Sehun blinked his eyes open, prying his eyelashes apart. His head was pounding, his whole body ached. Someone was sitting on his legs. 

"Sehun? Sehun? Are you awake? Can you hear me?"

"Sehun? Blink if you hear us."

"Are you alright?"

Sehun?!"

"Sehun!"

He groaned and tried to roll over. His body, however, would not cooperate. 

"Quit it, guys. He needs space. Jongin, move."

A face swam before his eyes, two or three of them actually, or perhaps they were all the same. 

"Kyungsoo?" His tongue felt clammy in his mouth, heavy. 

"Yep. He's fine," said someone else. Then someone snickered.

"You're only looking at Minseok, not Kyungsoo, but that's fine. That's perfectly fine." 

Someone rubbed his shoulder, and another cradled his head. He was being lifted off the ground to a sitting position with somebody propping him up from behind. His whole head pounded twice more, and he wanted to vomit. 

"What happened?" he finally mouthed.

"You don't remember?" Minseok smiled at him. To his side, Yixing held his staff aloft, pointed at Sehun's body, mumbling words in an incomprehensible language that Sehun was suddenly afraid of, but whatever they did, he felt better. A healing feeling lifted through his spirits. His mind became numb, then clear, as if everything had to reset so he could focus once more, and remember.

"You were nearly taken out by a hurlock, don't you remember?" Baekhyun squatted by his feet, smirking. "You screamed like a little girl."

Sehun glared at him, but he was actually starting to remember. Minseok had suddenly shouted, told everyone to get up and move, now, that the darkspawn were coming. They had gathered their supplies as quickly as possible, a few things inevitably left behind in their haste. Sehun had a sad thought for his nice comfy bed roll which had served him so well for so long. Lost to the Deep Roads now, to be sure. They wouldn't be going back in that direction anytime soon. 

Maker's breath, those darkspawn were huge!

"Shut up," Sehun barked back. The elf just laughed, but he shut his lips dramatically and ran a finger across his lips. 

Sehun sighed. Behind him, Chanyeol shifted his weight so Sehun could sit up straighter. He rubbed his temples, frowning. "So that was a hurlock, huh?" he asked. 

Minseok nodded. "Yep. Do you feel better? Can you get up now and walk? We have temporarily blocked part of the tunnel, but they'll be through it soon enough if we don't get out of here quick."

Sehun grumbled. "Yeah, I can get up."

He wouldn't admit that the sounds echoing down the tunnel behind them made his heart rate quicken in panic. They had run so fast to the intersection where Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were holding out. Then Kyungsoo had shouted, 'To your left, go now!' and they'd all rushed that direction, all but the warriors who stayed to slow their attack. The first darkspawn Sehun ever saw in his life nearly scared the right out of him. 

According to the Chantry, the darkspawn were once men, magisters of the Tevinter Imperium, who opened to the gates to the Golden City and tainted the Maker's realm. But they were tainted themselves, transformed into monsters who could only live underground except during Blights, when they swarmed the surface behind the power of an Archdemon. According to the dwarves, they had just always been down there, a foul tainted race bent on killing. Whichever version was true, Sehun really didn't care, Maker forgive him. They were vile, they stank, their heads were shaped like crude featureless sculls, their bodies massive, brutal. And the hurlock which towered taller than the mere genlocks around him, had been doubly vicious. 

If Sehun remembered correctly, he had actually taken a blow on the side of his head against one. It had broken through the warriors' line of defense and nearly pulverized a completely stunned and frightened Suho. Sehun had pushed him aside. He definitely hadn't screamed like a girl, as Baekhyun was trying to claim.

The dwarf knelt beside him and was one of the most active now at helping him stand up. 

"Thank you," he whispered. 

Sehun smiled but said no more. Let the others acknowledge his heroics whenever they so wanted. A hero didn't gloat. Much.

