The Hall of Legends stood tall and strong at the center of the Capitol, made of the sturdiest stones and adorned with the greenest and most fruitful vines. It almost looked like a castle, two long wings spreading out to reach field lengths beyond the roads. Fluttering wings and crystalline chirps could be heard in the near distance, and smells so alien to Chanyeol’s nose tickled him and nearly pulled his gaze to the back of his head. He had hardly heard stories of the splendor that the Capitol had, and even if he’d been told all the time, he never would have imagined such an enchanting place.

Donghae placed a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back from his awed gaze and leading him into the great building. Suddenly Chanyeol couldn’t help but be taken by some dark thoughts; what if he single-handedly destroyed this marvelous place? What if he turned it all to ash?

“Don’t be so nervous, Chanyeol. This is a new start for you, alright? So forget about everything you know about your life until now. It’s a brand new―clean slate.” As he’d already done many times on the train, Donghae seemed to read Chanyeol so well. He may as well have had telepathy.

Two guardsmen opened the double doors, allowing Donghae and Chanyeol access to the Hall. The inside was just as magnificent as the outside, if not radiating with wisdom and experience. Twin spiral-staircases lead the way to a second floor landing, but past them on the main floor, there was a room where the walls were lined with wall-length windows. The Fire Element felt so blinded by the light that consumed the room, and upon entering it, the smell of old books and perfume of exotic flowers practically smacked him in the face. This place barely felt real to the boy.

As his eyes adjusted, an older man was revealed behind a heavy wooden desk at the center of the room. The glare on his glasses made it impossible for Chanyeol to see the man’s eyes. He almost felt frightened by this figure of authority.

The man stood when they approached his desk. “Donghae.”

Donghae gave a slight nod, Chanyeol mimicking awkwardly as he tried to be proper as best as he could. “Grand Master Soo Man.”

The Grand Master gave a collected but startled glance to Chanyeol. “And who might you be? What city do you come from?”

Trembling, Chanyeol nearly panicked to find his voice. “Chanyeol, sir. I’m from Phex.” His knuckles were white beneath his gloves, clutching onto his suitcase as though it would protect him from any form of aggression.

Soo Man motioned for Chanyeol to calm his nerves, a smile on his face. “I hope I didn’t sound angry. I just wasn’t expected you for at least another week.” He took his place in his chair again, sighing. “So, you’re from Phex? The Land of the Phoenix.”

The boy wanted to respond, but still his voice seemed to have escaped him. Instead, he offered a raised brow that begged for the Grand Master to explain.

“You should know, I come from Phex myself. It’s a hot place, always has been. That poor village has seen destruction from so many fires, and yet the people will always rebuild. Phex will always rise from its ashes. It’s such a romantic notion, a story of determination and will.” Soo Man sat upright, leaning in towards Chanyeol and looking him in the eye. “Never forget the story of your land, son.”

“It is a lovely, brave little place, Grand Master. It’s no surprise that I’d find a Fire Force waiting for us there. His mother sent him straight away.” Donghae gave Soo Man a look that seemed to explain what didn’t need to be said aloud. “She said the Masters could do whatever they wanted with him.”

The Grand Master scratched a brow. “Sounds like a wonderful woman. Anyways, find him a room with one of the others, Donghae. Make him feel comfortable.”

Suddenly, Chanyeol couldn’t keep his words from exploding out of him. “I promise I’ll try real hard not to set anything on fire! I promise, I swear I do. I’ll work real hard to make the fire go away, too. I can’t tell ya how thankful I am to―”

“And what’s the matter with fire? You know,” Soo Man flicked his wrist, and from it seemed to spark a bird of fire that swooped around their heads before crashing into a vase of ashes, “I’m a Fire Force, too.”

Donghae put a hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder, grinning down at the boy who seemed to almost be in shock.

Soo Man chuckled, falling back in his chair. “You’ll see soon enough that being a Fire Force is not so horrible but more a passionate and romantic drum that pushes you through the most darkest times. Don’t resent your fire so much, Chanyeol.” He turned his attention back to Donghae. “The other trainees are in their dorms.” He stood up, getting ready to head out the door yet a sudden thought stopped him. “You know, and I think you do, there’s a particular Force that I think would be well suited as a roommate for him. Someone… bright.”

The Memory Force smiled knowingly, nodding.

“I’ve always loved how sharp you are, Donghae. Now, I have to go see our little grizzly cat,” he laughed to himself, heading out the door.

“A cat?” Chanyeol asked as Donghae began to lead him towards the West Wing where the Trainee’s quarters was.

Donghae chuckled. “Mm, someone that just looks like one. You’ll meet him soon enough. Don’t know that it’ll be too pleasant, though. Anyways, I think we have someone that you’ll get along with perfectly, Chanyeol.”

