Jung Taekwoon had been whispering to Hakyeon, begging him to open his eyes, begging him not to abandon him. It had been three weeks since they had finished the mission. Hongbin's bite mark had healed, Ken's ankle was almost ready to come out of its cast, but Hakyeon... His beautiful Hakyeon hadn't even twitched a muscle. The doctors were concerned he'd never wake up, his condition clinging to the edge of death.

Taekwoon knew he needed a shower and a proper night of sleep but he couldn't do either. The thought of being away from Hakyeon any more than he absolutely had to scared him. What if something happened and he wasn't there? The idea alone caused him a great deal of anxiety.

When Hakyeon finally opened his eyes, Taekwoon thought his heart may stop beating out of sheer happiness, but then he saw tears falling down his boyfriend's cheeks. Was Hakyeon upset that he saved him? If he was... Well, Taekwoon just really didn't care. He would save Hakyeon a million times over. Somehow, it seemed less painful to have Hakyeon hate him than to live in a world where he no longer existed.

"Hakyeon..." Taekwoon watched him nervously, waiting for the other to tell him he made a mistake or scream at him.

"Taekwoon..." Hakyeon tried to sit up, reaching out for him. Biting his lip as his tan lover whimpered loudly from pain, he shuddered, hating seeing him like this.

"Hold on." Helping Hakyeon sit up slowly, he pushed the button to raise the back of the bed up to assist him in sitting. "You're pretty banged up. You scared the hell out of me."

"I'm sorry..." Hakyeon looked down, clearly upset as he wiped away his tears.

"No. I'm sorry. I should have taken better precautions to keep you safe." Taekwoon hugged Hakyeon and kissed the top of his head gently, careful not to hurt him.

"Taekwoon... I deserved to die... I-" But before Hakyeon could finish his sentence, Hongbin ran in.

~~~

"Has he woken up yet?" Lee Hongbin stopped as he saw Hakyeon sitting up and looking at him. He was finally awake!

"Hey, Hongbin..." Hakyeon looked unhappy. Hongbin marched over to him and promptly slapped him.

"What the hell, Hakyeon?! You scared all of us half to death!" He scolded as Hakyeon touches his cheek in shock and Taekwoon tensed up, ready to attack.

"Baby, don't assault Hakyeon. He just ragained consciousness." Hyuk pulled Hongbin away from the bed. "Besides. I don't want Mr. Scary to kill you for hurting his boyfriend."

"It's fine." Hakyeon shook his head. "I deserved that. I... Guys I-"

~~~

Han Sanghyun could tell that Hakyeon was clearly trying to tell them something but he was interrupted by a squealing blur as it shot into the room. This blur attempted to tackle their still critical friend off of the bed. Jaehwan was sobbing and clinging to Hakeyon who had started patting his head.

"Jaehwan, don't run like that. You'll never get your cast off at this rate." Wonshik rolled his eyes as he followed Jaehwan into the room, turing to smile at Hakyeon. "Nice to see that you're finally awake."

Hyuk watched as Taekwoon tried to pull a very clingy and very hysterical Jaehwan away from Hakeyon with Wonshik's help. He figured it was hopeless. Jaehwan had been waiting almost as nervously as Taekwoon had. After losing Daehwan, he hadn't exactly been stable emotionally and had informed all of them that his closest remaining friend was Hakyeon and he couldn't afford to lose him. Hyuk had wanted to feel offended by the statement but he understood it. Hakyeon was like the light and all of them needed him to brighten their lives.

The only thing that had kept Hongbin and Taekwoon from murdering Jaehwan out of absolute annoyance, besides Hyuk's distraction techniques, was Wonshik. Mostly because Wonshik kept dragging him away to spend alone time in dimly lit rooms. They hadn't confirmed anything, probably because of the gravity of the current situation, but Hyuk was pretty sure they were a couple now. A relationship created in the face of immense tragedy.

"Damn it, Jaehwan! He just woke up! Let him breathe!" Taekwoon wass yelling and looking around for something to hit Jaehwan with. Hyuk decided to start helping pull the leech off of their friend before someone stabbed him.

