Year 0

Junmyeon takes a look around him in awe. The Elyxion is different from the Tree of Life and the other places he had been to. He sees H.O.T. at the end of the hall, surrounded by the members of DBSK and Super Junior. They give him warm smiles as they pass by and Junmyeon knew he wanted to be important too. 
 

 

Year 2

Two years had passed. Junmyeon was to be left out of the new unit they were forming. Dejected, he walked around the halls ignoring the pitiful glances being sent his way.

"Junmyeon!"

He turned around to see Kangta making his way towards him. Straightening, Junmyeon bowed slightly when he stood in front of him.

"Junmyeon," Kangta beamed. "This is Jongin. I believe you're experienced enough to handle the new recruits now, eh?"

Junmyeon's eyes trailed down and saw a scrawny boy who couldn't have been any older than 14. The said boy bowed low and mumbled a greeting, all while avoiding his eyes. 

Junmyeon smiled before nodding once to show that he accepted. This was his chance to show that he was capable as well. He would make Jongin into one of the best that the Elyxion had ever seen.

 

 

Year 3

Five more had joined them. Minseok and Yifan, both a year older than him; Yixing, who was the same age as him; Chanyeol, who was a year younger; and Sehun, who was the same age as Jongin.

All five were assigned to Junmyeon, who was eager to accept them. If he did well in training them, there was a high possibility that he would be put in the same unit with them, with Junmyeon as the leader. Junmyeon was determined to succeed and he would.

 

 

Year 4

The year Junmyeon's life changed, 2009 was when Bae Joohyun walked into his life. He admired her from afar, knowing not to get too close to the female trainees, for they were separated until they became a fixed unit. So he stared, admiring her secretly as he kept his distance, falling even more, bit by bit, the more he suppressed his thoughts about her.

Unknown to him, Joohyun also kept a careful eye on Junmyeon. Ever since her first day, she had heard rumors about the male prodigy, known to be the best of the next groups of males and rumored to be the next leader of Elyxion's new unit, should they choose to form one.

"Unni, look," Seulgi's giggle broke her out of her thoughts. Seulgi was three years younger than her and was a joy to have around for there were not many female trainees for Joohyun to befriend.

Joohyun tilted her head to see a gaggle of males heading down the hallway. At the center, leading them, was the one and only Kim Junmyeon. He tentatively gave them a guarded smile, tipping his head in a slight bow as they passed by the two girls.

That's how it always was, how it would always be if they never moved up in ranks and stayed as trainees forever. Joohyun yearned for more, to speak with him and be able to approach him without any problems. She wondered when that day would come, but the prospects seemed dim at the moment. The Elyxion had just assembled a new female unit and wouldn't be assigning a new one anytime soon. Joohyun wondered how long she would have to wait.

 

 

Year 5

A new decade brought in new recruits. Luhan, a year older, and Kyungsoo, who was the same age as Chanyeol by the Korean education system. Junmyeon trained them all tirelessly. He had heard rumors about the Elyxion forming a new group. He could only train harder and hope that he could lead the group. 

Junmyeon had been among the few that were chosen to be officially presented to the Tree of Life. There, he, along with Yifan, was blessed by the Tree. The warm glow of the blessing was accompanied by a soft voice whispering Leader endlessly. As Moon Heejun looked on proudly, Junmyeon allowed himself to lose his composure for a moment, as he gave a small smile and squared his shoulders to stand more proudly.

Just a little longer, he thought.

With both Junmyeon and Yifan receiving the blessing of leadership, the Elyxion was bound to form a new squad. Junmyeon would just have to be patient a little longer.

 

 

Year 6

A new year brought in two more recruits, Baekhyun and Jongdae, both the same age as Kyungsoo and Chanyeol. Within months of their arrival, the Elyxion announced the formation of a new group. 

Exo would be their name, and their unit would be split into two subunits, designed to accommodate the members' powers. Junmyeon and Yifan were to lead the group together, with Junmyeon leading those with more elemental powers and Yifan taking charge of those whose strengths lied in something something else.

Training together to become an official unit was a lot more challenging. It took a toll on Junmyeon - both mentally and physically - but all was forgotten when he saw the girl with icy doll-like visuals.

