The next couple of days were exhausting for Lisa. The responsibility of tending to her daily chores around the island was normally sufficient enough for her, but in addition to those, she had to take care of Yerim during the night. The older girl was far from an issue during the daytime; in fact, by the third day she was able to assist Lisa with her work. Although Yerim was still physically incapable of doing too much heavy lifting, she did everything she could to show her gratitude to the people who were housing her. She enjoyed feeding the animals and planting crops (although when she found out that many of the animals were bred for consumption, she burst into tears and stayed in Lisa’s room for the rest of that day). She would also assist Jisoo, Jennie, and Rosé in their duties as well, but she mostly stayed with Lisa.

The nights were the real issue. The first night was, ironically, the easiest, beginning with Yerim panicking about the entire lost year of her life coupled with her inability to recall the events just prior to Irene putting the crystal in the mountain. When Lisa had successfully calmed the distraught girl down, Yerim had gone right to sleep, refusing to relinquish her vice-like grip on the younger girl, leading to the two sharing a bed. Their sleeping together became an immediate routine, and the serene moments where Yerim would lightly snore in Lisa’s arms were absolutely heavenly. However, midway through the second night, Lisa was awoken by soft sobs.

“Yeri?” Lisa asked groggily, “You okay?”

Yerim liked being the small spoon, so she was resting on Lisa’s arm; the blonde could feel the vibrations of her bedmate trembling, along with a warm moistness on her bicep. When she received no response, Lisa sat up, removing the brunette from her embrace and causing Yerim to curl up, holding her stomach and muttering as she cried in her sleep. It was at that moment that Lisa realized that the older girl was having a nightmare.

“Yeri, wake up,” she whispered as tenderly as possible, shaking the dreaming girl, “You’re safe, it’s not real, it’s just a nightmare.”

“It hurts,” Yerim whined, beginning to toss and turn violently now, grabbing onto the blankets and pulling them close, “Please make it stop, I don’t wanna hurt anymore, please…”

Lisa grabbed Yerim in a bear hug and squeezed her tight, yanking her from her restless slumber, jarring her enough to cause the terrified girl to scream.

“Yerim!” Lisa said, taking the cowering girl’s face in both hands, “Yeri, you’re okay, I’m right next to you. I won’t let anything happen to you, it’s just a dream, I’m here, shh…”

Yerim opened her wide, terror-filled eyes, fresh tears forming on their brims, pupils darting back and forth as if she were in some sort of trance.

“Lisa?” she asked, her tone lofty and unaware.

“Yeah?”

“Please don’t let me die again.”

And with that, Yerim fell back to sleep.

Lisa stayed up for a long time, contemplating what her now peacefully slumbering companion could have possibly meant.

The next morning, Yerim didn’t mention any of the events of the previous night. In fact, her mood seemed to be much more chipper and upbeat than it had been before, leading Lisa to avoid bringing up the older girl’s episode entirely, chalking it up to a one-time occurrence. Unfortunately, Yerim’s nightmares returned the next night, more intense this time, requiring Lisa to completely pin the frantic girl down in order to calm her. Lisa then decided to talk to Jisoo about the issue during a pre-dawn snake hunting trip that morning. It was one of the rare opportunities that Lisa had to talk to her formerly close friend one on one.

“So she doesn’t remember the dreams at all?” Jisoo asked, eyes fixed on the road ahead of them as she navigated the pickup around a particularly large rock.

“Nope. Not at all. Even after them, when she wakes up, she doesn’t seem… completely there. She talks in this weird voice and says really scary things.”

“Scary? Like how?”

“Like… well, the first night it happened, she asked - no, she begged - me to ‘not let her die again.’ And then last night she told me to ‘protect her from the light’. I don’t know what any of it means, but it definitely has to do with the stuff that happened a year ago.”

Jisoo then became quiet for a bit, her face set in an expression of deep contemplation.

“Do you think… do you think she might have died at the top of the mountain?” she offered, glancing over at Lisa.

“What? No. She’s clearly alive.” the blonde replied incredulously, as if she was speaking to a child.

