***

The sun had mercilessly set in the horizon when Baekhyun went over his plan with the villagers one more time to increase their chances of success and survival.

“You’re certain this will work, Baekhyun?” Jae asked him a sixth time after she made sure to shelter the children and elderly for safety.

“We have to try, Princess,” he answered.

“But, how will we light the lanterns?” she asked again, to which Baekhyun smiled smugly at her.

“With fire, of course! We’ll light them before the Jade Army arrives.”

“But what if the wind blows too strongly or the fire spreads? The village would burn,” she reminded him. “These lanterns are made of paper. The village is made of wood.”

Baekhyun made a face and cringed before he sighed and groaned inwardly. He felt like he was swallowing a big piece of his pride when he realized what he was supposed to do. “I’m the God of the Sun, Jae, don’t worry. I’ll make this work.”

The moment when the first signs of the Jade Army approaching was seen, Baekhyun signaled some of the men to start random bonfires around the village, while others set off the loud and explosive firecrackers.

Closing his eyes, Baekhyun summoned his light and lit the flame-shaped red lanterns that were strategically strewn around the village. This would create the illusion of it being set on fire and hence, destroyed. Baekhyun figured that once the Jade Army saw that the village was already wrecked, there was no point in them to destroy it again. It should be a fool-proof plan, not taking into account that he was the fool who thought of it in the first place.

“I hope this works,” Jae whispered nervously next to him, watching quietly at how his orbs of light lit the lanterns and safely moved inside them to mimic actual fire.

The vast and grand Jade Army landed at the edge of the village, fully prepared to do the Jade Emperor’s bidding.

Baekhyun was sweating at his point as he could clearly see the astonished expressions on the soldier’s faces. The illusion Baekhyun had created had obviously thrown them off, especially when they noted that all the villagers had disappeared.

“The village is burning,” one of the men said, “What should we tell the Jade Emperor?”

A big smile formed on Baekhyun’s face as the soldiers seemed to believe that the village was truly destroyed.

“We should report back to the Emperor. His will has been done.”

“But, by whom? By what?” a skeptical soldier wondered as Jae worriedly glanced at Baekhyun.

“Okay, phase two,” he murmured as he startled the Jade Army when his light slowly lit up a monstrous, huge lantern, crafted from a multitude of colors, shaped like a horrid, firebreathing beast. Using a hollow cone, Baekhyun magnified the volume of his voice as he started growling and grunting, Jae staring wide-eyed at him, trying not to laugh.

“Who dares disturb my slumber?” Baekhyun spoke with an exaggerated deep voice, as hidden villagers made the lantern monster move.

“We are soldiers of the Jade Army, Monster, sent to destroy this village by order of the Jade Emperor himself. It seems, however, that you have beaten us to it.”

Just for the extra special effect, Baekhyun signaled some of the villagers and firecrackers burst louldy, as though their monster was responsible for it.

“This land is mine!” the monster growled. “I’ll not have any army come here to claim it as theirs!”

“Are we to believe that you have obliterated this village, along with everyone that lived here?” a soldier asked, thankfully keeping his distance.

“They all live in my belly now! Ha, ha, ha!” Baekhyun yelled through the cone. “Tell your Jade Emperor that I will not share my spoils and that I appreciate him not sending anyone to claim my land. I conquered this village on my own, and alone I shall stay here!” he exclaimed, grunting and growling as he went. He signaled Jae to keep quiet as she couldn’t prevent from snickering.

“Very well, Monster. You have made our task easier. The Jade Emperor will happily leave you and this land at peace, however you see fit. Our task is done. We shall take our leave,” the soldier spoke as Baekhyun heaved a sigh of relief.

“Very well indeed. Do leave and never return again!” he shone the light in the monster’s eyes brighter as the Jade Army turned around and left. No one dared to make a sound until the entire army was out of sight. One by one, the villagers emerged from hiding, tentatively cheering when they realized they escaped the wrath of the Jade Emperor. They cheered as they doused the fires, but kept the lanterns on.

Baekhyun felt a little more than proud of himself that his ruse worked according to plan, but was confused when he had doused the lights in the lanterns and was met by protests.

“The Jade Army is gone though, you have no need for the lanterns anymore,” he remarked as Jae chuckled and gave him a lit up lantern to hold.

“You saved this village with your lanterns and your light, Baekhyun. That is no small feat. Without your light the village would have burned, without your monster, the Jade Army would have investigated the village and found out about the deception,” she clarified while Baekhyun blushed and shuffled on his feet.

