"When the Shadow first came to our world, hundreds of thousands lost their souls to the Shadow and died.

And then there were a few misguided fools, who saw only one thing in the Shadow's coming.

A promise for power and glory.

They offered their souls for the Shadow's taking, and in return they gained powers and abilities.

They serve the Shadow, under the promise that one day they will rule the world."

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LuHan stood from helping to tie off a bandage on Chen’s leg and stretched his back. The fighting had been difficult, but the worst part was the fact that they had wounds to be healed and bandaged even though they were all exhausted. He turned to find a place to sit and rest and saw an empty spot beside Lay. With only a moment of consideration, he moved over and took the seat, ignoring Lay’s surprised look.

“Hey, Lay,” he said quietly, steadfastly looking forward at the ground so that he wouldn’t have to meet the other’s eyes. He could feel the anger boiling from Lay, though, and he desperately wanted to try to fix that. “Um… thanks for… you know. Healing me. In the hideout. I appreciate it.”

A long silence followed in which Lay simply stared at the side of his face, but then the other boy shifted and with a sigh, turned his gaze to the ground in front of them as well. “It’s not something you need to thank me for, LuHan. I am the Unicorn. It’s what I do.”

“It’s not only that,” LuHan replied quietly. “You didn’t have to heal me. I know you hate me, and I know why. I made your life miserable when we were children, and while I have changed, you don’t know that. You have every right to hate me.” The last part, though whispered, seemed to cut thick through the air between them, and a heavy silence hung over them both.

Then Lay again sighed and slowly shook his head. “I don’t hate you, LuHan. Not totally. I just… hated you. For a long time. And now it is hard for me to see you again and NOT hate you. It’s a struggle, but you would never have been chosen as the Cat if you were a bad guy. I will try to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you have to bear with me here. Getting over 14 years of hating you is not going to be easy…”

LuHan nodded in understanding, but before he could say anything Lay continued. “… but I will try my best. Truly. Just please don’t hang around me too much.”

After a short moment of shock at the request, LuHan laughed out loud. He drew several strange looks from the others including Lay who gave him an incredulous look, but LuHan didn’t care. Lay would give him a chance to prove himself, and that was all he asked for. “Thanks, Lay,” he said, and stood up to find someone else to sit by. No need to try to press his luck.

Suho sighed as he found a place to sit, finally relaxing after the battle. He had a cut on his shoulder from one of the Shadow blades that ached like hell, but it hadn’t been bad enough for Lay to exhaust himself with the healing. An itchy bandage now covered his shoulder and he was dying to scratch under it, but contented himself with just the occasional rub.

“Hey… Suho?” He looked up to see Kris standing above him, tall and imposing even with the dirt and grime that covered him. “Can we talk in private?”

“Uh, sure.” Suho stood to his feet reluctantly to follow Kris to the side of their makeshift camp, not out of eyesight but far enough to not be overheard if they kept their voices low.

Kris shoved his hands in his pockets, an obvious sign of discomfort, and Suho braced himself for an argument. A person’s discomfort was an immediate warning of a forthcoming clash, and he knew he was right as he heard the first words out of Kris’s mouth. 

“We can’t just hunker down and hide,” he began, immediately attacking Suho’s choice for their group. “I know you’re the Dolphin and you’re supposed to be our leader, but I think you’re wrong in this. We need to attack the Shadow w