For as long as he was here, which was about half of his life gone, Sehun had no recollection of his past at all. He only remembered waking up one day, feeling absolutely lost, unable to recall anything from his mind. It was all blank, dark, a very cold and lonely place. Sometimes he would get a flashback, but it was gone in the blink of an eye, and headache always seemed to follow soon after. It didn’t take too long for the young boy to toughen up and gave up, having decided to start afresh by moving forward without ever looking back anymore.

He had been called ‘heartless’ by many, but he, himself, knew that there was still emotion that occupied the once-empty space, although he often found it ridiculous how people judged him regardless of their lack of knowledge. Sehun was just a little different when it came to expressing himself, it was either in a straightforward, no-non sense manner, or he would remain unmoved at all. Social interaction was rather troublesome, so he only had a few people he could talk to without the usual tension. Sehun knew people feared him for what he was, and he was rather nonchalant about it even if he was ignored and isolated to a corner.

He stared at the ceiling and raised his hands for close observation. They were smooth, pale, seemingly almost lifeless. He was rarely ever under the sun, and even if he did, his skin never seemed to tan. It was so white he looked close to an otherworldly being, except that it was his face doing all the work so he would look less like a ghost. Boring. He raised his other hand and compared them. Then there was a knock on the door, and Sehun’s eyes instantly found their ways latched to the direction of the noise. Surely, no one could be that gutsy to come here other than Suho.

There was a mirror attached to the sink near his bed, one which he designed specifically when he felt the need to disinfect. His room was almost too plain when compared to the other Elites, where he had only two sinks – courtesy to his OCD behaviour, plain blue walls, dark blue bed sheets which he changed everyday, a few chairs for unexpected occasion and an enormous bathroom – consisting of a tube, a sauna room, and a walk-in closet. Today, he would finally find the chairs he kept for no particular reason to be useful for once.

Luhan stood outside the door, waiting. Three knocks later, he stopped, because he knew that Sehun had picked up on the distraction and was now heading over to open the door. If the younger man was surprised, he did not look that way at all. The curve of his lips was flattened as he moved aside, not a single word spoken, like an invitation he extended for something more. But Luhan knew Sehun hated it when he was disturbed for a single chat, so he never did try to find him here in his room. Today was the first and only exception, so Sehun figured it ought to be something exceptionally important for this man to come here and delivered himself to the devil’s door.

It was no secret that the most fearsome places were the higher-levels which belonged to the General. There was an unspoken, but strict rule which forced everyone into silent submission that the Old General was never to be disturbed at all costs, as only a few people were able to go in and out of the levels without being punished. And here, in the Union’s headquarter, people took punishment very seriously. They dared not slack off because the Order was always very severe and cruel, and not to mention, heavy-handed. Other than that, this dead-end corridor where Sehun stayed at was another forbidden area. No one came in even under a truth-or-dare situation, such that it became abandoned for more than a decade ever since.

It was Luhan’s first time entering this room. He had imagined something more, but with Sehun, he was always in for the unexpected – sometimes for the good, other times for the bad. He saw one thick book in a foreign language he didn’t understand by the side of Sehun’s bed, perhaps his only company when his words left in the quietness of this world, emptied, unspoken, before they finally dissipated to thin air. Indeed, they were Sehun’s only faithful company in this lonely universe, and they had been since twelve years ago. He let Luhan’s eyes wandered around as he offered a chair to him wordlessly. He thought perhaps he should scrape it off with some wet tissue first, but before he could, the curly-haired man had settled himself nicely on the chair, seemingly content with what was offered although Sehun wasn’t.

The dissatisfaction flickered in his eyes for a little while until they were gone as he sat on the bed, refusing to look elsewhere once he rested his eyes on Luhan. Knowing Sehun’s peculiar habit of observing people, he didn’t mind at all. Instead, there was a comfortable pause when the two were lost, trying to form words before letting it out, but the staring had yet to cease. “I haven’t seen you in two days,” Luhan started with the obvious. “How long have you locked yourself in this room since we came back?”

Sehun never felt the need to explain himself, nor was he eager to reply. He leaned back and supported his cheeks with one hand as the other rested on the soft sheet of his bed. Then he made a inedible tapping gesture on the bed, almost like he was thinking when he really wasn’t. His lips curved up in alluringly – forming a lazy, almost rude smile, and finally shrugged, “I don’t know. Never really looked at the days. It’s been a while, like you said.”

Luhan nodded. Such explanation was expected. But still, he could not just shake off the agitation in his heart. That was not the reason why he came here. “You probably have no idea what’s happening outside, don’t you? Did you even hear about the alarm?” He asked, “Two days ago, we were interrogating those captives with Sera leading the torture session. Then at night, there was a continuous alert for fifteen minutes and everyone was out into the basement. Nobody knew what happened at first, but…” He hesitated a little and didn’t continue.

