Hongjoong pursed his lips as he saw Seonghwa disappear with Wooyoung down the hall. He was still fuming on the inside and he didn't know what to do.

Part of him wanted to run after the pair and make sure Wooyoung was ok. The other part wanted to give him the silent treatment and place him in an actual jail cell so he couldn't get out for a bit.

But that wouldn't solve anything.

So he just huffed loudly and started making his way back to his office without saying another word to anyone.

The fact that Wooyoung had disobeyed a direct order was a problem though. And it could lead the others to doing it too. If they didn't respect him as a leader, then the team wouldn't be functional.

Hongjoong paused as soon as he stepped into his office.

What had he really done to show he was a leader though? Sure there had been the one mission he had failed. And he got them set up in their own wing so they could be together... But that was it.

They had no reason to put their faith in him outside of the false freedom they had been given.

He was such a fool...

Just as he was ready to sink to his knees, a pair of arms caught him and kept him standing. "Are you ok?" Mingi's deep voice sent a chill down his spine.

"I feel like I've failed again." Hongjoong whispered as his vision blurred a little. "I'm... I'm not a good leader."

"What makes you say that?" The taller asked, slowly wrapping his arms around Hongjoong's chest and holding him tight.

Hongjoong closed his eyes and found himself leaning into the embrace. It had been a long time since he'd had anyone comfort him...

"I had this grand idea in my head that everything would fall into place. That this would just work." He whispered as he brought a hand up to place it on Mingi's joined hands. "It was foolish, I know. How do I make us a team? This is all so new to me... I'm used to it being just me and Yunho. That's how it's always been."

"Well he should probably be the one you ask then, but, I think the first thing we need to do is get to know each other a little better. I know you gave Yeosang his own area. Is it possible to move all of us over there so we aren't just stuck in our cells? Maybe give everyone a home and they will start to open up a little more. If they are anything like me, they haven't had a home in a long time." Mingi said softly.

Hongjoong could hear the hurt in his voice and knew he was thinking about his parents. He found himself nodding, agreeing with what he was saying. "I'll see what I can do."

He felt Mingi smile into the back of his head as they continued to stand there, not saying anything more, lost in their own thoughts.

.

.

.

.

San glanced at Wooyoung's door before ducking into his own room with Yunho right behind him.

"Have you taken your medicine today?" The taller asked quietly.

Fuck off.

San jerked his head, trying to shake the voice away. "Y-Yes." He muttered as he clenched his fists. It had been a struggle for him to take it though. His other side fought him every step of the way and even made him try to throw it up again.

It almost succeeded too, but San was determined to win this fight.

"Hey, I know it's hard." Yunho tilted his head and smiled at him. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Can we start training?" The younger looked at him and bit the corner of his lip.

Yunho's eyes narrowed, "I don't see why not. But we should probably start with just us and maybe one other member, just to see how you do."

It was better than nothing, so San smiled and nodded before glancing back at the door. "Do you think he'll be ok?"

He won't be when we're done with him.

San winced and swallowed. "Stop it." He muttered and ignored the fact that Yunho was now watching him.

No San. You can't get rid of us. We love you. You need us just as much as we need you.

"No, I don't." San turned around. If he couldn't see Yunho it would be easier to pretend he wasn't there.

Yes you do. Who else helps you forget? We do. Who makes you stronger? We do. Who protects you? We do.

"N-No..." San whimpered as he wrapped his arms around is stomach. "Go away..." He sank down to his knees. "I don't want to hurt people anymore."

"San?" Yunho whispered behind him.

The younger flinched and dug his nails into his side.

Get rid of him San. He isn't good for you. He will only hurt you.

"No, he won't. He wants to help me."

We help you San.

"No, you only force me to hurt people. I don't want to hurt people." San doubled over and pressed his head against the floor. He could feel the hot tears leaving tracks on his cheeks. "Go away, please go away."

Yunho crouched down next to him and started to rub his back. It was a soothing motion. "It's ok. You can fight through this." He whispered. "I know it's hard."

San turned his head to look at him and knew that Yunho spoke the truth. He has so much compassion and concern in his eyes, there was no way he could be lying right now.

The worst looks were always full of pity and fear. That's what San was used to getting. That's what the voices claimed to protect him from.

But there was no pity in Yunho's eyes.

San straightened up as a sudden weight was lifted off his shoulders. He had experienced this a couple of times since starting the medication. The voices would suddenly disappear, usually when Yunho was in the room. He was really good at calming San down.

Just like now.

The younger flashed a grateful smile before leaning into Yunho. "Thank you." He whispered.

