Emma charged swiftly back through the halls on her lone crusade. The vision indicated that someone was going to die as a result of their escape. It hadn't made much sense until she had felt that other Exoan presence.

This other person, whoever he was, didn't deserve to die on their behalf. He was already alone and in pain as it was, his subconscious silently begging to be helped.

The few guards she encountered along the way were no problem to deal with. Humans, though quite brilliant, tended to be weak-minded and easy to manipulate.

The room she found him in was just like every other room she had seen so far. “Get up, I'm getting you out of here” she said to the lone figure ditched in the middle of the floor.

There was no response at first, then he slowly and shakily pushed himself up with his hands. He started shifting into a kneel when he let out a gasp and fell back to the floor. “I- I can't. My leg...” he whimpered. He was clearly in a lot of pain.

“Looks like I'll have to do this the hard way” Emma muttered, taking his arm and picking him up over her shoulders.

Getting him out was a lot easier than getting to him had been. It helped that all the guards were still asleep from her first pass.

She carried him out into the woods a ways before setting him down.

“Why?” he asked as she turned to leave. “Why did you help me?”

She turned back to face him, staring him dead in the eye. “Because I couldn't just leave you to die” she answered before walking back the way she had come, leaving him alone.

The others were relieved to finally see Emma again. “We were starting to think we might have to go back for you” Chanyeol joked.

“I can take pretty good care of myself” Emma assured. “Has Kai woken up?” Concern and shame were clearly heard in her voice.

“Not yet” Suho replied, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You don't need to feel bad. You couldn't have known that would happen.”

“But I know it does happen from time to time. I guess now I know how Taeyang feels on a regular basis” she said, sitting on the ground and wrapping her arms around her knees.

“He'll be fine. Kai's a lot tougher than he looks” Sehun said, crossing his arms. There was a hint of doubt in his voice, he didn't know for sure.

“I think I see the others coming” Daesung interrupted. None of them had realized that he had been keeping watch while they talked.

Once they were all settled again, Zelo walked over and sat next to Emma. “Miss me?” he asked smugly.

She gave him a funny look. “We were apart for like an hour tops.”

“I still want to know if you missed me in that hour” he grinned.

Emma looked around to make sure no one was watching leaning in close. “Maybe a little” she whispered in his ear. “Does that make us one of those couples that always says 'I missed you' even if the other was only gone for like ten seconds?”

“Does that make us a couple?” Zelo asked, shyly averting his eyes.

Emma thought about it for a moment. “It might, we kind of walked into that one. And here I was, thinking getting a boyfriend was hard.”

Zelo laughed.

“Are you two lovebirds done over there?” Daehyun called across the clearing.

“Lovebirds?” Chanyeol asked.

“They're these little birds that are known to show love like humans do and usually it's used to refer to two people who are really ridiculously in love, like those two” Daehyun explained with complaints coming from Emma and Zelo. Chanyeol still seemed to have trouble understanding what he was talking about.

“Chanyeol, think like firebirds, but a lot smaller, cuter, and not flaming” Sehun said.

“Oh, I get it” Chanyeol said, then he laughed. “Yeah, they do kind of act like that.”

“We do not” Emma protested.

“You keep telling yourself that” Sehun smirked.

Emma was about to argue further, but it was like something else caught her attention before she spoke. “G, are you alright?” she asked suddenly.

“Yeah, I'm fine” GD grumbled back, huddling off to the side of the clearing.

“Liar, I can hear you screaming in your head” she said walking over to him. “You're clutching your shoulder, you were shot.” She ripped his hand away to reveal the bullet wound.

“Fine, I was shot, so what?” GD confessed grumpily.

“'So what'? You have a bullet in your shoulder. We need to get it out or you could get an infection” Emma said, reaching for the hole in his shoulder.

“Ow! Don't do that” he said, shoving her away.

She frowned at him, trying again just to be pushed back again. “Fine then. Chanyeol, Yongguk, can you hold him down for me?” she asked sweetly, wandering off for something.

“Help her and I will murder you in your sleep” GD threatened.

“You don't really scare me” Chanyeol stated as he grabbed GD's one arm. “I'm kind of a lot bigger than you.”

“I should scare you” GD said, gritting his teeth as Yongguk restrained his other arm. “Isn't there something else you can do?”

“I could-” Lay started, propping himself up slightly.

“No you can't, go back to sleep” Suho cut him off, pushing his head back down.

“This should do” Emma said, returning from wherever she had gone with a thick piece of a stick in her hand. She walked back over to where GD was.

“What's the stick for?” GD asked warily.

“It's for you to bite, this is gonna hurt” Emma replied, holding it out to him.

“I think I can handle it” he muttered indignantly, turning his head away.

“Trust me, you're gonna want the stick” she said, shoving the stick into his mouth. “Besides, we don't want to hear you scream. Please keep in mind, this is for your own good” she added, reaching for his shoulder a third time. This time, he couldn't stop her from going after that bullet.

~

So this chapter actually flowed out pretty smoothly. So that was a cute, kinda funny, unintentional but intentional SuLay moment near the end there. And then there's just GD and Emma arguing about his injury.

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