He was panting after another long day of training, walking leisurely back to the building, when he felt another presence next to him. Turning, he saw Joohyun standing uncertainly by him.

Dipping his head, "Hello," Junmyeon muttered.

The girl squeaked out a shy hello, hesitating for a little bit, before handing him a towel and bottle of water that she had summoned.

Nodding in gratefulness, he took the items from her, before continuing on. They walked in silence, but basked in happiness at the short moment they were able to have together.

Back in his room, Junmyeon noticed the towel was purple, embroidered with tiny delicate rabbits. Chuckling, he ran his fingers over them, lost in thought over a silent girl with doll-like features.

 

 

Year 7

They had done it, Junmyeon had done it. Exo had successfully completed their first mission and were now titled an official unit of the Elyxion. He was proud of s, proud of himself for not giving up during their journey to get to where they were now.

A small figure approached him, to where he was after he had slipped out of the noisy room. A hesitant smile and salute.

"Congratulations," Joohyun offered.

Junmyeon nodded his thanks and slid over, silently inviting her to sit next to him. Hesitating once more, Joohyun sat down beside him.

"How are you feeling?"

Junmyeon thought about her question. "Proud, I think, but also nervous."

Seeing her look of curiosity, he prodded on, "I'm happy, but I'm the leader. It's like...there's a lot of responsibility I have to carry and I guess I'm being really careful about it."

Joohyun nodded in understanding. 

"I guess you could feel that way," she spoke after a long moment of hesitation.

They sat in silence again, before Junmyeon turned to look at her.

"Have you been officially presented yet?"

Joohyun gave a small nod, "Yeah. Leader."

He studied her for a while.

"You're not happy," he guessed.

She smiled bitterly, "I guess I was too obvious. Yeah, I'm not happy because, well, I don't see a point. The Elyxion is refusing to create a unit with less than five people and there's only three female trainees, and it's not like they're searching for new recruits right now anyway."

Junmyeon patted her hand in sympathy.

Joohyun sighed, "I mostly spend my days in the infirmary now, but I just can't help but think...Well, I'm going to be so old when my unit forms."

She turned to look at him, "You understand right? This is my prime age right now. If I wait any longer..." she trailed off.

Junmyeon's heart broke just a little at her torn expression. He hesitated, but raised his hand before cautiously resting on top of her head, her hair. Joohyun stiffened at the contact, but soon relaxed, unconsciously leaning into his touch. They sat like that for a while, both lost in thought while taking comfort from one another.

 

 

Year 8

Junmyeon shot up, eyes wide with terror.

The Red Force he screamed in his head. He could have sworn he saw people, people who looked like him and his team, with the exact same powers. The last thing Junmyeon remembered was summoning water to send a signal in the air before everything went black.

"Easy, Junmyeon. You're safe now."

A hand was on his forehead, big doll eyes wide with concern as Joohyun eased him back down. 

Junmyeon's hand shot up to grip her wrist.

"The others. Where are they?"

"Junmyeon, focus on yourself first, you can see them later-"

"Joohyun."

A firm voice, leaving room for no argument.

Joohyun's eyebrows knotted in concern. "They're here, alive, but some only just so. Yixing managed to close all the minor injuries, but we're working on the others."

"How bad?" He asked, mind whirling frantically.

Joohyun grimaced, "Bad. We've never seen anything like it. Luhan got burned, but the formula we developed for Chanyeol's fire won't work, and we can't give him the formula for Jongdae's lightning right away because it could lead to more damage." She hesitated before continuing, "Junmyeon, it's like an entire new method of attack. Leeteuk mentioned something about clones while he was in here. President Lee Sooman thinks that the Red Force found a way to clone your group, same appearance, same powers, but more dangerous."

Junmyeon closed his eyes, taking in the information. Joohyun took the opportunity to check his vitals before internally sighing in relief when he appeared normal.

"Red Velvet, huh?" Junmyeon's voice broke through her thoughts. She turned around and gave him a strained smile.

"You heard?"

Junmyeon tilted his head, "They mentioned it to all commanding officers and active units. It's kind of out of the blue though, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Name's cringy though, huh?"

"Not as bad as Girl's Generation," he offered.

They both released a harsh chuckle, before making eye contact with each other. Junmyeon stared piercingly at her.

