Sungyeol wasn’t sure how long it took. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting on his rooftop, his siblings gathered around him in fear. The night was as black as the unknown as they waited there in silence. It’s so quiet that Sungyeol wasn’t even sure if he had whistled in the first place.

Yerin was shivering in his arms as he waited. There had to be people on recon today – he knew there was. There had been recon every night ever since their rebellions started becoming more frequent. He just hoped there were people close by. But luckily, he heard another low whistle coming in the distance. His siblings were visibly shaken as he hushed them to be quiet.

“Shh, don’t be afraid,” he told them. “We can trust these people.”

“Who are they?” Yeoreum whispered, standing up as Sungyeol did. “Who’s out at this time of night?”

Then from the rooftop next to them, a black figure jumped and landed next to them. Yerin hid her face in Sungyeol’s next, visibly frightened. Sungyeol hushed her gently as the black figure came into view.

“Joon!” he exclaimed quietly. “Thank heaven you’re here!”

Joon’s eyes widened as he pulled down the black mask covering his lower face. “Sungyeol…? What are you doing here?”

“I need your help,” Sungyeol replied to him urgently. “I need your help, please. I need you to help me get my family to the base.”

“I can get help if you want. I think Hoya is out on recon also…”

“No, no.” Sungyeol shook his head aggressively. “We can’t waste any time in case any of those s come back. Just help me transport my siblings. It’ll be hard to stay quiet with all of us jumping roof to roof.”

Hesitantly, Joon nodded. “…Okay. I’ll help you out. You’ll have to explain to me later though.”

Sungyeol nodded. “I will.”

“I’ll take your sister,” Joon muttered, pulling his mask back over his face. Sungyeol gave Yeoreum a pointed glance and she understood immediately. She tiptoed over to Joon who picked her up immediately in his arms. “You lead the way,” he said.

Sungyeol gave Yerin to Daeyeol who placed his little sister on his back. “You two follow me,” Sungyeol told them. Daeyeol nodded. “And keep quiet.”

Sungyeol stepped over the roof shingles with experience and ease. His steps were quiet as he crouched down low. He knew his siblings would be surprised at this, at his expertise ability to sneak among the rooftops. He had never told them about his involvement with the rebels before.

As he hopped along the rooftops, he could hear the slight gasps of his siblings struggling to keep up with him. He could Yeoreum’s gasps and Daeyeol’s teeth grinding. He was afraid that if he took a shortcut, his family wouldn’t be able to keep up. So instead he took a longer route that resulted in less difficult footing. Halfway through, he took Yerin from Daeyeol and placed her on his own shoulders.

The moon was still high when they reached the abandoned warehouse. With the bright white light illuminating the path, Sungyeol was able to open the loose floor panel to the burrows of the rebels down below. Joon went down first to help Sungyeol’s family down into the underground.

Sungyeol made sure all his siblings had gone down to the underground before he slipped down himself. As soon as he closed the panel above him, he was met with a crowd of confusion.

“Sungyeol!” Woohyun exclaimed, looking over at him. He stared at the three children sitting on the ground in exhaustion. Woohyun was only one in a small crowd of people staring at them. “What’s happening here? You know we don’t allow minors into the group.”

“They’re not here to join,” Sungyeol replied, breathing heavily. “I promise you, Woohyun, I was desperate. I-I just needed a place for them to stay after the guards took away our parents, and I-I-” Sungyeol felt his throat close up, his ramblings cut short. “I’m sorry, I just–”

Woohyun stepped through the staring people and helped his siblings up. He took Yerin, whose head was nodding off, into his arms as he tilted his head in a direction. “I’ll get your siblings to safety first. We can talk after. Joon! Prepare a room for these kids.”

“Right away, sir.” Joon nodded and scurried away immediately.

“Where the hell are Hoya and Dongwoo when you need them…?” Woohyun muttered. “I’ll get them to a room, Sungyeol. Don’t worry.”

