Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He feels something soft under his fingers, grass – his brain supplies. He realizes something is off, because he can’t think of the last time, he laid on grass or even thought of grass. As his brain dwells on this annoying thought, the pounding in his head comes to the forefront of his consciousness. He groans and his fingers automatically reach for his head, but he struggles. Then the panic sets in and he pries his eyes open with difficulty. He makes out trees around him and a bright sky in between the foliage. His eyes focus on the two vague bodies in front of him, and as they come to focus, his ears tune into their rushed conversation.

He slowly sits up to find himself in the middle of a small landing in what seems to be a forest. The guys pause and turn to him, the two concerned faces leaning to get a better look at him. “Are you okay?” asks one of them. He questions whether he really is okay, trying to grasp the last thing he remembers. Nothing comes up – no, really, he can’t remember anything. Everything feels unfamiliar, even himself. In the cloud of confusion, the only thing that seems familiar is the electricity that thrums within him in every part of his being, like lightning. But even that static energy in him seems to be withdrawing into himself.

As he trying to figure out the jumble of racing thoughts, the other guy with sharper cat like eyes leans in and says, “I’m Minseok and this is my brother Junmyeon” pointing to one that spoke before and continues “what’s your name?” He looks up at them both and contemplates this question for a few seconds and then says “Jongdae”, though it doesn’t fully seem like his. The name feels empty like nobody has ever said it out loud before. But he can only take so much in a day, so he accepts Jongdae as his identity and repeats it a few times in his head.

“Hey hey… you seem lost and given that you were passed out in the middle of nowhere, do you need help? Where are you from? Are you a traveler?” asks the one with the soft eyes – Junmyeon, who is now crouched down in front of him. This time Jongdae doesn’t even bother to ponder and just says, “I can’t remember anything. Just nothing, all I can remember is my name.” Minseok arches his eyebrows, and his look shifts to one of apprehension. Junmyeon though laughs and says “Do you not have any coins to get to Eyclave? Are you travelling from the main city? You don’t have to lie, we can get you some food and place to stay for the night”, with a smile on his face. “Just tell us what your affinity is, we can find someone from that faction to house you, so you feel more comfortable”. Minseok immediately tugs Junmyeon’s shoulder from where he is standing and gives him a stern look to stop. Jongdae though goes, “What does that mean? Affinity? Faction?” It must be the genuine look of confusion on his face that halts the other two into silence.

They share a look and Minseok says “It might be better to take you to doctor just to get you checked out. Let’s go. Our settlement is only a short walk from here.” When Jongdae’s face morphs into acceptance after he contemplates for a bit, they help him stand up. He feels weak in his legs as if he hadn’t used them in days. The reassuring arms that hold him on both sides catch him before he topples and hold him straight for a minute before Jongdae is sure he can walk without falling facing first. Though the hands feel assuring, he also feels like he should not depend on them, so he is more than ready to shrug them off.

As they walk through the trees on a tapered path, Jongdae can’t shake off one thought and so he asks again, “Can you tell me what affinity is?” Junmyeon explains without asking more “It’s the element we are most drawn to, few of us can control and manipulate the element, while others are just inclined to understand its properties. Your affinity is the same as your family’s. Usually.” They come out into a large clearing where you can see many one-story buildings farther than one’s eye can perceive at once – a decent sized town, in the middle of the forest. The building looks like it is made of huge stone and clay. The walk through the town where a lot of people are going about their days. There are stores selling clothes and food in stalls. They go past them all to a building that is nestled at the end of the marketplace and the residential sector of the town. While Jongdae was taking in everything around him, his mind was also racing to make sense of what Junmyeon said. Just as they are about to head into what looks like a small hospital, Jongdae says “My affinity must be lightning” and snaps his fingers. Some lightning bolt looking sparks shoot out of his finger and fizzle out quickly.

Minseok’s eyes widen, and he immediately turns to his brother with an annoyed look “How do you always get me into these situations?” Junmyeon immediately whines “Hey I don’t go looking for them! You were there with me.” Minseok mumbles “And I said we shouldn’t bother to help” and continues “But it is what it is. Let me go get Chanyeol and maybe Kyungsoo if I can find him. You take him in and get him checked out.” He turns to give Jongdae a glance over and walks away. Jongdae is once again confused, seems to be today’s theme. Now annoyed, he whines in a loud voice, “What! What is wrong with my affinity? Why is that hyung being mean?” The other seems quite surprised by his outburst. Junmyeon reaches out to his elbow and tugs him inside, “Well nothing is wrong with it, other than that there are only four affinities – water, fire, air, and earth. Lightning sadly isn’t one that we know of commonly. Don’t mention it unless the doctor asks in particular.”

A very uninterested doctor checks his vitals and just asks if he remembers falling over or getting hit by anything on his head. He nonchalantly concludes that Jongdae is physically in a great state and he really can’t do much for the missing memories if he can’t remember what might have triggered it and walks out after getting a coin from Junmyeon for his visit. “How should I remember why I don’t remember anything! Hyung everyone in your town is annoying!” Jongdae whines again. Junmyeon doesn’t seem taken aback in the slightest this time, moreover, has a look of amusement on his face. “Do you talk only in that tone? And how do you know I’m a hyung? Since you don’t seem to be from around here, I didn’t think you would know that honorfic.” Jongdae immediately replies “It is a feeling, you look like someone that will nag me like a hyung would. I don’t know how I know, I just felt like that was the right word to address you.”

“You are right, he is a hyung that nags. And if anything, you look younger than him, just about our age”, says a tall guy that has walked into the room while pointing at a short sturdy man beside him. Minseok is in tow behind them. The tall one smiles easily and brightly, introducing himself as Chanyeol. The shorter one has a deeper voice, looks very grounded and just says his name, Kyungsoo, in a guarded tone while sizing up Jongdae.

Jongdae’s electric energy crawling under skin feels comfort with Chanyeol’s presence. He can feel it crawling out from the corner it was tucking itself into in his body. But somehow, imprinted deep in his brain is a feeling that he isn’t supposed to like him. A leftover inkling of his past self maybe, Jongdae thinks to himself, though he can’t bring himself to remember anything that might indicate he has met this Chanyeol before. While he goes through his inner monologue, Junmyeon has updated the rest about what little the doctor had told them.

Junmyeon then asks Chanyeol “Where is the other half of you?” as he rolls his eyes. “Ah he will be here soon. He is finishing up morning training drills with Sehun and Jongin.” He turns towards Jongdae “So lightning ah?” Jongdae who has had some time to feel the energy surge a bit from its recluse says “Lightning and electricity. Sitting in this room I can feel the electricity running to the lights”. He makes some sparks from his fingers, a bit stronger than last time. But realizes he can’t tap into the rest of the energy to make anything bigger. He quickly distracts the rest with “Wait I don’t know any of your affinities! Why I’m showing you mine, show me yours first.”

Junmyeon summaries quickly. Minseok and he have an affinity for water, while he controls water like his parents, while Minseok a bit differently controls frost and ice. Chanyeol makes a fire in his hand out of nothing and Kyungsoo pulls out a small piece of the floor out and puts it back without moving a muscle. Small displays yet Jongdae is impressed.

“Now that we have shown off, let’s see here. My guess is he is a variant of the fire affinity, just he must be from a faraway region from here. You know how they sometimes mutate and take different forms based on what his ancestors might have harnessed their power on. But still lightning is not one I have ever heard of before. Similar to Minseok hyung with frost, it might have been anomaly too.” As soon as he says the last sentence, he looks like he said something he shouldn’t have. Eyes wide, smile dropping he looks guilty as he looks at Minseok. “I didn’t mean it like that!” Kyungsoo gives him an unforgiving punch but Minseok with a blank face says “It’s fine, he is right. I know you didn’t mean it to be negative”, he turns to Jongdae and explains “I’m not sure if you know where you really are geographically, but here we don’t really have winters. So, the fact that I was born with this power is weird cause nobody in my family has ever had this before. But it is useful to stay cold in the summers.”

“Are we talking about how Minseokkie is the best to hug on a hot summer day?”, a teasing voice is heard as a guy about the same height as most of them in the room, walks in. Minseok says “it’s hyung to you!” while Chanyeol simultaneously exclaims “Baekhyun-ah thank god you are here. Cheer up hyung, I made him upset” and engulfs him in a hug, hiding him from Jongdae. When Jongdae finally gets a look at the puppy face with droopy eyes lit up with a boxy smile, he feels everything in the room shift. His energy surges up in huge wave right out of its hiding spot. He can feel the energy bubbling almost reaching out to this new guy in the room.

While Jongdae is coming to terms with what is going on his body, the stranger has crossed the room and his standing in front of him. He stretches a hand out, while introducing himself. Jongdae, a little dazed, says his name absentmindedly and stretches his hand out too. Baekhyun reaches out and grabs it. The minute the hands graze, Jongdae’s body short-circuits. The energy that was trying to reach out passes through his finger and goes through Baekhyun’s as electricity. As Baekhyun jolts to get his hand away, the energy crashes back into Jongdae, knocking him straight out. The world blackens as he falls back into the hospital bed he was sitting on.

Chapter Text

This time too, Jongdae feels something soft under his fingers – a bed his brain supplies. First thing he can focus on is the complete soreness all his muscles feel, as if he had been doing hard labor all day. He groans and opens his eyes with some strain for the second time that day. Next thing his brain can make out is a loud voice that sounds condescending.

“You guys are elemental controllers and train every day. How could you not have control over your powers? If you are going to be this careless, why do you bother to train? He looks like got a huge wave of energy thrown at him. Which one of you is it?” says a voice, that reminds Jongdae of the indifferent doctor from before.

Jongdae then sits up, ignoring the soreness and the headache that has returned, stronger than what it was when he woke up the first time today. Chanyeol and Junmyeon look very distressed as they look over. Meanwhile Baekhyun turns to the doctor, anger and frustration clear in his eyes, “See he is fine! We didn’t do anything to him! If you maybe actually listened to us, you would realize that we aren’t trying to kill a friend for no good reason. Just because you are envious our powers that doesn’t make us evil!” The doctor looks affronted at being called out, “Fine, then you guys can take care of yourselves” and leaves the room with a huff.

Minseok reaches out to give a comforting pat on Baekhyun’s squared up shoulders. Baekhyun let’s out a sigh and walks over to Jongdae. “What was the doctor talking about?”, asks Jongdae. “You tell me! If you didn’t want to shake hands, all you had to do was say, you know. Shocking me is a bit much, don’t you think”, Baekhyun says, sounding rather teasing for someone who sounded very angry just a minute ago. Jongdae remembers the electricity reaching out and feels guilty immediately for hurting Baekhyun. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I’m not sure what happened there. As soon as you touched me, I lost control of my power for a second.”

Baekhyun gasps, “Are you calling me electrifying?” with the cheekiest look on his face and this set off Chanyeol, who laughs while flailing around. Kyungsoo reaches out and smacks him on his back. He doesn’t seem deterred by that at all though, laughing out loud. Jongdae too wants to whine at his stupid joke, but Baekhyun’s laugh catches him off guard. Dazed – Jongdae feels dazed again. Baekhyun squeezes words in between his laugh, “You want to knock somebody off their feet, not get knocked out when you flirt. I will teach you the tricks and tips to flirting later.” This time Kyungsoo and Minseok smack him at the same time. “The dude is literally still out of it. Can you stop your antics for a second?”, says Minseok. Chanyeol is still on the ground wheezing.

Junmyeon rolls his eyes, shoves Baekhyun away who by now is getting a grip on himself and steps closer to Jongdae. “Are you okay… again?” Jongdae goes “Yeah just feel sore everywhere, my power crashed back into me when I lost control.”

“That makes sense. Kyungsoo had to ground you with his power because there was so much static energy around you. Either you have never trained before or whatever made you lose your memories must have also made you forget any training you might have had.” Jongdae nods to acknowledge what he is saying. “So, what do you want to do? Chanyeol and Baekhyun are okay to share their fire faction training accommodations if you want. But you will have to train with us. I will say you look like you do need some training. Minseok thinks you are tricking us to stay for free, but if you practice with us, it doesn’t matter because you will be earning your own right to stay.” He pauses and then continues, “If you want to leave and find your own way, that’s fine too.” He sounds very reluctant to say it, voice laced with worry.

Jongdae tries to sort all his thoughts and process what he was being asked. If he stays, he needs to train and learn to better control his power. Train for what though? But again, he really doesn’t have nowhere to go. He doesn’t even understand where this place is. He looks around the room, makes eye contact with Baekhyun and comes to a realization that somehow even if he had to be elsewhere, he would stay here with these people. Something inexplicable pulls Jongdae to not go.

“Yeah, I will stay.”

“Then let’s go have lunch please, I’m starving” Kyungsoo says, while they rest huff out a breath, they didn’t they realize they were holding. Jongdae also thinks he could do with some food right now.

