~*Chapter Seven *~

The night air was cold against your skin that wasn’t protected by any outer clothing. You were clad in grey sweats and a white t-shirt and your arms were covered in goose bumps as Baekhyun held your hand tightly and guided you through the air. You had stood back in awe as he simply flicked his hand and the bars from the small window flew off soundlessly and you stepped out, walking on the air. It all seemed like a dream and you couldn’t believe that it was all actually happening.

“Hold on tight,” he whispered as he tugged on your hand and you swirled through the air, switching directions. The stars blurred past you like you were on a rollercoaster and your eyes began to water as the cold air blew past you. Using the back of your hand, you wiped the stream running from your eyes and continued to look around wide eyed in awe.

“Baekhyun,” you whispered, squeezing his hand. He hummed in response and you thought for a moment before you spoke, “There’s somewhere I want to visit before we go to Neverland.”

“Sure where do-” Baekhyun was cut off by a small voice that even though you could just about hear, was sharp and cold, the complete opposite to its appearance.

“We don’t have time to make any stupid stops.”

You searched around you for the voice and found that it was the small light that was flying alongside Baekhyun. You hadn’t noticed until now that it was even there, but you narrowed your eyes as you tried to see past the bright light surrounding the creature. It was hard, but you could just make out the outline of a small body and when you looked away, your vision was clouded with bright spots, like when you look at the sun.

“Of course we do, Tink,” Baekhyun said through gritted teeth, turning to look at the small creature. So that must be Tinkerbell you thought to yourself, remembering the sketch of her in his book. He made a gesture with his hands as he spoke in a hushed tone, inaudible to your ears. He turned back around, his smile returning as he spoke, “Where is it you wanted to go?”

“I wanted to visit my family one last time,” you whispered, looking away from him. You didn’t know why you did, but you kind of felt embarrassed at your request. You had said you wanted to forget, but you just wanted to say one final goodbye before you left for who-knows how long.

“Sure, where’s their house?”

You inhaled sharply and tried to stop your voice from shaking before you spoke again, “They don’t live in a house,” you said quietly, your grip on his hand loosening. He gripped it tighter again, remembering that you were still in the air and if you did let go, you’d tumble to the ground.

“Oh, so… where do they live then?” he tilted his head as he spoke, trying to search your eyes that were avoiding his at all costs.

“The cemetery,” you whispered. His eyes widened and he gulped, straightening up.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, giving your hand a squeeze as you hovered in mid air. You didn't get why people said they were sorry. It wasn't Baekhyun's fault that they were gone. You shrugged it off.

You were lucky it was night, if this had been done in broad daylight, who knows who could have seen you flying around in the sky. You were also lucky that you were surrounded by trees at this precise moment. He nodded to himself, trying to shake the awkward silence that had fallen and Tinkerbell clicked her tiny tongue, tapping her foot soundlessly in the night air, arms crossed tightly over her chest. He pulled you gently forward again and you began to glide through the air. Nobody spoke as you flew towards the cemetery that your family had been buried in. You were allowed to go to the funeral, but you were accompanied by doctors and you were still in a wheelchair. You remembered precisely where they were buried, you couldn’t forget. That’s why you needed to get to Neverland.

You landed on the grass with a light rustle; your feet were only clad in socks and the ground was slightly damp underneath them. You could feel the cold wet ground seep in to your socks as you walked through the cemetery, leading the way, still holding on to Baekhyun’s hand like your life depended on it. He didn’t make a sound; he simply let you lead him until you eventually arrived right in front of the large grave that held your mother, father and brother underneath. You finally let go of Baekhyun’s hand when you stepped forward hesitantly, reaching out to feel the grooves in the cold stone where your family’s names were engraved. You ran your fingers across each of the names, saying goodbye to each of them in your head. A few tears escaped your eyes and ran silently down your cheeks and you closed your eyes to blink them away.

