"What matters most is that we did our best, we did what we could"

Hope was a coughing mess from the moment her senses were awoken again, her body limp as it fell forward. A hand on her shoulder stopped her from falling on her face, pulling her back to lean on what she guessed to be a very rough wall before she opened her eyes. When she did blink her eyes, slowly coming to, she looked around. Hope let a groan fall from her lips, closing her eyes in regret of remembering the events that lead her to where she currently was.

“Hope, are you feeling ok?”

“I’m just peachy thanks” Hope groaned, using her hands to look for Youngjae in the darkened room.

“Where are you Youngjae?” She asked, still using her outstretched hands to try and grab him, as if she was waiting to suddenly have the power of seeing in the dark.

“We’re under the window Hope” Jongup voicing his answer brought her attention to the small window she was just taking notice of on the other side of the room.

“Are all of you under the window?” She whimpered sadly, hoping that she was at least looking at one of them through the dark.

“I’m here” Zelo’s tired voice surprised her. Hope looked beside her where Zelo was slouched against the wall with chains identical to the ones she was just seeing on her wrists now. A dead look was covering Zelo’s face and Hope could feel her eyes getting watery as she watched him as he struggled not to let his battery go flat.

“You’re still alive Zelo? Try putting your tracker on, quickly!” Youngjae whispered across the room and not much longer later Zelo grunted tiredly. There was another pause filled with silence when a red light flashed from underneath Zelo’s school shirt and the other boys let out sighs of relief as Hope stared at the familiar sight.

“Don’t worry Hope, Himchan and Yongguk will be able to find us shortly, now that the tracker is on” Zelo smiled weakly when he saw the girl staring worriedly at his abdomen. Hope nodded and gave the chains holding her down a tug, making them rattle and the noise echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls. They remained in the silence that filled the dark longer than Hope could count, so long that she could herself slipping into unconsciousness again. Hope suddenly jolted awake, the chains on her wrists flinching as her hands twitched in shock.

“Daehyun?” She called into the air, her voice raspy and tired.

“Hmm?”

“I was just checking if you were here to” She muttered in response, her head leaning on Zelo’s arm as he also closed his eyes. A different rattling noise filled their ears, ringing differently to the sound their constricting chains made. The sound of locks being turned made them all sit up, with Hope gripping onto Zelo’s hand as the squeaking of a large metal door was the only thing that Hope could hear. They all shuffled in their places on the ground when heavy footsteps then filled the air in the silent room and Hope managed to strain her eyes to see a dark figure walking in, making her clench Zelo’s hand tighter.

What’s happening here?

*At the house of EXO*

“How could they manage to just slip through us like that?! Like we’re something easy? There’s eight of us monitoring that school and four of them! What on earth happened?” Suho commanded, yelling as he threw his hands into the air, over his head as he emphasised on his anger.

“We did the best that we could do Suho” Sehun, one of the quieter members of the group spoke in a whisper, looking down and away from the man who was fuming before them all, not daring to look his infuriated leader in the eyes. Suho sighed as one of Kris’ large hands messed the hair atop of his head in confusion, he was a leader but utterly clueless in that moment, having no idea how to solve the situat