**Long A/N down bottom. Juuust a warning :) enjoy!

Oh and btw, 'Gem' in pronounced with a hard 'g' sound. Like goat. 

It was early morning in a sleepy mountainside village, moon still hanging in the eerily still sky- some, though, were still awake.

"!" A dull thud almost echoed as the man was shoved back against the alleyway, chin snapping up on impact. His breathing was laboured, pants hot and uneven, hitting his assailant's cheek as they leant in to teasingly meet his burning gaze.

She lightly dragged siren-red fingernails down his exposed neck, and another low growl left his throat.

"," he repeated gruffly, "I swear, if you-"

"Hush." One by one the brassy buttons of his shirt were popped open, then the worn linen pulled off his broad torso altogether. His eyes watched with a sort of hazy anticipation as she pressed a fleeting kiss just left of his heart, ignoring the standard grime of a traveller adorning the skin there. Goosebumps prickled up his shoulder blades ominously.

"Patient, patient," she cooed playfully, before craning her neck to crush her lips messily against his own. His eyes fluttered shut, reciprocating with fervour, but her's remained open. Those bright red nails dragged teasingly over his ribcage.

Palms flattened against his chest, she pulled back to meet his gaze as she slid them slowly down. He bit his lip, watching, smirking, goading her on in husky tones.

"That's it," he whispered, nodding encouragingly. His heartbeat spiked at the feel of her palms, the caress unlike anything he'd ever really felt before. He thought it felt good- but maybe bad? It was hard to tell, so he chose to ignore the nagging tug in his stomach.

She chuckled, the sound throaty and rich, hands coming to a stop just atop his bare navel. Then, she dug those long, red fingernails easily into his stomach.

In an alleyway outside a long-closed pub; in this sleepy mountainside town, there was nobody awake to hear his screams. Perhaps it would've been wiser to listen to his gut- but curious people weren't ever wise, really, only reckless.

Zitao was decidedly agitated, and had been since early that morning- too early for Luhan's liking, for that matter- when he'd mercilessly ripped the covers off at them and snarled for them to "haul their lazy backsides into the van, stat." No exaggerations, that was what Luhan had woken up to.

Scathing remarks were tossed carelessly about, and the Seer wasn't picky about whom they reached either (although Luhan swore he was a smidgen gentler with JinJu). Even Kris couldn't avoid his merciless attacks, looking rather stunned in his usual passenger seat after just one hour. Zitao was either completely without remorse or otherwise occupied, as he drove with his brow creased and ears mostly unhearing to what was going on around him. Luhan noted that he looked nervous, tapping his fingers jerkily against the wheel as he drove, and worried himself for a little while over the possibility of yet another attack. Then he remembered they had Kris with them, and bothered with the notion for no longer.

From what Luhan had seen, having Kris around basically equated to invincibility.

One thing was for sure, at any rate, and that was that Luhan was more than happy to be finally getting out of the minibus. It'd been around three weeks that they'd been travelling day in, day out in that thing, and Luhan was honestly surprised he hadn't developed some weird mutation in his legs from lack of use. And if Luhan was happy, Xiumin was ecstatic. Sick with apprehension at the thought of boating, yes, but his exaltation at leaving the bus far outweighed it. At least he could move around on a boat, he reasoned.

Xiumin had been somewhat of a pariah since their encounter with the tracker, in the sense that everybody avoided him, even Jongdae to an extent. Nobody knew what'd happened that night, perhaps not even Zitao (and if he did, he was being awfully tight-lipped about it) but it'd scared them all. Chanyeol couldn't seem to be able to even look at him without going into a sort of panic, puckered skin hidden behind a bandage on his cheek tingling as though the gash was of Xiumin's doing. 

He remembered those eyes, the glowing, rich orange irises, and they had goosebumps prickling at the bottom of his spine. That entire night was terrifying, like some kind of nightmare you only remembered in jagged, fearful flashes, and looking at Xiumin was like reliving the dream, over and over again.

