Luhan blasted the Abbies away from his body, his telekinesis making them fly like so much debris from a volcano bursting. Beside him, Chanyeol used his power to set them on fire and watched them like a strange fireworks display. His eyes were way too happy as he saw their ashes land and combined with his megawatt smile, it was kinda… okay, it was definitely creepy. He looked like a psychopath.

‘How many was that?’ Chanyeol asked casually, taking out his cellphone to text.

‘Twenty five, I think.’ Luhan estimated from the smoldering ashes that were falling to ground.

‘Hah, Baek’s only got five…’ Chanyeol laughed, typing the number and hitting send. ‘And Kris managed eighteen.’

Seeing as Baekhyun was prone to run away when confronted with trouble instead of using his combat skills, five was a pretty high number.

They were prowling around in the area Suho had designated as base 2, as they sought to draw out abbies so they could locate the portal that would lead them to the Abyss. D.O might’ve been on a terribly short leash these days but whenever his satanic tendencies came out, he churned up brilliant plans that could, in all honesty, be used to take over the world. Chen had it right when he said he was an evil lord planning world domination.

Thankfully, Suho had gone over it and toned down the gore, violence and needless chaos in the human world to a bare minimum and Luhan had to admit, the plan was working pretty well. They’d managed to narrow down the possible locations of the portal to a mere six points and if their strategy worked, they’d be on Evil’s in no time.

Just then, there was zipping sound right behind him and they turned to find Kai grinning at them. ‘Thirty three.’ He told them proudly, dragging a groan out of them.

Of course D.O would have the most kills. The guy was scary even in normal days – add the mating fever and sheer craziness after seeing his Shadow getting tortured and damn, he could almost feel sorry for the Abbies. They must’ve been torn to bits.

‘It’s code three for base six and I’ve been sent to gather all hands.’

‘Can we ask Suho to stop using these stupid codes?’ Luhan muttered, extending his hand to grasp Kai’s as Chanyeol did the same. ‘Can’t he just say ‘get your asses to cub station!’ instead?’

Kai let out a laugh, then without giving him a chance to prepare, teleported.

The experience, as always, was terrible. It was like being squeezed through a particularly tight tunnel that pressed in from all sides – or as Sehun had put it, like forcing poop out when constipated, a description that made Luhan feel a little nauseated. He felt choked up and the need to breathe had him panicking when they popped back into existence.

Luhan swallowed large gulps of air hurriedly, heart rate slowing down. Kai rolled his eyes at that and bumped his shoulder into Luhan’s. ‘Sissy.’ He muttered, a smirk forming on his face as he moved away.

Not one to let any challenges to his manliness go unanswered, Luhan stuck his foot out and Kai stumbled. Naturally, he kicked his own legs out; Luhan fell and they both entangled with each other, wrestling and rolling on the ground.

Luhan finally pinned Kai to the ground and stood up, dusting his clothes. He extended his arm to help his Shadow up and had just grasped his hand when there was a sudden push and he fell forward, his feet tangling and they crashed to the ground. The jerk made Kai bounce up and their mouths banged together painfully.

There were several bright flashes that temporarily blinded him as he straightened, tenderly touching his bleeding lip, lifting an arm to cover his eyes. The hysterical laughs alerted him that the push had been deliberate.

‘What the hell?’ He demanded, blinking rapidly to adjust his eyes to the dark after the painful flashes – camera, he realized.

‘Done!’ Tao announced happily, laughing that girl-in-hysterics laugh again. Beside him, Sehun let out a goat sound that he passed off as a laugh these days and lifted his own phone, whistling as he saw whatever Tao had sent him.

‘What…?’ Luhan’s demand faded when he saw exactly what the cubs were dong. ‘Don’t you dare hit…’

‘Sent!’ Tao proclaimed triumphantly.

‘Ya!’ Luhan hit his neck, then grabbed him by the scruff and pulled him down to beat him up properly. ‘I told you not to – what did you even write???’ He snatched the cellphone out of his hands to see that Tao had sent the misleading picture of his and Kai’s kiss with the words ‘See what your boyfriend does behind your back!’

To Mei.

Horror crashed through him and he let go of the cub’s neck, hurriedly pulling out his own cellphone. What the hell were they thinking?

Kai had better luck in preventing Sehun from sending a similar message to Tiffany and was trying to take his cellphone away from him. However, Sehun had created an air barrier around himself, preventing Kai from teleporting near him and Kai was growling, his teeth bared threateningly – which had no effect whatsoever on the cub who had the naughtiest smile on his face and he held his thumb threateningly over the ‘send’ button.

Luhan typed a quick message and sent it to Mei, then snatched Tao’s phone from his hands and deleted the picture from his phone. Tao whined in his ear but Luhan wasn’t having any of that. Thankfully, Mei’s lighthearted reply put him at ease and he chatted with her for a couple of minutes before saying goodbye. They were on duty, after all.

