Eyes were on him everywhere he went the next day. Taemin was itching to get out of the castle again but it seemed that it was impossible. Unseen eyes burned holes in him and the urge to constantly look over his shoulder was infuriating. Things he usually would do with thinking, like the way he stood, how he ate, he fumbled over and second guessed. 

He had never felt so claustrophobic before, like he couldn't breathe and he knew going out to the castle gardens wouldn't help. Every little noise had Taemin on edge and he was getting sick of jumping at everything. Taemin knew the people following him wouldn't show themselves, even if he did catch sight of them once or twice, and it infuriated him. Was it really too much to ask for a little privacy. Just the simple right to walk around in peace! Alec couldn't be that bothered by his disappearance!

He knew for a fact that the once prince didn't care about him or his sister, heck, he didn't even take the time to talk to them, unless he had to. Sure he had disappeared for a little while, but he had come back! And as far as Alec knew, he hadn't gone anywhere! Why was he being punished like this!

But as much as he was seething on the surface, Taemin kept his composure. There was no way he was letting Alec know he was getting to him. He wouldn't let Alec know that he knew about the people tailing him either. He was going to act completely oblivious.

So as hard as it was, and how angry he was becoming, he held his head high, as every noble should and tried to act completely normal. He knew there were only two places he wouldn't be followed to. His room, and Dee Dee's room. Seeing as he was sick of being by himself, he headed to his sister's room.

When he got there he scowled. He should have guessed that Simon would already be there. Dee Dee's eyes whipped to Taemin straight away, eyes pleading for help and he felt anger bubble in him again.

There was no way he was staying here with Simon here!

"Simon, get out!" he growled, disrupting anything the plump teenager was saying. He didn't care how rude he was being. He was in no mood to be nice.

"How dare you-!"

"OUT!"

Simon's face was a picture. Any other time Taemin could've laughed at it. It was exactly like the one Alec had given him last night; furiously purple.

"My father will hear of this!"

Taemin ignored him and made a show of opening the door for him.

Cursing and mumbling under his breath Simon left and Taemin immediately closed and locked the door.

As soon as he was done, Taemin's composure crumpled. He slumped against the door, letting out a long sigh, hanging his head allowing his eyes to fall shut.

"Hard day?"

Taemin looked towards his sister and smiled for the first time that day.

"Something like that" Taemin crossed the room and practically fell into the chair next to Dee Dee. "Alec's watching me like a hawk..." he said quietly, not knowing if someone was listening outside the door.

"What do you expect after your disappearing act yesterday?" Dee Dee asked equally quietly. "Where did you go anyway?"

Taemin looked at the door before sighing again. He got up and crossed to Dee Dee's dresser. When he came back his glasses were off and his hair was down. He also had with him a quill and a piece of paper.

"Out" he wrote and showed it to Dee Dee.

He couldn't help but giggle at the expression Dee Dee gave him, it was like her eyebrows had disappeared behind her fringe.

"H-how?"

"I found a secret passage! There might even be others somewhere in the castle"

Dee Dee was now smiling. "I wish I could go out" she whispered.

"Maybe you can... We just need to make sure we're not seen"

Dee Dee looked at the door as well before taking the quill of Taemin.

"If both of us preform a vanishing act Alec will tear the place apart looking for us!"

Taemin grabbed the quill back with a pout.

"You cant tell me you seriously don't want to leave!"

Dee Dee took the quill with a sigh. "I do but I'd rather not cause any trouble"

Taemin just stared at her. Not cause any trouble! He was willing to cause every bit of trouble going! Anything to inconvenience the stuck up, pompous git!

Sometimes it shocked Taemin that him and his sister were so different in some ways, but so similar in others.

"So what are you planning to do all day! Stay cooped up here with Simon!"

Dee Dee snatched back the quill before Taemin had finished the sentence properly making Taemin pout again.

"We wont be here forever!"

"It sure feels like it..." Taemin sighed aloud...

~*~

Dinner that night was deadly quiet.

Simon was glaring at Taemin, trying to kill him with his eyes. Taemin on the other hand just kept smiling politely at the boy as he ate knowing it would rile him up more.

