After giving birth, it didn’t take long for Kyungsoo to bounce back and return to his job as a mercenary alongside Sehun and Chanyeol.

Kyungsoo gave himself to time to heal and recuperate, but he quickly lost all the weight he had gained during pregnancy and returned to training and exercising to make sure he was fit and mobile like he always had been.

When Byul turned three months old, Kyungsoo gradually weaned her off feeding so he could leave Nue’vuur to go on longer missions.

When possible, Kyungsoo or Chanyeol would still prefer remaining on the planet, although some missions required all three of them to participate. In that case, Byul was left with Sungjin where she could be bottle-fed without any problems, which was what Kyungsoo had intended for all along.

Youngmi had come on secret trips to Nue’vuur to visit Byul twice since then. For Byul and Kyungsoo’s sake, she had to be discreet and couldn’t come regularly as she pleased because she was afraid of being followed or someone would suspect where they were hiding.

There was no room to laze around and be comfortable, especially when Kunryun knew Kyungsoo had a child now, although they still did not know where in the galaxy he was and had yet to make any action to show that they were coming after him. Nue’vuur proved to be a good hideout and home for them.

Even most of the Vuurians had no idea where Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were, although they were made aware of Byul’s birth. Kunryun had remained silent and the trade agreements with Vuur had been suspended ever since the day Kyungsoo brought life back to the Vuurian star.

Although things were tranquil for now, and as much as they wished for it to last, they knew this wouldn’t be the case. Kyungsoo knew that it wouldn’t be long before they were discovered and he would have to do the inevitable, which was to return to Kunryun and settle things there once and for all.

For now, an uneventful five months had passed since Byul was born.

Byul had lost all of the fine baby hair she had when she was born. As of the moment, she was bald and the adults around her were beginning to take guesses if she’d follow after Kyungsoo’s darker hair, Chanyeol’s lighter hair or maybe something in between.

She was able to sit up by herself for a while without any support, although she had to be supervised constantly.

Byul now slept throughout the night uninterrupted, and during the day she was mostly napping too, which finally gave time for the adults to have their own rest which they had lacked from since her birth.

One afternoon, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were home on their homestead on Nue’vuur, giving their infant daughter a bath after she had soiled herself in her diapers after lunch, not even long after they had previously cleaned her up.

Kyungsoo was holding up Byul in the baby tub filled with warm water, placed atop their kitchen counter while Chanyeol was cleaning and wiping off their daughter.

“You stinky girl,” Chanyeol playfully teased, baby talking to their daughter while he wiped her back off with a soft sponge.

Byul did not understand what was being said but she laughed, probably at the funny face Chanyeol was making.

“She laughs like you,” Kyungsoo commented, holding their daughter up in a semi-standing position in the tub so Chanyeol could reach around.

“Wait till she learns how to talk. Then she’s probably going to sound like you,” Chanyeol responded, squeezing the sponge and dipping it again into the warm water.

“I have a feeling our daughter will pick up the Gauean language faster than you will,” Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow, looking at Chanyeol.

“She’ll learn both languages and the Anam lingua franca too,” Chanyeol insisted, helping Kyungsoo carry Byul out of the tub and onto the towel they had laid out on the kitchen counter.

“Then Sehun, Byul and I will have all these conversations you won’t understand without a translator,” Kyungsoo joked.

Chanyeol turned Byul over on the towel as he dried her off, “I’m picking it up okay. Unlike her, I’m already old. Children pick up languages easier, everyone knows that.”

“I know, you’ll get there,” Kyungsoo believed, as he bent down to the drawers to get diapers out.

While Chanyeol held up Byul, Kyungsoo slipped the diapers on and fastened it around their daughter. Then, Kyungsoo reached for some dry baby clothes he and Chanyeol helped put Byul into.

“By the way, isn’t Sehun coming home soon today?” Chanyeol asked as Kyungsoo was slipping their daughter into her clothing.

“Soon? Umi is already parked out on the beach. I saw it from the window,” Kyungsoo pointed out.

“What? Really? For how long?” Chanyeol then carried Byul to his chest once she was dressed.

“-since the past half hour or so already. He’s probably going through the diagnostics and post-flight procedures. He should be here soon.” Kyungsoo added, clearing up the countertop.

“Okay then, I must have not heard it land. I’ll go put Byul to sleep first,” Chanyeol informed, carrying their daughter off to the crib.

“Alright,” Kyungsoo remained in the kitchen, clearing the place up, disposing the diapers and washing the tub.

