“Well now,” Baekhyun said slowly, his weary eyes glued to the video feed in front of him, “this is unexpected.” Next to him Suho nodded numbly.

In the war room all eyes were turned to nearby monitors, watching the prince of M address his people, his hand holding tight to that of the man he claimed to have just married. Luhan.

The newly named prince consort was looking healthy and completely at ease as he smiled and waved and proclaimed his support for his husband’s future plans. He certainly didn’t look kidnapped.

Quietly, so only Baekhyun could hear, Suho asked, “He’s supposed to be kidnapped, isn’t he? That’s what M thinks?”

It was certainly no surprise to Baekhyun that Luhan had come through everything perfectly fine. Luhan was … resilient, in a word. He could bounce back from practically anything, and he had the best luck of anyone Baekhyun had ever known. Not that he knew Luhan … per say. It was complicated, honestly, to say he both knew and didn’t know Luhan.

Luhan likely would have called them friends anyway.

“To the best of their knowledge,” Baekhyun confirmed. “Maybe we don’t give Kai enough credit.”

Suho scoffed. “This isn’t Kai. Kai didn’t magically pull Luhan out of thin air. This is … a damned miracle. That’s what this is. Now maybe M will get off our asses about something we didn’t do in the first place.”

Baekhyun didn’t think for one second that Suho believed Luhan being recovered was enough to end the war. Not with the way M’s king had been pushing against them for years. But it was a start.

“Wait,” Baekyhun said, leaning forward to listen to the video feed. For the past few minutes the prince had been talking about his marriage, and how thrilled he was to share it with the people in a time of war, much to an ovation that had lasted longer than Baekhyun had expected. But it was clear now that he was speaking about something else, Baekyhun just couldn’t hear over the chatter in the war room.

“Quiet!” Suho barked out.

It was just quick enough for them to hear the prince confess, “My father has fallen ill as of late, and he isn’t expected to survive for very much longer. My heart is heavy with the news, but I’m also optimistic that Luhan and I will continue his legacy of providing you with prosperity and more than that, security.”

“The king is sick,” Baekhyun echoed out. He turned to Suho. “Did you know that?”

Suho shook his head. “I had no clue.”

The king passing was probably the best news they could have hoped for. It was obvious to all parties that the prince was weaker than the king, and his rule would be as well. That gave K a clear advantage, especially if the prince was toting his marriage as a buffer from the king’s health.

“We should move on this,” Baekhyun advised, tearing his eyes away from the screen. “K is about to enter a transitional period. We should take advantage of this. It might be the only reprieve we get before M’s troops are at our front door.”

Awe in Suho’s eyes, he told Baekhyun, “I think there’s a very real possibility that I’m hearing something incredible right now.”

“Pandering?” Baekhyun suggested, pulling up the deployment patterns of their troops on his pad. “Sir, we may finally have the manpower to strike back at M. We’ve been thus far on the defensive. It’s time to go offensive and be bold.”

“Baekhyun.” Suho nudged him. “Are you listening?”

The prince … as Baekhyun focused on the broadcast once more, he realized the prince was talking about his personal standards for his people.

“Willingness,” the prince said, his voice ringing through the war room. “And choice. These are the things that must define us as a country. All citizens must be willing to give everything they can to making us as prosperous as possible, but it also must be a choice. In this I differ from my father, and I did not make the following decision lightly. But M must be comprised of people who love their throne and country, and who wish to protect it. Of their own volition.”

Luhan cut in, beaming, “Loyalty cannot be forced. It has to be cultivated and nourished. In that regard, we do not want this war to continue, if the end result will be the forced indoctrination of an otherwise combative group of people.”

“They’re ending the war,” Suho said, looking shaken. “That’s what he’s saying, right? Baekhyun, tell me I’m not hearing things.”

The prince continued, “Effective immediately M will begin to pull out of any territory that is considered K. It is time for our soldiers to come home and to end this long war. I ask for your confidence in this.”

Suho asked Baekhyun, “This is on a time delay, isn’t it?”

“Over an hour,” Baekyhun confirmed. “It was a live broadcast in M, but it took some time to get to us. I think we’re the first to see this here in K. We’re likely the only ones who know.”

