When Heechul comes to, he immediately knows he’s not in the warehouse. The ground underneath his back is too soft and...lumpy?

Slowly, his eyelids flutter open. Blobs of colors and shapes gradually come into focus until he can make out his surroundings. He’s back in Zhou Mi’s wagon ━ thankfully not hiding underneath a heap of cargo ━ with his legs laying across Kangin’s lap and his head propped up on one of Leeteuk’s thighs. His eyes sweep across the rest of the wagon, meeting Donghae’s surprised face.

“He’s awake,” Donghae says, and the faint buzz of conversation ceases.

“Heechul!” Leeteuk’s fingers fuss around the Strategist’s face, brushing his bangs back and checking his pulse. “Try not to move too much. Ryeowook did his best to bandage you up, but with the glass…”

Processing the words is a slower undertaking than usual ━ his body is probably more concerned with holding itself together than making sense of conversation ━ but it’s a successful one nonetheless. Heechul asks the first question that comes to his mind.

“So...we’re heading back to the Bunker?”

“The nearest Cluster,” Zhou Mi corrects from the front of the wagon. “Sungmin and especially you need medical attention as fast as you can get it.”

Heechul hums to show he understands, but otherwise remains silent, trying to wrap his head around the past few hours. How had they managed to all come out of the mission (mostly) unscathed? And the biggest question of all:

“What the hell happened back there?”

Eunhyuk’s voice comes from the back corner. “Looks like the prisoners were able to get past the police and shut down the Drones’ controls inside the government building. I didn’t think they’d actually do it, but I guess Jonghyun was true to his word.”

“Good timing, too.” Heechul is just about to shut his eyes and rest for the remainder of the trip, but to his surprise, Kangin is looking at him like he has something to say. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just...You were really planning on taking all the glory for yourself, huh?” For just a moment, Heechul sees some Kangin’s old self again. Giving the other man a tired grin, he shoots back, “You’re one to talk.”

He doesn’t think twice about shifting his legs to a more comfortable position, sending a lightning bolt of pain shooting through his body. Heechul has to turn his head toward Leeteuk’s stomach to hide the look of agony on his face. Thankfully, the Resistance leader’s fingers card gently through his hair, doing wonders to distract him.

The soothing rhythm lulls him back to sleep in minutes.

~*~

Sungmin stands even before the wagon comes to a stop in front of the medical facility, helping to carefully maneuver Heechul back into Kangin’s bridal-style hold. The wound on his left arm still throbs, but he’ll be damned if he chooses now to stop caring for the Strategist (a task that always seems to be more than he signed up for).

It must be quite a sight for the receptionist when their group walks in through the door. Her shocked face when Leeteuk all but runs up to the front desk is priceless. In no time, there are two other doctors leading Kangin and Sungmin to one of the rooms in the back while Leeteuk stays behind to work out the details of their visit.

Heechul choses the moment they lay his body on the hospital bed to wake up. He shrieks bloody murder when Kangin straightens his legs, and only a shot of morphine from one of the doctors brings peace and quiet back to the small space (which is to say that it knocks Heechul out entirely).

Leeteuk steps in with them a few minutes later. “I got everything sorted out with the receptionist,” he tells them. “There’s not a policy for our situation, but they’ve agreed to let me stay and watch over Heechul.”

Sungmin doesn’t know how the Resistance leader had managed to pull it off, but he’s impressed. “Keep him safe,” he says to Leeteuk, and with a brief goodbye, he and Kangin start the walk back to the lobby.

They’re halfway down the hall when Kangin breaks the silence. “Sungmin...I want to apologize for losing my temper earlier,” he says, sounding sincerely apologetic.

“No, you don’t have to; I was out of line, even if I was angry.”

“You were harsh, but you still hit a lot of my problems right on the head. I’m going to work on fixing them now, though, and I wanted to start by clearing the air.”

Sungmin gives him a genuine smile. “In that case, let’s start over. Hi, I’m Lee Sungmin, exemplary Boom Squad member and everyone’s all-around favorite.”

The laugh Kangin lets out throws Sungmin for a loop ━ it’s a sound he hasn’t heard in ages. “Hi, I’m Kim Youngwoon, wannabe-hero Boom Squad leader and ten-time arm wrestling champion among our members.”

The air begins to clear.

When they walk back into the lobby, expectant eyes immediately hone in on them.

“How is he?” Donghae asks.

“Knocked out cold,” is Sungmin’s immediate reply. He means for it to be humorous, but the growing concern on Donghae’s face leads him to clarify, “The doctors put him on morphine so he can rest while his body recovers. He should be fine after they take the rest of the glass out.”

And speaking of the surgery…

“How exactly are we paying for this? All of my cash is still back at the Bunker with the others.”

Zhou Mi’s hand shoots up. “I can make a quick trip back, if you want. I’ll bring Shindong, Henry, and enough money to cover the surgery...and for you to get yourself checked out, too, Sungmin.”

