Angel squeezed her eyes shut, covering her ears as another sickening sizzle echoed, the bright sparkle showing even through her closed lids.

'Okay, its gone now!' Lay called, after a deafening shot.

Angel cracked an eye open cautiously. She was at the very back of the driveway, huddled inside the porch beside Suho's car. The others were also there but unlike her, they were standing and letting out ferocious war cries as Chanyeol and Lay shot down the abbies and abogs like they were in one of those zombie-apocalypse first-person-shooter games.

Chanyeol was wielding a rapid-fire LMG, grinning like a maniac with his hair standing on end as his entire frame shook with each round. 'Die, foul creatures!!!' He intoned, trying and failing to imitate Gandalf.

Lay was on top of the minivan – he'd driven it to the end of the driveway, backwards, before quickly climbing atop and setting up his sniper equipment. Now, he was lying flat on his tummy, with a camoflauge patterned blanket, complete with fake grass, thrown over him and only the barrel of his Dragunov showing through. He was shooting with less frequency than Chanyeol but he was more accurate and efficient.

Angel didn't think they really needed to fire given that any abby that attempted to climb their walls or step into the driveway sizzled up, burning to crisp by a high intensity, invisible electric field, set to operate at all times regardless of the Legends' prescence – she didn't want to see her friends become killers, even abby-killers. But as Lay had explained, the field would run out eventually and the abbies were only increasing in numbers and between them, he and Chanyeol were barely managing to keep the enchroachers at bay.

'We have to help!' Mei had declared after that and rushed inside, dragging Tiffany and Raina with her. Lily stayed with Angel, making her duck and cover her ears when she saw Angel getting pale at the violence going around her. After twenty minutes or so, they'd emerged, with painted faces, a headdress – Angel was actually quite curious as to where they'd found it – and holding Tao's weapons.

'Did you guys raid Tao's room?' Lily had asked, eyeing the katana-like sword Raina was proudly swinging. She winced as it accidently hit the car and put it down. 'Umm… maybe?'

They tried standing beside Chanyeol and Lay to fight on the 'front-lines and go down swinging like real heroes' – Tiffany's exact words – but the Legends had gone bat, pushing them back and confiscating their weapons.

'If worse comes to worst,' Chanyeol had instructed after a thorough scolding that had them hanging their heads, 'You'll barricade yourselves inside the house. Are we clear?'

Tiffany and Mei looked like they'd protest, Raina like she was ready to disregard everything and fight anyway but Lily had intervened. 'I'll make sure that they do. Don't worry about us and focus on your work.'

Nodding, Chanyeol had gone off and Tiffany and Raina had sneaked around to grab the weapons again but they were sticking close to the porch and satisfying themselves with yelling and cheering the Legends.

Angel had never heard anyone sound so bloodthirsty before.

Lily sidled next to her. 'You sure you're okay?' she had asked this earlier as well and Angel's response was the same. She shook her head, 'I'm fine.'

Lily wanted her to go inside – it'd be easier for her if she did – but she couldn't shake off her worry for Suho. Some time ago, she'd felt him go totally crazy, panic and worry flooding through her link with him. She'd reassured him, pushing forcefully against their link and he'd calmed down but she still hadn't seen him.

 The abbies were numerous and were blocking their view but she could catch glimpses of the Legends now and then, still trapped in the maze and trying to find their way out from the looks of it. She knew she would only worry more if she went inside, with no idea about what was going on, so she was staying put.

The sudden silence around her registered and she glanced up to see what was going on. Lay was sliding down from his spot on the minivan's roof, Chanyeol frowning as he leaned out a little, trying to see what was going on.

And then, it hit Angel. All the abbies were gone. She blinked in surprise because moments ago, there had been a veritable crowd and now…

'What's wrong?' Mei hurried forward. Angel followed, along with the others.

'They suddenly just… stopped.'

The girls peeked out to see that the abbies were still there, just not attacking and had, in fact, cleared the way so they could see the Legends once again. Suho and the rest were all staring in their direction as well, frowning.

Angel didn't have too much experience of battle fields or fights but she couldn't help the feeling that this sudden serenity was not good, not good at all. And though she'd never been caught in one before, she knew that this was the calm before the storm.  

And how right she was.

…………………………….

Kyra was done with the hospital and all its tests and if she never saw the inside of a clinic ever again, she would be forever grateful.

The doctors had cleared her – nothing further had developed and she was perfectly okay. Not that she had any doubts; she'd never felt more okay in her life and she owed it to Lay for healing her like that. She was so happy, she literally skipped all the way.

She hadn't told her parents about her visit because she didn't want to worry them and if there were any bad news, she'd rather hear them alone. But everything was okay now and she gave them a pleasant surprise, showing up at their door after so many months. They were overjoyed, both by her presence and the news that nothing else had developed. The doctors had asked her to come in regularly for other follow-ups as well but they were extremely hopeful.

She couldn't wait to share the news with Raina and the others and D.O – when he smiled, sun literally shone; his lips curved into a heart-shaped smile, eyes crinkling and made him look like the most adorable, squishiest man alive and she couldn't wait to be the one who put that smile on his face.

