Definitively, but not without playfulness, Luhan turned his head, pressed his cheek to Kai’s bare, almost overhead chest, and declared, “The solution is simple. Haven’t you worked it out yet?”

“Hm?” Kai asked, a hand petting heavily through Luhan’s damp hair. “Tell me what it is.”

Luhan couldn’t help grinning, kissing the smooth skin underneath him, almost fully recovered from their latest round of lovemaking. He could hear the steady thumps of Kai’s heart, and feel the way his chest rose and fell evenly. It was reassuring that Kai was with him now, for whatever little time they had, and it was perfect.

Luhan had never felt so alive before, which was why it was all the more ironic.

“We’d just have to get two,” Luhan said, nudging Kai’s chest with his chin. “Two homes would be perfect, if not preferred, and then we’d get to spend K’s too hot summers in M, and M’s too cold winters in K. The best of both.”

“Okay,” Kai agreed, his thigh sliding against Luhan’s, “Now that that’s decided, what would we do? I can’t honestly ever see myself doing anything but having a military career, I mean, it’s all I’ve ever known. And I give Commander Suho a lot of over my job, but I really kind of like it. What about you?”

It was probably a foolish game they were playing, pretending what their lives would be like if they weren’t in their current situation and free to love each other. But it was a momentary breath of sanity in a chaotic world and Luhan desperately just wanted to close his eyes and pretend, even if it was only for a second or two.

“Well, I’ve been groomed since birth to be a political juggernaut, and I do excel at it.” Luhan felt his cheeks heat. “I like listening to the people, representing them, and making a difference in their lives. I find it fulfilling.”

Kai’s head cocked a bit. “But? I sense a but.”

Luhan pecked him on the lips and nodded indulgently. “I’m an avid Striker fan. I’ve always wanted to play, maybe even professionally, and if I were just Luhan, and you were just Kai, I’d be healthy enough to go for it. I don’t know about K, but in M, Striker season meant an unhealthy obsession for a lot of people. Kris and I used to sneak out to games when we were teenagers. It was the only time I ever really felt normal.”

“The war kind of destroyed most recreational things in K,” Kai reminded, “but all the kids knew how to play, and most people jacked broadcast games from M.” Kai cleared his throat, then continued their charade, “So you’d be a famous Striker player, and you’d play all the big arenas in M, do the whole circuit and sell them all out. And K would be so spurred on by your superstar image that they’d start building up their own teams and fields to play on, and there’d be some actual, real, inner league play between K and M.”

“You would come to my games wouldn’t you?” Luhan teased, pinching Kai gently.

Kai scoffed. “Of course you know I would, Luhan. Because I’d have to let all of your fans know that you’d off the market, and those goals you’re scoring? They’re totally for me.”

“I don’t know,” Luhan eased out with a grin. “What if there were no goals scored? Would you still want to come to my games? What if I was the worst player on the team and they only kept me around for my dashing good looks?”

Kai gave a deep, solid laugh. “At least you’d make a sound marketing strategy for the league and its attendance. You are exceptionally attractive. But you can’t actually expect me to believe there’s something you can’t do if you put your mind to it.”

“I can’t cook,” Luhan said seriously.

“You’ve never had to cook for yourself, so that doesn’t count. Do you even know where the kitchen is in the palace?”

Luhan propped himself up on the small but comfortable cot Kai was supposed to be sharing with D.O.. Before, in their initial frenzy, Luhan had let Kai push him down on it presumptuously, pulling at his clothes as they kissed. There was heavy padding on the cot, softening it as best as possible, and for Luhan who preferred a solid mattress, it felt more than satisfactory for what he planned to do with Kai.

“The palace has several kitchens, Kai., to compensate for the large populace housed within its walls.” He stopped and frowned, remembering the last time he’d seen the palace. Half of it had been rubble and the other half on fire. Luhan had wanted to stop and not leave. He’d wanted to stay and help. There were still people who needed help, the people of M were looking to them for something--anything, and they were running away. It felt wrong and Xiumin had end up almost pulling him off his feet in the rush to get away. “It had, I guess.”

