Protectors Part 2

6 Years Later

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No!" Taemin slammed the fridge door shut as he turned to give his wife a cold stare.
"But oppa! I really feel like I should repay you people back for all you did!" Roi shouted in protest.
"That was our job to do so," he explained.
Roi put her hands on her hips and replied "So am I just part of the job to you then?"
Taemin smiled as he walked over to her and kissed her gently on the forehead, "Have you ever really thought that?"
Roi pouted and turned away, trying to look away from Taemin's cute expression that was melting her retaliation. He looked down at her in amusement.
"Are you trying to ignore me?" he smirked.
No reply.
Taemin slid his arms around her waist, pulling her right up against him. As he still received no reaction he bent his head down so that his cheek was next to her ear.
"I can change that," he whispered, making his lips brush against her ear. Slowly he began to plant soft kisses around her cheek, carefully making his way to her lips.
"Appa?"
Taemin and Roi both jumped as they heard the little voice coming from the door. They spun around to see the small figure of their four year old daughter staring up at them, her eyes wide with surprise.
"Mina! What's my little baby doing up at this time?" Taemin said as he bounced over to her and swung her up high then held onto her close. "Come on now, back to bed." And he began to walk back towards her room.
Mina yawned cutely as she rested her head on her appa's shoulder. "But I don't want to go back to bed."
Taemin tutted, "No, no. You have to go to bed so you can grow up big and strong! And me and your umma have a game to play."
"Can I play?" Mina squeaked out.
"Ah no. It's one of those silly grown up games. You wouldn't like it! You would think it was boring," he whispered as he placed her gently back into her bed, pulling the light pink covers over her.
"Oh...like taxes?.." she mumbled as she began to drift off.
Taemin kissed her head, Mina pulled her teddies close. "Exactly," he said, stroking her hair, "One of those boring grown up things."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minho grabbed hold of Linn's arm.
"I don't care how many times you bring it up, I'm not allowing it!" he said with a stern expression.
"Wae?!" Linn shouted, staring up into his eyes.
He looked down at her for a moment, locking eyes, before breaking away. "You know why..." he sighed.
"Oppa, I want a proper answer this time. Whenever I mention this you just disagree and never give me a reason," Linn said, placing her hands up on his shoulders. "I know there's risks..I know I could get hurt, but oppa I..."
"Risks?!!" Minho interrupted, looking down at her, his eyes blazing. "Hurt?!! Linn-ah do you think that's all? You could be totally destroyed! Everything you know and love just..gone!"
Linn stood there quietly as Minho collapsed onto the couch then continued, "I never want you to go through anything like that. I don't even want you to think of..."
"I still let you go on missions," Linn whispered.
"That's different. And don't try deny it! I've always been a protector, I know how to handle myself. Anyway, I've gone on far less missions since you arrived. I don't want you to worry. I stopped accepting more missions when we got married and ever since the twins were born I've only accepted the ones where my help was absolutely necessary," he explained.
He was right, she couldn't object, she knew it was the truth. She slowly walked over and joined her husband on the couch. His arm stretched out around her and pulled her close.
"You're the most precious thing in the world. If I ever lost you I could never live properly again. I would despise myself until the end of time," he whispered as he leaned his head on hers. "I just love you too much to let you go and risk anything happening to you."

~~~~~~~

The sharp ringing of the phone bolted Minho up from his sleep. Throwing Linn's arms off him he reached for the phone.
Linn groaned and turned away as she heard the soft mumbling of the quiet conversation.
"This one must be urgent," she said at the sight of Minho jumping up and running over to their walk-in wardrobe.
"I'm afraid so. I might be gone for a while, will you be ok?" he replied as he walked out, fully dressed with his emergency bag slung over one shoulder.
"As always," she smiled weakly. Minho gave his wife a goodbye kiss and made his way out of the room.
Linn followed him into the kid's rooms as he gave Hyunmin and Bomi a kiss goodbye and a reassuring "Appa will be back soon."
They opened the front door of their apartment to see directly across the hall Taemin embracing Roi saying a final goodbye. Only on very important missions were both of them called.
A small groan was heard from the end of the hall.
"Here comes the boss," Taemin chuckled.

The tall figure of Changmin was visible approaching them carrying a little sleepy boy in his arms.
"You don't mind, right?" he asked as he came to a stop in front of them.
Linn opened up their front door wider, "There's a spare bed in Hyunmin's room as always."
"Hynbae, you'll be good, won't you?"
Hyunbae nodded and ran back into his Appa's arms. He always hated whenever he had to leave him.
Changmin chuckled quietly as he held his only child close.
"I love you Appa," Hyunbae mumbled into Changmin's shoulder.
"I love you too," he replied as he pushed the boy away from him. "I want you to keep this safe for me until I return."
Hyunbae stared at his Appa in shock as he put a silver necklace around the six year old's neck. It was a necklace that he had never seen his Appa without.

Changmin cleared his throat as he kissed his son. Tears threatening to surface, he gave the boy one last hug before handing him over to Linn. He waved and gave a weak smile as he watched his son being led into the apartment. He let out a sigh of relief then turned away and walked briskly down the hall, his expression changing as the boss mask slipped in place, hiding the caring, gentle appa deep within.

Taemin and Minho exchanged worried looks as they walked together out of the protector's apartment building.
"Somethings different. Very different," Minho muttered quietly to his friend.
Taemin nodded, "There definitely is something we are not being told. What is he hiding?.."
"He's been hiding a lot of things and keeping to himself. It's all since.." Minho broke off. He didn't need to say anything further, they both knew Changmin's reasons.

