>_____<;;

“Go with the flow and everything will work out,” Chorong muttered underneath her breath as they trduged through the overgrowing grass two hours after the sun had gone down. “Then why is she wearing that?”

Chorong wasn’t feeling the best. She hadn’t wanted this, really, not after she remembered how she’d found Victoria almost dead. This was dangerous and she was not with her sisters in fighting with Lee Shin Il so openly like this. They should have had Officer Park come with them.

Every single molecule of her body was screaming no, but her sisters weren’t listening to her. They couldn’t go on playing safe, they said. Lee Shin Il wouldn’t come out for them, so they’d go to him…in a place where he had power over his territory! As if that was any safer!

She knew Victoria was going to take any chance that came her way, but Chorong’s mind was suddenly making last minute decisions to pull out. Victoria’s plan was to freeze and she electrocute, but she wasn’t so sure about it.

Chorong felt a sick wave of death fly through her when she glanced at Namjoo who was dressed in a rain coat and rain boots. She knew she was just being careful since water was a weakness and her powers weren’t too stable at the moment. Chorong thought they should have at least waited until Namjoo was stronger, but it wasn’t like a relapse after losing someone could disappear so easily. And thus they were where they were.

Nothing was right. None of this was right.

“Ok,” Victoria heaved a breath coming to a stop. “I saw him here last.”

Chorong glanced around and saw the deep river ahead of her. It suddenly looked like a big black hole, dangerous and deep.

“So where the hell is he?” Namjoo asked looking around.

An eerie silence penetrated the air and Chorong thought she could hear her own heartbeat ringing in her ears. This was not good.

The silence seemed to creep on her like a shadow she couldn’t see. It was waiting, watching, and preparing to jump out at her when she let her guard down. It felt like a terrifying monster preying on her emotions and it was nothing, but horrible.

Chorong gulped and slowly glanced out of the corners of her eyes before she thought she saw something move. When she turned around a tidal wave was towering over Namjoo from behind.

“Namjoo!” she shrieked and watched Namjoo turn around shocked, and the second it came raining down on her an invisible shield appeared right in front of her. A tiny gold glow shimmered between her and the wave as it splashed against the shield.

Namjoo’s lips fell apart dumbfounded and Chorong quickly ran toward her when the wave dispersed against the ground.

“Are you ok?”

“Oh yea…I think so…” Namjoo seemed dazed and surprised.

“Quit playing around and show yourself, bastard,” Victoria called out.

Chorong felt another jolt of shock swerve through her unexpectedly when a figure appeared out of nowhere beside her. Immediately taking a step aside with hands still on Namjoo’s arms she knew she was seeing Lee Shin Il for the first time.

He didn’t look very vicious, but looks were always deceiving.

“About time, I waited long enough,” he half mumbled before waving his fingers forward, “come out boys.”

Out of the middle of nowhere half soldiers with armors strapped around their bodies stepped out of an invisible barrier none of them could see. Their faces looked fierce in comparison to Lee Shin Il’s. The sizes of their bodies were an obvious difference. Every one of them was well built with bulging arms and legs three times the size of the girls.

“Whoa…” Chorong muttered. “What is this? I didn’t know there was going to be a party.” Then she glanced at Victoria, “Were we prepared for this?”

“What do you want?” Victoria asked.

“You know what I want,” Lee Shin Il waved his arm out and a wave splashed against Namjoo, but her barrier immediately appeared protecting her from the hit.

“Leave her alone!” Victoria shouted.

Chorong let out a bewilderd scream when one of the soldiers lunged at her. She didn’t know any self defense techniques to protect herself. She’d never fought before nor had she imagined herself to ever be in one.

A heave of breath pouted of her as her back slammed against the hard ground and on instinct reached up to grab her perpetrator’s shoulders in an effort to shove him off, but he was so darn heavy. Chorong let out a desperate scream and dug her head back into the ground to scream for help, but then realized her sisters were fighting off their own demons.  

“Ugh…” she groaned, “ it if I kill you.”

Immediately tapping into her powers she tightened her hand around the soldier’s arm and felt her hand tingle before he screamed upon her electrifying him. He disappeared into thin air and she pulled herself up suddenly heated for the fight.

“Who’s next!?”

>_____<;;

Namjoo let out another petrified scream when the oncoming wave splashed deflected off her shield and fell a step back from the harsh impact. The waves were coming out of nowhere and she didn’t know how to fight against it. From all around her she saw the soldiers closing in on her and Victoria repeatedly flying off into the distance whenever she tried to get close to Lee Shin Il.

