A/N: I'm so sorry. This is the final chapter before the epilogue.
——
Sungjung flung herself to the main level of the building with smoke billowing out behind her. She rolled across the floor before landing perched on her feet. She looked around the hallway, and she heard raised voices around the corner.
The floor was burning hot; she could feel it through her shoes. It wouldn't be long before the structure went tumbling down, and she lurched forward to get to Namjoon.
She skidded around the corner running full force past Darian. She grabbed Namjoon's arm, yanking him along and ignoring his protests.
It was his shout of Hyerin that had her stopping. She spun around, hair flying and smacking Namjoon as she turned.
He squinted at the sudden assault and reached out to steady her.
"He has Hyerin," he said breathlessly. "He has her."
"No." She looked behind him at the city's center. "But the fire..."
"Daliania is going to find her, but we need to get back in there. The sun is also rising." He was still holding onto her shoulders, and he leaned his forehead against her. She smelled of smoke and blood and rage. He breathed it in. "We need to get our Hyerin."
"Yeah," she said. "We need to go back. Hoseok and Jina are still down there. Jina said she needed to get Hoseok out."
Prophets were running from the building paying them no mind. Some of them were burning, and their screams filled the air. The stench of smoke and burning flesh hung around them, and Sungjung squinted her nose.
Namjoon guided her back inside, and he was surprised to see Darian still standing there. He was extra surprised to notice the small bundle he was holding in his arms.
It was Hyerin, of course. Namjoon could feel it in the air. She was so powerful but so so small. She didn't know she needed to defend herself, and adjusting time wouldn't get her back to her parents. So there she laid still as tiny as ever.
"Hyerin," Sungjung said. She stepped forward, but Namjoon held her back.
Heat cracks spread across the floor, and it was only a matter of time before everything collapsed. But there was Hyerin, so close to them they could reach out and touch her.
"Darian, Hyerin will not be a threat," Namjoon pleaded.
Darian laughed. "You sound so much like your sister. 'Grandfather, Namjoon will not be a threat!'" His laugh rang out over the chaos. "What a lie that was then!"
Hyerin began to cry as she finally sensed the danger she was in. Darian bounced her and shushed her as if he had been an expert father.
"Darian, please," Namjoon begged again. He reached out, and his fingers brushed across the blanket before Darian took several steps back.
The area of the floor Darian had been standing on finally gave way. Fire and smoke flew up through the air briefly blocking their view. In the midst of the haze, Namjoon caught a glimpse of Darian's smile as he dropped Hyerin into the fire.
——
Areum shuffled into Seokjin's side. Eunjin was still conversing with the Phoenix. They'd been talking for hours, well, less talking and more yelling on Eunjin's part. Areum was eager to get to the manor and inform Jungkook of all that transpired.
The Phoenix didn't seem like he was interested in harming them, but if he did, it was simply because they crossed into his territory.
Seokjin snaked his arm around her waist causing her to jump a little.
"Seokjin," she said quietly. "We need to get Eunjin to let it go. We need to go home."
Yoongi was standing much closer than she had originally thought. "Eunjin won't let this go, not until the Phoenix is dead."
But Areum could see how desperate he was to take Eunjin and run away. Yoongi knew, in just a small fraction, what it was like being held prisoner.
"Yoongi, Areum is right. We need to go." Seokjin and Yoongi stared at each other, both men saying words Areum couldn't hear.
"Eunjin, enough," Seokjin said.
Eunjin stopped mid-rant and looked back in mild displeasure. The Phoenix also seemed perplexed by the interruption as if he'd been enjoying the small spat he'd been having with her.
"I want answers," she said. "I need answers."
"We came for Hyerin, and she's not here. Namjoon will get her," Seokjin said.
There was a light in her eyes that had Seokjin sighing. It was the reason she was the liaison and researcher of their clan. She wanted to know everything about the Phoenix, and if Seokjin left her alone long enough, the Phoenix would likely spill all of his secrets.
"Eunjin, please," Yoongi said quietly.
She pursed her lips, eyes pleading at both men to let her stay and get the answers she so desired. If she knew about the Land of the Phoenix, she could change the histories of their worlds.
"Let her stay," the phoenix said. "Let me show her what I am."
Yoongi's eyes widened at the choice of words. Show could have many interpretations, but Yoongi knew deep down what the Phoenix meant.
"Jimin," Yoongi said looking back over his shoulder at the wraith. "Jimin, do something."
'I told you already, Min Yoongi, that I cannot kill him.'
"Just do something!"
