A/N: Hi everyone! I didn't realize that I haven't updated this story since September o.0 I really apologize for that! I had a rough time with school last semester, and I didn't have much time to write T__T I hope this chapter is worth the wait. Enjoy! (Note: unedited)

Part Six

The following days were filled with a sense of dread. Junmyeon woke up every day, wondering if and when they would be sent on a mission against the Red Forces. His dreams were plagued with terrible, violent scenes of battle, and more than once he’d woken up in a cold sweat, staring wildly around the tent half-expecting to find his hand still on a knife plunged into Yifan’s heart.

Junmyeon forced himself to calm down, his breathing evening out as he looked around the dark tent.

“Junmyeon?” Minseok asked sleepily. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” Junmyeon tried to smile even though it was dark. “Did I wake you up?”

“Yeah, you were muttering and tossing around,” Minseok said after a moment. “You sure you’re okay?”

Junmyeon hesitated. It sounded like Baekhyun and Yixing were both asleep—they’d drawn lots the night before, and the four of them were crowded in this tent while Jongin and Kyungsoo had gotten the smaller tent with a slightly higher human to space ratio.

“Bad dreams,” Junmyeon said at last.

“You wanna talk about it?” Minseok whispered, his voice slightly clearer as he became more alert.

Junmyeon sighed. “I guess,” he whispered. Baekhyun and Yixing’s breathing was still even. “I just don’t understand why I’m so tense. I accepted that we’d have to fight the others years ago, when Yifan and Chanyeol first left. But these days, I’m just…so on edge.”

“It’s different now.” Minseok rolled over. “In the past, I thought maybe we could save them, but after the last time, I knew that they were all lost. Maybe you just haven’t accepted that yet.”

“Maybe.” Junmyeon frowned. “I don’t…I don’t think I can still save Yifan.”

“But Jongdae?” Minseok asked gently. “Tao? They were both ripped away from us. Kidnapped, unlike Luhan, Chanyeol, Yifan and Sehun. Those four made a choice.”

“Yes,” Junmyeon said softly after a moment, sadness weighing down on his heart. “Maybe that’s it.”

“Have you been going to therapy?” Minseok asked after a moment.

“Yeah,” Junmyeon said quietly. “I just…I don’t know. This was insightful. Maybe it’ll help.” Junmyeon also knew that he was feeling tense because he still hadn’t told anyone about Yifan. But who could he tell? His therapist was supposed to be sworn to secrecy, but Junmyeon knew that this information was related to the war, and his therapist might feel the need to report the incident.

Junmyeon hesitated, and then slipped out of his bedroll. He quietly padded over to Minseok, and Minseok rolled over to make room for him.

Junmyeon climbed underneath the warm blanket and curled up against Minseok, who put an arm around him and squeezed gently.

Junmyeon closed his eyes, and this time, his dreams were kind.

They woke up the next day to the sounds of the other soldiers milling around the camp. Junmyeon squinted, and saw faint sunlight starting to light up the day.

Yixing and Baekhyun were already up. Junmyeon could sense Yixing standing outside the tent. He could see Baekhyun pulling on his fatigues by his bedroll.

Junmyeon nudged Minseok’s chin affectionately, and then quietly wormed his way out of the sleeping roll. Baekhyun didn’t say anything as he passed him, but gave him an affectionate pat on the . Junmyeon narrowed his eyes at him, but Baekhyun just gave him a playful grin and rushed out of the tent.

Junmyeon shook his head and smiled. He finished dressing and left Minseok sleeping in the tent. He felt a little better after physically relying on Minseok to guard him from his nightmares. He gazed out at the rolling fields below the campsite, and put his arms over his head and stretched. He hadn’t thought much about what the six of them should do today—they’d been training hard for the past few days to be ready for battle. They had easily fallen back into their old rhythm though, and Junmyeon thought they were handling their formations well. Maybe now it would be good to sit down for a few meetings with Minseok to start thinking about some new group formations. Maybe some partner training would be good too…

Junmyeon squeaked and whirled around when he felt a hand land firmly on his . He glared at Baekhyun and grabbed him by the ear, twisting until Baekhyun was yelping and wiggling away.

“I told you to stop doing that,” Junmyeon sighed, and let go.

Baekhyun rubbed his ear and grinned at Junmyeon unrepentantly.

“Pest.” Junmyeon shook his head at Baekhyun. “What do you want?”

“I figured we could light our fire together,” Baekhyun said innocently. “And I wanted to talk about how we can change some new techniques for battles. I’ve been working on making heat and light together you know.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Junmyeon crouched down and began picking up dry twigs from in front of the tent. “I was actually just thinking about that. We’ve been doing a lot of group stuff for the past week. Maybe it would be good if we took turns working in pairs for a few days.”

Baekhyun nodded and silently followed Junmyeon back to their small fire pit. Junmyeon piled the twigs up, and Baekhyun pit his palms over the dry wood. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and Junmyeon looked away as a bright flare burst from his palms, and the dry twigs lit on fire.

“Sometimes I think this would have been easier to figure out if Chanyeol was here,” Baekhyun said suddenly.

Junmyeon flinched, and then looked at Baekhyun closely. “Do you…miss him?” Junmyeon asked hesitantly.

“I miss all of them,” Baekhyun said honestly, his eyes not meeting Junmyeon’s as he watched the fire. “Even Yifan.”

“Yifan was hard on you,” Junmyeon said softly, unsure of where to lead the conversation. Baekhyun seemed to be feeling mostly nostalgic—not guilty or sad. “You were just too playful for him.”