"You're almost there. You're going to be a great leader," his voice had gone soft, far more gentle than his commander's voice. "When you become official-" he hesitated before continuing, "come find me."

Joohyun's heart skipped a beat as she stared into his tender gaze. She nodded, and he let loose a small smile that she etched into her memory. They stared into each other's eyes, lost within them, until President Sooman came in and they had to go back to being strangers.

 

 

Year 9

Joohyun was floating with the clouds. She was now the leader of her own group. Deciding not to focus on her age for now, she allowed herself to become immersed in the celebrations. Halfway through the celebration, she slipped out, hoping to find Junmyeon now that they could freely talk to one another.

She was walking down a hallway when a hare composed of water bounded up to her. Junmyeon. She followed the creature of water until it came to a stop at the rooftop. It gave her a look that Joohyun couldn't decipher, before dissolving back into droplets that fell to the floor.

Upon stepping out to the rooftop, Joohyun in a breath. Junmyeon stood before her, still in uniform from the ceremony, looking ethereal under the many twinkling stars. Wordlessly, he reached out and gently pulled her into his embrace, which she gladly reciprocated. 

How long had the two of them wanted this? They had danced around their mutual pining for years, trying to follow the set rules of the Elyxion.

Joohyun felt so good in Junmyeon's arms. She buried her head further into his chest, while his hands rested upon her body in the most delicate touch. He dropped his head down on top of hers and together, they swayed under the glow of the moon and stars.

When they finally pulled away, arms still around each other, Junmyeon smiled a smile that melted all of Joohyun's insides.

"Hi," he whispered.

"Hi," Joohyun answered bashfully.

His eyes crinkled slowly, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a necklace. He held out the silver pendant, a sign of asking for courtship. Joohyun accepted the chain and swept her hair to the side, asking him to put it on for her.

With trembling fingers, he fastened the hook, and they both let out a joyous laugh. Fingers interlocked. Lost in drunken happiness.

A couple months later, Joohyun found Junmyeon under a tree, angrily slamming hard spheres of water at the plants around him. Worried, she rushed over.

"What's wrong?" she asked frantically, searching him for any injury.

He pulled her close to him, breathing in her scent as he pressed his face to her head.

"They're gone," he muttered furiously, his tone sending chills down Joohyun's spine.

"Who?" she choked out, dreading the answer.

"Yifan. Luhan." Junmyeon closed his eyes, flashes of the incident passing through his head. He clenched his fists angrily. "We're going to be lost without Luhan's telekinesis and Yifan-" his voice broke as he trembled furiously. "My best friend's gone and I have no idea where he, where they are!"

Joohyun quickly switched positions, tucking Junmyeon's head into the crook of her neck, gently his hair as sobs wracked his body. 

Like how in physics, with every action comes an equal and opposite reaction, life worked that way too. When you gain one, you lose another. The Red Force and X-Exo at the Exo'rdium had proven it to them.

 

 

Year 10

Another year came with another loss. With Zitao gone, they were now vulnerable to time warps, as well as a lack of force fields.

"They're targeting Yifan's unit. They know we're weak without them, that's why they're taking them out first."

Junmyeon's eyes were hard, gaze burning into the other officials in the room with him.

Boa looked at him, disinterested, "We've done all we can at the moment. There's nothing we can do about them."

Joohyun watched as Junmyeon let out a feral snarl.

"Easy there, Myeon," Yunho held his hand out. "You know as well as all of us that we don't have enough people to send search parties into the enemy's territory."

"What if..." Heejun trailed off in thought. "What if we send one of you guys to the Exo'rdium? It can't be that hard to pretend to be someone else."

"Send Sehun," Jinki piped up from his side of the room.

Junmyeon's jaw dropped. "You can't send Sehun! He's too young!"

"Junmyeon, the boy's twenty one now," Jay pointed out warningly.

Leeteuk looked up with new determination in his eyes. "Jinki's right, our best bet is Sehun. Out of all of the X-Exo members, Sehůn is the most similar to the original member. We can take him out during a fight and swap him with Sehun. He's the easiest person to duplicate physically as well, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"What about his appearance? Do we develop a new type of makeup?" Taeyeon asked.