Junmyeon, Minseok and Kyungsoo walk ahead as Chanyeol and Baekhyun trail behind with Jongdae in between them, stating that “If he falls on his ass, we will be closer to witness it clearly. Then we can help him up.” Jongdae laughs at that, though, he really should be more annoyed. Something about the way Chanyeol and Baekhyun talk in tandem irks him but in a way that he feels like he would fit right in with them. Like he was missing out on this, wherever else he was before this.

“Should we get Jongin and Sehun to eat with us?” Junmyeon asks. Baekhyun says “they must have already had food, Jongin was screaming for fried chicken when I left. Let’s eat and just meet up for evening training.” They walk back into the market side and into one of the smaller food places. It is bustling with people for lunch time. The group of six walk in, beelining to an empty table. The owner calls “Chanyeol-ah you better not burn up the utensils today!” Chanyeol salutes, “Yes sir” and sits down.

Jongdae and Baekhyun sit across each other at the edge of the table while Chanyeol sits next to Jongdae. The others order food for Jongdae knowing he would be clueless. Then, Chanyeol chatters along with Kyungsoo and the hyungs. Baekhyun, for all his energy so far, seems to be quietly zoned out. In this moment of peace, Jongdae realizes he has many questions. The confusion must be evident in his face or maybe Baekhyun is just good at reading him, because he asks, “Shoot your questions.” Jongdae takes that the chance immediately, “What were you saying about the doctor being jealous about your elemental control?” Baekhyun sighs deeply, “While everyone has elemental affinity from their families, very few of us can control them. In our small city, there is only 7 of us… well 8 now if we include you. We just train and the city provides us with our accommodations. In exchange, we will fight with our lives if anything threatens the security of the city. While most people are thankful that we exist and reassured by the fact that they don’t have to take our place, some are not so happy because they view us as freeloaders. We don’t really have many conflicts in this area and no active threats to our city. So, we haven’t actively fought anyone – but we don’t get a choice to really do anything else. Nobody would let us work anywhere else. It’s unfair to hate us when we don’t want to be doing this either.”

Jongdae nods along in understanding taking in as much as he can. The food as been served and Jongdae eats as he thinks of his next question. The food tastes better than it looks and Jongdae can’t complain much. “Hm… so I have met the 5 of you, Jongin and Sehun are the other two I assume.” Baekhyun nods as slurps his food – a noisy eater – “Yes, they both have air affinities. Jongin’s is a slightly weirder manifestation of it, though.” “And you control fire like Chanyeol?” Jongdae asks. “Fire is my affinity, but my manifestation is light, also a slight oddity. Not considered as weird though. Yours is a much weirder and cooler manifestation of fire for sure.” Baekhyun makes a small ball of light that floats towards Jongdae. When it touches him, he fells another surge of energy inside him. Jongdae stores the fact to explore later. Chanyeol, then, pulls Baekhyun into whatever conversation they were having, and Jongdae listens in, trying to make sense of everything.

Once they are done, Junmyeon pays, and they leave to head towards where Minseok went earlier today. Jongdae assumes that is where the accommodations must be. The buildings are similar to what the residential section looked like on the other side of the town – 4 one story buildings laid around a large empty courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard, there were two people messing around. When they got closer, Jongdae realized they look visibly younger than the rest of them.

One of them turns around when he realizes they are coming, and a strong gush of wind hit them, swaying Jongdae. Baekhyun holds out a hand to steady him while also lifting a hand and sending what seems to be a blast of light at the kid. The kid gracefully falls on his butt giggling. Junmyeon seems annoyed “Can you guys stop playing around for a second, for Jongdae’s sake, at the least?” The kids only now realize that there is somebody new. “Sehun and Jongin, this is Jongdae. He has fire affinity, with a manifestation of lightning. He claims to remember nothing of his past. So please be gentle.” Sehun looks straight-faced and Jongdae can’t make out what he feels about him being the new addition. Jongin though looks shocked and looking between Baekhyun and Jongdae, looking rather frazzled for a second.

Jongdae, put on a spotlight, creates a small lightning bolt in his hand to drive the point home. Sehun’s expression cracks to give way to one of glee and exclaims, “That’s so freaking cool!” while Jongin seems to have gotten over his initial shock and gives Jongdae a nod of acknowledgement but immediately walks over to Kyungsoo and whispers something his ear and they walk away towards one of the buildings. Jongdae doesn’t know what to make of that, but Baekhyun says “Jonginnie is really shy around new people.” Sehun though as made his way over, “Hyung can you make another one, I have never heard about a lightning controller before!”

Baekhyun teases “Sehunnie is usually shy too, but he is a kid that is easily awed by things. Don’t get close with him though, he is super clingy” and laughs. Sehun takes personal offense to it and blasts Baekhyun back to the ground with some wind. Jongdae laughs at that and makes a lightning bolt for Sehun as payment for the entertainment. Chanyeol, who was talking seriously with Junmyeon and Minseok, makes his way over and says “Come Jongdae, let us get you settled you in a room. You can start training tomorrow.”

Jongdae follows Chanyeol into the building, adjacent to the one Kyungsoo and Jongin disappeared into. It seems to be a small place with a cozy living space with some fire burn holes in the upholstery, a kitchen and staircase. The second-floor splits into two corridors that stretches to the right and left, and a door in the middle, which Chanyeol point out as the restroom. Chanyeol walks down the right side “This is Baekhyun’s, and this can be yours”, pointing to the doors across each other. He points down to the other side of the corridor, “My room is over there, the room across mine, we use as a storage space. Let me get you some sheets and spare clothes, the room should be clean enough… Minseok hyung makes us clean it every other week! You can come look at us train or look at us from your window. Junmyeon hyung said you can take today to rest and start tomorrow if you feel well enough. I showed you the restroom already, so you can shower if you want. I will grab Baekhyun’s spares for you, it should fit you fine.”

Chanyeol drops of some clothes and a spare set of sheets on the bed and leaves to train. Finally, alone Jongdae feels like his nerves are frazzled when he thinks about everything that happened today. He tries to dig in and find something else that he might remember. He quickly gives up when he feels a headache coming and goes to take a shower instead.

Once he is done showering, he comes out into the room and looks out at the courtyard and sees all of them standing inside a circle drawn on the ground, throwing blasts of their element at each other while trying to defend themselves, struggling to stay inside the circle. Looking from here, he thinks they look really freaking cool. A feeling of longing passes over Jongdae suddenly. The itching feeling in him all day where he felt like he had something important to remember washes over him, but frustration takes over when the thought evades him constantly.

He closes his eyes and takes a few breaths. Opening them to look at the others as he leans on the windowsill, makes him realize despite everything else, he feels that he is at the right place. At home.

Chapter Text

Jongdae feels something soft under his fingers. The sheets of his bed. He should have gotten used to it in the past two weeks, but he is still disoriented. He feels the sun on his face and opens his eyes. He can hear Baekhyun’s sleepy noises from the other room, and Chanyeol messing around in the kitchen below. Two weeks – it’s been two weeks since he got here, and he still doesn’t feel completely settled in with the routine.

He waddles to the bathroom to get ready. After his shower, he screams for Baekhyun to wake up before heading down. Chanyeol, a substandard cook at best, makes breakfast on some days. They usually eat with the rest of them in Kyungsoo’s place in the earth faction accommodations. “I still don’t understand how you can control fire but burn food. Isn’t that against your nature?” Chanyeol turns away from the stove, “Cooking is a whole another skill, okay?” he says pouting. He looks adorable, Jongdae thinks. Jongdae has gotten much closer to Chanyeol and Baekhyun than he expected. Being around them makes him feel as if he is on the right wavelength, the right rhythm. Despite teasing, Jongdae eats the food diligently, knowing that he will need the energy for the awful drills that are part of the training.

Then, Baekhyun stomps down the stairs, his eyes barely open and grabs whatever is on the plate, stuffing it in his mouth. “Chanyeol-ya… how can you still burn food when you control fire and have been doing this for the years?”, Baekhyun asks in disapproving voice. Jongdae laughs so hard that he almost falls off his chair, looking at Chanyeol’s expression of indignation. “You both must share one braincell.” Baekhyun looks at Jongdae gleefully. One look and he knows Jongdae must have said something similar. He falls onto to Jongdae laughing and continues, “You are just too cute to not tease”, Baekhyun says. “You guys make breakfast next time” Baekhyun doesn’t move from where is now cuddling into Jongdae. Though Jongdae doesn’t mind how touchy Baekhyun is, there is something here that Jongdae can’t take as just casual Baekhyun behavior. “You love us too much and have a big enough appetite to know, we will all die if Jongdae and I cook.” Baekhyun also finishes everything on his plate, which makes Chanyeol happy. “I do love you… too much it seems, to put up with both of your crap” Chanyeol says playfully and sets their plate for wash, which Baekhyun and Jongdae takes turns doing.

“What is today’s schedule?” Jongdae asks. “Junmyeon hyung mentioned us three training with Kyungsoo today. He wants to separate you from Minseok hyung and Jongin from Kyungsoo. Your unhealthy obsession with Minseok hyung is concerning.” Baekhyun says, tone a little too sharp to be completely lighthearted. Jongdae doesn’t know what to make of it and whines “Yah, it’s not an obsession, he is just level-headed and makes me feel calm enough to exercise control over my element. You guys pump me up with so much excitement I feel like I’m about to electrocute all of us to death sometimes.” Baekhyun and Chanyeol shrug their shoulders at the same time and look unconvinced. They are already teasing him early in the morning. Jongdae shakes his head and lets them have their moment of “Jongdae teasing” for the day.

Truly though, beyond Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, Jongdae has grown closest with Minseok. A rather surprising turn of events, since Minseok looked as annoyed as one can be on his first day here. Eventually they realized they are good partners when doing control training. Jongdae had grown close to Sehun and Junmyeon too. Jongin, though, seems to be a hard one to crack. He seems to run away from wherever Jongdae is. The bare minimum conversation between them so far has been when they’re in a group with others. Jongin seems really close to Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Sehun. But he seems to run to Junmyeon at the first sight of any discomfort. Jongdae also catches him checking up on Baekhyun a lot when he thinks no one is looking. So, the only explanation Jongdae as so far is that Jongin most probably likes Baekhyun and doesn’t like that the newcomer is getting close to him. He hasn’t been able to confirm this because he doesn’t really want to know if somebody likes Baekhyun. Okay okay, he understands there is something to unpack here about his own feelings, but Jongdae is ignoring that, as he would like to go through at least a month here without drama. The fact that Jongin seems to hate him is what he is focusing on for now.

They head out to the courtyard once Baekhyun gets ready. Everybody is there but Sehun. Jongin is hanging off Kyungsoo’s back, who is having a conversation with Minseok. Junmyeon scolds them as soon as they are within earshot “How are you guys at least 15 minutes late every day?” Baekhyun shares a mischievous look with them both. He steps forward and makes a ball of light, dangling it in front of Junmyeon’s eyes. Junmyeon having none of it, focuses on dousing it with water. When he is distracted, Chanyeol and Jongdae hit his back with a small jolt of lightning and fireball. Junmyeon, caught off guard, falls to his knees, losing control of his water that douses him. The three of them cheer and high five each other. They have been planning this for the past few days, so the success is very satisfying to them. Kyungsoo, as usual, is blank faced, but Jongdae has gotten better at reading him and knows he is finds it funny. Jongin seems shocked but immediately helps Junmyeon up. Minseok though looks not amused in the slightest. “You guys are going to hurt him.” “Well if he didn’t show favoritism to Sehun, who may we add is always here 15 minutes after us, we wouldn’t feel the need to torture him” says Baekhyun. Junmyeon now just looks checked out “if having two of you wasn’t bad enough, there is three of you now. You shits were made from the same piece of cloth.” “Finest piece of cloth, yes indeed”, Chanyeol retorts without missing a beat.

Just in time, or at least by Sehun standard time, Sehun arrives innocently. The three beagles look at Junmyeon expectantly, to see if he would scold Sehun. Junmyeon just looks at Sehun and mumbles, “He is just a cute kid! I can’t find it in myself to do it”. “Hey, we are cute kids too!” whines Chanyeol. Junmyeon looks exhausted already, something else that is very much a part of their routine. Jongdae feels a tad bit guilty already, but not enough to sit out when the others are annoying Junmyeon.

“Let’s just start, Kyungsoo join those three. Sehunnie with Minseok and Jongin with me for morning drills.” They don’t argue much, Junmyeon is the only one that takes lead, and nobody questions it. Minseok guides them a lot, but he can’t seem to be bothered to herd the rest of them like Junmyeon does. So, they get started. The four of them take a corner of the courtyard, standing in a square. Jongdae makes a ball of lightning energy, passes it to Chanyeol who makes the ball light up in fire. He passes that to Baekhyun who converts the fire ball into a pure light ball and throws it at Kyungsoo, who deflects it with rocks he hauls out of the ground on the go. Jongdae is not yet good enough to get a ball of energy and convert it into lightning. He feels all the energy in him rise up inside him, knowing he would be able to do for sure, just not in any controlled form. The last thing he wants is to hurt the others, so he is still working on basic controls of summoning bigger and more controlled lightning and static energy.

