They didn’t have time for idle chatter.

Although it daunted Yunho, he knew they had to work together and trust each other- and themselves to follow through.

With Changmin, they were in an easier position to cross short spaces out in the open. With a new tool at his disposal, the man’s quick mind for detailed strategy concocted strange and ingenious plans to get the two across quickly and safely. The General had a mental map of the area and its movements in his mind, having arrived here two turns of the clock previously- after Yoochun, and before Junsu.

Changmin opened Yunho’s eyes to the vast scale of use for the stopping and starting of time. It made previously unstable surfaces solid and scalable; it neutralised threats, more so for Yunho than anyone around him, but in this area Yunho had already proven his worth. It also revealed the two beings to him, and exposed the raven one’s mischief and the crystal one’s signs and guidance.

Yunho and Changmin were following the wall of the final building closest to the perfectly strange tower, when the wall began to rapidly reform, once again attempting to swallow the two back into the mechanics of the mansion and separate them. A panel swung out in Yunho’s path, smacking straight into his chest and throwing him straight to the ground. The panel swung down like a guillotine towards him.

In the split second he had left, he triggered the watch to find the raven being staring down at him with beady eyes, hands pressed down on the top of the panel. Yunho’s wide eyes locked with theirs, heart erratic with confusion and disbelief. From the angle he was at, he wouldn’t have been beheaded, but would have lost the hand of his right arm which lay just above after the fall. Glancing behind him he almost had another heart attack as the crystal being was crouching over him, stainless hand stretched out and hovering just over his. Yunho watched silently as the other slowly took the cuff of his wrist and pulled his hand neatly out of the way, before both beings disappeared before his eyes.

The two were constantly working against each other. They were polar opposites, influencing real time while not being a part of it themselves. Even though Yunho couldn’t see them, he knew they were helping and hindering, paving a path for the four of them there.

Yunho knew he shouldn’t deviate from the plan he discussed with Changmin already, but it had already been interfered with by the mysterious beings. He decided to cross the final distance and stand next to the door of the tower, counting down in his head to restart time.

“Over here,” He shouted to Changmin as soon as the world had caught up to speed. He quickly opened the door and ushered himself inside, hoping the other wouldn’t mind the improvisation which stranded him outside on his own. It wasn’t far now.

Yunho was soon joined by a stony-faced Changmin. If looks could kill, he would be cross-eyed on the floor.

“Circumstances change, but we adapt, not revise.” Changmin fumed.

“Give the guy a break, General- you can’t court martial people for disobeying orders in this realm,” The chirpy voice of Junsu broke the atmosphere. Yunho whisked around at the sound, a smile of relief blooming to see the other crouched on the steps of a glass spiral staircase central in the spacious tower.

“We’re all here. Let’s get down to business,” Yoochun said from his lurking on the other side of the room.

Yunho jumped at finally getting some answers. “So what are we actually doing here?”

The three glanced at each other. “When we were brought here, the entity gave us each an item and some clues in our environment. We know these items are pieces the building has been missing, but we’ve always lacked the resources to restore them. Now you’re here, we think we can.”

“Then what?”

“We don’t know.”

Yunho wanted to wail out his frustrations, but he didn’t entirely have his hopes up for an answer to that one- none of them could tell the future, after all. “You’ve done half the work before I arrived, but look at the time- can we do it in the twenty minutes we have left?”

Again, the others shared a silent communication in the passing of glances. “If we don’t, we’ll be frozen here until somebody else comes. That’s what has happened up until you. But with your power, I wonder what fate you have in store should we not succeed. It is easy for us- centuries pass in the blink of an eye.” Yoochun replied.

Yunho let that sink in for a moment.

“Centuries?”

“I am from the land of Plato and Socrates.” Yoochun clarified simply.

“And I from the Goryeo,” Changmin chipped in.

“I from the pioneering and beautiful renaissance!” Junsu proudly stated since his turn came around.

Well, that explains a lot, Yunho thought to himself. He wondered what the others made of this timeless place, which seemed to be comprised of the complete Human story, including what hasn’t yet come to be, in the form of the debris mankind seems to leave in its wake.

“So… What do we do now?”

-----

Yunho highly disliked the news. They had approximately two cycles of the building’s scenery changing left, the three periods they had in between each revealing one place that needed the objects in their possession.

They had to get it right first time round, or they were trapped.

The first in order was Junsu’s. Much to Yunho’s dismay, it was down in the clockworks, the bowels of the accursed building.

“Are you sure this’ll work?” Yunho asked dubiously, side-eyeing Junsu as they crouched in the corner of the closest building.

Outside, Changmin was making a dangerous path up to the rooftop, scaling the oddly constructed wall with little difficulty even as the building flipped walls, produced gargoyles and broke windows alike. From the inside, Yoochun was making his way in the opposite direction on the floor above their own, discerningly making a path which would change the pattern of the building’s mechanics below him.

“Works like a charm! Just hold on to me, we should land on a-” He could never finish, for the floor folded under them, provoked by the other two and dropping them. Their linked hands were broken apart harshly by a pipe which came between them as they fell, causing them both to let out shrill cries as they landed.