Victoria shook her head, "I can develop a temporary tattoo that only certain people can take off. It'll be safer with less possibilities of his identity becoming exposed."

Jay nodded in agreement.

"Yes, and powers stop manifesting at twenty three," he pointed out. "We can watch Sehůn for a year and have Sehun trained to be accustomed to his powers."

President Lee Sooman clicked his tongue in satisfaction, "Perfect. Then we can send Sehun to the Exo'rdium during his twenty fifth winter. Anything you'd like to add Junmyeon?"

Junmyeon's shoulders sagged in defeat as he shook his head.

"Then it's decided. We'll send Sehun to be our link in the Red Force in the winter of his twenty fifth year. Now let's continue -"

He was cut off as the doors were flung open and a very out of breath Minho rushed in.

"Kibum's missing!" He cried out, eyes wild.

The room erupted into chaos, Leeteuk and Jinki jumping to their feet immediately.

"Which Kibum?" Yunho thundered, trying to calm the inhabitants of the room down.

"Suju," Minho gasped out before collapsing into a chair that Jay produced for him. "Changmin hyung's trying to track him down, and Siwon hyung and the rest are searching his room right now."

Joohyun and Junmyeon exchanged looks as they made their way down with the others. Kim Kibum of Super Junior was one of the most important figures in the Elyxion, and if the Red Force had managed to capture him...

Alarms were blaring and people were in chaos when they reached Kibum's room.

"Did you manage to locate him?" Leeteuk asked breathlessly.

"No," Changmin whispered, eyes frantic with distraught, "but we found out who took him and how they were able to slip past our security unnoticed."

"Who?" Joohyun piped up quietly when it became clear that no one was going to ask.

Siwon motioned for them to follow. All around Kibum's room, decorating the floor and walls, was black powdery dust. Vampires.

Leeteuk's knees buckled and Yunho cursed under his breath.

"Junmyeon. Contact Vixx's Hakyeon from Fantasia now," came Heejun's hard voice.

"There is no need," a voice came from above them. A floating hologram projected Cha Hakyeon's face as he gave them a grim smile. "I do not have much time for we are under attack, but Junmyeon, Taekwoon and Btob's Minhyuk from Cubix should be arriving soon, bearing you news."

Junmyeon studied his friend's face carefully.

"Bad?"

Hakyeon's smile tightened more if that was possible.

"I'm afraid the Red Force has a lot more connections than what was expected, and it seems like this war is going to turn into one a lot bigger than what we thought."

 

Moments later, Junmyeon sat in his private study with Taekwoon and Minhyuk.

"You're telling me," he began, "that the Red Force has allied themselves with the vampires and zombies?"

Minhyuk nodded grimly.

"You shouldn't underestimate them Myeon. While X-Exo's powers aren't much different than yours and are relatively human, the zombies are a much more vicious version of us. One bite and you're-" he made a slicing motion with his hand.

"Same with the vampires," Taekwoon added. "It has been at least ten moons since we have seen them last, but even then..." he trailed off thoughtfully and looked at Junmyeon square in the eyes. "You said they were here today. Do you still have any of the vampire dust left?"

Junmyeon quickly handed a bag filled with dusk to Taekwoon, who carefully examined the contents.

"This is just as I feared. They have gotten stronger."

Minhyuk frowned, "How do you know that?"

Taekwoon pulled out another bag filled with dust.

"See here," he gestured. "This was collected ten moons ago and if you look closely, you can see that the dust is pure black. However, if you look at the dust from today, there's a lot of silver and dark blue. The more powerful the vampires are, the more their dust will look like their appearance."

"Do you know what's making them stronger?" Junmyeon leaned forward, frowning in thought.

"No," Taekwoon's frown deepened. "BTS at the Hit Bomb Center was supposed to provide us with new equipment, but our connection was severed when they went under seige by the dark-winged guardians a couple months ago."

Minhyuk hummed in thought. "The zombies disappeared off the radar six moons ago. You don't suppose they're planning something big, do you?"

Junmyeon grimaced, "It's been almost as long since we last saw X-Exo as well."

"Have you guys been under attack by anything?" Taekwoon asked.

Minhyuk nodded. "Cubix was under one yesterday. I barely managed to slip out unnoticed."

