[Soul cemetery]

“I have to drop off you guys here and head back to Key!” the male that was riding the carriage said and everyone realized that it was Minho. Xiumin nodded to him, Suho helping his father off, everyone trailing behind him. They all watched Minho give them a nod, turning the carriage as fast as he could before heading back to the Royal Castle. Lay let out a small sharp exhale at the thought of the peacemakers but shook his head to dispel the thoughts of worry from his head, Xiumin securing the box and tossing the orb to Luhan who caught it.

“We’ll have to camp in Soul Cemetery and find a way to the Byun Mansion, don’t we?” Kai asked, shaking his wrist that still had the cuff. He was annoyed he couldn’t use his powers and without his abilities, he felt like he was a burden.

Suho nodded and Luhan threw the orb into the portal, all of them stepping towards it and getting into a whirlwind as they bounced off the portal onto the ground. Soul Cemetery was just like how a cemetery was meant to be—dreary, cold, and seemingly haunted.

Since the party started when the sunset, a few hours had passed and the night was deepening. The mages had no idea what to do in order to get to Byun Mansion, but even though they were young and full of strength—the two fathers that had followed them weren't. Kim Changho was healed, but his weak heart had made him collapse to the ground. He hated traveling by portals, the speed, and the intensity were bad for his health and he could feel his heart beating in his chest.

Master Jung was fine, but he also was pretty worn out from the fighting. The man was in his mid 50’s, a few years younger than Master Changho but living a life of stress from doing business was something that had caused him to age faster than the rest. Suho looked over to his father, worriedly and told them to rest.

“We should find a way to head to the Byun Mansion when the sun rises. I think it’s too dangerous to travel at night,” Lay said, trying to squint into the dark. “We don’t have Harin’s eyes.”

“I’ll scout out. For now, we should move away from the portal. Let’s camp out near the trees,” Kris told them, flying up. He was tired and his mind was active, but he knew that they had to do everything to keep everyone safe.

Chen’s hand glowed and an electric ball glowed in his hand, the male creating a dim light throughout the cemetery.

They began walking to the trees, Suho leading his father under one big tree and excused himself. Suho was still awkward being with his father and even in a situation like this, he found it hard to express his gratitude to the older man and be in his presence. It was also a matter of privacy and respect, Suho knowing it wasn’t yet time to get too close.

“We’ll be by that tree. Call us if you need anything, Father.” Suho had said before heading off. They weren’t that far away and Changho agreed, leaning against the tree. Master Jung sneaked a look at the older man in the dark before commenting on Changho’s and Suho’s relationship.

“Not that close?” Master Jung asked and Changho nodded in the dark.

“My son hates me,” he replied, struggling to sit up. “I wasn’t a present father while he was growing up. And if it’s someone who knows how to hold grudges, it’s Suho.”

“Mine too,” Jung Hae-in replied, thinking of Jaehyun. “I haven’t had a proper conversation with him. The moment he woke up from the curse of Rumpelstiltskin, he decided to go to SM. It’s hard, but I don’t know how to tell him that all I’ve ever done was try to have and protect him.”

“You had him quite late?” Master Changho asked the younger male beside him.

“Yes. My wife couldn’t bear children so we didn’t have him until I was 33,” Jung Hae-in replied and Changho nodded, patting his chest softly as his heart began to slow down.

“Tell me about it,” Changho said and Hae-in frowned, leaning back before he began to tell him how he had Jaehyun. How his son was asleep for thirteen years and woke up with a deep-set hatred for his parents because life was hard for him when he opened his eyes. He told him about how confused he was, why was Jaehyun able to speak to Rumpelstiltskin but not him? He was trying, he really was to prove to Jaehyun that he treasured his son—He just wasn’t good with words.

“I hired Johnny SeoPaku. He lived with the giants,” he told Changho. “Just so he could be with Jaehyun. It was between him and his cousin, Lucas WongYukhei, but he seemed much more responsible.”

“Our kids don’t know how much we try,” Changho agreed, sighing. “Suho hates the fact that he’s half siren but it wasn’t under my control. I was charmed by her beauty and her love, I didn’t realize she was a siren.”

