Two days ... anything can happen.

There have been so many Infected Monsters already, and to be honest with himself, Baekhyun is certain that something happened back at the Submarine for them to encounter this many Monsters. There is no time to waste. He pulls together Hyuna and Kyungsoo, who are awake to keep watch.

"Next time we see the gold-infected Monsters, we should aim for the back of their necks."

"Hm? Why?"

"It's because that's where they put the gold." Baekhyun traces the back of his neck, shivers a little when he feels no scar or pain at all. "I'll teach you exactly where."

Just as Hyuna and Kyungsoo are getting the hang of it, Baekhyun feels a force calling out to him, the yearning that he had missed twice before.

This time, he stops what he's doing immediately.

"I'll be back." He says.

"Wait." Kyungsoo calls out. "Where are you going?"

"It's calling." Baekhyun replies softly. Professor's calling me.

He leaves their underground hideout by himself, not feeling as if he will be in any danger mostly because the darkness is usually an advantage to him – not absolute darkness, that is.

Even if any infected Monster tried to attack him, he's sure he would be able to avoid them more easily. Yet, at the same time he's not even sure if he can fight against anyone with this yearning inside him, beating along with his heart.

He follows it amongst the dark, empty streets, and then he finds a familiar-looking body.

"Jongdae-ssi?" He calls out, watches as the older turns around quickly and blindly, ready to attack. "It's me, Jongdae-ssi."

"..." Jongdae's face twists into one of conflict, speechless as if he's not sure what to say. "Half-blood." He spits eventually.

Naturally unaffected, unlike how he used to be, Baekhyun strides up to him easily, watches as those green eyes dart around quickly, then look in his general direction.

"Did you feel the Calling too?" Since Jongdae's lightning is also the same element as Chanyeol's fire, Baekhyun guessed the older must've been pulled to save Kris and Sehun in the first place.

"Let's go together." Baekhyun suggests gently, reaching out to touch Jongdae's arm. The older flinches and then throws his hold off.

"Don't fucking touch me." Jongdae hisses, before turning around and walking off. Heaving a small sigh, Baekhyun decides to follow behind him, slowly.

"You're going to bump into something ... There's a small bump on the ground ... Watch out for the branch in front of you ... You're straying off the path ..." Baekhyun mutters until Jongdae explodes.

"Fuck! You think you're fucking better than me? I can't stand bitches like you who hurt others and then pretend to be –" Jongdae doesn't get to finish, because he feels someone hold his wrist and then pull him into a direction. Shocked, all the cursed and hurtful words that formed into his mind disappear, leaving him tongue-tied.

"I'm sorry. You can yell at me later." The gentle voice comes again as Baekhyun pulls him hurriedly to the direction that calls for them.

Because of Baekhyun's ability to see in the dark, they arrive at the place of the Calling faster than before. Baekhyun notices that the source of the calling is inside a house, so when he ventures inside, he is cautious at first. The light is beginning to reappear on the streetlamps.

Walking inside, he finds a few dozen Monsters lying unconscious on the floor, and no sign of Chanyeol.

"So many ..." Jongdae mutters, as Baekhyun bends down to pick up a red crystal that looks similar to the one Jongdae held when Baekhyun found him with Kris and Sehun. The moment he touches it, the calling stops.

"Jongdae-ssi, please help me." Baekhyun says as he starts with the first body. "Please start up a small fire so I can seal the wounds."

After finding a kitchen knife, he bends down and slits the back of the Monster's neck.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Jongdae yells, but he falters when he sees a small glass jar being pulled out from the neck. The glass jar is half-filled with gold.

"Hurry." Baekhyun whispers, sounding a little weak. Immediately, Jongdae does so, watching as the younger does an Experimenter's work, which he despises to his gut. But he still moves around to flip the bodies over.

"What the fuck are these ..." Jongdae mutters to himself, watching as Baekhyun pulls out jar after jar from each Monster's neck. Then he moves to find clothes from the wardrobe, ripping them into clothes to cover up the unconscious Monsters' faces.

They spend about a few hours doing this until finally, everyone's gold jar has been pulled out. Baekhyun leans against the wall, shirt soaked with sweat and blood and fingers dirty with blood.

