lonely st.

-seventeen-

"ChangBin had to go. I needed him out." HyunJin explains softly. He felt bad trying to find a way to convince ChangBin to leave everything in his hands—but he had to.

Before—ChangBin was reckless and confident. Now—now ChangBin is reserved and hesitant. HyunJin saw so many opportunities slipping from their fingertips because of his hesitation. He couldn't let them keep missing prime opportunities.

"And that was kind of fucking stupid. Wasn't it, genius?" MinHo hisses through clenched teeth, his back pressed firmly against the door.

"Yes—and no—he's here—isn't he—" HyunJin nods toward JongHo, who sits in the corner of the abandoned home while SeungMin patches him up.

"Yeah—he's here and covered in his own goddamn blood from your stupid idea. Bin had a reason for not breaking him out sooner—and clearly it was a good one." MinHo snaps, but closes his mouth the moment he hears HyunJin sniffle.

"I thought I could do it. I thought I could be reckless and smart like he used to be. I thought breaking someone out of jail would be easy. I didn't know it'd end like this." HyunJin begins to fall apart as reality sinks in. He isn't ChangBin. He will never be ChangBin—even slightly.

"ChangBin's gonna be mad at me. He's gonna hate me. They know we're home. They know we're still alive—and trying to get our guard." HyunJin swallows hard, lowering his head.

"They already knew." JongHo speaks up, brushing SeungMin off as he gets to his feet.

"They already knew you were here. Everyone knows. Every member of the guard's auras came back. Anyone who's seen a guard member knows. When you left—our auras dulled until they faded away completely. I felt you the moment you stepped foot back here. We all did." JongHo approaches HyunJin with a limp. He does his best to hide his pain and discomfort as he wraps his arm around HyunJin's shoulders.

"They aren't stupid though. They won't hunt you down. They don't know what your new guard is capable of. They know they aren't Inbetweeners. For now—they're just going to watch. Maybe scare us a bit, but just to get a reaction so they can analyze your new crew more." JongHo continues laying out everything he knows.

He'd overheard a lot of things while locked away. A lot of things he had time to decipher and analyze on his own. Things that could drastically alter the outcome of the impending war.

"Truthfully—I didn't tell Winter because I didn't want to upset her—they were planning on offing me soon. They were going to use me to make a statement. Sure—I got pretty fucked up getting out—but I'm out—and I couldn't be any more thankful for that. You saved my damn life." JongHo mumbles, keeping his head low as he lets out the horrifying truth.

"The hell, JongHo! Why didn't you say something? I would've broken your ass out on my own way before they got here if I knew that was even a possibility!" YunHo smacks him, frustrated with the younger for not confiding in him sooner.

"It was a recent discovery. Literally the night before Winter came to see me." JongHo flinches, YunHo's hit so much more painful than it should be. All of his injuries only amplifying the discomfort.

"Doesn't matter—nothing matters—ChangBin is going to murder me. The sun is almost down—we got fucking guards on our asses—and at least an hour walk back to the kingdom. He'll get there before we do. He'll freak out. I don't know what he'll do." HyunJin's panic only heightens, the thought of them not making it back before ChangBin terrifying.

"Relax. We'll get back. It's not like no one is there to keep him controlled." SeungMin places his hands on HyunJin's shoulders, squeezing as JongHo steps back to take in the new dynamic he's never witnessed.