A Flashback

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Being a diplomatic escort in an alternate dimension wasn't on the top of Lilith's list of career goals. Becoing a seamstress had always been the ticket—except she'd grown up in a world of mass-produced stitching and the only jobs related to clothing were working in retail.

Getting swept up into Era that fateful day had been like waking up from a daydream and finding out that the present has far more to offer than the fantasy. A silly young man named Jackson, his assistant Opal, the two of them had made the drop on Lilith on her way home from the grocery store—all giggles and loud chatter—and Lil never looked back.

Her silly, eccentric new friends had taken to her own oddities with adoring fascination. Opal saw Lil's potential in garment making, and Jackson in garment making of the combat variety. When she wasn't fulfilling her escort duties, Lilith was studying as an Era seamstress' apprentice, studying literature on Mysterium, and learning the art of swordplay. Three years went by in a beautiful blur of friendship, fresh discoveries and personal triumphs.

And then the blur came to a crashing halt, into images so defined they may as well have been carved into stone.

Lilith had naturally met Kim Namjoon on occasion after occasion. Jackson and Joon were friends, both fortress leaders, both always at the same mandatory gatherings. Lilith met both Dai Yu and Kiara, the ladies switching between who might be Joon's escort for such events. Lilith was particularly fond of Dai Yu's pop-culture infused jokes—and how even though phones weren't a thing in Era, Dai Yu somehow retained her love for the art of making memes.

As fate would have it, the only other member of Noon Mool fortress that Lilith ever seemed to cross paths with at these events was a delightfully warm man named Park Chimin.

Lilith found Kim Namjoon to be a bit stiff, although Jackson loved to poke fun and make Joon uncomfortable for a laugh. By contrast, Lil found Chimin's company to be her most favorite in all of Era.

Jackson was a riot, supportive and friendly and sociable.

Opal was cheerful and encouraging.

Chimin was seeing and understanding and sharp—and he saw the sharpness in Lilith, mingled with her feminine warmth, and he gravitated towards her friendship like a moth to flame.

She noticed his warmth right away, too, but that wasn't what made her gravitate towards his friendship as well. It was the lovely contradiction of him. Jackson and Opal fulfilled the shallow assumption that to be cheerful and kind, one must also be a little bit dim-witted. Chimin was cheerful and kind...and also devilishly cunning. Lilith felt a kind of camaraderie in that which she couldn't quite find in her own Fortress members, who were neither particularly devilish nor extraordinarily cunning. But genuine and lovely to a fault, they were certainly that.

The day that Noon Mool launched its assault, Lilith had been hiding out in her little garment laboratory, stowed away in the vault section of her fortress where Mysterium and other precious materials were kept under tight storage and control.

She'd never forget that she was humming 'Thriller' as she was finishing up her first full set of combat armor. It was meant to be a gift for Jackson.

The high-security, two guards and an alarm system, vault door had burst open like an explosive force had knocked it loose. Shock and confusion met her whenever Park Chimin stepped through the doorway in that moment with a stern, scared look on his face. Then her workshop quaked as if a series of earthquakes were all striking her precious Fortress at once.

"What are you doing here, Chim? What's going on?"

Lil would never forget the determination in Chimin's eyes that day. He'd started shoving garments and equipment and materials into large sacks, strapping them onto her back or looping them through Lilith's arms while she stood in a state of mild shock.

"Chimin?"

"You're not going to like this, Lil. But you're coming with me, and we gotta go now."

Chimin hoisted a few bags up of his own over one arm and then started shoving and directing Lilith out of her workshop. She was shocked to find the guards stunned and motionless outside of the vaults. To see cracks in the ceiling, dust scattering from overhead every few minutes. To see that some bodies laying on the ground that they ran past in the hallways were coated in blood.

Lilith knew that it was Chimin's ship, Noon Mool's ship, that she'd entered. It was a tiny stealth pod, hardly room for two.

"Strap in, keep quiet, and don't ask questions until I tune out again, alright?" Chimin was quickly strapping his seatbelt on and adjusting the dash. Whenever Lil didn't answer from the co-pilot's seat, he asked louder, "Alright?!"

"Alright."

The ship took off.

Lilith saw everything that she needed to see.

The great towering fortress that'd been her home for the past three years was, at that exact moment, under heavy aircraft assault. Lilith noticed that at least three entire sectors of the fortress had gone up in flames, likely from some kind of explosion.

Her hands covered her gaping mouth and she stared, shock and pain.

"What's the status on that Mysterium cache, Chim?"

It was Kim Namjoon's voice that crackled over the com system.

