"Shot?"

"Yeah. Like a duck in duck hunting season," I say, waving my hand around.

"Such a lovely analogy, Hwoarang," Lei huffs gruffly, rubbing his temples in frustration. The crease in his forehead is deep.

"Shut it."

I throw the used cigarette on the ground and crush it under my boot, grinding it so the sparks that are still flickering with life eventually die. Lifting myself from my position against the wall, I look to you. You're staring at the ground with your hands neatly tucked up in your lap, unsure of what to say or think – and that's okay because, we all feel like that when this type of stuff happens for the first time.

I stroll over, hands in my pockets, and look down at you, wondering what I can do to make it easier. When I was first like this, Baek took me to the park for a while to relax and just started talking about life. And it really helped, but, I don't think it'd help in this situation. I nudge your foot with mine, and your head snaps up. I speak, trying to be sympathetic, but what comes out of my mouth isn't exactly that, "Hey now, come on, you. Shit happens. People die. This is a war. Just gotta pick ourselves back up and move along, you know?"

You look up at me. Your eyes are like an empty shell. You've lost something, like a will, "How can you be so heartless?"

"You tend to harden up once you've seen it a few times," I shrug, "Being in the army a few years back really helped that. Just a swift 'raise the gun, aim, fire, turn' type thing," I imitate my description, before stretching, "Splattered brains and stuff isn't exactly pretty but, its life in these times. You just seriously gotta pick yourself back up and move along. Do something that'll take your mind off of it. You're a nature girl, right? Wanna go walk around in a park or something?"

Lei hears my suggestion and immediately answers for you. His voice is edgy, it's lost that friendly tone it endorsed only moments ago when talking to me, "I don't want you two leaving this hideout. I'm sure the Tekken Force soldiers recognised you at least, Hwoarang, and I don't want you putting her in any danger. That red hair can be seen from miles away."

I shrug again and wave a hand, turning to leave, "Fine, fine."

Lei also turns to leave, going down the long corridor to where I assume the others are. He catches up with Miharu, whose steely stare seemingly sees right through him. I'm gonna go the other way to where my quarters are to get some sleep, because that's what I usually find is the best medicine in these situations; but I'm stopped when you call me again, your soft voice flowing through the area, "Hwoarang?"

"Yeah?"

"Although we can't go outside, I appreciate your suggestion. It shows you care."

I grin goofily and spin around on my heels, "Its okay. You're a…" What's the right English word… "…team mate, yeah? You've got my back, I've got yours?"

"What about 'friend'?" You query, walking towards me.

The grin intensifies, "That too."

"I guess we could do something else then. Maybe ask a few questions and learn about each other. I have one," you stand and moves so that you're alongside me now, "Why do you continue to fight the tyrant's eternal and malevolent reign when you know that you will all eventually fall? He has too much at his disposal – armies of men fighting blindly to preserve the lives of their friends and family, technology that is far beyond what we could've imagined… One man cannot save the world."

"One man destroyed it, though," I counter, "And he sits in his Gargoyle's Perch, dominating the apocalyptic wasteland."

To this, you say nothing, because you're well aware that I've raised a pretty damn good point. Furrowing your eyebrows, you look to me again, challenging me with a similar statement, "And a rebellion of seven – six men can't throw him off his throne. He'll sit there forever, the world in his hand, spinning continuously. You know this, but you still fight. Why do you fight alone? Why do you not get half of his forces with you, at least? It'll be fair, then."

"We tried," I say again, looking up, "And with our link to his forces dead, there's no way we can do that now."

"So you know that you will fail and fall," you remark, looking to your feet, "Why do you continue to fight fate? Why do you try to cast off the shackles your future? Who for? Why put yourself through so much suffering to die?"

"It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees… or something like that. We fight fate because we don't want to accept it, and because we know there's a chance we can make it better, you know?" I stretch again, imitating a 'throwing off' action, "Throw off those shackles that weigh us down and then go 'look at me, I can do whatever the fuck I want and you can't stop me!'" I pause and look to her, "And that's a pretty stupid question, askin' me who I fight for. Who do you fight for?"

You say nothing.

I reach out my hand and cup your cheek, though I'm unaware I'm doing it because I'm so caught up in talking, "What do you fight for? Who do you fight for? Yourself? That's a no brainer, everyone's gotta fight for themselves. What about your family? You got any? Do you fight for your Mum? Your friends? Your culture – tribe, maybe? Your land? I'm pretty sure it's all of that."

