So they were travelling. Not that that was news to anyone. It felt like that was all they did anymore, and it was. At least they were getting closer, they were making progress heading around Pyongyang on this mountainous path. Kangin seemed like a nice enough guy, he was beginning to feel sorry for all the hassle they'd initially given him. Now they'd reached a skinnier part of the track, they all walked in single file. Kangin at the front, Kyuhyun and Jongwoon at the back (last time he'd checked). He shook his head as he carefully treaded along, allowing the snow to freeze him to the ground whenever he felt unstable. Which happened a lot more than ex-

"-Ah..!"

"Henry?" Leeteuk turned back to look at him, surprised at the sudden outburst. "Are you okay?"

"... Yeah, don't worry about it..." Henry shook his head, observing his hurt hand. "I just was using the cliff as support and placed my hand on a sharp bit... It's fine."

Leeteuk stopped, letting some of the others go ahead (with difficulty, it was barely a two-man path) to examine Henry's hand. It was bleeding a lot, more than when he'd seen it last time. Must've been a pretty decent cut. Leeteuk frowned at him and began taking off his backpack, going on about disregarding things which were actually important. But to be honest, there were probably more important things than his hand. He didn't ignore them, he just had priorities. Just like the rest of them.

"Henry, this could get seriously infected, and you know I can't do infection!" He braced himself as Leeteuk began a lecture. "And I don't like to scare you, but in a worst-case scenario, we would have to-"

"Hey Leeteuk," both he and Leeteuk turned to see Zhou Mi walking back towards them, the others continuing. "Uh, my hand has just suddenly started to really hurt and I'm finding it slightly concerning..."

"... Huh? Where?" Leeteuk asked curiously, pulling a bandage from his bag whilst looking back at the Fire element. Henry couldn’t see anything.

"Left hand," Zhou Mi pointed at his said hand, in the exact same place as Henry was hurt. 

"Huh?" Kyuhyun approached them, having caught up from his place at the back. "What have we got here...?"

"It appears that Zhou Mi-nari and Henry-nari are experiences forces of sympathetic empathy," Jongwoon popped up from behind them, making everyone jump, even Kyuhyun. Well, Henry guessed that no one could ever get used to that. "Henry-nari has injured himself, Zhou Mi-nari's body, in turn, has responded."

"Sympathetic Empathy?" Henry scrunched his face up.

"A biological warning/defence mechanism which was previously use by the Guardians in order to understand what state their opposite was in should they not been there," Jongwoon explained punctually. "It hasn't been used since the middle of the fourteenth cycle, as the Guardians found each other easily and didn't separate. However, now that this has sparked up again-"

"It is a little concerning..." Kyuhyun finished, hand on his chin his imaginary beard. 

"Why would this be happening if we were together then?" Leeteuk frowned, wrapping Henry's hand. 

"A question we are all eager of the answer," Jongwoon mused softly. "Nothing has come of it. Shall we continue to ignore it, Master?"

Henry felt a little uncomfortable with the fact that Jongwoon even had to ask whether he was allowed a certain opinion or not. 

"I guess," Kyuhyun shrugged nonchalantly. "What's the point in worrying about something that isn't really having an effect on us?" 

"My sentiments exactly."

"Well, there we go," Kyuhyun sighed walking along. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's probably for extra protection- telling us to not get injured, I guess."

"I don't know..." Leeteuk muttered quietly as the two walked ahead, packing up his things. "It seems strange for something like this to just pop up now..."

"Who knows? Weird stuff happens to us all the time," Zhou Mi shrugged shoving his hand in his pocket. "So there's nothing I can do about this?"

"No, not until Henry's body doesn't register the pain... I guess," Leeteuk shook his head. Adjusting his backpack he looked back at the Fire Element again. "I'm really sorry I can't do anything about it."

"It's not really something you can control," Zhou Mi smiled, letting the eldest male scamper ahead. He turned to Henry. "You okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Henry cradled his injured hand slightly. "Don't worry about it... Uh... I'm sorry..."

