CHAPTER 16

If they thought Taeyeon was fast, the airships were faster. Before they left their respective locations, the pilots told them to hold on to their seats and try to breathe as much as they could throughout the trip. The engine roared to life and they were airborne less than a minute later. They thought the pilots were kidding about how fast they would be going but when they started floating from their seats, they held on to the arm rests and did the breathing exercise. A loud, continuous beeping noise rang in their ears as the airships zoomed past the sky above the clouds then swooped down to make an abrupt landing next to each other.

The moment Yoona stepped out, Seohyun ran up to her with the widest smile she had seen in a while.

“Hey you,” Yoona said with an equally bright smile.

“Hi,” Seohyun replied.

Sooyoung walked up to her dongsaengs from the other airship. “So… that’s it? No big hug? No jumping into each other’s arms and spinning around?”

Yoona rubbed the back of her neck and looked away for a second. “Maybe some other time.”

“There’s no need for any of that, right?” Seohyun said. “Even though you were having a rough ride, you still managed to talk to me a few minutes ago.”

“And the hour before that and the day before that and the minute we left Beacon,” Yoona enumerated with her fingers. “But it’s different when you’re right here in front of me. Maybe a hug won’t hurt?”

Seohyun didn’t need much convincing. She wrapped her arms around Yoona’s shoulders and pulled her close.

“Oh my goodness, the cheese!!” Sooyoung faked a cringe.

Still in Seohyun’s arms, Yoona said: “At least we talk to each other. Unlike some people I know.” She widened her eyes at Jessica and Yuri who already greeted their friends but still hadn’t said anything to each other.

All the two did was look at each other with slight smiles.

Before anyone else could say anything they were called to a mission briefing. They were told that the city was surrounded and despite the stationed squadrons at all entry points, the Grimm were still able to enter the city by burrowing underground. At the rate they were going, it was just a matter of time before they reach the center of the city where the military base was located.

Yuri, Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were ordered to go to one of the underground tunnels created by the Grimm. “Take down as many of them as you can but be careful not to cause too much damage to the walls or else they might collapse on you guys. Good luck,” one of the huntresses told them.

Krystal was chosen to go with Yuri’s team but Jessica protested like hell and Tiffany’s hand shot up in a heartbeat to volunteer. “I can go with Yuwree’s team!” She didn’t mind Jessica staring daggers at her because the higher-ups accepted her offer in the end and she was free to cling to Yuri’s arm as part of the team.

Jessica didn’t have much to say after Krystal, Yoona, Taeyeon and Seohyun were asked to go with her to be part of the ground support for the aerial forces circling the center of the city. On their way out, someone’s shoulder bumped into hers and when she turned to see who it was she saw a familiar toothy grin.

“See you later?” Yuri said.

Jessica didn’t want to smile back like an idiot but she ended up doing it anyway. “Can’t wait.”

+

Hyoyeon kicked aside a pile of rubble after they entered the roughly-made tunnel. Whatever made the entrance must have been large and it must have rammed through the cement to make the equally large hole. Whatever it was, they had a feeling they would run into it sooner or later.

Yuri led the way. They were only a few meters in when Tiffany caught up to her and hugged her from behind. “Yuwree! You left me again. Didn’t you miss me while you were away?”

“Uh, it’s nice to see you, Tiffany.” Yuri could feel the entirety of Tiffany’s body pressed against her back and even though this sort of thing had happened countless times before she still wasn’t used to it.

“D’awww… you guys look good together.” Hyoyeon stifled a laugh.

“They do?!”

Hyoyeon winked at Sooyoung who seemed somewhat offended by the remark.

“It’s a joke!” Hyoyeon explained.

“Oh shush! Of course we look good together!” Tiffany said over her shoulder.

Yuri carefully removed Tiffany’s arms from around her neck and took a few steps forward. “I think we should start going through this tunnel now. We have to stop the Grimm up ahead.”

Hyoyeon did a slow-clap just because. “Well said, well said.”

True enough, after a bit more walking, they encountered the Grimm. At first it was just the usual beowolves and some ursai. Tiffany turned serious, ran ahead with a dome around her and stunned them. Yuri, Sooyoung and Hyoyeon finished them off as they ran past, following Tiffany’s trail.