He glanced around the rest of their party, sighing in relief when he counted eleven other members, a dog, and no one seriously injured except for him. Jongin limped a small amount, Jongdae cradled his right arm whining at Yixing to heal him too. Kris was sporting a new gash on the side of the face which had stopped bleeding but would definitely scar. It added to one or two other ones. Sehun thought they hadn't been there when they hired him on. It's been a long and adventurous few weeks, to be sure.

"Where are we going now?" he asked Luhan who was trailing along behind, his eyes cast backwards on the ground like he was looking for something.

The templar faced forward again and smiled wanly. "Somewhere. Who knows. Kyungsoo said he found a sealed doorway up ahead. If we can manage to get it open in time before the darkspawn follow us through our rock cave-in back there... we should be all set!" His forced cheeriness didn't appeal to either himself or Sehun. Both looked downtrodden for a moment before Luhan laughed. Then he went back to staring into the shadows behind him, sadly. 

"Lose something?" Sehun asked.

"Yeah... my pack. I can't remember if I left it at the camp or if I dropped it during the battle."

"Was it important though? Just food and supplies and we all have extra of those, right?"

Luhan had to force himself to stop looking back, and Sehun got the distinct impression that wasn't all he'd lost in his pack. "Oh," he said suddenly, understanding. "You were carrying lyrium, weren't you?" 

The belowground torches had finally failed. Perhaps they were so deep into the mountain now, or too far from the veins of magma or lyrium that they no longer worked. It was frightening to think where they might actually be. The Deep Roads were so vast, so deep, and here they were hemmed in with darkspawn behind them, the unknown before. 

You sure you know how this works? Minseok thought, probing silently past the minds of the unaware bodies around them.

Aloud, Kyungsoo said, "This is an old dwarven trick. It's a puzzle... if we can just solve it... the gate may be unlocked."

Yixing floated several glowing orbs of pure light magic above their heads, illuminating the massive stonework door that, according to Kyungsoo, was their way out. Their only hope of salvation unless they fancied becoming snacks for the darkspawn. Or each other, thank Jongdae's grim imagination for that one.

"It may be unlocked..." Baekhyun recited helpfully. 

"It's not complicated," Kyungsoo insisted. However, he continued to stand there and ponder the ancient markings carved in the stone, and the complicated dial that would, should, unlock the door. If it still worked. There were a lot of factors to consider, and most of them ended with the possibility of death. 

"You sure it's not a trap?" said Jongin. "If it's so easy, then why hasn't it been opened before, or explored before? We're probably not the only people to have accidentally ventured down this far since the time of its ruin."

At this Kyungsoo glanced sideways and caught Minseok's glance. He's right about that at least.

Jongdae sighed heavily and sat down on the ground, his back resting against a crumbling stone pillar. "Shall we take a gander at who, besides ourselves, would be so dumb to come this far, or else lucky that they even made it alive? What are talking about here? Some merchant expedition seeking treasure beyond the fringes of the world? Dwarves reclaiming lost thaigs?"

"It's been attempted before," said Jongin. He looked at Suho for confirmation.

The dwarf, after a moment's hesitation, confirmed it with a nod. "M-most though... don't return." 

"There, see!" cried Jongdae with glee. "We're all going to die. In the meantime, I shall nap." 

Chanyeol shuffled uncomfortably a few stances away. He'd yet to put sheath his sword, ever the battle-ready warrior. Blood dripped from its sharp edge, dark, almost black in this light, and it gave Minseok chills to look at it, a reminder of what they'd just faced. In spite Yixing and Minseok's magic spells that had reinforced the rock cave-in separating them from the darkspawn, the echoes of rock scratching up against rock reached them even now. They had put so much space between them, yet the sounds refused to be muffled.

Even the air was dank here, thicker, yet somehow colder. Like a sickness, a mold that clogged all their pores. Sehun was beginning to cough more frequently. Tao had taken to wearing a cloth around his nose. Baekhyun wore an extra coat, one of Jongin's. 

