Weighed down by two physics text books, his Korean-English dictionary, and his recently acquired anatomy reference book, Chanyeol struggled his way down the streets of busy Seoul, determined to reach his destination without asking for any help.

“I’ll carry one for you,” Kungsoo offered, pulling ahead as the café came into view. “Oops, never mind, I see Yixing!”

“Bastard,” Chanyeol hissed at him, missing a step and dropping his dictionary. He huffed for a second, feeling sorry for himself, then expertly bent down, retrieved the book and continued on his way.

It was his own fault, really, piling on the extra courses in a desperate attempt to graduate a semester early with Baekhyun. Of course his first mistake had obviously been trying to compete with Baekhyun’s brain. Many a fool had lost that battle in the past, and Chanyeol had born witness to the tears, the fits and the accusations. Baekhyun just seemed to excel, at least where school was concerned.

Graduating a semester behind Baekhyun wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world if Baekhyun hadn’t already been accepted into a graduate program. In New York. America.

There was absolutely no way Chanyeol was letting his drop dead gorgeous boyfriend go off to America without him. Nor would Chanyeol entertain the idea of Baekhyun being roommates with any y Americans who’d no doubt find Baekhyun’s accent just as attractive as his face. No. Chanyeol had to graduate with him, go to America with him, and not let Baekhyun out of his sight.

Not for a second until he put on a ring on it. And there were babies. Lots of babies.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Chanyeol slammed his books down on the table his friends were gathered around and sunk into the only free chair.

Kungsoo, the afore mentioned bastard, was already sipping on an iced drink, almost painfully flirting with Yixing. Chanyeol was desperately awaiting the day Joonmyun managed to look up from his laptop for half a second to realize what was happening.

“I’m here. Finally.” Chanyeol sent an extra glare at Kungsoo. “Despite the obstacles placed in my path, I have emerged victorious. My journey was perilous and taxing, but like I said, victory.”

Jongdae cocked an eyebrow. “The university is three blocks away. Also, you make the same walk with the same books every day. You’re just as dramatic every day, too.”

Surprisingly Baekhyun laughed, grazing Chanyeol’s cheek with his lips, defending, “Leave him alone, Jongdae. Chanyeol’s putting in the most effort I’ve ever seen from him before, and his school work had never been better.”

Chanyeol tried not to beam too brightly, lest he blind his other, inconsiderate and unappreciative friends. Instead he settled for holding Baekhyun’s hand under the table.

“Chanyeol!” Minseok shouted from nearly across the packed café, having to jump and wave almost frantically just to be seen. He was soon weaving his way around people, drying his hands on the half apron he wore.

Minseok reeked of coffee like he always did, and if Chanyeol didn’t know personally that Minseok was going to school for hospitality training, he’d have guessed that the shorter, older man was majoring in caffeine.

“Minseok,” Chanyeol called back, leaning over for a fist bump when his friend was close enough. “Take your break now? Grab a chair and sit with us?”

Minseok rolled is eyes playfully. “Look around you, Chanyeol. No can do. I just came over to get your order. You’re the last to arrive.”

A little puzzled, Chanyeol looked around him, eyes sliding from face to face. How was he the last?

“Chanyeol?” Jongin questioned, openly sharing a worried look with Sehun who was directly next to him. “You okay? You’re kind of spacing out.”

Chanyeol questioned, “Where’s Yifan? And Zitao?”

Gently, but with a point to the gesture, Baekhyun knocked his knuckles across Chanyeol’s forehead. “Yifan went home to visit his family, remember? It’s his parent’s anniversary next week and they only wanted one thing from him for the occasion.”

With a laugh, Sehun cut in, “They wanted to meet Yifan’s boyfriend!”

“Oh,” Chanyeol drawled out. “That’s right.” If anything, it was a very good thing Yifan was finally introducing Zitao to his parents. They’d been dating for several years and were moving in together before the end of the year. “I guess I am the last.”

Someone called Minseok’s name and he waved off Chanyeol, stating, “You know what, I’ll just bring you something good. I know what you like.” Then like a rocket he was shooting back towards the other baristas, apologizing loudly.

“I don’t want coffee,” Chanyeol said with a bit of a sulk.