And it did.

By the time the main was finished Simon was shaking with fury, hands curled atop the table which made Taemin smile all the more.

As the deserts were brought in a guard came in also and whispered something to Alec.

"Excellent!" Alec exclaimed making Dee Dee jump. The guard left and Alec began eating looking happier then Taemin had ever seen him, and it was scary. Surely anything that Alec would be happy about was bad new for everyone else...

"What's so excellent?" Taemin asked, staring at his uncle.

A sick smile came over Alec's face, he looked so pleased with himself, Taemin had to fight to suppress the urge to shiver.

"Tomorrow night" the man said slowly. "A known criminal will be brought to justice" Alec leaned back in his chair looking at each of the diners in turn with a smug grin.

"That is wonderful Papa!" Simon praise and Alec nodded.

"Isn't it just!" Alec agreed. "He has been a thorn in my side for too long. Tomorrow..." He pause for the emphasis "Flame, will be, un... masked!"

If Dee Dee had gasped any louder, the entire country would have heard it.

"B-but how?!" she asked, hand over in shock.

"I have set up a little trap for him" If Alec kept that look on his face, Taemin was going to hit him.

"What trap?" Taemin asked quickly... perhaps too quickly.

"I spread a rumor" Alec took a drink of his wine leaving the room silent. Surely he didn't expect to stop there?

"What rumor?" Dee Dee looked at her brother, the worry clear on her face. Taemin hadn't meant for it to come out so impatiently...

Alec looked at him for a moment before continuing. "A rumor that I would be transporting some items to the castle tomorrow night. Items of value. The kind I know Flame will not be able to resist. But what he will find in the stage coach will not be gold and jewels..." Taemin had no clue since when he had been holding breath but knew his chest was starting to hurt.

Alec looked at his captivated audience, completely satisfied with the attention he was receiving "...but soldiers!"

The entire room was silent again, the air tense, Taemin could feel his chest pounding hard.

"And when he is caught..." Alec continued. "He will be killed!"

Dee Dee pushed away from the table violently and fled from the room, not a sound leaving her, but Taemin knew she was furious.

"Oh that is brilliant!" Simon cheered his father and Alec nodded as if taking the praise humbly and it riled Taemin.

He stood also and left with out looking back at the two. What would the people do without Flame? Well... Taemin wasn't even too sure how much Flame did for people... But he knew someone had to help them...

Sure Flame was a criminal, but he was doing those things for the right reasons!

What was he thinking?! The right reasons... A criminal was a criminal and should be punished as one....

Taemin stopped walking and looked at the floor. Why did he feel such dread creeping into him? He knew nothing of Flame why should he care? Sure he helped a few people but...

Did he deserve to die?

If Flame was caught or killed, people would go back to struggling, that in itself was bad, but he could think of something worse.

Flame was more than a person or a criminal... he was a symbol...

A symbol for those below Alec that they wouldn't be completely trampled on. That they would fight... Flame was their symbol of hope... What would happen if that was taken away?

Taemin began walk again slowly, heading to his room, mind still reeling. He paused in front of his room however, noticing that his bedroom door was open.

Slowly he pushed it open further, eyes scanning for anything out of place, but all he found was his sister sitting on his bed looking miserable.

She looked at him for a moment, completely quiet before sighing. She stood, strode over to the door and closed it, eyes blazing.

Once the door was locked her eyes bored into her brother, complete determination set into them.

"I don't care how, but you are getting out of this castle tomorrow and warning Flame..."

~*~

Minho laid staring at the crumbling ceiling. He had no clue what time it was but it was still dark out. The world was beginning to become grey though signaling morning wasn't far off. He'd been thinking of Lady Devaro again as he usually did when he was alone... Well... if you could call lying in bed with three other sleeping guys alone...

But something seemed off today... He kept imaging the Lady Devaro with brown eyes. He knew that her eyes were green. The most beautiful green he had ever seen. But no matter how he tried to imagine her eyes green, some part of him kept making them brown. A warm chocolate brown full of laughter...

