The jeep went up in flames as Zhou Mi was freed from his immobile state; finally able to move and be in control once more. Thick, orange heat locked him up, curling around his limbs and chest. Trying to swallow him, consume him, tell him he was safe. He looked around, but the dense wall of a moving sunset prevented him from seeing anything beyond a metre in front of him. That meant the others were okay. Or at least safe from his fiery cloak. 

Wait. 

What happened to Jongwoon?

Frantic and flooded with new panic, he looked around with rushed movements, trying to locate a body or anything resembling one. He was not sure that once flambéed, a human corpse looked quite the same. Yet it took forty-five minutes for a corpse to be burnt to an unrecognisable state, however, this fire was much more powerful, so he was unsure of the amount of time it took for a body to become unrecognisable. He stood up, blood thick with adrenaline and veins pumped full of anxiety. His hands shook as he brought them to his face.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." He wailed out. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Zhou Mi calm down!"

The voice was familiar. Heechul, his racing, fear-fuelled mind supplied. The Phenomena element must've been trying to contact him. Tell him to stop.

Calm down, he could calm down. But he needed to find Jongwoon first. He had to find whatever was left of him anyway. He had to say he was sorry. He had to.

"Stop thinking Zhou Mi!" Heechul's voice ran through his mind again. "Calm down. You can say sorry later. Right now I need you to breathe, okay? One, two, one, two, yeah?"

The binary pattern eased his hysterical gasps and his skin began to absorb some of the flames that at his flesh. 

"That's good! Keep doing that!" Heechul encouraged him gently. "Just breathe, think later, okay? Just so you know, you haven't hurt anyone; we're all okay, yeah? We understand what you did and no one's mad. Just a bit shocked."

Shock. That was better that anger or fear he supposed. He gulped in the warm air around him, along with some of the tendrils of heat. The fiery feeling that ran down his throat set the anxiety in his stomach alight, the heavy emotions dissolving as his fire disappeared. 

Zhou Mi's vision was blurred and his head spun. He had to remember to keep breathing. One step forwards and he felt himself falling face-first out of the mangled jeep and on to the concrete, shades of grey mingling in his heat hazed eyes. Grey slowly turned to black after a while, and his mind yearned for it.

---

"That was quite the episode you had."

Zhou Mi's eyes flew open as he heard the words. He turned his head to the side only to find a feather-filled wall of a pillow. The faint lingering smell of smoke filled the room along with his raspy breathing.

What? A room?

Taking in his surroundings, he noticed that they were in a hotel of some sort; there was furniture, a curtained window too. The blankets smothering him were full and heavy against his chest, tucked against his sides; the pillow around his head caged it in, edges curving towards the middle due to the weight. It was all too small. Constricting, enclosing, tight, too tight. 

He kicked the duvet off, flinging it across the small room along with the pillow which he'd picked up and thrown at the thick covering. They fell to the ground in a heap, and Zhou Mi languidly stretched his long form along the length of the bed, spreading his arms much like a bird with its wings. Much better, this was much better. He was free from the cage, he could breathe easier now. 

"That was rather interesting too." 

Zhou Mi rolled over to find two people sitting there, side by side, blinking up at him as he basked in the thin sliver of moonlight which cut through the curtains. He couldn't tell who. It was too dark, the only hints of their identities were the mountain peaks on folds of clothing, exposing colours and patterns.

"That's Jongwoon by the way," another voice said before quickly adding. "And this is Henry... Hi... Um... I'll open the curtains."

The Fire element blinked at the dark for a moment, as the younger went to tug the sheets of fabric guarding them from the moonlight away. The silver glow spread across his body as it was allowed entrance, bathing his skin and making him realise that he lacked his shirt. 

He was going to say something but the words clogged in his throat, stuck scraping the edges of his desert dry windpipe. Water. He needed water. As much as the Fire within him despised it, his body longed for the liquid. His head hurt and his mouth tasted like ash. Yes, he needed water, while his element protested; the calls of his body were much more needy. 

The Fire would never admit this, but he was not him at the moment, he was Zhou Mi, so he could. He needed Water to survive. To drink, to live. He was still human. His body wished for the elixir of life. In a way, he needed Henry. Which was good. Because he wanted to fix the broken bonds within the twelve as much as possible. Becoming friends with his opposite would be a start. 

"Wa... Water..." He managed to cough out, sitting up and looking in the direction of the two.

Henry hurriedly gave him a bottle full of the liquid, he cherished it greatly. The container was soon drained as he gulped it down greedily, relishing the feel of it slide down his throat and quench his intense thirst. He gave the bottle back with a small thank you. 

