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---

When the first of the thirteen of them fell, it was inevitable that the others would follow.

Libra would never forget the day it happened. It had started from Ophiuchus, actually. Ophiuchus had been the last to join them, the thirteenth zodiac.

He was the youngest, but was soon taken away from them. He didn’t fall, nor did he fade. Polaris had taken him away, saying that he had been reassigned to another set of constellations. By the time the rest of them learned about it, Ophiuchus was gone.

Leo and Aquarius had been particularly fond of young Ophiuchus, so to have the young constellation be taken away from them so suddenly had shocked them. The first thing they felt, of course, was sadness. Then the anger came.

The anger came and went, and Libra balanced out the emotions of the zodiac constellations with his scales, to make sure the anger and heartbreak didn’t overtake their logical thinking. All of them were heartbroken, but it got better with time.

Then Cancer faded away. Not many know about this, but once upon a time, Cancer was a different entity from the Cancer we know today. Fading away was vastly different from falling. Falling meant losing your stardust and dropping to the planet they watched over. Fading away, however…

Fading away meant death.

Leo’s heart, or what would be his heart if he were human, was broken when Ophiuchus left. The shards were picked up and ground to dust when Cancer faded away. He was not alone, however. Cancer had been with them a long time, and for him to fade away without saying a word… It broke all of their hearts.

Still, Libra tried his best to balance out the emotions amongst the remaining zodiac constellations. He provided a listening ear, let them cry, rage, whatever they wanted. As long as none of them were lost again.

Scorpio, however, took it the hardest. He was the closest to Cancer, and could not see why he didn’t notice the signs that Cancer was slowly fading away. Maybe if he did, Cancer would still be here.

A new Cancer was introduced to them, and it was awkward in the beginning. The new Cancer tried, he really did, but the others couldn’t interact with him without seeing the shadow of the Cancer they had spent eons with before they lost him.

It all came to a head when Lynx was taken away as well. This time, Sirius had come to claim him, and their leader, Leo, lost himself to his grief. The scales tipped, balance lost, and Libra was unable to fix it.

How could he, when he himself was heartbroken? He, Leo, Pisces and Lynx were the quartet that had stuck together since the formation of the zodiac constellations. Virgo and Leo were close, but the four of them understood each other.

The new Cancer, of course, did not know what to do. He was the last one to join, a replacement for the previous Cancer who had faded away, and cared dearly for his new family, but how could he help, when they pushed him away every time he tried?

Once again, sadness and grief became anger, and the rest of them took it out on the only one they knew they could not offend. The balance had been tipped, and it was nigh impossible for Libra to rein in his emotions enough to fix it.

Cancer, loyal to a fault, took everything without complaint. The scoldings, the ignoring, the criticizing, he tolerated without a word. He truly believed that they had just lost themselves in their grief, and his patient determination saw him through everything.

However, even the most patient and determined of souls also have their limits.
Cancer didn’t know how long it had been since the criticism and antagonism towards him had started. All he knew was that he was so tired of it all, so tired of just taking everything and letting them be.

The insecure nature that usually stayed in the background slowly emerged even as his loyalty remained, and he wondered whether he really belonged with them, if he made so many mistakes.

Hence, he made the choice to fall. He didn’t fade, he was too loyal to them to fade away, didn’t want them to suffer through another loss, but he had to escape, so he fell instead. At least, if he fell, then maybe one day they would come back to themselves and hopefully come and find him.

Looking back, Libra knew that he should have done something. Leo, their leader, was mindless in his grief, and all of them had been influenced by his emotions. Libra should have been aware of it, and made sure the scales weren’t tipped too badly that balance could not be regained.

However, he wasn’t, and he didn’t, and all of the heavens watched as Cancer closed his eyes and dissolved into stardust.

The scene shook them out of their grief and anger, but at the same time added guilt to the mass of emotions roiling in them. For ages after that, the rest of them had been guilty and wrought with more grief, afraid that they had caused another Cancer to fade away as well, but Libra was soon brought to his senses, and  realised that Cancer, loyal to a fault, still had not given up on them.

He had just chosen to fall, instead of fade, hoping that they would come to their senses and come find him when they were ready.

However, by the time Libra had realised what was going on and told the others what had truly happened, L eo had fallen as well, right in front of his eyes. Leo had taken Cancer’s fall the hardest, knowing it was his fault for starting the antagonism towards someone he knew didn’t deserve it.

Libra, so afraid that Leo had chosen to fade away willingly, searched the heavens desperately for any sign that Leo had chosen to fall, instead of fade, and found it in the lone planet that they watched over. To his immense relief, Libra felt Cancer there, as well.

Even as Libra went to soothe the other zodiac signs, he did not forget. Cancer was the first one to fall, and it was because of them. Even then, he trusted them enough to fall, instead of fade, so willing to put his faith in them, that they would find him.

Libra was barely avoiding drowning in his own guilt, but that did not deter him from making the solemn promise to himself that he would one day go down to Earth and find Cancer, and apologise to him.

He did follow through with that promise, but he did not expect it to be when he was the last one who had not fallen, the last one who had not fallen to their grief and guilt.

This is what all of them will never forget, and will be the first thing all of them remembers the most.

Cancer was the first to fall. And it was because of them that he chose to do so.
 

---

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---

“It’s Cancer.” Jeonghan watches as the same mixture of emotions he’s currently feeling flash across everyone’s faces. Guilt, grief, panic, it’s all there. The silence is heavy, the only sounds being their breathing and the music from the game.

“So, what are we going to do?” To Jeonghan’s surprise, it’s the youngest that speaks up. Once he actually thinks about it, though, he’s really not. Aries has always been the bravest and most determined of the twelve zodiacs.

“We’re going to find him, and then apologise to him, and then we can treat him properly like we should have the moment he joined us,” Jeonghan says firmly. There is hesitance in the way the others agree, but Jeonghan makes eye contact with Chan and sees the fire burning in his eyes, and nods.

With Chan around, Geni’s innate indecisiveness, Pisces’s fearfulness and Capricorn’s occasionally negative practicality won’t stand a chance. Jeonghan will make sure of that.

They send Joshua off at the airport a few days later, after exchanging promises to video call each other daily whenever possible.

They have to face the guilt one day, which unfortunately will not happen until they find Cancer. With a newfound determination, Jeonghan starts planning to take a week off school and follow his compass until it leads him to Cancer.

He is soon dissuaded by Seungkwan, because quote unquote, “What if you follow the compass blindly until you reach a cliff or something and then you might die and we won’t ever know! What if he’s like Joshua, far away in another country? Are you going to go on a round-the-world trip to find him?”

Upon seeing the mental lightbulb go off in Jeonghan’s head, Seungkwan exclaims, “Hyung! You are not going on a round-the-world trip to find Cancer! You don’t have enough money, and you can’t afford to take that time off!”

Jeonghan groaned as Capricorn’s practicality destroyed his plans, but Seungkwan was right. He didn’t have the money to afford that kind of thing. Therefore, he continues attending his classes and waits for his dreams to give him a hint.

Cancer eludes them for a long while, as Jeonghan doesn’t get any dreams for close to a month. By then, all of them are getting antsy, and Jeonghan is seriously tempted to just follow his compass, no matter what Seungkwan says. Two nights after he actually starts planning the trip around the world, he gets a dream, and nearly sobs from relief.

The dream shows him a scene, where a pair of young children, siblings, Jeonghan guesses, are chasing each other in a park, and there is a silhouette sitting under a tree, watching them play. The sounds of children’s laughter and of a camera shutter going off ring in Jeonghan’s ears long after he has woken up.

The dream gives Jeonghan hope that he is close to finding Cancer, and waits patiently as the dreams become clearer over the next few nights, enough for him to identify which park it is that is the setting of where he will meet Cancer.

The level of apprehension rises the more Jeonghan updates the rest on his dreams, and only Chan is hyped up about meeting Cancer. Jeonghan knows that everyone else apart from Aries dreads Cancer remembering what happened, but he knows Cancer, and knows that Cancer would only be happy that they found him. Or at least, Jeonghan hopes so.

He starts taking frequent walks at the park in his dream, often dragging the others along with him. His efforts finally pay off when he arrives at the park only to see the exact scene in his dream. The children are running around, playing with each other, and there is a figure under a tree, watching them with camera in hand.

The figure occasionally raises his camera to take a photo of the children, and Jeonghan checks his wrists. Sure enough, the compass is pointing in the figure’s direction, and the Cancer symbol on his other wrist is glowing.

This week, it’s Chan and Seungkwan who are accompanying him, and Jeonghan hesitates, unsure about how to start a conversation with the stranger. Chan solves that problem by going up to the figure and starting to chat excitedly about cameras to him. Jeonghan bites back a yell of Chan’s name, and going to join the younger. Seungkwan follows behind, albeit a bit hesitantly.

Chan’s friendliness helps, and soon the boy, Seo Myungho, as he introduces himself, is talking passionately about photography. He is a photography major, and takes part-time jobs such as babysitting for his neighbours to earn some money on the side.

He’s from China, and came to Korea three years ago for university, he explains when Chan asks about his accent. Seungkwan warms up to Myungho eventually, and is soon chattering even more than Chan is. Jeonghan can tell that Myungho is more of a listener, and tries to involve him in the conversation as much as possible.

Joshua is informed during the Skype call that night, and Wonwoo is texted immediately after meeting Cancer. Chan has gotten Myungho’s number and a promise to meet at the park again next week, to share some tips about photography with him.

The two of them are still apprehensive about meeting Cancer, but Jeonghan refuses to let that ruin his mood. He wants all thirteen of them to be together again, and that means working through each other’s fears and talking it through.

Myungho still has to remember, though. The next week, all four of them head down to the park to meet Myungho, with Jeonghan carrying a basket. He has decided to have a picnic for all of them, and woke up early to prepare for it.

Wonwoo greets Myungho easily enough, and spends the time between watching the children, Yerin and Hyerin, play, observing Myungho, eating, and reading his book. He makes conversation easily enough, with Chan helping to move the conversation along.

Myungho shows Chan tips and tricks on the camera that the younger was given a few months back, and Chan absorbs all the information he’s been given eagerly. The two of them had been chatting frequently with each other over texts, and are much closer now than last week, when they first met.

It’s not until a month later that they get the chance for Myungho to remember, though. They finally managed to ask to meet up without the children, and spent an entire afternoon fooling around, having lunch and playing in an arcade.

