It took them longer than they had hoped to find Yeon. And when they did, it was as if their worst nightmare came true. There she was, cornered by Sunggyu and Woohyun. INFINITE. Of course, they would find her first.

 

“GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!” Bambam yelled from the other side of the corridor.

 

“Or what?” Sunggyu’s voice was composed, he hadn’t forgotten where they were.

 

“Or we will make you,” Yugyeom said simply. This caused the opposing boys to laugh.

 

“You and what army? You’ll just fail at protecting her. Again,” Woohyun said with a shrug. “You two are no match for us.”

 

“Step. Away. From. Her. Now,” Bambam said once more, they had reached them by now.

 

“You’re going to blow your cover by attacking us?” Sunggyu asked with a smirk.

 

“You attacked Yeon first.”

 

“We were just having a friendly chat. She didn’t seem to be feeling well, so we were just checking up on her,” Woohyun said innocently, then smirked. “You wouldn’t get away with it.”

 

Yeon, through her rapidly fading consciousness, only had time to whisper their names, before she fell unconscious sliding down the wall.

 

Seeing this made panic set in, “What could they do? They couldn’t fight at school, it was against the rules of FATE, they just needed to find some other way to help her. Yugyeom pulled out his phone and one handed, managed to type a message.

 

TO: AEMI

HALLWAY 8 SECTION B WE NEED YOU

 - Y

 

---

 

The second Aemi read the message Yugyeom had send her, she went pale and her hand raised up in the air. When she asked to go to the toilet, she received permission instantly, one of the perks of being a model student. It didn’t take her long to reach the mentioned hallway.

 

“Missed us that much, Sunggyu? We only took a little break, yet you had to come visit us? Didn’t know you liked us that much.” She tried to keep talking, giving herself the chance to understand the situation, to know how much she could say without Yeon finding everything out. Everything that she had promised Jinyoung she would hide from the girl. But Yeon seemed unconscious. She’d have to take a gamble.

 

“So now you’re going after former members as well?” she frowned. “Kind of low, even for you.”

 

“If she’s a former member, that wouldn’t explain why you’re here,” Woohyun reasoned.

 

“Figured it was as good a time as any to come ask why you’re in my school.”

 

“Unfinished business,” Sunggyu commented simply.

 

“Obviously. As I am still alive. But what does that have to do with Yeon?”

 

“Are you stupid? She’s the reason you’re still breathing.”

 

“Or you’re just a lousy shot. Have you gotten scared of coming after me, and decided to go for a former member? Hoping I’d come for you myself? Getting lonely without getting your kicked regularly?”

 

“I am not a lousy shot.” Apparently, the comment annoyed him, and he was now moving towards the girl. This gave Bambam and Yugyeom the chance to close in on Woohyun and Seong Yeon.

 

Yugyeom had his gaze fixed on Yeon as he approached her, Woohyun stepping towards them.

 

“I thought you were gonna be good little kids and not fight at school?”

 

Bambam grit his teeth, he wished he could punch that smug bastard in the face, but he wasn't going to make things complicated for FATE.

 

“I never said we were gonna fight, Woohyun. We’ll take care of this later, but right now you need to step away from Yeon.”

 

Woohyun smirked, “And why would I do that? She messed up Sunggyu hyung's plans, she made everything harder than it had to be. Like Sunggyu said: We have unfinished business.”

 

While Bambam was keeping Woohyun distracted, the youngest managed to lift Yeon's unconscious form into his arms.

“Just hold on Yeon, it's gonna be okay” He said softly.

 

A quick glance at her watch told Aemi she needed to head back to class soon, if she didn’t want to get any questions. But they were almost done here anyway, Yugyeom had Yeon, so everything was going to be fine.

 

“Get back to class, Sunggyu, you need it,” she commented with a shrug. “We’re not going to fight you here, no matter how much you may have missed us. But Yugyeom and Bambam are going to bring Yeon to the nurse’s office. And I’ll let Jinyoung know, so he can take care of her. Since they are no longer in FATE, that’s more than enough, I’d think.”

 

It killed her to say these words, to pretend she didn’t care what happened to Yeon after this. But she trusted the younger two, she knew they wouldn’t leave her alone after this. So Yeon would  be safe.

