Seonghwa still sat there with Hongjoong cradled in his arms when a voice called out to them. Resting against Seonghwa's shoulder and clinging to his consciousness with teeth and claws, Hongjoong's eyes flicked up. His body throbbed, and his wounds on the rough pavement burnt with all the bacteria from the water that festered in them. He probably wouldn't pass out from them, but his exhaustion begged him to take a rest.

San appeared in Hongjoong's line of sight. He carried a blanket in his arms and his shadow reached them first when it danced in front of his body that was cast by light from behind. An entire group of bobbies milled around the streets with their lamps and lit up the dark as they explored the area.

Once San skidded to a halt next to the two males, Seonghwa reached out his hand for the blanket. He had to jostle Hongjoong to wrap it around his shivering body, but the muttered apologies tumbling from his lips took away Hongjoong's pain.

"Are you alright, Hongjoong?" San crouched next to them to reach out his hand for Hongjoong's face. His fingers pressed against Hongjoong's good cheek, feeling up his pale and clammy skin for signs of a fever.

Hongjoong couldn't reply. His ability to speak had left him entirely, so he just dropped his head against Seonghwa's shoulder when the earl adjusted his grip around the bundle Hongjoong had become.

"She went through a lot; best to leave her alone. I will bring her home to tend to her wounds. If she tells me anything of worth, I will relay it to you as fast as possible." Seonghwa's voice was quiet in the night. The Thames ripped his words from him to swallow them up.

San gave a distorted smile. His fingers dropped from Hongjoong's cheek as he stood. Hongjoong's eyes struggled to stay open as he tried to convey his displeasure for not being able to help through his agonised eyes. San understood. He was most worried about Hongjoong's wellbeing.

"Please take care of him. We will search the area, Yunho can't have got far. Same goes for you; if we catch him, I will let you know. Fear not, Hongjoong. We are right on his heels."

While Hongjoong desperately wanted Yunho to get caught and locked away, he didn't find it in him to be excited. For now, he just wanted to sleep and to hope his wounds didn't infect. His bed at the earl's mansion would be a wonderful resting spot.

"Thank you," Seonghwa muttered. When his arms adjusted their grip around Hongjoong's body, his fingers pressed into Hongjoong's aching back too roughly. At his noise of discomfort, Seonghwa eased his grip.

He stood with Hongjoong in his arms. The rat catcher's legs dangled over his left arm, taking his heavy, wet skirts and the blanket with them. His upper half rested against Seonghwa's shoulder, supported by his stronger arm.

San accompanied them to the carriage. He shone his lantern left and right, ever so wary about their surroundings that crawled and sloshed in the thick shadows on London. Every noise made Hongjoong jump as he expected for Yunho's mad eyes to shine at them from the dark. The killer didn't appear; perhaps he wasn't nearby anymore since long ago. By the time Seonghwa positioned Hongjoong on the bench of the carriage, Hongjoong's erratic heart had calmed. The insides of the coach were familiar to him, and he sunk into the cushions as if they were the softest bed on earth.

He wouldn't be able to sleep since the jostling of the carriage would press against his wounds, but Seonghwa considered that. He asked the worried coacher to go slow for them so Hongjoong wouldn't have to suffer more than he already did.

Hongjoong listened to them talk with one ear while he rested his exhausted eyes. Images of Yunho leaning above him flashed through his mind. He was still missing his tights, and Seonghwa tactfully hadn't mentioned the spread of naked skin exposed by Hongjoong's ripped skirts. Did he make assumptions about what happened? Would he care?

As Seonghwa climbed back into the carriage, Hongjoong's eyes flicked open to stare at the earl. Seonghwa tried to smile, but Hongjoong spotted the worry etched into his features even in the dim twilight.

Soon, the night would lift. If Yunho made it until then, he would have an easy time slipping away from the police.

"Do you wish to use my lap as a pillow?" Seonghwa suggested.

With the might of a dozen horses, Hongjoong pushed his head up from the bench. It hovered only for a shaky moment before dropping back down, but Seonghwa understood.

They took a moment to adjust, but then Hongjoong's head was propped up on Seonghwa's thigh. The angle eased the pressure on his bruised shoulder, and the earl's warm body promised security as Hongjoong rested against it. Dully, he could hear the man's blood pulsing in his veins.

The carriage set off after Seonghwa had knocked on the ceiling. The rattling was bearable, or perhaps Hongjoong was too exhausted to care about the pain.

"You don't have to reply, but I would like to say a couple things. I don't know when you will fall asleep and how long you will be gone for, so we can talk about most things later, but these words burn my mouth the longer I keep them in."

Hongjoong closed his eyes. Seonghwa's velvety voice lulled him in, and the hand the earl mindlessly ran through Hongjoong's short, wet hair was like a heavenly touch. Idle fingers skimmed through Hongjoong's natural hair to massage his scalp and they felt so good Hongjoong wanted to cry. He never expected to receive this kind of touch from Seonghwa.

"I'm unspeakably relieved that you are fine. I was so worried when I imagined what occurred, and why you vanished. In my mind, all the worst things in the world happened to you. I'm sure you fought as much as you could and that's why you are this hurt... I'm glad I could find you on time."

The corner of Hongjoong's mouth tugged into a pleased smile. Seonghwa's honesty flattered him. Like a bath of healing waters, it cradled Hongjoong.