“I take back all the bad things I said about this girl,” Hyoyeon said while they ran. “She’s awesome! Or at least her semblance is.”

“Hey!!” Tiffany reacted.

“Not so loud, Fany-yah!” Sooyoung called out. “The walls might collapse!”

“Eyes on the prize, guys!” Yuri reminded her team. She stuck close to Tiffany to get to the Grimm the moment they were stunned.

Hyoyeon and her chained blades worked side by side, taking on two enemies at a time with synchronized movement. Sooyoung was stuck using her axe to hack her way through the wave of Grimm. She figured her hounds couldn’t do much in this enclosed space.

Tiffany started easing up on the stunning when they got further ahead. She needed to conserve some of her aura for later use. She informed her teammates and they agreed. Before they continued to face the next wave, Tiffany suddenly lost her balance.

“Oh my god!!”

“Tiffany!”

Yuri caught Tiffany by the waist before the latter hit the ground. It took Yuri a bit of aura to double her speed and it was basically just instinct, but Tiffany seemed to think otherwise.

“You really do care about me, huh?” Tiffany got to her feet while still holding on to Yuri’s arm.

“What? Well, I guess. You’re our friend now.”

“You sure it’s just that?”

Tiffany had gotten too close again and Yuri had to carefully slip out of her grip. “We should go. I think we’re close to the end of this thing.” She led the way again, oblivious to the fact that Tiffany was pouting behind her.

A stream of light came from just ahead but it was partially blocked by—

“What the is that?!” Sooyoung pointed at the Goliath. It was an elephant-like creature with tusks curving all the way up to its ears like a mammoth’s, and it was right in front of them.

“Oh ,” was all Hyoyeon could say.

“Fany-yah! Any time now!”

Tiffany got over her shock, took Sooyoung’s advice and activated her semblance. The dome grew until it reached the tunnel ceiling and the top of the Goliath’s head. The creature recoiled after feeling the effect of Tiffany’s attack but only slightly. It shook its head as if snapping itself out of a trance and its tusks crashed into the walls.

“We can’t fight it in here!” Yuri called out to her teammates. She squeezed past the mammoth and hoped that the others got the hint to follow her outside the tunnel. When she looked over her shoulder, the mammoth was hurriedly turning itself around to face her. It crashed into the walls again, causing the tunnel entrance to start caving in.

“Guys!! Hurry!” She saw Hyoyeon running toward her but Sooyoung and Tiffany were nowhere in sight. “Sooyoung!! Tiffany!!”

“They’re stalling it! Duck!” Hyoyeon threw her chained blades right when Yuri got out of the way and they hit a beowolf that was about to claw into Yuri’s back.

Yuri whipped around, punched the startled beowolf in the gut and it got thrown toward the others that were rushing behind it. She ran back to where Hyoyeon was and saw that Tiffany was still trying to stun the mammoth while Sooyoung hacked away at it.

“Nothing’s working! It’s too strong!” Tiffany could barely keep the huge dome up.

And just when they thought they already had it bad, a bunch of White Fang members appeared on galloping Griffons.

They were surrounded.

“Leave the Goliath! Let’s get to the military base!” Hyoyeon yelled over the noise. She turned to Yuri who was right beside her. “Yuri-yah, let’s go. Come on!”

We’re surrounded. She turned to the Goliath then to the White Fang who had just dismounted and the Griffons that they came with. ran dry and she brought her fists down. What do I do? It’s just like last time. Hyoyeon was waiting for her to move, but she couldn’t. Sooyoung and Tiffany were right behind her, also waiting for her to do something.

“Tiffany, can you drain these guys?” Hyoyeon asked while looking straight at the White Fang.

“I can try. I already used up too much on the Goliath, though.”

“Save it,” Sooyoung told Tiffany. Before anyone could speak, she summoned Suri and the hound charged at the White Fang like a bullet. “Spread out!!”

