He was first led to the living area where a tall man sat on a bench reading a book, another man resting on him idly, his legs swung over the other's. He sang to himself, tapping the wooden bench to compensate a beat. 'Baby don't cry tonight.'

'I'm not crying though.' the other looked up from his book. He was given a cold look in response. 'And you're more of a baby than I am.' 

'I'm not a baby, I could kill you if I wanted to. Babies can't kill people.' 

'What are you even saying? A baby could definitely kill someone.' 

'This is Chanyeol...' Junmyeon interrupted and pointed to the tall one with the curly hair '...and this is Baekhyun.' he pointed to the man who was laying against him. 

Baekhyun jumped up excitedly, nudging Chanyeol and almost knocking the book out of his hands. 'Hello! Welcome to EXO. It's really nice to finally meet you. I'm Baekhyun and this is Chanyeol, isn't he just so adorable? Come say hello Channie.' He pulled the larger man up with some effort.

'Yes, yes, we all know Baekhyun, you never stop telling us.' Junmyeon smiled, patting Baekhyun on the head. He shook the hand away 'How am I supposed to stop telling you when he's never not adorable?' 

Chanyeol blushed a deep pink and looked at the floor. 'He hasn't even been around us for five minutes and you've already embarrassed me in front of the new guy.' 

Baekhyun pouted at him and linked their arms together. 'What's life without embarrassment Channie? And what's embarrassing about you being cute?' 

'Please stop saying that. If anyone is cute then it's you. You look like a puppy.'

'Aw, you really think so?' Baekhyun cooed. Chanyeol leaned down and cupped his face with his hands. 'Of course I do.' 

Sehun looked to Junmyeon. 'Is this going to be a constant thing?' he asked as they shared loving stares between themselves. Junmyeon laughed slightly sinisterly 'Oh bless your poor soul, for them this is tame. We'll come back to them later once they've regained their senses.' 

'It's okay, Chanyeol stepped on my foot so the moment passed.' Baekhyun spoke up. 'Let's tell Sehun about our weapons.' 

'I kill using a longsword called Thornblade, and Baekhyun is more of a long distance killer using his bow and arrow. It's because he doesn't like to get blood on his dainty little hands.' 

'Not just a bow and arrow Chanyeol.' Baekhyun rolled his eyes. 'I use Frostwyrm and Hatreds Soul Arrows.' Sehun looked at him slightly in awe. He hadn't even been travelling for six months but he knew that soul arrows were near to impossible to get. He saw the brief confusion in Sehun's eyes. 'I didn't get the arrows personally. Daddy Yifan gave them to me.' 

'Byun Baekhyun, what have I told you about calling him daddy?' Junmyeon scolded, his cheerful face from only seconds ago replaced with discontent. He crossed his arms and glowered across the room. 

'Not to do it because only you can call him daddy, right?' 

'Yes, exact- wait no, that's not it!' he began to stumble with his words and his face grew red. 'I do not say such things, stop being such a nuisance and go practise archery or something. Pretend you didn't hear that, Sehun.' 

'Don't think you're being discreet about it Junmyeon. We've all heard what you get up to in his office.' Baekhyun teased. 

'Oh my god, don't let them taint you, Sehun. Let's go.' he grabbed Sehun's arm and pulled him out of the room, trying to cover up his flushed cheeks. He was shown the bedrooms next, there were four of them, with two rooms for two people, and two rooms for four people. He learnt that he'd be sharing with Kyungsoo, Yixing, and Chanyeol, but Junmyeon mentioned that a lot of people switched rooms though during the night to be with their partners and so he couldn't say exactly who he'd be sharing a room with that night. 

'Where is everyone?' Sehun asked when they found half of the bedrooms empty. 'Well, this is our sanctuary. We live here but we come and go as we please. Usually people aren't here because they have contracts to fulfil, but sometimes we travel to other towns for errands and exploration.' Junmyeon explained to him, showing him the training room where a man was swinging an axe around and decapitating a doll made of cloth and straw, it's head rolling towards Sehun and Junmyeon's feet. 

'Introduce yourself Jongdae. This is Sehun.' 

Jongdae smiled widely at Sehun, his cheekbones placed high in his face and the corners of his mouth turned in nicely. 'Hey, I'm Jongdae, the ladies call me Jongdamnhesgoodlooking though.' 

Junmyeon snorted. 'What ladies? The ahjumma's don't count and you know it.' 

'Why are you like this to me?' Jongdae began to whine. 'Sehun, defend me!' 

