There was utter chaos around him, and D.O. felt completely in the way.

Across the war room, with people streaking about, shouting at each other, and relaying information, Suho was commanding absolute authority. He demanded from one of the nearby officers, “Get me that time estimate on the western zone! I want to know exactly how much time we have before the next city is hit, and if we have time to mobilize any of our special units in the area!”

“Commander!” Baekhyun shouted, catching Suho’s attention from his position over at a communications terminal. His voice was loud, louder than D.O. had ever heard him be, and that alone spoke volumes to the mess they were in. In fact D.O. wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Baekhyun get worked up over something other than Chanyeol.

“What is it?” Suho demanded.

Baekhyun held up a tablet and said, “I have the first official count of M troops. It’s been verified, Commander.” Not bothering with any secrecy, not in a room with everyone at the very top level of information, Baekhyun began relaying, “Five hundred M troops are near our western zone with at least a dozen specials in their ranks. There are an additional two hundred troops moving along the coastline, and an even smaller group of twenty five heading straight for us. For the capital, sir. All confirmed.”

D.O. glanced between Suho and Baekhyun. Those numbers couldn’t be right. They’d been under a complete red alert for just over a day, their cold war going suddenly blazing hot with the sheer number of M troops moving over the boarder. There was no way that M had those kinds of numbers ready to go in such a short span, adding to the number of soldiers from M already in K’s territory.

Suho was thinking the same thing, D.O. realized. And then the Commander said, “Five hundred, you said? That was the first number?”

“Five hundred,” Baekhyun said with a shaky nod. “And there are increased reports that there’s another group poised to cross the boarder before noon today. They look to be twice the number of what’s come across before.”

So this was an invasion. Well, it wasn’t that D.O. had ever doubted that they were being invaded, but it was completely different to think something, and then to know that death was marching towards them. D.O. knew it wouldn’t be long before Suho was ordering him to the front lines, and it was probably where he’d meet his death. D.O. was not so bold as to think he could take on the might of M and survive, not when M had more than enough soldiers to throw at them before they even unleashed their specials.

At Baekhyun’s announcement, things quieted a little in the war room. The air turned tense around them and fear was on the rise.

“What about the twenty-five headed here?”

At that question, D.O. saw Baekhyun actually pause.

Suho ground out, “Just say it, Baekhyun.”

“Yes, sir,” Baekhyun eased out. “The group of twenty-five, verified to be on a direct route to the capital, are assumed to be specials. They’re wearing M’s blue piping on the collars of their uniforms. Only their specials are designated in that way.”

D.O. took a step forward, his voice carrying out, “M has twenty-five specials to send our way?”

In the whole of M and K, each side only had around a hundred and fifty men and women with special abilities. Mama’s gifts were rarer than rare, and not everyone with gifts chose to join the military on either side. It seemed unreasonable that M could spare twenty-five of their elite to the capital.

Suho turned back to D.O. and met his gaze. “Of course they do. If they strike us here, at the capital, they could effectively end the war in one felled swoop. They’re playing a tactical game with us, trying to use the other troops as a distraction.”

In agreement, Baekhyun said, “These twenty-five were spotted on accident, and just barely at that. A civilian reported the group to us. We wouldn’t have known about them until they were right at our front door, otherwise.”

D.O, argued, “But if they’ve had this tactic all along, why wait ten years to implement it? They could have ended this war a decade ago. Why did M wait until now? Did they really need a valid excuse to invade?”

Baekhyun made his way to D.O.’s side as the conversation kicked up around them once more, people going back to their tasks.

“It’s a simple matter of economics,” Baekhyun explained to D.O.. “The war has been a boost to M’s economy. It’s produced a lot of jobs for them, boosted morale, strengthened their currency, and done just about everything opposite to what’s happened to us here in K. They’ve kept the war going because it’s a benefit to them. But eventually they must have known it had to come to an end, and they seem to be willing to risk everything on the gamble that they can take us down.”

