Malik was walking back to the Spire at a brisk pace. She'd found three Seekers in two days, that was a good haul and should satisfy the Keeper for now. They'd be able to divide evenly into two pairs and do their thing. Perfect. It was high time she got back to the task at hand.

Ugh she was going to have to walk them all through it first though. Explain all the details, things that won't and can't make sense yet. They will likely not grasp any of it and with only her left as an experienced Seeker one pair will have to be thrown off the deep end without any experience. And she was so very bad at explaining this sort of thing, honestly she hardly knew what was going on as it was. She was just doing what she was told and not asking questions. What she wouldn't give for Nadira by her side, or even Logan, prick as he'd been. She'd take anyone by now. But no, they'd waited too long to get new Seekers and now she was the only one left.

And then there was the question of who'd be sent off with whom? Seekers went out in pairs, that's how it had always been. The more were together the more attention they'd call to themselves. So who'd go with her and be properly trained and who would go off on their own? Honestly she didn't give the other pair very high odds of making it back. So the question was who'd go with her and who'd be discarded?

Donut shop guy had looked like a nobody. Slightly chubby, wouldn't even look her in the eyes, kind of a mess really. But he'd accepted the whole thing surprisingly quickly, which was impressive. Maybe she shouldn't write him off too quickly. After all she'd seen trained athletes perish because they were too deep in denial and weak office workers shape up and take charge. 

University girl hadn't looked like anything special. Hopefully the fact that she was attending university meant that she was smart. Malik could use someone smart to work with. She'd asked enough questions to at least seem curious about it all and she seemed like the type to find the Spire quickly. She might already be there considering it had been a little over a day since Malik had found her. Questions were annoying though, maybe she'd put that one on the other team just so she didn't have to deal with it.

Then there was the guy at the police station, the one who'd been so insistant on turning himself in. The one who'd grabbed her arm. She didn't like that guy at all, he rubbed her the wrong way and not just because he'd grabbed her arm but boy that had been a mistake. That arm would probably be sore for a little while. Ah well that was his problem. He'd been full of denial too, she'd seen it in him. Well, he'd shouted it at her, more accurately. She definitely didn't want to be paired up witht that guy.

Malik pushed her hands deeper into her pockets, damn it was chilly. No sense thinking too much about it now, not until they actually made it back to the Spire. And she had a ways to go herself. It was late and she'd missed the last metro, she just wasn't used to adhering to a public transport schedule anymore, that stuff was so far out of her world now, and the last time she'd tried to catch a cab the driver had been too confused to look at where he was going and almost crashed. So here she was, having to walk all the way back. It was a good thing she didn't tire easily but man was she looking forward to a nice hot cup of coffee when she got there.

~*~

This had been such a weird evening for Nari. She'd basically been kidnapped to hang out with her friends today even though she had really wanted to spend a quiet day with Jonghwa before he had to go back to work tomorrow. But she never could say no to Hwasa and the gang, so there she was watching a cute rom com while Byulyi and and Yongsun were being gross and couply and dammit she could have been busy being gross and couply with Jong all day. And then he'd ended up showing up at Hwasa's place with the dog and they were taking a nice scenic walk back to their house so it wasn't all bad. And the movie had been cute.

It really was a wonderful evening, the kind of spring evening with just a bit of bite left from winter but also a hint of warmer days to come. She was holding hands with Jonghwa with Gojin's leash in the other hand as he happily walked next to them, stopping every so often to pee against every tree they passed because of course he did.

"Did you have a good time with the girls?" Jonghwa asked. He let go of her hand to link arms with her.

Nari smiled up at him. "Yeah we watched this romcom- I can't for the life of me remember what it was called but it was cute. that we couldn't spend your last day off together though."

"It's alright, there'll be plenty more in the future," he said and went back to holding her hands. That was the third time he'd switched between handholding and hanging off her arm, what was up with him? "Come on let's go to the park for a bit."

"Shouldn't we go home? It's late and you have work in the morning."

"Nah it can wait, come on it's just for a little bit." He pulled her off the sidewalk and into the park. It was quiet as they entered, nobody was around this time at night and that suited her just fine. 

