Chanyeol had gotten to his knees, leaning his hands on the ground before him as he tried to hold himself up.

My heart leapt into my throat and I gribbed Yixing's forearms tightly watching as my friend stood alone against the mighty beast. His limbs were visibly shaking from where I stood and he took labored breaths as he stared up into the dragon's eyes.

I hoped that something would happen- maybe the ground would open up and swallow the beast whole, maybe it would spontaneously combust, showering us with blood and guts but leaving us alive, but nothing was happening. I felt useless; I truly wasn't Yixing's other half, that much was obvious. And yet, the tingle that ran through me whenever he was near only grew at our contact. It was a curious feeling, almost as if it was tangible, moldable. My toes wiggled in my shoes, the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end. I felt the buzz grow into a low hum, igniting all my nerves with a warm sensation.

The dragon reared its head, letting out a ferocious roar before striking downwards, aimed to capture the quivering boy in its large jaws. It was now or never. 

It struck downwards and Chanyeol shut his eyes, preparing for the blow. I followed suit, unwilling to watch my best friend be devoured whole.

"Breathe," Yixing whispered in my ear. "Feel it." I exhaled, feeling the pleasant thrumming below my skin. "Open your eyes."

I did as I was asked, catchng a glimpse of the dragon merely inches away from Chanyeol, before my sight swam, suddenly overtaken by a bright light. 

I felt as if I'd suddenly been blinded, the world around me too luminous to see anything but white. I shut my eyes, feeling them sting as if burned. I heard the loud screech of the dragon, sounding pained, and surprised shouts from my friends, coaxing me to open my eyes once more. I did, and was suprised at what I saw. 

The dragon had drawn back, clawing at the air in front of him violently as if trying to swat something away. 

Kai, Luhan and the rest were holding their hands in front of their faces, shielding their eyes, and I wondered if they had seen the bright light too. 

I glanced back at the dragon, seeing Chanyeol get to his feet as the dragon rose up on its hind legs. It was beginning to open its eyes again, letting out a furious growl. I exhaled shakily; that thing was mad. It lunged back for Chanyeol but my body moved on its own, raising my hands as I saw rays of light suddenly flood from my palms. 

The dragon was caught off guard, drawing back as if burned once more, screeching as the light blinded it. My vision suddenly went blurry, a wave of dizziness overcoming me. With each bit of light that was expelled from my body, I felt my energy leave with it. 

Just as I felt unable to stay standing, I shut my fingers. The light was swallowed up once more, but not before noticing a silver glint coming from its underbelly. The sword, still embedded in its scales, reflected my light brightly.

The dragon was coming down a third time, its movments more hurried and frantic now, and I began to see dark spots. Knowing that I would be unable to blind it a third time, I focused on the weapon stuck in the dragon's body. Thinking quick, I turned my head back to my friends, now squinting past their fingers at the scene before them.

"Luhan!" I called out, catching his attention. 

He looked at me quickly as I pointed, and it seemed that he caught on to my train of thought quickly. He raised a hand and the sword ripped itself from the dragon's stomach, flying backwards.

Chanyeol saw it coming and reached up, catching the handle in his hands, just as the dragon came upon him, jaws parted. He slashed upwards, shutting his eyes tightly, and the mouth closed over him. 

I gasped, but hte dark spots were taking up all of my sight now.

Through the black haze, I saw the dragon head fall to the side, a bloody Chanyeol left in its wake. He stood, reaching over to the limp head and pulling the sword out from the roof of its mouth. He walked around to where the heart should be and stabbed into its chest, right where the heart should be. The dragon form faded away, leaving a man lying on the ground and I laughed weakly. The dragon, the battle, the deaths, it all ended with the death of one man, no bigger than Kris. 

Chanyeol turned, finally releasing the sword and wiping the blood from his face, gazing at me tiredly.

I smiled but it was shortlived as suddenly I felt as if I couldn't breathe. I choked, trying to draw in a breath, but I couldn't do much more than gasp. "Yi-" I managed to mumble out a short syllable before I fell backwards, collapsing into the arms of the man behind me. Although my eyes were closed and my body grew numb with the weight of all the fatigue from the battle, I clung onto the last bits of consciousness.

It was all over, I wasn't giving in so quickly. I wondered just how badly I overexerted myself, if my body was able to handle it, but the lack of oxygen to my brain muddled my thoughts. I felt Yixing laying my on the ground, his arms wrapped around my shoulders as he called out to me in attempts to rouse me. I wanted to respond, to reassure him that I would be fine, but I couldn't find the strength to even part my lips.

"Baekhyun?" Chanyeol's voice rang out through the black mist in my head, and I felt my mouth curve into a smile.

