POV: Minhyun

"Passengers of flight YK2808, destination Los Angeles, please board through door E32."

The five of us are standing in front of the security desk. From here on out, only the people boarding the flight can pass. This is the last time we'll all be together. At least for a long time.

Aron turns to look at us with sad eyes.

"We separate here."

            POV: JR

When the doors opened, all noise stopped. Everything, absolutely everything, stopped. The silence lasted a few seconds, and then all I could hear was the sound of metal and people running. The majority of the guards threw down their weapons and ran. People that were there for nothing more than a paycheck, that had also been trapped here like us when our escape had been realized and the building had been locked down. They were running within an instant.

The people left were divided into two groups: the rebels – whom had fought for us – and those who truly believed us to be monsters and fought for their true beliefs. Seeing that the second group was much smaller, they went quiet and abandoned their weapons. They ended up running away as well.

A guard with bright green glasses emerged from within the rebels and stepped up as a temporary leader to organize everything. He told us that we had better leave before the real 'boss' – the one who had locked us up and ran the entire project – arrived. The man with icy eyes.

Even so, they convinced us to stay a few more hours. In some way, they offered us help and we didn't have any other choice but to accept it.

They took us to the showers, they gave us good, healed our wounds. Ren needed an operation. They told him that it was a complicated fracture and that it'd be a while before he could walk, that it wasn't a 100% chance that the bone would heal well if he wasn't careful. He needed a lot of blood. We were only able to dissuade Baekho from giving him his when they told him that they weren't compatible. Minhyun and I could have given him blood, but, honestly, we needed it for ourselves.

Ren wasn't the only one to need a transfusion. Many guards had been injured and, although I knew the magnitude of this complex, it surprised me to see so many health personnel and such a large blood reserve. It was quite the shock.

Even more shocking was the moment I recognized a blonde head within the group of the ill. Alice.

How could I approach her? Greet her, apologize for what I did, thank her for everything she did for me. How could I dare to speak to her after everything?

I simply couldn't, so I stayed there, watching the injured being separated from the corpses. Better said, trying not to see it.

They ran various tests on Aron. Firstly because they didn't understand how he could be alive, and secondly because he wasn't completely recovered. According to the x-rays (or whatever they were), he had a dysfunctional lung. There was no way to fix it, but luckily his power compensated for it a lot and it wouldn't be too big of a problem to live normally. Minhyun waited at his side while he recovered, the little girl that had yet to step away from them in his arms.

While Ren continued unconscious, Baekho divided himself between worrying for him and grieving for Nara, who had been his only friend throughout three years. No words could comfort him, but his tears reflected everyone's pain. Including mine. Now that we could 'return home', I felt the loss of my parents more than ever. I still didn't know what I'd do.

"JR!" Her pretty voice called to me, and I immediately knew who it was. I couldn't look at her. Regardless, I turned towards her.

"Alice..."

She smiled. Just like always, she smiled. And although it seemed sincere, my eyes fell on the stub pretending to be her right arm.

"You look good."

Even with the dried blood on my skin and the dirtiness of spending five days in the storehouse, I knew she was right. Because I was on my feet, together with her, untied and clear eyed. I felt proud of it too.

I didn't know how to respond. I supposed I couldn't say the same...

"I'm sorry for what I did to you. After everything..."

She shook her head, cutting me off.

"You didn't want to hurt me." Did that change what I did? "I mean... It was hard, of course, even now I'm not accustomed to it and I doubt I will be for a long time yet. But... I know you didn't do it on purpose. I know that the last thing you wanted was to hurt me. I know you've lost a lot more here than I have. I don't want to hold a grudge against you..."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to think.

I was thankful for it, sure, for that and for thousands of other things. But... she shouldn't have been so kind. She should've hated me for what I did to her. How could I even start to make up for everything I owed her?

I wanted to hug her. I wanted her to know how much I valued the time she spent taking care of me. Her smiles, her kindness. I wanted her to know how much I loved her for it. But I couldn't. The last time she touched me, she lost an arm. Would I scare her if I moved closer?

I tried it. I took a step forward, towards her, but she moved out of the way. She backed up almost unconsciously while hugging herself. Then, when she realized it, she lowered her gaze in shame.

"I'm sorry..." She murmured. "I have no grudge against you, but you do scare me a little..."

Her words, just like her reaction, were like a bucket of cold water. But I understood. I had hurt her a lot. The stump that now replaced her arm would remind her of it forever. I couldn't expect her to forget it in under a week.

I regretted it. I regretted it a lot. Not just for her hurting, but also for having lost her.

But she was with me. She had come up to me to talk and said that she didn't have a grudge against me. That was already a large step in so little time. Maybe I hadn't lost her completely.

And so, I smiled, keeping a distance between us.

"Thank you, Alice. Thank you for everything you've done for me..."

She smiled back. Her smile reminded me of my time of imprisonment. It reminded me of my mother, and it hurt, but it also comforted me. I felt like crying.

"I think there's someone else who wants to apologize..."

She stepped aside and, behind her, I caught a glimpse of a spark of icy blue. She hid as soon as I saw her, probably as insecure about me as I had been with Alice. But I didn't hold any grudge against her.

"They found you."

I felt relieved. It had been only a few hours ago that we had abandoned her in the storehouse when I'd told a guard where to find her. To go look for her. But I hadn't known anything else since then. Knowing that she was fine made me feel better.

She came out of her hiding place, looking me in the eyes for an instance and then looking at the floor, ashamed.

"Thank you." She murmured. She looked at me again, glancing off to the side right after and biting her lip, as if unable to say something. I simply waited. "Why didn't you kill me?"

I had been expecting that question. The whole world seemed to think that killing was the solution to everything. Why?

"More deaths?" I gestured to our surroundings, to the walls stained in red, the wounded, the corpses. "Don't you think there's already been too many?"

"But I... I tried to kill you..."

I didn't respond. I stared at her intently. What other reason could I give her? That I knew she didn't actually want to kill me? That in those few days she shared with us, I gained enough affection for her to hurt if anything were to happen to her? That it scared me to lose more people I knew? It was exactly as I'd said: there had already been too many deaths.

Still uncomfortable, she glanced up again to murmur a "thank you."

But it wasn't enough. Although I didn't hold any grudges against her, she hadn't been forgiven. Just like I hadn't forgiven myself for what I did to Alice although she seemed to have done so.

This was truly uncomfortable...

And it would continue to be so until we accepted what we had done. Until we accepted our mistakes, until we accepted that there was no going back. We couldn't change what we had done and, in some way, the fault had created a wall between us.

But we also didn't want to say goodbye like this. That will turned out to be stronger than blame and we continued together, trying to bring down our barriers.

            POV: Ren

When they said they were going to operate, I didn't like it one bit. Having strangers digging through my leg didn't appeal to me, especially taking into account that, until that moment, their purpose had always been to heal us just to be exhibited again. But just because I didn't like it didn't mean that I was stupid. I didn't feel like being crippled for the rest of my life because of by stubbornness. So I accepted.

There was just one small detail that I hadn't thought through... "We're going to sedate you." My first reaction was to stare at them like they were crazy, the second was to try to flee. Then I realized that I couldn't walk, so I sat back down to think about it. After all these days trying to avoid being sedated, accepting it so easily... But the idea of a surgery without anesthesia made me panic. Being used to pain isn't the same thing as being masochistic. Even so... it scared me. To fall asleep and knowing that if something happens to the others, I wouldn't notice... Knowing that if these people turned out to be allied with the guards and wanted to hurt me, I wouldn't be able to defend myself... That feeling has been so integrated into me.

