[EXO] [PD4] Frozen Light 1/2
Title: Frozen Light 1/2
Fandom: EXO (sort of fused with Final Fantasy VII)
Series: Phoenix Down (#4)
Rating: PG
Genre: AU, crossover (sort of)
Word count: 13,698
Disclaimer: Not mine, damnit.
Summary: Baekhyun discovers just how hard growing up can be when you're living in multiple worlds.
A/N: 4th in the Phoenix Down series, so please see Sweet as Honey, Sharp as a Sword for explanations. This one's a sidequest, as it were - a little look at how Baekhyun and Kris meet, from a Summon's POV. Brief mentions of Lu Han/Jongin.
For the hc_bingo square 'hypothermia'. Crossposted to AO3
Frozen Light 1/2
There are worse jobs than being a Summon, Baekhyun thinks. He could have ended up as a ranch-hand, mucking out chocobo stables for the rest of his life. He could've been stuck down in the mines, toiling away in dark tunnels in search of mythril. He could have been a newscaster, trying to brighten everyone's day with a smile but only ever able to bring them bad news.
Fortunately, now he's got the power of Light on his side, his life will never again be dark - and it certainly won't be boring. That, more than anything else, makes it worth the hassle of being who and what he is.
It does make it a bit awkward when he gets distracted during his paying job, though.
"You're doing it on purpose," Lu Han says after the third time Baekhyun manages to knock over an entire bookcase. "I think you've got something against books."
Baekhyun tries to look innocent, but that's pretty tough when he's got the evidence splayed out all over his feet. "Just because I don't read much doesn't mean I want to destroy the shop."
Lu Han reaches down to grab one of the spilled books and taps Baekhyun lightly over the head with it. "Don't think I don't notice that you never have any disasters in the Comics section."
That Baekhyun mostly prefers to read comic books is neither here nor there; the fact of the matter is, he can't help being jarred when one of his selves is suddenly summoned into being, and the consequences can sometimes be messy. Lu Han assures him that it eases up over time; as the newest member of their small coterie of Summons, and therefore the newest employee of Lu Han and Minseok's jointly-owned bookshop 'Leaves of Life', Baekhyun's still got a lot to learn about juggling the responsibilities of dual worlds.
Good thing he's a fast learner. With Lu Han's assistance, he tidies up the wreckage, standing the short, narrow case back on its feet and returning the contents to the shelves. The Philosophy section is small, though oft-consulted - mostly by students, and sometimes by Baekhyun's fellow Summons, in an effort to make sense of their lives. He doesn't think the answer's going to be found in a book, though. All the answers he's got so far he's had from dreams...or Lu Han.
"Where were you this time?" Lu Han asks as they work. It's quiet in the shop, nearly time to close for the day and the last customer left more than ten minutes ago.
"Somewhere in the desert, I think. I know there was a lot of sand and not much to see."
Lu Han goes over to the counter and pulls out a copy of the map they all keep, a map of the other place, this one brought back by Minseok. Baekhyun still finds it weird, how he's always himself, everywhere he goes, how something possessed by one of his selves can be passed back here, to what he always thinks of as his 'real' self. The smiling, friendly Minseok he works with, who lives down the hall from him, has never been to the other place - but at the same time he has, and he's brought back the proof.
Minseok's all over the map, marked with 'M' everywhere he's been. They all have an initial. Lu Han has the most, but he was the first one to gain awareness, he's got the most orbs out there and he's covered the most ground in their hunt for the figures in their dreams. He's even found one, though he's cagey with the details. (And also insufferably happy, which means no one wants to press too hard for the details for fear of being scarred for life.) Baekhyun hasn't had a master yet who's fit the bill.
Lu Han hands him a pen, so he draws a little 'B' on the map where he thinks he was. Or is. This is confusing.
"Corel Desert?" Lu Han winces. "I guess you're not finding anyone out there. Were you summoned for a fight?"
"Lots of Land Worms."
"I hope you won."
Unlike Lu Han, who slaughters everything in sight with his scimitar, Baekhyun has no physical weapon - but he does have the power of Light, which he channels into an absolutely withering attack: Judgement. He's told it looks impressive.
"Of course," Baekhyun scoffs, as if he'd ever lose. He might be the new man on the team, but he knows he's good. "I sent them right back into the sand."
Lu Han gives him a sly look, one that says he knows Baekhyun's keeping something back. He's not always right, but this time...
"And then my master went and got himself killed by a Cactuar. He didn't see it coming."
"And you probably couldn't have attacked again so soon," Lu Han says. "It happens sometimes and there's nothing you can do about it."
"Now my orb is stuck out there in a broken sword hilt and there's nothing I can do about that, either." Baekhyun doesn't mean it to come out as a whine, but it's been a long day - so many long days, in so many different places. It sucks that Summons can't pick up their own materia orbs and carry them off - they wouldn't need to be equipped by their masters, then, and they could go looking for their missing companions by themselves. Lu Han's the only one who can emerge from his orbs without being summoned, and even he lacks that ability.
"Maybe someone will pick you up one day." Lu Han offers him a hand up from the floor. "At least you're not trapped in the desert yourself?"
"No, I'm trapped in this shop with a boss who works me so hard..."
"Like you didn't spend half your shift flirting with those girls who said they were singers."
"They were singers. And cute girls are good for business?" Baekhyun tries.
Lu Han laughs at him and tosses him the keys to the front door so they can begin the process of closing for the night. "Only when they buy things."
-----
The first time Baekhyun has one of the dreams he knows nothing of the other world, nor the world that came before. He's an ordinary teenager with visions of singing stardom (and veterinary medicine as a back-up plan, in case his voice gives out before he makes it to the top). He's only ever been himself - one boy in one body, with no experience outside his family, friends and school.
But then comes the dream, carrying him away to a world where the last hope for life is a dying tree and its twelve defenders, himself one of their number. His dream self aims beams of light into the swirling red clouds seeking to consume the tree. It's a lost cause, he knows that, yet he keeps fighting until his hands begin to burn from the bright, scorching white light.
Baekhyun has that dream for the first time when he's sixteen. After that, his dreams are never the same again. No more ice cream dates with cute girls in short skirts. No more fluffy puppies to pet. Not even any of the weird ones he used to get after eating too much, about being wrapped in a giant steak and smothered to death.
All he gets is the tree. He's so sick of the tree.
He and his shadowy companions always lose the fight in the end, but sometimes he sees different pieces. A dragon's silhouette, breathing a ghost's pale flame into the clouds from on high. A unicorn, touching its horn to the base of the tree's trunk, desperately trying to restore it to health. Men, too, with magic Baekhyun can't quite see. Whenever he tries to move closer, the red clouds block his path, cutting him off from the rest.
The dreams he has most nights disturb him, but not nearly as much as the ones he starts having when he's awake. The first of those hits when he's in the middle of sitting an exam. One second he's writing an answer, and the next his pen's lying abandoned on the desk. He can't pick it up. Can't do anything, as it happens, because his body's completely immobile.
