Aerum’s POV

“What happened?” I asked Lay as I ran to Suho and flipped him over.  “Why did he pass out?”

“He overexerted himself trying to break down that barrier of yours.  I’ve never seen him extract water from plants, much less briars,” Lay said, coming over and checking for Suho’s pulse.

I immediately began to feel guilty of indirectly causing Suho to faint.  He was just a nice guy who was helping me. 

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to the unconscious man. 

“It’s not your fault,” Lay said, before placing some of his energy into Suho. 

“Is there anything I can do?” I offered.

“Yeah, water would be nice.”

“…”

“Um, Aerum-sshi, it would be wonderful if you could get us water,” Lay looked up from Suho.  I bit my cheek and stared at the ground.  “Aerum-sshi?”

“You can just call me Aerum.  And I don’t know where the water is,” I confessed.  “That was supposed to be Suho’s job, if I let him tag along with me.”

“Could you look through the forest for a small stream?  Something?  Anything that has water,” Lay pleaded.  “I’ll stay here and help Suho the best I can.”

I nodded.  It’s the least I could do for the man who helped me when I was unconscious.

“Alright, holler when he wakes up.  I’ll try to be as quick as possible,” I smiled, before leaving Lay with Suho.

Walking through the forest looking for water is not exactly fun.  Suho had said that he looked for water for a while and still couldn’t find any. 

Thinking about him hit my heart with a pang.  I shouldn’t have made him waste all of his strength on my barrier.

Walking further and further into the forest, the trees and bushes grew densely, making very little sunlight visible.  Oddly enough, the temperature in the forest was dropping.

“What the hell?” I looked at the bark of an oak tree, it was covered in frost.  I looked around and only from that oak tree moving deeper into the forest, was covered in a light layer of frost.

Looking deeper into the forest, the frost became a pile of snow.  There was no water, but snow melted into water. 

Using my hands to weave a basket out of briars I quickly ran to the pile of snow, scooped as much snow as the basket could hold, and turned to run back. 

Unknown to me, someone was watching me.  And with a flick of his wrist, I slipped and fell…on ice.

No One’s POV

After Kris dropped Aera at her house, he roamed around the small town.  There was no place to stay, unless he wanted to stay in the barn.  Which was against his living standards.

“Hyung?”

Kris turned around, and with relief saw Kai there.

“Kai.  What the hell happened?  Where is everyone?”

“I don’t know.  I was by myself for the past few days since we got here.  I was located near a river, and it took me a day to find my way here,” Kai explained.  “What about you?”

“I just woke up today, in a forest.”

“That’s it?”

Kris looked at Kai and nodded.  “Yeah, that’s it.”

“Have you eaten yet?”  As on cue, Kris’ stomach growled.  “I’ll take that as a no,” Kai laughed, before handing the elder something from his small bag.

“What is this?”

“Berries.  That’s the only safe thing I know that we can eat.  Thank god D.O made me read Fauna 101, or I might have eaten nightshade.  And then, I’d be dead,” Kai chuckled.

“I could imagine you lying dead in a forest,” Kris snorted.

“What?!  Hyung, that’s not nice!” Kai caught on.

“Well, you probably would be the first to go out of EXO if we were stranded someplace –”

“Wow, you don’t even have a little bit of faith in me.”

“None at all.”

“Ouch, that hurts,” Kai pouted, putting his hand over his heart.  Kris put one of the berries in