"Like I said, not something you can control," Zhou Mi started making his way across the path again. "It doesn't feel like it hurts too bad anymore... Does it?"

"No, you're right," Henry smiled, despite the fact that Zhou Mi was in front of him and couldn't see. "The pain should go soon, Leeteuk chucked some painkilling stuff on it."

"That's good," Zhou Mi nodded with a hum. "Just be-"

Suddenly Zhou Mi halted and Henry had to abruptly stop himself to prevent bumping into him. Before he could question why, Han Geng came flying up to them. 

"What's happening?" Zhou Mi asked cautiously. "You're telling us to stop???"

"Yeah, looks like there's something suspicious up ahead," Han Geng looked around. "Kangin's stopped us so he can go take a look. Said it's better if we wait a bit before-" 

All three of them jumped when they heard Kyuhyun scream pierce through the silence, so loud that Henry could sense a couple of avalanches would happen if it were any louder. 

"KANGIN NO, IT'S A-"

Then the ground gave way underneath him with an ear bursting bang and Zhou Mi and him were sent sliding down the mountain with a shower of bullets following them. The Fire element and the Air element both disappeared from his sight, the snow falling over him- an avalanche caused by the explosion. Henry couldn't make sense of anything, it felt as if he'd gone deaf and his vision was flooded with white. He kept rolling and rolling, crashing down into the bushes and trees that lined the bank, the muffled noises he could hear becoming fainter and fainter as he got further from the track. 

Trap

It felt like hours until he finally stopped, then the layers of snow came and covered him. His body ached and throbbed, physically and mentally exhausted even if he hadn't done anything. Panting, he closed his eyes, unable to move or scream out. 

And everything went black. 

---

When he awoke again, he was in the same position, ears still ringing from the noise which had shattered his eardrums. It didn't look like he'd broken anything, but he'd say he'd bruised himself badly. Really badly. Resisting the urge to pass out again, Henry pulled himself out of the snow. It surrounded him in fluffy mounds, the mountain track completely destroyed with no trace of anyone, soldiers or Guardians. Night had fallen, and the entire area was littered with broken trees and shattered rocks. Feeling around him, he felt that his backpack was still attached to him, but his baseball bat had been lost in the havoc. The backpack was much more useful, so Henry felt some instant relief knowing it was there.

He'd lost everything. They'd lost everything. All twelve of them had been together, in Pyongyang, ready to take down the NK Empire. But then they'd bet them. They somehow found them and shot them down. Henry was alone now. He didn't know where anyone was, much less if they were alright, or even alive for that matter. Fear rushed through his veins, his heart racing at what felt like ten thousand beats a minute. 

He couldn't yell out. What if someone else was there? What if a soldier was there? Henry covered his mouth with his hands to stop himself from doing so as he squirmed his was on to the surface. His shoulder was killing him, the pain near unbearable, his arm felt as if it were pinned at an awkward angle and his head was pounding. He checked over these areas, but none of them seemed to be that serious. His ankle had definitely rolled again. But... What the hell...?

With a sinking feeling in his gut, he remembered. Looking down at his bandaged hand he began to feel sick.

Zhou Mi

"Sympathetic Empathy," Henry gasped, voice choked and tears streaming down his face. "Zhou Mi... Zhou Mi..." 

Desperately, Henry began to scrabble at the snow around him, using his powers to assist him in digging up huge amounts of it. But he was too panicked for any of it to be effective. Shaking, he toddled along awkwardly across the snow, using the surviving trees as support. Choked sobs escaped him as he stumbled along, his bad ankle making him trip and fall often. He had no sense of anything anymore, of time, of direction- he was completely lost. His arm suddenly popped back into place, and he screamed in agony.

When the tip of an arrowhead was pressed to his cheek, hard enough to draw blood, he found himself unable to yell out again, instead just collapsing in defeat. 

