The tensions rose in the time frozen room as seconds passed without any interaction between any of the aliens in the room. Mai looked all around her, trembling in fear and sadness, while the reality of things started to crash onto her. It was as if tons and tons of words and feelings were thrown towards her with no regret. This girl had never in a billion years foreseen this event from occurring. If she had even thought of its possibility, then a brilliant plan would have been created and written out. Upon gathering her mind, she merely reached out for her frozen phone before placing it back in her shoulder bag and turning back to face the six Princes. Keeping her head low, it took a while for her to actually find her words.

"How'd you find me?" Mai questioned them blankly, without looking at any of their eyes. She knew the moment that she stared at any of their beautiful eyes, it would signal her defeat. Her entire being would crash and burn right then and there.

"Does it matter?" questioned Luhan in return. His defeated face expressed the same feelings they all held. She didn't want to be found, yet since it was them who found her... Shouldn't she at least be a little happy?

"Yes, yes it does," she stared merely at the ground that separated them.

"No it doesn't. You know it doesn't," Lay disagreed with her words.

"It matters because I know what it means now," she gave them a powerful glare in return to their persistency. "I know that you're going to drag me back home and have me go through a damn wedding I don't want to be in."

"We aren't—" Tao started to oppose her growing anger.

"You aren't what? Here to find me? Here to take me back? What are you here for then?" She questioned them heartlessly. The pain just began to multiply exponentially in her heart, and it started to inflict an insane amount of damage into the boys'. They weren't prepared for this kind of reaction from her.

"Mai..." Chen extended his arm out to reach for her.

"Stop. Don't you dare," Mai growled at him. "If you think you're taking me back, you've got another thing coming. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving. And none of you can make me leave. Not unless it was my dead body."

And with that, she stomped away from the scene. Amoungst the mess, she caused Tao's ability on the school to diminish. This Princess was the only one who could do something that powerful. It was weird; her family's planet stood for something that couldn't be so easily defined or understood. But once struck, it was impossible to shake and it would control your life until the end of time. Which is why she was the most powerful of them all.

Much to their likelihood.

"She'll calm down eventually," Kris told his friends, blinking just as blankly as the rest of them. "Then we can explain it all to her."

"And the others?" Tao questioned him, for he was the leader of their group.

Kris turned to the youngest of their bunch and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Let's hope they also don't run into her. Or else this just made our job so much more complicated."

"What if they find out she's also here?" Xiumin asked.

"They already know. Our presence plus thier's just solidifies that fact. We just have the advantage of already finding her," Lay replied to his question.

"And when she runs into them also?" Luhan laid out the final question.

None of them had a proper answer to Luhan's conflicting question. Actually, there wasn't even a right answer. But each of the boys knew that it meant they just had to work at a faster pace.

"Tick tock tick tock," Tao mockingly taunted his older friends, playing on the fact that they really had no time to waste.

In another section of the school, Mai could not be stopped or even slowed down by anyone. She rushed into the office, gripping onto her bag for dear life before finally finding her protector. The tears could barely be held back, as she tugged onto his shirt lightly while he arranged and filed their papers. He took one good look at her and knew that she had broken.

"Take me home, please," she begged under her coughs.

"Are you alright?" asked a female teacher who was brave enough to question what was wrong with the perfect girl.

"She's just caught something. She warned me earlier today that her condition had gotten worse from the weekend, but had pushed to going to school. Will someone watch my class for the next couple of days while I tend to her?" Elijah hustled up all of his papers and documents into his briefcase while standing up to wrap his arm around the back of the fallen Princess.

"Yeah... I've got your class," the female teacher nodded without giving it much thought.

"Thank you. Tell the head director I apologize for not making it to the conference today," Elijah bowed at all of his colleagues before leading Mai out of the building.

Their ride back to the apartment was solemn and quiet. There was just too much eeriness and creepiness going on about Mai's expression. She just stared out the window and focused on the bright blue sky above her. How clear it looked without a single cloud to interrupt the gradient beauty. Earth's weather patterns were so different, yet so alike to what she had experienced back home. But she hadn't seen a sky this clear in so long, especially not during the war on her home planet. All she can really recall is the pain and the darkness that crept into every crevice of their lives. Once the alien duo made it into their home, the Princess threw her bag on the ground along the way to the couch and found a pillow before burying her face into it. Her protector knew just what this reaction meant.