“It wasn’t your fault. As fathers, all we can do right now is try,” Master Jung Hae-in replied before closing his eyes, letting sleep wash over his body. He could hear Changho breathing steadily beside him and it was a mutual communication between them. They have heard of each other before, Jung Hae-in and Kim Changho, both of them being in the list of ‘Top Ten Richest’ in Exodus but they have never really approached each other until today.

Mutual enemies do bring people together.

The men basked in the silence of the cemetery, getting some rest as an hour passed when Changho heard trudging. He opened his eyes, suddenly alert at the sound. He was a sensitive sleeper and the littlest noise bothered him—Living in a big, isolated mansion on an island tended to do that to you. Jung Hae-in was in deep sleep and Changho shook him awake, the man jolting up.

“Someone’s coming. I hear footsteps,” Changho told Hae-in who sat up, squinting into the darkness. “Listen—”

The trudging was coming closer and Changho opened his mouth to yell out for Suho just in time to see the figure stop in front of him.

“Jisung! I found them! Hello, I'm Zhong Chenle!” a young voice said just as Changho called his son. He heard his son rustle awake before running over to them. The young male reached up and before they knew it, light shined onto them. Suho squinted at the sudden light and they saw that two males stood in front of them, wearing helmets with flashlights on them. They smiled cheekily and Suho recognized them almost immediately.

“Who are those—” Kris asked, showing up from behind Suho before saying their names. “Chenle! Jisung! Wha—”

The two males bowing down to Suho and Kris, greeting them. “Hello, Seniors. It’s been a while since we’ve seen you.” Chenle said.

“Of course, NCT Dream graduated early,” Suho said, relaxing. They weren’t threats, Chenle and Jisung part of NCT Dream. He, Kris, Lay, and Donghae had taught them when they were back in SM. “What are you doing here?”

He had forgotten that Soul Cemetery was close to the Dreamweaver fortress. Suho had never went there but he knew of it. Dreamweaver’s were able to see visions and visit people in their dreams and NCT Dream all studied how to analyze and how to develop their visions and abilities in SM. They all were under Donghae for personal training, Literature with Kris, and History with Suho.

Dreamweavers were meant to be like psychologists; they analyzed your dreams, sent messages, see visions and try to make sense of it. Most people visited them as therapy and they lived in isolation in the Dreamweaver Fortress owned by Chenle’s grandfather. They had to live without listening to current news, events since they all wanted to focus on having an unbiased opinion based on only information given by each client.

“Is Senior Sehun dead yet?” Chenle suddenly asked and Suho frowned at his question.

“What does that mean?”

“Jisung once had a vision of Senior Sehun dead,” Chenle said, adjusting his hat. He smiled and his eyes turned into a horizontal line. He was cheeky and cute that Suho knew it was an innocent question.

“He died but he’s fine now,” Kris replied and Chenle nodded.

“Nice,” he said, without asking much. Jisung stood quietly beside Chenle, eyes on the ground and Suho wondered how the little kid had grown so tall. “How are Haechan and Mark?” Chenle asked again, looking curious. “Did they graduate yet?”

“Not yet,” Suho answered, patient with his questions before asking another of his own. “Why are you here? How did you find us?”

“I was in my sleep shift when Royal Messenger Namjoon visited me in my sleep. He told me…” Chenle paused and searched his pocket before taking out a crumpled paper to which he squinted at. “That Shinee told them that they gave you an orb to the Soul Cemetery…. And that you are in Soul Cemetery and to come and get all of you. So, I woke up Jisung from his sleep and he cried.”

Chenle said it like was the most normal thing in the world and Suho chuckled, remembering how much Jisung cried when he was in SM. He was the youngest in SM at that time, and they all doted on him. Chenle grinned, his cheerful demeanor seemingly to not have changed since he had graduated with the rest of NCT Dream.

“No wonder you’re so quiet, Jisung,” Kai said and Jisung bowed down, obviously in a cranky mood when Kai asked Chenle a follow-up question. “How are Shinee and the vigilantes? Is Namjoon safe?”

“Yes. They got away,” Chenle replied. “I think they are in hiding somewhere. For now, we should head back to the fortress… I didn’t tell the others that we came out. After you rest, we have a portal in our fortress and you can go wherever you need to be.”

