恭喜發財~!

身體健康~! (Stay Healthy!)

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Tao

Everything was gray. The expanse around him was a blank gray. Tao's inner clock gave him no indication of the time either. It reminded Tao of the white room he had woken up in. Except this place had walls, a ceiling, a floor, and a tent sitting in its center.

The tent was like the ones from the battle at Sugome, a patch of brown cloth held up by metal rods.

Tao didn't know what to think of it. Hadn't he been in the labyrinth? Walking some trials and learning that someone in his unit wanted to kill them, and that Lay was covering for him?

He knew he had confronted Lay, and he had passed out after realizing the truth.

The truth.

Tao walked to the end of the room and slammed his head against the wall.

What was he going to do? Who among them could have done it? Maybe the being really had helped the killer. Maybe he distorted the trials and twisted the mind of one of his friends, so he could kill them all without ever dirtying his own hands. But why? They had already died. What reason could the beings or labyrinth gain from them dying in the trials?

Tao couldn't believe that any of his unit would just turn on them like that. Even Lay had wrote that he didn't believe they would do it. So why did he cover for Kris' murderer? He could have been working for the killer. Or maybe the being. Maybe both. Tao didn't know anything.

He knocked his forehead into the wall repeatedly. Tao didn't know what to do. He didn't know if or how he could stop the killer. For sundial's sake, he didn't even know if he was going back to the labyrinth. He wouldn't be able to warn them, and he was sure Lay wouldn't say anything.

He didn't want to think anymore. He stopped banging his head and reared it back for a big hit.

"Hey."

Tao froze. He knew that voice. It was a voice he never thought he would hear again.

He turned around to see the same warm brown eyes that had greeted him to the campgrounds, covered for his existence, and offered him his home. The corners of his mouth curled up as he smiled at Tao.

"What're you waiting for? Come in already," Jongdae said.

He moved the tent flap open, beckoning him inside. Tao didn't move for a moment, mostly because he was too stunned to get his limbs to function.

Was he real? Was this Jongdae just a recreation of his memories, or was he really real? Tao was sure he wasn't in the labyrinth right now. Maybe the white rooms and judge's bench could conjure up images too, even though this room was gray.

"My arm's getting tired. Come in already, Tao."

He looked up and saw Jongdae wriggling his arm up and down. Tao tripped on his feet and stumbled forward, deciding to crawl into the tent as he fell.

The inside was exactly how he remembered it: tarp laid out on the ground, rolls of blankets and pillows in one corner, and the small pot on the opposite side. Tao automatically took off his shoes and set them next to Jongdae's.

He sat in the same spot as before from what seemed like forever ago, staring as Jongdae settled in his spot like before too. He looked into the pot and chuckled as he pulled out a ball of white.

"I guess they have everything here. Feels kinda stalkerish," he said, holding it out to him. "Hungry?"

"Are you real?" Tao asked, the question just slipping out.

Jongdae peeled back the paper, took Tao's hand, and wrapped Tao's fingers around the ball. His hands were still rough.

"Maybe. I don't know either. I was just sleeping peacefully in my bed. Next thing I know, I'm back in this tent and back in these clothes."

He reached into the pot again and brought out another white ball, taking a bite out of it. "Then I hear a thud and see you banging your head against the wall. You always were kinda self-harming."

Bed? So he made it home? Jongdae and Yoseob returned unharmed? Or was this just another image?

"I mean, remember the time you almost killed yourself after trying to kill me? That scared the steel sparks out of me."

Jongdae chuckled, as if he was recalling the memory. But was he truly? Or was he just a figure using Tao's memories as a base to trick him?

"Tao."

He looked up to see Jongdae had stopped laughing, a serious look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

Tao didn't know how to answer. Everything was wrong. What he thought he knew about the labyrinth, the trials, Lay, his unit, even his memories seemed to fall out underneath him.

"Tao, do you not believe I'm real?"

Tao looked at the concern in his eyes. They were still soft from a humble lifestyle, the battles and war not having hardened his kind nature. Was that possible? Was the labyrinth still tricking him?

