Baekhyun winced as he slowly climbed out of the dark green jeep, using Kris's strong arm as support. Jongdae stood to the opposite side of him, gently caressing Baekhyun's back with his bandaged hand and holding his hand with the other. Beads of sweat had formed on Baekhyun's forehead, he closed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows in concentration.  As soon as he had caught his breath, he let go of Kris's arm, and Jongdae immediately backed away  to give him space. Baekhyun with great effort, put one foot in front of the other and began to walk forward, straight towards a group of very familiar tents.

~

~

~

Minseok rubbed his temples tiredly. His hair was all over the place, and dark bags hung beneath his eyes. It has been 4 days. 4 days since he had had any sleep, 4 days since Sergeant Kyungsoo died, and 4 days since he had last seen Jongdae or any of the others. He had been trying to contact the other bases, but their phone lines had been cut since the attack. He could not send any of the soldiers out, in fear of being ambushed by Ukrainian troops. Thankfully, there had been plenty of medical supplies, and Luhan had worked himself to the bone trying to make sure everyone was comfortable.

Chanyeol, who was sitting beside his worn out friend, looked just as tired. His hands were clasped together tightly, and his eyes were wide open, staring vacantly at the wall of the messy tent.

"What if we never find them?" Chanyeol suddenly blurted out.

Minseok looked up at Chanyeol and frowned, "We will, and don't say things like that"

Chanyeol watched in silence as Minseok slowly walked out of the tent with an annoyed, yet exausted expression on his face. As soon as he left, Chanyeol brought both of his hands to his face and closed his eyes. He knew that trying to fall asleep was impossible. Everytime he closed his eyes, terrible images of dead bodies would appear, as if engraved onto the back of his eyelids.  He sighed and leaned back in his chair and stared at the empty ceiling of the empty tent.

~

~

~

Minseok had decided to stop by the infirmary and check up on up on Luhan, and all the other soldiers. Luhan looked worn out, but he seemed relieved that everyone was okay, and assured Minseok that he was fine. Minseok nodded and was about to go and inspect their medical supplies to figure out how long everything would last when an out of breath Sehun came running towards him. 

"M-MINSEOK! TH-THEY-THEY'RE"

"Sehun slow down, and catch your breath", Minseok waited calmly as Sehun breathed deeply, "Good. Now,  tell me what's wrong."

Sehun's voice lowered a few notches, he regained his composture and  exclaimed excitedly, "They're back."

Minseok stared at him for a few moments, not comprehending what he had said. Then, when he understood what and who Sehun was talking about, all the tiredness that had filled his body three seconds ago was gone. Replaced with something that gave him the power to run out of the tent as fast as could.

"They're alive, he is alive"

~

~

~

Baekhyun, Kris and Jongdae were surrounded by three soldiers who had been walking around their tents and spotted them. Relief was written on all of their faces, and hugs were, gently, exchanged. Sehun had been with them a moment ago, but had run off saying that he needed to get something. Baekhyun was glad to see these soldiers were alive and mostly unharmed, but he yearned to see a different person, someone who had been on his mind for the entire time he was gone. Jongdae was feeling a similar way, his eyes were darting all over the campus, looking for a certain someone. The soldiers were about to suggest that the three go and get some rest in their tents, when a small figure appeared to be running towrds them. The figure stopped, close enough for them to know exactly who it was.

Minseok's eyes were watery, making everything blurry. But he could see, he knew. They were okay, Jongdae was okay. He stared at the man before him, in utter disbelief and  affection. Jongdae was frozen in place, staring back with his lips slightly parted in surprise.

Minseok's lip quivered, he squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his head  and half shouted half whispered, "Jongdae"

That was all it took.

Jongdae removed his backpack and flung it to the side in a fraction of a second, he then immediately ran towards Minseok, completely ignoring his aching muscles.

Minseok felt two warm, desperate hands circle his waist and pull him close. Jongdae clung to him as if his life depended on it, he buried his face in Minseok's hair and inhaled deeply. Jongdae could feel warm droplets form on the front of his shirt, evidence that Minseok had let his tears fall. A pang of remorse and guilt filled Jongdae's chest, he hated this. He hated seeing Minseok so tired and emotionally exhausted. But what he hated the most was knowing that it was his fault. 

