Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Pilot: “Nightmare”

“They’re making me train your replacement, man—it’s so wrong!”

“I appreciate your loyalty, Mingi,” Wooyoung said as he quickened his step to cross the road. It was weird to be back in the city he grew up in. So much had changed since then, almost enough to convince him it must’ve been at least a decade since he’d last walked these streets. But no, it had barely been four years.

“I’m still mad at you,” Mingi replied, “but it’s hard to focus on that when this new guy is so damn unlikable. Who am I supposed to rant to now about how much I hate this job and want to quit? I want my best friend back!”

“I know, I’m sorry. You know I would’ve stayed if it weren’t for-”

“Yeah, I know.” Mingi paused. “This entire situation just sucks.”

Grimacing as guilt flooded him, Wooyoung nodded. “It does. But listen, I’ve gotta hang up now-”

“Oh. Yeah. I still need to eat before my lunch break is over anyway. We’ve got a meeting right after and guess who’s been tasked to lead it? That’s right. Me.”

“Ah, damn. Tell me about it later?”

“Maybe.”

“Alright then. See ya, Mangi!”

“Yo! Fix off!”

Chuckling as he hung up, Wooyoung sped up his step so he could finally rid himself of all the groceries he’d been carrying. At least the fresh breeze here was nice, the traffic more sparse, and the buildings made of actual bricks instead of glass and steel like in the big city he'd left behind.

Two streets from his destination, his musings were cut short by a strange feeling washing across his body. He slowed. Then stopped. 

Static.

The air was crackling with it, interacting with his skin, tugging on his hair follicles. A shudder ran down his spine as he instinctively looked up at an overcast sky weighed down by a gray cloud cover. There was no rain, no rolling thunder in the distance. Nothing.

Around him, other people were also slowing their step, their fly away hairs lifting. "Weird, huh?" one of them told Wooyoung with a chuckle before they continued on their way.

"Yes. Weird." It was all Wooyoung could think to say before he moved on, the static lingering around him, accompanying him as he rounded the next corner.

Everywhere he now looked, more and more people were rubbing their arms, frowning, and looking to the sky for answers. And by the time he was only one more crossing away from his parents' house, an unsettling feeling had made itself at home in his gut. On which spelled ‘danger incoming’.

Seconds later, the first piercing scream ripped through the streets and made his eyes widen as a cellar spider the size of the surrounding buildings materialized right beside him in a puff of mist. 

The creature was light brown, its body fat, round, and covered in hair he knew the human eye was never meant to perceive without a microscope. And its legs were long—far, far, far too long—and thick. Normally, they were little more than the width of a hair, but given the sheer scale of the thing, its were thicker than Wooyoung's arm and, right now, one of them was dangerously close to crushing a stroller on the other side of the road. The one pushing it managed to swerve only at the very last second—and to her credit, she wasn’t even screaming as she did it.

Even without having his life threatened, Wooyoung felt his hands and feet prickle with horror, disbelief, disgust as he was forced to flatten himself against the nearest building to stay out of the spider's path. 

“What the fuck is happening?” he mumbled as he shuffled along the wall, heart racing, breathing labored even before he broke into a full-on sprint.

He needed to get to his parents' place, get to safety. As soon as he was in his childhood bedroom, he’d be able to track all this on social media instead of with his own eyeballs. And he’d call Mingi. Sweet, rational Mingi—he’d definitely find the words to make this sound less insane.

Unfortunately, Wooyoung never made it that far.

Just as he was about to reach the crossing, the pedestrian in front of him suddenly keeled over and spat a tooth onto the ground. There was no blood, no coughing, just a perfectly white tooth bouncing off the asphalt before coming to a halt.

Swallowing his discomfort at the sight, Wooyoung slowed his pace for a moment before he had to fully recoil as a speeding car popped into existence on the road beside him and slammed full force into oncoming traffic. There was screaming, metal shrieking, glass shattering, but somehow, all the ruckus only mixed into the cacophony of noises suddenly shredding the air from all directions—sirens, crying, yelling, sobbing, car alarms, ringing phones, honking trains and buses.

Some sounds came from far away, blown over by the ever-strengthening winds, but others were way too close for comfort—up ahead, around the corner, mere meters behind, even up above from surrounding windows.

It was like the entire world had descended into madness in a single second. But before he could even begin to process any of it, the deafening roar of an explosion rolled through the streets, drowning out all other sounds and thoughts, leaving him coughing as a wave of dust and heat washed across him like a sign of the end times.

At last, the chaos spread to Wooyoung’s brain.

None of this could be real, right? He had to be dreaming or in a coma, or maybe kidnapped and poisoned with hallucinogens. There was no way what he was see- The sight of a black cat running toward him had him dropping his grocery bags and sinking to a crouch without second thought. He snatched it up, cradled it to his chest, just in time for a sobbing young woman to come shooting around the corner. Her eyes landed on him right as a teardrop rolled down her cheek.

“Lord Garmadon!”

Wooyoung couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows. “Eh?”

“Please don’t let her go!”

“I didn’t plan to!” Wooyoung shouted above the noise, his bags forgotten as he walked toward her. “Are you okay though? Something just exploded over there, right?”

“I- There was a bomb, I think? I don’t-”

Just then, a weird, wet gurgling noise appeared behind Wooyoung and sent a rush of adrenaline through his system. “Nope.” The word was uttered under his breath as he rushed forward, a now winding cat in his arms clearly desperate to escape his clutches.

Luckily, the woman managed to contain her cat before she could make her escape. “Thank you so much! I don’t know what I would’ve-” The woman froze mid-word as her gaze darted over, caught on something just past Wooyoung’s shoulder. Her eyes widened, fearful, horrified. Another tear fell as she stumbled a half-step back. “You- There-” She hastily shook her head, turned on her heel and bolted.

A cold shudder trickled down Wooyoung’s spine. He whirled around to empty air and paused, his focus shifting to the person now kneeling over a steadily growing array of their own teeth. 

Tearing his gaze away, Wooyoung turned back around, only to hear that same gurgling sound again. At this point, he didn't have to see what it was to know what he was dealing with. He knew that noise, remembered it all too well. His older brother had used the recording of it to scare him for years.

In his mind, Wooyoung could see the pale, ghost-like figure in her blood-stained white dress, black hair curtaining her face, one single blood-shot eye exposed, and that gaping mouth as she squeezed out the noise past a crushed windpipe.

Swallowing past the tightness in his own throat, Wooyoung took off in a sprint, grocery bags be damned.

His rapidly moving feet took him past people covered in tumor-like growths and bugs, couples trapped in shouting matches and physical fights, people running like they were being chased, and others clutching their own throats like they were trying to talk or scream but couldn’t.

Along the way, Wooyoung kept thinking he should stop to help, but each time he slowed, that gurgling would reach his ears again; one time, he could even feel a cold, moist touch on his neck. He'd actually let out shriek of terror then, but as expected, his voice had merely become part of their new world's ambiance.

His parents’ driveway was already within sight when Wooyoung spotted him. A lonely figure amidst the chaos, surrounded by human suffering and strange shadowy apparitions while, near his dress shoes, a massive crack was forming in the road. He seemed out of place, out of time, a piece from another puzzle forced to fit into this one.

The man was clad in gray slacks and a black cropped jacket covered in silver studs and rhinestones. His hair was tangerine orange, his ears full of piercings, and despite the thick layers of clouds and dust overhead, he was only now taking off a pair of pitch black sunglasses.

The calmness in his expression was eerie as his dark eyes darted about, taking in, observing, only to suddenly grow wide and round with something akin to wonder when his gaze landed on Wooyoung who couldn’t help but freeze under its weight.

Surprisingly, some of the fear instantly melted off Wooyoung when he realized the stranger was now smiling at him in a way that was oddly… charming. Inviting?

Instinctively, Wooyoung returned the smile and raised a hand in greeting, waving lightly.

Something about the response had the stranger briefly ducking his head before he looked back up, visibly delighted and... chuckling? He chose to wave back as he began to come over, a small skip in his step to dodge the steadily widening cracks in the road. 

“Hello!” His voice was raised above the noise, cheerful in tone. And while his voice sounded nothing like what Wooyoung had subconsciously expected, it somehow still fit him perfectly.

“Uh, hey?” Wooyoung was suddenly feeling underdressed in his sweatpants.

“You don’t happen to know what’s going on here, do you?”

“Not at all,” Wooyoung got out, though his voice wavered a little on the last word when he felt a cold, wet touch on his nape again. He instinctively leapt forward, whirling around to stand beside the stranger so he could face the spot where he’d just stood. There was nothing.

“She’s behind you,” the stranger provided helpfully.

Wooyoung couldn’t help but whine at the words and reach back to aimlessly swat at the space behind himself. The noise was back now, right by his right ear.

“You need to ignore her,” the stranger cut in, reclaiming Wooyoung’s attention.

“What?”

There was a sudden intensity to the stranger’s expression when their eyes met. “Don’t think about her. Thinking about her, fearing her—it grants her power over you. You need to focus on something else. Or someone else.” A boyish smile stretched back across the stranger’s face. “You can focus on me!”

“On you?” Wooyoung echoed. He gave the stranger a swift once-over before he met his eyes again. Was he being flirted with amidst the apocalypse?

“Sure!” the stranger shouted as another explosion ripped through the air, once again far too close for comfort. “I’d love to have some company during my investigation!”

“Investigation?” Wooyoung repeated, gaze dropping down as the stranger pulled a weird little device from his inner jacket pocket. It was silver and shaped like an oversized marker covered in grooves and ridges, but with just a flick of the stranger's wrist, it seemed to extend further and emit an orange glow at its upper end.

“Yes!” the stranger confirmed before he raised the device toward the sky and slowly turned around himself—just once—before he brought the object back to eye-level and inspects its side. “Hmm… Very odd composition.” He looked up and returned the device to his inner pocket. “Let’s find the source of all this, uh…” His gaze settled back on Wooyoung. “What was your name?”

“Wooyoung.”

“Wooyoung!” the stranger repeated, suddenly oddly joyful. “Great name. Let’s go, Wooyoung!”

“All... right?” Earning himself yet another smile, Wooyoung felt a curious sense of satisfaction as he fell into step with the stranger who’d begun moving at a speed bordering on a light jog. “So what’s your name?”

“The Captain.”

“Captain who?”

“Just the Captain.”

Frowning a little, Wooyoung briefly broke into a sprint as that gurgling sound reached his ears once more. Clearly, he shouldn't have been looking at the poor teenager over there, cowering under a tree while two adults screamed at him. “Alright then, Captain, so who are you exactly? Do you work for the government? The military?”

“Ew, what? No!” The Captain sounded mildly offended as he picked up speed to remain at Wooyoung’s side. “I work for myself. And humanity. And whoever else needs my help.”

“Ah.” Wooyoung paused, mulling the answer over. “So… who signs your paychecks then?”

“I don’t get paid.”

The crease in Wooyoung’s brow returned. “Are you rich then? A billionaire’s heir?”

“Nope.”

“How can you afford those clothes then?”

“I have a… friend who makes them for me.”

“Oh?”

The Captain nodded. “Maybe you’ll get a chance to meet them later, we’ll see.”

Blinking, Wooyoung glanced from the Captain back ahead where they were currently approaching a horde of zombie-like creatures flocking between two family homes into a narrow side-street coming up on their left. They had to be after someone specific just like the other surreal creatures around here, but from where he was standing, Wooyoung couldn’t see who.

What he could see though was blood, discolored flesh, missing limbs, and guts dangling from gaping wounds—and it was enough to have him briefly distracted. The cold touch on the bare skin of his nape returned—clammy, threatening, swiftly followed by that cursed noise near his ear.

“We’ll have to take the long way then,” the Captain said, tone light, still calm.

“Yeah,” Wooyoung agreed, swallowing the urge to voice his discomfort. He needed to refocus his attention. “So- Are you- I mean, have you seen anything like this before?”

“Like what’s happening here?” The Captain glanced back at him, his gaze darting up at something just above Wooyoung’s head. “Oi, Wooyoung, you’re not focusing properly!”

“I know,” Wooyoung replied, a little whiny. “It’s really hard!”

“She’s perched on your shoulders.”

“You’re not helping!”

The Captain spun around, coming to a halt right in front of Wooyoung who, in turn, froze mid-step. “Right. Sorry. Here.”

Dust-filled air ruffled Wooyoung’s hair as warm hands found his face and cupped his cheeks, thumbs tracing across his skin at a pace far too slow to fully make sense of in this hell. The gentle caress was keeping Wooyoung locked in place, utterly frozen with the Captain’s face right there, no more than twenty centimeters away.

He could feel warmth seep into him as his mind calmed, oddly entranced. Part of him longed to get lost in the comfort, but his rationality was growing louder now, because hold on—comfort? Wasn’t this weird? Shouldn’t this feel weird? How could a stranger be making him feel safe?

Wooyoung’s gaze flickered across the Captain’s features, taking in dark eyes and a surprisingly kind smile, but there was more to this than his objective prettiness. Something about this man, this stranger, something about his mere presence, was captivating.

“You’re too pretty to be real, aren’t you?” Wooyoung shouted above the car alarm that had just gone off behind him. He was only half joking.

Snickering, the Captain briefly ducked his head a little before he looked back up and pinched one of Wooyoung’s cheeks, ceasing the soothing caresses. “Don’t worry, I’m very much real! Perhaps even more real than you!”

Scrunching up his nose, Wooyoung focused on the minor sting even after the Captain had patted the spot with the flat of his hand in unspoken apology. “Alright, I’ll believe you! Mostly because I want you to be real! Does that mean we can stay in touch after surviving this? You know, exchange numbers?”

“I'm glad I bumped into you!” the Captain replied cheerfully before he squished Wooyoung’s cheeks between his hands, only to completely withdraw his touch a mere second later. “Now, let’s keep going!” Twirling back around, the Captain continued onward while Wooyoung took another second to collect himself before he caught back up.

“Is this your way of letting me down gently?” Wooyoung asked, refusing to be dismissed.

“Nope! This is just me focusing on our current mission! Now come on-” Wooyoung jumped as he felt warm skin graze his palm before the Captain's hand clasped around his “-let’s start running before that growing crevice behind us can catch up!”

"Wha-" Wooyoung’s question was cut short as the Captain yanked him along with a loud chuckle and set them off in a full-on sprint. Each time he dared to look back after, Wooyoung saw the crack in the road spread and widen further until it threatened to swallow its first victim: a deep blue Honda Civic. 

“This is exciting, isn’t it?” the Captain called out, briefly squeezing Wooyoung’s hand as they put more and more distance between themselves and Wooyoung’s current residence.

“That’s not exactly the word I’d have used, to be honest!”

The Captain brushed his comment aside. “Ah, excitement over the unknown comes with age, trust me! You’ll get there!”

Narrowing his eyes, Wooyoung gave him a swift once-over before he focused back on where he was placing his feet. “You don’t look any older than me!”

A bright chuckle escaped the Captain. “And how old are you?”

“Twenty-six!”

Another giggle followed as the Captain suddenly slowed their step and briefly knocked their shoulders together. “Oh... Well, I'm twenty-three, but I bet I know far more than you, so I might as well be older!” After briefly sticking out his tongue in an unbelievably childish—and admittedly endearing—way, the Captain let go of Wooyoung's hand to retrieve that silver device from his pocket again. Without slowing his pace, he adjusted the device's tiny, movable parts—a twist here, a push there. “Now tell me everything you know about all this! And don’t skimp on the details! Those are the most important!”

“Well…” Wooyoung briefly trailed off as he thought back to those final moments of normalcy. It already felt like hours ago, though it couldn’t have been more than, what? Fifteen, twenty minutes? “Before all the nightmare-fuel started showing up, there was static in the air! People around me felt it too!”

“Hm, interesting!” The Captain activated the device, causing it to glow as he pointed it at Wooyoung and moved it about like a wand, almost as if he were scanning him from head to toe. “Anything else? Were there any odd occurrences or news stories before today? Anything you can remember?”

“I don’t think so?”

“Are you sure?” The Captain’s question was accompanied by a hand on Wooyoung’s elbow, one which tugged him closer and pulled him firmly away from a wave of beetles now rushing to join the flood currently swallowing a fallen man on the street. 

“Shouldn’t we help him?” Wooyoung asked, wincing in sympathy.

“I want to,” the Captain replied, tone grim as he withdrew his touch, leaving Wooyoung cold, “but I can’t! He’s lost already! All of them are! All but…” His eyes met Wooyoung’s.

Instinctively, Wooyoung reached out to grab the Captain’s sleeve, desperate to keep his mind clear—and that thing at bay. “So what do we do then? How do we save them?”

“We find the source and go from there!”

“And how do we know-”

The Captain shook off Wooyoung’s hold as he extended his arm forward, the device in his hand glowing orange as he slowly pointed it up at a suspiciously low-hanging and massive cloud floating above the rooftops up ahead. It was slightly darker than all the other ones. “Wooyoung-” his smile returned as he met Wooyoung’s eyes again “-it seems we're near our final destination!”

Looking back at the cloud, Wooyoung blinked once, twice, before he tilted his head at the Captain. “Eh?”

“It’s a spaceship disguised as a cloud!”

Wooyoung frowned. “Are you joking?”

“Nope!”

“Ah, dude, now’s really not the time for-”

“I’m really not joking! And I can prove it to you!”

Sighing, Wooyoung briefly hung his head before he looked back into the Captain’s eyes. “Alright! I’ll play along! Show me the aliens, Captain!”

“That’s what I love to hear!” Snatching up Wooyoung’s wrist, device still extended, the Captain began to run again, dragging him along, further up the street, around a corner, and right onto an overgrown empty patch of land between two houses that had been up for sale for as long as Wooyoung could remember. “We’re here!”

Tilting back his head, Wooyoung looked straight up at the nondescript cloud. “You’ll have to do better than this if you want me to believe you!”

“I will! But you need to grab onto me first!”

Scrunching up his nose, Wooyoung lowered his head to dart his gaze across the Captain’s face. “Seriously? Earlier, you didn’t even want to exchange numbers!”