Kai cleared his throat, his hand sliding down from Luhan’s hair to tickle the back of his neck, and then rested ultimately at the dip of his back. Luhan couldn’t help shivering at the move, arousal shooting through him again. He felt sixteen all over again, with hormones raging out of control.

“Do you want to keep going?” Luhan asked hesitantly.

After a moment of consideration, Kai said, “Let me get this right, okay? Two homes, because Exo’s seasons can be difficult at times, and because we don’t want to be away from our friends for too long. I’ll be a military man and you’ll be a brilliant Striker superstar. That takes care of some of the big stuff, but what about kids?”

Part of Luhan wanted to end the game right there. What business did they have talking about kids, even hypothetically, when they were about to die? It seemed an unnecessary cruelty. And why were they even torturing themselves in the first place? The kids Luhan would have been expected to have with Kris were nothing like the kind that he and Kai could imaging having.

“Do you want them?” Kai asked once more. “Because I think you’d make a great dad. I know your parents died when you were a kid, and mine weren’t around much longer, but I think we’d be pretty good at the parenting thing.”

“Kids” Luhan mused aloud. He’d always expected to be a father, married to Kris, needing to ensure the crown’s line. But given the opportunity to choose for himself, he found it took very little actual thought to decide that it was an idea he liked. “I do,” he told Kai, gazing up at him. “And I agree, we’d be amazing parents.”

“How many?” Kai pressed, leaning down for a kiss.

“Two?” Luhan guessed, trying to picture what their children could look like. “A boy and a girl.”

Kai wiggled his eyebrows, “Or two boys and two girls. Or three girls and three--”

“Kai,” Luhan shushed him with a look and a finger to his lips. “You’re crazy. We’d be lucky to raise one without permanently damaging it.”

Kai wrapped a strong arm around Luhan and maneuvered them down to their sides, responding, “You’re the crazy one now. We’d be a perfect team. I’d be the fun dad. I’d take our kids out to play all the time, and teach them all the cool things they need to know. And you’d make them wash for dinner and get their homework done and go to bed at a decent time. You’d be the firm one. We’d work out great together as parents.”

“Why do I have to be the disciplinarian?” Luhan demanded.

Kai leaned in close, his lips brushing against Luhan’s cheek as he whispered, “You’d love them so much, too. You’d sing them to sleep and bandage their scrapped knees. You’d never forget to tell them how much you love them, teach them important values, make them strong, keep them grounded and bring them joy. What more could I ever dare to wish for?”

It was a terribly beautiful thought, thinking of a perfect little house in the country for when they were in K, with children running out in the fields around them, Luhan desperately trying to teach himself to cook while Kai endlessly about it. They’d have picnics together, be a strong family and love each other more than anyone else on the whole planet.

And then when it was warmer and they needed to cool down, they’d go to M, navigate the metropolitan scene and see everything. There’d be visits to the zoo, museums, and theme parks. Luhan would take the kids to see Striker games and Kai would buy them crazy fan hats to wear while they cheered him on.

Now all Luhan could see in his mind were beautiful, brown eyed children.

“Luhan?” Kai asked, voice startled. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” It wasn’t until Kai’s fingers pressed under his eyes that he realized how his vision were was blurring, eyes filling quickly with unshed tears.

“I’m okay, Kai. I’m just fine.”

He just wanted that perfect future with Kai so badly.

Kai sighed and tipped his head back. His fingers absently at Luhan’s smooth skin. “Can I ask you something serious?”

“Of course.” Luhan could scarcely believe that he was here with Kai at the moment, laying together without much of a care, simply enjoying each other. It was a lifted burden from Luhan’s heart that they could have the moment, and he was eternally grateful to Kris for it. “What kind of question? You want to name our children?”

