Summery: Exo has scattered. Now in hiding after the Red Force closed in on them and Luhan went missing. Baekhyun finds himself in a small town while he waits until they can reunite again. Guarded after everything that has taken place, he’s not looking for friendship, or anything else, until a light shines through, even as the darkness closes around them.
First, Prev, Next. AO3
Chapter 8: Chen: Almaty, Kazakhstan, 20:01
Chen took a deep breath as he made his way through the empty corridors and back to the roof after another venture out to find more answers. There was something in the atmosphere today that made the wind blowing through the older building rub him wrong. The fresh air, once he reached the roof, offered him some relief, but the weather was beginning to look poor and he eyed the quickly dimming sunlight as he made his way into his alcove.
He didn’t know the wind like Sehun but he could definitely tell it wasn’t acting normal.
Pages fluttered from books that had been blown open and he closed them before taking a seat and opening the book he had found earlier. An old acquaintance had written it long ago as he studied the night sky, recording all his speculations on the effects of eclipses and the possibility of visitors from the stars. It wasn’t till years after the man’s death that Chen had found out about the book and he’d been hunting it down ever since. Chen had always wondered if the man had started to suspect him before he’d moved on.
He was running out of older material and newly published scientific finds and was really considering perusing conspiracy forums online for any solutions to their growing problem. Maybe at least for some news on the Red Force.
He’d been coming up empty every time he’d tried to pin them down lately, and it was leaving him more uneasy with each passing day.
The sun dimmed faster than he was expecting and he looked up to the sky to find out why.
It was an eclipse.
He jumped to his feet, the book falling to the ground, unnoticed.
Something wasn’t right.
It was early.
He’d checked and rechecked. For months.
Every article, every website, they had said it wasn’t for a couple more days, so why….
Books forgotten, he grabbed his laptop bag and phone and ran from the roof as fast as he could, his powers beginning to churn just under the surface. Lightning crackled in the clouds, lighting up the darkness the eclipse was causing, and he made it into the main building just as it began to pour.
He needed to get to a busy public internet source and send some kind of warning to the others.
He wasn’t sure how long the Red Force had been manipulating his research, but it had been too long, and there was no telling how much they knew.
The bright Exo logo at the end might be a symbolic representation of exoplanet. The spacecraft crash lands on one of the other extra terrestrial planets on which Power takes place. Notice how the exos don't have their powers in dftf which they acquire in the form of orbs in Power mv. Hence, Power happens after Dftf.
Now I'll talk about two main theories which lead to different conclusions for this section of the storyline:–
#1 The Emergency landing promo pics show them on different planets each representing the 6 members' (no Yixing🥲) powers. The album logo shows a radar locating the 9 members. It is also present in the vcr above. As part of their promotions, they released a game called EXO Ship Saga in which each mem has a different planet. The theme seems pretty straightforward: they travelled to different planets, maybe used escape-pods because they were going to crash land in the vcr above.
This theory might be able to explain the story of parallel universes as well as the ending of Power with Baek falling in an ocean.
#2 After reaching the planet shown in Power, they were scattered to different cities on Earth (Pathcodes) as comets seen in the beginning of Dftf. As of now, many of us are confused which of these happen in the chronology (they land in cities or on planets). They must have tried to evacuate it since the Red Force has come to know they are all together and have acquired their orbs. Let's go with the second theory: I believe Pathcode comes after Power.
Why? Proof: in Tao's pathcode, he was reading a newspaper and it said that 10 comets were visible near earth (ot10 era) hence they landed in different locations in Pathcodes.
The comet Kyungsoo saw in Dftf mv could be the one appearing in Let me In and explains their isolation in Sing For You.
At the end of Dftf mv, they approach a portal and there is falling snow in space?! This could be another hint that Sing For You comes later in the story and not before Dftf.
• In Ep 02. One giant leap teaser video, Kyungsoo is the only one who looks back with a robotic sound. Also, he is the only member emersed in green light in the concept pics of Dftf. Smth definitely seems off but we'll leave it at that for now.
From 2:56, they dance in the spaceship with some blinking red lights behind. These could be cctvs as I pointed out in Rover (mini theory) and Obsession. In this era too they are under surveillance.
• SM included easter eggs from previous releases (code numbers) which means a lot as the group has matured artistically alongwith more involvement in production and shares a great bond with their fans (releasing this album for EXO-Ls with Yixing🐑 during the drought❣️).
There were other things I wanted to discuss but due to the confusing timeline I tried my best understanding plot holes. This mv is undoubtedly connected to many others and with the possibility of parallel universes, it has become complex.
Of course I asked more questions than solving them hehe but I love Exo. Do share your thoughts & THANKS FOR READING! Also, missing SeKai😭❣️