The end to the war seemed more like a fairytale. It seemed like something that they always hoped would happen, but never really trusted or believed would. At least not without one or both sides being completely wiped out. The notion that M was willingly ending the war on their side was … remarkable.

“Sir,” Baekhyun edged out, eyebrows pulling high. “Will you be accepting the end of the war? Or will we be striking back?” There was always the chance that Suho, who could be completely unpredictable at times, would take the opportunity to strike at M.

“I want to,” Suho admitted. “I want to wait until their backs are turned and they’re unsuspecting, and I want to crush them. I know it’s petty of me, and without honor, but too long we’ve been under M’s heel.”

“But?” Baekhyun prompted.

Suho sighed. “My responsibility to K is very clear. I’m the commander, and I’m expected to lead K to freedom from tyranny. M is offering that to us, and I would be a fool not to take it. I have to. I don’t want to lose any more of our people to something that can be prevented.”

“Sir?” Both Suho and Baekhyun turned as a young woman made her way across the room to relay, “There’s a secure communication incoming from M.”

“That’ll be the prince,” Suho eased out. He picked at his cufflink for a second, then said, “I’ll take it in my private office. Baekhyun, come with me. You should be there too.”

The first thing the prince said once the transmission came through, was, “I’m sure by now you’ve heard.”

“I have,” Suho said, clearly uneasy before Baekhyun’s eyes. “I want to know why. Why now?”

The prince said stoically, “Because I’m sure you’re just as tired of fighting as I am. Because our people deserve better, and because I’m not my father and I don’t share the same beliefs as he does. I have my cousin back, and he’s no worse for wear. He’s assured me that you had no part in his disappearance, and I believe him.”

“You have the power to pull your soldiers out of K?”

Suho was picking at the prince’s words from the transmission, trying to determine if the king was really as ill as had been claimed. Baekyhun didn’t doubt the validity of the words, but it would be nice to have a little verbal conformation in private.

“My father won’t last the night,” the prince said. “When he dies, with the people rallying behind me, and Luhan as my support, I’ll take complete control of M. My coronation will be held in less than a week, and I assure you, I very much have the power to command M’s troops at will. My word is absolute.”

Baekhyun prompted Suho quietly, “We’ll need a formal treaty, Commander.”

Suho snapped to, saying, “You and I will need to meet, naturally, to put onto paper the verbal agreement to the end of the war that we have here. It will need to be somewhere neutral, where both parties feel safe.”

“No.” Immediately the prince shook his head. “I can’t travel away from the palace right now. You’ll have to come here.”

There was an itch of nervousness under Baekhyun’s skin as Suho said, “You can’t honestly believe that I’d be stupid enough to waltz into M territory before the ink is dry on a peace treaty.”

“I’m not going to attack you,” the prince said tersely. “But there is something else, other than the peace treaty, that we need to speak about, and it has to be in M. We have to be near Mama’s life tree. It’s not my choice, if that makes you any happier. My husband is insisting up on it.”

“I won’t go to M before we have a formal arrangement of peace,” Suho said, obviously not planning to budge by the tightness of his voice. “And I want to talk about two of my men who should be in your custody by now. Kai and D.O.. They acted without my permission, but with everyone’s best interest. I need to know if they’re still alive.”

A voice shouted off camera, “Let me talk to him! No, seriously! I can help.”

“Kai?” Suho asked, and Baekhyun felt the tiniest bit of hope.

The prince moved aside and suddenly Kai was there, looking unhurt and maybe a little pale, but healthy. “It’s me,” he shouted into the camera. “Suho! D.O. and I are just fine. And no, Luhan wanting you to come to M for the peace talks isn’t a trap. I swear to you. You have to be here. Something even bigger than the war is about to go down.”

Not that he wanted to believe it, Baekhyun felt justified in telling Suho, “We have to consider he’s being coerced into saying these things.”

“Get out of the way.”

Kai was pushed sharply to the side and Chanyeol invaded the screen, calling out, “Baekhyun? Are you there? You probably are. You follow Suho around like a little puppy.”

Surprise lit through Baekhyun. “Chanyeol?” He leaned forward so he was within the camera’s view as well. “Are you at M’s palace? What are you doing there?”

Chanyeol grinned brightly. “It’s a long story, and I barely believe it myself. But yes, I’m here. And I’m okay. I can backup anything that Kai says. You have to be here, Baekhyun. Crazy stuff is about to go down.”