“No, not that.” Kai’s hand stilled and dread clenched in Luhan’s chest.

“You can ask me anything. I won’t lie to you.”

Luhan held his breath until he heard Kai say, “I want to know what’s going to happen during the solar alignment. For real. And I don’t mean battle strategies. I want to know what you do, and what’s made you look so dead in the eyes lately. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. Mama told you something, right?”

Luhan swallowed down the budding fear in his throat that threatened to choke him and replied as evenly as he could, “You know my connection with Mama is severed. The last time I spoke to her was when I traveled to the Forbidden City. She’s gone now, along with the life tree, which was her only real connection to us and this planet. You’re asking a complicated question with an even more complicated answer.”

Kai leaned down to kiss the crown of his head. “Lately I’ve been looking at you and I think I know. I think I can guess. It’s on your face when you think no one is looking. So let me tell you this, Luahn, if I’m going to … if I’m going to die tomorrow, I want to know. I want you to say the words to me and for us to be perfectly clear with each other.”

The tent was hot, the temperature a reflection of their recent activates. So when Luahn sat up, blankets falling to his bare stomach, he felt a distinct lack of chill. He still felt something of a tremor, though, racing through his body, scaring him and breaking the fragile peace he and Kai had managed.

It was clear that the illusion was over. There’d be no more talk of imaginary careers and children.

“Kai …”

“What did Mama tell you the last time you spoke to her? What were her final words? I know your conversations are supposed to be private for the most part, but you weren’t the same after this last one. Something changed. Something in you broke. We’re all going to die, aren’t we? There’s no winning this.”

Luhan found himself gasping out, “Kai, don’t ask me things like this.” He wanted to plead and beg for any other topic. He’d agree to anything if only Kai would drop it and never come back to what he already knew.

“For sure?” Kai asked, holding Luhan even closer. “There’s no saving any of us? No even someone like Sehun who’s still so young, with so much of his life ahead of him? Can’t most of us sacrifice for at least a few?”

The tears were leaking out just after that, making Luhan’s cheeks splotchy, stuffing up his nose and making him want to crawl into Kai’s embrace and never come out.

For all his questions, Kai was eternally patient. He held Luhan while he cried as silently as possible, shoulders hitching every few seconds.

The last conversation he’d had with Mama was so clear in Luhan’s head it was as if it had just happened. Most of his interactions with Mama faded a little or a lot over time, but this was different. He had a feeling that the words had been seared into his memory for a reason. He could recall each syllable with startling clarity and still remembered the exact moment he’d fallen to his knees with a desperate sob ripping its way out of his throat.

The words he had thought, even until the last possible moment, would never come. The hope he’d held out.

“Mama said,” Luhan could finally say, tears eventually going dry, “that there’s no saving the planet. It’s lost. The shadows rotted through to the core and it isn’t salvageable. The guardians weren’t ready in time. They couldn’t fight soon enough. We were too busy fighting each other to unite for the bigger cause. This is on us. And no, we can’t win.”

“Then the shadows are going to win,” Kai said, not like a question, but with heavy acceptance.

“It’s because we allowed ourselves to lose our history, and forget the things that should never have been forgotten.” Luhan brought himself up further on the bed so he could lay nose to nose with Kai and simply breathe in his unique scent. “The Forbidden City, Kai. That whole continent. We were always taught they dropped bombs on each other because they couldn’t sort out their differences. That’s not the truth.”

“Then what is?”

Slowly, trying to catch his breath, Luhan told Kai, “Their guardians, their generation’s, almost waited too long. They cut it so close, and by the time they realized what we’ve only just begun to, their shadows were already manifesting on land. They dropped the bombs to kill the shadows, and that, alongside their guardian’s combined efforts, won them their war. It just came at a price to us.” She’d given him hints and parts of the story from the very beginning, threading the pieces through his visions and dreams, building a story that Luhan hadn’t been able to grasp until history had already begun to repeat itself.

Kai wondered, “How did they end up hurting us?”

