A/N Sorry for the delay! I have my finals the next two weeks. This chapter is simply everyone going to one area so our NCT will be reunited again. 

[Underneath the church]

It was 5 a.m in the morning and my brain wouldn’t shut down. It was as if something was stopping me from falling asleep and my brain whirred. I found myself feeling empty, my body tense as I thought of my memories with Jaehyun. It was awhile since I’ve reminisced. I wasn’t very sentimental. Beside me was Jisung and I leaned my head against his, hearing his stable breathing. Chenle was still on the given computer, Xiaojun also knocked out. It was an emotional day for all of us and we had spent twelve plus hours trying to comfort each other to no avail.

Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun were sleeping on the floor.

Renjun had already fallen asleep and I saw that Jaemin had tucked his face against Jeno’s neck. He was whispering about something and Jeno was simply replying. I moved and I heard Jeno call my name, his voice bouncing off the walls and I responded almost monotonously.

“Can’t sleep,” I told him and Jeno sighed. Jeno, like me, was horrible in comforting those around him but I appreciated how he always hovered around when he knew I wasn’t feeling all that well. Jeno told me to try to go to sleep when Jaemin spoke.

“Life.” Jaemin’s was hardly ever this way, he spoke softly and I turned to see that he had stopped hugging Jeno, the male staring at the ceiling. “How unpredictable.”

“I just want this to be over,” I found myself saying. I did find a family, but it came with such a big sacrifice and that was my peace. “I want to go back to being Oh Dana with no worries.”

Jaemin looked like he was deep in thought, chewing on his bottom lip. “I’ve always had worries.”

Jaemin clicked his tongue, suddenly smiling to himself, an eye going to stare at Renjun. “I just want the future to come very quickly. I have a promise to fulfill.”

We basked in the silence for a moment when Jeno asked what the promise was. He said that Renjun mentioned it to him in the submarine before and Jaemin chuckled. He agreed that Renjun really did take their promise seriously.

“I met Renjun two days after I escaped the mental health facility,” Jaemin began, his eyebrows furrowing. “I was running around, enjoying the newfound freedom when I went up to the rooftop of a twenty-floor abandoned building. I went there because there were news of a shower of shooting stars and if you make a wish on a shooting star, it will come true. It’s proven and a very scientific fact. I don’t know if it was a coincidence but I believe that I chose to go there for a reason.”

Only Jaemin would believe in making wishes on shooting stars.

He smiled to himself, shifting to glance at Renjun’s sleeping face.

“He stood there; his arms wide open. He didn’t even look down at the height. He didn’t seem scared. He was wearing a dark red shirt and pants,” Jaemin recalled the details of that night. “And at first I wondered if it was a ghost until he began to speak.”

“It hurts to be alive, was what he said. And mind you, I thought I was crazy but to see someone give up on life like that—It was a new concept to me so I yelled out to him. “Hey! You tiny man! What in the world do you think you’re doing?” I had asked and he turned to look at me. That was the only time I have ever seen Renjun cry. It was the day I meant him.”

“I told him that there would be a shooting star in a few hours.” Jaemin chuckled to himself. “And I told him to wait and that if we wished on a shooting star, our wishes would come true. He told me his name and he complied. When the shooting stars came, he wished that he wouldn’t ever feel alone.”

“The thing with crazy people is that we are never alone with our thoughts. Loneliness is never an option because we’re occupied. Renjun was sane and he was drowning in his traumatic past. He hated who he was, where he came from.” Jaemin reached out, a finger brushing against Renjun’s forehead. “So, I told him that we should make do on the streets. We bonded on one thing—our hate for rich people with dirty money. My adoptive parents were good, of course. But—”

“By rich parents with dirty money, you mean my parents,” Jeno said and Jaemin remained silent. “You know, we haven’t spoken about that.”

“I’m healed,” Jaemin told Jeno and I saw Jeno crack a smile. “So, we decided to go on street missions. Three, that was what we told ourselves. Only three and we go our separate ways.”

“Let me guess, three became infinite,” I said and Jaemin nodded.

“We were supposed to leave each other and then we decided to rob a bank,” Jaemin said it so casually, as if it was normal. “and after we robbed the bank, he followed me and I realized he didn’t actually want us to part. We then made a promise.”