Yeoreum and Daeyeol followed Woohyun as Sungyeol stalked off in another direction. His brother and sisters would be safe in Woohyun’s hands, so right now he needed to talk to someone. He needed to talk to Myungsoo.

Myungsoo was in the base’s kitchen, stirring a pot of goop over the stove. While it looked like a common day gruel, it had the most protein according to Hoya. And Myungsoo needed the most energy he needed for the day. He and Sungyeol were going to run away today and he needed to pre-cook some meals for the first few weeks of survival. Hopefully they would be able to find ways to cultivate food outside the city walls.

Maybe they could make their own farm and live like those couples did in the books that Sungyeol always rambled about. He thought that maybe it was a little wrong to leave the rebels and the city when it was at a tipping point, but it was because of this tipping point that Myungsoo needed to get Sungyeol and himself out. He needed to get themselves to safety before chaos broke out in the city. Death rates were higher in the city and he wanted to grant Sungyeol’s wish to live as immortals. And if they were going to live like immortals for the rest of their lives, they couldn’t risk getting killed. Not if he was going to give Sungyeol the world he deserved.

“Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo turned around in surprise. Sungyeol was standing there, his eyes tired and his eye-bags dark. “Sungyeol? What are you doing here? I’m supposed to pick you up later today.” But he silenced himself as soon as he saw the exhaust and fear in Sungyeol’s gaze. “Babe? Hey… hey, what’s wrong?”

Sungyeol fell to his knees, his hands cradling his face. “Myungsoo… Myungsoo, it’s awful!” He felt a migraine approaching and he tried to press at his forehead, as if the force alone could take it away. “I can’t believe this happened, Myungsoo, I was so careless. And now my parents are–!”

“Whoa, slow down, baby.” Myungsoo knelt down next to him, pushing Sungyeol’s hands away from his face. “Look at me, I’m right here. Now tell me what happened. What’s got you worried?”

“Something happened yesterday, Myungsoo. And I knew I was pushing my limits by flipping off some guards but I didn’t think they were going to try and punish us for it! They came last night, Myungsoo. The captain came last night. He tried to take me and Yeoreum away but my parents wouldn’t let them and now everything is completely ruined and it’s all my fault–!”

Myungsoo interrupted him, “Hey, no. It’s not your fault your parents cared about you. Stand up, stand up. Sit down and I’ll give you something to eat.” He sat Sungyeol down on a chair, aware of his gaze on his back as Myungsoo finished preparing whatever slush he had made for breakfast. He filled a bowl up for Sungyeol and left it before him. But Sungyeol didn’t look like he could eat a single bite.  “Now what happened?” Myungsoo asked softly, sitting down across from him.

“I brought my family here,” Sungyeol whispered. “My parents were arrested last night and my siblings have no one to look after them. Myungsoo… I…”

“Calm down.” Myungsoo rubbed Sungyeol’s cheek gingerly. “Take a couple deep breaths, baby.”

Sungyeol did as he was told and was able to calm his breathing down. Myungsoo kept a firm gaze on him, making sure that Sungyeol could collect himself before continuing to speak. He took Sungyeol’s hands into his softly and rubbed the backs of them.

“Myungsoo…” he whispered, his voice strained.

Myungsoo replied, “Mm?” He had an idea as to what his boyfriend was going to say.

“I don’t think we can leave today…” Sungyeol finished, his voice barely above a whisper. “I can’t leave them here while I run off, I just can’t. I have to take care of my family, I have to get my parents out of the Capital Building; I just have to.” Myungsoo stayed quiet, not uttering a word. “If this were a few days ago I would have left with you,” Sungyeol said, his voice struggling to stay smooth. “But I have reasons to fight now. I have reasons to get my hands involved. I’m so sorry, I know you wanted to leave together but I just… can’t.”

Myungsoo nodded in silence, patting Sungyeol’s hands calmingly. “I understand. I get it, okay? Don’t beat yourself over it. There’s nothing we can do.”