Baekhyun eased out with a grimace, “Are you sure you’re okay? You seem … on edge.”

Chanyeol gave a firm nod. “I’m perfectly fine, Baekhyun. I might be getting a little high off the life tree though, to be completely honest. I’ve never felt anything like this before.”

“Excuse me,” a soft voice said. “I need to speak to Baekhyun.”

Blinking a little bewilderedly, Baekhyun was surprised to see Chanyeol replaced with Luhan’s youthful face.

“Luhan,” Baekhyun greeted. “You’re looking well.”

“Baekhyun,” Luhan returned. “It’s nice to see you again.”

Out of range of the camera, the prince could be heard asking, “Luhan? How do you know him?”

Suho mumbled, “I’d like to know the same thing.”

“This is a little awkward,” Baekhyun admitted to Luhan, a smile pulling at his mouth over the situation. “But not really. Right?”

Luhan grinned back. “It’s always a little awkward for me when I meet someone outside of my dreams, especially those that I’ve known well inside. But I must admit, it’s not often that they recognize me back.”

It would be impossible not to recognize Luhan. After all, they’d been sharing dreams for years. Luhan was the only person that Baekhyun had ever shared a dream with, and almost every time he went to bed, unless he was utterly exhausted or ill, Luhan would be there. And so was Mama’s influence.

Maybe that was the point of Luhan dream sharing with him.

“What’s going on?” Baekhyun asked. “We agreed never to contact each other out of our dreams, for obvious reasons.”

“No,” Luhan said. “We agreed except for one reason and one reason alone.”

“You had a vision about the darkness?” Baekhyun asked, completely absorbed in his conversation with Luhan. He could feel Suho practically searing into him with his gaze, and everyone on Luhan’s side was likely listening closely, but none of that mattered. Not if Luhan was insinuating what Baekhyun thought he might be. “You know more about it?”

Luhan said somberly, “I had the most intense vision from Mama that I’ve ever had. The darkness lurking nearby isn’t just docile anymore, Baekhyun. It’s on the move, and Mama is currently defenseless. Commander Suho must come here for the peace treaty, but I need you to come as well, and bring the book.”

“It’s not safe to take the book from its hiding place,” Baekhyun argued, more afraid than he’d ever been. Years ago, when Mama had urged him to hide the most precious possession their planet would ever see, Baekyhun had done so with the knowledge that if it was ever needed, more than just their lives were at stake.

“It’s not safe for you to be so isolated now,” Luhan said. “You’re in danger, Baekhyun. The darkness is surging up, and you’ll be nothing but a beacon of light to it. You need to be here, where we can protect you.”

“Wait, wait,” Suho cut in, “I’m confused. What’s going on?”

“You’re not the only one,” D.O. audibly remarked.

“Is Baekhyun in danger?” Chanyeol demanded, leaning in close next to Luhan. “Is that what you’re saying? How?”

Luhan promised with a strain, “Baekhyun and I will explain everything when he and Commander Suho get here.”

“I haven’t agreed to anything,” Suho said stubbornly.

“But you will,” Luhan said with confidence. “Because if you stay there, you won’t know what Mama has shown me about our future. You won’t know how much trouble we’re really in, and you’ll be exposing Baekhyun to almost certain death.”

“How?” Suho demanded at the same time as Chanyeol.

Baekhyun ignored all the shouts and asked Luhan, “How can I be in danger? I haven’t used my ability in years. I’ve laid low, and not drawn any attention to myself. Mama’s warning was that I’d be in danger if I used her gift. I’ve been very careful.” It was his greatest secret, something he’d never told Chanyeol, whom he told everything to. He was constantly pushed and prodded to use his ability, or to take a more active role in Suho’s military, but he’d held his ground and done nothing. He’d been a whisper of a man for the most part, in order to remain safe.

Kindly, Luhan said, “The light is in your soul, Baekhyun. And Mama’s too weak to shield you now. I can help protect you if you come here, and I need to book to help explain what’s going on. I’m starting to put all the pieces together, and I need your help. The time for us fighting each other is over. We need to be a united front. Commander Suho, do you understand what I’m trying to impart on you?”

“You’re asking a lot,” Suho said with a loud exhale. “You’re asking a lot of faith and blind trust.”