You said your final goodbye to them all and blinked hard, shaking away all of your tears. With the back of your hand, you wiped your eyes and dried your cheeks, sniffing before shaking your whole body, as if to rid yourself of all bad and negative thoughts. “Thank you,” you whispered under your breath to the grave before you turned around and smiled wanly. Baekhyun gave you a sympathetic look before pulling you towards him in to a tight hug. You were taken aback by the sudden move but you relaxed in his tight embrace, letting a few more tears escape on to his shoulder. You sobbed quietly until all of your tears had fallen; you didn’t have any left to cry.

“It’s OK,” he whispered, rubbing your back comfortingly. You held on to him until your breathing had calmed down and you could actually think straight. Sniffing one last time you broke away and looked up in to his brown eyes. Even in complete darkness, you could still see the mischievous twinkle in his eye that told you adventure was definitely ahead. His hand found yours again and your fingers intertwined without you even noticing. It seemed completely normal for his hand to be in yours now. It felt like it was the right place to be. The only place to be.

“Come on, we don’t have forever in this stupid place,” Tinkerbell huffed impatiently as she watched over the scene in front of her.

“She’s right,” you nodded, not wanting the fiery tempered fairy to get angry, she may be tiny, but she was still quite scary and intimidating.

“Then let us go,” he grinned, shifting your hand so your arm linked in his. He stepped in to the air gracefully, taking you with him. Your feet dangled in the air as he continued to scale the sky like steps, climbing higher and higher in to the sky until you were nothing but what seemed like birds against the moon. You were flying again, gliding through the air, your hair billowing behind you as you leant forward like you were laying down flat on your stomach in mid air. It felt like you were lying on a black blanket of stars and you inhaled deeply, savouring the moment, what if you forgot this when you got to Neverland?

You whizzed over the roofs of houses, schools and other buildings, watching them pass by in a colourful blur. You hadn’t seen them in such a long time; you had almost forgotten what they even looked like. You zoomed over lakes, dropping low enough for you to touch the surface of the water, causing it to splash lightly and spray in all sorts of directions. You giggled as the spray splashed up your arms, the cold water making you gasp at first. The watery smell reminded you of when you went on a paddleboat trip with your family and your brother would fish out a palm full of water from underneath you and then proceed to throw it in your face. You gasped and shouted at him at first, but eventually, you ended up giggling and throwing water back. The water clung to your clothes and completely soaked you, the fresh water’s smell being the most unforgettable of scents.

Baekhyun’s gaze didn’t wander off you. He watched your mouth spread in to a smile with a small smile of his own, he liked the dimples that formed in your cheeks and the sweet sound you made when you laughed. He was only forced to look away when Tinkerbell pinched his arm as hard as she could, causing him to snap back in to reality and whip his head around to face her. She looked at him with an irritated scowl and shook her head disapprovingly, muttering under her breath. Baekhyun looked at her puzzled as if he had no idea what could possibly be wrong, he didn’t see anything but you as you flew higher and higher. Tinkerbell huffed and blew her blonde fringe out of her vision, rolling her eyes as she flew further away from you both so she was ahead and she didn’t look back, not even once.

You looked ahead and kept on following the second star to the right, just like Baekhyun had said. You wondered how this was going to work, as you pondered it, a nervous swarm of butterflies kicked up in your stomach and you suddenly felt uneasy. Baekhyun noticed your shift in mood and like always, gave your hand a reassuring squeeze and a warm smile. His comfort hit you like a wave and calmness washed over you as you got closer and closer to the star. It seemed impossible, the star seemed to start approaching you, rather than the other way around. It began to grow in size, pulsating like a heart as it grew, the blinding light spreading out in front of you.

“Are you ready?” Baekhyun asked, coming to a halt in front of it. You looked around, how could nobody see this? It was like the star was exploding in to a second sun, right before your eyes. You wondered how you weren’t yet blind.

You looked over to Baekhyun, panicked and worried again. You gave him a slight nod and brought your body closer to his. He put his arm around your shoulder and gently pulled you towards the light until it enveloped you completely.