"What should we do with them?" Jongdae mutters, and although he's indirectly asking Baekhyun, his pride is also refusing to admit it.

"I'm not sure." Baekhyun replies, sounding exhausted until he stands up again to pick up the jars one by one, grabbing a bag nearby to put the jars inside.

"You look like you're about to faint ... half-blood." Jongdae growls before he snatches the jar from Baekhyun's fingers, then the bag, as he begins to pick up the jars himself.

"Thanks ..." Baekhyun replies breathlessly, but he doesn't rest there. He looks around at the unconscious Monsters, whose noses and mouth and necks are covered in cloth.

"We have to find a way to move all of them back to the base." Baekhyun says. "It's too dangerous to leave them here."

"There is no way." Jongdae says. "Unless we wake them up."

"I'm not sure how the situation is outside either, but we can't leave them here." Jongdae crouches down, hand reaching over to touch a Monster's arm. Then he channels a bit of spark out of his fingers. He feels the body jerking a little, and then groans leaving the Monster's lips.

"What are you doing?" Baekhyun's voice sounds shocked, but an exhausted shocked.

"C'mon, they're a pussy if they can't handle shit like this." Jongdae chuckles darkly as he continues to do so with the other bodies. Some of them wake up immediately whereas others take longer. Eventually though, all of them awaken from the shock.

"What's happening ..."

"Everyone, please don't take off your masks." Baekhyun says softly. "There are gold particles in the air."

"Why should we listen to you, half-blood?" One snarls, and the others agree.

"Please." One of them rips off the cloth mask around his mouth before Baekhyun can continue, and then he stumbles around immediately, clutching his head. Jongdae stands, knocking him out just as the expression in the Monster's eyes begin to change, gold slowly bleeding in.

"Fucking idiot." Jongdae mutters as he seals the cloth around the man's face again.

This time, the group of Monsters are silent.

"Leader saved you and asked us to come here." Baekhyun explains. "This is enemy territory, so we really have no time to be fighting against each other. I know you all hate me, but please, can we all settle for this when we're all in a safer place?" The others glare at him, sceptical.

"Anyone can attack us here. You're all hurt. Some of you aren't even supposed to be here. Something is wrong, and before we figure it out, we can't spend our time doubting each other."

"I don't trust him either." Jongdae declares. "I've been experimented on in that fucking tower for years. But we're not in the best situation here."

"Jongdae-ssi ..."

"When the time comes, I'll settle my score with the half-blood. In the meantime, you should all do the same."

Silence engulfs all of them for a while, until in the end, feeling as if they have no other choice, the Monsters decide to trust Baekhyun.

After checking the streets and finding no threat, Baekhyun and Jongdae take them back to the underground base. Jongdae leads the way and Baekhyun falls behind the crowd, partly because he's exhausted but also because he knows the group want him nowhere near them. Unease creeps into his heart. How he is going to explain to them that the base is also full of Lucky Ones? They don't need another war between them, but the Monsters are hurt, and Baekhyun can't just leave them to fend for themselves in a world they've never been in.

The closer they arrive to the base, the more anxious Baekhyun feels until they arrive at the entrance.

"You've got two choices now." Jongdae says as he turns around to face them. "There are Lucky Ones in our base."

A small uproar erupts from the crowd.

"Choice one: You choose to stay outside here, where you can be attacked any second. Get that shit jar stuffed inside your necks again, and have you work for the fucker that wants to take over the world.

"Choice two: You wait for your chance to get your revenge, but in doing so, you know you have to tolerate the other race."

Jongdae takes out a bloodied jar from the bag, one that is full of gold. "This shit was found in the back of your necks. If you want to be a dog of that race, go ahead and leave."

In the end, all of them follow Jongdae down the underground base, and Baekhyun heaves a huge sigh of relief as he follows. Amongst the crowd, Baekhyun waits for the group to settle down. He finds Kyungsoo and Hyuna walking over to him.

"Baekhyun, we think we've gotten the hang of it." Kyungsoo smiles. "But I'm still a bit unsure, so Hyuna-ssi and I didn't get to teach the others. I don't want to hit a major nerve."

"I'll do it." Baekhyun says. "I've just done it to that group over there." Kyungsoo gapes when he realises just how many there were.

