There came a crash not too far in the distance.
Sakura must've made it to the main door already.
She was running out of time.

She had just blocked the door.
Whether it was going to prove itself worthy of her effort or not, she wasn't going to stay to watch, but it was going to buy her some time.

Soon enough, Sakura would be right on her tail.
There was only one hope for her.

To run and hide.

...

Time: 20:30, October 23

He only had one question.
A question which he had asked so many times in the past, almost as if it were bound to be said again and again at any moment.
At the moments when the situation struck at its worst.

And, at this moment, he had to ask it.

"Why?"

Niki could barely break the word out of the cage of his own mouth. Disbelief had struck him numb.
He could barely hold the blade in his hands, let alone keep himself standing.

He was in a state. One that felt agonising, as if it were ripping him in half straight from the depths of his heart.
It was anger and denial. But it was also betrayal. Not for himself.

It was betrayal for her.

Yunjin.

He knew it. Heesung knew it. His lies weren't going to save him, not when Niki knew otherwise. Not the lies that he had pitilessly tried to deceive them with.

"Why did you do it, Heesung? Why... Why did you let her go?" Niki mumbled, his blade rattling in his hand.

Heesung shook his head.
He wanted to deny it. He wanted to deny every bit of it. Every single bit.
Not to lie to them.
He wanted to deny it to himself.

"I... I didn't let her go..." he answered.

Niki didn't buy a single bit of it.
"STOP WITH YOUR LIES, HEESUNG! YOU KNOW IT, YOU KNOW EVERY SINGLE BIT OF IT!" He shouted.

The rage he was feeling was immense. His entire body felt like it was shaking right down to the marrow of his bones. Every single part of him itched with that one desirable temptation in that moment.
To plunge his blade deep into Heesung's ruthless heart.

But luckily and unluckily, his legs felt like they were going to topple any second from the surge of emotions within him. Lunging with such force was out of the question.

Heesung shifted in anger.
"Me? You blame me?!? SHE was the one who wanted to go! If she was the one who wanted to go, then SHE'S the one who wants to get herself killed, not me!"

Niki bursted out in a fit.
Yunjin? Want to get herself killed? There was not a single chance.
"NO, IT WAS YOU WHO LET HER GO! YOU EVEN LIED TO US, HEESUNG! YOU KNOW IT, DON'T YOU? THAT YOU'RE THE REAL REASON SHE'S IN DANGER!" He screamed.

He was on the last straw.
Anything more, and he didn't know what he was going to do.

"...Then let her die. Let them all die. All three of them..." Heesung spat.

That would've been it.
Niki was going to break.

He started to advance on Heesung, his blade bared now tightly in his hand. He couldn't stop himself. Whatever hell was going to break loose, was going to break loose.

And he was not going to have any control if he started.

...

"Please... don't..."

He held on as if his own life depended on it.
"Niki... please..." he begged.

It couldn't happen.
Nothing like this could happen. Never.
He knew it. The glint in Niki's eyes told him.
The boy had looked like he was going to end a life then and there.

He refused to let such a thing happen.
No matter their situation.
No matter how angry they were.

Not even the price of Heesung's betrayal.

Niki looked down at Jungwon, then at his frail hand clasping at his arm.
It was like he had been pulled from a daze. He had lost control of himself. Nobody would've known the extent of what could've happened if Jungwon hadn't interrupted.

His eyes widened.
He was going insane. His emotions had blinded him. There had been nothing he had been feeling but betrayal and vengeance.

It was not like him.
Nothing like him.

He could've killed Heesung. He had WANTED to kill Heesung.
And that thought scared him.

"I- I... Jung- Jungwon..."
Niki looked at the blade in his hand.

He had really been about to kill one of his members.
He couldn't believe it.
Niki hurriedly sheathed his blade, shaking his head.

"Jungwon- I really- I don't know what happened-"
He wanted to speak, but he was cut short.

Because it happened again.
There was the question.
Asked again.

"Why?"

This time, though, it wasn't from himself.
This time, it was from Jungwon.

He was asking Heesung.
He wasn't even looking at Niki anymore.
He was looking right at Heesung.

"She's- All of them... All of them are in danger... Sakura, Kazuha and Yunjin... How can you say that? How can you say that you'll let them die?" Jungwon said, his tone weak and groggy, but straining, as if he had wanted it to be stern.

Heesung let out a breath.
"We can't give them another chance. They're beyond saving. And-"

"Chances? How many chances have we, as an entire team, given you, Heesung? We gave you countless chances to make up for any of the times you let us down! COUNTLESS, Heesung! And now, you can't even give those three a chance when they need it most!!! WHY, HEESUNG? WHY?!? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST MAKE UP SOMETHING ONCE FOR THE COUNTLESS CHANCES WE'VE GIVEN YOU?!? WHY?!?"