Right. Sungmin had been so worried about Heechul, he’d completely forgotten that he’d been shot.

“I’ll go with you,” Kyuhyun says, finally speaking up. The youngest among them hasn’t been himself since the teams had regrouped, and Sungmin still doesn’t like the haunted look in his eyes. Something must have happened at the prison; what it might have been, Sungmin has no idea, but a few hours to take a break (and talk with Zhou Mi) will hopefully put Kyuhyun’s mind at ease.

Eunhyuk nods his approval. “I think that’s for the best. Any news from the Capital can reach us faster if we’re here instead of at the Bunker. Thanks, Zhou Mi.”

“It’s no problem. You’ll wait until we get back to have any important discussions, though, won’t you?”

“Of course.”

They have a lot to talk about.

~*~

The creaking of wagon wheels is the only sound on the journey back to the Bunker, save for the occasional breeze that ruffles Kyuhyun’s hair. In theory, it would be easy to talk to Zhou Mi: Kyuhyun is squished in next to him in the front seat of the wagon. But for some reason, the words won’t come out, and he instead occupies the time by awkwardly twiddling his thumbs and casting the occasional glance at the horizon.

“Do you, um...want to talk?” Zhou Mi finally asks. Half an hour has gone by already, and the silence has gone from comfortable to glaringly out-of-place.

Kyuhyun’s eyes flicker to meet the other man’s gaze before they dart back to the scenery outside the wagon. “I do,” he admits. “I just don’t know what to say.”

“Maybe start by telling me what happened? It’s okay if you don’t want to, but it might help.”

The facts. Kyuhyun can do that; it’s far easier than trying to sort through his tangled mess of feelings.

“We had just finished liberating the prisoners,” he says, apprehension stifling his voice until it’s hardly more than a soft murmur. “We were just starting celebrate our victory, but that’s when I saw them. My parents.” He feels Zhou Mi tense beside him, and has to fight against the lump that swells in his own throat. “They weren’t dead, Mi; it was so much worse. They were just lying there, but their faces...their faces were…” With a shaking intake of breath, he breaks off, unwilling to go on.

“Oh, Kui Xian…” Zhou Mi moves to put a comforting arm around him, but hesitates at the last moment, seemingly unsure of whether or not Kyuhyun wants to be touched.

But there’s no one else here to see Kyuhyun’s moment of weakness, and he feels no shame in briefly leaning into the other man’s touch before forcing himself to continue, “They’re gone now. Really gone. And it’s not like I should have expected them to be alright after so long, but...I almost wish I’d never seen them. I’d rather live with some delusion my whole life than have to see that.”

You selfish, selfish boy, a voice in Kyuhyun’s head accuses him. Complaining that they didn't die how and where you wanted. What gives you the right? You ungrateful little━

“Stop it, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi says gently, interrupting those dark thoughts, and Kyuhyun has a brief moment of wondering if the other man has somehow read his mind before he adds, “It’s written all over your face that you’re beating yourself up. Don’t apologize for anything you’re feeling.”

Kyuhyun doesn’t have a response to that; it’s not as if he can just turn his self-loathing off like a lightswitch, no matter how genuine the other man is trying to be. So instead, he says, “The thing is...I really don’t want to think about it, but it’s the only thing I can’t stop thinking about.”

“I hate to be the one to say this, but avoiding thinking about it is going to do the exact opposite of helping.”

“So what are you suggesting I do? Pull a Heechul? Lock myself in a room and cry for two weeks?”

“Kyuhyun.” The sharp way Zhou Mi says his name halts the younger man’s building irritation.

“That was too far; I’m sorry. And I get what you’re trying to say. Think about them one last time, feel everything at once, and then let them go. But…”

“But you can’t think about them without breaking down.”

“Yeah,” Kyuhyun admits in a mutter. When had he gone from snarky and sarcastic to an emotional wreck? He hardly even recognizes himself anymore.

“Well…” Zhou Mi focuses intently on the horizon for a few moments, seeming to organize his thoughts. “How about this: what you saw...those things weren’t your parents, just creatures wearing their faces. The memories you still have of your family are the ones you should focus on. And at the very least...this can give you some sort of closure. You don’t have to constantly be worrying that there’s something you could be doing to get them. They lived their lives, they raised an incredible son, and then it was their time to pass.”

Zhou Mi gestures wildly with his hands, just as he always does when he’s passionate about something. “And while it might not seem like it, their deaths were honorable. They helped people understand the evil at the root of the Capital, so in no small way, they’re part of the reason we’re still here, the reason we can hope for a better future. They saved us.”

Well this is just great. What am I supposed to do now about the waterfall running down my face? Kyuhyun thinks in embarrassment.

He’s touched, but instead of saying so, insists, “You have to have had that prepared. Did you at least bring cue cards?”