Jeonghan ends up treating all of them for dinner, asking for a private room at the restaurant they have decided upon. After their meal, they’re just talking mindlessly amongst each other, and that’s when Jeonghan brings out the familiar box of rings.

Like all the others, Jeonghan asks Myungho to choose a ring from the remaining, and the nine rings gleam brightly. Myungho picks one with zero hesitation, and Jeonghan smiles, and tells him to put it on.

The younger is sitting between Chan and Jeonghan, and slumps over soon after, Chan barely saving his head from hitting the table. They all exchange glances with each other, and wave away the waitress’ concern when she enters the room.

It isn’t long before Myungho wakes up with a small groan, and Jeonghan once again helps out by placing his hands on Myungho’s temple to sort out the memories. They are all silent as Myungho regains his bearings, worried about how he would react now that he regained his memories.

Cancer looks around, and knows Libra from how his memories were sorted out quickly, easing his headache. “I knew you guys would find me one day,” he smiles tremulously, and Seungkwan tries, he really tries, but he bursts into tears despite his best efforts not to.

Jeonghan tells him who is who quietly as Wonwoo soothes the crying boy, and Chan waves excitedly when Myungho looks in his direction. He examines the ring on his right pinky finger, the symbol of Cancer staring back at him.

As soon as introductions are over and Seungkwan has stopped crying, they pay the bill and leave for Jeonghan’s apartment.

They don’t get much sleep that night. The night is spent having much needed confessions, apologies and explanations, and by the end of it not one of them is dry-eyed. Even Joshua, who was contacted immediately upon reaching Jeonghan’s apartment, is not free from the rollercoaster of emotions, halfway across the globe.

The catharsis is one that they all needed, and much of their guilt is alleviated with Cancer’s constant repetition of his forgiveness. All Cancer feels is happiness at the fact that they had finally found him after so long, and sadness at the fact that they let this matter affect them so much that they all eventually chose to fall as well.

They will always feel some guilt from the whole event, but that is pushed aside to reconnect with Myungho, and talk about finding the others and maybe dealing with their guilt as well.

Myungho tells them of the crab on his chest, above his heart, when he goes to the bathroom to check, and Jeonghan shows them the new symbol that the triangle on his wrist is pointing to, the symbol of Sagittarius.
 

---

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---

Compared to Cancer, the days leading up to them finding Sagittarius is a lot more light-hearted, the palpable tension that could be felt whenever Cancer was brought up having disappeared.

When all six of them gather to hang out, Wonwoo and Jeonghan talk quietly with Jisoo through video chat while Chan and Seungkwan drag Myungho into whatever shenanigans they are getting up to.

Jeonghan updates them on whatever details that he dreams about in the group chat that they have, sent between spam messages of Seungkwan and Chan arguing over one thing or the other. Myungho is surprisingly sarcastic, and keeps up with the two younger ones well.

Jisoo is an excellent influence on them as well, when they manage to sync up their schedules enough to have a video call, his gentle nature doing well to calm the excitement that is Chan and Seungkwan with Myungho thrown into the mix.

Jeonghan starts dreaming again, about three weeks after finding Myungho. He dreams of a stage, again, and wonders to himself whether Sagittarius will be a dancer as well, like Chan. However, the more he dreams, the more details he can see, as usual.

He notices that there is a banner at the back of the stage, but cannot make out the words on it. He tells the others about it, but they are all clueless as to what the banner might say. The days pass with Jeonghan not getting any closer to seeing the banner, but he does get other details.

Sagittarius is a singer, it seems, as he can hear a voice echoing on around the stage that he is dreaming of. Seungkwan is happy to hear it, as he looks forward to having someone to sing with when they go to the noraebang.

A few weeks later, Seungkwan comes back with a flyer, which turns out to be one promoting a singing competition hosted by one of the other schools in the area.

Seungkwan is talking excitedly about joining the competition with a friend that he met in school, and Jeonghan tells Seungkwan to sign up for it, saying that they may meet Sagittarius in this competition.

The others are informed of this, and Jeonghan goes with Seungkwan to the venue as soon as he can for auditions before the actual competition, and is surprised when Seungkwan introduces the friend he’ll be auditioning as a pair with for it.

“Hyungie! This is Seokmin-hyung! He’ll be singing with me in the competition!” Seungkwan drags a tall, dark-haired male over to him. As they make eye contact, Seokmin’s enthusiastic greeting is interrupted by Jeonghan abruptly turning around, grabbing his wrist.

Jeonghan stares wide-eyed at the glowing Sagittarius sign, wristband lifted up with his thumb. Shutting his eyes, he takes a few deep breaths before turning back around. “Sorry about that. I’m Yoon Jeonghan, Seungkwan’s hyung,” Jeonghan says, eyes scanning the (possibly) younger male.

“I’m Seokmin! Lee Seokmin! Seungkwan’s told me a lot about you, it’s nice to meet you, Jeonghan-hyung!” Seokmin’s greeting is less enthusiastic than before, but Jeonghan smiles at his retained enthusiasm. “This is Sagittarius, alright,” he thinks to himself. “His enthusiasm is proof of that.”

Seokmin shakes his outstretched hand with delight, and tells Seungkwan that they have to go get ready for the audition. Seungkwan nods, and gives Jeonghan a look that tells him he’s going to have a lot to explain later.

Jeonghan rubs at his left wrist absentmindedly as he watches the two walk away, Sagittarius symbol still glowing when he checks. The compass on his right wrist points steadfastly in the direction the two younger boys just left in.

He goes to take a seat, eyes staring blankly at the stage as people go up and audition, before leaving the stage. He barely registers Seungkwan and Seokmin’s audition, enough to know that they’re definitely going to make it to the actual competition.

He had been thrown off by how Seungkwan knew Seokmin, but didn’t know that he was one of the zodiac. He has always had the impression that the dreams showed him when any of them who remembered met the zodiac that they were looking for.

However, Seungkwan had known Seokmin for a while, and the dreams and the marks on his wrist had not shown him who Sagittarius was until now.

After thinking things through, he concludes that the dreams show him when he himself meets them for the first time, hence explaining why Seungkwan never knew that Seokmin was Sagittarius until Jeonghan came face-to-face with him.

Seungkwan bounds up to him once they’re done, asking him excitedly about his thoughts about their performance. Jeonghan smiles at him, saying, “It was great, Seungkwannie. When will you know the results of the audition?”

“Next week! Can we go get ice cream, hyung?” Seungkwan puts his puppy eyes to use, and Jeonghan laughs, nodding. “Want to come along?” he turns to Seokmin, who nods happily. “If you don’t mind, hyung.”

Jeonghan shakes his head, saying, “A friend of Seungkwan is a friend of mine. C'mon, let’s go.” The three of them make their way to the nearest ice cream parlour, and while they’re walking and the two younger ones are chattering away, Jeonghan takes the time to quickly type out a message into the group chat informing them of the new development, before joining the conversation.

Seungkwan checks his phone when it buzzes, and turns to Jeonghan with wide eyes when he reads the message. He dips his head in Seokmin’s direction, and Jeonghan nods slightly. The younger one’s eyes sparkle, before continuing on the conversation.

Seokmin, after being introduced to the rest of them, fits in well with the rest of them, as he should. His optimism and enthusiasm do wonders to counter Wonwoo and Jisoo’s occasional negativity, and for that, Jeonghan is grateful. The scales are balancing out the more members they find, and Jeonghan doesn’t have to pay as much attention to the balance of their emotions anymore.

It isn’t long before Seokmin is handed the box of rings to choose one from, and he gamely chooses one. It is the one with the Sagittarius symbol on it, and they go through the usual procedure as Seokmin recovers his memories.

The first person’s embrace he throws himself into once introductions are out of the way is Myungho, who hugs him tightly, never one to reject affection. He’s crying, and babbling apologies. Myungho whispers forgiveness and Seokmin cries harder, before calming down after a while.

He’s pleasantly surprised when he checks his torso for the mark Jeonghan told him about, running a hand over the centaur holding a bow and arrow on his chest. He exits the bathroom, only to see the others setting up what seems to be a blanket fort.

Seungkwan and Chan want to make it a tradition where they have a sleepover when someone remembers their past, and the others aren’t exactly against it, so building a blanket fort, obviously, is the logical choice.

Seokmin throws himself into the job with aplomb, setting up the fort with great relish. As they lie around the room with Jisoo still on video call, Seokmin asks quietly, “Jeonghan-hyung, who’s the next person we’re going to find?”

Jeonghan runs a thumb over the marks on his left wrist, and replies just as quietly, “Virgo is next." 
 

---

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---

Seokmin becomes comfortable with his memories quickly, often being the one initiating crazy or loud things with Seungkwan. It’s a good contrast to the quiet Wonwoo and Jeonghan prefer, welcomed most of the time.

Their days are accompanied with Jeonghan’s dreams about Virgo, which started up about a week after Seokmin regained his memories. It’s pitch black in his dream, with only a piano playing. Jeonghan wonders what Virgo does, if he’s a musician like Jisoo.

As the days pass, Jeonghan realises that this dream is different. He can’t see anything, for one. There’s only the sound of a piano playing, and it’s a different song every dream. The others are just as confused, unable to help.

It isn’t until they walk into a music shop one day because Chan wanted to buy a Michael Jackson album that Jeonghan finally learns who Virgo might be. He’s listening to one of the classical compilations when a song comes on, one that he recognises immediately.

He flips the CD case over to the tracklist, running his eyes down the list. As the music plays, he counts the number of songs he had listened to before this song came on, and finds the name of the track. He records down the name of the pianist and the name of the song, and goes to tell the others about it.

When they reach home, he goes straight for his laptop and googles ‘Woozi 20’, and scrolls through the results. He learns that Woozi, real name Lee Jihoon, is a musical prodigy, a year younger that him, and is having a piano recital in two months.

After consulting the others and checking when they’re free, he is met with positive replies and buys seven tickets to the recital. Jisoo would be flying down to Korea in about a month or so to visit them, so it all works out.

The next week passes in a blur, Jeonghan stopping Seungkwan twice from setting their apartment on fire and Chan from breaking his mother’s housewarming gift, which is a very nice set of fine china. 