"Guys, wait! Just shut up and let me talk!" Hakyeon looked like he was ignoring as great deal of pain as he looked at them. He seemed to have something heavy weighing on his mind and wasn't sharing in the frivolity of the others. Hyuk wanted to know so he could help, but at the same time, he was too nervous to ask.

~~~

Kim Wonshik had enjoyed his three weeks of dating Jaehwan but Hakyeon's condition had been a constant dark cloud in everyone's lives. Feel great relief in Hakyeon finally waking up, he found it strange that their leader looked so forsaken.

"What's wrong, Hakyeon?" The look on Taekwoon's face was maybe the most heartbreaking thing Wonshik had ever seen. He was sure that if he and Jaehwan were in their positions, Wonshik wouldn't have stayed half as composed as Taekwoon had through the whole ordeal.

"I..." Hakyeon took a deep breath, pulling his hand away from Taekwoon when he reached out to hold it. "You might want to call the boss... I'm the one who released Ragnarök..." Wonshik rolled his eyes when Jaehwan burst forth with hysterical laughter.

"You're adorable, Hakyeon." Hongbin smiled and shook his head at their tan friend. Confused, Hakyeon seemed a little hurt by the reactions.

"But... But I did... I remember..." He argued, clearly not knowing what the others did.

"One of you idiots go get the stupid tapes." Taekwoon demanded as he made Hakyeon lean against him, his hair. "He shouldn't have to hate himself any longer than he already has."

"I'm on it." Hyuk dragged Hongbin out of the room to help him get the tv and the security tapes that Jaehwan had taken. Wonshik tried to get his spastic boyfriend to stop giggling like a lunatic, especially since Hakyeon wasn't exactly in the joking mood. It must have been awful to think something this catastrophic was your fault.

~~~

N waking up was the best thing that had ever happened to Lee Jaehwan. Sure, Wonshik asking him out was pretty close, but knowing that Hakyeon wasn't going to die was amazing. Yeah, it was sad that Hakyeon thought he was the cause for the spread of Ragnarök, but then it was funny. Hakyeon could never have done something like that. He was too sweet and pure.

"Got it." Hongbin called as he and Hyuk pushed the tv into the room on a cart, plugging it in and inserting the security tape from the day Hakyeon had come to them three years before. Hours before the distraught man had followed his father to the labs, his father had been inside the building, muzzling one of the infected humans from their observation room. Soon after, the man left with it.

A camera at the parking lot caught him and the zombie yet again as he loaded it into a van and exited the compound. Returning hours later with a smirk on his face, he was alone.

The only logical conclusion they could come to was that the evil man had released a zombie into the world before Hakyeon had even woken up. As a matter of fact, the zombies Hakyeon had released were all killed by the lab's defenses as soon as the emergency locks had all clicked into place. There was no chance he had once put anyone but the lab attendants into danger.

"See. You're golden." Jaehwan smiled and gave Hakyeon a thumbs up. Their bedridden friend began to crying, silent tears sleeping down his cheeks, as a slow smile spread across his lips. Jaehwan was immensely happy to have his happy friend back with them. It felt like he could finally breathe again.

~~~

Cha Hakyeon's body seemed to relax as realization hit him and he finally understood that he hadn't caused all the death and distruction. It was beyond a relief to know he hadn't been as truly awful as he had thought. Still, it was hard not to think he was nothing more than an experiment, a freak, a monster. Relentlessly, his mind barraged him with thoughts of how he wasn't good enough for Taekwoon's love. His only solace was that at least this brought him one step closer to being worthy of his love.

"Don't cry, baby. It's okay." Taekwoon leaned down and kissed Hakyeon. The other man's kiss always made his lips quiver in anticipation. His touch always made his skin tingle. It reminded him of what he had seen when he was on the boarder of death.

"B-Byoungjun... He..." Hakyeon looked up at Taekwoon and smiled a little. "He says thank you..." Turning, he addressed the others next. "Everyone else is happy... They all moved on well. Nakhun and Yoonchul looked happy and... Well... I think Daehwan is dating Byoungjun. I saw them all... While I was dying."

They talked about what Hakyeon had seen, and the success of the mission as the doctor came in to check on him and give him something for the pain. Talking about Hyuk and Hongbin's engagement, Wonshik spoke up, debuting himself and Jaehwan as an official couple. Hakyeon felt lucky to have survived hell and while finding such amazing people in his life.

They still had to distribute the cure and do clean up missions on the rest of the infected out there, but the end to the nightmare was in sight. They saved the world. They were heroes. It felt weird for
Hakyeon to think that he was included in that catagory. It was just a relief to see the end coming soon, to know the world, and especially those he loved, could finally live happily ever after. Hakyeon couldn't ask for a better ending.