“He always looked so serious,” Baekhyun agreed. “I think that was ruined once I found his sketchpad though.”

Junmyeon snorted at the memory. Yifan and Baekhyun had been sharing a room for a couple of months, and one day, Yifan had left his sketchpad out while he’d gone out to train. Baekhyun had found it, and then shown it to the entire dormitory the sketchpad full of crude stick figures and squiggles. As far as they knew, Yifan didn’t know that they’d all seen it because Baekhyun had carefully put it back in its exact position, but the rest of their dorm had definitely relaxed around Yifan after that.

“What do you think happened to all of them?” Baekhyun said suddenly.

“What do you mean?” Junmyeon stretched his hands towards the fire.

“Well, that was way back in third year when we were in a dorm with Hyun-Woo, Sungjae and Hyunsik? But then they got cut and Jongin and Kyungsoo came in to replace them.”

“That’s right.” Junmyeon thought back to his classmates. “Honestly…this sounds bad, but I didn’t really care that they were gone. I was mostly jealous that Jongin and Kyungsoo had single rooms.”

Baekhyun snorted. “Geez, you were cold-hearted.”

“They never wanted to hang out with me,” Junmyeon shrugged. “I think I was too studious for them.”

“Well, you were never too studious for me.” Baekhyun came over and snuggled into his side, and Junmyeon patted his shoulder.

Junmyeon wanted to savor the moment, but the noises from the other tents and the rest of the soldiers milling around the camp distracted him.

Junmyeon sighed deeply. “I’ve been feeling too cooped up. I just want to go into the forest and be by myself in utter, absolute silence for an hour.”

Baekhyun sat up and looked at him curiously. “Taeyeon would never let you go alone.”

Junmyeon sighed again, and knew that Baekhyun was right. “We could make the trip together,” Junmyeon offered. “Head out into the forest for a bit and catch some peace and quiet. Stretch our legs. What do you say?”

Baekhyun eyed him warily. “Promise me you won’t ditch me?” he finally asked.

Junmyeon blinked. Where was this coming from? “Promise,” Junmyeon said firmly.

“Alright,” Baekhyun said after a pause. “Getting out of this camp would be nice.”

“I’ll ask Taeyeon after everyone else gets up and we make a schedule for today.” Junmyeon leaned over and nuzzled Baekhyun’s shoulder.

The others woke up and eventually gathered around the fire. Junmyeon’s suggestion for partner trainers was received warmly, and he went to ask Taeyeon for permission to leave the camp.

Normal soldiers were allowed to enter and exit the camp as they pleased. Exo had to receive special permission though—Junmyeon could understand why they might not be trusted after everything that had happened in the past.

“You and Baekhyun? Alone?” Taeyeon echoed.

“I think some meditation would be good for us,” Junmyeon said evenly.

“Hm.” Taeyeon tapped her pen thoughtfully against her leg. “If you aren’t back within two hours, I’ll send someone out there to find you.”

“Understood.” Junmyeon saluted her. “Thanks.”

“I also noticed that the six of you have been doing quite a lot of training lately.” Taeyeon leaned back in her seat. “It might boost morale if you were to do some kind of…display for everyone.”

“Display?” Junmyeon echoed, unsure of where this was going. “All of our practices are on the edge of camp. People come to watch us all the time.”

“Maybe we could have some sparring battles,” Taeyeon suggested. “Most of the soldiers here have only been on transport or reconnaissance missions lately. It might put a bit of fire into them.”

Junmyeon hesitated. “We would easily overpower any non-elemental soldiers,” he said at last. “I don’t think having sparring matches with them would be fair.”

Taeyeon waved her hand. “No, not like that. We could have a day of field exercises with sparring matches between evenly matched soldiers. That’s why I said ‘display’ earlier—we could have the six of you split up and square off against each other at the end. It would remind everyone of what this army is capable of.”

Junmyeon smiled. “You’ve been thinking about this for a while, haven’t you? Why bother asking for my opinion if you’ve had it all planned out?”

“Do you think Exo is ready?” Taeyeon asked, ignoring his question.

“We could easily manage something like that.” Junmyeon shifted on his feet. “I’ve actually just started a new regimen with partner drills, so this would be something good to prepare for. When were you thinking of doing it?”

Taeyeon pursed her lips. “In a week or so?” she said at last. “Will you be ready by then?”

“We’ll put on a good show,” Junmyeon reassured her.

“Very good.” Taeyeon smiled and waved a hand. “Dismissed.”

Junmyeon saluted her and ducked out of the tent, heading back to his own. Training and training with no obvious battle in sight had put him into a bit of a slump. Having a tangible goal to work towards had made him feel better, rather than only focusing on the asive dread he’d been feeling lately.

Junmyeon went back to his team and told them about Taeyeon’s plan.

“Oh that sounds fun,” Kyungsoo said at last. “It would be nice to have a goal to work towards.”

“I was just thinking the same thing.” Junmyeon smiled at them. “So I guess we’ll make sure to leave room for partner training every day.”

The others nodded their heads and paired off—today, Junmyeon had put Jongin with Minseok and Yixing with Kyungsoo. Yixing and Kyungsoo had had trouble working together in the past, but Junmyeon was hoping that their time together in the city had helped with their teamwork.

“Taeyeon gave us permission to head out for two hours,” Junmyeon told Baekhyun. “Let’s go!”

