Tao's POV

The robin dropped me off in the middle of a small clearing, and I noticed that we were far enough away from the rocky cliff that no other robins would come after us. She spared me? I'm not going to be her lunch?

I looked at her in awe, wondering how the hell I managed to befriend the third most dangerous animal on Xiumin's list by simply crying at it and speaking gibberish. This robin's chest feathers weren't blue anymore, or even red like before all this. Her feathers were slowly turning golden. Weird. Cool, but weird. What did that mean? A small spot of orange discoloration appeared on her snout too, though that didn't spread anywhere else.

My little hyena buddy stuck it's head out from behind my armor to study her with big blue eyes. Deeming it safe, it crawled out and sat atop my shoulder comfortably, an ape-like hand clean like a cat. Aren't Earth hyenas closer to dogs? I didn't know, didn't care. I survived.

How did I survive again?

Wow.

With a last screech and a snorty kind of huff that said “This was a one-time thing”, the robin took off. A single golden feather floated down from where she once stood. In a daze, I picked it up to study and keep as a mini trophy of this weird conquest.

Blowing out a sigh of intense relief, I stood up and assessed my surroundings. It turns out that little journey took me just a little closer to the set coordinates on my map. I'm a little ahead of schedule.

That's good.

Still feeling dizzy from that emotional rollercoaster, I sat down with a thump onto the ground (was this clay or just really tough dirt?), needing a minute to catch my bearings before setting off again.

***

Kris' POV

“Where's Tao?” came Kyungsoo's voice, urgent and confused as he asked this question again and again to anyone he came across in his search.

I could hear it coming closer to where I stood, watching Baekhyun struggling to keep up with all the changes to the computers since the last time he had worked in the main room. Sehun didn't seem to be making things any easier for him, gloating smugly whenever his friend got it wrong and taking lazy breaks in between typing to make more awkward PDA's with Yixing. It had been entertaining, but I had to leave quick or else I'd be caught and questioned about Tao.

“Have you seen him anywhere?” asked Kyungsoo again.

“I haven't even seen my boyfriend since I've been moved.” Baekhyun snapped. “Now shush! I'm concentrating.”

Quietly, I slipped away, trying to leave without being noticed. It was easy enough, as Kyungsoo's anger flared up at being shushed and he quickly put the culprit in a headlock.

I made it to the halls without being seen. Before the alien could come back, I went through the nearest door, smacking the walls uselessly in an effort to get it to move faster. This is the creature lab. Kyungsoo might still check in here, but I didn't have the time to find somewhere better.

A small furry something jumped at my leg, crawling up to reach my thumb. Well, there's one hyena, but how come there weren't any others coming after me? Whatever. Counting my blessings, I scanned the area for a good place to hide, already hearing quick footsteps outside the door.

“We'll find him, we will.”

Crap, what was Xiumin doing in here?

“That damn panda...” came Luhan's sniffly voice from somewhere to my right, so I went left, before finding out there wasn't anything to hide behind that way. Now what?

The door opened up behind me and I jumped at Kyungsoo's voice. “Is Zitao in here, Kris?”

Luhan's head peeked around an aquarium of cyclops fish-like things. “Kris? Kyungsoo?” Swiping at his eyes, him and Xiumin came over to talk. The rest of the hyenas were clinging to him tightly. “I haven't seen Tao in days. You really haven't seen him either?”

“No, and he needs his next shot!” the alien panicked and ran his hands through his hair. “I already tested out what happens if he goes without it on myself. The subject first becomes very emotional, then begins to feel achy and irritable, you know, more so than usual. In the next two hours or so, Zitao will go from irritable to depressed, seriously depressed. We have to find him,” he said firmly, leaving no room for argument. “I don't have a way to make the withdrawal symptoms any better yet, and it is awful, trust me. Chen had to take care of me when the depression hit. I couldn't do anything for myself.”

“That ing sad panda doesn't need to be any more depressed!” Groaning, Luhan pushed everyone outside to begin searching again. “If he kills himself, I'm blaming you!” he shouted to Kyungsoo.

***

Tao's POV

Days have gone by. Many days. Just how far away were those map coordinates? It hadn't seemed so far when I started.

