The very same day, Kyungsoo met Chanyeol’s mother again to tell her of his plan to revive his dying star.

As almost everyone’s response to discovering that the supposed legend of some individuals being able to control celestial bodies happened to be true, Youngmi was at first surprised then suddenly felt a lot more hopeful for their fate.

It also helped that Chanyeol really vetted for Kyungsoo in the latter’s ability to help them out.

Almost instantly, Youngmi arranged for a meeting with the other Vuurian tribe leaders, as well the head of the scientists in charge of trying to revive their dying star.

The meeting was held within the official residence for the elected royal family of Vuur, which was attended by all the leaders of Vuur, the scientists and of course Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Sehun.

When Youngmi introduced Kyungsoo as a Gauean, everyone remained calm but when Youngmi informed them that Kyungsoo could revive their dying star, everyone began gasping and talking to each other either in disbelief or shock.

At this point, Kyungsoo was used to the reactions people got from knowing his powers.

Everyone was gathered around the large oval black rock table in one of the meeting rooms, with a holographic image projection on the table to brief the attendees about the plan and the current situation.

While Kyungsoo was talking to the scientists and tribe leaders about his plan and how it would be carried out, Sehun was still sitting around the table beside Chanyeol with his mouth hung open. Sehun was hardly surprised at what Kyungsoo wanted to do. Instead, he was much surprised at something else instead. 

“W-what? You’re not serious, are you?” Sehun uttered in disbelief, keeping his voice low to not distract the more important conversation everyone else was having.

“I am serious. I’m not joking. I really love Kyungsoo and he feels the same way about me too,” Chanyeol had to repeat.

“Y-you’re dating my nephew!?” Sehun almost had to hold himself still to avoid falling off the chair.

“Yeah, we’re together now,” Chanyeol reiterated.

“Whoa,” Sehun held his head between his hands, feeling dizzy at the whole revelation, “Don’t get me wrong. I have no problems with that at all. I just didn’t expect you to get together- like together. I think you get what I mean.”

“I get what you mean,” Chanyeol affirmed, “I didn’t plan for it either. It just happened, and when I realized it, I’m already falling in love with Kyungsoo.”

Sehun rested a hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder, leaning in to whisper, “Are you sure you want to be with a Gauean though? I don’t think I need to tell you what the implications are. You know it well by now. I fully support your relationship but you should know what you’re getting into.”

“I know,” Chanyeol understood, “-but I’m still willing to try.”

Sehun looked towards Kyungsoo who was busy discussing the plan with the leaders of Vuur, and then back at Chanyeol, “That’s good then. I just don’t want anyone getting hurt. It’s not going to be easy especially because Kyungsoo is now trying to revive your dying star. I’m already starting to anticipate what Kunryun will do next, to be honest.”

“We’ll see. I know I can’t compare but I’ll still do everything in power to help too,” Chanyeol promised.

At the same time, Kyungsoo was explaining his plans, as he scrolled through and changed the views of the holographic display of the Isioh star system projected on the table.

“You see, Isioh is a K-type main-sequence star also known as a red dwarf,” Kyungsoo explained, “When a star this size has used up all of its hydrogen for fusion, it just dies by cooling off. It doesn’t expand into a giant or explodes in a supernova. So it’s actually very stable, which is why I believe this will work and not end in a catastrophe. If Isioh was a bigger star, it wouldn’t have been possible.”

“So you want to pull the star Ozef close enough to orbit around Isioh, and then let Isioh absorb Ozef like in a binary star system,” A Vuurian scientist pointed out, scribbling some notes down.

“Yes! This happens a lot in binary star systems, where the smaller star is absorbed by the larger star. The donor star will provide more hydrogen through the absorption of the core, giving the star an extension to its life. I’m just basically going to move Ozef near to Isioh and let nature do its job,” Kyungsoo informed.

“That’s still too risky,” The same Vuurian scientist corrected, “-because not all binary star mergers end well. There’s still a risk for a supernova explosion even with two dwarf stars, which might annihilate all life in this star zone.”

“I can do something else then,” Kyungsoo planned, “I can channel energy from the stars instead. I can channel energy from Ozef into Isioh. The energy is in the form of light so it can basically be done at the speed of light. That way, Ozef stays in its original orbit and coordinates.”

“He can do that!?” A male Vuurian tribe leader blurted out by accident, which everyone overheard but dismissed.

“So, do we need to get you close enough to the star to do it?” Youngmi questioned, with a hand on her hip.

