A little earlier… or maybe a lot. Abyss is timeless, so who knows…

D.O had no idea how long he'd been fighting but he couldn't move himself anymore. He'd taken down a lot more than he'd anticipated because he was a fast learner and he fought, like he did everything else, strategically. He'd quickly figured out the weak points of the new creatures and devised ways to kill them with minimum effort expended on his part.

But he had his limits and he'd crossed them a while ago. Had his powers been working, he wouldn't have had any trouble – the Beast gave him brute strength, turned him into a Hulk of sorts and he could continue hours without tiring – but on his own, he was like any other Legend, stronger than some, weaker than others.

He'd long rid himself of the empty guns, ammunition run out, to make himself lighter and move swiftly. He'd also lost a lot of his knives, embedded in the creatures that sank to the bottomless pits of the Abyss and was now left with only two blades that he wielded like they were extensions of his limbs.

Coated in black goo of the innumerable creatures he'd slayed, they hung loosely by his sides now, dripping slowly as his grip loosened against his will. His muscles were burning with fatigue and his arms felt like deadweights, hanging by his sides and his legs were incapabale of supporting his frame. His chest burned, the stitch in his side hurting with every indrawn breath and he wished, for the first time in his life, that he didn't have to breathe – it was just too much work.

There was a lull in the attacks now, giving him enough respite to catch his breath and think – how long had he been here? Minutes? Hours? Days? He couldn’t tell but he was so tired, he almost didn't care. Almost.

When the creatures started attacking him again, he knew that this was it. Because he couldn't even raise his arms to protect himself and he winced a little as a claw raked across his face, drawing blood. He ducked his head, letting go of the blades and curling in on himself so only his back was exposed. Fingers fumbled with his belt, finding and pulling the last pieces of weapons he had left.

He pulled the pin from the first flash grenade and flung it a little ways… or rather dropped it because he didn't have any power to throw. The bright light shone blindingly in the darkness of the Abyss, making his eyes water even though he'd closed them.

Light repels the dark, so naturally, soon as the flash went off, the creatures that had been crowding in on him backed away with hisses and pained howls. He opened his eyes while the flash was fading and glanced around, hoping to spy a way out.

He'd long lost track of the portal Kai and Tao had opened and Baekhyun's string was no longer in his hand, so he had no idea which direction he'd come from. And there weren't any landmarks to guide him. As creatures began crowding around him again, he arbitrarily headed in a direction. His legs protested, barely dragging and when one of the abbies latched onto his ankle to pull him down, he fell like a bag of bricks.

More and more monstrosities gathered around him and he could feel their hunger in the atmosphere, the ravenous clicking of their teeth as they circled him like sharks around fresh meat. Closing his eyes, he mentally sent out an apology to all his brothers – for putting them through this, take such a huge risk and for what? He'd still failed, hadn’t he?

Holding the last two grenades, he waited until the creatures closed in on him, almost completely buried underneath before pulling out the pins. He had around ten seconds so he decided to spend those final moments indulging in fantasy.

He imagined that he was kissing Kyra, finally claiming her. Her lips would be pliant beneath his and she would fill his senses – her scent in his nose, her taste in , the feel of her body pressing against his…

Something hit him with the force of a ten ton boulder, making him lose his breath. And he didn’t get the chance to catch it as he literally flew upwards, whatever that had hit him still digging in his back and forcing him to move lightening fast. There were blasts behind them and he felt something pass by, lightly grazing his fingers – probably a sharpenel – but he didn’t slow down and before he knew it, a small speck appeared over him.

He blinked, not believing what he was seeing. It seemed like… no, it was the portal and it was getting bigger by the second.

The unrelenting ball of force digging into his back suddenly separated from him and he didn’t notice the black smoke liberally speckled with tendrils of gold that parted from him as inertia carried him forward, straight into the portal.

He also didn't see the way the previously shapeless smoke rapidly condensed, hiding the golden tendrils inside the abyss-black, morphing into a clawed beast and viciously attacked creatures that were chasing after D.O as he struggled to close the final distance between himself and the portal.