Something strange flashed in Sehun’s eye and he blurted out the part that caught most of his attention, “Sera was interrogating the Rebel’s prisoners?”

Luhan nodded. Sehun felt his head splitting and there were voices inside that didn’t exactly belong to him. There was finally a frown on his face – and one that Luhan got to see whenever a certain girl was involved. For one with minimum amount of interaction, it was almost strange to see Sehun’s behaviour towards Sera. He might have thought of her as pretty, and liked her a little bit. But then again, Luhan thought she was pretty, too. Maybe that was why he had been feeling a little weird lately whenever he saw her – conflicted, even.

“Does this mean the Rebel’s prisoners escaped after that night?” And there was yet another nod. Sehun was smart, he would have pieced together all the missing links by now. A premonition suddenly appeared in his mind and he was hesitant to shrug it off again this time. It was like the calm before the storm, and it was too quiet now for his liking. Luhan added on helpfully, “It’s been two whole days since and I haven’t seen Sera at all.” He thought that would bring suspicion, so he continued with a light cough and a straight face, “She was usually occupying the cafeteria with Tao, or going around and talking to people – but there had been no trace of her at all lately. It’s like she disappeared after that night.”

“Oh,” was Sehun’s only reply. He suddenly understood the reason behind Luhan's visit. So this was it. He sat up slowly and hid his curling toes in distaste, “Did the General take her with him?”

Luhan hated to shower anyone else with concern so he was a little hesitant about it this time. But Sera wasn’t just a stranger, was she? The brown-haired girl was a part of them now, though he hadn’t really gotten used to that yet. She usually looked so fierce and inapproachable, but somehow, he had yet to shed off the image of her crying herself to sleep on the plane. It had bothered him since. And besides, she seemed to have strike off an unusual friendship with Suho, and although that man was friends with everyone else on this Goddamn planet, he seemed to treasure her more than everyone else.

“We can’t really tell by now, but Kai said he could steal some footage from the security team,” came the offer he wanted to extend to him. Luhan was planning on heading to the Elites’ common room after visiting Sehun and making sure that he was, at least, informed on the whole chaos that was going on inside the Union. His oceanic blue eyes stared at Sehun with unfathomable depth, like he was trying to figure him out but couldn’t. “Are you interested in finding out?”

* * *

Suho looked at his calloused hands and almost sighed bitterly.

How long had it been since he was last caught in a dilemma? Too long ago to be remembered. He knew life was always about choices, and he prided himself in knowing which one was the best route to advance and retreat. But sometimes, life had a funny way of working things up, and today was one of those days where the universe seemed very eager in plotting a conspiracy against him. Or at least, that was how he felt as he watched Tao's pale face in front of the footage retrieved from one of the security post outside just an hour ago.

The date on top of the video screen was two days ago, at midnight, when those ballistic animals were at their crankiest. Frankly, Suho could not imagine her alive after undergoing such torture. There was definitely a purpose of the footage as the Union usually deleted anything that could potentially harm them in the future. Perhaps, Sera’s punishment was meant to serve as a warning for the rest of the Elites to stay faithful and obedient without questions. And at the same time, the General had meant to insinuate fear in them. No one else knew of him, but Suho. They didn’t know how a man like him could hold onto such a high position for so long, but Suho knew.

He was a frightening figure because he was a Stealer. And his ability was every Transcendental’s nightmare. Under him were hundreds of talents, but even with these few in numbers, they could sink an entire continent at whim should he wish it to happen. What to do now. Suho gritted his teeth in silent. His rationality and morality was forced to fight against one another. On one hand, he was very much reluctant to forsake his position as the General’s trusted attendant. On the other hand, he wished very much to help Sera out of her predicament after witnessing such brutality on her. Suho felt conflicted.

“She… She can’t be dead, right?” Tao whispered, his eyes dimmed.

Kai clenched his fists. Sera was hateful, but she wasn’t an enemy. And besides, she saved him multiple times, and Kai wasn’t someone who liked to be indebted to others. “It’s a punishment so they won’t kill her, right?” He turned towards Kris with hopeful eyes. The tall man raised his eyebrows and frowned. “You’re in the Order, too. Can’t you do something about it? No matter what, she’s already one of us! Can’t you do something to save her?”

But it wasn’t in Kris’ nature to give a damn about such troublemaker. He was about to shake his head and rejected, until he saw Baekhyun’s flattened lips and alert eyes. The young man was not one to meddle in anyone’s business, but he seemed keen in knowing. Sera could go to hell for all he cared, but he felt it was a pity for the girl to die so early when he hadn’t even had his fair share of fun yet. At least, this enormous dead place didn’t seem so boring whenever she was around.