“Of course,” Luhan responded, feeling grateful for Namjoon’s help. He didn’t want to travel all over to the Byun Mansion, it would have been a long and difficult journey especially with Suho and Jaehyun’s father.

Chenle motioned them to follow him and they walked past the cemetery, the cold wind hitting their skin. It took a while when they finally stopped in front of a wall made of thorns. The thorns were sharp and Chen was about to ask them how they’d go through the wall when Chenle raised a hand and it moved, making way for them.

“Defense system,” Chenle said. “And also, it seems intimidating.”

They walked towards the fortress and over a moat when Chenle pushed the huge steel door with much difficulty. They all went in and saw that the fortress was decorated to the point of luxury.

“Where are the others?” Kris asked, wanting to see his former students, Jisung pointing to an open door that had voices coming from it.

“The study,” Jisung mumbled under breath and Chenle turned to them.

“I think you should let them rest. Jisung will lead you to the bedrooms,” he said, motioning to Suho’s and Jaehyun’s father looked like they were about to fall asleep on the spot. Suho agreed and excused himself with Luhan who also seemed tired, saying he’d Master Changho and Master Jung to their bedrooms.

“I’ll meet you guys in the study after,” Suho told them, and Kris nodded. Chenle began leading them to the study and when they approached the room, the first person they saw was a blindfolded male drawing on a piece of paper.

Kris couldn’t recognize him from behind but when they came closer, he saw that he had drawn people—lots of them behind a face that was obvious that it was Chenle.

“What’s that, Renjun?”

The male named Renjun suddenly ripped off his blindfold and stared at the picture before grumbling. “I had a dream and it’s just you! I dreamt that you brought people over--- OH!” He turned and recognized the people who stood behind Chenle, the male bowing. “I didn’t even notice you were gone!”

“I went with Jisung. Senior Suho and Luhan are here too, but they’ll come later.”

“You’ve grown,” Xiumin complimented and Renjun blushed, bowing profusely to them.

“I see you draw your dreams now. You used to write them down.” Kris said, sweeping his eyes over the room to see detailed drawings. “How have you been?”

“I’ve… We’ve been fine, Senior,” Renjun replied, keeping his eyes on the ground. Suddenly sounds of people talking could be heard and two males walked in, both of them deep in conversation. “Jaemin! Jeno!”  Renjun whispered loudly before jerking his head to the mages that have arrived, the two Dreamweavers that came in looking surprised.

“Seniors!” one of them said loudly, “Oh, you’re here. I dreamt that you would come a few days back, but I didn’t know it would be today.”

“Royal Messenger Namjoon came into my dreams today so I went to go get them,” Chenle told Jaemin. “Now that my work is done, I’ll leave all of you to talk to each other. I need to catch up on some sleep.”

“Alright, alright. Off you go,” Jaemin said patting Chenle’s head as he left. “Kids… They need their sleep.” He said, chuckling. The guy next to him smiled quietly and politely when Suho walked in with Luhan and Jisung, saying the name of the two Dreamweavers.

“Jaemin! Jeno!” Suho said, his eyes twinkling with adoration. “And Renjun… Oh, you guys have grown so much! It’s been a moment since I’ve seen all of you…. Oh, you draw your dreams now, Renjun! You used to write paragraphs of your dream analysis!”

“Yes, sir,” Renjun replied, mumbling, gripping the pencil.

“Well, now that all of you are here…. Should we all go to the vision room?” Jaemin asked cheerfully, Chen frowning at the name of the room. It was pretty much self-explanatory but what could Dreamweavers show them? Chen wasn’t familiar with what they did, he just knew they were an elite group that trained immensely in trying to use dreams as psychological therapy.

“Why the long face?” Jeno asked Jisung, placing a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder when Jisung sighed.

“I was sleeping and Chenle woke me up and now I can’t fall asleep anymore,” he mumbled, Jeno ruffling the back of his hair.

“Come, this way! Renjun, just stay here. I know you need to get all those drawings out.” Jaemin clapped his hands and motioned them over, everyone following him into another room. They walked past a few empty rooms when Jaemin pushed the door open to one and when they entered, there were papers of drawings all over the walls.