"Henry...? Oh God, Henry!" 

He was drawn up into an embrace, arms wrapping around him so tightly he couldn't breathe. Reassured that this person wouldn't kill him, he hugged them back, crying into their shoulder in grief. They pulled back, looking into his eyes. And Henry could recognise from the glow that it was a friend. More relief rushed over him. 

"H-Han Geng gege..." 

"Henry... Henry..." Han Geng breathed in disbelief, chucking the arrow away. "Oh my God... Oh my God... What... What... How.. How?!"

"W-We've lost everything hyung!" Henry cried, gripping at his singed coat. "We've lost everything! Everyone... We can't... We can't..."

"Henry, Henry, Henry, no," Han Geng shook him, despite he was also hysterical. "Don't say that. We're... We'll be... Fine. We're gonna be- Oh ," he must've been very panicked, because Han Geng hardly ever swore. "You need to help me. It's Zhou Mi-"

"Z-Zhou Mi?!" Henry stammered in manic relief. "Is he okay?! You know where he is?!"

Han Geng said nothing, dragging him closer to where they were knelt to a prone body. The shirt had been removed and ripped up rags covered the right shoulder and head, but blood still leaked through. His neck and jaw had been splattered with red too. His skin was warm to the touch, but nowhere near warm as usual. It was freezing compared to his normal. 

"I'm... I'm sorry Henry... I've done everything I can..." Han Geng stuttered brokenly. "The bleeding is manageable for now... I don't have any bandages... But... And... And his arm seems to be right now but... But he won't wake up... I don't know... I don't know how long we've been here but... But.. But..."

Henry looked at him before wrapping his arms around him again. "Thank you... Thank you... We need... We..."

"What..?"

"We can't stay here, we need to go..." Henry panicked, gently starting to put on Zhou Mi's shirt again. "Did you find anything? Food? Stuff? Stuff?!"

"Both our bags, don't know how good the stuff in them is," Han Geng held them up. "Zhou Mi's archery bow I can't find. Should I take the arrows???"

"Yes. Everything. That's fine. That's fine... That's fine that's fine..." Henry finished buttoning up the older male's shirt before looking at Han Geng again. "He needs to be warm. We need fire. He needs to be warmer to heal... Shelter... We need shelter..." 

Henry was trying to haul him up, but buckled under the weight and his bad ankle. Han Geng immediately came to help, both of them supporting him with their shoulders. The eldest wasn't flying though. Too weak. Probably injured too. 

"Go down the mountain," Han Geng gestured towards the snow banks. "You go first... Maybe... Maybe you can make a cave or something...?" 

"Yeah, yeah, good idea..." Henry nodded. "You can take him?" Han Geng  huffed in affirmation. "Okay,"

Henry gently released Zhou Mi and stumbled down the mountain quickly, digging up snow with his powers again, seeing if there was any kind of shelter, or any suitable place to dig a cave without the snow above collapsing on them. But all he found were useless rocks and broken trees and weak snow hills. Soon he was searching pass the point of the avalanches, and edging towards the bottom of the mountain.

A loud screeching made him dive to the left, behind a large boulder. He could only hope that Han Geng had been able to do the same with Zhou Mi. Henry gasped, squinting when two blinding lights raced past. Holding a hand over his mouth, he watched as the large, sleek vehicle zoomed away from him with a loud whirring. Once gone, he walked back to where he'd been before. They were right in front of the train tracks. He hadn't realise they'd made their way down so far.

He stopped when they were right in front of them, looking back to see Han Geng awkwardly clambering down the hill with an unconscious Zhou Mi by his side. The Air element was visually drained; he needed to be fast if any of them were going to survive. Digging up the snow around them, as he toddled about he kicked something unusual. Kneeling down, he found a... Wheel? Something too spherical to be natural.