Just as he reached it, fresh air blowing in through the opening, and put his hands to heave himself out, something hooked into his belt. He smacked at it, wondering if he would get dragged down now when he'd reached the end but instead of letting go, something collided into him – the same thing that had dug in his back, going by its size – and pushed him.

He had a moment of regret that he'd failed to find Chen but he promised he would return – and a part of him could've sworn he heard Chen laugh inside his head – but then, whatever the thing was, it collided in him again and he was thrown out of the Abyss and into the evening, earthside.

He fell to his knees and barely had time to reorient before his instincts kicked in and something made him glance up.

What he saw made horror crash through him and he screamed in denial. 'NO!!!!'

Evil was there and he had Kyra in his claws and no, it wasn't true, she wasn't hurt, she wasn't…

A fountain of blood sprung from her chest as she met his eyes, the bright red of her blood a sharp contrast against the dreary gray that seemed beset on their surroundings. He launched forward, only one thing in his mind – Evil had hurt Kyra and he would pay for it. Evil rolled out of the way as D.O engaged his powers automatically – not noticing the way Evil's eyes expanded when his trick to suppress powers didn't work on D.O – and smashed his fist into his face. His punch landed on the floor and shook the ground but D.O was oblivious to all of that – the fact that Evil was running away or the Legends had broken free, the screams and cries – because Kyra…

No, no no no no…

 The word repeated endlessly inside his head as her scent, intense because of all the blood pumping out of her, overpowered him and he crawled towards her, cradling her head in his lap. Her eyes stared up at him, blinking dazedly and she seemed to smile. 

'D.O…' Her voice was so faint, he could barely hear her over the sounds of battle around him.

'Kyra…' he sobbed brokenly, eyes filling with tears. 'Kyra…'

She didn't respond and when he shook her a little, her head lolled to the side, arm falling lifelessly beside her. D.O held her tighter, denial raging through him. No no no NO NO!

He didn't notice anything, the abbies crawling out of the portals beside them or the Legends encircling the couple to protect them, to let him mourn his loss. None of that registered beause none of that mattered. Nothing mattered any more. Kyra was gone, she was gone, she was gone and there was no point in living anymore. He'd lost his Shadow and now he'd lost his mate and there was nothing left in this life for him.

He bent his head, as if in prayer, and closed his eyes, inhaling her scent – now slowly fading because she was gone, gone, gone forever – and imprinting it in his mind as his final memory.

……………………………..

Their powers were back. Sort of.

Baekhyun discovered that when he instinctively put his hands up prevent his face from being mauled by the incoming claws of… actually, Baekhyun wasn't exactly sure what that was but it was definitely creepy. Like straight-out-of-his-worst-nightmares creepy.

He covered his face, eyes closing unconsciously and felt his palms burn up. Surprised, he cracked an eyelid, then both, staring at his lit-up palms in wonderment. The light was weak – like a light-bulb when he was actually capable of producing the light of a thousands suns – no joke, they'd calculated it in a fit of scientific inquiry – but it was still enough to make the creature back off with a hiss as if it was burnt.

Thanking his lucky stars, Baekhyun tried to channel all the power he could and raised his hands higher. The creatures surrounding him backed off, circling around him and trying to step closer in the radius of his light. He put one palm in his pocket, drawing the only remaining knife he had – a ing fruit knife, like what the hell was it even doing here? He could’ve at least put in a Swiss-knife D.O had given him last… when was it again? Oh forget it – and immediately put up his hands up to his chest defensively, backing up until his legs stumbled against D.O's crouched figure.

'Oops, my bad…' he muttered, taking two steps forward and raising his left arm – the right one hurt like a , what with the un-anesthesized stitches – so no creature would harm D.O or Kyra.

Due to the multiple portals opening up like that, the Legends hadn't gotten any chance to regroup or strategize but all of them had fallen back in a loose circle around D.O, who seemed to have lost his will to live, just holding Kyra's dea- no, dammit, she's not dead – her unconscious body in his hands, silent tears running down his cheeks and mingling with her blood. He wasn't defending himself at all, uncaring of all the ruckus taking place around him and not bothering to fight any creatures that attacked him.

They couldn’t leave him like that, so with unspoken consent, they tried to protect him the best they could. The Legends engaged in battle, trying to use the powers that were still not working properly and whatever other weapons they could.