"You look exhausted." Hyuna says as she chews on her gum. "How about you get a drink?"

"I'm fine." Baekhyun replies. "How about you guys watch again? And help me at guiding the others." The other two nod, and Hyuna moves to gather the Lucky One fighters whereas Kyungsoo searches for Monsters that are well enough to fight.

Baekhyun teaches the fighters where to target, remember the painful sensation when he fought against the gold trying to control him.

They are reluctant at first, even hostile, but Baekhyun is already immune. Instead, he focuses on being patient with their acceptance of him as he continues being his normal self, not wanting another's cautiousness and fear of the foreign to taint him into being a resentful being.

Eventually, they warm up to him, and it doesn't take as long as Baekhyun had predicted. This is because it must be that these Lucky Ones are like him, who have never been part of the war, and are only descendants of those who have experienced the grief firsthand.

At the end of the day, Baekhyun is exhausted from trying to teach every fighter the spot to attack on gold-infected Monsters. Kyungsoo had gone to rest a long time ago, and Yixing, after a long rest from healing injuries, had woken up to more injuries that needed attending, and, upon attending them, had returned to bed soon after also.

He had never really thought of where he would sleep this entire time, and in the end opts to just take a rest on the floor, because he's too exhausted to ask for a spare room, or ask if there is one for him.

Just before he's about to settle down, though, he finds Jongdae sitting in a little corner, looking very out of place. Thinking to check up on the older before he takes a rest, Baekhyun walks over and takes a seat next to the green-eyed man on the floor. Jongdae notices and scowls.

"Do you believe that I'll kill you right now?" The older threatens, but Baekhyun isn't bothered and instead notices that the older's injuries have disappeared. Hyung must've taken care of him.

"Thank you." Baekhyun whispers, and those green eyes widen in surprise before narrowing.

"I'll fucking –" Jongdae doesn't get to finish, because the half-blood drops his head against his shoulder, startling him. Stunned, Jongdae stares at the sleeping boy, whose eyelashes are resting gently against his cheeks, just like how his head is resting gently against Jongdae's shoulder. This boy had overworked himself. Since the night Baekhyun stayed out to watch over Jongdae, Baekhyun hasn't had a wink of sleep, especially when he heard about Chanyeol's story from Sehun, found Monsters that Chanyeol had saved, and then taught both Monsters and Lucky Ones how to take out those cursed jars.

Sometimes Jongdae wonders why he acts the way he does. He had chosen to return to this fucked-up bubble island, the origin of his hatred, pain and trauma, just to save this boy, yet when he saw the boy, all he could do was fire hurtful threats. It must be because his hatred for the other race was so strong, yet ... his gratefulness for this boy was greater. The boy, who had immense fear for him, yet treated him with unending kindness. Watching Baekhyun stare at him in fear never made him feel good, yet he could never change his attitude to allow the boy to stare at him with affection. Now, though, no matter how many threats he made, the boy stopped fearing him, and instead treated him like anyone else. For some reason, the less Baekhyun feared him, the more Jongdae's anger and hatred would fade away. Just like now, Jongdae can almost feel the calmness take over him, something he hasn't felt in a while.

His violence against Baekhyun was something that gave him mixed feelings of euphoria, hatred, anger, guilt, and horror, which in the end resulted in resentment in the younger. Yet, the confusion of all these feelings mixed together had come close to driving him crazy, if he isn't already. It was the half-blood's fault, he concluded for such a long time, because blaming someone was easier than confronting the truth. In the end, maybe he had been mistaken on these feelings.

Jongdae had never seen Baekhyun while he is asleep – looking so defenceless and unalert ... vulnerable. If Jongdae wanted to, he could wind his hand around that scarred neck and choke the younger to death. Maybe the resentment from the confusion will drive him to do so.

But he won't, because he realises now, that it wasn't that he hated Baekhyun for being a Lucky One; it was that he hated himself for hurting the younger.

Baekhyun returns to the world where he can't see anything.

How many people have you killed? A voice above his head booms across the darkness. Too many.

Then light shines in front of him, and hundreds of bodies lie on top of each other, several of whom that Baekhyun remembers he had killed.

I haven't killed that many. Baekhyun reassures himself, heart racing against his chest. ...Have I?