Jongdae has realized that as much as Baekhyun loves to annoy Junmyeon, he loves tormenting Kyungsoo more. So, he starts taunting him within five minutes of starting their drills, “Kyungsoo-ya do better. What are you so distracted by? Thinking about your crush?” Kyungsoo throws a huge block of earth at Baekhyun who sidesteps while laughing. Kyungsoo goes, “I don’t have a crush.” “Oh, I thought you liked that kid that lived next door to you?”, teases Baekhyun. “That was 3 years ago! And are we talking about crushes now? What about the one that worked at the food stall you dragged us to all the time?” Now Baekhyun seems flustered, “Yah, don’t bring that up. It’s a bad memory. I was so heartbroken when I realized he had a girlfriend.” Chanyeol laughs, “That was hilarious.” Baekhyun splutters, “Oh, is it hilarious? You know what is funnier, when you thought the girl asking for help was hitting on you. Remember how hard you cried after because you were embarrassed.” Chanyeol whines, “Hey, that’s a foul. We don’t talk about it. I was traumatized!” Kyungsoo laughs, “He was indeed traumatized, he wouldn’t even talk to any strangers for a whole year after.” And they chatter on, talking about things that Jongdae has nothing to add to, while they train. Though they aren’t doing do to alienate Jongdae, he can’t help but feel misplaced.

They eventually stop to take a break. Jongdae goes to sit on the side looking at Baekhyun and Chanyeol, gang up on Kyungsoo. Even though he looks like he wants to murder them, Jongdae has learned that he is capable enough to propel them both backwards if they get too much. So, in way, Kyungsoo enjoys it too and eventually bursts out laughing, his eyes crinkling up. Lost in thought, looking at them at zoning out, Jongdae jumps when he fells a freezing hand on his back. Turns to see Minseok who had sneaked up behind him. “Hyung!” he whines. Minseok laughs and says, “You really do whine a lot, has anybody told you that?” “I won’t remember it even if somebody did” Jongdae says in a tone that is a little too heavy to be funny. The other catches on pretty fast and asks, “What has made the lightning prince feel so down?” Jongdae tries to make sense of his feelings and comes with a question instead, “Hyung do you ever feel like you don’t fit in?” He pauses for a second and continues, “This feels like home but somehow the puzzle pieces don’t fit just right. I will never be part of the past you guys shared.” Minseok who was listening intently, “You know, for the longest time, I hated the manifestation of my affinity. I just wanted to be like the rest of my family. I felt like the guys were making fun of me. Then I realized, they are just trying to assure me they don’t see me any different because of it, unlike my family. The thought that I don’t fit in with the guys was just that. My own thought. Your thoughts are a reflection of your own insecurities, trying to close yourself out from the rest. You should do yourself a favor and just see how the rest truly perceive you” Minseok says with a pat to his back. “For one, the weird thing you and Baekhyun have going on, is definitely something you can focus on” Minseok ends with a snort.

Jongdae, who feels like the rug was pulled from under him, fish-mouths for a second before quickly shifting the conversation. “Uh forget that, tell me why Jongin is sidestepping me. Did I unknowingly do something to piss him off? Why does he hate me?” Minseok truly seems thrown off “Jonginnie? He is incapable of hate.” “I know, I keep hearing that, but why is he avoiding me then? Actually, I realized I don’t know anything about him.”

Minseok and Jongdae look over to where now, Sehun and Jongin are running around Junmyeon, who is trying to look at his notes to figure out the schedule for the rest of the day. Minseok sighs, “Jonginnie was not born here, like you, we found him. Junmyeon and I found him too. He was young but still old enough that he seemed to know his element. He was very tight lipped and didn’t want to talk about his past. We still don’t know much. We just took him in and assumed he didn’t have a good past. Most probably ran away. He seems to have an odd manifestation of the air element. He can move air but very differently than Sehun. It could be that the oddity wasn’t accepted much where he came from. Jongin doesn’t take to strangers well, very defensive but never hateful though.”

That’s not what Jongdae had expected to hear, leaving him a little stumped. He feels like there is more to this, a nagging thought in his head that he pushes away. “What about his relationship with Baekhyun?” Minseok looks confused, “What about it?” “Is he interested in Baekhyun?” Minseok bursts into laughter “Jongin? No no! While Jongin is close to Junmyeon because he is the one who helped him out when we first found him, but really he took to Baekhyun first. He took him out of his shell. Jongin got closer to Kyungsoo and Sehun eventually. But he regards Baekhyun as an older brother, he likes to watch out for” Minseok finishes. “And, you need to be less obvious with your jealousy, if you want to hide your interest, by the way.” Minseok side eyes him.

Jongdae huffs and rolls his eyes as he does feel a little embarrassed that he assumed wrong. His eyes are pulled towards Baekhyun in what seems to have become a habit and sees him playing with a ball of light with Chanyeol. The strange pull he feels towards Baekhyun seems to be getting stronger and stronger. He then asks, “What about Baekhyun, he has a weird manifestation of fire right?” “Hm, Baekhyun is interesting like that. There were complications with his birth. When he was about six months old, he got really sick, and they were sure he wouldn’t make it. Then around the time Chanyeol was born, Baekhyun suddenly got better when doctors were sure he wouldn’t live for much longer. He then started showing signs of light manifestation that he had not done so far, which is odd for the fire faction. The babies usually show symptoms almost immediately after birth. Only guess we have is that the sickness must have triggered it somehow.” While it all sounds plausible, something in Jongdae nags at him that there is more here too. That same feeling of forgetting something important gnaws at him much more intensely.

Before he can make sense of any of it and ask more, Kyungsoo is screaming, “Yah Jongdae come back here, I can’t take these two anymore.” Baekhyun and Chanyeol are also looking expectingly. Minseok is standing up and dusting off, “They can’t even bare to give up your attention for more than ten minutes and you are scared you don’t fit in. They look like someone just took away their favorite toy. You go back before they come fight me”, Minseok laughs and pull Jongdae up from the ground, “And let me go help Junmyeon out before those two brats drive him insane.”

Jongdae realizes as the day progresses, that the three always turn to Jongdae to see what his reaction is no matter what they are talking about and pull him into the circle any moment he steps away. They are pulling him in, he just needs to let himself get embraced. Jongdae spends the rest of the day basking in his new realization, uneasy thoughts about Jongin and Baekhyun just a small afterthought in the back of his mind.

Chapter Text

Jongdae feels something soft under his fingers. His sheets – no, not his sheets. He tries to move around to make sense of it without opening his eyes. He is not ready to wake up yet, wanting to sleep in on their day off from training. But he can’t move, something weighing his side down. He hears the Chanyeol in the kitchen, but Baekhyun’s sleepy sounds are way louder than they usually are. He pries an eye open and sees Baekhyun nuzzled up against him, making whiny sounds. Jongdae’s sleep muddled brain can’t even process what is going on.

Before his brain can reach any conclusion, the door to his room opens to show Chanyeol on the other side. He seems to process that Baekhyun is cuddled up with him but doesn’t make any comments other than that a smug look with his usual “up to no good” grin. “I was going to see if you wanted to join Kyungsoo and I at the flea market today. But I think you are otherwise occupied. Sleep in, I’m sure Baekhyun has plans for you both. Eat breakfast whenever you wake up.” He doesn’t let Jongdae say anything already closing the door. The sound from the closing door annoys Baekhyun who huffs and rolls more into Jongdae’s side in his sleep.

Jongdae’s brain finally comes back up. He realizes with shock that Baekhyun isn’t the only one cuddled into him. He is also hugging him, fitting like puzzle pieces. The soft thing under his fingers is Baekhyun’s skin. The realization jars him into moving away before he digests what he is doing. The action jostles Baekhyun, who whines. He opens one eye and sees Jongdae. He doesn’t seem as shocked by the fact that he is in Jongdae’s bed, which confirms to Jongdae that he most probably got in here by himself at some point in the night. “Stop moving, I want to sleep in” he huffs out in his sleep riddled voice, that is way deeper than usual. That does something to Jongdae, but he pushes to the side, not wanting to end up in an embarrassing position when Baekhyun is fit right into him.

“When did you get here?” Jongdae asks, his voice also deep from sleep. Baekhyun closes his eyes and moves closer to the warmth of Jongdae as he says “It was cold in the middle of the night. I would go to Chanyeol before, but you are much closer, and just as warm.” An acceptable answer, just that Jongdae knows from his short time here that the weather doesn’t change much, and last night wasn’t much different than any of the earlier nights this month. As if he can hear his thoughts, Baekhyun looks up at him, his eyes daring Jongdae to call out his bluff. While Jongdae likes to believe he is very assertive and fearless, not that he has much evidence to base his claim on, this seems to too high stakes.

Baekhyun has been more and more boldly flirting with him in the past month. It has only been two months since he got here. So, even though, he flirts back in his own capacity, this is pushing it too far, too fast. Baekhyun does not look away, their faces close enough that Jongdae can trace all of Baekhyun’s moles. The tension in the room was rising, like a crescendo of song that can’t be heard. Jongdae, eventually, looks away breaking the moment. Jongdae is pretty sure he is blushing. Baekhyun seems satisfied with whatever he sees, as he laughs and rolls away.

“Looks like both of us are awake enough. I was thinking we can go out to the flea market to get you some more clothes. I love seeing you in my clothes, oh I really do. But they were old clothes so let’s get you jazzed up with some new ones. Then we can get lunch and head to the forest for the night, it looks like it is going to be a cloudy night, but we can still see some stars.” Jongdae realizes Baekhyun is planning the entire day out for them. They usually hang out with the rest of them for at least part of the day. Jongdae as grow so close to the others too. He can’t imagine not spending time away from the rest, as they spend every living moment together. So, the significance of what it means for them to spend the whole day alone does not escape Jongdae. It is a date, but if neither of them names it as such, Jongdae can feel less pressured about it.

Jongdae just nods, and this pleases Baekhyun enough to give him his boxy smile. He stretches in place and jumps off the bed, humming a tone as he heads to the bathroom to most probably to get ready for the day. Jongdae breathes out a deep exhale and settles in the warm feeling for a second. It feels so prefect. But what nags him is that he feels like he has experienced this before - nostalgic. Partly why he is scared to move any further with Baekhyun. The scary possibility that he might have liked, loved, someone before he lost his memories halts him so hard anytime he gets too close to Baekhyun.

He shakes his head, as if he can shake off these thoughts. He wants to not dwell on a past he can’t remember. He slaps his face with his hands and tries to wake himself up to face the reality he is living in right now. Baekhyun is the one he knows and the one he likes now, and that is the only thing is should focus on. He hears Baekhyun come out of the bathroom and head downstairs. He takes that as his que to get ready too.

Breakfast without Chanyeol isn’t weird per say, more that it is quieter as there is no partnering to gang up on the third one. It is healing, in a way, to just sit beside Baekhyun, their legs almost touching eating burnt food. They head out right after breakfast. The hit the flea market, walk around looking at random things, making constant commentary – very in style for them. Baekhyun picks out clothes for him, though Jongdae thought he wouldn’t care much, he finds himself choosing and pitching in with ideas for his outfits. Jongdae of the past must have cared about his style indeed.

When Baekhyun is in the small excuse of a trial room in the corner of the stall trying out some clothes and Jongdae is just browsing through their selection of accessories, imagining how earring might look on Baekhyun, he feels tingles in his nerves that set him on high alert. He can’t remember ever feeling this way before. He has gotten better at sensing energy around him. He was picking up faster in training than the others had expected, guessing that he most probably did train in his past. He looks around as the frantically trying to place why this energy seems familiar, and in no good sense. Jongdae senses something on the other side of alley they were on. Just as he was about to step closer, he feels a hand wrap around his forearm. This breaks his attention, and he swivels to look only to realize Baekhyun has stepped out of the trial room. He has a look of worry on his face, “What are you looking at? I felt something pull me towards you. Something about your energy seemed unsettled.”

Jongdae just shakes his head, “No, it is nothing. Something ran across, and I just get scared easily.” Jongdae knew his instincts have been all over the place for some time now, especially with Baekhyun and his weird relationship with Jongin. He wouldn’t bet anything on his gut in this state, so nothing warranted scaring Baekhyun. Baekhyun looked unconvinced, so Jongdae shifted the conversation, “The outfit though is what calls for attention. It looks really good on you.” Baekhyun senses what Jongdae is doing, looks at him for a few more seconds trying to discern if he should press further or not. He decides not to it seems; he breaks into an easy grin “I make everything look good.”

They buy what they want and move on to lunch. Jongdae leaves behind his feelings of discomfort too. They run into Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Jongin when heading towards lunch. Chanyeol gives him the same grin from that morning – more teasing if anything. They were also looking to get food, but none of them offer to eat with them. The fact that Jongin looks Jongdae up and down and even he knows what he was doing with Baekhyun today, unnerves Jongdae a bit. Baekhyun, as much as he loves to eat with the rest, just makes easy conversation but does not offer to let the others join them, cementing the thought this is indeed a date in Jongdae’s mind.