"They won't hurt you, they're just worried about you. Really." Samuel said while my mind spun. And I believed him. I know that he could read their minds and that they couldn't trick him. That boy made me want to trust him, so I nodded and let them hoist me up onto the stretcher.

But there was someone more worried about the topic than I was. Baekho. He cried while repeating over and over again that I shouldn't worry, that nothing would happen, that he would be there with me and that I had to be strong. He was in  hysterics and I didn't know what more to do other than tell him to calm down. I knew his state probably had nothing to do with my surgery. Nara's death, all of the death around us, the tension of the last few hours and days were finally taking a toll on him. I could do nothing but smile at him and tell him not to worry about me, that he should sleep a bit, knowing that it was unlikely that he'd manage to close his eyes.

            POV: Baekho

I watched the entire operation in silence. They wouldn't let me in, but in the end they had to accept it. They would have had to sedate me too to get me to stay outside. After seeing Nara die, along with so many others, the last thing I wanted was to be separated from Ren.

He was so handsome... So small, so perfect... Why had they hurt him so much? Him, us, everyone... And now they wanted to help us. I was thankful, of course, but... I don't know. I didn't know what to think. About that or about anything... I had seen so many people die. I had had to stand up to so much pain... see so much pain... Would I be able to forget it one day?

With time, maybe. I told myself.

That didn't make me feel any better. My head hurt, it hurt horribly. If I sat down, my body would be incapable of getting up again. My muscles felt heavy. All of a sudden I was aware of each scratch, each bruise, of all the wounds – although shallow – that covered my whole body. And I felt like just crying. Why? We had succeeded, we had won, we were going to return home. Everything was good. Why did I cry then? I didn't even know myself, but I couldn't stop.

            POV: Minhyun

They didn't let me into the medical room while they ran tests on Aron. They told me to sleep a bit, or go for a walk. But I refused to move until he came out. They shrugged and left me in some makeshift waiting room. I sat with Shinhye on my lap. She seemed happy, playing with her stuffed bear. I was scared that they might find something wrong with Aron. He wasn't dead, but he was having difficulty moving. He was very weak. What if his wound hadn't completely healed? What if he'd been left with serious physical side effects? What if he'd come back to life only temporarily and was about to die again? What if—?

"Umma... Umma!"

"Huh?"

I was slowly but surely getting used to being called that... Blondie had a laughing fit the first time he heard it. The others too, but they were much more subtle.

"Where's appa?"

"He's in there... They're testing him."

I didn't know how to explain it to her. She was much too young, she couldn't be older than two. Would she understand?

"Why?"

"Well..." How was I supposed to respond to that? I didn't want to lie but I didn't want her to worry either. I hesitated for a moment. "Appa had an accident, remember?"

"Yesh... but he all better now, wight?"

"Yes, yes, they're just checking. To make sure everything is okay."

"Oh..."

She looked convinced. Had she really understood me? Her eyes went back to her bear, mine went back to being lost in some corner of the room while my mind returned to thoughts of Aron, leaving us in silence.

"Umma... do you love appa?"

I wasn't expecting that question, not so suddenly. Shinhye gave me a curious look and I smiled.

"Yes. It hasn't been long since we met, but he's become someone important in my life. I love him a lot."

A small blush spread across my face as I said it and she grinned widely.

"And does appa love you?"

"Yes, he also loves me a lot."

"How gooooooood!"

She raised Teddy with her arms and began to move it as if it were dancing.

"Why do you ask that?"

"You'we boyfwends! You'we boyfwends! And you love each otha a loooooot!"

She spread her arms to visually show me what she meant with 'a loooot' and began to giggle happily. I found it amusing and laughed with her. I liked this girl.

"Umma, appa ish okay. I know it!"

She smacked a hand over her chest and lifted her head to demonstrate how sure she was. I hugged her tightly, even more so when I felt her tiny arms wrap around my neck. Her words really had made me feel better. Her energy, her happiness. This little girl was a charmer.

I did think that she was very smart and talked a lot for her apparent age, but, after all, they made her with the genetic material of people with powers, right? Surely that was the cause. I decided I wouldn't turn it over too much.

When we broke away from the hug, she grinned up at me.

"Thank you, Shinhye. Thanks to you, I feel better."

"Yeaaah? How gooooood!"

"You know what? I love Aron. But I love you too."

"OHHHHHHH!" Her eyes lit up. "A lot?"

"A lot, a lot."

She hopped off my legs and began to fly around the room, excited, while swinging her arms to and fro, shouting, "yippee" all over the place.

I stood up from the chair and took a few steps to stand in the middle of the room. Immediately, she came to my arms. Although she could sustain herself up in the air, I had come to realize that she liked to be carried. And it calmed me to have her in my arms.

"Do you want us to play something while we wait?"

"Yeeeesh!"

            POV: Aron

When they finally finished with all their tests, I felt dizzy. They offered me a place to lie down for a while, in the medical room, but I refused to. I wanted to see my boy. He must've been worried. I wanted to tell him that everything was okay.

I found him right outside the door. He was in a small waiting room, sitting in the corner with Shinhye sleeping in his arms. He watched her, an affectionate smile on his lips.

When he saw me, he quickly got to his feet, whisper-shouting my name so he wouldn't wake her as he ran to me. He gave me a very quick kiss, but it was sweet nonetheless. I couldn't help but smile dumbly.

"How are you? What did they say? They kept you in there for a long time..."

"They just couldn't believe what they were seeing. They didn't understand how JR could have completely healed my wound."

I chuckled as I remembered their faces of disbelief. But Min didn't laugh. He continued worriedly.

"But you're okay?"

"Yes, there's nothing to worry about. My injured lung has been left useless, but thanks to my abilities I'll be able to live normally. Although, about my powers... I'll be able to use them, but if I do, I'll become exhausted very quickly."

"So... you're okay? There's no danger?"

"Yeah, I'm fine—"

"Are you sure?"

"Min, leave it. You're thinking too much again. I'm fine, really."

At last he nodded and kissed me again. How can he always think so much? But he does it because he worries about me. It's charming.

We slowly walked towards the large room at the entrance, where the open door sat. The dizziness had already gone, but seeing the halls full of corpses – some dismembered, others crushed, destroyed, broken to bits – made me gag.  And it made me sad. And pained. A mix of unpleasant emotions for everything that had happened, for all the deaths, for all the damage we'd done and all the damage done to us. For all the stress we'd gone through, the fear, the pain, the frustration and uselessness... All of that mixed inside my mind and ran through my body. Shivers ran down my spine as cold sweat appeared on my forehead.

Min also stared at the corpses. He must've been feeling the same thing as I was. He wrapped his arms further around Shinhye and held her tightly against his chest in a reflexive desire to protect her and get her away from all of that death. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I could feel him tremble.

At least the medicines they gave me allowed me to move around easier than before.

When we arrived at the room with the doors, I wanted to get rid of all those unwanted feelings and I was dying to spend some time alone with Min, under the sunlight. I knew that from today on we'd have plenty of opportunities to be alone in the light of the sun, but it really appealed to me at the moment.