If you knew you would be a murderer in order to achieve peace, would you do it?

I'm not a murderer ...

You killed your parents too ... or did you forget?

No ... they're right here, they're ...

Suddenly, the dead bodies of his parents appear in front of him, disfigured.

No ...

Did you know ... you killed your own Professor and hyung too?

Now, the dead bodies of Chanyeol and Yixing appear in front of him, looking just like the dead people that he had killed while he had been gold-infected.

No ...

Once again I ask you: would you murder for your dream?

Baekhyun is shaken awake and when he can finally see properly again, Yixing is in his vision, those sharp blue eyes staring at him strongly. Then his vision blurs even more.

Those strong arms are grabbing him firmly, and Baekhyun immediately pulls the comfort towards himself, burying his face in the doctor's shoulder. Arms encase around his body into a tight embrace, whereas Baekhyun's body is shaking with relief that his dream hadn't completely come true.

It had started off being peaceful, but then the boy started shaking, twisting, and moving around.

Jongdae had never seen Baekhyun sleep before, let alone like this.

Before he could do anything though, Yixing had come over and taken Baekhyun away from him, shaking him awake. It had taken him a long time, but when the boy woke up, face wet with tears, he had only hugged Yixing and sobbed into his shoulder for a long, long time.

Jongdae himself had experienced a lot of trauma, so he understands.

But he had never imagined why Baekhyun would cry like this, and for some reason, it's harder for him to watch the boy cry than he experience that pain himself.

When the boy falls asleep, Jongdae follows as the doctor carries the youngest to an actual room with an actual bed.

Kyungsoo enters later, asking what's wrong.

"He had nightmares again." Yixing says softly, watching the younger. "There have been too many things going on in his life, especially during his Maturing stage – the most vulnerable moment for us Monsters. Because of that, the memories and the pain will never really go away. It becomes the hardest for him, when he forgets that his parents died in his dreams, so he has to relive the fear of them dying in front of his eyes all over again."

"You should rest too." Kyungsoo says, and Yixing nods. Then Kyungsoo turns to Jongdae. "Let's go."

"What? You're letting them sleep together?" Jongdae argues. "Fucking dirty ... ow!" Kyungsoo hits him upside the head.

"You're the only one with dirty thoughts here." Immense strength pulls him away from the room against his wishes, just as he watches Yixing climb in bed next to Baekhyun. "Let's go."

When Baekhyun wakes up, he realises that he is sleeping on the same bed as Yixing.

Moving away, Baekhyun checks up on the older, finding that the doctor is still knocked out. Instead of leaving the room entirely, Baekhyun fetches a glass of water and leaves it on the bedside table in case Yixing needs it. Then he pulls the covers over the older carefully.

Just as he tucks the blankets over Yixing's shoulders, those blue eyes open.

"Sorry I woke you up." Baekhyun blinks, moving backwards just as the older sits up. "And sorry for taking your bed."

Strange, because those usually sharp eyes look so droopy right now. Said droopy eyes blink slowly, then blink again.

"Share with me." The older replies eventually. "I don't want you sleeping outside on the hard floor by yourself."

"You shouldn't have woken up to look after me ... again." Baekhyun whispers guiltily, because he knows this has happened many times before. Even though he had always been so grateful for it, and needed it so much, he knows Yixing had sacrificed so much of his sleep just so Baekhyun is able to have that comfort every time he wakes up from a nightmare.

"What was your dream about?" Those eyes are so droopy that Yixing almost looks carefree. It's even stranger that it fits the older as well.

"Hyung, am I doing the right thing?" He passes the glass of water to the older. "By having a dream?"

"I wanted to achieve peace, and I've done everything I could to make sure it happens ... but people have died because of this. I've killed for my dream."

"Baekhyun." Yixing starts, voice soft. "You have to know that in a war, there is no murderer. Everyone is fighting for peace in their own way. In crisis, there will always be people that will use it to their advantage. Those Experimenters you've killed was your wrong, and you had to repent for that. Your parents died in a time of war and cruelty, and it wasn't your fault. Those other people that you killed while under the influence of gold ... you had no control at all. You were just a pawn."

Even though Baekhyun should listen to these words to make him feel better, he still feels as if he should take responsibility.

