even in the midst of all the chaos, suspended in this moment of everlasting time, hair whipping all around his face, chanyeol feels calm, at peace, with not a single ounce of fear in his heart.

he glances down at his baby boy, standing at the eye of the hurricane of pain and fury lashing out from sehun’s small body, and whispers the words that every child needs to hear to reaffirm their existence in the world.

“it’s okay,” chanyeol whispers, ignoring the tiny rocks pelting his skin so hard, they feel like thousands of mosquitoes piercing his skin. “my baby, i love you. calm down.”

sehun’s anger falters, blinking in a moment of hesitation, and whimpers.

“daddy.”

time begins to roll again, gravity pulling everything back down towards the earth in a rain of loose dirt and grass, chanyeol thudding hard on the ground with a loud crack as his entire weight falls onto his ankle.

ignoring the shooting pain, chanyeol scrambles for his shivering son, clutching sehun close as if to bury him deep inside his chest and never let him go.

“my good boy,” chanyeol breathes into sehun’s hair, relief flooding through his body before a rustling noise quickly puts him on alert again. he snaps his head to the side where a middle-aged man steps out of the trees, pistol raised in their direction.

“no, please,” chanyeol pleads, struggling into a standing position and blocking sehun from view. “he’s just a child.”

“get out of my way,” the man warns, weapon held steady and pointed at chanyeol’s chest. chanyeol frantically shakes his head, quickly turning  to shove sehun into the wheat field behind them and yelling for him to run away.

“daddy, no,” sehun cries, little fists clenched and tears rolling down his round cheeks.

“go!” chanyeol screams. and with a choked sob, sehun runs, disappearing into the overgrown field.

satisfied with the knowledge that his baby might survive, chanyeol turns back to the man with a serene expression on his face.

“get out of the way,” the man enunciates each word. and chanyeol silently shakes his head again.

the finger on the trigger slowly moves, ready to destroy the parent willing to die for his son, when another man, a younger man, scrambles out of the forest.

“jongin,” the younger man calls, rifle held under his arm. “you don’t have to do this.”

chanyeol subtly shakes his head, praying that the newcomer won’t do anything rash.

“but i do,” jongin replies, turning his eyes back to chanyeol. “there’s no other way.” his finger is mere centimeters from releasing the bullet.

chanyeol stands straight, taking a deep breath and mentally preparing himself for the hit, when the younger man flips the rifle in his hand, and empties the barrel into his own stomach.

“jongin!” chanyeol cries, eyes wide with shock as the present jongin crumples to the floor.

vision swimming with unshed tears, chanyeol turns his head just in time to see the jongin of the future vanish into thin air as if he had never existed, pistol dropping down with a muffled thump.

turning back to the body lying on the grass, chanyeol feels his heart shatter into millions of pieces, blowing away with the wind that ruffles jongin’s fringe, just a few yards away from him.

ignoring the ache that has nothing to do with his broken ankle, chanyeol turns away from the man he’d come to love, heading back towards the sea of wheat in search of his son.