Heyy everybody… long time no see? I’ll explain my absence in the A/N, but for now just wanted to quickly, briefly recap the last chapter:

A few bonds have been formed amidst team members; they are Zitao’s family home in Athe, where his brothers and father are training them all up. In the last chapter towards the end, Sehun, Jongin and JinJu were attacked in the forest. Xiumin heard something of concern, and Zitao briefly checked at the gym (where the trio were supposed to be) and found nothing.

So, without further ado…

*edit: sensing some confusion; will post a more in depth recap probably by the end of the day.

A half hour later, the group convened once again at the dining table. It was unusually silent; nobody could really bring themselves to speak. At least half were on the verge of tears.

The forest had been searched twice over, but Xiumin's sense of smell alone would have been able to tell them off the bat what they most feared. JinJu, Jongin and Sehun were gone. Taken. Kris had immediately taken the shape of some bird— type indiscernible in the darkness— and had gone to search, perhaps intercept them on the road. The rest sat around the table in solemn silence, praying he'd return with good news.

Chen eventually came to join them along with Jun, the pair wisely refraining from speaking. What seemed like mere seconds after their emergence, a loud thump sounded from somewhere just outside the room, and four men were scrambling to the door simply as a gut reaction.

Zitao wrenched it open and promptly swore. Kris was slumped over at his feet, his grey shirt stained with blood just underneath his armpit; he lifted a feeble arm, and after a moment's pause, Zitao and Lay were hauling him up and supporting him into the house. 

Chen was already reentering with a first aid kit as they lowered him onto a worn sofa. "Bastards had arrows," Kris panted, wincing as his upper body was lifted and shirt pulled off. "Head's still in the— !" 

Chen smiled grimly, bloody tweezers brandished with the arrowhead glinting underneath a thin layer of blood pincered in between. Kris glared at the thing for a moment, before hissing again as Chen prodded none too lightly at the space just underneath his ribs, already reddening with a bruise.  "Lay, finish this off," he instructed flippantly, retreating to the kitchen with the stained tweezers still in hand. Lay blinked, then nodded, practically tripping over himself to get to the bandages and antiseptic.

Chanyeol had been distraught since he'd caught Xiumin dashing out of the house, Zitao hot on his heels-- the latter only had to mention JinJu in passing for Chanyeol's feet to be moving on their own, propelling him towards the forest. There was an ominous twist in his gut as they searched that told him she wasn't going to show up, and her absence was the only coherent notion in his head. 

He really didn't mean to push Kris. The guy had been stabbed, and if Chanyeol was at all in his right mind, he would have backed off a little. As it were, however, he'd lost control. Eyes wide and rimmed with red, he took shaky steps towards the cramped couch upon which Kris lay, fingers shaking at his sides (not that he really cared). 

Lay stepped away for a brief moment, the bandage thankfully completely applied and wound cleaned, and then Chanyeol was occupying the space, looming and looking, for all intents and purposes, quite unstable. Kris blinked hazily up at him.

“Where—" he broke off when his voice broke, coughing a little. "Where is she?"

The room stilled. Everybody was worried, save for Kyungsoo, perhaps; Chanyeol had asked the question on everybody's lips. Just what had happened out there? Luhan had hiccuped and stumbled upon seeing Kris' condition, because what did that potentially mean for Jongin? And for his cousin? Sure, Sehun rubbed him the wrong way, but that didn't mean he wanted to see the kid dead.

Chanyeol shuffled closer, insistent. "What did you see?"

Kris sighed, painstakingly hoisting himself up into a semi-sitting position. "They were in a van. Postal delivery one. I swooped down to look in the windows, but they were too tinted, so I broke through the windscreen."

Zitao coughed. "You did what?"

Kris shrugged. "It's less impressive than it sounds. Anyway, they were laying across the back, all out cold. I changed— it usually works because the stunt send everybody into a panic— but it was a risk nonetheless. Long and short of it, I was trying to eliminate the driver when the man beside him stabbed me with an arrow. Then I was hit on the head and pushed out."

"Of the moving car?"

Kris winced across at Lay, who looked disbelieving as he packed up the medical supplies. "It was moving slowly, you know, because there was glass everywhere. But yeah. Moving." He winced again.

"I could go after them now," Baekhyun interjected almost frantically. "If you lent me that bird pelt... or even Suho, he could go and—"

"We can't take that risk." Zitao's voice was firm; he'd probably considered going himself, after all, so the pros and cons had no doubt been contemplated. "We've lost three. They evidently have a bow, which means they could shoot you out of the sky, and they'd definitely be on the lookout after that little stunt. We cannot afford to take that risk. Splitting up any more, at this point, is not an option. We're stronger together."

By then, Chen had re-entered the room, studying Zitao with an expression none too encouraging. "Are you sure that's wise, son?" he asked quietly. "Some still need to train more. You aren't all ready for what's ahead. Send out a party to get the lost three, while the other stay and train some more, get that edge."

"No." Chanyeol, whose eyes had taken on a glimmer of hope at Chen's proposal, looked shattered once again at Zitao's words. "That's not going to happen. We will all leave first thing tomorrow morning, together."

"Where?" Xiumin asked quietly. "Where will we leave to?"

A pause hung heavily in the room, and then Kris was hissing again as he lay back down.

"Sundassa," he croaked. "I can't tell you where exactly, but I heard... Sundassa."

"Then Sundassa we go."

Zitao then sent the other traipsing up to bed; they all looked exhausted, especially those that tried to argue. Chanyeol had to be tugged up by Baekhyun who, on his part, looked on the verge of a breakdown; Zitao watched them leave one by one, then turned reluctantly to face his father.

"I don't think you're doing the right thing," Chen finally said, after a pause that felt heavy with disappointment. 

"I know you don't."

"You don't have your foresight anymore. You can't evaluate the risks, you can't know what will happen—"

"This happened because there were rifts in the group," Zitao interjected, his voice quiet and weary, but leaving no room for arguments nonetheless. "I know that much. We need to mend them, and putting more physical distance in between the group is only going to exacerbate the problem."

Chen sighed. He didn't look convinced, but he nodded anyway. "Fine. Just know that I warned you. Go sleep, I'll make arrangements for your departure tomorrow morning."

Zitao frowned, “but—"

"Go. I'll take care of it."

Zitao nodded, then turned to walk slowly to his room. Lay was in there, much to his surprise, tending to Kris— once the latter had been declared concussion free, Lay left, leaving Zitao alone with a half-asleep Kris. They didn't speak as Zitao climbed into his bed; with the lights out, he wondered as to how the kidnapped three would be faring. He worried, as his eyes slid shut, as to whether they would all make it out alive.

JinJu woke to what felt like a mallet being repeatedly brought down on the back of her head. She whimpered, curling in on herself as her hands rose to clutch at her hair; then she discovered the lump, and as she remembered how it had come to be, outrage replaced the pain. She shot up into a sitting position, the answering throb of almost indignation within her skull making her almost immediately regret the move.

Holding her head in her hands once again, she warily opened her eyes. The room, thankfully, was lit dimly, which appeased her throbbing head; as far as dungeons went (JinJu was assuming it was a dungeon— she'd never actually been kidnapped before, so her knowledge on such matters was limited), it was pretty nice. Very nice, actually, considering. 

Her bed was small but not too uncomfortable, and the room was minimally furnished. It kind of looked like one of the motel rooms where they'd been staying when they were travelling. Except, she noticed, there were