They jogged past the guards at the edge of camp, and soon, they were in the welcoming shade of the forest.

Junmyeon sighed happily as quiet and calm aded his senses. He’d needed this more than he thought.

“Junmyeon?”

“Yes?” Junmyeon turned to look at Baekhyun, and blinked. Baekhyun was staring over Junmyeon’s shoulder, his eyes narrowed slightly.

“I think…” Baekhyun hesitated, and then stopped.

“You think?” Junmyeon echoed, turning to face the same direction as Baekhyun.

“It’s probably nothing.” Baekhyun shook his head and turned away. “Do you want to keep going?”

“Yeah, actually.” Junmyeon stared up at the trees around them. “I want to keep going up, if that’s alright.”

“Sure.”

They walked along in silence. Junmyeon constantly checked their surroundings—his memory was a little hazy, but if he was right…

“Ah.” They reached the top of the hill where the trees thinned out slightly, and Junmyeon saw the crevasse that Yifan had saved him from falling into. The damages of their battle had been long erased as the forest grew back into itself.

“You’ve been here before?” Baekhyun asked.

“Yeah. The night I left with Master Kim.” Junmyeon stopped walking and settled down onto the forest floor.

“We’re pretty far up,” Baekhyun said quietly.

Junmyeon paused and frowned. “You’ve been acting so uneasy,” Junmyeon said. “Is something wrong?”

Baekhyun swallowed, and Junmyeon straightened up. “What is it?” he asked. Junmyeon looked closer, and saw that Baekhyun was pale and trembling. “Baekhyun?” Junmyeon stepped closer. “Baekhyun, are you feeling alright?”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to answer, but swayed and closed his eyes. Junmyeon lunged forward and caught him before he hit the ground, gently lowering him to the forest floor.

Junmyeon frowned and felt Baekhyun’s forehead. His temperature seemed fine, and his skin was dry. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Junmyeon gently rolled Baekhyun onto his side. He pulled his water flask from his pack, and unscrewed the cap. Perhaps Baekhyun was just dehydrated?

Junmyeon froze when he heard a twig snap off to his left. Junmyeon slowly lowered his water flask and pulled out a pocket of stones inscribed with runes. He put them on either side of Baekhyun’s body and rose to his feet, hand on the knife in his belt.

There was a rustling in the bushes, and a small brown bunny darted across the forest floor, vanishing into the trees behind them. Junmyeon relaxed slightly, but kept his hand on his knife.  

There was a noise behind him, and Junmyeon whirled around.

Junmyeon’s heart skipped a beat, and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe.

“Junmyeon?”

“Yifan,” Junmyeon whispered, and then hesitated, glancing at Baekhyun. Baekhyun still seemed unconscious. “Did you do this?”

“Maybe.” Yifan stood only a few feet away, his red cloak fluttering in the breeze. He his hands were up in the air by his ears, showing that he had no weapons.

“Are you insane?” Junmyeon asked, his mouth suddenly bone dry. “What if he wakes up?”

“He won’t wake up for another ten minutes.” Yifan slowly lowered his hands.

“This is a huge risk,” Junmyeon whispered, his heart thundering in his chest. Every second he hesitated in attacking Yifan, he felt something pull and break inside of him.

“We can leave him if you’re afraid.” Yifan studied him quietly, and somehow, Junmyeon knew that he wouldn’t be able to attack Yifan. Not just yet.

“I can’t leave him alone here.”

“You’ve already put your rune stones around him. Won’t he be safe?”

“Not from passing animals,” Junmyeon shook his head. “I don’t want to leave him alone.”

Yifan thought for a moment. “We can move away then. So we can see him, but he won’t be able to hear or see us if he wakes.”

Junmyeon hesitated, and then nodded. Junmyeon backed away from Yifan, keeping him in his sight until they were a little ways away, hidden by the trees.

“What did you do to him?” Junmyeon asked hesitantly. His palms were sweating, but Junmyeon kept one hand on his knife as he tried his best to seem cool and collected.

“He has a very, very low dose of sedative in his system.”

“Will he be alright when he wakes up?”

“He might have a slight headache, but otherwise it should be fine.”

Junmyeon frowned. “How, exactly, did you sedate him without either of us noticing?”

“I can’t give away all of my secrets.” Yifan gave him a sly wink, and Junmyeon rolled his eyes. He softened a moment later though, giving Yifan a hesitant smile before turning his gaze back on Baekhyun.

Yifan stepped forward, until he was only a few inches away from Junmyeon. “You haven’t attacked me yet.”

Junmyeon looked away from Baekhyun, and up at Yifan. His heart ached when he saw the dark shadows under Yifan’s eyes, and a small, new scar near the bottom of his chin.

Yifan took a step closer, and Junmyeon acted instinctively, whipping his knife out of his belt. Yifan’s hand closed over his wrist, and they stood locked in a standstill, Junmyeon’s wrist shaking slightly.

“Perhaps I spoke too soon.” Yifan smiled at him, and Junmyeon suddenly couldn’t stand it any longer. Tears filled his eyes, and Junmyeon started shaking even harder as the tears streamed down his face. The knife fell from his shaking fingers, and Junmyeon didn’t stop Yifan from gently lowering his arm and pulling him forward.

Junmyeon sobbed into Yifan’s chest and wrapped his arms tightly around him. Yifan kicked the knife off to the side and put one hand on the small of his back, and the other hand on the back of his head, holding him close. The hand on his back gently up and down, and Junmyeon felt himself slowly start to calm down.