Heesung let out a breath, letting out a big exhale.
No.
They just didn't see it.
They didn't see any of it. None of his pain.

"IT JUST... IT DOESN'T MATTER TO ME ANYMORE! WHAT CAN I DO? IT SEEMS LIKE THE WORLD IS RUNNING LEFT RIGHT AND CENTER, HOW CAN I KEEP UP WITH IT? HOW? LET ALONE TRY TO DO IT AND SAVE SOMEONE WHO REFUSES TO BE SAVED?!? OR EVEN THINK ABOUT FIGHTING A MONSTER WHICH IS MORE THAN CAPABLE OF KILLING US IN AN INSTANT?"

Heesung struck his hand against the wall in a flurry of rage, screaming.
He felt as if everything and everyone was against him. Like all of the bad things had to be because of him, for every single absurd reason.
He struck his hand on the wall again, breaking off a chunk of plaster.
The pain shot up his arm, but he didn't care. He kept going and going.
He wanted to go until he felt numb. That the pain just made him one lifeless corpse.

Maybe then, just then, nothing could be blamed on him anymore.

He could feel the blood running down his knuckles and soon enough dripping onto his forearms. But he just continued.

Someone came up to him, pulling him from the wall.
He turned to see who it was.
Niki.

"WHAT? ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ME I'M WRONG?" He screamed.

"Heesung." Niki mumbled.

Heesung screamed, now raking his hands through his hair.
"THERE'S NO HOPE! NOTHING-"

"Heesung..."

"WE'RE ALL DONE FOR, NIKI-"

"Heesung!"

"THERE'S NOTHING- NOTHING!"

"PLEASE-"

"IT'S ALL OVER! IT'S-"

"HEESUNG! LISTEN, PLEASE!" Niki shouted.

"NO- NO! NO! IT'S ALL OVER! EVERYTHING'S ALL OVER! FOR US- FOR- FOR US ITS ALL OVER!"

"HEESUNG! PLEASE! LISTEN TO ME!"
Niki grasped him by the shoulders, shaking and begging him to stop.

Heesung hung his head.

"Please... Just stop... Listen to me..." Niki mumbled.
Niki held onto him as if his life depended on it.

Heesung tore himself away from Niki, but said nothing more.
Niki looked at him, his eyes gleaming with tears.

"Please, Heesung... It- It's enough now, please... We know it. We all know it already. Ever since we saw how bad the situation was... we knew it. But... but, even if there's little hope, even if that monster will kill us all, we can still try. We can still try whatever we can, until our last breath."
Niki broke. Tears flowed down his face.

"And- I- I know what you're thinking, I know. I don't want to die... I don't want to die either. I never- wanted it to end like this... But, what can we do anymore? It's the end... So why don't we walk the line all the way until it's done?"

Jungwon shifted.
He shook his head weakly.
"Niki, Heesung... we won't die... nobody will die today, don't say things like that..."

But he, too had long already accepted it. Accepted fate.
Jungwon sat back against the chair in defeat.
Not long from them now, it would be them, themselves, and the face of death.
Whether or not someone was going to die tonight, the chances were more on one side than the other.

Especially for Sakura, Kazuha and Yunjin. Out of everyone, their chances of survival were the lowest.
The decision they had to make was not in their favour.

But they had to do it.
The situation of the first encounter had long told them to finish what they had started.

It seemed like everything else was telling them not to.

Except for one thing.
There was something that could persuade them to do it. One thing to help them remember the reason they had done it in the first place.

There came a voice.

"I can't give up on them... We can't give up on them... for Eunchae."
A weak, strained voice.
But filled with determination.

It was completely unexpected.
Especially when she had looked to be nearly dead just before.
But she wasn't one to go down easily. Not when her member's lives were at stake.

Chaewon.
She was kneeling, holding Eunchae in her arms. The girl in her arms was weak, her face a ghostly pale.

Chaewon was looking at her.
She shook her head.
"We can't give up... Look at her... Even if she makes it, she won't be able to live with herself anymore. She- She'll blame herself for everything... And I can't let her. Not again."

Chaewon looked up at them.
"They're still out there, those three. I know it. We can still save them... please... we can."

If there was something that was able to rekindle their determination, Chaewon's words were exactly what it was.
It was right.
They still had to try.

Even if one of them were going to die, they had  all already gone so far. The best they could do was give it everything they had.

If they were going to walk the line, why wouldn't they take it to the end?

"Please... it's for her."

...