“I don’t mean-” Cutting himself off, the Captain briefly rolled his eyes before he pushed himself into Wooyoung’s personal space and wrapped an arm around his waist, holding on tight before Wooyoung could even fully comprehend what was happening. And yet his body still reacted—pulse quickening, breath hitching. Warmth, proximity, safety, the smell of perfume, the ability to see individual lashes around those suddenly all too serious dark eyes. How could this person be real? “It’ll get really bright in a second, so make sure-”

Yet another distant explosion drowned out the rest of the Captain’s warning.

“What?” Wooyoung called out, only to feel fingers sink into the hair at the back of his head as his head was tucked against the Captain’s shoulder while the second arm around him fell away. He still hadn't received an answer when, two seconds later, a blinding white light pierced his retinas.

Instinct kicked in and had him pushing his face deeper into the Captain’s shoulder to shield his eyes. Then came the panic. It welled up in him, reaching his throat, pushing against it, as the ground moved further and further away from him until even the tips of his shoes couldn't reach it anymore. 

The grip around him tightened, the second arm returning to hold him close, but it was no longer enough to make him feel safe. So he brought his legs up, wrapped them around the Captain’s waist, clinging on, hooking his ankles, while his arms wound around the Captain’s neck. At first, his fingers dug into bony shoulders, but once he realized his stomach was dropping like he was shooting up in an elevator at roller coaster speed, the panic in him bubbled over; his hands flew up, fingers clawing at soft hair as his forehead pressed against the Captain's cheek.

Luckily, all his moving about did nothing to loosen the Captain’s grip on him. He could still feel fingers pushing into him—into his side, between his shoulder blades, firm and reassuring, but while that explained the one set of hands, there was now also another. And Wooyoung knew exactly whom those other, far colder hands belonged to.

His fear had strengthened her. 

That was why that throaty gurgling was now back in his ear, louder than ever and drowning out all other sound while clammy, dead hands grasped at his shoulders as if they were trying to drag him down. Her every grip felt bruising, her entire weight pushing right onto his shoulder joints. 

He could feel her breath on his nape, his ear, and there was nowhere for him to go, no way to escape. He was trapped and ready for slaughter.

“Wooyoung.” The voice was muffled, a little breathless, bringing with it puffs of warmth against his collarbone; it barely reached him past the sound of her. “Wooyoung, please let go. I can’t breathe.”

He could feel hair tickling his neck—her hair—and the sensation left him nauseous, trembling, and that sound, that stupidly terrifying sound, was now right by his ear, close enough to make him feel like he was about to take his final breath.

And then he fell.

The side she was on struck the ground first, his shoulder and upper arm smacking into something solid alongside his outer thigh. Pain reverberated through him as he instinctively rolled onto his back, bringing along the body he was still clutching onto like a lifeline.

It was only then that he realized he wasn't lying on grass or dirt, but rather something smooth and solid. Perhaps metal? But on top of that change, there was no also another: the gurgling sound. It was gone. The air here was still. Silent. His own labored breathing was now all he could hear past the ringing in ears. 

His eyes flew open, taking in their new surroundings. They were indoors somewhere—a strange, eerie space solely illuminated by a subtle, yellowish glow stemming from a few hidden light sources tucked away inside the textured walls. It didn't add any warmth or brightness as one might expect, but rather elevated the creep-factor by casting ominous shadows on the low, curved ceiling. A ceiling which was undoubtedly made of metal though its design and shape made it look… organically grown somehow. 

“Is this Art Nouveau?” Wooyoung mumbled, distantly recalling an architecture lecture he’d once chosen to sit in on purely out of curiosity.

A gasp suddenly struck his eardrum and made him flinch, weaken his grip. It was then that the Captain tore himself free at last. He instantly pushed up onto his hands, leaving Wooyoung’s head caged between them and their faces mere centimeters apart. 

“You’re a lot stronger than you look,” the Captain got out, eyes closed as he panted as if he’d just resurfaced from a prolonged dive.

“Where are we?” Wooyoung asked, lifting his head just a little, just enough to peek past the Captain’s arm at bare yet ornate walls seemingly made of that same shaped and painted metal as the ceiling. From where he was lying, there was not a single door, window, or piece of furniture in sight.

“We’re inside the spaceship,” the Captain replied, drawing Wooyoung’s attention back to him right as his eyes opened under messy curls which had once been neatly styled.

“Spaceship?” Wooyoung echoed as his hands moved up to smooth down orange hair in lieu of a spoken apology. 

“Yes. Which is why it’d actually be really helpful if you could, you know, stop clinging to me with your legs.”

Snatching back his hands, Wooyoung glanced down at himself, right past the Captain’s necklace which was dangling between them, and broke into a mildly embarrassed snicker as he finally unhooked his feet and freed the man above him. “Really sorry about that.”

“It happens,” the Captain said, tone back to cheerful as he pushed himself fully up to standing before he reached down to offer Wooyoung a hand.

Not one to overthink, Wooyoung accepted while he took in winding shadows cast by silver-gray metal and polished raised points in the intricate wall and ceiling design.

The room they were in was small, square, no bigger than three by three meters, though the low ceiling made it feel decidedly more claustrophobic now at his full height than when he’d been lying flat.

“None of this feels real,” Wooyoung decided. “Is this really a spaceship? Like, really? Actually?” Beside him, the Captain was currently using his little silver device thingy to... scan the area, perhaps? All while his other hand was still loosely trapped in Wooyoung’s hold. “Be honest if you intend to answer.”

“I am. And it is,” the Captain replied, seemingly absentmindedly, before a small frown appeared on his face. “I can only detect two other lifeforms on board here with us. And by ‘us’, I also mean the being attached to you. The rest must all be down below.”

The reminder of her immediately had Wooyoung stiffening. “I… I think you should know she nearly had me there for a moment, Captain.” Saying the words now was enough to revive the sound amidst the silence of the room, too loud, too close, too difficult to ignore without other noises to drown it out.

Swiftly shaking off Wooyoung’s hold, the Captain freed his hand and captured Wooyoung’s chin, fingers pushing into his cheeks as he enforced eye contact. His normally brown irises appeared black in the dimly lit space. “You’re on a spaceship and you’re thinking about her? Are you sure she’s the only thing wrong with you?”

Wooyoung frowned, offended. “Hey!” His voice came out a little muffled due to the squishing of his cheeks. “There’s nothing wrong with me! I’ve just been scared of her since I saw that movie with my brother when I was way, way, way too young, so she’s… very distracting. At least to me.”

“Well, keep your eyes on me then! I’ll keep you more distracted than she ever could.” The Captain’s smile was back as he withdrew his touch, spun on his heel, and pointed his now glowing and humming device at one of the walls. 

In front of him, the wall itself seemed to respond to his unspoken order—it parted, creased, folded in ways that should be entirely physically impossible for any material other than the thinnest of papers, until it was entirely tucked aside. What was now left behind was a nearly two meter wide opening for them to step through.

Eyes wide, Wooyoung stared at the origami-like frame surrounding the doorway before he looked into the empty hallway beyond. Two seconds ticked by, entirely silent, before his gaze jumped back to the device in the Captain’s hand. “Dude, what is that thing?”

“My lambent pen.”

“Your what now?”

“My lambent pen.”

“'Lambent'? What the heck does that mean?”

The Captain met his eyes. “You don’t know? Do none of you people read the dictionary anymore?”

Recoiling a little, Wooyoung mirrored the Captain’s judgmental expression. “Has anyone? Ever?”

“I would hope so! Why else would anyone write it? But whatever—just come along. We’ve got work to do.”

Gaping after the Captain for a second, Wooyoung took a beat before he caught up and fell into step with him. “Did you actually read the full dictionary?”

“Of course!”

“And you think I’m dumb because I haven’t?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Is that your lying voice?”

Hand shooting up, the Captain hastily clasped it over Wooyoung’s mouth and froze mid-step, leaving Wooyoung annoyed until he heard it: distant sounds. Voices. His gaze snapped over to meet the Captain’s as adrenaline began flooding his system, preparing him to run for his life if needed.

As if in response, the Captain shook his head. “Don’t be scared.” His voice was hushed. “You’re safe with me. You know that, right? You can feel it.”

After a brief second of hesitation, Wooyoung nodded. 

The Captain’s smile in return was brilliant. He lowered his hand again, slipping it into Wooyoung’s so he could squeeze his fingers once in what felt like a wordless promise. Then his thumb began tracing again, brushing across Wooyoung’s skin, back and forth, slow and gentle like a caress. And once again, something about the touch calmed Wooyoung’s mind near instantly.

“Come on then," the Captain instructed, "let’s head to the control center.”

From there, it wasn’t long before Wooyoung realized the weirdest part about all this wasn’t that they were on a spaceship, or even that there were aliens on board, but rather that the Captain himself was navigating the space with something akin to familiarity.

There was no map for him to follow, no signage for him to read, and yet he was guiding them down hallways and up two flights of stairs without ever stopping for more than two seconds to orientate himself. Almost like he’d been here before. And not just for a brief visit.

“Do you come here often?” Wooyoung joked eventually. He didn't know if it was smart to ask, but he couldn’t just sit on this. If there was something off about this guy despite everything his gut and instincts had been telling him, then he needed to know. 

Surprisingly, the Captain didn’t even falter in his movements—he just kept on caressing Wooyoung’s hand. “Ha. Funny.” The Captain tossed him a glance, a smile, before he focused back on where they were headed. “But no. I’ve been on other ships from this manufacturing line before though and they all share roughly the same layout.”

“I see.”

Pointing his device again, the Captain parted yet another wall—this time to their right. On the other side was a room, large and open, solely familiar in regards to its metal walls and floors, but entirely new in the design of everything else.

For one, there was a giant structure at its center—like a tree trunk—with something akin to roots surrounding its base. They extended toward the walls, seemingly weaving in and out of the floor, mirroring the texturing off the ceiling where—like leafless branches—the tendrils also fanned out from the pillar at the center.

Wooyoung slowed for a moment to take it all in while the Captain led them inside before he withdrew his touch and left Wooyoung to slow to a stop. Unlike everywhere else they'd been thus far, there was no dim yellow glow seeping off the walls here, but rather green, magenta, and purple lights which brightly shone through the cracks between the vines wrapped around the trunk-like structure. It was the first time he’d seen real color on this ‘ship’.

A shift in the air around him had Wooyoung jumping and turning around just in time to witness the unraveling of the wall behind him as it closed its opening back up, sealing them in. When he looked back ahead a second later, he found the Captain casually lowering his pen-thing. He was the one who'd locked them in then.

“So… what now?” Wooyoung asked, trying to sound more unfazed than he felt. Why? He wasn't sure. Was he trying to impress the Captain with his nonchalance? Was it part of some survival mechanism? 

Either way, his words caused the Captain to briefly meet his eyes before he shifted his attention to the room at large. His newly grown smile was filled with palpable delight. “Now, Wooyoung! Now we save everyone!” The Captain jumped into motion, hands soon finding the central pillar as he circled it, fingers occasionally poking and prodding here and there as if he were pushing invisible buttons. “You see, the musquiarians are a hivemind mentally linked to the central intelligence controlling their ship, so all we need to do is hijack this system, roll back the attack order, and program the ship to warp drive away from earth. Or better yet—fully exit this galaxy altogether.” The Captain briefly slowed his movements. “I could send them to JADES-GS-z14-0…” He met Wooyoung’s eyes. “Or would that be a bit excessive?”

“Dude… I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Right.” The Captain snickered as he resumed his fiddling with the pillar, pushing on his tip toes here and there to touch areas further up, still only tapping against what appeared to be solid metal.

Tilting his head, Wooyoung gestured at the Captain’s actions. “Are you actually doing something there or…”

“Of course I am!” the Captain replied, tone light, far from offended. “This type of technology is partially organic, which means it responds to touch and body heat for beings like you and I, and to... I guess you’d call it telepathic signals, for beings like the musquiarians who are, hm, let’s say more elusive.”

“Now you’re just saying things.”

“That’s how speech works, indeed.” The Captain laughed at his own joke as he abandoned the pillar and dashed over to the wall where he began tracing his fingers across seemingly consciously select ridges.

“Can I help somehow?” Wooyoung prompted. “I feel stupid just standing here.”

“You’re helping plenty already!”

“Am I?”

“Absolutely! You’re keeping the musquiarian occupied with your life force. If you suddenly dropped dead, she’d be attacking me.”

Briefly freezing in place, Wooyoung let the thought settle in his mind. “Wow. I feel even worse now. Thank you.”

His words had the Captain breaking into a chuckle. “You’re welcome.”

Watching the Captain hop, skip, and twirl around as he moved between walls, tapped and traced his fingers across parts of the ship here and there, felt much like watching a dancer go through a practiced routine. It was both captivating and weirdly entertaining.

Standing still after all that running and fearing for their health and safety also gave Wooyoung some time to process and reflect—primarily on himself and his actions—which was how he came to realize… he’d been selfish. Utterly so.

“I didn’t even think to check on my parents,” he mumbled, gaze lowered as he pulled his phone from his pocket. The battery was dead even though he’d charged it just this morning.

“What was that?” the Captain asked, movements never slowing.

“I said you're kind of an asshole!”

“No, you definitely said something else.”

“Fine, it might actually be me who's the asshole,” Wooyoung replied once he’d shoved his phone back into his pocket. “I was right there by my house and what did I do? I got distracted. By you. And since then I haven’t even thought about my family! Not once!”

“Checking on them wouldn’t have done them any good, but what you’re doing now will.”

“But I’m not doing anything! You are!”

“And you’re doing a great job taking care of me by keeping me entertained!” the Captain retorted, tone still light and carefree.

“Ugh.”

“Are you rolling your eyes behind my back?” the Captain teased, one hand on the far wall as he hopped up to touch something near the low ceiling.

“What if I am?”

“Then I’ll have to scold you for being disrespectful.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.” As Wooyoung was still speaking, the lights embedded in the pillar suddenly began to pulse—slowly, steadily, like a heartbeat. The colors shifted from green, to purple, to magenta, to red, orange, yellow before the cycle repeated. With each pulse came a beat of darkness before a new color appeared. “Uh… Is that a good sign?”

Glancing back, the Captain tilted his head before he fully turned and approached the pillar. The shadows on his face were now cast by the color-changing light. Somehow, it only enhanced his surreal prettiness. “Come here.”

“Me?” Wooyoung blurted out.

The Captain frowned a little as he met his eyes. “Who else?”

“Right.” Tensing his muscles, Wooyoung stepped forward, gaze dropping to the Captain’s outstretched hand before he placed his own on top. Wordlessly, the Captain turned Wooyoung’s hand over and cradled the back so he could press its palm to the pillar’s cool metal surface. 

Feeling the dips and ridges of the delicate vines against his skin was both unsettling and fascinating; in a way, Wooyoung now understood what the Captain had meant by ‘partially organic’—it was impossible not to sense the life force under his fingertips right now. The texture of this metal was like tree bark, yet also simultaneously too smooth to feel wholly alive.

“You’re thinking too much,” the Captain said softly, breaking a silence Wooyoung hadn’t even noticed had fallen between them. “You need to clear your head and let the consciousness read you.”

Jerking back a little, hand still trapped beneath the Captain’s, Wooyoung turned to meet dark eyes. “Excuse me?”

“I rolled back the attack order and told it to recall all musquiarians to the ship. This ship. But it seems it now detected you and your friend, so it’s trying to figure out what to do with you two.”

Panic bubbled up within Wooyoung. “What? But I- You literally just said if she’s no longer feeding off me, she’ll attack you!”

“Which is why I asked you to open your mind and let the consciousness read you. It’ll base the orders it forwards to the musquiarian hivemind on whatever your will is. So if your will is to keep the musquiarian attached to you for now—at least until you’re off the ship—then it’ll be able to detect that.”

Tearing his gaze away from the Captain’s face, Wooyoung stared back at the pillar, at the smaller hand decorated with painted nails and silver rings resting over his own, and swallowed past the tightness in his throat. His heart was beating a little too fast for comfort.

“The ship will be flooded with musquiarians any second now so it’d be good if you-”

“Not helping!” Wooyoung cut in, fingers curling against the pillar. 

“Sorry.”

“Just tell me how to open my mind or whatever!”

“I already told you,” the Captain replied, still abnormally calm, “you just need to clear your head.”

“And how do I do that?”

“I don’t know.” Wooyoung could feel the Captain shrug against him, their shoulders brushing with the movement. “You know yourself better than I do.”

Huffing in annoyance, Wooyoung squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus on the box-breathing instructions Mingi had once told him about. What was it? Four second inhale, four second holding, four second exhale, four second holding- Just breathing and thinking about his and the Captain’s safety. ‘Please take that thing away as soon as we’re out of here.’

“Are you doing it?” the Captain interrupted.

“I’m trying.”

“Excellent.”

Noises. Distant. Distorted. Voices?

“Don’t let it distract you,” the Captain said, voice low, much closer to Wooyoung’s ear now than he’d been a mere two seconds prior. 

“I’m trying,” Wooyoung replied, matching the Captain’s volume as he kept his eyes closed and breathing controlled. It did very little to steady his pulse, especially now that he had some gorgeous guy all up in his personal space.

The hand covering his own shifted a little, giving space for the Captain’s thumb to start moving again, brushing, caressing, following that same speed and pattern he’d already been using before to ease Wooyoung’s mind with that near immediate dose of calmness. And like a spell, it worked yet again.

“How do you do that?” Wooyoung asked absentmindedly.

“Humans have C tactile afferents in their skin which respond to stimuli of very precise frequency, temperature, and pressure. So by moving at a speed of just about three centimeters per second while my skin is at a temperature of roughly thirty-two degrees Celsi-”

“Without the science jargon please,” Wooyoung cut in, trying to remain focused on the touch itself and the tone of the Captain’s voice—still so calm and low.

“People feel calm when they’re gently caressed by someone they trust. Like cats when you pet them.”

“So this only works because I trust you?”

“False. It only works this well because you trust me. It would’ve still worked to a degree even if you didn’t. Unless you felt threatened or repulsed by me in some way.”