They separate ways, and Baekhyun and Jongdae end up getting lunch in a place that isn’t any fancier than where they go during the week with the others. Makes it seem like just another day for Jongdae, lets him settle in and slip into usual banter with Baekhyun. As Baekhyun gets some food in his system, he reaches his peak energy. So, his teasing and flirting hit the roof. Jongdae comments on how the food tastes better than usual. Baekhyun’s get his usual glint in his eyes, as he goes, “Are you trying to say just eating food with me alone makes it taste better?” and leaning over the table with his playful smile. Jongdae laughs but does not give in, “I wonder where you get all the energy to be this delusional?” Baekhyun fakes being affronted and says, “Would you rather I act as clueless as you?”

Jongdae did not expect Baekhyun to go straight for the kill. “I’m not clueless!”. Baekhyun looks amused enough, “Oh I know, that’s why I said ‘act clueless’. If you are actually clueless, I don’t know what else I would be able to do to drive the point home.” Jongdae was not ready for lunch to get real that fast. Baekhyun must be really good at reading Jongdae as he easily shifts the conversation for Jongdae’s sake, easing back as quickly as he had pressed forward, “Here have some cucumbers that made its way into my food, eat it for me.” Jongdae is thankful for the break from the tension as he did not have an answer for Baekhyun right now. They just finish the food in comfortable silence after that, making eye contact occasionally.

After their late lunch, they walk around a little bit more and do some more meaningless shopping until the sun sets. Just when the darkness sets in and the stalls close up, Baekhyun says, “Now for my favorite part of today! Let’s go see some stars.” Jongdae looks up at the sky and realizes that it is too cloudy to see anything and shares a look of confusion with Baekhyun. He just looks at him and says, “Wow a little trust would be nice” and drags him towards the forest, where Jongdae had not returned to since the day he had woken up in the middle of it.

Baekhyun leads him inside the forest and up a small hike to take him to a beautiful ledge from where you could see part of the small city nestled in the forest. The foliage was also open enough to look up at the sky. If the sky wasn’t cloudy, it would be a prefect view with the town, the moon and stars. Jongdae looks over at Baekhyun, trying to get comfortable on the ground and Jongdae has a cheesy thought that this is a perfect view already. Realizing how deep he is already, Jongdae concludes that there is no point in making Baekhyun wait when they are both clearly plenty interested.

Just when Jongdae is about to say something about it, Baekhyun starts talking too. They both snort at that and laugh at the ridiculously awkward energy that brings. Jongdae waits for Baekhyun to talk again, when something rustles in the tree line behind them, and they both turn around at that quickly. A bird flies out and they both feel ridiculous again. “Okay if we are going to be this stupid, I won’t be able to stop laughing. I want to actually show you the stars.” Within a blink of the eyes, there are about fifty or more tiny balls of light floating around them. “I wanted today to be perfect, show you my favorite place and ask you something important under the stars. But the cloudy weather was getting in the way, and I wasn’t going to wait for our free day. So, I decided I’m going to make the stars myself.” The balls of light float out further and make it look like there are really stars in the cloud.

Jongdae looks at it in awe for a second and makes up his mind at that moment, that it needs to be him. The one that pushes it to the finish line. “Baekhyun wait, I have something to say. You went this far and got us here, the least I can do is make the effort to meet you halfway and not keep you guessing. I have just been pushing this out because I’m scared of what I might have forgotten. If there were others and if I might remember one day. I don’t want you ever make you feel like I’m in doubt. I had to talk myself through to acknowledge the present reality without the fear of the past.” He takes a deep breath after his rushed words. Baekhyun reaches for his hand and holds it. The energy inside Jongdae surges again but he has a better control of it now. He looks him in the eye, “Jongdae-ah you can fear the past. I don’t mind. I just want the present with you. The future, we won’t dwell on that either. So, if you do remember your past and our future is different because of it, we can cross the bridge when we get there.”

Jongdae feels a surge of fondness and focuses only on Baekhyun. He pulls Baekhyun in who stumbles into his chest. Their faces are close, they both look at each other’s lips and lean into the kiss. Baekhyun’s lips slot into his perfectly. Jongdae feels his energy surging and growing inside him, but the most in control he has ever felt. When they pull back, Jongdae notices the lights are circling them now. As he looks into Baekhyun’s eyes something deeply nostalgic strikes him. A deeply familiar feeling – something flashes in his mind. Lights circling him, and someone is in his arms. Is that – Jongdae is confused, and when he tries to focus on the image, it slips out and he can’t see it again.

Baekhyun looks at him closely. “What happened? Are you okay?” Jongdae is about to reply honestly when many things happen at once. A loud noise of something crashing into the ground makes them look behind them, jumping up by instinct. The same unnerving feeling from the flea market earlier today, crawls through Jongdae once again. He feels a negative energy slam into him. There is a man clothed in all white drapes from head to toe, in front of them. Jongdae gets the feeling that he should know this man and that the nagging thought of forgetting something comes to the forefront of his thoughts.

“Oh, both the princes are here! But I’m only here for one. I guess it’s a lucky day for one of you”, says the new man, in scratchy gravelly voice. Though both don’t get what is going on, their body jumps into a defensive stance. “So cute, thinking you can fight me when you are in human form.” Baekhyun ever the hasty one, steps forward slightly, putting Jongdae behind him. “I don’t know who the heck you are, but I don’t like the way you are talking. It’s annoying me.” And strikes him a flash of light trying to catch the man off guard. Unsuccessfully, though. The man slashes a hand across the flash. “Your energy isn’t where it usually is, making this much easier for me.” He slashes his hands in front of him sending a bolt of pink energy towards Baekhyun. As quick as he is, Baekhyun tries to slide away but still he get hit on his left arm and falls to ground with a cry.

Jongdae doesn’t know what comes over him, but he summons the most energy he has since he started training, sending it towards the man and striking him, when the man was still focused on Baekhyun. The strike throws the man backwards. Jongdae immediately runs to Baekhyun and leans over him. All he can feel his panic, looking at Baekhyun writhing in pain. There is no physical damage so it must be pure energy that hit Baekhyun. “Are you okay? Oh shit, Baekhyun stay with me.” “I’m okay. I’m fine”, says Baekhyun sounding anything but.

Jongdae helps to prop him up and commits the worst mistake one can on a battlefield. He turns his back to man who was now to getting back up. “Watch out!” Baekhyun screams. Jongdae turns just to see a flash of pink coming towards them, but a ball of white flash spreads out around them, forming a dome of energy around them. The pink flash disintegrates as it reaches the white dome. At the same time, the man gets thrown to the ground by something, that Jongdae can’t see. The next second, the man isn’t there on the ground anymore. Like he just vanished into thin air.

Jongdae with Baekhyun still in his hands realizes it was Baekhyun that cast the energy around them. “Since when can you do that?” He turns to look into Baekhyun’s eyes – something has significantly changed in them. The look is much sharper than the easy going ones he has looked at for the past two months. “You still turn your back to enemy when I’m hurt like an amateur, and so I’m stuck trying to save you every time, Chen” and Baekhyun passes out, his head rolling back.

Chapter Text

Jongdae feels something soft under his fingers. He could be hallucinating for all he knows as he hasn’t slept in two days. He spends the day training way harder than he as so far and the nights gripping Baekhyun’s hands waiting for him to get up. Jongdae feels as guilty as one can. Clearly, that man was someone from Jongdae’s past that he should remember but can’t. He was not powerful enough to stop him. If nothing else, he should have been careful during a fight – the basics – and not turned his back. Baekhyun expended all his energy, especially after being wounded, to save them.

Junmyeon walks into Jongdae’s room where Baekhyun has been recuperating. Junmyeon stops right next to him and sighs. “Jongdae-ah, you need to eat something and get some sleep. Chanyeol, and everyone else honestly, is really worried about you.” “Hyung, it was because of me. The attack and my carelessness. How could I have been so careless?”, putting his face in his hands. “Jongdae, look at me”, pulling his face to cradle it in his hands, “Reacting in a situation where someone you care about gets hurt, is not something you can predict. You can prepare all your life and yet slip up when it comes to it. You did your best to protect him, and he did the same. You are also exhausted after the amount of energy you spent. You need to forgive yourself for what happened and love Baekhyun what he did. Because if we could, we would all choose to do the same for each other when it comes to it. Give him time to get some rest, he is gathering up energy again. He will be up in two days at most, and you need to do the same. Don’t make Baekhyun wake up and regret his rest because you couldn’t spare yourself some grace.”

Jongdae just nods, knowing there was no use in fighting anymore and lets himself get ushered out of the room to go get some food. They walk to earth faction building, after ensuring Chanyeol takes his place in the room. They weren’t sure what might happen and so having at least one person with Baekhyun at all times was what they had all agreed on. Everyone else is there and turns silent when they both walk in. He slides into a chair in between Minseok and Jongin. Minseok pats him on the back and tells him, “You did good. Chin up.” Minseok was the first person he had run into when he had dragged Baekhyun into the courtyard. All he had said was a garble of words that made minimal sense, but Minseok had caught on perfectly well. He took Baekhyun and did his best with the treatment. He is the one with the most knowledge followed by Junmyeon when it comes to healing them. Jongdae isn’t sure if it is because they are the oldest or if it has to do with their affinities.

Kyungsoo and Sehun were on the other side of the counter serving the food. Youngest and most playful Sehun has been the most worried of them all, besides Jongdae. He piles a bunch of food on Jongdae’s plate but doesn’t make eye contact even once. As brash as he in everyday life, his support and comfort are all silent. “Jongdae-ah, eat and get your energy up please, it is too silent and unnerving for me if you and Chanyeol are also so silent”, says Kyungsoo. He looks up into Kyungsoo’s eyes and realizes that for all that he is grounded, even he can be shaken. Looking around the room, Jongdae finally sees that everyone is feeling as guilty and scared as he is. Jongdae pulls himself together and says, “We could have all been there, and Baekhyun would have still done something stupid. You guys can just smack him when he gets up.” Kyungsoo cracks a smile at that and everyone in the room chuckles and starts eating.

Jongdae diligently eats everything on his plate after that. He is a link in this chain, and he needs to hold his weight, so he doesn’t take everyone down. He fits in perfectly, too perfectly – that it is an issue. He had been scared of not fitting in, but he is now hit with the fear of how fitting in gives him the power to singlehandedly wreck them all. He needs to be cautious of this newly realized power, it is their strength and weakness.

He then notices that Jongin has been shaking his legs and picking at his food. Out of pure instinct that he can’t place, he places food his plate and says, “Brooding and picking at your food isn’t get you anywhere. Eat your food, don’t waste it” He sounded way sterner than he expected himself to sound. Jongin looks up very surprised. “Yes, hyung. I won’t waste it” and starts eating for real now. “Just so you know, Baekhyun hyung will be definitely proud for what you did, and you should be only feel pride and nothing else for what he did.” It’s Jongdae’s turn to be surprised as this is the most Jongin as spoken to him directly. He doesn’t say a word after that though. Once they all finish eating, Minseok escorts him back to Baekhyun’s room so we can get some rest.

His exhaustion knocks him out. The warmth of Baekhyun’s presence in the room wraps around him better than any blanket. He ends up getting up earlier than he would have usually but much more well rested than he had expected. He can feel his energy crashing in waves inside him. He jumps off the bed and runs through the door across the corridor. Chanyeol looks at him in surprise ready to attack him but settles back into his chair when he realizes it is just Jongdae. Baekhyun seems to look much better, not as pale as he was yesterday. He looks at Chanyeol’s tired but fierce eyes and realizes he owes him an apology. “Chanyeol-ah, I’m sorry.” Chanyeol doesn’t even look up at him, continuing to look at Baekhyun, “You have nothing to be sorry for. You did just as much as you could. Just as much as any of us could have.” Jongdae shakes his head, “No, I’m sorry for worrying you. I should have had your back like you had mine, especially when Baekhyun isn’t there to balance us out. I was wallowing in my own guilt to realize, that you were worrying for both Baekhyun and I.” Chanyeol does turn to acknowledge him now, “I might have known him since I was born and you only for a fraction of that, but my connection with both of you is just the same. You are right that I am worrying for the both of you, and that’s how it will be no matter what you say. So, you still have nothing to be sorry about.”

“You should get some sleep, I will stand stay with him, till Junmyeon hyung comes before we have to go train.” Chanyeol doesn’t argue now that he is sure Jongdae is rested and gets up to go to his room.

Jongdae sits down and lets himself finally think about what Baekhyun had said before he had passed out. He had not told anyone else about that, keeping it vague about what the man had said too. He wasn’t sure what it all meant, and he didn’t want to panic the others with something he had no clear picture of. Chen – that’s what Baekhyun had called him. He feels like that is his name for sure, it just feels right. Was that his name before he lost his memory? But Baekhyun was born here and had been here all his life. If the rest of them had never met Jongdae in his past, how could Baekhyun have?