Yifan waited for him to stop shaking before drawing back slightly.

Junmyeon lifted his hand and rubbed at his nose, grimacing. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay,” Yifan said gently.

Junmyeon smiled weakly at him, and Yifan brought his hand from behind Junmyeon’s shoulders up to cradle his face.

“I won’t ask you what’s wrong,” Yifan said at last. “I know you must be carrying a lot on your shoulders.”

Junmyeon looked away from Yifan’s piercing gaze, and nodded silently.

“I’m just glad I can hold you in my arms again,” Yifan whispered softly.

Junmyeon’s eyes snapped up, and his face turned bright red.

Yifan laughed softly and drew him close again.

“It’s so odd to hear you say things like that,” Junmyeon whispered, burying his face in Yifan’s chest. “I don’t…I don’t know how to respond.”

“It’s okay,” Yifan said gruffly, and Junmyeon smiled a little when he realized that Yifan was embarrassed.

“You were so wary of me, the last time we met.” Yifan rubbed soothing circles into his back. “What changed?”

Junmyeon swallowed harshly. “I…” he hesitated.

Yifan waited patiently, just holding him. Junmyeon felt a wave of gratefulness and exhaustion washing over him. This was what he’d ached for, in their time apart—Yifan had always understood him, back at the Academy. Even when they were at odds with each other, Yifan always knew when Junmyeon was at his limit. Yifan always knew when to stop and pull back, and just wrap Junmyeon up in a hug.

Well, at least he used to know. Junmyeon shivered softly when he thought about their last few months at the Academy.

“I missed you,” Junmyeon said quietly. “I always missed you, but…seeing you last time made it ten times worse. I wanted to be careful, but I just…can’t.”

Yifan’s arms tightened around him, and Junmyeon closed his eyes.

Junmyeon extended his magic towards Baekhyun. He could still hear Baekhyun’s even breathing. His heartrate was even too, but Junmyeon couldn’t be sure how long it would be until Baekhyun woke up.

Junmyeon took a deep breath and stepped away from Yifan, letting Yifan’s arms fall away from him.

“Yifan.”

“Yes?” Yifan’s dark, cold eyes studied him curiously.

“You know we’ll have to fight each other.” Junmyeon gazed sadly up at him. “It’s going to happen sooner or later.”

“Yes,” Yifan agreed, his eyes echoing the same sadness Junmyeon felt.

“You have to promise me you won’t hold back.” Junmyeon his lips nervously. “If anyone were to suspect anything…”

“It wouldn’t end well for either of us,” Yifan finished his thought.  “Don’t worry. I won’t hold back.”

“Okay.” Junmyeon glanced back at the clearing. Baekhyun was still curled up on his side, facing away from them.

“He’ll be waking up soon.” Yifan glanced regretfully at Baekhyun. “I know I shouldn’t have done anything. I should’ve let you two pass, but…I wanted to see you so badly.”

“I know,” Junmyeon said softly. He wouldn’t say that it was alright—but that was the circumstances of their reality. In order to meet, they were going to have to hurt their loved ones.

“It’s dangerous for you to be so close to the camp,” Junmyeon said quietly. “You’ll be careful, won’t you?”

“I will,” Yifan said quietly. “I’m surprised actually. Baekhyun sensed me long before you did.”

“Really?” Junmyeon thought about Baekhyun’s hesitance, right when they’d entered the forest. He should’ve used his magic to test the area for other human bodies, but somehow…Junmyeon had secretly, stupidly hoped that it might be Yifan with them in the forest. That they might reunite where Yifan had confessed to him. So much could’ve gone wrong—what if it hadn’t been Yifan following them?

Junmyeon looked at Yifan, and felt frightened at the wave of fondness that peaked and crashed in his heart.

“Junmyeon.” Yifan reached out and gently cupped Junmyeon’s face with his hand. “I…”

There was a sound in the clearing as Baekhyun groaned and twitched. Yifan’s eyes widened, and then he was shooting off in to the air, leaving Junmyeon standing alone. Junmyeon recovered from his shock a moment later, and ran to Baekhyun’s side.

“Baekhyun!” Junmyeon knelt down. “Are you alright?”

Baekhyun winced and slowly sat up. “What happened?”

Junmyeon grabbed his water flask and carefully brought it to Baekhyun’s lips. “You fainted out of nowhere. I think you might be dehydrated,” he said quietly as Baekhyun eagerly gulped down the water. “You should’ve said something if you weren’t feeling well.”

Baekhyun wiped his mouth and sighed. “Yeah, I thought I was fine…but I started feeling weird on the way up.”

Junmyeon tried to hide his guilt as he recapped his flask. “Well, dehydration can take a while to really hit you. Do you feel well enough to stand?”

Baekhyun slowly got to his feet. “Yeah.”

“We should go back.” Junmyeon wrapped his arms around Baekhyun’s shoulders as his mind raced. He tried to think of ways that Yifan had given his poison to Baekhyun, but all of his ideas felt preposterous. Had Yifan somehow spread it on the plants they passed so that when Baekhyun brushed against them, his skin absorbed it? But how would he have managed to achieve such a thing with such accuracy? Had he managed to pierce Baekhyun’s skin without either of them noticing?

Junmyeon bit his lip as he and Baekhyun started back towards the camp. Yifan had clearly been learning and improving on his skills. When the twelve of them met in battle again, it was going to be a long, terrible fight.