Excitedly, he brushed the snow off the area more and sighed in relief. With all the remaining strength he had left, he pulled it up and after a good couple of minutes straining himself, it opened with a groan. Han Geng arrived soon after, able to guide Zhou Mi in with air currents before the two clambered in themselves. Henry shut and locked the trap door behind them. He froze it shut for good measure.

It was a bunker. Must've been unused for ages, everything was covered in dust. But there were beds and a fire and fire stuff and it was a shelter and it was dry and Henry decided it was paradise. 

"Fire. We need a fire," Han Geng muttered, once again hoisting Zhou Mi up and dragging him towards one of the beds. "Get the fire going. Go. Go. Go."

Henry didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled to the fireplace, scrunching up some old paper which had been left there and chucking it in the hole in the wall. Then he added some smaller, flaky bits of wood. And dried pine needles. They worked well. There was an old lighter sitting on the mantelpiece. Not really expecting anything to happen but hoping for the best, he flickered it. And it burnt his freezing fingers, making him yell and drop it immediately. But it worked! It worked!

"Han Geng!!!" Henry gasped deliriously. "The lighter! The lighter works!!!"

Once again, he cooked his fingers another couple of times before managing to light the paper in several spots. He remained by it until he was sure it wouldn't go out, then placed two big logs on it. 

Now somewhat more calm, adrenaline ebbing away, Henry finally registered the throbbing pain in his ankle. Collapsing, he groaned out, pulling off his tramping boots and socks. Oh yeah, that was bad. That was bad. It had swollen up massively, mottled black and blue. Was it broken??? He couldn't tell... Ahhhhhh... Rummaging through his backpack for anything to help, he hissed through the pain.

"Stuff... Stuff... Stuff..." Henry mumbled to himself, dragging everything he could out of the bag. "OH."

He dragged out a packet of something pill like. Leeteuk distributed medical supplies throughout all the bags just in case they got lost. Which is, essentially what had happened. Was this painkiller??? Oh, yep, it was. The label told him. He swallowed them dry. 

"Henry!!! Henry!!!" Han Geng dashed into the main room. "Zhou Mi is bleeding again!!!" 

"," Henry muttered under his breath, putting on his sock and removing his other boot. "Coming!!!"

Henry supported himself on the mantelpiece, before hopping to the bedroom with his bag. Maybe there was something that would help...?

Han Geng had Zhou Mi lain out on one of the six beds, shirts and snow jacket removed once more (which couldn't be good seeming the bunker was like an icebox). The entire contents of his and Zhou Mi's bags had been spilled, Han Geng seemed to be flitting around panickedly. 

Oh, and it looked like Zhou Mi was bleeding profusely over everything. 

Han Geng turned back to him. 

"Um... Um... Bandages???"

"Where? Where???"

Han Geng rummaged through the mess he'd created and held up a roll of gauze triumphantly. Now with the bandages in hand, he seemed to be able to think and react more clearly.

"Okay. Okay okay okay," Han Geng hummed to the sleeping male. "Henry... You can control liquids, yeah?"

"Um. Yes," Henry blinked.

"Can you redirect Zhou Mi's blood back into his body???" Han Geng asked, using one of the rags he'd found to try clean Zhou Mi's red soaked chest. "Just stop it from leaking out so much or something maybe???"

"I think so..." Henry approached, kneeling next to Han Geng and holding his hands above the blood. 

He had his doubts, seeming he was the Water element and had no idea whether blood fell under the category of water. But it was best to give it a shot. As he concentrated, the liquid started to slowly trickle back into the wound. Han Geng grinned happily at him and clapped but Henry felt some resistance in the flow of Zhou Mi's blood.

"Han Geng," Henry furrowed his brow. "Does Zhou Mi have an exit wound?"

Han Geng frowned. "No. I don't think so... Wait, why- Oh..."

The bullet was still inside him. They both realised this fast.

"We need to get it out," Han Geng immediately started going through the miscellaneous items on the floor. "How do we... Ah! Yeah! That's perfect!" 