It wasn’t that he particularly hated coffee, but he had a bit of a sweet tooth and nothing Minseok ever brought him was sweet enough. Minseok liked his coffee almost too bitter, and seemed to be determined to bring the rest of them around to his point of view.

“Oh, hush,” Baekhyun said, eyes drifting back to his own open text book.

A nudge brought Chanyeol out of his momentary pity party.

“Chan,” Yixing requested, pushing his coffee at Chanyeol. “My latte’s gone cold. Can you? Please?”

A quick look around the table said no one else seemed to have a problem with the proposed action. It wasn’t as if they needed each other’s permission, but they were all fully aware that they were the only ones protecting each other. They had to watch out for each other, be vigilant, and not fight. As much as possible, anyway.

“Go ahead,” Joonmyun said with a firm nod. “The coast is clear. I checked.”

Chanyeol returned the nod without hesitation. If their odd group had a leader of any sort it was Joonmyun. He, more than anyone else, kept them all on the straight and narrow.

Chanyeol wrapped his fingers around Yixing’s cup and felt the fire within him burning like a volcano. He harnessed it through his fingers and soon the latte was steaming as if it had been freshly made.

“Here,” Chanyeol said, handing it over. He tried not to be too secretly pleased with himself. But even a year earlier he might have run the risk of setting the paper cup on fire, likely scalding them all with hot coffee. Learning to control his ability had been a work in progress up until very recently. He was sort of a late bloomer, honestly.

Fifteen minutes later Minseok was tearing through the café, a tall, iced glass in his hands. He plopped it down in front of Chanyeol and ordered, “Drink!” then he was gone again.

Flatly, Chanyeol said, “It really scares me how quickly he can move when he wants to. Guys, are we completely sure he isn’t our teleporter?”

“Unlikely,” Jongdae returned quickly.

Baekhyun tapped a pen against Chanyeol’s anatomy book and said, “You have your unwanted coffee, now get to work studying. We have a major test worth thirty percent of our grade in less than a week.”

“I know,” Chanyeol grumbled, opening the book and flipping to the right chapter. He raised the coffee to his lips and took a long drink.

Kungsoo burst out laughing at the expression on his face. “It can’t be that bad!”

“It’s horrible!” Chanyeol complained, all but throwing the drink down in front of him. “Minseok knows I don’t like bitter coffee. The only person other than him who could even start to stomach this drink is Lu Han.”

Odd expressions peered up at him until Baekhyun asked, “Who’s Lu Han? Do we have a class with him?”

Sehun tapped his chin. “I don’t know a Lu Han either, but I’m just a freshman at the university. Is he an upper-classmen?”

Chanyeol froze.

“What’s wrong?” Jongdae asked, leaning forward. “You look pale all the sudden.”

“I don’t …” Chanyeol said slowly. “I don’t know a Lu Han.”

He really didn’t. He couldn’t recall a single person in his life named Lu Han, or anyone he’d ever met. So if that was the case, how had he pulled the name so effortlessly out of his memory?

Until in the blink of an eye he could remember all the important things about Lu Han.

Lu Han liked all coffee, even the bitter kind, and bike rides after the sun set, and the hot, sweet cakes that you could only get from the venders after all the regular restaurants closed. Lu Han had eyes that were too big for him sometimes, and was a little quick to speak before he thought, but was a kind soul and best friends with everyone. Chanyeol had known Lu Han forever.

Only, he hadn’t.

Who the hell was Lu Han?

“Chanyeol?” Bakehyun asked, resting a hand on his back. “Who’s Lu Han? What do you mean you don’t know a Lu Han? You said his name like you’re good friends.”

There was panic building in his chest as he searched through his memories. Lu Han’s face was fading fast, starting with his doe eyes. A second more and Chanyeol couldn’t remember where Lu Han lived. Five more seconds and he forgot the first class they’d ever had together. Fifteen second after that and Lu Han was gone completely.

“Chanyeol?” Sehun shook him gently. “Are you … Baekhyun, is he even breathing?”

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun said, this time a little forcefully.

Where had his memories of Lu Han gone? Why couldn’t he remember Lu Han? Who was Lu Han?

Baekhyun thumped Chanyeol hard on the back. “Chanyeol!”

“What’s going on?” Minseok asked, approaching the table. “Is Chanyeol okay?”