His brain's still functioning fine, though, which isn't an advantage when it's simultaneously in the examination hall and semi-aware of another place - quite damp, with the tang of salt in the air. There's someone moving near him. Large? Hands? He wants to look around but everything's hazy, every snippet of information he has fed to him by senses other than sight. He hears a man's voice, nothing but indistinct mutterings with neither shape nor form.
Until he hears his name. There's a sharp click and a feeling of being confined, of metal bands encircling his body like a vice, and finally...
Baekhyun?
For a moment he's seeing stars, temporarily dizzy as he spins free from his bonds, body taking shape without his control until he lands on the sand. It's not a terribly dignified awakening, sprawled on his back, the sea lapping at his toes and a sharp shell digging into his neck. There's a witness, too - a tall, dark-haired man carrying a long, slender sword with a bright red orb flashing in the hilt. Baekhyun gives him an upside-down grin and hopes for the best. The sword does look very sharp.
"Baekhyun?" the stranger says again.
"That's me." How does this guy know his name, anyway? "And you are?"
"Hoping you'll do something about those Beachplugs."
Baekhyun can't see where the guy's pointing from his current position. He scrambles to his feet, still disorientated because as far as he's concerned, he's also sitting on his chair, trying to finish his paper before the time runs out. Having two bodies at once, in two different places, is nearly enough to send him crashing back down to the sand.
The three long, tentacled jellyfish-like things - Beachplugs, he assumes - that are making their way towards him argue a convincing case for not staying on the sand any longer than he has to. He shouldn't be here. Whatever Beachplugs are, they don't look friendly and what's he supposed to do about them anyway? All he's got is a pen...which he's not even holding with the body on the beach.
This...is confusing. The guy with the sword is looking at him like he's some kind of saviour, sent here from beyond to eliminate the monsters swarming from the sea up onto the sands.
"Since you're the one holding the sword," Baekhyun says, "maybe you're the best person to do something about them? I don't even know what I'm doing here, and-"
"But I summoned you! Baekhyun!"
"How do you even know my name?"
"It says so right here, on your Summon materia. Look." Sword-guy angles the hilt of his blade towards Baekhyun, tapping the glowing red orb with his fingernail.
Baekhyun has no clue what 'materia' is, but okay, he'll play along if it means they can get away from those creepy jellyfish things. Sure enough, when he stares at the orb under the bright sunlight, he can make out his own name, scarred somewhere beneath the surface in thick, rough letters. Of all the freaky things...
"That's not mine," he says. "It's my name, but I don't know why it's on that crystal."
"Summon materia," Sword-guy corrects, now glaring at him. "And it looks like it's defective. Why couldn't I have picked up a Lu Han instead? It's like you don't have any power at all!"
There has obviously been some sort of massive misunderstanding here and Baekhyun has no clue what to do about it. He's still a student. A good-looking and talented student, of course, but a student nonetheless. Like he's going to have any kind of power. "What's a Lu Han?"
He receives nothing but a growl in response. This isn't fair at all. A weird swordsman with strange taste in bling is going to cost him a passing grade, and for what? So he can get stung by some deformed jellyfish?
Not that he knows what they're supposed to look like, but these things have spiky yellow bodies and long, vicious green tentacles that become blue and purple towards the end. He's pretty sure that's not normal. They're...kind of disgusting, actually. All gross, and slimy, and stuck all over with sand as they crawl up the beach. They're glowing a little, too. Baekhyun steps back. Running would be an excellent idea, but the guy with the sword's in his way and it seems like he'd rather Baekhyun stayed right where he was.
That's crazy. Totally crazy. Even crazier, he's picking up his pen again and writing an answer, on a paper he can't even see because the only thing in his line of sight right now is a Beachplug, all mean and ugly and a lot larger than he thought it was going to be when he saw it in the water.
"Aren't you going to do something?" Sword-guy hisses.
"Yeah; if you get out of my way I'm going to run!"
"Useless!"
Okay, so maybe that wasn't the correct response. Baekhyun doesn't care. How's he supposed to do anything about the Beachplugs when he's unarmed, and outnumbered, and feeling sort of nauseated because those things really don't look - or smell - like anything he wants to get acquainted with. They're hideous.
The longer he looks, the more repulsed he feels. He imagines thick, slimy tentacles slithering over him, leaving oozing trails along his skin. Even if he survives the sting, he'll never feel clean again. It's just too disgusting. He can already feel the palms of his hands beginning to burn in anticipation of the pain.
But the burning... He holds his hands out, palms up for inspection. They're glowing, the way they do in his dreams, white light expanding from the centre of his palms until he can barely see his fingers. The light tingles but he can't quite call it pain. It's definitely anticipation. The nausea wells up inside him, threatening to spill his breakfast all over the sand, guts churning and body flushed with sickening heat.
He opens his mouth...and what emerges is not a hashed-up mix of scrambled eggs and things that look suspiciously like carrots but a single word.
"Judgement."
The light in his hands flares up until he can't even see the Beachplug before him; indeed, he can see nothing, no matter how hard he strains. Sword-guy cries out behind him, presumably just as blind. Baekhyun wants to cover his eyes, hide them from the light, but he doesn't think he can hide from himself. Looks like he's got some kind of power after all.
Gradually, the light begins to fade to something a little less dazzling, leaving Baekhyun blinking in amazement. The Beachplugs are still there, a hideous trio on the sand - no less hideous than before, yet much reduced in threat. Much reduced overall, in fact, because their tentacles are withering as he watches, retreating further and further into the ugly yellow bodies until he can barely tell them apart from the beach. The monsters shrink down to nothing without so much as a shriek of pain.
"So you do have power after all," Sword-guy says admiringly. "Why didn't you do that when I first summoned you?"
"Because I didn't know I could." Baekhyun sinks down to his knees on the soft sand, not caring about all the grains working their way inside his clothes because he's too damned tired. However he killed the Beachplugs, it's taken something out of him and he's not sure he can afford to lose it. "Do you know how I can go home?"
His new acquaintance frowns. "You should go back in your orb to recharge. All the other Summons return to theirs when they've performed their attack. Are you new, or something?"
Baekhyun's new, all right, but the question is: new to what? "Yeah."
"Figures. I've never heard of a Baekhyun before." Sword-guy grins. "Hey, maybe I've got the only one in the world! You and me, we can go do great things together."
"I don't think so." Baekhyun shakes his head. "I've got an exam to finish."
Except that he doesn't, because his other self's walking out of the examination room right now - slowly, and none too steady on his feet, but he's moving and Baekhyun can feel it as sure as he can feel the exhaustion in this body. This business of being in two places at once is kind of draining.
"You're useful but you're weird," the swordsman declares, holding up the hilt of his weapon. "Come on, back you go. I need you to hurry up and recharge; we've got a long way to travel and monsters just keep popping up all over the place."
Baekhyun reaches for the materia orb in the sword, hoping that if he touches it, maybe he'll magically return home and get away from this practically deserted beach. He never even makes contact with it. The glowing red sphere doesn't move but no matter how hard he presses, his skin never even scrapes the surface. It's as if it's dodging him, somehow.
"Go away!" the sword's owner says. "Go on, shoo!"
"I'm not a puppy, you know," Baekhyun grumbles, voice so soft he can scarcely hear himself. He's flagging fast.
