Zhou Mi had insisted that Henry rest by him.

It was a tight squeeze, having all twelve of them huddled in the back. Five of them were squished up against the back wall while the others where tucked away in the gaps between the crates (which were about a metre wide). How to do this with two teenagers was hard, but Zhou Mi was leaning against the side wall with Henry curled up between his legs, resting his head on his chest. His long limbs were bent around Henry's limp form. It was pretty comfortable, it had to be seeming they'd been like this for a couple of hours. And Henry's presence was comforting. 

He didn't know why. A few days, maybe a week, ago, he'd wanted to rip the small boy against him to shreds. Now, he sent a warm, buzzing feeling through his system. It wasn't uncomfortable at all, it was actually quite pleasant and soothed his anxiety. 

Maybe it was because they weren't opposites. But they were. Water and Fire. Yin and Yang. They clashed viciously, but they also balanced each other out. Water calmed the Fire in him when it became too out of control and the Fire sparked life into the tranquility of the Water in Henry. He liked this newfound development. Zhou Mi felt Henry's head shift on his chest, and looked down curiously.

"You're claustrophobic... Aren't you...?"

Zhou Mi gulped but nodded grimly. "Yeah..." 

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Henry asked with a concerned voice.

"I didn't want to ruin the plan," Zhou Mi reached a hand up to run through his hair. "Everyone seemed so up to it, if I had mentioned, it would've mucked it up."

"What about what Kyuhyun said?" Henry scolded softly. "About not setting anybody off? It puts us all at risk."

"I'm sorry," Zhou Mi mumbled shamefully. "I just didn't want to disappoint anyone."

"You don't need to apologise, I feel like I would've done the same thing... We're all scared of something, it's okay," Henry murmured soothingly. "Now I've got you guys, I'm scared of being left alone. And Ryeowook's scared of the dark, so I dunno how he's handling this."

Zhou Mi hummed and leant his head back, resting it against the corrugated iron wall. His mind strayed, he was actually doing this. Stuck in a dark, enclosed place, squished in between two crates. He could barely move his legs. It was closing in on him, tight, too tight. His heart raced in his chest and his breathing shallowed.

"Hey... Shh... Are you feeling okay..?"

Henry must've felt his chest bobbing up and down sporadically.

"I'm... It's... It's fine," Zhou Mi stuttered out. "I just need to not think about it, distract me."

"With what?"

"I d-dunno, just talk or something..."

Henry looked up at the older sympathetically, and let Zhou Mi's fingers grip his hoodie sleeve. What could he talk about? Nothing too personal, nothing about them. He needed something you could brush off easily, forget easily, small talk. But he wanted to know all about him, more than he already knew. He wanted to share his secrets, and Zhou Mi share his. 

But he knew that wasn't safe.

"I had a girlfriend when I was four. Well, not really a 'girlfriend'. Just one of those kiddie ones," Henry blurted out awkwardly. "Our families were really close. We used to play with each other all the time, and stayed friends until we were both sixteen. We forgot about the 'boyfriend-girlfriend' thing though. And she grew up to be pretty boyish. I liked that about her, she wasn't all clean and squeamish."

Henry noted Zhou Mi's silence as permission to continue. He also wondered 'what happened to not sharing anything personal?'.

"Because we were close, their family took us in when out parents went away, and protected us when the soldiers came bursting in," Henry sighed at the memory. "We all ran, the parents took all us children, well, teens, except Whitney, that's my younger sister. Anyway, we hid in a basement for a while, a few hours at the most, before they found us. That's when they threatened us."

Zhou Mi couldn't really imaging Henry to be the type of person running around through a battlefield. He was too cute, and tranquil. Yet although he could be cautious, something about the Water element told him that Henry could kill as easy as any of them. Like a tidal wave, powerful and unforgiving. 

"They took the parents, two of them dragged them away," Henry's voice wavered. "So I decided to take charge and protect the others. Even my older brother. They were going to shoot me when Amber, that was the girl, ran in front of the bullet for me. The soldier didn't move for a second, probably shocked, so I grabbed a baseball bat I found on the ground. And I beat him until his brain was splattered on the ground."

The Fire element nodded silently.

"After I did that, I went to Amber, she was dying. It was a plasma and the shot was right in her stomach, there was pretty much no chance of her surviving," Henry said shakily. "So I asked her why. And she said "Because you'd to the same for me." I shook my head and told her she was an idiot. Because I didn't want her to die."