“What was the promise?”

“We’d save money, maybe go somewhere isolated. Have a house with a white picket fence. I will have my own Samoyed and he will have three cats,” Jaemin said and I heard the chair move. I saw Chenle listening too, his hands frozen on the mouse. “We’d garden together and we’d use all the saved-up money like we are retired.”

“He said I’m ruining the promise for him,” Jeno murmured and Jaemin beamed, the male splaying his arms around Jeno’s body and hugging him tightly. Jeno didn’t move, Jaemin rubbing his cheek on Jeno’s shoulder.

“I love you differently,” was all Jaemin said. “And besides, now that I have friends, I want multiple white picket fence houses with all of us living together.”

“Ew, no,” Chenle said and Jaemin glared at the man. “I want to live on a farm but with an underground hacking company.”

“You can have a farm by the house with the white picket fence,” I told him and Chenle went deep in thought. “How about you, Jeno?”

“Me?” Jeno frowned. “I don’t really have a dream. I just want to live—”

“With me. He’ll be with me!” Jaemin cooed and like that Jeno tried to push him away.

“Excuse me, where is the permission?” Jeno asked and Jaemin shook his head.

“No permission needed. You’re mine, Jeno! From the day that I set my eyes on you—”

Jeno turned to the side, covering his ears, Jaemin hugging him from behind.

And just like that, both of them bickered softly.

To not be alone.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn’t get any sleep and I pushed the food around in my plate, Xiaojun eyeing me worriedly. Chenle ate in the room and Jaemin bounded into the room energetically when his eyes fell on me. I looked down on my food when I felt arms wrap around my shoulders and felt Jaemin’s cheek against mine, the male hugging me tightly.

For someone who was crazy, he had a lot of love to give.

It was his way of showing affection, Jaemin rocking me back and forth before telling me that he had made some amazing potato salad. And that is how my plate was filled with three servings of potato salad, Jaemin in front of me while he aggressively shoved it into my mouth.

“There you go, pretty girl! Oh, there. So pretty. One more bite! Amazing! WOW!” Jaemin hyped me up and I gave him a dry smile. I was chewing on the food and halfway to swallowing it when we heard the siren’s blare and Jaemin looked around, alarmed.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, Jessie telling us that there was someone who just walked into the church with a tracker in hand. The signals picked it up and Jaemin frowned, shoving another spoon in my mouth before standing up to go to one of the rooms. I pulled the spoon away from my mouth, taking a swig of water and following him to the room.

The rest of my friends gathered in the room where Jessie was and in the cameras in the church, it was a hooded man who was walking around with a device in hand. I saw only his back and he moved around. The way he walked and moved seemed familiar, the man going to the confession boxes. He knocked on the first confession box, looking back down on the device before moving to the correct one.

“He’s checking the confession boxes,” Jessie said, frowning. “Who is he?”

Suddenly the man stopped at the last confession box, a hand going to open the door to it before he looked around again. This time, his face was caught on the camera and my eyes widened.

“Luhan!” I gasped, realizing who it was. “That’s Luhan! He’s from… EXO-M?”

I suddenly began to feel weird, my body suddenly moving out of the room. I had to see him. I had to see Luhan, he was my safe space too. He was safe. My brain whirred and I rapidly tried to find the button to get out. Footsteps followed me and Jeno asked me what was wrong.

“You don’t understand—I need Luhan. He’s… He’s safe. You need to let me get up there.” I told Jeno, Jessie studying me carefully. Finally, she nodded and one of the men clicked a button.

“Dana, I’m going with you. You can’t go alone,” Jeno said and I knew he was still worried that Luhan might be bad but I knew he wasn’t. It may have been because his voice was the first voice I heard when I injected the Marvel drug into myself.

Even before Johnny.

“I’m going too,” Chenle said. “I think he’s here because of me.”

My fingers vibrated and I ran into the elevator, Jeno and Chenle following me close behind when the elevator went up and the doors opened. We were at the back of the church and I rushed into the church, pushing the doors open forcefully.

“Dana?” Luhan’s voice was heaven to my ears and my legs brought me to him. At the sight of Luhan, my body began to shut down the same way it did when I was with Johnny. My muscles began to ache, and my heart began to twist. I began to tear up and Luhan’s voice played in my head. “Dana—”

When I reached him, my knees buckled and I felt Luhan grab me.

