Lay had been feeling much better lately, not like he was going to fall apart any second.

He still couldn't heal anyone or anything and he still kept pushing the visions that crowded his head away, doing his best to ignore them. But he didn't feel so… sad and lonely anymore. There was someone who saw his pain, who knew there was something to soothe.

Sure, Baekhyun had been there for him – always – but he couldn't do this to his Shadow, couldn't express exactly how unhappy he was, couldn’t ask for his exclusive attention when the guy had so many other things to worry about. Like Chanyeol and Chen, his best friends, and the cubs – ever since he'd joined the university, Suho had been relying on him to take care of the Legends there. And then, there was D.O…

Unlike previous times, Lay had no idea if the guy would come back or not – he had deliberately pushed every little vision away, so he was waiting, like the rest of them, for him to show up. For once, he was standing on the same ground as his brothers and it was blissful. He tried not to feel guilty – if someone got hurt this time, he didn’t even have his ability to help them. And he was deliberately closing his eyes when he could have forewarning but…

But he'd had enough. Enough of always knowing when disaster was headed their way and yet, always being helpless to prevent it. Forewarning was nothing if he couldn't affect any change, if he couldn’t protect his loved ones when it mattered. was going to hit the fan anyway...

'Penny for your thoughts?' The voice dragged him out of his depressing thoughts and he blinked his blurry eyes, washing the unformed tears away. He forced his lips to curve as he looked up, though his mouth would stretch only so far before it fell in a straight line.

'Hmm?' He sounded dazed, though it wasn't surprising because he'd been so deep in his thoughts. She chuckled softly, the sound sweet and happy, a complete contrast to his emotions.

'I don't know what you're thinking about but don't frown so much. It doesn’t suit you.' She placed the steaming cup of cappuccino in front of him. 'Drink up.'

He stared at the cup – or rather, her fingers resting beside it. They were covered in band aids again. 'What happened?' He mused.

'Hmm? Oh this?' She clenched them and then let go. 'I need to be more careful when pouring the hot water.' She sounded pained and he wasn’t surprised to find her eyes watery when he looked at her face.

He was again possessed with the desire to heal her – she healed him every time she talked to him like this, giving him the impression that she cared, that she noticed when he was down. It made him want to do something in return. Sadly, the one thing he could offer had been taken away.

But there was no harm in trying, right? He motioned for her to show him her hand. She put her hand in his hesitantly and he rubbed his fingers over it, closing his eyes and trying to find that spark inside himself.

There was nothing but penetrating darkness and he felt disheartened. Was it really the end for him? He'd known his powers were decreasing every time he healed, ever since his first experiment with Evil. The energy that had flowed inside him had been blocked by the darkness he'd taken inside himself but he hadn’t thought it would be a problem. After all, he took the pain inside him every time he healed anyone and somehow his system channeled that pain, recycled it and assimilated it into his power… like digesting.

But Evil's essence was still inside him, it hadn’t been consumed or rechanneled like everything else and in their last battle, he'd taken another part of the darkness inside him. Was it really any surprise that it had extinguished the light? His powers had drained exponentially and when he'd healed his brothers, he'd been too easily exhausted.

But he couldn't have left them like that, on their own devices when he could heal them. So he'd ignored all the warning signals inside him, healing and healing until everyone was alright and he was left an empty shell, devoid of all light.

He let go of her hand, disappointed. There was no hope for him, he couldn’t even thank her properly. 'It's useless…' he muttered.

'Not at all.' She contradicted him, like usual, flexing her fingers and suppressing her pained grimace. 'See?'

He smiled at that, not fully but as much as he could. She always said that when he tried and failed to heal her – like the coffee, this had also become a part of their routine. And he drew comfort from it. Her belief in him made him want to find his powers again instead of giving up. He glanced up at her again and muttered a heartfelt 'Thank you.' She smiled abashedly, hurriedly looking away and he smiled at that. This, too, was a routine. For a creature of habit like him, it was comforting and he took heart from it.

'Ya!' Baekhyun's voice was loud and welcome as he slid in the stool beside Lay. 'Stop keeping the pretty lady to yourself!' He slapped his back, making him jerk and almost hit his chin on the counter. 'Let us have some fun too!'  

He only smiled at that, the vibrant presence beside him engaging and warm. He felt himself filling up with warmth and realized Baekhyun was trying to channel his energy inside him. He grabbed his Shadow's hand, resting on his shoulder, and squeezed it, telling him to quit. The energy would get wasted, striking against the darkness inside him. No need to drain his Shadow as well.

Baekhyun's smile faltered for a millisecond as he felt Lay blocking the link but he rallied immediately, backing off. Lay smiled his thanks and started sipping his coffee.

………………………………..

Baekhyun was getting annoyed of Lay's constant depression.

Not that he didn’t understand it – the past few months had been terrible for all of them and he'd probably seen everything beforehand. And then, he'd lost his powers. Baekhyun knew his Shadow well enough to know he was blaming himself for everything that he'd foreseen, for not telling things, for not being able to do anything and he didn’t need their link to know that.

