Hansol was crying so hard his whole body was shaking while Jun had his arms wrapped around him, numbly staring into space and unable to calm his brother down. Next to them on the sofa sat Chan, his face buried in Jeonghan's shoulder, who looked like he was fighting back tears only for the sake of the younger.

"Anyone want some tea?" Seokmin asked, his voice toneless. Nobody reacted to his question and he wordlessly left the living room.

The hallway was blocked by Seungcheol, Minghao and Mingyu, who were frantically calling hospitals, police stations and any person they could possibly think of in search for the Wielder - fruitlessly trying to turn their desperation into something more productive. He stepped around them, into the kitchen, where he found Wonwoo staring out of the window into the night. They ignored each other while Seokmin made his way to the kettle.

As soon as the water started to boil, Wonwoo spoke. "It wasn't me."

The Healer remained silent and began to go through the cupboards in search for a tea pot. The other Guardian turned around, his usually stoic face distorted in anguish. "It really wasn't me! Please believe me!"

With his hand wrapped around the handle of the tea pot he had found, Seokmin slowly looked up and Wonwoo took a step back at the emptiness in his expression. "I don't care. I just want him back." Silence hung heavy in the air while Seokmin poured the water with almost mechanic movements.

A deafening crash shattered the silence when the tea pot hit the floor and burst into pieces, hot water spilling over the tiles, soaking the Healer's jeans and sneakers.

For a long moment, neither of the Guardians moved - until Seokmin crouched down and began to cry, his face hidden behind his arms, shoulders shaking. Wonwoo slowly crept closer, careful not to step into the glass and the water cooling on the floor, until he stood next to the sobbing Healer. Wringing his hands, he looked around, unsure what to do, before he opted for crouching next to the other and awkwardly patting his back.

He almost toppled into the puddle when Seokmin threw himself against his chest. Helplessly, Wonwoo glanced at the door. When nobody came to save him, he hesitantly wrapped an arm around the Healer's trembling shoulders. "He'll be okay. Don't cry."

"He must be so scared." Seokmin's voice was shaking and muffled by the tall Guardian's hoodie. It took a moment until Wonwoo had deciphered his words.

"We can't change that right now. Let's put some cold water on your legs before your burns get worse," he proposed and tried to pull the other up but Seokmin struggled against his grip while he wiped his wet face with his sleeve.

"I can just heal them."

"You're unbonded." Wonwoo immediately regretted what he had said when the Healer began to sob once again.

"Everything okay?" Relief flooded him when Jihoon's voice interrupted his frantic thoughts. The small Warrior was watching them from the doorway, his face blank.

"He spilled boiling water on himself."

Jihoon stepped closer and examined the mess on the floor as well as Seokmin's wet clothes.

"It's nothing, the pants stopped most of it," Seokmin protested weakly but he didn't resist when Jihoon grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the kitchen.

Wonwoo remained behind together with the puddle on the floor. The thought of leaving it for Seokmin to clean up later was tempting, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do it after seeing the other's breakdown. With a sigh, he began to search the cupboards for a dustpan to get rid of the shards.

He looked up when Seungcheol stormed through the door, an excited glow on his face. "Where's Ji?"

"Probably in his room. Wait, did you find him?!" Hastily, he ran after the Warrior, the dustpan still in his hand, and almost tripped over Seungkwan and Jeonghan who had heard him.

Seungcheol burst into his brother's room without knocking, almost hitting Seokmin with the door due to his overenthusiasm.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jihoon screamed, his hand pressed onto his chest to calm his racing heart, angry red tinting his cheeks.

The elder ignored his annoyance and patted Seokmin's shoulder with an apologetic smile. The rest of the group filed into the room to hear the news as well, the emotions displayed ranging from hope to dejection.

"Okay, so, Yongguk said that Himchan said that Jongup told him that Jisoo was at work today."

Everyone stared at him, waiting for some sort of groundbreaking news to come. When nothing happened and the oldest Warrior kept grinning, Jihoon's brows furrowed dangerously. "You made a ing ruckus because of that?"

