Gone?

Her limbs go stiff as her whirling thoughts decide to lie down on the floor. Kris has closed his eyes and began pinching the bridge of his nose, mumbling incoherent words. "What..." A scratchy voice that didn't seem familiar to hers echoed from , and she swiped her dried tongue on her lips. "What do you mean, gone?" 

Hyemi isn't afraid.

She's terrified.

He rose on his feet, hands still clenching the mysterious, crumpled paper of his. Raking his long fingers between the mop of his head, he heavily exhaled before turning to her. "He left, just like that. Filled his suitcase with , wrote a letter, and hitched a ride down the road to hell."

"N-no, he couldn't have left." It couldn't settle in her mind, the impossibility of it. His face was still too fresh in her memory. "He was with me two hours ago!"

He couldn't have left.

At least, not without her.

"Calm you down, Hye. Don't collapse on me, because I don't feel like dragging you down the nurse office just because a panic attack. Breathe."

His command dres her back to herself, suddenly aware of her sharp, quick wheezes. She sank to the floor, curling herself in a position where her head was between her knees; it always managed to calm her down for the mean time. Once she was back on her feet, both confused and angry, she replied calmly. "Give me the letter, Wu Fan."

If Hyemi ever called him with his name, Kris knew he got himself in the deepest . "This is unhealthy, Hye. It will break your tiny, delicate-"

"Just give me the ing paper, Kris." She snarled, charging towards him before snatching the extended letter from his hand. Trying to smooth it as fast as possible, she flopped by the bed's side.

"Damn, girl. Swearing?" For a man who just recieved such terrible news, he still seemed to be on his feet - which is both a miracle and a disaster. "I had no idea." He mockingly shook his head.

Please forgive me - Luhan.

20 letters.

"What is the meaning of this?" Her voice is cracked and filled to the brim with pain. It was a good thing she collapsed on the chair before, or she'd have gotten the chance of experiencing how hard the floor felt againt her falling-apart form. "Kris?" Her voice is wavering, as if she might spill tears the very next second she blinked.

"I'm sorry, Hye. I have no idea where the poor bastard went." The dark-haired boy shook his head. To find his idiot of a friend now was highly unlikely. He might be anywhere, and he knew better than wasting his time searching for a shadow of him. "He has done this before - ditching everything and disappearing. He might be back in a few days, weeks or months for all I know."

He didn't realize what he said until the staggering girl left the room.

...

It has been 6 days already - close to week, yet Luhan never came back. Hyemi was a mess - in every possible way. Her bed was trashed, as she spent her nights fighting the terrifying nightmares away. Her physical form wasn't any better - frazzled, long hair, circles around her dazed eyes, and thin bones sneering underneath her skin. It didn't seem to bother her, though - since she kept herself prisoned in the NC's training room.

By now, she was curled in the corner of a room where they planned most of their training system in, sipping bitter coffee with no sugar between. Fingertips traced the last map of Asder as her eyes skimmed the notes she scribbled, tasting the coffe that she clutched in the other. The door was unfastened with a kick, and two figures were in - Hyemi couldn't get her eyes to focus on them; her eyes were already unfit to concentrate as she lacked days of sleep.

"Christ, Hyemi. It's three in the morning!" The high-pitched, annoying voice could've only belonged to Hyuna, who marched towards the obvilious girl to drag her back to bed."Hell, this is the fourth time I have to drag your skinny back to your room!"

Hyemi couldn't help but give the latter a tiny, guilty smile as she shook her head. As nightmares were a terror to her in the darkness of her eyes, she could do nothing but stay up late until she dropped dead from the exhaustion. It was a habit she learned to master ever since he left her. "I'm sorry, Hyuna. I promise to go back to bed once I take one last look on this."

It was a distraction she gladly welcomed. The more she learned about the land she was born in, the better, She replaced Luhan's sweet features with the roads, houses with his lips, and wasteland with his warmth. The more she allowed herself to be absorbed in the thought of freeing Asder, the less pain her heart took in the thoughts of Luhan's disappearance.

"I think what my princess is trying to say, is that we are worried about you, Hyemi-ssi." The male behind Hyuna wrapped his arms around her tiny waist, and Hyemi squinted to catch his sight better : Choi Minho. Ah, right. Hyuna's newest boyfriend who she appeared to be crazy in love with. "Don't overwork yourself, Hyemi-ssi. We wouldn't want you to collapse from fatigue." What a sweetheart. His worried eyes break her heart.

"You two should go along, I'll be back soon to my room." The pair exchanged glances, but nevertheless reluctantly left the room. Hyemi smiled softly at the couple's endearing appearance, keeping a mental note in her mind to tease Hyuna about it later.

...

She's tackled from behind.

Hyemi kept her promise to Hyuna, as the girl would be unbelievably pissed at her if she didn't. So she skimmed the map's details one more time before leaving the room and locking the door, heading to the dorm's in the other building. But what happened instead is that someone pinned her down with a boot pressed down her spine to keep her in place as she struggled, face buried in the bare grass.

She's positive that what she's tasting now is blood and dirt on her tongue. 

is trying to scream, but no high score on that, as the same person flipped her over and clambered a gloved hand over . Throwing a piece of a rough cloth above her head, she thrashed at the mysterious person's hold. Gasping and clawing as he grabbed a handful of her hair to drag her up on her feet, a bubble of pain bursted from under her chest as the unknown attacker slammed his fist across her stomach.

"Let me go!" The words she's uttering are supposed to be loud and clear so that maybe someone can hear her and help her out, but they're wheezy and low whispers. "No...Please!" She should be on an advantage as she trained for weeks, but her mind was completely at the grip of fear couldn't function properly to escape his clutches. Struggling against him would only make the situation escalate down the hill, so she should at least think.

A sharp blow is by her head this time and she was almost entirely unconcious, slumping by the base at that. 

Shouts and footsteps thumping by the ground are all around her in a few minutes. And the pain is gushing out of her head as a liquid, pouring by her left eye, currently blinding her. The black sheet of unconsciousness is in and out of her vision, blurring and clearing in a second and another. Hands are pressing against her crown and abdomen, pressuring the pain out. Loud screams are spilling from someone's mouth, and it must be hers since the pain is making her on fire. 

Then the world dips in and she blacks out completely.

Finals are in two weeks. Forgive me if I don't update. But I promise to update more once I'm done with school. Cross my heart on that!