Yunho grasped his wrist with his undamaged hand, wondering if any of his bones were broken in flesh which felt as if it had been lit on fire.

“No time! Quick!” The usually sympathetic Junsu ushered him onwards, shaking off the pain in his own hand, lessened by his gloves.

Holding the tear-inducingly hurt hand close to his chest, Yunho it up and pressed onwards in the dark sepia underworld. He decided to forgive Junsu for his brusqueness as their path was rapidly closing in on them. They had little choice.

It was exceedingly hot, down with the pipes and cogs. Yunho wondered how Junsu could navigate without having to feel his way along the walls. They were following in the direction of Changmin now, very possibly right under the man.

“This wall won’t open until Changmin and Yoochun cross directions. I hope they remember my instructions…” Junsu spoke among the noise.

Sure enough, a few seconds later the shaft slipped aside, and they entered a wide but low-roofed area. Crouching, Junsu guided Yunho in a zig-zag through the cranking mechanisms, before coming to face several huge fans, spinning in a blur before them. The fans were revealed on at a time as huge pistons in front of them powered each other in sequence.

“You need to stop time just as the third fan is about to reveal. It’s the only one with a visible missing link behind it, which causes the room above us to dangerously malfunction instead of smoothly work like the rest of the building. Here, take this.” Junsu produced from his boot a surprisingly small cylindrical brass object, with two connective spurs on each end.

“Here it comes! Count the piston cycles, four left! Three! Two!” Junsu shouted, Yunho frowning in concentration as his eyes followed the fluid motion of the metal contraption painstakingly, thumb of his stinging hand laid on the watch button trigger-ready with the object firmly grasped in the other.

The fan was revealed. He jumped over the gap which the absent mechanism created, now only beaten back by the brisk wind of the fan.

Click. He shoved the fisted object through where he predicted the gap of the fan would appear as time slowed rapidly, feeling the object in his hands becoming staunch with external forces which ended in Yunho unable to push it any further, just like Changmin. He felt a sweat break out over his body. He had been correct in his calculations; he’d taken a gamble, but it had paid off- one of the blades of the fan was a mere fraction away from his extended forearm.

Experimentally, he let go of the object in the state of frozen time. As he suspected, the object remained where it was, mid-air. Glancing back at Junsu, he saw a look of absolute shock horror just creeping up on his expression. He hadn’t even fully reacted to Yunho ing his hand at the fan as if he wanted it to be lopped off, the beginnings of his realisation in his face. “Deeply fascinating,” Yunho vocalised, studying how the stilled moment in time was locked in the reflection in his eyes.

Yunho climbed under the blade of the fan, making sure there was nothing that would crush him in the small space inside the very mechanics he was so bent on avoiding. Luckily, there was nothing of the sort- rather there was a tall panel, reminiscent of a control board. Sure enough, there was an empty slot which seemed the right shape.

Grasping his courage as he fisted the frozen object once again, he counted down in his head to the restart of reality.

As time restarted he nearly punched himself in the face with the object; he’d gripped it too tight without noticing, nervous about dropping it or not snatching it away from the fan as it restarted.

What he didn’t anticipate was the great pull the fan created on him, almost him in like a bird through a plane’s wings.

He could feel his feet sliding backwards on the smooth grey floor as he tried his best to reach the piece into the correct slot. His terrified heart pumped a huge adrenaline rush through his veins, fighting a losing battle. All Yunho could feel was the thump of his heart against his ribs and all he could hear was the swish of the blades, shouts of empowerment from Junsu on the other side.

“I’m counting the cycles! Four, three-” Junsu’s voice resounded in the background.

With a burst of resolve, Yunho reached through the pain in his muscles and planted the object with a determined click into place. “-Two, one-” Yunho triggered the stop, stumbling forward as the forces on his body released their relentless grasp. Drained, he slumped to the floor, drawing rattling breaths. He needed to calm down.

When his arms stopped trembling he turned to crawl back out of the fan and across to Junsu and supposed safety. To his surprise, he wasn’t alone- either side of the mid-shout Junsu were the two beings, mirroring each other in stance. They nodded a single time in unison and faded to nothing.

Yunho was starting to dislike the pair. He had no idea what that meant at all.

-----

When reanimated, Junsu glanced around for Yunho’s new position and upon location wrapped Yunho in a solid embrace. “I knew you could do it!” He cheered into his ear, and although the encouragement was a little rough around the edges it made Yunho beam.

It was indeed short lived. The change their alteration made was starting to reach up through the mechanism as something new was activated, thanks to the reconnection.

“Do you remember what I told you?” Junsu held Yunho’s arms firmly as he looked him dead in the eyes.

Yunho nodded, pursing his lips in resolve. It was now they would separate- and he wasn’t sure if he would get to see Junsu again.

Junsu patted his arm, giving him a cheeky wink before hurrying off back the way they came. Yunho stared at his back in the lingering seconds before reluctantly turning towards his path. It was now he’d really be put to the test.