I'm surviving somehow. I walk, eat, write, and sleep, all the while bugged by a little mass of lavender fur and big blue eyes. The headaches come and go, sometimes striking painfully enough that I missed the shots given to me by Dr. Creepy-cute.

Today, I didn't feel like moving much, which is problematic because I'm pretty sure I haven't moved much yesterday either. My limbs felt like lead weights and lifting them hurt. Sighing, I lay down on a safe-looking spot of ground and stared at the sky.

What happens if I find Kai and Suho and they're in some kind of trouble? If they can't get out of it, then how am I supposed to help? What if they're already dead and gone, eaten by something big and monstrous so even their bones can't be found?

This mission was pointless.

***

Kris' POV

Tao told me to cover for him, but this was an emergency. I told them everything I knew about his departure, and Xiumin punched me in the jaw before Luhan could even start yelling. That hurt, but I deserved it. How could I let him go, all alone too?

We were crowded around the computers while Sehun tried to find pod and helmet signals, coming up with nothing. “If Zitao brought a helmet, he turned off the signal. I can't find him-”

Luhan grabbed the front of the alien's suit, shouting at his face to keep trying or to find some other way to find him. “None of you understand!” he yelled, flailing when I pulled him off the poor guy. “Tao will kill himself! That won't think of anyone else that could possibly be affected by his death!”

“Xiaolu, calm down. We're doing what we can.”

“I can't be calm, Minnie. That selfish panda was everything I had all those ing twelve years. Kris and Lay were too busy drinking and ing their problems away, and all I had was that stubborn , suicidal bastard at my side. You don't even know how many times I caught him with pills in his hand, just staring at them-”

“Why didn't you say anything?” I asked, alarmed. I'd never heard anything about Tao wanting to kill himself.

“He ing told me not to!” Luhan practically screamed at us. “And I couldn't lose the trust of my only friend- !” He slammed a fist into a panel of buttons, causing Baekhyun to panic.

“You humans are so dramatic.” he snarled, fingers flying to fix whatever Luhan had messed up. “Always cheating, killing yourselves, and swearing like sailors. Loudly, I might add.”

“Why didn't anyone notice Tao leaving?” asked Kyungsoo over the angry insults Luhan threw at the nosy alien. “Don't we have alarms on all the doors?”

“The door did open a few days back.” Chen walked away from where he typed to answer. “But it opened twice. I assumed it was Chanyeol getting a reading from outside or something-”

“Chan-Chanyeol!” stuttered Baekhyun suddenly, pounding his own fists all over every button in sight before we could control him. “He ing left too, didn't he?!”

“Hold up, either Tao or Chanyeol could have left and come back in-”

“I've been wondering why he wouldn't leave his lab anymore. It's because he's not ing there anymore- agh!”

Curious, Chen tried sending a message over to Chanyeol's lab, only to be greeted with an automated video message saying that he was busy and Suho didn't want him getting distracted. “Did anyone check how many helmets were missing?”

“Two.” reported Sehun. “.”

“Don't swear; you're too young.” said Lay immediately, as if it were some kind of reflex.

Luhan gave him a tired look, probably too drained to tell him that little Sehunnie wasn't little anymore like he always did. Instead, he pulled Xiumin into a worried hug. “What are we going to do?”

What were we going to do? It was a good question.

Wait, was it my turn to talk now? As leader of the humans or whatever? Was this the time to step in? Because I imagined the moment to be less stressful.

“W-We need to send out a search party.” I stated, trying for an authoritative tone. “Not just for Tao. Those guys have been gone for too long without putting up their signals. Who's in charge after Suho?”

Sehun looked around the room, thinking. “Xiumin?” he guessed with a shrug. “He's oldest.”

“Seriously? You guys never thought this through?”

“Suho never leaves anywhere. We were all surprised when you chased him out.”

“I didn't chase him out.” He chased himself out before I could even talk to him properly. Sighing, I turned to Xiumin for help. “Look, you can't keep us in the dark forever. We know there's something more going on that you guys aren't telling us. We have a right to know and we also have a right to be worried. You've been teaching us a lot about your planet and we're willing to learn more. Just tell us what we can do to help bring them back-”

“I did it! I hacked into Chanyeol's lab!” shouted Baekhyun in triumph, watching his screen intently before scowling and shouting out various obscenities. The image of the lab he brought up was completely empty.