Yuri watched as her teammates scattered to try to flank the enemy while she stood there, still thinking of what to do. She only managed to snap out of it when a long shadow extended above her from behind. She rolled out of the way before the Goliath’s trunk could trample her. She had to roll out of the way again when it brought its huge foot down, still aiming at her. Dammit. Here goes. The hand wraps came off as she stood up and she ran toward the mammoth’s underside. She kicked off of the ground, palms facing upward and launched herself toward the belly. She willed every cell in her body to cooperate in sending all of her energy toward her palms. She felt like she was breaking from the inside, like she had a thousand suns in her lungs that wanted to escape through every pore in her body.

“GAAAAAH!!!”

She collided with the mammoth’s hardened exterior and for a second she thought she was going to fall back down… until she felt the air greet her face and all she saw were specs of black dust floating around her. She landed on her feet then stumbled forward and fell on one knee. That was when exhaustion hit her. “Ouch…”

“Yuwree!!” Tiffany rushed to Yuri’s side and quickly helped her up. “Are you okay? You’re burning up!”

“Feels like it,” Yuri managed to reply. She couldn’t feel her legs so she held on to Tiffany and limped. “Where are the White Fang? Did you guys get them?”

“Those mecha soldier things were a great help and we did get some of them. But the rest were scared off after you got rid of the Goliath. That was awesome, Yul!!” Sooyoung said. Suri barked in confirmation.

Yuri let out a small laugh. “Is that so?”

“Don’t get cocky, you jerk!” Hyoyeon chimed in. “But seriously, after an attack like that, you need to rest a bit.”

“I know.” Yuri tapped Tiffany’s arm to signal that she wanted to sit down for a while. Tiffany nodded and lowered Yuri to the ground. “Thanks. Hm… I wonder how the others are doing.”

“By ‘others’ you mean Sica, right?” Hyoyeon laughed then stared into the distance, wondering how their friends were faring.

“Meh. I’m sure she’s kicking . I feel the chill from here,” Sooyoung said.

Tiffany raised an eyebrow. “Why is everyone so sensitive to that girl’s semblance? Is it seriously that bad?”

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon looked at each other and then at Tiffany who was sitting so close to Yuri that she might as well have jumped on Yuri’s lap. “Fany-yah, I have a feeling you’ll feel it soon. Just keep doing what you’re doing,” Sooyoung said with a snicker.

“What?”

Hyoyeon couldn’t tell if Tiffany was kidding or not. “Oh dear.”

+

The military airships continued to circle the center of the city while ground support kept the nevermores from flying too high up to intercept them. Seohyun was onboard one of the airships. She shot down any Grimm that got too close while the pilots continued to fire missiles at the bigger ones on the ground.

Krystal and Yoona made use of their training together and aimed at multiple targets at once. Krystal loosed a dozen arrows at once and Yoona distorted the space in between each to fire them off with added force in different directions at the same time. A couple of repetitions afterwards and they had cleared half a sector.

“I thought it would never work!” Krystal called out to Yoona with a laugh.

“All of my ideas work!” Yoona joked.

They moved on to the next wave, passing Jessica and Taeyeon who were strangely not arguing about strategy like they usually did.

“Taeng! Now!” Jessica moved out of the way to give Taeyeon enough space to shoot lightning straight up from her body. The electric charges came into contact with the cloud of cold air that Jessica conjured and out came several bolts that rained down on the surrounding Grimm.

Taeyeon clutched her back as she walked away from the aftermath. “Ugh. That’s the last time I agree to do that,” she mumbled to herself. Jessica showed up beside her a while later. “Let’s not do that again, please?”

Jessica laughed. “What’s the matter, granny? Did you throw your back?”

“It’s not funny! You know what the lightning thing does to me.”

“I think you’re not using it enough and that’s why it hurts when you do use it. You know, like a body part that you never exercise.”

“Whatever.” Taeyeon bent forward then slightly backwards to stretch her back. “That’ll do. Let’s go.”

They got back to the fight and split up at some point to cover more ground. Krystal and Yoona did the same thing. The other huntsmen and huntresses were taking care of the Grimm that were already gathered around the military base and the approaching Grimm were left to the students.

Yoona was taking care of a pair of beowolves when a large boarbatusk charged at her from behind. She flew meters from her original position and landed on her back. “Dammit…” She got back up and started limping toward a nearby building to catch her breath. The large boarbatusk was still out there somewhere and she wanted to get back at it. While waiting for the right time to leave cover, she heard Seohyun’s voice: “Be careful, okay?”

