The storm Baekhyun amassed dissipates quickly, the thunder in his stride simmering down to defeated steps and the lightning in his eyes fading out. The sight of a captured Chanyeol drops any spirits he had left, and he scowls at how quickly he was put on the other end of the spectrum. The slapping of cold metal on his wrists feels alien, defying every fibre of his being. Byun Baekhyun submits to no one. When the silver metal strikes Baekhyun's wrist bone a little too harshly, he feels as if it shatters him from the inside. No one but Do Kyungsoo now. The mere concept shakes Baekhyun, but without his brilliant escape artist of a boyfriend, Baekhyun has no other choice. His broken morale releases the shackles of his pride in exchange for the constricting cuffs of Kyungsoo's, and Baekhyun follows Kyungsoo's lead, as if he lost all ability to rebel.

Baekhyun's calmness surprises Kyungsoo. He handles Baekhyun easily, guiding him toward the other three men with no problems. With one hand on Baekhyun's shoulder and the other on one of his wrists, Kyungsoo is very well aware that this is real; he's finally achieved success. Though it was nothing like he had envisaged - not that Kyungsoo was complaining. He had played the scenario in his head a thousand times, always imagining the arrest with a lot more chaos and difficulty. Given Baekhyun's personality and reputation, Kyungsoo automatically assumed he'd have to deal with overwhelming feistiness. Though to be fair, he also assumed he'd have to take on both Chanyeol and Baekhyun simultaneously. He used to do a hundred push-ups every time he felt doubtful in his ability to rely on his strength to restrain Baekhyun, but especially Chanyeol. Evidently it was all for naught, as Baekhyun puts up no fight whatsoever.

Kyungsoo attributes Baekhyun's lack of ferocity to Luhan. It's obvious that Baekhyun can't handle him, too mentally scarred by his near death experience. Kyungsoo's no psychiatrist, but he's pretty certain that Baekhyun just can't separate Tao from Luhan, viewing them equally as threats to his life. Kyungsoo wasn't there, but he deems it a logical theory and presses on with Baekhyun, definitely taking advantage of the opportunity to do so.

Luhan lags behind, limping from the pain. He can feel the force of the ground pushing up into his feet and shooting up through his legs, pounding in the lacerations he sustained from Baekhyun. Each step makes him wince, and he air through his teeth to get through it. Even though no one's watching, he fights to maintain his manly image, hoping that focusing on it will whisk his thoughts away from the burning agony. Looking up, Luhan catches Kyungsoo's gaze, who spares a moment to check up on his injured friend. Luhan smiles at him, but it doesn't hide the mental and physical exhaustion portrayed plainly on his face. It instills a bit of guilt in Kyungsoo, causing him to regret that he didn't rush to Luhan's aid sooner. He quickly and casually asks Luhan if he's alright, but it's more of a formality than anything else. Kyungsoo knows Luhan requires medical attention, but he hopes Luhan can hold out for just awhile longer.

A small grunt from Luhan affirms Kyungsoo's question, and gives him some confidence that Luhan has at least enough strength to pretend to be okay. With that, Kyungsoo resolves to handle the situation quickly so that Luhan can receive the attention he deserves. Unfortunately for him, Jongin's deafening and panicked screams tells that that won't be the case anytime soon. The incoherent wails cause Kyungsoo's, Luhan's, and Baekhyun's heads to snap up all at once, looking ahead to see Chanyeol lifeless on the ground, Sehun squatting down next to him, and Jongin yelling and anxiously pacing around.

"What's happening?" Luhan all but croaks out, his voice hoarse but soft. Kyungsoo's eyes remain glued to the three ahead as he tries to understand the events unfolding, whereas Baekhyun can only stare at Chanyeol. Still and lifeless Chanyeol.

"Ch-Chanyeol!!" Baekhyun screams, the worry in his heart overtaking him. Baekhyun begins to tremble, the mix of fear and uncertainty suffocating him. Why isn't Chanyeol moving? Baekhyun wants to run to him, but Kyungsoo holds onto him firmly. "Let me go!" Baekhyun demands, anxiety straining his voice. Though Kyungsoo's no fool. He knows a large portion of Chanyeol's fame comes from his extravagant escape plans. Too many a time have his colleagues been fooled by a ruse from Chanyeol - and he's played dead quite a few times. But of course, Baekhyun's acting deserves some credit too, adding to the supposed gravity of the situation. Kyungsoo tightens his hold around Baekhyun; he won't fall for it. Growing impatient, Kyungsoo speeds up his pace. Let's just get this over with, Kyungsoo thinks. Baekhyun stumbles from the increase in speed but picks up his feet, rushing to Chanyeol as much as Kyungsoo will allow him. Luhan picks up the pace to the best of his ability. He knows he doesn't have to, but he refuses to be left behind and so he exerts himself a little more than he should.