Baekhyun was never the best with fights and he'd be the first to admit that. He didn't like fighting, plain and simple – he preferred entertaining people and would rather crack jokes than guns – and he expected himself to be the first to fall, the weak link in the defensive wall they'd set up around D.O and Kyra.

To his immense, unpleasant surprise – and a whole lot of dismay – it was Xiumin.

The Legend had been in a bad way even before Suho stitched him up, whatever he'd seen in that darkness before Baekhyun rescued him having put him in a strangely vulnerable mood. He'd been highly strung up and seeing D.O fall like that made him go berserk.

Xiumin was one of their best attackers, quick and agile, his power a wonderfully diverse weapon that he knew just how to manipulate. But ever since Evil had escaped after kil- er, hurting Kyra, Xiumin seemed to have lost all rational thought. He was fighting with a complete disregard to his own safety, jumping in the midst of their opponents.

Already weakened by his earlier injury, his reflexes were not quick enough and their powers still weren't up their full potential, acting weakly. He threw icicles spreading out like sharpenel from a grenade and hitting everyone within the radius but it didn’t freeze the abbies as it was supposed to, coating them in a thin layer of ice instead.

They broke it off easily, surging ahead and Xiumin didn’t have a chance to back off before he was literally run over by the multitudes of abbies, abogs and other abominations. Suho let out a yell, pulling his whip back and slashing at them harshly but unfortunately, the rest were too busy fighting for their lives to help anyone else.

The blood steadily pooling beside Xiumin as he panted on the floor wasn't good, neither was the way Suho slumped on the ground, panic evident on his face. Baekhyun could barely stay in the same place, even took two steps away from D.O but his path was blocked by Sehun jumping in front of him out of nowhere.

'Stay back.' The cub told him, face a mess of scratches and blood coating his lips. 'Suho said to hold our positions no matter what.'

Baekhyun wondered if he Sehun realized just how much his voice was shaking but nodded his head and stepped back in his self-designated perimeter. 'Bring Xiumin here.' He told the cub because at least, his light would keep the elder safe from abbies trying to devour his flesh.

Sehun nodded and jumped back into the fray. Baekhyun averted his eyes and tried to focus on keeping the lights bright. A jolt of self-disgust went through him – here they were, in the midst of battle, and this was what he could do? Turn the lights on? He couldn't even make the flare brighter so it would blind their enemy. No, his position was nothing more or less than a lamppost – literally. He didn’t even have any weapons to inflict any harm, just his stupid hands and their stupid light.

Suho and Lay stumbled beside him, Kai and Sehun keeping guard beside them as they carried Xiumin in between and deposited him gently on the ground. Suho's face was haggard, his Shadow's condition obviously affecting him. Xiumin's breathing was shallow and Baekhyun quickly looked away, swallowing hard to push down the rising bile.

'Close it.' Xiumin's commanded, sounding surprisingly calm for a guy whose insides were hanging out of his body.

'I can't!' Suho sounded pained. 'It'll kill you.'

'Better one than two.' Xiumin told him and Baekhyun was reminded of their earlier days, when the battles had been frequent, deaths of comrades even more so and Xiumin had been the cold, calm guy who let nothing affect him, who'd come back as the sole survivor of his entire troop, not batting an eye while he reported the entire incident. 'You're the alpha, they need you.' He continued, 'I'll hang on.'

Lay was quietly kneeling beside the guy, working on putting his organs back in place with steady hands, even though tears steadily poured out of his eyes.

'I'll take care of him,' Lay told the leader, 'He'll be fine.'

Suho didn't look like he believed that but Lay gave him that blank-faced look and eventually, he stood up. 'Fine.' His whisper was ragged but he resolutely turned away. 'Fine. I'll hold you to it, then.'

He closed his eyes for a second and Xiumin suddenly grew paler as Suho's complexion seemed to freshen a bit. He didn’t look down, resolutely turning and rapidly jogging away. Baekhyun watched his shoulders tremble a moment before he shook his head and reengaged in fighting. His whips seemed larger and stronger when they emerged this time and a moment later, a number of abbies lost their heads when he lashed out harshly.