So tired. He's usually much more energetic than this. Can he really have used up all his strength attacking the Beachplugs?
Ignoring the swordsman, Baekhyun uncurls his legs and lets himself sprawl on the sand. He's too close to the sea to sleep safely but if he's not actually here, that shouldn't matter. And he can't be here, because he's somewhere else too and since this is a place he's never seen before, it stands to reason that this isn't where he belongs. Right?
Right. Baekhyun gives up the struggle to keep his eyes open, feeling himself become utterly boneless to the point at which he can almost imagine he's withering up like the Beachplugs, and soon there will be nothing left of him.
And with a sudden 'pop', there isn't.
He's weightless, he's nothing, he's a collection of thoughts and ideas in someone else's head. He's trapped in metal bands once more, in red and grey and light...
And now he's eating lunch, and discussing the exam with his friends, or trying to. He doesn't get very far before he passes out.
-----
After the first time, Baekhyun learns pretty quickly to keep his strange dreams to himself. Everyone teases him about fainting from exam stress for a while, and to be honest, it does seem like maybe that's the reason he ended up killing monsters on a faraway beach. It wouldn't be the first time his mind's wandered during an exam. It doesn't usually wander that far, though, and it's never participated in a murder before.
But even after the exams, the strange daydreams continue, and they never end. Baekhyun's himself, but he's also stuck in glowing red spheres - materia orbs, evidently, whatever materia is - and sometimes out of them, too. When he's in them, he's partially aware of his surroundings. There's nothing he can do to affect them until he's summoned out, always to attack monsters he doesn't recognise, using the same blinding bright magic as before. It always exhausts him, although as time goes on, it gradually takes less of a toll on his body. At least he's managed to get the hang of returning to his orb afterwards, where his energy is restored to him.
He's obviously going nuts, that's what it is. All the comic books he reads have given his subconscious ideas about magical powers, and monsters, and fighting exciting battles on behalf of mysterious strangers, and the ideas play out in his mind all day, every day. At first there's only that one orb on the edge of his consciousness, and when he gets called out again it's by the same swordsman. Then one day there's a second one, and a third's not far behind. He's in all of them, he's out of all of them, he's going to class and hanging out with his friends and trying to explain to his teachers that yes, he really is paying attention, honest!
He's too young to lose his mind, he thinks. It can't be true. If it were true, he'd have awesome powers in his 'real' life too - and he doesn't, he's tried. While he doesn't know what possessed him to say 'Judgement' that first time, saying it when he hasn't been summoned doesn't do anything except garner him strange looks if anyone overhears him. No bright light, no one shrivelling up and dying. His hands, though shapely enough to earn compliments, can't produce the power.
When he's summoned, he tries to ask the people in that other world where he is, where the monsters came from, why they have the power to snatch him away - in part, at least - from the life he's always known, to be nothing more than a weapon. No one's inclined to answer him.
Not until he finally meets another Summon. He's got three orbs crowding his brain when the most recent of his mysterious masters, a young lady with long blonde hair who keeps Baekhyun's materia in a diamond tiara, summons him in a battle with a pack of Griffins. They're not the only participants. Her friend, a dark-haired tomboy with a pair of materia slots in her lance, has called out a Summon of her own.
Now Baekhyun knows what a Lu Han is.
Lu Han is also a Summon. He wears shining silver armour and carries a gleaming blue scimitar; he's young, and not exactly the toughest-looking of creatures, but there's a confidence in the way he carries himself that suggests he's been at this a lot longer than Baekhyun has.
"You!" is the first thing Lu Han says to him. "I found you!"
Taken aback, Baekhyun's lips part in an incredulous smile. "You know me?"
"Only from my dreams. Quick, we don't have much time. Where are you right now?"
"Huh? I'm here."
"Not this you," Lu Han says, impatient. "You look younger than me - are you a student?"
"Oh!"
Now Baekhyun gets it. Lu Han wants to know who he is - or who he was before he became so much more of himself. They're here for a purpose; he has just enough time to give his name and address before Lu Han disappears into the fray, yelling something Baekhyun can't catch as he wipes out the entire pack of Griffins by himself. There's nothing left to do. Lu Han's blade slices through flesh and bone with all the grace of a dancer and leaves no survivors.
Baekhyun can only watch, mesmerised. The battle stands out against the sky, which, in this world, is a curious mix of blues, greys and an odd tint of red of a deeper, more malevolent shade than that found at sunrise and sunset. Crimson tendrils snake lazily through the clouds...but this time, they seem to shrink, coiling into themselves in ever-decreasing spirals.
Baekhyun's master pouts, because now she's called him out for nothing. He grins at her before disappearing back into his orb. Lu Han's already gone.
For three days, Baekhyun waits impatiently for some form of contact. If Lu Han manages to find him here, it's proof that this isn't all one elaborate fantasy, that he hasn't made up all his jaunts to another world, the selves he has to juggle because they all exist simultaneously. He's way too young to be going senile already.
Even if he is, there's not much he can do about it, not without telling anyone. Graduating from high school like this has been taxing enough; he didn't even bother to take college entrance exams. His life's going nowhere. His friends complain that he's never quite there, and no girl wants to date a guy whose mind is constantly wandering to another world.
He's sitting on a swing, alone in a park near his house, when Lu Han eventually finds him. It's early evening; no one's around to disturb them. Lu Han immediately jogs over and takes up residence on the other swing, turning sideways to chat.
The Lu Han of this world is very different. For one thing, he's not wearing any armour and unless he's somehow hiding his scimitar under his jeans and plain black T-shirt, he's not carrying a weapon. His short blond hair's fluffed up by the breeze; his smile's more friendly than deadly. He has a small green backpack slung over one shoulder and Baekhyun figures they can't have more than a few years' difference between them. In age, at least. In experience, he suspects the gap is far too large for him to bridge.
He can't decide what to ask first. So many questions spring to mind, all of them equally important. He settles on, "Are you real?"
Lu Han's face crinkles up with laughter. "As real as you are." He holds out a hand, which Baekhyun shakes; sure enough, it's solid and warm and real.
"You weren't easy to find," Lu Han says, once Baekhyun's confirmed he's not imagining things. "I tried your house, but there's..."
"Nobody home." Baekhyun's used to that. It makes it less awkward, when he's home by himself and having to divide his attention between his selves, but at the same time it's lonely. Consequently, he spends a great deal of time out. "Sorry. I should've said."
Lu Han waves his apology away. "I didn't give you much chance to speak. The Griffins weren't going to wait forever, and I haven't been with that master long enough to stay out for too long."
"That changes?"
"Oh yes." Lu Han's eyes sparkle. "You'll find that out for yourself soon enough. The longer you're with a master, the stronger you become and the longer you can stay out in that world."
Baekhyun wonders how his life has turned into a comic book. It's all very well thinking about such outrageous concepts in the privacy of his own head, but to hear someone else talking about them...
"How long have you been doing this?"
Lu Han shrugs. "About six years? It's hard to keep track sometimes. How many orbs are you up to?"
"Three. You?"
"Twenty-two."
Baekhyun can't hide his surprise. How anyone can keep their sanity with a total of twenty-three selves is beyond him. Assuming Lu Han is sane, of course, but Baekhyun's willing to make that assumption, on the grounds that this might be the most sensible conversation he's had in months.