When Kyungsoo reaches Chanyeol and Sehun, he analyzes the situation with his wide, owl-like eyes. He doesn't see any kind of external damage to Chanyeol's body, and nothing really seems that out of the ordinary. Even though Chanyeol checks out as normal, Kyungsoo can't help but feel put off by the general feeling of serenity surrounding him. He's breathing yes, but he looks as though he's in a coma. Kyungsoo's also no doctor, but he's not so sure he should look so peaceful after all this calamity. A frantic Jongin makes his way back over to the group and he's practically pulling his hair out. Tears glisten in his eyes but don't yet fall. None of the other guys really know Jongin that well, but Jongin doesn't just cry for anything. Something has to be horribly wrong.

Kyungsoo looks up from Chanyeol after instructing Sehun to take his pulse to see Jongin in his frazzled state. "Yah, Jongin," Kyungsoo calls, grabbing Jongin's attention for long enough to get him focused. "Here," he roughly s Baekhyun into Jongin's arms, ordering him to watch over him so he can take care of Chanyeol. He also figures if Jongin has an active task, it might help calm him down a little. Kneeling down next to Chanyeol and across from Sehun, Kyungsoo makes eye contact with the younger boy.

"His pulse is really weak," Sehun explains. "It was really hard to even get a clear reading."

"Hmm," Kyungsoo hums. He feels Chanyeol's head, noticing that his skin feels cold to the touch. Not even clammy, but cold. "What's wrong with him?" Kyungsoo speculates out loud, talking more to himself than to Sehun. "Yah!" Kyungsoo yells, looking up at Baekhyun with his intimidating eyes. "What kind of drug did you use for this? Huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Baekhyun murmurs. "You think I did this?!" he challenges, raising his voice at Kyungsoo. He lurches toward him but is restrained once again, by Jongin this time. Jongin feels his heart breaking between the guilt and the hurt Baekhyun so obviously feels right now.

"I.." Jongin softly says, speaking more loudly as he musters up the courage to say what he needs to say next. "I think it was me..."

"What do you mean...?" Kyungsoo presses. He can't seem to understand why Jongin feels so distraught about all this. Taking down the enemy is a good thing. But before Jongin finds the strength to confess, Chanyeol emits a small moan, and his face crinkles as he comes to, eyelashes fluttering on his pale face.

"Chanyeol!" Baekhyun exclaims, having not taken his eyes off of him for even a second. Baekhyun takes Jongin by surprise, springing forward toward his boyfriend. In the few seconds it takes Baekhyun to get from Jongin to Chanyeol, he's managed to flex himself in such a way that his hands are now in front of him, allowing him to hold Chanyeol's cool cheeks. "Chanyeol... It's me.. Baek." Chanyeol doesn't seem to register Baekhyun's soft words, nor the fact that people are crowding around him. It's as if Chanyeol is suspended in time and space, floating in solitude. "Chanyeol! Chanyeol!" Baekhyun cries in vain. Chanyeol's eyelids open slowly, revealing nothing but white. When Baekhyun sees this, he jumps, falling back and quickly scrambling back up to look at his ghost-like boyfriend. "Wh-why is he like that?" Baekhyun stammers. "He shouldn't look like that! Why are his eyes like that?!" Baekhyun feels another panic attack coming on, this time completely different than the other two. The symptoms are the same - shortness of breath, erratic heartbeats, and wide eyes - but the feeling is different. Without Chanyeol, Baekhyun knows he'll die. There is no life without Park Chanyeol.

"I don't know how it happened!!!" Jongin cuts in sharply, stinging tears rolling down his cheeks. "I didn't mean to!"

At Jongin's confession, Sehun's head snaps up, staring at Jongin fearfully. It all makes sense to him now. Too much sense. Sehun wishes it weren't true, but he can't think of any other logical explanation. "He's..." Sehun chokes out, trying to find the words. As he hasn't made a sound for the past few minutes, Baekhyun and Jongin forgot he was even there. Kyungsoo watches Sehun speculatively, awaiting the words he's pretty certain he can expect to hear from Sehun.

"He's... a carrier..." Sehun breathes. His words saturate the air around everyone with a dense feeling, and Baekhyun can hardly make sense of everything that's happening.

"Y-you..." Baekhyun hiccups. The tears start streaming consistently, salting his cheeks and catching on his jawline before dripping to the concrete underneath him. "You... infected my Chanyeol?" Baekhyun asks it like a question, but he knows it's true. "Chanyeol..." Baekhyun cries, depression clouding all around him, casting a dark, dark shadow over him. Unlike his earlier panic attacks, Baekhyun is breaking down block by block, shutting down entirely. The slump in his shoulders sinks further and further with every tear that falls. "Chanyeol..."

"What are we gonna do?" Jongin frantically asks. He's biting his lip excessively, to the point that he bites a little too hard, drawing a little bead of blood on his bottom lip.

Kyungsoo stares long and hard at Chanyeol on the ground. He's twitching mildly as his face contorts into pained expressions. It's a step up from the statue-like demeanor he had about him a few minutes ago, but not by much. "Well," Kyungsoo begins. "We don't have to do anything. We could just take Baekhyun -"

"NO!" Jongin protests at the top of his lungs. "We can't leave him here!" Bigger tears well up in Jongin's eyes and his slightly bloodied lip begins to tremble now, along with the rest of his body. "We have to help." Jongin's voice cracks at the last words he says, the catalyst for his now-impatient tears to fall. 