Jisoo lands in Korea without much fanfare, and his first meetings with Minghao and Seokmin goes well, clicking with them instantly. The next few days is spent ensuring that the younger ones have appropriate clothing for the recital. 

(Jeonghan and surprisingly, Seungkwan had thrown a fit when they’d seen what Seokmin was going to go in.)

The night of the recital they all meet up at the entrance to the concert hall where the recital is being held, and enter together. The hall is slowly filling up with people, and there is a grand piano on the stage.

Seungkwan, Seokmin and Chan are chattering away, with the others occasionally joining in. Finally, the lights dim, and Lee Jihoon walks onto the stage. Jeonghan looks at his wrists, and smiles when he sees his compass pointing straight at the pianist, and the sign of Virgo glowing pale blue. 

He starts off with a piece Jeonghan remembers hearing in one of his dreams, his hands flying across the keyboard. The next two hours are spent with them watching with wide-eyed wonder as the pink-haired pianist created magic, and at the end of it Jisoo was waxing poetic about his skills.

Jeonghan had pulled some strings with his parents, and attained backstage passes for them, and hence heads straight for the staff entrance that he can see. The box in his backpack bumps into his back every once in a while as he moves, the other six following him in.

Upon showing the staff his backstage pass, they are led to a dressing room, where the staff knocks lightly. Lee Jihoon opens the door, and Jeonghan is slightly taken aback by how short the boy actually is. If he hadn’t searched him up, he would have thought that Jihoon was Chan’s age.

"Can I help you?” Jihoon is looking at them weirdly, and Jeonghan’s mind blanks, unsure of how things should go. Luckily, Jisoo sees his panic and takes over smoothly. “Lee Jihoon, right? Your recital was great today.”

“Thank you. I guess you guys should come in,” Jihoon says, opening the door wider and walking to the small couch in the room. They file in, and Chan closes the door behind him. “I don’t know if you know me, but I’m a Youtuber that produces covers?” Jisoo says.

Jihoon frowns and tilts his head. “I might know it. I trawl Youtube quite frequently. Name of your channel?”

“Joshua Hong.” The reply has Jihoon brightening immediately. “Yeah, I know it. Your covers are really good!” Jisoo smiles. “Coming from a professional pianist, that’s a big compliment.”

At that, Jihoon’s expression dims. “I’m not really a professional pianist. I may be lauded as a musical prodigy, but that’s not really what I am.”

“What are you, then?” Wonwoo’s quiet question has Jihoon turning to him. “I’m just a boy that loves music enough to want to learn everything about it,” he replies.

“I’m Wonwoo. Jeon Wonwoo,” he introduces himself at Jihoon’s questioning look, and the others take that as a cue to introduce themselves as well.

“I’m Boo Seungkwan! Your playing was great today! I don’t really listen to classical music, but it was really nice!” Seungkwan says, and Jihoon smiles. “I’m glad you think so.”

“I’m Lee Chan, a dancer.” Chan’s introduction is covered by Seokmin’s loud one. “I’m Seokmin! Lee Seokmin! I loved your playing out there!”

“Seo Myungho,” the Chinese smiles at Jihoon. “I like your hair,” Jihoon compliments, and Myungho smiles even wider. “Thanks! I like yours too,” he says, returning the compliment.

“You know me as Joshua Hong, but please just call me Jisoo,” Jisoo says, and Jeonghan finishes with his own introduction. “I’m Yoon Jeonghan.”

“It’s nice to meet all of you. I’m sorry if this sounds rude, but why are you guys here?” Jihoon says questioningly. Jeonghan turns to Wonwoo and Jisoo, asking, “Should we do it now? Or later?” Wonwoo sighs, and says, “Let’s just do it now. I want to see who we have to look for next.”

Jeonghan nods, understanding Geni’s impatience. Mini’s absence has been taking a toll on him, and it shows in his day-to-day life. He brings his backpack around, ping it and taking out the box. Throughout it all, Jihoon looks confusedly between all of them, Seokmin, Chan and Seungkwan vibrating on the spot with excitement and the others looking on calmly.

“Pick a ring, Jihoon-ssi.” Jeonghan opens the box, and Jihoon eyes him and the box warily. “It’s perfectly safe, trust me. We’re all wearing one,” Jisoo says, showing the pianist his ring. Jihoon looks at the rest of them, realising that they are all indeed wearing a similar ring.

He drops his head a little, and takes one. “What does the sign mean?” he asks, examining the ring. “It’s the sign of Virgo,” Jeonghan says, and Jihoon opens his mouth again, about to ask what Virgo is. He is interrupted by Wonwoo. “Put the ring on, Jihoon-ssi. It’ll all make sense in a while.”

Jihoon stares at them suspiciously, but slips the ring on anyway, figuring it’ll do him no harm. He promptly slumps over. Even as Jeonghan stands up to sit next to Jihoon, he’s saying, “Thank god he was sitting on a couch.”

They mill around, waiting for Jihoon to wake up by messing with their phones. When the boy does wake up, it is to Jeonghan holding his head and sighs as his headache fades. He accepts the bottle of water from Jisoo, taking a large mouthful before speaking.

“Please tell me who’s who before I start asking for explanations.” They introduce themselves again, this time speaking as their constellations, and Jihoon looks from person to person before turning to Jeonghan. “Thanks, Libra.”

He then looks at Myungho, chewing at his lip. Before apologies can start, Myungho says, “You’re forgiven. Don’t apologise to me.” Jihoon stops, throat working, and sighs. “You’re going to be stubborn about this, aren’t you?” Myungho nods triumphantly, and Jihoon sighs once more.

"Group hug!” Seokmin yells, unable to hold his happiness any longer, and immediately piles on Jeonghan and Jihoon on the couch. Seungkwan joins in with a loud yell, Chan following soon after. Myungho, Jisoo and Wonwoo exchange glances, before they’re jumping onto the pile as well.

Jeonghan is groaning from the weight of six people on him, and Jihoon is complaining loudly even as Seokmin and Seungkwan are laughing, which causes the others to start laughing as well, and it’s good. They’re good.
 

---

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---

When Jeonghan next checks his wrist, the triangle is already pointing at the next sign. In the background, Jihoon is complaining about the new mark on his chest, the side profile of a woman - the mark of Virgo.

He draws Myungho aside quietly, informing him of the next constellation to find. Myungho visibly swallows, but tells Jeonghan that he’s fine. Scorpio may be one of the first ones to treat him badly, but he was also the one going through the most grief at the time, next to Leo. Jeonghan looks at him, trying to discern whether he is telling the truth.

Myungho smiles reassuringly at him, and the scales that he can sense are tilting towards truth, rather than lie. The younger one is speaking the truth. Jeonghan nods, and lets it go. He then informs everyone else of the next person to find, and everyone glances at Myungho.

The person in question looks slightly startled and then exasperated by the concerned looks he’s getting, and says, “I’m fine, guys. You’ll need my help when he recovers his memories, anyway. Listening to your stories about how it was up there after I fell makes me think that the burden he’s putting on his own shoulders when he remembers will be immense.”

The others look just as skeptical as Jeonghan feels, but no one says anything to contradict him, and the previous conversation is picked up from where they left off, if a little muted compared to before. Myungho sighs, but joins in the conversation again.

Jeonghan can’t lie, he is slightly worried about what will happen when they find Scorpio, but there’s nothing he can really do. What problems may crop up lie between Scorpio and Cancer, and it’s not his place to assume that he can help fix it.

Soon enough, Jihoon is well-versed on the way their little group functions, and assumes the role of the grumpy one, showing his affection through snarky comments and the like. Jeonghan is relieved, and doesn’t know why he would be worried. They were meant to be together.

However, there is a little part of him that worries about what if one day it doesn’t work out, and they have a fight that causes their friendships, their bonds to be irreparable, and hopes they won’t let it get that far.

As usual, the dreams soon start up again. This time, Jeonghan starts by dreaming of the smell of coffee. When he wakes up the next day, he checks his wrists on instinct and notices something weird. As is their usual, the others are piled around him, having had their customary blanket fort upon the younger ones’ insistence.

It’s weird, because for once, the circle of symbols on his left wrist is spinning erratically, stopping for a few seconds at the symbol of Gemini then spinning again, before stopping at the symbol of Scorpio. It’s something that Jeonghan has never seen before, but he can guess as to what it means. 

He goes to make breakfast for the eight of them, the smells of which eventually lure the rest out of sleep and into the kitchen, settling noisily around the table. Jeonghan had to get more chairs and cutlery for all of them, but seeing them seated around the table, some falling asleep again, makes him happy.

He watches amusedly as almost all of them stab blindly at their plates once Jeonghan serves the food, and notices Jisoo and Wonwoo trying to not laugh at them out of politeness.

He has noticed that Jihoon, for his height, carries a certain amount of threat about him that only comes about when his height is mentioned, and doesn’t want to know what he would do if he thought someone had offended him.

It takes them a while to become fully awake, but Jeonghan has the pleasure of telling them the good news and watching as Wonwoo becomes alive with excitement, knowing that he’ll finally get the opportunity to meet his other half.
“How does that work out? Will we be meeting the two of them at the same time or…” Jihoon trails off, and Jeonghan shrugs.

“I’m not exactly sure either. I only just noticed it today when I woke up, and I’ve never seen anything like it before. My dreams won’t tell me anything apart from either where I’ll meet them or some hints as to who they are, so they’re no help there. We just have to wait and see.”

The reply doesn’t please Jihoon due to the amount of unknown variables in this entire thing, Jeonghan can tell, but the pink-haired boy is soon distracted from his thoughts by Seungkwan very nearly yelling into his ear, and turns to berate the younger immediately.

The dream slowly changes to show Jeonghan the setting of a cafe, but the perspectives he is observing from changes from day to day. One night he’s observing the barista, and another he’s seated, talking to someone whose face he cannot see.

His dreams switch between these two constantly, and Jeonghan can only conclude that they are going to meet both Mini and Scorpio at the same location. Wonwoo is only too happy to start scoping out cafes in his free time, with Chan and Seungkwan going with him when they can.

A few days after Jeonghan informed them of the erratic spinning of the signs on his wrist, Wonwoo comes to him. “Hyung, I think I can sense where Mini is,” Wonwoo tells him. Jeonghan puts down the magazine that he had been flipping through.

