When Baekhyun woke up he was surprised to see a ceiling -that didn't belong to the infirmary- staring back at him. The once plain white space was now black with various green stars plastered around in the strangest formations Baekhyun had ever seen, as far as he could tell they didn't represent any of the constellations he could recognize. His gaze drifted down onto the blankets covering his body, he was grateful that they were an average colour rather than a bright orange or something strange like that.

Baekhyun didn't recognize anything in the room in which he woke from, the bed in which he laid was comfortable but his bed back in Millennium High was better. The walls were filled with posters and images of places and people he couldn't recognise, every one of them smiling and waving at the camera that captured the seemingly happy atmosphere. For a moment Baekyun wondered if these images were taken straight out of a store photo frame, but when his eyes fell on the one in the very centre of the wall right next to him Baekhyun was ed (quite harshly) back into reality. He saw himself in the centre of the picture, he was smiling happily at the camera, his arm thrown over a tall boy who he instantly recognized as Chanyeol, or at least a Chanyeol that was a part of his tests.

This is a test.

Baekhyun had to remind himself that this place wasn't his own as he scanned through the room, unable to control the smile on his lips when he noticed the plushies sitting at the end of the bed he woke up in. He had to attempt though, that even though the room had nothing he was familiar with he couldn't deny that it did hold a lot of things that he had once wished to fill his bedroom with. Except it was currently missing a person.

"Baekhyun, are you awake?"

Speaking of the devil.

Baekhyun took a deep breath as he gathered his wits and turned around to face the door, his eyes meeting with the first Chanyeol of his series of tests. He didn't feel right calling this person by the name of his lover so in his mind Baekhyun decided that from this moment on he would refer to the Chanyeols within these tests as numbers, choosing instead to hold off calling them Chanyeol, at least until he found his true mate.

"Yep, wide awake how are you number one?"

"Number one?" The boy who wore his mate's face tilted his head in confusion, stepping into the room with narrowed eyes. Baekhyun found himself stepping back whenever the boy before him tried to step closer. "Sweetheart what are you doing? Did you have a nightmare again, or did you forget that my Jersey says 61?"

"Nope," Baekhyun admitted without much consideration for this person's emotions. It confused him to think that this boy before him was in fact his soulmate from another life-time so he figured that by he would treat this Chanyeol wannabe as a stranger. "but I am in a nightmare right now."

"Are you having second thoughts about our arrangement?" Number one wondered, his gaze falling to the floor. Baekhyun watched slightly perplexed as the test Chanyeol before him became so shy, his fingers drumming against each other in obvious nerves. "You don't actually have to give me anything as a prize for winning the game later."

"Game?"

"Babe, I'm playing in a football game against Big Hit High later, don't you remember? Come on let's get back into bed and talk about it..."

"Must have slipped my mind." Baekhyun shrugged his shoulders, casting one last glance around the room before finally settling them back on the Chanyeol before him. The boy's shoulders were broad but the Chanyeol in his life-time was a little bigger in size, probably because of his Alpha wolf genetics that this Chanyeol lacked. "Wait, you play football?"

"Eh, babe.. you sure that you're okay?" The boy before him questioned, he took a hesitant step forward and when Baekhyun didn't react he continued until he was standing right in front of the boy. "What's going on with you?" he whispered, gently pressing his index finger below Baekhyun's chin. The vampire felt a shiver run down his back and not one of the good kind. He withdrew himself from the imposter before him, almost missing the deflated look in the man's eyes. "You're a lot stronger than those that have come before you..."

"Pardon me?" Baekhyun shrieked, looking up at the man before him who was offering him a small smile in return.

"You know what I'm talking about, you know that I'm not your Chanyeol. Very well done by the way, it's been awhile since a Baekhyun has refused me." Number one chuckled, revealing a tiny smirk that in some way resembled his Chanyeol. Baekhyun didn't stop himself from colliding his fist against the guy's chest, earning him a deep chuckle that had him momentarily gasping for breath.

"At least you are just as cocky as my Chanyeol," Baekhyun admitted, offering the boy before him a small smile. "I'm not so sure how to deal with this. I know that this is a test and that I'm supposed to follow a trail to get to the end but I don't know where to go."

"Oh that's easy." The first Chanyeol imposter waved his hand, he took a step back and offered Baekhyun out his hand. The vampire was a little hesitant taking it, he knew that he needed to be careful since his actions could have consequences. The Chanyeol in front of him seemed to sense his hesitance, drawing a deep breath before explaining. "I bring you to the next test, you would have failed this one if you got back into bed with me."

"Yeah that was most definitely not going to happen, you may be my mate's soul from how ever many life-times ago but you're not actually him."

"Keep telling yourself that," Number one spoke with a stern voice looking Baekhyun square in the eye. "keep that in your head throughout these tests. I pray to whatever deity is out there that we can achieve it this time, I may not be the man you know but I would do anything to see my Baekhyun again. I want you to know that many of us didn't have a choice but to do this, we each failed in our quests and have been waiting until the time came where one of our lives would win."

"But when I achieve this, won't that mean that you no longer exist?"

"Our souls are within you already, our bodies may be in the ground but our essence is coursing through your veins right now. When this place is finally destroyed all our memories will come back to you, but first you need to find the real Chanyeol and as far as I know that only happens at the end of the tests. No one has gotten that far, for if they have they haven't been able to pass the final test."