"Are you feeling any better sir?" Jongwoon spoke up as Zhou Mi wiped his mouth.

"Um, yeah... Thanks," he coughed out roughly. "What about you?"

"What about me?" 

He said it in a way that kind of implied that he thought he didn't matter.

"You weren't hurt?"

"I vaporised and hid in a shadow, I wasn't hurt sir."

"Oh... That's a... That's a relief, then," Zhou Mi internally slapped himself for such awkward conversation. "I was so worried."

"Yes, you mentioned that a lot in your sleep sir." Jongwoon hummed lowly. 

"... I'm sorry by the way... I didn't mean to... Well, combust," Zhou Mi murmured apologetically. "I just..."

"You should stop apologising for something that is only an instinct for you," Jongwoon voice was trying to sound reassuring, but it still sounded more blank. "You panicked. Then there was water, and that set you off. You can't not control when you self-combust, you do it to protect yourself."

Zhou Mi had never really thought about it in that way, he just believed he did it because his powers were out of whack. Now Jongwoon explained it like that, it actually made quite a lot of sense.

"Well, if you're fine, I need to get back to my Master, sorry. Duty calls, sir," Jongwoon observed the Fire element's form. "Heechul told me to wait here because he told me you'd be worried. Best to see me first thing when you woke up to prevent you from worrying the whole night, yes?"

"That's okay... Yeah, see ya then..." Zhou Mi nodded slowly, scratching his head. "Thanks again."

"No problem," Jongwoon huffed at the gratitude. "I'll see you tomorrow then? Goodnight sir."

The Darkness element stood up left the room, swords clanking at his sides as he did. A small click told him that the door had shut, and he sighed before looking out the window. Zhou Mi heard more shuffling, the crumpling of fabric indicating someone moving. Startled, he quickly looked in the direction of the noise. Henry stood frozen in his gaze, wide-eyed and scared. 

He had forgotten Henry was in the room.

"U-Uh... I-I was just about to leave..." Henry stuttered unevenly. "

Zhou Mi's stare softened and he shook his head furiously. This was a good opportunity to try smooth things over.

"Um, n-no, you can, um, stay, it's fine," Zhou Mi stammered. "I didn't mean to, uh, scare you."

"It's fine," Henry blinked in wonder at him as he sat himself back down. "Um... So..."

"So..." Zhou Mi repeated awkwardly. 

Silence filled the room while both of them tried to find appropriate words to fill in the spaces. Zhou Mi shuffled awkwardly on the bed, crossing his legs and rocking back and forth.

"Um... Sorry about before..." He coughed. "Y'know... Massive fight, the one Jongwoon got hurt...?"

"Oh! Thanks... Uh, yeah... I'm sorry too," Henry responded quickly. "I don't know what came over me..."

"It's okay, I don't think it's us..." Zhou Mi sighed lying down so Henry didn't have to crane his neck up so much. "It's the elements. They don't like each other, therefore, sometimes we don't either." Seeing Henry's face he stammered out. "But I don't not like you..."

"I don't not like you either," Henry smiled cheerfully. "... This is nice..."

"Hm?"

"Being able to talk... Without killing each other..."

Zhou Mi supposed that it was because they were both trying to make an effort. That and they probably were both too lazy or couldn't be bothered to start a fight. He sure couldn't.

"Oh, yeah that is a pretty good thing," Zhou Mi laughed happily. "Um... So... Where'd you come from? Your accent sounds a little different from normal. And you have an English name..."

"Ethnically, I'm Hong Kong-Taiwanese, but my family lived in Canada. Well, until the war began," Henry picked at some scabs on his knuckles from previous fights. Zhou Mi inwardly cringed. "My parents were in China the time the war spread. And I lost my siblings when I escaped to here. You?"

"Came from Wuhan, some guys smuggled me into Korea, a scientist looked after me. I stayed with him till I was seventeen. Then he put me in a tube," Zhou Mi shrugged lazily. "Six years later, you guys came along, and now we're here."

"... Does that mean you're actually older than the rest of us?" 

"Probably not older than Kyuhyun, but yeah," Zhou Mi frowned. "The thing is I, haven't aged a bit. So technically, I'm still only seventeen."

"But in terms of how many years you've been alive..." Henry said slowly. "You're twenty-three?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Zhou Mi sighed hanging his arms over the edge of the bed. "I don't like to think about it much. I like to believe I'm just as normal as the rest of you."

"I don't think anyone here can be called normal," Henry mumbled. "But I think we're all at the same level of weird?"

Zhou Mi smiled, he was happy at the way they were simply falling into a flowing conversation. 

