Leeteuk was gone when Han Geng woke up. The first thing that ran through his mind was 'I figured'. He stretched, slipping out of the covers and pulling his shoes on. His feet guided him to the door, and it creaked in protest as he pushed it open. 

He guessed the rest of the group were still asleep in the other rooms in the corridor. Where was Leeteuk though? Han Geng hated that he had a habit of running off and/or getting distracted easily.

"Oh, you're awake," Leeteuk brushed past him easily. "Good morning."

"Where were you?" Han Geng asked quizzically, turning as Leeteuk continued walking.

"To find out where we were. A lot of stuff has happened in the last few days I've been asleep," Leeteuk clucked his tongue. "I needed to find out what was the situation in order to know what to do next. We're in a hospital right? I noticed the room setup."

"Right, yeah, hospital... Uh, is anyone else awake?" Han Geng yawned, stretching his arms above his head. His shirt rode up a little, and he noticed Leeteuk was staring at his stomach. Following his gaze, he inquired at the elder. "What?"

"Sorry, thought I saw an injury," Leeteuk shook his head and came out of his trance. "Must've been a scar. Um, Heechul, Jongwoon and Kyuhyun are awake. They've been keeping clear of each other though."

Han Geng was about to say he didn't have any scars on his stomach (because Leeteuk always seemed to have that covered), but decided against it, believing that he'd just forgotten, and continued the conversation.

"Not surprised. Heechul hates Kyuhyun. And Jongwoon stays with him," Han Geng noted lazily. "I need food... And a drink... Have you eaten?"

"No." Leeteuk admitted sheepishly.

"At least you're being honest," Han Geng sighed exasperatedly. "C'mon then, let's scavenge."

Han Geng urged the Life element to follow him into a staff room, where they found Kyuhyun sprawled on a couch and Jongwoon on the roof, hanging from one of the long lights. 

"Morning Han Geng-nari, Jungsoo-nari," Jongwoon greeted politely. "Junha fell asleep."

Leeteuk was going to question who Junha was, but Kyuhyun interrupted.

"Not asleep."

"I apologise Master," Jongwoon corrected his mistakes before directing his gaze towards the duo. "How are you sir?"

They both knew that the inquiry was voiced towards Leeteuk. Han Geng picked a water bottle off the table, taking a few gulps before passing it to Leeteuk.

"I'm fine thanks," Leeteuk smiled softly accepting the bottle. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"You should be apologising to Han Geng," a drowsy Kyuhyun hummed from the couch. "He was practically in hysterics."

Leeteuk raised a curious eyebrow at Han Geng as he drank; the younger looked away with a slight flush on his cheeks. Jongwoon pointed at the table.

"Food's there, in one of the bags," he stated blankly. "There is also a surplus of medical supplies located down the hall several rooms, the one to the left. I am unsure about how good a quality the liquids are, but pills appear to be fine, as well as dressings and extra medical paraphernalia." 

"Really?" Leeteuk perked up, rummaging through a backpack and finding a stale muesli bar. "I think I'll go check that out."

"I'll help," Kyuhyun huffed as he sat up, clicking some bones as he moved. "There's quite a bit of stuff... Jongwoon, would you like to go out with Han Geng for a bit? I think Zhou Mi set up something on the roof for when he tried to kill Henry again... Might entertain you."

Han Geng could swear Jongwoon's lips twitched up at the sides briefly when Kyuhyun said that. Must've been an inside joke.

"Of course Master," Jongwoon nodded with an upside down bow. "We will investigate it."

Han Geng frowned at being left alone with Jongwoon. He was weird and the conversations he'd heard about from when he had spoken to the others were rather cryptic. The Air element supposed that it could've been worse. Kyuhyun smiled, grabbing a backpack off the table before following Leeteuk out the door. They fell into an awkward silence, steps against linoleum filling the gaps where words were meant to be. Leeteuk could never stand awkward silences.

"Okay, spill, what do you want?" He asked, obviously suspicious. "I thought we established that we didn't like each other, so why are you here?"

"It's called making an effort. Our relationship is one of the more stable rivalries among the twelve. It's logic to try be friends, we are on the same side," Kyuhyun replied coolly. "And also, I'd like to speak about Han Geng."

A rush of cold blood seeped through his veins at the mention of his best friend. It must've shown on his face because the next words Kyuhyun said were meant to be of reassurance.