The next few days, Exo continued to train hard. Taeyeon had made her announcement about the field exercises to the entire camp, and the mini tournament would take place starting tomorrow, with Exo’s ‘display’ on the second day.

Today, Junmyeon had given them all the day off from group practice. It wouldn’t do to tire themselves out too much before the match.

Junmyeon had been thinking about Yifan for the past few days. Of course, he’d been having the sweet romantic thoughts of how it had felt to be in Yifan’s arms again, and the tenderness and passion that Yifan had held him with. But at the same time, Junmyeon had to wonder if Yifan was actually in the area alone.

The military camp would not be a secret to the Red Forces at this point, due to how long it had been there and the constant traffic it had going in and out. They also knew that there was a good-sized military camp from the Land of Pines not too far away. They were fully aware of each other, but made no move to attack.

What if Yifan hadn’t been alone? Junmyeon figured that Yifan was probably keeping their relationship a secret from his team, but Junmyeon had the feeling that something wasn’t right. He was so happy to have seen Yifan again, and to have talked to him for those few minutes—but if Yifan was in the area, that didn’t bode well.

Junmyeon had warned his team not to go all out against each other in the sparring match. He’d made the excuse that something might happen at any time, and they should be prepared—and he could only hope that nothing bad would happen.

“You look moody.”

Junmyeon flinched and got to his feet to salute Taeyeon properly. “General.”

“Is everything alright?” She gave him a shrewd look.

“Everything is fine,” Junmyeon said evenly. “I appreciate your concern.”

“Hm.” Taeyeon gave him a long look. “How’re you preparations for the field exercises going?”

“They’re going well. We should be able to give you a good show.”

“Hm.” Taeyeon folded her arms. “If that’s the case, then why are you moody?”

“I said I was fine,” Junmyeon snapped back at her.

“Alright, alright.” Taeyeon raised her hands in defeat. “The preliminary rounds of the exercises will start tomorrow. Will you have time to judge a few matches?”

Junmyeon nodded. They had practiced plenty—they were really more than ready for their match.

“You can see how hard everyone is practicing.” Taeyeon turned away from Junmyeon to watch the soldiers training in the practice fields. “It’s good to have this much energy in the camp.”

“I agree. This was a good idea,” Junmyeon acknowledged. He wet his lips and sat back on his hands. Did Taeyeon want anything else from him?

“Well, I’ll leave you to your musings.” Taeyeon her heel and left. Junmyeon let out a quiet sigh of relief. Dealing with his guilt was proving much more difficult than he’d thought. The next time he saw Yifan, he’d be sure to ask how Yifan dealt with it.

The next time. Junmyeon swallowed hard and shook his head. Wasn’t that too hopeful? Too optimistic? They were at war with each other. If he saw Yifan again. That was probably more realistic.

But maybe it was okay to be hopeful. Even though Yifan had left for the other side, somehow, Yifan had still been able to find him. They had still been able to meet. Maybe fate was on their side.

Time seemed to fly by. Before Junmyeon quite realized what was happening, he was sitting at a table, sandwiched between Taeyeon and another older general judging a sparring match. They were both non-elemental soldiers.

“The shorter one has excellent hand-to-hand technique,” Taeyeon said softly.

“Yes,” the older general, General Kwan, agreed. “It seems likely that he’ll win the match.”

“I disagree.” Junmyeon slouched back in his seat. “He is already tired and sweating heavily. His opponent has the strength to win the match.”

General Kwan snorted. “How can you tell from here? They both look tired and sweaty to me.”

Junmyeon blinked. Did General Kwan not know he was an elemental?

“Captain Junmyeon is a very accomplished water elemental,” Taeyeon said after a moment. “He is easily able to detect this sort of thing.”

“I see.” General Kwan looked embarrassed. “Pardon me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Junmyeon said a little awkwardly. “Let’s just judge these matches fairly.”

True to Junmyeon’s prediction, the shorter soldier lost to his opponent, lacking the stamina to keep blocking attacks. Junmyeon applauded politely as the two left the arena.

“We’ll have a break, and then we’ll have the matches amongst the six of you.” Taeyeon got to her feet.

“About that.” Junmyeon rose to his feet along with General Kwan. “You never said what match-ups between us you wanted to see.”

“Three on three?” Taeyeon suggested after a moment. “What have you been preparing for?”

“Three on three sounds good.” Junmyeon shrugged; they had prepared in all the possible combinations available. This would be fun. “We’ll just warm up over here.”

Taeyeon nodded at him, and then left with General Kwan to talk to the rest of the soldiers and congratulate, or console them on their wins and losses. Junmyeon crossed the battle arena to the corner where Exo was watching, slightly away from the rest of the soldiers.

“Why are you five sitting alone?” Junmyeon called out. “Don’t have any friends?”

Yixing made a face at him and Jongin stuck out his tongue.

“General Taeyeon said she’d like to see a three on three. I was thinking me, Minseok, and Kyungsoo. Jongin, Yixing and Baekhyun?”

“Isn’t that playing it a little safe? Everyone knows that you and Minseok, and Jongin and Yixing are legendary pairs together,” Baekhyun complained. “Why don’t we mix things up a bit? I want to switch with Minseok.”

Junmyeon hesitated. Putting them with their strongest partners gave them the strongest insurance of putting on a powerful display for Taeyeon. “I’m not sure that most people know about Jongin and Yixing,” Junmyeon said after a moment. “Besides, I think having our strongest formations will be a better show…and anyways, we practiced the least in these formations. That puts some stakes on it, doesn’t it?”