He had to take a moment to stifle his shivers. Zhou Mi had begun to run a hand through Henry's hair. He didn't know why, he had always thought it was soothing, so he assumed it might help Henry. The Water element's hair was spiked up, it felt coarse in between his fingers. 

Zhou Mi found himself wondering what it would be like floppy.

"My older brother got her to help, she died in a couple of days though," Henry mumbled. "The last thing she told me was to not be weighed down by her death, and to get the hell out of Canada, I'm not sure which was first though. It was because she was sure that would be the death of myself apparently. I tried. I really did. But I couldn't help it. She was my best friend, I didn't want her to be the one who died."

Zhou Mi nodded, hand still carding through Henry's hair. 

"And that's the story of my best friend," Henry concluded with a sad laugh. "And the first time I killed someone."

"... I'm sorry," Zhou Mi mumbled. "... You know, you didn't really need to tell me something that personal, I wouldn't have really minded something like... Cats or something..."

"It's okay, I wanted to. And I think Heebum might've been offended if I talked about cats," Henry shook his head. "But I'm saying if she hadn't died, my life would've been really different. I'm not saying that her dying was a good thing! God no!"

"I understand."

"But if she hadn't, I might still be in Canada now, and we would be way further from saving the world than we are now," Henry looked up at him peacefully. "Hell, you wouldn't have even been here, you'd still be... In a tube."

"I hate that tube."

"I know. I figured," Henry grinned to himself. "Anyway, I'm kind of glad about the way my life's panned out. I know I'm doing something right and I can save the lives of many other people. And if I hadn't come here, I wouldn't of met you, or anyone here. I'm happy I met you guys, you kinda made me feel normal having powers. Even if some of you hated me."

Something in Zhou Mi's chest stirred when Henry said he was happy to meet him despite the fact that he had originally hated him. It tingled under his skin and sent phantom rushes through his veins. His words made Zhou Mi wonder if Henry had ever really hated him from the beginning. He actually had, he had to admit. Of course he would, he's the Fire element. But now, their relationship was a delicate friendship, where they relied on each other but one mistake and it would all crumble down around them. Zhou Mi didn't want to make that mistake.

"Henry?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you promise me something?"

"Sure."

"... Whatever we are now..." Zhou Mi murmured uneasily. "... Promise that we won't stop being it...?"

"... On that note, what exactly are we?" Henry asked curiously. "We were fighting a few days ago and now we're talking like best friends. I know more about you than I know anything about anyone else in the group and I've literally sat on you twice... And you haven't killed me for doing do yet, in fact, you were the one who suggested I sit here with you right now."

"... I don't know," Zhou Mi admitted with a shrug. "Friends, maybe? I know I don't want us to be enemies, even rivals. I just want to be able to get along."

"Me too," Henry agreed softly. "It's nice when we aren't killing each other."

"So do you promise?"

"I can't guarantee anything Zhou Mi-ge," Henry sighed sadly. "The guardians inside us might interfere, but I'll try the best I can. We'll get along fine as long as the elements learn to calm themselves."

"We can train them." Zhou Mi smiled. 

"I don't know if we could actually," Henry chuckled. "But as long as we keep talking and interacting, I think they might catch on."

"We talk as if they are people." Zhou Mi stated bluntly.

"They're a part of us," Henry shrugged nonchalantly. "Supposedly, they are us. They've binded themselves to our consciences and come out in our personalities. Actually, it's more we are them. They came first."

"They're annoying." Zhou Mi frowned with a huff.

"But they are the things that keep the world in balance," Henry sighed. "Without them, we wouldn't exist."

"Henry," Jongwoon's voice called out. "It's almost time, are you ready for your transformation?"

"Sure," Henry stood up from Zhou Mi's hold. "... I'll see you soon okay?"

"Okay." Zhou Mi murmured.

Henry left, in the darkness, Zhou Mi couldn't see, then a blue glow emitted within the cabin and Henry's form materialised into the open drink bottle in Jongwoon's hold. Zhou Mi felt inclined to hold it, hold Henry. Keep him safe. 

"Jongwoon?" He asked tentively.

"Yes sir?" Jongwoon replied. 

"... Can I...?" Zhou Mi struggled to get the words out.

"Can you...?" His tone sounded curious. 

