Sehun is awakened by fingers lightly running through his hair.

He never gets his hair . He sure doesn’t get awakened often by someone touching him. There are only two people who touch his hair or his face or gets to hug him. And that’s Jongin and Tao. Only Jongin and Tao.

This is not Jongin or Tao. Jongin and Tao have large palms and long slender fingers that when they play with his hair, they’re all rough and playful tugs. Jongin and Tao are noisy too that Sehun would’ve been awakened by their insistent chatter first rather than their touches.

The room is quiet. Also an obvious sign that this is not Jongin or Tao.

Sehun is awake but he doesn’t open his eyes as he reaches with his good arm for Luhan to stop touching him. He knows it’s Luhan. He can feel his presence. And besides, his circle of friends or the people he’s accustomed to only range from Jongin, Tao and Luhan.

His fingers wrap around Luhan’s small wrist and only when Luhan stops touching him does Sehun open his eyes.

Luhan’s face is close enough that Sehun can tell he hasn’t slept much. Worry fills his features but it turns to relief when he sees Sehun recognize him.

Sehun recognizes him alright. Sehun recognizes Luhan.

But he doesn’t recognize his meister.

When Sehun gets injured, his meister yells at him. Luhan always gives him a long sermon and goes on and on how an idiot he is for not following his instructions. Luhan would continue to yell at him as he tends to his wounds, pressing down hard with a washcloth on whatever cut he has. Luhan is always annoyed at him or yelling at him when things don’t go his way after a fight.

Luhan right now is quiet, lips tightly pressed together as he stares at him. Luhan right now isn’t yelling at his foolish decisions that almost caused them both their lives and led to him being seriously injured. Luhan right now isn’t fussing over his wounds the way he always does but is rather gentle with how he touched him earlier.

This is not his meister.

Sehun stares at this person as the events of what happened that day start replaying in his head. He has no idea how long he was out. Probably days. He can make out the familiar hospital room they’re at. They’re back in the main city. He can feel his arms and back still sore from that fight. He has a slight headache and he can barely move at all or put any of his muscles into action. But as he stares at Luhan, he can’t help but let his jaw tighten and his gaze harden, his temples pounding at the strain.

“What?” Luhan asks, taking his hand away from Sehun’s grip.

Sehun looks into his eyes. He doesn’t start with a Hi or a Hello, how have you been? He doesn’t start with a How long was I out or Were you hurt as well? He doesn’t bother with asking about his condition or if his wounds are serious. Instead, Sehun says the one thing that’s been bothering him ever since he woke up.

“You’re still linked to someone else.”

Those words come out small and faint. Sehun’s voice is still too hoarse and deep from sleep. He can’t move. His shoulder still hurts and he‘s not sure if he can even sit at all. So he stays still and says all this in a quiet tone. Because this seems effortless.

But he also needs Luhan to hear this. He wants him to know that he saw what happened that day. How Yixing was there, how his eyes had flickered and the link that Luhan and Sehun had disappeared. How Yixing had controlled Luhan and made him fight like a weapon when he isn’t one anymore.

Sehun knows Luhan heard every word he just said.

Luhan opens his mouth and Sehun expects an explanation. But no words are coming out of him. It’s as if his meister wasn’t expecting Sehun to point this out to him at all. As if Sehun didn’t just witness anything.

“How,” Sehun continues, voice still low and faint but a little louder than before. “How do you expect me to be your weapon when my meister still has a link with someone else?”

Sehun is angry. He’s angry for so many reasons. He feels cheated and he isn’t sure why. At first he thought it was because he failed. He hadn’t acquired the soul he fought so hard to get. That maybe he’s feeling this way, feeling like because he lost.

But somehow, he also feels like that isn’t the case. He feels cheated and angry because the person he thought he had a distinct link with has the same thing with someone else. That this person, who is supposed to be his meister, who is supposed to control him, can be controlled by someone else.

That Sehun can easily lose a meister because of what he just witnessed.

And he can’t lose a meister. He can’t become a weapon with no purpose. He accepted this life as a weapon and he gave up everything for that. He gave up his home, his life, his family. Luhan can’t take any more of that away from him. Luhan should be responsible for him.

