~*~

Kris knows when Tao arrives.

 

It's a stirring in his mind as he changes direction without really thinking. And he lands just as there is a breath, and then there is a person where there wasn't before.

 

"Who are you?" the person asks.

 

"My name is Kris. But that's not what you really want to know." Kris chuckles as the person frowns when he realizes that this is true.

 

"Mmm... you're right." the person closes his eyes. "I know what I want to know yet I don't. That's confusing."

 

"It is." Kris agrees. "But you'll get used to it. What's your name?"

 

"Zitao," the person answers. "But you can call me Tao."

 

"Tao." Kris nods and holds out his hand. "Welcome to... well, welcome to where we are."

 

~*~

 

Where they are is outside of time.

"What does that mean?" Tao asks.

"You should know. What is your mind telling you?" is Kris' cryptic answer. 

Tao hesitates, but only for a moment. "Someone... Or something chose us. We're one unit but at the same time, a half of a whole. When the time comes, and the two halves are united again, the end will come. But in the meantime, we are to protect the world we were taken out of. And to do that, we are out of the flow of time, existing in none, yet all of eternity at the same time." 

Tao shakes his head then, expression perturbed. "The knowledge is in my head, but I don't know what it means."

Kris laughs, and Tao thought that with it carried the rumbling of a beast. "Oh don't worry, no one does. We speculate and contemplate, but no one's close to coming up with an answer."
 

~*~

They're sitting atop a mountain now. But the thing about existing outside of time is that you experience all the seasons through all the years at once. Tao can smell the burning sulphur of a dying land, breathe in the salt of an ancient ocean and taste the crisp ice dancing in an arctic wind all at once. He feels on his skin every spectrum of heat beyond what mankind knows. 

"Amazing isn't it? Too bad you'll become bored of the view soon enough." 

Tao wonders how he could ever get bored of such a sight. Then again, he doesn't know a lot of things. Yet. "So what do we do from here?"

"What you said earlier: protect the world we once came from with our powers." 

"How?" 

"Improvise." Kris' lips curl a little at Tao's surprise. "What knowledge you currently have in your head is exactly the same as what we received. Specific yet vague ideas on what we're supposed to do."

"But surely you must have some idea now of how to do things? You've been here so long," Tao protests. 

"Yes. Well. Some, but we're taking care of eternity. There's an infinite number of unique problems that need their unique solutions," Kris chuckled. "Besides, most of the time here, we've spent on helping each other figure the use and limit of our powers." 

"But I know how to use my power. So you guys must too." 

"Only the specific yet vague idea." Kris explains. Then his eyes glow golden as the air behind his back is agitated, the vapour become visible swirls in the air. And for a moment, Tao thinks he sees a black dragon spreading it's wings, but then it's only Kris speaking, his voice as mild as ever. "I know my power is of flight and is rooted in the wisdom of dragons. I can fly and see far and wide but that's really all I know. How do I use that power to save the world? The knowledge in my head doesn't cover that far. And so, we improvise." 

Tao understands. It's the same thing in his mind. It's the very reason why he asked the question in the first place. "So how do you use your power?" 

"I patrol the world through the ages, looking out for places in time that have become unstable. When I see something, I give a roar, and the rest come running to stabilise it." 

"I see." but Tao still looks perturbed. "Shouldn't you be patrolling then?"

"It takes a while before things get destabilized. And I'm not the only one patrolling. The other half of has someone doing it too. It's fine." 

"I see," but Kris can tell something is on the younger one's mind. 

"What's the matter?" 

"I just... I just fail to see the use of my power in this place... outside of time." 

Kris frowns, "And what's your power?" 

"... Well, time."

 

 

~*~

 

Tao can freeze time around an object. He's stopped a snow ball that Xiumin had lobbed at him in its tracks. And then in retaliation, he sped up the time around Xiumin so that the ice-user would see everyone around him move in slow-motion. For them, it was a mere few seconds - for Xiumin, it was a torturous whole minute in which he went so fast his molecules basically passed right through people when he tried to touch them.

 

Everyone knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to piss Tao off after that.

 

But beyond that, they just don't know. They suppose that, if Tao tried, Tao could freeze the time of the world they protect, but in this place, outside of time, all of them can go to any space or time which they pleased.

 

It's many conflicting suggestions later that Tao finally throws up his hands in frustration. "So, I'm basically useless!"

 

The room they are in (decked in splendour and a dilapidated mess at the same time) goes quiet. And then Kris, very quietly says. "Tao, are you sure that's true?"

 

And as much as Tao wants to say otherwise, because the frustration in him has been building, he can't because he knows; yes damnit, he knows that the knowledge that's in his head, as painfully lacking as it is, isn't wrong. "No, it's not. Everyone here has been put here by design, not by random chance or without reason."

