the boys wake up in a place they've never seen before, a place too perfect like no other.

bright light flashes upon them, the wallpaper baby blue. like pieces of irregular objects in a picture perfect space, they certainly did not fit in.

jaemin is the first to get up. he scans the room, his eyes shifting at each of his friends, making sure that everyone is already here. the moderate room consists of seven beds, all neatly tucked in as if they were had expected their presence. he glances at his right, his fingers immediately wrap around jeno's wrist. "yah, is everyone here?"

donghyuck counts the boys with the gesture of his hand. "four, five, six..."

"mark hyung, where is he?" jisung immediately strides around like a lost chick.

"more importantly, where are we?" renjun observes the blue room, his eyes squinting because of the extreme pastels. "where did it take us? who's dream is this?"

jaemin looks merely untroubled. "honestly, this place looked a lot more entertaining in my visions."

"this is your dream, hyung?" chenle asks him. a little part of himself is relieved that he got to finish his mission earlier than everyone.

"yes, most likely. it's missing a lot of certain details, though." he steps his foot at the bed, feeling the crafted walls above. "in my dream, i think i was a lot shorter.. i feel a lot younger, even."

"maybe that's just your self-conscience taking over your maturity," renjun points out. "you're naturally childish, na jaemin. a part of you refuses to grow up. that part of you shines brightest when you're not lucid."

"i suppose so." jaemin puts his box at the bottom of his bed, the one he remembers from his dream. "now that we're here, we should take a look of the place, shall we?"

"yeah, and we should find mark hyung!" jisung exclaims.

"mark hyung's gone, jisung. you saw it yourself." donghyuck spits out bitterly, though he himself is still in denial.

"but he said it himself that we will be seeing more of him! so we will be meeting the younger version of mark hyung, right? the ones we haven't met yet?"

at the exact moment, the door bursts open, revealing a very disheveled boy 'flying' a hoverboard. "yo, dream! you're finally here, what took you so long?!"

the room breaks into awkward silence once they realize who it is. mark lee, fresh as ever, his clothes appear as if he just came out of a zombie apocalypse period of time. underneath him is an actual floating hoverboard, keeping his feet off the ground. he grins. "hello, kids! where you've been, the sixties? hundreds? thousands?"

obviously they weren't able to hide the grief in their faces. just now they just witnessed him disappear into nonexistence, and now they're met up with a younger version of him who knows nothing. emotions are really hard to cover.

"what's with the damp faces, did anyone die in your last mission?" mark heads towards chenle and ruffles his hair. "yah, cheer up boys! which version of you is this again?" he spins around. "jaemin, you're here.. is this before, or after the you-know-what thing happened?"

"wait, why is important that i'm here?" jaemin raises his eyebrow in suspicion. "i'm here, i'm always here."

"ah, sorry, i'm so sorry. i shall avoid the spoilers." mark winces. "if this is the old you.. and my first mission is also about you 'redacted'... then this must be it.. and i don't want to be sad.."

"dude, why do you always say things we don't understand?" donghyuck shoots at him. "we don't have enough time to speak of your gibberish."

"lee haechan, you're snarky as ever." mark sprints towards him just to cup his cheeks. "god knows what i'd do without you."

feeling the breeze of emotion fueling in him, donghyuck turns away. he's not going to cry now, not when the boy's literally inches away from him. "stop it."

"hehehe. lee haechan."

"why do you still call me that?"

"because you were the one who wanted me to." mark turns around, clapping his hands as he did so. "anyway boys! let's have fun today, shall we? it's the sixties, baby! post-depression! we gotta party."

"sixties?" renjun arches an eyebrow. "as in, the ninety sixties?"

"yup, two thousand nine hundred sixty. we're at the peak of earth's rebirth! the end of a war, the start of a new day!" mark spins his hoverboard around a little bit too excitedly, pulling jisung over to join him.

jeno's eyes flutter. "we're in the future???"

"wait, this is your first time? wow, you must be in your very early stages, then." mark winks. "more adventures to come! this period is certainly one of my favorites, though. lovely air, full of happiness, the world is restored from absolute system failure! here, let's take a look outside! follow me~"

mark flies away to the door, followed by the other boys. the skies appear in neon colors, the clouds decorating it like gloated cotton candies. not only more futuristic, the buildings surrounding them are also levitating above air, establishing a surprising gap between floating land and water.

"after the whole crisis, the world eventually found out how to levitate land and keep it in tact by air, preventing another jakarta— i mean, atlantis, from happening." mark explains to them. "i won't tell you the details though, history books are too hard to catch up. what we should do now is to play with these awesome hoverboards! i found them on my way here."

he gestures at the hoverboards neatly parked in front of the entrance of the blue room. "are we allowed to use this?" renjun asks.

mark shrugs. "are we supposed to ask?"

"touché, i like your style." donghyuck lifts up his leg, stabilizing himself on the hoverboard. "i don't know how to use these, though."

"don't worry, you don't have to." mark grins. "once you stand on it, it literally feels like walking, but in a gliding sort of a way. you don't even need to compose yourself, it just naturally sticks on you as if you already know it by heart."

"jisung-ah, can you do it?" before jaemin rides his, he makes sure the youngest could adjust with the device without falling. "here, let me help you."

"mark hyung," jeno glances at the latter.

"yes, jeno-yah?"

he stares into his eyes. "240816."

renjun grimaces. "yah, you beat me to it, i almost forgot."

mark laughs. "thank you for the reminder, jeno-yah~ i never understand why you do that but i hope it's worth remembering~"

"trust me, it really is."

"okay, we're all set!" jaemin announces after helping jisung to climb the hoverboard, he manages to climb his. "let's try out this baby, a way to commemorate the start of my mission!"

"nana, this is yours?!" mark flinches. "wow, this is really getting interesting.."

"where should we go?" donghyuck asks.

"very unlike of you to be the one asking that." renjun smirks. "catch me if you can!!"

they fly around like hyperactive baby eagles, soaring towards the sun.

—

new mission~ and it is jaemin's~

i also made a dream horror fic, i hope you guys check that one out too!

15 votes for next chapter~

- yuehwa