"I pray San finds the Ripper, so he gets punished for his misdeeds. And I hope you may rest a lot and regain your strength. I already informed Jongho of your sudden disappearance while we searched for you, so you can rest assured. I will take care of everything."

Hongjoong wondered what Seonghwa thought about his natural hair. If he thought. Was Seonghwa's mind too occupied with his dread about losing Hongjoong to notice? Or had he accepted it as a silent truth? Not all women in the upper society wore real hair, some of them couldn't grow or maintain it well, so they went for wigs. Perhaps it made sense to Seonghwa's mind how a woman of the slums would keep her hair short, but wore a wig for the earl.

Too tired to be amused about the man's ignorance, Hongjoong just laid there and listened to Seonghwa rambling. Seonghwa sounded just like Hongjoong's thoughts did when he had drowned. Desperate to say the things that would have gone unsaid.

Seonghwa quietened down when he noticed Hongjoong drifting in and out of sleep. His hand never stilled, even as Hongjoong's hair gradually dried and his body heated under the thick blanket.

He didn't notice them arriving. Only when Seonghwa cradled Hongjoong in his arms again to transfer him from the carriage to the house, Hongjoong's tired eyes opened.

The coacher held the door for them and supported Hongjoong's legs on their way up to the stairs. Jongho stood in the door, his eyes wide with fear as he looked at the scene. When Seonghwa struggled to carry Hongjoong, the butler jumped to his side.

"Shall I carry her?"

Seonghwa shook his head, the strain audible in his grunt.

"I'll do it." His voice sounded possessive, as if scared anyone could take Hongjoong away again. Trusting of his dedication, Hongjoong slumped in his arms limply as Seonghwa carried him up the stairs.

For a moment longer, the house was in a disarray. Seonghwa sent the coacher off. Jongho prepared water and some towels to clean Hongjoong with, and Hongjoong laid in his bed as if on a cloud and floated weightlessly.

Seonghwa was unsure about how they should go with cleaning Hongjoong's wounds. No woman was nearby to help the fellow lady, and they didn't want to wait for Emily to show up and the wounds to fester.

Ultimately, they started with Hongjoong's bleeding leg, hands and cheek. For any other wounds, Emily should come in later, even when Hongjoong and Jongho exchanged a gaze that knew they would do it themselves once Seonghwa left.

Hongjoong dozed some more while the two men fretted over him. Seonghwa was most concerned with the wound on Hongjoong's leg since it was so deep, and he whispered about asking a doctor to come by to look at it. They kept quiet to let Hongjoong rest, and the rat catcher appreciated it.

The next time he woke, the sun had risen. Seonghwa had removed himself from the room to get some sleep as well, and Hongjoong was naked under his comforter.

Jongho sat by his side reading when Hongjoong blinked his eyes open. Upon eye contact, the butler smiled gently. He seemed alleviated Hongjoong woke up even if a sudden death hadn't been a subject of dread.

"I undressed you after Seonghwa left and took care of your wounds. If he asks, Emily did it." Jongho reached for the teapot by his side and felt its temperature. Satisfied, he poured Hongjoong a drink. He put it on the nightstand for him to grab whenever he felt like it.

"He said you fell victim to the Ripper's fingers, but knew little more. I assume you have a long story to tell?" When Jongho saw him struggling to sit up, he came to aid Hongjoong. With his back supported by his pillows, Hongjoong reached for his cup. He didn't trust his trembling fingers yet, so he rested the mug in his lap after the first sip. Soothing, the healing tea warmed his throat.

"Your injuries looked quite bad. If there is anything we need to know about, tell me. I wasn't sure if you might have inner bleedings or if he- you know. Since your pants were missing."

Hongjoong shivered at the reminder. Drowning had brought him closer to death than Yunho had, but the ripper had planted much more terror to fester in Hongjoong's mind. The memory of his hands on Hongjoong's body had his skin crawl.

"Thank you," Hongjoong croaked once his throat was mollified by the tea. He didn't care for his chest being on full display while his blankets bunched around his middle. The shoulder he had used to catch his fall on the stairs and to break out of the barricaded window had a plethora of unnatural colours. For now, the blue and purple looked like the night sky, but soon it would fade into a sickly greenish hue.

Hongjoong didn't know if he had any more injuries than the visible ones either. The water could have damaged his lungs permanently, so it was good that Seonghwa hadn't been overly confident in their healing abilities and had sent for a doctor instead.

"There is no need to thank me after everything you went through. I am glad my help was required and could help you," Jongho assured him.

Both of them hesitated when they heard something clanging downstairs.

"It sounds like Emily and Mingi arrived. I shall brief them on the happenings and tell them to cook a meal you may swallow easily. The master is still asleep, but you may send him away if he wants to enter. I told him your rest was imperial and that he shouldn't barge in when you could be undressed. The doctor will see you later today." Jongho rose from his chair and put the book down on Hongjoong's bedside table.

"Drink your tea. I will bring you some biscuits if you can stomach them." The butler's smile was ever so adorable. Hongjoong couldn't help but get infected and smile back.

He wanted to thank Jongho again, but instead, he nodded and sipped some more tea. The butler left him in solitude and this time, Hongjoong slept for many hours until the doctor came to check on him.

Through the walls, he felt Seonghwa brimming with unanswered questions, but he stayed patient. For now, letting Hongjoong rest was his priority before he inevitably would bring something up that might have become too obvious for him to ignore by now.

Hongjoong's true gender.