Gruffly, Suho added in, “M is also a monarchy dictated by the people. The king has all the power, except if the people feel he doesn’t have their best interest at heart. They can call for a vote of no confidence, and if the pressure is there, the king might be asked to step aside to someone else in the royal line. I have no doubt the king kept the war going for so long because the people were enjoying the perks, and he didn’t want to be ousted in favor of his much younger, much more popular son.”

That had never made sense of D.O.. Why bother having a monarchy, and enforcing the superiority of that line, if the people could simply remove a monarch? Maybe it had more to do with giving the people the impression of power. D.O. didn’t think for one second that if the king was pulled from the throne, and the prince put in his place, that the king wouldn’t still be calling the shots.

More shouts came from the communications area of the war room, accounts of even more verified troops, and D.O. could see the reality of the situation starting to sink into Suho’s psyche.

“Baekhyun,” Suho said quietly, but D.O. was close enough to hear the conversation. “We have to stop those specials from getting to the capital. The people are going to come here, afraid to be out in the country by themselves, or along the boarder where a lot of the fighting is happening. We have to start pulling up our troop numbers to fight the incoming M soldiers, but we also need to defend this capital.”

Baekyhun tapped a few buttons on his pad. “Recent numbers estimate our levels at forty percent mobilization. We’re still waiting on many of our reserves to make it to their assigned posts and report for duty. Also, our turnout with the civilian population isn’t as high as we’d hoped it would be. I think a lot of them are under the impression that if they capitulate to M’s forces, they’ll be spared.”

D.O. said roughly, “I believe the neutral area should have taught them differently.”

With a firm hand to Baekhyun’s shoulder, Suho said, “I want you to coordinate personally the effort to split our troops between the warfront and the capital. You make the final call, Baekhyun, about who’ll be distributed where. You know the war better than anyone else. Myself included. This is the task for you.”

Looking a little pale, Baekhyun asked, “But what about you, sir?”

“I won’t have time to crunch numbers,” Suho said. “I’ll be going straight to the front.”

D.O. couldn’t help his burst of, “That’s too dangerous!” When he realized the intensity of his voice, he quieted, but pressed, “Commander Suho, we can’t risk you on the frontlines. You should be here, in the capital, protected.”

“Protected,” Suho snorted. “I don’t need to be protected, and it’s an insult of a thought when I think about our men and women who are out there right now dying.”

“But they’re not nearly as important as you,” D.O. said without compromise. “Baekhyun and I understand, and so does everyone else in this room, that some people are more important than others. I could die tomorrow and you’d be down a solider, but it wouldn’t be the same if you were the one to die. This resistance can’t go on without you.”

Especially since Suho had yet to name is successor. Unlike Suho, who’d been clearly next in line when the previous commander had been killed, there were several people vying for the position after Suho. D.O. himself knew that he could be considered a candidate, not that he had any interest in the post.

Suho’s successor, in all honestly, should have been Baekhyun. Baekhyun was smart--brilliant even, and could think circles around them all. He was a strategist, calm and collected, and had all the traits that a good commander needed. Except he wasn’t an officer. He was situated in a non-combative position and there was no budging him. That ruled him out right away.

D.O. just didn’t know why Baekhyun was so adamant about the situation. Chanyeol was likely the only person who did have some sort of clue as to why Baekhyun refused to become an officer. Maybe Suho did, as well, but it was too hard to tell. Baekhyun and Suho had the relationship of loyal friends, but nothing was certain.

Still, if something did happen to Suho, and K needed to forge on, it was possible that Baekhyun could contest the requirement of active military duty in a combative position. He had more than enough experience at war, even if he hadn’t been personally fighting.

“I will be with my soldiers,” Suho said, leaving no room for mistaking his intentions. “But even I realize that more than being your Commander, I’m a figurehead. The people need to look to me for guidance, and they’ll seek security in knowing I’m out there, doing what I can. Doing my best. I won’t put myself in harms way any more than I can avoid, but even so, I have to go.”

“I have to protest,” Baekhyun insisted. “You can maintain a base of operations here, sir, without compromising your ability to keep control of our troops on the battle field.”