They'd spend so much time in this park since they'd moved into their small house opposite it, honestly it was practically an extention of home now. She'd walked Gojin here multiple times a day, started her practice runs for the 10k here, sometimes just spent an afternoon sitting on the lower branches of her favourite tree with Gojin sleeping in the grass below her. In fact it was that tree that Jonghwa was pulling her towards now. 

As they reached the tree Jonghwa let himself fall down onto the grass. "Jong!" Nari protested as she was pulled along and ended up laying on top of him.

He kissed her and ruffled her hair and she laughed. What was this guy up to? She let herself roll next to him on the grass and entwined their fingers. He squeezed her hand. "I love you."

"I love you too," she returned automatically. It was quiet for a while as she stared up at the stars and tried to identify the constellations she knew. There was Andromeda, and Aquarius, and Orion-

Hey Nar?"

"Hm?"

"Remember that day we met? That terrible birthday party for Jaeho and Juhyeon?"

"Of course I do. Your friends pestered you until you got the courage to ask for my number." Nari laughed. "We should thank them more for that"

"Oh man I got Juhyeon that godawful rubber duck from the gas stations because that was the only shop still open so late," he laughed. "He used that to blackmail me into asking you at later too. I don't think he's ever going to let that duckie go." He cleared his throat. "Ehm, anyway, the first time I saw you was like out of a movie, you were there and there was this glow around you-"

"You sure that wasn't just the alcohol?"

He elbowed her. "Nar, please." She laughe and kissed his cheek in apology. "Listen, what I'm saying is you took my breath away. And remember when I just blurted out that I liked you after you asked me if we were dating or what?"

"So smooth." What was he doing with this trip down memory lane?

"I know right, I do try," he laughed and paused for a moment. "I guess where I'm going with this is- that all seems so long ago doesn't it? And I just can't imagine what my life would be like without you. What if I hadn't bought that terrifying rubber duck? Or hadn't made it to the part or-" he cleared his throat. "A life without you is not a life I want to live, you complete me Nar."

She squeezed his hand. "I love you too, Jong."

"Wait, just listen. Remember when everyone called us crazy for moving in together after we'd only been dating for 6 months?"

"I remember you were really desperate to get out of that apartment you were renting with the other guys."

He laughed. "Yeah that was crazy. 7 guys and 4 bedrooms is not a good idea no matter how good friends you are. Well, we showed everyone didn't we? Everyone thought it was too soon and we'd get sick of each other but here we are."

Wait. Wait was he doing what she thought he was doing?

"We just. We work perfectly together, Nar. You're just so amazing and wonderful and I am so lucky to have you." No! "And I feel like there is only one way to go from here." Omg he was!

Nari sat up to look at him, a bit grin plastered on his face. The idiot was trying to propose! He was trying to propose and he was rambling and failing at it because of course he was! And wait- had the impromptu movie date been a part of this? Were the girls in on it? Oh she was going to kick their asses next time she saw them! 

Gojin sensed her movement and excitement and interpreted it as cuddle time and jumped on top of the both of them causing Jonghwa to double over as a big dog's elbow dug into his stomach and Nari just couldn't stop laughing.

"What did you have to do that for you big oaf?!" Jonghwa cried out laughing. "Ruining such a beautiful moment!" He scratched Gojin's neck and got a in the face in return.

Jonghwa stopped petting the dog and took a deep breath. "Okay let's try again. Listen. I am crazy in love with you Go Nari." Nari smile widened. This was it. He was actually going to do it. "I love you so much and I have no idea what I would do with you. Nari I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

He dug into his pocket and Nari's heart beat faster. She just couldn't believe he was proposing! How had she not seen this coming? She grinned at him and he ginned back and the dog read the excitement of the both of them and jumped up again hitting her in the face with his wagging tail. "Gojin!" She ducked her head trying to protect her face from the tail of doom and as she did so she momentarily locked eyes with someone walking through the park but she thought nothing of it.