Minseok frowned.

Do you or don't you know how to open this thing?

I do, came the answer a half minute later. Patience... it's been awhile since I've seen one of these doors.

Luhan sat down too, leaning against a different pillar than Jongdae. 

Minseok stared at the ancient stonework inscribed with something likely written by or referring to a paragon. So much dwarven history down here, abandoned and forgotten. Everything about this particular place signified they were near to some lost thaig. He grimaced, wondering what they might find on the other side of the door. Would there be bodies, bones, or just dust? Another hive of darkspawn squatting in the ruins? This was the first time he'd ever ventured this way, belowground, into the deep. Orzammar was one thing. The Deep Roads, something else entirely. Apart from Kyungsoo he knew only one other that had traversed such roads.

'They say ghosts walk there still. You can see them, feel them, hear them. Lingering like echoes amidst the dust.'

'You saw them?' 

'Why should I waste my breath making this up? Whole families and clans... preserved like wisps in the last moments of their life, playing, singing, running... such fear. You could almost taste it.'

It had been Xiumin of course. One of the last times they spoke, still brothers, barely friendly, before they went their separate ways. Before Xiumin revealed his true nature and Minseok fled for his very life. 

What blood magic Xiumin might be able to do with a horde of darkspawn behind him. Minseok hoped he never had to find out.

He shook his head, clearing his mind. Luhan still sat by the base of the pillar, his eyes closed, as if he weren't aware of the mage hovering just overhead. Minseok sighed, then he too sat in its shadow and leaned against the templar.

"You alright?" he whispered.

Luhan's closed eyelids fluttered. He smiled without opening them and nodded yes. Then, after a pause he shook his head no. 

"I want out of this place," the templar admitted softly. 

"You and me and everyone," said Minseok.

"How long has it even been?"

"Since we've been down here? Probably..."

"No, I mean since this whole... thing began."

"What thing, exactly?" Minseok furrowed his expression and looked directly upon the other's face. Luhan's coloring in the feeble white light of the magic orbs made him look sick. Minseok knew he was more well that, had in fact recovered nicely since their respite in Orzammar. 

Luhan didn't answer. But he did eventually open his eyes and look about as if seeing everything with fresh eyes. 

Something prompted Minseok to speak, a whim or some deeper notion of potential loss. But before he had time to think about it he'd already said the words, "Let's go away somewhere. You and me. After this is over."

He expected Luhan to be shocked. To gasp or get excited, be angry or appalled. Some form of reaction. Anything. 

"That sounds nice," the templar sighed instead. As if Minseok were only dreaming out loud. "Where do you want to go? Orlais? I bet we would make a fetching couple there. The templar and his mage. We'd be the talk of the court. Or should we go home? I could surprise my family. Dear brothers, sisters, I've returned with honors! Or well, not honors, but look at the record of my accomplishments, no? Evader, deserter. Destroyer of darkspawn and bears."

"You're laughing at me," said Minseok curtly. 

"Of course I am. Your jokes are too funny." And Luhan actually did laugh. It cut almost to Minseok's bones. 

"I meant it though."

"Oh?" Luhan silenced himself and murmured without enthusiasm, his laughter fading away. "Are you sure though? For one, it's not guaranteed that we won't perish right here under this monstrous looking door in the sight of a... is that a paragon above us? Secondly..." and at this he sighed anew. "I like you Minseok. A lot. A lot a lot, more than a lot. That's why I told you if you decided to leave sometime that I wouldn't stop you. I've broken a lot of vows since I became a templar and I'll keep breaking them if it means you get to live. But..."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes once more. Off to their side, Kyungsoo was issuing instructions to Kris, Jongin, and Tao about how to shift, push or touch random stones, and Jongdae and Suho were now whispering to each other. Yixing kept the light orbs moving so they could see what they were doing. Sehun perched on his heels low over the ground cuddling Alistair like the two were meant for each other, one a lowly nobleman's brat, the other a beast of war.