“That’s when Mama’s influence changed?” Luhan felt himself go boneless. “The people who survived thought they could burry the shadows for good if they buried every bit of their existence. That meant dismantling Mama’s religion, destroying books, and slowly letting the people forget. The orbs and the book we found were hidden away by a precious few who understood the shadows would be back, but for the most part, everyone forgot. And they became complacent. And so when the first signs started appearing to us, we had no clue how to recognize them, and we waited too long.”

Kai rubbed a hand over his forehead. “How long have the guardians and Mama been playing a cat and mouse game with these shadows?”

“They always existed simultaneously,” Luhan said, his fingers settling over the pulse point on Kai’s neck. “The shadows, I mean, because the universe is about balance, Kai, and you can’t have a great good without a great evil. Evil has always been rooted deep in the planet’s core, fighting against Mama’s soul and her guardians, generation after generation. They’ve just been sleeping longer than before this time, since the bombs dropped and decimated most of their forces. They slept until we forgot about them, and we made ourselves too vulnerable in the end. All they had to do was wait us out, Kai. All they had to do was be patient until we started fighting amongst ourselves and forgot not only how to defeat them, but that they were even there in the first place.”

Plainly, Kai asked, “What are you saying?”

Luhan said somberly, “We don’t stand a chance. We can’t fight them and win, Kai, because M and K split Exo down the middle. Because we divided a front that was meant to stand as one, and that opened the flood gates for the shadows to sneak right through. All this time I thought Mama was trying to warn us in time to stop this outcome, but I was wrong. She wasn’t trying to do that at all. She was trying to prepare us for what comes after.”

“But why do we have to die?” Kai demanded roughly, his hand firm on Luhan’s hip. “I understand that we were stupid and we weakened ourselves, but we’re together now. We’re strong now. We’re like the guardians that came before us.”

“No,” Luhan said, shaking his head. “The other guardians, they had time to prepare. They knew their history. They understood their enemy. They were aware of how to fight and win. We’re lost and blind, and we’re down not only a guardian, but several of the power sources that our predecessors left for us. We weren’t there to protect Mama and now she’s gone because of it. Only Mama can create new guardians, so we’re the last of them.”

Luhan felt the anger Kai gave off and didn’t blame him for it.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Kai asked. “Why didn’t you tell us right away that we were going to fight against an enemy who’d already won simply by outsmarting our memories? We lost before we even started, Luhan! Why didn’t you say something?”

Because, Luhan wanted to tell him, it was shameful they were directly responsible for the destruction of their planet, and the death of Mama. The shadows has weakened her in previous generations, and then M and K had been too concerned with their own conflicts to take into account her struggles. They fought each other when they could have been fighting the initial stages of the shadows, before they had completely rotted through the planet and life tree.

“Kai,” Luhan said quietly, “we are going to die. That’s what you wanted to know, and now you do. But death … it’s not really the end. I promise you, this is also what Mama told me. She said death is not the end, because she loves us, we’re her children, and she will always protect us--even when we’re supposed to be the ones protecting her.”

“What?” Kai huffed out.

“Plans have been in motion for a very long time,” Luhan revealed vaguely. “Mama and I have been working on a … I guess you could call it a contingency plan. I just didn’t know what it was until now.”

Kai could only gave him a less than patient look. “What kind of plan?”

“Sehun saved a seed from the life tree,” Luhan reminded. He tapped his chest and gave a firm nod. “I have it here. Safely in me.”

Hesitantly, Kai asked, “The seed?”

“The seed’s power,” Luhan corrected. “I slept for so long because I was accepting that power.”

Kai frowned. “What power is that?”

It was their hope, if nothing else. “It’s the power of rebirth, Kai.” After so long of being in the dark, Luhan finally had all his answers to all the questions. Accepting the life seed’s power had only been the beginning of their fight, and likewise enough, it would be the beginning of everything that came after. He couldn’t begin to explain to Kai what having that power inside him meant, but soon enough everyone would understand. He hadn’t simply been protecting the seed for posterity’s sake.

