The next morning found them all in a rush, running around to gather their luggage because they'd been too busy having fun and no one had bothered to do the packing.

Except D.O, who was far too organized and not even the scent of his unclaimed mate could distract him. Kyra, mate in question, blushed furiously as his gaze flashed momentarily red and hid her face behind the book she was reading to Chen and Rose.

The dig was obviously directed at Suho, who'd turned in early on the premise of packing. Suho, sporting obvious signs of his amorous activities, merely grinned and resumed his doting on Angel, wrapping his arms around her waist, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling her scent as she made breakfast. 

Xiumin and Lily, too, were apparently too organized to be distracted by each other but they were the only ones. Even the single ones had put off packing to the last minute and now, everyone was at the height of disorganization that drove D.O crazy. He stomped around angrily, pulling Baekhyun ruthlessly out of his bed and onto the cold floor, putting a sleeping Chanyeol in a headlock to wake him up properly and threatening to break Tao's legs if he didn't move them.

Thanks to his rushing, they were able to leave reasonably early and arrived back at the Headquarters, choking and stumbling as Kai rapidly teleported them back and forth. Unlike their departure, the arrival was haphazard and even after making sure everything was gathered, they managed to leave important stuff behind and Kai had to go back to gather things like Chanyeol's plushie that'd gone missing and a pair of socks with hearts all over them and undergarments and things that made his head swim.

Or it could be simply that he hadn't paced himself, forgoing breakfast to get everyone back and it was beginning to take its toll, draining his evergy. After the last trip to get Chanyeol's Spongebob Squarepants underwear, he collapsed on the floor, trying to catch his breath.

Lay was on him a moment later, helping him up and shifting him to the sofa. It made him groan, the still healing stitches pulling a little all over his body but he still stretched out his arm, intent to heal written clearly all over his face.

'Don't…' Kai managed to push him back, avoiding his questing fingers. 'Suho said you can't heal.'

'I can.' Lay assured him, smiling.

'Well, you shouldn't. Baekhyun!!!' Kai rolled to the side, yelling for his Shadow. Lay pouted. 'I'm fine now.'

'No, you aren't.' Baekhyun was on him like a mother hen, ushering him away and forcing him into a chair. He put a hand on his forehead. 'You still have fever.'

'I feel better.'

'I don't care.  No healing.' Baekhyun told him firmly, narrowing his eyes on his Shadow to make sure he would stay put before slowly backing off. Kai had caught his breath enough that he didn't feel like collapsing, so he headed the kitchen to grab something to eat and get away from Lay at the same time. The healer eyed him sulkily but his Shadow's hawk eye kept him from following. Kai could sympathise with him but it was for his own good.

Lay's body was healing a lot slower than Legends usually did and Suho thought it was because he'd taken one too many doses of Evil's darkness inside him. Hence the ban on healing because he couldn’t afford to slow his progress even more. He wasn’t supposed to heal anyone at all and he'd put up quite a fight, citing annoyingly valid reasons to continue healing – like Chen, who needed maintainance because without a soul to nourish it, his body was deteroriating and it was only through Lay's constant healing that he'd held out so far.

That had put D.O in a foul mood, of course, but he'd agreed that they couldn't afford to endanger the pack's healer and it had led to a huge discussion about what were their alternatives. Eventually, D.O had even agreed – reluctantly and constantly growling in the background – to let Kyra kiss him. On the cheek because he didn't want to kill Chen with his own hands after going such lengths to save his ; plus, any self-respecting Legend would wake up if his mate kissed him, cheek or no cheek.

Chen, fast asleep, had twitched his lips in what appeared to be a teasing smile and it had lifted their hopes high but nothing had come of it. Kyra's kiss had done nothing but drive D.O to borderline insanity and he'd taken her away, refusing to let anyone near her for the next few hours or so, nursing his possessiveness.

The next course of action was quite crazy and was something they'd thrown about only as a wild speculation.

Only, D.O seemed a bit too excited at the prospect of going into the Abyss to drag Chen's soul out. They didn't even know for sure if that's where Chen's soul was – it was just a maybe that his soul was stuck in the Abyss and hadn't died out, according to what Kyra had predicted – she'd tried her best to recall the vision she'd had when she'd first met D.O – and what Luhan had told them.

Based on his recall of the early history of the Legends he'd read way back, it was another myth of sorts; the story told about the soul which had returned, years after being confined in the Abyss, and had revived the body of their ancient king, who'd gone on to banish the Red Forces, ruling in peace and prosperity for years afterwards. The Red Forces had created Evil in the years ensuing his death, when several generations later, the successors had lowered their guard, assuming the Red Forces were done for – never coming back – and then, they'd struck, wiping out their entire race.