He tries to remember the one other thing that had struck him as most probably a memory. The lights surrounding him and kissing somebody, just like when Baekhyun and him had kissed. He doesn’t know if his mind is playing tricks or if he is remembering wrong – but the person in that memory looked like Baekhyun, though dressed differently. The person in the image had almost white hair and was wearing a lot of accessories, unlike the Baekhyun he has come to know who has black hair that he pushes up and never worn a single piece of jewelry before. He can’t make sense of it, and he feels like there is one more clue here that he can’t place.

He sits there for the next few hours running through it over and over again, before Junmyeon and Minseok walk into the room. Minseok does his thing and comments, “His energy is going up. His progress was so slow yesterday. He is suddenly getting much better now. Weird since he was born, I guess.”

Junmyeon sighs, “Baekhyun’s mom wanted to check up and see why he hadn’t come visited her for lunch on Sunday and I had to lie and say we were doing extra training. I’m pretty sure she hates me for doing this to her precious son.” Minseok counters though, “It is better that she thinks he is doing some stupid drills. The waiting phase is the most awful because you can’t do anything but worry, so it is better she doesn’t know.”

Minseok stays behind, while Jongdae gets Chanyeol and heads for training. It’s Sehun, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and him. Junmyeon is doing something on his own. While they practice deflecting and attacking, Jongdae looks around. In a moment when he is distracted, Sehun blows away some fire from Chanyeol that almost hits him on the chest, before Kyungsoo pulls up a big slab of earth in front of him like a shield. “What on earth has you as so distracted? Even sleepless, you were more concentrated yesterday”, says Kyungsoo. “I was just looking for Jongin.” All three turn around to look and then Sehun comments, “He has been wondering a lot more than usual. He gets anxious when things are tense. He just pops up at the random times to check in and just goes away. Junmyeon hyung seems to have a general idea, though, of him going places. He doesn’t nag him much.” Chanyeol snorts and says, “That’s just because Jongin and you get so much privilege for being the youngest. If I did the same, I would never hear the end of it.” He turns to see Jongdae still deep in thought and continues, “but he has always been like that, a wanderer. He can’t sit still. Always going one place or another. He just pops up randomly like Sehun mentioned. It’s a characteristic manifestation of his power or so we have always guessed.”

Jongdae though isn’t completely convinced, but for now puts it aside to continue training. After about two hours, Minseok hyung calls for them through the window in his room. Jongdae and Chanyeol run so fast to reach the building. Racing up the stairs, barging into the room. “You need to rest for some more time, Baekhyun. No controlling your element. Take time to bask in your element and let it fill you with energy”, Minseok seems to be advising Baekhyun who was now propped up against the headboard of the bed. He looks well and seems to be at least spirited enough to talk back, “Yes hyung, stop nagging. Leave space for Junmyeon hyung’s nagging too”, rolling his eyes. “The fact that you have this much sass assures me that you are not going to die anytime soon. I will leave you with your other halves… your thirds? I don’t know whatever you guys are. It’s been just as stressful dealing with them as it was dealing with your sick self.” Minseok hyung leaves and Chanyeol and Jongdae approach the bed and sit on it. “Seeing you guys makes me feel better. I feel like my energy is getting replenished just seeing your worried faces.” Chanyeol bursts into tears, always one to cry, “I was worried! I have never lived a day without you by side!” Baekhyun snorts, “I didn’t die. Don’t cry Chanyeol-ah”, voice getting much gentler by the end of the sentence.

He turns to Jongdae, “I’m sorry, I’m sure you were very worried. Was I hit by the second blast? I remember screaming at you to look out… I can’t remember what happened after that.” Jongdae feels crushed as he was hoping Baekhyun would remember more and could clue him in on what he was talking about before he passed out. “You expended your energy to form a light barrier around us. Most probably a sense of self preservation. But after the first hit, expending that much energy wiped you out.”

“Uh, I can’t remember. Thinking about it is giving me headache.” Chanyeol moves to grab him a cup of water, while Jongdae says, “It’s done, don’t stress yourself out.” Baekhyun then goes, “What happened to that guy?” Chanyeol fidgets as he looks at Jongdae. Junmyeon walks in then, saving Jongdae the decision, and says “He disappeared. We’re trying to work out where he went, we don’t have much to go off of and this doesn’t seem to be threat to the city, so we haven’t even made a report.”

Baekhyun suddenly whines, “Hyung, it hurts.” Junmyeon smacks him on the head, “I checked up on you this morning, I know you have no physical injuries for it to hurt. Don’t play the pity card to get out of the scolding.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “Hyung I’m a patient. Stop nagging.”

Junmyeon ignores him, “What is the first rule if you feel like you are outpowered?” Baekhyun drones, “Send a signal to the rest.” Junmyeon nods, “Jongdae is new, but you should have this drilled into your head by now. What was going on your head taking an unknown force by yourself? You moved offensive first too? All my training, down the drain.” Baekhyun gives up and just whines in his best boy voice, “Hyung, I’m sorry! I was an idiot. I won’t do it again.”

Junmyeon looks at his eyes, voice unnaturally shaken, “I was too scared seeing you unconscious Baekhyun-ah.” All three of them are shocked. Baekhyun’s goes soft again, and sincerely says “I will be more careful next time again.” “That’s all I can ask.”
Kyungsoo and Sehun come after a bit to make sure it isn’t too hectic. Chanyeol heads downstairs and cuddles with Minseok, who finally looks laid back. The stress of nursing Baekhyun surely had taken a toll on him. Jongdae heads out to the field and throws around some lightning to relieve any leftover stress and crashes down onto the ground, by the forest line. He looks around to admire the peace and turns to lay down. Then there is rustle and Jongdae is pouncing up to his stance, to see Jongin standing there. Jongdae is confused. How had he just appeared there? He just looked around and didn’t see him approaching. Jongin seems startled by Jongdae as if he didn’t expect him to be there either.

“Did you just transport yourself here? How are you so stealthy? I didn’t see you coming.” Jongin looks panicked for a second, “Mmmh, I just drift through the air. I move quietly because I push air as I walk.” Jongdae tilts his head and looks closely at him. Something doesn’t fit here. His gut tells him he is lying. He can read his body language easily though he hasn’t spent much time with him. “Uh, is Baekhyun hyung up? Is that why nobody is training?” Jongdae still mulling over what he might be missing, nods absentmindedly. “Yeah, he is up, you should go check up on him.” Jongin hesitates for a second, as if he has more to say, “Uh never mind, I will go now then. You shouldn’t be out here by yourself though hyung.” Jongdae raises his eyebrows at that, “Sure, I will join you a minute. You head in first.”

He watches Jongin stride towards the building. The nagging feeling that he knows more that he can’t remember strikes him again. He racks his brain for all things Jongin and nothing else suspicious comes up. He feels surrounded by walls. Giving up, he too heads inside.

---------

Things goes horribly wrong five days later – a week after the attack. It’s evening, the sun was just setting. They are just settling back to normal, the tense air leaving them. Baekhyun comes to hang out on the ground but doesn’t do any elemental control. He jokes around and he is his usual self. Jongdae and him are also trying to pick up were they left off, setting aside all the crazy attacking. He is more touchy than usual and holds Jongdae’s hand when it pleases him. The rest of them give them a teasing looks but don’t comment much. Today, Baekhyun was letting Jongdae charge him up with static to see his hair stand up straight. The rest of them were laughing at their antics. A normal day.

Then, Jongin comes running, “He is coming!” and before anyone can make sense of what he is screaming about, Jongdae feels the negative energy strike him in the face. He instinctively pulls Baekhyun behind him. The rest stepping up in defensive stance, just by reading Jongdae’s body language. Jongdae demands Baekhyun, “Promise me you won’t use your power today.” Baekhyun peaks up from behind him, like he can’t believe he was asking that. “Promise me, you will hurt yourself seriously this time, if you pull anything of that scale today. Please promise so I can concentrate on protecting everyone else.” Baekhyun sighs but understands what Jongdae’s feeling. “I promise.”

As if Baekhyun’s words lured him, the one in the white drapes saunters out from the tree line, sticking out like a sore thumb in the darkening evening. Everyone gets ready to attack, “Oh more humans, with their simple tricks. I will get what I want this time. I didn’t know that the other prince would ambush me like that. The prince of light also pulled some tricks I didn’t think his human form could do. I have recuperated though, so we should be able to end this quickly today.”

He lashes out a huge wave of pink energy. Kyungsoo pulls up a huge piece of earth to shield them. It slows it down, but it cuts through the earth, Junmyeon quickly pulls moisture from the air while Minseok freezes them to form a second layer of shield. The ice sheet breaks down into pieces but is enough to subdue the energy. Quickly, Chanyeol and Jongdae charge up a dozen fire balls and lightning bolts and Sehun blows them out towards the man. He easily puts up the shield that extinguishes them all. But Junmyeon pulls moisture out again and Jongdae passes electricity through them as Sehun pushs them out again. This pushes the man back and makes him stagger, but still, he is too powerful even against them all.

They all seem to realize that when he sends torrents of energy, that has them scrabbling to put out. Kyungsoo pulls out as much of earth possible. Sehun pushes against it with the wind as much as possible. Chanyeol and Jongdae try to make offensive moves while the rest try to build a shield around them. Suddenly, Jongdae sees Jongin appear behind the man, while he could swear, he was beside him a minute ago. He kicks the man leaving him staggering, while Jongin disappears again. Jongdae uses this opportunity to try to charge up and knock him down. But before it can hit him, the man rolls out and stands up again.

Jongdae looks around and realizes this is taking too much of their energy and they won’t be able to make it. Jongdae reaches behind him to assure himself that Baekhyun his safe but can’t feel him. He quickly glances around and sees him running up the side towards the man. Jongdae screams, “Baekhyun, no!” This distracts most of them and the man uses the chance to send a strong blast, that Kyungsoo, Junmyeon and Minseok react to a second to late, meaning they barely stop it, but the force and exertion knocks them down.

Chanyeol and Jongdae blast fire and lightning in a way he has never seen before, a moment of desperation. But the man knowing that he has the upper hand, seems to have become untouchable. His shield of energy impenetrable. Jongin appears again, on the man’s left this time, but the man seems to have known where Jongin would appear this time, as he shoves Jongin back with a small blast of energy with his other hand. Baekhyun is much closer to the man. Jongdae, feeling distraught, pulls all his energy from inside him. He has only one strike. He will have to hit somewhere between the man and Baekhyun pushing them both away from each other. Then it will have to be a mad run towards Baekhyun.

The situation shifts though, when the man seems to realize that Jongdae might do something of that sort and instead blasts a huge swell of energy towards all of them. Jongdae makes eye contact with Baekhyun who turns around at that moment. Jongdae realizes he can roll away and still strike his shot, but the rest of them will not be able to escape in their state. They are barely able to stand up. Within that second, Jongdae and Baekhyun talk through their eyes. Jongdae knows the decision is already made. He summons all the energy in him and shoves it out in front of him, between the rest of them and the man. He feels the energy leave his body and strike down the pink blast and sees that within that time, the man has reached for Baekhyun, who doesn’t put up much of fight. He wraps a hand around Baekhyun and saunters away from them, pulling him along, into the trees.

He saved the rest at the cost of Baekhyun. Just as Baekhyun wanted and he can’t bring himself to regret the decision either. Then, the energy that left him stretches out like elastic. Jongdae has no control over it, and it drives back towards him like a boomerang. He sees the rest getting up when his energy crashes into him, lashing at him for pushing it outside of him. He is shoved back five feet and into the ground at the force of the energy returning. He sees Chanyeol run for him before he passes out.

Chapter Text

He feels something soft under his fingers, grass again – his brain supplies. This time he hears someone frantically crying, “Oh my god… I failed hyung. I’m sorry. Oh god, how can I fail? What do we do? It’s going to be mess back home too, if Baekhyun hyung gets taken.” He opens his eyes and sees the night sky with stars now mocking him. A face pops in within his eyesight. “Hyung are you okay? I’m sorry! I only had one job.” He sits up, his head feeling like it is splitting open. The rest of the look exhausted and on the floor barely able to get up. Chanyeol is sitting next to him on the ground. Every muscle in his body, feels like elastic that was stretched out too far.

“Kai. Shut up. My head hurts. Also stop biting your nails. How many times do I have to tell you to not do that” Jongin is jolted out his hysterics by that name. “Hyung, do you remember?” “Yes. I emptied my energy out life a human but of course, mine returned to me, felt like I was jolted through dimensions.”

