Rain. Gentle rain from the Heavens. Somehow comforting--somehow depressing. Rain suits death but then it feels like it's washing death away. Washing the blood away...so much blood.

I turn to see my dongsang retching--blood coming out of his mouth. He heaves the contents of his breakfast, water and bread, onto the muddy and wet ground.

I sigh as I look at him sadly and rub his back.

"Are you okay, Taeminnie?" I ask.

He continues to vomit and I his long and muddy hair out of his face. His hair, that's supposed to be blond, is nothing but a muddy mess--making it look like a medium brown.

"Sorry, stupid question."

I rub his back and wait for him to finishing throwing up. Once he does, I wipe his mouth with my sleeve and give him a drink of water.

"Gomawo, Onew-hyung." He says hoarsely.

"Are you sick or is it...the surroundings?" I ask.

"Both." Was my answer. "The surroundings make me sick. There's so much blood! So many people that are..."

He turns away from me without finishing his sentence and leans against a rock.

"Well, all that's left is for us to wait here for the rest of the troops. As long as we stay in cover, we'll be fine. They should be here at dawn." I say.

He sighs as he ruffles his hair and leans his head against the rock.

"How long?" He begins. "How much longer do we have to go through this? I want to go home. I want my hyung...my appa...my...my umma!"

I feel my heart break in two as I see my beloved dongsaeng cry uncontrollably.

What do I say? That we'll be all right? That we'll be home soon? I can only do much to keep our strength up with encouragement and optimism. But I can't lie. How do I know that things really will work out well? What if none of us will see our family again? What if we never see our friends and fans? What if we lose the one thing that keeps us together--each other? What if I can't lead them anymore?

I sigh and pull at my hair.

Pabo! I can't lose hope now when I've held onto it this long. Just a little longer and we'll be home. We have to be! Or all of us will break.

Taemin's P.O.V.

Pabo! How could I cry like this? I'm really weak, aren't I? I'm weak and a coward. We've held onto hope this long, all I need to do is hold onto a bit longer. Besides, I don't want to disappoint Onew-hyung. I'm weak enough as it is, I don't want to continue to be weak. I don't want to worry the others. I need to get my act together and stop feeling sorry for myself! They're in just as much of a bad position as I am.

I wipe my tears with my sleeve and look at Onew-hyung.

"Onew-hyung, come sit with me. You're tired, lie your head on my shoulder."

He looks at me for several seconds, staring into my eyes as if looking for answers, and then he sits behind me.

"Are you all right now?" He asks me.

I smile. "Always worrying about others. Neh, I'm okay."

"Good."

I push his head on my shoulder and lean mine against his.

"Onew-hyung-"

"Jinki." He interrupts me.

"Hmm?"

"Onew will exist again but not now. There's nothing "gentle" about this at all. It's brutal. During all this, I'm Jinki."

I smile sadly and put my arms around him in an embrace.

"You're still Onew to me. Look at you right now! And even through this whole thing, you're gentle. You never shoot an enemy in the back and you'll always take care of others before you."

"All right. To you then, I'm Onew."

I smile.

"Yah! If we stay like this, we'll both fall asleep." He says.

I laugh. "Then sleep. I'll stay on guard."

"Ani, you first, Taeminnie." He says with the nickname I love so much and moves me in a position so that my head is in his lap.

"Hyung-"

"Sleep." He interrupts me.

I close my eyes and sigh contently. Throughout this whole ordeal, I've never felt safer.

Onew's P.O.V.

Since when did my dongsaeng grow up?

I smile at him as he sleeps and I ruffle his hair.

In the back of my mind, I wonder if the others will show up at dawn. What if they don't make it? What if they died? As I look at Taemin, I know they'll make it. If I know my dongsaengs as well as this one, they won't let me down, either. They'll have each other like we he had each other. They'll protect each other like we protected each other. Because in the end, all we have is each other.

Taemin's P.O.V.

It's dawn.

I shake Onew hyung's shoulder. He wakes up instantly--he became a lighter sleeper throughout this ordeal. Like all of us.

"Hmm? Are the others here?" He asks as he rubs the sleepiness off his eyes and sits up.

"Soon, I'm sure." I smile and he gives me an encouraging smile back.

"We'll be together again soon." He says.

"And we'll go home?"

He nods. "Neh!"

We both stand and look out at the pasture. The rain washed away most of the blood. If only it could wash away the bodies, as well. I try to ignore my surroundings before I retch and focus on finding my fellow troops.

"Here they come, Taeminnie!"

I smile and look at where my hyung is pointing.

My fellow troops--my family--are running towards us with other survivors and our captain in charge.

I feel tears in my eyes and I'm not ashamed to let them fall. It's okay to show a moment of weakness at this moment. Why be strong when happiness is involved?

They reach us and well gather into a group hug. All of us are crying. We're together again. That's all that matters. Not where we are, what we're doing--just the fact we're together is all that matters.

Onew's P.O.V.

I have my troops with me again and I'm happy. Together, I feel we can do anything.

I let me tears fall and give all of them a hug one by one. I looked out at the pasture and spoke as they all looked at me--as if waiting for an answer.

"We're going home."

****

(A/N: I write too many angsty things! >.< Hopefully, the ending made up for it. I hope you liked it! Comments are loved ^^ )