"They found you?" Elijah bravely asked as he sat right at her feet.

"Yes."

"How?"

"I didn't stick around to ask how they knew I was here."

"How'd they find you in the school?"

"They were in your class when Tao froze the whole school. I thought I was in the clear and proceeded to run for my life after he returned it to normal; and my focus was shifted. Stupid. I should have been paying attention. That's how they found me."

"Brilliant..." Elijah congratulated them at their cleverness in the underlying layer of his tone. He began to assess their wide array of plans and formulations before announcing something that they had agreed upon no matter what. "This means we must leave."

"Now that they know I'm here. It would be foolish to just leave, Elijah. They'll find me wherever I go." What she had said was such a contradiction to their ultimate plan. But it was a very correct statement. The twelve of them, not just the six she had run into today, were going to locate her once more if she attempted to run.

"We had a plan—"

"A plan that was only fool proof had they never actually seen me."

"Then we can just make up another—"

"It's useless," she poked her head from the soft pillow. "Completely and utterly useless."

"Then what do you suggest? If running is useless and killing them is obviously not an option, what is left for us to do?"

"Wait it out. I know them. They won't try to force me to do anything I don't want to do. I'll just wait until they get bored or...the royal families get impatient and retract the search for me."

"And if your plan fails?"

"Then I'll go home," Mai robotically responded before melancholically adding a, "in a coffin."

Elijah decided to leave the grieving Princess alone, to contemplate her new plan alone. She just focused on the sky outside, seeing it shift from a bright blue to a wide array of purplish and orangeish tones into a dark blue and almost black feature. Mai truly enjoyed stars, especially since there was a literal endless amount of them that continuously twinkled in the night sky. Seeing them explode was one of the most beautiful things she had ever experienced in her journey; it was so thrilling yet deadly.

Mai's phone vibrated from her bag, causing her to actually get up and drag herself to the large white leather casing before pulling out the device and staring at the sender. There was no need to fret, since none of the Princes knew her number. At least. She hoped none of them did.

Lucky for her, it was from a very normal person. 'Hey! I heard you suddenly got sick ): How sad! Tell me if you need anything alright? I make a very mean chicken noodle soup that will kick your sickness in the and make it go away in no time! (:' The message spoke for the sender himself, Taemin.

She grinned at his nice gesture before typing out a reply. 'Thanks for the concern. It's nothing too drastic, so I won't be missing school too much. Take good notes for me! I'll definitely hold you accountable for that offer. :D'

'Get plenty of rest, Mai. Good night~ (:'

'Good night, Taemin ^^'

"You know, that Taemin kid really likes you," Elijah set up a glorious feast for them to eat on the table. He had been cooking and preparing in the midst of Mai's sulking moment. The picture of him in a frilly pink apron never failed to make the Princess giggle. There was a very fit alien, with big lean muscles across his arms and chest, looking so adorable in a very girly ensemble.

"How'd you—"

One of Elijah's eyebrows proceeded to raise itself, noting his expression for her rhetorical statement. "He's the only guy with the balls to actually text you."

"Touche," Mai placed her phone on the coffee table before rushing off into the dining room.

He took off his apron before starting to separate their servings accordingly. "Do you really believe your plan is going to work?"

"If I don't believe in it," Mai logically and honestly replied to him. "Then who will?"

"What I don't understand is how all twelve of them even found you... It's.... It's not coincidental."

"Twelve know where I am. But only six saw me," the Princess confessed the details upon gulping a glass full of iced water.

"They're split now?" Elijah was extremely surprised at her words. The heirs to the royal families of the EXO galaxy were too close, too friendly with one another to just break apart like that.

"I guess. They didn't even seem to want to alert the others that they had really found me."

"Mhmmm... That really changes things..." The advisor began to lurk into his own world. This was definitely not good. Not good at all.

"Changes what?"

"Who saw you again?" He completely diverted her question.

"Kris. Luhan. Xiumin. Chen. Lay. Tao."

"...It really makes a difference... Interesting."

"What?"

"What what?"

"What are you not telling me?" Mai pushed aside her dinner before crossing her arms to display her growing curiosity and how she will not back down without knowing what she hadn't been told yet.

Elijah just smiled a brilliant smile, knowing that this was something she wasn't meant to learn of yet before stating, "Nothing. Nothing at all."