"Fantasia is being attacked as we speak," Taekwoon frowned. "It's a relief that we didn't really trade with one another, otherwise supplies would have run out already. Starship, FNC, and Pledis are relatively safe bases and no one knows how long the siege at the Hit Bomb Center will last."

Minhyuk began tapping his fingers as he trailed off onto his thoughts.

"Have you found any of your missing yet?"

Junmyeon shook his head. "We think they're being kept at the Exo'rdium, but nothing has been confirmed."

"There have been rumors that the captives are being mutated," Minhyuk whispered.

"Mutated? Into what? Even the members of Peppertones don't have the technology or ability to do that!" Taekwoon exclaimed.

"Wolves," Minhyuk spoke grimly. "Last I heard from Boyfriend from Starship was that the lycanthropes were acting strangely and traveling with more people. Their source informed them of an experiment, people being inserted with the mutation gene. They get sharper teeth, agility, heightened senses, and are more bloodthirsty."

Junmyeon in a breath, "Are you saying the prisoners are being turned?" He asked, willing himself not to shudder at the thought."

"No. The subjects need to be prepared first, and with your Exo members, I don't think the Red Force has plans of doing that yet. Remember, their target is you guys, so they'll want to hold on to the people from the Elyxion, lest you guys try to go find them."

Taekwoon grimaced. "Then we must be more vigilant than ever," he trailed off thoughtfully before turning his piercing gaze onto Junmyeon.

"Be on lookout Junmyeon. Never let your guard down. Who knows what will be next?"

 

 

Year 11

Joohyun woke up to find the Elyxion in a frenzy. Stumbling out of her room, she took a moment to get a sense of her bearings. It was the most chaos the Elyxion had experienced in a while, and a sense of dread was beginning to pool in her stomach.

Spotting Junmyeon in the crowd, she quickly made her way to her wide-eyed boyfriend.

"What's wrong?" She asked urgently, seeing his bloodshot eyes.

"Yixing."

His grip on her wrist was strong, jaw clenched, and body shaking in fury.

"Yixing's gone."

Joohyun in a breath shakily, a million thoughts rolling through her brain. With Yixing's natural healing powers gone, the Elyxion was very, very, very, vulnerable.

As if sensing her discomfort, Junmyeon dropped a quick kiss on her forehead.

"Don't worry," he reassured her, trying to calm himself at the same time. "They discovered a small hole within the siege at the Hit Bomb Center. Yoongi's out and he's going to stay with us after delivering formulas and equipment to the other war facilities."

Joohyun tightened her grip on Junmyeon. "I hope this ends soon," she muttered.

"Yeah," Junmyeon her hair absentmindedly. "Me too."

He pulled away to look at her. "I have to make calls to Fantasia, Cubix, Starship, and Pledis. Stay safe."

She nodded, kissing his cheek to reassure him. Dropping a kiss to her head, he left, both of them separated by the frenzy of war once again.

 

 

Year 12

While the battle raged on below, Red Velvet was tracking the movement of Sehůn.

"It looks like he has a thing for mini-hurricanes," Seungwan noted.

"Nah, it seems like he prefers windstorms to me," Seulgi countered. 

Yerim huffed, "You both are wrong! Look at how he blows dust into the eyes of his opponents."

Sooyoung rolled her eyes, "Just state the fact that he fights exactly the same way Sehun does."

Wendy arched an eyebrow. "What's got her in such a bad mood?"

"Don't mind her. She's just cranky that she got voted as the person who looks the most like an animal," snickered Seulgi.

"Which animal?" Yerim giggled.

"I do NOT look like a frog!" Sooyoung fumed.

"I never said what it was," Seulgi sing-songed.

Joohyun interfered before Sooyoung blew up the ship.

"Stop. We have to leave before we are noticed, and Chën's bound to notice that something's off soon." She fixed her icy glare on to them. "We all know how his sky cameras work. If we're discovered, we're dead."

With that, they quickly finished the rest of their observations and escaped clearing that the battle was taking place.

 

" -windstorms. He also combines powers with Suhø to form hurricanes," Joohyun reported during the meeting.

Jay tapped his fingers in acknowledgement. "Then Junmyeon should help train Sehun. It would be beneficial  for us to learn different methods of attack as well."

