Lu Han beat on the door for a good five minutes, mostly out of annoyance because... if there was one thing Lu Han definitely was, stupid might qualify very nicely. He gave up and sank to the ground with his back to the barred door, looking around the room, coughing from the dust he'd stirred up by his entry. The attic was cold, damp, Lu Han was still without a shirt. There appeared to be at least three windows on the opposite wall set into the framework of the sloping, attic roof. Between him and them was a warped wooden floor and several pieces of furniture covered in white sheets so old the sheets had turned beige from disuse. He sighed. At least Minseok hadn't killed him outright. Or perhaps he'd just be left here to die slowly. Yes, yes that was also within the realm of probabilities. 

Right as he considered this though, footsteps appeared on the other side of the doorway, followed by the sound of someone putting a key to the lock. Lu Han jumped away from the doorway, looking about the room for something to defend himself. He grabbed a sheet because... why on earth not, maybe he would wrestle whoever came through the door and then... suffocate them...

The door gave way with another lurch. Lu Han flinched in anticipation. But.

"Lu Han! So good to see you again!" ... said Lu Han senior. 

The fight went out of his body as his arms sagged downwards. He huffed. "Figured I would see you again sometime," he said to his slightly older counterpart. 

"Yeah, well. If you haven't figured this out by now, but Minseok is rather difficult to deal with it. Takes two to get him under control. Or three. Three was a good number, man... the possibilities you can have with three."

Lu Han stared at himself, halfway astounded but honestly not really surprised. Then the older version snapped out of his trance and said briskly. "Now come on. We don't have much time. I just set fire to half the estate to make a point. Make haste!" 

"What!?" cried Lu Han, already following the man out of the room. From somewhere far off he could spell smoke. "Why would you do that?!"

"Don't worry, only a portion of one of the wings burns down. It's great actually, having advanced knowledge through... well, me." 

Lu Han coughed again and covered his nose with the sheet which he was still carrying. He noticed the other Lu Han was not taking them down the way they'd come up but through another attic hallway and down a different stair. 

"The fire's in the east wing, dining room, ballroom mostly."

"The ballroom?" cried Lu Han. "But Minseok's machine?!" 

"Exactly. Don't worry, they save it."

Lu Han scoffed. "Okay, then. Were they going to save me at least?"

There was no answer. The elder Lu Han as still hurrying down the stairwell and dashing down halls. Each time they reached a corner he'd stop and stare about wildly, as if trying to place where he was, or... Lu Han realized he was probably actually trying to remember where he was. After that he paid more attention. It was clear they were nowhere close to the actual fire, but Lu Han didn't breathe easy until they'd reached the ground floor and were out a side passage in the yard next to the estate. Only then did the other Lu Han slow down, wheeze a couple times, and face him.

"Now look, this is where I bug off again, but what you do next is critical." 

"What do you mean? What do I do?"

"You'll find out when the situation presents itself."

Lu Han shook his head furiously. "No, no no. You don't get to do that. You came back here from the future to help me out. The least you can do is tell me what exactly I'm supposed to do!"

From around another corner of the estate he was beginning to hear shouts. The older Lu Han ignored them and stared only at himself. He put his hand on Lu Han's arm and attempted a smile. "Look, kid. I don't make the rules. I just follow the past. We're both here for a reason, that's all I know about."

Frustruated, Lu Han whined. "Just tell me how to save Minseok then, okay?!" 

The other looked away. After a pause he said, "If I could you think I wouldn't? Even in the future, we're still working on that."

"Who's we."

"Me and Minseok."

Lu Han wanted to scream. "How do you even still like him!? He's no good, Lu Han. Haven't you seen that? Time and time again he's lied to us, tricked us, had me killed! Left me in a burning house, and then you pop around and say, 'save Minseok, he's our soulmate'. Lu Han, I know the man is handsome, and he can be likeable..." He'd spent a whole month with the younger version of Minseok, damnit. He was totally likeable, maybe even... "But." 

But the other Lu Han still smiled that half smile, a little sad and full of grim tales. "It's you that don't get it, Lu Han. But don't worry, you will. You're going to save him. We are going to save him. From more than just his curse. Now go. Time's important here, and I know you'll be fine because... well because I'm still here standing as proof of that. So go, now. Take the sheet. You'll need it."

