Color Codes

Suho   Baekhyun   Chanyeol   D.O.   Kai   Sehun   Kris   Xiumin   Luhan   Lay   Chen   Tao

Following an understandably peeved Xiumin out of the dining car, Kai tried to remember that Xiumin didn’t know why he upset and told himself that maybe if he did he would have been kinder about it. Struggling to successfully convince himself of this, they caught up with D.O. who was on the floor with his bum in the air.

“Kai, could you stop staring at my please.”

“How did...”

“Why was Kai told of and I wasn’t?”

“You were too?”

“Hard not to, what exactly are you doing?”

“The card slipped and fell behind the machine.”

Sitting back exasperated, D.O. leaned against the wall with a heavy sigh.

“Do one of you two want to try getting it?”

“Sure, I’ll try.”

Gently tapping D.O. to shift over so he could reach the card, Kai slid back into the corner and picked up the card with very little difficulty. Trying not to smile at the mock-grumpy and pouting D.O., he handed Xiumin the card to read for himself.

“Maybe Chen would have been better off with a nice noona to look after him~”

Watching fresh tears quickly pool in the elders eyes, Kai stood up and hugged him tightly hoping that they wouldn’t spill over.

“A-am I really a bad boyfriend?”

“No of course not, how could you be your risking illness to find him.”

“Then why would they say that?”

“They want to upset you. If you’re upset then you’re not looking for him and we lose.”

“But what if I am?”

“You’re not, and I’m sure Chen will tell you that.”

Sitting quietly against the wall while this was going on, D.O. wasn’t sure if he felt bad for Xiumin or was jealous of him. Deciding he felt bad since it was a really harsh thing to say, he was about to stand up himself and try to help comfort Xiumin when he heard a soft knocking. Filtering out the voices he tried his best to work out where it was coming from.

“D.O. are you okay?”

“Hmm.”

“Hyung are you feeling okay?”

Standing up without saying a word, D.O. walked over to the sofa and pulled the cushions off sending them flying across the room. Realizing what he was doing, Xiumin ran over to help him tear the underlying fabric away to reveal Chen curled up inside the base of the sofa. Helping him out avoiding the structural beams of the framework, Xiumin wrapped his arms around the youngers shoulders while D.O. quickly untied his hands before tiptoeing away to join a befuddled looking Kai still standing on the other side of the car.

“Aiya, hyung you’re freezing!”

“Sorry! I was left out in the cold.”

“Hey I said you were cold I didn’t say let go.”

“You don’t mind icy hugs?”

“Not when they’re from you.”

Spacing out to the degree he didn’t notice the elders began flirting or that D.O. was complaining about it, Kai grabbed D.O.’s wrist and began heading through the video game car.

“Kai, where are you going? You need to get that hand seen too... or at least wash the blood off!”

“I know where Chanyeol is.”

“But there wasn’t a clue!”

“Hyung, think about it! He’s in one of two places and for his sake I really hope it’s this one.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well he’s either in the cinema or the toilets, where would you rather be?”

“But... then where would Baekhyun be?”

Stopping in-front of the door to the cinema car, Kai turned back to a worried looking D.O. that made his shattered heart sink.

“I really don’t know hyung, but I do know we’ll have a better chance of finding him once Chanyeol is okay.”

“But what if we’re meant to find him first?”

“Then either Chen or Xiumin will have a clue for us and we’ll find him.”

Nodding, D.O. pushed the door to the cinema car open to find a rather dark room awaiting them.

“Hey Kai?”

“Yeah?”

“Wasn’t this car well lit every other time we passed through it?”

“Yeah.”

Reaching for a light switch, Kai jumped as he felt a sharp pain shoot up his arm. Retracting his hand away from the darkness he found that the webbing between his thumb and index finger was bleeding, but unlike the previous injury this began healing almost instantly.

“Oh Kai, what am I going to do with you?”

“...Not let me hurt myself again tonight?”

“Okay sweetie.”

Pecking the younger’s forehead, D.O. picked up the fallen card before producing the torch from his pocket.

“Have you had that the entire time?”

“No, it was on a table in the dining car. I picked it up as I walked out to find Chen, didn’t you notice?”

“Honestly, no. I thought my hand had started bleeding again so I was kind of paying attention to that.”

“It hadn’t had it?”

“Oh no, it was just a trick of the light. What does the clue say?”

“Seems like a case of déjà vu is preventing this phoenix from flying...”

“...I thought Chanyeol’s power was flame?”

“It is, Kris is flight.”