“I guess,” Baekhyun pouted.

“You just want to be on my team, don’t you?” Junmyeon reached out and playfully tweaked Baekhyun’s nose, laughing when Baekhyun whined and ducked away. “Next time. I promise.”

“We should stop messing around and start stretching.” Jongin got to his feet, stepped to the side, and gracefully dropped into the splits.

“Show off,” Kyungsoo mumbled, also getting to his feet. Yixing went behind Jongin to help press his back down, and the six of them began warming up together.

Jongin and Yixing, while less well-known than Junmyeon and Minseok, were a force to be reckoned with. Yixing’s elemental powers didn’t often come handy as a weapon, so he and Jongin were best at hand-to-hand combat. Jongin, who was usually prone to more injuries as he took risks and often teleported into the thick of battle, stuck close to Yixing to get healed when he needed it. Of course, Yixing had been kept more on the sidelines after they graduated from the academy, as their commanding officers often saw Yixing to be more useful as a medic than as a fighter, but still. Even though it had been a few years, Junmyeon had been glad to see that their teamwork was still a sight to behold.

It was a cold, cloudy day and Junmyeon shivered and pulled his cape a little tighter around his shoulders. His cape hadn’t aged very gracefully—it was still a little too long, and extremely ragged at the ends. A gust of wind blew, ripping the corner out of his hands.

There was a burst of laughter from a few feet away, and Junmyeon didn’t have to look to the side to know that there was a group of men and women swooning off to his right.

“You give such great fan service,” Minseok said, a -eating grin on his face.

“I give such great fan service?” Junmyeon echoed. “This is coming from you, the king of flying kisses.”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and stayed quiet.

They finished stretching and ran a couple of laps together to warm up their muscles. Junmyeon could feel the endorphins starting to lift his mood. This would be a fun fight, albeit with some holds barred. They weren’t doing this because of the impending call for a mission. They weren’t doing this because of their impending fate to fight their old friends. They were doing this for fun.

Taeyeon called them out to the field and they went, squaring off three against three. Junmyeon smirked at Jongin, who stood directly across from him. Jongin winked back at him, and Taeyeon blew the whistle to start the match.

Jongin vanished from view, and Junmyeon threw himself backwards, balancing on his hands and feet to see Jongin standing right where he’d been moments before, quarterstaff in hand, extended out.

Junmyeon launched himself out of his bridge position and extended his hand towards Jongin, pulling the water out of the misty air around him and directing it at Jongin’s hand.

Jongin the staff towards him, but his fingers slipped on the now wet weapon, and he missed. Minseok came up behind Jongin and snapped his fingers. Jongin’s hand was frozen in place to the staff in a slightly awkward hand position. Junmyeon and Minseok lunged towards Jongin at the same time, intent on knocking him out—

But there was a burst of shadows, and Junmyeon and Minseok twisted out of each other’s way as Jongin teleported away. There were cheers from the crowd of assembled soldiers, but Junmyeon paid them no mind, instead running with Minseok to join Kyungsoo who was crouched down behind a large boulder he’d constructed out of soil. Arrows peppered the ground around them, but Minseok and Junmyeon slid into safety as an arrow whistled past.

“When the did Yixing get a hold of a bow and quiver?” Minseok gasped.

“Yixing isn’t shooting arrows, that’s Baekhyun.” Kyungsoo closed his eyes and pointed to his right. Jongin flickered into being to their right, only to yelp and teleport away when a pillar of soil shot up from the ground where he’d been standing.

“They have a good strategy. Jongin is doing most of the legwork for now, but once he’s tired us out, Baekhyun will start playing tricks on us and Yixing will come out for combat.” Junmyeon winced and rubbed at his knee—he wasn’t particularly looking forward to that. He was still bruised from his one-on-one training with Yixing from a few days ago.

“We need a strategy guys, we can’t stay hidden behind this wall forever,” Kyungsoo snapped. He extended his finger in the air, and Minseok and Junmyeon shielded their faces as soil rained down over the wall.

“What did you do?”

“I almost got Baekhyun, but I missed.” Kyungsoo gave them a sharp look. “I can’t spend the whole time showing off, hurry up you two.”

Junmyeon sighed and wiped some dirt off of his nose. “Flying rose formation?” he suggested.

Minseok nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Tell us when to go,” Junmyeon told Kyungsoo.

“Okay.” Kyungsoo closed his eyes and spread out his hands. The earth rumbled, but Minseok and Junmyeon stayed on their feet. “Now!”

Junmyeon and Minseok jumped out from behind the wall. Junmyeon saw Baekhyun on his knees, bow and arrow in hand. To his surprise, Yixing was actually closest to them, his hand on Jongin’s arm.

Junmyeon raised his palm, pooling the water in the earth by Yixing and Jongin’s feet. Yixing looked up, his eyes wide with surprise, but it was too late. Jongin disappeared into a burst of shadows with a short curse, leaving Yixing to fend for himself.

Minseok had circled around from the other side. He darted forward, hands outstretched. Behind him, a ring of short ice spears circled behind him and flew towards Yixing, piercing his robes and causing him to flat on his back. Junmyeon flung a wall of water at him, and together he and Minseok encased Yixing in a sheet of ice. Yixing grimaced at them, his entire body except for his head encased in a solid three feet of ice.

The ice wouldn’t actually harm him—Yixing could use his power to keep his body in homeostasis while he waited for the ice to melt or for one of his teammates to try and free him.