~~~~~~~~~

"Yah! Get down!" a voice screamed while they edged their way through the warehouses.
A small siren rang out and they all dropped to the ground.
"Cover has been blown. You know what to do now," Changmin yelled as he loaded his gun. Giving Minho and Taemin a slight smirk he left the cover of the maze of containers around the warehouses that they had been hiding in and ran swiftly towards the action.
The two quickly followed. Best friends, they had always stuck together during missions. Behind their professional masked expressions they were worried. They had never seen Changmin so reckless. And now, he was no where to be seen.
Taemin then noticed a familiar shadow entering a small gap to the left of them. He pointed it out to his hyung and they both stealthily edged away from the fight that was beginning to break out and after Changmin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A ripple of laughter echoed around the wide space. The two men could hear the fight going on outside and it made them smile contently with every gunshot fired. The taller of the two was sprawled on an armchair, laughing manically and playing with a sharp knife. The other was busy gathering documents, a serious expression rooted on his face.
"Relax," the taller man called out. "It's not like they're gonna survive. They're outnumbered!"
The smaller man glared at him. "How can you just underestimate them?! Do you not remember the last time?!..Six years ago..Although the roles were reversed that time. We were attacking them.."
"Yeah and we walked away fine, didn't we?"
"You just about did!"
At this comment the taller man's expression hardened. "I don't know what you're talking about there.." he said, crossing his arms, displeased.
"Oh really?" the other smiled. "Well I recall you almost getting killed..by a woman!"
"Heechul," he said in a threatening tone, "I thought we weren't going to mention that bitch again. Especially since she took out half of our men!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..Well aren't you glad you managed to kill her before I dragged you out of there?"
"That's the only thing I'm happy about when I think of that day.." he mumbled.

