Yunho was too much proud a man to tell you how he ended up hanging from a chain zip-lining down the centre of what was vaguely reminiscent of a grand ballroom by his ankles.

Hung like meat in a butcher’s shop, there was a visible change in the Yunho of now from that of half an hour before- he’d let go of much of his fear for simpler feelings, the main of which being a base anger and profanity to accompany it.

Half an hour it had been, and as the minute hand of his watch struck thirty, the ‘coming’ he so dreaded was set into motion. Something tremendous shook the entire complex, whatever was powering this place going into overdrive and changing the entire place anew, now closer resembling an abandoned, deeply haunted mansion rather than the shack-factory it had been before.

A mildly annoyed Changmin was gliding next to him, one foot in the hook of the chain while he held the stem following close behind the disaster that was “the chosen one”.

Changmin wasn’t one to let his emotions get the better of him, but Yunho was grating on the nerves which were most sensitive- those which had very little tolerance for clumsy -ups.

And, in this Goryeo War General’s books, Yunho was a clumsy -up.

He always used to bring on his soldiers with a guiding and assertive hand, training them to be the best- and with the best, there was no room for tripping over your own feet, or struggling against the cocoon you managed to wriggle your own clothes into, or accidentally getting your legs tangled in chains which would consequently drag you from the topmost ledge you were on and swing you in the most accident-prone position possible across the hall. And yet, here he was- reeling it in, telling himself that there was a greater reason this man was given to them, that he was never prepared in the reality-time realm in his life for this absurd environment (at least Changmin was certain about that part).

Half way across the hall, Changmin’s chain hit a pipe and was abruptly stopped in its tracks. Thrown into the air, he reached for Yunho’s just beyond him- it was just a stretch too far, and wrapped himself around Yunho’s body rather than the chain he had hoped to catch. This was met with a cry of pain- after all, he was strung up by his ankles. He seemed to be gripping on to something, tiny silver chain swaying about in the air.

Yunho quickly realised gravity was to have arguments with his necklace. It was as if the building wanted the watch for itself, even hanging him upside down to shake it from him- but he wasn’t letting go, even if he broke his arm. It couldn’t feel worse than having Changmin land on him with his rock-hard armour and putting his torso in a vice-grip with his wiry legs, and he hardly appreciated how the other climbed up him with those square heels on his boots. At least in the moments Changmin had managed to slink up the chain, they were just about to land on the other end- he reached down and pulled Yunho’s chest up by the back of his shirt before his head could be knocked off on the ledge, lightly placing Yunho down on the floor before jumping down himself and standing back. Yunho was balancing on his arms with his legs suspended in the air, still the small watch protectively.

Needless to say, Changmin was not happy after he released the other from his ridiculous position. Yunho didn’t meet him in the eye sheepishly. Changmin turned and left through the empty doorframe just beyond them. “Wait-” Yunho reached a hand out, but Changmin just stopped with his back to him, only turning his head to spit on the floor. Ew, Yunho made a silent face of disgust, not bothering to antagonise the other further.

However, while lying there, he watched as a tiny mouse hole opened from the frame and a metal rat came scuttling out, inspecting the blemish on the perfect floor. Suddenly the bottom of its jaw slid back into its neck and its head stuck to the floor in suction, hoovering up the imperfection with a few sweeps of its head before the jaw was replayed and it blinked its beady black eyes before hurrying away again into the works of the building. “Fascinating,” he whispered to himself. So that’s how this place was so clean. Where did they deposit dirt anyway?

He scrambled to his feet and put the watch chain back over his head, plopping the body back in his pocket safely. He scurried after Changmin, knowing he’d tested the other’s patience by now.

That was his life, behind his eyes- burden. He resented it, but he felt it to be true. His mother made no secret of it. And now, even in this extraordinary world he’d been swept off to, he had no place in it, lacking anything special like the others had. He couldn’t stop his heart from lowering in his chest. He felt small again.

Changmin was walking just a little ahead of him. There was a tiny click, and Yunho realised in horror that a pendulum had released from above the other, and was moments from crashing into him. “Look out!” he bellowed, but Changmin could only glance to his side to find the huge pillar of a pendulum hurtling directly for him. “Jump!” Yunho shouted, not really expecting it to work but hoping, praying- Changmin, as if on a spring trigger, trusted the other and had barely touched off the ground when Yunho pressed the stopwatch and jumped for him. As time stopped and he kept going, Changmin not rooted to anything came crashing down with him as he had launched himself full speed towards him.

It was strange how the physics of temporality worked. Time took a few moments to stop but Yunho never slowed down; so, as it turned out, as he ran towards Changmin he could see how the pillar slowed to a stop and Changmin slow-motion lifted off, and he made it to the other just as he was freezing in place. He only managed to knock Changmin down enough before he froze at an angle in mid air, position altered enough for him to not be obliterated by the pillar had Yunho not intervened. And there Yunho was, completely winded on the back of a mid-air Changmin, who was frozen with an extremely doubtful look on his face. He felt like he’d just run into a wall of water.