 

"...Yes." Kris sighs, and he walks up to the youngest and puts what he hopes in a reassuring hand on Tao's shoulder. "All we need to do is to find that reason."

 

~*~

 

But it seems like a hopeless task. Even the other unit doesn't have any ideas. They'd asked Kai, who is their most frequent point of contact from the other unit, to pass the word around. But to no avail.

 

Kris knows that the longer this takes, the more volatile Tao becomes. They've all found out about his flamboyant yet needy character soon enough, and he's already proven several times, that he's the sort to crave attention when bored. And without a concrete purpose, bored is just a slice of the negative pie that Tao currently is.

 

~*~

 

Kai meets Suho on one of his patrols. They do sometimes bump into each other like this. But not very often. Suho is changing the water patterns of the sea in the 21st century so that they do not flood the earth too soon as they are threatening to - at least, not so early.

 

"Did you know that your youngest member of your unit is having with mine?" Suho says in the way of an opener.

 

"No, I didn't."

 

Suho looks up and his eyebrows have shot up high enough that they threaten to touch the end of his hair. "I'm not particular about this since Sehun is like his element, he caresses everyone he comes across, but I thought you might want to know."

 

"Mmm..."

 

"I do sort of mind that he's trying persuade everyone else in my unit to sleep with him too though."

 

"..."

 

~*~

 

He supposes it's fallen to him to deal with Tao. Because although he's not the oldest physical age-wise, he has been here the longest.

 

Tao knows what Kris has come to talk about a mile away. It's plain on his face. And Tao just snorts. "There was no harm in it, it was just something I did to pass the time."

 

"That doesn't make it any better." Kai sighs and sits on the floor patting on the floor beside him to get him to sit down as well. He ignores that two perfectly comfortable-looking chairs in the room - they're there and both not there at the same time - it really depends on which time you're talking about. And existing out of time ironically means no constants - sitting on a chair at one point could mean being rudely dumped on your backside in the next.

 

But Tao shakes his head and sits down on one of the chairs. "I can keep the time we're dealing with in a constant state so there's no need to worry that the chairs will suddenly become a decayed pile of wood."

 

Kris actually does feel slightly pleased with that revelation. It means that Tao hasn't been spending all this time just trying to seduce other people. "And you found that out on your own?"

 

Tao rolls his eyes, stretching himself out, the chair tipping back on two legs as he does so. "It wasn't that hard and it's not that useful other than I can make sure I have a proper bed to on without worrying that it'll suddenly be encrusted with dust and cobwebs."

 

Kris barely restrains his sigh. "You... I know we're not of the world anymore, but really, what would your mother say if she heard about this?"

 

"My mother?" Tao repeats, his expression bewildered.

 

"Yeah." Kris nods. "I know my mother would be horrified if I started sleeping around with everyone here. Well, generally she probably would have to deal with the fact that I was sleeping with men..." Kris trails off at the strange look on Tao's face and repents a little. "Well, it's not like there's anyone else to sleep with, and anyway, I suppose constructs of society doesn't apply to us who are entirely detached from society anyway."

 

"No... I mean..." Tao rubs his face before looking up with a slightly desperate look. "I... I can't remember my mother."

 

"What?" Kris frowns, his back straightening.

 

"I... don't remember my mother. I don't have memories from the world before I was brought here."

 

"That's not possible," Kris blurts out before he can think better of it. "All of us have our memories from before we were brought here. Even the other unit."

 

He regrets his words the minute he says them, for Tao turns white - whiter than he already was and it looks for a moment that he's forgotten how to breathe. And quickly, Kris reaches over and pulls Tao into his arms because he hadn't meant to cause the younger one such pain.

 

"Shhh... it's alright. It's better that you don't remember." Kris whispers softly into Tao's ear. "This way you don't need to deal with homesickness and heartache. In this place, memories of the world before only bring pain."

 

He holds Tao until the younger finally pushes him away. Tao's face is perfectly schooled even in the face of Kris' worry. He pats Kris' shoulder in a show of too perfect bravado and smiles. "Hey. It's okay. I'm okay."

 

Kris doesn't think he quite believes it, but Tao repeats again. "Really, it's okay."

 

~*~

 

But, of course, it's not okay.

 

"I'm worried about Tao."

 

Kris looks up from where he's landed to rest and sees Lay staring out into the far distance. Lay, who's always in his own world, or maybe he's busy listening to the other, obsessed with the cries of pain and death that he claims to be able to hear. Whatever it is, Lay, the one who's most out of touch with them, is worried about Tao.

 

And that makes Kris worried too.