Jimin slipped as darkness around Yoongi. He passed Eunjin by, and Eunjin shivered at the close contact. The Phoenix just kept smiling that same disgusting smile as his eyes followed the darkness.
"So cold," he said. He reached a hand out and brushed them across the dark mist. "You wraiths never cease to amaze me."
Jimin moved quickly then, letting the shadows wrap around the Phoenix. It was a brief flash, but they each saw Jimin as what he truly was. The dark misty cloak covering the darkest depth of a void where a face should have been.
The Phoenix reached into that void and drew out a face so gray and rotten and sunken in. It was not even the rotten face of Jimin; it was just the wraith that stole his soul.
The mark of death spread up the Phoenix's arm as he held the wraith by the mouth. He hooked his hand into the bottom of his jaw, and he hooked his other hand to the roof of his mouth and pulled. The sound of snapping bones and flesh echoed, and by the end of it all, the top of the wraith's head was removed from his jaw.
The Phoenix dropped it to the ground at Eunjin's feet, and she stared at it for a long while.
"That should solve one of your problems," he said.
Eunjin turned back to look at Yoongi. "Nice going," she said. It was a mix of relief and exasperation. Relief because they'd never have to see Jimin again, and exasperation because they would likely need the wraith for other things.
Seokjin was the only one paying attention to the wraith. He watched as the mark of death disappeared, and he watched as more burn scars faded away to leave behind slicked back feathered areas that resembled skin.
"You can take our abilities," he said. "You took Hyerin's, so you didn't need her anymore."
The Phoenix hummed. "I still needed her, but Darian is someone that... someone that I cannot deny."
Eunjin was still staring at the now slumped body of the wraith. The cold had been sucked from the room, and the smoky black tendrils disappeared. All that was left was a tattered cloak and ashen skin.
Yoongi was also staring. He didn't realize how quickly it would happen; he had hoped for at least a decent fight so they could slip away.
But there was no more Jimin, and Min Yoongi couldn't help but smile.
——
Jungkook felt it the moment it happened. It was like the invisible tether that held him to his daughter was covered in his nerve endings, and the searing pain he felt when that tether was severed was one he could not forget.
The sun had risen, and he was watching the map light up as Pran sniffed out every area of the manor. He had long given up by that point, and so he stood with Amarian and Ana.
He had doubled over in pain, and he screamed out. Vampires began littering the hallways coming to investigate the disturbance. It was his grief radiating from him that told them all they needed to know.
Jeon Hyerin was dead. The infant had barely even lived.
——
Nari was following Jungho and holding Talil when it happened. She stumbled and grabbed Jungho's shirt to steady herself, and Talil managed to land safely on the floor when he slipped from her arms.
Jungho turned around with an eyebrow raised to ask what she was doing, but Nari was barely breathing as she gripped at her chest.
The cry that left her haunted the sea. It pulled salt from the eyes of the sea folk, and waves crashed violently above them to mimic the grief she let out.
Jungho leaned down and rubbed her back, and he was surprised at his own concerns. Had it been Jungkook? Were they too late? But the realization dawned on him, and he held her as she cried for the daughter she had abandoned.
Nari knew Hyerin would come back. She had begged and pleaded with Amarian to cast the spell, but these thoughts did not ease her pain.
She abandoned her daughter, and now her daughter was dead.
She reached up and grabbed Jungho's arm to stop the circles he rubbed. She wasn't thinking clearly, but the flash of golden light had Talil stumbling away and screaming when they disappeared.
——
Hoseok was afraid of fire. As a child he'd been afraid it would burn him, but no matter how hot it got, he remained unscathed.
The chaos that came from fire held his true fears. The fire raged around him, and he could no longer hear Jina's cries for him to stop because they needed to go. The ceiling fell in burning shards around him, and he spun in a lazy circle to look for any other living being.
Hoseok was afraid of fire.
There was nothing but flames and smoke. No sign of life, and he crossed through the fire to leave. Onto the next building, onto the next prophet. Namjoon needed him to burn the city.
He passed the burning corpse of an infant, and his chest ached in realization of just who that infant was. But he needed to keep moving. There wasn't anything he could do for Hyerin now.
Hoseok was afraid of fire.
He made it to the stairs barely standing in the carnage he created, but the body lying at the bottom had him faltering.
She was reaching up to try and grab a step to crawl away when the fire had taken her. Her mouth was still open from the scream she could no longer let out.
Hoseok was afraid of fire.
He collapsed down and gripped Jina's body. He cried and shouted and scream as the fire burned around them.
He was afraid of the fire burning throughout Jina's tomb. He was afraid of the fire that left him unmarked.