Han Geng came back with a pair of tweezers in a plastic bag. It must've been a pair from Leeteuk's collection of tools, Henry thought. He nodded, clearing the blood from the wound so Han Geng could get in and pull it out. 

"Got it!" Han Geng cheered as he slowly pulled out a small lead bullet from Zhou Mi's wound. "Shallow shot... Okay, now we can focus on this..."

After finally sorting out Zhou Mi (who still hasn't woken up despite all the racket and pandemonium), cleaning and dressing his wounds, checking over him, all that, they moved a couple of duvets to the fire and Han Geng awkwardly shuffled to lay him down beside it. The bunker was starting to heat up, as the fire had been going for a while. But it wasn't going to be warm enough to remove their winter clothing until the morning, probably. Both of them walked back to the sleeping room, looking at the mess on the floor.

"Right," Han Geng sighed, leaning up against one of the bed frame. "Let's sort this out... We'll see what we have," he blinked. "Tip out your bag too, we'll do a sorta supply round up."

Henry nodded and spilled the contents of his bag into the combined mess. Han Geng immediately went to the box of painkillers. 

"Oh my god, you have these?" Han Geng gasped, opening it. "And pretty much a full pack too! Yes! This is great..."

He got two more identical boxes from the mess and put them aside, Henry did notice that both of those boxes were only about half full. Henry pulled out two of their drink bottles from the pile, both which seemed to escape unscathed. A big relief, because there was still water in all of them.

All up, they had two and a quarter packs of painkiller, two drink bottles half full of water (plus an empty, broken one), a couple of rolls of gauze, some weird cream stuff in a tube, millions of muesli bar wrappers, Han Geng's sleeping bag, a spare shirt and pants for each of them, some really weird, long coil of white stretchy stuff (when... What... How...?), a pair of scissors, lots of pieces of paper with writing on them (Henry couldn't read them though, they were all in Chinese), Han Geng's shuriken-knifes, Zhou Mi's arrows and a pack of gum??? 

"Well, it's not too bad..." Henry sighed, somewhat relieved. 

"Henry, we have no food..." Han Geng stated bluntly. 

"We have a pack of gum and painkillers."

"Gum isn't sustainable, and painkillers are for pain."

"I know, I'm in denial." 

"We'll go looking for food tomorrow I guess," Han Geng hummed. "Do you have anything in your pockets?"

"No."

Silence filled the room for a minute, and it was perhaps because neither of them knew how certain their futures were anymore.

Henry shook his head sadly. "We were so close, Gege... How are we going to find the others now...?"

Han Geng looked downcast, blinking over their measly pile of supplies. "I don't know... I... I just don't know..."

Henry nodded, understanding. Han Geng stood, helping him up too. 

"You hurt your ankle pretty bad, didn't you?" He asked, holding him up. "I saw you walking down the mountain, the amount of times you fell and stumbled kinda told me," Han Geng dragged another duvet off one of the beds. "Come on, you're going to sleep. I'll take first watch."

Han Geng led him to the fireplace, where Zhou Mi was resting. Leaving Henry to stand by himself for a moment, he lay the now third duvet on the floor next to the Fire element. 

"Lie here."

Henry blushed. "Next to Zhou Mi?!"

"Yeah," Han Geng shrugged nonchalantly. "It's way too cold, even for you to be sleeping in that bedroom. And lying next to Zhou Mi just means more body heat. Even though he's injured, he's like, double warm than any of us."

Well. That did make sense, and he'd seen Han Geng sleeping next to Leeteuk with no problems so he was used to the idea. Guess he didn't think it was that weird. Henry sighed, and slowly lowered himself next to Zhou Mi. Han Geng then flopped the other half of the duvet over him, like a sandwich or something. 

"Hey."

Henry looked up at Han Geng as he gently tugged at Zhou Mi's cover, laying part of it over him.

"We'll get through this," he nodded firmly. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah... Yeah..."

"Goodnight Henry."

"... Night Gege."