Suho had been looking increasingly more ragged as the week had progressed. That night, he sat himself in the seat behind where an unconscious Xiumin lay, watching timidly, but attentively, as Kris worked on the gaping bite in his arm. He barely got any sleep, taking it upon himself to watch over the Shifter- and yet, when they'd both awoken that morning, he'd closed up. Isolating himself in the middle of the aisles, he spent days bouncing a curled knuckle against pursed lips as he silently gathered his thoughts. Sometimes Luhan would look over and see his lips moving minutely, like he was talking to himself. Since then, the Shifter had dubbed him as crazy. To everybody else though, Suho just looked like a man struggling to deal with a fair bit of turmoil.

"You know, I've never seen the ocean before." Looking unfazed, Baekhyun somewhat tiredly focused his gaze upon Chanyeol. "It's weird- I've never even seen it, but apparently I'm going to be on it by tonight. Don't you think that's weird? I think it's weird."

The Skinwalker sighed. "No, you told me before that you've never seen the sea before, it's not that shocking. What's weird is JinJu's face, and the fact that you have literally been babbling for the past twenty minutes." Baekhyun squinted at Chanyeol, leaning in close. "Are you, by any chance, nervous?"

A light hue tinged Chanyeol's cheeks, but his demeanour remained otherwise unaffected. "Maybe I am." He arched an eyebrow, "I feel like it's only natural... I mean, I've never seen this thing before, and it's a bit-"

"What's wrong with my face?" JinJu, seemingly slow on the uptake today, turned to face the two with a sharp glare. Baekhyun instinctively flinched away.

"Well, I mean..." He gestured to the glass, reflective in the relative dim of the overcast day and indeed clearly showing him her surly face. "All I can see here is you frowning, and then, sometimes you face does this weird twitch-" he attempted to mimic it, and JinJu positively glowered, "- And you know, I just think you look slightly... Ill..." He trailed off, noticing her expression, then coughed awkwardly. "So, uh, is anything wrong?"

She held steely eye contact for a few moments, before breaking away with a sigh. "I just... I don't know. I don't feel right, you know?" As she turned back to the window, Baekhyun thought she looked kind of helpless. Chanyeol, however, saw in the reflection how her gaze minutely flitted to Zitao, and came to his own conclusions. Needless to say, they didn't make him happy at all.

It was a few hours after midday when they finally arrived in Morn, mentally battered and blue- Zitao didn't get any less ruthless as time progressed. He'd quieted for an hour or so in the middle there, perhaps regaining energy- for when he picked back up, he did so with gusto.

Zitao had successfully sold the bus to a secondhand dealership, fast and with a suspicious lack of hold ups, and had everyone removed their luggage. All of their luggage. For JinJu and Chanyyeol, this was no problem, but with everybody else it gradually became more difficult. Ranging from Xiumin, a light traveller, to Sehun, who looked like he had decided to bring his entire wardrobe plus the disassembled structure itself (and he had a walk-in-wardrobe, so you can only imagine the ridiculousness of the entire affair).

Zitao took one look at the multiple and varied types of luggage, all in a regal emerald green, and snorted derisively. "That is disgusting," he spat, as though he were looking upon something filthy and putrid, and Sehun cast his eyes downwards. "What could you possibly have in there, anyway?"

Sehun mumbled a small, "Stuff," and Zitao turned away in scorn. 

"Whatever." He began to stride away, Kris blinking once before hastening to follow him. 

"What's up his ?" Jongin muttered in half amusement, half incredulity. Sehun grumbled a few indecipherable curses under his breath as he hastily attempted to stack his many pieces of luggage and follow after the others, who'd begun to slowly trickle out of the car park.

Battered weapons bag clanging over one shoulder, uncared for tote of clothes over the other, JinJu strode with purpose after Zitao. Lower lip taken firmly between her teeth, she struggled to no avail to find a reason for said Seer's sudden moodiness. The currents suspects were seasickness or fear of boats, perhaps fear of ports... But for whatever reason, it didn't feel right. He didn't seem like the type, or rather, there was something about the nonchalant way he'd approached this voyage that made her firmly believe the case was otherwise.

So, she was determined to get to the bottom of it. And perhaps fix it.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun stumbled behind her, the Walker tugging at Chanyeo'ss elbow in an attempt to slow him down as he, in turn, hastened to catch up with JinJu, most probably to stop whatever conversation was about to ensue. 