Chanyeol drew in a deep breath, clutching at the edge of the table. “I’m okay,” he assured them all, his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest. “I just spaced out. Sorry. I guess I’m just a little stressed out from school.”

Chanyeol never wanted to be responsible for the fear on Baekhyun’s face as he slowly nodded, leaning his forehead against Chanyeol’s arm.

“You sure you’re okay?” Joonmyun asked with a hint of finality. “You started freaking out as soon as you mentioned this Lu Han guy.”

Chanyeol frowned, asking, “Who’s Lu Han?”

Jongdae made to say something, but the world melted around him.

“Chanyeol!”

Chanyeol shot up in bed, his throat hoarse, mouth parched and his pulse racing. He shuddered, fighting back a sob. Chanyeol had never felt so out of control of his own body, and everything felt tingly.

“You scared me so much,” Baekhyun said from beside him in the bed, his arms going around Chanyeol in a tight embrace.

“What happened?” Chanyeol asked, trying to even out his breathing.

Baekhyun kissed the bare skin of Chanyeol’s exposed arm. “You were having a bad dream. What as it about?” A half second later and a little more hesitantly, he posed,
“One of those weird dreams?”

Chanyeol could only nod. It had been surreal. And weirder than any other time he’d dreamed of people he’d only just begun to get to know. Something was terribly wrong and his dream was trying to tell him what it was. But how did forgetting Luhan factor in? No one had known him in his dream, and even Chanyeol had forgotten him by the end. How could that bode well for the future if the dream was even the least bit prophetic?

“I’m sorry I woke you,” Chanyeol finally eased out, turning to kiss Baekhyun properly. “I’m sure you and Luhan were busy flocking through fields of flowers, right?”

Baekhyun smacked him over the back of the head. “We don’t always dream about Mama, and when we don’t, our dreams are probably a lot like yours … excluding the weird ones. We dream about a lot of stuff that doesn’t make sense, normal stuff, and that sort of thing. No fields of flowers, I’m sad to say. And for your information, Luhan isn’t sleeping right now. I was blissfully alone in my dream.”

“Luhan isn’t sleeping?” Chanyeol reached for the nearby nightstand where the light switch could be triggered. The oddly shaped lamp lit up the clock and he was able to see that it was still ridiculously early in the morning. The sun wouldn’t even be up for a few more hours. “At this hour?”

“It’s not that abnormal,” Baekhyun said. “He’s worried about a lot of things, and that makes him a restless sleeper. Trust me. I’ve had more than enough time to learn his sleeping habits.”

Pursing his lips, Chanyeol inquired, “Is it creepy and awkward when Luhan is dreaming about Kai? Or when you’re dreaming about me?”

“What makes you think I dream about you?”

Chanyeol gave a loud scoff. “I’m pretty sure all your best dreams have involved me.”

Baekhyun reached around Chanyeol to shut off the light and then pull the taller man down onto the bed fully. “You can rest assured that over the years Luhan and I have developed ways to block each other out. If I happen to be dreaming about you in a … compromised way, I’m at least a bit lucid enough to block him out. When he blocks me, it’s just like going into a deeper sleep, one void of dreams. It’s pretty nice, actually.”

“I didn’t know you could block each other out,” Chanyeol said, surprised.

“I …” Bakehyun let his fingers scratch idly through Chanyeol’s hair. “When I dream about you, I want to protect that from anyone else. I want to protect you, even from Luhan, and regardless if it’s only a dream. I think instinctively Luhan wants the same thing. He’s always blocked me when Kai ended up seeping into his subconscious. He kept Kai fully hidden from me the entire time. I didn’t know any more than you did about them. And we certainly don’t pry into why the one of us is blocking the other. We have to have some respect for our privacy.”

“That’s pretty cool, actually.” Chanyeol to his side, tucking an arm around Baehkyhun’s narrow waist. “You sure Luhan isn’t sleeping?”

Baekhyun hummed out an unrecognizable response, obviously already drifting back to sleep as his fingers slowed in Chanyeol’s hair. “Confident. Now, go back to sleep.”

Contrary to what a lot of people thought, Chanyeol could actually be very patient. And he was content to wait until Baekhyun’s breathing evened out and his hand fell completely limp against the sheets.