You nod and move your face from my hand, "Yes."

I'm standing in front of you now, "And what does all of that equate to?"

"Obviousness?" you state jokingly, smirking.

"Freedom!" I yell, grinning, "I fight for freedom. Just like you, Lei, Asuka, Miharu, Lili, and Miguel, and all of the others that have fallen for such a noble cause. I fight for freedom, and I'm not gonna stop until I get it."

"Freedom doesn't last forever," you murmur, looking down once again. You're really fragile, aren't you? You've had freedom taken from you before, but I can't help but wonder what enslaved you. What held you down, what took away your right to dance on the rolling, green hills? What broke you? Because, I'm already feeling a strange want – desire, to fix you. And I already know what you will say – 'I'm not broken'. If you're not broken, then what are you? Perfect? Imperfect?

"Then show me where forever dies," I say. It's my catchphrase, according to Miharu.

You look back up again, eyebrows furrowed. Your half-scowl breaks into a smile, and you reach up and pat my shoulder in a friendly manner, "You are a strange, strange man, Hwoarang." Your hand drifts up my neck, and your hand is now on the side of my face, like mine was earlier, "I find your attitude strange but infectiously endearing. Don't lose it."

"I won't," I say all too quickly.

"Good," you reply, letting go, "Because that keeps me going."

"It's easy to be like me, all optimistic and all, you know? So you just gotta turn that frown upside down and change."

"Yes, but change is hard, and… I have lost the will to change."

With that, you turn away and head down the corridor to where Asuka is. Turning away myself, I go to find Lei. I want to run over the next raid plans, that'll be happening in a few days time. Gotta make sure that everything's all spic and span, right? Don't need anything to screw up. It'd suck if it ended like the Zaibatsu's raid.

I shudder at the memory of my dead friend's face.

"Hey, Wulong," I call, waving him over after spotting him, "Get that super cop ass over here for a sec."

He rolls his eyes at my statement, and, coffee in hand, speaks, "What do you want?"

"Just wanna go over the plans again."

"Do you not listen?" he growls, rubbing his temples with one hand, "I've already told you."

"I like to double check."

"This is the third time you've asked me."

"Triple check, then."

And so Lei goes over the plans again. In a few days in the early morning, when the guards switch over, some of us are gonna go and blow up the Rochefort Oil Company. Now, this is Lili's Father's company, and we think that by blowing up allies of the Zaibatsu, its resources will plummet to such a point that the world can attack. Peel away the shell, you know? She's not happy about it, but her love for her Father has completely died once he refused to leave the Zaibatsu's side – not out of fear, but out of friendship.

Lili's gonna walk in with all of us – disguised, of course, because the place is guarded by Tekken Force soldiers and we're probably gonna be easily identified – plant a couple of bombs here and there, leave and then KABOOM! No more Rochefort Oil Company. One of the tyrant's biggest assets will become a pile of smoking rubble and debris. When we first started putting this together, I actually confronted Lili about how she felt, because she'd be losing her Father, her butler, pretty much everything she's ever owned. You know what she said? 'We'll be revered as heroes after we overthrow him, so I'll just get myself a new butler and twice as many things as I had before!'. Um…? Okay?

Miguel and Lei made the bombs. It was pretty cool to see Miguel make bombs and all to be honest because I had no idea he could. They're set to destruct when Lili presses the button, which she'll put on herself somewhere. I'm thinking she'll put it on the little tie thing on her neck, it'd make sense. No one's gonna touch her there, easy access, and so on and so forth.

My eyes drift behind Lei as he continues to go over details, and I do see Lili and Miguel together. Miguel says something that I can't quite hear, but it invokes laughter, and Lili smacks his arm, joy on her face. I've always had a funny feeling that those two were together, or at least had feelings for each other. I guess that's why he was so eager to get the bombs done as fast, well and efficiently as possible – this is her mission, it is her idea, and so on.

"Oh, that reminds me," Lei finishes the rest of his coffee and eyes it angrily, hoping that there was more, "How're you gonna disguise yourself? You need to act the part, remember that."

"We'll see."

Okay so, here's a really quick rundown of our 'disguises'.