The prince cut in to say to Suho, almost startling Baekhyun, “I’ve been a witness to the last vision that Mama sent to Luhan, and it nearly killed him. The content … this coming darkness, whatever it is, is bigger than you or I. We have to be on the same page, and you have my word that as long as you’re in M, no harm will come to you or anyone you bring with you. I think the fact that I have several of your men here and haven’t harmed them in the slightest, speaks a great deal for the future I want M and K to have.”

For years Baekhyun had known about the darkness, the same as Luhan, but neither of them had truly been able to work out what it was, other than a lingering threat. They’d both always known that something much greater than M and K’s inability to coexist was on the horizon, and that one day they’d need to unite. Baekhyun just hadn’t thought the day would come so quickly, or involve so many people he cared about.

“Please,” Luhan pleaded. “Both of you must come here. We don’t have much time.”

It must have taken some leap of faith for Suho to say, “I’ll forward you my itinerary once I have transportation worked out. But when I do get there, and when our peace accord is signed, I want a full explanation. You’re asking me to go against my instincts here.”

There were only a few more words to be said, and then the call was over, leaving Baekhyun and Suho in silence.

Baekhyun cleared his throat nervously.

“So you know the prince’s new husband,” Suho remarked. “Is there anything else you forgot to mention?”

Baekhyun bowed deeply to Suho, saying, “I only kept the things from you that were absolutely necessary. Luhan and I … have a complicated relationship. I’ll explain everything to you, but never doubt that I’ve always been loyal to you, and to K’s cause. But Luhan is right. This is bigger than just two groups of people fighting each other. The sooner we get going to M, the sooner I can help clue you in.”

But first he had to get the book.

Years ago Baekhyun had hidden the book in a secret space directly underneath the bathroom sink in his quarters. There were a couple of tiles that slid loose if you shifted them forcefully enough, with a damp but sizeable hiding space as the reward. The book in question had been wrapped in protective plastic and stashed there with Baekhyun’s hope that he would never have to look at it again.

Or that Chanyeol would never mistakenly come across it. Chanyeol had a way of mucking things up unintentionally.

Suho put a firm hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder and squeezed. “I need answers.”

“I don’t know much,” Baekhyun said honestly, and it really was the truth. Luhan was maybe the only one who truly knew what was going on, but Baekhyun understood Suho’s need to regain control of the situation. “But if you come with me, I’ll tell you everything I know. I have to assume that Luhan will be filling everyone on his side in on what I’m about to tell you.”

“Let’s go then,” Suho said, clearly satisfied and gesturing for them to start walking.

In the safety of the quarters he shared with Chanyeol, the bed sheets still rumpled from the last time they’d been in it, lounging around and killing time by making out, Baekhyun confided, “It only started a few years ago. At least on my end. To the best of my knowledge, Mama has been in contact with Luhan almost all his life, though it’s only just recently started to effect his health. For me, however, the dreams didn’t start until a little after I reached maturity and developed my ability.”

“Dreams?” Suho questioned.

Almost carelessly, as Baekhyun pulled at the tiles in the bathroom, he said, “Luhan and I share dreams. Almost exclusively. If he’s asleep and I’m asleep at the same time, we’re dreaming together. But they’re not prophetic dreams or precognitive. They’re not the same as the visions of the future that Luhan gets. They’re just dreams, and they started innocently enough with me not even realizing that he was more than just a figment of my imagination as I slept. It may or may not be the same for him.”

As Baekhyun pulled a tile up, Suho asked, “You didn’t think it would be prudent to tell anyone that you’re dream sharing with someone from M? Probably M’s most powerful special?”

“I didn’t know I was dream sharing with him at first, remember? And then when I figured it out, I was scared that I’d be accused of betraying K in some way, or leaking our secrets.”

A hurt tone in his voice, Suho said, “I never would have accused you of something like that, Baekhyun. I’ve told you some of my most precious secrets, and you know more in some cases than the officers ranked above you.”

Simply, Baekhyun said, “You weren’t the Commander at the time.” He paused, cleared his throat, and then continued, “Then Luhan and I started having the same recurring dream over and over. We’d usually have all sorts of different dreams in a week, but there was one that just stuck, and oddly enough, in a way I can’t really explain to you, it always felt very important.”

