The cry of a baby echoed in the hospital room as everyone watched the doctor hold out a beautiful baby boy. The first baby born of the Party regime.

The man stepped out in handcuffs as he looked over at his fellow comrades, “So I am free to go?”

Taking out a key, the handcuffs were released and a pair of clothing were given to him, “Yes.”

He rubbed his wrists a bit before stepping forward and following the guards near him who led him back to his cell, “Get changed and put this over your head.”

Obeying, the man changed out of his prison garb and placed the black sheet over his head. The door was opened and he was guided through the halls. He could hear the screams of others locked away but he knew who most of them were. They were locked away here for a purpose that would serve useful down the line. He thought he could navigate this maze again if he tried but the endless walking became dizzying after a while and he lost track of his steps until the cloth was removed and the light blinded him, “So this is it?”

The man slapped his back and laughed, “Good to see you again Yunho.”

The attention was always on him. Unwanted attention. Why does the date of birth have to have such a big significance? Yunho never knew why he had such fame as a young boy but he hated it. Somehow everyone knew who he was without him knowing the reason why. Most parents would love the extra attention the Party gave them but Yunho knew his mother and father despised the way they exploited their baby.

His family lived in the Party for the first 5 years of his life but the fame soon died down and like any other tossed away item, they were reassigned to another District. They were not poor, they were not in the outskirts but they were not within the Party anymore and that was a huge loss to the family. Rations were lessoned and his father had to find another job. It was difficult on the family and the hatred towards the Party grew even more.

Later, in his childhood, Yunho noticed his father constantly going out late at night, most times not returning until the next morning. Yunho would be more concerned if his mother said something about it, but she seemed to know why his father was out. However, this was the norm for their family.

By age 11, Yunho was supposed to go to school, but when he woke up in the morning he saw his mother packing all their belongings, “Mama what is happening?”

“Shhh don’t worry baby. Just get your case and come with papa and I.”

Not one to disobey his parents, Yunho went to get his pack and went out into the late of the night with his parents. They left behind a home, a job and friends to step into the darkness known as the Resistance.

Yunho walked into his old room and collapsed onto his bed. Nothing had changed since he left. He had the same roommates who were always gone, his bed was made as if everyone knew he was to return and he was set to join in on his team’s meeting later that night. Months were gone from his life but the Resistance stayed stagnant. Was he really gone locked away? Were those lacerations on his back and arms not really there? Of course not. Everything was changed, but the people around him chose to ignore it.

Turning to the door, he expected someone to walk through but the door knob didn’t turn. No one entered because it was like before, he was still alone.

Yunho stood scared at the new environment. His parents never asked him if he wanted to be apart of all of this. His days were lived in paranoia, who was trustworthy, who was his enemy? It could be his best friend of 5 years or the man that passed him by in the morning…who was in the Party and who was in the Resistance?

“Yunho you okay?”

Snapping from his gaze, he looked up to his father, “Can’t we just go back home? I don’t like it here.”

Bending down to his son’s level, the older man gave him a reassuring smile, “Maybe not now, but when you are older, you will know why we chose to live here. What you need to know is that we can’t go back. Some decisions have consequences, but if you can live with knowing that, your choices are never wrong.”

Yunho woke up from his dream with his watch beeping from the alarm he set. It was time for the meeting. Getting up, Yunho was a bit dizzy but he ignored it and continued down the hall to the meeting rooms. He was early but not earlier than the new team leader, “Siwon…”

Hearing a voice he hadn’t heard in a long while, Siwon smiled widely and flew across the room to give the other man a bear hug, “I missed you man.”

Yunho laughed as he patted the man on the back, “Likewise.”

Yunho saw where Siwon was positioned in the room, “So you were appointed the leader? I thought for sure Taeyeon would have…”

“Ah…you haven’t seen her yet have you?”

Yunho was washed with a wave of worry, “Did something happen to her?”

“Her leg got busted…umm we will take time to reexamine the day you disappeared.”

Yunho looked down at his own body, “I don’t remember much.”

“We have your notes from your examination. With you back, we can finally go over all the details of that day and what went wrong.”

Yunho didn’t want to admit that there was nothing he wanted to revisit from that time. It was like a nightmare that he couldn’t escape. Everyone wanted him to repeat what he knows but there were only bits and pieces that he actually remembered.

