“What I mean to say is that my grandparents told me a different story mainly for bedtime about the prince and the human who fell in love. It went more like that than your stupid unrequited love turned array."

"No, Lu Han. Too late. You might as well tell them." Henry persuaded. He knew himself of the secret journal but he's never seen it in person before. Now with the new threat arising, he knows enough that all secrets need to be bare if they have any chance at all at surviving this time around.

     Lu Han sat in contemplation. He knows well of the threat and its need to be subdued. But he cowered at the thought that he'd need to expose his very kept secret just for it. Henry sat watching him and finally sighed. He realized the boy's dilemma and took it upon himself to take the leap. Turning to the rest of the group, Henry finally spoke once more and bore his secret open.

"Our friend, Lu Han, left a diary. A journal. But only the direct descendant where Lu Han's blood runs the thickest, are able to take ownership of the journal."

"Uncle, stop!"  Lu Han tried to protest.

"No, Lu Han there isn't much time. You can't keep this a secret forever. For all we know there is a hidden clue in the journal as to how we can get the black pearl back. We need to know if there is. Jongun is coming back again and we will need EXO to reunite." Henry tried to persuade his nephew.

"Again? Jongun.. is coming back 'again'? But how can that be? It's been a hundred years already." And then he was stopped. Just as the words had stumbled out of his mouth, he realized the possibility of it all. Jongun, the villain of the Hundred Year War had never died. Because just like EXO, he also was immortal. Awe-stricken yet again, Lu Han just gaped his mouth open in understanding and Suho had nodded in confirmation.

    There isn't much to think about really. To Lu Han, the journal maybe of great help, he remembered a lot of information there that Lu Han probably shared only to the pages of the old journal. But still, it was like invading his privacy, his great-great-grandfather's very own secrets at that. 

"But Uncle Henry, I can't. These are the most intimate thoughts of my great-great-grandfather and the least we can do is respect that."

"How can we respect that when we will all be dead because you want to be sentimental to the thoughts of a dead person?" Kai hissed earning him a snarl from the younger boy. The two tried to lunged at the direction of the other but was held back by the members.

"Enough Kai." Suho finally intervened. "We are not gonna get anywhere with all this fighting." Suho paused for a bit and walked towards the window. He squeezed Kai's shoulder for comfort as he thought of another solution.

"Maybe there is another way. Lu Han, is there anything about the black pearl there? Do you remember reading anything about it or even about the portal, the vortex? You don't have to show us but you yourself can at least look at the journal one last time and check for us. Because... Lu Han, we really need your help." Suho's angelic and hopeful voice is soothing enough to Lu Han's ears that he couldn't help but obey.

"Uhm.... I'll read it again." Lu Han replied with hesitation. He clutched to an arrow pendant on his chest and nibbled on his lower lip as he thought to himself.

Great-great-grandfather, guide me. Should I trust these people with your secrets?

     Lu Han had to spend the night in the manor right after. He was told that he will be staying with the group from now on. It wasn't to his liking because he knew that it wasn't fair at all to the students if they found out about the special treatment he was suddenly given but Suho insisted since they needed him to be there in an instant notice.

     He grabbed his suitcase that was brought into what would be his new room, Lu Han's old room. It's much like a room in an old Victorian classic movie he's seen a while back; high ceiling, big windows with heavy red and gold draperies hanging but pulled to the side by red gold-threaded ropes and a big bed situated against the right side of the wall. There were multiple abstract paintings in bright colors hanging in every wall. Lu Han can only assume that the bright energy emitted by the room is also the reflection of his great-great-grandfather's personality.  He walked closer to one of the windows and found a desk that showcased an old disconnected telephone something that is very rare nowadays. To it's side stood a framed photo of the group he just met earlier along with this great-great-grandfather.

"They all look so close." He said to himself and continued to examine all the faces in the picture. His eyes stopped at a particular face he recognized so well, his great-great-grandfather.

"We were." A faint voice from behind made Lu Han jump on his spot almost dropping the frame. He fumbled with it on his sweaty palms before he was able to settle it back on the table. Flustered from shock, he wiped his palms on the side of his pants before turning around still ironing the fabric with his hands.

"Good evening, Sir."

     Suho scoffs before he proceeded to talk. "At ease. And for god sakes please drop the 'sir'." He walked over closer to Lu Han and picked up the framed photo from the table.

"This was taken at Sehun's first birthday party. We never heard of birthdays before, you know. It's not something we dwell on, personal things like that. We were brought up to just do as we're told and be what we were meant to do; make use of our talents and skills for the greater good. We are soldiers and scientists, and scholars; thinkers and fighters all at the same time. We never had any use for memorable events, playing and parties, not until Lu Han came. Hence, this was literally the first birthday party we've ever experienced and well, we had a lot of fun that day. Lu Han made sure of that."

     A sudden smile grazed his face before he continued.

"I remembered Sehun's teary eyes as he walked into a fully decorated living room filled with balloons, flowers, streamers, noise makers and a cake. There was a banner in the big wall that said 'Happy birthday, Sehun-ah!' and we all signed it leaving him short notes of best wishes and congratulations. It was something Lu Han had only read and heard about but to see it right before his eyes, it only brought so much emotions.