"Remember that the strongest advantage we have between us is hope that peace will be restored." Yixing continues, after drinking a glass of water. "This is a time of great despair, which will push everyone to greediness, fear, hatred, and desperation. Don't let that crush you too."

"But after all this time, it's as if I haven't done anything – "

"You have." Those clear blue eyes are watching him, reminding him of the calm blue sea. "For me, you have given me Hope, to fight for peace again."

Walking out, Baekhyun sees chaos.

Everyone is running about, and Baekhyun immediately follows. Just as he arrives at the entrance between the outside world and the underground platform, Baekhyun sees rainbow – a variety of hair colours coming down.

"Got 'em." The Lucky Ones say as they haul the unconscious Monsters down. Choi Jiwoo and Hyuna are carrying an unconscious female Monster together as Hyuna yells instructions to the others. Baekhyun notices Kyungsoo carrying a few of them, one of them that he recognises.

"How was it?" Baekhyun asks as he helps Kyungsoo carry Minseok.

"Good." Kyungsoo pants. There is dried blood down his face, but otherwise he looks uninjured. "We tried out your plan. Seems to work so far." The older grins at him and then rushes off. Baekhyun leaves to wake Yixing up and then lead him to those that need immediate attention.

"If we can really capture all the Monsters like this, maybe we'll have a chance after all." Kyungsoo says as they go to the medical rooms to check up on the injured.

"I hope so." Baekhyun says. "It's still a bit tense between Lucky Ones and Monsters. I'm a bit worried what's going to happen after all this." There is a brief silence as Kyungsoo checks on each injured person.

"To be honest, Baekhyun." Kyungsoo starts. "I was a bit sceptical of working with Hyuna-ssi and the other Lucky Ones at first." The older stands and then walks over to the storage room. Baekhyun follows suit.

"But I know, it's better to put the past behind if we're going to have any chance at winning this." Kyungsoo continues as he opens the door and then starts rummaging through the boxes. "I remember back before the Wars, I had many Lucky One friends too."

"Pain and hatred makes it so easy to doubt each other." Kyungsoo continues. "After you told us that it was all only a few people's ideas to hurt us, and that Lucky Ones are victims too, I want to believe you, Baekhyun. I'm going to believe you."

Hearing that gives him so much strength, such that Baekhyun feels warmth settle in his core. He had been so used to receiving hateful words and hateful looks that when someone is offering him such a comforting message, he's not sure how to respond.

"... Shit." Kyungsoo curses as he holds up a handful of masks. "This is all we have left." Kyungsoo stands immediately and rushes out and Baekhyun follows. The older asks around for more supplies of masks, but the Lucky Ones have all replied in the negative.

"What should we do?" Kyungsoo asks as he stands with Baekhyun, Hyuna, Sehun, and Choi Jiwoo.

"We can get a few of us to scout around for more masks." Hyuna says.

"It's too – Baekhyun!" All eyes turn to Baekhyun upon Kyungsoo's exclamation as the younger takes off his mask and then takes a deep breath. Sehun panics as he looks around for a cloth. Upon finding none, he immediately rushes over in an attempt to cover the older's face. Yet, he doesn't manage to, because the serene look on Baekhyun's expression says it all.

"It's been two days, hasn't it?" Baekhyun breathes out with a small but bright smile. Professor, you really did it.

Slowly, the other Monsters take off their mask, then stand there waiting for something to happen. When nothing happens, their eyes widen in shock. Excited, Sehun runs off to tell all the Monster friends he had made. Hyuna and Choi Jiwoo move off to cancel all the troops they intended to send out to search for masks. Kyungsoo is about to leave but Yixing enters and then begins healing his head injury. Even though Kyungsoo had insisted on leaving his head injury be, Yixing had still healed him at the end of the day, and then blacked out afterwards.

"We should lie low at the moment." Kyungsoo says. "We don't want to exhaust him."

While everyone's gone, Baekhyun shines gentle yellow light over Yixing, something that Yixing has requested from Baekhyun for a long time. Although Yixing has never asked for it again, Baekhyun realises that the older looks in a much better shape and mood whenever Baekhyun shines light over him while he sleeps.