Chanyeol put Byul to sleep on her back in the crib. Chanyeol sat in the chair beside the crib as he rocked it to put her to sleep, softly humming a Vuurian children’s song until he was sure that she went to sleep.

Chanyeol could hear faint noises outside the room from the door being opened and shut again, Sehun coming in and later talking lowly to Kyungsoo about something he couldn’t make up.

When Byul had gone to sleep, Chanyeol slowly and carefully removed her rattling toys from inside the crib before keeping them all in the designated box.

Only then, he left the room to find Sehun and Kyungsoo standing around in the living room talking to each other.

“Guess, what I brought back from Anam!?” Sehun announced, directed towards Chanyeol.

“-political freedom?” Chanyeol joked.

“Not close,” Sehun shook his head.

Standing next to Sehun, Kyungsoo chuckled.

“I have no idea,” Chanyeol gave up.

Sehun tossed a soft package wrapped in brown paper towards Chanyeol as he revealed, “I got new clothes for Byul. There were so many on sale in Anam and they all looked so cute that I had to get it. Do you reckon she’ll like it? Some of it is big but she can grow into it.”

“She’s 22 weeks old, I don’t think she has a taste in clothes yet,” Kyungsoo suggested.

“You went to Anam to get supplies and you came back with baby clothes?” Chanyeol almost wanted to laugh, “I appreciate it though. Thank you. We just gave her a bath and changed her clothes though. She can wear this next time.”

“Of course,” Sehun boomed, “I can’t help but be a proud grand-uncle. I’m not going to have children of my own so when am I ever going to have the opportunity to dote on a child?”

“I can see why you spoil Kyungsoo so much,” Chanyeol teased.

“I’m not spoiled,” Kyungsoo retorted.

“Okay, maybe not,” Chanyeol backpedaled.

“It’s fine,” Kyungsoo smiled, “I just wanted to see how you’d react.”

“Ah, teasing on me like usual,” Chanyeol shrugged, smiling himself too.

“By the way,” Sehun then spoke up, “While I was back on Anam, I went to check up on our apartment there. The lease is up so it’s not ours anymore. I had to take back all our stuff we left behind while we were running away. The landlord had thrown them all into storage. It’s on the starship and you two can take it out whenever you want.”

“Anam, huh? I haven’t even been there in over a year since we left Myolhada. The only thing I miss is the news,” Chanyeol recalled.

“It’s better to raise a child here. The air is cleaner and it’s not so busy,” Kyungsoo mentioned.

“It is indeed,” Sehun agreed, “There’s no telling if we’re safe to go back to Anam whatnot with how suspiciously quiet Kunryun is being. Quiet usually means trouble in Gauean terms.”

“We should be okay for the time being,” Kyungsoo tried to assure, looking away to avert their gazes, “I’ll take care of it if anything goes wrong.”

“No, we’ll take care of it,” Chanyeol corrected, “You’re not alone anymore, Kyungsoo. You have us now.”

“-and you’ll always have me,” Sehun chimed in.

Kyungsoo smiled and nodded, affirming their reassurance but somehow he was still scared that it would mean he stood to risk losing more people he loved and treasure for.

It wasn’t like on Kunryun when he only had himself to worry about. It was different now, and Kyungsoo had seen the change coming from far away when he first found out he was pregnant.

Kyungsoo had brought another person into the world, without them asking for it, and Kyungsoo saw it as his responsibility to give Byul the best he could.

It was even worse when he held Byul in his arms for the first time. At the moment, Kyungsoo felt extremely fragile and temporary. Because if he weren’t there to protect his daughter and fix things rights so she could grow up safe, then what would be of her?

~~★★★★★~~

Kyungsoo and even Chanyeol and Sehun’s greatest fear happened not even two weeks later. Sehun was away earning them money when it happened, leaving Chanyeol and Kyungsoo with Byul on Nue’vuur.

It was a cool, cloudy day so Chanyeol had Byul in a baby sling, carrying her in front of his chest while he inspected their vegetable patches and rows of growth outside. Byul seemed to be happy and smiling when Chanyeol showed her the plants and the surroundings since they had only started taking her out of the home recently.

Kyungsoo was in the house, running a routine maintenance check on their harvesting droids because their vegetables would be ready to harvest in a week or so. They would gather all their harvest with the droids, which Sungjin would pick up and then help ship off to Vuur or other planets

As Chanyeol was walking around and showing his daughter around the vegetable patch, the water sprinklers and Chanyeol was startled by it happening.