"But what if he does it differently? X-Exo uses their powers in a different way than us. They're going to know that something's wrong," grumped Junmyeon, still not happy with the plan.

Yunho smirked at him, "And I trust that you know that you're going to have to be ruthless. You're right. X-Exo's unpredictable. We never know how they're going to attack, when they're going to attack, how they're going to make use of their powers. However, the one advantage we have is that they showcase all their abilities in battle. They have never been ones to hold back - that is how we studied them in the past, and why we continue to do so." He gestured towards Irene. "Red Velvet, F(X), and SNSD will continue to observe X-Exo. You are to take their reports seriously and help train Sehun to fit in with everyone."

" You might want to sort out your feelings soon, Junmyeon," Leeteuk broke in gently. "You know that we do not have a lot of time before we send Sehun in. We have to start training him now, that way we have more time to take care of other necessities before we send him in."

Junmyeon didn't reply as he stormed out of the council room.  Joohyun bit her lip before scurrying after him.

 

They were in his room, tucked under the covers of his bed. She was in his embrace, as he her hair softly, in a smooth rhythm.

"You know you have to do it, right?" Joohyun broke the silence.

She felt him stiffen behind her and hurriedly continued before he could object. 

"I don't like it either, and you know the rest of the people love Sehun as well, but Junmyeon..." her voice broke before she carried on. "You have to admit, it's the best plan we have. The best bet we've got."

"Why are you so readily agreeing to this?" He sounded so hurt and all Joohyun wanted to do was coo and assure him that she wasn't fully on board either, but now wasn't the time.

Instead, she shook her head. "No," Joohyun said, surprising them both by how firm she sounded. "No. Junmyeon, open your eyes. I hate to admit it, but we're losing the war right now. With all the other compounds under attack, the Elyxion is the only one that's able to move around freely. Within, our free compound, Sehun is our weapon. Only you and the rest of the members can sharpen his blade, and-"

"Run away with me," Junmyeon cut her off.

"Junmyeon, what-"

"Let's run away. We can find a place that's away from Changmin hyung's trackers and we can live there in peace. Just you and me, away from all this chaos. We can have a farm, just like you have dreamed of, get married, and expand our family. Me and you, with our children. We can be free and happy and do whatever the heck we want to do, Joohyun!" By the end, he was stumbling over his words, tone frantic,  chest heaving from the sudden burst, eyes shining wildly.

Joohyun reached up to carefully cradle his face in her hands. Eyes glistening with sadness, she shook her head no.

"Junmyeon, you know you don't want that either. Perhaps someday, yes, but you know now is not the time." She looked into his eyes. "If you want that future, we must train Sehun. Exo must train Sehun. You must train Sehun."

Shakily, he reached out to caress her face as well. "Alright," his voice broke. "I will. For you, I'd do anything," he breathed out.

She grasped his wrist and pressed the other hand, bringing it closer to her face. "Yes," she nodded. "You must be strong in  order to secure our future."

Eyes shining tenderly with sadness and love, Junmyeon pressed his lips softly to hers, and they met in a sad kiss that seemed to be happening quite often lately. 
 

 

Year 13

Yoongi's eyes twinkled as he showed Junmyeon his newest creation.

"It's the machine that'll develop Sehun's tattoo," he explained, face shining with the brightest smile Junmyeon had seen from the younger in a while. "Victoria noona can insert the formula, and it'll draw it on Sehun's face."

"Yoongi that's amazing! How did you develop it so quickly? I thought it would take longer to develop the formula, let alone build the machine."

"We've been working on something back at the Hit Bomb Center for a while, a little experiment for the rookies. I brought the blueprints with me when I left, tweaked it a little here and there and," Yoongi shrugged before shaking his bangs out of his face, the gleam in his eyes returning as he broke into a grin. "But hyung, this is nothing. You should see what I've been working on recently as well."

He led Junmyeon over to where a large contraception was sitting.

Yoongi gestures proudly at it, "This is where we're going to keep Sehůn after we knock him out and Sehun swaps with him. It's made out of the unbreakable glass that Infinite from Woolim created, so his wind can't break the glass or affect outside objects no matter how much power is used. It's also spaced out so the wind won't pile up and increase the pressure exerted on the walls. Sehun's been experimenting with me, and we're pretty sure he can't escape."

