In the light of a dim streetlamp, a young girl leaned her back against the wall, her dark hair blowing around her face, as she watched her leader pacing back and forth in aggravation.

“Chill Aemi, unnie, it’s not like we’re gonna fail. We’re always super careful.” She smirked.

She put a cigarette against her lips, not lighting it up. It was just a stupid statement. She didn’t smoke.

The one addressed as Aemi sighed and looked straight at her younger friend.

“You know your constant: ‘We’re Invincible’ attitude is one of your biggest faults Yeon, right?” Her leader said firmly.

The girl, ‘Yeon’ shrugged.

“Maybe, but I also have full belief that we can do this, we’re stronger than those bastards think.” She said brightly, taking the cigarette and putting it back into the box.

“When are the rest of them gonna get here?” She asked, running her fingers through her hair.

“Soon. And until then, we can’t be standing around here without our wits about us.”

“Sorry…” She mumbled.

It had to be close to midnight, it was usually around now when the people they hated most would show up.

INFINITE in their damn ‘team’ jackets…

Seven members and seven problems.

Just thinking about them made Yeon’s blood boil.

“Hurry the up…” Yeon complained with a sigh, falling back against the wall again.

Her fists were itching to punch something…

Aemi was becoming frustrated too, when they set a time, they could at least stick to it, the thrill was beginning to wear off.

“Yeon! Aemi!”

Finally.

Yeon stepped away from the wall, giving the one who’d spoken a wave.

Her brother Jinyoung was second - in - command, but sometimes he would take charge. He had a tendency to be motherly though, which was funny considering their little group FATE was one of two most well known high school gangs in Seoul.

INFINITE being the other one.

They’d hated each other for generations. Aemi’s father and mother had been members of FATE, the second generation in fact, which was, coincidentally, how they met.

Aemi’s father was now one of the most powerful dealers in Korea, and it was funny how his daughter, despite their opposite personalities, was willing to take over the business next.

“Sorry we’re late.” A raven haired male said with a smile.

“Hey Jackson.” Yeon smirked, hitting his shoulder.

“Hi ‘Fire’”

“Tch. Shut up.”

She greeted the rest of FATE in the same way, JB, Bambam, Mark, Youngjae, Yugyeom.

Jinyoung sighed and smiled at his sister, before he turned serious and looked to Aemi, “Anything happen here yet?”

“Nothing yet. It’s been rather boring, just waiting for you guys to show up.”

“Leader was getting annoyed. As was I, though,” Yeon admitted.

“I don’t do well with waiting, as everyone here already knows. At least INFINITE didn’t show up before you guys did.”

She had barely spoken these words when she heard a familiar, yet much hated voice.

“Who let the kids out to play? Shouldn’t you little ones be in bed by now?” Sunggyu, leader of INFINITE, spoke with a smirk.

“Guess we’ll be the ones putting them to sleep, boss,” another voice came.

“I’d like to see you try! You can’t beat us, and you know it!” Yeon yelled out.

“Don’t go provoking them,” Jinyoung muttered to his sister, who ignored him.

“So what did you guys come here for?” Aemi said almost casually. “Late night stroll? Wanting to get your kicked that desperately? All you have to do is ask.”

Yeon’s lips turned up in a smirk, “It’s okay, think of it as our privilege, we were freezing our asses off here, we could do with some exercise.” She started to twist her wrists around in circles, as if she were warming up and came to stand beside Aemi, cracking her neck.

“So… who wants to go first?”

One of the members, Woohyun, growled and swung carelessly at the girl, she stepping aside.

“Well , Nam, gotta work out more.”

“Yeon.” Jinyoung said firmly, “Be careful.”

“Tch, aren’t I always?”

“If you were I wouldn’t have to warn you,” her brother commented.

“Don’t worry so much, Jinyoung, they won’t be able to beat us anyway,” Jackson said with a smile, while kicking Woohyun in the stomach.