"... Hold it... Hold him," Zhou Mi finished softly. "Henry."

"... Sir... Are you-" he could tell Jongwoon was frowning at him.

"Please." He whispered desperately.

Jongwoon's eyes flashed purple in the dark, but he gently shook the bottle as an indicator for him to come and grab it. He reached out and grasped his fingers around the plastic. It was cool and he could swear he could hear it humming.

"Thank you." 

"It's okay sir," Jongwoon stated, the shuffle of fabric telling he was standing up. "Get ready. We're landing in a couple of minutes."

Zhou Mi stood and shouldered Henry's bag. He didn't have one himself, only an old bow and quiver of arrows he'd been gifted when he got in the tube (he had put them in the backpack). The weight of a dented baseball bat rested on his back, and he gripped the bottle in his hands. He could hear the others getting ready to leave as well, the crackle of electricity and spark of yellow saying Eunhyuk and Ryeowook already had. 

"Come here Zhou Mi," Kyuhyun called, reaching out a hand. "Grab my hand."

Zhou Mi did. The rumble of tanker hitting the shore of North Korea reverberated throughout it. His heart pounded, and Henry's water bottle felt heavy in his hand. 

The doors opened, and Zhou Mi felt himself being enveloped in black.

---

Yet again, I have failed my job as an author. I am so sorry.

Exams have me stressed out 0.0

I haven't been involved with the Kpop world in ages, and to find out what happened with Ladies' Code, the loss of Kris and now Luhan with EXO, and Jessica from SNSD. I'm so shocked about everything...

It has not been the best year for Kpop...

So, character analysis. I think last time I checked, it was either Zhou Mi or Leeteuk that everyone wanted. I decided to go with Zhou Mi, I find his character rather interesting, as you will (eventually) find out in the next few chapters. He's a rather mixed person, being Fire is something that changes him temper and behaviour, a lot more than most of the other Elements. Sure, I think I've said that Han Geng is the one who 'acts' most like his element, and so does Eunhyuk, but with Zhou Mi it's more that his element affects how he behaves and just 'is' around others.

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 Heechul 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)

Here we go!

Zhou Mi:

-> Henry: "... I hate you... I hate me... I hate us. I just want to get along! Maybe... You're Chinese, aren't you? Maybe... Maybe we can relate somehow... Maybe..." (...)

-> Jongwoon: "Something about you makes you seem completely heartless, yet you want to help everyone with their problems. I can't tell if it's out of kindness or order. But your advice is useful, I should probably listen to you more..." (... Why do you act so different...?)

-> Kyuhyun: "... I don't hate you, if that's what you're wanting to know." (Despite not being cognate... I know my element is one of the more destructive.)

-> Ryeowook: "Yes, yes, I know you hate Jongwoon..." (Why do you hate him so much though??? Even Heechul and Sungmin don't act so much over Kyuhyun...)

-> Sungmin: "... Do you want to kill me? Or is that just the feeling everyone gets when they're near you...? You seem to always be on watch for something..."

-> Leeteuk: "... I feel as if you would be a really good mother... Or father... But sort of mother... You have a nurturing aura about you..." (... Am I the only one who has noticed this...?)

-> Han Geng: "It's nice to know that there's someone else who knows where I'm coming from. Even if we don't speak that often, we can relate due to the fact we both came from China, so I guess we kind of both know what it's like to be estranged from your own country..."

-> Heechul: "... Hi..." (I'm not really sure you want to talk to me so let's just stay away...)

-> Siwon: "..." (I really don't know what to say...)

-> Eunhyuk: "You really need to work on your conversation starters..." (At least we can relate in some way... Being Fire and Electricity...)

-> Donghae: "I don't see why you don't speak up more, you're quite a nice person... Also, why does Eunhyuk hate you so much...?" (It appears to be in such a way that it's not a hate such as Ryeowook's for Jongwoon, but rather something more... Deep...)

Zhou Mi's relationships with the others is a whole lot of 'I'm almost sure's. He doesn't particularly know whether someone hates him or likes him. Neither does he feel motivated to find out. He's not minded by it, it just becomes a nuisance when they need to work together and someone doesn't agree with him. That and it provokes his anger, which in turn can trigger his powers.

So, hopefully you got some Zhoury feels. 

I seriously love you guys for actually managing to put up with me, like if I were you, I would've probably left.

I LOVE YOU!!!