Junmyeon the machine in wonder. He was about to open his mouth to compliment it when his ear piece crackled, coming to life. 

"Junmyeon," Heejun's voice sounded. "Emergency. Code Purple. Come to the infirmary."

"You should go," Yoongi frowned. "We haven't had one of those in a while. It must be serious."

"Yeah," Junmyeon nodded gravely. He reached out to clasp the other's shoulder and squeezed it. "Stay safe."

"Mmm. You too, hyung. Be rational."

Yoongi's eyebrows knitted together in concern as he watched Junmyeon leave the lab.

"I hope he doesn't freak out when he discovers who's in the infirmary," he muttered to himself before taking out a screw to work on the device they were going to keep Sehůn hostage in. 

 

Junmyeon fumed with anger as he tended to Joohyun in the infirmary. 

"What happened?" he demanded.

Joohyun coughed, "Lightning. Turns out they knew we were there all along and only waited until today to attack. I think they tracked the signal when we crossed the border."

She looked at Junmyeon who had murder written all over his face. "I'm fine. We're all fine, really," she reassured. "We were only slightly electrocuted."

"Hey."

Joohyun's voice snapped Junmyeon out of his reverie.

He quickly shook his to snap out of his thoughts and forced a smile.

"Okay. It's my turn to train with Sehun today...will you be fine here?"

She laughed, eyes crinkling, and nodded her head, saying that she would be fine.

Once he left the infirmary, Junmyeon closed his eyes in anger, for he knew this was only the start of things left to come.

 

 

Year 14 (The Year)

Junmyeon straightened Sehun's coat for the millionth time, drinking in the sight of his maknae, engraving it into his memory. They were still in the midst of the battle, but had managed to capture Sehůn by luck just a few moments ago when he had accidentally stumbled upon one of their traps. With Sehůn being transported back to the Elyxion, Sehun had quickly faked injury, successfully escaping the war grounds, and was getting ready to start his mission.

"Will you be alright?" Junmyeon fussed as he fretted over Sehun.

Sehun closed his eyes and gave a curt nod. "I'll be fine, I can fake unconsciousness and say I have amnesia when I wake up."

He looked at Junmyeon, who was close to tears, and let out a tight, watery laugh. "It's going to be okay, hyung! I've been trained for this, it's all I have been doing for the past few years! And..." he trailed off, "if something happens to me, I won't mind. At least it'll all have been worth it at the end."

Junmyeon in a breath before pulling the younger into his arms. "Alright...If..if anything happens and you feel threatened, come back to us during the next battle. We can deal with the consequences after."

Sehun sniffled before pulling away and glanced at Sehůn's watch that was on his arm. "I better go. Before they get suspicious." 

"Yes," Junmyeon mumbled, breath quickening rapidly, "Yes, go. Now. While you can."

Sehun beamed at him, returning to the bright boy he once was, before schooling his features and turned to the door of the aircraft.

"Sehun?"

Junmyeon's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Yeah?" Sehun turned around to look at him.

"Stay safe. I'll miss you," Junmyeon managed to make out. He hesitated for a while before opening his mouth once more. "I love you," he choked out, voice breaking and eyes filling with unshed tears.

Sehun nodded slowly, allowing his eyes to crinkle up into crescents, smiling Junmyeon's favorite smile.

"Me too, hyung."

With that, he leaped out and disappeared from Junmyeon's sight.

 

 

Joohyun found him brooding in Sehun's room later that day. 

Sighing, she sat down next to him on Sehun's bed, offering silent comfort.

"Do you think he's alright?" Junmyeon whispered.

She thought about it for a while.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "Sehun's smart enough to know how to not get caught. If anything, I'm sure he can manage at least until the next time they attack us."

They sat in silence for a while. 

"Someday," Junmyeon started, "Someday. When this is all over and we can no longer participate in the fighting, I'm going to leave the Elyxion building. I'm going to take Sehun with me and maybe live on a farm. Somewhere that's peaceful and quiet." He looked at Joohyun. "You'll come with me, right?" 

"Of course," she slipped her hand into his. "Someday."

"Yes," he murmured, staring out the window in the direction where Sehun would be.

"Someday."

~~~Fin~~~