“Well, who’s first?”

You were all gathered in the lab of Two Moons the next morning. It was finally time for the Exo members to receive the finial injection to guarantee their powers forever, and they were all a little more than nervous about it.

All of the members exchanged unwilling glances – none of them wanted to be the first. The second, or third, maybe, but definitely not the first.

“What are the odds…” Luhan began slowly. “That somebody goes wrong and we end up dying?”

“Not likely,” Jaejoong replied.

“But possible, right?” Lay clarified unwillingly.

There was a brief tension in the room as the silence engulfed everybody, but it was broken once Yunho finally admitted, “Yeah, there’s a chance that something might go wrong. But isn’t there that chance in everything? If I cross the street, there’s a chance that I might get hit by a car, but it doesn’t mean that it’ll happen.”

“I’ve gotten hit by a car once,” Himchan spoke up. He immediately cowered under the dark glares that were tossed his way for his insensitive words.

“The odds…. How bad are they?” you asked with crossed arms. You would rather the Exo members lose their powers then have the chance to meet death.

“60% success, 10% failure… and 30% fatality,” Jaejoong stated slowly, as if testing the water with his statistics.

“You better get those injections away from them or I’ll kill you all,” you stated simply with a dark gaze in your eyes. “30% chance? I won’t take those odds, so you can off while I give you the chance.”

“Hanmi, stop,” Kris whispered with pain filled eyes.

“They don’t have a choice, Hanmi,” Yunho attempted to explain. “If they don’t get these injections, then their death will be guaranteed when MAMA attacks.”

“NO!” you shouted with clenched fists. “I can protect them, I can do it! I can bring them all down with my bare fists! I… I’m not going to let them die, I’m not!” you screamed. You could feel tears fill your eyes at the thought, and images of the death of Hyunseok and Minhwa filled your brain.

You barely registered the arms that wrapped around your shoulders until your face was pressed lightly against a soft cloth, muffling your cries.

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun’s familiar soothing voice drifted into your ears. “We’ll be fine, Hanmi. It’ll all be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” you choked as you fisted the fabric of his shirt tightly. “You don’t know that, nobody knows.”

“You’re right, nobody knows for sure,” Baekhyun agreed as he pressed his lips against the top of your head. “But have some faith in us, alright? We wouldn’t let ourselves die, and we wouldn’t let each other die.”

You stayed silent for a few minutes as you consumed the other’s words, and finally took a shaky breath of air. “I’m fine. I’m fine, sorry. Just… just go on with it.”

Yunho cast you an uneasy look before turning once again to the other Exo members. “Well, who’s first?”

Silence engulfed everybody once again, as nobody wanted to sacrifice themselves first just yet. They still needed some time to collect themselves. It wasn’t like when they were children 11 years ago – back then they had nothing to lose, and now… now they had each other, now they had you.

“I’ll go first,” Kris finally stated with a raised hand. He was the leader after all, it was his duty.

A hand clung onto his shirt to stop him from moving forward, and he glanced back to see Sehun staring at his feet with an ashamed expression.

“Sehun,” Kris stated softly.

His words caused Sehun to snap back into reality, and he shamefully withdrew his hand. “D-Duizhang… I…” Sehun choked as he stared at the leader with tear filled eyes.

“Hey, don’t do that,” Kris sighed as he patted the boy gently on the head. “Don’t act like I’m not going to see you again.”

“I...” Sehun started again. He wiped his teary eyes with the back of his sleeve. “I-I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Kris stated warmly as he brushed away the maknae’s tears with his thumbs. He chuckled at how Sehun was almost the same height as him, yet still looked like a crying baby. “You’ve grown a lot over the years, Sehun, and I am at fault for continuing to treat you like a baby. Maybe it’s because I missed the days where you would cling to the back of my shirt and always call me Hyung while you followed me around.”

His bittersweet words caused even more tears to spill from the younger’s eyes, and he let out a loud sob, “Hyung, I don’t want you to leave me.”

Kris’s eyes began to gloss over at the younger’s simple statement, and he bit hard on his bottom lip to stop himself from tearing up. He was the leader, and leaders don’t cry.

“I’m not going to leave,” Kris stated firmly. He gave Sehun a final pat on the head, and turned to Yunho. He gave him a small nod, and rolled up his right sleeve to give Yunho clear access for injection.

“Hopefully we’ll see you after this, Kris,” Yunho