Kihyun raised his head, blinking in the dim light. He flicked his ears and surveyed his surroundings from where he lay, curled in the far back corner of his cell. Everything came rushing back at once and Kihyun rolled onto his back, groaning, gripping his tail in both hands and on the tip. These were the times he missed Hyungwon and his motherly fussing, and Wonho laughing in the background at Kihyun’s futile protests. Kihyun unconsciously whimpered. Although he had trained for this for years, right now, he was terrified. All alone, these three could do whatever they wanted to him. He was small and weak, and rather defenseless. 

    A hand touched his head and he flew backwards, slamming into the wall. He took flight, forgetting his position with his wings against the wall, and crashed back to the ground, feathers flying everywhere. “Whoa there, Grasshopper. Calm down. I won’t hurt you.” Peering up, Kihyun recognized Pretty Wings, standing over him. Faint amusement glinted in his eyes. Kihyun snarled in annoyance. How dare this youngster laugh at him, an elder member of his species? Pretty Wings crouched beside him. “Hey. I thought you might be hungry, so I brought you something.” He held out a small plate of noodles and what looked like chicken.

    Kihyun slowly sat up, only to have another heart attack when a second voice spoke somewhere nearby. “Fraternizing with the enemy, huh maknae?” Red-Head was hanging by his knees from a pole stretching through the cell from one wall to the other. His red wings were hanging, stretched out, on either side of him.

    Pretty Wings snorted, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “Of course not. I just pitied him, lying here like a lost mutt on the streets, all on his lonesome.” He took off with a snobbish huff, leaving Kihyun with the plate. Red-Head slid off his pole and landed somewhat gracefully on his feet. He bounced over and plopped down in front of Kihyun. His smile was almost too happy for Kihyun to tolerate.

    “Hi! We sort of got off on the wrong foot, what with maknae knocking you out, us tying you up, locking you in a cell, etcetera. I really hope you don’t hate me. I couldn’t take it knowing someone hated me! It would break my heart. I like you! Let’s be friends! Let’s try this over. I’m Jooheon! I really like kittens and puppies and drawing and eating and…”

    Kihyun stared at him in astonishment as he blabbered on, completely oblivious to the fact that Kihyun was starving, he had food, but no chopsticks. How could this kid have so many words spilling out of his mouth? Did he even know what he was saying? A yowl pulled Kihyun from his mental questions, and he refocused his eyes to realize that Pretty Wings had just clobbered Red-Head - Jooheon - over the head with a pillow. “Stop your needless babbling, it’s annoying.” He turned to Kihyun and held out a pair of chopsticks. “Sorry, I forgot to give you these.” Before Kihyun could thank him, he flew off. 

    Jooheon was now sitting there sulking, unhappy. Kihyun gazed at him for a moment. “You really like to talk, don’t you?” Jooheon nodded sadly, firmly keeping his mouth shut. “Alright, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to be friends.” Jooheon perked up, his smile returning. “My name is Kihyun, I’m one of the city guards.”

    Jooheon’s eyes widened. “You’re a guard?! That’s why you were following Minhyuk!” As soon as that popped out, Jooheon smacked his hand over his mouth and flattened his ears. “I shouldn’t have said that. I really shouldn’t have said that.” Kihyun twitched his ears. Minhyuk? He must be Blondie. The red Atax shot away squawking, leaving Kihyun sitting there in confusion.

    He returned a few minutes later, accompanied by Blondie - Minhyuk - and Pretty Wings. Pretty Wings looked furious, while Minhyuk just shook his head. Pretty Wings Jooheon first. “Well done, idiot! Now we can never let him go! You really missed up this time.” Minhyuk shot Pretty Wings a glare.

    “What’s done is done. He’s a guard, he could help us.” 

    Kihyun flattened his ears and screwed his eyes up. “Help you? Help you do what?!” Jooheon, still sad about getting yelled at by his younger friend, pranced over to Kihyun and buried his face in the older boy’s neck. After hesitating a moment, Kihyun lightly rubbed his back and gave him a small hug. 

    Pretty Wings led the group to a small room filled with monitors, papers, chairs - there was no end to the mess. No matter what, Jooheon refused to let go of Kihyun, clinging to his back for comfort. Pretty Wings, now known as Changkyun, proceeded into the room, picking up random objects, skirting teetering piles of books. Kihyun had never seen such a place, looking like a massive tornado had come through. It made him uncomfortable.

    The explaining and convincing took a couple of hours, but in the end, Kihyun believed them. He finally saw what his leaders, the lords and kings, were doing. He had never known - all his time was spent in the guard rooms, making the rounds, on the wall. He had had no idea how greedy, selfish and just plain EVIL his bosses were. Kihyun sat there in the chair in shock, staring at the pictures in his hands. Jooheon sat beside him on the floor, playing with Kihyun’s tail. “… How? How could I have never known?”

    Minhyuk took the pictures from him. “This is why you  being a guard can help us. You can help us get in and overthrow the king. We can save the people.” Kihyun nodded slowly, imagining the underground tunnels and passageways beneath the city frequented by the guards. Changkyun grabbed Minhyuk and pulled him to the other side of the room.

    “Hyung, are you sure we can trust him? What if he betrays us? He knows our names and what we look like. He could lead his fellow guards to us.” The pair glanced back at the former-guard. Jooheon was now sitting in front of him, still on the floor, legs wrapped around Kihyun’s feet, elbows resting on Kihyun’s knees. He was listening intently as the older Atax was speaking.

    Minhyuk shook his head. “Look at them. Jooheon adores Kihyun. Have you ever seen him look at anyone like that? I think we can trust him. He knows what’s going on now. Did you see his reaction? He will help us, trust me.” Changkyun gazed at him unwaveringly. He nodded and returned to the other two, practically dragging Jooheon to his feet. After a few exchanges, they seemed to have come to an agreement of some kind. Minhyuk watched from afar.

    Jooheon suddenly got super excited. His beating wings accidentally knocked over several piles of stuff, but he ignored it. He grabbed Kihyun’s hand and pulled him up. “Kihyunnie-Hyung can room with me!!” Without waiting for an answer, he took off, headed for the living quarters. Kihyun was forced to beat his wings quickly, and the two left Minhyuk and Changkyun standing there, shaking their heads with small smiles.