Frowning a little, Wooyoung opened his eyes to look at their still touching hands, the steady unfaltering movement of the Captain’s thumb, and once again wondered why it was that he felt so comfortable in a near stranger’s presence. “Are you making me trust you somehow?”

“Eh? How would I even do that?” The confusion in the Captain’s tone sounded genuine.

“I don’t know! You’re the one following some scientific soothing method right now!” Wooyoung retorted as he gestured at their hands.

“Alright, I can see where you’re coming from. To be fair though, parents, especially mothers, use this technique on their infants and they were never trained to do so. It’s simply human instinct.”

“You’re treating me like a baby?”

“What? No. This works on anyone, adults included. Even lovers subconsciously-” The Captain briefly shut his mouth, thumb ceasing its movement. “Oh, you’re done. Time to leave. Come along!”

Hand still caught in the Captain’s, Wooyoung let himself be dragged along, let their fingers interlace, and did his best to keep his inner panic at bay as the Captain reopened the passage in the wall so they could-

A formless white mist blew toward them from a distance, moving swiftly, shape ever changing as it progressed. Something about it made Wooyoung’s stomach drop and heart beat faster.

“Nope!” the Captain decided, the device in his hand humming as he hastily resealed the wall before he took aim at the floor near their feet. “Emergency exit it is!”

“Was that one of those musicians?” Wooyoung asked.

“Musquiarians,” the Captain corrected.

“Whatever.”

“It’s not ‘whatever’—have some respect.”

“They just tortured an entire city,” Wooyoung reminded him.

The Captain paused briefly, leaving the opening by their feet to stop growing at roughly one and a half meters in diameter. “I see your point, but-”

Wooyoung crouched down, shaking off the Captain’s hold in the process, and hopped into the room below before the Captain could stop him. His feet met solid ground—toes first, knees bent to protect his joints. For once, his two years of doing floor gymnastics came in handy.

The space he now found himself in was different from all other areas of the ship he’d seen thus far. The walls here were colorful as a result of the shelves upon shelves lining the wall—each filled with backlit crystals of all shapes and sizes. And each of them refracting the light in different ways: some worked like prisms, casting rainbows on the floor and ceiling, while others sprinkled small beams of uni-colored light every which way. Pinks, greens, blues, yellows. The sight was hypnotic, otherworldly.

The Captain dropped down beside him, grabbed him by the elbow, and dragged him toward the only section of the wall free of shelves. “The musquiarians use them like medicine,” he explained without prompting. “But to keep them alive and charged, they need to rest on beds of their home planet’s soil.”

Gaze shifting to the Captain’s side-profile, Wooyoung blinked. “They’re alive?”

“Most things are. Though you humans seem to have a tough time acknowledging that.”

“'You humans'?” Wooyoung echoed before he dismissed the thought. “How come you know so much about this stuff? What kind of college did you go to?”

“None. I merely travel a lot. Meet a lot of people. You can learn a lot by simply asking the right questions.” As he spoke, the Captain pointed his pen at the wall ahead, creating a new opening. At first, he only made it big enough to poke his head through before he widened it so both him and Wooyoung could slip through and escape into the hallway beyond.

But just as they were about to reach the first bent, a deafening impact ripped through the air, shattering the quiet atmosphere. 

The entire ship shook, sending them into a stumble before they could catch themselves on the walls as the reverberations traveled through the floor, walls, ceiling, right into Wooyoung’s body where they rattled his bones and made his heart race with fear. “What was that?” he exclaimed. Part of him was expecting flashing lights and sirens to go off, but neither came.

“UNIT,” the Captain replied, tone grim as he snatched up Wooyoung’s wrist and dragged him along into a sprint. 

“Unit?” Even as he frowned, Wooyoung still adapted his pace to match the Captain’s pace. “Wait, you mean UNIT? United Nations Intelligence Taskforce? The super weird secretive organization that owns way too much property in this country? That UNIT?”

“Yes,” was all the Captain responded while he rushed them down a flight of stairs and into the adjoining hallway.

The ship shook again, rattling the metal surrounding them on all sides. This time, the impact felt closer, the vibrations stronger, forcing them both into a crouch to keep their balance as they held onto each other.

The second the ship had steadied itself again, the Captain pointed his lambent pen at the floor behind them, leaving Wooyoung no choice but to turn and watch as a new opening grew alongside a steadily thickening pillar of gray smoke.

It was rising up from the space below and took nearly half a minute to dissipate enough for both Wooyoung and the Captain to step closer and take a peek down at what could only be the discolored remains of a missile. Appearance-wise, it was nothing more than a massive elongated bullet with a squashed now deformed tip.

What was bizarre about it was the surrounding area of the ship. There was no visible hole, no tear in the hull. Instead, the missile was resting on what appeared to be a steadily healing floor. The only indicator of the former damage was now a blackened patch of thicker, bumpier metal. 

‘Scar tissue,’ Wooyoung’s brain supplied, somewhat awed, even as he shuddered with discomfort at the thought.

Beside him, the Captain glared at the missile for a second longer before he tore his gaze away, grabbed Wooyoung by the elbow, and tugged him along, forcing him to match his speed once again, even as he took off running at full sprint. This time, he refused to stop until they reached the room where they’d first boarded the ship.

Luckily, no other missile strike came before they could make it

As soon as they entered the room, the Captain unceremoniously pulled Wooyoung against himself and triggered that blindingly white light again—presumably with his pen. “Please don’t suffocate me this time.” The request was spoken right into Wooyoung’s ear while a second arm wrapped around his waist to hold him tight.

Nodding quickly, Wooyoung tried to shift his focus away from the disappearing floor beneath his feet, the nausea and vertigo, the panic settling into his mind as a result, and instead tried to concentrate on the feeling of having the Captain pressed up against him. But even then, he still found himself clutching onto the slim frame with all his might.

Alright. Calm thoughts. What had Mingi once said? Was it 'focus on your senses'? Wooyoung could do that. He saw the bright light through his squeezed shut eyelids. He could smell that same perfume scent again. Something... fruity. Berries perhaps? Some citrus? And he could feel... starched fabric against his cheek, soft hair against his cheek, a solid chest against his own, and fingers digging into his back as the Captain held onto him to keep him safe.

Just then, a few seconds into their descent, a sudden lightness overtook Wooyoung. It felt like an actual weight had been lifted off his shoulders and freed him from a deep-rooted stiffness in his back, shoulders, and neck he’d barely been paying attention to amidst the chaos. But now that it was gone, he felt close to reborn. The relief washing over him struck him like a wave and left him sinking even deeper into the Captain’s hold.

“She’s gone,” the Captain said, voice close, right by his ear.

Wooyoung nodded, needing no further elaboration.

“We’re almost there now. Stick close to me once we touch down.”

Nodding again, Wooyoung tried to internally prepare himself to face a horde of UNIT soldiers like the ones he'd seen on social media. As someone who was chronically online, Wooyoung knew these uniformed people were only ever spotted right before or after disaster struck and, somehow, any kind of documentation on their appearances never stayed online for more than twenty-four hours.

It was odd. But even more so, it was suspicious. How much did those people know? How much of the country's defense budget was allocated to them? What were they hiding? And how had no whistle-blower ever come forward to help answer these questions? Were they assassinating or brainwashing people to keep their secrets?

“Captain!” a nearby voice called out right before Wooyoung's feet met the ground and the Captain released his hold on him. “Were you being followed?”

Hastily taking a step back, Wooyoung brushed off his clothes as he looked around himself. They were surrounded. By rows upon rows of soldiers with lowered guns. Each was clad in a dark blue uniform and held an entire blank expression; their eyes were vacant as if they weren't fully present.

The sight of them somehow felt more alien than the white mist they’d encountered on the spaceship.

“They’re already retreating!” the Captain exclaimed, unconcealed anger in his tone as he glared at the person marching toward them through a sea of parting soldiers. “Call off your troops right now and let them leave!”

“They destroyed the city and tortured thousands!” came the swift reply.

“But they didn’t physically harm or kill anyone, did they?”

“How would you know?”

“Because they’re musquiarians!”

“Mus-” The uniformed man who’d been speaking now stopped in front of them. It was a middle-aged man, pale, balding, and dressed in a uniform covered in gold-trimmed ribbons and medals. “They were wiped out by the makhumh dyah decades ago. How could they be-”

“Their planet was destroyed, but some of them survived!” the Captain cut in, audibly impatient. “Now call off this whole thing and let them go!”

The stranger stood tall under the Captain’s glare, yet only withstood it for several seconds before he wordlessly shook his head and turned on his heel. “You’re in no position to be giving orders, Captain!” he tossed over his shoulder before he took off, retracing his path while the soldiers around him stared ahead, eyes unblinking. “The protection of earth is my duty and if we let those aliens escape, they’ll remain a threat!”

“They won’t!" the Captain argued as he trailed after him, fingers curled around Wooyoung’s wrist to keep him near, even as it caused Wooyoung to bump into one soldier after another without a chance to offer them more than a hasty apology. “I hijacked their ship and ensured they’ll be taken outside the galaxy and straight to a whole other corner of the universe! So even if they were to come back, it’d be millennia from now!”

“Humanity will be safest with them gone, not just temporarily out of the way!”

“Are you even listening to me?” the Captain exclaimed, tone heated and tinged with frustration. “I told you there’s no way they’ll return for thousands of years! Humanity might not even be living inside this solar system by then!”

The UNIT guy slowed to a stop and turned to meet the Captain’s eyes. “You would know, wouldn’t you… Captain?”

Wooyoung frowned. At this point, most of the conversation was admittedly going over his head, but he didn’t need to understand what they were talking about to know this guy in front of him was radiating arrogance and vainglory. “I don’t like you.” Silver-blue eyes settled on Wooyoung’s face. They were narrowed, felt condescending. “And I also don’t remember voting for you.”

“And who are you?” the UNIT guy asked.

“One of those citizens you claim to be protecting,” Wooyoung replied, “so I’d appreciate it if you could stop firing my tax money at that spaceship currently gearing up for a retreat.”

The man’s expression turned deadpan as he swept his gaze over to the Captain. “How do you always find these people?”

The Captain merely shrugged before his thumb began tracing across Wooyoung’s skin again, seemingly subconsciously.

Above them, a low whirring suddenly filled the air. Wooyoung looked up, head tipped back to witness the appearance of a massive trapezoid black object right where a fluffy gray cloud used to be. The ship was at least thirty meters in length if Wooyoung’s eye measurements were to be trusted, and its exterior matched its interior perfectly—that same dark metal seemingly woven into swirling vines occasionally polished to a shiny silver hue.

“Nobody shoot!” the Captain shouted. “Hold your fire! They’re retreating!”

“Calculate mesosphere missile impact trajectory!” the UNIT guy barked.

“Don't listen to him! They’re no longer a threat! Hold all fire!” The Captain turned to face the UNIT guy again. “Do you really want to be famous for knowingly causing an entire species to go extinct? Is that who you are, General Rho?”

“I’m protecting humanity.”

“If you wanted to help humanity, you’d be sending your troops into the streets to help the emergency responders!”

The UNIT guy—General Rho, apparently—fell silent as he stared grimly up at the rising and turning ship.

Wooyoung could feel the turmoil of dark emotions radiating off the Captain beside him, could see his jaw clench briefly before he tugged Wooyoung along and forced him to roughly shoulder his way through the soldiers alongside him. 

“What now?” Wooyoung asked.

“Now you return to your family while I go fix this mess.”

“Fix it how?”

“I have my ways.”

“Captain!” a distant voice shouted, emanating from somewhere up ahead.

“Not now, San!”

“I want to help!”

“I said not now, San!” the Captain snapped, all lightness long gone from his voice as he pushed past the last of the motionless soldiers and walked out into the open street where he immediately sped up his pace, even as a lanky kid in a black uniform jogged up beside them.

“I’m sorry about General Rho-”

“Don’t apologize on his behalf unless you share his views!” the Captain cut in as he let go of Wooyoung, leaving him cold. “And if you want to be useful, you can help Wooyoung here get home safely.”

Wooyoung briefly met deep brown, cat-like eyes as he swept his gaze across the features on the teen beside him before he focused back on the Captain who was now steadily moving away from him. “I won’t leave until I know how this ends!” Wooyoung called out as he took off in a sprint to catch up.

“You’ll see it on the news, I’m sure!” the Captain tossed back.

“Just let me go with you!” Wooyoung argued as he hopped across a dislodged manhole cover.

“No! It’s too dangerous!” The Captain’s words were followed by a light push to Wooyoung’s shoulder the second he made it within reach. He stumbled back, bumping into the kid far too young to already be in the clutches of UNIT. “Make sure he doesn’t follow me, San!”

“Aye, sir!”

Hands clasped around Wooyoung’s arm, slowing him down while the Captain steadily increased the distance between them. “Let me go!” Wooyoung complained, trying and failing to free himself. For such a skinny kid, San’s grip was surprisingly strong.

“I’m sorry, but I’m under orders.”

“You work for UNIT, not him!”

“The Captain’s authority transcends that of General Rho.”

Freezing briefly, Wooyoung looked back at San’s face and found nothing but compassionate eyes filled with something akin to… guilt? “You genuinely feel bad for holding me back.”

“I’d rather go with him too,” San confirmed.

“But he won’t let you?”

“He always says it’s not my time yet.”

Furrowing his brow, Wooyoung looked back down the street where, by now, the Captain had nearly all but disappeared into the gray smoke still rising up from the massive crack carved into the earth. The sight of him walking away and knowingly leaving them behind filled Wooyoung with a sense of loss, of downright hopelessness. “Who is he really?" he asked after a prolonged silence. "How much do you know?”

“Very little,” San admitted. “UNIT’s file on him is highly classified. But that’s neither here nor there at the moment. Please just come with me without resisting. Let me fulfill his order and take you to your family before someone from UNIT comes looking for me.”

Hearing those words, Wooyoung nodded. There was nothing else he could do.

Episode 2: “Timelines and Reunions”

“They call it ‘a glitch in the matrix’,” Mingi reported.

“Sounds bizarre,” Wooyoung replied, feet up on the corner of his desk as he leaned back in his chair and watched Mingi fiddle with his cellphone. They were still kilometers apart, with Mingi back in their previously shared apartment while Wooyoung was stuck with his parents in his childhood bedroom. Sometimes, life just didn’t go as planned, thus was the nature of life itself—or something like that.

“It is, but at this point, what else could it be?”

“I don’t know,” Wooyoung admitted, his focus already drifting back to the corkboard up on the wall in his bedroom. It was covered in newspaper clippings, photos, and other printouts—an organized collection sorted by date, type of sighting, and reports on surrounding events. He was pretty sure he was getting close now. Soon he’d-

“Are you looking at your creepy stalker-board again?”

Tearing his gaze away, Wooyoung focused back on Mingi seated in front of a shelf stuffed to the brim with manga collectors volumes and anime memorabilia. “No.”

“Dude, your obsession with this guy is unhealthy. You met him once. Once! And that was over a year ago! I know you’ve been feeling lonely, but-”

“You’d be no different if you’d met him!” Wooyoung interrupted before the conversation could get too real, too personal. “He literally saved an entire species of aliens by-”

“Sure. Keep telling yourself it’s about that.”

Heaving a sigh, Wooyoung crossed his arms. “Whatever,” he dismissed. “Let’s get back to Jisung—how has he been doing since all this?”

“Well, his wife is alive and well, his kids love him, and now he shows up to work all jolly and happy every single day.”

“And all that happened after the car accident?”

“Yes. No head trauma, no nothing. Just some scrapes and bruises.”

“It’s still traumatic though,” Wooyoung pointed out.

“Dude, people who crash their cars normally don’t start making up stories about some family they lost in another timeline. And his wife supposedly died seven years ago before their kids were born, so he didn't even know their names until she told him. He literally started crying while he was telling me about how much he wished he could’ve seen them grow up. It was really awkward for me. How am I supposed to comfort someone in that situation?”

“Okay, fine. So, what? He slipped through a small hole in the fabric of spacetime?”

Mingi shrugged. “Supposedly.”

“And now what?”

“Now nothing,” Mingi replied. “Now I’m over here researching this stuff in my free time when I'd rather be checking another thing off my to-watch list.”

“How tragic.”

“Screw you.”

Wooyoung broke into a cackle as he took his feet off his desk to cross them on his chair so he could pull himself closer to his desk, and by extension, his laptop. “Alright, Mangi, I promise I’ll ask the Captain about all this once I’ve tracked him down.”

“Oh joy, then I’ll be getting my answers in the year twenty-eighty-seven.”

Wooyoung shot a deadpan look at his webcam. “You have no faith in me.”

“I do. But that faith doesn’t extend to your-”

A low buzz and flash of light in Wooyoung’s periphery had him snatching up his phone while his free hand extended toward the camera to silence Mingi. An incoming call. Number unknown. “Hello?”

“I found him!”

Eyes widening, Wooyoung briefly waved at Mingi before he ended the call, jumped up, and rushed toward the door.

Ten minutes later he was sprinting down the sidewalk following a seven-minute bus ride, heading toward an alley tucked away between two neighboring restaurants near the city center. As he cut the corner and skidded to a halt, he nearly collided face-first with a familiar skinny figure clad in all black, hood pulled low.

“San!” Wooyoung greeted.

“Shh!”

“Apologies.” Wooyoung lowered his voice.

“Please follow me,” San replied before he guided them deeper into the shadows of the alleyway. The sky was overcast, having brought rain off-and-on throughout the day. “It’s right here.”

Scanning the brick walls and cobblestone ground with his eyes, Wooyoung tried to spot something out of place—a door, a window, graffiti, even just an unusually brightly colored trashcan, but there was nothing. “What am I looking for exactly?”

“This.” As he said the word, San reached out until his palm seemed to press flat against… the air?

Wooyoung frowned. “Are you... switching careers to miming?”

“What? No.” San pulled back his hand just enough to curl his fingers and knock against… nothing. And yet there was a sound. Medium high. Wooden?

Stepping closer, Wooyoung touched the space right beside San’s hand and felt something cool, something smooth—even a little wet. A rush of awed fascination pooled in Wooyoung’s mind and chest as he shuffled even closer. “It’s invisible?” His second hand came up, tracing across grooves, ridges, different materials, feeling wood, glass, metal—a window? A door?—until his fingers touched something else—a handle?—and tugged.

