Kyungsoo was horrified by the news when Sungsook told him, by which point Sungmi had already checked-out having already accepted her fate: a bleak one. She sat meekly in the corner, not offering any words or emotions. People had tried to tell her. People had tried to stop her. And now, here she was backed up against a wall with no way out. It was enough to wreck anyone’s mind.

“There must be some way to swap them back,” Kyungsoo insisted, pacing backwards and forwards in front of the two girls.

Sungsook shook her head sadly but firmly. “There isn’t. Sunghee isn't even conscious yet. He can't be moved again, it might kill him.”

Kyungsoo at his lip, agitated. He stopped and faced the two girls. “Why did you let this go so far?” he demanded, looking between the two girls like he wasn’t actually sure who he should be blaming now. Sungmi knew he wanted to blame her though. And she knew she deserved it.

“Please keep your voice down,” Sungmi murmured almost weakly. Her voice was like a whisper.

Sungsook heard the change in her voice, and stretched out her hand for her sister’s, giving it a little squeeze.

“Sungmi,” Kyungsoo said then, his voice ghostly and a little desperate. Sungmi turned to him, her almost helpless gaze landing on him. He swallowed, then slowly stepped towards her and crouched down in front of her so that he was in line with those desperate eyes. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he told her in barely a whisper. “I swear, Sungmi. I won’t let them hurt you.”

A little bud of moisture brimmed from Sungmi’s eyes as she stared at Kyungsoo. His eyes held something very solid within them; they weren’t flimsy like her own were. She wanted to trust them – she did trust them.

She knew that her going in the place of Sunghee increased the risk of Kyungsoo not returning, since there was no way he would leave her alone to struggle. Of course she was grateful for any help she could get, but she didn’t want Kyungsoo endangering his own life for her. She had done this, she had jeopardised all of their safety. And that thought alone was slowly killing her on the inside.

“I’m sorry,” Sungmi finally let out with a small sob, tears now falling. Kyungsoo tried to reach for her again, but she shook her head adamantly, not feeling like she deserved any comfort right now. “I’m so, so sorry. I never meant for you to have to do this for me. Neither of you.”

Kyungsoo stretched out his arms once more and wrapped them around her shoulders, gently hushing her as he pulled her into his chest. This time, she didn’t fight it as tears fell like raindrops. “We’ll get through this,” he whispered into her ear, pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek and leaving a buzz of warmth behind it. “We definitely will.”

And Sungmi nodded once. She nodded because she didn’t know what else to do.

Sungmi was nothing short of flabbergasted when she stared at the final sheet, detailing groups for the trainees to be assigned into. At first, she couldn’t believe her luck – she really couldn’t. She knew and liked everyone on her team: Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, Sehun and Chanyeol. But then reality set in a little: this wasn’t summer camp and it wasn’t going to be camp fires and fun. This was war, and there was a chance that some of them were going to die. It really gave Sungmi mixed feelings.

The captain of their squad was to be Minseok. Sungmi felt reassured by this, considering he was a lot more humane than some of the other captains who had scars the length of their bodies surrounded by toughened skin and an attitude to match.

As the group stood in from of their new captain, all to attention, he appraised them all individually but silently. That was, until he came to Sungmi. And then he paused, his head tilting to the side almost curiously.

“What is your name?” he asked, clearly trying to place the face to a name.

“Han Sunghee,” Sungmi replied firmly, deepening her voice perhaps more than necessary – something she only noticed when Kyungsoo bristled beside her at the sound.

Minseok stared at her a moment longer, then shook his head as if to clear it and walked on again. Sungmi internally heaved a sigh of relief, noticing Kyungsoo’s shoulders also relaxing at the welcomed sight.

When he had finished his assessment, Minseok came to stand in front of them. His eyes were almost playful, though at that moment Sungmi couldn’t understand why.

“You’re not a bad looking lot,” Minseok told them, something that was probably supposed to be a compliment. “I’ve definitely seen worse.”

Sungmi was sure that, had it been a compliment, he had just taken it away from them again.