She also confided about him with her mother because who else could give her better advice? It wasn't like she was experienced far as relationships were concerned. In fact, given her propensity for visions and her headaches, she'd been something of an outcast. People thought she was weird and Raina was the only person who was weirder than her, which was how they ended up being best friends.

It was quite late before she decided she needed to head back and called Kai. The call didn't go through because his cell was powered off. So she tried the HQs landline. The dialtone rang and rang but no on answered. Frowning a little, she called Raina but she didn't answer either.

She got a little worried at that but decided to wait a bit more. Maybe they were still busy with the whole portal thingie and the girls had gone out to help the guys? That didn't seem likely, though. Maybe D.O'd brought Chen back and they were too busy celebrating?

No, that couldn’t be… Raina wouldn't let anyone forget about her. And D.O would probably come in person to give her the good news, if that was the case.

So, what was the holdup?

She only grew more anxious as time went by and evening drew near. Her mother noticed her fidgeting, her constant attempts to call – no one had answered – and asked her if everything was okay. Kyra nodded and she didn't push. Finally deciding that Kai would come and get her whenever he got free, she went to her old bedroom and got in the bed, hoping a nap would ease her anxiety.

She didn't know what woke her up but she was drenched in sweat, panting hard when she did. Her heart was racing a mile a minute and an overwhelming sense of dread lay like a heavy coat on her shoulders. There was a pressure behind her eyes, building and building and she dreaded, for a moment, that she would feel that searing flash of pain that came with her visions and somehow, restart her disease.

She didn’t get any visions but the pressure remained, constantly pushing against her eyes and it made her feel a bit out of it. Her parents were leaving for a reunion with their old friends and asked her to come along. She shook her head, not at all feeling like mingling because the anxiety had her stomach in knots.

Something was wrong, she could sense it. And maybe that's what the vision – which wasn't happening – was trying to tell her. She worried her lip between her teeth, trying not to panic because if something had happened to D.O or anyone else…

She swallowed the bitter lump in and ran after her parents. They were surprised by her request but agreed to make the detour to drop her at the HQs in Oulphesden.

The ride took two hours maybe – without the highway traffic, Oulphesden was actually pretty near Cabalix and the motorway took them right to the airport. Her parents wanted to drop her at the HQs but if something was wrong, she didn't want to involve her family in it and told them, quite adamantly, to leave.

'Call me when you get home!!!' Her mom hugged her before getting back in the car and waving. 'Promise?'

'Promise!' She waved after them. 'Be safe!'

'You too, sweetie!'

As soon as their car was out of sight, Kyra whipped out her phone and called Raina again but no one answered. Biting her lip, she wondered if she should go back to the HQs on her own… Suho had taken such precautions to make sure Evil couldn't see her leave, so she was probably safe for the moment even outside the HQs but he'd been adamant that they stay within the headquarters at all times and avoid going out without adequate protection.

And yet, here she was. On her own and definitely without any protection – except pepper spray but she doubted abbies or Evil would turn away because of that. No, it would be better to get to the HQs as quickly as possible.

It's coming...

The searing flash she'd been unconsciously waiting for all this time went through the length of her skull, almost paralyzing in its intensity. She bent over and dry heaved, nausea roiling though her.

Straightening, she hailed down the first cab she saw and gave the address. 'I'll pay you extra if you don’t stop.' She told the driver, who grinned and stepped on the accelerator.

She stopped him before the turning which would lead them to HQs – her home, as it was – and paid extra as she'd promised, yelling 'keep the change' over her shoulder as she dashed away.

She hadn't run like this for so long, she was getting out of breathe and the stitch in her side was killing her but she didn't slow down and nearly skidded at the final turn.

And that's when the vision came again.

Its over.

The two words sounded ominous inside her head, accompanied by the unrelenting darkness that froze her to the core. Her head felt like it was splitting in two and she stumbled, eyesight blurring at the tears that escaped her eyes.

Which was why she didn't immediately notice what she'd walked into. Her head was killing her and her feet moving of their own accord, leading her towards… the end? Of what?

Me.

The answer terrified her because it was so clear. This was it, then. This was the death she'd seen. She'd never really seen what caused her death, had just assumed it was the cancer because really, wasn't it fatal? How ironic was it that she'd survived through it, had endured all that pain and fought back with her all her might, just to walk into her own death. How ironic, how utterly ironic.

And how sad because she never told D.O she loved him, never saw Chen open his eyes, never saw Raina settle things with Tao and then so much more.

It didn't really surprise her that when her sight cleared, the headache dying as quickly as it had come, she found herself to face with the Legend's archenemy, Evil himself.

There were screams around her; vaguely she registered someone calling her name, just like she vaguely noticed other things – the strange pattern on the ground, Legends standing so close and yet, seemingly held back by some forcefield, the creatures waiting in the wings, abbies perhaps? – but none of that mattered as she stared into the face of death.