***

Tao's POV

The light of day faded away and I was still on the ground, falling deeper into my thoughts of uselessness and pointless attempts to make things better when nothing could help. Kai was dead. Suho was dead. Taemin was dead. How I wasn't dead yet was a miracle.

A miracle? It's a miracle to be alive when Kai was most likely dead? Was it really such a good thing not knowing for sure whether he was gone or not and having to stick around to find out even though it could be impossible to find even his bones anywhere? I could search for years in this hell and never find him because he didn't exist anymore.

I should give up. There's no way Kai survived any of this.

The hyena who followed me all the way out here should just abandon me instead of trying to bring me little gifts it found in the wild and piling them next to my head. I'm beyond hope. I can't be cheered up. My last hope was gone.

Kai was my everything. My whole life was built around him. I just wanted to grow old with him – why was that so difficult?

Pulling up the map on my helmet's eyepiece, I searched for the nearest lake. Walking into one of those would ensure a speedy death, right? Xiumin said even the cameras they sent couldn't survive long enough to get good footage. I sat up and was ready to go, when the hyena jumped onto my lap and looked up at me with wide eyes, holding out a single golden feather.

“You're right.” I said with no emotion, taking the feather and running a finger over a soft edge. “I still have something to hold onto. I can't die yet.” Sniffing, I brought the feather to my chest and tried to focus on everything I couldn't leave behind. I owed it to that robin to try.

I promised Taemin that I would tell him the real story of our alien visitors. I still had so many stories to share with Suho.

They might be dead. They probably are dead.

I can't leave Luhan. He's my best friend, and wasn't I his?

He has Xiumin to take care of him.

My parents...

They have their own lives without me. I'm plenty old enough to leave them.

I promised myself that I wouldn't die before when all hope seemed lost in those twelve years without Kai. I endured every one of those twelve years somehow and see? I found Kai again. I spoke to him and saw him smile. Even twelve years of sorrow was worth those small moments.

I need to make another promise. Even if this was useless, even if this took my entire life, even if I'd never see another humanoid again, even if hope doesn't exist, I couldn't kill myself. There might be more moments or if not, I could create them in my writing at least.

Also, I had an alien hyena who was absolutely nuts over me. How could I leave this little guy on his own?

Looking at the feather again, I almost smiled. Almost. I'm not sure my face understood that now was a time to feel a lot better and move on with my life. I stood up, swaying as my heavy limbs insisted I flop back down again.

This was really difficult, I realized, trying to walk with my supplies on my back and nearly colliding into everything in sight. Eventually, I did collide into something. A sticky something. A slimy, sticky something. “This again.” I sighed, still without much feeling as branches wrapped around my middle.

“I found you!” came a deep voice I never thought I'd hear ever again. The tall alien with ears that stuck out on his head practically bounced on the balls of his feet while walking over, so completely happy at everything that ever existed, ever. “Wahh, you were hard to find.” said the alien named Chanyeol.

He followed me out here?

Who the hell was this guy?

***

Kai's POV

My head was in Suho's lap while he smoothed out my hair again and again. Jonghyun, Kibum, and Onew always discussed things quietly, every once in a while shouting at each other for not being good enough to break out of this mess. Sometimes they cried. Sometimes Suho and I cried. It was hard to think that there was any hope for us.

The headaches came and went and now all I wanted was to lie still and never move again. Suho wouldn't let me. He made sure I kept eating. I couldn't see the point.

“Shh...” Suho paused to wipe away tears I didn't even feel from my cheeks. “It'll get better, Kai. You only feel this way because you haven't had your shot in a while. Think of Tao.”

How could I think of Tao? He must be miserable. I didn't even get to say goodbye.

It was hard to think there was any hope for us. Why, you ask?

Well, we've been in this cage for a few weeks now and the SHINee division still hasn't been able to get us out. Then again, our captors' technology was better upgraded than we thought. I might never see Tao again.

What did they want with us?