"The others don't have as many," Lu Han says, "but I've been doing this the longest. Minseok's got twelve and the others have even less."
It's on the tip of Baekhyun's tongue to ask who Minseok is when one of his orbs, a constant presence in his mind, begins to vibrate - a now-familiar sensation he associates with being summoned. This time it's the second of his masters, a largely humourless young man with a scar crossing his face and a weapon that appears to be part-gun, part-sword. He's not much for small talk; Baekhyun doesn't even make the attempt anymore, merely gets straight down to business.
Killing Nibel Wolves while trying to hold a conversation is not the easiest task in the world, and it shows in Baekhyun's faltering attention span. He struggles to keep his mind on Lu Han's assurances that it will become easier over time, and that soon he'll scarcely even feel his other selves.
"You don't have to control everything," Lu Han explains. "They're all individuals, but they're all you. You can let them act independently."
Independently, like they're actually separate people and not splinters scattered across a foreign land. Baekhyun's afraid to let go, to drag his consciousness firmly back to the park and stop paying attention to the self that even now is judging the Nibel Wolves into oblivion. He can do this. He's a teenager; he's used to ignoring things. He doesn't usually have to ignore himself, however, and he's not certain he knows how to detatch.
"Focus through one set of eyes." Lu Han reaches across the gap between the swings to grip him by the arm. "Listen with one set of ears. Can you hear me? Tune out everything from the other world."
Baekhyun gives it a shot. He concentrates on the feeling of Lu Han's fingers digging into his skin, nails short but sharp as they bite into flesh. The swing's wooden and not altogether designed for comfort; the seat's hard beneath his shorts and ever so slightly uneven where someone's shaved a chunk from the back. Lu Han keeps talking to him, repeating the same advice over and over until Baekhyun's able to dial down the background noise coming from that faraway place. He watches Lu Han's lips as he speaks, studying the shape of the words so that he knows, without a doubt, that he's hearing them here, in this empty park near his house. There is nothing beyond.
Even when his summoned self returns to his orb, Baekhyun's only distantly aware. The three orbs continue to hover at the edge of his consciousness but he's managed to push them further away, if only by a little. It's a start.
"Your eyes are coming back into focus." Lu Han sounds pleased. "Well done."
"Thanks," Baekhyun says groggily. He shakes his head to clear it; Lu Han releases his grip, leaving angry red marks behind. They'll fade before long, but they still hurt. Baekhyun rubs the tender patch ruefully, hoping he can do this next time without someone trying to pierce his skin with their fingernails. "Is that what you do?"
"I don't have to." Lu Han's voice acquires an annoyingly smug edge. "Not anymore. Every time I get a new orb, I can relegate it to the back of my mind without thinking too much about it. I just check in on them enough to keep the search going."
"Search?"
Lu Han nods. "Do you ever have dreams about a tree? You must do, or you wouldn't have any orbs at all."
"Giant tree, lots of red clouds, a couple of animals and a bunch of guys I can't really see? That kind of dream?"
"Those are the ones. If you haven't seen me in your dreams yet, you will soon."
Baekhyun wonders if that's Lu Han's idea of a pick-up line - and if it is, he's wasting his time - but he seems to be all business about it, so maybe not. "I never see anyone's face. What's the deal with the dreams and us being summoned to kill monsters?"
"I don't know everything yet," Lu Han says, apologetic. "Whenever I meet another one of us, I start to see more detail in the dreams. Everyone else has had them too, but we see the same thing from different angles. No one's got the whole picture so far. You're the fifth of us - there should be twelve. Will you help?"
He may have the power of Light, but Baekhyun feels a little dim right now, like he's missing some puzzle pieces somewhere - and from the sound of things, no one even knows what the whole puzzle looks like yet. "I...don't know what you're asking me to do."
"You're confused. I get that. I'll make things simple for you. What are you doing with your life right now?"
Not nearly as much as Baekhyun would like. "Trying to get by without anyone locking me up in an asylum somewhere."
"You've finished high school?"
"A couple of weeks ago. I'm trying to look for work, but..."
Baekhyun would rather not talk about the interview he had at that restaurant, where he'd been summoned in the middle of demonstrating his ability to carry multiple plates and ended up face down in a pile of plastic dishes. He'd also like to discount the one at the shoe shop, where he'd spoken through the wrong mouth and tried to judge his potential boss. She hadn't been amused. He doesn't want to mooch off his parents forever but at the moment he's not too optimistic about his employment prospects.
"Perfect." Lu Han extracts a business card from the pocket of his jeans, passing it over to Baekhyun. "How would you like a job? I own a bookshop with Minseok. The others work there too, and there's an apartment upstairs - we've got room for you to move in."
If this is all a ploy to find new staff, it's the strangest one Baekhyun's ever encountered. He wants to trust Lu Han, who looks about as dangerous as a newborn kitten when he's not slaughtering everything in sight. What little he understands so far makes sense. Yet he's reluctant to commit himself, because there's so much more going on here that he's clueless about and going to live and work with a bunch of strangers might well be riskier than continuing the way he is now. What's he going to say to his family? The truth is obviously not an option.
"We look out for each other," Lu Han says quietly. "I'm the best at dealing with it but even I get distracted sometimes. This is the closest any of us can get to living a normal life. Think about it. You'd be with people who know what you're going through and can help you handle it. If you lose yourself you'll always have someone to pull you back, who can cover for you if necessary."
"For how long?"
"As long as it takes." Lu Han casts an eye at the setting sun. "I need to get back. I promised Kyungsoo I'd be home for dinner. Keep the card, and think about my offer. If you want to talk about it, now you know where to find me. I'll tell you more then."
Baekhyun half expects Lu Han to vanish into thin air. He doesn't, of course, and Baekhyun watches him slip off the swing and out between the trees. It's hard to know what to make of him. Which is the real Lu Han? The elite swordsman in that other world, or the kindly bookshop owner who scuffs his trainers on the asphalt as he nudges the swing back and forth? Both? Neither?
But then, Baekhyun himself is rather more mixed up than he used to be. He's never felt such power coursing through his body before, never wielded such terrible, beautiful light to destroy dangerous, repulsive creatures. The most he'd ever done before now was rough-housed with his friends, hitting them purely in play. He'd never killed anyone. That's all changed. If this is growing up, Baekhyun's not at all sure he's in favour of it.
The sun's sunk below the horizon now. It's getting cooler, but Baekhyun's not quite ready to retreat indoors yet, even though he's starting to get goosebumps on his arms. He clutches the chains in both hands and stands, pushing the swing back so he can begin to build some momentum. Soaring through the air like this is the closest he'll ever come to flight, unlike the dragon in his dreams - a dragon who might, if he's understanding correctly, be one of the people at the bookshop. Maybe the unicorn too.
Lu Han's left him with a handful of answers and ten times the number of questions. It only takes five minutes of mid-air musings before he's made up his mind to pay a visit to the other Summons; the address and opening hours are on the business card and by his estimate the place is a half hour's walk away. It's no good to leave things like this.
Especially when he's summoned at the peak of his swing and almost loses his grip.
