The door to Agent M’s laboratory slid open, allowing Kyungsoo to enter. The boy staggered inside with several bruises and a bloody head, left hand clutching his right arm as a poor attempt to keep the metal contraption in tact. He ignored Agent M’s assistants as he made his way towards Agent M himself who was busy inspecting the bionic arm laid out on a metal gurney.

Agent M looked up from the arm, surprised to see Kyungsoo.

“Kyungsoo!” he said out of surprise. “What are you doing here so soon?”

“Sir,” he wheezed, bowing to the man. “The mission was successful. We managed to get Hyerin and the others across the border.”

Agent M stared at him for a while before speaking. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked, referring to the boy’s injuries.

“Going back here wasn’t easy. We were practically cornered by Xinths. Plus, Blue and TOP were there too,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “But it’s okay. It’s over for now.”

“I see,” Agent M mumbled. “Then you go rest for a while, Kyungsoo.”

“No,” Kyungsoo said in a stern voice. “I want to do the operation now.”

Agent M raised a brow. “Right now?”

“Right now.”

“Kyungsoo-” He paused for a moment before chuckling humorlessly at the boy’s eagerness. “You know you need to take a shower first, right?” he asked to lighten the mood even just a little bit.

With all seriousness, Kyungsoo whipped around to go back to his room to take a shower when Agent M stopped him.

“Kyungsoo!” he called out. Kyungsoo turned around.

Agent M shook his head, confused. “Why are you rushing so much? I know that you know full well what this operation can lead to. Or have you forgotten?” he asked. “I’m not entirely confident about this and you shouldn’t be either. Are you sure you’ve really thought about this?”

Kyungsoo turned around to face Agent M. “The moment I saw that bionic arm I knew I wanted to get it. I know how risky it is to do this, but I really want it. I need it,” he said, looking at the older man with desperation. “And I know that you know that, too.”

Agent M squeezed the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know, Kyungsoo. I treat you like my own son and-”

“And I treat you like my own father, sir,” Kyungsoo interrupted, giving Myungjae a small smile. “That’s why I trust you. And you trust me, too – you wouldn’t have made that arm in the first place if you didn’t.”

Agent M gave the boy one last look before sighing and collapsing in one of the chairs. “You know Hyerin would kill me for this right?” he sighed, running a hand over his tired face. “Did you tell her why you stayed back?”

Kyungsoo looked down on the floor, shaking his head. “No,” he mumbled. “If I did it would’ve been harder to send her away,” he said and chuckled, remembering the kiss. He glanced up at Agent M who was just staring at him.

“She’s safer out there with them. With Baekhyun,” he said quietly. “I’m sure he’ll take care of her,” he whispered, giving Agent M a nod before heading out of the laboratory.

---

Baekhyun turned off the engine of the car, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes before putting them back on and turning to the others at the back. Everyone was asleep.

“Guys,” Baekhyun said, shaking Kris’ leg, “we’re here.”

It didn’t take too long for the others to wake up and open their eyes. Some stretched and yawned, while the others peeked out the window of the van.

“Where are we?” Sehun asked groggily.

“Gwangju,” Baekhyun simply said before stepping out of the car and opening the trunk to get their things.

“Gwangju!?” Luhan exclaimed in bewilderment. He lifted his sleeve to look at his watch. It was already 11 PM. “We were on the road for four hours?”

“I didn’t know we were going this far from Seoul,” Sehun mumbled.

“We don’t have a choice. If we want to keep ourselves hidden we need to be completely out of their reach,” Baekhyun said, extending his arms inside the trunk to get their things when he realized they didn’t bring anything at all.

“,” he muttered tiredly. “We didn’t get to bring our things.”

He clicked his tongue before banging on the windows of the van to call the others’ attention.

“C’mon, let’s go. We don’t have anything with us. We should just head inside,” he said, and soon the others stepped out of the car and followed Baekhyun.

The van was parked in an open parking lot in front of the apartment complex they were going to stay in. They walked inside the building, taking in the plain, generic interior of the complex. They climbed up a few stairs before finally reaching the third floor where their unit was.

Baekhyun took out a silver key from his pocket once they neared unit 121. He unlocked the door and entered while the others followed suit.

The apartment was as plain as the outside – the walls were a bland color of cream, no furniture whatsoever.  Everyone walked around the place and found three bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus a rundown kitchen with an empty fridge and a broken stove. Beside the living room opposite of the front door was a glass sliding door leading to a small balcony.

Sehun sighed and sat on the kitchen counter. “Home sweet home, I guess.”

“Okay, guys,” Baekhyun started, motioning for everyone to go to the kitchen. Kris laid an unconscious Tao on the floor of the living room – the only part of the house that had a rugged floor – before joining the others.

