Angel of Mercy - Stray Kids Mafia AU

Chapter 36: Revelations

Eisa knocked lightly on the door and paused before entering. She saw that Chan was not alone, but was in deep conversation with Yeji and Changbin. As she entered she cleared her throat hoping to alert them to her presence. Chan looked up, looked back down at his laptop then back up again.

"Eisa. I'm sorry we didn't hear you come in." The look on his face was hard for Eisa to decipher. It seemed to be a mixture of stress, concern, and relief. She understood the first two but the last bit, relief, she couldn't explain.

"You wanted to see me?" Eisa's voice sounded flat to her ears. She was letting her annoyance at being left in the dark about their past affect her. She could try to put on her normal cheerful tone but she didn't have the energy. The day's revelations were finally taking their toll on her and she didn't have the energy to pretend anymore. The look on Chan's face went from a mix of emotions from earlier to just straight concern. He had spent enough time around Eisa to see that something was eating at her. 

"I wanted to talk with you about your brother and also about what we have so far in terms of a plan on how to end this." He nodded to Changbin and Yeji who, to Eisa's surprise, left without so much as a glance in her direction. They both looked troubled as she watched them exit the room. 

"I'm here now. And I am going, to be honest with you, Bang Chan, I have a few things I need to discuss with you as well." She looked into his eyes. "Well, one thing in particular actually." Confusion flicked across his features before he was able to compose himself again.

"If there is something you want to talk about you know I am always here." Chan tried to lighten his tone, wondering what exactly was going on with her to cause this change in her. Her facial expression didn't change. Instead, she looked away and began to pace slowly in front of his desk.

"I want to know why you hid things from me, or I guess, why you hid one thing from me." She stopped in front of his desk. She didn't look up, focused on one spot on the carpeted floor. When he didn't respond she looked up. He had a confused look on his face for half a moment when realization dawned on his face. 

"Henry told you." He said taking a deep breath.

"He's my brother of course he told me. What I am confused about is why I am just now learning about this." She could feel she was letting emotion seep into her response and frankly, she didn't care. "You don't think that helping me remember that I was basically childhood friends with you all would have helped me feel more at ease here? Helped me come to terms with my situation?" The emotion had turned to just sounding exhausted. She thought she would come in annoyed and hurt but in all honesty, she was too tired to truly be upset.

"I..." He started then paused, taking another deep breath. "You didn't remember us. Not even Han and Felix who were your closest friends back then. We weren't sure if trying to remind you would help. If anything you might have been more hurt." He ran his fingers through his hair and stared at the ceiling. "Would it have been better knowing your closest childhood friends were in a mafia and had basically collected you as collateral on your father's debt? Would that have brought you more peace?"  He looked up at her once again. 

"Okay, I will give you that. I am not sure it would have helped but finding out now when you could have told me sooner when I had accepted and actually started to enjoy my time here would have been better than finding out now." She sighed and slumped into the armchair by his desk. "There is already so much going on and now this."  She rested her head on the back of the armchair before sitting up quickly and looking at Chan once again. "Wait if you all knew me before, why was Hyunjin so cold towards me? Why did he say he distrusted me and all that about your previous member?" She was even more confused now because this all made even less sense now.

"We all agreed to not bring it up. Hyunjin was upset but not for the reasons he stated. I mentioned you were close to Han and Felix right? Well, you also spent a lot of time with Hyunjin. So much so that he would follow you around calling you his noona. His parents used to watch you when your father was out of town and you couldn't stay at the manor. You, Yeji, and Hyunjin were as close as real siblings back then. He pretended that he didn't trust you because you were this unknown element but in reality, he was hurt that you didn't even remember him." Chan gave her a sad smile. "Yeji was more understanding but Hyunjin was truly hurt that you had no memory of him." Eisa was in shock and for some reason she felt guilt tug at her heart.

"I forgive you all. I forgave you all the moment Henry told me I just wanted you to also know how upset I was at being left in the dark all this time." She saw Chan's shoulder sag in relief. "What I don't understand is how I can't remember a single thing from back then. I mean I have memories with Henry from that time. I guess I never thought too much about it cause now that I am trying to remember more details, it's fuzzy. Like a grainy film with scenes missing." Chan straightened up a bit. He looked uncomfortable now.

"This isn't the first time you have had a run-in with 17." He said carefully, gauging her reaction. She scrunched up her face in confusion. 

"What do you mean it isn't the first time?" She said slowly.

"You were kidnapped once before. " He said quietly. "You were young and when they found you, you were in bad shape. The doctors who looked after you once you recovered, stated that you had repressed the encounter entirely. That your little mind had buried those memories deep inside and that helping you recall them could break you." He was speaking softly and carefully, watching her face the entire time. "Even now I don't think it would be wise to try and help you remember. That's the other reason we didn't tell you about it." He looked annoyed for a moment. "I told your brother this wasn't a good idea to tell you with everything else going on. I know I can tell you to leave the past in the past until we are through this but I also know how stubborn you are. At least that bit of you hasn't changed from back then." 

"I...I don't know what to say. It's a lot to process. I am still a bit annoyed you didn't tell me but if what you are saying is true, then I think I understand why you kept this from me." She stood up and stretched. "I won't try to press anyone for information or try to remember the past but know that when we are safe and no longer in danger, I want you to be straight with me. No more lies, Christopher." he flinched as she said his English name but nodded making a cross his heart sign to her.

"I promise when this is all done, and there is no longer a threat looming over us...I will help you remember. " He looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "God it was so hard to keep all of that in, even knowing that it was what was best for you." 

"I know why you did it now and to be honest, I am glad. I have had enough emotional trauma for the day, if not the year. I think waiting a bit longer to add to that is for the best."  Eisa looked at him once more, this time with a soft smile on her face. "It does help explain one thing though."

"What do you mean?" a slight look of surprise on his face.

"Why I felt comfortable with all of you so quickly." She continued to smile and gave a small chuckle. "You were always my family, from the very beginning." 

A/N: Okay I came up with this little bit of backstory on the fly. It never sat right with me that she felt so comfortable with them so quickly given the situation she was in. I felt that giving her this bit of past and backstory would help explain that. Sorry if it feels a bit rushed or out of place. I just wanted to give a bit more reason for her attachment to SKZ, apart from just them being awesome and wonderful people.

We have about 3 more chapters of prep and some more interactions between Eisa and the Kids before we get to the final battle. I hope you are enjoying the story and for those of you who have been binging the story...thank you for enjoying this as much as I have writing it!