Lay placed a shaky hand over Kris's chest. He closed his eyes and drew his hand back when he couldn't feel any sign of life coming from the boy who was laying on the ground.

"He's gone," Lay whispered.

The boys silently bowed their heads, their hearts crying out for their leader.

D.O tipped his head back and stared up at the sky, trying to blink his tears back, while Xiumin quickly scrubbed his cheeks with the back of his hands. Luhan placed a hand on Sehun's shoulder as the maknae tried his hardest to keep a blank expression and not cry.

"KRIS!" Tao screamed, tears streaming from his eyes.

He looked towards the door that led back into the building and narrowed his eyes in fury, "I'm going to kill Kang," he muttered in a dangerously low voice.

Tao started charging towards the door with so much force that it took both Chen and Chanyeol to hold him back.

"Let me go!" Tao yelled as he struggled to break free from their grips.

Your heart dropped into your stomach as you watched Tao continue to fight against Chanyeol and Chen's holds. He gradually started to lose energy and slow down.

"Kris," the time controller sobbed and hung his head.

You looked over at Suho when he abruptly stood up and turned away from the fallen Guardian.

"Kai, take Kris's body back to Homebase," he ordered, as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at this feet, "Don't come back, just stay there and make sure his body is safe. We'll have a proper burial later."

Kai nodded without a word and slowly walked forward. He crouched down and painfully looked at Kris's now pale and lifeless face. He placed his hand right below Kris's chest and with a loud crack, the two of them disappeared.

A suffocating silence hung in the air as no one said a word. Only a few occasional sniffles and the soft clearing of throats could be heard.

You swallowed hard and wiped your eyes before standing up and walking over to Suho.

"I'm sorry," you whispered and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Suho did his best to not react to your touch. It was the only way that he could control his emotions. He knew that he couldn't break down, not in front of the other members. He was their only leader now and he needed to be strong for them.

You sighed when he continued to stare at nothing and dropped your hand back to your side.

Suho's head snapped up when he saw you walking towards the door in the corner of his eye, "Where are you going?"

You turned around and saw him looking at you with an expression that was a mix of confusion and fear.

"I'm leaving," you said bluntly before continuing towards the door.

"No, you're not," Suho quickly grabbed your arm and stopped you from walking any further away.  

"Yes, I am!" you harshly pulled your arm out of his grasp, "I need to leave before anything else bad happens to you guys because of me!"

"This isn't your fault, Miyoung," Suho shook his head.

"Yes it is!" you exclaimed, tears springing to your eyes again, "Even though none of you will say it, I know this whole thing is my fault!"

The boys stared at you, shocked by your sudden outburst.

"If I hadn't been stupid enough to go to talk to Hyunwoo," you continued, "Kris wouldn't have gotten stabbed. If I wasn't so weak, I wouldn't have gotten taken by the Demons the first time and would have never met Hyunwoo."

"If we just did our job and protected you, you wouldn't have gotten taken in the first place," Suho argued back, trying to take all the blame off of you and put it on himself.

The boys could feel a tension starting to build between the two of you as they silently watched you grit your teeth and look straight into Suho's eyes, "Well, if I had just left when Kris wanted me to, then none of this would have happened!"

"STOP IT!"

The two of you snapped your head to the side to see Baekhyun stomping towards you with an angry expression.

"None of this is your fault!" he scolded, pointing a finger at you, "It's not your fault that Kris died because you didn't leave. It's not Suho's fault that Demons kidnapped you. It's not Lay's fault that his powers can't work on Guardians. It's not any of our faults! It's Kang's fault!"

You stared at Baekhyun with wide eyes, his rant catching you off guard. But no matter how shocked you were, you knew that he was right. Kang really was the only one to blame for Kris's death. You looked up at Suho to see him looking back at you, his eyes telling you that he agreed with everything that Baekhyun was saying.

The other members started to relax when the felt the tension in the air slowly starting to fade.

Baekhyun closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down before continuing, "But if we don't listen to what Kris said and run now, it's going to be our faults if we get killed."

"Baek's right," D.O spoke up, "We should start heading out now. We wouldn't want anyone else getting hurt."

Suho gave a curt nod, "Okay, let's go."

The boys started to head towards the door that led back into the Demon lair with guarded and alert expressions, all traces of anguish gone.

You started following them when you felt a tug on your wrist, causing you to let out a small yelp.

The boys quickly turned back around, some of them getting into their fighting stance thinking that you were getting attacked. But they relaxed when they saw that it was Suho's hand wrapped around your wrist, not a Demon's.

"You guys go ahead," Suho said to the boys as he pulled you back towards him, "I need to talk to Miyoung about something."

They gave him reluctant looks before complying and heading down from the roof.

When the door clicked shut, you looked up at Suho and gave him a questioning look, "What did you need to -"

You cut your sentence off when you noticed something about him seemed off.

"Suho, what's wrong?" you asked as you took a few steps towards him.

He didn't say anything and just bit his lip as he looked down at his feet.

"You know you can tell me anything," you said softly.

Suho took a shaky breath before looking up at you with red rimmed and teary eyes, "I'm scared," he whispered with a single laugh and a forced smile.

"Of what?" you asked even though you knew the question sounded ridiculous.

"Of leading the boys by myself," he admitted as he swallowed back his tears, the smile slipping off his face, "That someone else is going to get hurt. That I could lose another person that's so important to me."

You could feel your own eyes start to get wet when a few tears slipped from Suho's eyes. He quickly reached up to wipe them away but you caught his hand and pushed it back to his side.

You gently cupped his face and silently thumbed away his tears before wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him into your warm embrace.

Suho wrapped his arms tightly around your waist and clung onto you for dear life as he buried his face into the crook of your neck.

You rested your chin on his shoulder and sighed, thinking to yourself how unfair it was that this boy was going though so much emotional pain.

"Can we just stay like this for a little while?" he mumbled against your neck.

"Sure," you whispered as your fingers played with the ends of his soft locks of hair.

Ever since that first time on the beach, Suho had always been there to protect and comfort you. And now, seeing him so vulnerable and fragile, you knew it was your turn to do the same for him. 

---

Another update for all of you lovely readers :) So I was just looking at my outline and saw that this story is coming to an end. It should end in about seven chapters maybe? It might go longer but I can assure you it will be no more than 40 chapters. Well, just thought I'd let you guys know that but I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

~Admin Kelc