Tao's POV

The sound of thrumming pulses all around me were creating a melody I couldn't understand, or maybe a bunch of melodies with overlapping chords, beats beginning and ending with no thought to other snippets of song waiting to get out, and es that rang out and smothered the calming resolutions. My head began to feel like it housed a million half-finished tunes and full out songs that struggled to make one cacophonous symphony-

"Can you calm your ing , Baek? I can't see anything past your stupid lights."

"Sehun, what did I say about swearing?"

"I can say whatever the hell I want, Kris. You aren't the boss of me."

Tick.

"While you're at it, stop sniffing me."

"Actually, Sehun, it would be wise to listen to him. Swearing is a very unbecoming habit to pick up-"

"Unbecoming, my -"

"-and it could lead you to trouble in the future."

Tick.

"Suho,"

"Joonma, call me Joonma now."

"I'm not calling you Joonma. I refuse to be a part of your ed up little game of house."

Tick. Tick.

"It's not a game. You guys are my family-"

"We are not family. A Family is supposed to be two loving parents and one kid, because god forbid you have a second one who isn't nearly as lovable as the first-"

Tick. T-Tick. Tick- ick-

"Are you okay?" asked a voice much closer and softer than the rest - Kai's voice.

"Yeah," I answered, rubbing at my temples, though this did nothing to ease the nearly overwhelming pressure of twelve minds crushed into one. "If they could just ease up on the arguing-"

"I'll handle it. Just keep your focus, Tao. You got this."

He was right. I had this down - practiced clearing and focusing my mind for many years with meditation. Running through breathing techniques (maybe a little strange to use considering this was a dream, but hey, whatever works) and tuning out the chatter - hold on, were they actually quieting down?

Stunned, I looked upon the images of my friends and found each one staring back, as if they were waiting for me to do something great. Reigning back the surprise took a moment, but I got back to focusing my mind and smoothing away all the tick-tick-ticks underneath the walls and floors of this room I created for us. Every now and then, a clock face of another world would become insistent on making itself known and would beat against the surface of the fragile encasing, so I built the walls around us even stronger. I would make Time wait as it had me wait.

I wanted answers and nothing would prevent me from getting them, not even the continous pulsing around me, which dimmed but refused to be locked up.

"You're stable now?" Kai asked gently, his image standing by my side once again, this time followed by Lay. "We should get these healed." he added, lifting his bleeding arm and using it to tug on the hand that connected to my own bleeding arm.

Nodding, I allowed Lay to raise his hands up to the wound before jumping to halt them in their tracks. "I've been losing all my cool battle scars lately." I told him, reflexively stretching open and closed my left hand that had held a scar of my stupidity for only a short time. "This is a battle I don't want to forget..."

Lay smiled. "I understand." he said, and when his hands sent warmth into my arm, the wound closed imperfectly in a jagged line I hoped would stay with me forever. Feeling a little stronger, I channeled more energy into the strength of the walls around us and could no longer hear any ticking.

"But won't these go away anyways? They're just a part of the dream-place-thing we're in, right?" asked Kai, lifting his own arm for the healer to work on.

"Curiously, these wounds are reciprocated on your real bodies - I can sense the two are connected."

"Then-" Kai stopped the teen as I had. "Can I have a scar too? Identical scars, how cool would that be? I mean..." He glanced at me before turning his eyes downwards to the makeshift floor. "I understand if you don't want me to copy you, Tao."

"It's your body; do what you want." I replied, though I suppose that blushing a bright red didn't help the message I was trying to send out. Or... what message was I trying to send out? Did I really want a distance between us, or was that thought just stupid? It felt pretty stupid.

"Scar, please!"

I watched as Kai bounced a little on his feet as Lay set to work, as if being scarred forever were something exciting. Taking a look at my own scar and comparing it to his, maybe I was a little excited too.

"Wolf!" exclaimed Chanyeol's voice as the teen strode up to the animal that had appeared from seemingly nowhere, dragging Baekhyun with him. The wolf sat and they crouched before him (Baekhyun needing an extra tug before becoming compliant). "I found him, right? I found my soulmate."

Looking thoughtful, the wolf replied, Yes. You have found them all. Good work. As if praising him, the wolf Chanyeol's cheek.

"All?" asked Baekhyun, incredulous. "What do you mean all? How many soulmates does he need? Isn't it just me? Am I even a part of this?"

The wolf Baekhyun's face too. You are his soulmate. So are the others.

"Others- who?!"

Silently, the wolf looked around the two in front of him to the rest of us, stopping at each person along the way, including me. Others, it replied simply.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Kyungsoo just as Chanyeol said, "I'm so confused."

"Not as confused as I am." Baekhyun stated, glaring at his boyfriend as if suspecting it to be his doing.

"What?" Chanyeol asked, immediately on the defensive. "The wolf told me to find my soulmate to get rid of my power."