“You know that it’s the General’s punishment,” Xiumin pursed his lips. He was in the Order two years ago and knew how the system worked, so he wasn’t defending anyone in this situation and simply stated his opinion on the matter. “We can’t just cry out injustice because she’s our friend. The General will be displeased. Who knows what would happen then.” He could not imagine the consequences of disobeying the Old General and would rather remain neutral and let everything slowly took its course.

“I told you before,” Kris dug the fingers onto his palm and stared at Suho in particular, “One of these days, she’s bound to create trouble with .”

Sehun suddenly stood up, his posture regal. So this was the bad premonition. This was the voices he kept on hearing. This was her cry of fear in the midst of darkness. And that was him answering to her pleas despite all the odds. Luhan thought he should stop him in fear of provoking the higher-ups, but held himself back because if anyone here had the power to clash against the Union without fearing their rebuttal and save Sera from her impending death, it would be Sehun. If this man could not rescue her still, what awaited her in the bottom of that cliff was her doom.

“Sehun?” Kris was astonished for once. The young man spared him a glance and told him frostily, “I’m going to save her.”

“Is he crazy?” Chanyeol whispered in admiration. The redness in his eyes burnt bright as he watched Sehun’s figure fleeing the scene with much determination. He had never seen anyone quite as insane as Sehun was – to go against something as big as the Union and the General’s Order. But then again, there was always an anomaly who didn’t care much about life and threw it away easily as this, and that guy was definitely one of them. No one else moved or chased after him. The curve on Chen’s lips slowly rose to a full smile on his well-defined face, “I guess he is. It’s about time.”

It was that one move from Sehun that led Suho to decide things for himself as he, too, stood up and walked quietly in the opposite direction to the lift. Kris thought the two of them must have been insane or high on drugs as he let them off with a deep frown on his face. Luhan’s eyes followed as the three figures disappeared slowly from the room.

* * *

A tall, skinny man in his late thirty sat alone in his post outside of the facility. The security guard yawned in complete boredom. He ignored the noises from down below as he continued watching the movie from his own laptop and surveying the CCTV footage occasionally. The security, Hans Cho, didn’t know what kind of sins the girl had committed, but since the cold-looking female doctor in-charge told him to ignore whatever happened out there, he could only do as told. After all, it was really hard to keep this job with such high salary even as a security.

Not long after midnight, just before the changes in shift, he saw a floating figure on top of the narrow path and almost screamed out loud. Hans knew there was something very dangerous inside the facility, but not once did he think that there were ghosts here. He had only been here for six months and prior to this, he was stationed halfway across the world in some government-owned facility. He signed a confidential agreement and got the job here after much difficulty, but ghosts weren’t really something he wanted to deal with.

Sehun’s face was ghastly when he arrived. He felt something stirred inside as he looked down at the two dark spots beneath. Even without light, he could feel everything around him due to his ability, so getting down and dirty was never a problem. Didn’t Doctor Lee and the Old General take much pride in the creation of these two creatures? Then he would take the pleasure in destroying them. His fists formed a claw as he swiped down gracefully and pulled the cage up by a few meters and stared down at the two starving figures, now thrashing wildly after their prey was taken away. They were so close to breaking the metal apart. So close to tasting that blood-scented flesh. A little more and they would have succeeded.

The girl was hovering mid-air, struggling between reality and dreams as her consciousness dimmed. Tears were streaming down her face, but instead of screaming, she was clutching into her head, whispering over and over again, “Calm down. Calm down. Don’t let him in. You’re strong enough through this. You don’t need him. You don’t need his help.” Then she sobbed a little as she yelled, “Let me go! What more do you want of me?” But whoever it was directed to, she didn’t sound very sane at the moment.

Sehun could almost recognise the scent in the air. Fear – something he knew very well since his early childhood. It was deeply embedded in his bones to recognise the sweet-smelling scent and it usually brought him quite the satisfaction when people were scared of him. If he frightened them, they would not bother him. But strangely, at this moment, he felt a resounding thump inside his chest that resonated to his mind when he stared at the girl’s crouching figure in the middle of the cage. And much to his surprise, he thought it was rather painful, like a heartache but deep beneath the surface. He didn’t like it very much.

“Oh my God!” Hans had prided himself in being brave after two decades of experience, but he was still trembling when he looked down from the cliff. It wasn’t everyday that he got to see a malevolent spirit causing chaos while making itself perfectly visible for the eye. All he saw was a cage, a gush of wind followed by a strong pressure and loud snipping sound that sounded rather abnormal. The water’s calm surface was disturbed as it rained blood and flooded the entire area of the cliff. “Holy Lord, forgive me if I have sinned. Please help me. I don’t want to deal with an angry ghost. Please, God, please!”