There was a sound, a low rattle, but nothing more. It was locked. 

“It’s his STMC,” San replied.

Gaze snapping over to him, Wooyoung felt his eyes widen. “His time-travel machine?”

San nodded. “STMC stands for 'spacetime manipulation capsule'. He hates the name though so he never uses it for her.”

“Is he in there?”

“Perhaps. I’m not sure. He might already be wandering around and searching for trouble.”

Looking back at the seemingly empty space in front of him, Wooyoung brought up his fist and started pounding at the door.

“Hey! Stop it!” San called out alongside a firm smack to his arm.

“Captain!” Wooyoung shouted, now hammering with both fists as a year filled with suppressed annoyance, anger, and frustration bubbled up within him. “Open up!”

“You’re alerting everyone in a five kilometer radius!”

“Captain!” Wooyoung raised his voice even further until a sudden whir above him had him freezing in place.

“Great.” San smacked him again, even harder. This time, it actually hurt. “Now you’ve made her mad!”

“'Her'?” Wooyoung echoed, taking a half-step back from what he assumed to be the STMC’s door.

“Now she’ll never let us in!”

“It has a personality?”

“Of course she does!”

“Hey! Get away from her!” That voice.

Wooyoung pressed himself up against San as he backed up from the invisible object and turned to face the end of the alley where a figure had now appeared. A familiar figure. Just around his height, slim, draped in loose-fitted dark pants and a long coat, and with hair the color of tangerines.

“Why were you assaulting her?” the Captain complained as he sauntered closer, successfully causing Wooyoung’s breath to hitch and pulse to quicken. “What is wrong with you?”

“Captain,” San said, voice warm, tinted with something close to admiration.

“Oh. Sanie! It’s good to see you again! But why’d you bring such a violent little man to my doorstep?”

“Excuse me?” Wooyoung remarked, words leaving him without a second thought. “Stop acting like I can’t hear you! I’m right here and for good reason—you owe me an explanation! And an apology!”

Stopping just about two steps away, the Captain tilted his head and gave Wooyoung a swift once-over. “I’m sorry, I don’t recognize you.”

“Are you serious?” Wooyoung replied, offense, embarrassment, shock, horror, all instantly filling him in equal measures. “You-”

Reaching up, the Captain hovered a finger near Wooyoung’s mouth, silencing him wordlessly as their eyes met. “No need to feel all that. We probably just haven’t met in my timeline yet. I’m sure I wouldn’t just forget a face like yours, hm?”

Even as he felt his cheeks heat, Wooyoung still managed to frown. “You’re pretty quick to spill that you’re a time traveler.”

Dropping his finger, the Captain traced his gaze over Wooyoung’s features again while he stuffed his hands in his coat pockets. “I didn’t already share that with you when we met?”

“No. But I did my research in the year since.”

Averting his eyes, the Captain nodded. "You did, hm?"

Wooyoung's frown deepened. Why had the Captain's tone just shifted like that? "Obviously. The internet is free."

“Ah, yeah. That.” The Captain let out a brief hum of thought. “It’s quite difficult to remain undetected these days when everyone has cameras at all times. It’d probably be wise of me to stop coming here so much, but this is such an eventful time. So many drastic changes back to back—all your brains can’t even keep up and yet you simultaneously still crave more, different, newer. It’s almost like an addiction, isn't it?”

“Captain.” Wooyoung interjected, drawing the Captain’s attention back to himself. “Can we get back on topic, please?”

“What topic? You were just scolding me for something I haven’t even done yet.”

Frustrated, Wooyoung pressed his lips together. This meeting was going nothing like he’d imagined. And he’d imagined dozens of different scenarios with varying degrees of plausibility—some ended in heated arguments, others in a hug, some in an invitation to travel together, others in tears (plus a few fantasies involving shared kisses, but those didn’t count).

“What brought you here this time?” San asked, keeping the conversation going. "Is there something I should be aware of?"

“Honestly? I'm not so sure myself,” the Captain replied. “My partner was drawn in by something, but she refused to tell me what and all I could find while I was walking around were some fluctuations in readings, but even those blipped out of existence fairly quickly. Observing them was intriguing for a while, but then it got a little boring.”

“Wait- You- Hold on-" Wooyoung spluttered. "Did you say your partner?”

“His STMC,” San explained.

“You two are cute,” the Captain remarked lightly. “I’m glad you made a friend, Sanie! Now shoo! I need to get in there and admonish her for wasting my precious time.”

Letting himself be nudged aside, San subsequently also moved Wooyoung even further away from the invisible object so the Captain could get to her door.

“Are we really just letting him leave like that?” Wooyoung asked, voice low as he leaned further into San, all while his mind was screaming at him to leap forward and cling to the Captain so he couldn’t get left behind again.

“We have to,” San replied, matching his volume. “This isn’t the right version of him.”

“What if he never comes back though?”

“Oh, by the way-” Turning around, the Captain glanced between them, key in hand seemingly already inserted into the invisible door’s lock. “There’s another version of me running around here somewhere. I could sense him while I was a street over from the museum. He's probably in the town square.”

Eyes widening, Wooyoung stared at the Captain for a second, letting a beat of silence linger before his emotions bubbled over too fast to be contained. “You asshole! Why didn't you say so earlier?!”

The Captain blinked once, twice, visibly caught off guard by the sudden outburst. “Wow, I really left a mark on you, didn’t I?”

“Of course you did, you beautiful bastard!” Wooyoung complained. “Shit, you- Do some more soul searching before you come back to earth again!” He shook his head as he began backing away, moving toward the end of the alleyway, gaze still locked on the Captain. “Seriously, I mean it! You suck right now and I deserve better!”

Turning fully around, Wooyoung took off across the empty road, determined to get to the museum before this other version of the Captain could evade him. He could only hope that, this time, it’d be one who recognized him.

San caught up to him wordlessly no more than a minute later and right as they were about to cross the busy street running parallel to the town square where the museum was located.

“Did I piss him off?” Wooyoung blurted out as he stared ahead, waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green

“Eh?”

“Did he look angry after I left?”

“Not at all,” San said, audibly amused. “He looked more intrigued than anything. I think he’s actually excited to meet you properly now.”

Wooyoung blinked, surprised. “Seriously?”

“Yup. He likes feisty people who don’t just say ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ to everything he tells them.”

“Oh.” The light switched to green, prompting Wooyoung to take off running. “Then I hope I didn’t change the timeline somehow by talking to him,” he tossed back over his shoulder.

“Hm, I don’t think so!” came San’s reassuring response as he fell into step with him. They reached the sidewalk, shoulders brushing as Wooyoung turned right, heading toward a side street he knew would take them straight to their destination. 

“He… The Captain’s not really like us,” San continued vaguely. It was the first time he’d willingly offered any sort of information without needing repeated prompting and prying on Wooyoung’s part. “It’s like he exists outside the laws of the universe. Even the way he perceives things is different. I think he can sense which points in time are fixed and what he can mess with, so…” San trailed off for a moment. “If you two crossing paths had actually been nothing more than a fluke, I think he would’ve told you to be careful so you don’t mess things up.”

“So what you’re saying is-” Wooyoung slowed down just a tad “-that me meeting him the day of the invasion is a fixed point in time?”

“Yes.”

“Huh.” Wooyoung took a sharp left into a store-lined street filled with cyclists, shoppers, and other pedestrians. The buildings here were more old-fashioned and ornate in their architecture—a lingering reminder of the city’s former glory before it had been bombed to rubble during the war seventy years ago. Unfortunately, only this part of it had been rebuilt to look like its former self while the rest was now all cement, glass, and steel.

What was ironic was that, during the musquiarian attack, the old fashioned buildings had held up far better than the sleek and modern ones, so even now, a lot of office buildings throughout the city still had tarp taped over missing windows which had yet to be replaced. Remote working had thus become quite common around here (which was a plus for all who were still dealing with long-term health consequences).

“It doesn’t mean you’re soulmates or anything-” San went on, actively ignoring Wooyoung’s interjection of “That’s not what I was thinking!” “-but it does mean your first meeting has influenced the future in some notable way, otherwise it wouldn’t be fixed.”

As they reached the end of the street, Wooyoung’s attention shifted from his own racing thoughts to the large fountain right in the center of the town square. And it was then that he spotted him: slim-built with now deep blue hair and an unmistakable swagger in his step. His black dress pants were flared, his navy blue jacket cropped, and his hair half-hidden under an oddly cute hat with a tiny brim.

“Captain!” Wooyoung shrieked right after he set off in a sprint, uncaring about the confused and judgmental looks he was catching. Under any other circumstances, he would've felt embarrassed, but not right now.

Weaving his way through the crowd, he made a beeline for the flash of blue up ahead, eyes unblinking, refusing to lose track. Despite how careful he was to dodge everyone, he still bumped into a few people and rushed out one ‘excuse me’ and ‘sorry’ after another until he finally rounded the last person standing between him and the one he’d been chasing for over a year.

In the end, it was worth it when dark brown eyes settled right on his face and a perfect smile bloomed in response to the sight of him.

“Oh, you’re here too!” the Captain said cheerfully.

“I am,” Wooyoung replied, struggling to keep this relief from melting away his entire year of gathered resolve. He had to be steadfast now. He could not let this slide. “No thanks to you!”

“Right…” The Captain ducked his head, smile turning a bit awkward. “I am sorry about that, Wooyoung, I mean it. I intended to track you down again and make sure you were okay, but then things got in the way. Big things. Important things. Not more important than your safety!” he added hastily. “But actually, yeah… kind of more important than you. Or me! More important than any singular life, if you know what I mean.”

“You’re rambling,” Wooyoung remarked, pushing down the warm satisfaction pooling in his chest so it wouldn’t show on his face. “I saw what happened on the news. Something intercepted the missiles before they could destroy the retreating ship, but no one seems to know what it was.” He shot the Captain a pointed look.

“Hm, how queer.”

Wooyoung huffed a laugh after he’d briefly met the Captain’s eyes. “Damn, it’s so weird to see you again.”

“Weird good?”

After a beat of hesitation, Wooyoung nodded. “Very much so,” he admitted. “I… Ugh, I didn’t actually want to tell you this, but…” he took a deep breath “...for half a year after you left, part of me thought you must’ve died since the news reported the missiles as temporarily gone before they were detonated behind the far side of the moon. I kept hoping for a call from San, a leaked report from UNIT, another alien invasion that'd bring you back, but there was nothing. You were just… gone.”

“Psh, as if I’d die in some common explosion.”

“He was really worried,” San remarked, voice low as he suddenly appeared right at the Captain’s side. “Maybe try to be a bit more comforting?”

“What?” The Captain jumped a little as he turned to look at San. “Where did you come from?”

“I came with Wooyoung.”

“Really? I didn’t see you.”

“I decided to stay behind and give you some privacy once I realized you were the right version,” San said easily.

“Oh! I knew I sensed another me! Did you bump into him?”

“Yes,” Wooyoung cut in, reclaiming the Captain’s full attention. “Just now. I didn’t like him much.”

Visibly taking note of Wooyoung’s shift in tone, the Captain briefly scratched at his nape while his gaze wandered off into the distance. His smile seemed a little strained. “Right… I remember now.”

“How long ago was that for you?” San asked.

“About… four years? I think. Give or take.”

“And how long ago was our last meeting?” Wooyoung prodded.

“About… three months ago? Give or take.”

“For me, it was a year, four months, and three weeks.”

The Captain met Wooyoung’s eyes again. “Wow. You really kept track.”

Raising his eyebrows pointedly, Wooyoung took a half step closer, purposefully invading the Captain’s space. “You changed and saved my life in the span of—what? An hour?—and you thought that wouldn’t have a lasting impact on me? Did you really think I’d be able to just move on from that? Are you that dense?”

“Maybe?”

Ducking his head, Wooyoung scrunched up his face in frustration for a second before he forcibly calmed himself back down and looked back up into the Captain’s eyes. “You’re an idiot.”

“That’s very subjective.”

“No, it’s a fact.”

“I don’t think such a thing can constitute a fact in any context.”

“Just shut up and say you’re sorry for ditching me!” Wooyoung complained.

“I already did!”

“But now I want to hear it again because I no longer believe you’d have actually come back to look for me!”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because I’m smart enough to know that if you did, you wouldn’t have come back a year late! You would’ve shown up in my past, so I wouldn't have had to spend a year waiting!”

“I don’t know about that,” the Captain admitted. “I’m actually really bad at precise landings for some reason. I failed my practical driver’s test twice, but-” he grinned proudly “-I scored highest in the theoretical!”

“Wow, good for you,” Wooyoung deadpanned.

As the air grew charged with Wooyoung close to breaking point, something within the Captain seemed to shift. His gaze softened as it darted across Wooyoung’s features, finally seeing him—and right then, Wooyoung could tell the Captain was actually fully and truly realizing how big of an impact crater he’d left when he'd chosen to walk away. 

His smile grew gentler, genuinely apologetic, as a warm hand rose up to cup Wooyoung’s neck, thumb coming to rest just under Wooyoung’s ear. “I’m really, really sorry. I mean it.” His voice was low, leaving Wooyoung’s breath caught in his throat. “I was really happy with you that day. You were excellent company and I’d be lucky to have you by my side again today, but…” He withdrew his touch. “This isn’t the sort of adventure I can bring you on.”

Pushing aside the immediate rush of disappointment, Wooyoung frowned as he scanned the Captain’s face. “Why not? What are you here for?”

“Something vitally important I should’ve gotten back to three minutes ago.” The Captain’s voice turned a little mumbly as he checked his watch and retrieved his lambent pen from his pocket. “You two can stay here if you want. There’s nothing dangerous lurking around here besides, you know, the usual everyday threats.”

Watching the Captain begin to walk away, Wooyoung felt frustration bubble back up in him in an instant, and this time, he let it carry him forward before it could turn into desperation. “Did you just dismiss me?” he burst out as he fell into step beside the Captain. "Right after you apologized for abandoning me?"

“That’s a harsh way of phrasing it,” came the swift reply, though even as he was talking, the Captain still waved his pen about before he brought it up to eye-level and checked something on its side. Though what that something was, Wooyoung’s couldn’t tell. He’d seen dozens of pictures of the so-called lambent pen over the last year—in all its iterations—so he knew for a fact there was no display on it.

“Tell me why you’re here,” Wooyoung demanded.

“No.”

“Does it have something to do with aliens again?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Glancing back at San who was tracking along behind them, Wooyoung made an exaggerated expression to show his growing annoyance. San merely snickered in return. “Fine then!” Wooyoung snapped, looking back ahead. “Be a mysterious bastard!”

The Captain chuckled.

“But don’t think you can get rid of me so easily this time! San and I are allies now, so he won’t just blindly follow your orders—right, San?” Wooyoung paused, waiting for a response. None came. “San?”

“I’m sorry, but the Captain-”

“Seriously?” Wooyoung cut in, throwing a glare over his shoulder. “Still? He abandoned you too!”

“I’m used to it!” San defended himself. “And I know he’ll come back for me when the time is right!”

“You brainwashed that poor kid!” Wooyoung accused, smacking the Captain's arm.

“No, I didn’t,” the Captain retorted, a slight but sharp edge to his tone, though his fingers never faltered as they kept fiddling around with the settings on his pen. “He just has a few more years of growing up to do. Now, please, let me focus! This is important.”

Looking across their surroundings, Wooyoung took a second to concentrate on his breathing and fully calm back down. He knew from their last meeting that the Captain wasn’t just saying this to get rid of him. There really had to be something going on. But what?

“That other version of you was here for the same reason as you, wasn’t he?” Wooyoung guessed.

“Yup,” the Captain confirmed easily as he made another sweep of their environment with his pen. It glowed and hummed as it fulfilled its task.

Thinking back to the last time the Captain had come here, Wooyoung began digging through his recent memories for anything weird or abnormal covered by the news or social media—something that would explain why- “Those timeline glitches!” he blurted out the second his brain clicked. “That’s why you’re here!”

The Captain honored him with a brief moment of eye contact. “You heard about it?”

“My friend, Mingi, did. He told me about it right before San called me here.”

“Terribly risky of you to use UNIT resources like that, by the way,” the Captain tossed over his shoulder.

“I know, sir,” San replied.

“Then why did you do it?” the Captain pushed.

“I felt… bad. Guilty.”

“Why?”

“If I hadn’t held him back, maybe he could’ve convinced you to bring him along.”

Turning around, the Captain continued to move backwards at an unchanged pace, leaving a wide-eyed Wooyoung with the self-assigned responsibility of ensuring the Captain wouldn’t bump into anything or anyone. “You only did what you were told and yet you still felt responsible?”

“Yes,” San admitted.

“I’m glad.”

“You are?” San sounded confused.

“Don’t lose that humanity in you. It’s what sets you apart from all those other UNIT drones.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will soon. Trust me.”

“I do! I do trust you!”

“Light post!” Wooyoung alerted as he grabbed the Captain’s arm and dragged him aside to prevent a collision.

The Captain only spared the post a passing glance, his pace still not slowing. “But how is the training going in general, hm?”

“Excellent!” There was a hint of pride in San’s tone. “I’m still top of my class!”

“Really?”

“Yes, sir!”

“That’s great! And how are you holding up mentally?”

For a brief moment, San fell silent. “I… I still haven’t made any friends. But the teachers like me!”

“That’s nice. But you have Wooyoung now, right? You two are friends?”

“I, um, not really?” San said, audibly hesitant. “We only spoke a few times and it was always about you.”

The words had Wooyoung swallowing his disappointment. In his mind, they actually had become friends, even if San had never responded to his attempted jokes or talked about himself… or even engaged with Wooyoung’s anecdotes surrounding his investigative work. For San, it had always been strictly about the research documents Wooyoung had sent over and nothing else.

So yes, perhaps Wooyoung had been a bit naive, or even childish, for thinking something like this could constitute a friendship, but that realization didn’t make him feel any better right about now. Not at all.