Slouching forward, Sungyeol rested his forehead on the table with a sigh, letting Myungsoo run his fingers through his hair. “It was terrifying, Myungsoo, it made my blood run cold. The captain – the captain – he was so cold. He knew we were in there, he knew we were hiding in that godforsaken closet. But he played with us, mocked us like lambs being herded for butchering. I was disgusted.”

Myungsoo hushed him, patting his hair gently as he discarded his entire schedule for that day. Now today was about reassuring Sungyeol and comforting him. “It’s okay,” he told him. “It will be alright. Don’t let the stupid of a captain get to you.”

When he glanced up he saw Woohyun standing in the kitchen doorway, looking shocked to his core. Myungsoo wasn’t sure how much of their conversation Woohyun had heard, but he didn’t care. He didn’t know why Woohyun looked shocked. Everybody knew that the captain of the guard was an .

“I’m not scared of him,” Sungyeol muttered out gruffly from his arms. “And I’ll do everything and anything to show that beast that I am not afraid of him.”

Myungsoo stared over Sungyeol’s head and watched Woohyun leave uncomfortably. He bent down to kiss the crown of Sungyeol’s head. “You’re never afraid. You’re my brave boy. And you will show them who the boss is.”

“Where have you been? The sun is nearly up and you have to prepare for today’s raid, where were you two?”

Hoya walked past Woohyun with a gentle shove with the shoulder. Dongwoo snickered at Hoya’s spiteful little moment. He knew Hoya wasn’t ready to deal with tolerating Woohyun after their romantic night of secrecy together. He said, “We were out a little late tonight, Woohyun. I apologize.”

“A little?” Woohyun said, a little demanding. Dongwoo felt a little confused – Woohyun seemed in a bad mood. “Hoya, you’re in charge of the raids. You can’t just stay out all night and waste your energy expecting to be able to perform well. You don’t have enough time to rest and get back out into the city, Hoya.”

Hoya rolled his head as he turned around. “Oh yeah? Says who – you? Everybody else might acknowledge you as leader but I don’t.”

“C’mon Hoya, don’t do this,” Dongwoo scolded. “Respect him as the leader.”

Hoya scoffed. “Okay, well. Maybe another day.”

Woohyun narrowed his eyes. “No. You start respecting me today. I’m benching you from today’s raid.”

“…Excuse me?” Hoya said, his outrage bursting out. He stalked up to Woohyun, glaring down at him as if he were a lesser being. “You think you can bench me from my own organized raid? You’re off your rocker, Nam.”

“Don’t test my authority, Hoya,” Woohyun seethed. “You can’t always get away with exerting your energy. I’m the leader, I want you resting.”

“Is that supposed to make me think you care about me?” Hoya remarked in disdain. “I may have been okay with fighting alongside you but that doesn’t mean you can fight without me.”

Woohyun huffed and turned away. “Then you better get your rest now instead of playing around. I don’t need any of our men passing out from exhaustion and needing backup.”

Hoya grabbed Dongwoo by the hand and started walking away with him. “Okay well, it’s not going to happen. I’ll get my rest if that’ll make you shut up.”

Woohyun glared at the two as they shuffled away down the hall. They looked friendly enough. Woohyun wondered what they had said to each other during the night to make up so easily like that.

“You didn’t need to be so rude to him,” Dongwoo murmured in between small pecks.

Hoya kept giving him small sweet kisses. “I don’t have time for Woohyun to mess up what we have going on right now.” His hands tangled in Dongwoo’s hair as he nipped at his cheek.

Dongwoo stifled a light laugh. “Come on, Hoya, stop. You need rest for the raid today. More than anyone else, especially since we were out all night.”

“Sleep next to me?” Hoya whispered.

Hesitantly but surely, Dongwoo nodded. The grin Hoya smiled was one he had missed. The sparkle that lit his eyes was something Dongwoo had been wanting to see for so long and to see it again was reassuring and almost comforting. The way Hoya wrapped his hand around Dongwoo’s as he lead him to the rest room filled with futons.

There were more bodies on futons these days. So many people had joined their group, had joined something Hoya had started. Dongwoo felt proud.