Waiting until there was no longer an overwhelming pain in his chest where he collided with an unmovable object, he clambered off the statue of a man, dusting himself off and organizing his hair a little. He took a long hard look at Changmin while he could; the bow of his lips and thin scar which nicked the end of his nose and sliced across his mouth to his chin, the apprehension in his glassy unmoving eyes, the craftsmanship of his armour, the one or two strands of grey hair which were pulled up with the rest into his top knot. “Where are you from?” Yunho wondered to himself. “What are you?” His eyes drifted to a halt at a partially missing pinky finger.

They were up high, on a long extension which reminded Yunho of a grand catwalk. They’d come outside, the roof only extending a few meters on ahead, long enough to conceal the trap; somehow the building had put up two middle fingers to having a roof and walls anymore beyond that. There was a fence made from iron spearheads around the stage, stairs leading down around the sides at the end.

Yunho knew that the birds could come here, despite looking perfectly harmless from afar. Taking the frozen time as an opportunity to explore a little- seeing as he didn’t know exactly where to go to find “the heart” himself- and familiarise himself with the place as it is for now.

Suddenly, the being appeared at the other end of the runway. “Hey!” Yunho jumped on the opportunity, running towards them. But, like a hologram, they disappeared in a few flashes, appearing again in the distance, slowly turning to look out over the next building, nonexistent wind ruffling their white hair and fang-like coat tails.

Yunho’s smile faltered. He recognised the being, but they were entirely adorned in crystal white, from their hair right down to their cane. Even the pupils and iris of their eyes were white.

This building the other faced was a great tower. It was hugely symmetrical, unlike the rest of the place; It was built from large and neat to small and spindly at the top, helixing into the sky. Although the being was indeed guiding him, he felt a little short changed that the other wouldn’t speak with him.

Perhaps it was because there were more important things afoot. Yunho nodded to the being, receiving a single one back before they jumped down from the roof upon which they stood and disappeared.

Looking down over the peculiar fence, Yunho saw there were several of these strange trees around, all inhabited by these unusual birds. He wondered what was so special about them. He also saw how different buildings were half constructed into the ground, with windows peeping up half way and door frames barely centimeters uncovered. They were in the strangest part of the territory, that was for sure.

Yunho’s chest filled with a putrid feeling which stang at his neck. Spotting what filled him with sinister unease next to one of these pseudo-trees, he saw it was the being- or perhaps rather, a being- entirely black, top hat to dress shoes. Even the ‘whites’ of their eyes were shining onyx. The two beings were identical detail for detail, but one’s aura was benevolent while the other’s was malevolent. This one was staring at him directly and unadulteratedly, sending a cold chill trickling down his neck like a spider crawling with its tickling hairs under the collar of his shirt. He dragged his eyes away. He felt as if his whole journey depended on the two, but the one he met in the very beginning- both black and white- seemed to be the one who needed him. What was he here for? Could he do it before the clock struck twelve?

Behind them was the courtyard from before. For some reason, that space always remained empty, containing only a pseudo garden made from all these trick metals and silver woods. In the four corners were dragon statuettes atop five-foot pillars. House wall lined two sides, while tin-brick flint walls lined the other two. A waterless fountain was erect in the middle, the central piece being a rather disinterested swan statue.

Having familiarised himself enough, and pretty confident he knew where the heart is- and most likely where to find Yoochun at least- he returned to the statue of Changmin, and pondered whether or not he should catch the one whom he pushed.

Yunho decided against it. The other would probably crush him.

He stood aside and made sure there weren’t any other fishy looking things above him before pressing the button. Reality hit fast- he watched as Changmin fell to the ground and the pendulum swung up into the roof and was shifted and swallowed away as a pillar in the deeper infrastructure of the building.

The astonished warrior looked up at him with the most telling expression he’d let on his usually guarded face. “How did you do that?” He asked from the floor, out of breath. “You were behind me a second ago!”

Yunho felt the reality of it all really set in with that statement. For only him, it felt as if a while had passed. Changmin was looking at him as if he’d grown two heads, quickly rising to his feet. Yunho pulled the watch from his pocket and showed the other.

“What’s that?” He asked, glancing up in confusion. Yunho followed his gaze upwards for a third time, damned if he wouldn’t get it this time- and now, outside, he finally understood what the others were looking at.

Up in the glistening white heavens, the lined pattern of a clock with no numbers shadowed above. It was misted with the most gentle touch of baby blue and pink, with the same square flakes of light which had descended at the very start of his journey. The giant projection of time was ticking, ticking, with hands which told the time as if he’d drawn it on tracing paper and looked up through it at the bright white sky. Strange. It was almost as if they were looking out from inside a… No, ridiculous, Yunho dismissed the idea.

It was haunting and magnificent.

“It’s a… It’s a pocket stop watch,” Yunho replied after regaining himself.

“What?” The other asked, a mirror of Yoochun when he asked about gravity.

“Something which tells the time. That’s the minute hand… seconds… Twelve, One, two-” He pointed out all the functions dutifully, the other nodding, fascinated. He noticed the minute hand said thirty-six. “And this button stops and starts the clock.”

That statement made the other stagger. “You can start and stop time?!” He squawked, nothing like the calm and collected warrior he always upheld. He jumped to the same conclusion with identical logic to Junsu. Yunho wondered if, when he looked at the stopwatch, knowing what it was at face value had simplified it and hid its true functions from him.

It took a moment of collection, but the other returned to his straight-backed self. “You saved me with that. Thank you.”

Yunho gave him a small smile.