supportive hand on my shoulder, sending a jolt through my body. "It will be alright, let's go."

Together, the eleven of us rushed down the rest of the path, hurrying as fast as we could towards the castle.

"What if Kris isn't even there?" I called out, the thought suddenly occuring to me.

"I'll make him come," Yixing said. "He's not giving up on Chanyeol that easily."

I smiled in relief, but that relief was short lived when I saw something approaching.

The black mass, as I'd seen from the top of the mountain, turned out to be actually a horde of men, all wearing black, making their way across the plain towards the castle. There were hundreds, probably thousands of them, and they were all moving quickly. My heart thudded in my chest; they would reach the castle before us.

The two other newcomers, the ones that I didn't rexognize, exchanged looks.

"We'll try and hold them off," The taller of the two said, and they rushed off in the direction of the mob.

I was about to ask Yixing what they were planning, when one of them raised his arm and a massive bolt of lightning tore through the clouds above, crashing into the ground in the middle of the army. The men in black scattered, and a few of them began falling. It looked as if they were sliding around on the ground, slipping on something. It was slightly chilly now, a cool wind blowing in from the direction of the army. 

Jongdae and Minseok, I recalled Luhan telling me their names.

"Baekhyun, come on!" Suho called out and I tore my gaze away from the battle, noticing that Zitao and Chanyeol had gotten very far ahead of us. 

I nodded, urging myself to run faster, but turning my head back to look at the army, I noticed that Jongdae and Minseok were in over their heads. Although they had magic on their sides, it didn't seem like enough to protect the two of them from the hundreds of men swarming around them. And I knew how well those men could fight.

I glanced back at Suho, the two of us having stopped running, and bit my lip. He seemed to sense me hesitation and shook his head. "Go after Chanyeol."

"What?" My eyes widened. 

"Go after Chanyeol, I'll help those two."

"Are you crazy?!" If Jongdae and Minseok couldn't handle them, what made Suho think he could? 

Suho shook his head. "Go, Baekhyun," And with that, he dashed off towards the brawl.

I muttered a curse word under my breath and did as I was told, managing to catch up to the others, save Ziao who seemed to run like the wind.

"Where's Suho?" Kai asked, turning towards me when I matched his pace.

"Fighting," I gasped out, panting for breath.

"What?" Kai stopped short, and D.O. ran straight into his back causing the two of them to topple over.

"He's helping them," I stopped to catch my breath, not used to so much running.

"No way... I'm going with him," Kai said, turning his head to watch the fight.

Suho seemed to be holding his own, weaving around people and even dealing a few blows, until he stood next to the other two.

"Oh no, he would never forgive me if I let you go over there," D.O. chided.

"He can't do this alone!" Kai protested.

"What are you doing?" Luhan called back. He, Yixing and Sehun were farther ahead than us, but now they too had paused to see why we weren't running.

"Going to help Suho!" Kai called out.

D.O. shook his head. "Kai, no," He said. 

Kai was about to protest, but the older man held up a hand.

"I'll go. You make sure Chanyeol gets to Kris, okay?"

Kai and I were both shocked. Forever the pacifist, D.O. always hated fighting. For him to suggest something like this...

Before we could say anything, he was gone.

I grabbed Kai's wrist, knowing that we didn't have any more time to argue, and pulled him over to the other three.

"Where does he think he's going?" Luhan hissed.

"To help Suho and the others," I replied.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Luhan breathed out, rubbing his face.

"Are they crazy? Like they can take on the Red Forces-" Yixing shouted, but he was cut off when a huge explosion of lightning came crashing down, the impact on the ground creating a large chasm in the middle of the army.

" me," Kai breathed out, his eyes wide.

With neither Suho nor D.O. here to scold him for his language, I didn't feel the need to say anything, wholeheartedly agreeing with his statement.

Luhan and Yixing looked a little put out by the words, although the entire sight had us all too shocked to do much but gawk. Looking ahead, I saw that even Zitao had paused briefly to stare at the rift in the earth.

The battle had intensified, with one half of the men stranded on the other side of the fossure. The other half fought our friends, but some had escaped through the melee and were coming dangerously close to the castle and my half dead friend.

In fact, a small group had nearly reached them. "Zitao!" I shouted, pulling his attention away from the battle in time for him to spin, delivering a sharp roundhouse kick to the man who had been poised to attack him.

Holding Chanyeol tightly to his chest, Zitao fought the group of men around him, but with his movements limited, he didn't seem to be faring well.

"Oh no... Guys come on!" I called out, running to Zitao's aid.

A man behind Zitao raised his weapon, what appeared to be a wooden staff, and was about to crack it down on his head while the boy was distracted with the two men in front of him.

"I was about to shout out a warning when Luhan extended his arm, and the man's staff froze in midair. He looked perplexed, straining his arms to pull down the weapon, but it wouldn't budge. Instead, it hurtled backwards, causing the man to tumble over as his staff flew across the ground, landing at my feet.

