Note: Minjong is Jonghyun's father, he's a sheriff in this story and when Luna's guardian Changmin died they adopted Luna into the family. The CrashDown is a diner owned by Sulli's family, she, Minho and Krystal work part-time there. Taemin saved Sulli's life when a robber shot her. That's when their lives (human and alien) first crossed and that's how Taemin got to know Sulli and eventually fell in love with her. Luna came in the picture too late because Taemin had already fallen in love with a human, he had no memory of being married to Luna. And since he can't remember his past life or Luna he and the others felt like Luna is not to be trusted. Taemin and Amber didn't really want to know about their past life since they're happy living as humans in Earth, Michael however is not that lucky, he's curious but he does not trust Luna too, since the three had known each other from the time they came out of the pod Luna became the outsider and she had a hard time getting the whole group to accept her.

Disclaimer: I'm not the author of this story ^^ 

Chapter 7: The Realization

"You sure we should be doing this?" Krystal asked yet again as they silently moved around the little shack toward the window that would allow them a view of Luna.

"We have to know whether Key can be trusted or not," Minho murmured back, his brows furrowed with concern. He didn't like letting Key leave but didn't exactly have a lot of choice.

"This is Key we're talking about here," Amber hissed back, shocked that he would say such a thing. "Of course we can trust him."

"The Key we knew wouldn't have lied to us, Amber," Minho explained softly, obviously hating the fact that his doubts were causing her pain. "We don't know what Luna could have done to him."

"She didn't do anything to him," Taemin replied, keeping a careful eye on the window as they approach. The last thing they need was for Tess to look out the window and see them. "She didn't need to."

Sulli frowned at him. "When did you become her champion?"

He glanced back at her, not saying a word.
 

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Key brought the breakfast tray down slowly and winced as he glanced at the creation that was currently making him slightly queasy. The golden brown waffles were topped with light whipped cream and swirled with strawberry preserves. It looked like a toothache waiting to happen. He kept the small bottle of Tabasco sauce on the side cause he simply couldn't bring himself to add the last ingredient. It was simply asking too much of him.

Touching her brows with a wet towel, Key sighed and prepared for the performance of his life. "Hey Sleeping Beauty, meal time."

The came awake slowly, eyes clinched shut for a moment to drive away the pain. Luna took a couple of deep breath, willing herself not to appear weak in front of her friend. Forcing her lips to comply, she smiled at him as she struggled to sit up. "Hey, you were gone for so long."

He tried not to look too guilty for having left her alone for so long. "Sorry, I...needed a walk."

"I understand," she reached out and touched his hand, her cold fingers barely brushing his. "Any time you need to leave, just do it. I don't want to be a problem for you."

"You're not a problem," he bent and retrieved the tray. "Here, I bought you some food. Sorry no pancakes, after the tenth one got stuck on the ceiling, I gave up. Hope you like waffles."

"Waffles," her face brightened considerably. "They're my favorite." She dipped a finger into the cream and bought it to her lips. "Umm.... Oh thank you, Key."

Key silently thanked Taemin for his considerable memory. "I'm glad you like it. I bought you some of this new hot sauce they were pushing at the store. I've got the regular kind in the kitchen if you don't like these."

Luna picked up the bottle and examined it for a moment. "Green Tabasco sauce?"

He shrugged, wanting to keep it all light. "They're supposed to be as good as the red. But what do I know?"

Feeling adventurous, "Well, you only live once, or twice in my case," and poured some onto her waffles.

Key could almost feel himself turn as green as the hot sauce.

Taking a big forkful, Luna savored the sweet and hot taste with pleasure. "Oh, this is wonderful."

"I take it green agrees with you?"

"You can't even tell the difference," she smiled and offered him a forkful. "Want some?" He backed away so fast that he knocked over the stool he sat on. Laughing, Luna offered her hand. "I know, I know, it's not to your taste. But how would you know unless you try some?" She bit into the food with a wistful smile. “Jonghyun would sometimes sneak a spoonful here and there."

"You mean Jonghyun actually tried that?" Key shook his head in amusement. "He's braver than I thought."

She laughed, glad for the happier memories to reminisce about. "You know who makes the best waffles? Not that yours is not great and all..."

"Right," he laughed and rolled his eyes. "Who?"