Kai and Sehun were still busy, now rolling on the ground. Kai had somehow managed to penetrate his shield and was clawing at his hands to take the phone away. Sehun, using his new height to the fullest, wrapped his legs around Kai’s waist to keep him in place and his arms extended over his head, keeping the cellphone out of reach and oh, this was just too good to pass up…

‘LUHAN!!!’ Kai’s protest was completely drowned by Sehun’s goat-getting-slaughtered screech but before any of them could do anything else, another voice rang out.

‘Enough!’ Suho hadn’t even raised his voice that much but something in voice warned them all that he was on a really short restraint right now. Kai and Sehun stood up hurriedly, Tao discreetly placed himself behind Luhan and they all turned to look at the leader.

‘Wha…’ Luhan began but shut up at the sight of the figure on the ground. ‘What’s wrong with D.O?’

‘I don’t know but whatever it is, it’s not good so I would appreciate if you start acting like adults and pay some ing attention. Tao!’ He snapped at the cub, ‘Get in position!’

That was when Luhan noticed the rest of the Legends were surrounding D.O’s slumped figure in a protective circle, eyes glued to every side, acting as a defense until their brother woke up. He shifted to the side, making room for Kai to slide in beside him as Tao went over to Sehun’s and they stared at the walls.

They were in a blind alleyway that would’ve been unremarkable but for the strange, pulsing cleft in the wall at the dead end. The portal.

Oh, so this was why Suho had asked them all to gather here. Were they going to follow D.O’s plan to the end, then? Invade Abyss? Hadn’t they decided to change that this part of the plan? Lay’s suggestion to sneak one or two of them inside was more sensible and…

‘No, you don’t!’ Chanyeol’s voice was harsh, too harsh and too angry as he spied the abbies who’d just slipped out of the portal. Before they could blink, he’d set them on fire and was glowering so fiercely, it was actually scary.

Chanyeol’s normally happy visage was completely altered as he sported a seriously-pissed-off-and-getting-really-tired-of-this- look that made him look frightening and much more like Kris’s Shadow. If he’d looked crazy back then, he looked downright homicidal now.

When the abbies had burnt to mere ashes, smoldering and blowing in the light wind, Chanyeol blinked as if coming out of a trance. The killer look vanished as his gaze landed on D.O’s unconscious figure and he bit his lip, suddenly looking close to tears. He swallowed as his huge shoulders shook and he hurriedly looked away.

Baekhyun’s hand found its way around the giant’s neck and he patted it soothingly, comforting his friend. Lay, beside Baekhyun, extended his arm so it rested on Chanyeol’s back and Luhan didn’t have to look to know he was sending healing energy. Chanyeol smiled thankfully down at them before sighing and looking away.

It was their tensest night since they’d come on earth, standing vigil on the Abyss and waiting for their brother to regain his senses. Chen was in there, possibly steps away but they needed D.O to find him – the Shadow link was the only thing that could lead them directly to him, like a homing signal, instead of scrambling cluelessly in the virtually limitless depths of the Abyss.

The silence among them was heavy and tense. Luhan’s stomach roiled with tension as more and more time passed but no abbies came out and D.O showed no signs of waking up. Surely Evil could sense them, gathered together as they were and not bothering to hide their powers – he had to be planning something big and the suspense was killing them.  

Suho’s lip was nearly bleeding, chewed out so thoroughly and even the cubs were being quiet, not even fidgeting as they were prone to, their eyes trained on their surroundings, bodies ready to move at a moment’s notice.

The groan that rose from the circle didn’t ease the tension at all. It was a pained, miserable howl of a dying beast and as one, they shifted from defense to offense, closing ranks so that the circle was even tighter and their hands stretched out, and in Baekhyun’s and Lay’s case, weapons at the ready.

The sound of bone against concrete and the cracks that suddenly appeared under their feet made them turn around and then hurriedly back off as D.O’s head landed painfully against the ground again, forehead bleeding, eyes red and unseeing. His teeth were bared in a growl but he howled in misery, throwing his head back like a real wolf, his hands fisted into punches that tunneled through the concrete, uncaring of the torn skin and broken knuckles.

As blood mixed with tears pouring down his face, a terrible suspicion rose in his mind. Chanyeol was staring at D.O, shaking his head in denial but his knees gave out and he collapsed on the ground, shell shocked.

‘NO!!!’

Luhan realized D.O had been howling that same word over and over again and denial ran through him as he saw realization dawn on the others. His own head shook and he opened his mouth to say something, anything – it was impossible, right? They were standing right outside Evil’s hideout, they had found him, he couldn’t leave them just now, and surely this wasn’t true.

But lightening, bright and loud, flashed across the sky and as D.O’s howl turned into a roar of misery and a blow landed on the ground again, cracking the road for miles, in a reflection of his emotions, it struck the building they were standing next to.

As the ground shook and the building struggled to stay upright, the undeniable truth sank – no, forced itself – through their dazed heads.

Chen was dead.

.............................

A/N

I'm sorry >___<

CHEN!!! *sobss*