An alarm blared behind them, but D.O. couldn’t recall what it was for. He was also too engrossed in the conversation in front of him to pay it much mind. It seemed like a new alarm was going off every fifteen minutes.

“Do you think those twenty-five specials heading our way are coming to take the capital building?” Suho asked Baekhyun. “No. Of course not. They’re coming to kill me, because I’m K’s commander, I have a dangerous ability, and without me our people will lose hope.”

D.O. frowned. “But do you really think that if you leave the capital, that they’ll divert?”

For the first time D.O. saw what looked to be the tiniest of smiles grace Suho’s face. “I don’t know,” the man answered honestly. “But it’s a hunch I have, and I’ll take any chance I can to keep at least some of our people clear from the danger.”

With a sigh, D.O. asked, “What about me? I haven’t received any official orders yet.”

It was foolish to think that he wasn’t being assigned to a position because Suho was giving him leeway with Kai.

D.O. was still determined to find out what had happened to his best friend. It had been days now since D.O. had lost contact with him, and the chances of finding him alive and well were dwindling. He needed to start his search as soon as possible, but the invasion had mucked up all his plans.

Once in a while, oddly enough usually when Kai was involved, D.O. felt like an . This was one such moment. K was being invaded. People were dying around them. And D.O. wanted to abandon the war to go hunt down his best friend who had likely been the cause of very invasion itself. felt like too kind a word.

With a side look to Baekhyun, Suho said, “I had Chanyeol stationed at one of our more accessible military bases not far from the neutral area. There are a lot of civilians reporting to that base, and I need someone with an ability there to protect it. And them.”

D.O. arched an eyebrow. “You had Chanyeol there?”

Suho did not look pleased as Baekhyun cut in smoothly, “He’s on special assignment right now, doing something that could potentially change the outcome of the war. It’s essential that he stay where he is.”

“Where Chanyeol is isn’t your concern right now,” Suho said, rubbing his brow in annoyance. “I’ll deal with him later. But for now you’ll take his orders as your own, and protect both that base and our civilian volunteers.”

That was that, D.O. supposed. He had to do what he was told, especially in light of the invasion, and there was no way he could do anything about Kai.

“I understand,” D.O. said, trying not to sound sullen.

“D.O.” Suho said, surprising him with the regret in his voice. “I know you wanted to search for Kai. I know what he means to you. Ka is important to me, too. But we have to recognize what our priorities are.”

Standing up straighter, willing himself to remain strong, D.O. gave a nod. “I’ll go and get ready to leave.”

D.O. left the war room quickly, side stepping a young officer who was nearly running to get through the doorway, shouting Suho’s name and waving a pad.

The mood outside the room was only slightly better. There was no shouting, and no talk of confidential information, but the people that D.O. passed all had a scared glint in their eyes, and they rushed along with shoes clicking on tiled floors. Some even looked to be evacuating, not that D.O. thought there was anywhere safe left to go.

Except …

There was one, long curve of land far out west, mostly uninhabited and completely void of technology. Those people, their number under a thousand, lived free from technology, and isolated from the rest of Exo. As far as safe places went, that island was probably the last place that M was looking to invade, but the inhabitants were fiercely protective over their limited space and rarely let outsiders in.

With a sigh, D.O. abandoned that idea and headed home.

Home was a small, single occupant room that D.O. had shared with Kai for years. They could have had their own space, and some times it desperately felt like they needed it, but ultimately they shared comfort in being so close. Neither did either of them have many personal belongings to take up space.

When the door to his quarters opened with a quick push he made his way over to the small closet without delay, bringing a small bag with him. He didn’t have much to begin with, but neither did he think he needed to take a lot. He didn’t expect to occupy Chanyeol’s position for long.

Suho said that the base was out of the way, located near the neutral area, and far away from where M’s attention was turned. It was extremely unlikely they’d revisit the area again quickly, not with their eyes set on the capital. But the base was the central hub for civilians looking to militarize. Eventually M would realize that some of the new forces they were coming up against, a handful of them with abilities, were being routed through the base.