He wasn't much of a thinker himself, unless it involved pranking. And he didn’t have problem doing things that weren't completely moralistic or ethical – perks of being a prankster. But his Shadow would think and rethink everything and keep wondering about the rights and wrongs. Baekhyun couldn’t imagine the sort of dilemma Lay went through when he foresaw stuff and he wouldn't even pretend to understand that.

But really, how depressed did you have to be to not see a girl who was so obviously into you??? He'd seen this same thing happen over the past week and every time he hoped Lay would pick up on the not-so-subtle clues she was giving him. Not that he thought she was aware just how obvious she was either.

At first, he'd thought it was cute, seeing them both fumbling around. Or well, see Raina fumble around, trying not to get flustered every time Lay grabbed her hand in an effort to heal her. Lay was too depressed to notice it.

But he wasn't a patient person and this whole thing was making him feel for the girl. Though, since she'd saved his brother, he supposed he was a little biased in her favor. Whatever, he didn't think Lay was doing anything for the girl's confidence by being so oblivious, so he, being the nice brother he was, took it on himself to give it a boost.

By flirting with her. What? He was a guy, what else did you expect??? Don’t judge.

Raina blushed when he completed his sentence, sliding into the stool beside Lay's and putting his hands on the counter, his fingers drumming on the surface. 'So… may I have some of your attention too, pretty lady?' He winked, enjoying how easily she was intimidated.

Apparently, she found his handsomeness intimidating – if Tiffany was to be believed – and well, he wasn’t averse to a little ego-boost himself. He put his chin in his hands and gave her his best puppy dog look.

'I haven’t been served even though I was waiting over there for so long…' he whined, pouting a little and making her blush harder. She cleared a few times before speaking. 'I'm sorry, there are a lot of customers tonight.'

Well, no . Who would want to miss a chance of the hot little owner make out with her hot boyfriend aka Xiumin? When he'd seen the video, he'd felt really envious of his brother. Luhan and Suho probably got that kind of action with their girls every day, maybe even Kai. And Sehun had found his mate, so obviously he wouldn't stay far behind. D.O, when he found his mate, wouldn't bother with pleasantries and just get straight to business, cause that's the sort of anim--, er, guy he was.

Point being, even cubs were getting more action than him and he was beginning to feel left out. And here was a perfect bait.

Wait, wait, wait… hold up, hadn't he decided she was Lay's? Isn't that why he'd come over, to help bridge their distance? And give her a confidence boost?

Pfft, as if you are that selfless. Sometimes he hated his brain.

I'm only helping her so she wouldn’t feel bad about Lay not responding to her advances.

Since when obsessive staring an 'advance'? Hmm??? His brain, often speaking in the voice of Chen, demanded. He thought about it for a second. Okay, so she wasn’t doing anything but it was obvious, even to the blind, she liked the guy.

She doesn't get tongue-tied around Lay… Chen reasoned devilishly. Well, there was that. And she'd admitted she found him handsome. So why was he holding back?

Ah crap, his brain had to work in the weirdest ways. Whose mind convinced them to break their own sacred code of conduct: bros before hos? The peals of laughter inside his head assured him he was one of a kind. What kind of stupid brain did he have, that pranked its owner? , he was confused now.

And why was Raina looking so pretty all of a sudden? She wasn’t that pretty.

You are such an . Chen sounded satisfied, as if the entire purpose of this useless conversation with himself was to prove it. Well, touché. And now, he was going to leave before his own sass became his downfall.

'Ah, that's okay – it was just an excuse to talk with you.' He winked, then mentally face-palmed. Why was he hitting on her? She flushed, not meeting his eyes and mumbled incoherently but thankfully, he was smart enough to know when to back off. Smiling – and mentally face-palming again because he knew it was so flirtatious – he left, heading towards Chanyeol.

………………………

D.O's entry was unexpected and dramatic and so theatrical, it seemed like a scene straight out of a horror movie.

The shop was significantly empty now. In fact, other than the Legends and their girlfriends, all the customers had left. Although it had been difficult to convince them, since everyone was waiting around for another explosive kiss or something of the sort. And it was safe to assume a lot of them would be returning.

Raina, after Baekhyun left, returned to her usual past time – staring at Lay while he kept brooding over his cappuccino. Tiffany was trying to ignore the stares she was garnering from Kai and Sehun, both of whom had different reasons for staring.

Kai was trying to convince himself it was in their best interest to break up. Thing was, his heart was putting up more of a fight than he'd expected. It was one thing to think like that when Mei was convincing him and he was raw from jealousy but quite another when Tiffany was in front of his eyes. Every reason for staying with her surfaced its head inside him and he was going through a terrible dilemma right now.

