"I'll be right back, Lucy." Kai said, unnatural plumes of smoke rolling up his legs. Before he could disappear into the reaches of space again, Luca's hand shot out and grabbed his ankle. As his startled eyes met hers, the universe smashed into her senses once more. 

"What are you doing?" He yelled.

She looked around; they had appeared a short distance away from the raging flames Chanyeol had summoned. Not close enough. She finally got back on her feet and started running. 

"Lucia!" Kai's voice came faintly behind her. She hoped he stuck to running, because if he decided to teleport, she wouldn't stand a chance. 

The heat hit her somewhere about two meters before the fire begun. The smoke was so thick, she could only make out figures through her tears. 

"Princess?" Xiumin yelled. "What are you doing here?" 

"Get her out of here!" Someone else shouted.

"Kai!"

She didn't hear them. Couldn't hear them. As she ran around in a frenzy, she only succeeded in becoming more and more disoriented. Just one thing banged into her skull again and again and again; she didn't want the demons to die. She didn't exactly know how she would save them, if she could at all, but she wasn't going to sit in a field and watch them burn, no matter how much it irked the princes. 

Unfortunately, in her distress, she ran into Tao. As soon as he spotted her, his hand was around her wrist. 

"You're out of here." He growled, as if dealing with an unruly child. He must've realized she wasn't listening to him as soon as she looked up at him. A thought had dawned on her. Her eyes were filled with a desperate sort of hope. 

"Stop them." Luca said, her gaze boring into his.

Tao's grip slackened from the shock. "What?"

"Make them stop!" She urged him. "Please!"

"I can't do that, Princess." He replied, his tone lower, less aggressive. 

"Yes, you can." His hand tightened and he started walking, pulling her along. She struggled, trying to pull herself free, but to no avail. "I know you can do it! Tao!" She yelled through her efforts. "Tao!" She grunted, the knot that had built up in growing heavier. "Let me go!"

"Zitao!"

Just like that, the world froze. Even the fire was no longer hot. 

He let go of her wrist and turned to her, his face cast in shadow. 

"Tao, please. I can't let this happen." She pleaded. He did not speak. "Tao." The tears were streaming down her face.

"Just do whatever you want." He sounded detached, truly uncaring. But as wrongly as his words settled in the pit of her stomach, on