“Is it a radar?” Jeonghan asks. “It’s more like a tug here,” Wonwoo touches his chest, where his mark lies. “If I follow it, I think I’ll be able to find Mini,” Wonwoo says, unable to hide his happiness. Jeonghan smiles as well, and nods. “Go follow it. You’re meant to find each other.”

Wonwoo beams at him, and goes off to do just that. Jeonghan smiles, shaking his head at the intangible connection between the two halves of Gemini. He should have expected something like this. They were inseparable when they were together, after all. One was never seen without the other, despite the differences in character.

Wonwoo visits Jeonghan at his apartment again the very next day, sporting a grin that speaks of how pleased he is with life at the moment. “You found him already?” Jeonghan says, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face upon seeing how happy Wonwoo looks.

The younger ones are off to school or practice, and Jisoo is currently in America, making preparations to move to Korea permanently. His parents are accepting of the idea, and for that, Jeonghan is glad. It would make it so much harder if Jisoo’s parents had disapproved, because Jisoo would move here, regardless of whether he had his parents’ blessing or not.

It’s the pull of the zodiac, their unwillingness to be apart from each other for long. They all understand that feeling, because there was a reason they all hung out as often as they could together. There was a reason no one had fierce objections to the blanket forts every time they found a new member.

Jeonghan doesn’t demand for Wonwoo to introduce Mini to him immediately. This sort of thing takes time, and one has to be blind to see how head over heels Wonwoo is for Mini. The others start teasing Wonwoo about it, and despite all his complaints about it, he clearly doesn’t mind it much.

It takes a while, but Wonwoo approaches Jeonghan a good two weeks later, nervous in a way that he’s usually not. Jeonghan takes one look at him and smiles gently, “You’re finally allowing me to meet your most precious person?”

It’s said in a teasing tone, and Jeonghan watches amusedly as Wonwoo flushes.

Wonwoo opens his mouth, closes it, and then glares, and Jeonghan laughs. “All right, all right, I’ll stop teasing. When do you want me to meet him?”

“Tomorrow?” Wonwoo asks. Jeonghan checks his class schedule, and nods. “Tomorrow it is. What time do you want me to be ready? I’m assuming you’ll be bringing me there?”

Wonwoo nods, and Jeonghan draws him into a hug. “I’m happy for you, Wonwoo-ah.” Wonwoo smiles embarrassedly, ducking his head.

Before Wonwoo turns to leave Jeonghan to whatever he was doing before, a thought occurs to the older and he calls out. “Wonwoo-ah, do you want me to bring the box?” Wonwoo thinks it over, before nodding and picks up his book that was left open on the table.

The next day, Jeonghan gets ready for when Wonwoo will come over at noon, and slides the box gently into his backpack, smoothing his hands over it before he does so. Soon, this box will carry one less ring, that much closer to fulfilling its duty.

Wonwoo knocks on the door and opens it with the key Jeonghan got for each person the day they recalled their memories, and Jeonghan smiles up at him from his perch on the arm of his sofa, tying his shoelaces. “Just give me a minute and we can go.”

Wonwoo nods, sweater paws slipping into his jean pockets as he waits. Jeonghan finishes up tying his shoelaces and grabs his wallet, phone and backpack. “Done. Let’s go?”

Wonwoo nods and they both exit the apartment, with Wonwoo leading the way. As it turns out, it’s only a short walk to the meeting place, which is a cafe, as expected. The bell above the door rings when they walk in, and the barista greets them cheerfully. “Welcome to the Dioscuri Cafe! How may I- oh, Wonwoo-hyung!”

Wonwoo smiles and says, “Hey, dongsaeng.” The barista then notices Jeonghan standing just behind Wonwoo, and his smile dims a little. “Who’s this?” Jeonghan asks, nudging Wonwoo suggestively. Wonwoo glares at him slightly, before introducing him to the barista. “This is my friend, Jeonghan.”

Jeonghan beams at the barista, who only smiles back upon hearing Wonwoo’s use of the word 'friend’. Jeonghan shakes his head mentally. Honestly, could these two be any more oblivious? “Yoon Jeonghan at your service! I’m Wonwoo’s best friend!”

“I’m Kim Mingyu! What would you like today?” the tall barista introduces himself as well. “A caramel latte will do,” Jeonghan tells him. “With whipped cream?” Mingyu pauses in writing his order down. Jeonghan nods, and Mingyu smiles at him quickly, already starting to fix his order.

“Wonwoo-hyung, your usual, yes?” Mingyu calls even as he turns to fill Jeonghan’s order. Wonwoo makes an affirmative noise and they move to find seats. Jeonghan checks his wrist, and is glad to see that the circle has stilled, and the Gemini sign is glowing.

As Jeonghan watches, the glow fades and it quickly spins to land on the Scorpio sign. Just then, Jeonghan’s phone vibrates, and he slides it out of his pocket to check.

“Jeonghannie-hyung! I want to introduce you to someone I met! He’s from China too, if you can believe it!” Jeonghan reads the text from Myungho, who rarely sounds as excited as he does in the message, and so he sends the address of the cafe to the younger, before turning to inform Wonwoo.

Wonwoo gives him a thumbs up distractedly, watching as Mingyu makes their orders. Jeonghan nudges him. “Head over heels, eh? Does he know? Or have you just been sitting here everyday staring at him whenever he turns his back to you?”

Wonwoo flushes and glares at him, and Jeonghan laughs at his disgruntled expression at being called out. “Honestly, you guys are too cute,” he grins.

Mingyu comes over with their orders, and smiles at Jeonghan as he passes them their orders, and Jeonghan chortles when Mingyu practically beams at Wonwoo. Seriously, how are they so adorably oblivious? Jeonghan does not regret coming here for one second. Not at all.

It doesn’t take long before the bell is ringing again, and a clearly excited Myungho drags someone in. Jeonghan waves to get their attention, and Myungho practically runs over. Jeonghan checks his wrist, and sees the Scorpio sign glowing.

Jeonghan doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He decides to do the former, which has everyone looking at him weirdly, before Wonwoo pulls his left wrist over to see. His mouth drops open, and he immediately turns to stare at the guy Myungho brought with him.

Myungho looks from Jeonghan to Wonwoo, wondering what could have cracked Jeonghan up. He sees a flash of blue before Jeonghan covers it up again, and gapes at Jeonghan before jumping up and down ecstatically.

“It’s him? Jeonghan-hyung, are you sure?” Myungho asks, vibrating with happiness. Jeonghan nods, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes. Really, the timing couldn’t have been more right.

From the way Scorpio is glaring at him, he’s clearly having a crush on their dear Cancer, maybe even in love. His scales are tipping more towards love, which only makes him want to start laughing again.

Oh lord, this is going to be a complete trainwreck to watch, Jeonghan thinks to himself, unbearably amused. As Jeonghan calms himself down, Wonwoo grabs two more chairs and Myungho and his friend go to order their drinks.

“Why were you laughing so hard?” Wonwoo asks quietly. Jeonghan snorts, barely stopping himself from breaking into laughter again. “I’ll tell you in a while, if you can’t notice it. Then again, you haven’t noticed Mingyu making heart eyes at you every time you’re not paying attention, so maybe you won’t.”

Wonwoo looks like he’s been slapped, which only makes Jeonghan start laughing again. “I haven’t laughed so hard in so long, oh my god I’m so amused,” he breathes, wiping tears from his eyes.

Myungho and Scorpio come back, and they finally introduce themselves to each other. “This is Moon Junhwi, hyung. Junhui-ge, these are my hyungs, Jeonghan and Wonwoo!” Myungho says, after they have gotten their drinks.

The two of them smile at Junhwi when their names are mentioned, and Jeonghan says, “I’m Yoon Jeonghan, he’s Jeon Wonwoo. The barista over there is Kim Mingyu.”

Throughout their entire time in the cafe, Jeonghan feels like he’s watching a drama. Two couples, clearly in love, but too blind to see it. Oh man, he can’t wait to tell the others. That night, only Wonwoo and Myungho are at his apartment, Seungkwan out with Chan and Seokmin doing something or the other, and Jihoon in his studio. 

Jeonghan starts off by saying, “Mingyu is Mini, Junhwi is Scorpio. Congrats to both of you, you guys found more constellations, but Wonwoo knew that. Anyway, I feel like it is my responsibility as your hyung who has been observing the four of you for the entire day.

"The two of them are practically head over heels in love for you guys.”
Jeonghan tries not to laugh, he really does, but the two’s gobsmacked expressions are really just too funny and adorable. “You guys are so cute. Mingyu was clearly jealous of me up to the point where you introduced me, Wonwoo-ah, and Junhwi was glaring daggers at me when you were so excited after seeing my wrist.”

The two of them sputter, and Jeonghan stops laughing upon seeing their lost looks. He sighs, and says, “Look, you guys decide whether you reciprocate those feelings or not, and if you do, consider whether you want to let them remember before you confess or after.”

Jeonghan sends them off with that thought in mind, and sits back down on his sofa, exhausted from all the laughing he had done that day.

Over the next few days, Wonwoo and Myungho come to him, having made up their minds. They want the other two to remember who they are first before they do anything, and Jeonghan nods. The others have all been informed of what transpired that day and so are all present when Mingyu and Junhwi walk into Jeonghan’s apartment with Wonwoo and Myungho.

Even Jisoo is present via webcam, and the two newcomers seem a bit shocked by the amount of people there to meet them. Introductions are made, and Jeonghan does his best to make them comfortable.

Soon enough, Mingyu is goofing around with Seokmin, Chan and Seungkwan, and Junhwi is talking to Wonwoo, Jisoo and Jihoon. Jeonghan goes to take the box, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“All right, children, it’s time.” Jeonghan walks out of his room, calling for attention. Mingyu and Junhwi glance around the room, unsure of what’s going to happen.

Jeonghan sets the box on the table and opens it. “Both of you, pick a ring,” Jeonghan says solemnly. The others are quiet, and Mingyu reaches for a ring after he glances at Wonwoo and sees him smiling reassuringly at him. Wonwoo beams when he picks up the ring with the 'ㅛ’ symbol, and Junhwi takes the ring with the symbol of the Scorpio on it.

“You guys can put it on, the ring doesn’t bite,” Jeonghan says, and all of them snort. Jeonghan smiles a little and says, “Shush, you guys. Go ahead and put it on.”

The two of them slide the rings onto their fingers at the same time, and they slump over only moments later. Wonwoo and Myungho catch them, and Jeonghan tells them, “Move them so they’re on both sides of me.”