~*~

 

Kris doesn't see Tao for a long time. Even if he looks for Tao, he's always just a step behind. 'Tao was just here' or 'you just missed Tao' or 'he was just here a moment ago'. Obviously Tao is avoiding him.  

What's even more worrying is the fact that the only news that Kris has of Tao is of the usual complaints from Suho and the more worrying reports by other members of his unit that Tao has started to try to get them to sleep with him as well.

The unease inside him grows yet deeper. 
 

~*~

"What's wrong?" 

Chen turns to him, his face etched in a frown. He steps back and it reveals Tao being tended to by Lay. There are burns on his face. 

"Who did this?" Kris asks. The quiet in his voice is only an effort to control the horrified worry in him.

"I did," a figure didn't notice at first speaks out, and it's the fire user from the other team - Chanyeol. Chanyeol raises his hands at the sight of Kris' deceptively mild gaze. "It was an accident. I was working - setting a forest on fire as it was needed. Then Tao came and tried to jump me and I reacted instinctively. Luckily I didn't lose control of the fire but-" 

Kris has heard enough. The worry in him has turned to anger. Pushing Yixing aside, he ignores the yelp of protests as he roughly grabs Tao's arm, pulling him into a painful hold before he flies. He flies to a place where his anger can rage unhindered. 

"What were you thinking?!" Kris yelled as he dumped Tao onto the ground. "You know never to interrupt while someone else is working! What if Chanyeol had lost control?" 

Tao winces and the pain makes him retaliate despite knowing that he's in the wrong. "But he didn't lose control, so what's the big deal?" 

"The big deal?" Kris wants to laugh. In his mind, the wisdom that comes with his power tells him exactly what could happen if Chanyeol set a fire too big. In his mind, the chains of disaster set of from just one mistake unfold and magnify like a ripple through water. "Do you really need me to answer that?"

And Tao is quiet, because he doesn't. He too is a guardian. He too knows.

"I'm disappointed, Tao." Kris folds his arms, "You shouldn't have even been jumping Chanyeol in the first place. You should have been hard at work trying to figure out the need for your powers."

"It's hard, ok-!" 

"Do you think it wasn't hard for all of us as well?" 

The protests on Tao's lips die. Because he's never seen Kris so angry before. 

"Everyone had to go through their own problems. Everyone. All of us were snatched from a world and displaced out of it with a task in our head but no idea how to do it. Why do you think so few of us use our real names?" Kris took a deep breath trying to control the anger surging through his veins. "I took so long to realize that my role here was to patrol and look out for places where the world was unravelling, and even longer to realise that I could use the wisdom in my head to figure out what needed to be done. And all the while I had to struggle with my identity here, I know how it feels, Tao." 

But Tao is shaking his head. "No you don't."

 

 

And then, he's kissing Kris hard on the lips. 

 

Kris is so surprised, he lets Tao do it for a few moments before he manages to gather his wits again and finally pushes Tao away. The anger in him is rising again. "What the was that?"

 

"That is the impulse I get to fill this gaping hole I have in me," the look in Tao's eyes glimmers with a little more than frustration. "You don't understand because you have this urge to protect the world. You all have memories. You want it to survive. I don't. I don't have those memories. Other than knowledge I have nothing at all."

 

And Kris doesn't know what to say, because... he has nothing he can say.

 

Tao covers his face as he slowly falls to his knees. "There's nothing in me, and so much in all you. I can't help but have this urge to try to experience it and the only way I can think of is to have . But it never works. I feel connected for a while, and then, that's all it is."

 

Kris' hand raises of its own accord, and he starts to reach out, to take a step forward...

 

Then Tao whispers. "Why? Why don't I have any memories? Why only me?"

 

And then, Kris remembers. He takes a step back instead of forward.

 

"You have to figure that out yourself."

 

And then he leaves.

 

~*~

 

It's on one of his usual patrols and he senses something wrong. Sure enough, there is a spot in time which needs fixing. He's about to call the others when he feels someone's eyes on him.

 

Tao.

 

He doesn't know why, but he flies down to where Tao is standing. He doesn't call anyone else.

 

Maybe he wants to ask what's going on. But he gets distracted by the problem as soon as he sees it. He knows that it's at this time that human's curiosity needs to get piqued so that they start asking about what's out in the universe around them.

 

"I need to call... Luhan maybe. So that he can levitate... something and fly it over their heads." Kris closes his eyes, and the wisdom that is his power agrees, "Yes. That's good."

 

"No. There's no need to call Luhan." Tao breathes out, and it's like the sigh of a god. "You can do this yourself."

 

"What?" Kris frowns. He sees no sense in Tao's statement. "What are you talking about? They can't see me when I fly."