As long as he was okay, it would be fine. He was the light of my life, my best friend. I was just glad that he was living. My promise was fulfilled.

"Baekhyun!" The black faded away, only to be replaced with a pleasant light as any strength that I had left me and I was lost to the world.

***

It was white, almost blindingly so. 

Like a cheesy movie where the protagonist died and somehow awoke in heaven, the world around me was brilliant and pure, no walls or ceiling, simply light. Was this the part where I spoke to God? Asked him what the meaning of life was? Begged him to let me return to the world because I was still needed and had work to do down there? I chuckled before realization hit me. Wait, I wasn't actually dead, was I?

"Baekhyun," A deep voice spoke, seemingly coming from nowhere.

Was I?

"God?"

A laugh. "You could call me that."

My heart thudded. But I was still needed at home, there was so much left for me to do. I didn't even know if Chanyeol and the others survived.

"Or Kris, or Wu Fan. Hmm, I have a lot of names," The voice continued, the tone growing pensive.

Wait, what?

"Am I dead?" I spoke, my brow furrowing in confusion.

He laughed. "No, although I do recall a time when I wished that you were."

I blinked rapidly, the light quickly dimming around me. I sat up as my vision cleared. 

Kris was sitting on a chair next to me as I lay on a large bed. The large window behind him revealed to me that it was light out; I must have been asleep for a while now. The bedroom was huge, with a fireplace against the opposite wall and a door to my left, a small table with chairs stood in the middle of the room, with a wardrobe and vanity on another side. Was this Kris' room? That would mean that i was in his castle.

"This is my room," Kris spoke, answering my unspoken question.

I nodded slowly, lying down again.

Kris reached foward placing a hand on my forehead. "You're a little pale but I think you'll be fine. You did great out there," He said with a smile, something that I was still not used to seeing on him. "Although I wish that I'd been awake to see your light show," He chuckled.

I smiled weakly, unsure of how to respond. I didn't know how to act around Kris when he didn't look like he wanted to rip my organs out of my body.

He sat back, a tense silence filling the room before we both opened our mouths. "Kris-" I spoke.

"Baekhyun, listen-" He said at the same time.

We paused suddenly before beginning to laugh. "You go first, I said, watching him with interest."

He nodded, leaning back in his chair and pursing his lips before continuing. "I want to thank you for everything you've done. You brought my love, my Chanyeol, back to me, you reunited my friends with their other halves and helped kill our enemy... You saved my life. And Chanyeol's." He closed his eyes momentarily, then looked at me again. "I'm sorry, to you, Chanyeol, and everyone else. I let my pride get in the way and I didn't want to help. When I heard that Luhan was bringing you guys to me I didn't want to see any of you. I thought it was too late and we were all doomed, what was the point. And after I ran away like that, after Chanyeol broke his promise, I was too mad to try to make things work."

I shook my head. "Chanyeol never broke his promise, that was my fault-"

He held up a hand, silencing me. "I know, your friends told me," He smiled. "Each one of them, actually, on separate occasions. It was quite amusing to hear the same story multiple times, however you should watch the younger ones. They've got quite the mouth on them."

We both laughed and I could feel the tension fading away.

"Perhaps I was a little jealous too, I'd heard so many great things about you from Chanyeol, it was like he never shut up about you."

I smiled, remembering the talk that I'd had with Chanyeol during the snow storm. "He really does love you," I spoke.

"I know. An old dragon's pride can get in the way of reason though, huh?" He leaned foward, grabbing my hand. "But again, thank you."

I nodded, sitting up once more. "Thank you, too. You saved Chanyeol's life in the end and you still came to help us despite your 'dragon's pride'," I teased. "You made him so happy, maybe I was a little jealous too. I'm glad that he has someone like you in his life."

"And you," Kris replied.

I smiled. "And I'm sorry for not minding my own business. If I hadn't barged in on you then-"

"Then the twelve of us would never have been reunited," Kris cut me off.

I nodded, closing my mouth. He was right, at least everyone was together again. My skin tingled, reminding me of the feat I'd performed out there. The twelve of us. Us. 

"So I'm one of you too?"

Kris nodded. "Yixing's other. He controlled light as you can see." He paused. "You belong with us now. Our home is yours." He waved a hand around, gesturing to the walls around us and presumably, the castle.

I bit my lip. "Could I really just abandon my life and stay here forever? My friends and family?"

Kris frowned. "Chanyeol said the same things to me. Although he has no parents he always considered you and the others as family, he was so reluctant to leave you... But..." He exhaled. "With our enemies vanquished, Exo doesn't need all of us to remain here all the time, I suppose. You may return home."

It was a lot to take in. Of course I wanted to return home, staying here just didn't feel like an option for me right now. But at the same time...

