Few weeks had passed since the first training. It was quite unbelievable that Jun and his friends hadn't shown any further actions. But the twelve guardians of EXO didn't take it as a good thing; they smelled something fishy, probably something even more dangerous that those rebels were preparing.


That day after Kris, Suho, Lay and Tao had paid a visit to Professor Zhang's house, they had spent the next four days digging in the professor's lab. It didn't come to waste though; they had found the machine's manuals and other important informations about it in one folder. Sadly, when the over-excited grown up males had tried to turn the old fat machine on, it only scoffed at them.


"Pfftt," it said, spitting smoke on their faces.


So they had to spend more days fixing the machine. In addition, the old professor also modified it, so it would make prettier stones, he said.


But one day when Jaesun was watching over the kids training, he got a surprising call from SM World Training Centre, which was basically and literally the "center" of SM world. They informed him that finally, the rebels had made their first move. The royal advisor almost dropped his phone because of the shocking news.


"We are terribly sorry to tell you that some of your young soldiers have broken our system and stolen our vital belongings, just to disappear without leaving any traces.


The witness informed us that the leader of the group, namely Kim Jaejun, suddenly returned after he and his group had been reported missing since three weeks ago. Soon after the rest of them came and beat up the guards to clear their boss' way to the laboratory.


We were expecting to talk to EXO-K's leader directly, but we really hope EXO-K can give a hand in responsibility. We are currently tracking their location, so we hope you can help us find them too."


Jaesun turned pale after the phone call. The trainees noticed it and they spent the rest of the day forcing him to spit it out, which he finally did, with a condition of not telling the kings about it. They needed to concentrate on the machine.


Knowing that Jun had caused yet another trouble, the boys angrily stomped their way back to the training arena that night, forcing their own bodies to strengthen themselves to the last bit of their energy. They swore to increase their training's intensity just so they could kick Jun's .


Jaesun tried to convince them that it was alright to get some rest, they could continue the next day, but they wouldn't listen to him. So he gave in and sat there to watch over them like he always did.


It was midnight and the boys were all drenched in sweat. Even the four former animals had fallen asleep on each other.


Sehun wiped the sweat off his forehead and turned around to see his beloved uncle asleep in his seat, head hanging to the side. A soft, small smile found its way to the young prince's lips.


He lifted his hand a little bit. The wind gathered and twirled around the sleeping man, blowing his styled-up black hair softly.


"Wake up, mommy," Sehun mouthed and smiled nostalgically. He chuckled and facepalmed, realizing how silly he sounded.


Jaesun cracked his eyes open slowly and noticed the wind blowing lazily around him. His gaze then fell on his grinning nephew. Sehun jumped from his spot and appeared right in front of him in a blink of an eye.


"Are you tired, uncle? You should go back to your room," the black-haired prince said with concern.


Jaesun yawned and stretched his arms before saying, "Yeah, I guess I should. But you guys are still here, I can't leave you all."


"We'll be okay. We'll go back after a bit. Do you want me to walk you to your room?" Sehun offered, raising his eyebrows and smiling broadly.


"Thank you, Sehunnie. You're such a good boy," the older stood up and pinched his nephew's cheek. "I'll go back by myself. Take care of the others, okay?"


"Yes, uncle," the prince bowed and flashed a sweet smile. "Don't fall asleep on your way back."


"Of course I won't," Jaesun laughed softly and ruffled Sehun's hair. "Bye now."


Jaesun thought he would fall asleep right after his head met with his fluffy pillow, but no; there he was, couldn't stop tossing and turning restlessly.


"Jae, what's wrong?"


Jaesun turned around to see his wife wide awake, staring at him with worried eyes. He forced a small smile and calmed her with a kiss on her temple.


"It's nothing. Don't worry about it, honey," he said.


Lynn snuggled closer and wrapped her arm around her man's body. She pressed her cheek to his broad chest and sighed quietly.


"Okay then. Tell me when you're ready to," she said. "Nothing is not the best choice of word for now, you know."


Then it was Jae's turn to sigh. He closed his eyes and the woman's long hair softly.


"I'm just thinking... It keeps bothering me... That I should call them back here. I have a bad feeling about it."


"Them?" Lynn looked up to see the other's face. "You mean Suho oppa and the others?"