"Baekhyun." The sudden voice scares Baekhyun, making him jump such that the lights flicker for a bit. "Let's achieve peace together."

"Hyung?" Baekhyun calls out hesitantly, but he finds that the older is asleep. Sleep-talking?

"We'll find your professor together." The doctor mumbles. "Don't cry. He's okay."

Must be stressed. Baekhyun thinks. Seeing a new side to Yixing, however, realising how much the older thinks of him and his feelings, gives him immense comfort.

Everything had seemed to go to plan, until Jongin had appeared in front of him.

Luckily, Chanyeol had warned Luhan beforehand of the gold particles in the air. In utmost caution, Luhan had immediately warned all the Monsters on the ship.

"Be careful of Jongin." Chanyeol had said.

Luhan didn't believe it, but he still trusted his Leader's words. Closing his eyes, Luhan makes an announcement.

Everyone. Please all gather in the emergency rooms. Invisiblers. It is your duty to keep those rooms invisible. This is an order unless and until Leader or I tell you to step down.

The moment he opened his eyes, however, he sees violet eyes mixed with gold staring back at him. Jongin had grabbed his arm and transported him into another world.

When he had arrived, he didn't even have time to react before he was knocked right out into eternal darkness.

Now he wakes up in darkness, where there is nothing. When he calls out, or tries to reach out to someone, no one responds. He can't feel anyone.

I'm being controlled by gold? Luhan realises, fear creeping into his heart. No, he won't let this happen. He does not have the strongest power, nor the strongest mind and will to control it, for nothing.

Luhan!

Luhan-ssi?

Luhan-hyung!

Who can you contact?

Please respond and let us know if anyone from the Submarine has been caught.

Luhan-hyung?

Voices call out to him, but they are way too high for him to catch. He knows now though, that isn't what's important at the moment. He needs to get control of his body back.

Eventually, he doesn't know how he does it, but suddenly he isn't stuck in the darkness anymore. There is that buzzing in his ears again that had been constantly ringing in his head ever since he Matured, something that used to drive him crazy but now gives him relief. Instead of the darkness, Luhan is now met with blindness, something similar to closing his eyes but not being able to open them. Though he can't hear anything around him, nor catch what people are thinking, nor feel where anyone is, nor move or speak at his own will, at least this is something.

A foreign force is digging into his brain, trying to win him over, but Luhan has a lot of ego and he will never back down, even if it hurts.

He will fight for his body until the very end.

"Baekhyun. Jongdae." Kyungsoo calls. "On the battlefield today, I saw Jongin."

Baekhyun's heart drops.

"Indeed, he's controlled by the gold." The oldest says grimly. "Be careful around him, because he might appear out of nowhere and take you back to Freqse."

"I'm ready for him to get me, so I can have a chance to bite that motherfucker's head off." Jongdae growls.

"Wait." Baekhyun cuts in. "Kyungsoo-ssi, you especially have to be careful around him. Your ability is very powerful, and if you get gold-infected, I'm not sure we will be able to stand a chance against you."

"You're right." Kyungsoo nods. "That's because I'm one of the Powerful Four ... I think we're generally on the stronger side in terms of attack. Thankfully Sehun wasn't caught. I wouldn't be able to imagine ..."

"We're going to have to find out where the fuck Leader and Joonmyun-hyung went." Jongdae says, speaking Baekhyun's mind. Baekhyun's heart is feeling very uncomfortable at the thought. If Joonmyun was all right, he'd have returned already. After all, he was the first person that Baekhyun saw after he returned to this island bubble.

"Okay, one of the Monsters said she was fighting Joonmyun-hyung, who eventually captured her." Kyungsoo starts again. "The worst-case scenario is that Leader has also been captured. Joonmyun-hyung, I think I can face, because he hasn't had much time to train his power, and he has had too much work done on him by Lucky Ones over the past two or so decades. Leader though ..."

Baekhyun himself is worried. He wants to convince himself that if Chanyeol had been under the influence of gold, then he would have enough willpower to overcome it, but at the same time, Baekhyun didn't even realise that something was taking over his body, and all he could do was remain in that never-ending darkness with no idea of what's going on outside.

In denial, Baekhyun wants to believe and he wants to hope.