"And Chanyeol?"

"The others would be much weaker with our other halves gone, though as long as you remain alive, it will be bareable and it won't hurt them. As for me, however," He looked into my eyes. "Being without Chanyeol will feel like my soul is being ripped in two all over again. I hope you understand when I say that I really couldn't live if he wasn't by my side once more."

I shifted uncomfortably. Why did it feel as if he was asking for my permission? 

"I think he feels the same," I said. "If he really wants to stay, I could never ask him to come with us."

The smile that lit up his face then was enough to coax a similar one onto my own. He grabbed my hand, helping me to my feet, and brought me out of the room.

We walked down stone hallways and stairs before passing through a large set of wooden doors into a large hall, where twelve thrones sat at one end of the room.

The others were there, all gathered around the thrones, talking animatedly.

Chanyeol was the first to notice our arrival, looking up from his conversation with Suho and Yixing. He smiled when he saw Kris, a happy light in his eyes. He looked breathtaking, then, completely alive and unlike I'd ever seen him before. He was in love, that much was certain, but this was different. He was truly happy. Then, his eyes travelled to me and his expression changed. His smile grew so wide that it was almost crazy, his features contorting into that strange twitching expression that he made sometimes. My best friend was gorgeous, but still a dork. A gorgeous dork. 

"Baekhyun!" He ran over to me, enveloping me in a warm and tight hug.

This grabbed the others' attention and they ran to me, all gathering around and soon we were all hugging and laughing. 

Everyone was talking all over each other. 

"Baekhyun you were so awesome out there!"

"Baekhyun good job!"

"I was pretty badass too, didn't you see?"

"Yeah, you were a real hero."

"Thanks, you weren't so bad yourself."

"Guys, stop arguing. Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

All the voices melded together, and I wasn't able to tell who was who, but it didn't matter. We were all together again and the happy thrum in my body had returned, making me feel more alive than ever before. I was beginning to understand the way the others must have felt when their counterparts were missing, the sense of loss. I wasn't going to lie, I would miss this when I returned home. 

Finally everyone stepped back, giving me room to breathe. I looked around at their smiling faces. They'd been cleaned and their wounds tended to, presumably by Yixing, and they all wore goofy grins. Kris' arm was around Chanyeol's waist, pulling the tall boy into his body as they both looked at me.

"So," I finally broke the silence. "What'd I miss?"

They all broke out into explosive talking once more, Kai and Zitao grabbing my wrists and pulling me towards the throne as they both complained about how Suho and Yixing had been bossing them around and telling them to sit still and rest, even though they were perfectly fine. I smiled, looking back over my shoulder as Kris spun Chanyeol around to face him, grabbing him by the forearms and pulling him so close that their foreheads were touching. I couldn't hear what they were saying but the smile on their lips as they whispered to each other said it all. Finally, Kris pulled Chanyeol in for a kiss, the slightly shorter boy wrapping his arms around his blonde lover as Xiumin and Luhan cheered them on loudly.

I looked back at the two younger ones, as they prattled on excitedly, building off of each others' energy. 

D.O. eventually followed, placing a hand on Kai's shoulder to calm him. "Don't talk his ear off, guys," He said teasingly before turning to me. "Hey Baekhyun, did you know Jongdae's a really good singer? He can hit these insane high notes-"

"Luhan's really good too," Kai said. "And did you know that Yixing can dance?"

"I guess they'd need something to do while they're here all day," D.O. replied.

"Hey, I'm right here," Zitao pouted. "And we have many talents."

"Like your martial arts? You were so amazing out there!" Kai's eyes suddenly lit up with excitement as he went back to talking about the battle. Sehun eventually came over with Jongdae, joining in the conversation.

It seemed that in the time that I was asleep, the others had gotten to know each other very well. They were like one large family, as if they'd known each other for years. Funnily enough, I felt the same. 

"Hey!" I heard a shout from Yixing behind me. "Knock it off, you two!"

I looked back and laughed as Yixing swatted at Kris' shoulder. He was now pulling Chanyeol tighter against him, the kiss progressing into something much more intimate. Chanyeol laughed against Kris' lips as he smirked, their laughing hindering Kris' efforts to deepen the kiss.

I smiled. Although I had no intentions of changing my mind about going back, I knew that I'd be returning here very soon. Back there, on the other plane was where my parents were, where my other friends were but these people felt like my family too. This felt like home.

Short short resolution chapter and all of a sudden its over. Boo. :( Was it too rushed? Next one's the last chapter guys, I'll miss this story. Anyways, once more I want to thank all you amazing readers for making this story worthwhile. Leave your comments because if you haven't figured by now, I always love reading them :) I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this and see you next time!