"Min, let's go outside."

I grabbed his arm and dragged him forward.

"Wait, what about Shinhye?"

The little girl continued sleeping in his arms.

"Um... well..."

"Leave her with me, if you'd like. I can watch her for a while."

The redheaded man walked closer with a friendly smile.

"You don't mind?"

"Not at all!"

Min handed the girl over and said goodbye with a kiss to her forehead.

"Thank you."

"No problem. Enjoy yourselves!" He winked.

We left the building behind, and then the wall that surrounded it. We basked in the feeling of the sun against our skin, in the breeze playing with our hair, in the smell of fresh grass. We ran out into the grass fields, chasing one another and spinning around. We played like two little kids. Like the kids that we'd been forbidden to be for years.

At last, we let ourselves fall into the tall pieces of grass, tired but grinning widely as we lay down on our backs with our fingers laced together. We picked out shapes in the clouds, enjoying this feeling of freedom to the fullest.

Min became serious all of a sudden.

"Aron, what will happen to the kids?"

"Well, I guess they'll look for their families... and they'll take them with them, won't they?"

"Yeah, I suppose so..." He didn't seem happy with my answer. "But Shinhye told us that they made her with our cells..."

"You think she doesn't have parents?"

"I don't know... It's what she said..."

"But she's very young. If they took her as a newborn, she wouldn't remember. Do you really think they made them like that, with nothing else?"

"I don't know... I'm just worried that she doesn't have anywhere to go..."

Min continued staring at the clouds with a thoughtful expression. I liked that he was so protective of everyone. I liked everything about him. In that moment, he looked very y, laying in the grass with the sunlight shining down on him. Really damn y... and very lovely.

"You've gotten very attached to her, haven't you?"

"Of course." He smiled. "She makes herself loveable."

"Don't worry. We'll talk to the guards or whoever later and we'll fix it."

He nodded. Then he rolled over the grass to hug me and I hugged him back. And we stayed there, enjoying each other's company.

I don't know exactly when his face got so close to mine. I don't know in what moment I felt his breath over my mouth. I don't know at what point our lips brushed. I only know that we found ourselves kissing, tongues twisting together in a passionate fight, exchanging saliva, our bodies pressing closer and closer together, touches growing more passionate by the second.

We rolled around in the grass a few times without breaking the kiss. I felt like I was suffocating with his mouth on mine, but I didn't want to pull away. The kiss only broke for the mere instant we used to send our shirts flying who knew where.

His hands ran down my back, making me shiver pleasantly, and then boldly slipped into the back of my pants. Mine tangled themselves into his hair, rubbed at his neck, traced his ribs and squeezed his thighs. Our chests pressed together, our interlocked legs, our rhythmic and choked gasps... This boy was too much for me... I was losing my mind...

"Aron! Minhyun!"

The feminine voice startled us. We separated as quickly as we could but it was too late. The girl with red hair that had just turned the corner of the wall – the wall that had kept her from seeing us until then – stared at us, blushing and jaw hanging slack.

"Yoonjo!"

Min grinned in happiness to see her again. He had already told me that he'd gotten along well with the girls in the changing and makeup rooms.

"I... I'm sorry!"

Yoonjo covered her face in shame, and then Min seemed to remember the situation she had just found us in. His face became a tomato. It made me laugh. I didn't really know why but it put me in such a laughing fit that I couldn't get off the ground. I rolled around, laughing loudly and holding my stomach with my hands from the pain of laughing so hard. The both of them stared at me, Yoonjo from between her fingers. They must've thought that I'd gone crazy, but I couldn't stop. In the end, the laughter became contagious and they joined me. At least it managed to relieve the tension of the moment.

Until I started to realize that I couldn't breathe. I couldn't take in air, couldn't get my lungs to expand. I tried to calm down so I could concentrate on breathing, but I couldn't stop laughing. It hurt. So much my stomach as my chest, but I still couldn't stop. I began to cough as if I was choking while I squirmed in the grass. Laugh, cough, laugh, cough.

Min gave me a worried look, not sure whether to despair or continue laughing. I admit that seeing me like that must've been kind of funny. He made a move as if to hug me, but pulled away, surely thinking that a hug would make it even more difficult for me to breathe. He didn't know what to do and simply sat there, staring at me in doubt, just like Yoonjo, who was still standing next to the wall.

At last, I managed to focus a little and breathe, after a long while of believing I'd die of suffocation and instinctively ripping up a lot of grass. The breeze blew the green blades away from us. Now I understood the consequences of having a useless lung and it scared me a little. I had to be careful.

I finally managed to swallow enough air to talk and regain my composure. I continued speaking, ignoring what had just happened.

"Come, Yoonjo. We promise not to do anything more."

She moved closer and sat beside us while we pulled our shirts back on, shirts that had been left stained by the grass. Min was still blushing. He looked very cute.

"I'm sorry... for interrupting. But I have to say that you didn't pick a very good place for that." She said, amused.

"Yeah... we're sorry. We'd come out to walk. We didn't have any intention to do anything but... You see, we're weak about this."

She laughed at my explanation. Min went back to that thoughtful expression of his.

"Yoonjo, tell me, are Yooyoung and Ara okay?"

"Yes," she grinned. "None of us three were close to the battle, nor the places you'd gone through. Nothing has happened to us."

"What a relief..."

Now Min smiled, content. He really did worry about all the people important to him.

Then I remembered that Yoonjo had come calling for us. And I grew worried.

"Yoonjo, why were you looking for us? Has something happened?"

"Oh, it's Shinhye. She woke up and she won't stop crying. She says that you two abandoned her."

Min and I fixed up our clothes and hair, and the three of us returned to the building. When Shinhye saw me, she came flying from the arms of the redheaded man, throwing herself into mine to hug me with a red face and eyes full of tears.

"Appaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Ummaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Shinhye!"

"Why wewn't you here? I wash alone!"

She raised her head to give me a huge pout. I smiled to calm her and dried the tears from her cheeks with a finger.

"I'm sorry, little one. Umma and I went outside to see the sun, and since you were sleeping with such a pretty face, we didn't want to wake you."

"Oh! Me pwetty?"

"Yes, you're very pretty. You're a little princess."

I ruffled up her hair and a wide smile spread across her face. Her red cheeks were the only trace left of her crying. I felt happy.

While I played a bit with Shinhye, I saw Min talking animatedly with Ara, Yooyoung, and Yoonjo. He hugged all three. They also seemed very happy to see him and confirm how well he moved around now.

"Appa. Umma isn't okay. He has a bitten on his neck."

It wasn't until then that I noticed the red mark I'd left on him a few minutes ago. Oops. What was I going to say to a baby?"

"No, that's not a bite. You see... he's been stung by a... some nettle. That. Do you know what nettle is?"

"No..."

"It's a plant that will sting you if you touch it."

"Oh... Umma doesn't look afte himself... Does appa take care of umma?"

"Of course. I always will."

She smiled cutely.

"Umma ish cooool. Appa too."

I found myself staring as she hugged Teddy in my arms and played with him. With such a sweet expression. Innocent and loveable.

            POV: JR

Ren slept and Baekho continued crying. I'd gone to him to try and motivate him a few times, but I didn't even know why he was crying. Happiness, sadness, bitterness, exhaustion. Exhaustion more than anything. He endured the whole escape like a hero, but once everything ended, he crumbled under the price of all that pressure.