***

The light was blinding. You saw nothing but white all around, for what seemed like miles. It seemed to fill you completely; it was like your eyes, ears, nose and mouth were full of this blinding light and you couldn’t escape. You seemed to have lost Baekhyun in amongst the process of you tumbling and falling around in the white nothingness, you looked around frantically for him. Your arms and legs were flailing around, searching for something to grab on to; it felt like you were falling back down through the sky to earth again. You closed your eyes tightly trying to block everything out and the next thing you knew, it was like a light switch had clicked and everything turned black.

***

“Is she dead?” was the first thing you heard when you started coming around. You kept your eyes shut, scared of the unfamiliar voice. What had happened?

“Who cares,” came a small female voice. You seemed to recognise this voice. It was cold and harsh and it sparked and stirred memories within you. Then it clicked.

Was this Neverland?

Did you make it?

You decided to keep your breathing even and your eyes shut for now. The smell of wood filled your nostrils as you breathed steadily through your nose. Were you in a tree house?

“Where’s Baekhyun?” the same male voice asked. You stopped breathing for a second at the mention of his name. Now you knew you were in Neverland. You wanted to see Baekhyun, to have him take you to all of those places he promised. You were suddenly remembering lots of things and then a pang hit your chest when you thought of your parents.

Weren’t you supposed to forget in Neverland?

Wasn’t this all supposed to go away.

Your eyes flickered open when you thought that you were going to start crying, you needed something to take your mind off them. You thought that Neverland would do that straight away, obviously you were either wrong, or Baekhyun had lied.

“Oh! She’s awake!”

You sat up and you seemed to be on some sort of wooden bed. You shifted your weight and felt that you were on some sort of straw mattress, covered with several sheets and stuffed mounds of material as pillows sat at the top. As soon as you looked around you saw three boys you had never seen before, crowded around your bed, staring at you with wide eyes. You gasped and jumped back slightly when you saw that one had a striking resemblance to your deceased brother. He had the same dark, large eyes, lanky frame and vacant expression. Next to him stood a much shorter boy with equally as big eyes, they held a small sparkle, not the same as Baekhyun’s, but it was friendlier and calmer. The third boy had beautiful tanned skin and plump lips, he stood further back than the other two, but he stood there nonetheless.

“Hello,” the one who looked like your brother said cheerily. He had a deep, calming voice and you recognised that it was the first voice you had heard just minutes ago. You tilted your head as you studied him; his voice did not match his cute face but you couldn’t imagine him making any other sounds.

“Can you talk or are you a mute?” the tanned one asked impatiently. You jumped a little at his harsh tone and stared at him, unsure of what to say.

“Kai, you’re scaring her,” the shorter one scalded him. He gave you a wide grin before continuing, “Are you OK?”

You gave him a quick nod and he turned back to the taller one, “Go and get Baekhyun.”

The taller one pouted and sighed, but trudged off out the door, waiting for him to return with the boy from the asylum. You drew your knees up to your chest, kicking off the thin blanket sheet that was covering you as you waited patiently, twiddling with your thumbs.

“I’m Kyungsoo,” the short one smiled sweetly, holding out a hand for you to shake. You took it hesitantly, “Or you can call me D.O, the others do.”

“I prefer Kyungsoo,” you said quietly. He gave you another dashing smile, “What’s your name?”

“Semmi,” you returned his handshake and he helped you up to your feet. Just as you stood on shaky legs, the other boy returned with Baekhyun who stood in the doorway wearing tight black jeans and a dark, forest green hoody with his beanie covering his dishevelled hair.

“Baekhyun,” you said breathlessly, a smile spreading across your face as you gave him a small wave. Instead of giving you his charming smile back, he gave you a scowl as his lips pursed in to a small pout. His eyebrows knitted together and the glint in his eyes was gone. “Baekhyun?”

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A/N: Sorry I was so long! I was on holiday! Kekeke, I'm back now, so I'll try my best to update everything!:)