“Yunho!” Junho enthusiastically skipped towards Yunho and gave him a caring brotherly hug, “I knew you were going to be here…but it is surreal…”

Yunho gave an awkward laugh, “I plan to stay here from now on.”

“I know I can say everyone here wants you to stay.”

One by one the members of Yunho’s team came in giving him hugs and pats on the back but one person was still not there making the others wonder why she was so late. It was already a few minutes past the assigned meeting time and Taeyeon had not shown up so Siwon started to take the lead, “Alright give Yunho some breathing room so we can start.” All the men calmed down and took their seats, “As you can see…”

The door flew open with Taeyeon standing there wide-eyed looking around until she landed her sights on Yunho, “H-hey.”

Yunho gave her a lopsided smile back, “Hey.”

Taeyeon was trying to hold back her emotions but tears started coming out as she reached out to Yunho blinding him into a tight hug, “You’re such an idiot for going out on your own.”

Yunho held the crying girl trying to ignore the brace on her leg, “You would have done the same stupid.”

Taeyeon laughed at the poor attempt to bicker, “I was taught by you.”

Yunho let go of the hug to take in the sight of his favorite junior, “glad to see you are alright kiddo.”

Taeyeon wiped away any evidence of tears, “almost all healed to get back into the field.”

“Good. I can’t imagine how Siwon survived without you.”

“Yah!” Siwon yelled across the room, “I can hear everything.”

Taeyeon and Yunho just giggled at Siwon’s outburst, “I will treat you to a meal after.”

“Deal.” Yunho rubbed shoulders with Taeyeon before taking their seats.

“You are wrong!” Yunho couldn’t stop the trail of tears running down his face, “You are all wrong!”

The commander of Yunho’s father’s squad came forward, “I am sorry boy, but your mother and father died for a good cause. Trust me they didn’t go down without a good fight.”

Yunho didn’t want to accept the death of his parents. They were the ones who chose to be here and to live a better life. Why did they have to be the ones to go out and risk their lives. There were other stronger and more tactical people here. At age 15 Yunho hated the Resistance.

“Essentially it was a trap.”

Yunho lifted his eyes to Taeyeon, “Most likely.”

“That means our intelligence is compromised. We were led into something that was aimed to do harm on the Resistance. If we are getting bad intel, then we have a leak or they know our sources. This could be a major problem in a few months.”

Siwon leaned back into his chair, “Level 1 probably knows there is a problem by now and are addressing it.”

“It still doesn’t do us any good.” Taeyeon stood up leaning on the desk, “Every time the Party is one step ahead of us, we are vulnerable. I don’t want to think every time I am going out there, I might not come back because we didn’t prepare properly. I am sure the leaders of Level 1 are looking into this but we can’t be here in meeting rooms discussing a problem when we could be more active in assessing and working on fixing it. Or at least find a way to know if our intelligence is truthful or not.”

“Taeyeon has a point. We could think of finding new point men in the field.” Junho suggested.

“Like deploying new Resistance members?”

“We could.”

Yunho wanted to participate but his head started to pound as the ache grew more and more, he grasped his head, “Yunho you okay?”

Yunho waved s away, “We should really take you to the infirmary.”

“It is just a migraine. Nothing serious.” Yunho tried reassuring but the pain was agonizing.

“They have medicine for that too. Come on, let’s get you to the doctor.” Junho hoisted Yunho on one side while another male colleague helped on the other, “Carry on with the meeting.”

Orphaned, Yunho stayed within the Resistance. He hardly participated but the higher ups didn’t seem to care as they let him go around doing various activities during the day. Yunho spent several months grieving his parent’s death until he got knocked in the head…literally.

“What the.” Yunho rubbed his head in pain. Looking around for the source of the injury, Yunho spotted an empty can.

“Yo can you pass it over?”

Yunho held up the bent can, “This?”

The boy smiled, “Yea. We are playing kick-the-can. Ever played?”

Yunho shook his head, “It is a game with a can?”

The boy waved Yunho over, “Come on and join us. I will explain.”

Yunho shoved his hands in his pocket following the other boy to his friends, “Changmin who did you find?”

“Just another one of us. He is joining.” Changmin turned to Yunho, “What’s your name?”

“Oh ah Yunho.” He said shyly.

“Awesome. Nice to meet ya,” so we have Jae, Yoon and Jun here. I am Changmin but some call me Min for short.” Yunho greeted the group, “We were all orphaned here and well you know it ain’t no secret that you are too.”