I supposed that it'd pass if he rested a while, saw Ren fully recovered and by leaving this building of nightmares at last.

The truth was that at that moment, it was difficult to resist the temptation to go running towards the sun, towards the breeze, towards nowhere in particular, and not return, when the doors were wide open.

But there were still things that needed to be done.

The tests they had run on Aron (of which the results I'd had to find out from the boss of the medical personnel) were... relatively good. One of his lungs had been rendered useless. Permanently. The good part was that he was still alive, something that still seemed like a miracle to everyone. And, with his power, he'd barely even notice the disability.

I was starting to realize that we were special, for something more than our powers.

While he and Minhyun lost themselves alone outside (I didn't even want to think of what they might have been doing) and Ren continued unconscious, I stayed with Alice and Lime. There was tension between us. Alice didn't feel comfortable being near me, regardless of how much she insisted that she was. Occasionally, she would touch the stump of her arm and each time I saw it, a stab of guilt would go straight to my heart. I could do nothing but try to ignore it, to try to help her in anything I could and wait.

And Lime... Lime hadn't forgiven herself. Just like many other guards, her mentality was changing now that the official news was that we weren't dangerous monsters. Now, those who considered us humans with rights had won and she and many others were learning to think differently.

But it wasn't just that. There was something else between us. Something more that created tension. And it wasn't necessarily bad. I wasn't very sure of her intentions nor of what I felt about it. After all, she was several years older than me. But there was something there. I was feeling more and more comfortable beside her, and I felt very happy that – despite whatever it was that had happened in the storehouse – it was no more.

I could almost hear the insults and reproaches Ren had spat at me in my mind, about knowing it all along, asking how I could have trusted her after everything. But... I couldn't do anything to distance myself.

            POV: Ren

I spent a few minutes trying to orient myself before I became conscious of my whereabouts, before I remembered what had happened. My body felt light, like cotton. It was a sensation that I knew all too well. The effects of sedatives. For a moment, I grew scared, my eyes snapping open with the fear that I'd be once again faced with my cell. Luckily there were no mirrors or shackles to be found, just some hospital beds and a few people nearby.

I found the first, Baekho, sitting beside me, squeezing my hand and making a face of relief when he saw that I was finally awake. He seemed a little calmer than before but it was obvious that he had cried a lot and that he still hadn't slept. My tiger...

The second person was Samuel, the little boy, standing close to the door. But he came closer when he noticed that I had woke up. He was about to sit beside Baekho, but frowned and changed direction to sit on the other side of my bed, the furthest from my man as possible.

"What's wrong?" I asked with a hoarse and drowsy voice, "Are you scared of Baekho?" I didn't understand why he reacted that way.

"His mind is total chaos. It gives me a headache... I like yours better." He said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

That made me even more curious about this kid, about his power. It interested me a lot. He had behaved with surprising calmness in these last few hours for being so young. He'd been trying to shoot, to protect that baby girl, without losing his head no matter how scared he'd been.

"Hey, how does your power work?" I asked at last. "Can you read... the whole mind? Tapes of memories and all that or just what we're thinking at the moment?"

On the inside, it made me a tad uncomfortable for him to be able to see all of my memories. They included too much violence for him and there were also certain... dreams and thoughts that were inappropriate for his age. He chuckled softly and I realized, much too late, that if he couldn't read them before, thinking about them had just shown them to him in complete clarity. .

"Only what you're thinking at the moment. Don't worry, I'm not a blabbermouth."

We continued talking about his abilities for a good while. About Shinhye and shameful things he'd heard from the guards that hadn't learned to control their thoughts around him. We didn't talk about our families, about the scare we'd gone through. It was still too painful. Baekho barely participated in the conversation. He just listened, but if it managed to distract him a little, it was okay with me.

"What a face you have, blondie. You're paler than a corpse." Minhyun said as he entered the room with his inseparable boyfriend, followed by JR.

"My leg was just torn open to set my bone right, subnormal druggie."

The two of us laughed and they sat on the foot of the bed since there were no more chairs.

"Okay, seriously now, how are you?"

I had to think about it for a few seconds before I could respond.

"Really well. My leg doesn't hurt but I'm still really drugged up from those damn sedatives."

"I thought you'd be immune to them by now."

"Ha, ha, ha." Okay, so maybe it made a little sense. I would have even found it unsurprising if the sedative hadn't taken effect after all this time.

"Come on, don't worry." Aron intervened. "As soon as you can, you have to go out to see the outside. The sun is lovely."

The sun. The air. I had to see it.

I hurriedly uncovered myself and got to my feet, placing my weight on my good leg. But as soon as I was about to take a step, the walls began to spin and I fell. To my luck, my man was close enough to catch me before I tore open my leg again due to my stupidity.

"Rennie! You can't walk so carelessly!" He scolded while he obligated me to sit on the bed again. "The nurses said that they have a wheelchair ready for when you woke up. We'll go look for it."

"I'm not an invalid. I'm not going to sit in a wheelchair."

Definitely not that. I still had some dignity damn it.

"What about some crutches?" JR said. "I'm sure Alice could find some around here—"

"I'm not going to use anything that a guard brings. I'm sure they'll give me something defective so that I'll fall again." Although the idea of some crutches sounded much better...

JR sighed with the same resignation a parent would have with a little kid that is too stubborn.

"Alice isn't a guard. She's a nurse and I promise that she's the nicest person that I've ever met. Seriously, Ren."

"Is she the blonde with long hair?" Samuel asked. JR nodded and he turned towards me. "He's right. A long time ago, she would come by a few times and she has a very... appealing mind. Innocent. It's rare but I doubt she'd be able to hurt a fly."

"Rennie, either crutches or a wheelchair or you don't get up from this bed." My boyfriend insisted tiredly.

"Fine..." I gave in finally and JR smiled as he left the room for a moment.

"I'll have them here in a moment."

A while later, doctor Jang came in. She seemed to be some type of boss or someone very respected here.

"Well, I see that you're very much awake, Minki." I crinkled my nose at hearing her call me by my name. I only allowed my parents or close childhood friends – and now Baekho – the privilege, not some stranger.

"Call me Ren, not Minki." Bewilderment spread across her face but she nodded without questions.

"That's fine, Ren." She checked her papers. "You've recovered faster than I expected, although I suppose I should be used to that. All of you have higher than normal resistance and recovery speeds. I never like to assume it."

She paused and looked at us with a mix of admiration and curiosity.

"The truth is that half of you should be either dead or nearly there. It's incredible..."

"I don't think it's just that..." Minhyun interrupted thoughtfully, "Our powers might make us tougher, but we wouldn't be here with just that. What has brought us here is our will power, our desire to live. Without that, we wouldn't have fought until the end. We would have given up a long time ago."

"You're probably right. It's not just that you're stronger, but you're also more resilient..."

"Resi... what?" My man asked as if she was speaking in Chinese.

"Resilience."

"Isn't that a property of metals?" Aron asked. Minhyun broke into giggles at that, and the doctor also laughed. The rest, except for JR it seemed, also didn't have a clue. It rung a bell to me but I didn't know how to word it. I guessed that I had gone too long without studying or going to classes to remember a concept that I'd heard only a couple of times.

"Resilience. The capacity to get up after falling, to continue forward and not give in." The doctor explained. "And I believe the term is also applied to materials in engineering..."