Part 2
Fandom: EXO (sort of fused with Final Fantasy VII)
Series: Phoenix Down (#4)
Rating: PG
Genre: AU, crossover (sort of)
Word count: 13,698
Disclaimer: Not mine, damnit.
Summary: Baekhyun discovers just how hard growing up can be when you're living in multiple worlds.
A/N: 4th in the Phoenix Down series, so please see Sweet as Honey, Sharp as a Sword for explanations. This one's a sidequest, as it were - a little look at how Baekhyun and Kris meet, from a Summon's POV. Brief mentions of Lu Han/Jongin.
For the hc_bingo square 'hypothermia'. Crossposted to AO3
Frozen Light 1/2
There are worse jobs than being a Summon, Baekhyun thinks. He could have ended up as a ranch-hand, mucking out chocobo stables for the rest of his life. He could've been stuck down in the mines, toiling away in dark tunnels in search of mythril. He could have been a newscaster, trying to brighten everyone's day with a smile but only ever able to bring them bad news.
Fortunately, now he's got the power of Light on his side, his life will never again be dark - and it certainly won't be boring. That, more than anything else, makes it worth the hassle of being who and what he is.
It does make it a bit awkward when he gets distracted during his paying job, though.
"You're doing it on purpose," Lu Han says after the third time Baekhyun manages to knock over an entire bookcase. "I think you've got something against books."
Baekhyun tries to look innocent, but that's pretty tough when he's got the evidence splayed out all over his feet. "Just because I don't read much doesn't mean I want to destroy the shop."
Lu Han reaches down to grab one of the spilled books and taps Baekhyun lightly over the head with it. "Don't think I don't notice that you never have any disasters in the Comics section."
That Baekhyun mostly prefers to read comic books is neither here nor there; the fact of the matter is, he can't help being jarred when one of his selves is suddenly summoned into being, and the consequences can sometimes be messy. Lu Han assures him that it eases up over time; as the newest member of their small coterie of Summons, and therefore the newest employee of Lu Han and Minseok's jointly-owned bookshop 'Leaves of Life', Baekhyun's still got a lot to learn about juggling the responsibilities of dual worlds.
Good thing he's a fast learner. With Lu Han's assistance, he tidies up the wreckage, standing the short, narrow case back on its feet and returning the contents to the shelves. The Philosophy section is small, though oft-consulted - mostly by students, and sometimes by Baekhyun's fellow Summons, in an effort to make sense of their lives. He doesn't think the answer's going to be found in a book, though. All the answers he's got so far he's had from dreams...or Lu Han.
"Where were you this time?" Lu Han asks as they work. It's quiet in the shop, nearly time to close for the day and the last customer left more than ten minutes ago.
"Somewhere in the desert, I think. I know there was a lot of sand and not much to see."
Lu Han goes over to the counter and pulls out a copy of the map they all keep, a map of the other place, this one brought back by Minseok. Baekhyun still finds it weird, how he's always himself, everywhere he goes, how something possessed by one of his selves can be passed back here, to what he always thinks of as his 'real' self. The smiling, friendly Minseok he works with, who lives down the hall from him, has never been to the other place - but at the same time he has, and he's brought back the proof.
Minseok's all over the map, marked with 'M' everywhere he's been. They all have an initial. Lu Han has the most, but he was the first one to gain awareness, he's got the most orbs out there and he's covered the most ground in their hunt for the figures in their dreams. He's even found one, though he's cagey with the details. (And also insufferably happy, which means no one wants to press too hard for the details for fear of being scarred for life.) Baekhyun hasn't had a master yet who's fit the bill.
Lu Han hands him a pen, so he draws a little 'B' on the map where he thinks he was. Or is. This is confusing.
"Corel Desert?" Lu Han winces. "I guess you're not finding anyone out there. Were you summoned for a fight?"
"Lots of Land Worms."
"I hope you won."
Unlike Lu Han, who slaughters everything in sight with his scimitar, Baekhyun has no physical weapon - but he does have the power of Light, which he channels into an absolutely withering attack: Judgement. He's told it looks impressive.
"Of course," Baekhyun scoffs, as if he'd ever lose. He might be the new man on the team, but he knows he's good. "I sent them right back into the sand."
Lu Han gives him a sly look, one that says he knows Baekhyun's keeping something back. He's not always right, but this time...
"And then my master went and got himself killed by a Cactuar. He didn't see it coming."
"And you probably couldn't have attacked again so soon," Lu Han says. "It happens sometimes and there's nothing you can do about it."
"Now my orb is stuck out there in a broken sword hilt and there's nothing I can do about that, either." Baekhyun doesn't mean it to come out as a whine, but it's been a long day - so many long days, in so many different places. It sucks that Summons can't pick up their own materia orbs and carry them off - they wouldn't need to be equipped by their masters, then, and they could go looking for their missing companions by themselves. Lu Han's the only one who can emerge from his orbs without being summoned, and even he lacks that ability.
"Maybe someone will pick you up one day." Lu Han offers him a hand up from the floor. "At least you're not trapped in the desert yourself?"
"No, I'm trapped in this shop with a boss who works me so hard..."
"Like you didn't spend half your shift flirting with those girls who said they were singers."
"They were singers. And cute girls are good for business?" Baekhyun tries.
Lu Han laughs at him and tosses him the keys to the front door so they can begin the process of closing for the night. "Only when they buy things."
-----
The first time Baekhyun has one of the dreams he knows nothing of the other world, nor the world that came before. He's an ordinary teenager with visions of singing stardom (and veterinary medicine as a back-up plan, in case his voice gives out before he makes it to the top). He's only ever been himself - one boy in one body, with no experience outside his family, friends and school.
But then comes the dream, carrying him away to a world where the last hope for life is a dying tree and its twelve defenders, himself one of their number. His dream self aims beams of light into the swirling red clouds seeking to consume the tree. It's a lost cause, he knows that, yet he keeps fighting until his hands begin to burn from the bright, scorching white light.
Baekhyun has that dream for the first time when he's sixteen. After that, his dreams are never the same again. No more ice cream dates with cute girls in short skirts. No more fluffy puppies to pet. Not even any of the weird ones he used to get after eating too much, about being wrapped in a giant steak and smothered to death.
All he gets is the tree. He's so sick of the tree.
He and his shadowy companions always lose the fight in the end, but sometimes he sees different pieces. A dragon's silhouette, breathing a ghost's pale flame into the clouds from on high. A unicorn, touching its horn to the base of the tree's trunk, desperately trying to restore it to health. Men, too, with magic Baekhyun can't quite see. Whenever he tries to move closer, the red clouds block his path, cutting him off from the rest.
The dreams he has most nights disturb him, but not nearly as much as the ones he starts having when he's awake. The first of those hits when he's in the middle of sitting an exam. One second he's writing an answer, and the next his pen's lying abandoned on the desk. He can't pick it up. Can't do anything, as it happens, because his body's completely immobile.
His brain's still functioning fine, though, which isn't an advantage when it's simultaneously in the examination hall and semi-aware of another place - quite damp, with the tang of salt in the air. There's someone moving near him. Large? Hands? He wants to look around but everything's hazy, every snippet of information he has fed to him by senses other than sight. He hears a man's voice, nothing but indistinct mutterings with neither shape nor form.