“So... they mean it’s what’s keeping him trapped?”

“Seems so... okay where was everyone else that was in a car hidden?”

“Um Suho was under the sink.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Lay was in a trunk, Kris was in a fireplace, Tao was in a shower.”

“No... not those.”

“Okay, who was next... Sehun was in a locker, Luhan was in a cupboard... then Chen in the sofa.”

“Hyung that’s it! Help me find the sofa.”

Slowly entering the dark car, D.O. quickly reached for Kai’s hand as the door swung shut behind them.

“Hyung, nails...”

“O-oh, sorry.”

“If you’re scared why not just turn the torch on?”

“I never turned it off, the battery must’ve died.”

Trying to remember if there was any spare batteries for the torch in his bag, Kai cracked his knee off something. Almost falling headfirst over whatever he’d walked into, Kai fell back and landed on D.O. instead.

“Ugh, Kai are you alright?”

“Yeah... I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No, the floor might have though.”

“Oh I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, come on let’s see how much harder tearing a sofa apart is in the dark.”

Sitting up slowly, they made their way to the sofa and tried not to hit each other with the cushions as they pulled them off. After what felt like half an hour they finally managed to pull the underlying fabric back. Dropping his hand into the base, Kai was silently grateful that it was a hand he found first.

“Chanyeol... hyung is that you?”

“mm m mmm.”

Reaching along to find his shoulder, Kai did his best to untie the knot on the bandana stopping Chanyeol answering them.

“Is that better?”

“Much better thanks, can you give us a hand out of here?”

“Sure, just be careful there’s support beams above your knees and somewhere around your ribs.”

“Oh, okay... c-can you untie my hands please?”

Turning as best he could to give D.O. a better chance of untying it blind, they spent the next ten minutes trying to successfully get Chanyeol out of the sofa. Eventually falling free with a loud thud, Chanyeol let out a low groan as he tried to sit up and found his foot caught on a support beam.

“Hyung, you okay?”

“Uh, just about.”

“Where are you?”

“...Whose knee is that?”

“Mine.”

“Then I’m next to Kai.”

“Oh... and where exactly is that?”

“Okay, follow the sound of my voice and you’ll find u-ow! D.O.!”

“Sorry... closer than I thought... wait where’s Kai?”

“He was right here.”

“Then where did he go?”

“Maybe he went back to the rooms?”

“Maybe... but wouldn’t that have let light in?”

“Well why don’t we go and check, and if he’s not there then we’ll find him.”

“...Aren’t you worried about Baekhyun?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone else was worried about their partner and you’re totally relaxed.”

“I-I thought this was just a prank and he was back in the rooms waiting.”

“Oh...”

“What do you mean everyone else, what’s happening?”

“Oh no please don’t cry! I’m sure he’s fine and we’ll find him.”

“O-okay... why don’t we ask Suho if he’s seen Kai first though?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah I’m sure, my way of thanking you.”

Taking D.O.’s wrist before he had a chance to protest, Chanyeol stood up and slowly made his way to the wall before finding the door. Almost running through the next two cars, they made their way along to Suho and Lay’s room.

“Chanyeol? D.O.? What are you guys doing here?”

“And good morning to you too hyung.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be sharp. Where’s Kai?”

“That’s what we wanted to ask you, he disappeared.”

“What happened?”

“I’d just got out of the sofa and I was trying to get my bearings in the dark and I was right next to Kai so we tried to help D.O. find us and in the four seconds it took him to get from where he was to headbutt me Kai had disappeared.”

“Why were you in the dark?”

“The lights wouldn’t turn on.”

“How close was Kai to you?”

“He was almost sitting on top of me.”

“And you didn’t notice him move?”

“He didn’t move.”

“So... he teleported?”

“I’m not saying that.”

“D.O. go check your room see if there’s a clue there.”

“O-okay.”

“Are you absolutely sure Kai didn’t move?”

“I’m positive.”

“He couldn’t have moved when D.O. hit you?”

“No, he’d have hit Kai if he’d been there.”

“I hope he’s okay...”

“Not that I’m not worried about him, but I don’t suppose you’ve seen Baekhyun have you?”

“No, sorry... but Lay went to check out the library, maybe you could ask him?”

“You let him wander around alone while this is going on?”

“W-well I didn’t think anyone would try anything now.”

“They shouldn’t have, poor D.O. he’s worried sick.”

“I know, and he’s not had the easiest night as it is.”

“Do you think we should check on him? He’s been gone a while.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”