"Of course it was all last minute, and it was all Lu Han's idea soon after he found out of our creation dates. Gosh, I remembered him slave driving all of us just to put this together. Lu Han can be so demanding and scary when he's ecstatic about something. But for the look in Sehun's face that night and the happiness of the rest of the group, I'll go through it again a million times. "

     Suho caressed the picture now and ran his fingers at the picture of the two. 

"Lu Han, that clown, made all of our lives a little bit more enjoyable, memorable ever since he stepped into it. He became a very important part of our lives there after and he's deeply missed. He was always going around pulling pranks and joking with every one. 'Hyper' was the word and it annoyed Sehun a lot in the beginning because all of it was directed at him and we all knew it was because your great-great-grandfather was screaming 'notice me' inside,  screaming for his beloved to finally notice him." Suho laughed one more time but turned serious in an instant.

"I know he loved Sehun a lot. That's why I just can't believe and accept the fact that he chickened out last minute. Something must've happened, but I guess we will never know." Suho placed the frame back down and turned around to face Lu Han. He exhaled before placing a gentle squeeze on the other's shoulder. There's a remnant of longing and hurt deep down within the creases that he now displayed behind his sullen face. Lu Han could only listen as he's never felt anything like it. So he stayed rooted watching the other's display as he tried to process what Lu Han, his great-great-grandfather meant to them.

"Go sleep, son. We'll go to the laboratory tomorrow morning. It'll give you more information as to what you need to find in the journal." Suho walked passed him and headed for the door.

"Sir, I mean, Suho? What happens...if we don't get the black pearl back?" Lu Han slowly questioned. He's been thinking about it the whole time he sat in the study while Chen summarized the situation.

"Why is getting the black pearl that important to the group? Wouldn't that pose another problem if he does come back? Doesn't it mean that he would have to bring the bomb back?"

     He looked back over his shoulder and poised a gentle smile for the other. "Don't worry Lu Han. We'll figure it all out together starting tomorrow." Suho proceeded for the door again but paused when he heard the other speak the last time.

"Thank you, Suho." Lu Han exclaimed and Suho smiled to himself without turning around. He merely stuttered his step before heading out the room.

"Now as for the journal.." He pulled out the journal from his suit case and sat at the chair next to the window. He slipped the necklace over his head and held on to the pendant that hung in the end of it. It was in a shape of a compass needle about two inches long with a hole in the middle and in one end where the necklace itself was inserted. He held it tight in between his fingers and inserted it to the lock on the journal. He gripped the spine of the book before turning the pendant four times counter clockwise.

     A sudden click was heard as the lock was opened. He opened the journal wide and thumbed the edge of the pages. He decided to start from the first entry about Sehun, 2013 Jan. 28 and then continued there after.

     He was woken up by a loud voice from outside his room screaming 'breakfast'. He immediately sprung out of the bed and quickly locked the journal that was atop his chest. He fell asleep reading it until past midnight. He didn't find anything remarkable in the first couple of pages after 2013 Jan. 28. He only found birth dates of all eleven, which he realized, Lu Han, his great-great-grandfather, made sure to keep track of. The last one was circled 'Sehun-ah 1994 April 12' with hearts around. This made Lu Han cringe a bit at how immature his great-great-grandfather was at his age.

     Lu Han also read funny anecdote of his pranks on EXO and little nicknames he has given each. Apparently Lu Han liked to call Xiumin 'baozi' because of his cheeks that reminded him of steamed buns. He loved how the boy never bothered with it and Xiumin just plainly accepted it. Kai was called 'kkamjong', Lu Han, presumes because of his darker and more tanned skin color. Kai hated it apparently. They even got into a fight about it once. But then again he also wrote that he's always felt Kai distancing himself from him and Sehun. He asked Sehun about it once but Sehun only replied that he was probably jealous of the attention he was now giving Lu Han. The two were practically inseparable at least until Lu Han came and well needless to say, he found himself left out most of the time.

That's why he was scornful yesterday. Probably because I looked exactly like him. Lu Han thought to himself.

     D.O. was apparently 'Umma' of the group. The kindness was extended to everyone including Lu Han because he indicated how caring and tender the boy was to him always cooking and feeding him all the delicious food in the house.  He never turned it down because hell, it was the best food he had ever tasted. Finally, there was 'Sehun-ah' a more endearing nickname for the one he loved. Lu Han talked about how Sehun most likely enjoyed being called that because it almost always brought a smile in the other's face whenever Lu Han would call him. 

     He looked at the journal one last time and shook his head at the heap of pages he still needed to read. 

"It's gonna take me another week to finish and analyze this on top of the school work and such. Maybe I should just ask for help." But he remembered how he needed to protect the secrets so he chose otherwise.

