"I HATE YOU!!!"

Henry's yell was heard throughout the temporary camp as a tidal wave appeared out of nowhere, looming over Zhou Mi, who countered it with a wall of flames. His eyes were bright orange as drops of water dripped on to his face, hissing as they evaporated on his sizzling skin. "You're such a bastard!!!" Henry continued shouting insults as they fought, hurling another wave of water at him.

"Well at least I'm not immature like a kid!!!" Zhou Mi roared back shooting a jet of fire through the liquid.

"OH YOU DID NOT JUST CALL ME A CHILD!"

Leeteuk was nursing a bashed-up Han Geng, who had been injured trying to intervene the situation. The Air element rubbed his head with a pout as he and the eldest looked on to the fight. Eunhyuk had also tried to stop the brawl, but was met with a floating whirlpool, and was getting blow-dried by Han Geng. Donghae was hiding behind Leeteuk, too scared to even try interfering with the two.

"Why can't they just stop?" Han Geng sighed exasperatedly. "They've been at it for about an hour!"

"Has anyone else tried to stop them?" A half-wet Eunhyuk, who was squeezing out his hoodie, asked. "Apart from Han Geng and I?"

"You're a bastard, you know that?!" Henry screamed as he sent out another floating whirlpool.

The group stopped as this exclamation rung through the area.

"And you're a stubborn brat, so we're even!!!" Zhou Mi called back as another plume of fire streamed from his fingertips.

"Donghae's too scared to, Sungmin said he doubts he could stop it, judging by your attempts; I'm here," Leeteuk frowned sadly. "Heechul and Siwon have both unofficially decided to have no partake in this whatsoever, Ryeowook's sleeping, god knows how, but he did try before; and Kyuhyun and Jongwoon went looking for food... Apparently..."

"So there's no one?" Han Geng groaned looking up at the eldest.

"... Jesus, are we just going to have to wait until they tire themselves out?" Eunhyuk added with a huff. "How long will that take? Donghae, you try."

"No way!" The Metal element hissed. "I'm not gonna end up like you two!"

"We're not that beat up!"

Leeteuk shook his head, watching as the night sky was lit up by orange flames and filled with thick steam. He never understood why there were rivalries, weren't the elements meant to work in harmony? That's how they kept the world in balance, right? It would make their lives a whole lot easier if everyone wasn't constantly judging everyone in this joint. Leeteuk actually found it irritating.

"What's going on?" Kyuhyun approached them from the inside of the camp, carrying a few fish. Jongwoon was beside him, a number of fish in his hold as well.

"Zhou Mi and Henry are having a fight." Eunhyuk replied bluntly from his place next to Han Geng, who was still blow-drying him.

"So you haven't given up yet?" Sungmin called from somewhere, coming up to sit with them. "Are they still going?"

"Yeah," Donghae moaned annoyed.

"What? Fighting? Why?" Kyuhyun placed the fish down next to the group, Jongwoon following suit. "We leave for a while and goes down huh? Have you tried stopping them?"

"Of course we tried," Han Geng looked dejected. "But it didn't work."

"How long have they been in battle?" Jongwoon asked curiously.

"As long as since you left." Donghae answered quietly, wincing as the loud roar of blue fire reached their ears.

"An hour? Jeez," Kyuhyun scrunched up his face. "They sure can go."

"One of Henry's enhanced capabilities is stamina," Leeteuk pointed out with an a-matter-of-factly voice. "So it wouldn't be surprising if this went on for another few hours."

"Okay, a few minutes, maybe even ten minutes, I can understand. But this," Kyuhyun pressed his hand to his forehead. "This is just getting out of hand..."

"Mm, they've been at it for ages," Sungmin nodded in agreement, although still glared at the Death element. "I'm surprised they haven't run out of their voices yet."

"Tell me about it..." Eunhyuk added, finally dry. "Ugh... My head hurts... Speaking of head injuries, how's yours Jongwoon?"