“Not really. I can do it from Vuur but I need to be able to see both of the stars where I’m at. I cannot control what I cannot see. Stars are bright so it’s easier to discern them in the sky,” Kyungsoo answered.

“-when Isioh is restarted and given this ‘life extension’ you speak of, then what happens to the star, Ozef?” A female tribe leader questioned.

“Ozef will die. It will turn into a white dwarf star that doesn’t undergo any more fusion. But there’s no life in the Ozef star system anyway, so it’s alright,” Kyungsoo responded.

“Then what happens when your planet, Kunryun, hears about this? You said you’re doing this without them knowing about it. Everyone will hear about Ozef being ‘killed’ to revive Isioh. News in the galaxy travels fast,” The same female tribe leader from earlier continued to ask Kyungsoo, seemingly apprehensive this time.

Before Kyungsoo could answer and Chanyeol was even trying to interject, a bald male tribe leader spoke up, “What actually bothers me the most is that Kunryun knows and has continued relations with us Vuurians for thousands of years. They know about our situation and they surely know they have individuals who could have helped us with this a long time ago. But they never said anything about it. How do we know we can trust you Gaueans?”

“You have my word that Kyungsoo can be trusted to oversee this,” Youngmi asserted. 

“Your Majesty, the Gaueans kill their own. What makes you think they actually want to help us and not expect anything in return? That itself already reeks of suspicion. It’s too good to be true,” Another tribe leader brought up.

“That’s right, he has a point,” More tribe leaders began to agree.

While Youngmi, the scientists and a few of the tribe leaders seemed to support Kyungsoo and his plan; several other tribe leaders seemed to doubt and suspect Kyungsoo’s intentions.

Kyungsoo wasn’t surprised. Like he was used to people’s reactions to knowing his power, he was also used to the prejudice Gaueans faced from other races because of their violent nature.

The meeting hall soon turned into an argument and a shouting match between the two sides. Youngmi, Chanyeol’s mother, was adamant on falling through with the plan but a few of the tribe leaders seemed to be against it and wanted Kyungsoo captured.

While Kunryun politics were more of backhanded insults, metaphors and snide being softly spoken to each other, Vuurian politics were more of a blown out fistfight that got too rowdy.

Chanyeol quickly pulled Kyungsoo away as they stood together with Sehun behind some of the Vuurian guards assigned to the royal family.

Several tribe leaders had also summoned their own personal guards into the meeting room, adding to the chaos that it already was.

Somehow in the midst of fighting each other, they seemed to forget that Kyungsoo was standing just right there.

In the midst of the brawl, Youngmi made her way to three of them while flanked and securely guarded by her own guards.

Youngmi firmly instructed Chanyeol over all the shouting and the growling, “Take Kyungsoo up to the peak on the Northern city. There’s an observatory there where he can see both stars clearly. Just go now and do it as soon you can. There’s no way this will ever be solved until Kyungsoo can show what he can really do.”

“I will,” Chanyeol complied, holding tight onto Kyungsoo’s hand.

Kyungsoo understood what was being said and nodded, clinging onto Chanyeol’s hand.

“Good, now go and good luck. Leave before they try to capture you,” Youngmi mentioned before turning to Sehun, “I heard about you, you’re a famous mercenary. I will hire you to stop this fight and keep the opposing tribes away from my son and Kyungsoo until they can carry out their tasks.”

“I’ll do anything as long as I get paid,” Sehun was happy to oblige.

Sehun rolled up his sleeves to his elbow, ducking to avoid a chair that was thrown around, before standing back and facing Chanyeol, “I’m going to go stop this fight now. You two better hurry and save this dying star.”

“We’ll be back,” Kyungsoo told Sehun, “-take care.”

“I’ll be fine,” Sehun assured, “Chanyeol, you better not get hurt or let Kyungsoo get hurt. The next time I see you, this star thing better be alive too.”

“I will,” Chanyeol promised with a smile, pulling Kyungsoo away as they pushed and shoved through the crowd while a few of the royal guards helped them to leave and in their escape.

Even over the riot taking place inside the hall, they could still hear Sehun’s maniacal laugh echoing through the hallways outside as he jumped into the fight to carry out his task of actually trying to stop it.

Kyungsoo was feeling better but he wasn’t fully recovered yet. All the running he was doing right now with Chanyeol tired him out faster than usual.

During their sprint, making their way out of the palace and to the car waiting for them outside, Kyungsoo found himself out of breath and stopping to catch his breath.