Chanyeol instinctively wrapped his arms around Byul to protect her, even if the water spray was mostly below his waist and did not reach Byul up against his chest.

Chanyeol turned around to see if he had might accidentally set off the sprinkler system, but instead, he saw at the far end of his vegetable patch, about five men dressed in black capes with swords around their waists. They were just standing there, looking on at him, unbothered from the water sprinklers even after trudging on it.

Before Chanyeol could even think or figure out who they were, one of the men lifted his hand to the sky.

Chanyeol too looked to the sky and saw the moon eclipsing the star, even if a solar eclipse was not due to happen for another few years on Nue’vuur.

Chanyeol didn’t need to think to figure out who they were now. The capes, sword and the power to control the moon were enough to scream, Gauean.

As Chanyeol made the mad dash back the other way to their homestead, screaming out for Kyungsoo while clutching onto their daughter in the baby sling around his chest, Chanyeol already suspected why they blocked out the star.

They knew Chanyeol was a Vuurian who needed heat to conjure his powers, and the star was one of the main sources of that. They wanted Chanyeol to be powerless so he couldn’t put up a fight against them.

“Kyungsoo!” Chanyeol did not stop yelling as he was nearing the door of their home. Chanyeol had heard so many tales about Gaueans and he did not fear for his life, but that of his husband and daughter.

As Chanyeol arrived, panting and out of breath at their door while Byul began to cry, the door swung open and Kyungsoo quickly pulled Chanyeol back into the house.

“Hide! Go to your father and don’t leave until I come back for you!” Kyungsoo instructed, fear evidently displayed in his eyes as he held his sheathed sword.

“No-“ Chanyeol tried to protest.

“Just go!” Kyungsoo almost shouted.

Holding back tears, Chanyeol it up and ran out the door at the other end of the house, while Kyungsoo went out to face the Gaueans who had arrived for him.

While Kyungsoo was servicing the droids, he had been alerted of the water sprinklers being triggered on the control panel inside the house.

Kyungsoo then looked at the cameras display to see what it was, only to find his people and a very familiar looking one standing among them.

After Kyungsoo was sure that Chanyeol had fled with Byul, Kyungsoo walked out on the rows of vegetables that had been trodden over, with his sword in one hand to face the Gaueans who came after him.

The eclipse ended the moment Kyungsoo stepped out, as the star once again began to shine down on the planet like it was supposed to.

As another wind blew down the mountain and rushed into the valleys, the man controlling the moon unveiled his cape in front of Kyungsoo as the four other Gaueans to either of his side.

Kyungsoo already recognized him from the camera feed, but now he was certainly sure that he was seeing his oldest brother, Baekhyun, standing in front of him in person.

“I can’t believe this is the ramshackle place you decided to settle in,” Baekhyun jeered, with a tone of disgust as he looked around.

“That’s none of your business and I actually like it here,” Kyungsoo retorted, standing his ground.

“That’s expected. You’ve always been that odd one out even on Kunryun,” Baekhyun stated, “No one was even surprised when we heard that you had a bastard child with a Vuurian to boot. We sort of figured that one out.”

Kyungsoo did not respond to that, standing his ground and not breaking the eye-contact he had with Baekhyun.

“Where’s Sehun by the way? Is he still the raging madman who keeps laughing and running away like I remembered him to be? I saw him when I was on Anam but he threw a couch at me. I almost got the both of you there,” Baekhyun revealed.

“I don’t care. You need to leave and never return here again!” Kyungsoo demanded.

Baekhyun completely ignored Kyungsoo’s demands as he jumped into the next question, “That man just now was your husband, wasn’t he? And the baby is your mutt of a child? I seriously believed you could do better than that but who knew.”

Kyungsoo drew his sword, holding it ready and bracing to fight.

Baekhyun chuckled seeing that, “Rest assured, I didn’t come here to fight you. I’m only here to take you back to Kunryun because of the Chancellor’s orders. He wants you home.”

“Go home and take care of your own children,” Kyungsoo hissed, “I’m not going with you.”

“Are you sure?” Baekhyun folded his arms over his chest, stretching a foot slightly forward, “This is your first warning, do you realize that? If you do not come back with me, he will personally send his own unit down here after you.”

“This planet is a territory of Vuur! I am a subject of the planet, Vuur. If you extract me from this planet, you are committing an act of war against a foreign nation. We may be strong but Kunryun will never have the numbers to go against Vuur!” Kyungsoo threatened.

“Did you know that Kunryun doesn’t allow dual citizenship either, and your Vuurian citizenship