Kris watched in horror as the gun spun from Luhan to Tao. Instinctively he knew that this man wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. That this was it. That this was the horrible moment when they would have to watch Tao, and then the rest of their friends fall one by one to bleed out in the snow. He couldn’t let this happen, and yet he didn’t know what to do.

                There was no way out of this. Tao’s eyes went wide and tears started falling. A chorus of eleven voices rose in agony at once until a twelfth joined in. The usually soft and angelic tones shot high and piercing, distorted by a broken heart and a ruined throat. Kris spun in shock to stare as Suho’s small, shuddering body collided with his much larger captor.

                The man flailed and stumbled back a few feet, coming dangerously close to the cliff’s edge, but not quite over. For less than a second he stood still, staring at Joonmyun’s haggard frame. The gun was leveled at the panting man and a loud crack echoed through the sky.

At the same moment the ground crumbled beneath the raging monster who screeched in terror as he tumbled backwards over the sheer drop and into the deep canyon below. The clearing fell silent for an agonizing second until the broken angel collapsed into the snow with a soft groan.

“Suho!” Luhan screamed as he came to his senses. The cry woke Kris from his stupor and he bolted ahead of the rest of the group and dove into the powder beside the tiny figure. He lifted his head and rolled Suho over, attempting to assess his injuries.

Dark bruises littered his pale skin that occasionally split to trickle dark liquid across his limbs. His eye was swollen and dark, and blood was pouring out of his right shoulder. The man froze in shock, unable to make a plan of action. He just had no idea what to do about this.

“Move dragon!” Lay growled as he roughly shoved his leader out of the way and striped out of his coat. Kris stared at the dancer who continued to rip of layers of clothing and throw them in his general direction. As he tore off his wife beater, the frigid air instantly raised goose bumps all over Lay’s chest and arms. Ignoring the cold he pressed the cloth to the gushing wound on his friend’s shoulder and tried to staunch the bleeding.

“Lay, you idiot! Put some clothes on!” Chen shrieked as he watched the dancer’s chattering teeth. He snatched Lay’s jacket from Kris’ frozen limbs and draped it over the shuddering frame.

“P-put it o-on Su-su-suho…” he stuttered. Kris growled as Lay tried to take the coat off. He ripped his own long, wool jacket off and delicately wrapped it around the unconscious figure.

“You go put your shirt on, Kyungsoo, come help me with this.” Kris ordered, coming back to his senses.  D.O. stepped forward to take Lay’s position. The dancer hesitantly moved away and pulled on his button up shirt and his jacket while Xiumin and Chen scolded him for stripping shirtless in the cold weather. Nearby, Sehun was sobbing into Luhan’s shoulder while Tao was a blubbering and shaking mess.

“You’re okay…everything is okay…” Baekhyun whispered to the traumatized boy while he and Chanyeol sandwiched him between them in a soothing hug. Kai, left to his own devices, hurried over to where Kris and Kyungsoo were attempting to bandage up his leader.

“Jongin,” D.O. said without looking up. “Call the paramedics. Tell them to meet us at the house, alright?” The dancing machine nodded stupidly and dug around in his pockets for his phone. While Jongin dialed the emergency number and walked away, the vocalist turned back to Kris.

“I think that he’s as stable as we can make him here.” Kyungsoo murmured quietly. Kris nodded and scooped Suho’s emaciated body into his arms.

“Baekhyun,” he yelled. “Tell us how to get back from here!” The diva glanced at Chanyeol who nodded. As he ran up to the head of the line, Chen dropped back and took up Baekhyun’s former position next to Tao and started caressing his arm.

It only took Baek a minute to figure out the correct path through the trees and guided the group swiftly down the paths towards home. The journey was relatively silent aside from the magnaes’ quiet sobs and Suho’s moans. Although he tried to move as steadily as possible, Kris still stumbled several times. When he did Joonmyun would groan in pain and shift in his arms.

Each grunt and whimper brought tears to everyone’s eyes as they came to terms with the fact that they had failed. After everything they had done and all of their plans they had still allowed the worst thing imaginable to happen to their friend. How could he ever forgive them now?

By the time they reached the house Kris was shuddering uncontrollably as the cold air cut easily through his now inadequate clothing. Left with no choice, Chanyeol had stepped in and pulled the dragon aside and cuddled up next to him, wrapping his own oversized coat around the shaking shoulders. Kris tried to protest as Luhan gently took Suho from his arms, but as Chanyeol’s warm jacket was wrapped around him he relented and realized that his own shivers were causing the fragile boy more harm than help.

