It took less than 3 hours for the other four to find them. They came running through the dark, screaming their heads off. Kris heard them before he saw them. He lead his small group out of the carnival, they waited on the edge of the light and the shadow. They saw Chanyeol first—with his long legs it figured that he would be the fastest. He launched himself at the first person he saw, who happened to be Kris, and they went careening to the floor. Next came Xiu Min and Kyungsoo, who found Kai and Sehun. Suho brought up the rear and actually collapsed in Chen’s arms. For a long time there was utter confusion as everyone tried to hug each other without letting go of the last person they grabbed, all of them were crying.

Then for a split second Kris couldn’t find Lu Han and he had a brief panic attack. He found him almost immediately after but that didn’t stop him from yelling that they needed to find some kind of order. It took another moment but they arranged themselves in a circle, each one holding hands with the person next to them, they all looked around and just took in everyone’s face. It was quiet and perfect, Kris felt like he had never been happier in his entire life than he was in this moment.

“Well,” Kai said after a long time. “Now that we found each other, what comes next?”

Maybe it was because they were so happy, maybe they were really tired, maybe it was just that funny—but the twelve of them collapsed on the ground they laughed so hard.

Suho regained his breath first. “I guess we should put the Tree back together again.”

“That’s actually a really good idea,” Xiu Min muttered. They all got to their feet and went into the Carnival. Kris had put his half of the Tree’s heart with all their things next to the Ferris wheel. He was about to open the box when Chanyeol suggested that this might not be the best place to start experimenting with the heart—who knew what could happen and did they really want it happening next to a giant metal contraption like that?

By this time the sun was rising and they decided to take a walk into the dessert, hopefully it would be far enough away from the city to avoid damage. When they’d cut the Tree open to retrieve the heart, a blast of light had shot out of the gaping wound and destroyed everything within a fifty yard radius, and Kris had a feeling that had there not been a magically fortified wall surrounding the Tree more damage would have been inflicted.

Once they had reached a safe distance, Kris and Suho knelt down and set the chests containing the heart on the ground; the remaining ten Guardians formed a circle around them. Kris hadn’t opened the chest since the halves of the heart had been placed inside, and didn’t remember what it looked like nor did he know what to expect when he opened it. Suho looked over at him and they opened the chests at the same time. The heart was like a gem—a hard, faceted surface, deep red in color. It was beating slowly, and now that the chest was open Kris could feel heat radiating from it.

Kris looked over to Suho to ask what he thought they should do, but before he could speak the chests began to rattle. The two of them sprang back as the pieces flew up and united in midair. There was a blinding flash of light, and for a split second Kris couldn’t tell if his eyes were open or closed, he couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t feel anything. Then just as quickly the light faded to a soft glow, he still couldn’t see but he could feel his feet on the ground and he could hear a gentle voice speaking to him.

‘Bravo, my children. Bravo, bravo.’

“It worked!” Suho exclaimed somewhere to his right. There were similar exclamations all around, Chanyeol called out that it was good to speak to the Tree again.

‘It is good to speak to you too,’ The Tree said warmly. ‘It has been far too long. I am very sorry that things did not go as planned, I didn’t foresee this. But the past is behind us and it is time to look forward to our future on this world.’

“You think we can have a future here?” Kai asked, and for the first time in weeks he actually sounded hopeful.

‘I do believe it. This world can be rebuilt, it will take time, but have created a world before from scratch, I believe I can rebuild this world and make it great once more, and create a new race of people to live here.’

Kris felt a jolt of pure shock. “What? You make it sound like you want to stay here permanently! I thought this was a temporary thing, I thought we would go home. Not right away but someday!”

Suho muttered in agreement but everyone else remained silent.

“Kris, we can’t go home.” It was Tao who spoke.

“What are you talking about?” Kris demanded.

The Tree spoke up again. ‘He’s right, I’m afraid. By now the Darkness has completely taken over. If you ever went back, it would be in thousands of years, and you would need an entire army of Guardians to help you defeat the Darkness.’

Kris was speechless.

“But I thought the Darkness wasn’t that bad when we left!” Suho protested. “It can’t have taken over so quickly, can it?”

‘I’m afraid so,’ the Tree said sadly. ‘Because it was already far more advanced than I had originally suspected. Tao, it’s time for you to tell your story.’

Kris was knocked out of his state of speechlessness. “What?”

Tao was hesitant and spoke quietly. “Kris…do you remember the ceremony that made you leader of the Southern Guardians?”

Of course he remembered that day and the week of worthless preparation.

“Well, I was kind of suspicious when you told us that they were going to skip out on a lot of the traditional stuff. I knew what a big deal it was supposed to be, so during the ceremony I kept an eye on the Masters. When they were mixing the potion for you to drink, I saw one of them slip some kind of powder into it. I knew it wasn’t supposed to have been done, because he made sure to do it at an angle where you couldn’t see. I got really nervous, and I just knew something awful would happen if you drank it. So I froze time and switched the cup they gave you with one from the side table-the goblets that were full of water. Later I went back and got the cup and I dumped the potion into a plant and…”

‘Go on,’ the Tree urged when Tao paused for a long time.

“The plant died almost right away. The potion had been poisoned.”

There was a collective gasp from around the group and then everyone started talking at once.

“But why would they want me dead?” Kris muttered, unable to even think clearly. He’d almost been murdered!

‘I’m afraid that’s because the Darkness had a hold on many of the Masters at the Sanctuaries,’ the Tree sighed. ‘You see, back when the Darkness was contained, I told the first Generation that it could be vanquished when two Guardians with the marks of the Dragon and the Phoenix were born. These two would have powers of flight and fire, and their Generation would be the strongest of them all. So strong that it would take years for the world to generate enough magic to sustain them. When the Darkness took hold of the first Guardians it learned this, and it learned to look out for those children.’

