Authors note: THIS STORY WILL BE CONTINUED! It's only been posted recently. ^_^

There is constant time skips and rewinds, so the plot doesn't work in chronological order

Genre: Adventure/War/Modernverse/Angst/Hurtncomfort/Romance

Main Characters: Guan Ping, Xiahou Dun, and Yu Jin

Secondary: Gan Ning, Li Dian, Zhang He, Lu Lingqi, Zhen Ji, Cao Pi, Ma Chao, Fa Zheng, Guan Suo, Guan Yinping, Guan Yu, Guan Xing, Zhong Hui, MaDai, Huang Gai, Sun Jian, Zhang Jiao, Deng Ai, Huang Zhong, Dong Zhuo

Disclaimer: I proudly own nothing but my pants ^-^

ENJOY!

Chapter 1: How It All Goes Wrong

In the year 2053 - Central African Republic

Food shortages...

"Hand me the notebook" Yu Jin ordered. Guan Ping complied, reaching for a pencil in his pocket and handing that over too. The older man examined the pages for a few seconds, displeased with the outcome, his face expression remained unchanged as he wore his usual unamused look, along with the furrowed brows that somehow always made him look angry even when he wasn't. In addition to the curve of his lips that barely twitched or most likely faced down, Guan Ping hadn't gotten used to Yu Jin's stern face expression and he often avoided to meet the Marshal's gaze.

"Let's keep a record of what we've got" He finally spoke, ushering for Guan Ping to bring out the remains of food. As usual even in the most distressing of moments Yu Jin had to keep on top of his organization and reacted calmly.

Guan Ping began pulling the food out of the backpack "two cans of beans... four cans of soup... a pack of crackers, and another of dried fruit... a loaf of bread... and six apples"

Yu Jin scribbled away into the notepad, there was a slight hint of nervousness in the way he held his pencil, making simple mistakes as his mind wasn't really focused. There was no way any of that food was going to last longer than a day, or two if they were being really stingy. His eyes darted from side to side with his head sunk into the notebook.

Only to have his thought patterns being disturbed by Dun. "five" He corrected. "Five apples..." The one eyed man stated, as he reached for the pile and grabbed one, walking away casually.

Guan Ping exchanged glances, his face turning to Dun and then back to Yu Jin but there was no reaction. Yu Jin looked back at the notebook, noticing he had written 'cans of crackers'. Scribbling it out he corrected it to '1 pack of crackers' and closed the notebook. Guan Ping awaited any further orders patiently, but there were none. Yu Jin placed the notebook into Guan Ping's lap and walked away "Pack it all up" He told him.

Guan Ping blinked observing the book for a second, Yu Jin had been acting strange for a while now, or maybe it was just the stressors of work that had gotten to him. But it was still unusual for the Marshal, and it was evident that something was clouding his mind.

Guan Ping turned to observe the activity in the room. Dun was sat cross legged against a wall, nibbling away at his apple without a care in the world. As for Yu Jin, he hated wasting time and preferred to be more productive, reaching to a heavier backpack he pulled out a laptop. Guan Ping sighed, slowly placing the items into the bag neatly to create as much space as possible, he pulled out a small first aid kit and laid it aside. Packing everything in he closed the bag and placed it on the side, struggling to get on to his feet, he grabbed the first aid box and limped his way till he reached the door.

Just as he reached outside he used the wall as support to aid him to sit down without bending his legs further. Letting out a small groan of pain, he tightly gripped his lower inner thigh, hoping it would seize the pain. The blood had already soaked through his trousers and a big splodge of blood was evident on the higher part of his right leg. It had to be cleaned or there could be a risk of infection.

Opening the first aid kit he examined what he had available, letting out a sigh of relief when his eyes were set on a needle and some surgical thread, it was sure to be painful, but when he last looked, upon acquiring the injury, the wound showed ripped tissue which had to be put back together. Wiping his face with his sleeve as he felt his body heat up he reached to pull out an antiseptic wipe only to notice Xiahou Dun standing at the door way. Ping didn't take much time to wonder how long he had been standing there, but quickly resumed what he was doing, as he had better things to worry about.