Over the past year, she'd had a lot of time to think about death and had wondered what it looked like. She supposed it looked different for everyone. To her, it appeared in the form of an ordinary looking man with extraordinary eyes – extraordinarily dead eyes, dull red and tinted with flecks of black – and claws of black… smoke? She didn't know what it was but it looked sharp enough to cut.

He smiled in her face, the mouth stretching unnaturally over dead skin that was already beginning to peel from the bones – a dead body. The irony of it all was killing her.

No wait, it was the dark claw embedding in her chest.

Her heart beat increasingly fast around the invading talon, pulling it deeper, making the cut wider so she could spill more blood out and die quicker. Her own body was betraying her, its desire to survive only quickening her demise.

'NO!!!!!!'

The bellow literally made the ground shake and the claw retracted. A fountain of blood sprung from her chest and she vaguely admired the bright carmine shade, how lively! , before raising her eyes and meeting D.O's.

I loved you. Funny, she was already thinking in past tense because it was all over.

Her thoughts faded as her legs gave out, unconscious before she hit the floor.

…………………………   

'Evil's here.'

Everything went to hell soon as the words left his mouth.

Sensing Evil's presence, Lay threw caution to the wind and rushed out heedlessly to attack him. At that same instant, Raina yelled, 'Kyra!!!'

Chanyeol exclaimed, '!' and ran out as well, heading for Kyra who'd shown up out of nowhere and was stumbling right towards Evil. She didn't seem to hear their shouts even though Raina was calling for her and Chanyeol as well but she only stared at Evil with a strange, dazed expression on her face.

Lay shot at Evil, looking deranged as rage got the best of him. Evil didn't look away from Kyra, smirking as he snapped his fingers. Both Lay and Chanyeol vanished with a zipping sound, black smoke dissipating in their place, and reappeared inside the maze with the other Legends.

Chanyeol shot a burst at the invisible wall, the shield still holding though it wavered a little, the pulse lighter than it had been before. Lay joined with him, telling the rest to get away as they emptied their guns into the shield. It still held, although every hit made millions of hexagonal cracks appear in it and they knew it only needed a little more before it broke.

Evil paid them no heed, instead focusing on Kyra. Suho and the other Legends went berserk, banging into the wall as if the force of there merely-human bodies was enough to break it down. Baekhyun felt a bolt of panic go through him. If anything happened to Kyra…

Quite apart from the root not embedding on earth, D.O would go legitimately crazy. He hadn't even claimed her yet and they could already see how much he cared about her – he sang, like a ing fairytale princess, while cooking ever since she'd shown up. It was so cute it was sickening.

'Break already!!' Baekhyun cursed under his breath, aiming his kick and hitting again and again. He didn't dare look up, thinking foolishly that if he didn't see it, it wouldn't happen.

Lay suddenly bent over with a gasp, clutching at his head much like Kyra did when she had a vision – the way she'd been doing when she'd stumbled in the area, in fact. Baekhyun hurried over to him, momentarily abandoning his efforts to look after his Shadow.

'Ya…' he tried to straighten him, his shoulder aching at the strain, 'what is it???'

The end is coming – nothing can save us now except… Baekhyun strained his ears, trying to make out what the Legend was murmuring. …the Sun…

The son? Of what? Or did he mean sun? Sun was bright so… Light? Baekhyun doubted it could be that simple. Fire? That was more likely; Chanyeol had lost his powers so… did that mean Kris? It had to be Kris. The guy had been AWOL for months and yet, he was here. He was their most likey chance anyway, with the power to fly as well as to burn countless abbies simultaneously. Did that mean Kris could save them? From what? He didn't get a chance to find out.

'D.O…' Lay suddenly wailed, tears clouding his eyes.

'NO!!!!'

The roar echoed around and the force of it made the flimsy walls around them tremble. Baekhyun whipped around in time to see a burst of blood spring from Kyra's chest, Evil's claws retracting and then, D.O collided into him, eyes red as his beast took over and threw a punch so hard, Evil's skull – or rather, his vessel's skull – would've shattered if he hadn't rolled out of the way.

As it was, D.O hit the ground instead and tremors rocked the area, finally breaking the walls that were holding them in. The Legends surged forward, breaking out and running towards the trio. Evil saw them coming and dashed away, jumping into the portal he'd opened to make his entrance – and incidentally, also the one D.O had stepped out of.

Kris let out a yell, taking off after Evil, not wanting him to get away. And the rest followed suit, none of them hearing Lay's cry of 'DON'T!!!'

D.O had abandoned Evil and was holding Kyra's body in his arms, his face a ravaged mask of disbelief and shock, grief making him appear suddenly older.

'Kyra…' he murmured brokenly, tears dimming his eyes. Baekhyun averted his face, unable to look and swallowed hard. Kyra wasn't dead, he wouldn't believe it. Lay could fix her, he was sure they still had time but he didn't get much chance to think because soon as Evil vanished inside the portal, five or six more portals opened around them and abbies started pouring out.

…………………………

A/N

For those who'd been asking about Kyra... you have your answer (I'M SORRY DO!!! T___T)

In my defense, I did say everything will come falling down like a house of cards... so be prepared 

Later