Tao

He led Jongdae back to his tent and helped him inside, taking off both their shoes. It was dark from the setting sun, and for that moment, Tao wished he had Baekhyun's power.

"I have a lamp kit in the pot," Jongdae said.

Tao didn't know what a lamp was, but he guided him to the pot. A clatter and spark later, there was a small flame burning inside an animal skin.

"Thanks for saving me back there," Jongdae said. He sat back and winced.

"Are your wounds okay?" Tao moved closer and pressed two fingers to his stomach. Jongdae jolted and gritted his teeth, suppressing a shout.

"I'll be fine if you don't touch it."

"Show it to me."

He slapped his hand away when he tried pulling up his shirt. "Don't be a ert."

"What is that?"

"Nevermind. I'll be--" He convulsed again trying to sit back, and Tao helped him lean forward.

He didn't argue a second time when Tao lifted up his shirt. He had a slight tone to his abdomen, which now had a purplish patch on the side.

"Can you take a deep breath?"

He did so and nodded. Tao put two fingers on his ribs and started gliding them down.

"Tell me when it hurts."

He in a breath just as Tao touched the purple ring at his waist, and Tao sighed in relief.

"Your ribs aren't broken at least. If you don't do anything strenuous, this will heal."

He pulled off the cloth around his foot and checked it too. There was an old burn scar and a dark spot from where Grut stepped on him, but it wasn't nearly as bad.

"Gosh, if I'm not careful, you'll be taking off my pants next."

"Were your legs injured too?"

"No. No, they weren't," Jongdae said quickly. "Anyway, thanks for coming back. I thought you had left."

"I was going to, but then I heard you stopping the fight, and saw you get beaten up, and how no one would help you." Tao felt angry just thinking about it.

Jongdae smiled and gave him a pat to the leg. "Don't get too upset. Most of the people here are cranky butts that don't know how to really fight. They just wanna go home."

"So you forgive them?"

"No, I'm letting it go. I have bigger problems to think about." He pointed to his waist. "But still, how did you come flying in feet-first like that? Did you jump over all those people?"

"There was a tree hanging over the crowd. I climbed it and jumped down onto Grut."

"Wow. You have no idea how surprised I was seeing you come out of the blue like that." He laughed, but it sputtered off into a groan. "Ugh. I can't even laugh properly."

Tao stood. "I'll find some herbs for you. It'll help your wounds."

"Herbs? How about dinner? I'm starved."

He moved to stand, but Tao gently forced him back down.

"I'll get you this dinner. Where is it?"

The flame flickered, and Tao turned toward the tent opening. Someone stood by, peering inside. He came in and took off his shoes, balancing two rectangles with circular containers on them in his hands. 'Bowls' and 'trays,' if Tao remembered right.

"Jongdae, I brought you your food."

As he came into the light of the flame, Tao recognized him as the person Jongdae was defending. He was blond and had a round face. There were dark circles under his eyes, but he smiled.

"I'm really sorry I dragged you into the fight," he said, handing him a tray.

"Don't worry about it, hyung. According to our hero here, I'll live."

Tao stared at the third person. He was older? Tao almost couldn't believe that, but then he remembered how Xiumin was the oldest of them and he looked young.

He held out the other tray to Tao.

"This one's yours. Thank you for saving Jongdae from Grut. I'm an easy target to get picked on."

"Yoseob hyung, I told you not to be so negative."

Tao took the tray from him. "Thank you."

Yoseob nodded and moved back out of the tent. "I better get back to the cook. Thank you again, Lu Han."

Tao paused at the name, then remembered it was what Jongdae had said to Brigadier General Ong.

"Oh yeah, sorry about the name. You looked like you didn't want to say your real one, so I borrowed a friend's." He chuckled. "He won't be too happy about that."

"No, thank you for stepping in. I can't reveal my name to an official."

"My lips are sealed."

Tao sat back down next to Jongdae, looking at what was in his bowl. He saw Jongdae slurping it down so satisfyingly, but it didn't look that good to Tao. It was liquidy and foggy, speckled with little white lumps. He took a sip and could have sworn it was just water.

"What is this?"

"It's suppose to be congee. Rice gruel, hodge-podge, call it what you want."

"Then I'll call it water."

Jongdae laughed, a little strained from his injury, but it was still the same genuine sound.

"If you say that in front of the cook or Yoseob hyung, they'll flip the cooking pot on you."

Tao placed his bowl next to Jongdae. "You can have this then."

"You need to eat too."

Tao didn't have an excuse for not eating this time. He drank a little more and pushed the rest towards him.

"Dude."

Tao stood. "Don't drink it all at once. I'll find some herbs for your wound."

Before Jongdae could finish his sentence, Tao slid on his shoes and exited the tent. The camp was aglow with 'lamps' and campfires, people eating and talking. He found an extra lamp, lit it the way Suho set their campfires, and moved out onto the mountain.

Lay had taught him about natural healing from plants and how normal medics healed their patients. There were a few plants that specially helped bruises growing in places like mountains. Tao just had to find them.

He stopped the flame's time to make it last and moved deeper into the forest. Walking through the dark, Tao thought about Kai. He was probably close to Oh Palace by now. Did he set up a camp? Did any wild beast try to attack him? He knew a little first-aid, so his arm would be okay, but how would it affect the rest of his mission?

How could he think that going off on a solo assassination could be part of his trials? They didn't know where they were or what they were doing. All they really knew was that they were dead.

He thought back to what Lay had said before they were summoned. Their memories being trials. He didn't remember doing any of this while he was alive. But then again he couldn't even remembered how he died. A labyrinth meant to test if they were worthy of redemption wouldn't replay memories as their trials. The person walking the trials would know that they must have done something wrong in their previous attempt and would try to do things differently for the sake of being deemed worthy. In order for that to actually be though, they would have had to remember what they did in the first place.

But since Tao and his unit couldn't remember what they did, wouldn't they make the same decisions as before? They wouldn't be able to know what to do differently. If they couldn't change their choices, the same situation twice didn't seem like a valid trial for redemption.

Lay would have thought of that. If Tao could think of it, he didn't doubt that Lay had already beaten him to it. So why did he say so anyway? He wished that Lay had finished explaining things to him before he had left.

The others would have noticed that Tao and Kai were gone by now. An entire evening went by. Kris said that Suho wasn't someone who would set punishment, but after today's events, Tao wouldn't blame his leader if he made them climb every tree in the forest near their barracks when they got back.

Tao slowed at a hollow log and set the lamp down. The tree had fallen a long time ago, its bark mushy and covered with moss. Perfect for what he needed. He took out a knife and carved a chunk out of the bark, popping the piece off. As he did, spiders and masses of insects scrambled out of the way. None of them were the spine-crawling cockroaches he despised, so he flicked a few of them off before picking handfuls of the plants inside the trunk and stuffing them into his po