She stood with wild disbelief. The smoke from the conflict rising behind her giving her wind for her wings of confidence very really shown. Sure she had been saved. But if it had been a fight without the numbers and purely just between her and Joohyuk she would have prevailed like the dawn against the night.

She gazed at the figure before her. There was no sense of familiarity. Thus it was hidden behind a mask of leather and power in his eyes. A sort of venom that could threaten any foe. Yet he stood as calm as a cloud on a precipice of a storm. He stood there like a sentinel. 

"You're not Bobby." She questioned. She couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling in her stomach. Old whispered warnings from Lisa failing to reach her mind. Yet he seemed to hold no ill intent towards her.

"No, I'm not, Rosé" he replied in Korean. The nickname sounded odd coming off his tongue. Her mind flowing back to the way it sounded off his. A question for him on the tip of her tongue but it could wait for a bit.

"Then who are you? You know English yet speak fluent Korean. Which means you're not a foreigner plus you fight like a contender. Which means you're a part of the Dominion," She points out as she analysed the information in front of her. This dude was surely mysterious and he matched the description of someone Lisa told her to avoid. 

Skull.

"Unless of course you just want me to refer to you as Skull because of your jacket?" She suggests gesturing towards the skull on the back of his parka. She swears she can almost see him smirk underneath that mask. 

"It's tacky as but it'll do," he said as he strolled over to the abandoned bike gesturing for her to come with him. Despite her better instincts and Lisa's warning, she follows the tall male. 

She couldn't help but feel relief at the sound of the engine roaring to life. The purr relaxing her like a cat on her lap. She quickly followed Skull on, a helmet in his hand. However, after his inspection, he decided to wipe it down and pass it to Rosé. 

"It'd be better on your head," he quickly points out. His raspy intonations sending a shiver down her spine in such close proximity. Even if she wanted to deny the helmet his eyes could glare into her very soul. She really didn't wanna piss him off. 

She quickly donned the helmet noting the crack still in the visor. However, it was probably still better than nothing.

She couldn't help but notice as they travelled that they were, in fact, getting further and further away from her home. Though she didn't exactly tell him where she lived.

"Where are you taking me," she pointed out noticing that they were heading towards Mapo-gu. Which wasn't a good thing considering no one had been into Mapo-gu or Yeongdeungpo-gu for at least two years. "If I didn't know any better you were taking me to the dark zone."

Both Contender and civilian not dare even approach the place. There had been rumours of it being the site of a Dominion massacre due to rule infraction. Which earned its second moniker of the dead zone.

"You can't go back to your place. After the Triple Nines got control of the district point they gained access to all the information of the residents. It's supposed to foster control for the Contenders. So no doubt Joohyuk will be at your place already if his boys managed to find him. That's why we're going to the dark zone. Control of it hasn't shifted for two years nor has the owner gained any districts," He explains eyes focused on the road if anything he sped up. 

She noticed that this bike was going way faster than what she suspected the legal limit was. Not that she supposed it mattered with the Dominion going on. As she felt the engine roar to life with an increasing ferocity she couldn't help but grab onto Skull tighter. They were no doubt going faster than 200 kmh. Which she noted with everything becoming a blur around her.

However, before she could relax she saw the fortress-like walls surrounding Mapo-Gu. Like a black monolith reaching towards the sky. She also couldn't help but notice red lights flare to life alongside the wall and the whirl of electricity.

She thought it was normal until Skull spoke.

"Huh," he intoned with surprise. That's when she began to panic clutching onto him with all her strength as she heard the sound of guns arming. She couldn't help but feel an unnatural sense of warmth come off him. Not to mention the smell of smoke.

She felt him push the bike to its limit easily surpassing 300 kmh. Her protests were caught in her throat. She wanted to scream about how you can't outrun bullets even while going this fast.

She finally fought back the fear. "We can't outrun bullets Skull!" She protested with all her might. However, she could feel his chest move in laughter as he continued on his death straight.