Jeonghan places his hands on their temples, waiting for the moment they wake up. Mingyu wakes up first, and Jeonghan focuses on helping Mingyu sort through his memories. Wonwoo takes over as soon as he’s done, which is just as well, because Junhwi wakes up at well.

As soon as Junhwi’s memories are sorted, Jeonghan moves back and lets the two get used to the sudden influx of memories that they received. He isn’t surprised when Junhwi breaks down in Myungho’s embrace, sobbing apologies into his shirt. Myungho hugs him tightly, brushing kisses on the crown of the older Chinese’s hair and temples. 

Mingyu isn’t faring any better, crying from the relief of having Wonwoo, his other half, by his side. When the two couples end up kissing, Jeonghan lets it go on for a while before putting a stop to it, not just because of Seokmin, Chan and Seungkwan’s hooting and cheering.

“Stop with the PDA, guys. We have to introduce ourselves, remember?” Jeonghan says, and they break apart, settling into each other with ease, and in Gemini’s case, a sense of familiarity.

Introductions are made once more, this time regarding who is which constellation, and as soon as that’s done, Chan is off like a rocket, carrying as many pillows as he can from Jeonghan’s room and dumping it on the floor. Seungkwan goes to get the blankets, and Seokmin starts setting up.

Myungho and Junhwi are murmuring to each other in Chinese, and Jeonghan smiles at them and the Gemini couple before asking them to shift off the floor as the three more excitable ones take over the area while building their blanket fort.

As he waits for them to finish doing so, he listens to Jihoon’s conversation with Jisoo, and looks at his left wrist again. This time, the triangle is pointing to the sign of Taurus, and Jeonghan wonders what he’ll be like.
 

---

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Junhwi and Mingyu settle in well into their steadily growing group of ten, and Jihoon takes great delight in playfully bullying Mingyu, as well as Chan and Seungkwan. Junhwi is a quiet presence that Jeonghan appreciates, always somehow subtly showing his care for the others, regardles of whether it is passing them snacks, or ensuring that they drink enough water.

Junhwi also took over cooking duties once he finds out that they’ve been eating more takeout that anything. Therefore, they’re treated to a homecooked meal every time the Chinese comes over, and he always leaves leftovers and extra dishes in the fridge for them to warm up in the microwave if they’re hungry.
Honestly, he’s a better mother than Jeonghan could ever be.

The dreams start up again like clockwork, and Jeonghan’s next dream is of a dance studio, where he can hear shoes squeaking. Chan is understandably excited when Jeonghan tells them of it, and Myungho and Junhwi are as well.

The fact that Myungho danced came out one night, before he’d known Junhwi, when Chan was talking about this upcoming competition that he wanted to try out for. Myungho had started asking Chan about the details, and Chan had asked, surprised, if he danced.

Myungho had nodded shyly, and Chan had once again booked a studio to let Myungho show them his dancing. Myungho revealed that he mainly did b-boying, with some martial arts mixed in, and the rest of them were suitably impressed when Myungho did a series of flips in front of them.

The competition, upon doing more research, is still a while away, and is more of a face-off type of competition, and Chan and Myungho decide to join as a pair. The months up to the competition brings Chan and Myungho a lot closer together as they prepare for it, and when Junhwi asks if he can join, he is gladly accepted and quickly added into their already established routine.

Jeonghan, Jisoo, Jihoon and Wonwoo give them whatever support they needed, and Seungkwan, Mingyu and Seokmin are there as their very enthusiastic cheerleaders. The few of them have never been to a faceoff dance competition before, but are definitely looking forward to seeing the three dancers in their group shine on stage. Jisoo makes Wonwoo and Jeonghan promise to film the entire thing and send it to him.

Throughout it all, Jeonghan’s dreams slowly become more and more detailed, and he notices more details about the studio. One, is that it is definitely in Korea, two, whoever they’re looking for is probably extremely hardworking, given by the fact that in one of his dreams, the clock in the studio told him that it was fifteen minutes to three in the morning.

Chan, Myungho and Junhwi often stumble into Jeonghan and Seungkwan’s apartment late at night, sweaty and high off the adrenaline from dancing. Jeonghan dumps them one by one into the shower and hands them their clothes.

(Everyone’s clothes have made their way into the apartment, and is kept in weird places around it. Jeonghan finds Chan’s in Seungkwan’s closet and Myungho’s and Junhwi’s in one of the kitchen drawers, for some odd reason. By now, Jeonghan can’t even pretend to be surprised. He found Seokmin’s stash of clothes behind the TV.)

After they emerge from the shower, Jeonghan lets them collapse onto the mattresses he pulled out in the living room. They’re out like lights in less than a minute.

The stress from wanting to do well at the competition rears its ugly head, and Jeonghan often finds himself at the studio, feeding the idiots and making sure they keep hydrated and making them rest.

They end up staying later and later at the studio, and more often than not Jeonghan is dragging them back bodily to his apartment to rest for at least four hours before letting them go again, enlisting Seungkwan, Seokmin and Mingyu to sit on them to make sure they do so.

Finally, the day of the competition comes, and the eager yet nervous trio are escorted to the venue by the rest of them. It’s not the most prestigious competition, but it’s enough to have crowds flocking to buy tickets.

Jeonghan and the others, having pre-ordered tickets, enter the hall after sending the three of them off to the competitors’ area, and find seats that offer them a splendid view of the performers.

There’s still some time to kill before the competition starts, and Jeonghan lets Seungkwan and Seokmin wander off.

Wonwoo and Jihoon don’t like crowds, for all that Jihoon is used to performing in front of them, and Mingyu goes where Wonwoo goes (mostly), and so the four of them remain where they are, ensuring that no one else takes their seats.

Jeonghan sets up the camera so that they’ll be able to send Jisoo a video, and leans back in his seat to wait for time to pass, choosing to observe the people that walk past. The Gemini twins (Jeonghan should really stop calling them that, it’s weird, given that they’re a couple.) are huddled close together, watching something on Wonwoo’s phone, and Jihoon has his eyes closed, resting.

(Mingyu and Junhwi had been delighted to see the marks on their chest, Junhwi’s a scorpion, and Mingyu’s a pair of twins not unlike Wonwoo’s. The representations of Scorpio and Gemini.)

Jeonghan stares at the marks on his wrists, having pushed both wristbands up. He wonders what will happen once they’ve found everyone again, wonders if his marks would disappear. His thoughts are interrupted when the lights dim and the stage lights are .

Jihoon sits up in his seat and the Gemini couple stop watching whatever they were watching and turn their attention to the stage. Beside him, Seungkwan and Seokmin slide into their seats as quietly as they can. Jeonghan makes sure the camera starts recording, and the competition begins.

All the competitors are on stage, and the emcee calls them out one by one. From what Jeonghan had read, they would start with a routine, a choreographed set of moves, before they moved on to freestyle battling. Myungho’s rainbow hair (a spur of the moment decision) is easy to spot, and Jeonghan keeps his eyes on the trio.

The competition goes by in a flash, Seokmin and Seungkwan cheering the loudest when Myungho, Chan and Junhwi are up, and before Jeonghan knows it, he’s holding the camera and tripod, stumbling through the crowd behind the others. It’s easy to follow Mingyu’s tall figure, even though Jeonghan isn’t short himself.

They meet up with the competing trio by the staff entrance, and Jeonghan doesn’t notice there’s someone else with them until the guy’s standing right next to him. He startles when he realises that the guy is next to him, and his left wrist faintly burns as he makes eye contact.

The blonde is smiling at him, opening his mouth to speak when Chan does it for him. “Hyungs! This is Soonyoung-hyung, one of the competitors! Did you guys see him dance, he’s so much better than us oh my god no wonder he won second place, did you see the first place though his moves were sick-” Chan’s excited ramble is muffled by Jihoon clamping a hand around his mouth.

“Shut up and calm down before you speak, maknae,” the shorter hisses and Chan nods, cowed. Soonyoung laughs at their antics, and introduces himself to the group at large, properly. “I’m Kwon Soonyoung, it’s nice to meet all of you.”

Jeonghan fiddles with his wristband, and sees the Taurus mark on his left wrist glowing. He blinks, before turning to look at the blonde dancer with different eyes. “Soonyoung-ssi? Would you like to join us for our celebratory dinner?” Jeonghan asks.

Soonyoung immediately tries to reject his offer, but is cut off by Chan’s excited “Hyung, please come! Please please please!” Soonyoung looks to someone desperately, which happens to be Wonwoo, who shrugs.

“It’s really fine. We’re just celebrating the fact that it’s these three’s first competition together and none of them screwed up that badly,“ Jeonghan says, trying to convince the younger. Finally, the dancer nods and they leave for somewhere quieter that offers good food.

As they’re walking, Jihoon walks next to Jeonghan, and says in a low voice, "I saw you glance at your wrist when you met him.” It’s a question hidden in the statement, and Jeonghan nods in return. Jihoon smiles, there and gone, and continues walking quietly, both of them listening to the ongoing conversation.

They find a restaurant without much fanfare, the ahjumma pushing tables together to accommodate all ten of them. It’s messy and loud, and Jeonghan wouldn’t have it any other way. He takes out his phone and sends a message to their group chat, and those who check their phones immediately brighten up at the news, engaging Soonyoung into their conversation even more.

When they leave the restaurant, Soonyoung has struck up a fast friendship with Seokmin and Seungkwan, and has managed to get Jihoon to laugh more times than Seungkwan and Seokmin have combined. Jeonghan knows, because they tried.

(It was a trainwreck and ended with Jihoon smacking the two upside their heads for irritating him with stupid jokes with dumb punchlines that weren’t even funny, even though the two of them were laughing even as they told the joke.)

Chan is begging for dance tips, and Myungho and Junhwi are asking if they can dance together some time soon. The Gemini couple are talking quietly to each other, only to be interrupted when Soonyoung jumps onto Wonwoo’s back.

He immediately falls off, Wonwoo not prepared for the extra weight and stumbling. Mingyu laughs, but Jeonghan sees a mischievous glint enter Jihoon’s eyes before the younger is making a running jump for Mingyu’s back. Mingyu’s hands come up, used to this already.