 

Aemi made sure to step in between Woohyun and Yugyeom, clearing his path to the nurse’s office. The two boys quickly carried Yeon away to safety, while Aemi turned back to the INFINITE members.

“As for the two of you… If you really missed us so much, we’ll see you after school, in the usual place, 3B.”

 

Sunggyu smirked and his eyes looked… different, full of malice and clear signs he wanted to make them suffer.

 

Aemi wouldn't let that happen… no chance. Later she would give him what he needed after almost a year.

 

Woohyun spat on the floor and turned to his leader. “What bull. It's clear, Yeon and Jinyoung still mean something to them, if they were no longer members FATE would have turned their backs on them.” He said, putting his hands in his pockets.

 

Sunggyu shook his head, “No… they're different… I'll find out the truth.” He began to walk away with a creepy smile on his face, Woohyun shrugging and following behind.

 

---

 

Yugyeom had Yeon on his back as he hurried towards the infirmary. It always wasn't like Yeon to crumble at her weakest, she'd have said something catty back, told them where to go, would have -

 

That's when he stopped.

Yeon wasn't the same person she had been. She was traumatised, mentally.

She'd lost her memories…

 

He sniffed and willed himself not to cry.

 

“Yugyeom, I'll bring her in,  you should try and find Jinyoung hyung and tell him what happened.” Bambam said softly.

 

“But Yeon -”

 

“You can come back after.” He gave a weak smile as they landed outside the infirmary.

 

“We need to let the hyung's know what happened. I'll think of some story to make up to Yeon when she comes round.”

 

It hurt him to have to lie to her, but if it meant she could be safe, that was all he could do. It was the only thing he could do.

 

Yugyeom nodded, passing Yeon to Bambam and with one last worried look cast at the unconscious girl, he hurried to find them.

 

---

Bambam explained the situation in as brief terms as he could to the supervising nurse.

 

“She fainted, I brought her here as soon as I possibly could.”

 

“You did well.” She smiled, “Lay her down, I'll check her over. You should get to class.”

 

“N - no we have a double free period” he lied, “And besides, I don't want to leave her alone.” He whispered, biting his lip.”

 

The nurse knew he was lying, but she could also see the worry and fear on the boy's face, so she nodded.

 

“I'll write a sick note to excuse you from the next class.”

 

Bambam blushed, at the realisation he'd been caught in a lie, but he was grateful that she was nice enough to give him permission to stay out of the next class.

 

That meant that Yeon wouldn't have to be alone.

He leaned against the infirmary wall, his foot resting on it and he closed his eyes.

 

This wasn't fair.

 

He heard the nurse pull the curtain around Yeon's bed and knowing she couldn't see him, he let a few tears fall down his cheeks.

 

---

 

Yugyeom hadn’t managed to find Jinyoung before a teacher had questioned him on why he wasn’t in his class. He had debated about whether or not to text him. On the one hand, the boys needed to know, on the other hand, there was no way he’d want to stay in class once he knew Yeon had fainted, and he would definitely get in trouble if he did. It was the last hour before lunch and in the end, he decided he’d go to straight to Jinyoung’s class as soon as the bell rang.

 

It didn’t take him long to reach Jinyoung once the bell had actually rang. The frown on the elder’s face hurt him a lot, but there was no time for this now.

 

“We had a free period. Yeon ran into INFINITE, Sunggyu and Woohyun. We got there late. She passed out. I’m so sorry, she’s in the nurse’s office, they didn’t hurt her, but she passed out, I’m so sorry,” he blurted everything out at once, not even sure if he was making sense. He felt guilty they had let this happen, even though they shouldn’t have been there. He wanted the elder to say something, anything, but instead he sprinted of to the nurse’s office straight away, too worried about Yeon to think about anything else.

 

“I’m sorry,” Yugyeom whispered again as he watched his former friend run off.

 

---

 

Jinyoung’s feet pounded along the corridors as he hurried to infirmary, weaving through countless students and teachers, ignoring the scolding of said teachers.

 

Nothing mattered. Nothing but Yeon.

 

He pushed open the door and froze seeing Bambam there.

“Bambam?” he said quietly.