"Hm? Oh, head, fine sir," Jongwoon answered the question lazily as he watched the two rival elements fight it out. "I'm perfectly capable of normal brain function."

Eunhyuk stated at him incredulously for a while, with an expression that said "I'm judging you so hard right now..."

"He's just saying he doesn't have concussion, or that his head hurts," Kyuhyun explained briefly. "He's fine."

"How do we stop them? I really want to go to bed soon," Donghae yawned eyes half-lidded. "But they'll keep me up..."

"... Maybe we can try compromise...?" Kyuhyun shrugged unsurely. "Make an agreement or something..."

"Siwon already tried," Han Geng hummed sadly. "But feel free to have another go...”

"We have to do something!" Eunhyuk groaned falling backwards so he was lying on the ground. "They could do this all night!"

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST SHUT UP!?" Another of Henry's loud hollers averted the group's attention.

They all watched in horror as Henry formed hundreds, maybe even thousands of water droplets and freezing them into points.

"They look really sharp," Han Geng pointed out. "Like missiles."

"Ice darts?" Leeteuk suggested.

"He wouldn't seriously." Eunhyuk raised an eyebrow, irises yellow and wide.

"I think he would..." Kyuhyun gawked nervously. "What do we do?!"

"Why won't you?!" Zhou Mi said through gritted teeth, preparing a massive ball of flames ready to shoot at the younger Water element.

The others watched frozen in horror and shock as Henry finally fired the ice projectiles towards the Fire element, a wall of flame being released to try and counter it. Unexpectedly, a figure materialised between the steam caused by the two, absorbing the blow of both attacks. Ice darts pummelled at full force into his outstretched hand and side, embedding into the right side of his face all the way down to his leg. While on his left side, fire enveloped his arm, burning the fabric and scorching his skin, luckily just singing the side of his body. His eyes were neutral as blood dribbled out of the wounds which had been inflicted by the ice and the skin on his left burnt and flushed bright scarlet. Henry and Zhou Mi both froze startled by someone interfering with their fight, both horrified that they'd hurt the wrong person.

"Gege..." Henry choked out.

"Jongwoon-shii..." Zhou Mi whispered.

"This is ridiculous," he stated bluntly. He sounded more exasperated than angry or mad. "I know that there is rivalry between you two but this is what you were going to do to each other. You," he looked at Henry. "Were going to pierce him with ice, and you," he glanced to his left. "Were going to burn him to ashes. This is completely unnecessary and will cause injuries that we don't have the time for. We don't have time to fight against each other..."

Henry and Zhou Mi still both stared at the Darkness element, blood, raw skin and all. He plucked a few ice darts from his hand before storming back towards the group.

"Know who your real enemy is." Jongwoon called back as he approached the others.

"Jongwoon!" Kyuhyun ran up to him immediately, going in circles around him examining all his injuries. "God, look at you! Here, let me he-"

Jongwoon looked towards Kyuhyun blankly, calmly taking his wandering, quivering hands and moving them towards his own body gently. He looked at him with a small quirk of his lips. Kyuhyun thought he looked a little strange, half his face covered in little shards of ice and the other slightly red from close proximity with the flames.

"I am fine, sir." He said reassuringly.

Kyuhyun looked at him with concerned eyes before shaking his head furiously, his hands getting to work pulling at the ice in his alabaster skin.

"No, you're not! What are you thinking saying you're fine even when you've practically been embedded with thousands of shards of ice and burnt extremely bad?!" Kyuhyun spluttered flailing his arms. "Jesus Christ Jongwoon, there's being stupid and then there's being just plain insane!"

"I apologise sir," Jongwoon murmured as Kyuhyun sat him down next to Leeteuk, who started to heal his burns while Kyuhyun worked on the ice. "I just thought you wanted them to stop."

"We did, Jongwoon," Leeteuk smiled softly. "But not with you, or anyone, getting hurt..."

"It does not matter if I get hurt."

"Yes it does," Donghae popped up from over his shoulder. "You didn't do anything wrong, you shouldn't have been hurt."