Then Chanyeol climbed out of bed carefully, pulled on his robe, slid his feet into his slippers and left Baekhyun sleeping in their suite alone. The last thing he needed to do was go back to sleep, or lay awake in bed for the next three hours. He had to think, and with any luck he’d run across Luhan. Even if he didn’t, some fresh air was something he was craving.

Careful to stay in the area that the prince had designated for them days earlier, Chanyeol took the second staircase on the left down to the first floor and out to the nearby small, enclosed garden blocked off by floor to ceiling glass windows. He pushed on one panel and was hit in the face by the frigid night air.

“Jeeze,” he breathed out, pulling the collar on his robe tighter but not for a second considering going back to his room. Not when he could tip his head back and look up into the brilliant night sky, the stars shining like beacons of hope. The sight was breathtaking and he was happy enough to settle on a nearby bench and just be for a second.

“I can’t say I expected to see you out here,” a voice said, and when Chanyeol was able to tear his eyes away from the sky he was greeted with Lay’s pleasant face. “Baekhyun seems to have you on a tight leash.”

It wasn’t a dig, not really, because it was rooted in at least some truth. Baekhyun had always sort of told Chanyeol what to do. Even before they’d been a couple, when it had only been friendship holding them together. Chanyeol knew he had a tendency to leap without looking, and Baekhyun was always pulling the leash tightly to keep him from falling to his doom. Or something morbid like that.

“Baekhyun’s sleeping. And I …” With a deep sigh, he confessed, “I had a really unsettling dream. I woke Baekhyun on accident and he mentioned that he was flying solo with his dreams tonight. I guess I was hoping to run into Luhan down here and get to talking to him about my dreams. He’s kind of the only other person I know who has really weird dreams that may or may not be prophetic.”

“You could talk to Baekhyun,” Lay offered, sitting next to Chanyeol. “He’s your partner, isn’t he? And he has weird dreams of his own.”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol said, “but I kind of get the feeling that Baekhyun is just channeling Luhan’s dreams half the time. Plus, the dream I just had was about Luhan, at least in a way. So, what do you think my chances are that he’s roaming around here like an insomniac, and not just laying in bed memorizing his ceiling?”

Lay laughed, looking handsome as he did. “Slim to none, actually. Luhan’s new room with his highness isn’t too far from here, but your room happens to be right across the hall from Kai’s. Luhan wouldn’t risk coming this close to Kai.”

Chanyeol looked down at his slippers. “They really love each other, don’t they? It must being married to someone else.”

Laughing again, Lay said, “Luhan isn’t as much of a saint as you seem to think he is. I bet you anything he won’t come near Kai late at night, with no supervision, because he doesn’t trust himself.”

“I still think it ,” Chanyeol argued. “Especially with them having to be so close. I think I’d lose my mind if I had to be around Baekhyun, but I couldn’t be with him.”

Lay shook his head. “Luhan probably doesn’t have much to worry about. He can’t really devote the proper time and energy needed to become an adulterer, and Kai seems to be the sort able to put his country before his pants. He wouldn’t cause a diplomatic incident, I don’t think, even for Luhan.”

Chanyeol let his elbows rest on his knees and said, “Well, if Luhan isn’t going to come by, I guess I’ll just sit out here a little longer and think. You don’t have weird dreams, do you?”

“Not the kind that you have,” Lay said. “In fact, I dream very little. But I think that comes from me being exhausted a lot of the time. I spend a lot of my nights with Luhan, keeping him alive sometimes. I’m usually too exhausted to dream about anything.”

Quickly, Chanyeol asked, “Then you believe everything Luhan and Baekhyun said? I love Baekhyun, and I know him well enough to claim he wouldn’t joke around about something like this, but even you have to admit …”

“It sounds crazy,” Lay agreed. “But look as us now. M and K. Sitting together and not trying to kill each other.”

“I never liked the killing part,” Chanyeol said, and meant every word. “I just did what I thought I had to, to protect Baekhyun. I figured if I killed, he wouldn’t have to.”

Lay grinned. “I just meant that it seems almost incomprehensible that you and I would be sitting here, having a civil conversation. Our people are at peace now. In fifty years from now, the prejudices that we grew up with might be relics of the past. In a hundred, they might be forgotten completely.”

Chanyeol pointed out, “If we fight this darkness and win, you mean. How are we supposed to fight something we don’t even understand?”

