Staring into Minseok's mischievous eyes, Lu Han choked and balked. 

"Kim Minseok, if you try to get into my pants right now, I will hit you. And that's a promise," he said as cool as he could. Which wasn't much, but the sigh on Minseok's face which said 'well I tried' was a little worth it. 

"Message received."

"And anyways," Lu Han added. "Feels a little like cheating at this point."

It was Minseok's turn to choke. "Excuse me? Cheating on who?" 

"With your younger self," Lu Han answered blithely. "Shame you don't remember. You could be halfway charming back in the day. Ask Baekhyun, I'm sure he could tell you." 

Minseok made a confused snear but said nothing to this. In the meantime their attention returned to the former rat who was now stretching on the grass a little like a dog but with his arms and feet all askew. 

"Ohhh to have beautiful long limbs again!" he reflected loudly to no one in particular. 

Minseok turned back to Lu Han and whispered, "Tell me what happened then? When you found him?" 

Lu Han swallowed heavily. In truth he did not really know. Baekhyun had last been seen in the ballroom, but Lu Han had been unable to make it that far. Instead he traced the path in which Minseok, Yixing, and Junmyeon must have escaped. Near the entryway to the ballroom, he'd had to take shelter against a wall when something crashed down from above him. There'd been a room there, barely a broom closet, shattered potions and other specimens melting in the heat of the surrounding blaze. And on the floor there, Baekhyun, the man. 

He shared this with Minseok, and said, "Tell me the truth then. I'd just assumed Baekhyun's accident had something to do with the time machine. Was I mistaken or--?"

Minseok grimaced. "It was, but only partly. I suppose you know that before I placed you in the device I mixed a potion into your drinks, a drug designed to facilitate an easier transfer through time. Well, it took me a while to perfect that concoction." 

Lu Han just stared at him. "You mean you fed Baekhyun literal poison and put him into the machine just like that?"

The other scoffed. "You would think that, and I guess you've every right to imagine I would. But no, Baekhyun did that all by himself. Poor fool, he thought he was helping me. I was unaware of his efforts until it was too late. He disappeared, the machine exploded--this was my second prototype. When the dust cleared there was no Baekhyun, but instead... the rat." 

"Huh." Lu Han mused on this for a while. "So how'd he come back then?" 

"Magic," said Minseok. "I don't know. I'm too tired to figure that out, and right this minute we have other pressing matters." 

"Yeah, like where are we going to sleep tonight," said Lu Han, staring at the ruined mansion. The sun was now cresting over the nearest treeline. In daylight the wreckage looked if possible even worse. 

"I was thinking more along the lines of putting this machine back together again, and then maybe food, but sure, worry about sleep. God knows I don't." 

At this, someone coughed intentionally soft to draw out their attention. It was Yixing who stared at Minseok with fear and a little regret.

"What is it, Yixing?" asked Minseok. 

The servant-investor looked away at the house and then back on the master. "Well, it's just I'm afraid with the fire, half your lab also burned down, including the medicine that keeps you mostly awake..."

There was silence for a while, broken only the breathing of the five assembled men, the embers burning silently in the distance, and the chirping of some early morning birds. Then Minseok looked around, wearier than ever and said, "I'm going to die." 

By noon Minseok and Lu Han had recovered enough supplies from the non-burnt portion of the mansion to make an executive decision. They, along with Baekhyun, who was extraordinarily needy right now for human comfort, would be traveling tonight for town. Lu Han then watched Minseok arguing with Junmyeon who absolutely refused to leave the estate, fire damage or not. If left him no other choice but to leave Yixing behind as well to "watch over him or else". 

Before they left Yixing cornered Lu Han privately, backed him into the side of the carriage, and stared him down hard. 

"I'm leaving Minseok in your care, Lu Han," he said with all due seriousness and not a little bit of threat. "Do you know what this means? It means his safety and his health is in your power, and if something happens to him I will hunt you down and kill you."

Lu Han blew a soft puff of air across his lips. "You too, huh?" he said, thinking of the other Lu Han and his absolute dedication to Minseok. "Can I ask you a question? What makes you so loyal to him? Minseok told me you went broke off your investments, but you're honestly too good of a lackey to be only acting the part."

With his arm resting on the carriage door Yixing looked away longingly in the direction of the estate. "Lu Han, when you're down in the dumps and you receive a benefactor like him, you learn to appreciate what you've got. Sure, he's a recluse and psychopath, but he's also a genius, and I've never seen a man cry harder when he lost his best friend."