Until he hears his name. There's a sharp click and a feeling of being confined, of metal bands encircling his body like a vice, and finally...
Baekhyun?
For a moment he's seeing stars, temporarily dizzy as he spins free from his bonds, body taking shape without his control until he lands on the sand. It's not a terribly dignified awakening, sprawled on his back, the sea lapping at his toes and a sharp shell digging into his neck. There's a witness, too - a tall, dark-haired man carrying a long, slender sword with a bright red orb flashing in the hilt. Baekhyun gives him an upside-down grin and hopes for the best. The sword does look very sharp.
"Baekhyun?" the stranger says again.
"That's me." How does this guy know his name, anyway? "And you are?"
"Hoping you'll do something about those Beachplugs."
Baekhyun can't see where the guy's pointing from his current position. He scrambles to his feet, still disorientated because as far as he's concerned, he's also sitting on his chair, trying to finish his paper before the time runs out. Having two bodies at once, in two different places, is nearly enough to send him crashing back down to the sand.
The three long, tentacled jellyfish-like things - Beachplugs, he assumes - that are making their way towards him argue a convincing case for not staying on the sand any longer than he has to. He shouldn't be here. Whatever Beachplugs are, they don't look friendly and what's he supposed to do about them anyway? All he's got is a pen...which he's not even holding with the body on the beach.
This...is confusing. The guy with the sword is looking at him like he's some kind of saviour, sent here from beyond to eliminate the monsters swarming from the sea up onto the sands.
"Since you're the one holding the sword," Baekhyun says, "maybe you're the best person to do something about them? I don't even know what I'm doing here, and-"
"But I summoned you! Baekhyun!"
"How do you even know my name?"
"It says so right here, on your Summon materia. Look." Sword-guy angles the hilt of his blade towards Baekhyun, tapping the glowing red orb with his fingernail.
Baekhyun has no clue what 'materia' is, but okay, he'll play along if it means they can get away from those creepy jellyfish things. Sure enough, when he stares at the orb under the bright sunlight, he can make out his own name, scarred somewhere beneath the surface in thick, rough letters. Of all the freaky things...
"That's not mine," he says. "It's my name, but I don't know why it's on that crystal."
"Summon materia," Sword-guy corrects, now glaring at him. "And it looks like it's defective. Why couldn't I have picked up a Lu Han instead? It's like you don't have any power at all!"
There has obviously been some sort of massive misunderstanding here and Baekhyun has no clue what to do about it. He's still a student. A good-looking and talented student, of course, but a student nonetheless. Like he's going to have any kind of power. "What's a Lu Han?"
He receives nothing but a growl in response. This isn't fair at all. A weird swordsman with strange taste in bling is going to cost him a passing grade, and for what? So he can get stung by some deformed jellyfish?
Not that he knows what they're supposed to look like, but these things have spiky yellow bodies and long, vicious green tentacles that become blue and purple towards the end. He's pretty sure that's not normal. They're...kind of disgusting, actually. All gross, and slimy, and stuck all over with sand as they crawl up the beach. They're glowing a little, too. Baekhyun steps back. Running would be an excellent idea, but the guy with the sword's in his way and it seems like he'd rather Baekhyun stayed right where he was.
That's crazy. Totally crazy. Even crazier, he's picking up his pen again and writing an answer, on a paper he can't even see because the only thing in his line of sight right now is a Beachplug, all mean and ugly and a lot larger than he thought it was going to be when he saw it in the water.
"Aren't you going to do something?" Sword-guy hisses.
"Yeah; if you get out of my way I'm going to run!"
"Useless!"
Okay, so maybe that wasn't the correct response. Baekhyun doesn't care. How's he supposed to do anything about the Beachplugs when he's unarmed, and outnumbered, and feeling sort of nauseated because those things really don't look - or smell - like anything he wants to get acquainted with. They're hideous.
The longer he looks, the more repulsed he feels. He imagines thick, slimy tentacles slithering over him, leaving oozing trails along his skin. Even if he survives the sting, he'll never feel clean again. It's just too disgusting. He can already feel the palms of his hands beginning to burn in anticipation of the pain.
But the burning... He holds his hands out, palms up for inspection. They're glowing, the way they do in his dreams, white light expanding from the centre of his palms until he can barely see his fingers. The light tingles but he can't quite call it pain. It's definitely anticipation. The nausea wells up inside him, threatening to spill his breakfast all over the sand, guts churning and body flushed with sickening heat.
He opens his mouth...and what emerges is not a hashed-up mix of scrambled eggs and things that look suspiciously like carrots but a single word.
"Judgement."
The light in his hands flares up until he can't even see the Beachplug before him; indeed, he can see nothing, no matter how hard he strains. Sword-guy cries out behind him, presumably just as blind. Baekhyun wants to cover his eyes, hide them from the light, but he doesn't think he can hide from himself. Looks like he's got some kind of power after all.
Gradually, the light begins to fade to something a little less dazzling, leaving Baekhyun blinking in amazement. The Beachplugs are still there, a hideous trio on the sand - no less hideous than before, yet much reduced in threat. Much reduced overall, in fact, because their tentacles are withering as he watches, retreating further and further into the ugly yellow bodies until he can barely tell them apart from the beach. The monsters shrink down to nothing without so much as a shriek of pain.
"So you do have power after all," Sword-guy says admiringly. "Why didn't you do that when I first summoned you?"
"Because I didn't know I could." Baekhyun sinks down to his knees on the soft sand, not caring about all the grains working their way inside his clothes because he's too damned tired. However he killed the Beachplugs, it's taken something out of him and he's not sure he can afford to lose it. "Do you know how I can go home?"
His new acquaintance frowns. "You should go back in your orb to recharge. All the other Summons return to theirs when they've performed their attack. Are you new, or something?"
Baekhyun's new, all right, but the question is: new to what? "Yeah."
"Figures. I've never heard of a Baekhyun before." Sword-guy grins. "Hey, maybe I've got the only one in the world! You and me, we can go do great things together."
"I don't think so." Baekhyun shakes his head. "I've got an exam to finish."
Except that he doesn't, because his other self's walking out of the examination room right now - slowly, and none too steady on his feet, but he's moving and Baekhyun can feel it as sure as he can feel the exhaustion in this body. This business of being in two places at once is kind of draining.
"You're useful but you're weird," the swordsman declares, holding up the hilt of his weapon. "Come on, back you go. I need you to hurry up and recharge; we've got a long way to travel and monsters just keep popping up all over the place."
Baekhyun reaches for the materia orb in the sword, hoping that if he touches it, maybe he'll magically return home and get away from this practically deserted beach. He never even makes contact with it. The glowing red sphere doesn't move but no matter how hard he presses, his skin never even scrapes the surface. It's as if it's dodging him, somehow.
"Go away!" the sword's owner says. "Go on, shoo!"
"I'm not a puppy, you know," Baekhyun grumbles, voice so soft he can scarcely hear himself. He's flagging fast.
So tired. He's usually much more energetic than this. Can he really have used up all his strength attacking the Beachplugs?