Of course, the rest of INFINITE couldn’t stand by and let that happen, and soon a full-blown fight had broken out. INFINITE were well-matched, not just in strength, but also because they had fought each other so many times already. But today, something seemed different. Sunggyu hadn’t joined the fight yet, and just stood there, looking at them with a smirk.

Jinyoung acknowledged it. This was out of character for Kim Sunggyu. This guy was lethal, he never stayed out of any fight they had. He was dangerous. He made to move towards him when one of the members, Hoya they called him, threw a punch catching Jinyoung in the jaw. He hissed and spit blood onto the ground, throwing a punch of his own, Sunggyu’s strange behaviour would have to wait, but it didn’t mean he was going to completely take his eyes off him.

Yeon growled and hissed when she received a kick to the kneecap by their youngest member, Sungjong. Pretty face or not, Sungjong was skilled.

She fell to her knees with a cry.

“!” She hissed, and pushed herself to her feet, throwing a clumsy punch - quite unlike her - and their tallest member, Sungyeol, took advantage of her weakness and punched her in the face.

She was getting pissed now. It was no secret that Park Seong Yeon was fierce, she didn’t earn the nickname ‘Fire’ for nothing.

With a yell ignoring her aching knee, she threw a perfect punch, knocking Sungyeol to the ground.

Sunggyu smirked even wider at this.

Perfect, this was what he was waiting for, Seong Yeon to lose her sense and lash out without thought. It was her biggest downfall, she’d lose her composure and it would often end with something bad. He reached into his jacket, and moved back a little.

When she was like this, she left their leader unprotected, perfect…

He pulled out his hand, a palm sized pistol between his fingers, hidden pretty well considering it’s small size. As INFINITE and FATE continued to beat each other, he his lips and cocked it. He had a perfect shot.

Three, two, one…

A deafening shot rang out around the deserted street as the bullet made its path towards Aemi.

Yeon saw…

Within seconds she’d pushed her leader aside, the shot hitting her in the chest, right next to her heart.

And she fell to the ground.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. Silence enveloped the street, punches were stilled. It was as if for a second, the world stood still.

It was Sunggyu himself who broke the silence, cursing because he had missed his shot. It was his best chance, and he had messed up. Even now, the ‘Fire’ had gotten in the way.

Ae Mi sank to her knees, to the girl who had fallen, fallen to protect her.

“Yeon? Yeon? You’re going to be okay! We’ll make it out of this! You’re going to be okay!” But as she spoke, tears were flowing down her cheeks. Her hands were on her best friends wound, trying to stop the bleeding as best as she could.

They all wanted to go over to Yeon. But INFINITE wasn’t just going to disappear because of this. Jinyoung however, let no-one stop him from getting to his sister. How could this have happened? He was right there. Why couldn’t he have protected her?! He should have protected her.

Yeon coughed, blood on her lips, and yet she was smirking. WHY THE WAS SHE SMIRKING? Even like this, even when she was barely conscious, she had that mischievous smirk of hers.

“Saved you.” She chuckled, before choking as more blood filled . She spat on the floor, and gave a weak peace sign. “I always have your back Aemi… remember ‘FATE Favours The Brave’ Then her world went black, as she went limp.

“Yeon!! No! Don’t die on me! Don’t die for me! Yeon!!” Aemi called out. Jinyoung had finally reached them, kneeling down and hugging his sister.

“We need to get her to a hospital,” he muttered, and Aemi nodded, glad at least he was thinking straight right now. She herself could no longer do this. The shock, the hurt, it was too big.

“Go!” Mark yelled out. “We’ll keep INFINITE busy. Get her to safety, and get her out of this alive!”

Jinyoung nodded and picked the girl up. “I’ll take her. I’m faster.”

Again Aemi nodded and as Jinyoung dashed off to safety, to call an ambulance and get his sister the care she needed so desperately, Aemi was left feeling lost. At the one hand, she wanted to go after them, but on the other hand, as a leader, she couldn’t just leave the other members behind either. It was no easy choice, between her best friend and her duties as a leader, but she had to make it. So instead of running after Jinyoung who had already disappeared she turned to Sunggyu, a murderous look on her tear-stained face.