Lay didn’t seem to have an answer for him, and instead said, “When I touched Mama’s life tree and was injured, it was because she was hurting so badly. The compulsion to heal was something I couldn’t control, worse than anything I’ve ever felt before. I felt Mama dying, Chanyeol. That’s more than enough to get me to believe that action has to be taken. Forget the shadow business, we can’t let Mama die.”

“If Mama dies, do we die too?” Chanyeol asked. “She created us. She gave us life and abilities. She’s tied to this planet. She is this planet. If she dies, then what happens to us?”

Lay hugged his jacket closer around his body, looking up at the sky. “I don’t know. Maybe Luhan is the only one who knows, or maybe he doesn’t know at all. But we have to vigilant. We have to figure out what’s happening to Mama, how these shadows are hurting her, and we have to stop it.”

Chanyeol was about to respond, the words on the tip of his tongue when Lay reached out to put a silencing hand on his forearm.

With the double light from Exo’s twin moons, Chanyeol was able to quickly make out a form moving along the hallway next to the boxed off small garden. Through the glass walls it was all too easy to identify that it was the prince himself walking restlessly, hands tucked in his heavy coat as his feet dragged along.

“What’s he doing out here?” Chanyeol asked at a whisper. The palace was well insulated from the open garden, and the glass walls themselves were pretty sound proof, but he felt the need to whisper anyway. He was officially, as of the second the peace treaty had been signed, a guest of the prince, but he still felt like it might be odd to be caught out of his room at night. Without much supervision. Did Lay count as supervision? He wasn’t exactly a member of the guard, but he was in Luhan’s inner circle and probably had more influence and power than most people were aware of.

Chanyeol had seen the way Luhan looked almost instinctively to Lay for many things. It was the same way Suho turned to Baekhyun. There was power in that kind of trust.

“Probably trying to single handedly prevent another war from breaking out after we just managed to end the last one.”

Chanyeol questioned, “How would that happen?”

A moment more, just as the prince began to disappear from sight, Tao could be seen, trailing after him, eyes searching for threats.

“If something happened to Commander Suho, or any of you from K, really, it could be very, very bad. Especially with his highness’ coronation set for three days from now. There are a lot of people that would like to see his highness struggle, and even more who were upset to see the war end. It was very profitable for a selective few. They don’t like that the prince wanted to end the war in favor of peace.”

“Is something in danger of happening to us here?” Chanyeol asked with wide eyes. “I mean, we’re not exactly defenseless, but should we be watching our backs?”

Lay nodded. “Things are different here in M. It’s always a good idea to watch your back, even from those you don’t perceive as a threat. There is a constant struggle for power in M, and it isn’t kind to the weak. If a stray assassin were to kill you, or the Commander, or even Sehun, M’s people would be conflicted and unsure--they’d lose confidence, and M can’t afford that right now. That’s not even considering how K would react.”

Chanyeol startled as Tao tapped the glass suddenly, peering at the two of them.

“Go away,” Lay said, waving Tao off with a smile on his face. “We’re fine.”

Tao hesitated, then was on his way again.

“Things,” Lay said with a sigh, “are about to get very complicated around here. Complicated and stressful. I’m not envious of anyone else right now.”

With a small groan, Chanyeol eased himself up to his feet and stretched. “I guess I’ll head back to bed.”

Lay hummed a quiet response, then added, “I’ll likely see Luhan before you do tomorrow. I like to help him dress in the morning and keep him appraised of the chatter I’ve heard around the palace. There’s a formal dinner between M and the representatives of K scheduled for tomorrow night, but I could probably get you an invitation to Luhan’s private breakfast.”

“I don’t know,” Chanyeol eased out. Luhan was married to the prince now, and the prince was days away from being king. It seemed a little … too informal to have breakfast with Luhan now.

“You want to ask him about your dream, don’t you? Luhan’s got more answers than anyone else,” Lay reminded.

“Okay,” Chanyeol said finally. “But promise it won’t cause some kind of international incident. Baekhyun would kill me.”

“Hardly,” Lay assured. “Good night, Chanyeol. Sleep well.”

Chanyeol raised a hand faintly, feeling like he’d made a friend in that very instance. . “Good night, Lay.”