“So, how’s it going to go down later?” Dongwoo asked as he and Hoya found two futons next to each other. “Will you be in the main fight?”

Hoya nodded, laying down so that he could stare Dongwoo right in the face. “I will,” he said. “Don’t worry though – I never get hurt.”

“I’m not worried,” Dongwoo said with a chuckle. “I’m never worried about you. I’ll wait at that spot we found for Myungsoo and Sungyeol. And I’ll help them get through to the outside. And I won’t worry about you a single bit.” He reached out to kiss Hoya on the nose. “And I’m glad we’re… okay with each other again.”

Hoya laughed. “Much more than okay.”

They closed their eyes and waited for the sun to rise. Once the sun rose, it was back out into the city but with a different purpose.

“I’m not scared of them… I’m not scared. They can’t scare me.” Sungyeol muttered to himself, over and over as he walked down the cold, steel hallways. The captain’s malicious words echoed in his head over and over.

‘You hear that, kids? Mommy and daddy are getting arrested!’

He could feel a film of disgust forming over his heart as he tightened his hand around Myungsoo’s. Myungsoo pulled him closer, reassuring him with gentle touches and comforting whispers. They were finding the room Woohyun had put his siblings in. Sungyeol and Myungsoo would be staying there today.

“He’ll never get the best of you,” Myungsoo told him. “Because when we’re together, we’ll come out on top.”

Sungyeol nodded firmly. “In every story the hero must defeat the villain before achieving immortality,” he murmured gruffly. “A fire needs to consume the enemy. And to start a fire, we need a spark.” He stopped in his tracks to Myungsoo’s confusion. “Myungsoo… do you know if there’s still paint leftover from a couple summers ago? From that one time we vandalized the captain’s headquarters?”

Myungsoo furrowed his eyebrow. “There should be…? Why would you need it? Painting the captain’s house again is too dangerous during this time.”

“I won’t paint the captain’s house. I’m going to do something else.” Sungyeol came up to the room Woohyun had mentioned a little earlier. Peeking inside, he found his siblings all sleeping soundly. The sun was rising and he knew they wouldn’t wake until late noon.

“You should sleep,” Myungsoo murmured to him. “Do whatever painting thing you want tomorrow, but I know you’ve been up all night. Sleep. Your brother and sisters need you to be there when they wake up. I’ll stay with you too.”

Sungyeol’s hand tightened on the door before he nodded. “Yeah. That’s a good idea.”

Myungsoo followed him into the room and lay down next to him. Sungyeol lay himself down next to Yerin, her cheeks gently as he closed his eyes. Myungsoo wrapped his arms around him and buried his nose into Sungyeol’s neck. He could feel Sungyeol fall asleep in his arms and he knew that Sungyeol would not wake up until many hours later.

Myungsoo closed his eyes as well. If he couldn’t run away with Sungyeol today, he could dream of it. He fell asleep to the sound of the rebels rushing around the base, preparing for yet another day of raiding. He was asleep to the sound of chaos ensuing in the city outside.

Not once did he think something was wrong. Or that he and Sungyeol could have been the root of it.

  “Where are they?! Tell me where they are!” Evening had fallen as Hoya barreled his way down the steel hallways. His feet stomped loudly on the floors as he noisily punched the walls. He was mad and he was seeing red.

Woohyun ran up behind him, grabbing his arms. “Hoya! Calm down!”

“Calm down?! Calm down?!” The sharp glare in Hoya’s eyes was willing to kill as he turned to face Woohyun. “Do you think I’m in any right mind to calm down, Woohyun?! It’s like you don’t understand the severity of the situation! Where are Sungyeol and Myungsoo – where are they?!” He stalked off angrily.

“Hoya! Hoya, this is not their fault!” Finding the room in which Sungyeol and his family were staying, Hoya yanked opened the door as Woohyun ran to keep up. Woohyun tried to grab him before he could force his way in. “Hoya, stop! They’re exhausted, let them sleep!”

“No,” Hoya bit out, pushing Woohyun off.