“Oh.” The Captain paused. “Well, there’s still time! You’re both young. Maybe try to make some time for each other? Friendships take effort too, especially when both parties have busy schedules.”

Wooyoung kept his mouth shut, his gaze averted. He didn’t want to let the Captain know about the shambles his life was in—his unemployment, lack of friends, lack of a hobby, steadily deteriorating mental health, or the lifelong broken state of his relationship with his parents. Or how his brother had decided to go non-contact as soon as he'd moved out. If there was only one thing Wooyoung wasn’t at the moment, it was busy.

“In fact, let me help you!” the Captain said cheerfully as he spun back around, finally facing ahead again. “Take him away, San! I’ve got work to do!”

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

“I can't believe you're doing this to me,” Wooyoung said, voice low, sharp, as he was dragged down another side-street, away from the town square, and far worse, away from the Captain.

“Hold that thought,” San replied, an amused edge to his tone. His grip on Wooyoung’s arm was loose, easily escapable, but Wooyoung knew San was fast enough to keep up with him, so there was no point in trying to make a run for it.

“Why would I?”

“Because I have a surprise for you.”

Instantly suspicious, Wooyoung furrowed his brow as he glanced at San’s side-profile before he moved on to observing their surroundings more closely. “What kind of surprise?”

“A good one. You’ll like it.” 

“Why do you keep checking your watch?”

“You’ll see.”

“You’re the most cryptic teenager I’ve ever met.”

“I’m twenty years old. Not a teenager.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

San sighed. “Whatever. Just follow me.”

“Yeah, I’ll try,” Wooyoung deadpanned with a pointed look at San’s hand on him, literally pulling him along.

“You're funny.”

“I know," Wooyoung said flatly. "I’m delightful.”

The remark tickled an actual chuckle out of San—a surprisingly sweet sound, downright adorable, just like the sight of the surprise dimples in his cheeks.

For a second, Wooyoung couldn’t help but stare. “Oh. Cute.”

“Ah, don’t say that.”

“If UNIT weren’t so full of stuck-up, coldhearted bastards, I'm sure you'd have tons of friends.”

Something about the words had San withdrawing his touch. “Please don’t say that.” His tone was slightly awkward. “I know you and the Captain both dislike UNIT, but the people there are like family to me.”

“Seriously? That place? Those guys?”

“Yes,” San replied.

“No offense, but-”

“Wooyoung!” San cut in, voice ever so slightly louder. “I mean it, please don’t badmouth them anymore. Not in front of me at least. I already have to hear it from the Captain each time we meet.”

“Fine. Okay.”

“Thank you.”

Silence spread between them, lingering and solely interrupted by the sound of passing cars and pedestrians, even after San tugged Wooyoung around the corner and down the street to a free-standing house marked as ‘For Sale’.

Frowning, Wooyoung remained compliant as he was led off the sidewalk, through the low, unlocked gate, and around the side of the house into a largely empty backyard containing nothing but unmowed grass, overgrown hedges, and a tiny wooden shed.

“Here!” San announced as he dropped his hold on Wooyoung and stepped forward to knock on the empty air between the terrace and shed.

And just like that, it all clicked into place. “You-” Wooyoung cut himself off as he rushed forward to touch the invisible walls of what he now knew to be the Captain’s time travel machine. As his fingertips met polished wood and cool, smooth glass, his thoughts snapped back to that other version of the Captain in the alley and how he’d scolded him for… Wooyoung stared at the invisible wall pressed up against his palm. “Ah, STCD-””

“STMC,” San corrected. 

“Please don’t be mad at me, okay?” Wooyoung gently patted the wooden frame, hoping to make peace with this machine before the Captain could return. Wooyoung needed her to be on his side, otherwise this whole thing would never work out. “I’m really sorry I banged on your door like that, I swear. I was just desperate. Not- Not that that’s an excuse! I just, yeah, I wasn’t thinking and I want to apologize for back then. I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you this, but your… co-worker? Is he your co-worker? Your employee? Your boss? Whatever, you know, that guy, he didn’t come back for me, so it took me a while to track him down. I hope you understand.”

“The Captain and her seem to share some sort of connection so I'm sure she already knows you’re trustworthy,” San informed him, his tone warm, a touch amused.

“How did you know where to find her?” Wooyoung asked, his gaze flickering over to San who raised his hand in return and pulled back his sleeve, exposing- “The watch?”

“Not a watch,” San corrected.

A beat. “Wait, did you- You stole from UNIT?” Wooyoung burst out, struggling to keep his voice down.

“Borrowed.”

“What if they find out?”

“Let’s… Let’s not put that energy into the universe.”

Snickering, Wooyoung looked back at his own hand where it was pressed against seemingly nothing. “I like you.”

“You do?”

“Of course. I already think of you as a friend, you know?”

“Really?” San sounded surprised, almost shocked.

Keeping his gaze firmly on his own fingers, Wooyoung nodded.

“Oh. I- Wooyoung, I’m sorry for-”

“Ah, don’t apologize. That just makes it more awkward.”

“Alright, I won’t, but…” San paused briefly “...you should know I can’t be a good friend to you right now. I, uh, General Rho is- He adopted me after my mother passed away, so UNIT is my life and I- I don’t know if that’ll ever change. I might never be able to be a good friend to you— or to anyone.”

As he turned to fully face San, Wooyoung made no effort to keep the emotions off his face. “I’m sorry about your mom. Truly. I am. But, wow, do you even hear yourself? UNIT is your life? That’s cult-speak. If that’s the kind of stuff they’re telling you over there, then you need to get out quick. Preferably yesterday.”

“UNIT is not a cult.”

“You don’t sound convinced. And you don’t look it either.”

San’s facade visibly began to crumble, something in his eyes shifting, changing, though he ducked his head before Wooyoung could see what lay beneath.

“If you need help-” Wooyoung began, only to get interrupted by the sharp shake of San’s head.

“Don’t get involved.” San met his eyes again, mask firmly back in place. “I’m serious.”

“You do realize that’s just worrying me more, right?”

“Wooyoung-”

“You might not think of me as a friend right now, but I care about you and-”

“I care about you too!” San interrupted. “That’s why I’m warning you!”

“Warning me? Of what exactly? Would they come after me if I tried to get you out? Would they threaten me? Or my parents? My older brother? Is that the type of organization they are?”

“Our job is to-”

“I didn’t ask what your job is! I asked if they’re-”

“What are you two doing here?”

The Captain’s voice had both Wooyoung and San whipping their heads around to watch the Captain walk toward them at a calm pace. There was nothing but open curiosity on his face.

“Captain!” San exclaimed. “We- I-”

Wooyoung stepped forward, closer. “We’re making sure you can’t leave us behind this time!”

“Alright. Fair enough!” the Captain replied lightly as he moved up between San and Wooyoung, key already in hand and held at the perfect height to slide smoothly into the invisible door’s lock. A low click, a removed key, and then the Captain’s hand with its polished nails gently pushed the door inward.

Golden light doused his face, spilling around his silhouette onto the grass, warming his features, reflecting off his eyes, though the sight only captivated Wooyoung for a second before his gaze flickered elsewhere. To the colors. They were bleeding outward, spreading across previously invisible walls like watercolor—warm browns flowing, darkening, drying into wood grain, ridges, patterns, and textures, before they deepened further to create the smooth coolness of tinted glass.

Within mere seconds, the empty space in front of Wooyoung was filled by what appeared to be an antique phone booth.

“What the…” Eyes wide, Wooyoung stumbled back a step before he moved around the booth, fingers tracing across flawlessly clean outer walls before he bumped into San and brushed past him to get to the wide open door the Captain had just disappeared through.

Feet moving swiftly, Wooyoung followed across the threshold into… a room. A large room. Warm air, wooden floorboards, half-paneled walls, cozy rugs and furniture, even a lit fireplace. His brain short circuited and had him stumbling back into the garden where his eyes met San’s.

“I know,” was all San told him, expression soft with amusement.

Wooyoung quickly bent first left, then right, just to tap the sides of the phone booth again before he stepped back inside. His hand smoothed across the undeniably real wallpaper to his left as he sped-walked alongside it all the way to the corner. He was now standing far, far beyond the booth’s actual dimensions. Probably right where the garden shed was located. And yet… “This makes no sense.”

“I take it, this part didn’t crop up in your research.”

Whirling around, Wooyoung met the Captain’s eyes where he now sat only a few meters away in a deep red armchair near the crackling fireplace. He was twirling the lambent pen between his fingers as he gave Wooyoung a slow once-over. “It didn’t,” Wooyoung admitted.

The Captain’s snicker was gleeful as he smoothly rose from his seat and wandered off past a wooden staircase. “I’m glad! It’s more fun for me this way!”

“Is it now?” Wooyoung replied, gaze lingering on the stairs opposite the still wide open door. “I couldn’t tell.” Fighting his instincts to escape back into a world that made sense, he instead hurried to follow the Captain on his way across the room to a large open doorway. Somewhere behind them, the door squeaked and clicked shut before a pair of solid footsteps marched closer. San. “But seriously, how is any of this possible? There’s even a second floor to this thing!” Wooyoung exclaimed while gesturing toward the staircase.

“All it takes is a deep understanding of physics and brilliant engineering,” the Captain responded as he strode through the doorway up ahead into a large, perfectly round room lined floor to ceiling with dark wooden bookcases, each of them filled to the brim with modern hard- and soft cover books, seemingly ancient tomes, and even scrolls.

But it wasn't the personal library which had Wooyoung captivated—no, his focus was more so captured by the cylindrical glass structure located precisely at the center of the room.

“And what in the world is that?” Wooyoung asked, unable to keep the words contained.

“This,” the Captain began as he placed his hand on the midnight blue control panel surrounding the bottom third of the cylinder, “is how I operate my partner.” He paused for a beat while Wooyoung traced his gaze across the dozens of silver and golden buttons, levers, blinking lights, and small display screens covering the entire circular console. “Though I don't even know if you could call it 'operating' when she has the ability to ignore my input whenever she pleases...”

Still mesmerized by all the buttons and lights, Wooyoung couldn’t help but feel an urge to get a closer look, so he stepped forward. Then paused to glance up at the Captain’s face, only to find him watching, observing, visibly entertained.

Looking back at the console, Wooyoung took another step. Then another. Another. And after carefully circumventing the Captain’s reach, he finally ended up on the opposite side where he immediately darted out his hand to poke the midnight blue surface. It was a little sparkly upon closer inspection and cool to the touch. The material felt like something between stone and metal. 

“This looks so much more confusing than a plane’s cockpit,” Wooyoung remarked as he slowly began to shuffle along, hands firmly clasped in front of him, and eyes soaking up each and every intricate detail. “Captain… why are there rotary dials on here?”

“Why not?” the Captain tossed back.

Wooyoung glanced up to meet his eyes which were still sparkling with amusement. “Why do I even bother asking you questions?”

The Captain pressed his lips together, offering a nondescript expression.

"Right." Wooyoung dropped his gaze again and shook his head. 'Stupidly endearing weirdo,' his brain offered.

“Did you successfully complete your mission, Captain?” San asked, his tone calm, neutral. He seemed entirely unaffected by the weirdness around him, so Wooyoung could only assume he’d been in here before—perhaps even multiple times.

“Yes and no,” the Captain replied. “I’ll come back again if needed, but for now, I’m all done.”

Still focused on the console, Wooyoung shuffled a little further along until his entire being zeroed in on his absolute greatest weakness—a big red button encased in an easily liftable and clear case. The immediate urge to push it was immense.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Head shooting up, Wooyoung met the Captain’s playful eyes and immediately lifted his hands as he backed up. 

The Captain merely chuckled in response, clearly far from worried, before he looked back at San who was still lingering near the doorway with ramrod straight posture and hands folded behind his back. “Alright, Sanie, you know the drill.”

A quick nod. “I’ll take my leave.”

The words had Wooyoung frowning. “What about me?”

The Captain looked back at him, expression neutral, unreadable. “Do you want to go with him?”

“No,” Wooyoung shot back, no hesitation, a little too much force.

“Great! Then you can stay, but-” the Captain raised a finger between them “-only for one trip.”

“Just one?”

“Just one.”

Wooyoung sank his teeth into his bottom lip, pulling it slightly inward as he nodded in acceptance, thoughts racing. “Alright,” he said after a beat.

Visibly satisfied, the Captain turned away again. “Until next time, San! I promise it won’t be much longer!” 

San merely nodded in return before he lowered his head and turned away, disappearing through the doorway before Wooyoung’s brain caught on and kicked him into motion. Rushing forward, he brushed past the Captain, darted through the doorway, and reached San right as he was about to pull the door open and leave back into the cold harshness of the real world.

“Wait!” Wooyoung shouted right before his hand captured San’s arm. “You didn’t even say goodbye.”

Their eyes met, San’s wide with confusion. “Do I need to?”

“Yes! It’s what you do. It’s… polite,” Wooyoung finished lamely.

“Oh. Uh, bye then?”

A heaviness settled on Wooyoung’s chest as he nodded and withdrew his hand, feeling stiff cotton brush across his fingertips. “Bye, San. Be safe. And… yeah, please accept my call when I get back because I plan on telling you everything, whether he likes it or not.”

The words startled a laugh out of San—adorable dimples and all. “Okay. I will.”

One last forced smile and nod, and Wooyoung was left to stand by and watch as San walked out and closed the door between them.

When he returned to the console room, it was to the sight of the Captain moving around with visibly practiced ease. He was pushing buttons, flipping switches, pulling levers, all while his face remained perfectly relaxed. How many trips had he taken by now? How much had he seen and experienced? How often had he risked his life for other people’s safety?

“He left,” Wooyoung reported.

“I gathered.”

Moving closer, Wooyoung stopped at just enough of a distance for the Captain to comfortably move past him. “I don’t understand why you don’t let him tag along. He clearly wants to.”

“It’s not his time yet.”

“What does that even mean?”

“There are still things he needs to do here, which means taking him with me would jeopardize his timeline.” Stopping right in front of Wooyoung, back turned, the Captain flipped one last switch before he spun around to meet Wooyoung’s eyes. “And believe it or not, but I actually care about San. A lot. Which is precisely why I’ll keep nudging him to stay on track until he’s ready.”

Taking a deep breath, Wooyoung averted his gaze. “Fine. I get it. Sort of.”

“Good.”

A curled finger nudged up Wooyoung’s chin, only to disappear long before Wooyoung could even fully register the contact. When he looked up, the Captain was already fully out of reach and nearly on the opposite side of the console.

“Now tell me, Wooyoung-” the Captain spoke up “-where do you want to go?”

“Don’t you mean ‘when’?”

“Potato, tomato.”

“That’s… that’s not the saying.”

The Captain raised his eyebrows with a pointed look.

“I’m just saying!” Wooyoung argued. “And… I don’t know.” Letting his gaze wander across the endless amount of books surrounding them, he couldn’t help but realize how oddly secluded this place was. There were no windows, no outside noises, just the two of them surrounded by rich colors and cozy warmth, and now that they were alone, all those factors stacked up to an atmosphere that felt almost… intimate. It was like he’d been invited into the Captain’s home, his private life.

“Well, what do you want to get out of this trip?” the Captain prompted.

Meeting his eyes again, Wooyoung began fidgeting with the hems of his sleeves. “I’m not sure. I just… wanted to spend some more time with you, to be honest.”

The Captain blinked, visibly caught off guard. “Eh?”

Refusing to feel embarrassed, Wooyoung shrugged as he looked away again. “I’m serious! I read all the forums and anonymous messages. I know everyone you’ve met had an experience like me—aliens, monsters, always some grand, unbelievable adventure—but that’s not why I’ve been trying to track you down. I just- I wanted to see you again. Talk to you. Get to know you. Not all the secret identity stuff everyone’s trying to uncover—though if you want to share, I’ll listen—but it’s more about…” He trailed off, falling silent for a second, two, three, as he looked down at his own hands. “I just felt like we got along. We clicked. Right?”

The Captain was already looking at him when Wooyoung lifted his gaze again.

“Right?” Wooyoung nudged.

With the slightest of headshakes, the Captain seemed to pull himself out of a stupor. “Right!” He smiled, all pretty teeth and warmth before he hastily looked away again and resumed his rapid motions across the console as if he were following a practiced choreography. “We did! So I guess we should go somewhere peaceful then, right? Somewhere we can have fun and spend some quality time!”

“I guess so,” Wooyoung said as he shuffled a little closer, his eyes struggling to keep up with the Captain’s quick movements.

“The year five-thousand is pretty nice! How does that sound?”

“I’ll trust your judgment,” Wooyoung agreed easily.

“Lovely!” Following one last theatrically exaggerated flip of a switch, the Captain skipped over to grab Wooyoung by the wrist and tug him along to a specific section of the console. A special section. The one with the big red button. “Now, Wooyoung,” the Captain was all up in Wooyoung’s personal space, crowding against him, voice right by his ear, “would you like to fulfill that urge and push this button?”

Smile tugging at his lips, Wooyoung stared down at the plastic case which the Captain’s hand was already beginning to lift at a dramatically slow pace. “Yes, please.”

The Captain’s responding snicker fanned warmth against the side of Wooyoung’s neck, leaving him shivering. “A man after my own heart. Go ahead then. Push it and send us to the future.”

Episode 3: “Patachay”

Sticking his head out the door, Wooyoung laid eyes on a gray brick wall and the remains of several posters too drenched and sun bleached to decipher. The sight was pretty underwhelming, as was the slight drizzle currently wetting his hair.

Coming up beside him, the Captain pushed the door open wider and stepped out onto black asphalt before he placed his hands on his hips and tilted back his head. “Oh. Wrong time and planet. That’s unfortunate.”

“Excuse me?” Wooyoung burst out. “Did you just say ‘wrong planet’?”

“Yes,” the Captain confirmed, turning sideways to send him a glance before he scanned the length of the alleyway with his eyes. “This is… patachay, I believe? An exoplanet, as you would call it. Located in the Abell 2218 galaxy cluster. At least that’s what your scientists named it. The people of patachay just call it-”

“Captain!” Wooyoung cut in. “How the heck did we end up on another planet? We were traveling through time!”