Lu Han cringed, shutting his eyes in frustration as he ran his hand through his ragged hair. When he opened them, the other Lu Han was gone. He could hit himeself right now if he could. Instead, he steeled his resolution, bunched the furniture sheet over his shoulder and marched across the grass. 

Around the first corner he finally saw the blaze of fire. Smoke and flames escaped from the ballroom window on the second floor, and despite the fact Lu Han had told him everyone would be okay, still Lu Han panicked until he spotted the crouched figures of Minseok, Yixing, and Junmyeon laying exhausted in the ground far from the flames. They didn't notice him approaching. Minseok was wheezing where he huddled around the disassembled features of his time machine. Junmyeon sat blandly on his , watching the blaze. Yixing was already getting up.

"Give me the key," he shouted to Minseok, who was sitting up fiddling with something in his pocket.

"Screw you and the damned key. I locked him up, I'll get him out. Stay here and don't turn your back on this machine. If Junmyeon so much as looks at it funny, toss him back into the flaming ballroom." 

Minseok stood, and Lu Han noticed blood trickling from his leg.

"Minseok, you can't even walk," yelled Yixing. 

"I can walk just fine!" he shouted back. However, he stumbled at the first step and nearly collapsed. Persistently, he stood up again and was halfway down the side of the lawn when he saw Lu Han. 

Both of them froze, Minseok with a weird look, Lu Han cautiously holding his gaze.

"Well, I'll be damned. You got out anyways."

"Sorry if you wanted me to burn," said Lu Han. It was almost a joke. 

Minseok shrugged but his body immediately slumped. In a couple seconds, Lu Han was at his side, drawing him up by the arm and leading him back to where Yixing sat by the machine, eyes open in shock. Junmyeon looked hardly fazed. 

Next to him, Minseok grumbled. "I'm starting to think you're more immortal than my family, and that's actually quite a feat. How did you get out?"

"I had help." 

"From who?" Minseok gave him a sideways look. 

"Someone from the future. Someone who said you were worth saving."

Minseok scoffed. "Is that right? And you, believed this person?"

"I don't know yet."

"A wise answer." 

Lu Han laughed. "Yeah, tell me about it." 

He lead Minseok back to Yixing who took the man from him and laid him down on the grass, the better to examine his injured leg. Lu Han listened to them a moment, Minseok recounting how he'd forgotten a few of the parts, that he'd have to rebuild them later. Junmyeon still didn't seem entirely impressed that they'd saved anything. At some point, Lu Han realized the man was not in fact tied up, and that Minseok didn't exactly have any enmity for either of them. How come it was just with him then that Minseok liked to mess? 

"I guess there's nothing to put out the fire?" asked Lu Han. He stared at is ragged, dirty sheet wondering exactly what he was supposed to do with it. The other Lu Han said something now was absolutely critical, but he could hardly put out a fire with a single sheet. 

"We wait," said Minseok. "Whole place can burn I suppose. There's nothing in there now that anyone cares for."

At this, Junmyeon scoffed. "Could have asked me. I care."

"It's a building, uncle. A house nobody loved. Let it burn."

Lu Han didn't tell him what he knew, that only a portion would be destroyed. He was more interested in why Minseok was suddenly looking ine ach of his jacke pockets, in and around his shirt, even down his pants and trouser legs, and finally... Minseok put his hands in his hair, threading his black locks while the expression on his face turned to one of sheer horror.

"What? What is it?" asked Yixing. 

It took a second for Minseok to answer. But then. "Baekhyun!" 

"What!?" cried Yixing and Lu Han together.

Minseok looked ready to cry. "He was here! He was right here! I had him in my pocket in the... in the ballroom..."

The four of them looked steadily up at the house which was still completely ablaze. Then Lu Han looked at the sheet in his hands. Something in his heart began to beat, extra loud and extra heavy. No way he would die. He couldn't die. What was it MInseok had said a moment ago? Lu Han was practically immortal. Now way he was dying today, because if he did, he wouldn't also be in the future still living and still loving the most unloveable person in all of time. 

Baekhyun on the other hand...

Resolutely, Lu Han stood up. Where he got his courage, he couldn't exactly say. He just knew now what he had to do. "I'm going in."