I won't mark this chapter with an M, but there are pretty bloody descriptions of the outcomes of physical torture in this chapter.

Also Happy New Year~

Dang that's a weird contrast.

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Tao

He had to get back to the cave and meet up with Kai. The valley was a day's walk away. If he ran, he could probably make it to the valley before night fell. He leaned against a tree trunk to catch his breath, pressing a palm to the gaping hole in his shoulder.

The problem was his wounds. All his movements had made them bleed again. The pain seemed worse too, like his flesh was wrenching itself together in certain places. He shouldn't have been careless in stopping parts of his time.

He had to keep going or else Kai wouldn't be able to find him and get back to the others. He was also worried that Brigadier General Ong would send people after him.

But better him than Jongdae and Yoseob.

As Tao started walking again, he wondered if they were okay. He hadn't turned around to make sure, but he didn't see him when he was standing on top of the hill. There would be nothing left for them if they stayed at the camp. If anything, they would be in danger. He hoped that Jongdae would understand. Even if they had to lose their name and existence, at least they would be alive. And maybe, after the war was over, they could come out of hiding.

He didn't like the idea that they would have to live like Tao and his unit. They didn't deserve to be thrown into that kind of situation. The war could last another ten years for all he knew. They would be stripped of their identity, their homes, and their freedom, and it was all Tao's fault.

A rustle behind him snapped him out of his thoughts. He took out his knife, prepared to fight. He wasn't sure if he could take down a group of trained officials in his current condition, but they couldn't follow him to the cave. The sound was getting louder, and Tao could see the bushes start to shake. He took his stance.

He almost dropped his knife out of sheer surprise.

"Kai?"

His friend looked completely unharmed, holding a bloody bag over his shoulder. Even the injury on his arm when he fell off the cliff was mostly gone. But his eyes were ragged and dark.

"Tao hyung," he rasped. "You really are here."

Kai looked him up and down, taking out the gauze in his pocket. "We have to stop the bleeding."

Tao sat against a tree trunk and let Kai open his jacket. He pulled out a small container filled with a white cream. It didn't look like any of the first aid they usually used, but it felt cool against his wound.

"What happened after you fell off the cliff?" Tao asked, still almost not believing Kai's presence. "How did you find me?"

"I infiltrated Oh Palace. They thought I was another servant there, so I just played along until I had an opportunity to make the kill. While I was there, I also looked into any battles nearby. I figured you'd have joined the brigade after we got separated."

Tao nodded.

"At first I couldn't find you. You must have been out of my detection range, and with the soldiers separating I didn't want to go down to the battlefield. But then I found a pair who had wandered away from the fight, deeper in the forest than on the grassland. I was afraid they had found me out, especially since I recognized the one who had thrown that knife at me back at the cliff. But then he told me where you had gone and what you did, and then I found you."

Jongdae and Yoseob.

"Did... did you do anything to them?"

Kai shook his head, and Tao let out the breath he was holding. They had escaped, like Tao had asked them to. They would be okay.

Kai finished wrapping his shoulder and moved to wrap the rest of his cuts, but Tao stopped him.

"We have to get back to the others."

Kai nodded, took the head bag, and helped Tao up. The scene around them distorted, the thick trunks of the forest morphing into ribbons of gray and gold. In the blink of an eye, the shapes solidified into the familiar wooden floors of their barracks.

Xiumin and Baekhyun were sitting at the table, and Lay was pacing back and forth. Seeing their faces again, still safe, made Tao weak with relief, and he fell with a thud onto his knees.

The three turned toward the noise.

"Tao? Kai? Where have you two been?" Xiumin asked.

"You're bleeding," Lay said, rushing over to Tao and stripping off his jacket. He ran a hand down his arm, and he could feel the pain start to fade.

"I'm sorry," Kai said. "I shouldn't have gone anywhere without--"

He was interrupted by a punch to the jaw. Baekhyun wrestled him into the floor, throwing a piece of paper into his face and shaking him.

"Why did you have to go? The commander summoned us after you left!"

Xiumin pried Baekhyun off of him, but he didn't fight. He looked defeated. "He took Suho hyung to punishment."

Tao couldn't comprehend what he had heard.

"Punishment? But he never summons us more than once or twice a week." Kai picked up the paper, shaking his head in disbelief.

"He did, and Suho took your places in being punished," Xiumin said. "We're going after them. Kai, take us to the laboratory."

"Wait," Tao said, looking around the living room. "Where's Kris ge?"

"He flew after Suho first and told us to wait here for you, and now we're going to get them back. Kai."

Kai snapped out of his stupor and nodded. He checked thay they were all linked before teleporting them to the punishment room.

Tao shuddered at the sight of the metal walls again. The metal door to the punishment room was just before them. Tao could feel the old pains from being whipped and sliced at start to ache again, and an uncomfortable feeling churned in his stomach. But he didn't pay any attention to that.

He was too occupied by Suho's screams.

Baekhyun jangled the door handle, yanking to no result. Xiumin pushed him aside and slammed his hands on the hinges. Ice precipitated out of its holes, and he ripped the door off of the wall.

They rushed inside, and Tao was horrified at the sight. Suho was lying on the floor, his eyes closed, his wrists nailed down by the cuffs. He was paler than Tao had ever seen him before. His shirt and jacket had been stripped, and hundreds of lash marks and sword gashes ran across his , arms, neck, and face. The ground and walls were splattered with his blood.

The commander was laughing at him, a whip in his hand. When the door burst open, he only gave them a glance before raising the whip again.

"Stop!" Kai pulled out the head in the bag, shoving it toward his face. "Let Suho hyung go."

"Oh Wonsan's head? You went on an unauthorized assassination mission?"

"But I got you what you wanted. Isn't that right, sir?" He took out the list Baekhyun had thrown at him, and Tao recognized it as the list of targets the commander had put into Kai's hands.

He smirked. "Very well. Because your results please me, I no longer need to entertain myself with training animals." He grabbed the bag from Kai and tossed a key at Xiumin, turning out the door. "Take him and leave."

Xiumin and Baekhyun unlocked the cuffs and helped Suho up while Lay was trying to heal him, but his wounds wouldn't close. That wasn't possible. Lay was suppose to be able to recover the health of anything with life still in its being.

"I can't heal him. Tao, give me some gauze."

He handed him the roll and took out a cloth, pressing it to the bleeding mass at his waist as Lay worked on the welts across his neck.

Then something flashed in Tao's mind again. The vision of water drops came back, except this time he saw the droplets cover the punishment room, his unit, and Suho bleeding.

"Kai, take us back to the warehouse first."

Kris. Where was he? Xiumin said he had flown to the lab ahead of them to get Suho. He would have been close to the room already, but Tao didn't see him.

"Where's Kris ge?" Tao asked.

The others looked up at his question.

"You're right. He should be here. He should have been the first one at the punishment room," Xiumin said.

Suho stirred and immediately winced.

"Don't move. You'll make things worse," Lay said.

"What're you guys doing here?" Suho whispered.

"To get you back," Baekhyun said. "But we need Kris hyung. Do you know where he is?"

"Isn't he with you?"

"No, he came ahead of us to get you first. Did you see him?"

"I didn't see him in the punishment room," he coughed out, convulsing at the action. His eyes closed, and he sunk into the floor.

"We have to get Suho out of here first," Xiumin said. "Kai, take Lay and Tao back to the warehouse, then come back here. We will search around the laboratory for Kris."

Tao nodded. He could see that Xiumin was shaking, but he still had the will to direct them while Suho wa