“Chen. Hyung. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to screw up with Baekhyun hyung.” Chen feels shittier now that Kai thinks he is going blame him. “Kai… Jongin. You tried your best, like you said before Baekhyun will only be proud of you. I also let it happen. At the cost of saving the rest of them, it is okay. We did what we had to do. Once again. Baekhyun knew immediately we didn’t stand a chance and he was going sacrifice himself either way.” He pauses and says, “Just tell me what day it is. Dimensional day.” Jongin looks at him and says the “5th.” “Then we have time. He can’t take Baekhyun out of here till the 10th when the portals open again.”

Chen then turns to look at the rest. They look very frazzled and trying to make head and tails out of what Jongdae and Jongin are talking about. “Let’s go in. We can’t do much more today. But we need to rest up so we can stand a chance next time. I know what we need to do now.” Even Kai looks confused now, “You do? I really wasn’t sure how you ended up here in the first place.” “I will explain everything. Let’s get the rest inside first.”

Kai disappears and appears again in front of Junmyeon, scaring him into staggering back a few steps. “Kai! Don’t teleport when you just got hit! You are making my energy run cold, the last thing I want today is for you to lose a limb because you can’t draw a line and stop teleporting. And you are scaring poor Junmyeon hyung.”

Jongin whines, “Hyung, it is a part of me to teleport.” Chen gives him a look – Chen has a much sharper glint in his eyes than Jongdae though they are the one and the same. Kai knows when to stop messing around with his brother. Chen rarely gets mad at Kai, always babies him. Once he is mad though, Kai rarely gets away with anything. Kai mumbles, “I like Jongdae better, for the record”, and walks to Kyungsoo and helps him up and into the closest building.

Chen too pulls his energy together and grabs Minseok hyung who has blood coming out his nose. “Are you okay hyung?” “I will be with a night’s sleep, nothing serious. Don’t bother your little head with this, Jongdae-ah… or Chennie Chen?” Minseok asks and adorably tilts his head. That makes Chen laugh despite the situation. “Something about hyung and Baekhyunnie sharing the same braincell. He also calls me Chennie Chen.” He turns to see that Sehun and Chanyeol have Junmyeon propped in between them and are walking towards the building too. He can feel Minseok staring at him “Nothing about you changed but you look different.” Chen sighs and says, “I will explain better when we are inside.”

---------

They all settled inside the earth faction building. Chen gets Minseok some tissues to help with his nosebleed. Kai helps Kyungsoo with his scrapes. Sehun is huddled into Chanyeol while Junmyeon is pacing. “Hyung stop pacing please, you are tiring yourself and making the rest of us nervous”, says Chen. Junmyeon absentmindedly nods but continues pacing. Chen stands up from Minseok’s side and grabs his arms and forces him into the chair.

Chen realizes now that everyone is settled, and he is standing, he might as well continue his speech like this. He starts, “So, where to begin…”. Chanyeol interrupts him, “Jongdae-ah before you say anything else, do we actually stand a chance to get Baekhyun back?” His doe eyes, that are usually easily filled with tears, are rather full of harsh conviction. Fierce – fire in his eyes – a look he only otherwise wears when he is feeling competitive over meaningless things. “We can get him back. We just need to time get ourselves together.”

That satisfies Chanyeol, who settles back into the sofa, hugging Sehun to his chest. “Hm, first my name is Chen. Kai – Jongin is my brother. Some people in your dimension, wrongly believe that we are gods. But really, we are just sentient beings that live between the dimensions. Most of us have mastered travelling through different dimensions, but we aren’t immortal or infallible by any means.” He pauses, thinking what he should explain next, while taking in everyone’s expression. They don’t seem to be lost yet so that’s a great start. “Baekhyun and I were part of rivalling sectors that had control over different parts of the interdimensional space. Then, we fell for each other. We decided we were going to create a new order since careless dimension travelling was impacting the lives of the poor people that lived in them. While it didn’t hurt us much, if we were careless enough with the timeline, we could get the dimension to fall into itself – collapsing it. So, along with Kai, Baekhyun and Baekhyun’s brother, we created a sort of united government, I guess you could call it. Which regulated dimension jumping. Obviously, this angered some people, and we fought some nasty fights. We came victorious in the end. We are earned the name ‘the princes of the dimensions’. Eesem, the guy we fought, was one of them.” He scratches his head, unsure how to say the next part. “He, uhm, tried to hurt Baekhyun last time, so I kind of fried him. So, you could say he holds a grudge against us. He also was of the people that lost a lot by the new regulations as it affected his shady businesses.”

He looks up and Junmyeon and Minseok are giving him a look of disapproval. He feels the need to defend himself as he can’t bear being chided by his hyungs, “We were doing it for a better universe, and… and we don’t even have the same morals as you guys! It is considered fair in fights to do the worst.” Minseok just rolls his eyes, “Continue, please. How was Baekhyun born here then if he was an adult with you and what does that guy want exactly?”

“This part might be the hardest to explain. We live in between dimensions, so time isn’t really a factor for us. We live beyond time, is a way to explain it? So, when we travel to dimensions, we can manipulate time a little. Jumping a dimension has the best conditions on every 10th dimensional day. Dimensional days don’t really correspond to any particular time span within your world, it differs greatly. Sometimes, 10 dimensional days is just about few days and sometimes it is as long as a few years. It is just when the portals line up well enough for us to go through with the least damage. Baekhyun has perfected dimensional travel so well that he found a way to travel in between dimensional days and age himself back while doing so. He isn’t ever born here; he just ages himself as far back as he can. In this case, 6 months old. He locks up his memories in a box within himself to live as one of you guys as best as he can. Since the conditions aren’t perfect, are powers usually get curbed – to different thresholds each time.”

Kai chimes in now, “I usually travel only during the 10s. I’m not as good as Baekhyun hyung. I basically walk through the most intact passage. Keeping my memories and powers intact. Messing with time as less as I can. I follow Baekhyun hyung in the most reasonable 10th after he travels. One part of the reason I follow him is to keep him safe from these kinds of situations. This time though I failed.” He looks up and catches everyone’s look of regret. He clears his throat and continues.

“Many things were off this time. For one Chen never follows us. He doesn’t dimension travel much, so I was very confused when he showed up without a heads up. He introduced himself as Jongdae which is a name we come up with at the same time as Jongin, names for when we travel. So, I was sure at first, he had memories but just acting otherwise. But when I realized he had no memories, I was left guessing.” and turns to Chen looking for answers.

Chen sighs, “Baekhyun’s brother and I learned that Eesem was trying to go for Baekhyun and extract his power. Light is a powerful skill to control. It too lives beyond time, with the power to even warp dimensions when you master it. The main reason we won really is because Baekhyun was very powerful even if he didn’t master it completely.” He zones out for a second but then continues, “I couldn’t trace Eesem though and he was playing tricks that made it impossible for me to contact Kai. As it got closer to the 10th, we realized the only way to protect Baekhyun was coming here. Eesem was sending a bunch of his men at the council, to distract us. So, Baekhyun’s brother stayed behind to help. And I jumped in between the 10s to get here before Eesem. Unskilled as I am with travelling, I knew I wasn’t going to keep my memories and power intact, but I took the bet.”

Junmyeon quietly says, “I can’t say I’m following everything, but how were you sure you would meet Baekhyun? We found you by chance.” Chen looks troubled with answering this question. He looks at Minseok and stares at Chanyeol, lost in his thoughts. Chanyeol grows confused if there was something he was supposed to add here, unsure though what that might be. Chen then turns to Kai, who nods at him encouragingly. “You didn’t find me by chance and Baekhyun doesn’t travel at random either… There is rarely anything that is shared across the dimensions. The only exception to this is what we call – entanglement. It is a phenomenon where a piece of you is linked intimately with some piece of someone else out there. You will feel a pull towards these people that share your piece, and they affect you in great ways even separated by universes. You guys experience this too but you can’t explain it scientifically and you refer to it loosely as soulmates. Quantum entanglement is the closest you guys have come to describe it.”

Chanyeol asks with some doubt, “So you and Baekhyun are …entangled?” “Yes, we share an entanglement, but that’s not the only person Baekhyun has an entanglement with.” Chen has had such mixed emotions about this ever sense he learned about it. Baring this out and saying it out loud, is more difficult than he had expected. “He shares a piece with you too, Chanyeol.” Chanyeol’s expression goes through so many layers of confusion, that Chen feels laughter bubbling in him. “What? With me? How come?”

“There is really no explanation for the why. He just does. He only travels to dimensions in which he is entangled with you. He liked interacting with you so much through the dimensions. He was most amused by the fact that all of you were entangled with each other in complex ways and always gravitated together. So, he decided to master the skill of travelling so he can come stay with you guys in as many dimensions as possible. He travels the day you are born usually. That’s why you think he got better around the same time you were born. The baby didn’t make it, Baekhyun just took his place.”

Everyone is silent for a while after that, Kyungsoo ponders for a bit and says, “Are you entangled with us too, Jongin?” Kai looks at Chen for the same reassurance he had given before. “Like I said, one part of the reason I travelled was to protect Baekhyun. The other part of the reason is because I’m entangled with you, Junmyeon and Sehun. As far as I can say. It could be all of you too. Like hyung mentioned, the entanglements between us are too complicated for me to draw a line.”

“And what about you, Chen… Jongdae. Is Baekhyun your only one?” asks Minseok. This is question that Chen had only answered today, “For the longest time, I was convinced, or more like I convinced myself that Baekhyun was the only one. But if the last two months have taught me anything, it is that a piece of me was always here. I’m certain, directly at the least, I share one with you hyung. That’s what you found me.” Minseok nods his head, looking not a bit surprised and Chen doesn’t question why he isn’t surprised.

“They don’t always have romantic connotations, do they?”, asks Junmyeon. “No, really it is just a pull. It manifests itself as romantic feeling sometimes, but totally at the volition of the ones involved for what we know so far”, Jongin answers this one. Sehun who was listening quietly the whole time, exclaims suddenly, scaring Chanyeol and Junmyeon next to him, “See I told you all! We were meant to be together, and you guys called me cheesy. We are soulmates across dimensions. The cutest thing ever. And I’m proven right, scientifically.” Chanyeol gives in easily, “You are always right.”

“As cute as that is, tell us what we can do to save Baekhyun”, says Kyungsoo. “How did Baekhyun and you manage to hurt him enough that he needed days to recover? Can we try to recreate that?” “That wasn’t just us, but part of the answer is there.” Kyungsoo adorably tilts his head in confusion. “Kai helped us. I just didn’t realize it then.” They all turn to Kai who has a sheepish look on his face. “I tagged along to the market that day so I could keep an eye on them. I felt something off at the market, so after lunch, I broke off from you guys and followed them everywhere. When they were on the ledge, I almost got caught tripping in the bushes.” Kai scratches his head, bashfully. “They were just having their moment, and nothing looked out of place, and I was about to leave, when Eesem showed up. He didn’t seem to know that I had also travelled here. So, I waited for the right moment to ambush him when he was taken back by Baekhyun hyung’s light shield. I took him down to the earth and teleported him a few stops at once to scatter his form.” Chen summarizes, “It was the surprise factor, that’s how we got him.”

“Kai and I, even in our strongest form can’t take him down by ourselves. Baekhyun, at his strongest, is the one who can defeat him.” “So, we are screwed then?” asks Kyungsoo. “No, it is simple what we need to do. We just all need to harness our energy and pass it into Baekhyun. If we can unlock his reserve of energy and give him some of ours, he will be able to take him down.” Chanyeol, always ready to jump into action, bounces up, “What do we need to do then? Why are waiting?”

“We don’t have enough energy to harness, nor do we know how to build on each other to harness in unison. I have a vague idea of how to combine our powers to together, but we are going to need rest and some Junmyeon-level planning to be successful.” “How long do we have?” Junmyeon asks.

“It’s the 5th, it has been 5 dimensional days since Eesem got here. We have 5 more before he can leave safely. He can’t do much to harness Baekhyun energy in his human state. So, he is just going to be around here with not much of a choice. I think that gives us about a week to get this right. He most probably doesn’t think Kai or I remember anything. We need to use that to our advantage, make him believe we are going there to fight him again and trick him.”

“If by chance, we fail or Baekhyun doesn’t know what do with the energy we harness for him, what happens then?” Junmyeon asks again. Planning for all possibilities as always. “We don’t really have any other possibilities. If Eesem gets Baekhyun’s power, he will try to collapse this dimension first, so he can wipe Kai and I out in one go. We can’t fail.”

Chapter Text

He feels something soft under his fingers – Baekhyun – his mind supplies. He sits upright in the moment to look at who is cuddled against him. “I’m not Baekhyun. Lay back down. You said, us resting helps Baekhyun feel better too.” Chen looks at Chanyeol sleeping next to him. Chen lays back down and lets Chanyeol bear hug him into Baekhyun’s bed.

Chen had felt so stupid when he realized that last time when Baekhyun was hurt, him not sleeping had only delayed Baekhyun getting better. He put the pieces together finally, that somehow Chanyeol, Baekhyun and himself were in a rhythm with each other and their energies. That’s why Jongdae had always felt his energy surge when Chanyeol and Baekhyun were in the room or when they touched him. The other two hadn’t seemed to have noticed the change, as they had much better control over their energy then, than Jongdae. Jongdae and Chanyeol finally resting on the third day had been the reason Baekhyun had gotten better all of a sudden.