Yunho just hummed as he wrapped an arm around San. "You don't need to thank me. I'm just glad that you are fighting through it. I'm really proud of you."

San felt himself blushing at his words. "Can we go train? I'm feeling really good at the moment."

"Sure. Let's see if Jongho is available. Maybe we can spar for a bit."

.

.

.

.

Seonghwa slowly lowered Wooyoung to the bed and cringed when he let out a small whimper. "You should have let the paramedics check you out instead of walking past them." He muttered.

Wooyoung didn't answer him, instead choosing to stick out his lower lip a tiny bit and stare at the wall next to his head.

The older sighed and pulled a chair over to the side of the bed. He worked on unlacing Wooyoung's boot and slowly slid it off his foot. But Wooyoung's ankle was so swollen, there was no way to avoid any pain in the action.

A soft knock sounded on the door before it opened and Yeosang popped his head in, followed by Jongho. "We thought you could use some ice."

Seonghwa nodded and sent them a small smile while accepting the bag and placing it on Wooyoung's ankle. The younger flinched, but closed his eyes and relaxed with a sigh. "You fool." Seonghwa whispered.

He saw Wooyoung's lips purse a little, indicating he heard him.

"Can we get you anything?" Jongho asked, sounding worried. "I can see if the paramedics are still here. That looks really bad Wooyoung."

"I'm fine."

"At least let me look at it. I saw injuries like this all the time at the ring. I can at least tell you if it's broken or sprained." The youngest said, slipping past Yeosang.

Wooyoung sighed and covered his eyes with his arm, but didn't show any other signs of protest.

Seonghwa removed the ice and watched as Jongho gently ran his fingers over the swollen ankle. The first time he applied pressure, Wooyoung reached out for Seonghwa as he whimpered in pain.

He took Wooyoung's hand in his and let the younger squeeze as hard as he could.

Jongho's lips were pushed out in a slight pout as he started to slowly rotate Wooyoung's ankle, muttering apologies as he did. "Yeosang, do you think you could track down some bandages?"

"Sure." The hacker said before running from the room.

"I don't think it's broken. But it is badly sprained. You're going to have to stay off it for several days until it's healed." Jongho said as he continued to run his fingers over it.

The door across the hall opened and Seonghwa heard Yunho talking about finding Jongho.

"I'm in here." The fighter said, leaning back so he could be seen through the open door.

"Oh! Well that's handy." Yunho poked his head in with a wide smile that faltered when he saw what was happening. "God, that looks awful. You should-"

"I don't need a paramedic." Wooyoung snapped, not taking his arm off his eyes. "Can everyone just leave me alone?"

Seonghwa shot him a glare even though the younger wouldn't see it. "There's no need to be rude. They are just concerned about you."

He saw Wooyoung visibly shrink back into his bed, but he also squeezed Seonghwa's hand at the same time.

Odd. This boy was definitely a mystery...

"What's going on?" Hongjoong's voice came from the hall.

"Hey Boss." Yunho said.

A small growl came from Hongjoong followed by a deep chuckle that belonged to Mingi. What were they doing together? Or did they show up at the same time.

All Seonghwa knew was that Wooyoung's room was starting to feel very small as Yunho shuffled inside, followed by Hongjoong, while Mingi and San stayed in the doorway.

Yeosang came back shortly after with a roll of bandages.

"Thank you." Jongho said, taking them from the hacker and started working on wrapping Wooyoung's ankle methodically.

"Well I'm glad you are all here because I was going to call a meeting." Hongjoong said, glancing at all of them. "I want to talk to you all about something, but first..." He looked down at where Wooyoung was still hiding behind his arm. "I think you owe me, no all of us, an explanation."

Seonghwa agreed, but he didn't know if cornering Wooyoung like this was the best idea. He was about to say something when Wooyoung sighed and let his arm fall to his side.

The younger shifted and worked to sit up. Jongho reached out and took his other hand to help pull him into a sitting position. "I'll be right back." He said quickly before running from the room.

Seonghwa stood and helped Wooyoung scoot back on the bed so he could sit against the headboard with his pillow propped up behind is back.

Wooyoung gave him a pained smile and closed his eyes as his hand reached out and took ahold of Seonghwa's again.

He looked down at where they were joined and chewed on the inside of his cheek. He didn't know how he felt about it, but decided he would address that later. For now, Wooyoung needed him.

Jongho returned carrying a couple of pillows. He gently lifted Wooyoung's ankle off the bed and placed it on top of the pillows before taking the ice from Seonghwa. "You need to keep it elevated. And he'll need some pain meds to help with the inflammation." He said, turning to Hongjoong.