In the morning, true to word, Lay presented Chanyeol with an informal and friendly invitation to join Luhan for breakfast.

“What’s that about?” Baekhyun asked as he finished dressing.

“I have to talk to Luhan about something,” Chanyeol said dismissively. “Don’t worry, okay? I know you plan to hash out boring political things with Suho this morning anyway, and Kai and D.O. are off trying not to get into trouble.”

“I don’t know if you should go alone,” Baekhyung said, unsure. “Who else will be there?”

Chanyeol was already at the door, having decided he certainly didn’t need Baekhyun’s permission to eat with Luhan. “Lay, I think. And probably Sehun. Sehun follows Luhan around a lot. I said don’t worry, Baekhyun. I can behave myself enough to have one meal without you in the presence of Luhan.”

Baekhyun winced. “Call him by his title, will you? We’re trying to be graceful here, and foster an appropriate relationship between K and M.”

“His title?” Chanyol shrugged. If it was going to make that much of a difference, he would, as long as he got his answers.

Twenty minutes later, with food piled high on the table and Chanyeol seated across from him, Luhan said firmly, “Don’t ever call me by my title.”

Xiumin, who was placed directly to Luhan’s left, looking as casual as Chanyeol had ever seen him, cleared his throat loudly.

“Not behind doors,” Luhan compromised, making all of them swear. “I get enough of it from everyone else. I want my friends to call me by my actual name. Someone has to, other than Kris.”

The prince in question was not in attendance of the meal, and when Chanyeol asked Lay quietly about it, the healer said, “It’s tradition for the king or queen and their consort to take their morning meal separately. A divide and conquer technique with their different duties and responsibilities right after. They are expected to have dinner together, however.”

Making up for the prince’s presence seemed to be Chen, who was not partaking in the meal, and seemed to be doing his best to look stern as he stood behind Luhan. Luhan took it upon him to pester and tease Chen endlessly until he at least took a seat and nibbled on a small piece of fruit carefully.

With Sehun eagerly asking Lay about the dinner later that night, Chanyeol mumbled to Luhan quietly, “I had a weird dream last night.”

Luhan leaned towards him curiously. “Prophetic?”

“I don’t know,” Chanyeol answered honestly. “Can I ask you about your dreams?” At Luhan’s easy nod, he pressed, “Do you always see the future in your dreams? Didn’t you dream about me before we actually met? And Sehun?”

Luhan tapped the table thoughtfully and said, “All my visions are prophetic. They’re all about the future and almost always come true. That’s not the same for my dreams. Sometimes I dream about the future, and sometimes I don’t. When I do dream about the future, it’s more a fluid future. The kind of future that I can shape and change and impact. The visions are harder to change.”

Chanyeol chewed on a piece of bread, then told Luhan, “My dream was about all of us, actually. We were all there, but I didn’t recognize what was going on, or what we were doing. We all knew each other and were really good friends. But then something weird happened.”

“What?” Luhan rested his elbow on the table so he cold lean over more and give them further privacy.

“You weren’t there,” Chanyeol said, obviously startling Luhan a little. “But I mentioned your name. And I knew everything about you. I knew what you liked and didn’t like, and where you went to school, and how we first met when we were young. Then I didn’t. That’s the best way to explain it. I knew you, and then I didn’t. By the end of my dream I couldn’t even remember your name, and it was like you never even existed at all.”

“How often do you dream about us?”

“Once in a while usually. More frequently now, though.” It was more of a guess. Sometimes he woke up remembering everything, and sometimes he had to guess that he’d even dreamed at all. But the dreams had been recurring more frequently over the past year. It actually helped now to be able to put names to faces. “It’s hard to say. But not every night. This is the first time, Luhan, that anything like that has happened. Do you think … it couldn’t have been a dream about the future. We certainly weren’t on Exo.”

Luhan said frankly, “I can’t tell you anything for sure, you know. Mama’s responsible for our dreams of this nature. She controls what we see and experience. But …”

“Yeah?” Chanyeol asked excitedly.

“We called each other by different names?” Luhan prompted. “Some of us?”

Chanyeol nodded so hard he almost pulled something in his neck. “Weird sounding names. How did you know?”

Luhan’s eyes were full of honestly as he said, “I’ve had that dream before. Once. A very long time ago. But I was there. No one forgot me then.”