"Zitao." Finally, she fell into step with him (much to a disgruntled Chanyeol's discontent), and received a short grunt in reply. Kris, who'd been walking beside the Seer, silently slowed down so as to leave them alone. No matter how unprejudiced he'd convinced himself that he was, he still wasn't ready to partake in conversation with a Defective, not yet.

Meanwhile, the Seer seemed to lengthen his strides in order to evade her. JinJu bit back a smug smile as she quickened her pace yet again- in her books, long legs didn't necessarily equate to superior speed. "Zitao, stop trying to get away from me, I need to ask you something."

His expression didn't change. "What do you want?" he asked quietly, in obvious displeasure. 

"Well, uhh..." JinJu floundered for words, not necessarily scared off by his tone but rather surprised at the 180 degree change in personality he'd seemed to undergo overnight. "Have you got a boat organised for us? Or..."

"Yes."

JinJu blinked.

"Zitao, is something wrong?" She was met with no answer, just stony, sulky silence. She pressed him further, "Have you seen something in the futu... threads, or something? Are- are we going to get attacked again?"

Zitao breathed tersely out his nose, and JinJu worried that she'd crossed the line. "No. No, I didn't see anything," he told her quietly, voice suddenly mellower. That hostile edge was gone, replaced instead by a hopeless, lost sounding undertone.

"So, uh... You're just nervous, then?" She scratched at her temple, shifting her eyes to Zitao's distant-seeming profile, then back in front of her again.

He frowned visibly, carding his fingers roughly through his hair. "Something like that, I guess."

"Huh." They kept walking, JinJu taking in her surroundings eagerly. She'd never been to a port, and while it wasn't the most glamorous of places it was still new and intriguing. The houses were varied, the places ranging from modest and wooden to sprawling and stylish - it was easy, though, to see that no Defective lived here, or at least not in these parts. Perhaps there was a slum somewhere, but certainly not around these parts. This area was strictly Walker and Shifter inhabited.

The strangest scent hung in the air; salty and fresh, it tantalised the Defectives with its mystery, the subtle smell so different from anything else they'd experienced before. It was kind of like fish, but then it was the polar opposite. Where fish was overbearing and repulsive, this was pleasant. For JinJu, at least.

"What is this?" She murmured, ignoring the faded retching noises Jongin was making as he trudged beside the forever-disgruntled Sehun and his small village of luggage. She figured he was exaggerating again, as did Zitao. It wouldn't exactly be surprising.

"Ah, that's right." Zitao kicked at a rock on the ground, "You've never seen the ocean before, have you?" 

"Nope. Is this what it smells like seaside?" If this was what it'd be like boating, JinJu would actually enjoy herself. Maybe.

"Not really." She pouted, and the Seer scoffed. "Don't pull that face, it's not all bad. This is the smell of the ocean, so it'll be like this when we're out at sea-" JinJu shivered a little at the thought, "- but when we get a little closer to the port, it's absolutely rancid. All fish and rotting waste and-"

JinJu winced, "Okay, I get it. You can stop." 

The conversation dropped back to silence at that point, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as before. Behind them, Kris walked alone, dragging his heels dejectedly as he went. 

Not completely unaware but not exactly paying attention, Kris didn't notice the person behind him quickening. Their footsteps were drowned out by the roll of suitcase wheels all around him, and the obnoxious rattling of the Defectives' weapon bags; he caught on only when it was too late, the newcomer falling into step beside him.

"Hey." Softly spoken as always, Xiumin nodded at the Walker. Kris didn't know what to make of his presence, in all honesty, didn't know what to make of him. He didn't shun the man though- as unlikely as it sounded, Kris could be very sympathetic. Xiumin had been isolated for days now, everybody alienating him to the point that it was worse than their attitudes to the Defectives. They were scared, and such a reaction was completely understandable... However, despite this Kris felt oddly sorry for Xiumin. 

Kris cleared his throat, inconspicuously glancing over at Xiumin. "Did you need something? Is-" he eyes flitted briefly down to the shorter man's shoulder, "-I mean, does your arm hurt?"

Xiumin shook his head, pursing his lips as he stared fixedly at the road ahead. "No, my arm's fine. I've got questions," he said carefully, as though thinking about each word before he spoke