“Well… you said she has nightmares about something stabbing her in the stomach. She doesn’t know what, she just knows that it was right before Irene put the crystal in. And she talks about all this pain and begs you not to let her die again? Plus, it’s kind of weird how she showed up a year later with no clue about how much time had passed. She doesn’t remember anything at all from the point that she reached the peak of the mountain to waking up here. I know it might just be part of her dream, but this doesn’t seem like a normal dream to me. Not that anything about our lives is normal, anyway, but you know what I mean.” Jisoo said in that analytic, calculating voice she used when she was talking about something deep or complex.

“You… actually make a good point. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that’s happened to us,” Lisa said, laughing nervously, “Do you think this means that all the other girls died, too?”

Lisa regretted the words as soon as they left her lips, as Jisoo’s face drained of color and the older girl swallowed in fear.

“But, if they did, they might have been brought back like Yeri.” Lisa added swiftly.

“Maybe…” Jisoo mused.

Lisa took the hint and shifted the subject to other, more safe topics, such as the strategy they would use to clear out the anaconda nest they had tracked down. The blonde girl found herself slightly saddened that she was no longer able to fully read Jisoo’s emotional state.

***

Jennie finished brushing her teeth and walked to her and Rosé’s shared room. She was half-asleep by the time she was under the blankets, but she had promised herself that she would wait until Rosé returned before going to bed. The violet-haired girl had been working all day with Jisoo harvesting coconuts; Jennie hadn’t seen her since they’d both departed for their separate jobs that morning.

The brunette was lightly dozing when her lover entered the room, allowing a slim beam of light from the hallway to illuminate Jennie’s face. She opened her eyes slowly, letting out a mewling yawn as Rosé approached her bed.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Rosé whispered, sitting beside her on the bed, “I thought you were gonna wait up for me.”

“I’m sorry,” Jennie said apologetically, stifling another yawn as she sat up to throw her arms around Rosé’s shoulders, “I meant to, but I was just so tired.”

“That’s okay. You’ve had a long day. Even though I was looking forward to my sponge bath…”

“I can still do it,” the brunette said, moving to stand up.

“No, it’s fine. In the morning. I’ll just take a shower for now.”

“Okay, if you say so,” Jennie said, pouting, “What took you and Jisoo so long, anyway?”

Rosé bit her lip and looked away.

“Rosie? What’s up?”

“Well…” Rosé said, turning to look down at her hands, “Jisoo said that she had some other stuff to do today, so I kind of took care of the harvesting myself.”

Jennie felt her temper flaring up and stood, all tiredness gone, replaced by anger.

“I’m going to talk to her.” she said through gritted teeth.

“She’s not even home yet!” Rosé exclaimed, standing up and grabbing Jennie by the arm.

“I’ll call her on the radio then! I’m getting really sick of her , Rosie. She can’t just keep disappearing all the ing time.”

“Jennie, please, just sit down,” the violet-haired girl said soothingly, pulling her partner back to the bed, running her fingers through the brunette’s hair, “You need to relax, babe. She’s been through a lot.”

“We all have. What makes her so special?”

“You didn’t lose someone you were in love with, did you?” Rosé asked, causing the older girl to pause for a moment and look away.

“But so did Lisa. And she’s not avoiding her responsibilities to run off and cry or ing whatever.”

“Lisa has Yerim now. Imagine how that feels. Lisa getting someone she cares for back, completely out of nowhere, while poor Jisoo is still alone. She really loved Seulgi, Jen.”

“Alright, that’s a fair point,” Jennie said, relenting slightly, “But this hasn’t just been a recent thing. She’s done it before. And where does she go, anyway? She never says. I think-”

“I think,” Rosé interjected, cutting Jennie off by pressing a finger to the older girl’s lips, “You should mind your own business. What she does in secret doesn’t concern you. Let’s just stop talking about this, okay? I wanna rest now.”

Rosé stood up, intending to walk to the shower. Jennie sat, silently brooding for a moment, before deciding to speak her mind.

“Why do you always make excuses for her?” the older girl asked, making a conscious effort to keep the anger out of her voice, “I understand that she’s family, but she’s taking advantage of you, Rosie.”