“Chorong, help me!” she shouted, but she could only hear Chorong shouting in the distance as she burned away the soldiers attacking her.

She heard a cry leave her lips and glanced at the hand that had overheated a few days ago. Could she even trust her powers at this point?

There was no point in even thinking about it when she felt another tidal wave hit her shield. A shout of surprise came out of her and she fell back another step before a ball of fire appeared in the palm of her hand. Twisting around so that her back was to the shield she threw the ball at the oncoming soldiers and watched him vanish on the spot with a roar of pain.

“Whoa…it worked…” she let out a mumble of surprise and glanced at her normal hand, but she’d let her guard down.

In a split second she felt another large wave splash against her shield which caused her to fall flat against the ground. The shield disappeared and she heard drops of water land against her rain coat. She spat out the hair that had gotten into and looked up when she heard someone shouting as they ran toward her.

Namjoo saw a sharp sword then the soldier swinging it at her. Everything was happening too fast and all she did was scream the next second before her shield came back up. The shield deflected the attack just in time and Namjoo felt her eyes widen before she pulled herself up just as another wave came flying her way.

“Why is it only after me!?” she shouted flustered.

She swore when she felt her hand literally go on fire. When she looked up she saw Chorong wrestling with a soldier; their hands on each other’s arms as if to test out their strength. Her eyes drifted from her sister to her hand and an idea immediately popped into her head.

“Chorong!” Namjoo screamed and watched Chorong turn toward her before flinging her hand out. A flight of fire streamed the air toward the soldier and he immediately disappeared when it hit him.

“Huh,” Chorong let out a breath, “well played.”

“I don’t know what play you’re talking about cause it didn’t help one bit!” Namjoo shouted when her hand completely turned red and steam swirled out.

She quickly turned when another tidal wave crashed against her shield. Namjoo screamed and fell onto her back.

>_____<;;

“Ow!” Victoria cried out when she slid across the dirt.

She could feel her legs burning against the ground when she forced herself up. She didn’t understand why she wasn’t able to get as close to Lee Shin Il as she had last time. He was almost unapproachable.

Whenever she seemed to be five feet in front of him she’d feel herself fly back. It was already the fourth time now and she could feel her aching from the many falls she’d experienced.

“You think you can destroy me?” Lee Shin Il slowly walked toward her. “You can’t even put a scratch on me.”

He paused a few yards away and laughed as the corner of his lips rose up. Victoria stared up at him refusing to be intimidated.

“You can’t even touch me,” he pressed.

When he took another step toward her Victoria felt herself being thrown up into the air before landing on the ground further away than she’d been. She felt a pain splurge up through her rib cage and let out a cough before looking up as he walked nearer.

The cool breeze of the night quickly hovered over her as if telling her to defend herself, but Lee Shin Il wasn’t letting her. With intent he walked closer and Victoria felt herself fly up before sliding across the ground again.

A trial of dirt swirled in the air before landing back on the ground in front of her. Her body suddenly ached even more than before and she groaned before lifting her head up. Lee Shin Il’s face had changed for the worse and she saw nothing, but sparks of evil tainting his expression.

“You think I’ll tell you about your mother if you defeat me?” he asked. “Don’t get into business that isn’t yours.”

Lee Shin Il took another step toward her, but Victoria suddenly squinted her eyes and watched him fly back. An uncontrollable anger filled her blood at the mention of her murdered mother. Quickly crawling to her feet she took a step forward.

“You don’t with me, my sisters, or my mom,” Victoria growled clenching her hand into a fist. “I know you closed my mother’s case. Why did you do it!?”

“You think this is children’s play!?” he fought back. “Don’t feign stupidity in front of me. Not unless I get what I want will I give you what you want. Are you willing to trade with me?”

Victoria felt her brows slightly furrow at what he just said.

“I want your sister,” Lee Shin Il’s eyes deepened into a pitch black of greed. “Her ability to heal and protect herself. If I fuse her gem into me, how invincible would I be then!?”

He let out a loud roar of laughter.

“Fire and water are the two greatest elements there is,” Lee Shin Il exclaimed. “Your sister for your mother. Are you going to give her to me?”

Victoria felt her heart race at the sudden turn of events. Chorong was right. They hadn’t come prepared. She thought those minions had come after Namjoo because she had been weakest out of the three, but she should have seen it. Lee Shin Il didn’t attack just because they were weak. He always had motives.

Forgetting Lee Shin Il she turned to hear Namjoo belting out screams as continuous waves splashed against her shield. She was immobilized against the grass and her hand was a steamy mess of red. Her powers were going out of control and Victoria quickly turned back to Lee Shin Il, who was staring at her expectantly with that smile of his.