"Yes," Jae nodded weakly. "But I don't know if I should do it or not. So I got a call from SMWTC, they said those naughty boys had caused another trouble. They wished for Suho hyung to know about it soon and take an action immediately. But you know, he's still in M and he's busy there, I'll feel bad if I have to distract him from his work. If he knew, he would probably come back here. To be honest I want him to come back as soon as possible, but going back here will be such a waste of time and energy. To bring everything and move here. It can also break their concentration on their work. Don't you think it'll be better for them to finish their work first before taking care of another problem?


But on the other hand, while I'm weighing my decision not to do so, I know I have to do something in exchange. Suho hyung has trusted me to handle everything while he's away. Now I feel bothered because my mind keeps telling me to retract the rest of our soldiers from the training centre. It rings loudly in my head like an alarm. But you know, I don't see a good reason why I should do that. We have half of the army here, and also the kids, although to me they're still not ready for anything. Well yes, Jun had caused lots of problems there, but what would he do to the other soldiers there? He must have gone psycho if he wanted to end them all. Instead, I think it would be better for them to stay there, in case Jun would do something bad again, they might stop him to do so. You see how complicated my mind is now, right?"


Lynn nodded and pursed her lips. "It's called a leader's instinct," she smiled. "You know, doing it won't hurt. Tell you what, just do what you think you should do, so it won't bother you anymore. From what I can see now, calling everyone back here is the safest way. The distance makes us weak, doesn't it? Our men aren't the only ones training there. Half of the armies from other kingdoms are there too, even EXO-M's and SHINee's, so don't worry about no one stopping that boy. You're currently in control, so you don't have to find a good reason to do it, except to explain to your brother later. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll understand."


To the royal advisor, his wife's words were like cold water showered upon him, washing his worries away. He smiled in relief, finally getting someone supporting his thoughts.


"Thank you, sweetheart," Jae gave a big hug to his woman. "It helps a lot, really. I'll do it tomorrow morning."


Lynn giggled and pecked the older's chest. "Now it's my turn to tell you something."


"Oh? What is it?" Jae raised his eyebrows. With pounding heart, Lynn brought her lips to his ear and whispered,


"I think I have your baby in my tummy."


The young lady pulled back and looked at her husband restlessly with her big brown eyes. Instead of being happy, she was worried that it would trouble the man even more.


Jae gaped at his wife, eyes bulging out of their sacks.


"A-Are you sure about it?" he asked carefully.


"Yes, I've checked it," Lynn looked down, avoiding eye contact with the other. "A-Are you not happy about it?"


Jae winced slightly at the question; it pierced his heart.


"What are you saying? Of course I'm happy," he squeezed the small body in his arms gently and closed his eyes. "I'm just surprised... But I'm happy, I really am. Trust me."


He kissed away her worries and beamed at her. "Finally we'll have a new member in the royal family. If it's a boy, I hope he'll be a good and gentle boy like Sehunnie. And if it's a girl, I hope she'll be exactly like her mother; a perfect, sweet baby girl. I can't ask for more."


"I'm not a perfect and sweet baby girl," the younger giggled, a slight pink blush colored her cheeks. "Good and gentle like Sehunnie, hmm? Sounds lovely. Although at times he's really cold, I know he has a really soft heart inside."


Jaesun lowered his gaze and pursed his lips. "He's not supposed to be cold though. He's actually a caring boy, the sweetest that you can have. If only... If only he had a complete family, if only there weren't a certain boy hurting his man pride..."


He paused and rubbed his face, heaving a long breath to control his emotion. Lynn glanced up at him and bit her bottom lip worriedly.


"He does have a complete family," she said carefully. "Aren't you his mommy?"


Jae's pout was gone instantly, replaced with a broad grin.


"I kinda miss him calling me that."


"Talk about man pride," Lynn rolled her eyes and pecked her hubby's cheek. "Now calm down and sleep, will you? Don't worry, we'll have a perfect baby."


"Okay. Good night, sweetheart." They shared a kiss before falling asleep in each other's arms.


The next morning, Jaesun dressed up quickly and rushed to his work room. He plopped down on his chair and spun around facing the mirror wall behind him, one leg crossed over the other, elbow resting on the armrest, his phone in his grip.


"Hello?"


"Good morning, hyung," he beamed when the familiar voice rang in his ear.