(Jihoon had first discovered this when he realised that Mingyu had hidden the coffee powder and his stash of candy where only he could reach, and had promptly jumped onto Mingyu’s back and demanded that he walk to the kitchen, where the shorter retrieved the coffee powder and jumped off Mingyu’s back, hissing at him for hiding his elixir from him.

Since then, Jihoon had made a habit of jumping onto Mingyu’s back whenever he felt like it, and Wonwoo only watched on, far too amused by this.)

Jihoon then turns to Soonyoung, eyes gleaming in challenge. If Jihoon hadn’t had his pride, he would have stuck his tongue out. As it is, Soonyoung’s eyes brightens at the challenge, and takes a leap for Wonwoo’s back again.

Wonwoo catches him this time, and the four of them make quite the sight - two brown haired guys piggybacking a pink-haired and blonde guy respectively. Everyone is laughing, and Jeonghan takes out his phone to take some photos for memories’ sake.

With Seokmin, Seungkwan, and Soonyoung getting along like a house on fire, and Chan, Myungho and Junhwi’s regular dance meetups with Soonyoung, it isn’t long before Jeonghan is bringing the box of rings out of his backpack again, and letting Soonyoung choose one from it.

They’re in the studio that the dancers in their group booked, and they were all lying down haphazardly when Jeonghan took out the box. Now, they’re all seated surrounding Soonyoung, watching as he slips the ring with the mark of Taurus onto the last finger of his right hand.

Myungho’s fast reflexes save the blonde’s head from making an unfortunate meeting with the wooden floor, and the conversation is picked up again as they wait for Soonyoung to wake up.

Jeonghan’s hands against his temples are welcome when he wakes up, the memories helping to sort themselves out thanks to the older. As is their routine now, introductions are made once more, and roles are given out for the blanket fort they’ll be building later.

As it is, the whole group of them gets up amidst much groaning and complaining, and go off to find some dinner. Over dinner, Jeonghan informs them of their schedule over the next few days. For those who don’t have school, they’ll be helping Jisoo move into his new apartment only a block away from Jeonghan’s apartment.

He would be landing in two days, and Jeonghan already has the keys to his apartment. He enlists the younger ones to help him in cleaning the apartment and making it livable, having been untouched for a few months, the last Jeonghan knew.

Soonyoung, surprisingly, brings out the more fun side of Jisoo, a large contrast from his usual quiet manner, and they are usually found fooling around and joking with each other. Their greetings are usually loud, and Jeonghan is already filing it away in his brain under 'Things to filter out’.

The triangle on his left wrist is now pointing to Aquarius, which means that Leo will be the last to be found. Jeonghan wonders who will be their leader, the one who will be able to bring them all home. He wonders if Leo will refuse to go back.

Seungkwan is eager to find Aquarius, the occasionally aloof and temperamental constellation being the one he was closest to before they fell. They all are eager to find the last two members of their group. Jeonghan, as Libra, tries his best, but they need Leo for the stability he provides, the sense that it’ll all be alright that he constantly carries with him.

They are that much closer to returning home, and Jeonghan can tell that the others are beginning to get restless, eager to go home.
 

---

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---

When the dreams don’t come for a week, Jeonghan doesn’t think much of it. It took almost a month before the dreams about Cancer came, so this time might be the same. When it’s been a month and a half, though, that’s when Jeonghan starts to worry.

Everyone is busy with school and the like, but Jeonghan can tell that everyone is starting to become antsy at the fact that they’re still missing two people. Every time they gather, they give him questioning glances, but Jeonghan just shakes his head in return.

They attend classes like usual, but Jeonghan is getting more and more distracted over the fact that it’s been close to two months since they found Taurus, and he still has not gotten any dreams. He wonders what’s going on back at home, whether they’re having any trouble with finding the others.

The group chat is as lively as ever, and Jeonghan’s phone is constantly buzzing, what with the kids all talking over one another about their day, the things they saw and did and the like. Playful arguments are a dime a dozen, but between Wonwoo, Jisoo, Jihoon and Jeonghan, nothing escalates into real fights.

They’re busy for a while, helping Jisoo settle into his new apartment. Jeonghan jokes that they can stop hanging around his apartment so often, but isn’t surprised when even Jisoo comes over to his apartment instead. He does draw the line at having Jisoo’s housewarming party at his own apartment, though.

The party involves all eleven of them, and despite the small number of people, it’s the rowdiest party Jeonghan has been to in all the years he’s been going to parties, which is saying something.

He has to do volume control numerous times so that Jisoo doesn’t get kicked out before a week has passed, has watched Soonyoung, Chan and Myungho dance in the centre of the living room to hiphop songs even as Junhwi watches fondly and Seungkwan and Seokmin to girl group songs, Jisoo occasionally joining in.

Wonwoo and Mingyu are making out in the corner, but Jeonghan doesn’t have the heart to tell them to stop, given that he’s the only semi-sober awake person in the room, Jihoon knocked out in one of the rooms. He keeps an eye on the couple all the same, because if they go any further he’s going to have to break them apart. Or at least direct them to another room.

Soon enough though, everyone falls asleep, the four dancers slumped over each other on the living room floor, Wonwoo and Mingyu in the corner that they were huddled in, and the three who danced to girl group songs in another pile near the four. Jeonghan shakes his head, smiling, and switches off the music.

He cleans up as much as he can, before he gets blankets to cover everyone with. (He had to dig through three boxes labeled 'Bedroom stuff’ before he finds the blankets. Why Jisoo has that many pillows, he doesn’t want to know. Maybe it’s comfortable having more pillows?)

After he does that, he switches off the lights and goes to join Jihoon in the bedroom, because why sleep on the floor when there’s a perfectly good bed in the next room?

He wakes up the next morning and the entire apartment is quiet. Jihoon is still conked out next to him, and Jeonghan gets out of bed and pads to the kitchen. Everyone is still asleep, and he goes about preparing a greasy breakfast and painkillers to help everyone with the hangover they’re bound to get.

Junhwi and Myungho stumble into the kitchen, being early risers. They’re both clutching their heads, and Jeonghan pushes the painkillers in their direction. Junhwi mumbles out a thank you that is barely understandable, and both of them swallow the painkillers before slumping over.

Jeonghan plates the bacon and eggs, sliding it to them, and watches them slowly pick their heads up and start eating the greasy breakfast. The process is repeated with each boy that stumbles their way to the kitchen, and Jeonghan watches amusedly as ten zombies eat their food silently. (Jihoon hadn’t been that drunk, but he hates waking up in the mornings.)

Jeonghan himself only has bad breath to tell him that he drank last night, and had washed up before he started making breakfast.

After breakfast has been eaten and cleared, and everyone is feeling more alive, Jeonghan informs them of the good news - he had had a dream last night. Everyone cheers, albeit a bit weakly, and Jeonghan laughs at their zombified actions.

“It’s a weird dream, though. I’m just standing in my apartment, but there’s loud sounds coming from outside.” Everyone is too hungover or sleepy to think about anything right now, and so another impromptu sleepfest as everyone falls asleep again. Jeonghan thanks his lucky stars (ha, see, pun) that they’d had the party on a Sunday, and throws blankets over everyone again.

He walks the one block to his own apartment to shower and wash up properly, and returns to Jisoo’s apartment to knock out next to Soonyoung.

When Jeonghan next wakes up, there’s quiet conversation going on amongst them, and Jeonghan yawns, sitting up to stretch. The eleven of them spend the day like that, lazing about and only getting up to go to the washroom or get food.

Finally, they leave Jisoo’s apartment late at night, Jisoo sending them off one by one at the door, and Jeonghan and Seungkwan walk back to their apartment.

Jeonghan wakes up the next morning, feeling off-kilter. There had no dream that night. He goes to prepare breakfast for the still-asleep Seungkwan, and feels a sense of deja-vu when he hears loud noises coming from outside the apartment.

When he goes to check, he sees a moving truck and men moving boxes into the apartment next to his, and sticks his head in the door. He sees a boy and girl, playing with each other, and a couple directing the men. The boy looks up and notices him, coming closer to him.

When he comes closer, Jeonghan registers the Caucasian face and that the boy looks to be around Seungkwan’s age, or maybe Chan’s, and is mildly surprised when the boy speaks and fluent Korean comes out.

“Can I help you?” he asks, and Jeonghan shakes his head, smiling. “I’m your next door neighbour, and was just wondering what all the ruckus was about,” he explains, and the boy makes a face of understanding.

“I’m Yoon Jeonghan,” he introduces himself, but the boy isn’t looking at him anymore. Instead, he’s looking at… his wrists? Jeonghan follows his line of sight and realises that he forgot to wear his wristbands.

He’s about to cover his wrists when he notices the Aquarius sign glowing, and then the boy asks, “What are those markings on your wrists? Is it glowing?”

Jeonghan quickly covers them, and the boy looks at him. “What’s your name?” Jeonghan asks. “I’m Choi Hansol, and this is Choi Hangyeon,” he says, introducing him and his sister, who had come up behind to peer at the stranger.

“It’s nice to meet you both. I need to go back now, but I’ll come over later again, for a welcome gift, yeah?” Jeonghan says, hands wrapped around his wrists. He quickly makes an escape before Hansol can ask more questions, and closes the door behind him.

Seungkwan is awake now, eating breakfast. “What’s going on outside?” he asks between mouthfuls, and Jeonghan sighs and says, “Aquarius is our new next door neighbour.” Seungkwan drops his fork, and stares open-mouthed at Jeonghan. “Close your mouth, dongsaeng. I can see the half-chewed food in your mouth and it’s gross as hell.”

Seungkwan shuts his mouth and swallows, before speaking. “Are you sure, hyung? Can we go over now?” Jeonghan nods, showing him his left wrist, which is still glowing, but fainter. “We’ll go over later, I have to prepare a welcome gift first. What do you think, cookies? Cake?”

“Chocolate cake!” The exclamation brings a smile to Jeonghan’s face and he nods. “Chocolate cake it is.”

Seungkwan is busy messaging the group chat, telling them that Jeonghan found Aquarius, and two hours later, Jeonghan is holding the chocolate cake in both hands, still warm, and Seungkwan is knocking on the door.

A Caucasian woman opens the door, and speaks English. Jeonghan is thrown off for a moment, before her husband, Korean, comes up. “Hello,” he says, and Jeonghan gives a quick bow. “Hello! We’re your new neighbours and thought I would bring a welcome gift for you,” Jeonghan says, showing them the chocolate cake.