In another part of their city, five of the twelve Princes gathered outside of a very spacious house overlooking the ocean. A very heavy and cold breeze swept by them continuously, making one of them feel so much more comfortable with Earth's environment. Another enjoyed being able to just walk for a few minutes before hitting a very large and powerful water source. They stood still, awaiting for the last of their group to appear before finding out why they were all waiting in front of an empty home. Within a moment, a small boom is heard and a smoke like consistency formed right in front of them all; then the last Prince just appeared before a second blink could be initiated. He looked the calmest, and the most informed.

It was pretty dark already so another Prince approached the door before extending his palm to graze by a small note taped onto the wooden frame. He had small, friendly eyes that added to his childish complexion. His thin lips gave off a feeling of constant mischief and trouble. Within another moment, he willed a very powerful light to shine on the note from his body.

He read it aloud with such happiness. "'Good evening boys. Glad to know that your journey wasn't delayed and you had no problems in your enrollment and location. You all are aware of the mission at hand; while the presence of the other six does hinder our plan just a bit. Survey the area, especially them, before relaying back to me. Good luck and take a breather—she's definitely here.'"

"Is there a key, Baekhyun?" asked one of the Prince's behind him. This one in particular had circular eyes, that just caused him to have such a surprised and doelike appearance. He had very full lips, almost shaped like a heart, that seemed to always have a question escape them.

"You didn't let me finish reading, D.O. Okay, where was I... 'P.S. Have Kai teleport inside. Leaving  a key for you didn't seem... safe.' Well that answered your question," Baekhyun willed his palm to retreat the light before placing the well written note in his pocket.

The Prince who teleported his way to their location stuffed his hands in his jeans before taking a small sigh. His hair was in a messy form, but accentuated a sort of bad boy look about him. If D.O. had pretty big lips, this Prince definitely topped him in that category. It seemed as though he didn't enjoy showing much emotion, but when he did, it would drive anyone insane. Within another second, a smoky consistency was left where he had just been before there were some noises escaping inside the house. He unlocked front door with ease, allowing his friends to enter the premises themselves.

"Seems like this is state of the art," D.O. was in awe as they filed in one by one.

One of the boys stood outside for just a bit longer than the rest, enjoying the strong wind that repeatedly crashed against his body. His piglike nose twitched as some sand entered his nostrils while his oddly shaped lips, with the top being considerably thinner compared to the bottom, transformed into a kind grin along his smooth skin. The moment he opened his eyes, the entire force of wind seized to operate. And it was still—very still.

"Are you coming inside, Sehun?" questioned Baekhyun as he formed balls of light to power the bulbs all throughout and outside their temporary home.

"Yeah," Sehun turned to enter the premises himself before pushing a gust of wind towards the door to close it himself. "Earth is definitely a different environment."

"It's a collection of our planets, that's what it is," another Prince huddled up next to the unlit fireplace before snapping his fingers together. A small blue flame lit up near the tip of his thumb, levitating mid air, before he blew it into the wood. Once the heat began to spread throughout his body, a large smile formed across his small face. He seemed the most lighthearted and friendly of the bunch, especially since some sort of indication of happiness was always plastered along his face.

"Just because your special ability doesn't cover a large amount of this planet doesn't mean you can start hating, Chanyeol," the final unnamed Prince grinned as he stared out the window that overlooked the glorious ocean. He smiled lightly as he began to will the ocean to create a flurry of waves. It was almost an art to him. With high cheekbones and almost no baby fat, he seemed to hold the leader role of the bunch.

"Blah blah blah, Suho. That's all I hear. Fire still brings humans what they want the most: warmth," Chanyeol stuck his tongue out at the former.

"The oceans remain mostly undiscovered here. There are so many mysteries that remain unsolved in the waters. It's magnificent," Suho counter argued with the young one.

D.O. found his way into the kitchen, which had a large portion cut out just for a garden. This was where he belonged. There was an entire display of different seeds that he could choose from, but settled for the ones that could be easily cooked for he knew they were famished. "Yo! Suho! Baekhyun! Need some help here!" he yelled out at the members he needed.

Suho merely lifted his hand, causing just the right amount of water to drizzle over the newly buried seeds. Baekhyun set up a series of lamps above the greenhouse like area before forming small balls of light energy to input into the bulbs themselves. These actions provided the needed elements for D.O. to finish his process. The pleased Prince bended his knees, getting as close to the plants as possible, before digging his hands into the soft dirt patches and willing the plants to life. They bloomed at a mediocre rate, which also took a lot of concentration, simply because he wasn't a time controller. It would be a significantly faster process had he been with Tao. But that was a different story.

