authors babbling: a big shout out to BookWorm for giving me part of this idea cause it was just so freaking cute to write and will hopefully make this all just a little better for you all. Though I do have with me the blankets, chocolate, cookies, plushie's and everything else you need to cheer yourselves up after reading this. Though hopefully this comes out as bittersweet and not too freaking depressing

Chapter 4

When he had been told that traversing the human realm as a spirit was complicated, Luhan had not been in the mood to listen to Kris because he had been more than excited to get the chance to return home and say his goodbyes. The first part had been easy, his parents had been in their rooms and he had spent a good while with them, asking them to forgive him for being so reckless in his choices of his life and giving them the courage to move on from his death so that everything would be fine with them once again. He dearly loved his parents and wished that he could have at least spent a little time with them before he had departed from this world but there was little that he go back and changed.

So softly he had placed kisses onto their foreheads and whispered his love to them before fading away from the house to go and speak to his best set of friends in the entire world.

Which was where he had become stuck.

Finding his way to the King dorm had been nothing short of a nightmare as the streets were crazy and odd blobs of colour just suddenly appeared and he was pretty sure that he had scared a cat under a car at one point but it was so crazy he just couldn’t focus.

Though thankfully there had been some plaques along the way though he had been unable to follow all of them which had been really frustrating as he had ended up going the wrong way more times than he could count but finally he had made it to the dorm and was outside virtually panting from exhaustion.

The only problem now was that he was completely stuck as no one was inside the dorm.

It was locked and cold and there was no indication as to where EXO-K was. He could guess that they had probably gone to the M-dorm but he had absolutely no idea about how he was meant to get there cause he had stuff that he needed to do in the K-Dorm and it was just so frustrating.

Luhan was tempted to curse and make a fuss but that wouldn’t help in the slightest and he just didn’t honestly know what to do.

“What do you mean it’s not there?” a voice cut through Luhan’s muttered curses and the spirit turned to see Baekhyun scrabbling through a bag whilst Tao stood next to him looking concerned and fidgety, “you said that you had it with you.”

“I’m sure I packed it,” Baekhyun said in reply, almost about to tip the bag upside down before he suddenly blinked and smacked his head, “damn it Baekhyun, you stupid twit.”

Tao let out an all too familiar sigh though it was accompanied by a smile, “where did you leave it?”

Baekhyun was already putting his key in the door and Luhan started hopping about like a hyper little girl though couldn’t bring himself to be embarrassed cause he couldn’t be seen. He was going to get in to the K-Dorm and then have someone to follow back across which was brilliant.

The beagle smiled sheepishly, “I think then plaque is in the kitchen so it could dry.”

“Can I punch you in the face now and just you know, save myself the time?” Tao asked in a playful manner, shaking his head and following his friend into the dorm and nearly slipping on the flour that had been spread on the floor.

Baekhyun immediately started laughing at the youngster, “Ha-ha, says the man who can’t strand straight right now.”

“Yeah yeah,” Tao said, putting himself upright and shivering for a second as if he felt someone moving behind him but naturally there was nothing there. Lightly he frowned and tried to figure out just what had happened but it was distracted by his friend once again and quickly forgot about the weirdness that he had felt.

Luhan however was bouncing happily around the dorm with all the gleeful energy that he could muster right now and for once he didn’t care if he happened to look like a prancing pink pony girl or something equally silly because thanks to the playfully squabbling friends he had been able to get inside the K-Dorm and not have the hassle of being stuck or having to whine on to Kris about how it totally wasn’t fair. There was probably just a little bit too much happy energy in him at this moment in time but he really wasn’t that fussed about it in the slightest as he rushed about, scaring the dark spirits out of the room and allowing the good red luck filled ones to return to their rightful place.

He did let out a very unmanly shriek when he pulled a dragon out of the couch before realising its colour and would have spent his time berating the lazy thing before realising that Tao and Baekhyun were about to leave the dorm. He hurried to catch up with them, determined not to lose sight of them because surely once he stepped out of this place the world would go crazy and figured that it should be pretty easy to follow them straight back to the M-Dorm where undoubtable everyone else would be.

However, Baekhyun came up trumps again because from his bag there came a long flowing line of red string which Luhan was able to latch onto and play with the entire journey back, making it appear that a light breeze had caught the string even though no one really paid that much attention to the pair walking down the concrete street. Luhan couldn’t help but laugh gleefully, finding it funny that neither one of them realised what was going on behind them right at this moment in time and unintentionally pulled the string enough to get Baekhyun’s notice.

The young man frowned and grabbed the string, completely unaware that he was pulling Luhan off balance by doing so but he shook his head, “Huh, I thought this was all bundled up.”