“I don’t follow,” Kai said honestly.

“But I do,” Luhan told him. “I finally understand all the different futures I kept seeing. I understand what they mean, and how they fracture away from each other. I can see them all, Kai, like beautiful spider webs, linked and branching out. It all makes perfect sense now. I know how to get to each one, and how they all feed back to one precise moment.”

Kai’s tanned hand cupped the side of his face tenderly. “You’re practically speaking nonsense to me, baby.”

Luhan probably could have explained everything to Kai if they had a million years, or if it was Kai who had the life seed’s power within him. If Kai could see what he saw now, and know what he knew, it could be so easily explained.

“I only need you to trust me that death is not the end, but more than that I need a promise from you,” Luhan said suddenly, terrified that he and Kai would be separated and wouldn’t be able to find their way back to each other. “I need you to swear something to me on your soul, and not break it no matter what happens.

“Luhan,” Kai said, confused. “Of course. What kind of promise?”

“I want you to promise me,” Luhan articulated slowly, “or make a vow to me, really, that if the worst should happen after this battle, and the guardians are scattered, that you will become the leader that you were always meant to be. You’ll remember--everything, and you’ll bring everyone back together.”

Kai jostled Luhan he moved so fast, righting himself, kicking away the last of their blankets. “You need to tell me a little more clearly what you’re talking about, because you’re really starting to scare me. And I’m no leader.”

Luhan insisted, “You are a natural born leader, Kai. You were born to lead. Kris, he was born to be a king, and Suho, he was born to be a peacemaker, but you, Kai, you were born to be a leader. You have greatness in you, and the truth is you’ve always been poised to lead us guardians. Mama told me that before she even told me who you were or why I had your face in my mind. So if the worst happens, if it’s something terrible, you have to swear to me that you’ll remember us. We may not be able to remember ourselves.”

“I could never forget you,” Kai said harshly, brows drawing together.

Luhan brushed his fingers across Kai’s forehead, along the faint lines of worry that had begun to crease, down his smooth cheekbones, and to his impossibly soft lips. He asked, “Will you promise me? Swear to me? If the guardians are ever separated, and forget themselves, you’ll be there to bring us back together?”

“I swear,” Kai said slowly, such unease on his face, making guilt coil in Luhan’s stomach. “But you’re crazy if you think I wouldn’t, should something like that happen, come looking for you right away.”

Luhan thought Kai was utterly breathtaking in his determination. He’d always been beautiful to Luhan, his heart more than anything else, but now he was utterly magnificent. He had no clue, not really, what Luhan was asking of him, but he was vowing it anyway, with such love and trust.

“Not me,” Luhan corrected. “The guardians. You have to prioritize the guardians. Not just me. You have to swear also that you won’t go out of your way to find me, not when the others are closer. If we’re separated, trust that I won’t need you as much as they will.”

Ashen, Kai said, “You’re beyond scaring me now.”

Luhan sighed and collapsed fully against Kai. He closed his eyes and just breathed. In a matter of hours Kai would be dead. Kris would be dead. Everyone would be dead and the planet would be gone. But, if everything worked out like Luhan desperately hoped it would, Mama’s last sacrifice for them, unfathomable in its scale, and the life seed, would protect them. Luhan felt like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders with his precious burden. He so desperately wanted to tell Kai, but he didn’t want to risk the perfect future he’d seen for them--the one that they could be together in.

“Luhan?”

“You will be okay. I swear that to you.”

“I’m more worried about you,” Kai mumbled, leaning over him.

Luhan caught Kai’s fingers and slotted his own against them, holding their connection up to the light. There was beauty in the simplicity of what he saw, and the warmth of Kai’s skin against his own.

He found his voice once more, and turned to Kai to ask him, “Will you break the rules for me?”

“What rules?”

