REWRITING!!!!!! PROMISE (Ateez/seongjoong fic)

Chapter 1: The Cromer

Eventually, they all got in contact again. Yeosang fell out with his parents for good, Mingi finally called Jongho to apologize, and decided to contact everyone else, too.

San's aunt passed from cancer, so he had no where to go other than The Warehouse again.

Wooyoung managed to come back, days before he was due to sign his contract with the company because Mingi had texted him after however long it had been.

Yunho was falling into the same despair he was in when his friends had helped begin to get him out of when they had first met.

Jongho was rejected by every college he applied to.

Seonghwa caught his girlfriend sleeping with his coworker and was alone again, relying on cheap whiskey and b-rated films to keep his mind off of the loneliness, until he recieved his message from Mingi, reminding him that he still had those friends.

Hongjoong didn't have a phone, so he was taken by suprise when the other 7 showed up in The Warehouse again. Suprised, but more delighted and warm than anything.

They spent the next day catching up on all of the ups and downs they had faced since they had seperated. There were tears and laughter, sorrow and remorse. Wooyoung was congradulated on how well he was doing in life with tight-lipped smiles, hugs, and words of encouragement.

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The next night, Hongjoong was startled from his sleep at the loud sound of wind beginning to vaccuum in front of him. When he shot upright on the couch he laid on, he was greeted by a mysterious figure. One in all black. He wore a long trench coat, a fedora, and a mask that covered the lower part of his face so the only thing visible was his eyes.

His eyes look so familiar.

Hongjoong's face paled with the realization: he was looking into eyes identical to his own.

The man in the black fedora held something. Hongjoong let his eyes wander to it. An hourglass. Something about it was wrong, though, the sand in it didn't pass normally. There was always the same amount on both ends no matter how much time passed. No matter which way it was turned.

"The Cromer," the masked man spoke with a voice much deeper that Hongjoong's own after noticing his eyes trail to the object, "It allows one to travel through space and time if you so desire. It can keep you and your friends together. You don't want to lose them again, do you?"

Hongjoong blinked in silence for a moment. The only sound he made was the beating of his chest. Loud enough he heard it clearly in both of his ears. The other man had to hear it, too. Right?

"Just take it," The other man sighed out, "I can't be here much longer. I must get back. You need to decide quickly what you will do with the Cromer. It holds more power than you know."

The man outstretched the hand with the Cromer in it to Hongjoong. Hongjoong hesitantly reached out to take it in response.

As soon as his fingers connected with the hourglass, everything around him changed. The world he saw fractalized and multiplied by millions. His ears began to ring and his eyesight got blurry. The man was gone. Where could he have gone that fast?

Everything went black.

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Morning. He was awoken by someone aggresively shaking him. Rattling his already sore brain against his skull. He slowly pealed open his eyes to find Wooyoung's worried face inches away from his own.

At the sight of Hongjoong waking up, the shaking lessened, and Wooyoungs grip on his shoulders tightened.

Hongjoong brought one hand to his pounding head, and the other to his face, smearing a half dried trail of blood running from his nose to his lip across his face as he did.