I believe your memory has been tampered with, human. Those are not my words at all.

As Baekhyun glared harder, I felt the wolf pushing at the corners of the room I made, gently asking permission to make some changes. How could I refuse a strange dream wolf who seemed to know exactly what was wrong with us? I allowed it access and gasped at how suddenly it took over. The soft walls of my mind, though strong before, became like steel until even the most aggressive worlds could no longer be heard fighting for attention. On the floor appeared doppelganger images of Chanyeol and the wolf, though strangely much more vivid than the real images of the two, causing the rest of us to look slightly faded in comparison. This new Chanyeol was also much younger than I'd ever seen him.

"How do I make it stop?" the young Chanyeol cried, clutching at his chest as if it pained him. His ears during this time also stuck out quite noticably.

It will only go away for good after you have found them, the wolf told him in it's low, rumbling growl.

"Them? Who is them?"

The ones with powers. Try your best to find the one whose power matches yours to alleviate some of your troubles, but it will not go away until you've found them.

"Like a soulmate?"

The wolf of the past was fading slightly. Find them. Don't stop looking.

It disappeared, the young Chanyeol soon after, and I sighed in relief as the steel walls became how I made them to be once more. The wolf's hold on my mind had been a painful and exhausting.

"You idiot. You used the word soulmate all by yourself, didn't you?" Baekhyun's voice grated against my mind. I think the vision the wolf created had left me more sensitive to the pressure of our meeting in my head.

Twelve soulmates, the wolf spoke out, and we all stopped to listen. Souls who will always meet, who will always find each other. The word is not incorrect. In many worlds, in many different times, you will find each other and influence each other's lives greatly. Whether as friends, lovers, coworkers, enemies... you will always meet. You are connected, not by red strings of fate, but by gold and silver strands of the heart that transcend whole worlds to bring you together.

Understanding flooded over me. There were no single pulses for each and every one of us, but a set of eleven, and they didn't run verticle as I thought, but horizontal-

I gasped as my thoughts caught up with my dreams and a spot of golden light appeared at my chest, golden like Baekhyun's lights, and it stretched outwards with a little burst until it caught the chest of someone close to me - Kai. He looked just as surprised as I did, looking down and reaching out to touch the golden thread of light. As he did, more lights appeared and connected Kai to Kris, Kris to Lay, Lay to Sehun, Sehun to Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo to Kai, and all around these lights went until everyone was connected in a complicated web made of light, all pulsing gently and weaving melodies as each person interacted with another, sharing looks of wonder and affection.

Looking closely, the golden strands fanning outwards from my chest weren't all the same. Some were laced through with silver, some were slightly thicker around, and they all pulsed at different tempos. The one connecting me to Kai raced the fastest, a pure golden color that amazed me with how beautiful it shone.

In different worlds, your fates will change and the strands will change as well, but the fact is that you twelve are meant to be together. It is rare indeed to find a world where you do not stand with your brethren.

"Brethren... Like brothers?" voiced Sehun, stoic face turned unusually curious and child-like. I liked this expression on him most as it was like a mask had come off, one that made him seem older than he really was, and underneath was his true face.

"We really are a family." Suho said with a smile.

"If you say 'I told you so', I'm waking up."

Chuckling, Suho only ruffled the kid's hair in response, setting off a chain reaction of pulses through the strands connecting us as we watched and gave our own smiles and laughter. The whole thing was surreal - I mean, literally this was a dream - but to think that our connection ran this deep and held so much importance was so difficult to believe.

I belonged. For once in my life, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

We must hurry, the wolf warned, garnering our attention once again.

Sensing the urgency coming across, I hid the golden strands amongst us from sight again, but I couldn't do anything about the sounds they emitted, which was just fine with me. I loved the chaotic music, and now that I understood how it worked, I could almost swear that I could hear more to them - voices, if you could believe.

Whether you remember what you have done or not, you still must leave this world.

"Why? What's wrong with this world?" I asked.

"What's wrong with us?" asked Kris. "Why do we have these powers?"

This world is not ready for you - you all arrived to it prematurely. There was a mistake in the world you were meant for that gave you powers when you should not have possessed them and you used them to bring yourself here-

"We did this?" asked Chanyeol. "I don't remember anything like that."

"My earliest memory is of standing on the moon." said Luhan with a shrug.

"That wasn't the moon." Xiumin corrected him, eyes widening. "It was a reflection of the moon. We were standing in water-"

"You were there too?"

"You really thought you stood on the moon?" asked Sehun, snickering.

"Shut up. I was young."

"If you were that young, Luhan," I mused aloud. "then me, Kai, and Sehun would have been babies for sure. No wonder I don't remember anything like that."

Do human cubs not begin remembering their lives from birth?

Everyone looked to the wolf, surprised it didn't know such a thing when it seemed like it knew everything. It blinked innocently back.