 

“H - hyung… I - INFINITE, they're in our school. They targeted Yeon. It's our fault, Yeon had a breakdown or something and ran out of the classroom, but we couldn't catch up to her. When we did… INFINITE were faster.  I'm sorry hyung,  we should have been faster -”

 

Jinyoung shook his head, his heart hurt at the distress the boy was in.

“The main thing is… you found her... “ he whispered, his eyes looking over at his unconscious sister.

 

“But - Yugyeom and I should have been faster! Maybe we could have -”

 

“Bambam.. “ He took a deep breath and rose his hand, Bambam flinching, thinking he was going to hit him. Instead, Jinyoung put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed it in reassurance.

 

“Thank you… I owe you both… if you hadn't had ran after Yeon, if you hadn't have helped her… I - I hate to think what could have happened.”

 

“We’ll get them Jinyoung. We’ll get them after school and make sure they stay the hell away from her. From both of you,” Bambam stated.

 

“I know you will. Thanks,” Jinyoung was quiet for a while, then turned to Bambam again. “You should go eat lunch. I’ll stay here and figure out what to tell her when she wakes up. Don’t worry.”

 

“I-...” he didn’t want to go. He wanted to stay here and watched over his friend. But the look on Jinyoung’s face made it clear that his presence wasn’t exactly welcome right now. Of course. We only met her today, supposedly. She’d think it was weird. And the others must be dying to hear how she is doing as well…

 

“Alright,” he then gave in, reluctantly leaving the room after looking at Yeon once more.

 

 

---

 

After heading back to class, Aemi had heard little news about Yeon and couldn’t wait to see Bambam and Yugyeom at lunch, to hear if her best friend was okay. It felt awful to be unable to just go ask the girl herself, but she had made a promise, and she would stick to it. It didn’t keep her from worrying though and there was already enough to worry about. Why had INFINITE decided to show up at their school? And if they had unfinished business, why not just go after her, instead of pulling Yeon back into it? She couldn’t let her guard down. None of them could, now that INFINITE was walking around. Their covers had never been so shaky as they were now, with their rivals right next to them.

 

As luck would have it, she stumbled upon one of the INFINITE members while heading to the cafeteria. She wasn’t completely sure, but she thought his name was Myungsoo. The boy was currently surrounded by a group of girl asking him all kinds of questions and he looked rather lost.

 

He better not blow his cover. He’d ruin us all. And those girls really shouldn’t get mixed up with them… When Aemi decided to step in, even she herself wasn’t sure if it was to protect the girls, or protect his cover, and thereby their own.

 

“Oppa~” she called out, and she instantly saw the recognition in his face. That was good. If not for that, this wouldn’t work. She had gotten his attention and that of the girls surrounding him.

 

“I don’t really like how you’re so popular,” she said with a pout.

 

“You know him Aemi?” One of the girls asked and she nodded happily.

 

“Of course I know him! He’s actually...” she paused and looked down, inwardly cringing at how she was acting right now. They’d never buy it.

 

“Is he your boyfriend?” Another girl exclaimed and when she nodded, they all looked in awe, although she couldn’t quite imagine why.

 

“I’ll show you around, okay oppa?” she nodded and the girls parted to let her through.

 

I can’t believe they bought that. Are they really that stupid?

 

“Sure thing, I was wondering where you were.”

 

Silently Aemi thanked him for playing along, and took the hand he was holding out. When they had put some distance between themselves and the girls she turned to him, her smile gone.

 

“What the hell were you doing? You looked ready to spill your cover in seconds, oppa.”

 

“Why would that be any of your concern? I can’t help it if they think I’m handsome.”

 

“They think you’re handsome?” For a second she studied the boy’s face, disbelief written all over her face..

 

“Apparently so. I don’t agree with them either.”

 

“Riiiight.”

 

“I don’t. But thanks for helping me out.”

 

“I wasn’t helping you. If they find out about INFINITE, it will only be a matter of time before they learn about FATE, and I can’t let that happen.”

 

“Such a good leader,” he sarcastically replied.