"Do you happen to know what the last test is?"

The Chanyeol standing before him, dropped his stretched out hand. Baekhyun watched as tears filled his eyes, his heart aching at the sight, he knew that it wasn't his Chanyeol but he couldn't deny that seeing any Chanyeol begin to cry was painful to watch.

"My Baekhyun came here before I did, he got a three hour head start and was able to pass through every test and deny any other Chanyeol's hand. He got to the very last test much to the pleasure of everyone else here," his voice hitched as the tears finally fell. "I thought he passed at first since he suddenly appeared in front of me. But he was crying and couldn't look me in the eye, he had become so insecure that he couldn't even allow me to touch him. He claimed that everything we figured out was wrong-"

"You were the ones that figured out about this test before you came? Your mother told us that there was a time where Chanyeol and I started figuring things out ourselves but they didn't succeed."

"Whatever happened at that last test made my Baekhyun break apart. I hadn't even had a chance to try my hand at it because once one of us fails there is no hope of trying to survive. If you want to get to the end quickly or at least try to get on the same level that your Chanyeol is, continue to deny the fake Chanyeols just like you have done with me. Claim that you know that it's a test and they will instantly try to help you out, they are just as restless as I am for this prison to end, although be warned not all of them are able to move on easily. It wouldn't be much of a test otherwise."

Baekhyun nodded his head. He knew that this was dangerous and any miscalculated step would cause him to fail so he figured that the Chanyeol standing before him gave him some pretty clean advice, even though the words number one spoke frightened Baekhyun about the incoming final test. The vampire knew that he had to push it to the back of his mind for the moment, he first needed to get through the rest of the tests which shouldn't be too hard now that he had a plan.

"Are you ready?" Number one asked, holding his hand out again. "The moment we walk out of here I will disappear and you will wake up in your next test."

"This is going to get annoying very easily, isn't it?"

"Oh most definitely." Number one agreed with a dip of his head. Baekhyun placed his hand down in the palm of the taller's hand and took a deep breath. "Good luck number six hundred and fourteen."

"Wait," Baekhyun shouted, pushing his heels against the ground. "what number life were you again?"

"Number one is fine for me." Chanyeol chuckled, wrapping his arm just behind Baekhyun's waist. "Good luck Baekhyun."

Before Baekhyun could even register what was happening around him, he was pushed through the doorway. The bright white light that momentarily blinded him had him gasp in surprise. 

~*~ 

"How do you think they're doing in there?" Luhan whispered over to Kyungsoo who was sitting on the opposite side of Baekhyun's infirmary bed. "Do you think that our previous lives are there too?" 

"Well not right now but you will be if they succeed." Skylar explained from her spot on the chair beneath the window by Chanyeol's bed. She was reading through one of Katherine's journals again but it was clear to everyone around her that they knew her attention was elsewhere. 

"Wait why haven't you told us that we are going to be in a comatose state too?" Kyungsoo hissed, looking at the girl before him with narrowed eyes. "Do you like leaving information for the last moment?!" 

"They are going to be like this for awhile, they have like ten tests to go through before the final one." Skylar huffed, closing over the journal and leaving it on the armrest of the chair as she stood up. "I thought that I wouldn't have to explain this to you guys until I was sure that they would break this curse." 

"Have you lost all faith in them?" Luhan seethed, his teeth clenched against each other. Skylar was generally concerned, why was everyone so angry and frustrated with her? 

"No but I won't deny that there is a possibility that one of them will fail a test, I mean they have failed so many times before so excuse me for being scared about that possibility right now! Any way you guys are just as cursed as they are, you have been reincarnated just like they have,  but you guys have been alive a lot longer than they have. You guys only die because of natural causes, but your curse is linked to Chanyeol and Baekhyun, if they were to somehow pass these tests than you will be forced to sleep in order to regain your previous memories as well as your powers."

"Oh well in that case we have nothing to worry about..." Kyungsoo sighed in relief, turning around in his chair so that he could watch over the couple before him. 

Skylar opened in an attempt to retort but thought about it and figured that it was best to keep shut, knowing that if she said anything else there was a possibility that she would just start an argument. 

"I just hope that their love for each other this time 'round will prove effective, I mean they did have a rough start..." Luhan muttered below his breath, but since the room was silent those inside could hear it quite well. 

"Relationships are hard," Skylar nodded her head. "when I first met Colin I knew that he was my mate and he was mine. I courted him and we fought constantly, he had a fair idea of what a mate was like and I thought he would automatically like everything that I did but we came to realise that our relationship would be toxic if we didn't mold ourselves into less restricted people. We realised that in order for us to work we had to overcome multiple different challenges but we got through them together, I know that we are different from them but they have come so far this life-time. It would be an honest shame if they don't pull through this." 

"The only thing we can do is hope." Ms. Lee spoke through her shaking vocal chords. She hadn't slept since the whole ordeal and refused to listen to anyone who told her to go and rest, at this rate Skylar figured that she would be staying in the infirmary the entire time. She couldn't blame the poor woman, if Skylar had a child in Chanyeol and Baekhyun's situation she wouldn't be able to sleep either. 

"They will pull through this," she said instead, possibly contradicting herself. "I'm sure of it." 

"They have to." Kyungsoo stressed, his voice stern as he reached over and held his best friend's hand. It was so cold to the touch but as Skylar seemed hopeful he knew that he was still alive, fighting in his mind for what he deserved.