"Don't worry, he's not hurt or injured or anything," Kyuhyun said soothingly. "I just want to know about your connections to him."

"He's my best friend," Leeteuk mumbled looking at the ground. It was dirty and covered in rubble, bits of medical gear, and ancient splatters of blood from the fleeing injured. "I've known him since I was a kid."

"Really?" Kyuhyun asked in a way that simply sang 'are you sure?'. "Because he seems to cherish you more than that."

"What on earth do you mean?" Leeteuk looked at him incredulously. 

"Leeteuk, I don't know if you knew that this happened, he probably didn't tell you because he didn't want to worry you," Kyuhyun sighed running a hand through his hair. "But when you fainted, he went into a 'state'. He started hyperventilating, held his head, kept repeating 'I'm sorry, I have to leave, I'll be back, I promise, I promise' and literally wouldn't stop trembling no matter how many blankets we put on him." 

Leeteuk frowned and looked shocked. Han Geng had never fallen victim to one of these panic attacks. Not once. He couldn't believe the news as a result of this. He also didn't believe that Han Geng would speak in such a stuttered, panicked way. But Kyuhyun's expression told that he was being dead serious. He stopped walking and stared at his opposite with disbelief.

"I've learnt that we as guardians get these occasionally, but this happened immediately after you collapse," Kyuhyun continued halting in front of him. "Like a trigger."

"It could've just been the situation," Leeteuk suggested, although unsure. "Maybe he's experienced something like this before, when I wasn't with him."

"I don't think we would've gotten a reaction as intense as this if it were someone else," Kyuhyun hummed thoughtfully as he began to walk ahead of him. "There's no one else in the group that he knows as well as you, and anyone else he did know is either dead or he had to leave behind. Any attachment to them was most likely petty or for his own benefit. Anyway, I suspect his panic attack was caused by a traumatic situation you experienced either together, or he experienced when you were the source or main target involved. This most probably happened when you were younger."

"Why are you telling me this?" Leeteuk demanded trying to shake the images of a distressed Han Geng from his mind as he followed Kyuhyun. 

"I don't think you understand the severity of the situation, Leeteuk," Kyuhyun answered calmly. "This is Han Geng we're talking about, he is the Air element. For him to hyperventilate takes a lot of effort, even if he doesn't really need to breath." Kyuhyun turned to look at him as he pushed a door open. "Heechul had to sedate him using hypnosis, which was hard. He awoke a few hours later and sat at your bedside until Henry and Sungmin found him sleeping in your bed, which means you woke up in the middle of the night. He was only able to sleep when he was certain you were okay. Do you know what this means?"

"That he worries about me too much?" Leeteuk furrowed his brow as he entered after Kyuhyun.

"Grab what you want, I'll hold the bag open," Kyuhyun nudged his head in the direction of the many shelves filled with prescription drugs, medicines and various types of bandages and dressings. "Anyway, no. It means that you should look after yourself more."

"I don't need looking after," Leeteuk huffed indignantly as he read the labels of a bottle of pills. "I'll be fine."

Kyuhyun didn't reply to that, he simply observed Leeteuk move around the room. Watched as he methodically grabbed bottles and packets from the bench and place them in the backpack neatly. Their eyes met once when Leeteuk was adding a couple of rolls of bandage in the rucksack and Kyuhyun watched as Leeteuk's eyes shone iridescently. 

"... Oh..." Kyuhyun breathed out in realisation. "I see... I get it now..."

"What?" Leeteuk looked nervous. 

"You put other people's needs before your own to the point where you collapse from exhaustion," Kyuhyun noted knowingly. "Yet you don't want people, especially Han Geng, to worry... Leeteuk, you do realise what's wrong with this equation?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Leeteuk stated bluntly going back to finding useful medical supplies. 

"It's impossible," Kyuhyun answered his own question. "You can't expect people to not worry when you push yourself past your limits... But why would you not want people to worry? I know that people often have that trait but you don't really have a reason fo-... Oh... Oh... Ooooh... Never mind, forget what I said."

"What?"

"You're scared of him, aren't you?" 

"I'm not scared of Han Geng." Leeteuk said calmly, though inside he was having a mental breakdown.