Chimin answered back, "All loaded and secure. I'm making my retreat now."

"Kookie, cover fire!"

A third, younger voice echoed, "Roger!"

Chimin adjusted his steering wheel. He rocketed away from the death scene and made his way to Okie port under the guise of needing to fill up on fuel.

Once he'd landed at Okie port, Chimin helped a dazed and unsteady Lilith out of the shuttle.

"You can't come with me from here, Lil. But I've got you a ship of your own to get you on your feet. A friend owed me a favor, someone outside my Noon Mool circle, and they got it furnished and ready for you."

"Chimin...?"

"It's exactly what you think it was, Lil. We've ransacked your fortress. It's gone. Joon gave the order for no survivors, but I... I couldn't. Not you. So I volunteered to raid the minerals and materials vaults, to make sure I'd get to you first."

"What do you mean it's gone? No survivors?"

"I mean, just like when you first came to Era...that part of your life is now ended. Those people are gone. And you'll have to make a way for yourself now. But I'll be here to help you as much as I possibly can."

"W-why is it gone? Why are my friends....gone? Why are you helping me and hurting me all at the same time?!"

Chimin's eyes clouded over. "I tried my damnedest to stop this from happening."

"They don't deserve any of this, you know that! You know them!"

Chimin scowled into his fingertips. "I do know them. But you don't know how persuasive Kim Namjoon can be. And while he didn't fool me, he's pulled the lid over everyone else's eyes to make this happen."

"And you're just letting it happen! You just---"

"I played my part. Without enough counter-evidence, more time, I couldn't disprove him! No one would listen! They're desperate, Lil, and he's just taking advantage—"

Lilith and Chimin were at that point standing on warm sandy soil between his stealth shuttle and the black metallic hull that was to become her own home-ship. Lil didn't have words. She began to launch her fists over and over again into Chimin's chest to let out her fury, and he didn't stop her as she screamed like a bitter, wounded animal.

Chimin would never forget the grief and anger on Lilith's face, or in her fists, that day.

He would also never forget how stony Kim Namjoon's face was that evening whenever he arrived back at Noon Mool and Kim Namjoon himself walked onto that tiny stealth ship, surveyed the Mysterium cache that Chimin had collected, and then threw a screwdriver so hard it shattered the glass around an emergency exit handle.

"This isn't enough. It's not even fucking enough."

Chimin had offered meek platitudes and apologies to the leader of Noon Mool as Joon rampaged his fury.

Joon's words echoed in Chimin's mind, as he forced himself through footage of that day: of the assaults, the explosions, of fighter jets falling from the sky. Body counts: he lingered there the longest. Chimin took it all in, weeping, angry, while those words quaked around in his brain:

"It's not even fucking enough."

A hardness entered Park Chimin's heart that day. A heart-turning, that made him more determined than ever to hide his true self like a deadly secret. One that, if even whispered, would send him to an early grave.

--
               
"I thought we'd agreed to keep this between you and me, Chim."

"It's no secret how terrible you are with a sword, Jin." Chimin scoffed. "So I'm not really sure that I'm breaking any friendship codes here."

Chimin had a hand on Jin's shoulder. He was pushing the sour-faced medical officer up a black metal ramp and into the belly of a round, black ship with gothic spikes hanging down from the doorway, a grate ready to snap shut like teeth at a moment's notice.

Jin gulped. "This isn't necessary."

Chimin's smile only widened as he guided Jin inside.

There was a rush of black leather, and a bright voice cooing loudly, "CHIMINIEEEE!"

Jin stepped aside, aghast, to see the small frame of Lilith rush forward and pull Park Chimin into a hug. Jin was even more aghast to see that such a bright-sounding voice, such a small feminine frame, was outfitted in black leather battle gear with studded collar, spiked arm guards, and razor-toothed Geji blade in tow attached to one hip.

Lilith's bright, dark eyes fell onto Jin. "Hello!"

"Uh... hello."

What sugar plumb-meets-gothic horror dream is this? Jin blinked hard, twice.

Chimin beamed between them. "Lil, this is Jin. Jin, this is Lilith."

Lilith asked, "How do you two know each other?"

Before Jin could answer, Chimin interjected, "Old gambling buddies. He lost to me good this time, so, I've dragged him here as his punishment."

Jin, terrible at holding to a lie, gave a loud fake laugh that instantly stirred Lilith's suspicions. But she didn't ask questions.

Jin wondered, "Did you two meet from one of Chim's treasure hunting adventures or something?"

Chim nodded. "Something like that. But enough of pleasantries! Lil, here's the scoop. My friend Jin needs a little help... in the swordplay department."