It was inevitable that D.O. would shortly find himself locked in combat with some of M’s soldiers, powered or not. He’d defend the base until his dying breath, but even D.O. wasn’t brave enough to think that he had a chance if he was matched up against more than one opponent with Mama’s gift.

“D.O.”

At the familiar voice D.O. turned sharply, dropping his bag to the floor and spinning to see a pale, sweaty, shaking Kai collapsed against the bed. He hadn’t been there a second before.

“Kai!”

D.O. dashed to his side, tugging him into a sharp hug as relief flooded his body.

“Not so hard,” Kai breathed out harshly, looking like he might faint at any second.

“Where have you been?” D.O. demanded, unable to help himself as he hugged Kai a second time. Part of him had truly believed, but never dared to admit, that he might never see Kai again. “What the hell happened? And please tell me Suho is wrong in believing that you’re responsible for kidnapping the cousin of M’s prince!”

“Stop,” Kai groaned out, protesting the sharpness of D.O.’s voice. He pushed weakly at D.O. and then found himself tipping to the side, eyes closing. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

He wasn’t, but D.O. knelt by his side for a few moments with their trash bin just incase.

Then, when Kai looked just a little bit more steady, but certainly not recovered, D.O. repeated, “Where have you been?”

Kai cracked his eyes open, allowing D.O. to pull him up to a seated position. “Something bad happened, D.O..”

“I know,” D.O. grit out. “You stupidly decided kidnapping the guy who’s supposed to marry M’s prince was a good idea. Have you lost your mind completely?”

“Luhan,” Kai croaked out.

Trying to be patient, D.O. nodded. “That’s his name. Or was. We’re not sure.”

“What?” Kai grimaced but got his hands on either side of himself and sat more confidently.

“The prince’s cousin?” D.O. prompted. “He’s missing. How do you not know this? You apparently kidnapped him out of his very bedroom. There were witnesses, but I’m guessing by the fact that you’re here alone that you don’t have him. Did you put him somewhere? Please tell me he’s still alive.”

Kai argued, “I didn’t put him anywhere. And I didn’t kidnap him. I was trying to save his life. His own dumb bodyguard would have killed him, albeit accidentally.”

D.O. took a seat next to Kai. “What do you mean you didn’t kidnap him?”

With a knowing look of shame, Kai admitted, “Luhan and I have been … involved in a relationship for a while now. I used to visit him when his overbearing pig of a cousin would let him leave the palace, and when that stopped happening as frequently, he smuggled me into the palace so I could learn the layout of his bedroom and be able to teleport there whenever it was safe.”

D.O. leaned over and with a vicious flick to Kai’s forehead, shouted, “You are the stupidest, most thoughtless man I have ever come across in my life. An affair with the prince’s cousin? The engaged prince’s cousin? What the hell were you thinking?”

Kai rubbed his forehead. “I was thinking that he’s amazing, D.O.. He’s nothing like his cousin or those pompous, entitled bastards in M. He could be one of us easy, he was just born in the wrong half of Exo. He’s smart and compassionate and funny and absolutely gorgeous? Have you seen him? He’s beautiful.”

“I’ll flick you again,” D.O. threatened, not without seriousness to the threat. What the hell had Kai been thinking? Having a tryst with someone was perfectly acceptable, or maybe even expected, but never with someone from M. And certainly not with the person who was expected to get married to M’s prince. That was the kind of taboo that was unforgivable, especially in a time of war. “You idiot.”

Kai rushed to say, palming at the sweat on his forehead, “He was dreaming about me. And I mean for a long time, D.O.. Luhan has those kinds of dreams about people frequently. Prophetic to a fault. He was dreaming about me and the kind of relationship we’d have back when you and I were just entering the military. Years before I actually met him. So when he told me about them, I was curious about him. Our friendship just sort of happened, and we were attracted to each other from the start.”

“He’s someone completely unavailable to you!”

Kai chuckled. “He made himself available.”