The Legends might've discarded it earlier but Luhan literally turning into the mythical primal beast in front of their own eyes had made them more open to the idea that the myths might be true. Add the fact that Kyra had said he'd have to venture into the darkness, which in Legend-speak, equaled to Abyss. And so, D.O was convinced that Chen's soul could be found in the Abyss and was hell-bent on going in there to find it.

Something Suho was giving consideration to because Lay was right, Chen wouldn't hold up too long. Already, his body was beginning to show signs of weakening; his vital signs weren’t as stable as they should be and had dropped once over the past fortnight, needing him to be revived with emergency measures and Suho expected him to get worse.

Something that was distressing Lay more and more, making him feel useless and leading him to his stubborn attempts at trying to heal the next person he got his hands on. Kai hadn't confided this in anyone but he'd seen Lay holding Rose's hand as well and he was in no doubt as to what the healer had been up to. He'd let her go with an innocent – too innocent – smile at Kai and immediately moved away but that night, Rose had twitched her fingers and eyelids for the first time in months, according to Lily. The guy really didn't know the meaning of self-preservation and Kai didn’t blame Baekhyun for being harsh.

He poked about the kitchen, opening the fridge, the cabinets and drawers and literally any other place he could think of in hopes of finding something to satisfy his growling tummy but it was all empty. They'd made sure not to leave anything behind for the time they were leaving and now there was nothing.

'Ya, I'm hungry!!!' Tao whined, echoing his sentiments as he struggled back into the living room, his stomach growling with hunger. Kai slumped beside him, stretching his legs out. 'Me too, I'm so hungry!'

In the end, he and Tao made so much noise – accompanied by others because what the hell, there was no food in the house! – that Suho, who'd gone into his room with express orders not to disturb him, stomped outside, threw his wallet at Baekhyun's face –  who nearly swallowed it because his mouth was open – and slammed the door shut with enough force to make the walls rattle.

There was a general rush in the direction of the phone as they called to place orders and since Suho was paying, they decided to go all out. Six party size pizzas and four buckets of fried chicken and one plate of nachos – because D.O needed them if they were going to watch a movie, which they totally were – were ordered and then, they all waited impatiently for food to show up already. Stomachs were growling and they weren't the only things because hunger made Legends cranky, everyone knows that, and by the time food arrived, they were merrily engaged in arguing the out of each other.

The girls were more than grateful when the doorbell rang because it meant the Legends would finally stop fighting over stupid stuff like who had stronger arms and how made the best rapper and why D.O was best suited for being a girl and why Baekhyun needed to get his mouth stuffed with his teeth.

After stuffing their faces with food like the beasts they claimed resided only in their souls – yeah right, Tiffany thought sarcastically, watching Sehun consume an entire chicken on his own – they decided they could focus on other stuff.

Like Raina, Mei and Tiffany who needed to get back to the hostel.

'No way!' Sehun crossed his arms over his chest, Luhan mirroring his gesture.

'Yes way!' Mei and Tiffany countered, mirroring them, ready to argue. 

Tao just arched a questioning brow at Raina; she shrugged, he shrugged and patted the place beside him. She sighed, heading over and pushing him aside to make room for herself.

'It'll be easier if we don't apply for the hostel the next semester,' she explained, 'but I doubt they'd  let us withdraw at this time – its harder to find students to accommodate in the rooms and the administration hates reshuffling.'

'You'll be safer here.' Tao pointed out.

She sighed again. 'I know that… even if we do stay with you guys, we still need to make a trip to get our things. With the finals coming up…'

'Yeah.'

They watched in silent amusement as the two couples bickered over the exact same thing, getting ridiculously out of control. Raina grinned when Sehun grabbed Tiffany. 'Ten says he'll tie her to the bed.'

Tao snickered. 'Ten says he'll lock her in the toilet.'

'Ten says they'll end up making out aggressively.'

In the end, the two couples came to the same decision as Tao and Raina – that they'd talk to Suho about it. Tao gave her a superior smirk as if to say see how mature we are? Raina returned it with a similar one of her own, then yelped when Tao suddenly screeched and landed in her lap, flapping his arms around.

'Spider!!!' he shrieked, his voice getting so high it felt like it was piercing through her ear drums. She smacked his shoulder where the tiny spider rested, then kicked him off the sofa, so she could breathe. 

'You're mean.' He sniffed, rubbing his sore .