They were partially obscured behind the pillar, Minseok's side exposed and their legs sticking out. Private enough. 

"But?" Minseok pried. Even though he knew where this was probably going. And he didn't want it getting there.

He rolled onto his knees, turning away from the others' line of sight, turning right onto Luhan's lap where he promptly caged him in. Before the templar could do more than gasp and look up, Minseok held his face and brought their lips together. 

Luhan fought him. For a moment. His hands found Minseok's waist, pushing the mage away even as they kissed. A weak effort that Minseok nevertheless responded to. He pulled his head away in spite of his better wishes, instinct drumming from inside his chest. He wanted... craved the touch of the templar which in the beginning had seemed so innocent. A lie down here, a teasing snuggle there, the touch of another in time of help. Why, since they had been in Orzammar, did Minseok sense something had changed? Luhan had become distant. He no longer walked beside Minseok at every moment, no longer touched their hands together when they passed. His eyes no longer shined. 

"Luhan?" he whispered down into the face that peered upwards. It was an earnest expression, seeking... something in the way of answers, yet Minseok didn't even know the questions. How could he know what went on inside this templar's head except that he professed to like Minseok a lot, had kissed him with a brief flair of passion, and then had struggled to push him away?

Although Luhan's hands still circled Minseok's waist.

And Minseok's palms still cupped the templar's cheeks. One thumb rested along the crease of Luhan's chapped, yet pretty lips. He moved it, the lower lip and Luhan's eyes fluttered closed as his head tipped back. The same muscled hands that had held Minseok at bay now seemed to be drawing him in. He parted his mouth. Minseok slipped his thumb inside, wetting just the tip, and from that sensation alone he had to hold back a groan. 

He inhaled once, nostrils flaring, before diving down again and this time Luhan put up no reluctance. He immediately the mage's lips between his own. His hands met and crossed one another low behind Minseok's back as their bodies drew near against the other. Luhan's head craned upwards, bent at an odd angle from where Minseok held him aloft. He tasted like ale, bitter and stale. The sweat and dirt against his skin of his neck rubbed along Minseok's grasping fingertips. Whispers assailed their ears from beyond the pillar, the dashing and hammering of rocks echoed from the passage behind. A broken paragon watched from above. 

Slowly, their lips withdrew. Minseok rested his forehead against the other's and willed his breaths to calmly even out. Luhan mumbled, his voice beginning to stir. If he wanted to continue that talk from before, Minseok wouldn't be able to stop him. He did however press a kiss to the templar's closed eyelids, one and then the other. 

"Minseok."

Minseok smirked, a soft laugh emitting from his lips. "I never told you..."

"What?"

"How happy I am that you call me by my real name."

He meant it sincerely. A token of how much they had gone through and how far they had come. For though the deception had been accidental, and for a while, necessary, the relief Minseok felt when he finally shared his secret... with Luhan... it calmed him despite everything else.

But apparently the reverse was true for Luhan. The templar pushed him away, a thought or memory clouding his expression like a sudden bad feeling. Minseok suspected it but could not understand. Was it because he'd reminded him that another existed? Xiumin, his brother, who had driven them to these tunnels? 

"You looked away from me," Minseok whispered, his voice pinched tight as he worried. "Just now. Why?"

Luhan sighed. "This isn't the place to discuss it."

"You were going to earlier though. Why. Is it Xiumin?"

"Yes."

Minseok...

"What about him? We'll get around him. I know how to hide from him. Once we find the foun- once we get away out of these roads and everyone gets on their own paths again, we can..." His words faltered. He had almost slipped up. Luhan didn't apparently notice. 

Minseok.

Minseok also didn't know what he was trying to say. Before he made rash promises about being with Luhan and coming up with fantastical agendas like them traveling the world together forever, he needed to stop. He needed to slow down. They both did, and yet half of his pleas has already come out of his mouth. "I just... I mean."