“Dana.”

“She didn’t sleep.” I heard Jeno say and Chenle’s voice asked Luhan a question.

“Are you from Xiaozhan?”

“Yes,” Luhan responded. “We got a ping of you finding him. I’m here to take you to Xiaozhan.”

My eyes fluttered shut and I heard additional footsteps.

“What happened to Pretty Noona?” Jisung was asking and Luhan heaved me up, my vision blurred as my mind began to shut down. “Is it because she didn’t sleep last night?”

“We need to get moving,” Luhan was saying. “Go and grab your stuff—”

And then I was gone.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Johnny.

Luhan.

I don’t know how long I’ve been out but I remember feeling hazy. Voices were speaking in the background and it didn’t sound like we were in a normal vehicle. I cracked open my eyes to hear my friend’s voices echo in the background. There was a salty smell and it reminded me of the ocean, Luhan’s voice ringing out.

It automatically put my body at ease.

“We’re almost there. Maybe a good ten minutes?” Luhan was saying and I blinked. I shot up and my eyes widened to see that we were in a submarine. Where did Luhan get a submarine? All my friends froze at my sudden movement when Chenle spoke.

“You slept for twelve hours,” he said and I blinked. “I don’t think you’ll need to sleep for the next two days.”

“My head hurts.” I found myself saying, Luhan chuckling to himself. He reached up and ruffled the top of my head. “Is it because I slept too much?”

“Exactly why,” Luhan said and I smiled at him. “Nice seeing you again, Dana. I’m happy the drug didn’t kill you. I was just telling your friends how I met you in YG.”

“Oh! About that….” My voice trailed, One’s face coming up as a memory in my mind. “How about the kid—”

My voice was cut out when I heard Jisung cry out.

“Something is swimming towards us!” Jisung yelled and I whipped my head around to see that there indeed, was a figure swimming towards us in full speed. Luhan’s eyes widened and he gripped the steering wheel, a hand going up to point at the figure warningly.

“ONE! No!” Luhan huffed and I saw that it really was One, the child swimming to the front of the submarine. How was it that he could breathe underwater? I saw One glare at Luhan, his cheeks puffing open when he reached down to grab the bottom of the submarine. “One!”

“Oh no. Is this how we die?” Jisung squeaked. But I felt the submarine begin to move fast, One probably dragging the submarine through the water with him. It didn’t take long for the submarine to emerge from the waves with his help.

“He was injected with the Hulk drug,” Luhan said. “He’s a good boy, he’s just… overly attached and doesn’t like it when I leave.”

“So, like a Seasonie. Exactly like all of them,” Chenle said sympathetically. “Just with a different drug.”

“And he’s very strong so—Oof.” Everyone surged forward when the submarine hit dock and Luhan let out a breath. He pressed a button and the submarine opened up, Luhan climbing out. We followed him and I stepped forward to see a kid standing on the land, stomping his foot on the ground. There were holes on the ground and it may be because of his mini tantrum.

“WHY YOU LEAVE?” One yelled, Luhan’s face faltering. “You say you no leave!”

“One, I had to do something—”

The island had a few trees here and there and I could see the SM Japan logo behind them. Jaemin saw how stricken I looked and he told me that Luhan told him that they were using the old SM Japan as a base since it was merged with SM Asia, which was the SM that we ran away from. One was yelling at Luhan and the kid walked up to the tree.

“You leave again? Look this!” One said to Luhan, the child walking to a nearby tree and slamming his fist against the tree. With a creak, there was a thud and the tree broke in half, the upper part of the tree falling to the ground.

“If you leave, island no more tree!”

“One!” Luhan said, his voice turning tough.

“One want go after Brother Luhan but Papa Xiaozhan said today One birthday and One have to wait!”

“Birthday? Your birthday was yesterday though…” I heard Luhan say confused when footsteps came from the entrance of the gate and I saw a tall man walk through the gates, apron around his body. He threw his hands in the air when he saw us. He had pointy features and a very prominent jaw.

“Luhan! You’re back from getting One’s birthday present!” he said and his eyes sparkled. I saw that he had bits and pieces of cake on his head and One looked at Luhan hopefully. “Right, Luhan?”