"Good morning, Jaesun-ah," Suho chuckled on the other end of the line. "What makes you call me so early in the morning? Do you miss me?"


"Kind of," the younger giggled. "That's not the point though. I want to ask you for something."


"Oh, is that so? What can I do for you, brother?"


"Umm..." Jaesun bit his lip and fiddled with a button on his shirt nervously. "Can you... Go back home?"


It was silent for few seconds, until Suho's awkward chuckle could be heard again.


"Why is that, Jaesun-ah? Is there something wrong?"


"No, nothing's wrong, hyung. Don't worry," the younger of the two said quickly. "Just... I think things would be better if four of you were here too. You know, hyung, it's not that I'm expecting something bad to happen, but if we're separated like this, aren't we... less cautious? Just- Can't you guys come back and work with that machine here?"


"Oh, you're troubled about that," Jaesun could hear the other hum, sign that he was pondering over the idea. "Maybe you're right. I'll talk about it with the others. If they don't mind about it, I might as well bring Yixing's father too."


"Yes, that's even better!" Jaesun jumped out of his seat excitedly. "Thanks, hyung. And, umm..."


He paused abruptly.


'Should I just tell him about calling back all our soldiers without telling the reason why?'


"What is it, Jaesun-ah?" Suho's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Jaesun pursed his lips and rubbed his chin, not answering right away, but then he said,


"It's nothing. Forget it, hyung."


'He would probably disagree with it. That kind of act is too big to be done without any reasons. I'll just tell him when he gets here.'


"Are you sure?" the king asked, suspicion clear in his voice.


"Yeah. I have to go now, hyung. The boys are starting their training so I have to watch over them."


"Okay then. Make them train well!" Suho laughed, brushing the previous topic off rather easily.


"Sure," Jaesun chuckled. "I'll be waiting for you to come back soon. See you later, hyung."


"Okay, bye."


Soon after he ended the call, he opened his laptop and quickly typed a short email, which was basically a request to the SMWTC to give EXO-K's soldiers the permission to return to their kingdom.


He reread his own words few times and chewed on his bottom lip many times before he finally clicked the "send" button.


He sank in his seat and blew out a long heavy sigh.


'Hope it really is the right thing to do.'


He glanced at his watch and stood up immediately, tidying up his desk before rushing to EXO's training arena, in the research center underneath the castle's huge hexagonal maze.


Just by standing few meters from the door, he could clearly hear the loud noises and screams the boys were making. The training arena was located away from the crowd, so no one would hear the noises anyway. Moreover, it was protected with tight security, and a special code or certain people's fingerprints were needed to get in there.


Jaesun pushed a button next to the door and talked through the speaker.


"Kids, it's me, I'm coming in."


The noises died down right away. He pressed his hand on the scanner and the door opened automatically. A sight of half-frozen and half-burnt arena greeted his eyes as soon as he walked in.


Jaesun flew his gaze across the huge bowl-like training arena. It had lots of seats for audience around it; he had no idea why his brother designed it that way. No one would ever use them anyways. The previously-all-white place looked kind of messed up then with explosion marks everywhere. He shifted his gaze down to the arena to see the kids beaming and waving at him.


A pretty young lady ran up the tall stairs to come to him. She puffed her cheeks and bent down to catch her breath before standing up straight again and grinned at the man.


"Hello, honey," she said and stepped closer, winking and biting her bottom lip seductively.


"Lynn?" Jae raised an eyebrow.


"Yes, surprised to see me here?" the woman giggled.


Suddenly a tall guy dropped himself from the high ceiling and landed on his feet perfectly, right next to the woman.


"Ayy, babe. Galaxy king is here," Kris winked and ran his fingers through his hair, arm resting around Lynn's shoulders.


Jaesun looked up to see another two boys, who seemed to be Luhan and Kyungsoo, hanging upside down on the ceiling. They grinned and waved at him.


"Hi, Uncle Jae!"


He shifted his gaze to the rest of the boys down there in the arena and found another Luhan and Kyungsoo.


"You transformers sure have improved a lot," Jaesun chuckled and clapped his hands, just to appreciate their attempt to fool him, which they had done many times but also failed as many times.


Kris and Lynn's face dropped before they poofed and changed back to their normal forms.


"Hello Monggu-yah, Jjanggu-yah," Jae smiled at them before walking pass them to the other boys. "Don't disguise as my girl if you don't want me to kiss you."