"No." Lay answered for it. "Human children begin remembering events at about three years of age and their memories will not always be perfectly clear, often just a feeling or a series of images."

So you truly do not remember. Your powers were very strong at birth and could not be easily contained. For a few years, I didn't know this and thought you could be trained to hold them back, but you twelve were an unruly bunch to say the least.

"I can't imagine having to take care of twelve babies with powers." Suho admitted. "I want children, but not that much."

The one called Jongin was the most difficult, the wolf confessed.

I couldn't help it - I burst out in laughter picturing a baby teleporting all around the room.

With the combination of being able to access many worlds and being able to travel through space, Time and Teleportation were an awful pair to deal with. It is they who eventually brought you all here, using your connections to pull everyone together with them on their journeys.

My laughter died down and ended in awkward coughing. So it was my fault that we were in the wrong world?

"Hey, Innocence, didn't know you used to be a troublemaker too." Embarrassed, I sent a light kick to Kai's leg to get him to shut up.

You are not meant to be here in this world just yet, especially not with so much power. If you twelve leave, then I can work to repair this world and get it ready for when it will house you all.

"How do we leave?" I asked.

"How do we get rid of our powers?" Chanyeol in.

When you were still cubs, I had no choice but to bind your powers temporarily. It was but pure luck that you were all in the same world when I eventually found you, and I had to make sure you didn't stray further. In order to leave this world, you will all need to bring out your power's full strength first. As long as you stick together you can break through whatever obstacle is blocking your way-

"Our powers aren't at full strength?" asked Chanyeol in disbelief. The air around him turned noticably warmer. "Then how will we know? When I've gone and burned down an entire city?"

It would be wise to calm yourself, the wolf told him before continuing. A symbol will appear on the back of your hand when you are ready to leave. All twelve of you must be ready first or else I will not be able to help you adjust to the world you are meant for and certainly won't be able to help you rid yourselves of these powers either. Of course you will all leave as you got here: with the help of Time and Teleportation.

"It's up to us?" I asked, glancing at Kai worriedly.

"How can it get any stronger?" Chanyeol asked no one in particular. His anxiety was building and so was Xiumin's, creating a strange mixture of both hot and cold in the atmosphere. Each temperature was equally strong and bit at the control I had over my mind.

"Guys," I gasped in warning, hearing ticks fading in from somewhere distant and loud resounding bangs of clock faces that had been shoved away for far too long.

Suddenly it seemed, Baekhyun was screaming and then he was gone, disappeared with no warning.

"What just happened?" Chanyeol panicked before he too disappeared with an "oof!".

"They woke up." said Lay in surprise. "I think Baekhyun's hurt..."

"Go heal him. We'll fill you in." Kris urged him and the healer's image quickly left us.

The pressure in my head was a little more bearable and I sat down in front of the wolf immediately, wanting to ask a couple more questions before it could leave too. "What happens if we stay in this world?"

This world will tear you apart. The people in it can sense that you are different and will try their hardest to right what is wrong. They will grow more and more hostile. It is of the utmost importance that you leave-

Sehun sneezed and both him and Kyungsoo disappeared together.

"So the people's hostility is what will consume us?"

That and fear. Do not let your fear consume you and remember that you are not alone.

"Why are telling us all this only now?" asked Suho, crouching to join me. "Why didn't you tell us this earlier or help us find each other?"

I tried my best, the wolf told him with a strange look of vulnerability in it's eyes. My strength had been compromised. I pulled strings to bring you together, tried to send you messages. Speaking in dreams is the easiest, but none of you are ever asleep at the same time or for long enough for me to explain. I thought you would remember what you did and would recognize each other more easily. I thought you were just being stubborn-

"What about the next world, the one we'll be going to? The people won't hate us there, right?" I asked quickly, leaning forward in anticipation and ignoring the bangs and ticks growing louder. "They won't attack us or ignore us?"

Calm yourself before you wake up-

"Just tell me!" I shouted, beginning to panic because the wolf was already fading and the ticking seemed to be multiplying. The room I created was rapidly becoming unstable, and it wasn't because I wasn't calm enough, but because my mental strength was collapsing. Even with fewer minds putting pressure on my own, it was still too much for me to handle for so long.

Suho put an arm around my shoulders and Kai held onto my hand, offering silent support.

The people of the next world are waiting for you. Don't disappoint them.

I could no longer see the image of the wolf, but I thought I heard it say one more thing.

You are loved.

***

Author Note:

I am going to cry for days if I missed anything important.

This chapter was so difficult and I've been so busy

There should be at least eight more hours in a day

or thirty-seven so I can sleep for impossible amounts of time too

I really like the idea of the people of a world slowly turning against a person like in Inception, but difference is that the boys of EXO are not in a dream, but a different world, and they won't be able to hold back the people's hostility or disappear from their radar by acting like they belong. The people will rise against them no matter what.

dun dun dunnnnn

(Also, if you know the secret - shhhhhhh!)