     Chen was typing on the table in front of him. Everyone was gathered around the round table in the middle of the laboratory. They were to examine a digital copy of the structure of the portal. As the holographic 3D model of the portal rose from the middle of the table, Chen began to explain the basics. He talked a lot of nonsense about the vortex and the calculations that Lu Han already knew since he had much experience and well he basically was an expert when it came to it. He wasn't on the top of his class for no reason. Lu Han had devoted all his time and energy into perfecting his skills and knowledge just as to live up to the name he was given. He didn't want to ever taint the name and the person behind his name. Lu Han simply pretended to listen because it looked like Chen enjoyed talking and hearing his own voice.

     As the model circled in the table, he perused every nook and cranny until..

"Stop it right there!" Lu Han demanded.

"What is that?" Lu Han pointed to a tiny hole on the platform unrecognizable to the average eye. On the opposite side there is a simple keypad.

"Good eyes, Lu Han. That is where the key goes and the key pad is where you type the vortex code.  We would need the key to start the portal much like a mechanical engine back in the day like a car.  Then we need the specific code much like the coordinates in a map. There are billions of vortex that can bring you to many different worlds in the universe. To find Sehun's exact location, we need to type the exact code." Chen explained.

Lu Han's mind tried to wrap around the plan but there was still one question he needed to know the answer to.

"So, why do you need the black pearl? Wouldn't that pose another problem if he does come back? Doesn't it mean that he would have to bring the bomb back? Why are we even going through all this trouble to get him back? "

"Idiot, because we need him to complete 'us' so we can harness our powers." Kai hissed under his breath and Kris smacked him upside the head.

"What? It's the truth. We do need Sehun or else we might as well be useless" Kai said to Kris.

"Yeah, but do you think Lu Han knows that?" Kris retorted in defense and they began to bicker between themselves. He heard Suho and D.O. try to explain their powers but he couldn't hear much of it because all he was feeling was the pressure building inside of him and he was starting to doubt that he can help at all.

"Wait, so let me get this straight, you need the black pearl which is Sehun to come back because that is the only way to release your special skills if you guys are together as one?" Lu Han stood in disbelief. 

"You see when your great-great-grandfather built this portal with Sehun, it was meant for himself, a human. So the threat of us losing our powers were never brought up. The thing was, we were able to harness our powers for sometime but after a while, we lost the control of it because Sehun's been gone for so long. Now we can't even summon it at all after a hundred years. All we need to do is to get him back so we can all summon our powers again so we can at least stand a chance the next time Jongun tries to come back with god knows what." Kris explained.

"The chip was at a count down at 15 days as I remember all we need to do is get him back here, harness our powers and then we can send the black pearl back to the vortex. We had to rush the last time because we were attacked here in the manor so we had to send it right away. But this time we have 15 days to work with." Chen continued.

"But why haven't you done anything? Why do you need Lu Han's journal?" The younger questioned the leader his eyes darted at everyone else's on the table.

"We don't have the key! And we don't know the password. You see.." Chen began. His face looked lost and defeated. Hopeless you may say and Lu Han caught every one else's reaction to be the same.

"The problem is, only Lu Han knows where the key is and the code to the correct vortex." Chen's voice began to lower. He looked away and sighed to himself since he can't do much to change things around.

"Couldn't you just mimic the key and keep guessing on the code?" Lu Han began. "I mean you had 100 years to try. There are gadgets for these types of things now."

"We would've if it was that easy, but Lu Han and Sehun made this manually. They both put a self-destruct in the lock incase somebody tried to tamper with it. They feared that someone might try to get the black pearl and the chip back and threaten the world again. So.." Chen's words were lost in the end. The more he talked about it over and over the more he lost every hope, even at the sight of Lu Han in front of him who is supposed to be their last chance.

"That's why you need me; to find both the key and the code." Lu Han began.

"You're right." Suho replied but was interrupted by Kai.

"If you lend us the journal, we can probably find it faster." He hissed under his breath.

     Lu Han couldn't help but agree. Kai was right. He doesn't have the time and the patience to look for both the code and the key.

"I get it. I actually agree with you. But could you really do that to your friends? Huh, Kai?" Lu Han finally turned to the boy who's glaring at him.

"I get how much you hate my great-great-grandfather for stealing your best friend away but at least respect his memory and his love for Sehun. I know, 'that', you care about." Kai was taken aback from his response and he couldn't deny every word of it.

     Lu Han picked up his bag and trudged out of the lab towards his first class. He had enough of it. He's so frustrated to say the least. The weight of the responsibility was hanging basically on his shoulders and he's already ready to give up. How was he to know what his great-great-grandfather was thinking when he built the portal? He's read the journal once but never heard of anything about it. Now, he's re-reading it again and still he doesn't have a clue as to what he's really looking for. The front door slammed hard and it left the group hopeless once again. 

"Good job Kai!" Baekhyun said sarcastically.

They know it was much to ask of a young person like Lu Han to both betray his family and it's secret and to help them save the world. But they can only hope now. They knew they only needed to have a little faith in the boy who's more like his great-great-grandfather than they have expected. He's loyal to say the least and everyone one of them is slowly realizing this.

a/n: So here's to the young Lu Han and a little sneak peak of the drama brought about by our y Kai. Enjoy reading! see you next time.