'Did he just…?'

'Yeah.' Lay replied.

Suho had blocked his link with Xiumin so his pain couldn't leak into Suho and distract him from fighting. It would also help him conserve energy in this case – it was instinctive to lend power to your Shadow if you felt them drain; Baekhyun had done so himself innumerable times when Lay got too weak but in a battle like this, when they already running low, doing that would be huge drain. Xiumin had made the right decision far as the fight was concerned but it could very well cost him his life.

Lay's mouth was set in a grim line as he attempted to sew Xiumin's open wounds again, unable to use his powers. Baekhyun could feel his frustration; it matched so closely with his own but at least Lay was able to save lives even without his powers. Unlike him.

Lay shook his head as if in response to his thoughts but Baekhyun knew better. He looked away and raised his arms higher, his injrured shoulder beginning to ache worse than before. This was the least he could do.

Things were only escalating and not in a good way. The abbies had mercifully stopped pouring relentlessly out of the portals but only because it seemed like the entire population of Abyss had gathered outside their headquarters.

So many abbies were attempting to raid the HQs, the electric field they'd put up – courtesy of Chen and now, D.O – was glowing constantly like a star, frying the invaders. But with the number of attacks, it would run out soon and then, the second line of defense would engage. He hoped it wouldn't come to that but it didn't seem likely.

He was so lost in his thoughts – and maybe deliberately trying to ignore the delirious whimpers escaping Xiumin's lips, perhaps trapped in a nightmare again – that he didn't notice the group of abbies until they were on him. He fumbled quickly for his fruit knife, then remembered Xiumin putting the blade back in his shoes and fell to his knees to fumble with his boots instead. He barely had time to draw the small blade before the creatures were on them and he closed his eyes, raising the weapon and letting the creature impale itself on it.

Sticky, gooey stuff trickled from the creature's body and onto Baekhyun's hands and he tried not to shudder, putting a hand up to push it away and standing up. He didn't get a chance to think because the goo blocked out his light, which meant that his safe-circle was not safe anymore.  The creatures started attacking and it was all he could do to keep them from reaching the still-unresponsive D.O and Xiumin, whose blood appeared to be drawing more and more of the abbies.

Baekhyun didn't remember the last time he'd used his Hapkido for anything other than showing off. But put a person's life on the line and see if they don’t remember everything they'd learned – he felt like a monkey, he was jumping around so much, trying to stop abbies from getting near Lay, Xiumin, D.O or Kyra. The blade he'd drawn was lost in all the blackness coating his hands and then, as he swung another abby, throwing it over his shoulder and smashing its face underneath his foot, he lost that little weapon as well.

Great, just ing great.

Another group of abbies decided to come in his direction and he readied himself to use his hands if the need be when there was a sudden pressure on him and he felt himself getting pushed a little ways back. Glancing around, he spied Luhan, sweat coating his forehead as he went one on one with a gigantic bear-like creature and managed to throw it over his shoulder, smashing it to the ground with more force than normal – obviously telekinesis – then bury his knife in its between its eyes. Black goo spurted out and Luhan straightened, wiping the blade against the creature's body.

He caught Baekhyun's eye and nodded, a small smile flittering over his face. 'Be careful, you were gonna get impaled.' He called cheerfully and Baekhyun realized Luhan had put his shield around Baekhyun along with the injured.

'Save your power.' He told Luhan curtly, a little offended that the elder thought he needed protection. 'Don't bother about me, I'm not that important.'

Luhan was engaged with another couple of creatures now but he managed to find the time to give him that older-brother glare. 'Don't be stupid, of course you are.'

Baekhyun rolled his eyes, turning away and not letting it bother him. It wasn't like this was the first time such a thing was happening and it had never bothered him before. But if Luhan really was going to put a shield around someone, it had better be someone who could actually make a difference. Like Kris – if Lay's prophecy was to be believed, Kris was going to be the one to save them. He shouted as much to Luhan but the Legend didn't hear him.