Woohyun felt his body slam on the wall, waking up the family sleeping on the floor. He watched as Sungyeol and Myungsoo woke up groggily, the children sleeping beside them also opening their eyes.

“Oppa…” the youngest girl groaned out, reaching out for Sungyeol. “Who’s here?”

Hoya glared down at the scene before him. His eyes immediately landed on Myungsoo and he went over to the boy and grabbed at his collar.

“Hey–!” Myungsoo cried as he was yanked up from the floor.

“Where were you today?!” Hoya shouted, his hands fisted tightly in Myungsoo’s shirt. “Why didn’t you and Sungyeol show up?! You two were supposed to get outside the wall today! Dongwoo waited for you two!”  

Myungsoo coughed, trying to wrench Hoya’s hands away from him. “There was a change of plans, Sungyeol couldn’t leave–”

“Then why didn’t you ing say anything?!” Hoya barked, throwing a punch at Myungsoo’s face. “You messed up everything!”

Myungsoo fell to the floor, covering the cheek that Hoya punched. “Hoya, what the hell!”

“Hey, cut it out!” Sungyeol exclaimed. His siblings were awake, staring unsurely at the scene before them. Sungyeol stood up, scrambling to help Myungsoo get back up on his feet. “Hoya, what are you doing in here?!”

“I could ask you the same thing!” Hoya replied, pointing an accusing finger at the two of them. “Where were you two?! Why didn’t you come out and leave like you told me you were! Myungsoo, I organized this raid as a distraction for you two to get out of this hole!”

Sungyeol frowned. “Hoya, stop yelling–”

“You two were supposed to show up, I had Dongwoo waiting for you near the weak spot in the wall so that he could help you two through!” Hoya’s eyes were filling with tears as if he was betrayed. “He was waiting for you!”

“I’ll apologize to him,” Myungsoo said, his voice rough as he stood up with a wobble. “I’ll apologize to him, okay? There’s no reason to get worked up.”

Hoya sneered at him as he threw another punch at Myungsoo’s face. Myungsoo straggled backwards from the force, clutching his now split lip. “You can’t apologize to him!” Hoya snarled. “You can’t because he was taken away!”

The silence that followed afterwards was awkward and foreboding. Nobody dared to speak a word as Hoya’s breath echoed shakily in the room. It took a few more moments before he could speak again.

“Dongwoo was waiting for the two of you in a spot where we had found a weak part of the wall. He came out today to wait there so that he could help you break through the weak wall. But he stayed in one spot alone for too long and a guard found him. I should’ve done something, I saw them take him away but I still couldn’t get to him!” Hoya punched the walls, ignoring the pain that shot up his knuckles. “And now he’s been taken! He’s probably getting tortured somewhere in that damned Capital Building! And it could have all been avoided if you two just stuck to your stupid escape plan!”

Sungyeol’s gaze lowered to the floor, his eyes looking sorrowful and full of guilt. “Hoya, I’m… I’m sorry that happened–”

“Well, damn, you better be. I’m putting you two in the front lines when we go to get Dongwoo back.”

“We’re not doing that.”

Hoya turned around swiftly, his eyes narrowing. “What?”

Woohyun shook his head as he stared Hoya down. “We’re not going to infiltrate the Capital Building just to get Dongwoo back.”

“Why not?!” Hoya replied, enraged. “We have to get him back! We can’t let him be trapped in that asylum called the Capital Building! We have to get him back!”

“And jeopardize the entire plan you’ve come up with? We’re supposed to strike the Capital Building in a couple weeks, not now. We’re biding time, remember? We can’t just break the rules for your selfish reasons.” Woohyun’s gaze was fierce and unwavering at Hoya. “We can’t risk all these lives for some boyfriend of yours.”

“Some boyfriend?! That’s Dongwoo, Woohyun! You two are friends!”

Woohyun shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. What we’re doing is to fix the city, not your relationship. And I know for a fact that the rest of our men would agree with me. We’re not going to do a raid in vain again.”

Hoya scorned. “What do you mean, again?”