The scout flitted away before she could say something back. She just hoped that Seohyun somehow saw her smile. She waited a few more seconds before leaving her cover. Taeyeon met her outside just in time. They nodded at each other and before Yoona knew it, she was speeding through the battlefield with her naginata in hand, ing through and slashing at every Grimm they ran into, including that damn boarbatusk.

Taeyeon held her dongsaeng’s wrist tightly as she dragged both of them around the area at lightning speed. All her negative comments toward Yoona aside, she had to admit that Yoona was a good spear-wielder, judging from how her attacks were still as effective even when using only one hand. But she doesn’t need to hear that from me. Ever.

Yoona swung her weapon crosswise as they approached a pack of beowolves and she saw the huge slash across their bellies before they turned into dust and disappeared. It was also then that she fell on her face. “Unnie! What the hell?!”

“Whoops! My bad!” Taeyeon watched Yoona get up. “No worries. Maybe Seohyun will send you another greeting for your boo-boo.”

“What?! Did you see the—”

“Yeah, I saw the scout earlier!”

“Jeebus, you’re like her dad!!”

“I’m worse!”

“Guys! We’re surrounded by Grimm here!” Before Jessica could get a reply from the two, Krystal appeared out of nowhere with her swallow—

“I got it, unnie!”

—and they weren’t surrounded anymore.

“How the hell do you keep doing that?!”

Krystal shrugged before a smug grin stretched along her lips.

Just as they were moving on to the next area, they heard an explosion from above.

“Seohyun!”

It only took Jessica a few seconds after hearing the worry in Taeyeon’s voice to conjure a frozen platform, followed by another one from Krystal. Yoona willed the space below each platform to expand, making them shoot up into the air. Taeyeon teleported from one platform to another while Jessica and Krystal alternated making more and Yoona launched them until there were enough for Taeyeon reach Seohyun mid-fall.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” Seohyun breathed out. “Thanks unnie.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” With Seohyun’s hand in hers, Taeyeon teleported them both back down one platform at a time. She sped through the Grimm and let go of Seohyun’s hand only after they reached the top of another building. “You can shoot from here. Move when you have to. There are too many of them prowling down there and it isn’t exactly safe up here either but it’ll have to do for now.”

“I’ll watch her. Sica unnie needs your lightning shizz.”

Taeyeon couldn’t say that she didn’t expect to hear Yoona’s voice at a time like this and even though it comforted her somehow, old habits die hard. She raised an eyebrow. “Fine. No funny business.”

Yoona matched Taeyeon’s scowl with a smirk. “I can’t promise that though.”

“Im Yoona! You’re so—”

“Unnie, we don’t have time for this!!”

Taeyeon knew Seohyun was right and she didn’t want to have another discussion so she just teleported out of there.

+

Even after a few more lightning snow storms from Jessica, Krystal and Taeyeon, the Grimm kept pouring in and the military base was eventually overrun. Everyone was ordered to retreat while the mecha soldier things – or so Sooyoung liked to call them – held off any enemy who attempted to intercept them.

General Jongkook was among the last to leave the area with what remained of his Atlesian Knights. Apparently, that’s what the mecha soldier things were really called.

Back at the border, he had to address all of his weary companions.

“We suffered heavy losses but I want to thank everyone who came here on such short notice to help. When the White Fang suddenly dropped in with armies of Grimm on their side, I thought we didn’t stand a chance. If it wasn’t for everyone’s support, we wouldn’t have made it. The White Fang are no longer in the area but there are still some Grimm inside the city. The citizens were evacuated days ago so that’s one thing off of our minds. We’re currently trying to reach the other headmasters to inform them of the status of their respective students. We hope that once we reach them they’ll be able to relay the message to your families. For now, we should get some rest. Patrols are assigned as usual just in case the Grimm come back to this area. Thank you for your cooperation everyone.”

+

Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun were used to the base they had at the border so they couldn’t quite understand why their friends were so over the moon with the living arrangements.

“Finally! A real building to sleep in!” Sooyoung rolled from side to side on the floor while hugging her sleeping bag. “No desert sand! No swamp gunk! No allergies!”