“Oh. Right.” Meeting Wooyoung’s eyes, the Captain spun on his heel to fully face him again. “My partner does both! That’s why she was named STMC by the people who built her. You know: spacetime manipulation capsule. Not just time. Spacetime. Emphasis on the ‘space’.”

For a moment, Wooyoung was frozen still while his thoughts raced, struggling to catch up to his new reality. “But… you’re always on earth.”

“Hm, no. Not really. Not always. I mean, I like earth. A lot. I’m definitely biased toward earth because she’s so stunningly diverse. Really. Earth is great. Earth is wonderful. If you think about it, her name is actually far too simple for a being so beautifully complex, though I do admit I enjoy saying it. Earth. Earth. Earth.”

“Captain!” Wooyoung snapped. “You can keep yapping in a second, but right now, I need you to talk to me because I’m freaking out a little, alright?”

“Right, sorry.” Crossing the short distance between them, one of the Captain’s hands came up to rest on the side of Wooyoung’s neck, thumb immediately tracing back and forth again in that specific way Wooyoung hadn’t been able to stop thinking about in over a year. It was surreal to feel it again. “What do you need, hm?”

Wooyoung averted his eyes, choosing to focus on the Captain’s earrings instead. “Answers.”

“Alright. Ask away!”

“Is it safe here? Are the aliens hostile? Could we just leave again or are we trapped here?”

“Safety concerns—got it. Well, last  time I was here, the planet was only three billion years old and the species living on it was reptilian and purely driven by their survival instincts, so… To be honest, I’m not sure who built this or what they’re like, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to explore for a bit before we leave. Purely out of curiosity. But if you’d rather stay inside and chat, we can do that too. It’ll only be about three hours before the crystals have recharged enough to take you home.”

The calm rationality in the Captain’s tone coupled with his touch quieted Wooyoung’s mind to the point where he felt ready to take a nap. He felt relaxed, pliant, safe. The Captain’s presence always felt safe. No one on the forums had ever bothered to mention that. “We can look around for a while,” Wooyoung said as he glanced over at the Captain’s face just in time to catch a brilliant smile forming there.

“Yeah?”

Wooyoung nodded, chuckling softly. “Yes.”

The Captain’s response came in the form of Wooyoung’s cheeks getting squished between two palms before the Captain spun around and blindly snatched up Wooyoung’s wrist to drag him out into the alleyway and on course to the sidewalk at the end.

“Hold on! What about the-” Looking back, Wooyoung only found empty space where the STMC should’ve been.

“I upgraded her to lock her doors and disguise herself when no one’s inside,” the Captain informed him, pace never slowing. “Just in case, you know? I can be quite forgetful at times.”

Observing the Captain’s side-profile, Wooyoung lightly shook his head. “What kind of genius are you?”

“I am pretty darn smart,” the Captain replied, voice light, “but I also got lucky.”

As they exited the alleyway, the true scale of the city they’d landed in quickly became evident. The buildings here were tall, imposingly, no, suffocatingly, so and the roads endlessly long and vacant. There were no cars, no bicycles, no pedestrians. Just empty streets laid out like a grid, carving their paths through the cityscape as if guided by a ruler.

Overhead, the skies darkened continuously with impending nightfall while lonely street lights flickered to life, offering little more than a faint, sickly orange glow before half of them faded back to darkness. The atmosphere was gloomy to say the least. Devoid of life. There were no trees, no insects, no birds, and the moon was so far away, it was barely distinguishable from the falling raindrops. In short:

“This place feels dystopian,” Wooyoung remarked, voice low so it wouldn't carry beyond the Captain's reach.

“It does.” Letting go of Wooyoung’s wrist, the Captain retrieved his lambent pen from his pocket and quickly scanned the area. “Barely any lifeforms in the vicinity,” he reported after checking the side of the pen. His tone was serious.

“Maybe this city has been abandoned.”

“Maybe,” the Captain replied, repocketing his pen. “But let’s check the city center first to get a broader picture of who or what still lives here.”

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

“None of the buildings have any windows,” Wooyoung whispered, leaning into the Captain’s side as he observed the world around them.

It was quiet. Eerily so now that the rain had stopped. There were still no cars, no sounds of music or voices, just fast-paced footsteps here and there as people—distinctly human-looking people—occasionally skittered from one building to the next as if afraid to spend any time on the streets. Each of them was dressed in white. And none of them spared Wooyoung and the Captain even just a single glance.

Everything about this place was bizarre.

“I hate it here,” Wooyoung blurted out.

“I can’t say I’m a fan either,” the Captain admitted, tone serious. “This planet is in terrible condition. It’s suffocating. And so is everyone and everything living on it.”

“But how come the people here look like us? Shouldn’t aliens look more… alien?”

“Well, we’re roughly three-hundred-thousand years in the future from when I picked you up on earth, so these people could be human descendants. Or it could be a case of convergent evolution. I won’t know until I’ve checked.”

A new set of quick footsteps emerged nearby before a young, dark-haired man appeared from the entrance of a building just up ahead. His gaze was aimed strictly forward—never straying—his posture rigid, and his slacks and shirt a washed out gray.

“Hello!” the Captain spoke up, causing Wooyoung’s eyes to widen in shock. “I’m the Captain and this is my friend Wooyoung!”

The stranger didn’t react at all. He just kept moving along his path in a straight line.

“Where are you heading?” the Captain went on as he jogged up to the alien and fell into step, Wooyoung hot on his heels. “And what do you do for fun around here?”

The stranger didn’t answer—as expected—but the Captain wasn’t so easily dissuaded. Spinning around, he proceeded to walk backwards in front of the stranger. “You have lovely features, has anyone ever told you that, uh-” the Captain briefly trailed off as he looked down at the stranger’s shirt and pointed at an embroidered name tag "-ah! Kang Yeosang. A beautiful name.”

There was still no reaction.

“Can he even understand us?” Wooyoung asked as he watched the Captain push up onto his tiptoes to align his eye level with Yeosang’s.

“Of course! Once you’ve been inside my partner, she translates for you.”

“Please never say I’ve been 'inside your partner' ever again,” Wooyoung rushed out, nose scrunched up in disgust. “That sounds so wrong. Deeply wrong. Like wow, did you not hear yourself?”

“It didn’t sound that bad to me,” the Captain replied, frowning slightly. “But then again, this isn't my native language.”

“It's not?”

“Nope.”

“Seriously? What’s your native language then?”

“You wouldn’t recognize it, even if I told you,” the Captain dismissed easily before he looked back at Yeosang—the stranger, the alien—in front of him. “Now regarding this young man, it seems like something is controlling him.” The Captain hummed to himself as he gave Yeosang a swift scan with his pen before he rested a hand on his shoulder to forcibly slow his stride.

For the first time, something in Yeosang’s face shifted and took on a mildly irritated edge.

“Check above his ear,” the Captain ordered while he himself pushed up Yeosang’s bangs.

“Seriously?” Wooyoung asked.

“Just do it. Check for scarring, discolored skin, anything abnormal.”

Despite his confusion, Wooyoung obeyed and pushed up the stranger’s hair to find a narrow brown scar curved just around the hairline right above his ear. “There’s an older scar here.”

“Here too,” the Captain replied. “And above his other ear as well.”

“How did you know about these?” Wooyoung asked.

“He really is a distant human descendant, which means his anatomy is nearly identical to yours.” As he spoke, the Captain fiddled with the settings of his pen. “There are foreign objects implanted into his skull. Non-human technology. They’re interfering with his brain activity, dampening certain signals. Now put your hands here. Hold onto him for me. Don’t let him enter that building.”

Grabbing hold of Yeosang’s arm, Wooyoung felt no muscle, barely any give at all. The poor guy was all skin and bones with very little in between. The concern inside Wooyoung deepened to the point where it spread to his stomach and left him slightly nauseous as he looked back up at Yeosang’s face.

His features were soft, delicate, pretty, his skin smooth and flawless, but his eyes were a deep, lifeless brown. He was like a beautiful vessel, a shell of a person stripped of all emotion.

“We’re here to help you,” Wooyoung promised, trying to keep his tone gentle, even as Yeosang began to push harder against him, clearly intent on continuing along his path.

“Got it,” the Captain announced, drawing Wooyoung’s attention to himself right as the lambent pen’s orange light came to life. 

The longer it hummed, low and mechanical, the more Yeosang’s eyes began to clear until he began to blink—once, twice, thrice—quickly, repeatedly, visibly fighting to pull himself out of his trance-like state. He stumbled backward, shaking off Wooyoung’s hold in the process, before he caught himself two steps away. His chest was heaving now, his hands flying up to press against his chest and stomach. To Wooyoung, it looked like he was checking himself for signs of injury. Or perhaps, signs of life? 

“What-” Yeosang’s voice was deep, slightly hoarse, as if he hadn’t gotten a chance to use it in quite some time. “Where-” His gaze shot up, darting back and forth between Wooyoung and the Captain. “Who are you? What- What did you do to me?”

Raising his hands to show his empty palms, Wooyoung shook his head. “We didn’t-”

“I disabled the implants in your brain,” the Captain stated calmly.

Yeosang shook his head, sharp, quick, before he hastily looked up and down the street. “You- You shouldn’t have done that! Now we have to hide! If they-”

“This way!” the Captain cut in, already kicking into motion, heading off in the direction he and Wooyoung had just come from.

“You can trust him!” Wooyoung promised right before he snatched up Yeosang's wrist and hurried them after the Captain. “Come on!”

Thankfully, Yeosang was clearly still too out of it to fully question anything, so tugging him along was easy, even if Wooyoung had to significantly slow his step after just a few seconds to match his top speed. It was clear he hadn’t gotten to take care of his body in a long time.

“Who are you?” Yeosang asked eventually when it became clear no one was coming after them. At least not yet.

“I’m Wooyoung. And the guy up there who keeps pausing to explore every side street is the Captain.”

“Captain who?”

“Just ‘the Captain’. I don’t know his real name either. I don’t think many people do. He’s weird about it for some reason. Not sure why.”

“Oh.” Yeosang paused. “But you still trust him?”

“Yes. And you can too, I promise. He’s very big on helping people, no matter where they’re from.”

“Okay, but- Where are we going? The outskirts aren’t safe. The Sanctuary drones raid every single neighborhood twice a day.”

“Our hideout isn’t located in one of the buildings. They won’t find us where we’re going. Trust me.”

Following a beat of silence, Yeosang notably quickened his step ever so slightly. “Alright. I’ll trust you. But you better not be lying to me or we’re all dead.”

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

Watching Yeosang stand in the middle of the STMC’s entry room with wide eyes and a face full of pure disbelief was unexpectedly entertaining. Despite the development of mind control implants and ‘Sanctuary drones’—whatever those were—it seemed even the people of this planet had not yet reached the stage where they could shove large spaces into smaller ones, which (admittedly) made Wooyoung feel a tad bit better about his own reaction earlier.

“How…” Yeosang trailed off.

“Physics and engineering,” Wooyoung replied, “or so he says.” 

“You’re-” Yeosang cut himself off before he swallowed and simply stared at the Captain for a moment “-you’re a Witness.”

“Sure am,” the Captain said, though there was something hidden in his tone, something heavier, darker than the facade he’d just put up.

“How did you-”

“Luck!” the Captain interrupted as he pushed off the stairs he'd been sitting on to begin ascending them. “Now come along, you two! There’s a fully stocked kitchen up here!”

Wooyoung glanced over at Yeosang to seek out his eyes. “‘A witness’?”

Yeosang nodded. 

“What does that mean?”

“No chattering!” the Captain called down. “It’s dinner time!”

Rolling his eyes, Wooyoung crossed his arms with a slight pout before he turned to head toward the wooden steps, though his annoyance quickly dissipated when he realized he was about to enter unexplored territory.

Upon completing his turn on the mid-way landing, his gaze lifted to a set of wide open double doors which framed his view of a large kitchen and dining area doused in warm golden light from various sources—more than enough to make up for the lack of windows. Once he set foot inside, he was greeted by hardwood floors, kitchen cabinets painted a soft blue, and a small, round dining table topped with a star-patterned table cloth surrounded by four mismatched chairs.

The space felt warm, cozy, inviting, and the air smelled distantly floral.

“You can cook?” Wooyoung spoke up as he wandered over to the kitchen island while the Captain dug through the fridge, his back to the room.

“My brain hurts,” Yeosang remarked as he hovered in the doorway.

“Ah, from the implants?” Wooyoung's face scrunched up in sympathy.

“No, from this place! How is there a second floor?”

“Oh, there are far more floors than two,” the Captain said offhandedly, head still in the fridge. “They just appear and disappear as needed. And yes, Wooyoung, for your information: I can cook. I just… don’t like to.”

“Want me to do it?” Wooyoung offered.

The Captain immediately slammed the door shut and whirled around with a joyful smile. “Yes, please!”

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

“We should be good to go in little over an hour and a half,” the Captain tossed out while he kept swiveling back and forth on his stool behind the kitchen island.

Yeosang had chosen to sit beside him about ten minutes ago, but he’d opted to leave an empty seat between them. “‘Good to go’?” he now echoed. “Go where? I can’t just leave! They’ll be looking for me!”

“Who is ‘they’?” Wooyoung asked as he tried to keep his focus on chopping up the small bundle of green onions on his cutting board.

“Everyone! All of Sanctuary—from the drones, over the workers, to him- I mean, to Patachay himself!”

Frowning, Wooyoung slowed his movements. “This guy’s parents named him after the planet?” 

“You can’t just call him ‘this guy’!” Yeosang hissed. “That'll get you arrested! He’s our great leader. And the planet was named after him, not the other way around.”

“Ah, she picked up the planet’s name from later on in the timeline!” the Captain interjected, fingers briefly drumming on the counter’s edge. “I did wonder why a local name popped up when the furthest developed species on the planet was not yet-”

“Captain!” Wooyoung cut in, looking up at him as he briefly ceased his cutting. “Focus, please! There’s some g- I mean, ‘a great leader’ here with enough power to name the planet after himself!”

“You're right,” the Captain agreed as he slid off his seat before he smoothly rounded the kitchen island, positioning himself across from Yeosang and beside Wooyoung. “Kang Yeosang!” he spoke up as he lightly smacked his hands onto the countertop.

“Yes?” Yeosang asked, audibly hesitant.

“Tell us everything!”

“About what?”

“Patachay.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes!” the Captain said firmly, tone serious. “Don’t leave out a single detail.”

Half an hour later, while Yeosang was wolfing down his third steaming portion of rice and something akin to a spicy red curry, Wooyoung tugged the Captain aside to the far corner of the kitchen. 

“This is a planet-wide dictatorship,” Wooyoung rushed out, voice low as he kept his gaze zeroed in on Yeosang who seemed to have grown entirely unaware of his surroundings ever since he took his first bite. The poor guy must’ve been starving.

“I’m aware,” the Captain replied.

“So what do we do?” Wooyoung asked.

“At the moment? Nothing. We bring Yeosang along, deprogram him if needed, then come back here once we have a solid plan. We’re in a time machine after all. To the world out there, it’ll be like he was never gone.”

“You told me you suck at precise landings!” Wooyoung complained. “What if we come back and the streets are flooded with tanks and soldiers?”

“That won’t happen.” the Captain’s tone was blatantly dismissive. “Trust me.”

Rolling in his lips, still watching Yeosang, Wooyoung tried to think of a better idea, but no matter what he came up with, there was always a massive risk involved. Ultimately, all he could do was let his eyes flicker over to the Captain who was already watching him with a calm and reassuring expression. Dropping his gaze, Wooyoung let a sigh slip out of his mouth. “Alright,” he finally agreed. “Let’s do it. Let’s kidnap a man.”

“‘Saving’ and ‘kidnapping’ are two very different things,” the Captain noted.

“So you’ll tell him about the plan before we leave?”

“Absolutely not. He’d never come willingly.”

“Ergo,” Wooyoung smacked the back of his hand against the Captain's chest, “kidnapping.”

“Potato, tomato.”

“That’s still not- Ugh. Damn. Whatever.”

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

Curled up into a ball, Wooyoung sat on the armchair by the bed and watched as Yeosang’s chest rose and fell at a slightly unsteady pace. The early signs of yet another nightmare? Wooyoung hoped not. It would mark the fifth one since he'd fallen asleep the first time less than four hours ago.

After they’d escaped the orbit of patachay, the Captain had steered them to the outer edges of the galaxy before he’d returned to the kitchen so Wooyoung wouldn’t have to be the sole bearer of bad news.

The conversation hadn’t gone well to say the least. 

After all his attempts at arguing them out of their decision had fallen flat, Yeosang had panicked, fled downstairs, and nearly thrown himself into the vast emptiness of outer space as he’d ripped open the door with way too much momentum. Thankfully, the sight of nothing but darkness and stars had shocked him into stillness just about long enough for Wooyoung and the Captain to reach him and drag him away, right over to the fireplace where they’d bundled him up in a blanket and sat him down on the thick rug.

He’d started shaking then, at first soundlessly, but once the tears had started coming, the sobbing had followed suit. To say it had been gut wrenching to witness would’ve been an understatement, especially since none of their comforting words and reassurances had seemed to get through to him at all.

Yet even now, Wooyoung still couldn’t bring himself to feel truly guilty about it. 

After all, what alternative had there been? To leave Yeosang there? And then what? In order to come up with a decent plan, they needed someone who knew and understood the ins and outs of patachay and Yeosang simply was the best—if not the only—one who could fulfill that role at the moment.

A light knock on the door frame. 

Wooyoung looked over his shoulder to find the Captain’s silhouette backlit by the distant glow of the kitchen lights further down the hallway.

“Hey,” Wooyoung greeted softly before he returned his attention to Yeosang’s shadowed features.

“Hi,” the Captain replied. “How is he?”

Taking a deep breath, Wooyoung dropped his gaze to his own pulled up knees. “The nightmares keep finding him.”

“Hm, I was afraid of that. There's a lot those implants must have suppressed over the last eight years. It’ll take some time before he has fully relearned himself.”