Lili's normal. She's in the white and red dress, high white boots, gloves, and so on. But the rest of us? Oh man.

Miguel's wearing this big baseball cap and has stuffed as much of his hair as he can into it. Unfortunately its kinda boofing up, looks pretty funny. He's also got large, geeky black glasses on, is wearing a white shirt, black trench coat, brown sandals and brown shorts – I really wish he didn't wear those shorts because his grossly hairy legs are on display to the world. Shave or jeans, please. He looks strangely comfortable in all of that, though. But whatever.

Miharu's wearing a kitty hoodie. It's purple and she's propped the hood up, and the little ears are sticking up. The stiff tail moves from side to side as she walks. She's got really baggy blue jeans on as well, and white sneakers. Her head is down and her eyebrows are furrowed. All of the clothes are so unlike her, though, which is great disguise wise in my opinion, the jeans in particular. She probably should've given the pants to Miguel instead – I'd rather see her legs than his. She's also got all of the bombs in her Miyavi backpack.

Asuka's fully geared up as a geisha, and it looks pretty damn good. Her hair's all put up with a couple of Japanese knick knacks here and there, the whole outfit is black and white with a little bit of colour here and there. There's a lot of skin visible, an entire leg's worth actually. I guess that'll compensate for Miguel's horrid dress sense.

Lei's dressed in the gear he used to wear at the fourth tournament – the brown jacket and so on. He's tucked his ponytail up and is wearing a giant cowboy hat and keeps making some type of American, cowboy slurs that I don't really understand nor care about. He also keeps winking at me. I think he's trying to act out a gay cowboy, just for something… extraordinary.

You've decked on loads of makeup, with Miharu's help, of course. It doesn't suit your pretty face at all but it works for a disguise, because I hardly recognise you, especially with the rest of those clothes on. You've got this really short, leather miniskirt on, and it's pretty damn pleasing to my eye. Its way shorter than the denim jeans you've worn before. You have your usual brown boots on, brown gloves, and your hair isn't tied up, it's just out, flowing like the rivers you fondly speak of. You have a very small and revealing top on as well. It's dipping really low.

"Stop staring, please," you murmur as we enter the glass double doors to Lili's white, glassy home – her Father's headquarters.

"Can you blame me?" I quip.

I've got a maroon beanie on, and I've tucked all of my hair underneath it. There's not a spec of red seen. I've got a long-sleeved, white shirt on, and I've left the first button undone. I've also got white sneakers on and blue jeans. I used to know a kid who dressed like this, he was pretty smart and all, so when I had absolutely no inspiration whatsoever, I thought of people I once knew and picked their outfit. It's working decently, I guess.

Lili's butler runs up to her, a smile on his withering face, "Ah, Emilie, I'm glad you're here. And you've brought some friends, I see. Would you like me to clean up the living room so you can all have a chat and play your video games? I think your Father just bought you some new games and dolls. I put the dolls with the others in your room already."

She runs her fingers through her blonde hair and shakes her head, "No, its okay Sebastian…" She then leans in close and whispers something in his ear, something that I don't quite hear, but it definitely had the word 'bomb'. I'm assuming she told him about the plan. They are super close, after all, but I wonder if that was a good idea. Sebastian might break it to Mr Rochefort, and he might report us to the tyrant and have us executed.

To my surprise, there's a sombre expression on his face, "I cannot leave the house without permission, Lili… So I must die in the house as you set them off. But I've lived a long life, and if I die so you can all live a better one in the future, then so be it," he turns and starts walking, "Come on, let's place them. I think we should put the first one in the middle of this corridor underneath the rug."

And so we set to work, placing bombs here and there, underneath Sebastian's advice. As we do, I notice Lili becoming sadder and sadder. I guess she thought she'd be okay doing this, but now that it's actually happening… she's realising what this house and the people in it mean to her. It also shows her determination to get this done, though, as she wipes tears from her eyes, looking at the things she'd had all of her life. Miguel squeezes her shoulder lightly and places another bomb on the wall.

As we're lead up the stairs to Lili's room, Sebastian slows and watches up set up two bombs for the extremely large room. I'm standing at the door with him, and he leans sideways and towards me, hands behind his back, "Your name, please."

"Hwoarang."

He nods, "So you are the one that the tyrant wishes to murder with his own two hands… The boy that fought him to a draw many years ago, and the man who defeated him in the fifth tournament with nothing but the strength radiating through your body."