“You’re such a bastard.” Victoria cussed.

He knew she was desperate for an answer related to her mother. How dare he put her up to this!?

“Very well,” he said before he suddenly disappeared from spot.

Victoria felt her eyes widen and deliriously searched around for him. Her brain was racing; she couldn’t transmit any of her panicked thoughts ino her head before she suddenly spun back to look toward Namjoo’s direction.

“No!” she screamed and felt her conflicted emotions push her to the edge.

She was guilty for almost being unable to make a choice between her dead mother and Namjoo. A strange fury of emotions flashed through her and she thought she saw her surroundings move as if they were under and ripples appeared. The starry night sky literally shook above her before everything stilled.

Not a thing moved and she couldn’t hear the crickets calling out for their mates. Her heart loudly rammed against her chest and her breathing became quite heavy before Chorong moved from the corner of her eye.

“What the hell…” Chorong began, but Victoria quickly turned to see Lee Shin Il’s torso in the air, the other half of him still molecules of water.

“Get him!” Victoria screamed.

“W…what!?” Chorong shook her head as Namjoo rose up to her feet confused.

Everything had come to a standstill. Not even the soldiers moved or the grass swayed from the wind.

“What’s going on?” Namjoo asked.

“I said get him!” Victoria repeated from the top of her lungs. “Electrify him!”

Chorong looked confused before she looked toward the frozen Lee Shin Il and slowly walked toward him. Her sister stared at him wide eyed before waving her hand in front of his face.

“What are you doing!?” Victoria shouted.

Chorong looked at her, “Calm down. He’s frozen.”

A split second after she announced that Lee Shin Il’s head slowly moved inch by inch as he fought his way through Victoria’s power.

“Or maybe not,” Chorong muttered.

“Hurry!” Victoria urged; her heart about to explode on the spot.

“You think you can stop us?” his lips moved, his eyes full of dismay. “You’ll never be able to justify your mother.”

Victoria felt her lips fall apart, but her shock grew even bigger when Lee Shin Il screamed horrifically on the spot. His neck twisted back and his mouth opened up to let out a sort of painful cry of agony she’d never heard before. She threw her hand over her lips as his mouth became larger. It was if something were ripping it apart. His back was bent so far back that she thought his spine would have broken if for the fact that he wasn’t made out of water.

“No! You said you’d set me free! No! Not yet!” he screamed out wriggling in pain.

Chorong fell a step back ultimately scared from the sight.

“It’s not fair!” Lee Shin Il cried out.

He twisted his body and tried to set himself free from whatever was happening to him, but it seemed useless. His body was being torn apart from whatever or whoever was doing this to him.

Victoria felt a gasp exit her body when he reached an arm out for her as if pleading for her help, but instead he said, “The grim reaper. Go to him if…”

Then his scream echoed in the air and he completely dissolved into thin air; his voice dispersing with him. The soldiers around them disappeared from spot and they looked around surprised.

“What was that?” Namjoo quickly hurried over to Chorong.

Chorong let out a scream of surprise before turning to look at Namjoo, “Wh…your hand.”

Namjoo raised her burning hand up and shrugged, “It’ll cool down…slowly.”

Chorong turned away from Namjoo to look over at Victoria, who immediately turned away from her. The ride back home was long and quiet. Victoria felt an awful smoke of guilt swarm through her. All of a sudden she couldn’t bear to look at her sisters.

She was awful. She was bad. She was a terrible person. How horrible it had been that she hadn’t been able to choose between her mother or her living sister. She should have been able to make a decision on the spot! Victoria wanted to slap herself, but all she did was grip her hands on the steering wheel.

Victoria was ready to lock herself away in her room when they walked up the stairs to the front door. She almost didn’t want to see daylight again.

“Um…I think,” Namjoo paused behind them, “I’m going to stop somewhere else for a bit.”

“Where?” Chorong asked.

Namjoo looked at them for a few seconds then said, “I’m going to talk to Chanyeol.”

Chorong didn’t say anything, but turned to Victoria. However what Victoria wanted right now wasn’t to talk to Namjoo.

Her sisters stared at her for a long time and she finally replied, “Go ahead.”

Namjoo glanced at them again before she turned to walk away and Victoria finally lifted her eyes up to look at Namjoo’s back. Namjoo’s back slowly became smaller in the distance as if she were walking further away from Victoria; as if out of her life.

“Are you ok?” Chorong asked.

Victoria slowly turned around and said, “I think…I’m going to stop by somewhere else too. You go in first.”