Seungcheol pouted. "But now we know that he arrived at work, right? Now we have a lead and we can do something, right?"

"Oh my god, I thought you found him," Jeonghan groaned and leaned against Minghao, who looked just as disappointed.

"I'll go back to bed and try to see if I can remember something that's actually useful," Seungkwan spat and marched out of the room, pushing past Hansol who was unsuccessfully trying to hide his swollen eyes behind a tissue.

"I think it's a good start. Let's go to the book store and see if we can find anything," Mingyu proposed and Seungcheol's dejected face lit up at his words.

Jihoon ran a hand through his hair. "We are not god damn detectives or something and it's the middle of the night; what the hell are we supposed to do there?"

"It's better than not doing anything," Minghao countered and the small Warrior glowered at him.

"I think we should call Soonyoung," Seokmin interjected while rubbing burn ointment on his reddened skin. "He said he'd help us, right?"

The first thing Jisoo noticed when he woke up - even before the pain that flared up in his head - was the horrible emptiness in his chest where his bonds should have been. Completely disoriented, he quietly whimpered before he tried to reach out to wipe away the sticky wetness that clung to his face.

He couldn't move.

Struggling to open his eyes, he was met with the blurry sight of his body tied to a chair, his formerly pristine work clothes dirty and ripped. Panic hit him like a wrecking ball.

Frantically, Jisoo shook his head to get his vision to clear up, unable to comprehend what was happening. and he groaned at the nausea that hit him at the movement. Tears began to blur his sight even further but he quickly tried to blink them away. Calm down, he told himself, deep breaths.

Looking around, he found himself in a dark, empty room with white walls and a plush carpeted floor. The polished wooden door in front of him was ajar, warm yellow light streaming through the gap. He pulled at his restraints but they were unyielding. The panic in his stomach once again boiled up.

The Wielder froze when footsteps became audible, wide eyes directed at the door. The urge to scream for help was almost overwhelming but he forced himself to swallow it. Chances were that nobody in this house was on his side.

A shadow blocked the light that fell through the gap and Jisoo tensed, recoiling when the door got pushed open. The brightness that flooded the room hurt and he had to close his eyes for a short, horrible moment.

"Oh, you're awake. Are you hungry? I can get you a snack!" The friendly voice was familiar and Jisoo forced himself to look even though his head immediately protested painfully.

"Soonyoung?!" His voice sounded like he hadn't used it in centuries.

The blond Forcebearer chuckled and waved. "Hi! Sounds more like you could use something to drink instead."

"Wha-what's going on? Why are y-you here?"

Soonyoung shrugged. "Eh, someone has to make sure you don't die, right?"

Jisoo stared at him, unable to comprehend what the Forcebearer was trying to say. After a moment and no further explanation, he decided to ignore his words. "C-can you untie me, please? We need to get out of h-here."

"Ah, Jisoo, always so polite. You even said 'please' in a situation like this. I admire that, you know? You're the only person who's polite to me even though you're a Wielder, and I really, really like that. Would you also say 'thank you' if I would help you now?" Soonyoung stepped closer and somewhere in the back of Jisoo's still muddled mind, alarm bells began to ring. He tensed and the Forcebearer smirked, an expression the Wielder had never seen on him before. "Can you say 'please help me, Soonyoung'? 'Please untie me, Soonyoung'? 'Please don't hurt me, Soonyoungie'? I'll consider it, you know?" He reached for the ropes and let his fingers run over them before he leaned down. "You're so cute like this; I want to bite you." His face was only centimetres apart from Jisoo's, and the Wielder shrunk back as far as he could, cold fear spreading through his body.

Soonyoung's twinkling eyes suddenly widened. "Oh. I can't." He immediately straightened up and took a step back. "Whoops. Sometimes I get a bit carried away, you know? Anyway, I can't let you go, sorry about that. But like I said: I can give you food, snacks, drinks - whatever you want. I made a pretty good lasagna earlier and there's still some left, do you wanna try?"

The regular Soonyoung was back and the abrupt change disturbed Jisoo more than anything the blond had said before. The Forcebearer was still looking at him exp