Rosé spun around and stomped her foot, eyes ablaze, fists clenched, her normally gentle expression transformed into a fed-up snarl of rage. Jennie flinched.

“Holy Jennie! I told you I didn’t wanna talk about this! Just drop it! For once can you stop ing complaining about everything and just take things for what they are!?”

And with that, she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Jennie sat there for awhile, staring at the closed door, looking down at her hands, fighting back her tears. She was successful up to the point where Rosé returned, freshly showered and sporting a deeply rueful look on her face.

The younger girl took the brunette in her arms and settled her down into bed. Jennie pressed her face to Rosé’s bare chest, silently weeping.

“I’m sorry.” Rosé whispered, kissing the crown of her partner’s head.

“Y-you’ve never yelled at me like that before.”

“I know, I know, I’m so sorry…”

Rosé lifted Jennie’s face and kissed away the tears as they came.

***

After calming Yerim down for the third night in a row, Lisa closed her eyes and attempted to go back to sleep. She was just on the edge of that wonderful, cloudy abyss when Yerim stirred again, this time standing up completely and sitting up on the edge of their bed. Lisa lifted her head, on the alert in case the older girl was having another one of her episodes.

“Yeri?” Lisa asked carefully.

Yerim turned around, rubbing her eyes and stretching.

“Oh, hi Lisa,” she said pleasantly, “Did I wake you? I’m sorry. I was just going to get a glass of water.”

“Water… right. Okay.”

“Why are you looking at me like that?” the brunette asked, a concerned lilt slipping into her voice.

“It’s nothing.” Lisa said, looking away.

“I can tell when you’re lying. What’s bothering you?”

Lisa looked into Yerim’s eyes, contemplating what to say next. She could come out with the truth, admitting to Yerim about her strange behavior throughout the night, but the thought of making the older girl worry caused Lisa’s heart to drop. At the same time, she would feel like a terrible friend if she lied further. Lisa took a deep breath and mustered all of her courage.

“I don’t know if you know this, but you’ve been having a lot of nightmares lately. Every night since you got here, in fact. You’ll be freaking out and I’ll have to, uh… I’ll have to hug you really tight in order to calm you down.”

Lisa chose to leave Yerim’s frightening declarations out. She didn’t want to put any more stress on the girl than she already was. And, judging by Yerim’s consternated facial expression, the older girl was already plenty stressed.

“I don’t remember having nightmares… I’m sorry that I keep waking you up. Is that why you’ve been so tired these past few days?”

“No, it's probably just that the workload this week has been a lot and, you know...” the blonde lied, but Yerim’s ability to see through her facade was uncanny.

“It is, isn’t it? I’m sorry Lisa,” Yerim reached over and took the younger girl’s hands in hers, “I’ll go sleep somewhere else from now on, like the couch in the living room or something.”

“No, don’t do that.” Lisa said hastily, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. She quite enjoyed sleeping next to Yerim, despite everything.

“I can’t even remember these nightmares, Lisa. I’ll just keep waking you up.”

“I don’t mind, honestly. I… I really like sleeping next to you.” Lisa looked away again, her face becoming hot, regretting the words as soon as they left her lips.

Yerim placed her hand on Lisa’s cheek, forcing the shy blonde to look her in the eyes. The older girl leaned in and pressed their lips together for the first time since that fateful day one year ago. Lisa was filled with a deep, soothing warmth that radiated from the point of contact, coursing through her veins and sending tingles shooting across her hands and feet. It was bliss. The blonde girl kissed back with fervor, using her tongue to gradually explore Yerim’s teeth and lips. As badly as she wanted to take Yerim fully, she also wanted to savor every little detail she could: the softness of her lips, the mild sweetness in her saliva, the natural, pleasant smell of her skin...

And then Lisa regained her senses, prying away from the girl she so badly craved, holding a confused, hurt-looking Yerim out by her shoulders.

“What’s wrong?” the older girl asked sheepishly.

“This is… I mean, you’re with Irene, right? I can’t…” Lisa stammered, trying to collect her thoughts and ignore the yearning heat between her legs.

“Lisa, I haven’t seen Irene or any of the other girls in a year,” Yerim said sadly, “I don’t even know if they’re alive, still.”