I bent to pick it up before staring at Luhan appreciatively. "How did you do that?"

"What, you think all my friends have special powers except for me?" He teased, raising his hand again.

This time, many small rocks and stones lifted into the air and began to pelt the men around Zitao.

Yixing frowned. "Unfortunately, my skills aren't so helpful in attacking," He sighed.

"The way things are going, we may need those skills of yours soon," I said with a sigh.

Yixing gave me a bemused smile and turned his attention back to Luhan, who was continuing to hurl rocks at the attackers. The offense worked well, but slowly more and more men were coming to join their friends. The others were doing a great job at holding the majority of the men back, but tons of them continued to slip past them. 

"This is not good," Kai muttered.

"You're telling me," I hissed in reply, ready to rush forward and aid Zitao in his battle. I didn't have magical fighting powers like the Exo gods, but damned if I was going to let that stop me from helping out my friends. 

Kai seemed to have the same thought as me, as within moments, we had both ran to Zitao's side and were delivering kicks and punches to whoever was within our reach, trying to knock out as many people as possible.

I dodged a blow to the stomach but didn't see another punch coming, this one aimed straight at my face. A huge explosion of pain blinded me for a moment, before my nose felt hot and numb. A warm sensation was running down onto my lips and I briefly touched it, realizing that my nose was bleeding. I hoped that it wasn't broken, but I had no time to worry further as the attacks of my opponents were relentless. It seemed that we had been fighting for hours, although it was probably only a few minutes, but with each passing second, Chanyeol's chances of living dwindled.

I glanced to my side where Zitao fought, literally single-handledly, trying to hold Chanyeol safely against his body at the same time. The long-legged boy was growing paler by the second, his lips losing their pink color, making him appear as if dead. My heart sank; more people broke away from Jongdae and Minseok's distraction, coming to stand in our path. There was no way for us to get Chanyeol to the castle in time. 

Just when it felt like all hope was lost, a noise drew my attention. Lighting tore through the skies above us and gales of frosty winds blew snow and ice across the land, but the chaos was nothing compared to what happened next. An ear-splitting shriek echoed over the mountains, and the unmistakable flapping of large, leathery wings beating against the sky followed soon after. Everyone had slowed in their attacks, the fighting quickly grinding to a halt, as all eyes turned to the skies.

"Oh my..." I heard Kai mutter under his breath and I understood his sentiment completely.

The beast rising up from the mountain tops was much bigger than I'd remembered, I wondered if he had another form here in Exo.

"Wu Fan," I whispered.

The dragon didn't waste any time, it quickly came towards us, the winds created by the mere beating of his wings was enough to send me and all those around me sprawling as he touched down only meters away. His large snout, adorned by two rows of sharp, gleaming teeth, pushed its way into my face, forcing me to crawl backwards for fear or being crushed in the mighty maw.

My arm came in contact with something, turning my head I saw Zitao kneeling on the ground behind me. "Wu Fan," He spoke in amazement. "You came."

Wu Fan snorted, hot breath shooting over my body, and turned to eye the men around us.

They seemed to have recovered from their shock and were slowly making their way to their feet again,and my heart pounded. We had no time. "Kris!" I called out, the use of his 'human' name drawing the beast's attention effectively. "You need to take Chanyeol now. Give him your blood, do whatever you need to to keep him alive, just hurry!" And with that I turned, pulling the heart-breakingly limp body into my arms. I flinched, hugging Chanyeol protectively, when a large gust of wind hit my back. I feared that Wu Fan had taken off, still too angry to help us, but when I turned, I was met with the piercing stone eyes of Kris himself. 

"Give him to me," Kris spoke, the hard look in his eyes softening when he took in his fallen lover. 

I spared no time in handing Chanyeol over, a warmth flooding throuhg my heart when I saw Kris gingerly take him and press a kiss to his forehead. 

"I don't know if he can even hold on long enough for you to help him," Zitao spoke from behind me. 

"I'll make him hold on," Kris promised, holding Chanyeol tight before he shot up into the air, an eruption of dust causing me to look away as the beating of wings echoed again loud and clear. When I opened my eyes again, Kris was gone.

"Good luck," I wished the dragon, hoping with all my heart that he wouldn't fail. 

"Baekhyun!" Zitao's call broke my out of my thoughts and I was able to dodge just as a sword sliced through the air where I stood. 

I took a deep breath, staring at the man who'd just attempted my murder. Now that Chanyeol was with Kris and I'd fulfilled my promise, it was time to turn my attention to these intruders. 

My hands balled into fists at my side and I took a fighting stance, the man smirking in challenge.

"Oh, it's on."

Lighting crashed once again and I took that as a signal for the fight to begin; I leapt forward, ready to fight until the end.

Hello, everybody! How's March been treating you? Another  (unfortunately short, my apologies) chapter is up and we're reaching the end, oh my. What's going to happen? I have to work out the fine details still ;) ahh well, I'll figure it out, thank you for reading and don't forget to leave a comment! Until next time.