'You're stupid.' She told him, then yelped when he pulled her down so she could understand what a sore felt like.

They ended up fighting each other until his foot was on her shoulder, trying to pry her off his legs while his hands struggled to keep his pants in place and she tightened her hold around said pants, daring him to push her away and lose them, along with his underwear.

He jerked, making her bite her tongue and she retaliated, hitting his nose and he let go suddenly to cradle his throbbing nose. Which was fine and all but it made her fall backwards. She scrambled, digging her nails in for purchase and only ended up pulling his pants almost off.  Tao let out another high-pitched scream and scrambled to a stand, only to slip when his feet tangled with the loosened pants. He landed, barely managing to put his arms out in time to stop from colliding, with the full force of gravity, into Raina. Their eyes closed as they braced for impact.

There was a ringing silence around them when they opened their eyes and the relief made them smile, which was quickly wiped off as the sounds around them registered.

'Wow… impatient much?' Mei snickered, making Raina flush red.

'MY INNOCENT EYES!!!' Sehun wailed dramatically, clapping his hand over Tiffany's – who seemed tempted to ogle Tao's – eyes and covering his own. 'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?'

Tao began to sit up but Sehun yelled even more, 'NO, DON'T STAND! I DON'T WANNA SEE YOU DI-'

Luhan wisely slapped a hand over his mouth, a small, rather awkward smile quirking his lips. 'Ahm, I think we'd better give you guys some privacy.'

Raina wanted the floor underneath her to open up and swallow her. She just hoped no one else would walk i-

'Give who some privacy?' Baekhyun's voice, naughty and suggestive, floated in, followed by multiple footsteps. 'Suho and An- holy crap!!!'

Yeah, she'd thought it too soon because not only Baekhyun but Chanyeol and even D.O had walked in – like what the hell was D.O doing here? Shouldn't he be with Kyra? Her eyes widened. Oh, no. No, no, NO!

'What's going on? Why did you sto… oh.' Kyra's voice sound muffled, like she'd put a hand to .

She started pushing at Tao's shoulder to get him off her, trying to sit up – why was he still hovering, merely adding to the confusion? Why wasn't he getting off her, preferably pulling on his pants? – but when he didn't budge, she glanced up.

And gulped.

His eyes were a brilliant red, which wasn't as bad as the fact that everything around her slowed down, almost to a halt, sounds fading into the distance, leaving just the two of them suspended in the moment. A moment that just seemed to extend as his eyes dropped from hers to rest on – which suddenly felt too dry and her breath seemed to stutter as he leaned forward, as if to kiss her.

Her lips tingled in anticipation and trepidation and she had no idea what might've happened if someone hadn't broken the spell Tao had her under.

It was the loud sound of someone bumping into something that brought them both out of the trance. Tao blinked, his eyes returning to normal and suddenly let go – his hands had somehow ended around her – and she pushed away as well, dropping her arms away from his shoulders.

'Woah woah, you can't just walk away like that!!!' Baekhyun's words drifted as Tao proceeded to prove that he could, as a matter of fact, do it. He stood up in a single fluid move, yanking his pants in place and was out of the room, stalking in a predatory way that stopped the others from following or questioning him.

An awkward silence descended on the room as all eyes fell on her, then skipped away. She ignored them, heart in , as she tried to calm herself down.

What the hell just happened? She wondered wildly, giving in to the urge to fan her face because it felt like it was burning.

'Um… are you okay?' Chanyeol finally cracked under the awkwardness, stepping forward and flapping his arms around as if unsure whether to offer her a hand or not.

She nodded, suddenly becoming very self-conscious. 'I- I'm fine, thanks.'

'Oh, okay.' He nodded, looking relieved. 'Cool.'

She stood up, awkwardly dusting herself off and casting an equally awkward smile to reassure them that there was nothing to see.

Thankfully, she was saved by none other than Suho, who finally decided to step out of his room. Holding Angel's hand possessively, thus immediately setting himself up as a target for Baekhyun who seemed to take immense joy in making the leader bristle with irritation. Plus, Luhan and Sehun immediately cornered the guy, talking about what to do because of course, Mei and Tiffany weren't leaving the house.

The ensuing discussion allowed her to silently slip away. She wasn't surprised or bothered by Kyra and Tiffany showing up moments later because they were her best friends and it was their job to comfort her.

'So… how was it?'

Or not.

She glared at her bestfriends who merely wiggled her brows in response, unrepentant. The other three coming in moments later made her sigh, all intent to fight leaving her. It was going to be a long, long interrogation.

…………………………………