Zhou Mi wrapped his arms tightly around his long legs, hunched up in ball. Balanced on a tree branch, he looked towards the sky. You could barely see the stars anymore, thick smog from the factories and cities had long covered the night sky. Earth was cut off from the rest of the universe by a blanket of grey smoke.

It was rather sad.

"You shouldn't run off you know."

The Fire element jumped, clinging on to the tree trunk for support and balance as he'd been caught off guard. He looked to his right to see none other than Kim Jongwoon, hanging upside down from the branch above. He wasn't looking at him, simply staring off into the distance with a tranquil look. How long had he been there? More importantly, how had he not seen or heard him do that?

"If I couldn't see in the dark, I bet no one would've found you," Jongwoon sighed with a bored expression. "But I can, and I did, so I guess we can talk a bit."

"How did you get up here?" Zhou Mi was still staring at him incredulously. "Without me knowing, I mean."

"Darkness, remember?" Jongwoon rolled his eyes as he turned to him. "I simply just materialised here. As I did in the middle of your fight."

Zhou Mi examined the older. Because he was upside down, his hair was off his face and hung downwards, the dark strands swaying in the wind. His forehead was covered with the wrap he had put on earlier, and had recently been replaced. The left side of his face was flushed bright red, a consequence of becoming so close to a flame. His sleeve of his jacket and shirt had been singed and the smell of smoke lingered around him. The right cheek was covered in a white medical patch, which was dotted with tiny blood drops. He looked weird. Seeming that his face was decorated with red, when it usually was a frosty white. He felt guilty for hurting Jongwoon. For having to actually have someone step in and have to get hurt for both he and Henry to get the message that they were both taking this rivalry too far. It wasn't in his place to be hurt.

"You shouldn't have stepped in," Zhou Mi said quietly. "You didn't need to take the attack for me."

"I didn't take the attack for you, I was telling you to stop," Jongwoon pointed out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "And it worked."

"You still got hurt," Zhou Mi countered sadly. "And you didn't need to."

"Oh, it didn't hurt that much to be honest," Jongwoon shrugged nonchalantly. "A little fire and ice can't take me down that easily."

"... Really? Because that looked like it hurt... A lot."

"Oh, you think so?" Jongwoon raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Excuse me for just a moment."

Jongwoon dissolved into the dark for a moment before reappearing in the same position except facing in the opposite direction. He then un-tucked his legs and let himself fall, curling his calves around the branch Zhou Mi was on, causing it to wobble slightly. Now beside the Fire element, he swung himself up with the force of the fall from the branch above to propel himself upwards, so he was in a seated position beside him.

"That's a bit better," Jongwoon hummed crossing his ankles. "I was bored of thinking the city was the sky."

"Impressive." Zhou Mi blinked in surprise as Jongwoon rearranged himself.

"I've had practice," Jongwoon smirked with a low huff. "Getting bored easily has its perks."

Zhou Mi noticed that it wasn't a complete smirk. It was a twitch of one the corner of his lips. Stiff, unrealistic and fake. He wondered if he was acting; smiling when he wasn't happy, crying when he wasn't sad and yelling when he wasn't angry. But then he thought, no. Because no one can be that inhuman. Even though feelings were portrayed as weak, the war brought them out in even the best of them.

"You practised gymnastics when you got bored?"

"Well, not just that..."

"You must've gotten really bored."

"Only when we retired for the night," Jongwoon clucked his tongue. "It just seems pointless for me to sleep.”

Zhou Mi nodded slowly, he resumed his original position and continued looking at the sky.

"How do you and Ryeowook not fight?" He asked curiously. "You both hold a grudge against each other."

"I don't 'hold' anything against anyone. I don't understand why you people do," Jongwoon drawled with no emotion. "To answer your question, however, I simply ignore him. I can't be bothered with his berating. It's annoying."

"Jesus, you sound heartless."

"Hmph."

Zhou Mi frowned at that reply, but shook his head and looked down.

"Anyway, talk," Jongwoon materialised a watermelon from behind his back. He pulled out a sword. "Why did you attack Henry? I don't care if he started it or you did, just tell me why."

"WHERE ON EARTH DID YOU GET THAT?!"

"Hm? Oh, there's a field of melon vines a little away from here. We should go pick some when we go back. But stop avoiding the question."