"If they're so strong, they wouldn't let themselves be caught in the first place, right?" Baekhyun says with a smile. "We mustn't despair over what we don't know yet. Let's stay positive and take what's aimed at us."

"Baekhyun's right." Hyuna says as she enters the room. "We don't need anything else to beat us down right now."

Jongdae feels someone grab onto him tightly, and confused, he turns around and finds Baekhyun standing next to him, his grip firm on Jongdae's arm.

"What the fuck?" Jongdae scowls, trying to throw Baekhyun's arm off, momentarily distracted so having no time to focus on the fact that Hyuna is a Lucky One.

Sighing in relief that Jongdae's not causing trouble, Kyungsoo immediately grabs Hyuna and leads her away.

"F-Funny that you call me Pretty Lips when you have nice ones yourself." Baekhyun mumbles, watching Kyungsoo and Hyuna leave in the corner of his eye, missing the red flush that paints across Jongdae's cheeks.

"I may have pretty lips, but I don't have a pretty mole above my lips." Jongdae blurts out before he can stop himself. It gets Baekhyun to get off him though, that slim arm reaching out to cover his mouth. The younger also flushes.

"I-I'm going on watch!" Baekhyun exclaims, and then he runs off.

Climbing up stairs to the outside world, Baekhyun sighs in relief, feeling as if he just escaped from a narrow one. Jongdae is so unpredictable. Baekhyun can't tell sometimes whether Jongdae hated him or could tolerate him, and he doesn't want to take chances.

Once outside, he realises that the world is peacefully deserted.

Professor ... where are you right now? Baekhyun asks the fake blue sky. When he turns, he can see the EX'ACT tower. Right now, it's so far away from him, and he's glad. But at the same time, anything could be happening at that tower right now. Freqse may have captured most of the Lucky Ones to use as his slaves, while controlling the Monsters to manhandle the physically weaker race.

How can someone, in a time of chaos and despair, use it to his advantage?

In the distance, he sees movement, and he freezes in his place. After a few seconds, he decides to find out what it is.

Baekhyun runs down the street, turning a little corner into someone's beautiful garden. The world is still silent, save now for the sound of running water. He follows the sound, and finds a mini waterfall on one side, a well on the other, and a fountain on another side.

In the middle, there is a little Lucky One girl.

"Hello?" Baekhyun calls out softly. The girl turns around and looks up, her dark brown eyes watching him silently. Baekhyun walks towards her slowly, not wanting to scare her. "Oppa here won't hurt you, I promise."

The girl continues watching him, as if frozen in her place.

Baekhyun kneels down in front of her slowly just as she begins backing away.

"Do you see if my eyes look insane?" Baekhyun catches himself. "Wait, my eyes are gold anyway ..."

"Oppa is sane. Are you here alone?"

Slowly, the girl nods.

"Where is you mum and dad?" She shakes her head. "Your auntie and uncle?" She shakes her head again.

"Do you have a brother or a sister?" She shakes her head.

"Do you want to come with me?" He asks with a smile. "How old are you?" She stays silent.

A loud noise breaks his concentration on the girl, and it sounds as if it's coming from somewhere very close by.

He grabs the girl's hand.

"Come with me." He says softly, and he begins pulling her. But she pulls back, staring out at the waterfall.

"Is there something there?" He asks.

"Water." She says softly. Baekhyun looks back, taking one glimpse at the peacefulness of the waterfall before the gate that he had come through to come inside here explodes.

The fountain explodes too, and steam blinds Baekhyun. The water from the fountain falls around them like rain, and Baekhyun holds the girl close to him.

Before he can see who had attacked him, something begins lifting him up. He registers this just in time to let go of the girl, who is left on the floor by herself, unharmed and vulnerable. Because he is already wet from the falling water, Baekhyun takes a while to notice that it was water itself that had lifted him up.

Looking down, he finds Joonmyun staring up at him, gold covering the whites of his eyes.

"Byun Baekhyun. Thank you for being the bait to all the Monsters I have now in my hands." Joonmyun says, except the mannerism is so unlike him, and more like Freqse. "But I don't need you anymore. You as a half-blood will never belong as my soldier nor my slave. You are useless to me now."

Water from the waterfall begins swirling up and then it encases him in a ball until he can't breathe.

