“He could be a spy for all we know,” D.O. said coldly.

“Hey, we shouldn’t be assuming anything just yet,” Kris defended.

“Well, we’ve all got an eye on him, so let’s just be cautious for now. Kris, if Tao tells you anything be sure to tell us, okay?” Kai put his arm around D.O. and started heading to their room, “Night guys."

“I’m going to head to bed now, too.” Xiumin yawned, “Tomorrow they should have a new translator ear piece prepared for you.” Xiumin retrieved his translator from the younger. “Good night, Kris.” Xiumin headed to his own room.

Kris sighed and headed back to his room. He wasn’t surprised to see that Tao wasn’t back yet, so he started changing into his pajamas. The door creaked open and Tao poked his head in. Startled by seeing the half- figure standing in the middle of the room, the younger quickly shut the door and mumbled an apology. When he finished changing, Kris let Tao in and both sat on the bottom bunk.

“Hey, Tao… I’m sorry if I upset you earlier,” Kris started.

“No, you don’t need to be sorry. You’re absolutely right; I haven’t given you a reason to believe me. As time goes, I’ll be able to tell you more but right now Luhan told me not to say anything. All I can tell you is that I’m fighting tomorrow…” Tao admitted.

Kris’s eyes widened, “You are?”

“Yeah.” Tao bit his lip.

“Who are you going to fight?” Kris gripped the younger’s shoulders.

“I’ll tell you if you don’t think about it tomorrow, or else Luhan will know I told you. When he looks at you, think of a ton of things at once, that’s his true weakness. He gets bad headaches if you do that.” Tao paused, “Tomorrow I’m going to fight Xiumin…”

“Really?” Kris furrowed his brow. He’d hoped Tao would’ve fought Baekhyun because, no offense to him, light is a pretty useless power.

“Don’t worry Kris, I won’t lose.” Tao tried to assure the elder.

“You can’t be positive of that, Xiumin seems like a strong guy.”

“Don’t worry, Krissie.” Tao pulled Kris down so both were lying on the bed, “I won’t lose,” he smiled.

Kris began kissing Tao intimately. “I thought I told you I didn’t like that nickname,” Kris whispered in the younger’s ear.

“Yah~ I need to go to sleep,” Tao complained.

“Nope.” Kris nuzzled his face into Tao’s neck.

“Krisssssssss~,” the younger whined when Kris bite his ear.

“Taoooooo~,” he mimicked the other.

“SHUT UP!” the pair heard from across the hallway.

Biting their lips to hold in laughter, the two decided to cuddle up and rest their bodies.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Krissieeeee,” a hushed voice whispered.

“Hmmmmmmm?” Kris groaned and barely opened his eyes to see where the voice came from.

Tao was smiling brightly with a small bowl in his hands.

“How do you get up so early?” Kris shook his messy bed head.

“I’m very well disciplined. I was in Wushu for a long time.” Tao handed the bowl to Kris, “Anyway, I made oatmeal for us. I thought it’d be nice for the two of us to have breakfast by ourselves.”

“Alright.” Kris sat back, “So Wushu is like martial arts right?”

“Yeah, it is. It’s kind of tough because not only do you have to be physically strong, you have to have great mental strength, too."

“I see, so that’s why your muscles are so toned.” Kris lightly dragged his finger down Tao’s arm. The younger flexed to show off how intense his biceps are.

After breakfast, the two met the rest of the group in the living room until the fateful knock resounded throughout the house. Traveling the same road, with the faceless protestors blockaded away, the group of eight plodded along.

Arriving in the same metal room, the group circled and looked at the T.V. with despair, except for the three that knew whom the fighters would be. Luhan glared intently at Tao, who was feigning ignorance and silently watching the anchor woman recap the previous battles.

“Ladies and gentlemen.” TOP started, “As all of you know, I’m here to announce the names of the Titans that will fight to the death on this field. So, let’s not waste any time.” he paused to allow the cheering crowd to settle.

“TODAY’S FIGHTERS ARE XIUMIN, TITAN OF FROST AND TAO, TITAN OF TIME!”

Kris flinched when Tao’s name was called. He’d been hoping Luhan had been wrong. Guards charged in, grabbing the two chosen before quickly exiting. Kris could only hold on to Tao’s word and hope he was strong enough to overcome Xiumin. It’s not that he wanted Xiumin to die, he just didn’t want Tao to die.

When the signal sounded, the two slowly grabbed a weapon; Xiumin a sword and Tao a rope dart, and hesitantly approached the middle of the field. Kris nervously watched as Xiumin showed off his swordsmanship. Tao smirked.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Tao insulted the other, “I thought your level was better than that." He began intensely swinging the dart around.