“Are you going to shoot me now? I can easily use one of your members as my shield, now I know you’re carrying. Which is why you didn’t show me.” Her movements were now calculated, making sure something or an INFINITE member, was always in his line of fire.

FATE was shaken up, but instead of making them weak, it felt like they had all gained something. They would not let INFINITE get away with this. With hurting their friend. Yeon’s fire seemed to have transferred to all of them, their punches a little harder, their movements just a little faster. They would not get away.

One particular member was a little more fuelled than the others. Im Jaebum or JB was driven by another type of passion to end these bastard’s lives.

He had no clear plan in mind, he just attacked and he attacked with all he had.

---

Jinyoung gripped his younger sister closer, as he ran for help, he hadn’t had his phone on him, and had to depend on a phone box or someone who’d actually be kind enough to get Yeon the help she desperately needed.

“S - stay with me Yeon, okay? Y - You need to stay with me! You can’t leave me!”

She was only sixteen, this couldn’t be happening to her… Why had he let her sway him when she had begged desperately when she was fourteen to join him, to join FATE.

“I’m sorry Yeon… I’m so sorry” He choked out.

He saw a phonebox ahead of him and with his sister held closer he hurried to the phone box, sitting down on the floor, Yeon in his lap, as he pulled the phone down.

Coins, .. He needed coins. HE DIDN’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!

His sister could bleed to death.

As if fate would have it (Ironically) someone happened to be passing by, at this late hour, when he saw the young man’s distress and saw the condition his sister was in, he instantly offered to drive them to the hospital in his car.

Jinyoung didn’t care about anything else. Nothing but his sister mattered.

---

Much to FATE’s dismay, INFINITE had retreated long before they could do the damage they wanted. When Sunggyu had realized he wasn’t going to hit his target today, he had called them back. And although they had tried to stop them, in the end, FATE was left standing there.

“I’ve tried to call Jinyoung, but he won’t pick up,” JB announced, frustration and worry in his voice.

“We need to know the hospital he took her to. He’ll let us know, right?” Yugyeom commented.

“He better,” Jackson said.

“I’m pretty sure all he’s thinking about right now is Yeon. But we do have to find out...  Maybe we should try calling her phone?” Aemi suggested.

JB frowned, “I guess we could. God… Noona, she needs to be okay.” He said softly. The mischievous girl, the fiery temper, seeing her lying there… knowing it was Kim Sunggyu, that bastard, that did this to her… he was so angry, he wasn't sure if he could contain himself if he saw his damn face again.

Yugyeom, the youngest took out his phone and pressed 3 on speed dial, her phone rang for a while before someone answered.

---

Jinyoung held tightly to his sister the entire car ride to the hospital, when they arrived, Yeon was rushed down the hall for emergency surgery leaving Jinyoung shaking with fear. He tried to go after her, but was stopped by the staff, tears pouring down his cheeks. His little sister…

He fell back against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut, when something vibrated in his pocket.

He had taken Yeon's phone and put it in his pocket when they were being driven to the hospital. He pulled it out with shaking hands, seeing Yugyeom on the call ID.

He didn't want to leave her while she was fighting for her life, but FATE must have been terrified too.

So he answered once he was outside the door where he wouldn't disturb anyone.

“Yugyeom?” his voice was strained.

“Hyung! Where are you? Is she okay?”

Jinyoung choked on a sob.

“They took her into surgery. They don't know if she'll make it though.”  He felt tears fall down his cheeks.

“All I can do is wait…”

“W - which hospital hyung? We're coming too.” the youngest said determined.

“Seoul University Hospital.”

“We’ll be right there.” Yugyeom hung up and Jinyoung just slid down the wall sobbing hard.

Why? Why was I so stupid? Why couldn't it be me instead?

His thoughts said.

After a moment he stood up and went back inside, sitting in one of the chairs outside the emergency room and burying his face in his hands.

