Before they left, Henry insisted that they raided the stores for winter coats.

At first, everyone had looked at him like he was crazy, but then Han Geng had spoken up that he had a point. 

"It is getting nearer to winter..." He had said. "Better to be safe than sorry."

"And, we wouldn't be able to do this in North Korea, so we should do it now!" Henry had urged enthusiastically. "C'mon guys! Trust me, I'm the Water element, I can sense when snow's coming!"

And so before they left, they all had gotten more suitable clothing for the winter. Heechul had insisted on choosing for most of the group. Who would've ever thought he was a fashionista at heart? Not that fashion mattered though, they were in a war. The weather was still durable without winter attire, so most of them had theirs tucked away in their bags. 

"Wait, how do we get into Incheon exactly?" Donghae zipping up his backpack. "Aren't there soldiers guarding the Seoul border?"

They were moving by daylight today, which was slightly weird considering how many times they'd travelled by night. Donghae wondered how they were all able to not muck up their temporal sleep patterns. It was strange. Whenever he wanted to sleep, he could, whenever he didn't, he didn't. This was considerably surprising seeming at one time he had slept for a full night then was made to sleep again a few hours later.

"Good point," Sungmin hummed in acknowledgement. "He's right, the border will be guarded, how would we get past?"

"I don't think the security there is as high as around the north and east," Kyuhyun noted. "Not as high near the south either."

"I just hope we can get through," Henry sighed with a slight shake of his head. "It's going to be hard, and even before we do that, we need to plan what the hell we're going to do once we're in North Korea..."

"We'll work it out when we get there, well, when we get to the train thing," Kyuhyun shrugged nonchalantly as the group of four walked outside. "And besides, we're twelve people with superpowers, I'm sure we could kill a few soldiers if we needed to."

"In a port containing thousands of soldiers? Don't you think we'd be a little outmatched?" Henry raised an eyebrow sceptically. "They'd have weapons and stuff remember... And immediate access to reinforcements."

"Yeah, yeah, I get your point," Kyuhyun frowned as he looked over the rest of the people already outside. "Hey, where's Leeteuk? And Han Geng and Jongwoon?"

"Leeteuk dragged them off somewhere," Heechul was examining the point of his whip. "He was pretty excited though. Must've found something useful..."

Kyuhyun nodded and sat down on the ground, the large blade of his scythe making a wicked shadow that towered over his own. The long staff pressed against his back, dipping into his left shoulder. Donghae sat beside him while Henry and Sungmin walked over to Heechul and Siwon. Ryeowook, Eunhyuk and Zhou Mi seemed to be talking in a group a few metres away. Figures. All the light and heat energy elements, they'd stick together. 

He was pretty sure Zhou Mi and Henry were having a secret stare-off though...

"Who are your cognates?" Donghae asked curiously, obviously having seen him looking over at the trio. "Mine are Heechul and Siwon."

"That's why he doesn't try killing you then," Kyuhyun joked with a huff. "Jongwoon and Heechul. But he hates me. Which makes no sense really..."

"I don't think Heechul hates you..." Donghae puffed out his cheeks. "In fact, I don't think that he really likes anyone. He's just a little cautious. Maybe he's not comfortable with himself. He erased his own memory y'know."

"He did?"

"Ask Jongwoon about it." 

"Jongwoon?"

"Yeah, don't you know what he gets up to? I though he was your informant," Donghae laughed looking at Kyuhyun's astonished look. "I swear he's talked to half of us here about deep and meaningful stuff at least once."

"When Jongwoon talks idly, it's only to give information or give input," Kyuhyun mused softly. "If he's talking in a group discussion, he'll put his hand up for permission to speak. If he's speaking to one person, it's generally for his own or my benefit. Or their own, if he thinks they're broken enough."

"Does that mean he looks at us like we're all pathetic?" Donghae asked sadly. "Does he think we're all broken?"

"We are all broken," Kyuhyun sighed as an answer. "Sometimes I think Jongwoon is the most broken of us all."

"But he seems so stable, physically and emotionally," Donghae knitted his brow in confusion. "Like he doesn't have any weakness."

"He doesn't look it does he?" Kyuhyun admitted with a gentle smile. "Good old Jongie, always staying strong for everyone else. Yet never for himself."

Donghae was cut off by the loud screeching and dust clouds caused by the braking of three open-roofed jeeps, camouflage, small and agile.

"Look what we found!~" Leeteuk grinned from the first one as the dust cleared, Han Geng in the second and Jongwoon in the third. "Get in! This'll make out trip much faster!"

"Where the did you find those?" Eunhyuk yelled, slightly scared, slightly in awe. 

"They were abandoned, well, we aren't sure," Han Geng smiled lop-sided. "They weren't occupied though."

"Which means we have to hurry," Jongwoon sighed, looking at the others. "C'mon, three in each car, let's go."

"Eunhyuk, Ryeowook, Zhou Mi, come on, you're with me I've decided!" Leeteuk gestured to the back seats before calling back to Han Geng and Jongwoon. "We'll stop a bit from the border! I'll give you a signal! Try keep up!"

The three he had called were already seated when he said that. Soon he had raced away, swerving through the abandoned streets and disappearing around a corner. Han Geng looked determined, like it was a race now, and he wanted to win. He accepted the challenge.

