Most of the others decided Youngjae and Kai had the right idea and joined the two boys in the river. Chanyeol and Daehyun were left sitting together on a small overhang above the river. “This much water makes me nervous” Chanyeol muttered.

“You just need to relax and not think about it” Daehyun said. “Or, as I said, maybe it's time for you to face your fear” he added. Chanyeol looked at him warily. “Just come stand near the edge with me” Daehyun said.

Chanyeol thought about it for a moment before standing up. He slowly and carefully moved toward where Daehyun stood over the water. “See, it's not so bad” Daehyun said.

Before Chanyeol could respond the ground beneath him broke away. He grabbed the first thing in reach trying not to fall. It happened to be Daehyun's arm that he grabbed and his weight dragged both of them into the water. Daehyun managed to make his way back to the surface.

“That's deep” he gasped as he broke the surface of the water. He looked around, expecting to see Chanyeol nearby. He realized pretty quickly that Chanyeol wasn't going to make it out on his own. He took a deep breath before diving down to the rescue.

He found Chanyeol panicking near the bottom. The water around him was hot and, despite the pain, Daehyun grabbed onto his arm. Daehyun swam as fast as he could toward the surface. As soon as they reached fresh air, he made for the shore.

Chanyeol was coughing to clear his lungs of the water. “Th-thank you” he gasped.

“I guess we could call it even now” Daehyun said.
Himchan saw Daehyun dragging Chanyeol out of the river and ran over to them. Suho saw it too and was close behind Himchan. “What happened?” Himchan asked.

“We fell into the water. Daehyun saved my life” Chanyeol said. Himchan was surprised as he looked at Daehyun.

“When I figured out that he couldn't swim I couldn't just leave him” Daehyun said.

“Near death does change a person” Suho said. Himchan nodded in agreement as he looked back at Daehyun.

“Your hands!” he exclaimed, grabbing Daehyun's wrists. “They're covered in scald marks! What happened to them?” he asked worriedly.

“Chanyeol was probably panicking. He doesn't do well with water and we lose control when we're in a panic” Suho explained.

“It's not that bad” Daehyun said, wincing as Himchan inspected his hands. Himchan sighed as he dragged Daehyun back to the group.

“Whathappened?Whathappened?Whathappened?” Youngjae asked enthusiastically, almost too fast to understand.

“It would seem that Daehyun's changing” Himchan said.

“He rescued me from the river” Chanyeol told them.

“Wow, you're a hero!” Kai exclaimed.

“Yeah, an injured hero, let him sit down” Himchan remarked.

“Really, I'm fine” Daehyun lied as the pain became more noticeable.

“Where? Let me see” Lay said.

“His hands, they were scalded” Himchan said, allowing Lay to take a closer look.

“Yeah, Chanyeol and water don't mix” Lay stated. He took a couple moments to look over Daehyun's hands. “Luckily, it could have been worse” he said, “and it's not hard to fix.” With that said, he healed Daehyun's hands before there eyes.

Daehyun winced slightly as he did. Those who hadn't seen Lay use his power before were amazed. “Whoa, were you born able to do that or do you get powers at a certain age?” Youngjae asked.

“A bit of both actually. We're all born with the potential, but our powers don't fully emerge until a certain age” Lay explained with a chuckle.

“Okay, cool” Youngjae said.
Late into the night, while most of them were asleep, Zelo lay awake. All he could hear was the rustling sounds of Emma shifting around in her sleep. She muttered a few things in her sleep. He couldn't understand what she said, but he knew she sounded troubled. He listened to her doing this for a few more minutes before being startled when she let out a scream that could wake the dead.

“Are you alright?” he asked, shuffling closer to her.

“Yeah, sorry if I woke you” she replied.

“I was already awake” he assured her.

“Okay” she said, hugging her knees into her chest and resting her chin on them.

“What were you dreaming about?” he asked as he slid his arm around her shoulders. Emma leaned into him as he did.

“It was just an old memory I thought I'd forgotten. I guess seeing Tao again brought it back” she explained. Zelo hummed thoughtfully.

“What was the memory?” he whispered into her ear.

“It was the last time I saw my brother, and the day I lost my parents” she responded. A few tears escaped from her eyes and landed on his shirt. He couldn't stop himself from her hair to comfort her.

“You saw them die, didn't you?” he said. She could only manage to nod. He gently slid both of them into a comfortable sleeping position. “If you need me, I'll be right here” he whispered, slipping his arm around her waist. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xiumin and Luhan met each other outside of Kris' chamber. “What do you think he wants us for?” Luhan said.

“Who knows, probably another plan to capture the prince” Xiumin answered.

“Or to rescue Tao, possibly even both” Luhan added.

“We'll find out soon enough” Xiumin muttered as he opened the door. They entered the room together cautiously.

“It's about time!” Kris spat. He'd been in a foul mood since losing half of his elite guard.

“What did you need us for?” Xiumin asked. Kris gave him an annoyed glare. Xiumin quickly fell back into silence.

“I wanted you because I have a mission for you” Kris said, once he was satisfied with Xiumin's silence. He glanced at Xiumin and Luhan before continuing. “I've had people tracking the prince and I believe there may be another opportunity to capture him” he said. Xiumin glanced at Luhan and gave him a smug grin.

“And there is a chance you may run into the deserters. If you do, bring them back, alive” Kris added. Luhan looked back at Xiumin and mouthed the words 'told you'. Xiumin rolled his eyes.

They returned to an attentive stance as soon as Kris turned around. “What are you waiting for? Go!” Kris commanded. Both men bowed before they turned around and left.

“What did I tell you? Both capturing the prince and rescuing Tao” Luhan stated.

“How does he expect us to pull that off though? Last time I tried to take the prince things went quite... sour” Xiumin said.

“I'm sure that's why he's sending me with you. I do have a new little trick after all” Luhan said, producing a small cylinder out of his cloak.

“What is-” Xiumin started to ask before several tiny blades filled the air in front of him. The blades had come out of the now empty cylinder in Luhan's hand.

“Pretty neat, don't you think?” Luhan asked smuggly with a grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Be proud of me, it only took a week for me to write a new chapter. I thought it was going to take way longer. So I'm developing a bit of a romance<3 in the story, I hope you like where I'm taking this ^^ and finally Daehyun isn't being a total . Not much of anyone else but adorable childish Youngjae and Umma-Chan the worrier^^

Pleas leave me a comment^^ SARANGHAEYO<3<3<3

Edit: I have to say this one of my favourite chapters because it's where you getto see some major character development for Daehyun^^