“I’m sure they are, Yeri. If you survived the mountain, I’m sure they did, too.”

“I feel so alone,” the older girl said, her sudden breakdown catching the blonde off-guard,“I don’t know why I’m here, I don’t know where my friends are, I haven’t seen my family in so long, and now these weird nightmares... I just wanna go home, Lisa…”

Lisa held Yerim in an embrace, allowing the older girl to bury her face in the crook of her neck.

“It’s okay Yeri… shhh…”

Lisa wished she had more reassuring words for Yerim. She wished that she could tell her that she would get home soon, that she would see her friends again, that everything would be alright. But she couldn’t. Because Lisa was never a good liar.

***

Seohyun sat casually in her chair, arms folded, trying her best to keep her eyes open. Guard duty was, in her opinion, the least necessary job in their little underwater hideout. She could fall asleep right now, set a timer to go off when her shift ended, and everything would be completely fine. Of course, she would never do such a thing, as Yuri would probably beat her into a coma if she caught the younger girl sleeping on the job. What was the point of guarding an underwater pirate colony, anyway? No one had the technology to reach them, let alone attack them. They were half a mile below the surface and pretty much in the dead center of the sea. Not to mention the automated monitoring systems could just perform hourly scans and alert them if anything came up. But no, Yuri had to be as over-the-top as always, insisting that someone keep watch through the night.

Gathering all her remaining energy, Seohyun brushed a lock of blood-red hair from her face before standing up, intent on checking the scanners, just as something to do to pass the time.

To the tired girl’s surprise, something indeed came up. It was a small object, almost directly above their location, at the surface. Seohyun frowned deeply when she saw the heat signatures; there appeared to be two people up there. That couldn’t be right. Such a small craft, this far from shore, with two people on it?

Seohyun turned around and began typing into a separate monitor, punching in the codes to activate one of the surface cams. Lucky for her, Camera B was floating relatively high up, and all she had to do was switch it on and point it in the right direction.

The display showed a murky bluish-green for a few seconds, followed by a burst of white foam as the camera breached the surface. The water was calm that night, and the sky was a cloudless expanse of sparkling gems. The camera pivoted to face the approaching object, revealing an orange lifeboat - indeed, there were two figures sitting huddled together, wearing tattered, soaking clothes and shivering in the cold ocean wind. Seohyun moved the monitoring device forward slightly to get a better look, cursing herself when she realized that one of the girls had noticed the approaching camera. Yuri would surely have her head now.

The monolidded girl pointed, and her friend (who, if Seohyun was being completely honest with herself, looked like a goddess) turned to look at the device. Both girls began shouting and waving their hands frantically.

Seohyun sighed. She couldn’t just ignore them and leave them there, it would be literal murder. As much as Yuri would scold her for it, she had to go retrieve them.

Seohyun pressed the audio button and the sound of rushing water, howling wind, and the shrieks of the two girls filled the room.

“Hey,” Seohyun said loudly, causing both of the girls to cease their yelling, “I’m sending a pod up to get you. You don’t have any weapons on you, do you?”

“I have a revolver.” the monolidded one said breathlessly.

“Damn, alright. Just unload it and put it on the floor of the pod before you get down here. What are your names?”

“I’m Seulgi, and this is Irene. Thank you so much for helping us.”

The goddess-like girl gave a smile and wave. Seohyun was already smiling back before she realized that neither of the girls could see her.

“Alright, just hang tight. The pod should be up in around ten minutes.”

Seohyun shut off the mic, cutting off Seulgi’s response. She then moved over to a third monitor and typed in the coordinates and launch command for the pod. For some reason, she felt a measure of anxiety and dread at the prospect of bringing the two girls to her home. She shook it off, hoping that for once, her gut was wrong.

-------------------------------

Pretty slow set-up chapter but I felt it was necessary. Poor, fragile Jennie ): Seulrene's back though and I'm sure you guys are thrilled about that (: Was gonna release this tomorrow morning but I'm satisfied with it now so here it is. Don't worry, more action in the next chapter, I seriously actually really promise this time!

Thanks for reading<3