“It’s just a bunch of silly lanterns, no big deal. They’re just deceptive in their strength,” he muttered, suddenly missing his home fiercely. Would the Lantern Festival be over by the time he got back? If he ever got back…

“No big deal? Surely the God of the Sun isn’t this humble?” Jae teased. “Baekhyun, you defeated a powerful enemy with light. Not with weapons or violent force that could have claimed lives. You used light. In all its beauty and weakness and strength. That should be celebrated!” she exclaimed, suddenly excited. “I hereby declare this victorious day to be remembered and celebrated in honor of the ingenious God of the Sun, who saved this village from certain destruction, the Impeccable Baekhyun!” Jae announced cheerfully.

“You forgot devastatingly handsome,” Baekhyun joked as Jae laughed.

“Of course, how could I forget?” she smiled as the villagers celebrated and lit up more fire crackers.

Jae moved towards him then, suddenly giving him a sweet, chaste kiss on the lips that lasted way too short in his opinion, though he was too shocked to process everything.

“Thank you, Baekhyun,” she said as he only grinned like an idiot at her. Jae continued smiling softly at him when the light of the lanterns started to brighten even more intensely until he was forced to crush his eyes shut.

Remember and celebrate!

“Hrm…Princess…” Baekhyun was pouting his lips while making strange kissy sounds before he opened his eyes and startled awake. With eyes the size of the sun itself, Baekhyun was staring at the empty woods where no one was around for miles. He grabbed his clothes and couldn’t see a hint of gold in his attire. Dazed and utterly confused, Baekhyun looked down on his history books and let out an embarrassed whine.

“Ancient Greece: Religion and Culture… I knew you were an idiot, Baekhyun,” he grunted to himself as he gathered his belongings, still feeling flustered. Then, as a twinge of shock surged through his body, he checked his watch for the time and rushed towards the town square: the Lantern Festival would start soon and he didn't want to miss it.

***

“Noona! Share this tangyuan with me!” Sehun’s voice called out as he sassily ignored his brothers while holding out the sticky, sweet riceball in front of Jae’s face. “Say ah!” Sehun ordered as Jae laughed.

“Ah!” she repeated as Sehun fed her under the loud protests of the others.

“How come you only share your food with Jae-noona?” Chen whined as he shook his head in disapproval at the maknae.

“I can share with you if you want, hyung,” Sehun teased, knowing full well that Chen’s complaint was more about the fact that he got to share something with Jae.

“Yah, this brat! I’ll kick your ,” he remarked, though he couldn’t help but smirk when Sehun happily shimmied in front of him to even more.

“This Festival is really fun,” Jae noted as she looked around. “Too bad that not all the lanterns are lit, though,” she rubbed the back of her neck.

“Usually they are, since Baekhyun is the one that “fixes” the power to be able to light all of the lanterns,” Suho explained, thinking he was subtle about the conspiring wink when he mentioned Baekhyun.

“Where is Baekhyun, anyway? I know that he felt a little bad today, but I didn’t think he’d skip the Festival altogether…” Jae asked, standing on her toes to look for him.

“He said he needed some time alone, noona. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” Chanyeol answered, though he didn’t look all too sure, either.

“It feels weird not having Baekhyun around though. The Lantern Festival is kind of his thing,” Luhan mentioned as he leaned against Xiumin, who was nodding along to his words.

“Some of the lanterns look kind of sad not being lit up as well,” Lay noticed, puffing up his lips as he looked at the large phoenix lantern in the middle of the town square that had not been able to shine either.

“There’s only so much power to go around,” said D.O. still watching some men trying to light up the other lanterns.

“I could give it a zap,” Chen then proffered with a smirk.

“No way, you’ll electrocute everyone, hyung!” Tao mentioned as he searched through the crowd. “I wish Baekhyun-hyung was here, though. It’s kind of quiet without him.”

Tao let out a shriek when out of nowhere, firecrackers had started popping near the lantern phoenix. It drew the attention of the festival-goers, gasping and clapping at the sight. As the fire crackers continued to shine, sparks of light flew out from the fireworks, bolting by. The crowd cooed when the phoenix slowly started to shine brightly, the light bringing out its vibrant colors and lighting up the town square with much warmth.

The crowd applauded when the phoenix was lit, when all of a sudden, more lanterns started to light up, one by one, causing the town of Hanwol to bask in a beautiful glow, like a town of colorful stars in the night.

“Wow…” Jae gasped as she smiled, the lanterns around them so vibrant and bright it nearly seemed as if they were alive, somehow.

Someone tapped on a microphone to draw attention and Lili stood on a stage, looking excited as ever. “Hi everyone! It looks like we got the power up and running! Thank you so much to our technicians for making this happen! It’s official now, everyone, let’s celebrate the Lantern Festival!” she announced to the sound of happy cheering, the town of Hanwol all abuzz with excitement.