"Ohhhhh...."

I didn't stick around to follow the rest of the conversation about how amazing we were because that blonde arrived with a pair of crutches on one arm. She didn't have a right arm. Where her elbow should've been was a stump. And then I remembered why the name Alice had sounded familiar to me. JR had disintegrated her arm... I didn't know whether to admire her for being able to talk to him and forgive him, worry about it being a trick (although according to Samuel she wasn't like that, so I trusted her a lot) or ask myself how she could be so stupid as to forgive something like that. But the truth was that it didn't matter much to me. I grabbed the crutches and went running out of the room to go see the sun at last.

            POV: Baekho

I followed Ren. He stumbled off with the crutches, but didn't pause. I could practically see him on the ground and it made me nervous.

"Rennie." I called as I ran after him. "Rennie, careful!"

He stopped just to ask me for directions. He didn't remember where we were.

"To the left." I also wanted to go outside, and it wasn't like I could stop him either. "But go slower, okay? Carefully." I begged and he gave me a sad look. "Let's go together."

He nodded. We continued on together.

I stared at him in worry while he basically jumped to keep going. A broken leg... He said that it didn't hurt, but that wasn't possible. A few hours ago, he'd fainted from the pain. When the effects of the painkillers passed, it'd be horrible. I didn't want him to suffer.

In the large hall, the people gave us looks and greeted us. Ren ignored them all and kept going towards the outside, towards the light.

And when we made it out, the light poured over us. I could feel it against my skin, against my closed eyelids. The sound of crickets of the summer. Underneath our feet, the road of asphalt was warm from the midday sun. Side by side, areas of dirt for cars. A bit further off, behind a small wall, grass and trees.

Freedom.

I felt like crying again.

Ren halted long enough to take a deep a breath and decide he wanted to go further. He went down along the road, and for a moment I was scared that he'd think of leaving on foot without another word. But, as he arrived to the start of the grass, he stopped again and simply let himself fall to the ground with the smile of an angel on his heart-shaped lips.

Beautiful.

Again, that feeling of wanting to cry.

My angel of light underneath the sun. My angel of light was finally free.

I kneeled down at his side and hugged him, crying again.

"Baek..." He held me, rubbed my back in an attempt to comfort me. I didn't even know why I was crying. "Everything's over now... we're free..."

Free... After everything, we had made it. But it didn't matter. Well, yes, I was happy for Ren. Seeing him enjoying the liberty he had wanted so much. I was happy for Minhyun and for Aron, together at last, without any pressure on them, without anything holding them back from enjoying themselves with one another. I was happy for JR, who had suffered so much, who had lost so much. I was also happy for myself. I'd return home, I would see my siblings again. I'd be able to hug my parents, to run through the garden behind our house. I'd see the silhouette of the island while the ferry arrived, the little dirt trail up to our house. I'd hear my mother sing again. I'd see my baby brothers playing and fighting again.

But they wouldn't be babies anymore.

Over three years had passed. I had left my house at nearly fourteen and I'd be returning at seventeen. But I wasn't the only one who had grown. My siblings were mere boogers when I left. Now the three of them would be going to school. Would they recognize me?

But what did any of that matter? I didn't even know if I wanted to go back.

Yes, I wanted to go back. Of course I wanted to go back. But going back meant separating from Ren...

It wasn't a long distance. He'd be in Busan and I'd be in Jeju. It wasn't much. Internet and mobiles (that I'd have to buy a new one of) would allow us to communicate without trouble despite the distance. It'd be even better than when we sent each other paper airplanes. An eternity seemed to have passed since then, but it felt like returning to that...

And that was nothing compared to Minhyun and Aron being in America...

Why did everything make me want to cry?

Ren looked at me, he smiled so I wouldn't cry anymore. He dried my tears with his hand and moved closer to kiss me for a second.

His lips, so warm, so soft, so sweet. It was a sensation that I had yet to get used to. I doubt I'd ever grow accustomed to it. Each time we so much as brushed together, my heart would leap. I felt warm, full, good.

And I kept crying. Because I loved him.

"God, you're a mess." Pulling away, he chuckled. I must've looked pathetic.

"My head hurts." I tried to justify myself.

"Why don't you try to sleep a bit? Now that everything's over..."

I was sure that if I slept, I'd have nightmares. Nara came to mind, now forever asleep. Why did I have to think of her?

I hugged him and we stayed there, lying on the grass. I was going to reply, but before I even realized it, I was asleep.

            POV: Ren

I honestly hadn't expected him to fall asleep so quickly when I had suggested it. It wasn't what I had thought our final hours together would be like, but he needed it. He needed to rest and forget about the deaths surrounding him for a while.

So I let him use me as a pillow and dedicated myself to peacefully observing while his hair and back. This was the first time I'd seen him in the sunlight, that I was able to simply contemplate him without having to be alert of each and every noise or suspicious movement. The first time I could dedicate to ourselves.

Objectively, Baekho wasn't an amazingly handsome guy. He didn't have that beauty that made schoolgirls fall in love with his every step like someone like JR could, but he had something. I memorized and traced over each of his features with  my finger, searching for what that something was that, to me, made him so irresistible, so perfect, like the most handsome man on the planet. He didn't have anything particularly special, but I could have spent hours watching him as he slept. Sleeping, at last without a frown nor that look of someone who had seen so much suffering that it couldn't be expressed with words. He was at peace, like a small child.

My own eyes finally shut, my head falling onto the grass. I let my breathing slow until it matched my sleeping tiger's.

And then, for the first time, I allowed myself to think about our future. A future that was no longer a "maybe" or a "when". It was a "now". It was obvious that Minhyun would go to the United States with Aron, and I had a hunch they'd end up taking that baby girl if we didn't find her parents. JR... I didn't know what he'd do now. He didn't have a family, nor a place to go. I suppose that one of us could take him in but... Who? Minhyun and Aron? It'd be funny, ironic... But no. Not even an option. And us... What would happen to us? Now that I had grown used to seeing him 24 hours a day (despite the unfavorable conditions), it'd be strange only being able to talk via internet, regardless of the marvels of Skype.

When would we be able to see each other? I hoped it'd be soon, and not just because I'd miss him. There was one thing that'd been pushed to the waiting line... . We weren't in good conditions nor had it seemed like a good idea to start ing behind some boxes like our friends the couple, but that didn't mean I didn't have my needs... And that was another of my worries. Baekho didn't seem to be in any hurry for it and I was starting to ask myself if he'd even thought about it.

I had starting flipping my mind over this too much, so I opted to stop thinking of things that didn't have immediate solutions and instead took advantage of the sun and good weather I'd been longing so much for.

I didn't know how much time had passed when I heard approaching footsteps. I sat up in an instant, trying not to wake Baekho, but sighed in relief to see it was just Samuel. But there was something weird about his behavior.

"Eh, what's that serious face for, Samuel?" I grew worried that he might've seen something horrible and was now traumatized.

"Oh, I... am blocking my power."

I gave him a surprised look. "Why?"

"Just in case. So I won't hear... unnecessary things. I've had enough with those two erts..."

I laughed, relieved to know it wasn't anything grave, or at least not as bad as I'd thought. I'd see to it that those two controlled themselves more in front of this poor boy. He smiled and relaxed, probably no longer blocking our thoughts.