Yixing turned his head to look at the ice spears sticking out of his encasement. “Roses? Really?”

“Minseok wanted to add some style to it,” Junmyeon said dryly. The ends of the spears were shaped like beautiful, icy roses. The weather was cold enough that the ice hadn’t melted yet.

“My ice roses are the best!” Minseok said defensively.

“No one said they weren’t,” Junmyeon said soothingly. “Left!”

Minseok sprinted to his left as Jongin teleported between them.

“Separating us doesn’t do anything.” Junmyeon lifted his hand and made a whip of water, cracking it behind Jongin’s knees. Jongin teleported away in the knick of time, and Junmyeon chased after him with the water. Minseok began throwing his own ice attacks, but Junmyeon retreated far enough away to where he wouldn’t be affected by them.

Junmyeon stiffened when he heard Kyungsoo cry out, but he didn’t turn his attention away from Jongin. The earth began to rumble beneath his feet, and Junmyeon and fell to his knees when a way of soil rose and fell under him.

“Junmyeon!” Minseok shouted, trying to run past Jongin, but Jongin wouldn’t let him, teleporting directly in front of Minseok and swinging his staff.

“I’m fine!” Junmyeon shouted back, slowly getting to his feet.

Suddenly, Jongin appeared directly before him in a burst of shadows. Junmyeon ducked and rolled, still unable to stand on his feet as the earth shook. Jongin, in contrast, was maintaining his balance much better than Junmyeon, and kept advancing on him, swinging his staff. Junmyeon didn’t bother trying to look around for Minseok and focused his mind on using his water whip to throw Jongin’s attacks off until he could get to a calmer area.

After a few minutes of Junmyeon getting in a few good hits with his water whip and Jongin trying to hit him with the quarterstaff, Jongin gave up and threw himself directly at Junmyeon, pinning him to the ground.

Junmyeon grunted, grappling with Jongin. They rolled over, and Junmyeon risked glancing away from Jongin towards the wall of earth concealing Kyungsoo. He blinked in shock when he realized that the entire wall had fallen, and Kyungsoo had exposed himself to the open air as he hurled boulders and earth towards Baekhyun who was skipping around in circles, bending the light to conceal his true location.

Jongin bucked his hips and punched upwards at the same time. Junmyeon went flying backwards and winced. That was sure to leave a bruise.

The earth had finally stopped shaking, and Junmyeon scrambled to his feet. Minseok had gone back to fortify Yixing’s prison, and to help Kyungsoo. Junmyeon could see a swarm of ice spikes swirling around the area, trying to pin Baekhyun down.

“Eyes on me!” Jongin appeared directly in front of him and lunged, his hands wrapping around Junmyeon’s throat and pinning him to the ground. Junmyeon amplified the sweat on Jongin’s palms and Jongin’s hand slipped away from his throat. Junmyeon pushed Jongin away and grabbed the staff Jongin had dropped, swinging it around whacking Jongin solidly in the chest. Jongin fell back, the wind knocked out of his lungs. Junmyeon summoned a pool of water to form around Jongin’s body and froze it, freezing Jongin in place. Jongin pouted at him, and Junmyeon scowled at him.

“You bruised my face,” Junmyeon said accusingly.

“Don’t be mad,” Jongin said pleadingly. “Also, please don’t keep Yixing trapped for too long. I don’t want to lose any of my extremities to frostbite.”

“Don’t worry. It won’t be long until Baekhyun falls.” Junmyeon winked at Jongin, who groaned in protest.

“Where is all of this competitive, arrogant Captain Suho coming from?” Jongin asked teasingly.

“I think I can have the luxury of feeling confident when two out of my three opponents are down for the count.” Junmyeon squatted down and ruffled Jongin’s hair. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you here for long.” He got to his feet and jogged towards Minseok and Kyungsoo.

Somehow, Baekhyun was still evading their reach, even though Minseok had a veritable blizzard of sharp ice spikes starting to spread out. Junmyeon couldn’t see very well through the blizzard, but he guessed that Kyungsoo and Minseok were probably at its center. Baekhyun was probably still located far away from them, possibly off the ground somehow if Kyungsoo wasn’t able to detect him, and Minseok’s ice spikes weren’t giving away from his location. Should he try and regroup with his team? He’d probably just get injured by Minseok’s blizzard though. He could try and figure out where Baekhyun was, but if Baekhyun was hiding near the edge of the training field, it would be impossible to differentiate Baekhyun from the audience and the edges.

Junmyeon paused, a chill running down his spine. He whipped his head to the right so fast that his neck hurt—he could’ve sworn he’d seen a flash of red to his right. He looked towards Taeyeon and General Kwan, but they looked unperturbed, watching Minseok’s ice storm start to spiral outwards with great interest. Junmyeon looked at the soldiers in the crowd, but none of them seemed to have noticed anything. No one was really looking at him, given that he’d taken Jongin down and wasn’t really part of the action.

Junmyeon gingerly extended his senses away from the crowd. He’d already used a significant amount of strength and stamina—more than he really should have, if he was being honest with himself. He should’ve let Minseok handle the freezing, and he should’ve incapacitated Jongin in a different way; it always took more energy than he expected to freeze even a small amount of water.