The boy’s heart almost immediately began to beat against the inside of his chest. He’d nearly forgotten that he’d be sharing a room with another trainee. Nearly in a whisper, he asked: “What if they don’t like me?”

“I’m not sure they dislike anyone, honestly. I doubt you’d be the first,” Donghae smiled, almost dragging Chanyeol through the hall.

They arrived to the room at last, Donghae knocking. “I have a roommate for you! Why don’t you open the door to meet them?”

“A roommate!?” a young boy’s excited voice called from the other side of the door. It was yanked open in a matter of seconds, Donghae nearly falling inside the room. The little boy was about the same age as Chanyeol, black hair in a disheveled mess on his head and a face that Chanyeol could swear was glowing but he knew that was impossible.

Donghae stayed in the doorway as the raven-haired boy pulled Chanyeol in the room before he even introduced himself. “Why don’t you help him with his things? He must be tired. And be kind to him, alright? He could really use a friend.”

“Well of course we’ll be friends, we’re roommates!” The boy grabbed Chanyeol’s things from him, already preparing to help him put them away into the dresser drawer. The Legend laughed, leaving the two boys alone.

“So,” the boy started, “what’s yer name? I’m Baekhyun. I’m seven years old, what about you? Also I come from Soushii, what city do you come from?” Words flew from Baekhyun’s mouth faster than bullets, like he barely had time to finish a sentence before he thought of something else to say. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted a roommate? Like ever since I got here! I’m so glad, too, ‘cause it having nobody to room with, I dunno how Chen does it. He likes it, I guess.” He paused. “What did you say your name was?”

“I didn’t.”

“Oh, well then what is it?”

His voice was low, his eyes turned towards the floor. “Chanyeol. I’m from Phex and I’m seven years old, too.”

Baekhyun’s eyes lit up to match his face. “Oh, wow! That’s so cool, we’re the same age! Oh yeah, Chen is our age, too. And Lully. What’s your Force, Chanyeol? I’m Light, see?” With strong enthusiasm, Baek lit up the room with little balls of light, turning their dorm into a fairy wonderland.

“I’m… Fire,” Chanyeol admitted, his fingers shaking.

“So we’re the same!”

Chanyeol raised a brow. “Huh?”

“Well, we both make light n’ stuff, so we’re pretty much the same. We have a lot in common. Boy, am I glad I got you for a roommate. We’re gonna have so much fun all the time! By the way, which bunk do you want? I’ve been sleeping on the top bunk, but you can have it if you want.”

“Bottom is fine.” It was in that moment that Chanyeol suddenly realized what a mess the room was, and the bottom bunk was covered in clothes and who knows what else.”

Baekhyun finally finished putting Chanyeol’s things away for him, grabbing the red-head by the wrist and leading him out into the hallway. “Come on, I’ll show you to everyone else! Well, except Tao, but I’ll just tell you about him. He isn’t really nice, but everyone else is! Hurry, I can’t drag you, Chanyeol!”

It was weird, but Chanyeol somehow knew that with Baekhyun, everything was gonna be just fine.

~  ~

His throat felt raw from breathing heavily in the chilly evening, and he was sure her’s felt the same. Despite the cold, they didn’t rush to put their capes back on or fix their clothes proper again. It was always the moments afterward that Kris would realize what a strange relationship it was to be so physically intimate with someone that you barely knew, and for it to be a routine thing.

“I can see why you prefer distractions so much,” Jessica stated, still trying to compose herself. This had to of been the third or fourth time they’d met in the woods like this. They hardly needed to warm their way up to , anymore. “How many… other distractions have you had―I don’t care, I’m just curious.”

Kris finally caught his breath. “A lot more than I’d care to admit, to be honest. I’ve always… dealt with my problems this way.”

~  ~

“Oh my ing god!!!” Lully and Nana yelled, laughing as Baekhyun and Chanyeol danced amateur and provocatively for the group, bottles of sky jelly juice in their hands. House music bumped from the Trainee Lounge, Kai and Taemin encouraging Baekhyun and Chanyeol for entertainment. Chen began screaming with the girls, Sydney calling him a velociraptor for good measure between laughs.

“You guys don’t, you don’t know what you’re doing. Let me show you,” Taemin pushed Baekhyun and Chanyeol out of the way, grabbing Kai who, despite the look of innocence on his face, knew exactly what Taemin was up to.

Without skipping a beat, Kai lifted his arms over his head and rolled his torso down to his hips, Taemin hunching over his knees and shaking his dangerously close to Kai’s crotch, the girls and a few of the guys screaming immediately. They could barely keep straight faces, quickly losing it and falling to the floor and laughing in a heap on top of each other.