I'm humbled by his description, but I do nothing but nod.

"If anybody can kill him, it's you. You are still young, you still have life and determination and skill running through your veins. You are not weak, you are strong, and you will come out on top. Please, you cannot fail your goal… your destiny. Destroy the man who broke us all. The man who took away our wills, who took away everything we've ever known and turned it into his twisted vision of perfection."

He's putting all of his hope into me. Unsure of what to say, I merely nod again and smile a little, before following everybody out of the room, going to Mr Rochefort's office to plant the final two bombs. Looking up ahead, I see that Lili's starting to hyperventilate a little, she's clearly terrified and really having second thoughts. I'd comfort her but I dunno what I could say to make it better.

We set them up, and you look amongst us all, "That's the last one?"

Miharu nods, checking her bag. She closes it, "That's it. All that's left is to detonate."

Miguel speaks, both hands on Lili's shoulders, "Are you ready to do this?"

She looks into his eyes and nods again, looking to her feet and breathing in a sniffle, "Yes…" She turns to Sebastian and begs, "Please, come with us. Who cares if my Father will not let you out, this is a matter of life and death. For once, just walk away with your head held high."

Sebastian shakes his head, "He will suspect something. It is best that I stay here. Good luck to you all."

We leave, giving a brief wave to Lili's Father who tells us to come again sometime, and go through the way we came. We hear something behind us and start to speed up. I look over my shoulder, seeing as I'm bringing up the rear, and notice that the Tekken Force soldiers that are present have detected one of the bombs. They've slammed Sebastian against the wall, a gun is to his head and they're demanding to know about the bombs. Lili's Father is also there, shaking his head in disgust and anger.

I turn away and continue to walk, outside now. Lili, please don't turn around.

But she does, and when she sees the sight, she stops and bolts towards them, shaking their head, repeatedly yelling 'no no no no no no'. Miguel runs after her, shouting at her to come back. The five of us turn our heads and see the two of them running, as well as some of the Tekken Force soldiers swiftly turning their guns and aiming at them. The action doesn't deter either of them, though, and they continue to run. Bullets begin to rain, some hitting their bodies, others not.

I hear a loud gunshot and a louder scream.

"Run!" the man from Hong Kong hisses.

And so we do. Lei's up front, then Asuka, then Miharu, then you, and then myself. We run all the way up the hill, past the beautiful arrangements of trees and flowers, until we're at the top. The black van that was a gift from Lili to our most recently deceased member stands there, and the girls and Wulong all hop in. They shout at me to get in, but I'm too absorbed in the scene going on behind the glass below.

Lili's shouted something again and shoved the Tekken Force soldiers away from Sebastian's fallen body. Miguel's quivering with rage. Mr Rochefort's doing nothing. The Monaco girl tackles the soldier who shot her butler and moves to take his gun off of him and shoot her himself. I see his hand reach up to get to her throat, grabbing the red decoration to do so –

And then –

BOOM!

Fire engulfs the home, the explosion rattles my ears, and I quickly dash into the car again and look at the scene as an angry but focused Lei drives us away. Asuka is up front and sitting next to him, shaking her head, stating that she should've done something to keep the dead pair from running out to Sebastian. Miharu is sitting in the back left seat, and she is silent. She always is, she's not the bubbly, optimistic person she used to be. Her eyes are closed too, she's trying to keep herself calm.

In the middle, there's you. I hear you sobbing, and I immediately look to you when the others ignored you. Furrowing my eyebrows, I speak quietly, nudging you a little with my leg, "Hey? Are you…?"

You shake your head, answering the question I never got to finish. Your eyes are sad, but your voice is angry, "She was just twenty, Hwoarang… Too young to die… And he… When will this end? How many more of us have to die before the tyrant, that…" she spits it out, "monster is stopped?" you look to me, "This injustice has got to stop! The world has got to change… Everybody must rise and rebel, not just a measly five people!"

I say nothing because I'm trying to form a sentence in my head that'll illustrate my point. It's hard because English isn't my first language. Unsure of what else to do, I look to the hand that's planted between us, and put my own above it, clutching it lightly and now looking at you. After a few more seconds of silent observation, you look back at me as I speak, "Change is imminent. Change is eternal. Change is the only constant in life… and one day, he will remember that."