They’re quickly ushered in by the two, and Jeonghan places the cake on the dinner table. “I’m Yoon Jeonghan, and he’s Boo Seungkwan,” Jeonghan introduces the two of them, and Seungkwan waves energetically, greeting, “Good morning!" 

The couple smile at them, and the mother calls in English, "Vernon, Sofia, we have guests!” At the two’s bewildered glances, her husband explains. “My wife only speaks English, so the entire family is fluent in Korean and English.”

Jeonghan and Seungkwan nod in understanding, and Jeonghan asks, “Can I ask when you moved to Korea?” The man laughs and replies, “Oh, we moved here when Vernon, that’s Hansol, was around three, so maybe fourteen, fifteen years ago. How old are the two of you?”

“I’m 22, and Seungkwan’s 19,” Jeonghan informs the older man, and he replies, “Oh, my son is 19 too! My daughter is 13.” The two in mention come out of a room, and their father quickly tells them to greet their guests.

They go through introductions again, and soon the four of them are talking amongst each other like long-lost friends. Sofia, or Hangyeol, as she tells them to call her, is a little terror, making jokes and playing around with her brother. Hansol is the calmer one, and is currently talking to Seungkwan as Jeonghan chats with Hangyeol. 

By the time they leave, Seungkwan and Hansol have exchanged numbers, and Hangyeol has fallen in love with Jeonghan. It turns out that Hansol and Seungkwan have a lot in common, and when they get back to the apartment, Seungkwan turns to Jeonghan and says, “I can’t wait for him to remember, hyung.” Jeonghan smiles and ruffles his hair.

Over the next few weeks, Hansol is introduced to the rest of their friends, and Jisoo is delighted to meet someone who can speak English. The American-born quickly wins over Hansol’s mom’s heart as well, given by her loud exclamations every time she sees Jisoo.

Hansol is a welcome presence in their group, now twelve instead eleven. Hangyeol is a shadow of her brother, and they have fun amusing her and listening to her talk about whatever she’s interested in lately.

More often than not, the two of them come over frequently and hang out with them after Jeonghan and Seungkwan’s classes. Seungkwan is eager for Hansol to remember, and Jeonghan eventually relents two weeks in.

Hansol is asked to leave his sister at home for a day, and his mother agrees readily, understanding the need for an 'all boys’ day’, as Jisoo put it. Once again, everyone is gathered, and Jeonghan goes to take the box of rings out. 

There’s only two rings left, and Hansol, on Seungkwan’s encouragement to choose either one, gravitates towards the one with the sign of Aquarius. He puts it on, and immediately knocks out.

Seungkwan has his head propped in his lap, and everyone is chatting softly when Hansol comes to. Seungkwan calls for Jeonghan, who does his thing, and Hansol opens his eyes when he feels less like his head is going to split open in half.

The memories are at the forefront of his mind, and he glances from person to person. Everyone re-introduces themselves, and they settle down again. Jeonghan explains the markings on his wrists, and Hansol nods in understanding.

Later that night when Hansol returns home to grab blankets for the blanket fort they’re building, he’s going to take a quick shower when he notices the representation of Aquarius on his chest, the water-bearer.
 

---

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---

Leo is the last, their leader a prominent absence when they gather. Jeonghan checks his left wrist out of habit, and just as expected, the triangle is pointed towards the sign of Leo. There are no dreams for a day or two, even as Hansol settles into their group with ease.

As expected, Aquarius loves being in their group, and is often suggesting places that they can all go together, but all Jeonghan can think about is the ruckus they’ll make wherever they go, and prays that no one will call the police on them for being public nuisances.

The group chat becomes rowdier than ever, and Jeonghan’s had to turn off his phone so that he could concentrate in class. (He wants to tell everyone to shut up for two hours and give themselves a break, but he can tell they’re all having too much fun poking fun at each other to try.)

That night, Jeonghan starts dreaming again. He dreams of children’s laughter, happy and shrieking, and an empty playground, and wakes up with questions in his mind, because that was the playground he used to play in as a child.

Over the next few days Jeonghan continues dreaming of the playground, but this time he’s dreaming of a pair of children, two boys, playing with each other. They’re sparring with their swords, which are really just two long, thin branches that they had found.

Jarringly, Jeonghan remembers doing the exact thing. He had been six or seven, he thinks, and had been playing with the kid next door, who was the same age as him. They had grown up together, played with each other since Jeonghan moved to the neighbourhood when he was two, barely toddling behind his mother.

The next night, the dream is of the two boys again, but this time they’re playing in the sandbox. This, Jeonghan remembers as well. He is older in this dream, compared to the one from previous night, but not by much. Maybe a few months. 

They had been playing in the sandbox when the other boy accidentally threw sand into his eyes and he had cried for a solid hour, the boy apologizing profusely and giving him hugs, tears in his eyes as well. The memory plays out in his dream, and Jeonghan thinks it’s a sign.

The dreams over the next few weeks play out the same way, Jeonghan reliving his childhood with the boy, but for all that Jeonghan tries, he cannot recall the other boy’s name. It’s been irritating him to no end, that he remembers so many fond memories with the other but yet cannot remember his name.

The others are patient with him, telling him there’s no rush, but Jeonghan wants to go home. Wants to see the other stars from other constellations, wants to see Earth from up there instead of being on it.

Jihoon starts meeting up with Suga, the producer and arranger that he had worked with when he was releasing his compilation. Apparently, Suga wanted a fresh mind on the album he had been working on, and so Woozi, the esteemed concert pianist, had been roped into it.

When Jihoon starts complaining about lack of sustenance in the studio, Jeonghan and Junhwi jump at the chance to make food for the smallest member of their group. After that, Junhwi has to rush off to meet Soonyoung for some thing or the other. Probably dance practice again, Jeonghan muses as he packs the lunch boxes.

And that is how Jeonghan ended up here, staring up at the imposing building with lunch boxes in his hands. He sighs, walking into the building and to the receptionist’s desk. “May I help you?” the lady asks him politely, if not a bit starstruck.

Jeonghan had decided to let his hair grow out, much like in that very first dream he had gotten, way before he had found himself again. It gives him an 'ethereal look’, as Mingyu likes to say. He smiles at the receptionist, and says, “I’m here for Jihoon? Lee Jihoon? He’s working with Suga, if I recall correctly.”

“P-please hold on a moment,” she says, not immune to Jeonghan’s charms. She picks up the phone and presses a few buttons. “Hello? Min-ssi? Ah yes, I have someone here that is looking for Lee-ssi… Yes sir, I’ll let him through.”

Jeonghan waits patiently as she prepares a visitor’s pass for him. “Thank you for waiting, just head up to the seventeenth floor. Min-ssi said to find them in the second room on the left.” Jeonghan smiles and thanks the receptionist, before walking towards the lift lobby.

The elevator music is classical, as Jeonghan expected, and there is a soft 'ding!’ as the lift reaches the seventeenth floor. Jeonghan steps out and turns to the left, knocking on the door of the second room he comes across.

There is some shuffling audible and the door opens. Jeonghan looks up from fiddling with the lunch boxes to come face to face with someone that looks eerily like Jihoon. “Woah, you look just like Jihoon,” comes out of his mouth involuntarily as he is invited into the room, and Jihoon snaps out a quick “Shut up, hyung.”

“What? You do look like him! Or he looks like you, whoever is older,” Jeonghan defends himself. “Yoongi-hyung is older, and no, we do not look alike in any way,” Jihoon says firmly, “Now please tell me you have food with you because I’m starving.”

Jihoon turns away from the computer screen when he smells food, and pushes Yoongi out of the way. “Junhwi and I didn’t know what Yoongi-ssi would like, so we might have gone a bit overboard…” Jeonghan says, even as he unpacks the lunch boxes.

Yoongi and Jihoon gape at the increasing number of boxes on their table, and Jihoon quickly breaks out of his stupor, grabbing a random box and a pair of chopsticks that Jeonghan so kindly passes to him, sinking down into the sofa to eat.

Before he can, though, there was a groan as the pile of blankets on the sofa moves. Jeonghan jumps as a face reveals itself from the depths of the blankets. “Uhh, Jihoon?” Jeonghan asks.

“Mm?” Jihoon says, stuffing his mouth with more food. Next to him, Yoongi begins eating as well, digging in with relish. “Who’s that?” Jeonghan points at the bundle the two are currently sitting on.

“Oh, this? This is Choi Seungcheol, the artiste Yoongi-hyung and I are working our asses off for,” Jihoon says absentmindedly, even as the man in question sits up, to much grumbling from the two sitting on him as they shift.

The name catches Jeonghan’s attention, and he sits up straight from where he had sunk into the chair Jihoon had evacuated in front of the computer screen. He definitely remembers that name now.

“Someone called me?” Seungcheol looks around blearily, rubbing at his eyes before they widen at the sight of food.

“No one did, now shut up and eat,” Yoongi says, and Seungcheol does so obediently, reaching for a spare pair of chopsticks. Jeonghan stares at the other, taking in all the ways Choi Seungcheol has changed in the nine years they had lost contact with each other.

“Choi Seungcheol, huh,” Jeonghan muses, looking at his left wrist. It is glowing again, and really, Jeonghan isn’t surprised. Seungcheol looks up from eating when Jeonghan calls his name, and Jeonghan quickly pulls his wristband back in place.

“…Do I know you? You seem awfully familiar,” Seungcheol says, head tilted.
Jeonghan snorts. “I’d better be familiar, Seungcheollie. You pushed me into the pool when we were seven and made me cry.”

Yoongi and Jihoon laugh at the same time, even as Seungcheol slowly puts down one of the boxes that Jeonghan had so carefully prepared with Junhwi, scanning his face.

“Yoon Jeonghan?” Seungcheol asks carefully, and Jeonghan nods, grin splitting his face. Seungcheol’s face brightens considerably, and he stands up, walking towards Jeonghan. “Jeonghannie! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!”

“Nine years,” Jeonghan says, pulling Seungcheol in for a hug. He tucks his head into the crook of his shoulder, blinking back tears. This is him. Choi Seungcheol, the final piece of their mismatched thirteen-piece puzzle. He has finally found Leo.

When the two of them finally separate, Jeonghan notices Jihoon staring at him with wide eyes, already connecting the dots. The childhood friend that Jeonghan had grown up with was Leo, and if Seungcheol is that childhood friend…

Jeonghan nods, answering Jihoon’s unspoken question, and Jihoon eyesmiles at him before diving back into his food, in a much happier mood.