She felt her body tense in fear as they approached closer the turrets coming alive and shifting into place. However as quick as that happened they were past the walls and into the foreboding dark zone. 

Air quickly filled her lungs again when she realised that she was holding her breath.

"What the was that?" She yelled as the bike slowly came to a stop outside of a workshop. She quickly hopped off embracing the feel of solid ground. She suddenly felt woozy as a result.

"Math," he pointed out matter of factly like she was supposed to know already. However, when he noticed her still looking at him in bewilderment he answered. "The Turrets have an activation range of 400 metres and take about 6 seconds to fully activate. Don't quote me on that I've never stuck around past six seconds to see."

She just stared at the dude before vomiting a bit. This was not how she pictured she would've ended up vomiting tonight. She thought it would've been from having too much to drink.

"You're probably coming down from an adrenaline rush," he stated as he quickly ran off inside the workshop returning with a bottle of water. "I'm gonna have to hand the bike to D to fix then we can head to my place."

Her brain failed to settle in place as she felt a sudden onset of nausea overwhelmed her. That certainly explained everything as she quickly stumbled to get up she needed chocolate because she was probably suffering from low blood sugar as a result too.

However, she didn't get very far before almost falling over.

Almost.

Luckily Skull had returned chocolate bar in hand. Yet she couldn't help but ask the question. "Who's D? I thought no one lived in the dark zone?"

"He's a friend he looks after the bikes and vehicles for everyone here," he paused. "That's what the people here want you to think because then they're bothered with this whole Contender business." He said as he put one of her arms over his neck to help support her. 

She couldn't help but notice his demeanour change once he got into the dark zone he seemed a tad more approachable and softer. "Come on my place isn't too far," he added as they began their slow walk or in her case hobble.

They made it to his place at a reasonable time. It was a two story house in Hongdae. Before he opened the door, however, he glared at her. The man from his fight earlier returning. 

"Before we head inside I need you to promise to stay out of any bedrooms," He stated glaring straight into her soul before she meekly nodded. "Good."

She was surprised to see a well-presented house for the most part. She was surprised, to say the least. She'd heard stories of other contenders taking the best houses once they'd gained control of a district. it was smaller and more quaint than she expected. It was still a family sized house, however.

"Where's everyone else?" She asked curiously noting the four odd black metal doors on some of the rooms. Each door having graffiti finely detailed across them except oddly shaped black spots void of any colour. Black hook in the centre of each one. 

"Not here. They haven't been for a while, I don't blame them they had better things they wanted to do instead of being contenders," he said with a shrug as he sat down on one the couches.

Time began to move on in silence between the two of them. Skull seemed unbothered by it while Rosé was still trying to settle in her skin around him. She needed to know how he knew. His greeting from earlier flashing into her brain, the unnatural edge her name had in his mouth. The name Yoongi gave her.

Gulping down the anxiety as best she could she opened . "How'd you know my name was Rosé?" She asked courage pushing her through the sentence. He only seemed to raise a surprised eyebrow in response before he began to fish around in his pocket and removing a half-burnt husk of a phone. The bottom left corner being utterly unusable.

"I found this not too long ago. Luckily the sim card survived so I moved it to mine to see if I could find out who it belonged to. That's when you called and that's what popped up. 

She quickly snatched the phone from the blonde male inspecting the burnt husk. Looking for the inscription that would seal her friend's fate and there it was and the tears couldn't help but flood forth from her eyes.
 

A/N:
Anyway, here you guys go! I know it's been a really long time between updates and no lie life has been a bit complicated since the last time I update. I've honestly only recently found joy in writing again thanks to pollarbear and their applyfic  # 신비 OF CLAWS AND FANGS  Feel free to send some love for me.

I'm also keen to know what you guys are thinking so far with everything. I'd love to hear what your potential theories are because hopefully, that means you care? Also, let me know if there are certain characters you want to see more of and I'll see what I can do! Anyway, it's been a good time! 

Let me know how you feel about the whole idea of Before and Dominion. I kind of like it myself personally. Let me know which one you like more!