"You ask me something now."

"God... Um... I don't know," Henry chuckled out breathily. "Are you scared of me?"

"Of you? As in the Water or as in you?" Zhou Mi asked quizzically.

"Me, and the water. I want to know your different views of me."

"Hm... Well, to be honest, I'm not scared of you, as Henry. You seem really nice," Zhou Mi mused. "I am, however, scared of water though. Water hates me."

"I'm scared of fire, if it makes you feel any better," Henry admitted sheepishly. "But I'm not scared of you, as Zhou Mi, either."

"I hope I don't," Zhou Mi exhaled. "That's not my intention."

They continued talking until Zhou Mi noticed Henry had nodded off. He looked pretty cute, asleep or awake, Zhou Mi had to admit. Eyes closed and face peaceful, he looked incredibly young, long lashes casting spiked shadows across his skin. Hauling himself off the bed, Zhou Mi retrieved the abandoned blankets. He made the bed sloppily and fluffed up the pillow before lifting Henry's limp form. 

Henry felt cold against his chest, or maybe he was just because he was always warmer that everyone. His head lolled into the crevice of his neck and collarbone. The puff of even breathing and soft locks of hair tickled his skin. He gently lay the smaller down on the sheets, slowly pulled the duvet over him and tucked him in. 

"You hate him."

The voice inside his head sent cold shivers down his spine. But he didn't give into the instincts in the back of his mind.

"I think I'll decide that for myself."

---

Hello again!

So decided to give you guys Siwon’s inner thoughts, seeming people really wanted to see them and I don’t want to be a meanie.

Siwon (in this story) is actually quite a hard character to state his thoughts. He’s straightforward, like Jongwoon but his words can also be really obscure. And because he doesn’t really talk to the others much, he doesn’t particularly have much to say…

Quick reminder if you didn’t memorise what was written in the previous chapter (Don’t worry, I haven’t either, just using the copy and paste technique and adding a few alternations, haha): Each sentence has a person’s name next to it. The person whose name is there, is the person that Siwon is ‘talking’ about (He’s talking in a way that it sounds like he’s immediately talking to them, but he actually would never say these word to them). RED means a hostile relationship, BLUE means a positive one, and GREEN means an unsure or unsteady one. Underlined means Cognate (Friend, similar element) and bold & italicised means opposite (completely contrasting, opposite powers, e.g. Water and Fire). Any name that's got both colours in it means the relationship between those two people is kind of teetering between the two statuses. Parentheses (Brackets) with any text in them are what a person thinks about them, but doesn't directly express (e.g. Sungmin -> Kyuhyun: "One step closer, and I'll gut you like a fish, sew you back together, and do it again. (You killed my brother you... You... You demon... Why?!)" <- This bracketed part is what Sungmin doesn't clearly express towards Kyuhyun. If there are a set of parentheses (brackets) that have "..." like this -> (...) or have incoherent words (... You... why... I can... No...) <- like that, then the person has hidden or obscure thoughts about the other person (basically, if I didn't make them dots or random words, I'd be giving huge spoilers)

Siwon:

-> Sungmin: “It’s nice that you make an effort to talk to me, even when no one else will. I didn’t even show I wanted you to, not that I don’t, it’s just I think it’s really nice you did that… Thank you (…).”

-> Heechul: “… Do you hate me or… Um… (Have I done something…?)”

-> Jongwoon: “… Does he want to talk to me…? (…).”

-> Kyuhyun: “I don’t think you’re bad or anything… You can’t really stop what you didn’t really start in the first place… And if we didn’t have you everything would kind of turn to custard…”

-> Donghae: “Hey… It’s okay, come talk with me… I’m your friend, a cognate, remember? (Poor Donghae-ah… He looks so lonely…)”

-> Eunhyuk: “I can’t tell who you are really. You’re constantly changing… (Is there… No… That’s… I don’t think….)”

-> Han Geng: “(= Sworn brother until the end of time) you can talk to anyone… I wish I could do that… I’m just too shy, I guess.”

-> Leeteuk: “You’re a good leader, but you worry selflessly. I’m concerned that’s going to let us all down… Just… Look out for yourself…”

-> Zhou Mi: “… I don’t think you’re scared of me… And I’m in no way scared of you… Maybe our elements clash…?”

-> Henry: “You’re a powerful force in this team but… Are you afraid of me…? I’m slightly confused…”

-> Ryeowook: “… Please don’t shoot me?”

So that’s Siwon for you, getting mixed signals from everyone ^^ Poor guy… He’s probably so confused.

Well, that’s me for now

See you soon!