Suho whimpered softly as he was transferred from Kris’ embrace to Luhan’s, but he quickly quieted and snuggled closer to the warm chest. Luhan cooed softly and nuzzled into the frozen hair, breathing in Suho’s unique, musky scent. In the distance the sound of sirens made everyone’s eyes light up with hope.

“Come on you slow pokes!” Baekhyun howled as he took off down the path. Everyone but the leaders and their respective companions dashed after the small man, calling out to the paramedics who dashed down the hill towards them.

Kris raised his head in a daze, his body still dulled by the cold. An unfamiliar face peered at him, racing through the trees with a flashlight pointed towards him. Kris sagged exhausted into Chanyeol’s strong arms. His fellow rapper tried to hold him up for a moment, but then shrugged and looped his arms under Kris’ legs and pulled him into his chest.

“Over here!” he cried as he ran over to stand next to Luhan. They both were instantly swarmed by help. Gentle arms pushed and shoved them into ambulances as Kris, Chanyeol, and Lay were wrapped in warm blankets. Relieved of his burden, Luhan spotted Sehun standing next to the still quivering Tao who was talking with a couple paramedics. The deer hurried over to help Xiumin answer questions.

“Are you in charge?” A man in his early thirties asked Kai and Chen who seemed to be the only people not in some sort of predicament. They shook their heads.

“No…he is.” Kai said, quietly pointing at Kris. M’s leader lifted his head as he heard the dancer’s words. Warmth filled him as his eyes locked with the boy’s. Jongin gave him a weak smile that apologized for everything that he had ever thought about the other man, and Kris returned the grin with a small nod.

“Oh, thanks.” the paramedic said as he trotted over toward Kris.

“You dummy, you’re shaking like a leaf! You could have just shared or something!” Baekhyun’s high pitched screeches made the paramedic flinch as he ran by.

“W-well K-kris was c-cold…I c-could-n’t j-just l-leave him c-could I?” Chanyeol defended himself. Baekhyun smacked him and then hugged the giant.

“Just don’t do anything stupid again, okay?” he muttered. Chanyeol blushed in embarrassment and hugged Baekhyun back. The tiny shoulders started to quiver and Chanyeol instantly tightened his hold as Baek started sobbing into his chest.

“I don’t want to lose any of you guys…especially not you, Channie! Especially not you…” The giant flinched as the truth of how close he came to losing everyone, including himself hit home. His own eyes started to water and he buried his nose in his best friend’s neck.

“Baekkie…I don’t wanna lose you either…” he sniffled. The two started bawling and Kyungsoo looked away with a flushed face. He felt as if he was intruding on a private moment, and maybe he was.

“Hey, hyung…” Jongin said tiredly as he sat down next to his friend. D.O. turned to him, trying to blink back tears.

“Jongin…” he started to say something but stopped, unsure of how to continue. He watched the younger man’s face and realized how horrible it would have been to lose this dirty-minded dork…or any of them for that matter. So he just settled for ‘Jongin’ and wrapping his arms around the bigger boy. The dancer cuddled closer to his favorite hyung and smiled in contentment.

Nearby the paramedics finally stepped away from Sehun for a moment and the quivering boy turned to Luhan with glassy eyes.

“Hyung…” he whimpered. “Don’t go away, alright?” Luhan’s heart broke.

“Oh screw manly…” he growled as he tackled Sehun and started to cuddle him. Chen giggled at the sight before him and nudged Xiumin who had wandered over to his side as the paramedics had wanted to examine Tao alone for a minute.

“Look at that…everyone is so clingy all of the sudden.” he chuckled as he looked around.

“Even Lay and Tao are getting all snuggly!” he said as he pointed to the sobbing magnae who was clinging to Lay like there was no tomorrow. Minseok just stood there silently staring into space. Unable to get a reaction from his hyung, Chen raised an eyebrow and nudged him again.

“Yah! Don’t look so dull…you’re acting like everyone died or something.” Xiumin hiccupped suddenly and Chen leaned over to get a better look.

“Hyung…?” he muttered. Minseok spun to him suddenly with tear-filled eyes. He slapped Chen’s face and shouted louder than Chen had ever heard him shout before.

“But we almost did Jongdae! We did almost die!” He dissolved into tears. “You almost died…” Chen reflexively caught Minseok as he collapsed into his chest. For a moment he stood paralyzed by his friend’s reaction. Then the tears started falling. His only defense for something this horrible was to joke, to laugh…to just pretend everything was okay.

But Minseok wasn’t that way. And when his favorite hyung…the hyung that kept him in line, but babied him at the same time; his hyung that was always so strong was sobbing into his chest his own barriers broke.

