[Hellion Brothers : Book#3] Gaia's Aegis

twenty four

A/N : We have one chapter left guys...

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"Xiumin hyung, do you think they're alright?"

D.O hears someone say, but the pounding in his head almost makes him paralyzed. A groan involuntarily leaves his mouth and it seems to attract everyone's attention, as he starts hearing voices calling his name and he feels a hand checking his pulse and his forehead.

He tries to conquer his headache so he could open his eyes, but a blinding light makes him wince.

"Can somebody turn off the light please?" he croaks the request.

"Oh sorry..." Baekhyun's voice answers him.

D.O once again opens his eyes when the light is more tolerable, as apparently, the blinding lights were coming from Baekhyun's ball of light. A dozen of now dim-lit spheres are flying around them, since darkness is already slowly falling upon the cargo ship. The blurry images that D.O catches are slowly getting clearer. His friends' faces start to appear in his peripheral vision.

"What happened?" he asks to no one in particular because his headache seems to give him a temporary amnesia.

"You did it D.O-ya, the ship is secured." Xiumin smiles proudly at him. "How do you feel now? Do you still feel overwhelmed by your powers, or is it back to normal?" he adds.

"I feel fine... Exhausted, but I feel normal."

"That's good, it means your power is back to normal." Xiumin looks relieved.

"How's everybody?" D.O moves to try to sit himself up, and a hand props his head to help him.

"Tao and Maeji aren't back yet but we still have twenty minutes, Inha is still unconscious—"

At the mention of his anima's name, D.O's memories come flooding back his mind. Panic strikes him as his eyes search for her. He finds her lying behind him, her head on Gwen's lap. His heart clenches as he sees her current state. He doesn't expect her to look like this; he expects her to look exhausted, strained, or pale as a ghost, but not like this. Because Inha looks perfect as always. She looks peaceful as if nothing was wrong, as if she's just having a normal nap, and even a blush high on her cheeks. Her chest is still steadily rising and falling.

How D.O wishes everything is just a nightmare.

"Inha..." his voice trails off as he touches her cheek. It feels warm in his cold fingers. He quickly lifts her limp body so her weight is fully on him, carefully cradling her head and leans it on his own shoulder then he holds her body close and tight.

"I'm so sorry I failed you Inha, I'm so sorry..." He couldn't hold his sobs as he speaks and it alarms everybody right away.

"What's wrong D.O?" Gwen who is sitting closest to him asks in concern.

"I failed noona, I lost her in the spiritual realm." Even his own voice sounds surreal. He doesn't want to believe that he lost her, but the fact that he's back from the spiritual realm before he can find Inha defies his denial. His voice is as low as a whisper but he knows that everybody heard him. The silence that surrounds him is the proof. The reality makes him feel numb. He still holds Inha's body close but it's just weird that he couldn't feel anything at the moment. Like he lost all of his senses.

D.O sees with his own eyes how Chanyeol and Haru came back from the lower level deck and immediately ran to his side. He sees the others trying to explain the situation to the two fire wielders. He sees how Haru cries and hug both his and Inha's body together.