She turned back to Jonghwa but found that he was faltering. He had the ring out of his pocket now, it was sitting on the little box it came with and he was staring at it but he looked confused. Nari waited a bit, not wanting to steal his thunder, but impatience got the better of her. "Jong what's wrong? Is it not the right one?"

Something flashed in her peripheral vision and as she turned to look at it she fell back in surprise. There was a tower! A big white tower in the distance that had not been there before! She turned back to Jonghwa but caught the eye of the person she'd made eyecontact with earlier. The person, girl, was still there and staring at Nari. The girl looked momentarily horrified before her features rearrenged into a neutral expression. "He won't recognise you anymore," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Nari looked back at Jonghwa in order to share one of those 'are you hearing this crazy talk' looks but he was still staring at the ring, brows knit in confusion. Then he looked up at her and it was as if he'd never seen her before. "Jong?"

"Who are you?"

"Oh, right, haha who am I?" she said, playing along. She gave him a playful shove. "Cut it out, you."

He looked mildly offended at her shove and leaned away from her. She noticed Gojin was hiding behind Jonghwa and sofly whining. What was going on? She held out her hand to dog. "Here boy, what's the matter?" He just whined more and retreated further behind Jonghwa.

Jonghwa looked at her, then at the dog, back at her her, and at the ring. He snapped the box closed and put the ring back into his pocket. And just like that Nari's heart felt like it shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Jong? Jong what are you doing?" Her voice was shaky and barely above a whisper. 

"Don't take it personally," the girl said. "You're just not a part of his world anymore. It's hard to explain."

Nari couldn't breathe. She felt like there was a boa constrictor wrapped around her ribcage and oh god she couldn't breathe.

"Hey, hey get it together lady." Black started to ring Nari's vision. She couldn't breathe, why couldn't she breathe? "Hey! Stop you're hyperventilating. You're going to pass out like this."  She felt something being shoved into her hand. A plastic bag. She put it to and started breathing in and out and in and out. Slowly the tunnelvision receded, but the crushing weight on her ribcage was here to stay.

The girl put her hands on Nari's shoulders, and Nari looked up. "Listen to me." It was a stab in the heart. How many times had Jonghwa said that to her just now? Listen? He always repeated it when he was making sense of this own thoughts. "You see that tower?" the girl pointed at the white tower in the distance. Nari nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. When had she started crying?

"Go there," the girl said. "Pack your essentials and make your way to the Spire, okay? Take some time to process things but get there as soon as you can. Nobody in this world will recognise you. You understand me? Nobody. There's no living here anymore. Go the Spire. It will all make sense when you're there."

Nari nodded and rubbed the tears from her cheeks but more just took their place. There were so many thoughts going though her mind, so many emotions, so many questions. Why hadn't he recognised her? He'd put the ring back in his pocket. She looked around but he was gone. A new surge of panic welled up inside her, where had he gone? Did he break up with her? But he hadn't even recognised her. Was this the end of everything? But how was that possible?

Nothing was right. Everything was wrong. Everything felt broken and tender and oh god she couldn't breathe again. She put the bag back to but she wasn't sure if it was to breathe or to vomit.

The girl signed. "Keep the bag," she said. "Remember, go to the tower." The girl awkwardly pat her shoulder for a second and then turned around and left, leaving Nari alone on the grass with her plastic bag.

Vomit. It was to vomit.

author's note

Sorry for the wait, been a busy week. Shouldn't even be doing this right now but making presentations 5 hours in advance is my forté. 

So that's it for the Seekers, the last one is Monsterful's Nari! We had a really, really hard time picking the Seekers and we changed our minds constantly. If anyone would like to know why their character wasn't chosen feel free to ask and I'll tell you. Honestly despite the act that we didn't get very many applications all of them were of really good quality and I'm really glad there weren't more of them or I'd've gone nuts trying to choose ;A; I'll try to add in the others as NPCs here and there when there's room tough, unless anyone specifically states that they don't want that, which is cool too.

Anyway now that this part is done we can get to the actual meat of the story! Brace yourselves you're in for a hell of a ride <3