"Ok, feet apart." Seonghwa said quietly from where he stood behind Wooyoung. "Good, knees bent, and turn slightly to the side."

Wooyoung followed his directions perfectly, all while staring at the target at the end of the room.

Hongjoong had given them permission to use it after mumbling something about it keeping them out of his way, and Seonghwa would take what he could get right now.

They were both dressed in their stolen skin tight suits, this time without anything underneath so they fit much better, and were using all the knives Seonghwa had managed to grab.

He watched as Wooyoung twirled the knife in his hand nimbly between his fingers. It was almost strange... he had never seen such a dark look on the younger. The cold look in his eyes and the way he focused in on the target sent a chill down Seonghwa's spine.

"Alright, now you'll just draw your hand back and watch your follow through." Seonghwa took a step back to get out of the way. He watched as Wooyoung followed all his instructions perfectly. The knife flew from his hand and landed right in the middle of the target. Followed by three more. Seonghwa felt his eyebrows raise in surprise. "Wow, you're a natural."

Wooyoung smirked and twirled a fifth knife between each of his fingers. "I am, aren't I?" He looked over his shoulder. "I mean, it's really not that hard as long as you trust yourself and your body, and whether it's unfortunate or not, I know a lot about my body." Wooyoung's shoulders shook with a very sarcastic laugh before he whirled around and threw the last knife at the target. It nestled itself right in with the others.

A lump formed in Seonghwa's throat that he tried twice to swallow as he thought about the hidden meaning behind all of Wooyoung's words. And it was all because of his father. Mixed emotions tugged at Seonghwa's heart when he thought about the fact that Wooyoung had probably been envisioning his father while throwing the knives. And the holes were slowly filled with guilt...

Was it bad for him to be ok with and understand why Wooyoung would want his father dead? Was he a horrible son for it?

There was part of Seonghwa that didn't want anything bad to happen because he did love his father. They had been through a lot together, and for the longest time there was no one else Seonghwa had looked up to more. He aspired to be a powerful man, just like his father.

But now...

Seonghwa looked off to the side and crossed his arms while leaning against the wall. His mind wandered with all the conflicting thoughts battering at it like they were trying to break open a door.

What was he supposed to do?

"Hey..." Wooyoung said softly. He walked over and placed a hand on Seonghwa's crossed arms. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah." Seonghwa gave him a tight lipped smile. "Yeah, keep practicing." He urged.

"Please don't hide things from me." Wooyoung's voice dropped to a whisper. He stepped a little closer and looked up at Seonghwa with big, round eyes. "You've done so much for me in just a short time. The most I can do is help you empty your mind."

Seonghwa found himself sinking into honeyed brown eyes in front of him. He almost gave in and let all his fears spill from within him, but then he shook his head and dropped his hands, which in turn made Wooyoung drop his. "Thanks, but I'm ok, I promise."

Wooyoung dropped his gaze and nodded. He took a step back, then turned back to the target. Without another word, he retrieved his knives and started to practice once more.

Seonghwa bit his lip and made sure not to watch. He didn't want to feed into the younger's feelings for him when he wasn't sure what he thought about it still.

The dull thump of knives hitting wood was the only thing that filled the silence for the next several minutes. Until a louder thump drew their attention.

They both looked up at the ceiling and Seonghwa took a moment to go through the layout of the shop and the little underground area that he knew. When he realized the shop was almost right above, he shook up straight and kept his eyes on the ceiling.

His first thought was that the Pack had found them and the second was that he and Wooyoung would be safest down here. But then he thought about Hongjoong being alone and taking on the Pack by himself and for some reason found himself running for the stairs. Hongjoong was protecting them, so the least he could do was try to return he favor.

"Hwa!" Wooyoung called out and so his footsteps followed as well.

Seonghwa pulled the lever to open the door leading up the top while pulling out two pistols. He had meant to practice with them to help distract himself, but now he was grateful he grabbed them.

Loud crashes and the sounds of items flying around the storefront had Seonghwa hurrying up the stairs. He pointed his guns at the door and started to creep out.

"You're all dead!!" Hongjoong shouted.

"Don't you touch him!" Another voice shouted.

It sounded like utter chaos.

Seonghwa glanced at where Wooyoung was waiting below him on the stairs with several knives in his hands. They exchanged a nod, then Seonghwa ran forward into the main room. "Freeze!" He shouted.

The first person he saw was a tall redhead standing off to the side with a bewildered look on his face. He was staring at the tangle of bodies on the floor.

There were four of them, but it looked like Hongjoong was stuck in the middle of all of them. Seonghwa was about to run to his rescue, but one of them looked familiar.

Too familiar.

Words caught in his throat and he lowered both guns.

Thankfully Wooyoung stopped next to him and dropped his arms to his side as well and said, "San?"

The sound of their words caused everyone to stop, mostly because it looked like San was the main instigator. Once he heard his name, his head jerked up and he pulled himself away from Hongjoong while the other two strangers kept him pinned to the ground. "H-Hwa?"

San looked... different. He looked almost... better? Seonghwa couldn't place it, but he could tell something had happened.