"Minho," she smiled remembering the guy in this apron and hat pretending to slave over a hot stove in the back. "I loved it when he cooked at the Crashdown. He knew just how crispy to make the fries, or how hot to make the soup. And he always added extra whipped cream when you ordered waffles with the works." She smiled, appearing like a sweet child talking of her favorite brother. "Everyone always compliments him on how fast he could get the orders out. Of course he cheated and used his powers. The only thing he wouldn't cook with his energy was the hamburger. Said it made them taste funny when he did that."

Key laughed. "Amber use to complain about that as well."

"Sheriff Minjong wouldn't let me cook hotdogs that way either, said it took all the flavoring out of it." She glanced down at the half eaten meal, feeling suddenly sad. "I miss him." Smiling suddenly with fondness, she looked up at Key. "I miss having him yell at me about cleaning up the living room, or making the bed, or not closing the curtains when I cook so no one would see."

Key held her hand as he forked up piece that appeared not to have any hot sauce on it. "It's not too late to go back."

She shook her head quickly and set the tray aside. "No, I can't." She squeezed his hand. "But you..."

"Let's not go there again."

Turning solemn, she turned to him. "Key, let's be serious here. You have your life to look forward to. All it would take is about two minutes of deep mind-warp and it can all be yours again."

"Luna..." pulling away.

"No, listen," she tugged on his arm. "I'm not going to last much longer and I have to do it soon, while I'm still strong enough to do so. I can make other arrangements to dispose of my body, it doesn't have to be you."

"Oh course it does," he took a deep breath and prepared himself. "We're in this together remember? You and me, against the universe."

She smiled, "I wish I had been a better friend to you."

"You're the best."

"No I am not. I'm so selfish to have dragged you into this whole big..." she gasped as the shooting pain started once more and she doubled over in agony.
 

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Taemin and Jonghyun jerked up almost at the exact same moment, both wanting to go to her at the sight of her pain. Minho managed to tackled Taemin before he revealed their location and Minjong grabbed Jonghyun's arm before the boy could move more than an inch from his position.

"Down, you two," Amber hissed as she peeked up over the windowsill. As much as she had hated Luna before, watching her in agony like that... *We really misjudged you, did we? You really cared about us, didn't you?*

Taemin held his breath - willing her his strength - as he watched Key rock her slowly, trying to ease her pain. *Hang in there, Luna. Just hang in there.*

"Breathe, Luna," Key's murmured soothingly over the painful gasps as Luna tried to force air into her lungs while keeping the pain a bay. "Come on, breathe slow now." His arms were tight around her, trying to absorb some of the ache that twisted her beautiful features. "I gotcha. I gotcha."

Krystal's nails dug deep into Minho's arm as she stared blankly at the wall, almost as if she could see through it. "She's really dying." Until that moment, Krystal's mind hadn't accepted that Luna did this for Taemin and the others. It was unreal. But faced with that kind of self-sacrifice, she felt her heart clinch painfully and her eyes water. "Minho, she's really going to die, isn't she?"

Choi Minho lived for three things. Finding out the truth of his past, Taemin and Amber. He'd be the first to admit to never completely trusted Luna. Sure she was there, always helping him develop his powers, pushing him to the limits to make him better. There were things she would say to him that made him nervous. [Minho, you have to get better. Taemin and Amber, they depend on you to protect them. In war, it's kill or be killed. And there are always sacrifices to be made.] He swallowed the lump in his throat. *She always sounded so cold-hearted when she said those things. Like she expected me to sacrifice myself or something. No, she was talking about herself, about the sacrifices that she was preparing to make for us.*

"Stay with me now," Key sniffed as he shifted her tighter in his arms. "Just hang on, it'll pass soon. Just hang on," he could hear her shallow breath, coming haltingly. "Just breathe through it."

Sulli stared into the sky, her eyes filling with painfully hot tears. *You were doing it all cause you loved Taemin, weren't you Luna? I lied to him cause I loved him. You'd die for him cause you loved him. You were even going to allow me to have him.* She didn't know whether to thank her or curse her.

Minjong held his son, whether it was to archer himself to his spot or to stop Jonghyun from going to Luna, he wasn't sure. *Oh god, kid. Why didn't you just tell me? I would have helped you.*

Jonghyun bit his lip. *Big boys don't cry. Big boys don't cry.* But he did. He cried cause his little sister was in pain and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. 

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 if there's one thing you can never doubt about Luna it's her love for Taemin.

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