Why did they look so much better brown?

What was weird as well was that he was sure that he'd seen those eyes before... not Devaro's eyes, but the brown he was imagining. They filled him with a happiness he could quite explain. They made him feel comfortable and put him at ease...

Maybe he was just losing his mind...

He looked to his left, at Onew and tried to imagine the older boy with different colour eyes... no matter what he came up with it seemed silly... nothing quite fit.

Looking to his right he tried it with Jonghyun and Key and received the same result. So what was wrong with him?

Who else could he try it with?

His mind drifted back to Tom and Minho smiled. He was looking forward to seeing the boy again. He seemed to really enjoy his time in their small house... he must really not get out much...

But what colour was his eyes?

It took less than a second for Minho to realize they were brown and even less time to realize that Tom's eyes were the very same he was seeing every time he closed his eyes.

But why his eyes?

He thought of Devaro again... or at least he tried... all he could see was Tom, chocolate eyes full of happiness.

Minho went rigid.

Why was he thinking of Tom?

Better question; why was Tom stopping him from thinking of Devaro?!

Why was he putting Tom's eyes of Devaro?!

What did that mean?!

Minho sat up straight, staring into the darkness in front of him. It meant nothing right? After all, what could it mean? Nothing! It meant nothing...

Then why was his heart beating so fast?

"For god's sake lie down!"

Minho jumped at the voice next to him which came from Jonghyun. "You're making me cold!"

Minho looked down. When he sat up he must have taken the covers with him.

Jonghyun was next to him, arm draped over Key. He hadn't moved but the groggy voice had obviously been his.

Minho slowly laid back down and adjusted the covers again trying to settle down but something just felt weird...

~*~

"What do you mean help!? You keep this place spotless as it is! What on earth is there to clean?!" Jonghyun received a hit over the head.

"Well it would be spotless if you didn't keep messing it up!"

"I do not!"

Onew sighed at sat down at the table in the center of the room next to Minho. "You okay?" he asked softly.

Minho was sitting staring off into space, head resting on his hand, elbow propped up on the table top.

"You seem a little distracted..."

Minho looked to the other and sighed. "I guess I am a little..." in the back ground Key and Jonghyun continued to fight but the two of them ignored them, as they usually did.

"Thinking of Devaro again?" Onew asked with a cheeky grin.

"Something like that..." Minho sighed going back to blankly staring at nothing.

Onew just stared at him. Usually Minho would get all embarrassed and flustered whenever Devaro was mentioned, even more so when anyone about his infatuation with the girl. Something must be seriously off with the other.

“Hey, you sure you're okay?”

Minho looked at his hyung and nodded. “I'm fine”

“Well you don't seem it... You've been moping around all day... What are you gonna be like tonight?”

“Tonight?”

Onew just stared at Minho in shock. “Key!” he yelled. “I think Minho's ill!”

Key and Jonghyun stopped arguing and stood behind them.

“He doesn't look ill” Key said with his hands on his hips.

“That's because I'm not” Minho protested.

“Jonghyun, about Devaro!” Onew yelled.

“What?”

“Just do it!”

Minho just sighed and looked back to the table as Jonghyun began reciting the poems that Minho had written. Truth be told Minho was still thinking about Tom. Devaro hadn't actually entered his head much. He kept replaying the kiss in the market in his head. The softness of his lips... He kept losing himself to the happy smile on the boy's face and he was still unsure what it all meant.

“..ho...”

“..nho...”

“Minho!”

Minho looked up to Key. “What?”

Key's eyes narrowed. “I said do we need to finalize anything for tonight?”

“Tonight?” Minho repeated.

Key whacked him over the head. “I don't care why you're off in the clouds but get your head together!”

Oh, tonight!

“Sorry guys...” Minho said softly holding his now bruised head “I'm just....”

He was interrupted by a knocking at the door... well... more of a pounding. The group exchanged glances before Key walked over to the door. On the other side was Taemin, or “Tom” to the group, looking rather out of breath.

“Tom!” Key said happily. “What are you doing here?” Minho immediately perked up, looking towards the door.

