"Kai had enough of a heart to drop his filrty face and donate Hope a look that said he was sorry"

The air was tense around them, it was filled with so much anger and sudden realisations that they had all forgotten how the news had been released that brought them to where they were now. Hope was pushed to the back, naturally like when any sense of danger arrived, the only view she got was the six backs that were taller than her own. Two weeks had gone by rather joyously as if it were just fresh air passing them in a breeze. They had all learnt how to make their own fun to make time go by, and they had been getting along, but now as twelve men looked at them as if they were some sort of foul beast, it was as if those times didn’t exist. Youngjae tucked Hope under his arm, it brought her into view but at least she and Youngjae knew that he would be able to help her get out of here quickly if the situation were to rise to that extent.

“You’re asking me what to do from here whilst looking at my team like that? It’s obvious what can be done from here, you’re more than welcome to leave, we won’t stop you, otherwise you would end up dead if we did, or you can sit tight and pretend it doesn’t bother you and we can continue to spend day in and day out here together as if nothing is wrong” Yongguk snarled, he was covering his team, keeping them behind him as he faced the room of awkwardness and uncertainty.

“So you’ll just use us and dump us Yongguk? I thought you had better morals than that” Kris shot snappishly and Yongguk snarled.

“Clearly you’re misinterpreting what I am saying, I am giving you a choice not throwing you out” Lay shot up from his place in aggravation before Kris could respond.

“Will you stop it and shut up already? Can’t you see Yongguk is trying to do what is right for s and what is needed to protect Hope from us? You aren’t bloody helping Kris. We’re already doing wrong by sticking with them and bringing the danger to them!” Lay bellowed, his arm waving in the direction of the angry warriors and the girl tucked between them. Hope had to step back to stay in Youngjae’s hold as the six around her all moved to stand territorially around her.

“What are you saying Lay?” Yongguk gruffed out with caution.

“Lay” Kris spoke sternly at the same time Daehyun did and everyone turned to look at them with confused eyes.

“We made a promise, so keep that mouth of yours shut Lay” Daehyun snarled.

“Secrets are best kept when you keep them to yourself, you should have kept your own mouth shut Jung Daehyun” Lay muttered darkly.

“Zhang Yixing, what are you getting at?” Kris spoke up in an ordering tone, trying to cut in on Lay and Daehyun who were staring one another down.

“It really is quite fascinating, so cliché honestly, I mean we were sent here to find the child of the humans that King Exotic is keeping, and these are the people that were sent to stop us. We have those famous warriors from Mato Planet right in front of us. Can you believe that they don’t know where we’re from or why we’re here and they’ve trusted us? They’ve put the human that we’ve been looking for right in our hand this whole time, all we ever would have had to do was sneak away with her and they wouldn’t have had a clue what we were doing. I bet she doesn’t even know about her parents because you never told her, did you Daehyun?” Lay smirked, he cracked up laughing and it was scary to see the sane, quiet man they had all known before disappear, at least Hope thought it was. Hope couldn’t stop her eyes from widening; she avoided Lay, looking away at the other people, the other things filling the room. Daehyun looked away in shame when her eyes found his for a short second and Yongguk shook his head from in front of them.

“We’ve told what’s happened to her parents, she’s already well aware” Yongguk gruffed and Kris shook his head, yanking at Lay’s collar, staring him down angrily as he marched him out of the room, they could still hear him laughing as they got further and further from the room. Suho stood up then, moving to leave the canteen and follow Kris to deal with Lay. The rest of s sitting stunned and confused about what to do until Suho waved for them to follow him without looking over his shoulder. The seven blond heads watched them all leaving, Hope’s eyes on Chen with some sort of hope within her. But it was quickly shattered when he kept his eyes on the floor and avoided her stare, making her lip tremble. Kai had enough of a heart to drop his flirty face and donate Hope a look that said he was sorry. Hope gave him an awkward smile through the tears that she wasn’t able to stop from beginning to pour from her eyes. He sighed and walked away, following the last of his team out of the canteen.

“Jung Daehyun, what have you been keeping from us?” Yongguk ordered for Daehyun to speak and Daehyun looked up slowly, his eyes for different from anything Hope had ever seen before.

“It doesn’t feel so good to be left in the dark, does it Yongguk?” Daehyun snarled at his leader but Hope felt like she was the one he was actually speaking to when he dared to stare wildly into her horrified eyes. Daehyun smirked and Hope moved back.

“You really wouldn’t believe it, he told me everything. They have her parents locked away and the best part is that they’re keeping them in some other country and using them for whatever they please, even beating them whenever they want to. I heard that they got word that they’ll have them killed soon if neither of them starts giving their king some answers soon. And it’s all because of the war between our planets, but apparently King Exotic really has something against humans, his daughter fell in love and married one or something boring like that and had a monster child” Daehyun grinned wickedly, rolling his eyes to show his boredom of the story he was told. Daehyun looked at Hope again frightening her as he took his move and stepped forward, his eye boring heavily on her.

“Leave quickly” Zelo muttered, pushing Hope back with a hand on her stomach and Hope obliged, tuning and rushing for the doors to the canteen as Daehyun gave a wild cackle.

“Where you are gonna go Hope? I thought you would want to hear more?” Daehyun’s cunning voice made her muscles stiffen but Hope refused to stop her get away, in fact, she moved quicker, her hip slamming into a table that screeched against the floor but she ignored the pain to swing the doors to the canteen open. The members of EXO were lining the hall, still unsure of what to do with themselves without their leaders but Hope took off running, not caring for the looks they gave her or the grabs at her wrists to slow her down and talk to her. Her hand viciously slapped the elevator button. But it wasn’t opening quickly enough for her racing heart or panicked mind. Luhan had followed her, he grabbed her shoulders and tried to make her talk to him but she only pushed through him, running over and slamming the door that leads to the stairs open.

“Hope!-” Kai had yelled but he was ignored as well. Hope raced down the stairs, feeling like it was an endless cycle until she had to give up to her exhausted lungs and barge throu