The two snapped out of their nostalgia as they heard the sound of a gun being cocked behind them. Before either could react the cold tip of the gun pressed into the back of Heechul's head.
"That's enough from you two," a cold bitter voice echoed out.
"Oh, the boss himself coming on a mission! Now that's rare! I heard you barely leave the safety of your agency, Changmin. Even less then our lazy Heechul! Now we must be something special.."
"Quiet TOP!" Heechul spat, anger building up within him as his right hand man seemed to find this situation amusing.
TOP chuckled, watching Changmin closely. Although his voice spoke coldly and emotionless, TOP could see the pain that the Protectors boss' eyes were filled with along with a kind of..hunger.
Suddenly TOP flung his knife at Changmin. It sunk deeply into his left thigh.
Changmin fell to the ground, dropping his gun and shouted out in pain. The two men above him laughing at the sight.

~~~~~~~~~

Minho broke into a run, closely followed by Taemin. They recognised the pained voice that was now screaming in agony up ahead.
The maze of shelves ended and they found themselves in a wide space which seemed to have been used as an office. Ten metres away from them they saw him. Lying in a growing pool of his own blood and screaming as a tall blond man twisted a knife deeper into his thigh.
"Yah!" Heechul shouted when he noticed Minho and Taemin.
At this they both raised their guns at him and approached slowly.
"Back off" Taemin roared out at TOP who hadn't even glanced up at them. "I said Back OFF!" he repeated as he shoved his gun into the blond hair.
TOP laughed as he spun around and slowly walked towards Heechul. "Now," he whispered.

Heechul carefully reached down to his pocket and pressed the blue alarm button while Minho and Taemin's attention was focused on their bleeding boss.
All of a sudden twenty guys jumped out of nowhere, guns in all of their hands pointing at Taemin and Minho.
"You know what to do," Heechul called out to his men.
They nodded and circled around Taemin and Minho, backing them into each other. The demented grins spread across their faces hinted at what was to come next.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Something isn't right.." Roi said worriedly as her and Linn sat together watching the kids. Minhye was bouncing up and down on her knee. Taehyun and Hyunmin were smashing toy cars into each other while Mina and Bomi were dressing up the teddies in Minhye's clothes. Hyunbae sat to the side, scribbling something on paper with his fingers clinging tightly to the lily that hung from his appa's chain.
"I know," Linn sighed. "He did say he was going to be a while, but usually there's a phone call or an email or something!"
"Do.." Roi lowered her voice, glancing over at Hyunbae. "Do you think anything happened?"
"I think so..I can just feel it.."

That night Linn had just put the kids to bed when Roi knocked on the door.
"I think we should do something useful this time." she proposed as they entered the living room.
Linn nodded, "I can't stand it! Just waiting here, doing nothing."
"Well first we have to find out where it was they went and for what reason."
They sat there briefly, thinking. Suddenly Roi clicked her fingers. "I've got it! Tae left his laptop. And I have a fare idea what his password would be," she said. "I'll be back in a minute."

Fifteen minutes later they had managed to guess the password correctly and were scanning through the hundreds of documents hidden within Tae's laptop. Eventually they found one named "Operation H", the date on it said that he had downloaded it the day they left.
"This must be it then."
There faces dropped in horror as they read who it was the Protectors were after.
"T-them!! The ones who..who.." Linn gasped
"Tried to get us!" Roi exclaimed.
They shut the laptop quickly and knew what they had to do now.

"Has something happened?"
The two spun around to see Hyunbae standing in the doorway, a worried look in his face. "My appa..will he be coming back?"
"Of course he will!" Roi cried out, walking over to ruffle the little boy's hair. "Now why would you think something silly like that?"
"My umma never came back," he whispered.
"Well.." Roi started awkwardly.
"Your appa always comes back, doesn't he?" Linn quickly continued. "He's just very busy with this one. He'll be back, don't you worry."
Hyunbae nodded slowly. "Will he be back for my birthday next week?"
"He wouldn't miss it for the world!" Roi smiled.
"Now back to bed," Linn called and Hyunbae did as he was told, walking back to the room slowly, clutching the chain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure this isn't too much?" Linn asked again.
"Yes, yes!" Jaejoong laughed. "Me and Yunnie will have fun minding all these kiddies!"
Yunho nodded wildly, his eyes lighting up with the idea of looking after such kypota babies.
Hyunbae looked up at the two, "Tell my appa to get his butt home NOW!"
The two laughed as Hyunbae made them pinky promise before they left.

The sun was disappearing in the growing dusk as they arrived at the industrial estate. The large buildings grouped together around the stacks of containers made it hard for the two to know what direction to go. They had parked the car ten minutes away in a sheltered forest area.
Roi grabbed Linn and dragged her behind the nearest container.
"What?!" Linn whispered angrily as her head banged against the hard metal.
"Guards. They must be circling the area," she whispered back.
"Damn it. That definitely means something went on around here."
Roi nodded slowly, "At least Yunho gave us some of his old weapons from back when he was a Protector."
"Hopefully we won't need them," Linn tried to reassure herself.
The sound of two sets of footsteps made them jump. Quickly and as quietly as possible they started to move deep into the maze of containers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door slammed.
Minho sighed as he looked around to see the mess they had gotten into. He was tied to a chair with a throbbing headache as a result of a large bruise in the shape of the end of a pistol. His eyes began to focus and panic shot down through him.
"Taemin?! Changmin?!" he called out, barely keeping his voice steady.
He heard a groan from directly behind him.
"Hyung.." Taemin slowly mumbled out.
Minho sighed, half relieved. He turned around as far as he could limited by the rope confining him to the chair. Taemin was tied up back to back with him.
"Are you ok?" he whispered.
"I-I think I just got a knock on the head..you?" Taemin replied.
"Same."
"How are we gonna get out of this mess hyung?"
A laugh echoed out from the corner. Heechul stepped out of the shadow. "You two are adorable! You don't actually think you could possibly get away from this?"