Xiumin cautiously backed away as Tao began stepping forward. When he thought he had a chance, Xiumin struck his sword out. Tao reacted quickly and kicked the other down with his long legs. Xiumin stood and spun his sword while attempting to get close to Tao again. This time the elder swung the sword horizontally. But Tao had manipulated the dart to wrap around the weapon. With one yank, the sword slipped from Xiumin’s hand and flew behind the younger. Dashing to reach a reasonable distance from the Wushu master, Xiumin put his hands on his knees and rested for a moment.

“Xiumin, you should've picked a better tool. You know the rope dart is an up close or far away weapon. Picking a sword like that was a stupid decision on your part. So, I’ll give you another chance to pick a different weapon.” Tao was still spinning the dart around in various directions.

“The only weapon that could match it is another rope dart and I can’t swing around 25 pounds as easily as you.  So, I choose to use my own powers.”

“Very well.” A thick glaze formed over Tao’s eyes.

The younger stepped toward Xiumin, increasing the speed at which the dart was traveling.

“Y-you wouldn’t be so powerful without that stupid thing,” Xiumin stuttered.

“I wouldn’t?” Tao released his grip on the rope dart, sending it flying towards the audience. “Are you sure?” Tao mocked the older.

Xiumin stood and engaged the other in hand-to-hand combat, Tao purposely not attacking.

“Fight me back!” Xiumin shouted.

“You asked for it,” Tao shrugged. For every attack the older attempted, Tao managed to block it and land two punches on him. Struggling, Xiumin resorted to using his powers on Tao and blasted the younger backwards. Tao stood and brushed the dust off his pants and cracked his knuckles.

Xiumin sighed and rubbed the bruise forming in his cheek. “Tao.” his eyes watered. Even with the sad expression, Tao’s stolid face still remained.

“Tao!” Kris shouted from the audience, instantly awakening the younger from his trance.

Tao looked pitifully at Xiumin and mumbled an apology. Xiumin nodded before snapping into a martial art stance, challenging Tao to hand-to-hand combat once more. Tao complied and the two circled each other until Xiumin sprung at Tao. The younger only accurately blocking the attacks, as if the fight was staged.

“You’re too good at this,” Xiumin panted when the two backed away to break.

“Never let your guard down, Xiumin.” Tao had suddenly appeared behind the older. Xiumin spun and flung his foot against Tao’s face.

“Maybe you should listen to you own advice.” Xiumin smirked as he watched Tao wipe a thin trail of blood that escapes from his mouth.

Tao glanced into the audience, searching for a familiar face to give him comfort. Kris was staring at him with wide eyes, probably shocked at his true power.

“Hey, pay attention to the guy you’re fighting.” Xiumin charged at Tao, a kick that was easily avoided.

The two clashed once more, Xiumin receiving multiple punches to the face and stomach. As if on pause, Tao froze and was violently kicked by Xiumin in the stomach.

“What are you doing? Trying to make me believe I could actually win?” Xiumin frowned.

Tao coughed a few times before standing again, seeming to lose energy quickly. He was suddenly looking very pale and moving sluggishly. Xiumin lunged forward and Tao barely dodged the punches. Xiumin shot frost from his palms, hoping to freeze Tao, but before they touched the younger, the shot had stopped. Tao had stopped time on Xiumin’s attack. Then, he rewound the attack and burned Xiumin’s hands with the intensity of the ice.

Xiumin screamed in pain and Tao collapsed to his knees.

After a few moments and tears, Xiumin sat up. “You know, I knew I couldn’t win this,” he spoke to Tao, who was unresponsive. “And I mean, I didn’t really want to.” Xiumin confessed, “I just want to be in the place where Chen is.” Xiumin smiled to himself, his voice still shaky. “I liked him for a long time before I confessed to him. I honestly thought that he liked Baekhyun for the longest time,” he laughed..

Tao looked up at the older.

“Anyway. I just want to end this already, stop dragging it out. Even though I know I’m going down, I’m going down fighting… hey, Tao. You don’t look well, are you alright?”

Tao nodded slightly and stood again. The two bowed and began fighting once again, Tao landing multiple hits on the older until he fell backwards.

Tao crouched over his body and weakly brushed aside Xiumin’s bangs.

“Tao,” Xiumin coughed.

“Xiumin.” Tao teared up.

“Help me get there.” Xiumin pulled a small pocket knife out of the pocket in his track suit and placed it in Tao’s hands. “Please?”

“Xiumin...” Tao muffled his cry.

“Tao.” Xiumin smiled, “Please. Help me get there… to the place Chen is.” A single tear fell down his cheek.

With that, Tao stuck the knife deep into Xiumin’s chest until his body was limp. He laid the lifeless body on the ground and turned to face the others as a group of guards ushered towards him.

No one was going to come running to Xiumin. That was Chen’s place, no one else’s. Everyone just sat still, hiding the tears that were clearing falling from their eyes.

Tao fell backwards and harshly hit the ground.