“So what changed?” Chanyeol asked. “What would make us forget you? How is that even possible?”

Xiumin laughed loudly at something Chen said, Sehun and Lay joining in and it did well to mask Luhan saying, “There’s no way to say that my dream and yours are connected.”

“But you dream about the future all the time,” Chanyeol said a little frantically.” At least more than I do.”

“How do you know you haven’t been dreaming about the future this whole time?”

Chanyeol said, “If that’s the case, then at some point in the future, it’s like we’re on a whole different planet, and that’s a ridiculous idea.”

Luhan shrugged. “The future is limitless in its possibilities. Infinite. That’s why I try to take my dreams into consideration, but not live my life defined by them. Dreams are not visions, Chanyeol. That’s what you should always keep in mind.”

Still, if he was dreaming of some impossible future, it didn’t explain the absence of Luhan, or what had happened to trigger that.

“Don’t you dare!” Chen said firmly, only to be pelted by tiny pieces of bread from Sehun a second later. The youngest of them stuck his tongue out at Chen, then laughed when a storm of cheese chunks were flung back at him.

“I waited a long time for this,” Luhan said to Chanyeol, smiling fondly at the people around them. “For all of us to be together here. Mama told me to believe and to be patient and you would all come to me, but I have to admit, I didn’t always believe. I still think I’m dreaming sometimes. I have to pinch myself.”

More than anything else in that moment, Chanyeol was struck by how difficult it must have been for Luhan to simply distinguish reality from his dreams. He spent what seemed like equal times in each, and it had to get confusing at some point. Or tiring. Maybe just scary.

“Are you okay?” Luhan asked, bringing Chanyeol out of his thoughts. “Don’t worry too much about your dream. Things have a way of working themselves out. I’m confident.”

How could he not worry? Luhan was being written out of his dreams, and if that didn’t mean something, he didn’t know what did. If it happened again … the first time had been unsettling enough. He didn’t know what he’d do if it happened again.

“You’re telling me to not be concerned about a dream when you spent all of yesterday trying to convincing the twelve of us to basically take up arms against a formless evil.”

“I saw terrible things in my last vision,” Luhan admitted, “things I couldn’t block from Baekhyun no matter how much I tried. But I also saw hope. I saw us, as a united force, offering a resistance. I don’t know if we’re going to win against something that’s overtaking Mama, but I know we’re going to try, and that’s something.”

“But our chances?” Chanyeol didn’t like the look on Luhan’s face one bit. It sent a shiver down his spine immediately.

Luhan shook his head slowly and replied, “I said that my visions are hard to change. Not impossible. I may have seen the shadows having the upper hand in my vision, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. Just because something is hard, doesn’t mean it’s impossible. In fact, it probably makes that challenge all the more worthwhile.”

His heart beating a little faster, Chanyeol asked, “You can sometimes trigger your visions by getting in direct contact with Mama’s life tree, right? Do you think it would work for me? Even if I don’t usually have visions?”

“I don’t know about that, Chanyeol, but I don’t think so.” Luhan looked upset. “Why would you want to? It was just a dream, and not a scary one at that.”

“But I forgot you,” Chanyeol said forcefully. “What if I forget Baekyhun next time? And what if something like that even comes close to coming true?”

“What’re you guys talking about?” Sehun interrupted, drawing Luhan’s attention away. “Luhan, you said you’d show me around today, before you don’t have any spare time. We’re going to leave soon, right? You promised to take me everywhere.”

Sehun was apparently a greedy little brat when it came to Luhan.

“I did promise you,” Luhan said kindly. “We’ll start shortly after breakfast.” Then Luhan surprised Chanyeol by turning to him and asking, “Would you like to come with us? Kris and Commander Suho will be tied up in mediation all day long today, and I’m in charge of hospitality for as long as you are here. I’m going to show Sehun around the palace and surrounding city as much as possible today, and we always have room for one more.”

“Hey!” Sehun called out, clearly unhappy at the inclusion, but the look on Xiumin’s face said Luhan probably wouldn’t have been going without him either.

Quietly, his voice almost at a whisper, Luhan added, “We could talk more about what’s bothering you.”

Chanyeol lifted a spoon full of warm oats and grinned triumphantly at Sehun, or maybe a little childishly, and told Luhan, “I’d love to.”