 

“!” the girl suddenly exclaimed. “I should have thought this through… Having them think we are a couple… means we can only play along or have a break up scene… Or else the cover is gone…”

 

“Guess that means I’m stuck with you then…” Myungsoo commented, less than enthusiastically. They had reached the cafeteria by now, and Aemi kept by Myungsoo side, joining him at the table INFINITE was already sitting.

 

“I just wanted to say, if you’re ever in trouble, just come to me. And if I hear about you getting in trouble, I’ll come find you as well,” she smiled, but she could see on Sunggyu’s face that he had understood her threat. “I’ll go join my friends now, I’ll see you later~”

 

She waved cheerfully, then headed towards the table were FATE was sitting. She felt a pang of pain realizing Jinyoung and Yeon wouldn’t be joining them there anymore. Bambam hadn’t arrived yet either.

 

“What was that?” Mark asked with a frown.

 

“I just told them to stay in line,” the girl commented with a shrug.

 

“That does not explain why you were walking hand in hand with one of them,” JB retorted.

 

“That was just a poor judgement call,” the redhead sighed heavily. “He seemed about to blow his cover so I covered for him. And they assumed we were dating.”

 

Jackson laughed, both at the comment and at the look on Aemi’s face. She clearly wasn’t happy with this.

 

“So, this afternoon you’re gonna beat up your boyfriend?” he laughed even louder at this revelation. This new part of their leaders cover seemed ridiculous to him.

 

“I never thought they’d buy it…” the girl tried to defend herself. Luckily for her, it was at that moment that Bambam joined them.

 

“How was Yeon?” she asked, and instantly the attention got diverted from her to more important things, like how Yeon was.

 

“Jinyoung is with her now,” Bambam said and sighed as he sat down. “She wasn’t awake yet when he send me away.”

 

They all looked down in worry.

 

“I hope she’s okay,” JB muttered.

 

“We can just take it out on INFINITE this afternoon,” Jackson replied quietly.

 

---

 

Seeing Jinyoung in class made Aemi calm down just a bit. He wouldn’t be here if Yeon wasn’t okay. She wanted so badly to ask about her best friend, but she knew she couldn’t. She had promised him she’d stay away, no matter how much it hurt her. But she would make INFINITE pay for it. As soon as the bell signalling the end of class rang, she was out of her seat, heading home. She needed to get changed, and get ready, and meet up with the rest of FATE. INFINITE would regret ever showing up to their school, they would make sure of it.

---

 

When they reached warehouse 3B, INFINITE was already waiting for them. The warehouse was old and had been abandoned ages ago, now only used for underground business, and as their prefered place of fighting. It was neutral territory, not belong to either of the gangs, so none of them had any advantaged.

 

“Well, well, you actually showed up.” The voice of Sunggyu pierced the air and all Aemi could think at that moment was how glad she was they had had the sense to have changed out of their uniforms.

 

“I do think I was the one who invited you guys here,” the girl replied with a smirk. Looking at the boys dressed in their usual gear, she scanned them for weapons. She had already made the fatal mistake of not noticing a gun once before, and she regretted it greatly. Had she noticed, Yeon would still be here, with them.

 

“Aren’t you a few members short?” Hoya commented, and Sungjong added with a smirk:

 

“They must have been too scared.”

 

“Who the hell would be scared of you guys!” JB shouted, and when the others joined in Aemi stopped them.

 

“Maybe,” she agreed. “But they’re not in FATE anymore. They left, they’re gone. Besides, we don’t need them to kick your .”

 

“We didn’t come here to discuss your internal problems,” Sunggyu commented dismissively, and the INFINITE members got into fighting positions as soon as he did.

 

“You’re right,” Aemi agreed, and before she had even said anything FATE was in positions too. It had been long, but this was what they did. This was so familiar to them, they could probably do it in their sleep.

 

“We came here to get you of our turf,” Mark finished Aemi sentence as she nodded to them, and they dashed forward.

 

Let it begin.

 

It was Sunggyu who landed the first punch, striking Aemi right in the face. She smirked and gave him an uppercut, using his speed against him. But it wasn’t their first fight, and they both knew her punches did very little damage. It were her kicks that were lethal.