Xiahou Dun strolled over, squatting down in front of Ping, he awaited till the youth turned with a questioning face expression to what he wanted. Upon receiving that reaction, he placed his bum down onto the ground, sitting down with his legs stretched open, he moved closer, facing Ping, he carefully brought the youth's legs over his own. Ping had already began to feel the butterflies in his stomach, and the uncomfortable nervousness caused by the close contact. Dun reached for the kit, placing it in the small gap left between them. Tossing through the equipment, he pulled out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide along with some cotton.

"Roll up your trousers" He spoke gently. Guan Ping avoided his gaze, swallowing a lump in his throat, he tried to pull his leg back slowly to reach.

Reading his facial expression, Dun took his leg slowly, bending it trying to cause less pain. He tried to help him, but as the combats he wore were cuffed from the bottom it was impossible to roll them further past his knee. Dun let out a sigh before rolling it back, and resting Ping's leg down. He glanced back at Guan Ping, maybe to see if he had his permission. But Ping continued to look away, and as if it wasn't obvious how he was avoiding him even when they were that close. Dun slowly reached for Ping's zipper, pulling it down, and then reaching for his button. Showing no sign asking him to stop, he saw it as a sign to continue, moving away to pull back his trousers, he now adjusted himself so that was seated side wards to face the injured leg, as he made himself comfortable between Guan Ping's legs. Guan Ping had completely turned his face the other way to hide his embarrassment, but Dun was very casual about it, he cleaned up the wound and sterilised it using the hydrogen peroxide.

Guan Ping was very quiet, only letting out a few small whimpers of pain, but it wasn't till the stitching began that he couldn't keep it in.

"Don't move" Xiahou Dun commanded.

Guan Ping clenched to the man's arm tightly, as he felt the sharp pain through his leg muscles, his whole leg felt paralyzed with the hard suture thread ripping through his skin. Dun waited for a few minutes until Ping's grip on his arm loosened a little, but it returned as soon as he pierced through the skin again. Ping placed his head against Dun's shoulder facing the opposite direction, as he let out another groan of pain.

"Listen, it has to be done, just hold on for a little longer, I'll try to be as quick as I can" Dun tried to reassure him. It would have helped if they had access to an anaesthetic, Dun wasn't no professional surgeon, and it was sure to leave a scar but it would have to do for the time being.

A few more minutes of torture had passed until it was finally over. Wiping the area clean one last time, he packed the equipment back into the box and closed it.

Turning to the youth that was still clinging onto him tightly, with his head rested on his shoulder. Dun gave him a light nudge, Ping had been shaking tremendously, Dun was able to feel him trembling against him. "Hey listen, we're done now" He told him, hoping for him to loosen his tight grip on him, but Guan Ping remained shaking in silence. Dun sighed, slowly pulling himself away, and soon Ping had just let go. Dusting himself off for sitting on the ground, he reached for Ping's trousers and helped him wear them again. Ping's body was feverish and hot all over, Dun studied his face, only to make out that he was crying. Bending down and moving up closer to him, he pulled him closer to his chest and wrapped his arms around him warmly.

Guan Ping felt ashamed of himself for crying, but the warmth of Dun's embrace made him feel safe and reassured. He felt a strange flow of emotions, pain, anger, guilt. Guilt because he knew his feelings weren't being returned, and he hated Dun for it, he hated him for being so kind and caring, he hated how he looked out for him.

Pulling back, Dun cupped his chin in his hand lifting his head a little to ensure their eyes met. He wiped Ping's tears, and leaned in leaving an inch gap between their lips, gazing into Ping's dark grey eyes for a few seconds, he closed the gap as he locked lips with him. Though Guan Ping hadn't resisted the way he usually did, he still showed no reaction to the other's actions, though allowing him to kiss him might have said enough.

"Your lips are dry..." Dun pointed out, once he pulled back.

"That's because I'm dehydrated..." Guan Ping explained quietly.

Dun leaned in for another, not satisfied with the first one, and used his other hand to adjust Ping's head to allow himself more access. Though Dun had kissed him many times before, every time felt like the first, and with every first came the feelings of nostalgia, memories flashed through his head like they were being played there and now. Hurtful memories. Hurtful because Dun had never said anything, the only time he felt loved was when he kissed him, it was the only action enough to speak more than three words. But even then he had doubts, doubts and anger that he couldn't stop himself from having those feelings towards him, many times he wished he could rip out his heart and press it hard till it stopped feeling, but wouldn't that also stop it from beating?

Love's a strange thing.