“What were you doing in the dream?”

Baekhyun lifted another tile free, now actually excited to see the book once more. He was scared, too, but he couldn’t deny the urge to hold it in his hands again.

He told Suho, “In the dream Luhan and I were always just walking along one of K’s beaches. We’d walk for ages, it seemed like, our toes in the wet sand. And eventually we’d come upon a very distinct rock formation leading into an underground cavern. I remember I always wanted to go in, in the dream, but Luhan wanted to wait until we could do it in real life. In the end we always just stood there talking until we woke up.”

Suho wondered, “What’s so special about that dream?”

“Because Luhan and I weren’t just talking to each other,” Baekhyun confessed. “We were also talking to Mama, too. Eventually we started having the dream less and less, and because of our circumstances, Luhan and I swore never to contact each other outside of our dreams, not unless we were all in peril. And we made one final compromise. Because Luhan couldn’t go searching for the cave from where he was, it fell on me, and it took me a while before I actually found it. Longer still before I was brave enough to go in by myself.”

“You found something?” Suho guessed.

Almost reverently Baekhyun pulled the book pull free, unwrapping it from its protective casing and holding it up for Suho to see clearly.

“I found this, Suho.” Baekhyun ran a finger over the worn binding. “In the deepest part of the cave, where I could barely breathe, this had been hidden away there.”

“A book,” Suho said flatly.

Baekhyun carefully pressed it into Suho’s hands, saying, “Right around the time Luhan and I started realizing our shared dreams were something of the utmost importance, Mama would whisper warnings to me. I mean, obviously she didn’t speak to me with words, but you and I both know there are ways to get across strong messages without actually using words. And Mama’s message was clear. I had to hide the book and I had to hide myself--my ability.”

Baekhyun could tell Suho was holding back some sort of commentary on the matter, and it was a while more before he said, “I never asked you, right? Why you refused to use your ability. I just accepted that it wasn’t something you wanted to do and didn’t pry. But now you’re telling me Mama said not to, and that’s why you’ve been living your life like you don’t have a gift.”

“It is.“ Baekhyun nodded. “Because there is something evil in this world, Suho. It’s sentient just like Mama, and she’s been fighting against it for hundreds of years without us ever knowing. This evil, manifested in the shadows, is drawn to the light. It would be drawn to me if I used my ability, Suho. I’d be like a beacon, and Mama wouldn’t be able to protect me.”

“Okay,” Suho eased out, leaning back a little as he kneeled on the ground next to Baekhyun. “But what’s so special about this book?”

“It’s our history.” Baekhyun opened it for him, turning the delicate pages as gently as he could. “We look around at the people with Mama’s gift and we think they’re so small in number. Maybe one hundred and fifty from M and K respectively, right? But I’ve been through this book, and I’ve shared what’s in it with Luhan. There only used to be twelve, Suho. In the whole of Exo, there were twelve people with Mama’s gifts. They were her guardians. They protected Mama and Exo, and were revered for that.”

Baekhyun paused on a page of the book with twelve symbols. Suho lifted an eyebrow and asked a little skeptically, “Twelve guardians?”

“Twelve in every generation,” Baekhyun clarified, “with gifts and abilities given to them by Mama to help her fight off the shadows.”

“But we don’t know what these shadows are?” Suho challenged.

“No.” That was the bigger mystery. He and Luhan had known something was very wrong with Mama for quite some time, but they’d both let themselves get distracted by the war between M and K. Maybe they’d just taken for granted Mama’s strength and resilience. “We don’t know what they are, where they came from, or what’s changed this time around.”

“Changed?”

Baekhyun tapped the page. “There used to be twelve a generation, remember? They were respected and it was a position of great honor. But then something happened and no more guardians were awakened so long that we forgot about them. Generations and generations worth of time. Now obviously there are far more than twelve now, and what have we done with our gifts? Used them to wage war on each other.”

Suho frowned, then asked him seriously, “You really believe all this?”

“I believe,” Baekhyun said, “that Mama is getting weaker for some reason, and the shadows are getting stronger. If Luhan thinks that it’s time to pull the book out, and share everything we know, this is more than just serious.”

Suho deadpanned, “You’re asking me to believe that some malevolent, evil shadow creature-thing is hell bent on destroying the world. That’s what I think you’re saying, and you have to know how it sounds.”