~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up!" TOP shouted as he slapped Changmin.
Changmin groaned and he lifted his head up, taking in all around him. He was in a different room. This one was smaller and darker. TOP sat down in front of him smirking at the wretched look of the Protector's boss. Blood stain trousers reminded Changmin of what had happened.
"We didn't want you to die yet. That'd be no fun at all," he explained after following Changmin's gaze. "So we patched you up."
"What do you want from me?" he spat out.
TOP laughed. "What did you want with us in this first place? We weren't after anyone under your protection then all of a sudden you all come barging in and try gun us down. Now why would that be?"
Changmin stared coldly back, refusing to open his mouth.
"That's how it's gonna be, eh? Thought so.." TOP muttered as he slammed his fist into Changmin's left thigh, exactly where the knife had sunk into.
Changmin tried to stop a scream escaping from his chapped lips. Shutting his eyes tight, he lifted his head upwards and concentrated on picturing his family. How perfect they had looked all together. This only made him angry. It made him want to shout out at TOP. It had been him who had ruined it all.

TOP sat back in his seat, watching Changmin closely. How the man was taking all the pain, for what reason though..
"You know.." he sighed out. "I don't understand you Protectors. You think you're so great. It's not like you're actually saving the world! All you're doing is protecting some idiots that got themselves messed up in something.."
Changmin ignored his words. Repeating over in his head the memories of happy times.
"At least you're not all perfect. We had a great mole deep within your organisation supplying us with information. It's how we knew where to go that night six years ago," TOP saw Changmin twitch slightly and he knew he was gonna crack soon. "Oh, that was one good mole! They really knew how to deal with what was given to them. Worked very hard. Knew how to please us. Well, pleased me."
Changmin opened his eyes. He was confused. "What the hell was this guy up to?" he thought.
TOP smiled, "She died that night. I just had to kill her."
Changmin looked at him with disbelief, it couldn't have been her..no..
"And she really seemed like something more than just sex. Oh, Lily.."
At that Changmin bolted up. And screamed at him, ignoring the pain as he pulled against the ropes binding him. A look of horror in his eyes. "No, no. This can't be true!" he thought as his head couldn't comprehend this.
"Yeah..I found out she was cheating on me with you. So I made sure she didn't walk out of there that night alive," he bitterly muttered.
"She..Lily..No.." Changmin couldn't form a full sentence.
TOP got up and walked over to the door. "I guess she fooled us all in the end," he said as he shut the door behind him.

"No.." Changmin whispered in the now empty room.
Paranoia set in and he began to think over their whole relationship. Those times when she wasn't there. Where had she gone? Was everything a lie? What had he ever meant to her? And..Hyunbae?
He hung his head low and began to sob. His empty heart feeling like it was ready to burst from his chest at any moment.
"This was all a waste."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This one?" Linn called exhaustedly.
"Why would it be that one?!" Roi snapped.
"Roi~ah! We've been at this all night!" Linn moaned. "It's almost dawn and we still haven't found the right warehouse."
Roi sighed and looked around. After a moments thought she gave in. "I guess we'll look through this one then rest for a while. I want to ring and check on the kids."
"Yunho and Jaejoong will be fine with them," Linn reassured.
"Well...I'm gonna ring anyway, to wish Hyunbae a happy birthday."
"Omo!" Linn exclaimed. "I forgot he's turning seven today. We better find them and go back quickly then. I don't want this to be the worst birthday ever."
Roi nodded and they both climbed up and into the dust covered window that someone luckily left open.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Getting anywhere?"
"I think I've managed to loosen the one around my left foot."
"I can't seem to be able to move them at all!"
Taemin chuckled at this complaint. "You have fat feet hyung!"
"Yah!" Minho shouted but then he joined in the laughter. They had both had been through so much, knocked out, tied up that now the exhaustion was setting in and even in these circumstances anything made them break into laughter. Anyone else looking from the outside would swear the two had gone mad.
"Oh what's the use.." Taemin sighed, slumping back against his chair in defeat.

Suddenly they heard a bang as a door slammed at the bottom of the room hidden in shadows. They both stiffened as they knew what was coming next. They had spent their whole Protector lives being prepared for a situation that would end like this. But regardless of that, they didn't want to die.
A familiar high pitched squeal followed by a small "Ouch!" echoed from the darkness. The two men looked over at the direction of the noises, confused.
Then they heard it. A small, angry whisper, "I told you to make sure the door closed gently!"
"It wasn't my fault! Roi, the door slipped out of my fingers."

With this the two men called out the names of their wives, their hearts lift up from the previous despair. They ran as soon as they heard the familiar voices. Tears pricking their cheeks they grabbed their spouse tightly.
Minho smiled widely and began kissing each tear that fell down onto Linn's cheeks. Taemin buried his head deep into Roi's shoulder before looking up into her relieved eyes and crushing his lips against hers.
After a while the Linn and Roi stepped back to take in their surroundings. They almost screamed when they noticed the large, dark bruises on the men's faces.
"What the HELL.." Roi began to shout but cut off when the door closest to them burst open.
"What do we have here?" a guard called out as he strolled into the room, an AK-47 perched in his hands. "Now the boss won't be pleased to hear about this.."
He walked closer to the four of them and laughed at the sight of the two men trying to break out of the ropes to protect their wives.
"You know..there is a way that I could just let the two women free," he smirked. "Without letting anyone know you were here in the first place."
His hand reached out to stroke Roi's cheek and then Taemin flung out his loosened foot sending the guard straight onto the floor. Roi and Linn took this to be their time to shine. They took out their concealed pistols and jumped onto the guard while he was still down.
He groaned as they stamped down onto his back.
"Fuck!" he shouted out. "Do you Protectors train your family and all?!"
The two tied men laughed slightly. Their wives were in a league of their own!