Yunho felt the sadness creeping over him again, “Being an orphan has its perks.”

“You get to hang out with us is the biggest.” Jun joked around but Yunho knew there was little comfort in the fact that his parents left him alone.

“The hurt goes away,” Jae stepped in seeing Yunho sullen, “some lost our parents to the Party and some to this place fighting for our freedom. It is okay to miss them, but don’t put the blame of their death on anything or anyone. If they are here in the Resistance, they made the choice to bring change for the price of their life. Life can be lived or life can be given. I will tell you right now that those that are here in the Resistance choose the later.”

“W-we could have stayed in the Party…”

Jae swung his arm around Yunho, “all that place has is rules. Trust me, your parents made the right decision to be here cause the Resistance takes care of their own. I bet you any money that if you were in the Party and your parents died, you would have to take on the responsibility for burial and relocation. Here you can focus on healing yourself.”

Yoo came up and put his arm around Yunho’s other shoulder, “I think Jae forgot the most important part and that was that we will find out who did it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. The Resistance will take of its own.”

Yunho opened his eyes to the hospital room, “Awake I see.”

“Was I sleeping long?” Yunho lifted himself to sit up.

Seolhyun was sitting at her desk writing reports, “close to two hours. Your guest stayed the whole time.” Yunho looked around until he spotted Taeyeon sleeping on the bed next to him, “She fell asleep in the chair but it looked uncomfortable so I got her up on the bed. I don’t think she was sleeping well the past few days with how out she was.”

Yunho swung his legs over while taking a long look at Taeyeon, “she must have been worried…I should be taking care of my junior.”

Seolhyun laughed at the cute relationship they had, “you should be more concerned with your health. I got your report from the detention center and you have to make sure not to strain yourself too much for a while. Those broken ribs need to heal.”

Yunho knew, “they are close to being fine. I have been through worse.”

Seolhyun put down her chart and walked towards the door, “she wasn’t the only one worried for you. I would say stay out of my office but knowing you, just make sure you don’t do anything stupid again.”

Yunho gave the doctor a toothy smile, “No promises.”

Yunho waited to hear his name being called. They were to get assigned their sections and Yunho was hoping more than anything to be paired in the same section as his friends. By now all their names were called up and he was the last one.

“Yunho you have showed advanced skills in the art of fighting and your decision making skills are unmatched to anyone here. I assign you to level 5.”

Yunho was dejected. All his friends were in the lower ranks, but Yoo, Jae and Jun came over congratulating him, “Damn you are so cool! Level 5 does a lot of street work!”

“Yea but…” Yunho hesitated, “I wanted to be with you for my first year.”

Jae was laughing, “Give us some time and we will come to your level.”

Taeyeon stirred from her slumber to see Yunho watching over her, “That is creepy…watching someone as they sleep.”

Yunho laughed because Taeyeon always could bring a smile to his face, “What are you doing here?”

“Resting obviously.”

“Taeyeon…” Yunho sighed, “I am fine really. My head just hurts sometimes.”

Rubbing away the sleepies in her eyes, Taeyeon looked straight into Yunho’s eyes, “I can tell you are lying. Your head hurts and you refuse pain medication.”

“Ah…well can we keep that our little secret for now?”

“I’d rather not. You should just get treatment. What if you black out in the field like you did today? Are you really thinking about your team?” Taeyeon knew she couldn’t mince words with the man.

“You are right…I am only thinking of myself and not my team.” Yunho looked down at his hands, “I just don’t want to go back there. Testing and probing as if there is something wrong with me…”

Taeyeon leaned forward and touched Yunho’s shoulder, “You can always come to me if you are having troubles Yunho. No one is forcing you back to active duty yet. Siwon is doing a great job as leader and he will do so until you are ready. We want you back, but we want a healthy Yunho who thinks of his team first.”

“Fine…I will tell the doctor.”

The next few years, Yunho worked hard at his job recruiting to the Resistance and gaining intelligence from working the streets. He loved his job and every day he found the importance of what his parents wanted to accomplish. Eventually, he gained Yoo and Jae on his team while Jun was transferred into the Party undercover. At this point, Yunho was content with life having his friends by his side while they fought for a real cause.

“Intelligence says that there is Party activity in abandoned buildings of Sector 4. We just need to go in and check it out.” Yunho listened to his leader and nodded along to the assignment, “I want you four to dress in normal street gear and check it out and report back. No confrontation.”

