Tao

Tao couldn't remember much, only his friends gripping his arms, him clutching Kris' ring blade, and the painful shudders from crying. The water had dried on his face and his pillow, and it made his cheeks itch. He his dry lips. They were salty, and he was thirsty. They usually didn't get hungry or thirsty, but Tao didn't know what to believe anymore.

He thought that death wasn't possible in the labyrinth, and now Kris was dead.

The thought made the water start to flow out of his eyes again. He rubbed them away until he was sure that his eyes were 'puffy,' like Yoseob had said to him. That seemed like forever ago.

He sniffed in the goo that was falling out of his nose, and when it didn't stay in his nose, he stepped down from his bunk. The bedroom was quiet. Not even the sounds of breathing filled the room. He reached into Lay's bunk and felt empty blanket. Lay wasn't in his bed, and Tao's inner clock read four in the morning. Lay did tend to stay up through the night hours, but he usually went to sleep by three.

Tao wondered how he was doing. He wondered how everyone was doing after hearing the news.

He moved to the showeroom, the faucet, and splashed the water on his face. He drank a few handfuls. It was warm from the summer pipes, and Tao could taste the metal tang.

Wiping his face with a rag, he moved back out into the living room. He thought about going back to bed, but he went to the table instead and sat. Moonlight fell down from the window above. It wasn't as strong as the last time he was sitting here in the night. That night when he was talking with Kris.

Tao remembered their conversation, about Kai, trusting their leader, and how they couldn't kill anyone out of malice. Suho had taught them that, and the elders strictly enforced it. No matter how many times he or Kai or even Baekhyun wanted to attack someone who had hurt one of them, they reminded them of the morals they had to follow and how to control their anger.

But that was before someone murdered Kris.

Tao would find this person--whether they were human, a being, or a figment of the labyrinth--and kill them with his own hands.

That was what he was thinking, but he also knew he shouldn't have been considering it.

Kris wouldn't have wanted that. He would have wanted them to stay true to what he and the others had taught them, even if they were gone. Even if they were dead.

Looking up into the fading moonlight, Tao wondered where the beings sent Kris. He had read about heavens, hells, underworlds, nothingness, and reincarnation, but the books didn't mention anything like these labyrinths, beings, and trials. The beings said that they were the ones to judge their souls and existence, and only one of them would avoid eternal damnation. Tao hoped that Kris would be saved, because no one