~~~~~~~~~~

TOP took his place back on the seat facing Changmin. The dark room refusing to acknowledge that it was approaching midday. Relaxing back he stared into the dark, hollow eyes that fixed their gaze at the dirt covered floor.
"So...decided to open up a bit to us?" TOP spoke softly. "You have no one left after all. What's the point in keeping things to yourself now?"
Changmin didn't move. He just kept his head down and waited.
"Is this really how it's gonna be?" TOP sighed and when he got no answer he whistled loudly.
The door swung open again and some figures entered. Changmin still refused to look up to see who it was. Nothing mattered anymore to him.
A small sob escaped the lips of one of the shadows above him. Everything seemed to suddenly snap together. A flame rose up in his eyes as he raised his head to see the two people in front of him. A blond woman gripping tightly onto the small, shaking boy. Hyunbae.

"Now who do we have here..?" TOP sniggered. "Do you know him?" He turned to Changmin who retreated to his previous position.
"No," he said coldly. Although he regained his indifferent look, he couldn't hold down the light that was blazing strong in his eyes.
"Really?" TOP sighed. "Well then there's no need of the little brat. Hostage, you know what to do."
The woman, Hostage, nodded as she reached behind her and pulled out a dessert eagle and placed it on the terrified boy's temple.
"Well he doesn't seem to care for this boy. So we definitely have no use for him," TOP said, searching Changmin's face.

"Kill him."

The boy screamed loudly at these words and Changmin could no longer keep with his act.
"NO!!" he roared wrestling against his restraints and flinging his head up to meet the cold eyes of TOP. "Kill me instead. Kill ME!"
TOP raised an eyebrow. "Kill you. Instead of some little street kid? Why should we?"
"He's my son! And you know it! You can drop the act!"
"Oh really..?" he laughed.
"Just let him go. I'll do anything. Just..just.." he broke off.
"Hostage you can leave," he called but then added after seeing Changmin's relief "leave the boy with me."
Hostage let go of Hyunbae and left the room, swinging the dessert eagle around her fingers.

"Now..do you want to go to your appa?" TOP said lowering down to Hyunbae's level. As the little boy nodded he smiled and pushed him onto the ground. "Stay in that corner," he growled.
Hyunbae fell hard onto the cold, dirty floor and remained there, sobbing in the shadows as TOP approached his appa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow! These bloody ropes really just won't.." Linn muttered. "Finally!" The ropes fell on the ground and the two men were finally both free.
"Well that didn't take forever!" Minho teased as he grabbed hold of Linn and squeezed her tightly against him.
During the past while that both Roi and Linn had attempted to untie the complicated knots, Taemin grew very restless. As soon as he was set free he dived at Roi, knocking them both down to the ground. They both hugged each other close, giggling on the floor.

As an afterthought Taemin looked up. "Where's Changmin?"

The door creaked open again. This time it was Heechul and Hostage who stood there.
"I never knew TOP was such a good actor.." Hostage broke off.
"What the hell?!!" Heechul shouted as he saw the two free men and one of his guards knocked out cold to the side.
Hostage raised her desert eagle. "Looks like these need to learn a lesson boss," she said as she threw a pistol at him. He copied her stance and they both made their way towards the four.