“This is so messed up…”

“I know,” the Captain said gently before he fell silent, turning into a soundless, lingering presence at the edge of Wooyoung’s consciousness while Yeosang kept dreaming and the minutes kept ticking by. Though what did the passage of time even mean to a time traveler? “You should try to get some sleep yourself,” came the eventual request. “Let me watch over him for a while.”

Wooyoung shook his head. “I can’t leave. It wouldn’t feel right.”

“Try to sleep here then.”

Another headshake. “I’ll sleep once he’s better.”

“Alright.” With that, the Captain entered the room, leaving the door ajar, and took a seat on the beanbag chair near Wooyoung. “I’ll join you then.”

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

Waking up fully curled into himself meant four stiff and aching limbs, severe back pain, and a neck full of tendons so tight, it felt like they might just snap if he dared to move his head too abruptly. And yet Wooyoung barely paid attention to any of that once he’d startled awake inside the dark and windowless room.

His gaze jumped straight to the bed where Yeosang was sitting upright, slightly hunched over and breathing heavily.

“Another nightmare?” Wooyoung asked softly.

“Why are you still here?” Yeosang replied in lieu of an answer, though his tone was no longer filled with vitriol like the first few times he’d spoken those words hours ago.

“It wouldn’t feel right to leave you alone,” Wooyoung said, just as before.

“What if I want to be alone?”

“Do you?”

Pulling up his legs under the covers, Yeosang sighed and hung his head. “I don’t know. I feel like I don’t know anything anymore.”

As a moment of quiet enveloped them, Wooyoung took the opportunity to look toward his other side, but where the Captain had once sat, there was now only an empty beanbag chair.

“My head just hurts,” Yeosang eventually went on, his voice low, tinged with pain. “Everything hurts. I have all these memories of the last eight years, but there’s nothing attached to them. No thoughts, no emotions, no… anything. It’s like they’re not even mine.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I… I’m not sure. Just- I’m sorry you feel like this? I’m sorry this is happening to you and your people?”

“It’s not like you’re responsible for our suffering.” There was confusion in Yeosang’s tone before he continued. “It’s…” He paused to take an audible breath. “It’s his fault.”

“Patachay’s?”

“Don’t say his name.” The request sounded hesitant, a little mumbly. “I’m scared he’ll hear us.”

“How would he? We’re so far away.”

“I- I don’t know. But he has access to technologies and resources beyond comprehension. No one’s safe. Ever. We were all forced to learn that the hard way. Honestly, I’m not even sure he’s human. Actually… I’m pretty sure he’s not.”

“What do you think he is?”

“An alien. A god. Something otherworldly. I don’t know. I don’t even care. I’m just… scared of him. Of what he can do.” Yeosang fell silent again, though this time only for a brief moment. “My family and friends are still there. What if he-”

“We won’t let him hurt them,” Wooyoung interrupted, meeting Yeosang’s eyes in the dim light coming from the hallway and the fluorescent stars painted on the walls and ceiling. “We’ll find a way to strip him of his power. I promise.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet. But we’re inside a time machine, so we have all the time in the world to figure it out.”

Yeosang shook his head for a moment before he stilled and averted his gaze. A few more seconds passed before he nodded.

Suddenly, music began to emanate from Wooyoung's pocket, startling them both and sending Wooyoung's hands flying as he hastily retrieved his phone to check the screen. "Mingi?" he muttered to himself, eyes wide. How was he even getting reception here?

"Music," Yeosang said, tone filled with awe as he threw back the covers and shuffled closer.

Wooyoung tossed him a quick glance before he swiped to accept the call. "Mingi?" he repeated as he brought the phone to his ear.

"Hey. What's up?"

Scrunching up his nose, Wooyoung turned slightly further away from Yeosang. "What time is it for you right now?"

"I don't know. Late afternoon. Why?"

"Why are you calling me?"

"Since when do I need a reason?"

Huffing a laugh, Wooyoung crossed his arms and leaned back until he could see the stars on the ceiling again. "Hm, fair enough. It's just that I'm kind of busy right now."

"You? Busy?" Mingi could barely get the words out before he broke into sardonic laughter.

Expression dropping into something entirely deadpan, Wooyoung moved the phone away from his ear and hung up.

"You have music on your phone," Yeosang blurted out.

Sitting up a little, Wooyoung met his eyes again. "I do. Do you want to check out my playlist? Earth music is probably a whole lot different from yours, right?"

"I wouldn't know. We don't have music anymore. He took it from us. Just like he took movies and books and all other forms of entertainment not filled with propaganda."

Freezing in the middle of unlocking his screen, Wooyoung needed a moment before his brain could fully process those words. "What?"

"The arts are outlawed," Yeosang summarized, leading Wooyoung to look back at him. "They're too stimulating. It could overload the brain chips and cause them to malfunction."

"So you haven't listened to music since..."

Yeosang began to shake his head before he stopped himself, expression turning pensive. "Well, there is one occasion every year."

Tilting his head, Wooyoung waited for Yeosang to continue.

"On his birthday, he let's Jongho sing for us. It's only one song and the same one every year, but we all get five minutes off work to gather around the office radio to listen. Jongho's voice, it's..." Yeosang briefly trailed off, a smile tugging at his lips. "It's incredible. I've never heard anything like it. Not even before."

"Wow, then I'd love to hear him some day."

Dropping his gaze, Yeosang chuckled as he pulled the covers back over his legs. "Yes. I'd love to hear him again too. Under better circumstances."

"Would you still like to listen to some of our artists?" Wooyoung asked after a beat, already scrolling through his playlists.

"Yes, please!"

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

“He's still hogging my phone and the portable speaker you gave him, but he got extra excited when he saw the bathroom and walk-in closet,” Wooyoung reported as he sauntered into the kitchen where the Captain was currently fighting a losing battle with a waffle iron. “Damn.” He paused. “You’re bad at this.”

“I’m glad he’s enjoying the amenities. Also: rude. You know I have plenty of other talents. Why do I also need to be good at cooking? Or baking. Whatever this constitutes as.”

“It’s baking,” Wooyoung replied as he leaned onto the counter beside the Captain, gaze sweeping across the mess of ingredients around them. “I think. And your problem is the batter. It’s way too runny. And you also overfilled the iron.”

Visibly annoyed, the Captain discarded his ladle on the counter before he threw up his hands and backed up a step. “You do it. I’m done here.”

“Are you pouting?” Wooyoung asked, delighted. “Aww, Captain.”

“Shut up.”

“So cute.”

“You suck. Baking sucks.”

Chuckling, Wooyoung straightened his posture and prepared to rescue their breakfast—first by removing the slightly burnt waffle from the iron and then by stirring some more flour into the batter until it had the right consistency.

“You make it look so easy,” the Captain remarked.

“Because it is.” Wooyoung snickered.

“To you.”

“Exactly. Now tell me-”

“Hm?”

“What was Yeosang talking about when he called you a witness yesterday?”

At first, there was no answer—just the low sizzling of the waffle iron as Wooyoung poured a dollop of batter inside before closing the lid—but once he looked up to meet the Captain’s eyes, the expression he was met with said more than words alone could.

The Captain’s mask was up, his features grim, yet free of emotion. It was like he was calculating whether to tell Wooyoung the truth or not—or perhaps whether to tell him anything at all.

“Yeosang called you that after walking into the STMC,” Wooyoung nudged. “Do you belong to some type of organization after all? Some secret agency with access to alien technology?”

“Perhaps I do,” the Captain replied after a beat of silence. “Would that suit my character?”

“No,” Wooyoung admitted after a beat. “Not at all.”

“Then that’s probably not what it is, right?”

Narrowing his eyes a little, Wooyoung gave the Captain a quick once over. He’d changed into a simple pair of flared black jeans and an oversized purple hoodie—it made him look cozy and… more human in a way. “So you work independently. You’re rich. You have access to advanced technology. You know about alien spaceships. You’ve been to other planets. And you travel through time pretty much on the daily. What does that make you? A bored billionaire? A nepo baby?”

“Nepo ba- Excuse me?” 

Breaking into immediate full-on cackles, Wooyoung stumbled back from the counter so he wouldn’t burn himself. “Your face!” he got out.

“I’m offended!” the Captain complained.

“I can tell,” Wooyoung wheezed, hugging himself as he tried and failed to calm down.

“Stop laughing.”

“I can’t.”

“I’m not a nepo baby!”

Dropping into a crouch, Wooyoung gasped for breath as he grew light headed.

“That’s it. You’re going back to your time and planet. Right now.”

“No, no! Hold on!” Tumbling forward onto his knees, Wooyoung grabbed the Captain’s nearest leg as he tried to walk past him. “I’m sorry, alright?”

“That’s hard to believe when you’re still laughing.”

“Your face and tone were just really funny!”

“I think the waffle is burning.”

“Oh shit!”

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

After breakfast, they all gathered downstairs on the emerald green couch facing the fireplace while soft music played on the jukebox behind the armchair.

The lighting was golden, dim, and cozy, and as he sank into the cushions between Yeosang—who was now wearing a pair of light blue jeans and a black sweater—and the Captain, Wooyoung couldn’t help but think it’d be really nice to take a nap together right here and now.

“Before either of you suggests it,” the Captain began, “I’ll tell you right now: no, we can’t go to the future to find out how to best pull off a revolution and take down the dictator, because now that I’ve intervened, we’ve diverted the timeline for patachay and the only point in time we can now travel to is precisely three seconds after we last exited the planet's orbit.”

“Crap,” Wooyoung commented.

His statement was followed by a lingering moment of silence. 

“We’ll need far more people on our side to make this work,” Yeosang said eventually, though his voice was low, hesitant.

“Indeed,” the Captain agreed. “We need to start a movement. Or! If a resistance is already underway somewhere on the planet, we need to join forces. I already drafted the building plans for a device which can safely disable the implants, but I can’t mass produce them here and doing it on patachay would be too risky, so I’ll have to find someone on another planet.” He pushed back to his feet. “Oh, kyldyton would be so perfect for this, but I can’t just go back there when…” 

“Did… Did he just walk off?” Yeosang asked as both he and Wooyoung turned in their seats to follow the Captain with their eyes until he disappeared through the open doorway into the control room, still mumbling to himself as he went.

“He did,” Wooyoung confirmed.

“Should we follow him?”

“I’m not-”

A sharp ringing tore through the air.

Startled, they both whipped their heads around. Wooyoung’s gaze instantly zeroed in on the source of the noise: the wall right beside the entrance door. Or more specifically: the antique phone attached to it.

It was all brass and wood like something straight out of the early twentieth century, which certainly befitted the outward appearance of the STMC, but now that it was ringing, Wooyoung couldn’t help but feel a little spooked. It didn’t seem right for twenty-first century ears to be hearing this.

“Captain!” Wooyoung called out right before the Captain came sprinting out of the control room, only to skid to a halt right as he was about to collide with the phone itself.

“Ah, that’s not good,” the Captain remarked, clear hesitation in his movements, even as he continued to reach for the receiver with one hand while the other grabbed hold of the small handle on the side of the wooden box, beginning to crank.

“So labor intensive,” Wooyoung muttered before he hopped over the couch’s backrest so he could hurry on over and squeeze up beside the Captain. There was no way he was not going to eavesdrop on this call.

“Hello?” the Captain asked, making no move to push Wooyoung away.

“Captain?” The crackling voice came through the line. “I- We really need your help. You have to come to earth right now. Please.”

“What year?” the Captain replied.

“Twenty-thirty-one.”

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

“I think we should give her a name,” Wooyoung said as they left the control room and headed for the exit to meet up with the caller whom the Captain kept referring to as ‘San’. But Wooyoung knew San, and that voice had sounded nothing like him.

“You’re not renaming my partner,” the Captain dismissed.

“But you don’t even like her name!”

“Which is why I call her ‘partner’.”

“It’s weird to call her that!” Wooyoung argued.

“To you it might be. But it’s accurate and she likes it when I call her that.”

“What are you two talking about?” Yeosang asked, his tone a slight bit awkward.

“He wants to give my STMC a name as if she were a pet,” the Captain replied.

“Your what?”

“The thing we’re in,” Wooyoung explained.

“Ah. Your spaceship!” Yeosang’s voice grew lighter, almost happy. “I agree with Wooyoung then! I think it’s nice to name objects we like. When I was little, my sister always drew faces on my things and told me to name them. Even my lunchbox. I think she did it so I'd get emotionally attached and take better care of everything."

"Did it work?" the Captain asked, audibly curious.

"Definitely. I kept bringing random stuff to school and introducing it to my classmates until the teacher told me to stop."

Looking over, Wooyoung couldn’t help but reach out to grab Yeosang’s hand and give it a light squeeze before he simply held on despite the confusion on Yeosang’s face. “I think you’re cute,” Wooyoung decided. “Let’s be friends.”

“I…” Yeosang blinked before he began to blatantly stare at Wooyoung. His gaze flickered across Wooyoung’s features before it dropped to their clasped hands. “Okay?”

Warmth and adrenaline spread through Wooyoung’s chest as the smile grew on his face. He quickly looked away, his focus returning to the Captain who was already at the door and sticking his head out to the sound of the first familiar sounds of earth. “Yeosang?”

“Hm?”

“Are you ready to see where all of us came from?”

“‘All of us’?” Yeosang prompted.

Wooyoung nodded before he looked at him again. “The Captain said you’re a distant human descendant, which means your ancestors are from earth too!“

“And outside that door-”

“Exactly,” Wooyoung confirmed. “So? Are you ready?”

Following a beat of stillness, Yeosang’s expression shifted to one of determination. “Yes.” 

Endeared, Wooyoung couldn’t help but snicker until they walked up behind the Captain who was currently tripping and stumbling his way through the underbrush he’d landed them in.

“Seriously?” Wooyoung exclaimed as he took in the scenery.

They were in the thinning section of the forest along the outer edges of the nature park located just outside city limits. The air was crisp and chilly, the leaves bright and colorful, and the ground covered in fallen twigs, branches, and one too many surprise thorny vines from the overgrown blackberry bushes which had already been threatening to overtake everything all the way back in Wooyoung’s time.

“Trees,” Yeosang whispered, tone awed as he rushed forward right into the danger zone with Wooyoung still in tow.

“Why would you park us in the woods?” Wooyoung complained, voice raised so the Captain would hear him.

“Ask her, not me!”

“You were at the control panel!”

“You sound just like her!”

Confused, Wooyoung scrunched up his nose. “Dude, she doesn’t talk!”

“Not to you!”

“What the fuck,” Wooyoung mumbled.

“Have you been traveling with him for long?” Yeosang asked, tone absentminded as his head remained tipped back to take in the sight of the tree canopy. His eyes were wide with undisguised, childlike fascination.

“Not at all,” Wooyoung said, tone far softer now as he spoke to him—even as he briefly bounced on one leg to tear his pants free from the thorns. “I spent a few hours with him over a year ago and then we only reunited yesterday shortly before we landed on your planet.”

“Really?”

Wooyoung chuckled. “You don’t need to sound so shocked.”

“You just seem so comfortable around each other.”

“I guess we are. But hold on a moment-” Wooyoung chuckled as he pulled Yeosang to a stop and supported his weight so he could reach down and get rid of the thorns hooked into the denim covering Yeosang’s shins and calves. “I know the trees are really pretty, but please be careful until we make it out of this area, hm? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Sorry.”

“Hey, there's no need for apologies with me, alright? We’re friends now.”

As his leg was set free, Yeosang nodded. “You must have a lot of friends.”

“Not at all,” Wooyoung admitted. “I only have one. Mingi. And… I guess the Captain to some degree?”

“But-" Yeosang frowned "-you’re so outgoing.”

“I..." Trailing off, Wooyoung frowned. "I'm normally not like this, actually. Not with strangers. But whatever, let’s stop talking about me. I’m boring. Let’s talk about you- Or your sister! What is she like?”

“Oh, she’s incredible and I mean that in every sense of the word,” Yeosang said, a hint of pride in his voice. “She's twelve years older than me and she was really popular everywhere she went. Every club at school wanted her, you know? The teachers all thought she was brilliant, and after she graduated, her colleagues loved her too. She met her soulmate at seventeen and they were still together when everything… happened. Um, so you know how I told you about how he came into power?”

“Yes. Vividly. How could I forget?”

“Yes well, my sister was the one who warned everyone about him years before the media caught wind. She was an investigative journalist for an independent news agency and knew he was already in charge for years before he publicly ran for office in the now capital. He’d bought himself into the good graces of half the world’s governments as a business advisor, and on top of that, he also owned Isowo—this… giant military and surveillance conglomerate. They were developing and mass producing weapons and equipment for authoritarian leaders across the planet.”

“Did she ever publish her findings?” Wooyoung asked.

“Yes. Everywhere. She was giving interviews to anyone who’d let her speak. She even got into contact with political leaders, but the ones who bothered to hear her out were few and far between. While she was traveling, she got arrested five times on made-up charges, and was even shot at twice. Eventually, my parents, her boyfriend, and I forced her to go into hiding, but even then she refused to stop accepting interviews.”

As they neared the gravel path up ahead, Wooyoung couldn’t help but wonder how much hope there was for humanity if they seemingly hadn’t changed even the slightest bit so many millennia down the line. “Where is your sister now?”

“I don’t know,” Yeosang admitted softly. “I haven’t seen her since the Sanctuary drones captured me and my parents. That was over a decade ago.”

“Wow, that’s… that sucks.”

“It does.”

Instinctively, Wooyoung gave a prolonged squeeze to Yeosang’s fingers. “We’ll find her. I’m sure of that.”

When their eyes met, Yeosang smiled. And although it was small and unsure, it still eased some of the tension in Wooyoung’s chest. “Thank you.” Yeosang’s voice was steady, even as the redness in his eyes had become more pronounced. “Meeting you two- It’s like I got myself back.” He took a visibly deep breath. “I feel like I can hope again.”

“I’m glad.”

“You’re here!” 

Shock instantly rooted Wooyoung in place. His focus snapped over to the approaching figure—the one currently jogging across the grass to reach them. The tall, broad, and muscular one with short, dark hair, dressed in all black with a voice that sounded just like-

“San!” the Captain called out cheerfully.