 

"Not yet." Tao steps forward and places a hand against Kris' cheek. And Kris doesn't know why, but he lets Tao do so. "Not yet, but when they do, remember to release your aura. Do what you did that first day you met me - I saw a dragon, but for them, they should see a mirage from the heat."

 

"What?" Kris doesn't understand.

 

"Fly! Just fly!" And then Kris is falling.

 

It feels different. He feels heat - but only heat and it's from falling so fast - far too fast. He has to slow down.

 

So he does what Tao told him to do. He flies.

 

It's amazing. He's doing what he always does, but it's not the same. The wind tastes only of pollution, the stars are all hidden behind dusty grey clouds, and he can smell too many humans cramped in too small a space. But, that's all it is.

 

In this place he's flying through, he can picture it in his head in eternity and knows that it started from ocean before it became a plateau then a rich valley. Then the humans moved in and it became a growing town then several, then a city then an even bigger city that evolves through the years before it can evolve no more and goes into a decline. Then, the metal structures corrode and became a sight of their own - a sad, lonely sight, but breathtaking nonetheless. And then, of course, there's the scene of what everything is like at the end of it all. But he doesn't see all of that overlapped over each other at all - he only sees one scene, unchanging except through the passing of each second he's here.

 

Seconds passing. Time.

 

He's inside of time.

 

He can feel it - the feeling of his skin cells slowly dying as they are eroded by time's passage. The air that he breathes through his lungs have meaning - they aren't a mechanical habit of organs inflating and deflating anymore. He needs to do this to live, even if time is oh so slowly marching his body towards death.

 

It's oh so ironic, but that's how he feels. Unfortunately, the wisdom in him knows that he can't stay here long. He has to finish the job and then...

 

Well, he's not sure how he's going to go back, but he still has to do his job.

 

So he releases his wings, and the air around him shimmers - burning. Burning brighter and brighter the faster he goes. And then, he starts to spin, twirling round and round until he thinks that he must look like a shooting star as he streaks across the sky. But when people analyze the pictures, they will see some sort of shimmering looking capsule and then their imaginations will go wild.

 

He doesn't know how long he spins. What will happen when he runs out of sky? Will he tunnel on, barrelling through the atmosphere until the end of the world?

 

Then, there is a tug, and suddenly, it is the end of the world, just the same way it's also the beginning.

 

He's back.

 

And suddenly Kris is crying. Or rather he's not. But the tears do flow and they can't stop. All Kris knows is that there's a feeling of loss, a deep sense of dissatisfaction. It's silly really.

 

Kris feels arms wrap around his form and he shakes his head. "I'm fine. I'm fine really. It's just... I didn't know how much I missed decaying until I got it back again."

 

There is a slight chuckle and Tao whispers. "I'm sorry."

 

"What for?"

 

"Because I will never know how that feels. I can't remember anything from the other world and I've figured out why." The hold around his body tightens. "It's because I can send you all back into time and so I can't remember. Because if I do, then I would want to go back myself and stay there. And if I do, I wouldn't be selfish enough to pull you back so that I won't be alone. And since I can't relate, I can't sympathize and will never be tempted to leave you there. I can't remember because that way I'll be enough of a selfish bastard to feel relieved when I can watch you cry."

 

Kris doesn't really understand the longing in Tao's voice. He kind of wishes that he didn't remember, then he wouldn't have to know what heartbreak feels like. But then he remembers that even though they aren't really human anymore, they still carried forward some of their human traits which were irrational and so hard to lose. And one of them was wishing for something you didn't have. The grass was always greener on the other side even if the other side was just as brown as the side you were on.

 

And Kris remembers what Tao has said about urges and so, he turns around in Tao's grasp. "If you'd like I could share what it feels like with you."

 

Tao doesn't answer his affirmative. But he also doesn't protest when Kris presses their lips together in a sweet soft kiss, so Kris guesses that it's okay.

 

~*~

 

It's cliché, but is to Kris like a white supernova exploding across the sky.

 

He's freefalling but it's alright. It's alright because he's not alone and it's just so much fun to fall and fall and fall until you crash. And then it's just fun waking up and finding out where you've fallen.

 

~*~

 

They're in a lavish hotel room, having somehow stumbled here in the middle of everything. Kris watches as Tao pushes himself away from lying on Kris' chest, and he idly the soft silk they're lying on. He smiles - trust Tao to have used his powers to freeze this area's time so that they could have somewhere comfortable to .

 

His thoughts are interrupted when Tao crawls on top of him, his black eyes gleaming with a question in them. He stretches out over Kris like a cat before whispering into the other's ear as if asking a conspiratorial question.

"So, what do we do from here?"

Kris can't help but smile. 

"Improvise."

-

END