At the same time Linn and Roi raised their pistols. Roi had a spare one, which she tossed into Taemin's hand. Minho leaped over to the unconscious guard and snatched up the AK-47.
"I think we know who is at an advantage here," he smirked.
"We'll see about that," Heechul muttered.

All hell kicked off as they battled. Each of them jumping to dodge the flying bullets that ricocheted around the room. One bullet whizzed right by Roi's head and she screamed with shock. Taemin raced over to his wife to see what had happened. He gave her a reassuring, "Your fine. I'll protect you."
"Ah!" Taemin's arm was hit. He shouted out in anger at himself being caught of guard. He gazed down at his wound, "Just a threw and threw. Practically a graze! Nothing to worry about."
Roi threw her eyes up. "Looks like I'll have to protect you instead!" she smirked.

~~~~~~~~~

Thud.
Changmin spat out the blood that was flooding into his mouth, just before his cheek was greeted by another fist.
"Enough?" TOP raised an eyebrow.
Changmin refused to answer. He kept a firm gaze on his terrified son crouching in the corner. He didn't want Hyunbae to see this but he realised that it was either his life or his son's and there was no choice in his mind.

TOP sighed, "I guess not then." He reached down to his belt and drew out his knife. The sharp blade that had penetrated Changmin's skin already traced down his bare chest. Every now and again TOP would press down the knife until blood began to drip. At the sight of each droplet Hyunbae moaned as if it was him who was being harmed.
Changmin gritted his teeth and stayed as still as possible as TOP applied even more pressure onto the knife, making it slice into his skin, bring forth more blood.
"How is he still taking this?" TOP thought to himself.

"I'm getting bored with you," he groaned turning on his heels to face the shaking child.
"No! I said I'll do anything," Changmin begged.
"Why aren't you screaming?" he blurted out. "Everyone screams. How are you so different?"
"Just him seeing me like this is enough suffering. I..I could never put him through anymore. Please." he pleaded. "Please..Just do what you set out to do already."
TOP faced him. The look of abject despair on Changmin's face made a slight feeling of guilt creep up within him. It was time.

He walked slowly towards the broken man and raised the blood stained knife.

"Hyunbae. Appa will always love you no matter what," he called out to the little boy, his voice shaking as tears began to stream down his bruised cheeks.

"Appa.."

TOP plunged the knife in. Changmin gasped and Hyunbae screamed at top of his lungs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What was that?!" Minho cried. "It sounded like a kid!"
Taemin finished tying Hostage and Heechul up beside the guard and stood up. "Let's go have a look."

The four made their way out the corridor and followed the sound of the high pitched scream to a large metal door. Minho pulled at it. It wouldn't budge. The other three joined in and after tugging at the jammed handle they managed to slide open the door.

"Hyunbae?!" they all shouted.

TOP turned around to see the four people standing in the doorway. He pulled out a pistol that was tucked into his belt and raised it up to them.
Taemin divided into the room and grabbed the distraught child. At the same time the other three pulled the trigger of their guns and each bullet sank into TOP before he could shoot his own weapon.
He collapsed onto the dirty ground, revealing to the others what he had been standing over blocking from their view.

~~~~~~~~~~~~


Minho gripped Hyunbae's shoulder as the little boy bent down. He carefully placed the bunch of lilies on the grave right beside the headstone marked "Shim".
"Everything will be fine from now on ok?" Roi whispered to him and wiped away the tears that were falling down his cheeks.

"All we were doing was getting ice cream. And then..then..he was just gone! We never knew that blond woman was with them..If we did.." Yunho whispered.
"We know. Don't worry. It wasn't your fault," Taemin sighed. "No one could have known any of this would have happened."
"Come on. Let's just comfort him. We'll get nothing out of standing over here blaming ourselves," Jaejoong mumbled.

Linn bent down to Hyunbae's level. "We have to go now, ok?" she gently spoke. "We can come back here later if you want. We have to go to the hospital now."
Hyunbae slowly nodded even though he wished to stay. Taking Linn's outstretched hand with his one free hand. The other was clinging onto the silver necklace that he hadn't taken off since he was first given it. He had promised to look after it and that is what he was doing.

The group moved slowly away from the grave and the large marble headstone now with the bunch of lilies placed beside it. The headstone marked "Lily".

"I'll tell appa about the flowers. Lilies are his favourite."