“How come Kai only acts like this when you’re around?” Luhan asked, pouring another couple of drinks for D.O. and himself.

“It’s never a dull moment with Taemin around, honestly. He brings the devil out of everybody,” D.O. nearly mumbled, grinning Kai and Taemin’s way, who were still on the floor laughing.

Lully wiped tears away from her eyes, her cheeks rosy. “Oh my god, Taemin, why couldn’t you be a trainee with us?”

“I know, right?” Kai added, sitting upright.

“I can’t help it that my Force is far superior to all of yours’,” Taemin replied, grinning devilishly as Kai pushed him over.

Sydney and Sehun ran over to the stereo, picking out the next couple of songs. “At least he stays mostly in the Capitol so we get to see him,” Sydney yelled to the others over the booming speakers.

“They practically have me in a in’ cage!” Taemin added, grabbing a glass from the table, unsure if it was his or someone else’s but not caring either way.

Something like Pop began to play in the room, Sydney yelling for everyone to ‘get off their asses and dance’ as she made her way with Sehun back to the group. Chen and Nana made their way off the couch and with the others, Lully and Li still sitting off to the side.

Lully looked Li’s way, trying to think of the words to say, though in her drunken state, she wasn’t as picky as she thought she was. “I can’t just ask you to tell me?”

Li gave Lully a knowing look. “You know it’s not right of me. I just can’t do that. I think you’re worrying too much about it. Stop letting your feelings make you so sad.”

The younger girl sighed, staring down at her empty bottle. “Do I really have to say anything else to you? I know you can read my thoughts, you know exactly what I want to say, anyways.”

“Actually, right now your thoughts are a mess,” Li laughed. “The only thing I just made out was that you feel like boys simply don’t love and I can tell you right now, that’s not true. Some of the boys don’t even only love girls.” She paused. “Oh, !”

Lully grinned. “You weren’t supposed to tell me that, were you?”

“You’d better not repeat it, Lully. I swear to the Tree I’ll never talk to you about anything ever again!”

“It’s alright, I won’t say nothin’. But seriously, is there anything you can tell me that’ll make me hate Chen or something? It’d come in handy, especially right now. I get so upset about everything when I’m drunk. It’s not a good look for me, Li!”

Li sighed. “You know, I would tell you anything if I could. Besides, you don’t wanna hate Chen, he’s your best friend. He cares about you, I’ll tell you that much.”

“But I already know that.”

“Then don’t turn it into a problem. You’re fine, just keep your head up and enjoy what you have and if it turns into something else then that’s cool, too!”

“So are you saying he likes me back?” Lully was acting calm, but her heart had nearly stopped.

“I’m not telling you anything. I’m just saying, be content.”

Lully’s lips pursed, her expression pouty. “You’re so frustrating…”

Li laughed. “Just ask him yourself!”

“No.” Pretending to be a stubborn child was the best thing Lully could do to keep herself from letting the thought bother her.

In the group of trainees dancing, Kris was quite clearly distracted. He kept looking towards the windows and in the mirror on the other side of the lounge, practically downing his drink as he seemed unable to go two seconds without taking another swig.

“What’s your problem, Kris?” Nana asked, handing him another glass of some sort of alcohol, but not without taking a drink from it first.

“Don’t worry about him, Nana, he’s fine! Probably just craving attention,” Sydney laughed, Kris raising a brow and smiling along.

Nana raised a brow herself. “I dunno, you’ve been acting pretty strangely since earlier today. I think you’re thinkin’ about somethin’. Anyways, dance with me. I know I’m always the first to make fun of those other es for hanging all over you, but you look pretty hott right now.”

“Like I don’t know!” he replied, suddenly noticing how low-cut her shirt was. It wasn’t often he noticed things like this about the other girls he was training with. Most of the time they maintained a brother-sister type relationship, but he was a little more than drunk and Nana was a little more than gorgeous, besides.

His head dizzy and movements a little sloppy, he made his way right behind Nana and they swayed their hips together, she laughing as he awkwardly put his hands on her hips. Things like this didn’t normally bother him, but it must have been because it was one of the other trainees. Not that it was going to stop him.

Kris put his face in the crook of her neck, bending his knees into the back of hers to make up for the height difference. Even though they were dancing in the middle of the group, everyone was so drunk and in tune with the music that they hardly noticed Kris and Nana practically on top of each other.

Chen and Lay made their way over to the couch, pulling Lully and Li to the rest of the dancing group respectively. Lully could barely stay on her feet, the blood rushing through her body as she stood and making her realize just how much she had actually had to drink. She practically fell into Chen and they laughed together as the next song came on, jazzy, groovy, definitely impossible to not dance to.

“You still doing okay?” Lay asked Li, he and Suho sober as they preferred to make sure the others didn’t do something they’d regret in the night.