"Don't worry." Baekho, who had just opened his eyes, said. "You won't find any of that in our minds."

Hearing that left me speechless. Nothing of anything? Not even a little? Had I gotten myself a saintly and completely innocent boyfriend? I happened to have a few interesting ideas in mind...

This time, Samuel was the one to break down laughing. , he heard me!

I gave him a begging look that translated to "don't sell me out please". To my luck, he answered with a slight nod and held back his giggles.

"So, did you want something?" I asked to change the topic when Baekho looked at us, clearly not understanding what was going on.

"Oh, yeah! They told me to come look for you because the guards want to talk to all of you to show you something."

We stood up and brushed off the bits of grass from our pants. "We'll be there in a bit."

Samuel began the walk back to the large building and we followed him a few steps behind.

"Do you feel better now?" I asked Baekho, grabbing his hand.

He nodded with a small smile.

"Yes, thank you. Don't worry."

            POV: Baekho

The guard with glasses, the same one that had taken the position of leader from when the doors opened, brought us together in front of imposing metallic doors. I had never been able to peek inside mentally because of its shield, and I had to admit that I was curious about it. I wasn't dying to go inside either. I had many suspicions of what was inside.

"What's in there?" Minhyun asked when we arrived.

"The laboratories." The guard responded. "I thought you should see it before you left."

He paused. I thought the doors would open, but when they didn't I guessed that he wanted us to ask.

"What's inside?"

He coughed, perplexed, and turned towards another of those who were present. There were four, one of which being the medic that had operated on Ren, and based on their different uniforms, they must've been the bosses of each group. Guards, medics, scientists, and communication personnel.

"You're not here just to be exhibited." The scientist spoke up, tugging on his dark blue coat. "We were running tests with your powers. We isolated the genes they contained. We've been able to artificially synthesize the hormone and..." He shook his head, getting to the point. "We created 'objects'. Explosives and lights with Ren's power, trackers with Baekho's, steroids with Aron's, etcetera. And also..." He lowered his gaze to the floor, as if ashamed. The guard urged him on and he continued, pressing his ear between his fingers. "We also tried to reproduce it. To give your abilities to other people. In some cases, it would work but would stop taking effect within a few hours because their bodies couldn't create more hormones, and in many cases the results were..." He gulped back a face of disgust, which made it much too obvious. "They weren't the expected results. So we decided to 'create' people with your powers using your genes."

He paused again, this time waiting for a reaction on our part. My knowledge of science in general was scarce and mostly forgotten, but although I'd gotten lost multiple times throughout his spiel, I could take a good guess of where this was going.

"Is that even legal?" JR asked in horror.

"Do you think anything they do here is legal?" Minhyun replied with something close to a laugh.

The scientist hurried to justify himself, still at his ear.

"These practices caused many ethical problems within the team, but we followed orders to the end."

'Just like everyone else' said a little voice in my head.

"So you've been... 'creating' children with our genes? Like with artificial insemination?"

"With donated ova, yes."

"So then Shinhye... is really our daughter?"

"She contains the genetic material of Aron and Baekho. We assume her power has derived from the mix of both."

Everyone turned to look at us instantly. If I had understood correctly up until now... I had a child with the dwarf??? That was more than my mind could process.

The other three didn't waste any time before falling into laughing fits. Ren crumbled to the floor and not even the pain of trying to lean on his bad leg kept him from cackling.

On the other hand, Aron and I shared a look that promised we'd never bring this up again.

"What about Samuel?" Minhyun asked when he got over his giggling fit.

"Samuel is a bit of a different case." The medic explained. "His ability is original and his own. In fact, we exhibited him for a short time, but no matter how impressive he is, the people didn't seem to like that he could read their minds, and, besides, he was too young. We decided to keep him solely for research, but he'd get terrible migraines after each test and the company of the little girl seemed to calm him. That's why he's kept with her."

"Oh." JR exclaimed, looking towards me. "Just like your voice calms me. I think you should be proud of your daughter, you two." And they laughed again. Honestly, I didn't find it funny. A daughter. I was only seventeen years old! And, to top it off, with that dwarf... I had seen many strange things in my lifetime, but that...

I was more than eager to erase that piece of information from my mind.

"Are there more babies like her?" I asked.

"Only fetuses." The scientist continued explaining, touching his ear again. The damn tic was starting to put my nerves on end. "Seventy eight that haven't failed yet. Shinhye was more of a chance occurrence than a scientific achievement. The majority die."

"We wanted to ask for your opinions before doing anything. They're your children, in the end..."

Thanks for the reminder...

"Destroy it all." Ren said without hesitation.

JR him, repulsed by the idea, but Minhyun beat him to it with a sharp voice and wide eyes.

"What?"

"What else can we do?" Rennie insisted.

"Why not?" After thinking for a moment, Aron spoke up. "It seems like the easiest solution."

I nodded. I really didn't see any other option, and the less time we spent on this, the better. Although I hated to agree with the dwarf... The father of my daughter, whispered that little voice in my head. God damn it, shut up!

"But..." JR continued, perplexed and frightened. "Destroy it all... including the babies? They're living beings. We can't just destroy them all like this!"

It was clear that he didn't like the idea, but it was also clear that Minhyun was starting to realize that it was the best solution as well, and the four 'bosses' or whoever they were seemed to be agreed.

It wasn't a likeable solution, it wasn't the ethical solution. But it was easy and fast, a solution so we wouldn't think about it too much. Lately we seemed accustomed to that type of decision.

"JR." I called for his attention to try and convince him. "We only have a few hours. Is there any other option?"

He hesitated, desperately looking for something.

"We could simply leave them here..."

"So that they can continue playing with our powers?" Ren spat. "No thank you. They've enjoyed themselves enough already."

"But..."

"Don't think about it, alright?" Minhyun cut him off with a hand on his shoulder. "We're going to destroy all of the games they've created with our abilities. So that they won't be able to hurt anyone with them. Concentrate on that."

He still didn't accept it, and I had to admit that I didn't like it either, but Minhyun's advice was good. Don't think about it. That seemed to be the best choice.

But no. For JR, it wasn't enough. He ran his hands through his hair, stressed, and sighed. He lifted his eyes to look at us again.

"Everyone finds this okay?"

Okay... not precisely 'okay', but for the best, yes.

We nodded.

"Fine then."

We left the rest in the hands of the personnel and, as it seemed that we had nothing more to do, we began to prepare ourselves to leave.

            POV: Aron

Once we decided to destroy the laboratories, we headed back to the room with the doors, not really knowing what we'd do there. We talked about how easily Ren walked around with the crutches, about how ruined our clothes had been left from the fighting, about how lovely and warm the sun was... Absurd topics in an attempt to not talk about the fetuses again. We wanted to forget about them. Although there was no option other than to destroy them, thinking about that made our stomachs churn.

Min hadn't said a word since we'd left the laboratories. He walked at my side, in silence, eyes lost on the floor. He didn't even look at me, didn't even smile when I grabbed his hand. He just squeezed it tightly with his fingers and I realized that he was trembling.

I stopped abruptly.

"Guys, go on ahead. Min and I have to talk about something. We'll be right back."

They all gave me surprised looks but nodded without a word and continued walking.

Min stared at me, not understanding. I dragged him along the labyrinth-like halls by his hand. We turned a few corners and entered an empty office.