“Y-Yes! Birthday present! Yes, that’s right, Xiaozhan.”

Oh, that must be Xiaozhan. He passed a smile to all of us, One tilting his head at us.

“Present? Where present? Oh, Sister!” he pointed at me. “Sister!”

“Hi, One,” I said, giving him a smile. He looked back at Luhan.

“Where present?”

“I went to order it. It’ll come soon,” Luhan said and One blinked. “Remember what delivery is? I told you about it.”

“One know. Click click on rectangle thing, next day come,” he said and Luhan nodded.

Xiaozhan widened his arms, motioning us to move into the buildings. “Let the kids rest, Luhan. I think they must be tired. Hello, welcome to the EXO-M base. My name is Xiaozhan.”

He said it so kindly and we all bowed down onto him. His gaze lingered onto me and I lowered my eyes onto the ground. “Dana. Oh Sehun’s sister.”

“Yes… sir.” It must have been how he spoke and my words immediately became polite. One was beside Luhan, the child gently holding Luhan’s thumb. I guessed that if he was careless, he might injure Luhan.

“Just call me Xiaozhan,” Xiaozhan said. “Come in, all of you. I think Luhan might have told you about this place. It was originally SM Japan until it had closed down. However, the buildings and the backup generators still work. Fortunately, people don’t come here at all. We have taken the back of SM Japan and called it home.”

It looked similar to SM Asia; the way the buildings were built, the bluish saturation of our surroundings, and the way everything was located. You could tell which building was were the dorms and which buildings were the classrooms. The same designed fountain was in the middle of the buildings.

“We house Seasonies here,” Xiaozhan began. “We have been for a while and we’ll have to tell you all about everything later when everyone gathers up.”

“Everyone?” Jeno asked, Xiaozhan smiling at the male.

“Everyone. Yes,” Xiaozhan said simply, and he guided up one of the back buildings. “We have rooms for all of you ready.”

“Oh, Boa,” Luhan murmured.

Xiaozhan had led us to into the building and the first floor was a dining table and a kitchen. A woman stood there, wiping herself off from the cake frosting that was all over the ground. I blinked at the mess when the woman sighed.

“I baked three cakes, Luhan. Three cakes. Guess what happened to the first two?” the woman named Boa asked. She was petite and very beautiful even though she looked much older than Xiaozhan and Luhan. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at One who smiled.

“One smash.”

“Right, One smash. What did Brother Luhan teach One about smashing?” She asked, this time gently. One blinked.

“No smash. If bad guy come, then One smash.”

“And is the cake bad?”

“But One angry.” One breathed. “One angry so One smash.”

“Since it’s your birthday, we’re not going to lecture you.” She straightened herself up and her eyes landed on us. “Ah, Seasonies. Come, sit down. You must be famished, children. Look what SM has done to you.”

We awkwardly went to the dining table, One settling beside Luhan. Everyone sat down, Boa placing food on the table. Jaemin clasped his hands together and began to pray. He slapped Renjun’s hand and Renjun followed suit, Jaemin whispering to himself.

“You must have a lot of questions,” Xiaozhan began, removing the apron. “But I think it’s best all of you take a few days to rest until we gather everyone else.”

“By everyone else, do you mean my friends?” Jeno asked again and Xiaozhan smiled. “I mean, you are always saying everyone. I just want to know who everyone is.”

“We’re trying our best,” Xiaozhan replied, placing the porridge in bowls and passing it to us. “There are approximately twenty Seasonies here at base. Phase 2 and 1 Seasonies. But they are in another building. This building is where all the meetings are at and I don’t like to get them involved. Only those who work stay in this building.”

“Do make yourself at home,” Boa said kindly. “Xiaozhan, I need to talk to you about tonight. One of our associates just contacted us.”

And with that, Xiaozhan and Boa exited the room.

“Boa was also an agent in SM,” Luhan said, slowly feeding One to make sure he wouldn’t dent the spoon. “She was an assassin when one day she went to a mission to gather intel. It was to take down the head of AAIC.”

We all listened to Luhan speak.

“She was held hostage while on the mission and they tortured her with electrocution. When she came back, she was almost braindead. Medics injected her with the Marvel drug to save her. The Jung family, I think you know them well, Dana.”