“Yes sir!”

Yunho headed out with Jae, Yoo, and another boy named Khan to Sector 4. It seemed like a routine mission and the boys went around the city playing around. They joked and jumped on the sidewalks pushing each other just like another other group of boys. Going above ground was always exciting and they boys felt like they could let loose and forget their troubles.

However, when Sector 4 came into sight, they gave one another a knowing look. Remembering the map they went over before going out, Yunho led the boys to the buildings in question.

“Okay how should we play this out? It looks like the place is abandoned.”

“If it is, no one would bat an eye if we just went in there to play.”

“I brought a ball. So our story is we are going in to play with the ball.”

“Got it.” The boys said in unison as they head into the building. They kept their eyes sharp for anything unusual but tried to keep their acting as believable as possible. They tossed the ball around and pretended to hit each other. Wanting to go further into the building, Yunho chucked the ball far, “Oops.”

The boys laughed as they chased after the ball. Soon the boys were covered in darkness as they entered far into the building. Not long after, the echoes of voices could be heard and Yunho turned to the source. All the boys knew something was going on in the right wing so they quieted down and left to go closer to the voices.

Yunho held his hand up as he looked over the floor down to the basement that was exposed through the concrete. He tried to look down at what the Party members were doing but it was unclear. He knew that they needed to get closer so he signaled back for them to split up and scope for a way to get down to the basement. Khan was the one who found the stairs clear and the rest followed.

Jae watched the corner when they reached the basement and saw the Party setting up boxes on the floor. Yunho joined Jae and tried to figure out what was going on with all the boxes. Knowing they shouldn’t confront the situation, Yunho pointed up for them to leave.

All the boys went up to the entrance and regrouped, “What should we do?”

Yunho sat down looking at the ball in his hand, “I think we should go back and report. Another team can take over.”

Khan stepped up, “What if those boxes are not there by then. We should intercept.”

“The leader said intelligence, no interference. Our job is done.”

Adamant, Khan stepped up again, “I am going back in. I know those boxes are important.”

Yunho stood up and blocked Khan from stepping back into the building, “I am your superior for this mission. You will do as I say and come with us back to the home base.”

“Screw this!” Khan sharply whispered, “We are here to make a change and fight the Party. How can we do that when we do nothing when the opportunity presents itself.”

“Because we follow orders. It isn’t safe to go back in and I say we don’t go.” Yunho stood tall blocking Khan but the other man wasn’t having any of it.

“I am going back in weather you like it or not.”

“I won’t let you.”

Khan pushed first and Yunho pushed back before Khan threw a cheep punch to the side of Yunho’s face and ran into the building. Yunho held his head in pain as Yoo ran after Khan and Jae stayed with Yunho, but Yunho was blinded by anger as he pointed towards the building, “Just get him before we are all exposed.”

Jae nodded as he went back into the building too. Minutes later Yunho was pushed back from the force of a series of bombs going off. The building collapsed and in an instant, he saw two of his closest friends die.

“Hey wake up.” Yunho was groggy when he opened his eyes to see Junho over his bed. Looking around, Yunho couldn’t find Taeyeon.

“W-what time is it?”

“Past midnight. Want me to take you to your room?”

“I can go on my own.” Yunho got off the bed following behind Junho, “I can’t believe I slept that much.”

“Very much unlike you but we all get it. Don’t push yourself too much.”

“I got the same scolding from Taeyeon.”

Junho laughed at the thought of Taeyeon reprimanding Yunho, “You better listen well then.”

“I will.” Yunho stretched as they walked through the empty halls late at night. Yunho was about to turn the corner with Junho when he saw Won Bin talking to another Resistance member.

“Yunho?” Junho looked back when he saw Yunho stop, “Is everything alright?”

Yunho nodded, “I just umm thought of something I left in the infirmary. Go ahead. I promise I will go back to my room and sleep.”

“Have a good night then. If you are feeling up to it, come to morning training.”

“I will. Go on now.” Yunho waited for Junho to leave before he approached Won Bin and his companion.

Author's Note

So you can thank those who participated in the quiz I held on Twitter for making me update this story. Although voting was nearly the same for all stories, The Resistance still won. Totally unexpected. I hope I didn't dissapoint because this chapter had no Taengsic [couldn't be helped].

However, I was also inspired by Taeyeon's support of TVXQ recently! Yunho and Tae's friendship is going strong :)