Junmyeon frowned. He slowly began walking towards his right, peering out past the edge of the field, his right hand reaching under his cloak for the emergency whistle he carried around his neck. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, and he couldn’t sense any human bodies…

Junmyeon was considerably farther from the fight at this appoint, close to where the hill started to slope downwards again and close enough to see the individual trees at the edge of the forest. Junmyeon stopped walking, narrowing his eyes. He could’ve sworn he’d seen that flash of red…

Junmyeon gasped and whirled around, but he was just a second too late. Something kicked under his ankle, and he fell to the ground. Baekhyun grinned victoriously at him and pounced, pinning him down. Junmyeon struggled, but then fell still when he realized that if he wriggled too much, he’d dislocate his shoulder. Wincing, he felt Baekhyun shifting around above him, keeping him pinned with his shoulders, his chest, then his knee…

Junmyeon felt the strong rope binding his wrists and sighed. Baekhyun tied off the knot and gently rolled him over, leaning down to tie his ankles together as well. Junmyeon didn’t resist him too hard—Baekhyun’s victory was well deserved.

“Got you,” Baekhyun sing-songed. “See you later!” Baekhyun’s image flickered, and then he was gone, blending himself back in with his surroundings.

Junmyeon sighed and closed his eyes. This far away, it was easy to tell that there really had been no one approaching his camp. Maybe he was being paranoid about the Red Forces. Maybe Yifan had really just missed him so much that he’d foolishly come to seek Junmyeon out of his own will. Maybe Yifan didn’t always have an agenda.  

Junmyeon shook his head, clearing his thoughts of Yifan and turning his attention back to the fight. Baekkhyun was sneaky and clever, but Junmyeon didn’t doubt that Minseok and Kyungsoo would eventually be able to take him down. Junmyeon smiled, pleased to see that Minseok had expanded his blizzard to cover Jongin and Yixing’s body, effectively stopping Baekhyun from trying to free them lest he lose his advantage.

Junmyeon carefully sat up, wincing a little as the rope chafed his wrists and ankles. He carefully curled up, his fingers twisting and reaching into his shoes, grabbing the small dagger that he kept in the side of his boot. Finally, his fingers closed around it and he carefully pulled it out and started sawing at the bonds on his ankles.

By the time Junmyeon freed himself, Minseok’s blizzard had dissipated, and Junmyeon could see Baekhyun’s head sticking out of a solid pillar of earth. Junmyeon shook his head and jogged back towards them. He let Minseok do the work of unfreezing Yixing and Jongin. He glanced over at General Kwan and Taeyeon, and Taeyeon gave him a pleased smile. Once all six of them were free (and Yixing had looked over Jongin to make sure that he didn’t have frostbite), they stood in a line and saluted Taeyeon. The crowd cheered for them, and then everyone began to disperse back towards the camp. Junmyeon smiled at the sight—all of the soldiers seemed much more cheerful, eagerly talking to one another and recounting the events of their own matches, or of the matches they’d just seen.

Taeyeon was a good leader. She knew what to do when morale was running low, and she ran a tight ship. The day had been well-organized and well executed.

Yixing gently touched his neck, and Junmyeon to face him.

“Jongin really gave you a good one,” Yixing said, his eyes gleaming with pride. Junmyeon touched his neck, and let out a small sigh of relief when the area didn’t throb with pain.

“Will it still bruise?”

“It’ll be quite faint,” Yixing reassured him. “I can barely see it.”

“Thanks.” Junmyeon patted Yixing’s hand. “Great job everyone. We all did really well today! We can sit down at dinner and talk about the strengths and weaknesses of today’s battle.”

The others grunted in agreement, and they all started walking back towards the camp together, saluting General Kwan and Taeyeon as they passed.

“Good show, Commander Junmyeon.” Taeyeon gave him a warm smile, and Junmyeon smiled back at her.

“All six of you, report to my tent tomorrow. I have a reward for your good behavior.” She winked at them, and Junmyeon smiled tiredly.

“Thank you, General.” They saluted her again, and then left her behind them as she turned to General Kwan and started talking to him in a low voice.

“I wonder what our reward will be,” Minseok mused.

“Maybe it’ll be cigarettes,” Jongin said longingly.

“Maybe,” Junmyeon said doubtfully. “But since all six of us are going, it’ll probably be something that applies to all of us…”

“Maybe it’ll be a short leave to visit family?” Yixing suggested. “Although…that would be unprecedented. We haven’t been on active duty for that long. We haven’t even gotten a mission yet.”

“Maybe it’ll be decent food, or snacks or something,” Baekhyun offered. “That would make the most sense.”

Junmyeon hummed thoughtfully. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat before we drive ourselves crazy guessing.”

“It’s our turn to cook today,” Kyungsoo told him. “Don’t let me catch you eating anything before we’re done.”

Junmyeon pouted at him, and smiled slightly when Kyungsoo patted his shoulder comfortingly. He followed Kyungsoo to drag out their cooking supplies from the tent while the other four lounged around a tree. Jongin discretely pulled out his pack of cigarettes and started smoking. Yixing was laughing at something Baekhyun had said. Minseok was curled up in Jongin’s side, staring up at the sky.

Kyungsoo nudged his hand, and Junmyeon went back to cutting the carrot in his hands. Things were alright, for now. Their team was in a good place—and Junmyeon could only hope that they would stay stable once they started picking up missions.

a/n: So! The team seems to be in a good place :) And it seems like they're gonna be ready for a mission soon! (nudge nudge, wink wink). I hope you guys like this chapter! I feel kind of sad because I didn't get to write as much badass Kyungsoo as I wanted to, but there will be more time for him to shine later :) I hope you all enjoyed, and I apologize for the wait! Comments are always greatly appreciated, and thanks for reading!