How could Kyuhyun figure him out so easily? Especially when his level of social interactivity was to the extent of Jongwoon. His guardian side of him immediately scanned Kyuhyun. Element; Death, Animal Mimicry; Wolf, Enhanced Capabilities; ... Oh... Of course, Intelligence... Along with Hacking and Reading... Brilliant. The Death guardian was a smart-alec.

"You just scanned me."

"Yes, well, I do like to know exactly who and what I'm up against," Leeteuk pressed a palm to his face. "Intelligence huh? Is that how you figure everything out?"

"I know things, read emotions, see detail, I can't help it." Kyuhyun mumbled checking the bag.

"Why didn't Heechul get that trait?"

"He uses his mental energy to focus his powers too much to store copious amounts information. He can do quick-fire thinking though," Kyuhyun ran a hand through his hair. "So you're scared of yourself then?"

"Why would I be scared of myself?" Leeteuk asked incredulously. 

"Because you don't want to get too attached."

The look in Leeteuk's eyes showed the Kyuhyun had broken past his barriers and figured him out. He leant back and continued, putting all the concluded pieces of information in his head together.

"You like him, don't you? You don't want to like him though, you're scared that he will reject you, or it will hurt him," Kyuhyun mused, watching as Leeteuk gave in to him and accepted that he'd been cracked. "... But in the end, it's only going to ultimately hurt you, isn't it?" 

"I'm not just scared of me, I'm scared for him. I don't want to become a burden to him," Leeteuk admitted softly. "Any type of romantic relation involves relying on each other."

"You say burden," Kyuhyun noted curiously. "Why a 'burden'? Why not a responsibility, a problem, or a weight?"

"None of those words have the emotional connotation I wished for," Leeteuk shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, we talked. You can tell him. I think I'm past the point of caring."

Kyuhyun zipped the bag closed as Leeteuk crammed a few last things into it. He placed a hand on the shorter's shoulder with a sympathetic, albeit awkward, smile. Leeteuk wasn't sure whether to scream and run away or warn God that a storm was coming.

"I'm not though," Kyuhyun said gently. "I won't tell him. It's not within my rights to. Just be warned hyung, he will find out eventually. God knows how long it will take for us to get to the lab in Pyongyang and how long you can last."

Leeteuk knew what Kyuhyun meant, he didn't want to though. He could last. He would last, whatever the cost, he just couldn't let Han Geng find out.

"I will last." Leeteuk objected.

"You're human. You won't. To be blunt, you will fall, hyung," Kyuhyun ignored Leeteuk's protest, shouldering the backpack. "You will gradually crack and crack until you are finally broken. Never underestimate the effect of emotion on the human mind hyung, it's a powerful force."

"I know." Leeteuk said monotonously.

"You will be the death of yourself if you continue like this," he announced slowly. "I just hope you can learn that bottling emotions is not good. But having them blatantly obvious isn't any better. Now if you excuse me, I have to go meet Eunhyuk."

Kyuhyun walked to the door, pausing and looking back at Leeteuk with a fascinated gaze.

"You were the last person I expected to have emotional burdens. You certainly keep yourself well-guarded."

Leeteuk watched as he left, hands fisted against his sides. He knew that keeping his emotions locked up inside him was bad. It was a horrible idea. Some may say he did, but he didn't, he could swear on his life he didn't. Instead, he just got rid of them until they chose to come back. 

The weight in his chest radiated throughout his entire being. He closed his eyes and breathed out. A different kind of pain bloomed from his back, more tangible and easier to handle. It erased his heartache making it apparent as the reverberating pain was replaced streamers of red. 

He didn't feel anything now, not until the pain chose to come back. Then he'd erase it again.
---

Sorry I've been MIA lately... But I've managed to scrape something out for you guys! 

Okay, just so you can get an idea of what each character thinks about each other, I'm going to do a sort of guide with sentences that the characters would use to describe their relationship with another person. Not only will this help you understand who hates who and what bonds the cognates have, but it will also help you guys get a feel for how the characters think. 

So who's do you want to see first?

- Ryeowook

- Jongwoon

- Kyuhyun

- Sungmin

- Leeteuk

- Han Geng

- Eunhyuk

- Donghae

- Heechul

- Siwon

- Henry

- Zhou Mi

Tell me in the comments below and I'll see who gets the most votes!

Love you all~