"Im sorry, Im sorry", Jongdae repeated in a desperate voice. Tears had rolled down his cheeks, wetting the top of Minseok's head. His hands tightened around the most precious thing in the world to him. "I'm so sorry"

Minseok winced at the pain that laced Jongdae's voice. He raised his head and looked straight into Jongdae's eyes. 

Jongdae bit his lip and stared silently at Minseok's tearful, yet beautiful face. 

"I-It's okay. You're back, and you're safe, and that's all that matters. Even though I went through hell looking for you", a little smile danced upon Minseok's lips.

Jongdae's heart swelled with love for the man standing before him, "That's the bravest smile I've ever seen"

He lifted his hands and cupped Minseok's cheeks and pulled him closer, "and you're the bravest man I've ever known"

Minseok smiled, for the first time in a while, as his lips connected with Jongdae's. It was a slow, and affectionate kiss.

Everyone standing around them looked down with a smile on their faces. Baekhyun had turned around completely, his face beet red. Kris laughed loudly at Baekhyun's bashful reaction, causing a chain reaction. The sound of laughter drifted through the camp, lifting everyone's spirits with it. Even Minseok and Jongdae had broken their kiss and were laughing heartily, just like they used to. Baekhyun smiled , and as soon as the laughter died down, he asked,

"I-Is  C-Chanyeol?"

Minseok grinned, "He's perfectly okay, and worried sick about you. Come on, I don't think he'll last any longer without knowing if you're alive"

Baekhyun wanted to jump up and down and scream with glee. Chanyeol was okay, Chanyeol was alive.

"Where is he now?"

"He's two tents away from the infirma-"

Minseok had barely finsished his sentence before Baekhyun was pummeling towards the infirmary, paying no attention to the pain searing through his body. Kris was about to yell after him to wait, but Sehun held him back and shook his head, "He'll be fine"

~

~

~

Baekhyun tore through the camp as fast as his body would allow him, his heart felt like it was about to bounce straight out of his ribcage. He neared the infirmary, and as he sped past it, he didn't even think about stopping to say hello to Luhan. All that was on his mind was Chanyeol, he wanted to see Chanyeol, he needed to see Chanyeol.

Baekhyun passed the first tent after the infirmary, then came to a stop in front of the second tent. He took a moment to catch his breath, then walked towards the opening of the tent, and yanked the flaps open. A wave of dust flew through the air, Baekhyun closed his eyes then, as soon as the dust cleared up, opened them. He looked inside the tent and found...........nothing. The tent was empty. Not a living soul inside it.  Baekhyun felt his heart deflate. But then he decided that maybe Chanyeol had gone to the bathroom, or the infirmary. Yes, the infirmary. Baekhyun turned around and headed towards the white tent.

~

~

~

Luhan had been sprawled across his desk in exhaustion, when two hands gently shook his shoulders. He immediately jolted back to life and was on his feet in a matter of seconds, "W-WHO'S HURT! HOW MUCH BLOOD? ARE STITCHES N-NEEDED??!"

Baekhyun yelped in surprise and backed away slightly from the wild doctor, "U-uh, n-nobody's hurt. I-I just-"

"Baekhyun! Oh my god you're okay!" Luhan pulled Baekhyun into a bone-crushing hug, then released him, "So what did you need? YOU'RE HURT! OH MY LORD SIT DOWN, YOU'RE LIMPING !"

Baekhyun cracked a little smile then shook his head, "No, I'm fie. I just wante-"

"NO YOU'RE NOT! LOOK AT YOU! YOU SHOULD B-"

"LUHAN!"

"Sorry. You were saying?" He replied sheepishly.

Baekhyun breathed slowly and then said, "I wanted to ask you if you've seen Chanyeol"

Luhan's face brightened, "Oh yeah! He was just here about 10 minutes ago......Oh no....Oh ."

"Luhan what's wrong?"

Luhan's face had faltered, his smile had disappeared.

"Luhan, where is Chanyeol?", Urgency laced Baekhyun's voice.

"He l-left"

"Where did he go?"

"He went looking for..", Luhan stopped speaking for a moment and gulped.

"LOOKING FOR WHAT?" Baekhyun was almost hysterical.

"Looking for you"

(a/n: I'm finally back! ^_^ I hope you enjoyed this chapter~please await the next one~)