Luhan closes his mouth when it’s obvious he’s too late to form any kind of explanation. Sehun’s stomach drops uncomfortably at how his words hold so much truth, that his meister still has a link with someone else.

Luhan reaches for the side of his face instead. Sehun, not wanting to be touched at all, turns his head away. He can feel Luhan’s fingertips light and feathery on his cheek and he knows his hand stopped so close from meeting him.

“I’m going back to sleep,” He mutters and closes his eyes. He can’t deal with this right now. He’s too tired and sore all over.

Seconds later, he feels Luhan’s weight beside him gone, the door to his room opening and close quietly and only when he doesn’t feel Luhan’s presence does Sehun finally fall back to sleep.

* * *

Sehun is awakened a second time by his shoulder.

His shoulder is in pain. Whatever pain killers they’ve given him has already worn off and he needs more of it. He can feel sweat trickling down the sides of his face from having to suppress the discomfort even in his sleep.

The nurse assigned to him isn’t around. Sehun doesn’t know what time it is. The sky outside the window just a few feet by his side indicate it’s probably late in the evening. There’s a bell by his bedside table that he can reach so he can call for the nurse and Sehun reaches for it.

Being a weapon has trained him to be alert at all times. His senses are keen and sharp and even if he doesn’t put them to good use sometimes in a fight since he always rushes head on, they’re on high alert now when it’s quiet and still and he’s all alone. Something shifts slightly on the other side of the bed and Sehun immediately freezes. He can tell someone is standing beside him.

Sehun turns around and in the dark, he only makes out someone’s presence looming over his bed, a hood pulled over his face before he’s being lifted up harshly on the collar of his hospital gown.

Sehun starts choking and gasping both from the pain he’s still feeling and at being handled this way. His back arches to accommodate the straining position he’s in. His fingers wrap around the man’s wrist, nails digging into his sleeves to let go. But the man’s hold is tight, lifting him higher as he bends to meet his eyes.

“You’re a weapon,” The man snarls at him. “You’re a weapon.”

Sehun releases his hold on the man’s wrist so he can punch his face and let him go. But his shoulder hurts so bad that his bad arm lies limp and his other hand only tries to twist at the fingers curled around him.

“Let… go,” Sehun croaks but the man only brings him up higher. Sehun squeezes his eyes shut as a burning sensation shoots down his arm and back.

“You protect your meister at all cost,” The man says in a low and angry voice and for a moment, Sehun forgets about the pain as he takes in this odd warning.

“Whatever it takes,” The man breathes and Sehun, being lifted up so close to him, opens his eyes that he can finally make out the face underneath that hood. “You protect your meister.”

Sehun stares at his face. The man’s jaw is tight, his gaze hard and threatening. But Sehun isn’t threatened. Sehun only stares back at him and wondering why he’s here.

“You make sure nothing happens to him.” The man breathes. “You got that?”

He releases Sehun without waiting for an answer and Sehun lands on the bed hard. He feels the pain along his back and shoulder once more, his muscles and joints realigning and he in air and hisses through his teeth. He doesn’t have the chance to confront him about what he just said when the door opens and lights flood the room.

Sehun turns his head away from it, his eyes squeezed shut once more so as not to be blinded.

“You’re still up?” Comes Luhan’s voice and Sehun blinks, getting his eyes to focus. “I thought you’d be asleep by now- “

Sehun turns to the doorway and he sees Luhan eyeing his face. Sehun is panting and his face must be red and dotted with sweat that it doesn’t take much to figure out that something’s not right with him.

“What’s wrong?” Luhan asks.

Sehun doesn’t answer him though. He scans the room for any sign of the man’s presence but he’s gone. The curtains by the window flap against the breeze and Sehun knows he must’ve slipped out that way.

“Sehun, are you alright?” Luhan is immediately by his side, ringing the bell he was supposed to ring earlier. “What’s wrong?”

The pain in his shoulder throbs again, reminding him of his condition. But Sehun only stares out the window where Yixing just left.

“Nothing,” Sehun says quietly. “Everything’s fine.