"Siwon, Heechul, Sungmin!" He announced. "Get in, we don't want to lose him!"

Siwon and Sungmin hopped over the doors and into the back seats while Heechul had the passenger seat. The Air element looked back at Jongwoon through the metal frame. 

"See ya there, yeah?" He grinned with a playful streak. Jongwoon got time to nod before Han Geng slammed on the accelerate as raced off after Leeteuk.

The Darkness element looked towards the remaining three with a quirked up lip. His eyes flickered purple before he announced. 

"Master Kyuhyun-"

"Wasn't planning on going anywhere else buddy," Kyuhyun smirked as he ran over to Jongwoon's vehicle. "Donghae! Henry! Let's go!"

The said duo rushed to the back seats before Jongwoon tightened his grip on the steering wheel and pushed his foot down on the acceleration pedal, gaining speed and zooming across the asphalt. 

---

A/N:

Hello again!

And OMG, we've hit over two hundred subscribers!

Two hundred guys, two hundred!

I'm so happy! I would've never thought a story like this would get so many subs and I am just squeeing with happiness right now!

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration (I can't squee), but I'm still really happy!

I have to say, but without the prompting comments on your guys half, I would've never updated so much.

Moving on from that celebration;

I've gotten another chapter in for you guys!

So, next person on our 'Inner Thoughts List' is...

Jongwoon!

Enigmatic, mysterious, secretive, strange, the one we've all wanted to know so much about, his inner thoughts are finally about to be displayed for you to see.

Quick reminder if you didn’t memorise what was written in the previous chapter (Don’t worry, I haven’t either, just using the copy and paste technique and adding a few alternations, haha): Each sentence has a person’s name next to it. The person whose name is there, is the person that Jongwoon is ‘talking’ about (He’s talking in a way that it sounds like he’s immediately talking to them, but he actually would never say these word to them). RED means a hostile relationship, BLUE means a positive one, and GREEN means an unsure or unsteady one. Underlined means Cognate (Friend, similar element) and bold & italicised means opposite (completely contrasting, opposite powers, e.g. Water and Fire). Any name that's got both colours in it means the relationship between those two people is kind of teetering between the two statuses. Parentheses (Brackets) with any text in them are what a person thinks about them, but doesn't directly express (e.g. Sungmin -> Kyuhyun: "One step closer, and I'll gut you like a fish, sew you back together, and do it again. (You killed my brother you... You... You demon... Why?!)" <- This bracketed part is what Sungmin doesn't clearly express towards Kyuhyun. If there are a set of parentheses (brackets) that have "..." like this -> (...) or have incoherent words (... You... why... I can... No...) <- like that, then the person has hidden or obscure thoughts about the other person (basically, if I didn't make them dots or random words, I'd be giving huge spoilers)

So...

Jongwoon:-

-> Kyuhyun: "I will humbly protect you with my life, Master. (...)"

-> Ryeowook: "I know, due to a mixture elemental and natural human behaviour, that you despise me. However, may I ask of you that you stop making it so perspicuous? While it is a component of your reflexes, it is rather tedious and vexatious to deal with.”

-> Sungmin: "At this rate, you and Eunhyuk-nari are going to, to colloquially put it, ‘play detective’ with me until you find out why I’m so ‘weird’. Honestly, I do not see what is so strange about my behaviour… Do I say some words wrong or something like that???”

-> Zhou Mi: "… Sometimes I wonder why I converse with you, or how you can tolerate me. We are almost opposites, therefore I find you strange. However, then I realise that, apart from Junha, you are probably the only person I can have a conversation with. Without being killed.”

-> Henry: “Do correct me if I am erroneous, but I am sensing emotions similar to apprehension being emitted towards me from you. While we are not opposites, cognates, or cognates of opposites, I cannot see at what I’m doing wrong when trying to communicate with you.”

-> Eunhyuk: "I know that my idiosyncrasy is considered to be somewhat ‘peculiar’ around here, does not mean you should be trying to discover what it is that makes me as such. You are way too curious for your own well-being. Secrets are made to be kept you know..."

-> Donghae: "I cannot tell if your favourable personality towards Junha and I is genuine, or a deceptive scheme used to get close to us and gain information. Why you would need such knowledge without asking is unknown to me. So I am thinking that is improbable…”

 -> Leeteuk: "While you are not on bad terms with my Master, and I am inclined to help you under his order, I can still not let my guard down. I am well aware of what elemental instinct can do, therefore cannot fully trust you due to your relationship (opposites) with him.”

-> Han Geng: "I have been and am currently debating whether you are suggesting that we have a rivalry. Due to your attitude and mannerisms towards me, it appears as if you are emitting enmity. However, I am unsure… Further observation is required…”

-> Heechul: "Do stop with the hostile behaviour. While I can see that you’ve had undesirable childhood circumstances, I wish to engage in a conceptual exchange without you telling me to go die in a hole (or something along those lines)."

-> Siwon: "...(Why won't he talk to me?)"

Yep, very blunt and straight-fowards Jongwoon is, he's one more for words than for gestures or expressions. Not much to hide, except for his secrets with Kyuhyun, but that's their's to keep confidential. But it's also their's to share. And maybe, if we're lucky, Jongwoon might just do that...

See you guys later!~

Love you all ^^