I blinked, nodding quietly.

“Before that, she was asked to testify against AAIC with all the information she had retrieved. Turns out, the Marvel drug began to wipe out her skills every day but she’s a fast learner. She hardly remembers memories of those times until she left SM around the same time Xiaozhan began to start EXO-M.”

“What did she find out from AAIC?” I asked.

“That SM and YG were funded by the same people. That’s why SM never tried to extract her even if they knew she was a hostage. YG simply sent her back to SM after ing with her head and SM pretended to be good people. The Jung’s saved her but she remembered enough to go away one day and her brain began to see information as a threat to her safety so she doesn’t retain skills or bad memories.”

“The government,” Jaemin seethed, shoving his spoon into his mouth and swallowing the porridge. “So, what is it that you guys do?”

“We house Seasonies. Xiaozhan will explain everything later, I hope. Though we have been waiting for the time to come, I didn’t know it would happen soon.”

“Soon?”

“A revolution,” Luhan replied. My eyes went to One who was eating when I leaned forward and he blinked at me. “Oh and, say happy birthday to One. It’s his birthday today.”

When Luhan said that, he shook his head behind One, pointing to the side to which we guess that was him saying that One’s birthday was actually the day before.

“Happy birthday, One,” we chorused.

“How old are you, One?” Chenle asked, One lifting up one hand with four fingers.

“Six!” One said, Luhan frowning.

“One, that’s not six. That’s four.” Luhan and One stared at his fingers. “Sorry, he’s a product of the Hulk drug. Their intelligence is not very up to par.”

“Six!” One said, one hand with five fingers and the other with two fingers.

“One, six is a high five and a thumbs up. Remember, I taught you?” Luhan asked and One changed one hand to a thumbs up.

“Six!”

“That’s right. What’s seven?”

“Seven!” One held up one hand with five fingers and peace sign. “High five and a peace sign!”

“Nice!” Luhan said, smiling to One when Xiaozhan came in. We had already finished eating and Xiaozhan rubbed his face, stopping in front of us. “What’s wrong, Xiaozhan?”

“There has been news,” Xiaozhan said, looking directly at us and I chewed on my bottom lip. I felt dead inside and couldn’t stop myself from feeling my stomach turn. “I think it’s best if you all follow me.”

We all stood up, Xiaozhan motioning for us to follow him and when we did, he led us down the hallway.

We saw a guy sitting by one of the entrances to a room, his eyes strained on a Rubix cube. He wasn’t looking at it though, his fingers moving swiftly as the colors changed on the cube. He stared at us, his eyes squinting for a moment when he spoke.

“Pink,” he said, his eyes on Jaemin. “Sometimes yellow. Hmm. Grey—dark grey.” His voice was monotonous when his eyes moved to Xiaojun. “New people.”

“Sungchan,” Xiaozhan said, the male finally looking at him. “This is Sungchan. He’s one of our active members along with his partner, Shotaro. Sungchan here is a Phase 2 Seasonie—batch two.”

“So, you were thrown out onto the streets like me and Jaemin,” Renjun commented, Sungchan finally standing up. The guy was tall and he towered over Renjun, his face expressionless. Renjun gulped and Sungchan blinked, tilting his head at Renjun before he sniffed the air.

“Black,” he spoke, his eyes softening as if a realization hit. “Trauma. “

Renjun frowned at him, not understanding what he was talking about. Sungchan looked back down at One, the kid holding Luhan’s hand gently.

“Green—and dumb,” he said and One growled. “No smash.”

“Sungchan has synesthesia—though I’m sure it’s something more than that,” Xiaozhan explained to us. “When he uses one sense, a lot more senses get activated. Sometimes smell triggers taste, taste triggers sight, etchetera. He enjoys analyzing emotions more than other things.”

“Thank you for speaking as if I’m not here,” Sungchan said, still staring down at all of us before he closed his eyes.

“That’s pretty cool,” Xiaojun said looking interested. “Does it get hard to handle?”

“Yes,” Sungchan replied almost immediately. “All of your colors and emotions are everywhere. How… burdensome.”

“We found out that Phase 2 Seasonies who were kicked out into the streets to fend for themselves have better skills.