MinJi considers her options: She either gets the entire group together at once to tell them their story or she gets Joonmyeon on board first.  On the one hand, Suho is one of their leaders, if he knows first, he would be able to ease some of the other boys’ fears.  On the other hand though, time is still of the essence and they need to leave as soon as possible.  But MinJi knows Joonmyeon and how...faint-hearted he is.  As soon as the news comes out, he needs more than just a moment to process.  Worse case scenario is that he’ll faint, and at best he’ll only ask frantic questions.

“If I tell him with the other princes, I can’t chance him not being able to contain his shock.  The morale of the other boys will definitely dwindle if they see that one of their leaders is unable to contain himself.  And I’m not sure if Kris can pacify all eleven of them himself.”

She’s pacing back and forth on top of the boys’ roof under the dim light of the moon.  It’s the day after the girl came clean to Kris, and she’s still having trouble making her final decision.  She sighs and stops pacing, staring up at the sky.  “My Queen, I wish you had passed your Foresight on to me so I would know if there are consequences to waiting another day.”

The sky doesn’t yield any response, the few stars twinkling at her blankly.  MinJi thinks to herself once more.  The boys’ mental stability is of more importance.  A soldier’s mental state is just as important as their physical.

With a final nod, MinJi teleports into Suho’s room.

Only to realize Suho isn’t alone.

“Stephanie?” Kyungsoo questions, his eyes wider than usual.

The girl mentally kicks herself.  I should have checked Suho’s mind to see if he was with anyone.

The smaller leaders turns around from his spot on his bed.  “How did you-?”

MinJi doesn’t wait for questions; she swiftly walks between the two boys, grabs them, and teleports them up to the roof.

As soon as they arrive on the roof, the boys look every bit bewildered at what has happened, taking careful steps backward.

“Please do not be afraid of me,” MinJi states neutrally.  “My purpose is not to bring you harm.”

“How did you do that?” Kyungsoo asks frantically.  “What even was that?!”

MinJi suddenly feels hesitant.  It’s not the younger boy’s expression of fear that stops her from continuing, it’s the sudden gut-wrenching feeling that settles in her stomach.  Kyungsoo is the boy who took her in, the one she had to lie to in order to get to this point.  Of course, it was a necessary part of her mission, but the sudden realization of her wrongdoing brings her pause.

She she looks away from the boy and resumes.  “Do you believe in aliens?” she asks Suho.

“Um...I don’t know?” Suho answers, obviously still flustered from what just happened.

“Hyung, we just teleported!” the younger boy cries.

“I-I don’t know!  There’s probably a good explanation-” The elder groans in pain and holds his head.  “I need a minute.”  He moves to sit on the ledge of the roof.

A flash of panic rips through MinJi’s chest, though her face remains neutral.  That’s not a good idea.  She immediately moves to sit on the leader’s right side as a protective maneuver.  “Joonmyeon, what I’m about to tell you...please keep an open mind.  Both of you,” she glances back at Kyungsoo for his acknowledgement.  She’s unsure how to tell them.  The two of them can’t take such news as steadily as Kris can, so she needs to be careful with her words.

She takes a breath and stares straight at Kyungsoo.  “My name is not Stephanie.  It’s MinJi, Park MinJi.  And I am not an amnesiac who was in an accident a year ago, as I’ve told you.  I come from a different world altogether, a world...that you and your brothers were also born on.  Meaning...you’re all aliens, not humans.”

Kyungsoo stumbles back another step and Suho gasps audibly.

“I know I’ve deceived you all and I apologize for doing so, but trust me when I say there is a reason for it,” the girl assures the boys.

Kyungsoo stays silent while Suho’s mind races.  As all the questions flood his thoughts - Are they really aliens?  How and why did they reach Earth?  What should he do with this information and how does he tell the rest? - he feels himself turn extremely lightheaded.  The teleportation effects still linger, mixing with the shock of learning their true origins.  The combination would have sent him reeling backwards off the ledge of the building if not for MinJi’s steady grip on his arm.

“Please, let me help you Suho,” MinJi asks firmly with a hint of a pleading tone.

Suho, still dizzy in his own mind and breath shallowing, grabs onto her other arm for support and nods.  He isn’t quite sure how she can help him, but he still trusts her.  Their relationship may have been built in a short amount of time, but the magnitude of their bond is as strong as old friends.

Keeping one arm around his waist to steady him, MinJi gingerly rests her hand on the leader’s head, her thumb caressing his temple.  Kyungsoo watches as MinJi’s brown eyes melt into a vibrant amethyst, stiffening in defence.

The girl probes through Suho’s mind, finding the tension causing his headache and lightheadedness.  Using her Ability, she eases away the tension until she senses his symptoms leave him.

The leader’s eyes slowly open and meets MinJi’s violet pair.  He finds them oddly peaceful as he feels his pain slip away.  When a sigh of relief slips past his lips, MinJi leans back carefully as her eyes return to their normal chocolate color, keeping a hand still on his right arm as a precaution.

“That was amazing,” the leader breathes.  “It’s like...my brain being massaged on the inside.  And your eyes…”  He catches himself and blushes.  “Sorry… But Steph- I mean, MinJi, how do we know what you’re saying is true?  How do we know we’re from the same place?”

The girl wordlessly moves her hand up his arm.  “Because I’m the only person outside of your brothers who can see your tattoos,” she responds gently, her eyes trained on his.

The sleeve of the leader’s shirt bunches at his elbow, revealing a water droplet the size of a golf ball on his forearm, an intricately designed circle taking up its lower half.  The boy’s eyes widen in shock, staring at the girl in realization.  “Mom and Dad can’t even see them…” he breathes.