Chen, as haughty as he was back home, had never realized that there were people out here that could surge his energy. Make him more powerful, in more than one way. He was prideful and had never wanted to interact with people who lived within the dimensions. He couldn’t understand Baekhyun’s obsession with going back. Chen now realizes what it was. A feeling of security and completeness that he had never felt before.

He curls up against Chanyeol, trying to convince himself that everything was going to be okay when they get up today and do what they have practiced the last 5 days. Chanyeol sighs and opens his eyes, “We are both so bad at this not worrying thing. Let’s just get breakfast and hype ourselves up for today.” Chen realizes that there was no use in laying there in anxiety anymore. When they go downstairs, Junmyeon is already there with Kai curled up against him.

“Did you even get some sleep?” Chen asks them both. “Yeah, we did. Don’t worry. We just got here. Everyone will be up in some time. Jongin was just waiting for you guys to be up before he went scouting to confirm Eesem’s location.” Kai gets up and brushes off non-existent dirt. He lifts his fingers to this mouth to bite his nails. Chen swats at him immediately and says, “Stop. Why are you nervous? You are doing what you did the last few days. Just stay far away enough that he doesn’t sense you. Be careful.” Chanyeol gives him a hug after, and Kai disappears just like that.

“Brat. Couldn’t wait for me step back before teleporting”, shaking his head. “He has always been bratty, but I think time with Junmyeon hyung has made him worse somehow”, says Chen. “He is just so cute and cuddly! Looking at his lost face, I forget anything I wanted to say”, Junmyeon defends himself. Kyungsoo walks in with Sehun who is clearly annoying him. Kyungsoo just swats him but doesn’t say anything. “Oh, here is cause #2.”

Kyungsoo looks up confused, “Cause #2 for what?” “Spoiling the younger ones”, Chen explains. Kyungsoo mumbles, “they are too cute and innocent looking” Chanyeol laughs at that. Sehun pipes in, “Nini and I are cute indeed.” Minseok walks in last, “Are we ready?” The mood in the room shifts immediately. Even if they have tried to keep the spirits up all week, they all know that they can’t erase the uncomfortable feeling of missing a piece of them.

“Let’s get Baekhyun back”, Junmyeon says with conviction. Chen appreciates the confidence.

They run through the drill once more, though they all seem to have it down to the T. Just as they are finishing up, Kai pops into the middle of the ground. “He is still by the edge of the west forest. We should be able to get close enough if we go around the river. Junmyeon hyung can control the water to mask our presence. If Sehun helps, we can trick Eesem long enough. Then we can run through it exactly like we planned before.”

“Let’s go then.” They make the hike through the forest, taking a long curve around to ensure that Eesem doesn’t make them out coming too soon. Junmyeon gradually increases the roar of the river while Sehun blows the wind out the other way to mask their steps. When they reach the ledge, they can see a clearing with Eesem pacing around. Chen realizes he is trying to contact someone outside the dimension. Just as much as he had made sure that Chen couldn’t contact Kai earlier, Chen had made sure to make preparations before he travelled so that Eesem couldn’t call for help either once he entered the dimension. For better or worse, neither Chen nor Eesem were getting any backup.

They can barely see Baekhyun, huddled behind the rocks in the middle of the clearing. Chen looks at Kyungsoo and nods at him to start them off. Kyungsoo looks around at everyone once and runs towards the clearing, pulling the ground up and shoving them towards Eesem. He seems to be taken by surprise for only a second, recovering really quickly and pulling up an energy shield around himself. Junmyeon signals at Kai, “Now.” Just as Kai disappears, Sehun sends a huge a blast of air at Eesem right as he was about to throw a blast at Kyungsoo. Eesem, then, seems to realize all of them around.

“Oh, I guess you all didn’t feel defeated enough the first time. Here for a second time to cement idea, is it?” They all sense the blast of energy coming their way and all roll away in opposite directions to avoid it. Junmyeon and Chanyeol quickly get on their feet and send out balls of fire and water at Eesem.

Eesem easily pushes them out of the way and laughs, “The same tricks again? You need to try something new if you want to impress me.” Sehun hiding behind a rock, turns from where he was looking at and sends a small breeze that cradles all their faces, that brings a whisper, “Kai and Kyungsoo are ready.”

Chen jumps out of his hiding spot. Eesem focuses on him, “Prince Chen, you don’t seem to remember me, but I have big grudge to settle with you. So, if you keep volunteering yourself for slaughter, don’t be surprised if I enjoy the process.” Jongdae tries to send a blast of lightning that Eesem knocks out with a flick of his hand. “Not as strong as you usually are, Chen. It’s shame that this isn’t as interesting of a fight as it could be.”

Chen can sense the air getting warm. He needs to occupy Eesem for longer. “I don’t know why you keep calling me Chen, but I feel like Chen kicked your ass in the past. I can guarantee you I can live up to that today.” Chen knows what coming already and rolls out of the way and taking Eesem’s attention from where the others are still working.

Eesem throws a few more blasts, Chen can feel as his own energy now without any restraint and he knows he could subdue some of these. But he doesn’t want to clue Eesem in. He wants him to underestimate Chen for as long as possible to distract him, keep him occupied from noticing the rest and away from Baekhyun. He senses the air pulling up past him, roaring in his ears. Almost there. Chen controls his urge to check in on both sides of the ground. He can’t let Eesem focus on anything else.

He charges up some static his hand and throw it towards Eesem’s left side. Eesem sidesteps easily and laughs, “Such bad aim, what chance do you even stand.” Chen hears the lightning and finally turns to his side to see what Eesem can’t see from his perspective so far. A firestorm. A tornado of fire that Chanyeol and Sehun are feeding with all their might. Junmyeon and Minseok are pushing upwards, to get as much moisture up at the top of fire tornado while Minseok cools it down just enough to get clouds to form. Chen can now feel the strong lightning brewing in the fire storm clouds. The firestorm moves towards Chen coming into Eesem’s view finally. He doesn’t look taken aback in the slightest. He instead laughs, “That’s all you got, a fancy fire with lightning? You are making me feel almost bad to take you down.”

Chen lets himself become one with the lightning. Letting his energy into the mix of energies he can feel in the lightning. The cool energy of Junmyeon and Minseok, the sunshine warmth of Chanyeol and Sehun’s. In the moment that the lightning brews to its peak – the moment that all of them have been preparing for, Chen screams, “NOW!”. Chen channels the last of his energy and pulls it down. Eesem waves around him to form a huge shield of energy around himself again. Thinking that the energy was going to be aimed at him, just us they had wanted him to.

But in a split second, Kai teleports a passed out Baekhyun right in between Chen and Eesem and disappears as quickly as he had got there. Baekhyun is now in the path of blast that Chen just released. Just as the energy makes contact with Baekhyun, Eesem seems to realize what is happening, but it is too late for him to react, as Kyungsoo pulls the last move and covers Baekhyun and the energy in a ball of dirt. Containing the energy in there.

They had never gotten this far in the training because there was never anything to channel it towards, so Chen had only practiced pulling at the energy. Channeling the energy through him and out, sizzles all his nerves in a way he had not expected. Within a few seconds since Kyungsoo had formed the ball of dirt, it bursts open in a flash of blinding white. It throws Eesem back, but Kai has already got Kyungsoo away.

This next part, Chen had known would happen and had tried to mentally prepare himself. With the white flash, most of Chen’s energy returns to him. The energy was his and would boomerang back with more force the harder he pushes out. None of his mental preparation helps him though, and just as it had last time, it throws Chen back hard. Chen feels his back strike the ground and that’s the last thing he feels before passing out. Once again.

Chapter Text

He feels something hard under his fingers – stones – his brain supplies. The sun is setting and there is a beautiful hue to the sky. Then, Chen remembers coming to save Baekhyun sometime in the afternoon. He tries to scramble up, remembering being thrown back. He feels a great pressure on his chest, preventing him from getting up. “Calm down hyung, it’s just Sehunnie holding you down, so you don’t hurt yourself more”, he hears Kai say.

His brain, still not able to process everything, is only more agitated that he can hear Kai but can’t see him. A face pops into his vision. His boxy smile that makes his heart stutter, “Chennie calm down or hyung will have to knock you out.” Even if nothing else makes sense, seeing Baekhyun is enough for Chen to settle back into the hard stones that poke at him everywhere, “‘Hyung’ my ass.” Baekhyun’s deep laughter reaches his ears and Chanyeol’s boisterous one right after. “Knocked out and still sassy as ever. It is my Chennie Chen indeed.”

Chen feels the air weighing him down ease up. He takes a few deep breaths to prepare himself to sit up. He notices that he is exactly where he was when he hit the ground. He sees all 7 of them sitting in a semicircle in front of him. “What did I miss this time?” “Do you know there is this human story about this woman who sleeps the whole time and a prince that comes to rescue her? She is called Sleeping Beauty. It suits you perfectly, accounting for the number of times you have passed out in the last two months. I heard you passed out when Eesem took me too.” Baekhyun’s voice sounds as impish as a kid that is taunting you. Something sharper about his eyes, his voice and even his humor. This is Chen’s Baekhyun and not Jongdae’s Baekhyun. The realization breaks the wall of rationality that Chen had put up to get through the last week without falling apart.

He throws himself at Baekhyun, toppling them both into the ground. It gets Baekhyun giggling silly while holding Chen. Chen suddenly feels a weight partially on him and recognizes Chanyeol’s warmth wrapping around them both. “Oh, you guys really missed your hyung uh?” “You’re barely our hyung!” Chanyeol and Chen exclaim at the same time, sitting back up. Baekhyun’s eyes crinkle up as he gives his brightest smile. He basically glows. Then Chen realizes he is glowing a bit.

“What actually happened, why do you look like a lamp?” Baekhyun swats at him. “Hm, all that energy you passed me broke the barrier around my reserve and fed me more energy. Surging the energy just unleased all of it and I was a glowing orb, basically. The memories flooded in a second and then I got mad at Eesem trying to throw a stupid blast of his pink energy. So, I disintegrated him. The end. The others were too tired so we just sat down next to you and were betting on when you would wake up. Oddly, Kyungsoo is the one who guessed right.” Baekhyun says easily as if he were narrating a children’s story.

Chen takes a second to process that, “You just disintegrated him? You have never been able to do that before?” “I think it was the surge of energy you guys harnessed for me. I don’t think I will be able to do that again. I’m just glowing off the excess energy.” As Chen registers the last words, his brain is already thinking of something else. He turns to Junmyeon and Minseok, “You gave me the most disapproving look when I said I burnt Eesem. Baekhyun disintegrates someone and nothing?” Minseok shakes his head laughing, “That’s your biggest concern?” “Yes!”

“We were going to die if Baekhyun didn’t take him down, Jongdae, very different from just frying someone up to show your strength”, Junmyeon chimes in. Chen just grumbles and falls back onto Chanyeol, who is sitting behind him now. “Sure sure, favor everyone but me.”

A peaceful silence settles around them. Chen lets himself bask in this, trying to avoid thinking about what he needs to do next. Kyungsoo, blunt as ever, goes “So what happens now?” Chen refuses to open his eyes and acknowledge the question. Baekhyun answers instead. Chen can always count on him to step up when something serious demands their attention. “We have to go back. If Eesem came all the way over here for me, he must have prepared a lot of chaos back home to ensure that there is no form of stability for when he might have returned. Now that even Chen is here, my brother Yixing must be struggling on his own. We will have to go back as soon as possible to help him out”, his voice devoid any playfulness from before.

Chen finally understands what Baekhyun must have felt each time Kai forced him to return from the dimension when the time was right. He would always be so pensive right after he travels back when he realizes it was merely a borrowed life he had lived with the rest. That must have been hard to digest on his own, while Chen had no idea. Now, Chen can’t bring himself to leave, but he loves Yixing and his home just as much as he loved these guys. In the back of his brain, he knows that it is only right for him to leave; he just wants to extend this goodbye for as long as possible. Chanyeol wraps his arms around him at that moment, as if he could read his thoughts. Chen tilts his head back and opens his eyes to see Chanyeol’s doe eyes looking down at him, again full of tears. But he gives his gummy smile and nods at him, telling it’s okay with just his eyes.

“Will you be travelling tomorrow then? Tomorrow is a 10th right?” Kai shakes his head, “No, it’s tonight. The timing will be right just after midnight to go back. It will be a two month wait, per my calculation, before the next 10th so we can’t miss this one.” Kyungsoo and Junmyeon both hug him from both sides, as tears pour out of eyes. Even for Chen, this is a rare sight, Kai isn’t one to cry a lot. Then it hits Chen that, while Baekhyun doesn’t usually understand why he is leaving them behind until he travels back, Kai has always been the one to make the decision for them both. He has lived through this moment many, many times, but never once have the guys also been aware as to why and when they are leaving. This is the first time for all three of them in that context.