“I need your help!” Taemin said doubling over as he caught his breath. Taemin had no clue where to find Flame, heck he didn't even know his way around the town very well, so he had come to the first place he could think of and had run the entire way there.

“What's wrong?” Jonghyun asked making Key glare at him for taking the words out of his mouth.

“How would you go about getting a message to Flame?!”

Time stopped for a moment while four sets of eyes questioned the disguised noble.

“Why do you want to get a message to Flame?” Minho asked breaking the silence.

“He's in danger!” Taemin looked around the room with pleading eyes.

“Tom, sweetie, Flame is always in danger, you shouldn't bother yourself with-”

“No you don't understand!” Taemin cut off Key.

Minho stared at the boy, he looked terrified. “How is he in danger?” he asked from the table, from the side he could see Onew watching him carefully.

“Please I just have to get a message to him somehow... before tonight! Do you know how?!”

“Just tell me first.”

Taemin's eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at Minho feeling ever so slightly annoyed with him. He was running out of time, these words needed to be said to Flame not Minho...

“Alec created a rumor that tonight he was having a stage coach with gold on it sent up to the treasury, but it wont have anything in it but soldiers, lots of them. Alec plans to catch Flame tonight!” Taemin looked around the room surprised that they were all so quiet. In fact they all seemed to have no reaction at all besides the intensity of their questioning gaze increasing. “Do you know how to get in touch with him or not!?”

“How do you know this?” Jonghyun asked the boy and Taemin faltered.

“I-I heard Alec say it, as I passed the dining hall!” he created quickly. “I- please, I just want to make sure Flame doesn't walk into a trap!”

“Tom, Flame is clever, he wouldn't walk straight into a trap like that” Key told the boy placing a hand on his shoulder. “You don't need to worry yourself over him...”

“But I...”

The room went silent once more... too many questions flying about, but not all of them could be asked without confessing to a few secrets.

“Tom, who are you really?” Jonghyun spoke softly but it was immediately followed by a shriek of protest from Key.

“What kind of question is that pabo!”

“What?”

Taemin just stood frozen, was he that see through?

“It doesn't matter who he is, just that he is trying to help!”

Taemin stared at Key. “You think I'm lying too?”

“I didn't say that Tom sweetie, just ignore the Dino!” Key shot daggers across the room at Jonghyun.

“But what if he's right?” The room stared at Taemin again. The silence continued, the five just staring backwards and forwards between each other.

Minho's eyes however never left the boy though he knew the others were looking at him. “Is he right?” Minho's deep voice seemed to break the silence rather gently.

Taemin looked up from the floor and towards Minho feeling his heart beat a little quicker. He nodded his head and looked back down to the floor.

“Do you want to tell us who you really are?” Taemin looked up to Onew who had spoken but saw nothing but a smile on the elder's face.

“Not yet...” he muttered.

“Well then you don't have to” Minho completed the matter and when Taemin looked up he saw Minho smiling just like Owen was. Key and Jonghyun were smiling also and Taemin couldn't help but grin back feeling unbelievably relieved. Taemin's smile made Minho's own smile a little wider. He thought the boy should always be smiling...

“Right then!” Key announced. “Tom are you hanging around for dinner?” Taemin nodded eagerly but stopped when Key walked away.

“Wait!” he yelled making everyone look at him. “What about Flame?”

“Tom I told you you didn't need to worry about him” Key said with a smile.

“But-” Taemin was cut off by Minho.

“We'll get a message to Flame later on. We know who he is actually...” Key, Jonghyun and Onew stared at Minho as if he'd grown an extra head. “Do you want to come with us?”

“Y-yes...”

“Good! What do you think?” he asked addressing his three companions. “Should we take Tom with us tonight?” glances were shared about the room but smirks were thrown in too.

“Hell yes!” Jonghyun said happily.

~*~

Well what do you think? Too rushed? I dunno... I felt like I was trying to get too much into this chapter.

Also I don't know if anyone's reading this so comments really are appreciated.

Anyway, love you guys o(^0^)o