“We’re that Generation, then?” Sehun asked. “But we don’t have anyone with those marks.”

“Actually, we do,” Chanyeol mumbled.

Kris thought about the mark that stretched across his back. He thought about his affinity test, where he’d been so close to picking the fire crystal.

“I’m the Dragon,” he gasped at the same time Chanyeol stated that he was the Phoenix.

There was a long silence. “Well. That would explain the new mark,” Suho said to Chanyeol. We’ve wondered about that for a while now.”

“The Masters did say they’ve never seen anyone as powerful as our group,” Lay reminded them.

“And Chanyeol and I have always been fascinated by each other’s abilities,” Kris admitted.

“I guess it explains why our ship was sabotaged too,” Lu Han said.

Kai gasped. “Do you think Seven did that?”

‘I don’t know who did it,’ The Tree said, ‘But I doubt very much that Seven was responsible. The Darkness can’t make someone do something they have no idea how to do, and Seven barely knew how to start that ship let alone disable it.’

Everyone felt a little better after hearing that. They’d grown very attached to Seven, they would have hated to think she could have betrayed them like that.

“Well I guess that’s that then. We’ve been betrayed, there’s no going back,” Kris whispered.

The Tree reached out to him, sensing his distress. ‘Maybe one day. Maybe I can build a race of Guardians who will be strong enough to help you fight the Darkness. Maybe we can go back and reclaim our home. But for now, you are right.’

It was a tough thing to hear even if they all knew it to be true, and there was along moment of silence while everyone mourned for their home.

‘Don’t be too sad,’ The Tree pleaded. ‘I have been here for as long as you have, and while I don’t know everything about this world I know enough that you will all be happy here. This world has a lot to offer. It’s a bit beat up and rough around the edges, but give me a few hundred years to smooth it out and I’ll be able to create the first of a new species of human.’

“Will you tear everything down and start over?” Lu Han wondered.

‘I don’t think so,’ The Tree said. ‘There are a few things I could do without—but many of the plants and animals are similar to those on our home, and many more are harmless and good, so I’ll leave them alone. There are a lot of historical monuments around the world which I will reclaim from the overgrowth and leave standing for my future children to enjoy.’

“What should we do for you while you’re doing all of this?” Suho asked.

‘Absolutely nothing,’ The Tree told them. ‘I did this on my own before and I will do it again now. I will stay right here and regrow my outer covering, then I’ll dig my roots into the ground and stretch them out to cover the planet. I’ll pull the land masses into one, I’ll tear down and destroy the things which should be destroyed, and I’ll rebuild what needs to be rebuilt.’

“But that will take hundreds of years!” Chen gasped. “What are we supposed to do in the meantime?”

‘Well I’m sure I don’t know,’ The Tree said in a teasing tone. ‘I suppose you could go wander this world like swash-buckling heroes, exploring the territory and evading dangers—’

“Now you’re just being silly,” Xiu Min said flatly.

‘I suppose I am,’ The Tree agreed. ‘But really, do whatever you want. This world is yours now. And if you want to come visit me every century or so, I suppose that would be nice. Just don’t go bugging me too often.’

“So that’s it then?” Baekhyun said disbelievingly. “Really?”

‘Really, really.’

“Well then,” Kris said after a stunned pause. “Um, okay.”

They could sense the Tree withdrawing slowly. ‘Farewell, my children. I will miss you dearly, but you have each other and I know you will be taken care of. When you next see me this world will already be changing. Don’t be afraid, though. I trust each one of you, and I know you’ll be alright.’

“We’ll miss you too,” Tao said tearfully.

“Good luck!” Chanyeol called.

‘Good luck to you too, my loves,’ The Tree said as it released them from its hold.

Kris opened his eyes slowly, taking time to commit those moments to his memory. The Tree could be childish and annoying sometimes, but he knew he would miss it. When he finally opened his eyes he saw mixed emotions from his brothers. Some were misty eyed and wary, some were excited.

“Well, what now?” Kris asked with a small grin. “The world is ours. We can do anything we want, go anywhere we want, and we have a few hundred years to do it in.”

There was something wonderful about that, and they all saw it in that moment. An unexplored world lay before them, literally calling out to them.

“First, I want somebody to explain to me what that thing is,” Kyungsoo said, pointing at the dog which was still sitting at Lu Han’s feet.

“I’d really like to drag Sehun off somewhere and talk to him,” Lu Han admitted, side-eyeing his boyfriend.

“I want to go on the Ferris wheel!” Kai shouted, making everyone laugh.

“Okay,” Kris said. “Let’s start there.”

End.

And there we have it…30,000 words, 70 pages (in word) and 7 chapters later, it is done.

1-this is the first time I’m actually satisfied with the ending I’ve written :D
2-The Tree was by far my favorite character to write
3-I am pleased to announce that I am planning to write some drabbles for this AU!! I have a few planned so far, most of them are “missing moments” from the chapters. HunHan will be featured and Kris’ POV won’t be the only one you get to see!

The only thing I can’t decide is if I should post the drabbles as an entirely new story or just add them on to this one.

No, scratch that—I’ll just add them on to this one, since y’all are already subscribed here and then if I post a new story I’ll have to link new readers to this fic and it’s just easier this way.

Okay then, I guess I’ll see you around!!

[Leave me comments! Come on, silent readers! I promise I don’t bite! I’m not scary at all, I swear! I don't care if you're not the best comment-leaver in the world, hell just do it to increase your karma for crying out loud!!!!]