“I wouldn’t step inside this room if I were you,” Baekhyun is by your side in seconds, protectively hugging you to his chest, keeping your face to him so you don’t have to directly face the two.

“I wouldn’t even step inside this place if I were you,” The Queen sighs, ignoring Baekhyun’s threat and stepping inside the room.

You notice Baekhyun feeling his back pocket for his weapon but you touch his arm and look up.  “It’s okay, Baek, I’m okay,”

He reluctantly lets you go and you stand up in front of the Queen.  “What do you want?”

“What do you want?” Kris asks you back and steps towards you.

You immediately take a defensive stance, unconsciously stepping back and immediately regretting the action.  But the look on Kris’ face is what takes you aback for real.

He was apologetic.

“I won’t do anything to you,” He says under his breath, his eyebrows slightly drawn downwards.  But that expression disappears as fast as it appeared.  “Chill,”

“Yeah, chill,” The Queen adds in and knocks at the door at the other side of the room.  “Trying to get through, huh?”

The two of you don’t answer, staring at both Kris and the Queen suspiciously.

“I told you it’s going to be weird!” The Queen slaps Kris’ arm.

“Hey!” He winces.  “But well, you know, they have to get used to the fact that we’re being nice,”

You stare at Baekhyun as if Kris just said the weirdest thing in the world.  Well, it is the weirdest thing in the world.  Baek stares back at you in agreement.

“What’s that look for?” The Queen frowns.

“I heard that you’re being nice, I think I have a lot of dirt up my ear,” Baekhyun pokes his finger into his ear, thumping his head multiple times as if clearing off the dirt.

“You heard right, actually,” Kris sighs.  “This might sound like we’re total phonies, but no, we’re actually being nice,”

“As if,” Baek whispers at your ear and you frown at the two.

“Hey, if we weren’t, we would have attacked you while you were weak, head-on,” The Queen shrugs.  As if on cue, the lock of the hidden door clicks and the door itself swings open.  She takes a bow as if she just performed a magic act and when she catches the persistent look on your face, sighs.  “Look.  We kind of saw how terrible this organization is.  We, err, caught something that is completely none of your concern, but it’s major enough to make us want to be nice,”

Kris joins the Queen’s side and nudges her by the arm.

“If I didn’t tell them, they wouldn’t have trusted me,” She throws her hands up in the air.

You finally sigh and stand up.  “Fine, whatever.  We’re just following your lead because we don’t know where to go.  It’s not like we actually trust you.  Maybe just a little,”

“We understand,” Kris nods, stepping up the staircase behind the door first, followed by the Queen.

“Ready?” The Queen asks and you blink at her genuine smile, surprised.

“Mm,” You glance at Baekhyun who nods, although reluctantly.

Baekhyun closes the door behind you and he holds a flashlight for you.  Kris and the Queen has one for themselves, too. 

“You know,” You hear Kris say.  “Amara? Can you hear me?”

“Barely,” You answer, straining to listen to his words.

“I’m sorry about last time,” He says.  “About you-know-what, and about talking bad about Silvia,”

Kris talks so quickly you needed time to register his words.  And when you do, you trip over a step. 

“Whoa,” Baek helps you up and you thank him. 

“Uh, yeah, um, sure,” You frown, shaking your head at the strange reply.  Well, he’s the one who started it! Who expected Kris to apologize?

“And Baekhyun?” The Queen speaks up too.

“What?” Baekhyun snaps and you see the Queen flinch at his tone.

“I’m sorry, too,” She whispers.

You glance back at Baekhyun and see his head lowered.  You know he was looking for the right words to answer the Queen. 

It isn’t everyday that your arch-enemies apologize so sincerely in front of you.

The exit from the staircase reveals itself, and the four of you look at it in anticipation of what was beyond the door.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun finally says.  “We’ll deal with that later,” He scratches the back of his head, a gesture he makes when he’s confused and flustered.

The four of you nod and Kris nods last, turning the door knob very quietly.

And you hold on to the bricks lining the wall as a wave of flashback hits you like a hammer.