It hurt Ping more because he did it every time, he made him feel loved then he left again. It was the cruellest thing you could do to somebody, and yet Guan Ping was still attached as ever, its almost like he couldn't find something to kill himself with so he loved Dun, and the problem with that is he was like poison. And you know what's worst about poison, it kills you slowly.

Its like a constant game of tug of war, except no one was winning. Dun's presence constantly left him unfocused, he felt as though he was constantly messing with his head.

Ping slowly slipped his hand on Dun's chest, and just as he told himself that would be enough for now, he pushed him back.

"I almost thought you actually wanted to kiss me" Dun sounded disappointed.

"Your lips are dry..." Guan Ping spoke randomly.

"That's because I'm hungry" He explained, slightly annoyed how Ping changed the subject, but it was rather strange how he would expect so much of him without giving anything in return. It was utterly selfish to think that way.

"Are you two done or should I come back in an hour?" Yu Jin snapped, sounding rather angry how they could find the time to be doing things like that in the middle of nowhere, funnily without a sign of jealousy.

Xiahou Dun stood up quickly, feeling a little awkward that Yu Jin had seen them like that.

"Go make yourself useful" Yu Jin handed him what looked like a small satellite. "Climb the roof and see if you can get it working, I've been trying to contact headquarters but there's no signal" He explained, his tone of voice altering back to calm.

Without a word Dun made his way up onto the roof. Yu Jin strolled over to Ping, reaching out a hand to assist him, and just as Guan Ping took it, he hauled him up without any consideration of his injury. Guan Ping bit his bottom lip to not let out a sound.

"Go in there, I've got the laptop on, let us know if it receives any signal" he instructed and quickly making his way up to where Dun was.

Guan Ping limped his way back into the small house where the laptop was. The area they were in was short of electricity supply, and though Yu Jin had brought a few spare batteries, they were on their last one now, and if that ran out it would be close to impossible for HQ to locate them, and with the current circumstances, i.e the food shortage, they weren't going to last very long.

"How's his leg?" Yu Jin asked.

"It's pretty bad..." Xiahou Dun sighed.

"If we could get contact-" Yu Jin paused before finishing off his sentence, his narrow eyes widening in surprise. "What's that noise?"

Xiahou Dun looked around, his hands tightly gripped onto the satellite signal finder. "Sounds like a heavy vehicle" He final came down with a conclusion.

"A Tank!" Yu Jin exclaimed. Without further confirmation he ran, taking a big jump down from the roof, Dun followed him, only being more careful when he reached the ground.

"We need to get moving!" He rushed to pack their equipment.

Ping looked around a little lost, and worried as to what might have happened.

"Come on, there's no time to talk, there's a tank close by, we need to move quickly before we get blown to pieces" Yu Jin explained as he finished up the packing.

Guan Ping watched the two get ready to leave, a disheartened look in his eyes, there was no way he could get far with an injured leg, and the way the two acted was like nothing had happened.

"Ping come on..." Xiahou Dun paced over to him, handing him his back pack.

Ping put it on slowly awaiting for both the men to say something but it seemed to take a while.

The one eyed man reloaded a hand pistol and handed it over to Ping, but just before he could take it Yu Jin interrupted. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He snapped, quickly snatching the gun out of his hand. "He doesn't carry a gun." He told Dun, placing it into the belt of his trousers.

Guan Ping's eyes darted between his superiors, if Yu Jin had made an order there was no room for argument. Unless you're Dun of course.

"He needs something to protect himself with" Xiahou Dun explained sounding frustrated with how unreasonable Yu Jin was being.

"Look I think its enough that we're baby sitting here, if I wanted to shoot myself in the leg I would have done it myself" Yu Jin's voice began to raise.

"I know how to hold a gun" Guan Ping said quietly.

"Oh is that why your leg's cut open?" Yu Jin asked sarcastically.

"Well I didn't purposely do it..." Guan Ping argued.

And just then Yu Jin had snapped, but Xiahou Dun came in between just before the older man could lash out on him. "Marshal calm down..." Dun pleaded.

Yu Jin walked away letting out a loud huff. "Maybe you should have stitched up his mouth too" he addressed Dun irritably. Picking up his backpack, he turned back to the two. "The army's not cut out for everyone, I think you would have done your father a favour if you stuck with the farming life, he's getting too old to be raking soil every morning, you'd probably be of more use to him"

Guan Ping clenched his fist in anger, he was infuriated that the commander had to bring up his father in all of this.