“The technicians did this?” Kai mumbled skeptically, staring at the group of mostly elderly men who were still scratching their heads and smiling sheepishly at the people who gave them grateful compliments.

“They must’ve figured it out somehow. Not a bad job,” a voice sounded behind the group, Baekhyun looking as innocent as ever before smiling brightly at them.

“Baekhyunnie!” Chanyeol exclaimed, greeting him happily as the others were just as thrilled to see him. Baekhyun didn’t skip a beat and imitated all of them immediately, though he fell quiet when Jae gave him a hug.

“You made it! We were wondering what kept you,” she said before she punched his arm. “Hey, what was keeping you? Making us worry like that,” she scolded then which made him chuckle nervously.

“Sorry, noona, I didn’t mean to worry everyone, I swear! I just had a weird day,” he smiled, thinking of the Jade Princess and his Godly brothers. “Then I realized that I should stop sulking and appreciate the finer things in life,” he nodded, looking at all the beautiful lanterns. “Light is beautiful, but it doesn’t mean it’s weak,” he confirmed, blinking when Kris gave him a playful shove.

“Whoever said that it was weak? You were sulking all day just because of that?”

“Maybe,” Baekhyun shrugged with a shy smile before he turned back to Jae. “Noona, check this out,” he pulled a lantern from behind his back. It was small and perhaps a little less than perfect, but he did his best to recreate Jingwei, using his floating lights to make the little lantern fly towards her.

Jae carefully caught it and gasped in admiration. “You made this? Baekhyun, it’s beautiful,” she murmured. “What kind of bird is this?”

“A very unlucky and annoying one, but extremely special as well,” he chuckled as Jae gazed at him in confusion somewhat. “Just promise me you’ll keep that bird safe with you all the time, noona. Then I promise you no bad thing will ever happen to you,” he said in all seriousness as Jae shook her head in amusement.

“If you say so, Baekhyun,” she grinned. “Thank you, it’s gorgeous.” They smiled at each other for a moment, and just for a second, the rest of the world didn’t exist. Literally one second though, because Baekhyun pouted when Sehun, Chen and Chanyeol got in between them to disrupt their moment.

“Why didn’t I get one, hyung? No fair! I’m younger than you, you should give me something too!” Sehun complained.

“Nothing for your brothers? Yah, ridiculous!” Chen added loudly, Jae shaking her head and grabbing something from her bag. She pushed her way through the young men and purposely handed Baekhyun a small lantern butterfly for all of them to see.

“This is the Lantern Festival. Without light, no festival, no beautiful works of art, and no tangyuan for all of us to share. So don’t whine,” Jae pointed out with a lopsided grin, winking at Baekhyun. “You should all be worshipping him. Without our Baekhyunnie most of these amazing lanterns wouldn’t even get lit! Pay your respects!” she demanded, reminding him an awful lot like someone he met, once upon a dream.

Smiling widely, he nodded vigorously at her words. “Yah, you heard noona! On your knees, peasants!” he joked, laughing loudly when his brothers protested, teasingly smacking him while Sehun graciously shoved a delicious rice cake in his mouth. He was still laughing when they walked through the lit up streets of Hanwol to admire the lanterns, solve riddles and eat more scrumptious food together.

As the others were scattered around the park, Baekhyun and Jae were admiring lanterns that depicted Chinese deities. Baekhyun was especially taken by a Goddess in a jade dress, and he lit up the lantern just a bit more so the pinkness of her lips was more vivid.

“Pretty,” Jae commented, nodding in approval.

“Yeah,” he mused with a soft smile.

“You know, we really missed not seeing you the entire day,” Jae said quietly, “as if we were missing a light in our midst, pun totally intended,” she added dryly which made them chuckle.

“Thanks, noona. I’m better now, I don’t even know why I was complaining. All of this is awesome,” he noted, the lanterns brightening up just a bit, but enough for the spectators to coo in amazement again.

“Yes, it is, and you, pabo, shouldn’t ever forget that,” she shoved him playfully as they continued walking, and for a moment Baekhyun didn’t know what shone brighter; the lights in the lanterns or the stars in the sky.

“I won’t, noona,” he promised, feeling himself blushing when Jae grabbed his hand and they looked at the lit up landscape.

“Hey, noona?” he then asked as she looked at him.

“Yeah?”

“Did you know that back in the day, the Lantern Festival was the perfect chance to find love and meet your match?” he wiggled his eyebrows, laughing loudly when Jae smacked his arm.

“Don’t ruin the moment.”

Baekhyun ran a hand through his hair as he grinned. “Yes, Princess.”