 

All around the abandoned lot, punches were being thrown, and more than a little noise could be heard. They hadn’t prepared for a fight, and had no strategies today, just their fighting skills and their instincts to trust. Each and every one of them were seasoned fighters, Bambam and Sungjong rolling over the floor in a close fight, both looking rather ragged already.

 

JB had thrown Myungsoo on the floor, and was now kicking him, while Yugyeom was being held against a wall by Woohyun.

 

“Why are you here?” Aemi hissed, dodging another punch from Sunggyu.

 

“You invited us, you just told me so.” he replied with a smirk.

 

“At school.”

 

“To finish what we started.” A slight distraction caused by the conversation gave Aemi an opening to sidestep against another punch, and she quickly followed up with a spinning heel kick. Even though Sunggyu realised what she was doing, he only had time for one of two choices: duck, and be incredibly vulnerable, or get kicked in the head and suffer major damage. He went with his first option. Sensing a chance, Aemi dove forward, ready to beat him to pulp, when she got suddenly slammed to the side by Dongwoo.

 

Her face slammed into the pavement and the familiar pain of getting beaten soon followed after.

 

“Aemi!” Mark yelled out and headed for Dongwoo, but Jackson beat him to it, pulling the guy from their leader.

 

The fight went on and on, and it was clear to everyone that FATE had lost two very important members. None of them was giving up, but slowly INFINITE was gaining the upper hand.

 

“! Why aren’t we beating them?!” JB exclaimed.

 

On the other side, INFINTE was also getting annoyed by how long this was dragging on. Even after FATE lost two vital members, they still couldn’t beat them?

 

“Let’s just take them down once and for all,” Hoya stated.

 

“Try us!” Yugyeom yelled back.

 

“You might act tough, but we all know you’re gonna lose,” Woohyun smirked, and seconds later, Youngjae’s fist collided with his cheek. By now, they were all bruised, bleeding and panting, but neither side wanted to give up.

 

Standing nearby, one certain member was just assessing silently, expression cold, seemingly unreadable. He had become the strategist.  That was supposedly his position all along, but there were times when he’d never listen and just struck out… Mainly because he had no other option.

 

Lee Sungyeol wasn’t sure how to react. Here they were again, facing up against FATE, minus their two vital members… Jinyoung…. And… her…

 

He shook his head.

 

Strategize!

 

He could see they were getting tired, he could tell that they were losing strength… It would be the perfect opportunity to step in…

 

“Standing there because you can’t remember how to fight?”

 

Sungyeol looked up sharply only to narrow his eyes at none other than JB…

 

“Tch… I didn’t want my members to miss out.” He challenged.

 

JB’s expression darkened, and he wiped his bloodied face, before he sprung at Sungyeol.

Sungyeol was ready, he stepped in, all over 6 feet of him, and he attacked.

 

But something didn’t seem right… there seemed to be more force behind JB’s punches. He knew why..

 

Yeon

 

It was no secret that JB held feelings for her, you’d have to be blind not to notice…

 

He recalled almost a year ago, the shooting… Yeon right in the middle of it all when -

 

His distraction resulted in a swift upper cut to the face.

 

He stumbled back, spitting blood from his mouth and he glared, a smirk playing on his lips.

 

“Who knew… you’ve gotten stronger.”

 

“Shut. Up.”

 

A kick.

 

Sungyeol dodged.

 

By now the fighting had eased, everyone was exhausted, they’d given their all… but why wasn’t JB letting up?

 

He was pushed against the wall, before he hooked his leg around JB and knocked him down.

 

He was already getting tired.

 

Where had his strength come from? A quick glance around showed a very similar sight. One on one fights everywhere, now their members were evenly matched. Everyone was looking tired. FATE was looking like they were running on willpower only, and INFINITE wasn’t looking much better. Strategize. As he hit JB in the stomach, he tried to strategize. Because right now, this wasn’t looking good for either group. He needed to figure something out. A way to beat them next time. A weakness. Yeon. This time he took a hit to the face again. Not just Yeon. He had it. It was their love for each other. If they could find a way to use that against them, they’d be set.

 

He just needed to wait, for the right time, and then… It would be settled once and for all...

---

After a long Hiatus, we're back ^^ Thank you for reading and look forward to more :3

-S-A-Mysticality