Sehun shrugged and focused his attention on the training room. It was quite dark save for the light emitted by a few candles in the corner. He would've questioned it but then came to a realisation that they might possibly need to have the ability to know how to attack someone in the dark, just in case. The back wall was lined with archery targets and cloth dolls, and the rest of the room was filled with various weights and equipment. He wasn't sure if he expected it or not. The longer he stayed there the more he recognised the smell of sweat and exertion. It felt heavy, he didn't know how else to describe it. He returned his gaze to Jongdae just as he was swinging his weapon at the doll's chest, like the loss of its head wasn't already enough to ensure its death. His curiosity didn't go unnoticed. 

'This is Perdition's Wrath. I don't always use it for bad things...sometimes I use it to cut things that aren't living...like bread. I'm the best at making sandwiches.' Jongdae smiled proudly to himself then his face turned to that experiencing horror. 'Don't tell Kyungsoo that I just said that.' 

Junmyeon thanked Jongdae for his less embarrassing introduction. 

'You can practise safely in here as long as you bring no harm to other EXO members.' 

Other rooms included the kitchen and dining room, an extensive library that was especially enticing, and Yifan's office that Junmyeon told Sehun he should visit later on upon request. 'Does Yifan have a business over in Xila?' Sehun asked once the tour was over. Junmyeon tilted his head 'He owns Duizhang's defense, have you been there?' 

'A while ago. I had no idea that he would be a member of EXO though. Why does he have a business on top of all this?' 

'Only one thing is never enough for Yifan. He wasn't content with the isolation that EXO brought and so he expanded his interests. I'll leave you to get settled. I'll be in the library if you need anything.' Junmyeon placed a hand on his shoulder and patted it. 

'Do you actually kill people Junmyeon?' Sehun said quietly before he turned his back on him. He heard a small laugh. 'I kill people in the most horrible ways Sehun, but I think they deserve it, don't you?' He waited for Sehun to nod. 'Don't ever underestimate me, okay?'

'No, of course not.' 

'Some of the members around here might act like they own the place but they lack the control that comes with time.' were his final worlds before he left Sehun to himself. 

He wandered to the kitchen to find some water to drink, the sanctuary rather airless and succeeding in drying his mouth out. Despite the tour that Junmyeon had given him, he still wasn't completely aware of where each room was and wandered in the wrong direction several times before he was actually in the right place. He found someone staring up at him from the counter with wide eyes.

'Who are you? Are you the new boy everyone has been talking about?' he asked quietly, and Sehun wouldn't have heard it if his ears weren't so good. A slight worry crept up on him that they had previously talked about him. He hoped that they hadn't said anything bad or resentful towards him. There was always a fear that he was intruding on their little well established family.

'I'm Sehun.' The man let out a small 'oh' and patted the chair next to him for Sehun to be seated. 'I'm Kyungsoo. You don't look like a killer.' His voice was a soft change to Sehun's ears, melodic like Chen and Yixing, but definitely more articulate. He tried not to stare at Kyungsoo, but he wanted to see his face and understand it. Sometimes people had faces like that; they needed a second glance to be registered. His eyes were larger than Luhan's, the whites more prominent and the iris's verging on ebony. The cool pale of his skin was emphasised by dark hair. Sehun was reminded of little red riding hood for a moment, struck by how innocent he looked.  

'Neither do you, but I've heard rumours that you're deadly.' Sehun shrugged, and Kyungsoo let out a twinkle of a laugh. 'That's true. I hope you'll be happy here.' 

Sehun thanked him. 'I think I will be. You're all very welcoming.' 

'Just because we kill people it doesn't mean we were raised in a barn. You're a member now and that means you're one of us. We are one!' Kyungsoo lifted himself from his seat and he was just as short in height as Sehun had expected. 'My sweetrolls are done.' he confirmed, lifting them from the stove, and as he iced them, Sehun decided that Kyungsoo was very pretty. Actually so were a lot of the people he had met today and Sehun contemplated the idea that he'd found himself not in a group as assassins but rather a group of models.  Pretty and handsome were the only words that came to mind. Perhaps dangerous too. 

He stayed with Kyungsoo as he talked about his favourite recipes and how he'd love for Sehun to try all of his food, listening intently until another body entered the kitchen, a black shape in Sehun's peripheral vision that was quick and noiseless.  

'Hello Zitao. Here have some tea.' Kyungsoo said to the new arrival. He nodded his head in thanks and sat opposite Sehun, tilting his head with curiosity as he drank from his cup. And then he ignored him completely, apparently preferring the look of Kyungsoo than Sehun. He hadn't spoken, only listened so far. Zitao looked up at Kyungsoo from under his eyelashes as he spoke, attention solely for him. 