“Kris’ rules,” Luhan said, “or Commander Suho’s. The encampment’s rules, I suppose. Kai, I want to go to our spot. I know it’s forbidden for us to leave the camp, and it wouldn’t be safe for us to go anywhere without an , plus, having Mama’s life seed in me probably paints a target on my back just like Baekhyun had, but I want to go to our spot. I’m never going to see it again.”

“Luhan,” Kai said gently. “I know you want to see the flowers. Our moons are almost full and the flowers need their combined light to glow, but it’s late in the year. When I went to get some for you, there were barely any left. It’ll be nine or ten months again before our place looks like it did the first time we went there.”

Luhan protested, “I don’t care. It’s our spot and I want to go.” Earth didn’t have flowers that glowed in the dark. At last none that Luhan had ever seen, and if he and Kai found themselves together on Earth, if they were lucky enough and the possible future Luhan was reaching for worked out, they would never be able to share their flowers again.

“Your king already doesn’t like me enough as it is,” Kai reminded.

Honestly, Luhan expected to have to fight with Kai a bit more on the subject. But without a word Kai was rolling from the bed, unabashed by his ness to reach for his nearby pants.

“We’re going?” Luhan dared to ask.

Kai reached a had out for him. “Only if you get up and get dressed. Or I suppose we could go . That’d make things interesting if we’re caught.”

Luhan laughed, putting his hand into Kai’s. “I’d love to try and explain that to my cousin.”

“Yes, I’m sure your husband would appreciate that.” Kai hugged him tightly, his arms around Luhan’s shoulders, holding on as if for dear life. “Though letting us be together tonight is something I never saw coming, so he might be making progress.”

Once in a while, when he let his thoughts wonder, it was a real mystery to Luhan why Kai loved him. The reverse, Luhan loving Kai, was as simple as breathing. Luhan had had years to fall in love with Kai, catching glimpses of him in his dreams as Kai went about his day to day business, hung out with friends, worked, ate, cried, laughed, and everything else. Luhan had been privy to Kai’s most selfless moments and witnessed first hand the capacity of his heart. Not falling in love Kai had never been an option, regardless of where Kai came from and which side he belonged to.

But Kai loving him? That was a mystery in Luhan’s book. Still, he was curious.

“Kai?” Luhan asked, pulling his shirt over his head, appreciating the way that Kai’s defined, toned body twisted during dressing.

“Yes?”

Quickly Luhan shook his head. How stupid would it have been to ask why Kai loved him? It seemed more prudent just to accept that love and appreciate it. “Never mind, sorry.”

“So, the field,” Kai said, slipping on shoes and looking ready to go. “Our place.”

Once they were holding onto each other, Luhan felt the familiar pull in his stomach, then they were popping into existence out the middle of nowhere.

The cities and more populated areas of K and M were completely destroyed, ravished by war and fire. But here out in the country, where Luhan would have wanted to build a house, everything was still serene and still. Untouched. The land was pristine and unmarked by the shadows, and for a half second, a precious amount of time to Luhan who knew what was drawing ever closer, it was just enough time to escape from everything.

The coming colder months had all but wiped out the fickle, fragile flowers that bloomed for only a short amount of time, but as Luhan found his feet under him, leaning away from Kai to look, he could see bunches of purples and blues, already florescent in the moonlight. There were a still a few, stubborn flowers left, fighting back the chill, persevering in to the cold months.

“Come with me,” Luhan said, dragging Kai up to a high hill. It was some effort to climb it, even with their shoes, but they managed. “I want to show you something.”

As they puffed, climbing the rest of the way, Kai recalled fondly, “We found this place on accident, remember? Got turned around and we didn’t want to go back just yet. Everything was in full bloom and I started sneezing right away. It’s less romantic now that I think about it.”

“It was perfect,” Luhan insisted, also remembering the night. The grass had been slick and wet with dew under their bare feet and Luhan had lost his footing. It was clear in his mind the way Kai had caught him, like a horribly clichéd, but amazingly romantic scene in the movies Xiumin pretended not to like but had a whole stack of at the back of his closet.