“At least you guys had tents,” said Yoona. “We had to sleep in the open!”

“But we had to scrape sand out of our hair for days, Yoong.” Hyoyeon slipped inside her sleeping bag and placed her palms behind her head as she lied down.

“Oh my god. I’m so happy we got sent here instead,” Tiffany chimed in. “By the way, has anyone seen Yuwree??”

“She’s resting,” Jessica answered before anyone could say anything.

“Oh that’s right! She was so cool today. She’s totally my hero. Did you hear what happened earlier, Jessi?”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “I know that she killed a Goliath. Even though she could’ve just left it alone and escaped.” She mumbled the latter half to herself.

“Not just that!” Tiffany bounced up and down before she told the story. “We were in the tunnel, right? And I can be such a klutz so I tripped on something and Yuwree caught me just in time. She held me close and I could totally feel how strong she was. God, it was so hot!”

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon hid their laughs while Yoona and Seohyun exchanged quick glances. Taeyeon wasn’t paying much attention to Tiffany and instead focused on how long Jessica could go without blowing up from how much Tiffany gushed about Yuri.

“Is Yuwree in another room then? Poor thing. Maybe I should go and keep her company in bed. She might get a cold or something.”

“She’s plenty warm already so leave her alone, you flirt!”

Taeyeon kept a smile to herself after hearing Jessica’s remark. Well, that didn’t last long.

“I dunno, Sica,” Sooyoung said. “Tiffany and Yuri do look kinda good together. Maybe Tiffany should go visit her in the other room.” She tried so hard not to laugh in the end. Jessica didn’t say anything but she swore that she saw a vein throbbing on Jessica’s neck.

Hyoyeon, on the other hand, couldn’t help but laugh. She meant it as a joke before but if she had known that Jessica would react this strongly then she would’ve started making it sound more real a long time ago.

“Oh you guys! You’re so supportive!” Tiffany flashed Sooyoung and Hyoyeon an eye smile. “Where is Yuwree’s room anyway?”

“Ugh! Oh my god!!”

The door closed with a slight bang. The rest of them looked at each other after Jessica walked out. All of them turned to Krystal, expecting her to go after her sister.

“Let’s leave her alone. She just needs to clear her head,” she said.

Despite that, Tiffany went after Jessica without a word and she found her on the other side of the building with her hands shoved deep in her blazer pockets.

“Jessi?”

“What?”

Tiffany moved closer until they were standing side by side. “You’re really good at throwing tantrums, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me?!”

“You heard me.” Tiffany cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “You’re always so bothered when I talk about Yuri and how much I like her, but you never do anything about it! You just freeze everything or lash out or run away. Well, news flash. I’m not scared of you, honey. If you want Yuri then do something about it. Otherwise, I’ll just keep going after her and you’ll just have to deal with it.”

Jessica raised an eyebrow in response. Tiffany had a point. “Thanks for the reminder, honey. And since we’re having this heart-to-heart, may I just say that you at pretending to be okay?”

Tiffany let out a small gasp. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re trying too hard to be bubbly and flirty and . I know you’re normally like that but whatever that was back there was too much. It’s like you’re forcing yourself to not think about something. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s something about your parents.”

“How could you possibly know something like that, huh?”

“Easy. You were dead silent when the general mentioned the evacuated citizens. Let’s face it, you’re never quiet. And I know your parents live here. Put two and two together and ding-dong-dang. You’re not that hard to read.”

Tiffany giggled, amused by how Jessica figured her out. “Let’s say you’re right about that. Still doesn’t change the fact that if you don’t make your move on Yuri, I will.”

A brief silence befell them. Jessica dug into the insides of her pockets while Tiffany played with the ends of her hair.

“Is it that obvious that I get so freaking jealous?” Jessica asked.

“Is it that obvious that I’m worried about my parents?” Tiffany asked back.

Neither one answered the other’s question. They exchanged curt smiles and returned inside. When their friends asked what happened they just said they got some much needed fresh air.

+

Evening had fallen. Not that she still had any sense of time. She was exhausted. She tried to distract herself earlier by chatting with the others and even trying to find some comfort in trying to flirt with Yuri, but Jessica saw right through that. Of all the people who could have called her out on it, it had to be Jessica. Not that she minded. She felt a tiny bit of concern from the girl.