The chief nodded and pulled out his cell phone to send a quick text before putting it back in his pocket and staring at Wooyoung.

Seonghwa felt himself bristle a little and glared at Hongjoong. Again he wanted to say that this wasn't the right way to do this, but Wooyoung's voice made him freeze.

"I was taken from my family when I was eleven. It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention and got separated from them. A man grabbed me and pulled me into the back of his van. I was bound and gagged instantly and placed beside five other kids." Wooyoung said, staring at a spot on his bed. "They... They were an underground sex trafficking group that took kids and sold them to the highest bidder. Many were sold to personal owners. I was bought by an owner of... Of..." he closed his eyes and cringed. "A whore house."

Shuffling could be heard from the group at his words, but no one spoke. Seonghwa couldn't take his eyes off the younger as he struggled to tell his story.

"I'm sure you all can guess what happened and I really don't want to go into the details." He whispered.

"That's fine." Seonghwa said quickly, glaring at the others, daring them to say something different. He knew there was something that happened there that had traumatized Wooyoung, and maybe he'd find out at another time, but for now just the summary would be enough.

"I spent so long wishing that someone would free me... But no one did... That's why I couldn't leave the hostages behind." Wooyoung finally looked up, first glancing at Seonghwa, then at Hongjoong. "I couldn't abandon them. There was no telling what could have happened to them after they did, or didn't, get their money."

Hongjoong just nodded slowly, his forehead creasing with concern.

"How did you escape?" Yunho asked softly. He had his arm around San, who was staring at the floor and was trembling slightly as he clung to the taller's shirt.

Wooyoung let out a low, dark laugh. "How do you think?"

Seonghwa shivered at the change that crossed over the younger. This wasn't going to be pretty...

"I finally managed to get ahold of a knife. Some fool who bought me for the night had one on him." The darkness was suddenly gone as the memory flashed across Wooyoung's mind and Seonghwa watched as he retreated into himself. "I... I..."

"You don't have to tell us." Seonghwa said, squeezing Wooyoung's hand.

He thought he heard San mutter something behind him, but he refused to look away from Wooyoung.

"I managed to push him off me after I... I got free..."

Seonghwa froze. Free? Does that mean he had been restrained? That would explain a lot of things.

"I grabbed his knife and... And slit his throat. He was my first kill." Wooyoung's voice got a little harder as he looked up at Yunho and Hongjoong. "I know murder is wrong. But the people I killed were all men and women like him. And the people who owned places like that."

Yunho's mouth opened a little. "And we caught you coming out of one..."

"Yes. I don't want anyone to have to go through what I did. No one deserves it. I swear to you that those are the only people I killed. Them, and any sex traffickers I came across."

Hongjoong glanced at his partner. "There was that one auction he had been alerted to after people started flooding out of a building." He gasped, then turned back to Wooyoung. "Was that you?"

"Yes. I had been following them for weeks and planned out to destroy that operation." A small smile crossed Wooyoung's face. "I killed the traffickers and freed everyone who had been taken. I hope the children found their parents." He whispered.

Seonghwa forced down all the questions that came to his mind. Those could be saved for another day, so he decided to change the subject. Especially when he saw the tears coming to Wooyoung's eyes. His heart sank a little at the sight.

"So what did you want to talk to us about?" He asked, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from Wooyoung.

"I have come to the realization that I haven't been a good leader." Hongjoong said, his voice adopting an authoritative tone. "That is my fault. I want to be better. If this is going to work, then we need to become a team, and we can't do that the way things have been going. So, I contacted my boss and got permission to buy the entire building that we have Yeosang set up in. I want us all to move in there together."

Seonghwa sat up a little straighter. The idea intrigued him. He had been feeling the same way and felt himself wanting to get to know the others.

He wanted to redeem himself. He wanted a chance to be a better person. Especially after listening to what Wooyoung had been through.

"Really?" Yunho asked, still holding onto San, although the younger looked like he had calmed down a little.

"Yes. I won't force you to, but I've already put my apartment up for a sublease. I want to live there with you." Hongjoong looked around the room again. "We are going to work on becoming a team so we can, hopefully, make things right again in the world. I hope you all with join me, and give this as much of a chance as I am."

Seonghwa felt a trickle of pride run through him. Hongjoong would make a god leader, he just needed to learn how to be one. And that would come with support. Support that he was willing to give.

He stood and held his hand out in front of him. "I will." He glanced at the others, ending with Wooyoung.

The younger had a look of confusion on his face, but then he too held up his hand.

The other six followed suit as they were all joined in the center.

It was their first moment as a team. Seonghwa could feel it.

They were going to make this work.