“You shoot water out of your hands and can control it. Chanyeol can conjure up a phoenix. Kai teleports. And with Mama, who is the greatest force of good on this planet that we know of existing, you really think that there isn’t something equally as evil? Or do you just think I’m completely delusional? Be honest.”

Suho took a deep breath and then let it out. “I believe in what I know and can see. I believe in our abilities because I have proof of them every second of every day. Even Mama can be proven. But all the proof I have from you about this evil shadow thing that apparently is going to wage war on all of us, is a few dreams that only you and one other person have experienced. People fight people, Baekhyun. And people use Mama’s gifts to kill each other. That’s the truth of the world we live in. Why can’t that be enough?”

“Will you believe when the ground is rotting right under your feet because Mama is dead? We can’t survive without her. She sustains our world.”

“Where is this darkness hiding then?” Suho pressed. “Let’s just go kick its .”

“If it were that simple, don’t you think Mama would have taken care of it by now?”

Suho looked unimpressed with everything he’d been told, and Baekhyun only knew one other way to impress upon him the seriousness and truthfulness of the situation.

“Just suspend your disbelief for a moment,” Baekhyun requested, then he worked open the buttons at the top of his uniform. A second later he was clad in his undershirt, arms bared to Suho as he e towards him. “See the skin? It’s smooth, right?”

“Yes,” Suho drawled slowly.

“Now look at what happens when I put my hand on this book.” Baekhyun lowered is palm to the page adjacent to the symbols, and waited, praying to Mama for the proof he needed.

Suho’s jaw dropped open slightly. “Okay. I’m a little bit more inclined to believe what you’re saying.”

“It only happens when I touch the book,” Baekhyun explained, flexing his bicep, the skin now marked by black ink. The image on his arm was exactly identical to the one of the twelve that was on the page. “And it marks me as a guardian, or maybe the descendent of one. That’s probably why Mama’s been in contact with me through my dreams with Luhan.”

Suho’s eyes flickered between Baekhyun’s skin and the book. “What else does this book say?”

“I don’t know.” Baekhyun flipped to another page. “It’s written in a language I don’t understand, one of the dead languages. I’ve just been deciphering the pictures the best I can, including what Mama has been able to leak out of her current state to both myself and Luhan.”

“Then how can we fight?” Suho asked a bit desperately. “You’re asking us to fight something we don’t know about.”

“I know enough to get us started on the right trail,” Baekhyun said, and without warning he reached forward, ing Suho’s shirt. “I have very good intuition thanks to Mama, and she wouldn’t have guided me towards you if you weren’t important.”

“What are you doing?” Suho said, but then he was quiet, eyes locked to the patch of skin at his collar, just above his undershirt, that was now inked. “What is that?”

Baekhyun was certain he was on the right trail. “It’s possible Mama conserved her energy for a long time, and she didn’t create any guardians so that when the time came, she could have hundreds of them to fight the darkness. But instead of fighting that darkness, we fought each other. That’s what I think, and so does Luhan. Plus, Luhan is at the center of it all, because he’s the most sensitive to Mama, and all the rest of us are linked to him. We can find our way by following him.”

“This all sounds like a bedtime story,” Suho grunted out. He looked back down at the symbol on his skin.

“You wanted proof,” Baekhyun said. “I’m giving you the first part of it. If we go to M, and we unite with the other guardians, then you’ll have the rest of it.”

“You think I’m a guardian. And you think there are others, too.”

“I do. You have the mark, the same as me. Mama pushed me towards you from the start. And I think certain several others will have them, too.”

Slowly Suho stood, straightening his shoulders. “Nothing can ever be easy, can it? We just got done fighting a war.”

“We fought that war for our independence,” Baekhyun remarked. “The next one we fight will be for our lives.”

Closing the book, Suho handed it back to Baekhyun and said, “If I choose to believe what you’re saying, about there being so called guardians and Mama and this darkness, then I guess I don’t have any choice but to go to M, and hope we can figure out what’s going on.”

Baekhyun hugged the book to his chest. “I’ll make the travel arrangements.”

Suho gave him a nod. “I want to leave within the hour, after I issue a statement to our people about the end of the war. Democracy will have to wait just a little longer.”