“I can’t believe you.” D.O. surged to his feet. “We are being invaded right now! M has already marched more than five hundred soldiers across our boarders, completely wiped the neutral area off the face of the planet, and they’re on their way now to kill us all. Because they think you kidnapped Luhan! Where have you been all this time? How could you just sit back with your play thing and let this happen?”

This wasn’t like Kai at all. D.O. knew that love changed a person, but he’d honestly believed that Kai was above something so petty. To give up all his responsibilities and honor for the sake of a pretty face?

“What?” For the first time Kai looked completely serious. “What’s happening?”

D.O. tapped the communication device fitted into his ear and contacted Baekhyun. As expected, the man was too busy to pick up and the call went directly to a message system, to which D.O. said tersely, “Baekhyun, when you get this you need to come with Suho to my quarters right away. I have Kai with me right now. I’m trying to figure out where he’s been, but he doesn’t have Luhan with him and our problems are likely about to get even worse.” There’d be no point in trying to get in contact with Suho. The man never picked up his calls. Apparently that was what Baekhyun was for.

“We are being invaded,” D.O. said once again. “Now tell me how you didn’t kidnap Luhan.”

Slowly, and with some effort, Kai explained, “I was visiting him. We were caught by one of his bodyguards. I tried to teleport away--I had my lock, but Luhan got in the way, and I was being attacked all at the same time. If I hadn’t taken him with me, he would be dead and we’d really have an incident. But D.O., I lost my lock. I teleported on instinct when I lost my lock.”

D.O. couldn’t help drawing in a surprised breath. By all accounts Kai shouldn’t have even been alive. The lock was more important to a teleporter than anything else. Without a clear picture of the destination that they were teleporting to they could end up anywhere. Or nowhere at all. Lost forever.

“Where did you end up?” D.O. pressed.

“Near the coast,” Kai answered. “Where we used to go as kids. I think my mind brought me there as a failsafe to try and protect me. I must have been laying on the beach for a day before I woke up, and when I realized Luhan wasn’t with me, I panicked.”

D.O. could only sense the truth from Kai, and he was very good at reading his best friend. Plus, there was no reason for Kai to lie to him. “Why didn’t you come here right away?”

Kai’s naturally tan skin seemed to pale even further. “I couldn’t.”

“What do you mean you couldn’t?”

There was a beeping in D.O.’s ear, probably Baekhyun returning his call, but he ignored it. Kai was more important, and Baekhyun would come seek him out in a few moments, anyway.

Eyes to the floor, Kai looked pained as he admitted, “I couldn’t teleport. Every time I tried, I started to feel really sick. I couldn’t get a lock in my mind, and I was afraid I’d kill myself trying to get here. It took me this long just to make this one trip, and I feel like my head might explode. Or something worse.” Kai gestured down to his spent body. “I feel like I’ve just been in the worst fight of my life.”

“Do you think you damaged your ability somehow?” D.O. asked curiously. Some of them, the people with Mama’s gifts, were defined by their abilities. D.O. was proud of his ability to manipulate the ground underneath him, but it wasn’t something he relied on. And outside of battle, it was an ability that was mostly forgotten. The same couldn’t be said for Kai. Kai was the type to teleport from their room to the mess hall simply for the exercise of it, and because he claimed to like the rush he got when he used his ability.

Kai wouldn’t be the same if his ability made him weak and vulnerable, or if he couldn’t use it at all.

“You look sick,” D.O. observed, pressing the back of his hand against Kai’s forehead. “We should get you to the hospital. You look like you can barely stand.”

“No,” Kai snapped, batting D.O.’s hand away. “Where’s Luhan? What happened to him?”

It made D.O. feel useless to not have any answers for him. “We don’t know. The prince of M issued a statement to Suho not that long ago claiming that you’d kidnapped him and that if you didn’t return him in less than a day they’d start invading. We couldn’t find you, we couldn’t find Luhan, and now we’re days away from having M soldiers step foot in our capital.”

Kai a hand out to D.O. roughly, demanding, “Help me up.”

“I hardly think you should be getting up,” D.O. scoffed.

In a rebellious show, Kai struggled to his own feet, claiming, “Fine. I don’t need your help.”