"Let's get moving..." Yu Jin ordered.

"If joining the military meant I was going to get a second dad I would have stayed at home" Guan Ping snarled.

Yu Jin turned around both his eyebrows raised in surprise at how Ping dared to answer him back. "What did you just say?" He asked.

"Commander let it go..." Xiahou Dun requested, holding his arms out to protect Ping from his wrath. Yu Jin ignored the one eyed man and tried to reach Ping who was now trying to hide behind Dun. "Yu Jin" Dun struggled to block him off.

"No no, I want him to repeat what he just said, move" He spoke softly, his calm tone clearly expressing the opposite of calmness.

"Yu Jin, what you say goes, let it go" Dun pleaded further.

"If he's a man, he'll repeat what he just said to my face, I don't like mumbling" Yu Jin explained.

Guan Ping got onto his knees, placing his fist to to his palm. "I'm sorry commander" Guan Ping closed his eyes in fear.

Xiahou Dun's mouth fell open, and just then Yu Jin had pushed him out the way. He held his breath and clenched his fist to hold back the urge to pummel Ping's face into the ground.

Ping opened a eye to check if he was safe yet, and just then he felt Yu Jin's hand grab his collar hauling him up to his feet. "In front of me, where I can see you!" He ordered.

Ping began to walk unsteadily and from there it was clear the day was going to be long. Dun followed quietly.

A few more hours had past but they hadn't gotten very far, Jin and Dun stuck to Ping's pace, aiding him to walk as they went along. The heatwave didn't help either, they were getting cooked by the burning sun.

Guan Ping leaned against a wall breathing heavily. "I can't go any further" He declared.

"We have to keep going" Yu Jin reminded but he also had little will to try and was both exhausted, hungry and dehydrated like the other two.

"Heads down!" Xiahou Dun ordered.

Yu Jin got down quickly, and pulled Ping with him.

"There's a sniper in the distance" He explained. "Do I take him out?" He asked, readying his weapon.

"No." Yu Jin said calmly, trying to think of a better strategy. He peeked his head, eyes squinting to spot his target and quickly docked when he saw him. "Sharp eyes" He praised.

"You can say eye" Dun said annoyed, causing Yu Jin and Ping both to smile, but Yu Jin smile's disappeared in a second, and Ping's followed when Yu Jin looked at him, and his gaze fell to the ground.

"There's no silencer on your sniper, who knows how many more of them are close by, that's going to blow are cover" Yu Jin explained.

"We're surrounded, the tank from behind and snipers from the front" Xiahou Dun pointed out. "If there's a sniper, surely that's a watch post, we're close to enemy territory"

"I know..." Yu Jin replied letting off a sigh. "Let's set camp in one of the abandoned houses, that's all we can do for now"

Xiahou Dun didn't look very pleased with the decision but there wasn't much else they could do. "Yes sir" He replied.

The three made their way into an empty building, and while Ping and Dun took the chance to lay on the floor for some rest, Yu Jin was quick to pull out his laptop to get to work.

Ping placed his head on his back pack, his whole body was burning with fever, the walking hadn't really helped his injury either and he had applied too much pressure to it forcing himself to walk. His body felt weak with the lack of food, it was no way his immune system was going to fight off anything in that state.

Noticing his loud breathing, Xiahou Dun crawled over to him. "Are you alright?" He spoke softly.

Guan Ping nodded, looking back at him with half lidded eyes. Dun placed his hand on Ping's forehead to check his temperature. "Woah, you're burning with fever" He spoke worriedly.

Upon hearing that Yu Jin turned to look at them, but then resumed to bury himself into his work.

"I feel cold..." Ping began to shake tremendously.

"It's the fever"

"Cover me please.." Guan Ping requested.

"No, your body needs to cool down, here" Dun helped him pull his top over his head, tending to his leg, he used Ping's shirt to wrap it tightly around his leg to lessen the pain, but it was clear that that hadn't made a big difference, in fact Ping's face looked pale and drained from colour, and his body was covered in sweat. Dun watched him helplessly, unsure of what to do, he quickly reached for their food supply, pulling it out he broke the loaf of bread into two.

"Here" The one eyed man, helped him to sit up a little, and fed him the bread slowly, though it took some time, he gave him a bit of dried fruit and tomato soup also, and then he left him to try and catch some sleep.