"... He accidentally bumped into me and I got mad..." Zhou Mi sighed with shame. "I've got... A... Short temper... So... Yeah..."

Jongwoon didn't answer, as if he wanted Zhou Mi to continue. Given the chance, he did, unable to stop himself.

"But it's not like I really hate him!" Zhou Mi sighed exasperatedly holding his head in his hands. "Well, something inside me does a little bit... But I really want to become friends because... Well, apart from Han Geng, he's the only one who speaks Mandarin. That means he came from somewhere else. Maybe he'd understand where I was coming from more... I don't know!"

"Hm, you wish to become friends," Jongwoon threw the melon up in the air; slicing it in the air with his sword and letting it fall. Zhou Mi watched it as it dropped into the darkness. "Temper. Angry state of mind. Or a habit to get mad easily. You don't have a temper. In fact, you're actually more assertive than aggressive. Your element does, though."

"My element?"

"Fire," Jongwoon explained sheathing his sword. "Explosions, the of angry hot flames burning something to ashes. Hot and lashing. Of course your element has a temper. Doesn't mean fire is always angry though. It can be nice, calm, like a campfire."

"I feel angry a lot of the time though." Zhou Mi sighed.

"Why not use that anger to do something productive?"

Zhou Mi snorted. "Like what?"

"Perhaps remove yourself from the situation," Jongwoon suggested as tendrils of darkness handed him a slice of melon. "Don't worry; it's just darkness, not dirty. Where was I? Oh, yes. Remove yourself and then use that drive to train or something similar."

Jongwoon spoke in a very specific way; it wasn't something that could be easily described. His voice was low and smooth; like melted dark chocolate, flowing, yet had what could only be explained as a bittersweet note to it. But at the same time it sounded apathetic and lacklustre. Like he didn't care or didn't want to care about anything and everything. That he simply didn't have the motivation or energy to fix this mess. It sounded lifeless and maybe even a bit droning, but it was still quite lovely to listen to. Zhou Mi thought it was extremely contradictory.

"Training?" Zhou Mi asked slowly as he nibbled at the pink fruit.

"Yes," Jongwoon repeated. He seemed patient for someone who sounded like he didn't care. "Don't you remember learning to climb up trees this high?"

He didn't, to be honest. He could barely remember anything about his childhood, his family, his home. All his memories held were late nights in dark rooms and magnificent orange patterns that swirled around the black with crackles and pops. And being placed in that tube. He hated that tube. The rind in his hands was cold and wet with juice and he knew that there was some of the sweet liquid covering his cheeks. He dropped it, watching it fall on to the ground. An empty green shell.

"No."

"Oh."

Zhou Mi was surprised that he didn't sound surprised or shocked. Instead he gave him one of his smiles, in which his lips only lifted several degrees rather than being a full curve. It wasn't meant to be mocking or evil, Zhou Mi knew that. It was meant to know. But that was a lie. Jongwoon didn't know what it was like being him.

"I certainly don't." Jongwoon interrupted his thoughts.

"Don't what?"

"Know what it's like being you."

"DID YOU READ MY MIND?!"

"The only thing I read was your face," Jongwoon handed him another piece of watermelon. "But you're right. I don't know what it's like being you. I know what it's like being me though, and I think we can relate."

"What do you mean relate?" Zhou Mi narrowed his eyes. "We're nothing alike. I'm Fire and you're Darkness."

To emphasise his point he held out his free hand and a ball of flame floated about his open palm. Jongwoon wasn't threatened. Instead he held out his own palm and Zhou Mi watched as a ball of black collected above his pale white skin. It flickered and glowed with a violet aura, almost as his fire did with a yellow shine.

"You and I are not so different," Jongwoon closed his palm, and the darkness dispersed. "You just have to look past the minutiae."

Zhou Mi didn't know what minutiae were. But he knew that that particular phrase was Jongwoon trying to teach him something. Something important that he might use later on. He kept it in his mind, repeating it over and over. Jongwoon stood up, chucking his last piece of melon rind on to the forest floor.

"Come on," he looked down at him. "Let's go get more watermelon."

---

A/N:

Hi guys, I don't have much energy at the moment sorry, I'm a bit tired...

But I hope you enjoy this. This is one of my favourite chapters so far...

I love you all~

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