The first thing the mages saw was that there were portraits of people pasted on the wall. Luhan stepped closer to one wall, and he saw that it had “SUPERS” written above all the portraits. On the wall, he recognized the faces… Siwon, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Yesung, Leeteuk and a few more others. He squinted, seeing the notes written by their faces.

“Whenever we dream something, we tell Renjun and we put it in the vision room,” Jeno explained. “We then put notes, one by one, and hope it makes sense.”

The wall of the “Supers” had Donghae’s face crossed out and Luhan concluded it was because they dreamt that he was dead. He looked at the names, tilting his head when he saw that a few more others were crossed out.

“Why is Senior Siwon, Senior Leeteuk… and this guy crossed out?” Luhan asked, pointing to them before reading the name that was unfamiliar to him. “K…Kyuhyun.”

“They’re dead,” Jaemin replied brightly and Kai shook his head.

“No, they’re not.”

“Well, then maybe they will be!” Jaemin shrugged. “Our dreams are visions of maybe’s, possibilities, past events and so much more. It’s all jumbled in one. Is Senior Donghae dead yet?”

Kris gave a grim nod and Jaemin’s face fell, a different demeanor from before.

“Oh. I had personal sessions with him when we were studying in SM.” Jaemin blinked and Jeno patted Jaemin’s shoulder. “We all did. Chenle and Renjun will be devastated, but it’s not like we didn’t know it would happen. Jisung dreamt about Senior Donghae dying three days in a row.”

“I did,” Jisung piped up, nodding.

“There is a wall of us,” Chen suddenly said and they all turned, crowding over to the wall. Only one person was crossed out and it was Sehun, a big red “X” on his face. “You crossed out Sehun’s face.”

“Is he dead yet?” Jeno asked suddenly, the same question Chenle asked when he found them.

“He did, but he’s alive now. What’s this?” Suho asked, pointing at the hands drawn beside Sehun’s portrait.

“I think Jisung wrote that—Jisung, what did I tell you? I told you to only put things that would be relevant!”

“It is!” Jisung suddenly insisted, pointing at the fingers. “I dreamt it! It’s nine fingers!”

Suho realized that one hand was missing a pinky, the male frowning. Dragging his eyes over to the end, he saw Harin’s photo with question marks all over it. While everyone was talking, he began to walk around the room to take in the different drawings when he stopped at a drawing of what seemed like a scepter. He tilted his head, staring at it when he heard Jeno’s voice float from behind him.

“Chenle was the one who dreamt of it.” Jeno’s voice was smooth and he stood beside his Senior calmly, his personality different from the rest of the Dreamweavers. He was NCT DREAM’s leader when they were in SM, topping the class in his analysis of dreams, and it seemed like he was still their leader even after they have graduated. “We believe it’s a scepter. We still don’t know how and what it will be used for, but we know the Illuminati protects it.”

“How accurate are your dreams?” Suho asked the younger male who fell deep in thought.

“Nowhere near as accurate as Royal Messenger Namjoon,” Jeno replied. “But accurate enough to be able to string things together.”

Suho swept his eyes over one side when he noticed Wooseung’s picture standing alone at the side. It was the face of the body his soul had inhabited and Jeno saw Suho looking at the picture; explaining it before he could ask.

[Ong Wooseung/Kang Daniel drawn by Renjun, NCT DREAM]

“We dreamt of him on a couple of occasions. We think he’s the ultimate weapon.”

Suho’s eyes widened at Jeno’s statement. “But he has no powers. He was actually a—”

“A soul and is now in a peacemaker’s body? Then what Jaemin dreamt of actually came true. What’s his name? We dreamt of his face but we still don’t know his name.” Jeno said, taking out a pencil, waiting for Suho’s response.

“Ong Wooseung…” Suho paused, trying to remember Wooseung’s birthname. “…. Or Kang Daniel. What do you mean he is the ultimate weapon?”

“No idea. Jisung is the one who analyzed it and he insists that this guy will be the ultimate weapon,” Jeno replied, scribbling the names beside Wooseung’s portrait. “We don’t know yet. Maybe it’s not him who’s the weapon, maybe he finds a weapon and uses it. Maybe he finds someone who is the ultimate weapon.”

“Mhmm,” Suho mumbled to himself. “Sehun is actually in trouble, Jeno. Do you have any idea how to get a Gemini ring off? Or do you have any dreams regarding Sehun?”