Pacing over to Yu Jin with what was left of the food, he placed a plate of soup and what was left of the bread next to his commander. "Here have something to eat" He suggested.

"Not now..." Yu Jin carried on to type away on his laptop, but then his belly sounded a loud rumble.

Xiahou Dun lowered the laptop screen down a little. "Yu Jin eat" He sighed.

"Commander Yu Jin" The taller man corrected him, before pushing the screen down completely. He reached for the soup and bread and was quick to dive in, clearly he was starving.

"Yes sir" Xiahou Dun said sarcastically, and then sat beside him and ate also.

"This is all your fault..." Yu Jin spoke quietly as if he didn't mean to wake Ping.

Xiahou Dun looked up from his plate, wondering as to what he was referring to. "Come again?" The one eyed man questioned.

"You brought him here, if anything happens to him it's going to be your fault" He explained.

Xiahou Dun looked back to the shaking youth which was now sound asleep, Yu Jin was right in a way, and that was the reason he didn't want him to be with them all along.

"You can try trusting him more you know" Dun spoke randomly resuming to dig into his food.

"Trusting him with what exactly? He's lack of experience will get us all killed" Yu Jin snapped.

"He's not as useless as you think he is" Xiahou Dun tried to defend him.

"I'm not trying to find out, this is the last time he comes with me anywhere, and once we return to HQ I'm asking for replacement, if they refuse then it's just me and you, he's staying in the camp" Yu Jin glared at Dun to confirm that he had made himself clear.

Xiahou Dun nodded without saying much else.

Once they were done, Yu Jin had gone back to tapping away on his laptop, just before going to sleep Dun returned to him, the taller man looked at him and then turned back to his screen, wondering why he was standing over his head. Dun knelt down on to the floor, leaning close just enough for his nose to brush of Yu Jin's defined cheekbone, he gave him a slow soft peck on the cheek, the delayed action had made Yu Jin feel it intensely, and just as Dun walked away, Yu Jin removed his hands of the keyboard, blinking a few times, he turned to Dun who was now preparing himself for sleep, he adjusted his backpack to use as a pillow and laid out his blanket and dipped inside.

Yu Jin turned his head back and forth from the screen and back to Dun several times unsure of how to feel about the kiss, especially that he couldn't help but to think of it as a good night kiss, he was more surprised as he wasn't really expecting it. Shaking his head, he told himself to focus and returned to typing away on his laptop.

Several hours had passed and the sun was beginning to rise, the sleepless Yu Jin got off his laptop to reach for a couple of crackers, hoping a little food might ease away the headache caused by the lack of sleep, only to notice how badly Ping was shaking, watching him for a few seconds his face expressed no emotion, but his intentions were shown enough through his actions. Pulling out a blanket from his bag, he covered the youth carefully trying not to wake him in the process.

Feeling suffocated from exhaustion and overworking he strolled over to one of the windows to catch some fresh air pulling down the collar of his tight fitted shirt he closed his eyes and took a deep breath trying to take in the freshness of the air, except there was none, the air smelt of hydraulic fluids, diesel fuel and scattered gunpowder, the metallic smell of blood and the stench of rotting bodies belonging to dead villagers, the sun had caused the smell to worsen.

Letting off a sigh he walked away from the window wishing they would leave this place soon, it's a strange feeling to miss the air, to be deprived of breathing freely without being constantly reminded of what you're surrounded by. The Central African Republic was now a battle ground, lifeless and filled with fear and death.

The morning had come by and the heat wave had returned, today was set to be unproductive.

Yu Jin lifted his shirt over his head; irritated by the heat he brushed his bangs away from his face. Guan Ping laid motionlessly, his hand hanging out as though he surrendered to his fate. Xiahou Dun on the other hand tried to kill off time by finding himself something to do, he refilled their weapons with ammo, and cleaned them so that they were ready to use.

"I've managed to contact HQ, captain Huang Gai should be here with a hellcat by morning" Yu Jin informed.

"Morning?" Xiahou Dun asked aggravated, "We'll be dead by then"

"I only just managed to catch a signal, there's not much we can do, we'll have to wait" He sighed.

Xiahou Dun huffed as he placed a silencer on his hand gun.

As for Guan Ping the news was good enough to give him hope.

