“He said, ‘a river.’”

Kris’ voice was unamused.  Tao wished like hell he’d gotten more out of Exo-K’s singer, before the call had abruptly ended, if only to get that expression of his duizhang’s face.  “A river.  He couldn’t have made the Han River, could he?”

Kris shook his head.  “Not on foot like that.  Damn, I wish I had a map or something.”

Tao brightened.  Pulling his phone from his pocket, he logged onto the internet, grateful that it worked wherever there was service instead of having to wait for wi-fi hotspots.  Within seconds, he’d pulled up a map of the immediate area.  The Jangcheul Drainage Canal was the only water nearby, with two foot-bridges spanning it.  “He did go pretty far,” Tao said, and shared the image.  Kris texted the others – Sehun and Luhan were the ones heading in the right direction to get there soonest.    “We’ll find him,” Tao said, with more conviction than he felt.  The snow hadn’t let up, and it was beginning to form little drifts on the sidewalk, piling on top of the older snow from a previous storm. 

What neither of them mentioned was the probability of finding him alive and well.  In the snowy dark, with patches of ice concealed beneath an inch of snowfall… Accidents happened.  Tao closed his eyes as he remembered the final thing he’d heard.  ”Yaahhh!” thud.  Bloop.  It could have been Baekhyun falling.  It could have been the splash of his phone hitting the water.  Whether or not Baekhyun had gone in after it…

They reached the canal and crossed a bridge.  In the distance, Tao could make out two vaguely familiar forms and figured Luhan and Sehun were searching also.  Something caught his eye, and he jogged forward.  “Duizhang!  Footprints!”  They might not have been Baekhyun’s. 

When Kris drew level with him, they both saw something that chilled both their hearts.  The prints in the snow slid, elongated – right over the edge of the small hill that bordered the canal.  Tao peered over the side, and saw that someone had half-rolled, half-slid down over the sidewalk that ran alongside it – right into the water. 

Sehun’s voice carried over the water.   “Tao! Kris!  We found him, he’s here!”

They looked up and saw one of the two figures waving his hands and jumping.  They were on the other side of the canal, by the other bridge.  Both Kris and Tao broke into a run.

“We called the managers and an ambulance,” Luhan said.  The emergency operator had told them not to move Baekhyun until paramedics arrived, for although he was breathing and clearly alive, there was no way of knowing what damage lay hidden beneath the surface.  He was still soaking wet, although it was turning to ice even as it dripped off his jacket, and Sehun had taken his own coat off and covered his band-mate with it.  It was little enough that they could do, and Luhan was sheltering him with his own.  Tao didn’t think Sehun minded clinging to the Chinese singer, even despite the situation. 

“He must have slid into the water, and climbed out over here,” Kris said, shuffling back and forth as he tried to put together the clues they’d found.  “He was conscious enough to get out of the canal, so I don’t think he hit his head too hard.”  There was a massive bruise forming on his temple, however, and his left wrist was swollen and purple; broken, most likely, when he fell. 

Suho and Lay jogged up, hand in hand.  Sehun did a double take that Tao found intensely amusing as the usually stoic boy’s mouth dropped open and he d for Luhan’s arm blindly.  Oblivious, Lay glanced around at the massed searchers and knelt down beside Baekhyun.  “Has anyone called the others?”

“Manager-hyung promised to drive them to the hospital,” Kris said. 

“When did that happen?” Sehun pointed to Lay and Suho’s still-entwined fingers.

“On the way over here,” Lay said, point-blank. 

“After all the trouble –” Luhan started, but Sehun pressed a hand over his mouth and leaned down to whisper.  Tao was close enough to hear it.

“Don’t worry about it, Lu, Lay’s the one Suho’s been gagging over since forever.  Remember what they said back in the apartment, Suho was only kissing Chanyeol because of the fanservice.”

Luhan glared, but kept his further opinions to himself.  The manager and the ambulance arrived at the same time.  Sehun rode in the ambulance with Baekhyun while the rest piled into the van with the remaining members.