"So this is your cheesey 'he inspires pity and devotion' routine," Lu Han interrupted him. "Alright, that sounds legitimate enough. So let me ask you this: how come you told him everything else about yourself, but nothing about me?"

Yixing's lips wrangled up into a funny smile. At the same time he shrugged and took a step back from Lu Han and the carriage. "Let's just say, I'm not the only person receiving visits from the future, Lu Han." 

Before he left Yixing pressed a soft bundle into Lu Han's hands containing all that remained of Minseok's medication and a letter about when to admister it. Later on when Minseok wasn't looking Lu Han went through the list. It seemed Minseok only had a few doses of the drug which kept him sane (and awake). After that until more was made, he would be prone to sleeping more and more often, which meant dreaming more and more often. Which meant increased fits of near insanity whenever he awoke. Lu Han remembered only too well the time Minseok had torn into his bedroom after returning from the dreamworld, only to throw himself onto Lu Han's bed and try to throttle him. He couldn't say he was all too happy to get to experience the same thing again. At least he had now something which might make those fits not as bad. 

"Are we ready?" said Minseok finally, before coaxing Lu Han and Baekhyun into the carriage. He tapped the hood where the young man Yixing had acquired from somewhere in the neighborhood would drive them to town. With another lurch, they were off.

Lu Han sat opposite the two men. His legs entwined with Baekhyun's outstretched feet. Within minutes Baekhyun was fast asleep with his head resting on Minseok's shoulder. Minseok himself sat upright, perfectly prim and correct, like he was trying extra hard not to pass out from exhaustion. On and beneath the seat next to Lu Han were the wrapped up pieces of Minseok's device. 

"What happens when you fall asleep?" Lu Han asked him, just to break the silence. 

Minseok smiled and batted his eyelashes. "Have you really not been paying attention all this time? I don't sleep, I just... travel."

Huffing, Lu Han replied, "I know that. I mean, does it happen instanteously? Do you usually know where you are, when you are? Is the duration the same there as in real time. Is--"

"You ask a lot of questions." 

"I know."

"So you're genuinely curious?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to make conversation. Conversation helps a person stay awake." He grinned. 

Minseok snorted and looked away. Baekhyun was starting to snore. And honestly, it was Lu Han who wanted to stay awake. He hadn't slept at all since arriving back in this timeline; he was just too afraid of what might happen if Minseok passed out right now. How nice it might be to fall into a doze, or even a deeper sleep. The carriage rocked so evenly on this stretch of the road, the shades were pulled down. Baekhyun made it look easy and Lu Han longed for some shuteye. 

But as much as that appealed to him, he knew it didn't appeal to Minseok in the same way. 

"When was the last time you slept?" he asked. "I mean, really slept. No traveling, no dreams, just sleep."

Minseok yawned. "Somewhere around fifteen years ago."

Lu Han's eyes widened. "For fifteen years you've what, never gotten true rest?"

"It's like that, what can I say? Why on earth do you think I've been so adamant about building a machine which would adequately allow someone else to dreamwalk the world with me?"

"I... uhm."

"When someone else goes with me, they share the burden, they let me rest. Tell me, when you met me ten years ago how was I then? I can only recall from about eight years ago after the accident, but I believe even then I was still more of a functioning being than I am now. The dreams didn't take so much from me then, as they do now. Nowadays, most times I fall asleep, because of the medicine Yixing and I worked on, I don't sleep too deeply. The result is that my dreams do not last long, but also that I don't rest. Without that medication, I might sleep for hours, even days. And when I awake, it's like being ripped back from the brink of death. Sometimes I wish I would just never wake, to never feel that pain. Unfortunately, at least so far... I always do."

Lu Han didn't quite know what to say. He forced his jaw to close and his gaze to look away. At anything other than the casual expression on Minseok's face. He explained this as a man might explain what he planned to eat for dinner, or even breakfast tomorrow. Yet that was how Minseok lived his entire life. Something caught unpleasantly in his chest and Lu Han dared another look at the man opposite him. Minseok was gazing out the shaded window, at the shapes going past on the road. He had maneuvered ever so slightly so that Baekhyun's neck was not resting in an impossible angle. He held one of his friend's hands between his own. Lu Han could not even begin to guess how Minseok had survived this long, alone without family, deprived of his best friend, forever hounded by the shadows of his family of dreamwalkers. 

"I'll help you."

Minseok gave a slight airy snort and leveled his eyes back on Lu Han. "So you've said."