The first thing Mingi registered when he started to wake up again was just how heavy he felt. Especially his head.

Opening his eyes seemed like too much effort, so he elected to just lay there and let his mind wander.

Not that there was anywhere for it to go. His mind was blank and yet full of questions. The biggest one being who was he?

He knew he should know his own name. That was common knowledge... right? So why couldn't he remember anything?

What had happened to him?

He was so scared... and there were these people who he could tell knew him, but they were tiptoeing around him for his sake.

Maybe he should be grateful about that, but right now Mingi just wanted answers more than anything else.

"Still not awake?" A gentle voice said.

"No." Another one whispered. It was closer, making Mingi think the owner was sitting right next to him. "But he's stable. I guess."

That voice... it tugged at Mingi's heart in a way that he didn't understand. He could hear every ounce of pain woven into the tone and it made him want to lean closer to him and tell him everything would be alright.

"Don't give up." The first voice said. "You heard what the doctor said."

"I know, Sangie. I just... what if it never comes back? He went through all those trials, all those years of being alone and knowing the truth, all the hurdles we put him through... for what?"

"For everything we accomplished. Hongjoong, we saved countless lives and businesses tonight. If we had let Mercer live, who knows what he would have done to this city, let alone us."

Silence fell over the couple, then a door slid open somewhere on Mingi's right.  "Hey guys." A lighter voice said.

"Hi San." The person next to Mingi sighed.

"So I had an idea, thinking back to when I used to have bad days after Mercer took control."

There was that name again. Mingi let it bounce around his head, knowing it held some sort of weight to it. The man sounded important but... was he dead? Why were they talking about him like that?

"There were some days," the third speaker continued, "that I was having a hard time getting out of that state of mind, and Seonghwa would take the time to read to me because hearing his voice was the biggest help of all."

"Thanks, San, but I-" the second voice paused, then he must have stood up quickly because the sound of chair legs scrapping angrily against the floor came next, followed by hurried footsteps out of the room.

Mingi debated on waking up and asking all the questions begging to be set free, but the door opened again only a few minutes later.

"Joong?"

"The first time I met Mingi, I had absolutely no idea who he was, but he came into the store and asked me what I was reading. He told me he had read it to someone special once, and now I realize that was me in our previous life." The man's voice trembled as he spoke, giving away the stress and pain he was feeling right now. "Maybe..."

"We'll leave you alone."

A few more minutes passed before Mingi felt a smaller hand take his own. It was a hesitant touch, one that had him imagining the boy was nervous or scared to do it, and he could feel the fingers trembling ever so slightly.

The owner of the hand let out a small side, then his angelic voice started to speak again. "I hope you can hear me, Mingi. If you can, I need you to listen to everything I'm about to say. Listen... and try to remember." The voice dropped to a whisper. "Remember me... please."

Just hearing the words made Mingi's heart ache. He could tell this man cared for him a lot and he felt horrible that he couldn't remember who he was.

The voice hesitated for another moment or two, then started to read from the book he had grabbed.

It was a wonderful tale about three children who meet a boy who never wanted to grow up. He took them on fantastic adventures full of magic and danger and mystery along with a tiny, feisty fairy.

Mingi found himself latching onto the man's voice as he spoke and let his mind imagine everything that was read to him.

He had no idea how much time had passed, but when the end of the story neared and the reader started reading about the fairy dying, a tear escaped Mingi's eye and rolled down his cheek.

She couldn't die... There were too many people who relied on her.

Just like Hongjoong relied on him.

Mingi's eyes flew open and he shot up into a sitting position.

Hongjoong.

Mercer.

The battle!

His hands flew to his head at the memory of what happened and he looked to his right to see Hongjoong staring at him in shock.

Mingi opened his mouth and closed it once. Everything was still a little fuzzy but...

His name. Mingi. That was his name.

"Joong?" He asked, dropping his hands slowly.

The older gasped and stood up. "Mingi? Is this real?" Hongjoong reached out a shaking hand, which Mingi took immediately and brought to his chest. This in turn forced Hongjoong to fall forward into Mingi and the thief happily hugged him.

"Joong..." He signed, burying his nose in Hongjoong's soft hair. The very scent of the man he loved help to calm his racing mind. Hongjoong like a soft, vanilla shampoo, so faint that you had to be right next to him to smell it.

Mingi remembered teasing him about it one night and Hongjoong had grown so flustered and embarrassed, he tried using a stronger, charcoal scent for a few days that he ended up despising and chucking at Mingi's head.

It was a wonderful memory, and Mingi started to cry when more flashed across his eyes.

He could feel Hongjoong trembling in his arms too and that sparked him to tighten his grip.

"I w-was so s-scared." Hongjoong started to sob, his hot tears left large wet spots on the front of Mingi's shirt. "N-Namjoon s-said you had amn-n-nesia and that you m-may never get it b-b-back."

Mingi leaned back and removed his arm from around Hongjoong to grab his chin. "Hey, hey, take a deep breath. I'm right here and I remember now, thanks to you."

A slight blush colored Hongjoong's cheeks and he quickly sat back in his chair. "Yeah, well, you shouldn't have gone and done a stupid thing like sacrificing yourself like that." He sniffed and wiped his nose before crossing his arms.