"Food?" Sehun poked his head into the kitchen.

"Yeah, in a way," D.O. smiled as he harvested his new vegetables and fruits. "This place is so weird. It just tends to our needs wonderfully. Almost too wonderfully."

"Well you know, the one who left us the note really knows us. And they know what we need to feel at home. I guess that's why there are so many possibilities with this house. The six of us have our own bedrooms, might I add."

"Our own rooms?"

"Yeah, they are upgraded to literally suit our needs for to maintain a level of comfort," Kai nonchalantly entered the room.

"Heh, who knew they knew us that well," D.O. smiled as he washed his ripe pickings and prepared them for stew upon the stove.

"There's also a forbidden section that's heavily locked. Some sort of force field is around it that won't even let me get through. Another note was one it saying that 'it'll open when the time is right'. Eerie, quite eerie indeed," Kai added as he began to help the others cook their meal.

The others followed into the kitchen, finding comfortable positions across the dining table or island to sit. Chanyeol pulled out large pans and merely started fires right under their butts. He was their source of heat, and to be able to just light things on fire pleased this Prince. Chanyeol filled one with rice and water while the other was just mixed with tomato sauce and meat. They were making one of their favorite dishes as a group.

"We have to find her, you know," Chanyeol said in the midst of strengthening his fires.

"Before they do, I might add," Baekhyun nodded his head in agreement.

Kai dumped in his freshly chopped peppers before turning to the others and telling them what he gathered. "I think they already found her."

"What?!" The entire room erupted in shock. Chanyeol almost lit half of the kitchen in fire had he not been paying attention. Suho's reaction was close to causing a large wave to crash against some houses down the lane while Sehun was moments from forming a tornado. This was something they had to get used to, the easy going and free environment of earth.

"What makes you think that?" Suho gathered himself fastest.

"Well, I mean... when we ran into them later on today, they didn't look too determined. Actually, more relieved if anything," Kai expressed his findings.

"Good finding," Sehun stretched his arms out before leaning against the granite island countertop and placing his chin on his palms. "But if you're right, then that means we have no time to waste."

"Why are they even here?" D.O. asked with his back turned to the others as he mixed in the last spices and vegetables of his delicious concoction.

"I don't know. And I don't care. We must assume the worst with them," Baekhyun snapped his fingers to increase the lighting of the room. It was getting too dim for his liking, especially after Kai's dropping of information.

That comment caused the entire room to tense up a bit, especially since they weren't going against real enemies. The other boys were their best friends and family members also. It was difficult to even think that they had to turn their backs to them in every possible way; and to find them in such a situation where they are searching for the same girl just makes things so much more awkward. Why would they be there? Why would all twelve of the coincidentally end up in the same place? Was it fate? Destiny? Who was responsible for such an event?

"It's them, Baek," Kai argued slightly.

"Which is more of a reason why we should either figure out why they're here and stall their plans, or rush ours and follow through with the mission as originally agreed."

"He's right," Suho focused on the bright full moon outside. It reminded him of how many moons surrounded his planet, and how beautiful they looked every night. "Since they're not on our side, it's safe to say they are the enemy. And any enemy is a harm and threat to us. We must act on our toes and be prepared for anything."

"And once something goes wrong?" D.O. posed another question.

"Then we defend ourselves," Sehun answered sternly. "We protect each other and carry on with the mission until it's completed. I'm sure we are all willing to go through anything to ensure the fulfillment of the plan."

And with that statement, each Prince in the room nodded in agreement. This was something they had talked about for a long time. They had contemplated the possibilities of their plans and tribulations with ease. But this day was definitely one no one had ever foreseen. With their other halves showing up like this, that only meant one thing and one thing only. This was a race against time.

And time—well, wasn't on their side. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Glad to se that you guys like it so far! don't be afraid to spread this link around anywhere. lol. Just don't distribute it claiming it was yours and not properly crediting me ;w; :D Soooo who are you EXO biases so far?! I'm caught between Kris, Chen, Suho, and Kai. omg. But I feel like everyone is a HunHan shipper lolololol. 

What do you guys think the mystery is? (: Tell me what you guys are feeling and any suggestions below! Byeee!