"Aron, what's wrong?"

I released his hand and turned to face him.

"That's what I wanted to know. What's going on?"

He didn't respond. He glanced away and bit his lip.

"Is it the laboratories?"

"Yes..." His eyes flickered back up to mine at last.

"Because of destroying the fetuses?"

"Mhmm..."

"But... you said that you were okay with it. You even tried to get JR to accept it..."

Sometimes I really struggled with trying to understand him... Why did he make everything so complicated?

"I know... I did it because there was no other possible option. I convinced myself that it was for the best... But I can't stop thinking about Shinhye. She was one of them. She was like them... If they had made her even a little later, she could be right there with them right now and would have never been born..."

I moved closer to him, placing my hands on his shoulders to get him to look me in the eyes.

"Min, stop torturing yourself. Yes, they're like Shinhye, but they're not Shinhye. They're different people. Shinhye is playing with Samuel and Yooyoung. She's okay."

"Yes, but..."

"Forget about the fetuses. You'll never meet them. We've killed many people to get to this point. Think of them as just a few more victims. There's nothing we can do for them. Shinhye will leave here safe and sound."

Finally, Min nodded slowly and I felt calmer knowing that I'd convinced him. But I could see in his expression that there was still something on his mind, something that wasn't resolved. And this time I was pretty sure I knew what it was.

            POV: Minhyun

Why did I have to turn things over so much? I knew it was pointless to think so much, that all it did was give me headaches and a bad mood and that it wouldn't provide anything good. But I couldn't do anything to fix it. I'd developed the habit of thinking  things through over and over again. When something ate at me, I couldn't get it out of my head. It always happened to me.

In the respect of the laboratory, no matter how well I knew that no other option existed, the thought that little Shinhye could have been inside with them ate at me with remorse. Aron's words calmed me. I supposed that, in the end, I just needed someone to tell me that we had done the right thing. Someone who had things clear, who didn't doubt. I was much too insecure.

That was something that I liked a lot about Aron. Sometimes, he got ahead of himself and he'd want to rush into things too quickly, but he had things clear. He knew what he wanted and when he decided on something – or he knew that there were no other possibilities – he'd charge ahead without hesitation or regrets. If only I had even a little of that confidence...

But there was still something spinning in my head and it had me worried. Aron noticed it. And he shocked me by guessing exactly what was on my mind. He knew me too well.

"Why don't we take her with us?"

"Huh?"

"Shinhye. You were thinking about her, right? You were thinking about how she doesn't have any parents, that we're her parents, and that therefore she has no home to go to."

I was left with my jaw hanging. Yes, those were my exact thoughts.

"How did you...?"

He smiled cheerfully.

"You're my boyfriend. I'm starting to get to know how you think."

I smiled softly. That sounded lovely. I hadn't even taken in his suggestion.

"So, what do you say? Should we take her with us to Los Angeles?"

And then I realized the meaning behind his words and my eyes widened.

"Take her with us? But how...?"

"Well, she's our daughter after all, right? Sort of..."

His face flushed red in what must've been the memory of the reality being that she was his and Baekho's daughter. I had to swallow back a teasing laugh before I got back to serious matters.

"But Aron, I'm seventeen years old! And you're nineteen! How do you suppose we'll be able to maintain a baby? We don't have any money, our studies were left unfinished... We can't even support ourselves..."

Reality came crashing down on me. Neither of us had the means to survive. Up until now, I had tried not to think about it. It was something we'd think about when we escaped. And that moment had arrived.

"It's fine, my parents have money. They're not rich, but they're not just getting by either."

"But I don't want them to have to take care of me! My parents have always told me that I have to hold my own, that they don't want useless people in the family, that if I didn't make someone out of myself, they'd kick me out—"

He grabbed my hand gently and began to affectionately touch my arm and play with my fingers. He spoke in a soft voice.

"You know my parents aren't like yours." He peeked up at me, unsure, afraid that talking about my parents would make me feel bad. I changed my expression to show him that it didn't matter to me. "Besides, we'll do things. We'll study, we'll work. It'll be like starting a new life far away from this."

"If we work and study, how are we going to take care of Shinhye?! She's only two years old!"

Aron was silent for a few moments, not letting go of my hand as he lowered his eyes to the floor. He smiled with a bit of melancholy.

"You know? I'm an only child but my parents have always wanted to have another kid. When I was born, my mother had major complications during childbirth. They had to take out her uterus so her life wouldn't be in danger. So they couldn't have any more kids. They thought about adopting, but the procedure is really complicated and it's a lot of money. They always said that children are the purest happiness of life. I think they'd be very happy to be able to be the parents... or the grandparents or whatever... of a little two year old girl."

A strange feeling washed over me when I heard that. I liked that I had learned something more of my man's life. At the same time, I felt sorry for his mother, and jealousy because his parents considered children a joy of life. To mine, children were objects.

            POV: Aron

We stayed silent for the following seconds and when, at last, I decided to look at him, I found that his eyes were shining and that his lips had curved up in a smile full of emotion.

"So we'll bring her with us?!"

"Yes, we'll bring her with us!"

Min's smile and happiness found a way onto my own face. He jumped towards me, his arms around my neck, and we spent a good while hugging, jumping and bouncing, spinning around and laughing. Because from now on, we'd live together. Because we'd bring Shinhye with us, because we'd be with my parents, because we'd start a new life, far away from the pain and the hate in this place. Because we'd be happy at last. It was difficult to fully register all of that.

I stopped jumping when a small detail came to mind.

"Shinhye doesn't have any documentation. How are we going to take her along?"

But Min's smile remained un-wavered, now a bit thoughtful.

"Of course she does. When my parents had negotiations involving children that are... let's say... distant from their parents... they always gave them fake documentation. I suppose that they do the same thing here. It'll be enough to get her out of the country, and then we can ask them to send false documents confirming that Shinhye is the daughter of your parents so that we don't have any problems keeping her in Los Angeles."

I grinned, thinking of how useful it was to have a mobster for a boyfriend.

Min hoisted himself up onto a table, and without saying a word more, I pushed apart his legs and took my place between them to press our bodies together so we could kiss. Sweetly and calmly. Our lips and tongues brushed together slowly, affectionately, enough to last various more minutes. I just wanted to feel his mouth melt against mine.

Eventually, we left the office and returned to the others, smiling brightly and hands interlocked.

            POV: JR

After everyone had slept a little, after Baekho had calmed, Minhyun and Aron had rested and after Ren was energized enough to pace up and down with his crutches nonstop (he didn't accept the wheelchair under any circumstance), everything seemed ready to go. At last.

I didn't want to go.

"Guys..." I said while they picked up the things the guards had returned to them. The stuff they'd had with them when they'd been kidnapped. I hadn't had anything, seeing as they'd taken me directly from my home, at night. The only thing they had that belonged to me was a blood-stained pajama that they had trashed a long time ago. "I think... I think I'll stay here and help the guards fix all of this..."

Ren's eyes went as wide as plates, Minhyun's lips dropped to a perfect 'o' and Aron froze in shock. But the best reaction, without a doubt, was Baekho's.

"Huh? Didn't we decide that you'd be coming to my place?"

"Um... when?" When had we decided that?!

"I don't know, but we said it, right?"

"No..."