Yu Jin walked out, it was clear he was extremely irritated and stressed, and both the heat and lack of sleep was adding to his cranky mood.

Xiahou Dun laid down the gun and followed him out. "Are you alright?" the one eyed man asked, not able to take his eyes of his partner's muscular build.

Yu Jin sighed, walking away he paused, placing his hands on his hips. He was clearly getting restless.

"You're really tired, you should get some rest" Dun suggested.

Letting off another sigh he turned back to Dun, pausing for a moment, he walked over to him resting his head onto Dun's shoulder, he dug his face into his neck. "Just for a little while" Yu Jin spoke quietly.

Xiahou Dun moved his arms to wrap them around him, a little unsure at first but then he pulled him closer allowing himself to enjoy the closeness, he couldn't keep his hands off, he let one of his hands caress the taller man's soft skin, Yu Jin had a perfect clear face, and usually kept his facial hair neat, unlike Dun who had manlier features, Yu Jin had a well kept beard line making his perfectly defined jaw line more evident. But whatever manly characteristics he was lacking in facial features he made up for in terms of physical strength. He had a strong muscular build, and rather toned hips for a man, which Dun was allowed to admire back in the days.

Dun on the other hand wasn't that far behind him only a few inches shorter, the top of Dun's head reached Jin's eyebrows. Similarly he was also built his muscles beautifully outlined by his tightly fitted shirt, Dun however had more of round almond shaped eyes, while Yu Jin had more of deep set eyes which were rather narrow causing him to look chinky when he smiled but that was a rare expression to see on his face. Dun's cheekbones were more vivid, and faultlessly sculpted, along with his gruff beard, that added to his manliness.

Guan Ping was a completely a different story, only 5'8 in height (Dun is 6'2 and Jin is 6'3)he wasn't very built in terms of physique and had just about enough muscle to cover up his thinness. Though he didn't have much for facial hair, he still had a fairly chiselled jawline, with hollow cheeks, his face shaped rectangular, with thick dark eyebrows which the end of was covered by his signature headband that he wore everywhere.

Guan Ping's eyes were almond shaped too, only drawn back sharply at the end. He had thick but short lashes outlining his eyes as though he was wearing eyeliner, and looked rather manly for his age, he usually held a soulful gaze his eyes appearing cold or steely, hiding what seems to be an inner sadness, they were stormy grey in colour conveying a haunting look expressing his inner conflicts, Guan Ping doesn't speak much of how he feels but wishes for someone to understand without him needing to, unlike Yu Jin who's eyes seem sharp and cold like the rest of his facial features, and though he wasn't angry or even frowning his relaxed expression was enough to frighten people away.

A few moments had passed and Yu Jin seemed to find comfort in being locked in his partners embrace and didn't show any signs of having enough. Dun caressed his back gently slipping one hand into his hair, he placed a soft kiss on the tender skin of his neck.

Yu Jin finally reacted, wrapping his muscular arms around Dun's waist, Xiahou Dun felt content for a while with the other's big arms holding him tightly, but it didn't last long, Yu Jin pulled back once he decided he had enough, or maybe he hadn't and was actually yearning for more but forced himself to resist the other's touch. Just before he could retreat back into the house Dun pinned him to the wall, finding it hard to resist any further Yu Jin grabbed Dun's belt pulling him closer he stole a kiss from the one eyed man's lips, Dun followed with a harder one and soon both the men's hands were all over one another, Yu Jin sucked on Dun's bottom lip passionately, and the two ate away at each other hungry from more, getting a little too rough, Jin slipped his hands into Dun's shirt his cold hands reaching for Dun's lower back, the action caused him to jump, causing both the men to take a tumble together. Xiahou Dun bit his bottom lip which was followed by a smirk followed by a small chuckle, Yu Jin laid under him staring at him blankly resisting the urge to laugh, the curve of his lips raised for a change his eyes getting chinkier, Xiahou Dun's smile became wider a slight dimple appearing on his right cheek, he was pleased to see the other smile for a change.

"You look like shit, you know that right" Yu Jin joked attempting to stop smiling, he shoved his hand in his face to move him, to sit up but that only caused Dun to laugh more.

"You really need to look at yourself in the mirror" Xiahou Dun teased, though he didn't really mean it, as he found Yu Jin rather charming when he smiled.