Jongdae moved closer, reached out, and took his shoulders. "Tao, I am still the person who you saved from Grut. I am still the person who helped you walk into the campgrounds, and I am still the person who watched you completely freeze time and run off into the stronghold."

He punched him in the shoulder.

"I hated you for doing that, by the way. You just left me and Yoseob hyung to walk without any supplies to the nearest settlement, which was not close at all. I had to fight a badger for hare meat, and I swear it was drunk when I fought it. So you better be able to make the most delicious fruit bun in this tent as compensa--"

Tao didn't let him finish as he burst into laughter. He couldn't stop the sounds from expelling from his mouth. He fell into the tarp as his sides slowly lost the strength to hold him upright in his seat.

This Jongdae was real. Tao didn't know how, but he was really here. The labyrinth wouldn't have been able to recreate such a vibrant, slightly-annoyed Jongdae with stories Tao hadn't heard of before. And none of his unit would have met Jongdae long enough to know about the story.

When he finally calmed and could breathe again, Tao saw Jongdae smiling at him.

"You were also always pretty fickle with your emotions."

Tao sat back up and let out a sigh of relief. A relief that someone in his life hadn't been affected by labyrinths and trials and salvation. "Thank you, Jongdae."

He nodded and took another bite out of the white ball, gesturing to Tao to eat his portion. He looked down at the food. Rounded grains of white were stuck together, and Tao realized cooked plant matter was inside when he took a bite.

"The white is called rice. Remember the gruel we ate, or 'water' as you called it?" He chuckled. "This is what that was cooked from. The inside is vegetables, edible plants not for healing."

The mention of healing brought Tao's thoughts back to Lay, and it must have shown on his face because Jongdae frowned.

"Are you okay?"

Tao chewed on the white ball, debating whether or not he should ask him. He knew that Jongdae was only trying to help, but the matter was of the labyrinth, the beings, and his unit. Tao didn't want to drag him into any trouble with beings that decided the worth of people's existences. He didn't want to risk the beings throwing Jongdae into damnation just for helping him.

"Tao, remember when I said that you shouldn't hesitate in asking me questions?"

Tao nodded. He had told him that the first night they had met.

"That hasn't changed either. If you need help, you should ask. I've always regretted that maybe I didn't help you as much as I could have."

"That's not true. You helped me see things I never would have realized from just taking orders. I learned more from you in the two days we marched to Sugome than in the twenty-two years under the scientists and Commander Lang. I just... feel lost right now."

"Why do you feel lost?"

Tao kneaded his palms into his eyes. "Because Lay ge kept secrets from us. He lied to us. He didn't tell me the clues to Kris ge's murderer or about the labyrinth, the trials, or the beings. He hid everything from us, and I can't figure out why. I think..."

The words stuck to his tongue. Tao swallowed. "He wants to kill us."

Jongdae didn't say anything. Tao couldn't blame him. He must have sounded cuckoo, if he could sound anymore cuckoo after what he had told him on the battlefield of Sugome.

But when Jongdae spoke, his words weren't even close to what Tao was asking.

"You're twenty-two, right?"

Tao took his hands from his eyes and looked at him. He wasn't joking.

"You were twenty-two when we met, right?" he asked again.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with--"

"And from what I remember, when you told us about who gave the order at Kertuk Mountain, it was your leader, who I can also assume is in your unit along with Lay and Kris, right? There were seven of you."

"Yes, but--"

"And I can assume you've been with your unit pretty much since you were born, right?"

"Yes..." He said, wondering why Jongdae was asking questions he already knew the answers to.

"You said you had a family, but not one with moms or dads. Your unit was like..." He paused. "Your unit is your family. I don't know about any labyrinth or trials or beings, but I do know something about people. And it's that people can do some pretty bad things. They keep secrets, they lie, and they can sometimes make those closest to them feel as if they had shattered their world. But Tao, they're still people. They're not perfect. They'll make mistakes and choices that you can't seem to understand, choices that make you want to push them away. But it's your responsibility to understand. Just as they have to try, you do too. You care enough to not give up on them or push them away when something terrible happens. That's what a family does. And if your family is anything like you, they wouldn't do anything terrible without a