"What's going on San?" One of the boys holding Hongjoong asked. His worried eyes kept flicking back and forth between him and Seonghwa.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too. Now let me go you fucking idiots!" Hongjoong yelled by yanking his arms free. He immediately turned on Seonghwa and squared his shoulders before marching over to him. "This was your idea wasn't it?! You convince me to let you in, then sick your dog on me! I should have know better than to trust you!"

Before he got too close, Wooyoung jumped in front of Seonghwa and held up his knives. "Don't even think about it."

Hongjoong just smiled at the boy and laughed. "Looks like you've been replaced, San. The Prince has gone and gotten himself a new guard dog. Pathetic." He spat. "Now GET OUT OF MY SHOP!"

Seonghwa opened his mouth to defend himself but was interrupted by a sob.

Everyone turned in the direction it was coming from, only to see the redhead on his knees with his face buried in his hands.

The door behind him flew open and yet another stranger ran in to wrap his arms around the redhead's shoulders, which in turn caused the other boy that had been holding Hongjoong to hurry to his side.

It was all so much. Seonghwa set one of his guns down and pinched the bridge of his nose when he felt a stress headache coming on. "I don't understand, what are you doing here, San? How? Wh... Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you?"

"I'm sorry." San's forehead creased and he took a small step forward. "But I could ask the same thing to you. What are you doing here? More importantly, why are you here?" His eyes fell to Wooyoung and his mouth opened a little in surprise. "Mercer doesn't know you're here..."

"No." Seonghwa also looked at Wooyoung and his chest swelled a little while moving Wooyoung behind him.

"San?" The voice from before said. He had a sweet, almost puppy-like face and fluffy brown hair, and his eyes were trained on San like he was the most important thing in the room.

Seonghwa watched with increasing confusion as San went to his side and turned back to give Seonghwa the harshest look he'd ever seen coming from the younger.

Meanwhile, Hongjoong continued to seethe with rage. "I'm not playing around anymore." He picked up Seonghwa's gun and pointed it around the room. "I want all of you out, now."

"Wait." A deep voice said. Seonghwa realized it belonged to the boy who had run in at the end. "Please, give us a chance to explain. This was never supposed to happen, but we are all destined to meet."

The redhead below him nodded and stared blankly at a gun lying on the ground in front of him, one that he must have dropped either before or during the fighting.

"Bullshit. I know this is some elaborate scheme thought up by the Pack, and I'm done." He turned and aimed the gun for Seonghwa, who froze and stared back with wide eyes.

"Hongjoong, I swea-"

"SHUT UP!" Hongjoong yelled. His face was dark red and there was fire in his eyes.

In a split second, a gunshot sounded off, deafening Seonghwa as he fell backward. Hongjoong collapsed at the same time. Standing behind him was San, who held a broken bottle in his hand.

"Hwa!" Wooyoung was immediately crouching over him and examining him for bullet holes. His eyes flickered with fear, which tugged at Seonghwa's heart.

He grabbed Wooyoung's hands and shook his head. "I'm fine. I promise." He looked up at the hole in the ceiling and let out a sigh of relief.

Wooyoung sat back and closed his eyes while squeezing Seonghwa's hand tighter.

"Nice hit, San."

A bright giggle, one that Seonghwa knew but barely ever heard, came from the younger and his head whipped around to stare at where San was looking at the taller boys bruised knuckles.

"Ok, I think we all need to take a moment to collect ourselves and then get on the same page." The one with the deep voice said. He seemed to be the most collected of the group, so Seonghwa looked to him once Wooyoung helped him off the ground.

"Hongjoong might make that difficult." He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Woo, do you want to see if there's anything in the back?" When he looked down at the younger and saw the questioning look in his eye, to which Seonghwa just shook his head. He didn't want the others to know of the underground area yet.

As Wooyoung stepped in the back, another movement caught his eye.

The redhead was slowly crawling across the floor. He stopped next to Hongjoong and lifted a violently shaking hand.

"Mingi, I'm so sorry." San said, placing a hand on his chest.

He didn't get an answer. Instead, Seonghwa watched as Mingi's hands just seemed to hover above Hongjoong, as if he was too scared to touch him.

It was all too weird... And yet Seonghwa couldn't stop staring.

Mingi's entire body started to shake. He finally let on hand lower to brush Hongjoong's cheek in the softest way possible. Then he cupped Hongjoong's cheek and let his thumb drift slowly back and forth. "Hey Joong." He whispered. "My Joong... I'm here now."

Wooyoung appeared a moment later and stayed by Seonghwa's side, a coil of rope waiting in his hands.

Everyone stayed silent for a long time to observe, but when Hongjoong started to stir, others quickly took the rope and bound his wrists and ankles. It looked like it killed Mingi to let them do it, but he didn't put up a fight.

Hongjoong was placed in the corner where the wall met the front counter, so that he could sit up and his head was leaning against the counter. San also ripped off a piece of his shirt to tie around his head as a gag.

Seonghwa watched San's every movement and was hurt when he wasn't even given a second glance, but he would deal with that later.

Everyone else gathered around Mingi, the brown haired boy placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and they all waited for him to do something.

Wooyoung shifted a little closer to Seonghwa and bit his lip.

The air was so thick with the tension that Seonghwa felt like it was weighing down his lungs with each breath. He cleared his throat and tilted his head back to put on a little more of a dominating aura. "So. Who are you? Why are you here? And what did you do to San?"