freedom nights || stray kids au

one

"Where the hell are we?" Chris asked the other eight members, and when none of them gave a reply, he sat down at a nearby tree. "We can't be that far from civilisation, can we?" The boys shared concerned, discouraged looks, which made Chris feel guilty.

"I'm sure we'll find a village soon Chris. We just have to keep looking." Jisung said calmly, smiling softly.

"But it's not fair on you guys. I just had to go and fight for our right to live until they raided our home and took everything we had. Now we're left wandering in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing." Their leader rested his head in his hands, rubbing his temples.

"Hyung, we have each other. That's all we've ever had and all we will ever need." Jeongin managed to say, his voice barely audible. It hurt all of the boys to see their leader so discouraged- it happened very rarely. But when it did, they felt that they were all to blame.

"Jeongin's right. Look, it's been a long day. Why don't we just camp here for tonight? I saw a river back there if we need water, and-"

"Water's great Hyunjin, but we can only survive three weeks without food. We've been out here for four days. It's only a matter of time before we starve to death." Chris immediately regretted what he had said, but he simply shook his head and rested it in his hands once more.

Hyunjin and the others exchanged a worried glance, and some apologetic, but they all listened to Hyunjin's offer and put down their bags. After about an hour of setting up their camp made up of things they had collected from the past few days, Changbin and Seungmin were about to head off to get water when Woojin saw something that none of the others had. In the distance bright lights exploded in the air, making faint noises. Seeing the lights reminded Woojin of something- it reminded him of home.

"Fireworks." He whispered in awe, and Felix and Minho looked over at him inquisitively. "Fireworks!" He repeated, the two boys standing up excitedly and looking towards where Woojin was pointing. "Changbin, Seungmin, come back! I think we found civilisation!"

Though none of the boys could see it as the sun had gone down and darkness had fallen on the stray kids' camp, Chris looked up for the first time in hours. He saw his member's faces, the colour from the fireworks reflecting in their eyes. Genuine joy and excitement in each and every one of them. Though he felt overwhelming amounts of guilt for how he had acted and the destruction he had caused, he knew that he needed to stay here for them. He had a responsibility. He was their leader. He was their family. They were everything to him.

And he was everything to them.