Ignoring the swordsman, Baekhyun uncurls his legs and lets himself sprawl on the sand. He's too close to the sea to sleep safely but if he's not actually here, that shouldn't matter. And he can't be here, because he's somewhere else too and since this is a place he's never seen before, it stands to reason that this isn't where he belongs. Right?
Right. Baekhyun gives up the struggle to keep his eyes open, feeling himself become utterly boneless to the point at which he can almost imagine he's withering up like the Beachplugs, and soon there will be nothing left of him.
And with a sudden 'pop', there isn't.
He's weightless, he's nothing, he's a collection of thoughts and ideas in someone else's head. He's trapped in metal bands once more, in red and grey and light...
And now he's eating lunch, and discussing the exam with his friends, or trying to. He doesn't get very far before he passes out.
-----
After the first time, Baekhyun learns pretty quickly to keep his strange dreams to himself. Everyone teases him about fainting from exam stress for a while, and to be honest, it does seem like maybe that's the reason he ended up killing monsters on a faraway beach. It wouldn't be the first time his mind's wandered during an exam. It doesn't usually wander that far, though, and it's never participated in a murder before.
But even after the exams, the strange daydreams continue, and they never end. Baekhyun's himself, but he's also stuck in glowing red spheres - materia orbs, evidently, whatever materia is - and sometimes out of them, too. When he's in them, he's partially aware of his surroundings. There's nothing he can do to affect them until he's summoned out, always to attack monsters he doesn't recognise, using the same blinding bright magic as before. It always exhausts him, although as time goes on, it gradually takes less of a toll on his body. At least he's managed to get the hang of returning to his orb afterwards, where his energy is restored to him.
He's obviously going nuts, that's what it is. All the comic books he reads have given his subconscious ideas about magical powers, and monsters, and fighting exciting battles on behalf of mysterious strangers, and the ideas play out in his mind all day, every day. At first there's only that one orb on the edge of his consciousness, and when he gets called out again it's by the same swordsman. Then one day there's a second one, and a third's not far behind. He's in all of them, he's out of all of them, he's going to class and hanging out with his friends and trying to explain to his teachers that yes, he really is paying attention, honest!
He's too young to lose his mind, he thinks. It can't be true. If it were true, he'd have awesome powers in his 'real' life too - and he doesn't, he's tried. While he doesn't know what possessed him to say 'Judgement' that first time, saying it when he hasn't been summoned doesn't do anything except garner him strange looks if anyone overhears him. No bright light, no one shrivelling up and dying. His hands, though shapely enough to earn compliments, can't produce the power.
When he's summoned, he tries to ask the people in that other world where he is, where the monsters came from, why they have the power to snatch him away - in part, at least - from the life he's always known, to be nothing more than a weapon. No one's inclined to answer him.
Not until he finally meets another Summon. He's got three orbs crowding his brain when the most recent of his mysterious masters, a young lady with long blonde hair who keeps Baekhyun's materia in a diamond tiara, summons him in a battle with a pack of Griffins. They're not the only participants. Her friend, a dark-haired tomboy with a pair of materia slots in her lance, has called out a Summon of her own.
Now Baekhyun knows what a Lu Han is.
Lu Han is also a Summon. He wears shining silver armour and carries a gleaming blue scimitar; he's young, and not exactly the toughest-looking of creatures, but there's a confidence in the way he carries himself that suggests he's been at this a lot longer than Baekhyun has.
"You!" is the first thing Lu Han says to him. "I found you!"
Taken aback, Baekhyun's lips part in an incredulous smile. "You know me?"
"Only from my dreams. Quick, we don't have much time. Where are you right now?"
"Huh? I'm here."
"Not this you," Lu Han says, impatient. "You look younger than me - are you a student?"
"Oh!"
Now Baekhyun gets it. Lu Han wants to know who he is - or who he was before he became so much more of himself. They're here for a purpose; he has just enough time to give his name and address before Lu Han disappears into the fray, yelling something Baekhyun can't catch as he wipes out the entire pack of Griffins by himself. There's nothing left to do. Lu Han's blade slices through flesh and bone with all the grace of a dancer and leaves no survivors.
Baekhyun can only watch, mesmerised. The battle stands out against the sky, which, in this world, is a curious mix of blues, greys and an odd tint of red of a deeper, more malevolent shade than that found at sunrise and sunset. Crimson tendrils snake lazily through the clouds...but this time, they seem to shrink, coiling into themselves in ever-decreasing spirals.
Baekhyun's master pouts, because now she's called him out for nothing. He grins at her before disappearing back into his orb. Lu Han's already gone.
For three days, Baekhyun waits impatiently for some form of contact. If Lu Han manages to find him here, it's proof that this isn't all one elaborate fantasy, that he hasn't made up all his jaunts to another world, the selves he has to juggle because they all exist simultaneously. He's way too young to be going senile already.
Even if he is, there's not much he can do about it, not without telling anyone. Graduating from high school like this has been taxing enough; he didn't even bother to take college entrance exams. His life's going nowhere. His friends complain that he's never quite there, and no girl wants to date a guy whose mind is constantly wandering to another world.
He's sitting on a swing, alone in a park near his house, when Lu Han eventually finds him. It's early evening; no one's around to disturb them. Lu Han immediately jogs over and takes up residence on the other swing, turning sideways to chat.
The Lu Han of this world is very different. For one thing, he's not wearing any armour and unless he's somehow hiding his scimitar under his jeans and plain black T-shirt, he's not carrying a weapon. His short blond hair's fluffed up by the breeze; his smile's more friendly than deadly. He has a small green backpack slung over one shoulder and Baekhyun figures they can't have more than a few years' difference between them. In age, at least. In experience, he suspects the gap is far too large for him to bridge.
He can't decide what to ask first. So many questions spring to mind, all of them equally important. He settles on, "Are you real?"
Lu Han's face crinkles up with laughter. "As real as you are." He holds out a hand, which Baekhyun shakes; sure enough, it's solid and warm and real.
"You weren't easy to find," Lu Han says, once Baekhyun's confirmed he's not imagining things. "I tried your house, but there's..."
"Nobody home." Baekhyun's used to that. It makes it less awkward, when he's home by himself and having to divide his attention between his selves, but at the same time it's lonely. Consequently, he spends a great deal of time out. "Sorry. I should've said."
Lu Han waves his apology away. "I didn't give you much chance to speak. The Griffins weren't going to wait forever, and I haven't been with that master long enough to stay out for too long."
"That changes?"
"Oh yes." Lu Han's eyes sparkle. "You'll find that out for yourself soon enough. The longer you're with a master, the stronger you become and the longer you can stay out in that world."
Baekhyun wonders how his life has turned into a comic book. It's all very well thinking about such outrageous concepts in the privacy of his own head, but to hear someone else talking about them...
"How long have you been doing this?"
Lu Han shrugs. "About six years? It's hard to keep track sometimes. How many orbs are you up to?"
"Three. You?"
"Twenty-two."
Baekhyun can't hide his surprise. How anyone can keep their sanity with a total of twenty-three selves is beyond him. Assuming Lu Han is sane, of course, but Baekhyun's willing to make that assumption, on the grounds that this might be the most sensible conversation he's had in months.