And she’s right. I really am worried about my parents.

She clutched the collar of her cloak to her nose then slipped out the door while everyone was resting. She passed by a few huntresses on her way to the back of the compound and she was glad that none of them stopped her or asked her any questions. However, the pair behind her had a few of their own.

“You’re sneaking off?”

“Tsk.” Tiffany turned around when she heard Taeyeon’s voice.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then. Tippany, we’re your teammates now. When you have plans to sneak off, you can tell us.”

“Sorry, Tiffany unnie,” said Seohyun. “I always deploy scouts before we go to bed. One of them managed to pick up on your movements.”

Tiffany managed a small smile. “It’s okay, Seohyun. I’m the one who’s sorry. I didn’t mean to offend anyone by leaving without a word. I’m just really worried about my parents.”

Although she was a bit hesitant, Taeyeon placed a hand on Tiffany’s shoulder. “The general said the citizens have been evacuated. There’s no one to go back to the city now.”

“I have to make sure. If they didn’t make it then I want to know for myself. I can’t just wait around until someone decides to tell me that my parents got left behind or something. I can’t stand not knowing something like that.”

Taeyeon nodded and drew her arm back. “I see. Fair point. We’re going with you then.”

“What? You really don’t have to.”

“I know we don’t have to. But Seohyun has her scouts. It’ll be easier to look around.”

“Seohyun, is it really okay?” Tiffany asked.

“Of course. I do it for Taeyeon unnie all the time when she sleep-teleports so I’ve gotten used to late-night searches.”

Tiffany smiled then pulled her teammates into a hug. “You guys are the best.”

“O-kay. Too… tight…” Taeyeon tried to wiggle out of the hug.

Tiffany released her teammates then wiggled her eyebrows at Taeyeon. “Puh-lease. You like it tight.”

Flushed, Taeyeon walked past Tiffany without a word and started heading toward the city.

+

A small scout flitted through the city streets at mid-altitude. Seohyun only had enough aura for it to go a short distance. They moved from one building to another, being careful not to catch the Grimm’s attention.

“It’s the house with a fountain in front. Do you see it?” asked Tiffany.

“Yes. It seems to be deserted.” Seohyun tried to focus more of her aura onto the scout so it could get closer but she was at her limit.

“Is it safe to inspect it directly?” Taeyeon asked.

“There are no Grimm surrounding the house but I see a few along the way.”

“We can take them out right?” Tiffany suggested.

“And cause a ruckus that’ll attract the others? No way. Besides, we’re already low on aura. We need to be careful,” said Taeyeon.

“She’s right, Tiffany unnie. I think I can lead the way. We just need to take a lot of detours to avoid them.”

The three of them agreed to use the sneak tactic. They had to go around the east side and past the patrolling Grimm before they eventually reached the back door of Tiffany’s house. The wall that used to separate it from the road had long since crumbled.

Tiffany squeezed the door handle. It squeaked when she turned it. She was surprised that the door was still intact despite the damage that the house sustained. The inside was a mess and, even though it was the same as she remembered it, some things were missing – supplies that she guessed were looted by the White Fang.

“It hasn’t changed a bit.” She ran a hand along the kitchen counter and felt the cracks on the cold marble greet her back. “Well, except for being destroyed and stuff.”

Taeyeon was standing under an arch that led to the living room. “It looks fancy. I can tell why you’re so spoiled.”

Tiffany didn’t mind Taeyeon’s teasing. She had gotten the hang of telling whether Taeyeon was really insulting her or not. This one wasn’t an insult. This was an attempt to cheer her up.

“Unnies, I don’t think anyone is here.” Seohyun got back from the second floor with her scout hovering above her shoulder.

“That’s good news, isn’t it?” Taeyeon flashed Tiffany a smile, although it was a bit forced. “That means your parents made it out, Tippany.”

Tiffany returned the smile. “I hope so. Thank you for coming with me you guys. I really appreciate it.”

After one more round of inspection and a few pauses whenever Tiffany saw something that reminded her of her childhood, they returned to the border.