“Well…” Jeno looked back to see his Dreamweaver friends and the EXO mages deep in conversation. “I know Jisung dreamt of nine fingers, but I doubt it’s useful. The Gemini ring, you say?”

Suho nodded, the younger man shaking his head.

“Even if Jisung dreamt about nine fingers, you can’t cut off Senior Sehun’s finger.” Jeno said. “Even I know that the ring is binded to his body and even if you try to cut it off, the magic will not allow it and it’ll be back in.”

“That’s the problem. I don’t think the nine fingers thing may be relevant,” Suho agreed and Jeno looked like he was brooding.

“I did dream about something though.” Jeno paused. “But it was very hazy. Something about stone and magic and the stone breaking.”

“Stone?”

“Don’t ask me, Senior. I didn’t write it beside Senior Sehun’s photo because I honestly didn’t think it was relevant. We all dream crazy things once in a while, you know.”

“I wish it was all clearer so we know how things will play out,” Suho mumbled, struggling to take in the information and trying to make sense of it all. How will they get the ring out of Sehun’s finger? He told Harin that they would find a way, but even he didn’t know if he could, he just knew she was having a meltdown and wanted to say anything to make her feel better.

“I wish you all the luck, Senior,” Jeno said and Suho caught sight a photo of a young male put above Wooseung’s photo. It was a face he had never seen before. He had thick lips and soft innocent eyes—His facial features looked similar to someone and Suho tried to pinpoint who, but he couldn’t.

“Who’s that?” he asked Jeno who lifted his head up.

“Also Jisung. He dreamt of him,” Jeno sighed. “To be honest, anything on this side of the wall is Jisung and we don’t pay much attention to it. He’s the youngest, you know, so sometimes he’s susceptible to weird dreams.”

Suho squinted, seeing writing beside the photo. “Someone of royal blood that will come to Exodus. An acting monarch,” he whispered to himself and Jeno nodded.

“I told you,” Jeno told Suho. “It doesn’t make sense. When I first heard it, I wondered if it would be an acting monarch from Euren—But Euren has no monarchy. So, I think he probably dreamt up something that had already happened. Maybe an old prince or something.”

[Unknown person, drawn by Renjun and dreamt by Jisung; NCT DREAM]

“Ah,” Suho murmured, deciding to not think about it. He had other things to worry about.

“Senior Suho! Jeno!” Jaemin’s voice rang out and they turned to see him smiling at them. “I think you should go to bed; you need sleep. Let us bring you to the quarters and when you wake up, we have one orb to the Byun mansion so you can leave by then.”

“Of course,” Kris said, thanking them before they were all escorted to their bedrooms for the night.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Studyroom, Oh Vacation house]

“Where are they, do you know?” Oh Shin demanded, his eyes flashing dangerously when he found out they couldn’t find his son or his group of mages. “I need Ong Harin and I need my son dead—Find out where they are right now!”

“There is no way to trace where they went, sir,” Siwon replied, keeping his head down. “I heard they went into the portal because someone helped them but there is no way to find out where they went. They could be anywhere.”

“Shinee…” Oh Shin seethed, flickering his eyes to Oh Shun who sat with his eyes blank. Suga was beside him as Chanyeol and Taeyong had their backs against the wall; reading the situation. “Your bastard of a son born out of wedlock helped them, Shun.” He snapped at Shun who fought the urge to roll his eyes.

Shun knew his brother had a horrible temper and it wouldn’t do him good to answer back. His mind went to Key; his son who he had at a very young age—A few years younger before he got married to his current wife. It was a normal woman, a servant and when she got pregnant and died bearing Key, he had put Key in the orphanage and would send money every month. He did not want anything to do with a child that was meant to be a bastard.

“Key did it out of spite, Brother. You know he just wants to be on any side I am not on,” he finally replied to Oh Shin who sat back.

“I need ideas on how to get to Ong Harin,” he told Shun who didn’t dare to meet his brother’s eyes. “Tell me some.”

“We don’t think contacting any of them with a Sier will help, sir. A Sier call cannot be traced but I thought of one thing that will lead Harin to us….Her brothers,” Siwon answered, and Oh Shin looked interested at his suggestion