Baekhyun sighed and reengaged himself in battle stance, raising his fists. A moment later, Lay stepped beside him, handing him a rapier. 'Thanks.' Baekhyun told his Shadow, glancing back. Xiumin was now unconscious and Lay had moved him so he was in the middle, with D.O and Kyra. 'I'll take care of that side…' his Shadow muttered, moving in the opposite direction.

Feeling a little of the tension loosen inside him – he'd been shocked by Xiumin's condition – Baekhyun readied himself for attack. He'd show the abbies he was no joke.

…………………………….

After Xiumin, it was Sehun.

The cub was doing exceptionally well, modulating his power so it there was a constant veil of wind around him as he used his weapons to kill the abbies. By then, the shield around HQs was beginning to falter, the sparks getting slower and duller as abbies crashed into it over and over again. 

And then, he spied a blackish blob suddenly dart inside, the shield not hissing even once – had it run out?? A jolt of fear went through Sehun – whatever that thing was, it was from the Abyss. Ergo abby and it had just managed to get inside the HQs. Where the mates were. Where Tiffany was. .  

He paid the price of that momentary distraction, the abby he'd been fighting slashing at him. A sharp claw went through his thigh, cutting through his hamstrings and he fell like a ton of bricks. Abbies surged, trying to run him over but he kept engaging his powers to keep them away.

Chanyeol fell down, not getting up after a hitting his head hard. Abbies closed in on him and Baekhyun prayed a miracle would happen. Kris swooped in at that instance, setting around five abbies on fire at once and he cheered.

There was still hope. Because Kris was unharmed and no matter how bad things got, he would eventually save them. Probably when the pattern faded from the ground – it was dark so Baekhyun couldn't see it clearly but the hexagonal gray pattern had been slowly fading, accompanied by a steady rise in their powers.

He lit his hands up again, as bright as they could go and the abbies left them alone, skirting around them to attack the rest. Lay had long left his position, drawn in the midst of abbies as he fought relentlessly and tried to find his way back.

Kai was next. He was fighting, vanishing and reappearing quickly and was, for a while, invincible. Then, his foot slipped, maybe landing on a corpse's head and tripping. Multiple claws went through him before he landed. He teleported away immediately, reappearing, riddled with holes over his torso and slumped a little distance away, blood dripping around him. He lost consciousness just as abbies closed in on him.

Spying his fallen Shadow, Luhan managed to get himself beside him and engaged his powers, the telekinetic force managing to squash a number of abbies – which was a lot more than he'd been able to do some time ago.

Suho and Tao were surrounded on all sides by abbies and were standing back to back, Tao slowing the creatures down and Suho killing them but their bodies were getting exhausted – especially Tao, who'd been keeping their increasing number of fallen comrades in time-freeze, or as much of it as he could manage. The minor and not-so-minor cuts and scratches all over their bodies were beginning to take their toll and the abbies just kept on reappearing.

The tendrils that wrapped around Suho's legs only registered when something suddenly yanked him off his feet and he fell, headlong into the ground. His arms came up in time to prevent him from face-planting but the abbies jumping on his back finished the job. Dirt and gravel rubbed against his face as he was forcefully dragged towards the gigantic monstrosity which was owner of those coils. His whip slashed uselessly against the taut wires and then, he was being lifted in the air and smashed into the ground. And again. And again.

Breath whooshed out of him and he tried to keep his senses, to figure out how to finish this one off because honestly, he'd never seen anything like this before and dammit all, there wasn’t enough time to try and figure out how they could kill these creatures.

His head slammed against a boulder of some sort – or maybe it was a tree trunk but it made him see stars and his limbs stopped cooperating with him, leaving him hanging uselessly upside down as the giant stomped closer, probably to bash his head in with one of its ginormous feet.

Tao appeared in time to cut the strings loose – he his huge sword straight through the creature's eye and it let out a mighty yell that made their ears ache but at least it let go of Suho, who landed on his head and promptly rolled to his feet, only to stumble and fall. The hit to his head had disoriented him completely and when Tao checked, his eyes were open but unfocused.

He slung the alpha's arm over his shoulder, helping him stand and quickly moving towards Luhan – both because he could shield Suho, like he was shielding Kai but also because he was now in charge because Suho was out of commission and he was the oldest one around.