There really wasn’t any time to be stopping right now though; not when some of the guards from the opposing tribes realized that they had been trying to run away and were now on their trail.

The guards assigned to the royal family who were directly serving Chanyeol sure did serve as the distraction and helped to stall those after them.

After some encouragement from Chanyeol, Kyungsoo was able to complete his escape and exited out one of the many doors in the building where a car was parked and waiting outside for them.

Kyungsoo quickly got in the car and onto the front passenger seat, as Chanyeol told him to do.

“I’ll go alone, don’t follow me. Make sure you stop them,” Chanyeol ordered to the guards waiting outside there for them, before jumping into the driver’s seat of the car.

Chanyeol drove the levitating cars out of the palace grounds, onto the magnetic roads outside and into the bustling city under the cloudy grey sky that used to shine bright a while ago.

They were seemingly safe and not being chased by anyone now. Chanyeol seemed a bit more relaxed and Kyungsoo had been calm all along. He wasn’t the type to panic even in tense situations; he just was a bit tired.

“We’re going far up to the Northern city. The observatory is on a mountain there,” Chanyeol announced as he drove down the busy roads past the other cars zipping near them, “It’s winter there right now and it’s quite cold. There are some ponchos for us in the back though if you get cold. I think it should be tolerable for you though.”

Kyungsoo looked over his seat to the rear seats to see his sword and the ponchos as mentioned, folded and piled onto each other.

“You have my sword too,” Kyungsoo noted, turning back to face the front.

“-just in case,” Chanyeol replied, having come prepared, “We should be secure for now though. They will find out where we’re headed to given some time. It doesn’t matter as long as we get there first and you can do your thing.”

Kyungsoo nodded in understanding, going quiet for a while as he pondered on a thought. It was a few more minutes before Kyungsoo spoke up again, while Chanyeol was driving them to the Northern city.

“Hey, I’m sorry for what I caused back there. They were fighting and got into a disagreement because of me,” Kyungsoo apologized, feeling responsible for the skirmish between the tribes.

“It happens a lot, trust me. The tribes keep fighting and then the next day, we’re making up and friends with each other again. It’s a Vuurian thing. It’s not your fault. Even if it wasn’t you, they would just fight about something else,” Chanyeol made light of.

“I see,” Kyungsoo was slightly relieved, even if just a little.

“You should get some rest while you can. You’re not that well yet and you’ll need lots of your energy for the star thing if I’m right,” Chanyeol advised.

“I suppose I should. How much longer until we arrive in this Northern City?” Kyungsoo turned to look at Chanyeol sitting to his side on the driver’s seat.

“It’s a six hours drive each way on the magnetic rail-highway. We could get there faster on a starship but it’s too conspicuous since we’re trying to stay low. It should still be night time when we arrive so you can see the stars. That’s why you should get some rest until then,” Chanyeol reminded, with both of his hands on the steering.

“-but what about you?” Kyungsoo was worried about Chanyeol who seemed to look tired himself too.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll engage the auto drive once we’re on the highway road since it’s just straight on from there. I just need to make sure we’re not being followed first,” Chanyeol reasoned.

“Alright then,” Kyungsoo accepted.

Kyungsoo reclined his seat, leaned his head against the tinted glass windows and folded his arms across his chest as he tried to get some sleep before they arrived in the Northern city on Vuur.

Kyungsoo was looking out at the grey sky above and the empty highway roads, which levitated above the lava and rock covered surface outside the city limits. There was hardly any greenery anywhere on Vuur, just earthy colors of rock and the molten lava flow.

The further they drove, the darker and cloudier the skies got. The ground below the levitating highway high above the surface was just a vast plain of dark-colored solidified lava rock that had cooled down and no longer flowed.

There were more cars going the other way than there were cars going down the same way as them. It was because the roads lead north, where hardly any Vuurians remained

After that, Kyungsoo fell asleep and Chanyeol never engaged the auto drive like he said he would do. Chanyeol didn’t feel like it was still safe yet to do so and chose to manually drive the car in case they had to suddenly change course.

Chanyeol looked over at Kyungsoo, sleeping soundly and breathing calmly in the passenger seat with his head against the window pane.

Kyungsoo was safe and Chanyeol found comfort in that fact. While Chanyeol knew that Kyungsoo was perfectly capable of protecting himself and his own wellbeing, it still didn’t stop Chanyeol from being overly concerned over Kyungsoo since the day they met and were pushing doors against each other.

It was all still very surreal for Chanyeol. He had planned to never return to