Jin pointedly shoved Chimin's hand off of his shoulder as he said, "You're gonna give this lovely lady the wrong idea, Chim."

Lilith giggled.

Chimin beamed. "But then I thought that perhaps it had more to do with the sword being wrong for his fighting style."

"Still feeling personally attacked over here." Jin's neck was flushing a little bit, and it made Lilith's smile grow.

Chimin went on, "But then your lovely face popped into my head and I thought perhaps you could help him out. What do you think, Lil?"

She looked Jin's form up and down, her chin between her fingers, making the flush in his neck spread. He straightened his broad shoulders without thinking about it.

Lilith had cultivated a routine at this point of outfitting warriors for battle. It didn't take her long to realize that Jin wasn't exactly a man about to launch an assault on the front lines of anyone's war.

However, there was something unguarded, unhidden about Jin that reminded her of Jackson. For this, she approved of Jin almost instantly.

"I think I can help."

Chimin clapped his hands together, his smile beaming like sunshine beneath his golden hair. "Excellent."

Jin cleared his throat. "So what does this mean exactly? You're gonna make me a fancy new sword?"

Lilith stepped up to Jin. The proximity of Lilith's chest to his own made him gulp, and heat rose into his face as Lilith reached out and hovered a measuring tape between Jin's shoulders...then proceeded to take his general measurements. Her fingers pressing into his body in random places...was not what he was expecting out of his day.

When she was finished taking some quick measurements, she stopped right in front of Jin, smoothed out the front of his shirt as if being both calming and a touch playfully condescending. Then she said, "First, I'm gonna teach you to use the sword you already have."

She saw Jin's eyes were slightly dilated and she smirked even wider.

"If you prove yourself worthy of my craftsmanship, then I'll make you something special. But only then."

Chimin took Jin by the shoulders and started to steer him towards the men's changing rooms. The touch-and-motion made Jin jump nearly out of his skin. He'd been so fixated on Lilith's alluring dark aura, her proximity.

"Let's get you in some gear then, Kim Seokjin, and then you and Lil can take to the mat to try a few moves."

"Chimin, if you don't lay off the euphemisms, I swear I'll—"

Lilith didn't hear what it was Jin was going to do, but she couldn't help but giggle anyway. Yes. Very different from my regular customers. He's so soft and cute! Like a sassy small dog. Except he's not small. Good Lord, the shoulder span on him. Lilith fanned her face a moment, still grinning. I don't know what trick you have up your sleeve this time, Chiminie, but today...I am here for it.

Jin stood in the mirror of the men's changing room after strapping into a hodgepodge of gear parts. He was frowning deeply.

"I look like a fucking mushroom."

"That was the only helmet that fit your fat head."

Jin's eyes narrowed even more. "I don't need a helmet. I'm not twelve, we're not all still trainees."

"Yeah, but how long has it been since you did regular sparring practice?" Chimin shrugged. "Besides, I think it's cute."

Jin slugged the hat off of his head and then chucked in hard at Chimin, who shrugged his hands up to guard his face. He was giggling.

"I will end you."

"Embrace it, Jinnie-hyung."

Jin had balled one of his hands up into a fist and was taking a few mock-threatening steps in Chimin's direction. Chimin, still giggling, bolted from the men's changing rooms to fully escape Jin's deadly reach.

Jin sighed, then gave himself one more once-over in the changing room mirrors. "Pink and red should never go together. Ugh. How hideous." He shifted, getting a good view of his backside. He gave a frown of approval, nodding his head. "At least my butt looks good in this spandex."

Later, as Lilith was aiding and Jin was getting far too easily flustered on the sparring mats, Park Chimin sat along the sidelines with a drink in hand, watching the events unfold.

He was watching, and thinking. For Kim Seokjin had been his only comrade whose hands were clean on the raid of Lilith's Fortress. And Lilith didn't yet know that Jin, too, was a member of her heart's enemy, Noon Mool.

And for a heartbreaking handful of minutes, Park Chimin imagined something beautiful happening in the way that Jin was blushing and the way that Lilith was giggling.

He imagined a world in which love could triumph after all.

But then his new companion, shadow, returned to him. The darkness he wore off and on these days fell over his eyes--but only for a moment before it passed.

Hope had lost in his own heart; but there was still a part of him that didn't want it to lose in the people that he loved.

Hope and despair. Light and dark.

That golden haired man's fingers clawed through his hair, digging into his scalp with the hope that he could pry the unwanted thoughts from his mind. But it was no use.

Park Chimin was on this ride... and there was no way he could get off.