"As much as I hate him, Fish Boy's right, hyung."

"Shut up Hyuk."

"I don't care," Jongwoon insistently repeated. "On another topic, where are Zhou Mi and Henry?”

"... What?" Sungmin looked out towards where the two had been fighting. "They're gone...?!"

"They ran away after Jongwoon started storming away," Han Geng stated blankly. "I have no idea where though, Henry literally turned into a puddle and swam away and Zhou Mi was just gone."

"... Let's go find them..." Jongwoon announced standing up.

"Jongwoon, sit back down!" Kyuhyun fussed over him, getting the last of the ice projectiles out. "There... Jeez, that took a while..."

"Mm..." Leeteuk agreed with a hum, bandaging Jongwoon's burnt hand. "Sorry I can't heal them properly, I have to save my energy."

"That's quite alright," Jongwoon replied with a sigh. "I understand."

"We'll go looking for them after Leeteuk and I've finished bandaging you up," Kyuhyun muttered as he wrapped smooth white gauze over his wounds while Leeteuk stuck some patches on his face. "You're lucky your pants are this thick, none of the ice darts hit you there, well, none causing any damage."

"Lucky."

"I'm being serious Jongwoon," Kyuhyun scolded. "Don't take me lightly."

"I would've never dreamt of it."

"Hey, could you lift your left arm a bit?" Leeteuk interrupted. "There are some burns on under your arm."

"Oh, yes, of course," Jongwoon obliged to the order.

Leeteuk healed the wound to the best of his abilities and started to rub a greenish cream on it.

"... What's that?"

"Oh, um, it's antiseptic," Leeteuk smiled holding up the pottle. "I can heal things but I can't make injuries immune to infection yet, sorry, so this will have to do."

"Where did you get antiseptic?" Han Geng asked quizzically.

"I'd been hoarding medical pills, creams and supplies for a while, as soon as we decided to leave the hideout, I simply took them with us," Leeteuk admitted with a sheepish grin. "I can't do everything, but I'm working on it."

"Where did you even find them?" Eunhyuk added as a late statement.

"In abandoned houses and pharmacies," Leeteuk shrugged nonchalantly. "And first aid packs that soldiers carry."

"I see," Jongwoon hummed thoughtfully as Kyuhyun and Leeteuk took turns passing a roll of gauze around his arm. "Are you done yet?"

"Wait a moment," Leeteuk hushed him as he finally sealed the dressing. "Yes, that's good... Okay, you can go!"

"Thank you," Jongwoon stood and bowed. "I appreciate it greatly."

"It was no problem really!" Leeteuk laughed with understanding. "I'm sorry it had to be you who intervened. And you got hurt."

"It's okay. I don't mind," Jongwoon shook his head. "It didn't hurt that much... Now, our main objective is to find Zhou Mi and Henry..."

"I'll go look for Henry," Sungmin suggested walking away. "Eunhyuk, come with?"

"Sure." Eunhyuk replied shrugging on his hoodie.

"We'll look for Zhou Mi then," Kyuhyun said looking at Donghae as the other two walked off. "Do you want to come? Jongwoon will go alone."

"What? Won't we go with him?" Donghae asked obviously a little shocked that Kyuhyun would be unaccompanied by his companion.

"He already left," Kyuhyun sighed exasperatedly. "He's annoying like that."

Donghae looked around to find that Jongwoon was indeed gone, even Leeteuk and Han Geng were surprised.

"Wow, he's quick," Han Geng commented. "Anyway, you better go, it's dangerous being out there at night... Who knows if there are soldiers hanging about...?”

---

A/N:

Hello lovely people!

How have your lives been? I'm sorry, mine's been a bit hectic so I couldn't update for ages... So yeah.

But now, school's out and I have a blissful six week holiday ahead of me! I've been on a writing spree in the first few days of it!

So expect a few more chapters over the next couple of days/weeks~ ^^

I apologise to all my amazing subbies who have stuck with me even if I have been procrastinating and all

I love you! <3 <3 <3