Sehun had butchered the two humongous animals beyond recognition in a few minutes. With their size, it was inevitable for the blood to splash all over him, and feeling absolutely disturbed by the sudden realisation, he shivered a little, finally showing some reaction after floating stiffly for a while. Then with a crack, the cage exploded and the pieces fell apart, catching Sera unguarded as her figure fell limply in frightening speed. Sehun turned around and flinched when her withered body, full of bruises and open wounds, collapsed into his welcoming arms. Too fragile, he frowned. Were all girls this fragile – like they would break anytime soon?

He ignored the stunned look of the security officer and a few other guards and placed Sera on the ground. She was barely breathing, not even choking, as if she no longer cared if she died any moment now. But Sehun would never let her die, would he? She had a long life ahead of her, and it would be a pity for the world to lose one as young and beautiful as she was. He pressed on her chest and listen. Sera’s body was swollen from all the dirty water excess. His head hurt a little as a flash of his past surfaced, but he shrugged them off yet again. Then without much thought, he leaned down and kissed her lips, filling with air and breathing life into her once again.

* * *

Suho entered the room he had grown familiar with over the decade of staying here. The General was talking to someone at the moment, and was evidently quite surprised by the sudden visit. Then he glanced at the twins’ limp bodies outside the door and understood that Suho must have forced himself in after fighting with the guards. It seemed that his underlings had grown weaker while those who were strong enough were starting to be more and more brazen and decisive.

“Suho, I’m not expecting you here,” his tone was said with a hint of malice underneath.

“General,” Suho greeted and bowed down a little. He tasted acid and swallowed down the bitterness as he glanced at the other man the General was talking to. Then he straightened up and convinced himself that no matter what happened, he still had to be rational enough to negotiate the term. And yet at the same time, he also knew that no matter what happened, he would be fighting on the losing side today – his first ever. Clenching his fist, he tilted his head and watched as the General smiled at his colleague politely and excused himself, “I’m sorry, Mr. Hamid. We should continue this conversation some other day.”

The prime minister of a country in Middle-East, Hamid Ahmed his white beard in silence and nodded, “So we shall. I will be waiting for your call another day, General. I will take a flight back tonight and return soon for the continuation of this talk.” On his way out, he secretly took note of the fair-skinned young man, whose dark-brown eyes shone with such brilliance and contempt when he stared at the Old General. He sighed in envy and walked out of the door.

“What’s the matter?” The General sat down and poured himself a glass of Dalmore 62 before taking out a cigar from his shelf. He didn’t look as angry as Suho expected him to be when he barged in uninvited, especially after he left on a trail of unconscious soldiers and Transcendentals, and even purposefully injured some of the Orders’ members. Wounding them equalled to slapping the General in the face, and he never took that offense lightly. “I didn’t call for you here.”

Without so much as an apology, Suho clenched his fists and asked, “What are you planning to do with Jung Sera, General?”

“Why does it matter, Suho?” The older man chuckled. Half his face was hidden in the dark of night. The reason why he tolerated Suho’s impudence was because the younger man reminded him of himself once – ambitious, proud, and calculative. Not to mention, vindictive and resourceful. He guessed that Suho must have known about Sera’s whereabouts for him to charge in so suddenly. “The rules are the rules. If I let her off today, she would become unruly and everyone else would follow suits. All’s done for the best of everyone.”

For the best of everyone, Suho’s lips hang dryly and his smile turned stiff. “It’s her first punishment, General. She will learn. Please let her go.”

“Not yet,” was the General’s cold-hearted reply. There was a cold glint in his eyes. He was never forgiving nor lenient towards incompetent subordinates. “She relies on her ability too much and becomes insufferably arrogant. Even with such talent, she would not last very long in this vicious world. Therefore, she must be taught a lesson. Best to let it scar so she will remember the pain forever. Only then will she learn of obedience and the order of the Union. My Order.”

Initially, Suho had wanted to exchange the girl’s freedom with the information about the Rebel. But then he was reminded of the captives and how much Sera cherished them, so those words were best left unspoken as he had vowed to himself never to betray her again. So he clenched his fists and felt the cold sweat on his palms as he spoke with as much courage as he could muster right now, “I am her Leader, General, and I have failed in disciplining Jung Sera. In return for a leniency on her sentence, please allow me to take on the punishment on her behalf.”

The smile on the General’s face widened at last.

A/N: I guess they all care for her in their own way...