"Please," Baekhyun begs, eyes hidden behind jet black bangs. "I'll do anything. Just help him..."

Between Jongin's and Baekhyun's tears, Sehun feels compelled to graduate from his position as silent observer into a more active role. Although he has no interest in doing so, he speaks up anyway, for the sake of everyone around him.

"Kyungsoo," Sehun calls, moving his gaze to the police officer, in part because he's addressing him specifically, but mostly because he can't stand the sight of crying. "I have an idea."

Instead of vocally acknowledging Sehun, Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow at the boy, awaiting his suggestion. Jongin listens attentively as well, with the hopes that Sehun can sway Kyungsoo in a more compassionate direction. Baekhyun also looks at Sehun with different sentiments - mostly that of desperation.

"Well, I'm almost positive this is real," Sehun speculates. He goes to continue, but Kyungsoo interrupts him first.

"How can you be so sure?" Kyungsoo accuses. He refuses to sacrifice his success for the sake of Park Chanyeol.

"He has to be," Sehun asserts. "Just now, when Chanyeol's and Jongin's faces were really close together, I'm pretty sure Jongin transferred it then.. I mean, the disease can be spread that way, and the symptoms don't take long at all to start showing." Kyungsoo gruffs at Sehun's observations, but chooses to remain silent while Sehun continues explaining. "And he is showing all the symptoms - cold skin, paleness, but most importantly, the eyes..." Everyone else's eyes land on Chanyeol's, which look glazed over with a translucent film, though the fact that they're rolled back makes everyone's skin crawl. The sight is discomforting, and all eyes revert back to Sehun within a few seconds. Sehun squirms under the scrutiny, but says what he needs to say to save the situation. "Apart from that... He's twitching."

"What's your point?" Kyungsoo asks.

"My point is.. I don't think he's fully gone," Sehun states.

"What do you mean?" Baekhyun presses, and he suppresses the hint of hope lingering in his voice. "C-can we... get him back?"

"Well, I don't know," Sehun says. "But I'm sure Yixing can help figure it out. Kyungsoo, maybe we can bring Chanyeol to him.. I don't know how much good it'll do, but Yixing is really bright... and I guess we'd be helping Seoul by bringing him there. We're going there anyway..."

Sehun poses a convincing argument and he holds his breath as Kyungsoo mulls over the decision. Both Jongin and Baekhyun utter desperate pleas to help Chanyeol - one out of overwhelming guilt, the other out of anguish. 

"Fine," Kyungsoo agrees. "Let's get moving then. I'll call the station to bring us a vehicle."

"We'll just have to be careful of Chanyeol," Sehun advises. "Jongin, you should be in charge of him since you're the only one who's immune." Jongin nods in agreement, attending to his duties immediately. He bends down and swings one of Chanyeol's lanky arms around his own shoulders, steadily handling the tall man and bringing him up so that he can walk with Chanyeol's body slumped over his own. Sehun sighs a sigh of relief, mentally patting himself on the back for being a successful diplomat. You've done well, Sehun. After his modest self-praise, Sehun watches as everyone moves out when a sudden realization hits him.

"Wait," Sehun blurts. Everyone turns around to look at him. "Where's Luhan?"

"He was just behind me.." Kyungsoo offers. He checks over to the path they walked to reach Sehun, Chanyeol, and Jongin and not too far in the distance, he notices Luhan's small body curled up on the ground. Sehun's gaze follows Kyungsoo's until he sees exactly what Kyungsoo is staring at.

"Luhan!" Sehun yells, dashing to him at the speed of light. When he reaches Luhan, he notices his closed eyelids, and Sehun freaks out on the inside just a little bit. He turns Luhan over from his stomach and onto his back, revealing the gashes that Baekhyun left on him. They must have been deeper than expected because beside Luhan on the concrete is a small puddle of blood staining the surface. Specks of dirt pepper Luhan's front, mixing with and sticking to the thick redness of Luhan's shirt. The blood from his neck wound trickles down, some drops catching on the collar of his shirt, the others streaming down his chest, racing streaks of red. Sehun is careful to take Luhan's pulse, avoiding touching Luhan's cut as best as he can. Luckily, Sehun notices Luhan's shallow breathing and convinces himself to calm down from the situation. He clears his mind and acts quickly, in order to prevent Luhan from losing more blood. He's happy that the wounds aren't gushing and oozing out blood, but he's distressed that Luhan's lost enough to faint from it.

Without wasting much time, Sehun applies pressure to the chest wound and attempts to make some sort of bandage for Luhan's neck, using whatever spare material he could find, which in this case would be the bottom of his shirt. Sehun wraps it around Luhan's neck gingerly, but still with enough strength to stop the blood from flowing. Hoisting Luhan up, Sehun copies Jongin in his methods, carrying his boyfriend in the hopes of finding him the medical treatmeant he needs. "Kyungsoo.." Sehun calls out across the grounds to gain Kyungsoo's attention. "Call for an ambulance," Sehun says as he looks down at Luhan's knocked-out face. "We're gonna need a bigger vehicle..."