"I don't mind to be kissed by a hot man though," Jjanggu batted his eyelashes and giggled cheekily. Lulu and Bomi got down from the ceiling just to tweak the boy's ears on both sides.


"Ouch!"


"Jjanggu oppa, you don't have to be that exposed even if you're proud that you're gay."


"Yeah, now uncle Jae will think that you're shameless."


"I'm not shameless," Jjanggu pouted. He turned into his usual form of a puppy and cowered away in the corner.


Jaesun laughed as he picked the puppy up in his arms and walked down to the center of the arena, followed by the other three teens.


"How are you doing today, boys?" he greeted, flashing his usual charming smile at the group.


"We're doing great!" they replied.


"Did you sleep well? I don't want you guys to be sick because of lack of sleep."


"Don't worry, uncle. We did," Chanyeol smirked and gave a thumbs up, his elbow resting on Baekhyun's shoulder.


Luhan raised his hand to catch the other's attention. "Sehunnie had a nightmare last night."


The said prince widened his eyes and waved his hands in attempt to brush off the topic. "No, no! Don't mind it."


"He kept whimpering in his sleep," the deer continued to explain, ignoring the younger prince's quiet whines.


"Aww. Our maknae had a nightmare? Tell us about it, Sehun-ah," Chen patted the younger's back soothingly, taking over Suho's place as the mama of the group.


Pouting hard, Sehun gave in and explained, "It was about Jun. He came to me and mocked me, and then he took Luhannie away and made him his pet," he made a "peace" sign with his fingers and put it above his head, "with bunny ears. Luhannie looked cute though, but he was crying. Jun turned into a wolf-like beast and laughed at me, he thaid, 'I will eat this cute bunny in a gulp!'"


"Awww, what a terrible nightmare," Chen hugged the taller boy and kept patting his back. "Don't worry, it's just a bad dream."


The others giggled noticing the boy's lisp that had unintentionally come out clearer than usual.


"I was a bit thcared," Sehun pouted.


"He cried when he woke up," Luhan giggled. "He squeezed me really hard."


The hyungs cooed and patted Sehun's head, trying to cheer him up by promising to get a pair of bunny ears for Luhan later. The manly deer's eyes widened as he exclaimed his disagreement.


"Okay, now kids, let's get back on track. Do you remember what day is today?" Jaesun wiggled his eyebrows.


"Friday!" they answered in unison.


"And what does that mean?" the eldest asked again.


"We'll have a test!"


"Well trained, aren't you?" Jaesun beamed in satisfaction. "Okay then, grab your partners and let's get started. As usual, the winners get everything for a day."


The ground had been marked with divider lines for that kind of training. It was divided into three parts, more than big enough for two couples to have a full-blown combat. Sehun grabbed Luhan's hand and led him to their spot. This time their first opponents were Monggu and Jjanggu. They flew their gazes across the arena to see if everything was ready. From afar, they could see Baekhyun and Chanyeol waving at them.


"We're fighting the girls! Woohooo!" The two puppies bumped their butts together.


"Yah, don't underestimate us!"


Sehun and Luhan laughed as the girls pulled the two puppies' ears in annoyance.


"That means Kai and Kyungie are against Baozi and Chenchen today," Luhan concluded.


"Wouldn't that be fun to watch?" Sehun replied absent-mindedly, his eyes locked on his brother at the other end of the arena.


Kai was warming up again with Kyungsoo by stretching each other's bodies and doing random moves, which in Sehun's eyes, looked like a mating dance. They looked really happy though.


Still absent-mindedly, Sehun turned around and shook Luhan's shoulder to get his attention, his other hand pointing at Kai and Kyungsoo. "Lu, let's do what they're doing there."


"Okay, Sehunnie. How far should I stretch you?" the deer winked playfully.


"Uh...?" Sehun raised his eyebrows. He turned his head back to the couple, just to see Kyungsoo on his back with his short legs reaching up, Kai pushing them down to the sides.


The prince shook his head immediately. "They weren't doing that few seconds ago. I don't wanna be stretched like that."


Luhan laughed and ruffled Sehun's hair. "We've already warmed up earlier."


Suddenly the ground made a buzzing sound, and then the thick divider lines slowly raised up from the ground, turning in