He sees Zhou Mi begin to pout, probably about how Kyuhyun could at least be a little more appreciative of the effort he put into his speech, before the smile on Kyuhyun’s face makes it clear that he’s just trying to show (in his own emotionally stunted little way) that he’s grateful. Zhou Mi doesn’t say anything then; he takes the younger man’s hand in silence, letting the other recover for a little while longer.

“I haven’t told you this enough, Kui Xian...but I’m so glad you’re still here with me.”

“Me too, Mi. Me too.”

~*~

Kyuhyun returns from the trip in a better state of mind than he starts it with. He can’t erase the memories of earlier that morning, but at least Zhou Mi has helped him find his center again. It seems Kyuhyun will forever be in debt to the other man for his kind words and unending optimism.

(Though if he says that out loud, Zhou Mi will probably have something even nicer to say about not owing him anything. He’s too good to be true like that.)

Shindong and Henry are beyond relieved to hear that everyone made it through the mission in one piece. They ask for every story on the wagon-ride back, which Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi tell together, each reminding the other of parts they omit that other members had shared.

The reunion in the hospital lobby is brief but heartfelt. Shindong goes around the circle of Resistance members and gives each one a bone-crushing hug, while Henry is nearly smothered to death by Eunhyuk and Donghae, just barely managing to escape into Ryeowook’s waiting arms.

The receptionist is hesitant at first about allowing the large group into Heechul’s room, but Sungmin finally paying their bill (along with a not-so-subtle bribe) miraculously changes her mind. Thirteen people crammed into the small space is proven to be possible, if a tight fit, and they all chat amongst themselves until a newly stitched-up Heechul wakes up from his drug-induced slumber.

“Am I dead?” Heechul asks as soon as he’s awake. “Because I’ll be honest, I don’t know if being stuck with all of you is Heaven or Hell.”

His dry remark sets the tone for the next few minutes, but when the laughter dies away, Leeteuk takes it as his cue to get to the heart of why they’re all here.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen next,” he says seriously. “The city might be in chaos, or there might be policemen knocking on our door in a few ours. Maybe things are even changing for the better.” A small smile creeps over his face. “Still, that aside, we did well today. All of you were incredible. So from now on, I’m making you a promise to be a better leader.”

A handful of protests come from the assembled members, but Leeteuk silences them with a wave of his hand. “Hear me out. What I’m promising is to stop locking myself away and being an absent leader. I’ve been supporting the idea that keeping everything to yourself is a road to Hell, and now I think it’s time I practiced what I preached.”

Kyuhyun sees his fingers twisting around each other nervously as he continues, “And also...I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I realized that I may have convinced myself that I wasn’t allowed to have anything but my responsibilities. I got so caught up in trying to be a good leader that I may have...let certain opportunities slip through my fingers, and━”

“Oh for crying out loud, Jungsoo, just say it,” Heechul cuts in with a snort.

“I’m trying to make a heartfelt speech! Can you please, for once, tone down on your snark?”

“I would rather rip these stitches out and bleed to death than listen to more of your rambling.”

“You know what? Fine. Fine.” The tone Leeteuk says it in makes Kyuhyun fear for the Resistance leader’s sanity, even more so when he stands up from his chair and stalks over to where Kangin is standing. “Kim Youngwoon!” he says firmly.

Kangin looks half hopeful and half terrified.

“There’s something I need to say,” Leeteuk tells him. “I...um, that is…” The confidence that inspired him just moments ago seems to leave in the blink of an eye, leaving him floundering for words until he takes the other man’s wrist and pulls him in the direction of the door.

“If you’ll excuse us, we have some things to talk about,” the Resistance leader says to the rest of the group, and the two are out of the room before anyone else can get a word in.

On Kyuhyun’s right, he sees Sungmin’s jaw drop. Most of the others seem to have about the same reaction, save Donghae’s overexcited bouncing and Heechul’s satisfied smirk.

“Well, that’s definitely one way to go about it,” Eunhyuk says, breaking the silence.

It sets off a chain of happy, if surprised, agreement, along with a series of old anecdotes about the pair in question that are now acceptable to share. Kyuhyun listens to the conversations with a grin. He hasn’t been here long enough to witness the history those two have together, but the other members’ reactions tell him all that he needs to now.

“So, anyone else have something they want to confess?” Heechul finally says, once the chatter begins to die down. “No leaving the room to say it, though. You can’t all be spoilsports like our leader.”

“I’m completely, head-over-heels in love with Hyukjae.”

“It doesn’t count if everyone already knows, Hae. Good job, though, you made him blush.”

When the Resistance members go to sleep that night in Zhou Mi’s wagon, minus the few who stay in the hospital, their hearts are lighter than they’ve ever been.

~*~

“Hyukjae! Hyukjae, wake up; it’s important.”

A/N: Well, everyone, it's long past when I was planning to go to sleep, but I couldn't leave you hanging any longer without the chapter...I don't have a lot to say, except thank you for sticking with me, thank you for brightening my days with your wonderful comments, and I'll see you next week for the final installment of Immortals!