That's right... Mingi thought back to the compound and how he had rammed the pillar in an attempt to keep Mercer from harming his family.

He didn't register the door to the room opening as he remembered feeling the rubble collapse on top of him. It took him only seconds to accept the fact that he was going to die... and while he hadn't wanted to, he was willing to die for the ones he loved.

"What happened?" Mingi asked, still lost in his own thoughts. "What happened to Mercer?"

"He's gone." Wooyoung's light voice made Mingi jump and he looked up to see the rest of his team were gathered around his bed.

"Guys!" He placed a hand over his heart and studied them one by one, committing their faces to his newly found memory.

San and Yunho, beaming from where they stood off to the side. Yunho was standing on his own and San looked perfectly happy leaning into his side.

Yeosang and Jongho, wrapped in each other's arms and smiling at Mingi as if they were the embodiment of joy themselves. The hacker even had tears in his eyes and it looked like he wanted to say something, but he just nodded his head a couple of times and laid his head on Jongho's shoulder.

Seonghwa and Wooyoung. At first Mingi wanted to panic at the fact that Wooyoung was sitting in a wheelchair with his leg propped up, but he was distracted by how different Wooyoung looked. There was no sign of stress or pain or burden anywhere on the boy's body.

"Hey Mingi." Wooyoung giggled and leaned back so his head was resting against Seonghwa's stomach. "How are you feeling?"

At first Mingi didn't know how to answer. Seeing everyone gathered around him like this brought him so much happiness that he wanted to just lie down and weep. He glossed over Wooyoung's question and asked, "How are you guys? Jongho, are you-"

"I'm much better, thanks you everyone here." Jongho assured him. He and Yeosang exchanged a loving look before the younger spoke again. "Thank you for coming for me, even after all the hardship I put you through."

"You don't need to thank me, I would do the same for any of you."

"Which you almost did, you fool." Hongjoong snapped. He was still pouting in his chair, which prompted Mingi to leaned over and forcibly take one of Hongjoong's hands.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do." Mingi admitted. "Almost everyone was injured and Mercer was still standing." He turned to look at Wooyoung. "I couldn't let him hurt anyone else." Then his eyes flicked up to Seonghwa. "I'm so sorry."

The oldest waved Mingi off and shook his head. "Don't apologize. As... As much as it may be bittersweet for me... I know we did the right thing." Seonghwa lowered his hand to Wooyoung's shoulder and squeezed. "The city has been celebrating for days. You should see it."

"So... We really did it?"

Everyone collectively chuckled and moved closer to the bed, but it was Hongjoong who spoke. "Yes, Mingi, you killed Mercer."

He couldn't believe it. After going through two different lives trying to defeat the same enemy, they had finally done it.

Once the initial shock was over, Mingi sat back and listened as everyone told their stories. Jongho's was hardest on him because he hated hearing that the youngest was tortured and almost fell under Mercer's control like San had been.

It would have been an awful obstacle for them to overcome.

When Yunho and Yeosang recounted what happened with the bombs, he realized they were the reason the floor collapsed. Ironically, they had probably saved all of their lives with how the battle in Mercer's office had been going.

"Well I'm glad we helped somehow, because I was scared shitless." Yunho said. "And my poor car."

"You can build another one, right?" San looked up at him with a worried gaze.

"I mean, I guess." Yunho looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "But it won't be the same. Damn I loved that car."

"I'll help you get parts for a new one." Hongjoong promised. "I'll get you whatever you want."

"Thanks." Yunho's ears turned a light shade of pink.

For the first time since being all together things grew quiet. It wasn't uncomfortable or uneasy, just quiet. There was really nothing else for them to say at the moment.

The weeks and months spent planning for their final mission seemed so long ago. All of their time and energy had been focused on single goal. Nothing else had mattered.

Now, Mingi realized, it was almost like life was... empty? Pointless? Unimportant? He couldn't quite find the right word to describe it.

But the biggest question floating around in his mind that pushed its way past all the others...

What were they going to do now?

Mingi found himself trying to picture the others in random jobs. Jongho as a florist, San as a baker, Hongjoong as a teacher... but none of them really worked.

"What is it, Mingi?" Hongjoong asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Oh it's nothing. I was just trying to think about what's next for us." He rubbed the back of his neck.

The others all exchanged a knowing look. "We've been wondering the same thing." Yeosang said quietly.

San nodded. "But no matter what we decide, I think we all deserve a break."

"We have all the time in the world to decide." Seonghwa added.

Time. The one thing Mingi knew he never had any control over. Not even Mercer could control it, even though he tried his best.

"Exactly." Mingi said. "We can do whatever we want, be whoever we want. We've been given our lives back." He smiled at each of his friends in turn.

They all moved a little closer and either leaned in so they were touching shoulders or so they could hold hands.

And Mingi felt like his heart was going to explode with how much he admired the seven men in front of him. He would be nothing without them.

"I promise," He said, trying to fight the tears threatening to come forward, "I promise to remain by your side. We will get through this next stage in our lives together. As long as we stay together, the eight of us will always be one team."