“To do what, exactly?”

D.O. knew the look on Kai’s face. His friend was about to go do something stupid again.

“I’m going to find Luhan,” Kai declared.

D.O. gave Kai a shove, barely exerting any pressure at all. Kai flopped back on the bed anyway, exhaling loudly with a yell. “You are not,” D.O. thundered. “We don’t even know if he’s alive.”

“I know he’s alive,” Kai spat out. “You don’t know him like I do. He’s strong. He’s resilient. And it doesn’t matter where he ended up in K, he’ll be okay until I can get to him. I promised him if he was ever in trouble, I would come for him. I think this counts.”

Heavy pounding thudded against D.O.’s door as he told Kai, “Chances are, he isn’t even alive. You know as well as I do that it’s a fluke you survived losing your lock. He probably wasn’t that lucky. He could have ended up in space for all we know, or in a million pieces at the bottom of the ocean!”

D.O. threw open the door and Suho charged in, Baekhyun on his heels.

Heavily, D.O. sank onto the bed, his ears already aching as Suho began yelling.

It was another five minutes before the situation had been explained to Suho and Baekhyun. By then Kai was frailly leaning against the bed’s pillows and D.O. was starting to feel protective over him.

“He said he didn’t kidnap the prince’s cousin,” D.O. told Suho. “Stop making him repeat that part.”

“You don’t even speak,” Suho rounded on him, madder than D.O. had ever seen him. “You knew he was seeing someone, likely someone he wasn’t supposed to be. If you had come to me with that information right away, we could have avoided this whole situation.”

D.O. barked out a laugh. “There’s no way we could have made Kai stop sneaking into Luhan’s bedroom. Not now that he’s in love with him.”

Suho didn’t look excited at the mention of love, but Kai spoke up, “I do love him. I’m in love with him. Nothing you could have said would have made me stop. We knew the risks.”

“No!” Suho grabbed him roughly by the front of his shirt, “you understood the risk to your life if you were caught. You didn’t’ stop to think for half a second, too busy fulfilling your urges, to realize how something could happen to K if anything went wrong with Luhan. We’ve never targeted the prince’s cousin for a reason, you brainless, inconsiderate ant!”

His voice the epitome of calm, Baekhyun told Kai, “In the end, it doesn’t even matter if you kidnapped the prince’s cousin or not. M thinks you did, and there’s no evidence, other than your word, to prove otherwise. They’ve invaded us, more troops are coming in daily, and it is your fault.”

Reeking of regret, Kai said, “I am truly sorry this happened, but I won’t be sorry for my relationship with Luhan. I won’t say I’d take it back if I could, and I’m going to find him.”

“You can’t even get off the bed,” Suho said dismissively. He ran his hands through his hair almost frantically and said, “I should throw you to the wolves. Maybe the prince would think about pulling his troops out if I gave you to them with a decent apology.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. “I don’t think, sir, that would quite do the trick.”

The edge to Suho’s words were real, but their content wasn’t. D.O. knew better. Despite the mess that Kai had gotten them into, Suho would never give up someone he cared for, not when he was surely sentencing them to death and for nothing in return. M was already knee deep in their country and they wouldn’t be stopping until they either had what they wanted, or were pushed back. Giving Kai to them would achieve nothing except getting him killed, and they still needed him.

“We were going to stop,” Kai offered softly, hurt etched across his voice. “Luhan was supposed to marry the prince sooner than we thought, and I wasn’t going to keep pursuing him after he was married. I love him very much, but I was going to give him up. The night that I lost my lock and we were almost killed, that was going to be the last time I came to him.”

“Maybe,” Baekhyun wondered, “we could contact K. If we tell them that we have Kai, and therefore Luhan, we may be able to manipulate them to our advantage.”

“We’d have to take responsibility for the kidnapping then,” Suho reasoned.

D.O. added quickly, “We might have Kai, but we don’t have Luhan. We don’t even know where to start looking for him.”

“No,” Baekhyun agreed, “But we do have a chameleon at our disposal. We could fake having Luhan in our custody, and with any luck trick M out of our country.”