Luhan had wanted to confess his love on the spot, his heart thundering in his chest as Kai asked him if he was hurt, then bent to kiss him when he wasn’t.

Kai had mumbled endearments to him through their kisses, about his devotion to Luhan, his love, and the kind of promises that were made only with utmost sincerity. Kai had promised him the world in that moment.

He’d meant it, too.

“What do you want to show me?” Kai asked, craning his head around.

They laid on their backs, looking up at the perfect, cloudless night sky, the stars shining bright around their planet’s twin moons. In fact the moons were so bright and so full that Luhan could make out all of Kai’s smooth, handsome features.

“Look up,” Luhan commanded, his finger pointing up and to the right. “See that collections of stars in the distance? The one on the far right. Can you see it?”

Kai squinted, then gave a nod. “With the dip in the formation?”

Warmth settled in Luhan’s belly as he pressed himself against Kai. “That’s where Earth is. It’s very, very far away, but in that general direction.”

“What’s Earth?”

Earth was … “It’s a perfect place,” Luhan said. “Well, the planet itself isn’t perfect, and the people aren’t either, but what I mean is that it’s a perfect place for us. They’ve got blue skies just the same as us, and breathtakingly beautiful sunrises and sunsets. There are dangers there, but not like here. There are no shadows there.”

Kai questioned, “Is this one of those planets our astronomers were investigating? They’ve been finding a lot of them lately, but I didn’t think our telescopes were advanced enough to be able to determine those sorts of things.”

“They’re more technologically advanced than us, too,” Luhan continued. “And from what I know, they have brilliant scholars, artists, novelists, scientist and millions of people with all the potential in the world. We could also be normal there. We could have normal lives. We could go to school, have families, and be whoever we want to be. Earth is safe, Kai, Mama told me. It’s safe for us, and that’s all she’s ever wanted.”

Kai leveled himself up on his elbow. “So Mama told you about this place called Earth?”

Luhan folded his hands over his stomach and trained his eyes on the stars. “She was showing Chanyeol Earth ages before she was showing me. He just didn’t know it was Earth.”

Kai was quiet for a beat, then asked, “If we were on Earth, you’re saying we’d have the life we want? The one we talked about having?”

“I think so,” Luhan said honestly. “We’d still have to work for it, but it would be possible. You know, on Earth, what we call the Striker league, they call soccer. Or football. Actually, it depends on what part of Earth you’re on. It’s a little complicated.”

“This Earth seems like a great place, then. We should go there.”

“Just …” Luhan felt his words cut out, like they’d been stolen from him. His eyes and nose were burning like he wanted to cry again, and he tried to hold himself together. He was so tired of crying. “Just remember what you promised me. If the guardians end up separated for whatever reason, and can’t find themselves, you have to be the one to step in and unite us all again. You have to be our leader.”

“How could we be separated if we’re supposed to die?” Kai questioned.

Quietly, Luhan replied, “Because death is not the end.”

Luhan’s line of vision to the stars was blocked and Kai smiled warmly down at him, moving to brace himself over Luhan’s slighter body. “I am madly, desperately and ridiculously in love with you. Do you believe me when I say that?”

Luhan gave a muted nod.

Kai bent and kissed him softly. “Then believe that I will never break my word to you. If we’re separated, I will always find you, and the others too, but I’m not planning on letting us be separated. Got that?”

Luhan pulled him down for a fuller, deeper kiss. He believed Kai. Or he believed Kai would try. But there were too many unknown variables, and not enough constants. There was no way to tell anything for sure. And the truth remained, the end was coming, and the after had the potential to be even worse.

“I’ve got it.”

They fell asleep that night on the hill, surrounded by glowing flowers, able to block out the world for just a little bit more. It was, at least for Luhan, the perfect way to spend their last night alive.