Minseok drew out a piece of paper, scanning through it quickly. “We have a very versatile group of skills here, it’s nice.” He motioned to Baekhyun, who jumped at the sudden singling out, “An explosives expert.”

Then to Sehun, “An expert in hand-to-hand combat who has gained the attention of many. No doubt from street fighting,” Minseok hinted, raising an eyebrow at Sehun who gave no inclination either way if that was the reason or not.

Chanyeol. “A strong weapon user and a strong individual. You’ve scored well in most of your tests.”

Kyungsoo. “Apparently very good at getting out of a sticky situation. Your assault course time set a new record; I’ll admit, I’m surprised.”

He finally pointed to Sungmi, but then paused, reading the paper. “And one hell of a lucky sod.” Sungmi had no idea what that paper said, but it probably wasn’t pointing out her expertise in a particular field like the others. Other than that, she really wouldn't have considered herself to be lucky. Or else she wouldn't be in this position right now.

“Listen here,” Minseok went on, pacing in front of them slowly, looking at his feet as he padded along. His words were measured; precise. “We’ve got a long way ahead of us, both as soldiers and comrades. None of you really have a clue what’s waiting out there for you,” he paused, looking along all of their faces, “but I do. Time isn’t on our side here, trust me on that. We don’t have the time to hold your hands, helping you to be the best and strongest you can be. You need to be ready now. Heed my every order,” there was another pause, this time he looked rather deliberately at Sungmi, “and you might survive.”

The team got on fine, really. Sehun and Baekhyun clashed rather viciously from the start for reasons still unknown to the others, but other than that they lived in peace within the cabin, which they had now all moved into.

Sungmi made no secret of the fact that she needed Kyungsoo to help her keep her identity hidden, something he would have of course done even if she hadn’t asked him to do so. The people on their squad knew – at least semi-well – Sunghee, and knew how close he was to Kyungsoo, so any possible suspicions they had would be silenced by Kyungsoo’s clear certainty that she was indeed Sunghee.

The best thing about Kyungsoo being on the same team to help her was the fact that he could quietly correct her behaviour to make it seem more like Sunghee’s. This needed to be done when Chanyeol asked her if she wanted his tomato wrap. Sungmi, for as long as she could remember, had hated tomatoes, and as such was about to decline but Kyungsoo caught her eye with a look that said, ‘You’re Sunghee – and Sunghee’s favourite is a tomato wrap.’

“Oh yeah,” she said, trying to smile as she held out her hands. “Thanks, Chanyeol.” It was a good thing he didn’t notice the way her face recoiled when she bit into the soggy lump.

“Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo,” a voice suddenly shouted from the doorway, causing almost all the inhabitants, bar Sehun, to spin to the call. “Captain Minseok wishes to see you now.”

Kyungsoo glanced to Sungmi once before following the lanky Chanyeol to the door and out. Sungmi stared after them for a moment, curious about why only they had been called.

“That can’t be good,” Sehun muttered, seemingly to himself but it was loud enough that it could have been directed at Sungmi.

Reminding herself that she was Sunghee, and not Sungmi, she held her tongue about giving him a lashing for being so cryptic. “What do you think it means?” she asked instead.

Sehun flicked a bookmark into the page he was on and sat up, looking over at Sungmi.  “They’re probably being moved to other teams. It’ll just be us and that obnoxious Baekhyun until two more get moved into this one.”

Sungmi felt her brow furrow deeply. Kyungsoo was going to be moved to another team? That surely didn’t mean good things for her.

“W-why?” she asked, trying to keep her voice level but failing miserably.

Sehun looked a little taken aback by her shakiness, but didn’t comment on it. “You should see this as a positive,” he replied with a little shrug, almost as if he was trying to calm her. “At least you won’t have to see one another die now.”

Sungmi was on her feet in a flash, a move Sunghee wouldn’t have been able to pull off so easily but at that moment she didn’t care about the surprise on Sehun’s face. “Don’t you ever say that!” she hissed out, hands balling into fists, again not acting overly similar to her quiet brother.

Staring at her unblinkingly for a moment, Sehun sat back in his bed. “It’s true, tho