She nodded, “Music helps keep the migraines under control. Thank you, though.”

The trainee’s plus Taemin kept dancing, Sydney and Sehun doing a lot of the goofy dance moves they always did together, Kai and Taemin always talented and y, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol always making fools of themselves. When one of the popular ballads came on, Chen and Lully went into an over-dramatic duet together. Night like this when they were drunk and their favorite songs were playing, time seemed to slip past them so quickly.

After half an hour, they were all a sweaty, drunk mess, stumbling back to the couches around the coffee table, Lay and Suho still mixing up drinks for everyone. Li had fallen asleep, leaning on Lully he was crushed between her and Chen. Sehun looked like he was fighting to stay awake along with Kai.

On the floor, Taemin had one of those devilish looks in his eyes again. “Someone, give me your hand.” He reached out over the coffee table, waiting for any takers.

Sydney was the first one to put her hand out. “I dunno what yer up to, but damn am I ready to find out!” The others laughed at her enthusiasm and slurred words, Taemin grinning and looking over her palm.

“Let’s… let’s see… let’s see what I can see here,” Taemin slurred, still grinning as he held her hand hardly two inches from his face.

“Oh, is this a fortune reading? I didn’t know you could tell fortunes through palms, Taemin. You’re so full of !” she laughed, taking another drink of sky jelly juice before handing the bottle to Sehun to set it down for her.

“No, no, no, this… this is the real in’ deal, Syd.”

Chen leaned his head around Lully’s, “Well then hurry up an’ in’ read her future so you can read mine next!”

Taemin turned his head Chen’s way, his eyes closed and voice low. “Shhh, you just… you just don’t rush these things er else it’ll throw off world order n’ . God, Chen, you wanna ruin world order? Inconsidrit bastard…”

He turned his focus back to Sydney’s hand, a few of them laughing at Taemin’s nonsensical lecture. “Sydney.”

“Yeah?”

“Sydney.”

“Yeah?”

“Sydney.”

“Oh my god, ing what, Taemin?” she laughed.

“It’s big.”

She leaned in. “Wha’ss big?”

“It’s huge. I see something very big in your future,” he grinned, still looking at her hand. “Gargantuan, even.”

Lully screamed, waking Li up, as her mind went someplace she wasn’t proud of.

“What are you talkin’ ‘bout Taemin! We talkin’ houses or here!?” She was so blunt, Sehun and Luhan nearly spit their drinks out, Chanyeol and Baekhyun in fits of laughter on floor now.

“Oh my god, Sydney, why!?” Lully laughed, wiping more tears from her eyes.

“My in’ face hurts,” Taemin laughed, getting the exact reaction that he wanted from her.

Sydney sat on the couch, laughing but still a little confused. “I don’t get it, that was a very real question, you guys! Ya’ll’d be askin’ the same damn question, don’t even deny it!”

“Oh, god, Sydney, I love you,” Lully finally composed herself. As the room became quiet, she finally noticed there were some people missing. “Hey, where’s Nana? I haven’t seen her in like, thirty minutes?”

Lay motioned his head towards the closet. “I saw her head that way earlier with Kris. I’d say they’re having a party of their own, most likely.”

“Those es didn’t tell me!?” Sydney exclaimed, offended that she’d been left out of the loop. Lully, however, had brought her hand to , eyes wide and nearly in shock, though she realized she probably shouldn’t have been so surprised.

As if on cue, Kris and Nana came out from the closet, hair disheveled, the two of them realizing pretty quickly that they were being talked about.

“Well, well, well!” Chanyeol yelled, Baekhyun winking at them. Lully mouthed for Nana to tell her all about it later, Sydney preferring to say it out loud.

Kris found a seat on the couch, “I know you’re all excited that your king has returned, but can ya try not to be so goddamned embarrassing? Also, where’s the jelly juice at, my buzz is gone.”

~  ~

It began to rain again, the cold drops falling hard on Chanyeol’s head. No matter how long he sat with the idea of starving himself to death in the arms of the Glow Tree, he couldn’t push past that fear. That nagging “what-if” in the back of his head. And he didn’t really want to wait for death, anyways. He knew he’d prefer to be run down by Wraiths in the wastelands than to starve for days here.

He weakly made his way to his feet, still leaning into the Glow Tree’s trunk. “I’m sorry, Glow Tree,” he began to cry again, his voice hoarse and broken. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t stay with you like I thought.” Chanyeol felt a little strange doing it, but he knew he’d regret it if he didn’t. Leaning down, he kissed the Glow Tree’s trunk, wrapping his arms around her in the best attempt to hug her he could make before slowly making his way onwards out of the wood. With each step, he looked back. It was the hardest goodbye he would ever know.