Minseok gets up, dusting off. “Then what are we doing here, let’s get Baekhyun to his parents for his goodbye. Don’t even think about leaving without letting them know. They can barely stand it when you don’t make it to Sunday lunch once.” Chen looks at Baekhyun and learns something new despite knowing him forever. Baekhyun loves his parents in this dimension, just much as the ones back home. He looks heartbroken at the fact that he has to say goodbye to them too.

Seeing them all distressed, Chen concludes that, like Minseok, he needs to hold it together for the rest of them. So, he too dusts off, but as he tries to stand up, Sehun crashes into him. “Show me a lightning bolt.” He is hugging him so tight and sounds nearly in tears. Chen knows nothing he does will make it better, so he just does what he asked for and makes a strong lightning on the palm of his hand, though it hurts him to exercise his energy so soon. It crackles, splits and strikes down multiple times on his palm. Sehunnie looks up at him, tears unshed, “Just as cool as it was the first time.” He steps back abruptly and goes to hang onto Baekhyun as they all get up to walk back to the town, the sky already darkened.

Jongin, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol walk ahead whispering, while Baekhyun and Sehun giggle hanging off each other. Chen isn’t sure how Sehun and Baekhyun shifted moods so quickly. He just shakes off his confusion and falls back in line with Minseok and Junmyeon. “I’m sorry.” Both turn sharply to look at him, but Minseok is the ones that asks, “What are you sorry for?” “I feel like I brought my mess here for you guys to clean up and we aren’t even staying behind to help deal with the aftermath.”

Junmyeon chuckles, “If you had gotten it through your thick skull that we are family no matter how short your stay was, maybe you wouldn’t be having such stupid thoughts.” Jongdae whines, “Hyung!” Minseok snorts, “Just like how Baekhyun was a gift, how Jongin is our baby, you and your whining is also part of our everyday in ways we can’t separate out. All you need to worry about is getting your thoughts together and taking Baekhyun and Jongin back home safely. We will happily say goodbye knowing you were happy here with us, just as much as we were happy to be with you.” “I was nothing but happy in every moment with you all.” “Then that’s good enough.” They don’t say anything else for the rest of the walk.

When they reach the residential section of the town, Kyungsoo and Jongdae hang back while Sehun goes with Minseok and Junmyeon to the elders’ house. Baekhyun drags Kai along with Chanyeol heading to his parent’s house. Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything, but the silence is nothing but comfortable. As usual, Jongdae feels grounded just by Kyungsoo’s presence. Kyungsoo breaks the silence eventually, “I will miss Baekhyun and Jongin a lot.” Chen snorts, “Won’t be missing me?” and ruffles Kyungsoo’s hair, which he knows annoys him the most. “Not even for one second”, he says rolling his eyes. Chen takes a deep breath, “I think I will miss your big expressive eyes that was such mystery to me when I first got here, I will miss your dry humor, I will miss your cooking and I will miss annoying you with others. I think I might miss you too much.”

Kyungsoo asks, “You guys can’t come back to this dimension, right?” Chen sighs, “Too much time would have passed here when we are done dealing with the affairs at home. We could break the rules we are trying to enforce to come back, with the possibility of toppling this dimension. But that is not something we will want to do, or you would want us to try. So, no there isn’t a chance for us to meet in this dimension again.” Kyungsoo just nods, like as if he had already known.

Fifteen minutes later, Chanyeol returns alone with bloodshot eyes. Before Chen even asks, “They are emotional people, okay? They were tugging at my heartstrings. At least, they seemed to know that something was special about Baekhyun and even Kai. They seemed to be expecting this, oddly. So, they aren’t too surprised to let him go.”

Kyungsoo then abruptly goes, “I’m going to check on Sehun and the hyungs” and walks away. Chen laughs, “Subtly is not his skill. He just left to give us time alone, right?” “Yep.” But Chanyeol doesn’t volunteer to say anything. Chen thinks about everything he wants to say and realizes that there is something he must confess. He turns his body to face Chanyeol and puffs up his shoulder to hype himself up. “Chanyeol-ah, I’m sorry I didn’t say this earlier but you are one of my entanglements too. The reason why I never travelled with Baekhyun and Kai is because I was jealous. I couldn’t stand to think Baekhyun could have someone else in his life. I was so obsessed with that thought, that I never gave myself the chance to feel the pull to you guys. Never realized that, just like Baekhyun I could also have more people to support and love me. I had never met you in any of the dimensions, but I was set on loathing the idea of you. If nothing else, I’m glad this chaos gave me the chance to meet you without any negative emotions clouding my perception of you.”

Chanyeol eyes are so fond as looks at him, “I knew the moment you described entanglements, that you were one of mine too. Like I said before, Baekhyun and you are not much different to me. I met you and knew immediately that you were someone special to me… I hope we meet in every dimension possible and share this bond in every single one of them.”

Chen feels so emotional hearing Chanyeol’s words, “I will go find you every single one with Baekhyun I swear.”

Chanyeol just chuckles, “Now that is done, were you jealous particularly because you thought Baekhyun would have something romantic with me in some dimensions?” “Well, the chances aren’t low that you guys could kindle some romance in one world out there”, Jongdae whines.

“Doesn’t that mean there is also a chance that we could be romantic in some dimension?” Chanyeol teases. “Dude are we really going to talk about this?” Chanyeol laughs happy about getting under Chen’s skin. Chanyeol then adds in a voice that sounds too sincere, “As long as we are as close as this, in every version I don’t care which one of us makes out who.” This gets Chen and Chanyeol laughing hard.

They are in tears laughing by the time the rest of come to get them. They must have expected at least Chanyeol to be crying his eyes out. So, they are all puzzled to see the two laughing uncontrollably. “I go away for one second and you guys go crazy” Baekhyun says. Chen calms down and sees that Baekhyun looks put together and even smiling brightly. His parents must have made peace with him leaving and sent him off happily. Chen is happy that the goodbye was only good memories for Baekhyun.

Chanyeol just gets a grip over himself. And looks up at sky. “It looks like it is going to be time soon, where do you guys need to go?” Chen answers, “Where hyungs found me, that is where the portal will open if my guess is right.” They hike back in the dark, the silence speaking to them all. As they get closer, Chen can already feel the energy of the portal. Baekhyun’s hand finds his, in a tight grip. Familiar and comforting as always, Chen squeezes back.

He stops before they get to the clearing. “I don’t think it will be good for you guys to see us travel back. You guys won’t be able to see the portal, but I’m not sure how it affects you to be near them.” Just the look they are sharing with each other is enough to communicate what they are feeling. Baekhyun is the only one that says, “I don’t want to leave.” Junmyeon steps forward, pats him on his shoulders. “You go do what you must without regrets.” He steps back and says with his comforting smile, “You can always find us in another dimension. Even if none of remember anything, I’m sure we will love your annoying ass just as much.”

Chen knows that if they stay for longer, they really might not leave. So, he holds Kai’s hand in his other hand. “I swear I will come find you guys with Baekhyun and Kai. We will be together again.” Tears slip out his eyes, but he drags Baekhyun and Kai away. He can’t stop himself from one last look back. Though they all look devastated, they were all waving with a smile on their face.

He had fit right in and experienced a love he couldn’t describe. He will come back – he swears to himself.

Chapter Text

Jongdae sits down on the floor of the practice room, sweating hard. He hasn’t learned a dance choreo in a while, and this one is tiring even by their standards. He can barely feel his muscles – they are so sore. But the feeling of preparing for a comeback with all the members is very different than his solo work for sure. He was just zoned out and sipping on his water, when Chanyeol sits down next to him, “Did you watch the new Spiderman movie yet?” Jongdae raises his eyebrows confused, “There is a new spiderman movie?” Chanyeol shakes his head, disappointed, “Okay, never mind. I will just explain. There is a trending question everyone is talking about. If there were multiple dimensions and a version of you and I existed in all of them, how many of them do you think we would be friends in?”

Baekhyun, on his hyper part of the day, bounds over and crashes in between the two of them, “I think there are more of versions of us where one of you kills me than ones in which we are friends.” He leans in heavily on Jongdae, who pushes him off. Jongdae laughs though he feels annoyed by Baekhyun – a universal experience for all the members. “I think I might kill you in our current version.” The rest of the members see the ruckus and gravitate to the conversation.

Junmyeon goes, “We’re killing Baekhyun? When?” Baekhyun whines immediately, “Hyung! Don’t agree so quickly. You miss me so much when I’m not around to annoy you. You won’t be able to last without me.” Junmyeon can only roll his eyes with a laugh. Jongin asks, “What are we talking about?” Chanyeol repeats the question for everyone.

Jongdae finally gets the chance to reply. “I don’t think it matters. If we found each other in this lifetime, that’s good enough. If we can’t remember our other versions, does it really affect us if we meet in them or not?” Minseok adds in quietly, “I wonder in how many of them you guys actually treat me us an hyung.” Baekhyun chimes in immediately, “I think that version doesn’t exist, Minseokkie.” “Yah!” Baekhyun breaks into giggles, always amused by getting a rise out of Minseok.

Jongin goes, “Hm, there might be versions where we meet but aren’t idols? Also, ones in which we don’t even meet and are just strangers to each other… thinking about that just made me sad.” Kyungsoo adds randomly, “Then, there must be ones in which I’m a rock? In that case, I want to be a rock by the stream.” The rest of them burst out laughing, Kyungsoo asks seriously, “What? I’m serious” but he also can’t control his laughter when all of them laughing that hard.

Sehun, who was sitting on the sofa, a little far away from where the rest have gathered, looks up from his phone. The rest knew he was listening in, even if he was fiddling with his phone. “I think we are soulmates. Meant to be. I’m sure we meet in very version of life there might be and become as close as we are now”, he says with a straight face. Jongdae laughs out loud at that. Baekhyun goes to cuddle Sehun, “So cheesy, our maknae is always so earnest and loving”, half teasing and half fond.

“You laugh at me, but I know I’m right.” Jongdae says, “You are always right. Though, it doesn’t matter one bit, I do think I would love it if we met in every version like Sehun claims” and then he adds, “I just hope there is at least one version in which Sehun pays for us all” “That doesn’t exist either Jongdae-ah”, Baekhyun says giggling from Sehun’s side, who is now sporting a smug look. “Now that you mentioned it, I’m hungry. One of you order some food for us all”, Sehun says off tangent. Jongin immediately screams, “Fried chicken!” Baekhyun and Chanyeol scream over each other, “No, pizza today!” “I want sushi!” Kyungsoo quietly adds, “I’m craving ramyeon” They all start arguing about what they should eat and if they should just buy different items, forgetting the previous topic, as quickly as they had jumped into it.

Jongdae looks at them all, Junmyeon and Minseok standing there trying to avoid getting pulled into the argument, the rest passionately screaming making a case for their choice.

Yeah, it wouldn’t be bad to know them in every lifetime.

---------

Portal to Earth Dimension #1485
Time in the dimension: Somewhere in the 1990s

Chen, Kai and Baekhyun are standing in front of the where the portal is going to open. They are waiting for it to be just the right time for them to travel. Chen is bouncing around. Baekhyun holds his hand, “Nervous?” Chen shakes his head, “No, not at all, I’m excited. I am getting to do the whole thing for the first time. Experience it all! And all of us are going too. I can’t wait to meet the rest of them. I wonder what kind of lives we will live in this dimension. The humans don’t even have any manifestations of power in this dimension. So cool.”

Baekhyun seems a tad bit surprised at how excited Chen sounds; he knew Chen was eager to travel since they got back. But they were occupied with settling everything down, so Baekhyun hadn’t realized how eager Chen really was. Kai chuckles, “What happened to all your worries? What if you like someone else? Oh, or worse, what about if Baekhyun hyung ends up liking someone else?”

Chen had thought about this and had come to a conclusion, “I don’t mind. I want us to live out every variation of life possible. If we fall for someone else and are happy at that moment, then that’s the truth we shall live. As Baekhyun had promised, I just have to love him in this moment. We will end up loving each other platonically, nonetheless. So Baekhyun, this time let’s live freely and when we are back, we can choose each other again, the past and future won’t matter.”

Baekhyun looks really happy to see how Chen’s mindset had changed about travelling. Kai slow claps, “Wow finally some emotional growth for hyung. I was worried like your height your mental growth had also completely stopped.” Chen tries to not let Kai get a rise out of him and replies calmly, “I wonder if I will end up with a better sibling in this dimension.” Kai immediately feels offended, “Hyung! Don’t say that!” Chen and Baekhyun can’t help but coo at how adorable Kai gets when he is mad.

Yixing then rushes towards them, “All set, it’s time. Let’s go. This better be as good as you guys claim. Safe travels to us!” Chen and Baekhyun squeeze each other’s hands one last time, before letting go. Chen is no longer scared to let go, knowing they will gravitate to each other anyway.