"Are you worried he'll always be following me? Shadowing me wherever I go. Is that why you don't want to be around me? Because I put you in danger?"

Minseok...

"That's not it," Luhan sighed. "Look, ignore me. I'm not even sure what I'm thinking right now. And..." His eyes softened once more, and Minseok looked into a paler shade of the same gleam Luhan had when they kissed.

Hey, mage! Kyungsoo scoffed indignantly.

"What!" Minseok shouted out loud, suddenly furious at the interruption.

Someone coughed. Another person snickered.

Minseok and Luhan looked up together and saw hovered there Tao and Kyungsoo and Jongin, and Baekhyun with his arm around the shield warrior's neck, as if they'd been standing around watching some prime entertainment. Minseok had no idea how long they'd all be standing there, but it was enough to make Luhan flush scarlet and Minseok start to worry. 

I tried to get your attention. Kyungsoo arched a pair of bored eyes.

Jongin cleared his throat. "Kyungsoo, uhm... got the door open. We should probably go through before Chanyeol's and Kris's strength gives out and it shuts again locking us all in.

The scrambled to their feet just as Baekhyun jeered, "Yeah, Jongdae and Suho are already on the other side, probably making out like you guys were and giving Sehun an eyeful. Come on, hop to it!"

A full sigh of relief went through the entire party when they all emerged through the other side, and the two tallest warriors groaned and released the stone barrier. It slid shut with an aching screach, and finally they had another wall between them and the darkspawn. And yet another dark, damp hole of a corridor before them. 

Luhan moved quickly to stand by the others. Minseok watched him not so covertly when he stood by Sehun with his arm around the younger boy, Alistair panting by their feet as they spoke companionably. 

Minseok nearly jumped when the other mage suddenly materialized at his side. 

"What... Yixing! You startled me."

"Obviously," said the elf with a dry laugh. He followed Minseok's gaze, then mimicked Luhan's pose by putting his own arm around Minseok's neck and drawing him close. "I couldn't help but overhear and... see."

Minseok didn't respond. He shuffled his feet and turned his eyes, expecting Yixing to , taunt him, say anything about Luhan and the templar's fate, and the likely heartbreak that would emerge in the end. 

He'd forgotten of course that his friend was a mage, and a wise mage beyond his years with experience in matters Minseok hadn't even dreamed of dabbling with. 

"Do you know," Yixing whispered softly, his breath tickling the hair at Minseok's nape, right into his ear for him alone to hear. "Before... when you two were together, I didn't notice it. It was airy, aloft. Like a note floating about in the wind, lost, and unwhole. But now that we're in these tunnels, it's become clearer..." he paused dramatically.

Minseok felt the urge to shirk the elf's arm off his elbow. However he kept himself still and asked, "What? Me and Luhan?"

Yixing chuckled. "No... not Luhan. Oh, that's another matter entirely, and I completely trust you to muck that up on your own with no help from me. But no, Minseok. I mean you and Kyungsoo... You and Kyungsoo, my friend. I can hear you."

Minseok's blood ran cold. How could he not have suspected? How could he have thought that Yixing, with all his power, would be not be listening in.

"Minseok, my friend. I came along with you because you seemed to need help, your friends were amusing, your love life is... interesting, and because we have always trusted each other before. So tell me... friend. Where is this place you seek? This, Well of Emerald Waters?" 

3,870 words

Oh well, did we all forget about Yixing and his role in this fic? xD

And in case anyone's confused because Minseok and Kyungsoo haven't expressly talked about the well yet, it's an unwritten scene because they've been down here in the Deep Roads a while, and I imagine they could have commented on things in between other events. Yixing is only now choosing to tell them he knows. 

Let's see, what else happened. Oh yes! Xiuhan made out. Jolly. Wonderful! Wait until they get out of these stinking tunnels and have a bath, then we might see some more progress *coughs* happen. :)

Until next time!

♡ Rosie