“That’s San?” Wooyoung burst out, frozen still right at the edge of the forest line with Yeosang half a step behind him.

“Obviously!” the Captain replied, tossing a pointed look over his shoulder (raised eyebrows and all). “Do we need to get your eyes checked?”

“But he’s- He’s-”

“Hot?” the Captain teased, laughter in his voice.

“Oh, screw you.”

The Captain snickered.

“Wooyoung!” There was genuine joy on San’s face when their eyes met for the first time in… however many years it had been for San. This was bizarre. Somehow even more bizarre than being on another planet in the far-off future had been. “You’re still traveling with him!”

“Of course!” Wooyoung replied, struggling to connect this San to the one he’d already come to know and care about. “He’s not getting rid of me that quickly!”

“Oh. Right.” San slowed to a stop a mere few steps away. The black boots, the cargo pants, the heavy-looking jacket—somehow this get-up only made him look even more unfairly attractive. “Timetravel.” He chuckled. "Duh."

The sound of his laughter had Wooyoung’s brain short-circuiting. “You-” He cut himself off to clear his throat. “You grew up well!”

San ducked his head, dimpled smile now turning a touch shy. “Thank you.”

“But where’s the fire?” the Captain asked. “I only ever gave my number to three people and two of them live nowhere near this planet and the third-”

“I know,” San cut in, visibly sheepish. “I… Well, I may or may not have borrowed General Rho’s keycard to get into his office on the third floor where I knew I’d be able to access your file after typing in the password he generated on his phone yesterday at the end of our shift while the two of us were alone in the elevator together.”

“Hold on! UNIT has my partner’s number on file?” The Captain sounded exasperated. “How? Did your mom-”

San nodded.

“Why?”

“UNIT was her life.”

Even while standing behind him, Wooyoung could somehow sense the Captain was rolling his eyes. “Right.”

“I promise this really is an emergency though!” San rushed out.

“What kind of emergency?” the Captain asked. “The city’s not burning, the sky is free of spaceships, I don’t hear screaming or crying or-”

“UNIT was sold to the highest bidder!” San interrupted, voice briefly growing louder until the Captain fell silent and crossed his arms. 

“Continue,” the Captain prompted.

“Some rich guy no one’s ever heard of before is now in charge of the entire organization and he’s running it straight into the ground. I’m talking privatized funding from overseas donors, cost-cutting, mass layoffs, surveillance, unqualified new hires who transferred over from his last failed business endeavor-”

“And you called me to fix that?” the Captain cut in, voice full of disbelief.

“I’m desperate! I don’t know what else to do! No one’s listening to me!”

“What about Rho?”

“He’s just standing by and watching it happen!” There was genuine desperation in San’s tone.

“Okay, okay,” the Captain replied. “I know this sounds bad, but-”

“I know you hate UNIT,” San shuffled a little closer to the Captain, eyes unblinking as he looked at him with the most pleading expression Wooyoung had ever seen on a person, “but you have to  help me. General Rho was set to retire from his position next year which would've finally made me the most qualified person in the building. And you know me, Captain. You know I’d change things for the better if I were in charge. I’d work with you, not against you. Don’t you want that?”

“We’ll help!” Wooyoung blurted out.

San’s gaze snapped over to him, meeting his eyes head-on. “Really?” A smile began to bloom on his face.

“Of course! Right, Captain?”

The Captain turned to frown at him. “Wooyoung-” 

“Yeosang,” Wooyoung said quickly, turning toward his new friend, “you also think we should help San, right?”

Visibly caught off guard, Yeosang looked back at him with wide, questioning eyes. “I… Yes?”

“Perfect!” Wooyoung exclaimed as his attention swiveled back to San. “I love democracy!”

The Captain’s sigh sounded like it came from deep within.

“Ah, stop being so dramatic!” Wooyoung teased.

“It’s not about that.”

“What is it then?”

“We have to get back to my partner to change outfits…”

“Ah. Crap.”

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

“I can’t believe we’re the same age now,” Wooyoung gushed as he walked shoulder-to-shoulder with San, his gaze darting back and forth between him and the Captain and Yeosang's backs. The two were chatting seemingly nonstop in their formal attire (courtesy of the STMC’s costume department which had suddenly appeared on the ground floor behind a door that definitely hadn’t been there before). What were they talking about? Wooyoung didn't know, but he was more so wondering why they were giggling so much. What was so funny?

“Pretty weird, isn’t it?” San replied, amusement in his tone.

“For sure,” Wooyoung agreed, looking back at him. “And you look so different now too!”

“Good different or-”

“Definitely good different!” Wooyoung rushed out, startling San into a shy bout of laughter. “Oh, stop it with the adorable act! I bet you get compliments like this all the time!”

San shook his head. “I really don’t. Everyone at UNIT is-”

“Ugh, UNIT. It’s always UNIT with you. Come on, Sanie! You still don’t get out?”

“Wooyoung…”

“What about your mental health? Your social life? I doubt you’re getting any affection from that General, which means you need someone who can make you laugh and forget about your responsibilities for a while. Preferably someone who also gives good hugs!”

“Are you offering?” San replied after a beat.

Cheeks growing a little heated, Wooyoung briefly turned away as he broke into a giggle. “Ah, damn- Why was that actually smooth?”

"I don't know. Have you considered you might just be easy?" San's tone was teasing, so Wooyoung took the liberty of smacking his arm in revenge before they both fell into a comfortable silence. 

Up ahead, Yeosang and the Captain kept talking, their voices hushed, while off in the distance, traffic kept humming like the city’s version of waves rolling across the sand. The only other sounds were birds and the occasional crunch when one of them stepped on a perfectly curled, dry leaf.

“Sanie?” Wooyoung asked eventually.

“Hm?”

“Did we meet at all in the last six years?” 

“No. We didn’t.”

The answer left a sting in Wooyoung’s heart. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright,” San said easily, tone light. “I was busy most of the time and whenever I wasn’t, I liked to imagine you were out there somewhere, having the time of your life with the Captain. It felt good, you know? To think I managed to help you in some way. I always knew you’d be able to talk him into letting you stay long past that first adventure.”

“You know me.” Wooyoung forced a chuckle as he blatantly lied by omission. Technically, this was still part of his first trip with the Captain—they still needed to help Yeosang after all—but San didn’t need to know that right now. “I’m simply irresistible!”

“You are.” San sounded amused. “You know, back then, I think I actually had a bit of a crush on you.”
Caught entirely off guard, Wooyoung’s gaze snapped up to San’s face. “Seriously?” 

A quick nod. “Yeah.” San looked down at his own shoes. “I kept feeling like I was cheating on the Captain somehow because I already had feelings for him.”

“But-” The confession somehow got Wooyoung’s heart beating a little faster. “We barely knew each other. And the age gap- Dude, you never even properly responded to my texts! I wanted us to be friends but you wouldn’t-”

“Ah, I know. I’m sorry. UNIT has all these rules about avoiding contact with-”

Groaning in frustration, Wooyoung rolled his eyes and swerved a little on his walking path to let out some of his anger. “Damn it, Sanie!”

“I know, I know. You hate UNIT and my lifestyle.”

“Because you’ve made UNIT your lifestyle! I’m telling you, it’s a cult!”

“Which is why I want to change it!”

Angling his steps to walk sideways, body facing San, Wooyoung couldn’t help but gape at San’s stern profile. “Hol- Hold on a second. Did… Did you actually wake up?”

San huffed a laugh, audibly void of happiness. “Yes. I did. After over a year of watching it all come crashing down, there’s no more-" he gestured vaguely "-magic left.” Head ducked, he seemed to shrink into himself a little. “I was brainwashed. My mom died for this organization when I was seven and left me to be raised by General Rho, but the second he got his hands on me, he basically presented me as an offering to UNIT. 

“Instead of going to school with my peers, I studied alien weapons and languages, learned how to fight, how to pilot all kinds of alien spacecraft—all in the name of becoming the perfect UNIT soldier so I could help protect humanity. But now that some rich guy has waltzed in, everyone who raised me, scolded me, beat me, shaped me—they’re all just bowing down and handing everything over without asking a single fucking question.

“Everything we worked for, everything we learned and documented—it’s now all in the hands of some corporate monster who only cares about profit, shareholders, and his own bank account. What if he uses our research to create weapons powerful enough to wipe out the entire planet? What then, huh? 

“It’s…” San shook his head before he took a deep breath. “For months, all I could think about was how my life no longer had any meaning and how death was now the only option for me, but then I realized: if I could rebuild UNIT to truly serve humanity, I could have a purpose again. And a real one this time. I could still help people and save lives just as I always believed I would one day.”

“San-” Reaching out, Wooyoung grabbed hold of San’s arm and tugged him to a stop before he waited a beat, two, for San to meet his eyes. “I need you to listen to me now and take my words to heart, alright? Your purpose in life? It doesn’t have to be tied to UNIT. Your value as a human being? It doesn’t come from whether you can serve humanity or society or not. Your inherent value as a person stems from the fact that you exist at all.”

“Wooyoung-”

“Don’t sigh before you say my name! That’s rude!”

A soft chuckle. San’s gaze dropped to Wooyoung’s hand on his arm. “You’re cute.”

“Thank you. But how about you actually acknowledge what I just said, hm?”

“I heard you,” San reassured him.

“Good.”

“And it’s sweet how much you care.”

Frustration spread in Wooyoung’s chest as he realized what came next. “But?”

“But you and I are very different.”

“So? What does that have to do with anything?”

San met his eyes again. “It means the way I’ve existed up until now has shaped me into someone who could never just live among other people. All I know—all I’ve been trained for—is to be a UNIT soldier. I could never work in- in retail or an office or at a bank-”

“And you think I could?” Wooyoung fired back. “I survived retail for all of six months before I got fired for disobedience!”

San frowned. “What did you do?”

“Long story. Doesn’t matter.”

“Okay?”

“What I’m saying is: not being able to work ‘human jobs’ or whatever doesn’t disqualify you from being human. You’re still a person and you still have decades ahead to explore what being a person means to you specifically. Heck, I clearly haven’t figured that one out myself yet either—I mean, look at me! 

“I spent over a year chasing after that guy-” Wooyoung gestured at the path ahead where Yeosang and the Captain were slowly increasing the distance between their two groups “-and thanks to him I was now able to visit another planet—in the future—and I’ve made a new friend! That’s crazy, right? 

“What I’m trying to say is: you never know what life will throw your way, so maybe it’s time for you to stop being so deadset on this one organization. Why not shift your attention elsewhere? Maybe… Maybe you could even shift it to what’s right in front of you. You always wanted to travel with the Captain too, right?”

Something in San’s expression had changed, softened; his dimples were now slightly visible as he looked at Wooyoung. “I really like you, Wooyoung.”

“But?”

“No ‘but’ this time. I just like you. You’re sweet and kind and funny, and I know you’re trying to help, but-”

“So there is a ‘but’!”

“Yes, but it’s not about you-”

“Yeah, so it’s about what I said, which is worse!” Wooyoung complained. “Sanie! The whole point of-”

“But I really want to be the leader of UNIT!” San cut in. “I do! I’m qualified, driven, knowledgeable, and I firmly believe I could change it for the better! I could make sure we actually help people instead of only using our resources to blow up any spaceship that dares to fly too close to earth! We could support the Captain on his missions and welcome peaceful aliens! We- We could establish intergalactic trade or-”

Swallowing past the tightness in his throat, Wooyoung couldn’t help but avert his gaze. “You’re really excited about this, aren’t you?”

“I am! Really! No brainwashing behind it, I swear!”

“But…” Wooyoung trailed off, hesitant to even ask this next question for fear of the answer. Was he being too selfish? “What about your plans to travel with us?” 

“I still want to. Some day. Once everything has settled down and I feel like I’ve found someone who can keep the place afloat while I take time off.”

Slowly, Wooyoung nodded. “Okay.”

“You’re mad at me,” San stated after a beat of silence.

“I’m not.”

“Then you’re disappointed.”

“Not really,” Wooyoung denied. “I just- I was looking forward to-”

“What’s the hold up?” the Captain called out, instantly drawing both Wooyoung and San’s full attention. “I thought this was an emergency!”

“It is!” San said hastily before he took off in a jog, leaving Wooyoung behind to catch up.

⭒₊ ⊹⭒₊‧.°.⋆✮⋆.°.‧₊ ⊹⭒

The UNIT headquarters was just another example of a tall building with too many windows looming over a road which grew scaldingly hot every single summer as a result. When would city officials finally realize office spaces shouldn't be more important than keeping people's shoes from melting?

“This reminds me of home,” Yeosang remarked.

“That’s nice,” San said.

Wooyoung winced a little. “Ah, Sanie, you wouldn’t say that if you knew where he comes from.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t know-”

“It’s alright,” Yeosang cut in quickly. “We’re here to make things better, right?”

“Definitely!” San confirmed.

“Yeosang, Wooyoung, get behind us,” the Captain spoke up while he patted down his jacket pockets. “San, you’re with me up front.”

“Aye, Captain!” 

“Still not funny.”

“I beg to differ.”

Huffing a breath, the Captain reached into his inner pocket and retrieved what appeared to be a thin black wallet.

“What’s that?” Wooyoung asked.

“The ultimate fake ID,” the Captain replied cryptically, his expression full of mischief as he met Wooyoung’s eyes. He already looked unfairly attractive with his fake glasses and half slicked back hair, but that look on top of it all? Wooyoung actually felt his pulse quicken.

“Are you actively trying to get us into trouble with the law right now?” Wooyoung asked, trying to distract himself.

“Nope!” the Captain said cheerful before he turned on his heel and marched up to the massive front doors of UNIT HQ. The rest of them were left to trail after him.

The entrance hall was all white tiles, white walls, and floating stairs. The only speck of color around stemmed from the light wooden reception desk across the room from the entrance doors. It was currently being manned by a bored looking employee in a simple white t-shirt and faded gray jeans. Wooyoung half expected them to being chewing gum and flipping through a magazine to complete the movie trope.

“Good afternoon!” the Captain greeted cheerfully while offering a small wave and making a beeline for the elevators which were located just past the reception area.

“Hey!” the receptionist called out, springing into motion. Less than two seconds later, they were launching themselves into the Captain's path, arms outstretched. “I need to see some ID first!”

San was first to hand his badge over as he stepped up beside the Captain. “Agent Choi San. Defense Unit.”

“I know who you are.”

“And yet you still asked for my badge less than an hour ago.”

“It’s protocol.”

“I’m aware,” San replied as his badge was returned to him, leaving him free to swerve around the receptionist and head on over to the elevators where he pressed the only available button.

Following a deeply unprofessional eye-roll, the receptionist accepted the Captain’s ‘ID’, though the second they’d opened it, they immediately began tripping all over themselves in their haste to hand it back and get out of the Captain’s way. “Go right ahead, Sir. Apologies for the disturbance, Sir.”

“No worries!” the Captain reassured lightly as he repocketed his ‘ID’. “Please also excuse my assistants.”

“Of course, Sir. We’re honored to have you here with us, Sir.”

“And I’m happy to be here!” the Captain replied, smile in his voice. He offered one final nod in lieu of a goodbye before he continued on his way, Yeosang and Wooyoung still following right at his heels.

“What the hell was that?” Wooyoung whispered, leaning into the Captain’s shoulder the second they were out of the receptionist's earshot.

“I’ll explain in a second,” the Captain promised.

Just a moment later, right after the elevator doors had slid shut, the Captain pushed his hands into his pocket and audibly activated his lambent pen. “Surveillance cameras disabled,” he reported a beat later. “Now then-” 

Turning on his heel, he moved to face Wooyoung and Yeosang while his fingers retrieved the fake ID from his inner jacket pocket. Upon presenting it to them, he let it fall open. Inside was a deep red lining on the top half and a rectangular piece of thick paper on the bottom, safely tucked away behind a clear protective cover. 

Upon closer inspection, Wooyoung could make out some detailed engravings on the card—a swirly golden border around the outside and extravagant cursive letters in the center. “The Captain,” he began to read aloud. “Spacetime Traveler Extraordinaire. Beautiful, handsome, and intelligent. Need help? Call-” He narrowed his eyes. “Why is the phone number so blurry? Did your printer run out of ink or something?”

“What are you reading?” Yeosang asked.

“The card here, obviously.”

“But it just says ‘Savior’.”

“No, it’s blank,” San chimed in.

“What?” Scrunching up his nose, Wooyoung looked up to meet the Captain’s eyes. “What’s up with this thing?”

For a moment, the Captain’s face was entirely unreadable until he averted his gaze and folded the ID back up with an undoubtedly well-practiced flick of the wrist. “Metaphysical plant fibers,” he began while repocketing it, “harvested from a very rare type of tree that only grows on one planet—at least to my knowledge. I received it as a gift from the kugarisana who live there.”

“That’s lovely,” Wooyoung remarked, “but tells me nothing.”

“The piece of paper makes you see what you expect to see,” the Captain summarized.

“So the person down there,” Yeosang concluded, “saw something different from us.”

“Precisely,” the Captain confirmed. “I moved like I belonged while in the presence of someone whom the receptionist knows works here, therefore-” he prompted.

“Your card probably read you were with the guy who bought the place or something,” Wooyoung finished.

“Exactly.”

“But why was the paper blank for San?” Yeosang asked.

“We’re trained to withstand that kind of manipulation,” San stated.

Immediately, Wooyoung’s curiosity was perked. “That’s a thing you can do?”

“Yup.” The Captain turned to face the doors, head slightly tipped back to look at the steadily climbing floor number.

“Can you teach me?” Wooyoung prodded.

“I could.”

“Will you?”

The Captain shrugged ever so slightly, leaving Wooyoung frowning.

“What's the plan exactly?” San chimed in. “Why the sixth floor?”

“You didn’t notice?” the Captain responded.

“Notice what?”

“They added zero percent window tint to half the windows there. What do you think they're hiding?”

The elevator stopped. The doors parted.

What now lay ahead was a long empty hallway with the same white tiled floor and bare walls. The only thing breaking up the monotony were the light wooden doors on each side and the darkened floor-to-ceiling window at its end.

To be continued in Episode 4 & 5:

"Yunho, Part 1 & 2”