Though Baekhyun tries to blind Joonmyun to stop him from advancing on the girl, the lack of oxygen is cutting his concentration and power, and it proves not to work. He can only hold his breath as he watches Joonmyun walk slowly to the girl, with the water swirling behind her maliciously, waiting to take her into its arms.

Don't do it, please. Baekhyun thinks to himself. She's only a girl.

Even if he tries to swim out, the water ball would follow his movements such that he is always in the middle, no matter how much he swims.

Kyungsoo-ssi ... Jongdae-ssi ... Please come and help her.

Baekhyun runs out of oxygen and faints.

After what Baekhyun had told him about Freqse's plans, Joonmyun had wanted to warn Chanyeol and Jongin, who had left the both of them.

Halfway between where he left Baekhyun and EX'ACT, Joonmyun started feeling dizzy. He stopped and stumbled, clutching his head as the world spun in front of him. Then he fell.

Before he was consumed in the darkness, he saw something that he would not have seen if not for the fake sun in the sky that shone and allowed it to glint.

Tiny specks of gold in the air.

When he came to, he was in the darkness again.

This was all too familiar.

Joonmyun had been locked up for 24 years and experimented on in every way – tortured, even. He had watched his loved ones die, and had killed his own lover. There were too many things that he should fear in his life.

But he only feared one thing, and that was this particular darkness.

"No ..." He muttered to himself as he ran around, which he knew to no avail. "Not again ..."

Not this darkness again. If his consciousness is stuck here, then what is his body doing out there?

He imagined waking up to a dead Chanyeol in his arms ... No. He will not let that happen.

Baekhee died because of him. His gentle, kind, soft-spoken yet courageous and passionate Baekhee ...

Baekhyun reminded him of her.

No matter what, Joonmyun won't let that tragedy happen again.

He fought and fought for consciousness – he fought the force stabbing into his brain – for his friends, his dead lover, and peace.

Then suddenly, he wakes up and opens his eyes to stare into dark brown ones.

Every part of his body is in pain right now, especially his head, with the force digging into him even harder than before. He has zapping moments of being in the darkness and in the conscious world a few times a second, and those dark brown eyes and black hair of the Lucky One girl is not helping him.

Revenge. The force is telling him in a sweet voice. She is a Lucky One. Kill her for all your dead kin and you will feel glorious.

Joonmyun is giving in.

I wanted to kill Baekhyun. He convinces himself. But I didn't, for Chanyeol. Now, I can kill this girl with no guilt, no strings attached.

If he succumbs to the darkness, life will be less painful.

He feels himself losing control and sliding back into the darkness, but then he remembers.

It wasn't their fault. It was mine.

No, he doesn't want to make that same mistake again.

Just as he is about to lose the last thread of control, Joonmyun grabs hold and fights back harder than ever. The idea that this girl is just an innocent child, with no understanding of the war between the two races, is what's driving him more than anything.

No, he will not lose again. The force is his real enemy. Not this girl. Not Baekhyun. Not the Lucky Ones.

He'd rather do anything than succumb to this darkness again.

But ... it hurts to fight against the force. So painful ...

"AHHHHHHHH!" Joonmyun screams, shutting his eyes tightly as he summons every last bit of his willpower to take control over his body. The force disappears from his mind, and for that moment, Joonmyun is completely clear-headed.

He summons all the water that he can muster and fills every single one of his cells with it. He moves away from the girl so as not to hurt her, and then the force starts fighting back.

But that moment of triumph is all Joonmyun needs to motivate him to fight against the pain. His body becomes heavier as the water continues filling it up, and he feels now that the pain is starting to accumulate.

But Kim Joonmyun, who had suffered two decades of pain, is used to it.

I will not lose.

Before he becomes completely blind and filled with water, the last thing he sees is the little girl staring at him, looking terrified yet lost, and so innocent.

Every single regret that he had, for doing this for a Lucky One, disappears.

Then he bursts.

Thank you so much for waiting, everyone. I definitely intend to finish this fic, and there are, I believe, less than 10 chapters left. Please continue supporting this fic until the very end! I really appreciate all the comments you've given and when I feel demotivated, I make sure to read them to motivate me to write again! Again, I'm so sorry for making you all wait. I hope you're doing well~