MinJi turns to D.O., her hand outstretched as if to ask for permission.  “Right arm,” she requests steadily.

The younger boy eyes her skeptically, but steps forward with his arm extended.  The girl pushes his sleeve up only slightly.  His tattoo on his wrist looks almost like the front of a helmet with two points on it top.  She looks up to meet his eyes.  “Right there.”

Kyungsoo removes his arm from her grasp and steps back a few steps, clearing his throat and resuming his defensive position.  “Okay then.  Now you should give us some answers.”  He crosses his arms over his chest and stares at MinJi.  “What are you really doing here and what do you want from us?”

The girl can feel his hostility, but pushes it aside and continues.  “Our country is in danger, and I’ve been sent to bring you all back to save it.”

MinJi retells the same story she told Kris the night before: her relation to them, life in Exopatri, the attack from Cube, the boys’ escape, her imprisonment and escape, the prophecy, and so on.  “You twelve are the rightful princes of Exopatri.  You must return home and restore our country to its rightful place, away from Cube’s hands.  That is what I was sent to do.”

“Alright...” Suho finally states, processing the entire story.  “So what do we do now?”

“Now that both leaders of each side knows, we must hold a meeting among all twelve of you.  You have to persuade the rest of your brothers to return home where you belong,” the girl instructs.  “After that, we must immediately be on our way and your training must begin.  You will never return to Earth again.”

Suho contemplates these words silently.  “I trust you MinJi,” he nods.  “There is...a part of me that knows what you’re saying is true.  I’m not sure about the other elder members, but I at least have some kind of vague recollection of our early childhood.  But I barely remember anything pertaining to a separate planet.”

“I understand,” she nods in response.  “Truthfully - and I forgot to tell Wu Fan about this - while inside your spaceships, you were put under hibernation conditions.  Usually it would cause disorientation in the form of slight memory repression or loss, but upon awakening, I guess you didn’t see or hear of anything to remind you of Exopatri and just adopted to Earth life.”

The leader hums in understanding.  He curiously pulls up his sleeve to stare at his dark blue mark.  “So, I assume I have the Ability of water?”

“Yes.”  The girl glances over at Kyungsoo, who is distantly watching in deep contemplation.  “Kyungsoo has the Ability to manipulate the ground around him.  It may be confused at times with having a strength Ability, but the former does develop into the latter eventually.”

The leader eyes the other boy and cracks a smile.  “I guess he is pretty stubborn like a rock sometimes.”  Kyungsoo winces, but the leader ignores him and turns back to MinJi.  “I will help you as much as I can, MinJi.  Since you want to leave as quickly as possible, I’ll call a meeting tomorrow morning after breakfast for all the boys.  I’ll have to call our jobs to resign, and I have to write our parents a note thanking them for their love and nurture all these years.”

Love and nurture, sure, okay, Kyungsoo thinks.

Suho puffs out a breath.  “Looks like I’ll be up early tomorrow morning, I’ll go hit the sack.  Um…”  The leader glances briefly back at the younger boy and back at MinJi.  “I think you guys should talk,” he whispers.  “When you’re finished, you can come crash in my room if you want.  I’ll set up some blankets on the floor for you.”

MinJi blinks, shocked at the leader’s hospitality.  She can’t understand why he’s still so willing to care about her even though she revealed that everything she told them before was a lie.  It comforts her to know that he still trusts her.  “Thank you, Joonmyeon,” she whispers gratefully.

The boy envelops her in a tight shoulder hug.  “We’re practically family.  I’ll take care of you,” he assures warmly.  He pulls away from his hug.  “I’ll wait for you downstairs.”  He finally takes his leave and walks through the roof door.

With an audible sigh, MinJi gathers herself and turns to face the other boy.  His eyes pierce into hers as she keeps her face neutral.  She needs to steel herself against the backlash that is to come.

“You lied to me,” Kyungsoo states.

“I did.”

“You tricked me.”

“I did.”

He balls his fists up.  “Do you even care about your actions?”

“Of course I do, I feel extremely guilty about what I’ve done,” she answers simply.  “But it was just a tactic.  It had to be done.”

“It was ‘a tactic’?” he repeats, growing heated.  “Is that all that was to you?  A tactic?”

The thought of using her powers to calm the boy quickly flashes through the girl’s mind, but she decides against it.  She knows it would be much better to let him vent.  “I have a responsibility, Kyungsoo.  I know it was a bad thing to lie, but I had no choice.  If I were to suddenly show up at your door and tell you that you’re an alien, you wouldn’t believe me.  You wouldn’t recognize my face from your childhood.  You would think I’m insane, you wouldn’t trust me.  I had to create a trustworthy relationship with all of you before I came clean or else my mission would have been a failure.”

“But are you able to deal with the consequences?” he snaps.  “How am I supposed to trust what you say now?  I risked my neck bringing you into my house to take care of you when I wasn’t even supposed to be outside!  And now you say this whole thing was just a way for you to achieve your goal?!”

MinJi softens, feeling his pain and anger shooting into her.  “I know what I did was wrong, and I’m sorry.”  She smiles sadly.  “We’ve been apart for a long time, Kyungsoo.  Do you know how happy I was to finally spot you in a sea of meaningless faces?  And to see how all of you have grown up so well?  All I wanted was to bring our relationship back to even a small bit of how we were as children.  I wanted at least one of you to recognize me from our interactions, but there was nothing.  So I had to rebuild our relationships from scratch again, although it hurt me.  I was waiting until we became more comfortable with each other to come clean, but Kris caught me using my powers washing the dishes yesterday and I had to admit everything prematurely.”

Kyungsoo sees the genuine feeling in her eyes.  She did miss them, she always was lighter when she was with a group of them.  And admittedly, he does harbo