Jaemin breathed in heavily as he layed against the wall, catching his breath. Beside him was Lay, another one of EXO's members, his hands gently pressed against Jaemin's burns to relieve the pain and heal them. Chanyeol walked nervously in front of him, scoffing a bit and looking down.

"You failed.. Again. Jaemin if you can't kill one person then what good are you to us?" Suho, one of the more commanding members spoke up.
"Well so far he has been qiet useful when it comes to how to attack Neo Tech.. He knows alot and is a good prisoner. Especially if Neo Tech assumes he's dead..." Chanyeol rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I guess but still."

"Chanyeol, just give me one more chance." Jaemin pleaded.

"You're still not strong enough.."

"Then I'll become stronger! Please.. I can't go back to them... Not after what happened to Chenle.."

It was true he missed his brother. Of course he would. All through his life they only had eachother.

And now he was gone.

"Let him stay Chanyeol." They all turned to the corner where Baekhyun was leaning against a wall. He walked over and put a gentle hand on the tall mans shoulder. "Maybe he can do better then me." He said, sarcasm dripping from every word like venom. He began to walk away and Chanyeol frowned.

"If it makes you upset then he can stay." He said with a smirk. Baekhyun scoffed and kept walking.

"See if I care!" He said, before exiting the alley.

Jeno met everyone's terrified looks as he explained the fight he had with Jaemin in the fire.

"He had us trapped! What else was I supposed to do! I sure as hell wasn't just gonna let us die! And we don't even know if.. Jaemin is... Dead.." He said. When he spoke the last word it was a bit more hushed then the rest, coming out as barely more then a whisper. He felt a sharp pain in his chest at the thought.

The thought that he might of killed Jaemin.

His bestfriend since birth.

His first love.

Tears stung in his eyes as he imagined Jaemin's screams and the way they echoed around the warehouse as he burned in the flames that enveloped the place they had thought was safe. He turned away and wiped his eyes so no one could see the tears. When he turned back, he was receiving mixed reactions. Some were dissapointed and disgusted, others scared, and a couple sympathetic.

"It doesn't matter. You are still apart of Neo Tech." When he looked up to see the owner of the voice, he was met with the encouraging, sympathetic look of someone as they walked forward.

Taeyong.

Jeno blinked.

"When did you get here?"

"I called him through my in-ear after we escaped the fire.." Kun explained. Jeno looked briefly at Kun before looking back to Taeyong. He looked at the ground.

"I'm sorry..." Taeyong looked at everyone else around him.

"It sounds to me as if you had good reason. So, even if you did kill him, you had only good intentions. I will tell all of you this right now." He said, raising his voice. "No matter the circumstances, your life is always more valuable then any member of EXO. So please, do everything and anything to keep yourselves alive." Everyone nodded and there was a moment of silence before Renjun spoke up, voice devoid of all emotion.

"Now what." He looked at everyone exept Jeno, who painfully noticed this.

"Now, we go to a new base."

"What?" This time, it was Yangyang who spoke. "You mean we're all gonna try to squeeze into the hub? I'm not doing that!"

"No. I mean, we're going to the old church." He got a couple happy nods and some confused looks after he spoke, but one reaction stood out as everyone heard him.

"But what about Chenle.." He whimpered. Jeno looked at him. "What if Chenle wakes up, and- and we're all gone a-and he can't find us? We can't leave him... Here.. Alone...." Jeno began to aproach the fragile boy but was stopped by Renjun who sent him a cold glare before turning to Jisung, his gaze softening.

"Jisung, Chenle isn't going to wake up."

A thick sadness hung in the air and the only thing that disturbed it was the small wails and whimpers coming from Jisung as he cried into Renjun's shoulder. Jeno bowed his head and watched his feet, barely taking note of his surroundings as his vision blurred and tears fell from his eyes. They spilled out like water from a dam.

"Jeno.." Someone called out softly. He quickly wiped his tears away and looked up to see Kun watching him with a sympathetic look.

The flames behind them began to die as the soft rain that started to fall grew harder. Taeyong looked at Jeno.

"Everyone find a sheltered spot to sleep tonight. Stay out of the watchtower. Jeno.. Come with me." As Everyone dispersed to find somewhere to sleep, Jeno noticed Johnny, Ten, Taeil, and Jaehyun were now here. But the one who caught his attention was Taeil who seemed to burn his gaze into Jeno's head.

Suddenly, a voice in his head that was not his own spoke.

Tread carefully Jeno, for every step you take, our destinies go with you.

Jeno followed Taeyong silently through the street. They were walking in the rain, there pace had now slowed as if Taeyong no longer cared about their destination. After a long moment, Taeyong broke the silence with a sigh and stopped walking.

"It's okay to cry."

Jeno looked up from his feet for the first time since they had started walking and met Taeyong's gaze. It was softer and more understanding then Jeno had ever seen, and he could've broken down right then.

And he did.

He sniffed a bit and Taeyong immediately pulled him into a hug, resting the boys head on his shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry I'm not who you thought I was Taeyong. I'm broken and useless and everything I touch goes to shit! I don't know what higher power told you I would make a good leader for them, but how can I be a good leader if I barely know how to handle one death.. I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to kill him and now they all see me as a-a murderer! I'm not a murderer! Pl-please Taeyong.. Tell them I'm not... Tell them...." Taeyong let the boy cry and shout and occasionally punch his stomach. It didn't hurt and he knew it would help. As the crying reduced to soft sobs, Taeyong pet Jeno's wet hair gently.

"You have something that I admire Jeno. Something not many others have. You feel empathy no matter who it is and yet, you have the ability to control it, and to use it to your advantage." He stopped talking and released Jeno from the hug, still holding the boys shoulders. "But you need to learn balance. What you can and can't hold in. All this time, you've held it in, thinking it as the best thing. Sometimes it's not though." Taeyong said. Jeno listened to each word carefully and waited as the silence droned on before speaking.

"I'm... I'm scared Taeyong. what if they don't except me anymore? I mean.." He chuckled a bit. "I killed my bestfriend!" Taeyong looked at Jeno.

"Don't you have dirt against Jaemin?"

Jeno froze.

Chenle!

"He killed Chenle.." Jeno muttered.

"What?" Taeyong said, not catching what the boy had said.

"Jaemin killed Chenle! He told me in the fire! He told me he killed him and joined EXO! Jaemin was the enemy! A filthy rat that was going to destroy us from the inside out and I killed him!" Jeno said, sounding a bit too excited considering the circumstances.

"So.. You're actually the hero?"

"Exactly!" Jeno said. He looked at Taeyong in the eyes. "I might not be useless after all!" He breathed and Taeyong pulled him into another tight hug.

Renjun gently ran his hand through Jisung's hair. The young boy had finnaly fallen asleep in Renjun's lap after crying for almost ten minutes. Renjun sighed and shut his eyes, leaning his head against the wall and allowing the tears to fall down his face.

Jaemin was dead.

His bestfriend was dead

Killed like his own brother, burning in flames.

"At least they can see eachother now.." He mummbled with a bitter giggle. "Maybe they had the right idea in dying.." He whispered. He gently moved Jisung off his lap and walked away from the overhang they had sheltered under. He walked through the rain, eventually making it to the street. A little ways off he could here the howl of police sirens and the occasional car splashing through a puddle as it drove by. He continued walking down the street, crying as he remembered everything.

His dad was dead.

His bestfriend was dead.

His other friend was a murderer.

He was alone.

He felt hopeless.

Without purpose.

And all these thoughts of worthlessness in his mind were so loud, he didn't even hear the car that was fast approaching.

-tbc-