“So obviously this is where we're going to stay from now on,” Baekhyun sighed, leaning back against the fridge to make way for the others who were entering the cramped kitchen.

“I know this isn’t the best, but I purposely chose a place away from the city, just to be safe. We’re a little close to the outskirts of town, around the south towards Mokpo,” he explained, looking at the others cautiously. “How are you guys holding up?”

“I already feel homesick,” Sehun mumbled under his breath. Luhan reached out to pat Sehun on the back, but decided otherwise at the last minute.

“I’m doing fine,” Luhan sullenly said, folding his arms in front of his chest instead.

Kris shrugged. “I’m just worried about Tao, but aside from that there’s really nothing to be concerned about.” 

Baekhyun turned to the only girl in the room. “What about you, Hyerin?” he asked. “You haven’t said anything since we left.”

Hyerin looked up. “I’m fine,” she mumbled, shrugging as she looked down on her shoes. “Nothing to worry about me either.”

Baekhyun bit the inside of his cheek, knowing full well she was lying. He knew how she was feeling and he saw Kyungsoo kiss her. This was only the start of her feeling miserable.

“Okay,” he said nonetheless. “That’s a good thing then.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, but what was that about?” Luhan wondered. “You know, the thing that Lay was talking about.”

“The what?”

“You mean the landing object they saw?” Sehun asked curiously, startling Luhan who was surprised to see him actually acknowledging his question.

“I was there when it happened,” Kris said. “I have no idea as to what it is nor do I know how to explain how it looks like, but to put it simply it just looks like a spaceship. Except it was black and nothing like what we see in the movies.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re Xinths coming straight from Xinthesia,” Baekhyun said. “I have no clue as to how Jiyong managed to get that kind of power to enable him to bring an army of Xinths to Earth…but whatever it is, it should be stopped. Right away.”

“How are we going to do that?” Sehun asked.

“Not us. The other agents that stayed back in Seoul are the ones that are responsible to stop whatever it is,” he said. “Meanwhile our job is to stay low.”

“Yeah, and how are we going to do that?” Sehun repeated.

Baekhyun stood up straighter, taking his wallet from his jean pocket and fishing out a credit card to show the others.

“We’re going to start out completely new – new province, new home, new identities, new everything. Agent M gave me this card to spend money on furniture, food, and all our necessities. He gave us extra cash, too, just to start all over again,” he explained. “We can’t let anyone know who we are and what we’re capable of. We’re starting all over again. For now, forget about Seoul, forget about M-LX, and forget about your families. We need to focus on what’s happening now, and what we’re supposed to do.”

Everyone looked at one another with pained expressions.

Sehun let out a deep breath and buried his face into his hands. Hyerin walked over to him to give his shoulder a squeeze.

“It’s okay,” she reassured.

Baekhyun sighed, shaking his head. “I know it’s hard. It’s really, really hard. But if we all want to live then we have to do this,” he said. “Is that okay for you guys?”

Kris nodded his head. “That’s what we’re here for.”

“Good.” Baekhyun nodded, adjusting his glasses. “We have a lot of shopping to do tomorrow so we need to get all the rest we need. Hyerin and Luhan should go look for decent furniture tomorrow and Sehun and Kris should go grocery shopping. I’ll go and buy us some decent M1911's at a gun store while you guys are at it. Right now, it’s time for us to go to bed.”

Everyone nodded and dispersed the area.

Hyerin was guiding a very sullen Sehun out of the kitchen when Baekhyun called her attention.

“Hyerin,” he mumbled, leaning back against the kitchen counter. “Can we talk?”

Hyerin whipped around to look at Baekhyun before whispering something to Sehun’s ear. The boy nodded and headed out, leaving Hyerin and Baekhyun inside the kitchen.

She settled herself against the fridge, directly opposite from the boy.

“You look tired,” she remarked. “You should go and rest.”

“I saw that kiss,” he said immediately, finally looking up at Hyerin, “before we left.”

Hyerin chuckled quietly, shaking her head. “Okay?” she mumbled unsurely, clueless as to where the boy was going with this conversation. It’s probably from the shock, but she really didn’t feel anything at the moment. So much was going on inside her head and to sneak in that kiss was just too much.

It didn’t mean she wasn’t constantly bothered by it, though.

Baekhyun shrugged. “Anyone who could have seen that would assume right away it meant something. In fact, it meant a lot,” he said. “You mean a lot to him, Hyerin.”

Hyerin ran a hand over her tired face, ignoring the slight jump her heart made. “And?”

“Kyungsoo gave me the responsibility to take care of you and I’m not planning on ignoring that responsibility. So I hope you understand if I’m going to be a little hard on you sometimes.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t think I forgot what we talked about a couple of days ago. You don’t trust me and I know that. But I’m going to change that.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me. I don’t want you to feel that way and also,” he looked at her straight in the eye, “I don’t think I would be able to take it seeing you look at me as if I’m…as if I’m everything wrong in this world.”