Tao couldn’t freeze time for himself right now, not with his powers already pushed to the limit by keeping Kyra, Xiumin and Kai frozen, but he could slow it down so that abbies missed him – only by a second but it was a second that saved his life – and gently deposited the leader on the ground beside Kai.

Luhan met his eyes. 'What now?' Tao asked him.

The elder frowned. 'We need to get them inside, all the injured. We keep getting distracted this way and I can't hold so many separate shields right now.'

Tao nodded. 'How?' He was breathing hard from exertion, so forming more words was beyond his reach at the moment.

Luhan pursed his lips, forehead wrinkling in thought. 'If we get them all here…' he began, then glanced around, mentally calculating the distance between his position and the HQs boundary. 'I can move them inside; Lay will take care of them and you, Kris, Baekhyun and I will stand guard.' He eyed the cub questioningly because young as he was, Tao was really good with battle-planning and strategizing.

He nodded again. 'It’s a plan. I'll bring Sehun, Kris can get Chanyeol, then we'll go together and bring them here.'

Baekhyun and Lay were on the other side, closer to the maze they'd escaped from than the HQs and the entire area in between was a concentrated with abbies. There was no way they could make their way here unscathed; especially considering the condition Xiumin was in, he would have to be carried and D.O didn't look like he'd move on his own, they'd probably have to carry him as well.

Luhan nodded in agreement. 'I'll have to let go of the shield though…' He'd been holding two shields in place all this time, one around himself and Kai and one around Baekhyun and his group. If he was to move all of them inside, he needed to save up on the energy. Besides, with all the injured gathered around him, it would be safer to strengthen the shield in this place. Kris and Tao would have to protect the others. Tao agreed to that as well, rushing off. 'Hurry!' Luhan called after him.

Tao dived back into the crowd of abbies he'd escaped, not using his power more than was strictly necessary to conserve it. He managed to get Sehun under Luhan's shield as well, carrying his whining Shadow over his back but Sehun's grumbling was more bravado than anything – he was terrified, Tao could sense it, seeing his elders falling like that. He, himself, wasn't feeling too confident either but he kept a snarky commentary going on so both of them could find some comfort in the familiar banter.

Sehun had lost a lot of blood, despite the sleeve he'd torn to wrap around his wound. It was soaked through and it appeared that only survival instinct had kept him conscious for so long because the moment Tao deposited him under Luhan's protection, the cub passed out, his exhausted body unable to continue any longer. Tao froze his leg in time, targeting the area so he could conserve his power.  

When Kris caught Luhan's eye, he signaled for the Legend to bring his Shadow. He bent and quickly lifted Chanyeol in his arms, lowering his ability to light abbies on fire in favor of flying rapidly towards Luhan and putting Chanyeol beside him as well.

Then both Legends moved to the other side, leaving a trail of dead abbies in their wake before reaching the group. Lay managed to find his way beside Baekhyun again and pushed his Shadow resolutely behind himself. Baekhyun forced him aside, frowning at the healer. Kris signaled at Luhan, who let go of the shield he'd been holding around them.

The pressure lifted and then, they started moving. Kris loaded Xiumin over Lay's back – it wasn't good for the Legend's stitches but it was more efficient this way. D.O only moved when they tried to touch Kyra, growling and snapping like a crazed beast, his eyes completely red. Like Luhan, when he'd gone primal but his intention, rather than to attack appeared to be staying next to his mate.

Finally, Lay managed to calm the beast down – for it was the beast, D.O's rational side completely suppressed – enough that he let them carry them long as his hands were joined with Kyra's. Baekhyun offered to carry Kyra because it, he wanted to do something. Her body still felt a little warm, maybe because D.O had been holding her but Baekhyun liked the idea that it was because there was still life left in her.

D.O was on Tao's back, hanging with one hand, the other tangled firmly with Kyra's. It made for an awkward position but they were moving and with Tao managing to slow time somewhat and Kris burning abbies around them, they were getting closer with every step.

Baekhyun felt hopeful again. What was it that Lay had said? They would be saved by the Sun and Kris seemed to be getting stronger with their steps. That meant the prophecy was getting fulfilled right now and…

He jinxed it.

…………………………….