Chapter Five

Flame

Donghae glanced over in the direction of his hyung warily. Even if it had been his naïve suggestion for him and Leeteuk to save the world, he was worried at how closely the older had taken it to heart. He was unsure even of how they would go about such a thing - they were quite outnumbered. However, Leeteuk seemed confident, and that was all it took for Donghae to agree to go with him. He had known his hyung longer than he could speak and considered him to truly be like a brother to him and the younger was assured the feeling was mutual. It had taken a lot of the energy out of him just to reach the Slums, as their malnourished bodies could only take so much in one day.

Leeteuk glanced over to him, putting a single finger to his lips as he signaled for him to be quiet. Donghae had never been to the Slums before, however he admitted that he hadn’t been missing out on much. While it wasn’t falling apart like the Ruins, the buildings were old and small, perhaps two bedrooms at most. Each house was surrounded by a high, imposing barbwire fence. Donghae could clearly see into the backyards into the distance. He swallowed deeply, noticing several people chained to the fences like dogs. He should’ve figured that Chosen wouldn’t let their slaves live inside if there was such little space for the both of them, however seeing people have to live outside, to have to sleep on the harsh, cold pavement, upset him greatly. Donghae reached out instinctively, wanting to save them, however Leeteuk held him back.

“I know it’s hard to watch,” Leeteuk’s face scrunched up in disgust, probably feeling just as horrible as his dongsaeng did about the treatment of their people as he whispered as low as possible, “But we can’t be rash. We can’t help them if we get caught.”

Donghae nodded, trying to pry his eyes away from the scene as he and Leeteuk snuck around in the darkness. The only thing that even allowed them to see was the light coming from the houses. It lit the faces of the people chained, all seeming to try and lean against the fence as a support to sleep on. His fists clenched involuntarily, however, he continued to follow his hyung anyway. He was curious to where they were going but held his tongue as they were getting closer to the houses. Those outside, that could probably easy see them, looked overcome with exhaustion. They did not even stir when Donghae and Leeteuk walked past them.

Reaching the end of the street, Leeteuk stared back at the house that resided in front of them, gesturing for Donghae to follow once more as they ducked down to crawl under the windows to reach the backyard. Donghae was curious as to why his hyung had singled out the home over all the others. Leeteuk turned back to look at his dongsaeng, looking him over worriedly before whispering to him warningly, “Try not to react too loudly.”

“Hyung? What do you-”

Donghae clamped his hands over his lips as he tried to stifle a gasp. He rushed over to the still figure and bent down to his level. He turned back to look up at his hyung, who’s eyes were filled what Donghae recognized as resentment and he knew it was directed towards the Chosen. While Leeteuk was like a brother to him, the boy on the other side of the fence was his best friend. Like Gina, the older boy had also tried to persuade him to join him. Donghae had stayed by Leeteuk’s side, however, as he trusted his hyung with his life. The younger had begged the boy not to go and had been deeply hurt when he had gone along with the others, all of Donghae and Leeteuk’s friends leaving them behind. And now they were in the Slums…

Donghae was assured he had made the right choice, however he ached just staring back at his friend. Why had he had to go? Donghae the chains that bound his wrists to the wall. He shook them gently, causing his friend to slump over slightly. He put a comforting hand over his shoulder, nudging into the skin with his fingertips.

“Eunhyuk-ah,” He whispered faintly as Leeteuk came over to crouch down by the two of them. The expression on his face reinforced his earlier warning. However, Donghae tried one more time, raising his voice just by the tiniest bit, leaning down to whisper his name closer into his ear.

There was a barely noticeable shift in Eunhyuk’s position as he tried to look behind him weakly. His eyes met with the younger of the two boys on the other side of the fence first. “D-donghae? Is that you?” He asked, his voice weak and the younger knew that it was probably not just from tiredness.

Donghae reached out to him, nodding, “It’s going to be okay now, hyung. Me and Teukie-hyung will get you out of here.” 

Author's Note: 

Hope you are enjoying the story so far. I promise to try and continue to update it as often as I can. I would like to thank my beloved bestie, iheartsungmin and my new unni, maknaehariiex27, for supporting me through this story that has just only begun. 

~*Carissa*~