“I mean that the raid today was in vain. You had no other gain from this other than to help out a friend and it’s that kind of leadership that will get us in trouble.”

“You son of a–”

“It doesn’t matter what you call me because you know I’m right. Everything that was done today was a venture. And while it was for Myungsoo and Sungyeol, there were people put in danger today because of a selfish decision. Dongwoo was lost on your call today, not Myungsoo’s and not Sungyeol’s.”

Hoya’s fists shook profusely as Woohyun’s words cut him deeply. He wanted to shout at Woohyun that he was wrong, that Dongwoo had to be saved immediately.

“You’re going to get out,” Woohyun told him firmly. “You’re going to leave Sungyeol and Myungsoo alone, along with Sungyeol’s family. None of them are at fault and it is ridiculous that you would try to pin the blame on them for Dongwoo’s capture. And you will absolutely not try to organize a raid behind my back to retrieve Dongwoo. Have I made myself clear?”

Hoya’s eyes flashed maliciously as he shoved past Woohyun and back into the hallways. “Crystal,” he grumbled.

Hoya glared down at the bowl of food in front of him, finding everything unappetizing. A few people had pat him on the back, trying to comfort him and tell him that Dongwoo would be okay; that Dongwoo could hold out long enough until they could break him out.

But Hoya didn’t believe it. He didn’t believe it for one second. He didn’t believe Dongwoo could hold out that long with those pompous s keeping him there. Woohyun must have been out of his mind if he didn’t want to organize a raid immediately. It boggled his mind that he wouldn’t agree to save Dongwoo. Dongwoo was a precious member of the rebels and the fact that Woohyun wouldn’t want to go in after him enraged Hoya. And it seemed like everybody else agreed with Woohyun as well.

He glared at Woohyun who was standing across the room. Everybody trusted him now. Everyone. But Hoya still didn’t trust him one bit. They treated him like he was some sort of saint that had taken the burden of leading their group. Woohyun couldn’t be that innocent – there was no way. He must have had some dark secret that would make everybody lose that trust in him. Then Hoya would be the most trusted person – he would become the leader by default. Then he could organize a way to get Dongwoo back.

He stared at Woohyun, grimacing at the way he received praise so freely. Hoya knew he wasn’t a dirt-free leader like everybody thought he was. He didn’t know what it would be, but Hoya would reveal it. He’d reveal it all. He just had to think. He had to dig up that dirt he knew Woohyun must have been hiding.

Hoya watched without an unwavering gaze as Woohyun thanked some people for their work and said he was going to be going outside for a bit. And it made Hoya sneer. Just what did he do whenever he won’t at night like this? He never did recon missions. He had absolutely no reasons to be out of the base at this time of night.

As soon as Woohyun was out of sight, Hoya picked himself up and followed him. He didn’t know where he was going, but he intended to find out where. When he followed Woohyun, he stayed on the rooftops and to his confusion and concern, Woohyun walked on the trash lined streets like it was perfectly safe and normal. Hoya did his best to keep his feet quiet on the uneven shingles as he followed Woohyun behind closely.

Woohyun suddenly stopped and turned into an alleyway. Hoya frowned – the same alleyway Dongwoo had been taken earlier that day. But he didn’t understand; Woohyun just stood there waiting.

Then out of the corner of his eye, Hoya spotted the captain of the guard making his way down their direction with a flashlight. Hoya’s heart raced – he had to warn Woohyun. Even if he wanted to dig up dirt, Woohyun was still part of the rebels. He needed to get him out–

Hoya froze.

He was about to help Woohyun but it seemed like Woohyun didn’t require his help. Not when the captain of the guard scurried over to him to give him a big kiss.

“I missed you,” he heard Woohyun say.

The captain of the guard smiled down at him, Woohyun’s hair. “I missed you too.”

Hoya felt a feral grin stretch across his face as he ducked. He almost had to cover his mouth to conceal the unbelieving laughter that threatened to escape. He had found his dirt and he was going to use it to get Dongwoo back.

Hoya snickered under his breath. ‘That son of a has got it coming to him now.’