“You probably meant to tie it to the door so that Lu-ge wouldn’t get lost,” Tao said in a joking manner, close to tearing up but Baekhyun was straight there with a one armed hug and a smile.

“Nah, Luhan never got lost, he just used to berate Kris for giving him the wrong directions,” he said trying to lighten the atmosphere and grinning happily when he actually got a smile out of Tao, “There, see, it’s not so bad now is it?”

Luhan had to physically kick away the black slimy creature which had been clinging onto Tao’s back almost unseen to all of the joy out of him and he was making a series of remarks which if either of the two walkers had heard they would have blushed and died of embarrassment. Thankfully they couldn’t hear and the eventually made it back to the M-Dorm in order to dump the stuff, call out to anyone who was still awake and finish getting ready themselves before clambering into the blanket fort to snuggle down with everyone else.

Watching from his spot on the table, Luhan couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the pair trying not to disturb the flour that had been left around and giggled when he heard the complaints about being woken up only for Chen to grab Tao into a tight hug to get the youngster to fall asleep whilst Baekhyun got pinned by both Lay and Kai to stop him being a wriggly worm. Softly Luhan sighed, these were the moments that he was going to miss the most, the silly little things that no one ever really paid attention to or tried to focus on too much.

The silly games, the timeless little moments, the jibes and even the arguments that would occur when twelve boys had been forced to share a dormitory. Yes, he had Yifan up with him in Shangri-La but it wasn’t going to be quite the same. Sure it was fun to have the other back in his life but it was just the two of them and hopefully there would never be a scenario where they would be joined by any of the others until they had all grown old, wrinkly and had been married, had kids and grandkids and lived their lives to the full.

With a bit more reverence and respect he clambered down off the table and moved around the place that had been his home, putting up little totems to scare off the sad spirits and watching as his little red deer came cantering in to deal with the stubborner ones. He paused and stared at what had been his room, noting that everything had been moved out of it though upon further investigation he found that it had merely been moved into Kris’s room so that both of their beds were together, never to be slept in or disturbed unless someone really wanted to get a feeling that they had never really left.

Luhan smiled lightly at the notion, finding it strange but also touching at the same time and he moved carefully over to the desk where there were some odds and ends that had been found over the course of the last year. Knocking over some fancy sounding imported from Canada talc Luhan traced the words, “Always together” into the desk top with a smile and a nod before turning and leaving the room.

Time was beginning to run short and he sighed, glad he didn’t have to visit each and every one separately because he was never one for goodbyes. Moving back to the living room where the soft sounds of snoring could be heard, Luhan ducked into the blanket fort and sat down on some cushions that weren’t being used. He stared around at the ten slumbering faces and let out a sigh, “It’s time to let go guys. It’s time for you to move on and be brighter than you have ever been before. I know the road seems long and it’s going to be tough, but the reward at the end will be something that will make every last moment of pain, exhaustion and darkness worth it.”

He tilted his head to the side, “I’m sorry that my path has to end tonight, but know that I am always here for you. That I am watching you and Yifan is watching you all as well and we both want the best for you. Work hard, love hard and always remember that promise we made together that day. I know that I should say my goodbye separately to all of you but I would just be repeating the same thing constantly and that’s not fair on any of you.”

Carefully crawling around the fort he made sure to give all of the members a final hug and a gentle press of his lips somewhere on their head or face, giggling at some of the reactions because they were just so cute. He deliberately left Suho till last, knowing that he somehow had a connection to the spirit world as Yifan had warned him about it and he flicked the others nose, “You don’t fool me, Joonmyeon.”

An eye opened tiredly as a small pout formed, “Yifan spoilt the surprise, didn’t he?”

“No,” Luhan chuckled and smiled towards the other, “He didn’t. Don’t lay the blame on yourself Joonmyeon. No matter what comes in the future, you are always doing the right thing even if sometimes we don’t see it. Now sleep, you’re going to need it.”

The eye closed almost instantly and Joonmyeon’s body went limp as he hugged a little closer to Sehun, caught deep in the realm of slumber once again. Luhan placed a final kiss on his temple before crawling out of the fort and glancing up at the rising sun which was coming through the windows. He turned back one last time and rubbed at the small trickles of water escaping from his eyes, “Goodbye my dear friends, remember that I love you and will always try to guide you. We wait for you in Shangri-La until the day we are one again.”

With the words spoken, daylight broke through the window and Luhan melted away happily from the dorm to return to his new residence. Suho blinked open his eyes and sat up, staring around the dorm as the first rays of light caught the same old place and felt as though a great weight had been lifted off of everyone’s shoulders. He smiled as he laid back down, the darkness was receding and they could move on once again.

They would come back stronger than before because that was what they had to do and he knew that they were together as one forever.