Yu Jin pulled him by the collar closer taking another long and intimate kiss before getting up to his feet, Dun followed and just before he could lean for another, Yu Jin put his hands out onto his chest pushing him back.

Xiahou Dun let out a loud sigh. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what? Dun you're covered in sweat, I'm covered in sweat, we're starved and in the middle of nowhere, now's not the time to have sex" Yu Jin spoke openly, his tone of voice less serious than the usual.

"That's not what I meant…" Dun sighed.

"Go look after your son there, he needs you more than me, or find yourself something to do" Yu Jin returned to his usual self.

"Don't call him that" Xiahou Dun sounded angrier than he should have, it was awkward for him to think of him that way.

"Whatever" Yu Jin shrugged his shoulders walking away from the man.

Xiahou Dun walked back in taking one of the guns. "I'll be going to see the villagers, if they're willing to give us any food" He declared an annoyed expression on his face. He didn't leave much time for the other two to react before heading out.

Guan Ping folded his arms before turning himself to face the other way. "Marshal…" His voice sounded quiet and weak.

Yu Jin walked over to him, sitting down with his legs crossed, probably not an act of sympathy coming from Yu Jin, only ready to hear his last will if he wasn't going to make it.

"Please don't discharge me once we return to camp" Guan Ping began

Yu Jin turned his head as though he already knew where this was going.

"I promise I'll train hard, I'll do my best, I'll do everything you ask of me" Guan Ping attempted to persuade the commander but it had looked like he had already made his mind and wasn't planning to change it, no pair of puppy eyes would work anyway and Ping hadn't even tried.

Yu Jin shot up, walking away with no response, Guan Ping felt disheartened, it was a terrible feeling to know that even your best wasn't going to be good enough, but that wasn't the issue here, he wasn't given the chance to begin with, and maybe accompanying experienced soldiers on a top secret mission was the wrong job to be taken on being the first time Ping had left the military camp and hasn't even shot a human before. But it had been firstly Dun's fault for choosing to bring him, and Yu Jin's second to trust him to bring someone useful, but yet again Dun had never let him down before, so this was a first.

Xiahou Dun had returned in the evening, not much in his hands but at least some fresh water, and some fruit.

The other two were relieved to see him but this wasn't very clear on Ping's face. "Here" He handed Yu Jin the fruit and quickly made his way to Ping, helping him to sit up, he gave him a little water. "Take it easy" Dun suggested as Ping gulped down the water. "Hang in there, you're gonna make it" He reassured him, before helping him to lay his head back.

"What is this?" Yu Jin questioned shaking the food.

"I don't know some kind of fruit… It's all they have" His tone of voice quietened. "It's funny how we're here begging them for food when they barely have anything for themselves"

The night was long, and the three decide to catch some rest, the night was rather cold, and both Dun and Jin had covered the sick Guan Ping with their blankets and were freezing now, but Dun had still somehow found a way to fall asleep, and though Yu Jin was extremely tired, he was unable to sleep, and spent most of the night tossing and turning restlessly, he was now beginning to assume these conditions may have led to him developing insomnia…

Morning had come, and Yu Jin had almost fallen asleep, he was usually a light sleeper, Dun's snoring plus Ping's heavy breathing hadn't helped either. He jumped when he heard a loud sound of something approaching, the hellcat! Of course it would be the hellcat.

"Dun, Ping, wake up!" Yu Jin shook them both excitedly; finally they were getting out of this. Xiahou Dun jumped up, rushing to pack their stuff once he heard the sound. Ping attempted to get up but wasn't able to even sit up.

"Here, take the bags" Yu Jin handed the luggage to Dun, bending over; he slipped his hands under Ping, picking him up. Guan Ping didn't move much and looked rather lifeless, he depended on the other two to deliver him to safety from there; he closed his eyes allowing his head to rest against Yu Jin's big and warm chest.

"Boy I've never been happier to see you commodore Huang Gai" Xiahou Dun saluted.

"Happy to help Colonel" Huang Gai reached for the bags aiding Dun, and as soon as they were on, he held his hand out helping him to get on. "Oh boy, he doesn't look too good" He pointed out once seeing Yu Jin come forward with Ping in his arms. Dun and Gai pulled him on and soon Yu Jin was on too and from there they left the Central African Republic…

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Chapter 2 is a time skip to two years later, the introduction to team Alpha.

Till next time ^-^ Ciao!