"The others don't have as many," Lu Han says, "but I've been doing this the longest. Minseok's got twelve and the others have even less."
It's on the tip of Baekhyun's tongue to ask who Minseok is when one of his orbs, a constant presence in his mind, begins to vibrate - a now-familiar sensation he associates with being summoned. This time it's the second of his masters, a largely humourless young man with a scar crossing his face and a weapon that appears to be part-gun, part-sword. He's not much for small talk; Baekhyun doesn't even make the attempt anymore, merely gets straight down to business.
Killing Nibel Wolves while trying to hold a conversation is not the easiest task in the world, and it shows in Baekhyun's faltering attention span. He struggles to keep his mind on Lu Han's assurances that it will become easier over time, and that soon he'll scarcely even feel his other selves.
"You don't have to control everything," Lu Han explains. "They're all individuals, but they're all you. You can let them act independently."
Independently, like they're actually separate people and not splinters scattered across a foreign land. Baekhyun's afraid to let go, to drag his consciousness firmly back to the park and stop paying attention to the self that even now is judging the Nibel Wolves into oblivion. He can do this. He's a teenager; he's used to ignoring things. He doesn't usually have to ignore himself, however, and he's not certain he knows how to detatch.
"Focus through one set of eyes." Lu Han reaches across the gap between the swings to grip him by the arm. "Listen with one set of ears. Can you hear me? Tune out everything from the other world."
Baekhyun gives it a shot. He concentrates on the feeling of Lu Han's fingers digging into his skin, nails short but sharp as they bite into flesh. The swing's wooden and not altogether designed for comfort; the seat's hard beneath his shorts and ever so slightly uneven where someone's shaved a chunk from the back. Lu Han keeps talking to him, repeating the same advice over and over until Baekhyun's able to dial down the background noise coming from that faraway place. He watches Lu Han's lips as he speaks, studying the shape of the words so that he knows, without a doubt, that he's hearing them here, in this empty park near his house. There is nothing beyond.
Even when his summoned self returns to his orb, Baekhyun's only distantly aware. The three orbs continue to hover at the edge of his consciousness but he's managed to push them further away, if only by a little. It's a start.
"Your eyes are coming back into focus." Lu Han sounds pleased. "Well done."
"Thanks," Baekhyun says groggily. He shakes his head to clear it; Lu Han releases his grip, leaving angry red marks behind. They'll fade before long, but they still hurt. Baekhyun rubs the tender patch ruefully, hoping he can do this next time without someone trying to pierce his skin with their fingernails. "Is that what you do?"
"I don't have to." Lu Han's voice acquires an annoyingly smug edge. "Not anymore. Every time I get a new orb, I can relegate it to the back of my mind without thinking too much about it. I just check in on them enough to keep the search going."
"Search?"
Lu Han nods. "Do you ever have dreams about a tree? You must do, or you wouldn't have any orbs at all."
"Giant tree, lots of red clouds, a couple of animals and a bunch of guys I can't really see? That kind of dream?"
"Those are the ones. If you haven't seen me in your dreams yet, you will soon."
Baekhyun wonders if that's Lu Han's idea of a pick-up line - and if it is, he's wasting his time - but he seems to be all business about it, so maybe not. "I never see anyone's face. What's the deal with the dreams and us being summoned to kill monsters?"
"I don't know everything yet," Lu Han says, apologetic. "Whenever I meet another one of us, I start to see more detail in the dreams. Everyone else has had them too, but we see the same thing from different angles. No one's got the whole picture so far. You're the fifth of us - there should be twelve. Will you help?"
He may have the power of Light, but Baekhyun feels a little dim right now, like he's missing some puzzle pieces somewhere - and from the sound of things, no one even knows what the whole puzzle looks like yet. "I...don't know what you're asking me to do."
"You're confused. I get that. I'll make things simple for you. What are you doing with your life right now?"
Not nearly as much as Baekhyun would like. "Trying to get by without anyone locking me up in an asylum somewhere."
"You've finished high school?"
"A couple of weeks ago. I'm trying to look for work, but..."
Baekhyun would rather not talk about the interview he had at that restaurant, where he'd been summoned in the middle of demonstrating his ability to carry multiple plates and ended up face down in a pile of plastic dishes. He'd also like to discount the one at the shoe shop, where he'd spoken through the wrong mouth and tried to judge his potential boss. She hadn't been amused. He doesn't want to mooch off his parents forever but at the moment he's not too optimistic about his employment prospects.
"Perfect." Lu Han extracts a business card from the pocket of his jeans, passing it over to Baekhyun. "How would you like a job? I own a bookshop with Minseok. The others work there too, and there's an apartment upstairs - we've got room for you to move in."
If this is all a ploy to find new staff, it's the strangest one Baekhyun's ever encountered. He wants to trust Lu Han, who looks about as dangerous as a newborn kitten when he's not slaughtering everything in sight. What little he understands so far makes sense. Yet he's reluctant to commit himself, because there's so much more going on here that he's clueless about and going to live and work with a bunch of strangers might well be riskier than continuing the way he is now. What's he going to say to his family? The truth is obviously not an option.
"We look out for each other," Lu Han says quietly. "I'm the best at dealing with it but even I get distracted sometimes. This is the closest any of us can get to living a normal life. Think about it. You'd be with people who know what you're going through and can help you handle it. If you lose yourself you'll always have someone to pull you back, who can cover for you if necessary."
"For how long?"
"As long as it takes." Lu Han casts an eye at the setting sun. "I need to get back. I promised Kyungsoo I'd be home for dinner. Keep the card, and think about my offer. If you want to talk about it, now you know where to find me. I'll tell you more then."
Baekhyun half expects Lu Han to vanish into thin air. He doesn't, of course, and Baekhyun watches him slip off the swing and out between the trees. It's hard to know what to make of him. Which is the real Lu Han? The elite swordsman in that other world, or the kindly bookshop owner who scuffs his trainers on the asphalt as he nudges the swing back and forth? Both? Neither?
But then, Baekhyun himself is rather more mixed up than he used to be. He's never felt such power coursing through his body before, never wielded such terrible, beautiful light to destroy dangerous, repulsive creatures. The most he'd ever done before now was rough-housed with his friends, hitting them purely in play. He'd never killed anyone. That's all changed. If this is growing up, Baekhyun's not at all sure he's in favour of it.
The sun's sunk below the horizon now. It's getting cooler, but Baekhyun's not quite ready to retreat indoors yet, even though he's starting to get goosebumps on his arms. He clutches the chains in both hands and stands, pushing the swing back so he can begin to build some momentum. Soaring through the air like this is the closest he'll ever come to flight, unlike the dragon in his dreams - a dragon who might, if he's understanding correctly, be one of the people at the bookshop. Maybe the unicorn too.
Lu Han's left him with a handful of answers and ten times the number of questions. It only takes five minutes of mid-air musings before he's made up his mind to pay a visit to the other Summons; the address and opening hours are on the business card and by his estimate the place is a half hour's walk away. It's no good to leave things like this.
Especially when he's summoned at the peak of his swing and almost loses his grip.
Part 2