Suho ticked off his fingers, “The prince might be a petty, arrogant man, but he’s not stupid. He’ll want proof. He’ll ask our chameleon something that only his cousin would know. And furthermore, what would we do after M has agreed to pull out and we’re left with no hand to play? They’d be back in half a day and they would bring down even more havoc than they are now.”

Baekhyun said, “That’s not also the biggest flaw in my plan. K has cut all communications with us. We can’t contact them directly and our messages to them are being bounced back immediately. We’d have to be able to get through to them before anything else.” Baekhyun looked crestfallen. “Sorry. That was the best plan I could think of.”

Folding his hands over his stomach, Kai told the three men next to him, “I’m still having trouble getting a lock in my mind. And when I do manage it, it’s hard to hold onto it. Teleporting here almost killed me, at least it felt that way.”

“All the more reason for you to just lay there and think about the lives you’ve cost us,” Suho lectured. “You’re of no use now.”

Kai cleared his throat. “What I’m saying is that it’s hard, but I can still get a lock. And it’s easier to lock into the places that I’ve been before, with a lot of frequency. Like Luhan’s room in the palace. I’m pretty sure I could make it there without blowing myself to pieces.”

D.O. deadpanned, “How would that come close to being a good idea?”

“Because,” Kai said, and D.O. could tell Suho was at least a little interested, “You can’t get in contact with the prince or M directly to try and convince him that we aren’t responsible for Luhan’s disappearance …at least not for kidnapping him. But I can.”

“You can get yourself killed,” Suho corrected. “They’ll kill you the second you’re seen. No doubt they have your face memorized. There will be not doubt as to who you are and what your crime is. You won’t get two feet from where you teleport to.”

Kai reasoned, “The whole reason this invasion happened is because the prince’s cousin was supposedly kidnapped by me. We obviously know I didn’t do it, but this just proves how much the prince cares about Luhan.”

D.O. found himself shaking his head. No idea going down this route could be good. And he’d just gotten Kai back. He refused to lose him again.

“I hate that smarmy prince with every fiber of my being,” Kai said, “but even I can’t deny how much he loves Luhan. There probably isn’t anything he won’t do for him. He invaded a country for him. He must be just as desperate to find Luhan as I am, maybe even more because I know what happened and he doesn’t. If I go to him and I tell him what happened, and vow to find Luhan and bring him back no matter what, we might have a chance of stalling out this invasion.”

Suho’s head cocked. “Did losing your lock during teleportation completely fry your brain?”

D.O. offered, “It’s debatable whether his brain was fried before that.”

“I’m being serious,” Kai argued at the both of them. “I’m a teleporter. I can get out of there if he tries to kill me. But I have a feeling that he’ll want to know what happened to Luhan a lot more than he’ll want to kill me. I know it’s a risk. I know it’s a stupid plan. But it’s all we have and if there’s a chance in hell it’ll work, don’t we have to try?”

It must have killed a part of Kai to propose such an action. It was beyond evident to D.O. that Kai wanted nothing more than to hunt down the man he claimed to love. In fact, if he hadn’t been in so much pain and so exhausted, there was a chance Kai might have already gone off on his wild goose chase. But even if the plan sounded stupid, Kai wasn’t being selfish in proposing it, and there was something to be said for that.

Baekhyun tapped a few patterns out on his pad. “You can’t teleport without ending up like this. How are you going to make it all the way to M? And what if the prince attacks you, which is surely will? It seems ridiculous to assume that you’d be capable of making it to safety. How many words could you get out before he killed you?”

Kai rolled to his side. “The prince’ ability is flight. What is he going to do? Fly at me really fast?”

“Possibly,” Baekhyun said without humor. “But his dragon might rip you to shreds. There’s that to consider.”

“Oh,” Kai eased out. “I forgot about the dragon.”

Baekhyun said, “Just because the prince doesn’t let it out often, doesn’t mean it isn’t deadly. At the sight of the person who stole his cousin from him, it would be understandable that he might demolish half the palace with his dragon trying to take you out.”