Hyerin met his pain-stricken eyes as he continued. “I know I’ve said this a million times already, but I’m sorry. I know what I did. And I’m sorry and-” he swallowed the lump in his throat, “and I’m trying really hard to fix whatever it is that’s broken between us. I’m trying really, really hard, Hyerin, you don’t even know.”

Hyerin stared at Baekhyun, mouth set in a grim line. She was tired. Tired of having so much anger and sadness every single second of every single minute of every single day. Sometimes, she doesn’t even remember why she’s so mad in the first place. She didn’t even know anymore whom exactly she’s holding a grudge for. She was just so tired, and she knew he was, too.

Hyerin’s shoulders relaxed, walking over to Baekhyun with open arms.

“Come here,” she said quietly.

Baekhyun let out a relieved, shaky breath, all the pain and exhaustion he had been holding in transparent on his face as he let Hyerin envelop him in a hug.

He couldn’t help but break down and cry as he felt her arms around his cold, frigid body, giving him genuine warmth. It was the first hug he had in a long time.

Hyerin held him tightly, securely. She felt Baekhyun bury his head into the crane of her neck, his whole frame shaking violently as he tried his hardest to silence his sobs. He didn’t want anyone to hear.

“I’m sorry,” he sobbed, clutching her shirt. “I’m everything wrong in this world, I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t say that,” she whispered, eyes watering. “Please don’t.”

It wasn’t his fault. From the moment he agreed to side with Jiyong ‘till the day he came back to M-LX, it was never his fault. He was just trying to protect the people he loved, and there was nothing wrong with that.

“I’m the one who’s sorry, Baekhyun.  It’s not your fault. It never was,” she whispered, clutching the back of his head. “You just did the wrong things for the right reasons.”

---

ZiTao woke up in a cold sweat.

“Gah!” he cried, bolting up from the floor, gasping. The surrounding agents sleeping beside him on the living room floor woke up right away.

“No, no, no, please don’t,” Tao pleaded to no one in particular, eyes wide but seeing nothing but darkness as he felt up his surroundings.

Soon enough, the lights flickered on and all the agents surrounded him.

“Calm down, Tao!” Luhan exclaimed, shaking the boy by the shoulders.

“Help me!” Tao yelped. “Help!”

“Tao, it’s okay,” Hyerin reassured, clasping his face with her hands. “It’s okay. You’re safe. We’re here.”

Tao’s sight gradually adjusted to the brightness, finally seeing the other agents surrounding him. With quivering lips and tear-stained cheeks he asked, “W-What’s going on?”

“You just suddenly woke up,” Kris said, soothingly patting his back. “You passed out back when you were at the wall.”

“The wall…” he mumbled to himself as he collected his thoughts. “That was because of me. That wall is there because of my power. J-Jiyong took my power to use for that wall, I’m sorry, I-”

“It’s not your fault. You were kidnapped, remember?” Sehun said.

Tao nodded, hands shaking violently. “That’s something I would never forget,” he muttered in a wobbly voice. “When I saw that container engine back at the wall, I just started to get flashbacks. It’s just so horrible, the things they did, I-”

Hyerin shushed him. “It’s okay, Tao,” she said. “You’re here with us now. Jiyong will never touch you again and you don’t have to tell us about it if you don’t want to.”

Tao held back his tears. “I don’t know. I just feel like right now.”

“Don’t worry. Jiyong will pay for what he did to you,” Baekhyun said determinedly. “He’ll pay for everything he did to us.”

---

A/N: Okay, before anything, if you haven't seen this go read please ---> Click Here.

I think all my gratitude has been expressed through that blog post as well as how I felt about the feature. But anyway, I still can't thank you guys enough. I love you guys! <3

On another note, this was a pretty chill chapter. It's not very long because it was meant to be posted only a couple of days after the previous chapter but then finals happened and everything just went downhill! I'm really going to try to update sooner than this next time. I know it to wait. :(

Lastly, I've been thinking of something to do on the side after I finish Guts. You guys have such bizarre and interesting analysis about the story as well as non-canon happenings that I'm planning to do this side thing for Guts. Like, I'm going to gather a bunch of non-canon stuff from all your comments once I end this story, and all the interesting ones will get picked and made into a one-shot/drabble/etc. and will be posted on a separate story. :) I'm also going to post some interesting facts/alterations I've done on the story and all that stuff since it's fun. :)

Anyway, enough of this! Drop a comment and tell me what you thought about this chater! Thank you so much! <3

edit: people wonder how i managed to make kyungsoo so manly in this fic. well, it's because of edits like these:

Merry Christmas. <3