“H-hyung…” he whispered. Not a moment later he was bawling and blubbering in Xiumin’s arms. The older man quickly regained his senses and held the shaking vocalist. Running his hands through his hair and his back, constantly whispering;

 “It’s alright…I’m here…everything is okay…” Kris dropped his eyes. Everywhere he looked s had paired off with their closest friends and were comforting one another. Even Lay and Tao were snuggled up as the dancer the younger’s hair and allowed him to sob into his shoulder.

“You’re the man in charge?” the paramedic asked as he ran up. Kris nodded with a tired expression. Sometimes he wished he wasn’t. It was these times when Joonmyun would take the lead…Joonmyun was always the better leader. That was the honest truth.

“For the time being,” Kris whispered as he pointed at Suho’s unconscious form. “He’s the real one in charge.” The paramedic glanced back and forth between them and then ran his hands over his face in frustration. Kris smiled to himself at the thought of the poor man having to run around and get information from the rest of Exo.

“Alright…well…anyways…” the paramedic trailed off before shaking himself and giving a simple report on everyone’s condition and then asking some basic questions. Kris answered to the best of his abilities but he was too distracted by the sight of Suho’s broken body being loaded onto a gurney and taken into an ambulance.

“Wait…!” Kirs’ desperate cry caused the rest of Exo to turn and watch. The dragon dashed across the frozen ground, his blanket trailing behind him as he abandoned it in favor of chasing after his friend. The man and woman loading Joonmyun’s body hesitated at the sight of a tall man racing towards them. Kris hurled through the snow, foot after foot drawing him closer and closer to his friend.

His friend that he cared so much for; his friend that he had already lost twice, his friend that he couldn’t bear to lose again…his friend that had been the only one who always understood. He gripped the railings of the makeshift bed, his breathing coming in short gasps, his eyes wide with tears. He looked wildly from face to face, wanting to beg them not to take him, but not knowing how. Joonmyun whined a bit and flicked his eyes open.

“Kris…” he breathed as his dark eyes fell closed again. The dragon whimpered and clutched at Suho’s hand, unsure of how to react. The paramedics exchanged glances and a couple words that Kris was too distraught to understand. But when the woman gently ushered him onto the ambulance and made him take a seat next to Joonmyun’s secured body he relaxed.

Guilt flickered through him as he glanced out at the rest of Exo. They smiled grimly and waved to him, assuring him it was okay.

“Take care of Joonie for us, alright?” Chanyeol shouted.

“We’ll meet you at the hospital!” Kyungsoo called.

“Don’t worry, Minseok and I will keep them in line for you!” Chen assured him as Xiumin smacked him half-heartedly. Kris’ smile was barely formed as the door slammed shut and the ambulance took off. The remaining paramedics gathered the rest of the group into separate vehicles as soon as they finished securing the house for their return.

As the ambulance shuddered and rumbled Joonmyun continuously whined in pain. The beautiful eyes opened once more as he felt Kris take his hand. The smaller man squeezed back with a quivering lip. Instantly Kris leaned closer to his face and whispered soothing words. Joonmyun’s body started to shiver as feeling came back to his limbs, his teeth chattered and a few tears stole their way down his cheek.

“K-kris…” He shivered. “D-don’t l-leave m-me…t-this t-time…” His pleading eyes broke the dragon’s heart. He tugged the blanket tighter around the frail body and leaned his forehead against Suho’s.

“I’ll always be right here, I promise.” he whispered. Suho cooed in contentment and allowed his eyes to close again. His hand relaxed in Kris’ grip and he his arms to sooth him and smiled softly. As the paramedics bustled around the vehicle and tended to the unconscious man before him somehow he knew.

Kris just knew by looking at the angelic face that everything was going to be okay.

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*sobs* So here's chapter twenty four! I'm sorry for the abrupt shift in writing style...I wanted to be able to get into everyone's heads. And I actually tend to write in 3rd person more than first so all the first person stuff is actually a new thing to me, so this is kinda like getting back to my roots. XD

So...what what did you all think? Don't be shy about leaving a comment. (I love comments.) I'm sorry that this chapter was so lame...>.< And that it took sooooo long! I'm still having trouble with work and stuff so I have a lot of time constraints but I managed to pump this one out for you guys really fast. Now, I have to go to work but I'll see all of you soon.

Sadly, this story is rapidly coming to a close and I'm really going to miss this story and all of you guys. But I hope that when it's finished you will follow some of my new fics. ^_^

A big huge thanks to everyone who has followed this fic and given me so much support. I never ever imagined that this would ever happen but you guys are all just so amazing and I can't thank you enough!

Enjoy chapter twenty four! The next chapter will be getting back into 1st person (promise!), so look forward to that.

See everyone in the next chapter!

Cheers!