Jeonghan lets Seungcheol go back to his food, and chats with the three of them as they wipe each and every box that Jeonghan brought clean, reminiscing with Seungcheol over the childhood that they had shared.

Jeonghan leaves the studio with Seungcheol’s number in his phone and a promise to hang out soon to catch up with each other, empty lunch boxes in hand.

As soon as Jeonghan sends the three words 'I found Leo!’ to the group chat, it explodes, everyone bombarding the chat with messages. Jeonghan holds back on glancing at his phone for the entire bus ride back, and ignores it when he is washing all the lunch boxes.

He finally sits on his couch, and looks at his phone. Everyone is excited over the fact that their leader has finally been found, with only Jihoon being the calm one, what with him sending private messages to Jeonghan complaining about how he can’t focus on work because of Jeonghan.

Jeonghan replies with 'You get this amount of messages everyday from us, what are you talking about.’ and receives no reply. The others, mostly Soonyoung, pester him to introduce Leo to them, 'hyung, what are you waiting for’.

Jeonghan replies, telling them to be patient for just a while more. That done, he sends a quick text to Seungcheol, asking if he is free in the next week, what with his possibly busy schedule. He gets back a confirmation message asking when and where, and Jeonghan sends him the address of the cafe Mingyu works at.

Over the next few weeks, Jeonghan and Seungcheol text each other frequently, and meet up a few times just to hang out and talk. Given that Seungcheol already knows Jihoon, Jeonghan introduces the rest of their motley crew to them when they meet up on various days.

The four dancers are introduced when Jeonghan asks to meet at the dance studio they had booked, Jisoo, Mingyu and Wonwoo at the cafe when they meet up for the first time, Seungkwan, Seokmin and Soonyoung the second time they go back to the cafe.

Seungcheol takes everything in stride, making fast friends with everyone. It isn’t long before Jeonghan makes the decision to let him remember, and three weeks after they’d met again, Jeonghan asks Seungcheol to meet him at his apartment.

The others are already there when Seungcheol walks in after being let in by Jihoon, and there is a spot left for him on the sofa. Jeonghan had put the box on the table right in front of the sofa, and there are twelve pairs of eyes staring at Seungcheol as he looks around awkwardly.

“Right,” Jeonghan coughs, opening the box. The lone ring remaining in the box stares back at him, and Jeonghan takes a deep breath. “Do you trust me, Seungcheol?" 

At Seungcheol’s tentative nod, Jeonghan s the box at him. "Put that ring on, please.” Seungcheol scans everyone’s hands in the room, and notes that everyone is wearing one. He also notices the weird markings on Jeonghan’s wrists, but decides to save the questions for later.

He says nothing, taking the ring and running a thumb over the sign of Leo engraved on it, before he slides it onto the last finger of his right hand. The memories fill his head the moment he slips it on, and Seungcheol loses all sight of everything except them.

It isn’t until later that he realises that he had out, and Jeonghan’s hands are on his temples. There is a burning feeling on his left wrist, and Seungcheol brings his wrist up to see. The sign of Leo stares back at him, and there is commotion around him as everyone looks at their wrists as well.

Jeonghan stares at the sign of the Libra that has taken the place of the ring of circles and the black triangle that has been on his wrist since the day he was born, and the compass on his right wrist ceases all movement, the circle of marks instead appearing below it.

Seungcheol clears his throat, smiling when everyone looks at him. “Who’s who, again?” Seungcheol asks awkwardly. The others immediately clamour to introduce themselves again, and Myungho’s shy introduction is received with a fierce hug and a solemn apology from their proud lion, their leader.

“Libra. Jeonghan.” Seungcheol calls, Jeonghan’s head snapping up from where he had been rubbing his thumb against the sign of Libra. Seungcheol smiles, and Jeonghan smiles in return, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Thank you for finding all of us. For being willing to bring us all home.” Jeonghan starts full-out sobbing then, so, so relieved to have their leader back. He is quickly brought into a hug by Seungcheol, which ends up as a dogpile slash group hug as everyone joins in.

The blanket fort that is built that night is grander than any other they have ever built, Jisoo making a quick trip to his apartment and Hansol next door to grab as many blankets and pillows as they can.

As they do that, Seungcheol stares at the lion on his chest for ten minutes before the ruckus outside brings him out of his stupor and makes him curious enough to go see what all the commotion is about.

Everyone is sharing stories about how they had grown up before Jeonghan had found them and helped them remember, and Jeonghan can’t remember the last time he had been this happy. He falls asleep that night to the deep, even breaths of twelve other people coming from various parts of the room, and Jeonghan breathes easy, unbelievably content and happy that they are finally complete.
 

---

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---

The thirteen of them, after much discussion, decide not to head home right away. They have lives here, after all. As the part of the zodiac, they will live much longer than regular humans, and can head home any time they want to.

For the first time in his life since Jeonghan can remember, he has no dreams for more than two months, and he is unbearably happy about that fact, because it means that he has finally found everyone. He has fulfilled the mission he had given himself, all those light years ago.

The thirteen of them meet up as often as they could, celebrating birthdays, graduations, anything and everything under the sun. Mingyu starts his own cafe where Jeonghan occasionally helps to bake for, and Jihoon goes on a country-wide tour. Soonyoung and the other three dancers open a dance school, where they teach small children how to count the beats and follow them.

Wonwoo opens a bookshop right next to Mingyu’s cafe, and they knock down the wall between the two so that anyone can read a book even as they drink from coffee cups. The quaint book cafe quickly turns into their favourite haunt, and the thirteen of them are known even to other regulars of the cafe.

Jisoo, Seungkwan and Seokmin start busking, performing just for the sake of performing, and Seungcheol releases a new album, and is off doing promotions for it. The group chat is as active as ever, people sending pictures and texting random stuff at all hours of the day.

Years pass, and when Seungcheol and Jihoon fade into obscurity, when Mingyu and Wonwoo’s cafe is handed over to a successor carefully chosen and trained, when Soonyoung and the others stop teaching at their dance school, handing over the reins to the dancers that they had taught from a young age, the thirteen of them pack their luggages, and leave to travel the world.

They go everywhere, hiking up Mt. Fuji, walking the entire Great Wall of China, kayaking in the Caribbeans and camping in the forests of Indonesia. They take a hot air balloon in Canada, do bungee jumping in Florida, paragliding in Albania.

They do everything they can think of, and when they cannot think of anything more, the world has forgotten them. Everyone they have known is gone by now, and the thirteen of them lay down in a quiet meadow where no one has come across before, in some unknown country.

They stare up into the night sky, and point out constellations, their friends, to each other. There’s a big gaping space where they should be, and it’s quiet for a while when Seungkwan says that.

“Are we ready to go home, now?” Seungcheol’s question is quiet, and everyone murmurs their agreement. They stand up, arranging themselves into a circle. On Seungcheol’s instruction, they make a thumbs up with their right hands and put them out, palm to the ground. They grab onto the thumb of the person on their right, and they go quiet again.

Their rings shine under the moonlight, signs of the zodiac staring back at the night sky. “Ready?” Seungcheol asks again, quietly, and everyone nods. 

Seungcheol starts emitting a faint glow, and soon everyone is glowing as well.

It gets brighter, and brighter, until there’s nothing but light where the thirteen of them were standing. When the light weakens, they’re not there any more. Not their corporeal forms, no, but they’re stars.

Thirteen glowing constellations shoot up from that meadow, and astronomers note that day as the day there were thirteen shooting stars that were not falling to the ground, but towards the sky.

Three years after that, the zodiac constellations reappear one by one, close to a hundred years since they disappeared from the night sky. Once again, astronomers are befuddled, and no one has answers.

Nothing remains in that meadow from which the thirteen of them had headed home, but if one were to go to Gotjawal Forest in Jeju, Korea and hike for hours, they might come across a large clearing with various rock formations.

If they were to be brave enough, and reached a hand into the small rock cave that is one of the formations, they might find a box.

A long, thin wooden box, with the signs of the zodiac engraved on the cover.
 

---

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---

Are you sure about this?” Polaris asked. The older star had come up to him, as he looked down at the planet that now housed his family, all twelve of them.

“I’m sure, Polaris. I trust that you’ll guide us well,” Libra said in return. It was quiet for a while, before Polaris spoke again. “If I had known taking Ophiuchus away would be the start of this tragedy-”

The North Star was cut off by Libra. “That wouldn’t have helped in any way. Cancer, the old one, would have faded away anyway. The current Cancer would still face the same amount of apathy, even though it was not his fault.

"We were the reason Cancer chose to fell, which means that we have to take the responsiblity to bring him back.” The 'since I’m the only one left, I have to do it’ went unsaid, and Polaris nodded in acknowledgement.

Sirius then came up to them. “There’s not much I can do to help you when you’re down there,” Sirius said quietly. “I’ll be able to give you hints on where to find them with my scrying pool, through dreams, but that’s as far as my ability to help goes.”

“Here.” Polaris handed Libra something. “I can’t accept this! It’s your compass, the one you use to manage all of us stars and constellations!” Libra said, pushing the compass back.

“It’s my spare. Keep that. I’ll be able to guide you to whichever of your family is closest to you, but it’s up to you to find them yourself,” Polaris said, giving Libra the compass once again.

“…Thank you. Thank you both.” Libra thanked them profusely.

“Just bring them back home. It’s too quiet without them here,” Sirius said, laughing slightly. Libra and Polaris laughed as well, and Libra stared one last time at the planet he was going to be willingly falling to soon, and turned away.

As Libra mentally prepared himself to fall, Polaris asked, “I know I’ve asked you this many times already, but are you sure about this? You may not come back for a very long time. Time works differently here as compared to down there.”

Libra looked at the two stars, the North and South celestial leaders, and nodded, smiling with a tinge of sadness. “I have to do it, as I’m the only one left that is able to do so.”

The next thing Libra knew was the sensation of falling, and then nothing.

When Libra next wakes up, he’s slumped over a box of rings that he knows he will protect with his life, Sirius’s dreams in his memories and Polaris’s compass on his right wrist.

Memories are sorting themselves out in his head, and he takes a deep breath. He’s Yoon Jeonghan, sometimes Libra, and his mission is to find his family. 

 

{fin}