'Sehun would you like more tea?' Kyungsoo asked, breaking his gaze with Zitao, but Sehun was barely listening, captivated by the tanned skin so different from his own. Dark rimmed his eyes, kohl lines and eyebags that shouldn't have looked good but did. He was taking the title of assassin seriously, a perfect accompanying look. He didn't want to say he looked evil, but he definitely looked menacing in black leather and silver jewellery. Zitao turned his attention to Sehun shortly after he failed to give a response, his eyes dark and narrow, accusatory. 

He left shortly after, nodding again to Kyungsoo for the tea, but not giving Sehun a second glance. 

'Don't worry about him, he's always been quiet-with us anyway. He only really speaks to Yifan and Junmyeon.' Kyungsoo smiled, picking at a sweetroll, and Sehun felt better because of that. 'He's very good at this whole killing thing. He practises in wushu.' 

'It looked like he wanted to murder me across the table.' Sehun shuddered.

'No, he likes you. If he didn't then he wouldn't have stuck around for as long as he did.' Kyungsoo started putting away the tea things. 'You should go see Yifan.' 

Again, the way to his office was unclear, Sehun only able to find it because Junmyeon was leaving from there. 

Yifan was sitting behind his desk when Sehun arrived, arranging quills in height order much to his own amusement. As opposed to the white shades in the rest of the sanctuary, Yifan's office was grey in colour and was the only place with a window to let natural light in. 

'It's nice to see you again after such a long time.' he said upon Sehun's entrance 'Please sit.' 

Sehun did what he was told, his hands in his lap. 'There are some things we have to get out of the way, your alter ego for one, your choice of weapon, and your calling card, armour and clothes preferences, and the chores you'll do around the house.' Yifan pulled a sheet of paper from a drawer in his desk. 'There's something about you that makes me think of change Sehun. I'm going to call you Rebirth and you shall leave nothing behind when you finish a contract to show the change in EXO. What's your method?' 

'I use a dagger.' Sehun said, and watched as Yifan made his way to the display cases in the corner.

'Opal, correct? I had her brought down for your arrival.' Sehun was stunned into silence as the long awaited blade was placed before him.

'Thank you.' he said in no more than a whisper. 

'It's nothing, we are one after all. I'll put you on dusting duty for the time being. Welcome Sehun, it truly is a pleasure for you to join us. I'll start your poster design straight away. Soon everyone shall know of Rebirth and the sting of his dagger.' 

Once Sehun had settled he went to the training room to practise his throwing, using his old knife instead of new, not wanting to blunt it or scratch it in any way. Inside he found Junmyeon sitting to one side of the room, reading from a scroll. 'Spell work.' Junmyeon grimaced when he noticed Sehun looking. 'I'm trying to learn how to drown a man from the inside out.' 

Sehun raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

'Have you heard the good news yet?' Junmyeon asked once Sehun had finished throwing his knife in the target, finally happy that he was able to easily hit the centre deep enough and from a long enough distance. 'What good news?' 

'Zitao requested your company on his next contract. Yifan thinks it will be a nice introduction for you.' 

'With respect, I don't think I'm ready for that.' 

'You'll be fine! Even if you mess up you can just count it as a learning opportunity.' was Junmyeon's cheerful reply. 'It's not for a week anyway, plenty of time to improve yourself before hand.'

To say that Zitao had requested his presence for in a few days, he still didn't seem to acknowledge Sehun's presence entirely. Sometimes he would look at him, nod or shake his head when asked questions, even mumble a quiet response if he needed to. The only time Sehun had properly heard his voice was during an animated conversation with Yifan about his business in Xila. There were other times that they crossed paths: in town, with both of them passing as they went in opposite directions, in the training room where Zitao played with a katana that made Sehun's knives look silly in comparison, at the dinner table with occasional glances between the two of them. 

The EXO sanctuary was beginning to feel more and more like home with every day that went by. It was easy to find friendship in Jongin who was of a similar age, and he could join in with Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Jongdae's jokes and pranks. He still couldn't work out sleeping arrangements though, often being woken in the night and told to go sleep somewhere else with hushed giggles and shushes. He ended up in Yixing's bed one night, warm as Yixing clung to him, lonely because Jongdae was away. 

With the sanctuary now full, twelve members the capacity, Yixing was no longer needed as a messenger and was instead being taught how to handle weapons by various members. Sehun had spent a whole day with him trying to teach him how to throw knives but Yixing was, although endearing, slightly hopeless at it. 

The days slid past him cruelly, and in a way, Sehun dreaded the contract. 

sorry for so much dialouge (this chapter felt almost crackish in places) but introductions tend to be wordy. 

how about the new bts album! i've had it on repeat for days and i wrote this chapter to it. i might be in love with it. 

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