Please… please save her…

---

It took them longer then they had wanted to reach the hospital, and the ran in, scary more than one nurse. They had after all just been in a fight.

“Park Seong-Yeon, where is she? How is she?” JB was the first to speak, desperate to learn anything about the girl’s status. He needed to know she was going to be okay.

“Are you family?” the nurse replied, keeping a convincing pokerface.

“We are,” Youngjae stated without a second thought.

The nurse raised an eyebrow before replying: “She’s in surgery. Her brother can probably need his friends right now. Hall B, the waiting room down the left.”

She had barely finished when they ran off, ready to find their friend. “No running!”  the nurse yelled and sighed.

“Have you heard anything yet?” JB said as soon as he reached the waiting room.

“Not yet.”

Jinyoung sounded and looked broken and Aemi sat down next to him, staying quiet for a second.

“I’m sure she’s going to be fine,” Bambam tried to convince everyone, including himself.

“The doctors are good at their job,” Yugyeom agreed.  

“They better,” JB muttered as he paced the room.

“Are you-... Of course you’re not okay,” Aemi started and sighed softly. “None of us are. But please… Don’t blame yourself. We were all there. It could have been any of us. But it should have been me. That’s who Sunggyu was aiming for. So if you’re going to blame anyone other than Sunggyu, don’t blame yourself. Blame me. I’m the one who got you into this whole FATE mess in the first place.” She got up without waiting for a reply, trying to find a nurse.

Jinyoung ran his fingers through his hair, the tear tracks had finally dried, but his heart ached.

As he watched Aemi leave, he shook his head, “It wasn't your fault.” He whispered to her retreating back.

Everyone sat in chairs next to Jinyoung, all offering some silent support, what could they possibly say?

They could only sit and wait, and pray she wouldn't leave them.

A memory ran through JB’s mind, back when she had just joined, tears creeping into the corners of his eyes.

“Ew, no way Im Jaebum, I'm saving my first kiss for someone else.” She smirked, hitting him.in the shoulder.

“You haven't even given me a chance yet!”

“Well then, okay, I'll kiss you, if you can beat me in a fight.”

“No way! I'm not gonna beat you. You're a girl!”

“Or you're just scared.” She teased.

“No I'm not -”

“How about you keep your hands off my sister JB.” Jinyoung had said sternly.

JB blew out a sigh, “I was just kidding around.”

He gave a small smile as he recalled it. It was no secret that he had liked Yeon. He tried to keep it to himself, but it wasn't that easy.

---

Six hours had passed and the two youngest had drifted off to sleep. Jinyoung was exhausted as was everyone else but he didn't dare move.

“Park Jinyoung - ssi?”

His head shot up as the doctor approached them.

“Where is she? Did she make it?” He demanded rising to his feet.

The doctor sighed, “She made it through the surgery.”

“Oh thank God.” his legs almost caved in, JB catching him.

“But -”

“B - but? Why is there a but?”

“She's not out of the woods yet, she's still in a critical and unstable condition, she's in a coma… if she does somehow regain consciousness, there is no guarantee she'll be as she was before.”

“W - what do you mean by that?” Jackson choked out as Youngjae shook his head.

“There is a likelihood that Seong Yeon will possibly lose her memories of the incident and possibly events before it. She may regain them in time, but until then, you need to stay strong for her.”

“C - can we see her?” Mark choked out.

“I take it from what was said, you're the closest family?”

“Y - yeah we are.” Bambam spoke up having awoken when the doctor approached them.

“She's in ICU Room 16, but I'll ask you visit in small groups, we can't have you all in there at once.”

“Okay.”

---

They had seen their ‘Fire’ almost lifeless in front of their very eyes… tubes and wires attached to their body, all Jinyoung wanted was this to be a dream… that he'd somehow wake up and none of this would have happened.

She was so fragile, so….breakable in that hospital bed… Nothing like the strong girl she was in FATE, no mischievous smirk, no joking around.

“Yeon…. Yeon please… please come back to us… please…”

His prayers would be answered eight months later,  but not they way he wanted them to.

---