Kai pushed himself up to his elbows. “I get that, Baekhyun. But I still think it’s worth a shot.”

D.O. watched Suho shake his head. “Even if you were able to overpower the prince long enough to make him listen to what you wanted to say, aren’t you forgetting the time manipulator?”

D.O.’s own memory called up a picture of the stern faced bodyguard that followed the prince everywhere. Tao was beyond deadly, and took no chances with the prince’s life. Kai might have had a chance facing down the prince, but not Tao. In fact the only person that D.O. would put money on winning against Tao, would probably be Suho. Suho had the strongest ability with the best control out of everyone in K.

“I’m going,” Kai stated. “I might be weak right now. I might just get myself killed. But I’m going. I’m going to try and make this right. And if I survive, the next thing I’m doing is going to find Luhan.” D.O. watched the defiance in Kai’s eyes as he stated, “I know this means you’ll have to discharge me for going against your orders. I understand that I’ll be dishonorably discharged, and if I return to K I may even face criminal charges. But Suho, I am going.”

In a sudden move Suho knelt down to Kai’s level, covering his nearby hand. “Please rethink this. If you stay here you can help us fight K. If you go you’ll be signing your death warrant. I won’t be able to help you, there’s no protection I can extend to you, and you’re effectively tying my hands.”

Kai nodded shakily. “I’m fully aware of everything that can and might happen. I accept it.”

Dead silence mucked up the air in the room.

“Sometimes I really regret being your friend,” D.O. said, watching Kai flinch away from him.

“D.O.,” Kai whined out.

D.O. ignored Kai, turning instead to Suho. “I’m going with him. If he doesn’t get us killed transporting over there, he’ll have a better chance of explaining things to the prince if I keep Tao distracted. I’ll act as a buffer for as long as I can.”

“You can’t,” Kai protested.

“I can do what I want,” D.O. shot back, “just like you seem to do. So be quiet and let me tell you, we have never not had each other’s backs. We came to the military together. We fought in the war together. We cover for each other and comfort each other, and even if you didn’t trust me with Luhan, I trusted you enough to keep your secret. It bit us in the , and part of me guessed it would from the start, but I still kept it. So if you’re going to go off and get yourself killed, then I will be there with you to the end. And you will not tell me otherwise. Do you understand?”

Wordlessly, Kai nodded.

Suho offered to D.O., “If you go with him, it won’t only be Kai who loses his status and position in the military. You have more promise in an officer than I’ve seen in a long time, D.O.. I know you want to protect him, but you should be completely aware of what you’re doing.”

It was no easy decision, but then again, nothing with Kai ever was.

“I do,” D.O. assured him. “And this is what I’m choosing to do. Plus, what happens if I let him go off on his own and nothing comes of it? I’ll be dead in less than a week anyway when K gets here. This is a good shot, even if it’s a stupid one.”

Baekhyun added, “I’ll be in the war room, monitoring for incoming calls. If you get through to the prince, you contact us right away. I’ll be waiting.”

“Come on.” D.O. offered a hand down to Kai. “We don’t exactly have time for you to rest and get your strength back, do we?”

Kai accepted the hand, telling him, “Luhan was always very careful not to give too much away about the palace. I think even though he trusted me, he wanted to be extra careful. But there’s a passage that runs from Luhan’s bedroom to the prince’s. Luhan told me they’d use it when they were kids to sneak into each other’s rooms when they were scared or lonely. To the best of my knowledge, no one knows about that passage other than the prince and Luhan, and it hasn’t been used in years. If we go through it, we might actually be able to bypass Tao completely.”

D.O. let his fingers slide tightly through Kai’s. “Okay. Sounds like a plan.”

Suho and Baekhyun took a step back form the pair, the commander imparting, “I can’t endorse this, your oath as officers demands that you stay here and this will be considered desertion. But personally I wish you all the luck in the world. Don’t screw this up, okay?”

“Yeah,” D.O. sighed out, giving Kai the go-ahead. “We’re going to need some luck. A lot of it, actually.”

Then they were gone.