Sehun, on the other hand, was trying to figure out whether or not Tao's news were true – that Tiffany was indeed his mate. True, he could smell her; then again, he was maturing so of course, his senses were enhancing. And even though it was highly arousing, he hadn't exactly gone around sniffing anyone else, so he wouldn't know how someone else's scent would affect him. His train of thought derailed when he saw her put a hand on her head – even though he'd taken her to the medical center, he wasn't convinced she was fine. Perhaps he should ask Lay to look at her…

Chanyeol and Tao were involved in a rap competition since both had decided to participate in the talent show coming up in a few weeks and they weren't sure whether to go solo or do a duet. Baekhyun, after joining them, declared that if they were rapping, he was participating as the main vocalist and they would debut as a band called The EXOtics.    

Suho had left with Angel to drop her back home. Mei had vanished with Luhan inside the mini-library, taking the comfy sofa and using it to snuggle while Luhan as he flipped through the magazines and Lily had decided to check on the coffee stock anyway – see if it was the coffee that was messed up – and Xiumin had just shown up to offer commentary when there was huge boom and the front doors crashed open, cracks appearing in the walls as they bounced against them and an intimidating figure silhouetted against the frame, arms spread out and eyes glowing red.

A crack of lightning struck, thunder following in its wake, a terrible, threatening sound. But still, not as threatening and frankly scary as the soft whisper that emerged from the newcomer's mouth. 'At last…'

After that, there was such a commotion that no one could say, with any certainty, what they had seen. For example, the moment the newcomer stepped inside, Kai appeared in front of him, smoke dissipating around him as a zipping sound rang in the background. Tiffany gasped in shock because it felt like Kai had just vanished and reappeared in front of the guy.

Who was growling like an animal, his eyes a crazed, glowing red and there seemed to be shadows seeping out of him, spreading a terrifying aura around him as lightening started flashing with more and more intensity. A moment later, all the lights went out and no one noticed that Baekhyun had snapped his fingers.

But of course, D.O didn't rely on his vision to guide him and besides, he'd seen the girl soon as he'd entered, so there was no point trying to hide her. He pushed Kai aside with one arm and bounded towards the counter, uncaring that his steps might be causing the floor to crack and in less than a second, he was jumping towards the gypsy girl.

Only to crash into Lay, who let out an 'oof' as he tried to push D.O off but of course, it was futile because D.O was too strong and Lay didn't have his ability, so he couldn't settle the Legend down. The lights flashed back on when Raina let out a scream and Tao stopped time.

Well, he tried. A huge gust of wind blew instead, slamming the doors against the walls again and even ruffling up the curtains, making the entire scene seem more horrorisque than before. Baekhyun smacked his head for being so useless, then tried to direct a beam towards D.O's eyes, yelling 'Three'.

Sadly, only the Legends were aware of this code word. And in this case, maybe they were too distracted by how wildly D.O was clawing at Raina, who was backed into the wall and trying to escape his wild lunges as Lay, squashed underneath the crazed Legend, did his best to push him away. Chanyeol, ever the physical guy, had decided to jump on his back and peel him off and Sehun, always on the same wavelength with his elder, had joined forces, squashing Lay even more under their combined weight.

Xiumin ran out of the store room at the commotion, then headed towards the entangled group, as Luhan, stepping out of the library, did the same. He gestured Mei to get back inside and that's when Baekhyun yelled 'Three'.

Everyone, with the exception of himself, let out yelps of pain when the light blinded them. No one had heard his voice – which was feat, since he was so loud but he could hardly compete with a shrieking girl.

Thankfully, Luhan didn't need his eyes to use his powers, neither did Xiumin and the elders joined hands, figuratively, to separate the bunch and pin D.O to the floor. D.O, while strong, couldn't stand the combined force of ice locking his limbs and the enormous pressure Luhan was exerting.

Raina slid to the floor, eyes teary – but that could be because of Baekhyun's wayward beam – and Tiffany was flapping her arms around, trying to find purchase so she could sit down and cry in peace. That lightening sure had been bright, it felt like it had hit the building. Nothing else could explain the sudden explosion of white and Lily, who'd found her way beside her, agreed.

Meanwhile, Kai, who also didn't need to use his eyes, per se, to use his power, took the opportunity to grab the Legend and take him away. Hopefully, being next to his Shadow would calm him down and then, they could talk in peace. As the zipping sound faded, the door smashed open once again and Suho entered, panting like he'd run the entire way back. 'What's going on?'

'It's all under control now.' Baekhyun, the only person whose eyes were still functioning, walked over to him to take him outside. 'D.O's back.'  

……………………………

A/N

.......I really don't know what this is. A filler of sorts, I suppose. I wanted to have some sort of chemistry between Raina and Lay but somehow, it just doesn't feel that way :/ Oh well, I believes in characters picking their own partners so not gonna force it :) Baekie being a flirt as usual and D.O ... I tried to make his entry as dramatic as possible :) Hope you enjoyed it :D Do comment, let me know what you guys think.