"Oh..." He scratched his head, confused, eyebrows drawn together in concentration. Ren laughed. "Well, okay... Either way, I had thought so and I said it so... well, you're coming, aren't you?"

Why had he assumed it to be a given? Just like that.

".... Because...?"

"You don't have anywhere to go..." His argument was honestly irrefutable, but I didn't like it at all.

"Yes, but..."

"Why not?"

"Because... I don't know..."

"Well..."

There were no possible reasons. But I felt bad, it was uncomfortable. It was like asking for charity.

With that pride, you'll end up on the streets.

Maybe it would be better to consider accepting.

"I don't want to be a bother..."

"What kind of bother could you be?!" He exclaimed as if it was some sort of stupidity. I had to admit that that puffed up my ego a little.

"But... Does it really not bother you?"

The conversation was starting to seem ridiculous, honestly.

"Of course not!"

"Listen," Ren interrupted with fake annoyance. "You should be asking me that. You're going to live with my boyfriend!"

"Ay...." I mumbled, blushing. Right when I was about to accept...

But he grinned, laughing and telling me it was a joke. "Go, go. This way, you can keep an eye on him for me."

I would've been stupid to refuse any longer. If it really didn't bother him, it seemed like a good option to me. It was easy to be with Baekho, to live around him. It would be nice, and surely I wouldn't be at a lack of seeing Ren.

There was nothing left keeping us there. We said our goodbyes to those who had helped us inside this place, we thanked them. Everyone said bye to Samuel. Ren hugged him at least twenty times. He wouldn't stop repeating that they had to see each other again. Aron and Minhyun had grown attached to him too, and separating him from Shinhye was a drama worthy of a movie. They had spent a lot of time together. Some makeup girls that Minhyun knew offered to take him to his home, to his parents. His eyes shone at the idea. It hurt a little to know that everyone had a home to return to. I looked at Baekho. What waited for me at his place? It definitely wouldn't be like returning to my own home, but I was sure that I'd be well off.

While Ren hugged Samuel again and everyone repeated their goodbyes, I found Lime and Alice and made them promise that we'd see one another again. Alice smiled, keeping her distance. Lime took a step forward and hugged me.

For a moment, I felt strange. My heart sped up, but it wasn't from fear. She felt warm.

"I'm sorry for trying to kill you." She apologized for the hundredth time. "Truly."

"I know." I said, pulling away enough to see her eyes.

I was going to repeat – for also the hundredth time – that she was forgiven and that I didn't hold a grudge against her, but instead, I found myself hugging her again, pulling her close and brushing her lips with mine, giving into some unknown impulse.

I backed away immediately, blushing and ashamed. I turned around and asked the others if everyone was ready to leave. They all nodded, each with different levels of surprise on their faces.

I heard Lime laugh behind me. She moved closer, hugged me from behind and placed a kiss on my ear.

"Be strong," was the last thing she said to me.

I didn't look back at her.

The redheaded guard, along with the one with glasses, the 'boss', were going to accompany us part of the way. We followed them to the edge of the grounds, to the parking lot. With our documents, keys, wallets, mobiles and more returned to us, returning to reality didn't seem as strange as I'd expected. It was something we already knew. Climbing in a van to the city felt like something trivial, even. The cars, the buildings, the people, the streets, the shops. Everything was much too simple, and, at the same time, perfectly normal. I hadn't even realized how much I'd missed the sound of motors, of people, of kids running down the street and the music of a passing car with its windows rolled down.

Everything was so simple that all of a sudden I was crying. And I wasn't the only one. We all observed, with tears in our eyes, the world we'd lost and the world we were returning to.

            POV: Minhyun

"Last call for the passengers of flight YK2808, destination Los Angeles. Board through door E32 immediately."

Time to say goodbye. We can't wait any longer.

The blond drops his bags, letting them fall noisily, and jumps on his one leg to where I am to hug me. Shinhye, who had been in my arms until that moment, gets out of the way, startled into flying. Luckily, Aron takes charge of grabbing her and placing her on the floor before anyone realizes that there's a little girl flying in the middle of the airport. We're lucky that the whole world is much too preoccupied with finding their own flights and saying their own goodbyes to notice.

"Druggie! I'll miss you..."

"I'll miss you, too, blondie!"

I hug him tightly and hide my face against his neck so that no one will see that my eyes are tearing up. From between his locks of blond hair, I see Aron saying goodbye to Jonghyun.

"JR... thank you... again..."

"I've already told you that there's no need to thank me..."

I don't know how many times he's thanked him for saving his life. Thanked him, and me as well. We created a miracle. Jonghyun, traumatized by the destruction and the death his ability had caused, was able to save a life. That made him feel so much better about himself.

The both of them smile and hug in a friendly way. There was a time I had thought that they'd never be able to get along, but luckily they now have a good relationship.

When they separate, Aron comes back to us.

"Min, you're going to suffocate my princess."

Baekho sends him a murderous glare and Jonghyun chuckles. Ren sighs and pulls away from me. I've managed to dry my eyes a bit.

"You know? I think I'm going to miss hearing you call me that."

"I'm sure that you will."

While they hug, I go to Baekho. Our goodbye is another hug and one of his handsome smiles. Whenever he smiles, I understand why blondie likes him so much.

"Promise me that you'll take good care of Ren, okay?"

"Don't you worry about that. And you promise me that you'll take care of Shinhye and..." he lowers his voice so that only I can hear. "And the dwarf too. Make sure he doesn't push himself too hard."

"Promise."

His worrying for Aron brings a smile to my face. Despite their huge rivalry and the clash of their large amounts of testosterone, in the end it seems that they have some type of mutual respect. A feeling of camaraderie.

Now I just have Jonghyun's goodbye left. I approach him and we hug each other tightly.

"Jonghyun... I'll miss our chats..."

"Me too. But don't worry, we'll continue talking. Over phone, or chat or something. Once I've finally found someone that I can talk about philosophy with..."

"Of course! We'll talk a lot!" I squeeze him even tighter against me. I don't want to let him go. "I'll miss you a lot, Jonghyun. Take care of yourself, alright?"

"You too."

Finally, we pull away from the hug. I place a kiss on his cheek and hurry to pick up my bag and Shinhye from the floor, who looks at us curiously.

And then I notice Aron and Baekho, who are staring at each other without knowing exactly how to send each other off. When one goes to hold a hand out, the other takes a step forward to hug him. When they see that these gestures don't coincide, they both back up. The one who was going in for a hug holds out a hand but the other has pulled his own back to give him a hug... It's a very funny scene.

At last they seem to tire of so much dancing around and they relax. They stare at each other expectantly, so that the other will be the one to take the first step. We'll never leave at this rate. The decide on something after an eternity. Both move close at the same time for a fast, superficial hug, along with a few pats on the back. They quickly separate.

"Good luck."

"Same to you."

Aron returns to my side. He digs through his pants pockets and pulls out his passport along with mine – which the guards had returned – and Shinhye's. A perfect falsification. Those, along with three airplane tickets for a low cost company, the only ones we were able to afford with what was left in our wallets.

Aron and I turned towards the guys for the last time.

"See you soon."

Then we turn away. Aron grabs my hand and we begin to walk. My eyes well up again. From the sadness of having to leave my friends, but also from the hope of starting a new life with my man and with Shinhye. A life in which I'll finally be free and happy.

And while the boys continue waving their hands in goodbye, we cross through security control.