HyeMi led her team as they rushed onto stage and got into formation whilst the lights dimmed on stage. The starting cue sounded; the lights were turned up, and the girls stared into a sea of unfamiliar faces. Muscle memory took over as the foreign experience began to sink in. Nonetheless, the girls fought hard to regain control, forcefully switching out of auto-pilot, which proved easy for some, but harder for others.

HyeMi (HyoYeon) - KyunJi (SeoHyun) - YonNi (Tiffany) - MiYoo (TaeYeon) - MinJae (Sunny) - JinRa (Jessica) - HyeSun (YuRi) - RuiXian (YoonA) - HaRu (SooYoung)

YonNi faced the crowd at the head of the line, her eyes darting about as she struggled to spot the camera. She didn't let her nervousness faze her, a smile lighting up her face as she pinpointed the hovercam, and the girls fanned out to the sides. In the wings, JaeEun's group gave encouraging smiles whenever any of their eyes met. The girls spread out perfectly, and crouched down in neat rows. As they began their choreography, HyeSun turned her head abruptly in an attempt to flick her hair to the back, hesitating only after to wonder if she should have done that. Regardless, the third maknae of the group beamed and smoothly stood up for her freestyle... only to stick up a different arm from JinRa as KyunJi sang her part at the front. Astounded, but ultimately realizing that she wasn't the one who made a mistake, HyeSun quickly collected herself and continued with the choreography. As RuiXian sang her part, MiYoo faltered, and hastily put both her arms together at the same time, as opposed to the others. They had started smoothly, and RuiXian twinkled at the camera before retreating to her spot; the second maknae thoroughly enjoyed herself. As they reached the of the song, YonNi mistimed her steps slightly, retracting her foot a beat before the rest. Though it wasn't obvious, the girl mentally berated herself for failing to perform up to expectations. The girls seemed to immerse themselves fully in the song, and HyeMi took her place at the front as she lip-synced her part. The other girls, failing to hear feedback in their earphones, were puzzled, but kept it unnoticeable. JinRa gave her all for the stage, bravely attempting a cutesy move after she finally found the correct hovercam to look at. She had amusement written all over her face, but it added a nice touch to the atmosphere. JaeEun smiled at the younger's effort on stage, as she hugged her team closer to her backstage. MinJae displayed exuberance as she commanded her facial expressions flawlessly. HaRu sneaked a quick peak at RuiXian to make sure that she had gotten the correct choregraphy for the second verse, exhibiting the dance faultlessly. Aware that their stage was coming to an end, the trainees thoroughly engaged in their performance, hoping to commit their first performance as caSTARs rookie to memory. KyunJi completed the last moves vigorously, accidentally brushing past her boater and almost taking it off with the flick of her arm. Distracted by the elder, JinRa herself accidentally fast-forwarded her choregraphy, twirling her arm around a beat faster than the rest. The girls fell into formation perfectly at the end, concluding their performance with a cute "hwaiting" gesture, before bowing and running offstage. Despite small mistakes littered amidst the number, the team felt absolutely thrilled with their achievement.

JaeEun's team welcomed them with hugs as they entered the wings. "Jal-haesseo-yo, HaRu-ah..." YoonKi commended the maknae like a proud mother. HaRu relaxed into the elder's embrace as the former crushed her in a hug. "Komapwo, unnie, hwaiting!" SooJin gave all the returning trainees silent high-fives, skipping about with them. Before HyeMi's team could celebrate, HyeJin had shoo-ed them off, and informed JaeEun's team that they'll be up in two minutes. HyeMi locked eyes with JaeEun as she left, and conveyed an encouraging nod before the door slid shut between them. Refocusing her attention on their upcoming debut stage, JaeEun gathered her group for a last pep talk before they trailed onto stage in a single file.  

JaeEun (Tiffany) - MinHee (SooYoung) - YooMi (HyoYeon) - SooJin (TaeYeon) - YoonKi (YoonA) - KyMin (Jessica) - MinAh (YuRi) - SuJin (Sunny) - EunMi (SeoHyun)

As with HyeMi's team, JaeEun's group listened for their cue and were impeccably synchronized in the starting canon. YoonKi stared straight at the camera confidently, zealously moving towards the camera as they skipped forward. MinAh started off over-excited, and almost hopped out of position when EunMi was belting her part. The others around her noticed, and had to suppress their giggles. KyMin was too concentrated on not breathing too hard into the mic, and added an extra step at the end of the first verse, although she herself didn't realize it then. MinAh hesitated as they switched positions, and did not get to her allocated place in time, swerving around as she merged both actions. It seemed that this group had more complications during their debut stage than the team before. JaeEun's voice came out strained on her first line, and the other girls sent surprised looks her way, worried that the leader had shouted herself hoarse before during the numerous pep talks she had given them. To make things worse, at the before the chorus, the girls missed the timing of their jumps; SuJin jumping a tad too enthusiastically before the rest did theirs. MinHee jumped at the same time as the former, thinking she had gotten the timing wrong. The girls were a mess as YooMi completed the jump belatedly. Even so, SuJin remained optimistic, but failed to co-ordinate the height of her hand in the subsequent movement. Regardless of their obvious mistake before, EunMi performed well for the camera, and YooMi fufilled her dance break with as much zeal as she could muster. Nearing two-thirds of the song, MinAh moved towards stage left where EunMi stood, and given MinAh's peculiar angle of traversing, the younger stopped in her tracks and stared at her incredulously. The camera moved away from them then, thankfully, but the audience could still observe the awkward confrontation on stage. KyMin discounted her movements when she retreated to the back of the group as well, and JaeEun glanced frantically at girl, hoping she could take the hint. YoonKi maintained eye contact with the hovercam in most parts of the performance, and as the girls went through the chorus, YooMi raised her arm towards her chin, but instead of clenching it like the rest, she had her palms open. SooJin and YoonKi were the only ones so far who hadn't clocked any mistakes. The former, with her strong voice clear as crystal, belted out the harmony in perfect tandem with the melody. The stage ended beautifully as the girls placed extra emphasis on their ending choreography. Their debut stage came to a close in the blink of an eye as the girls returned backstage, reunited with the members of the other group. 

The realization that this was their first (and possibly last) performance together as eighteen hit them hard as the girls gathered in the waiting room. Although they knew from the beginning that it was impossible for all of them to make it in the end, they hadn't put much thought into getting to know others outside their own team, and now it might just be too late. They had all accomplished their main agenda - focusing on training, but it was a pity knowing that the group was not as tight outside training. Some of the trainees hadn't held a proper conversation with a few of the others. Bearing the same regrets, the girls held on to one another as they whispered hurried congratulations. MinJae wiped at her eyes as she felt tears inadvertently stream down her face. MinAh slapped her on the back, laughing forlornly. The girls were all aware of the buidling emotions inside of them, threatening to spill over; some had more trouble holding back than the others. MiYoo tried to choke back her sobs, and ended up bawling when SooJin pulled her in for a hug. The girls were all over the place. YoonKi felt a tug on her arm, and looked up to see HaRu staring back at her. "Unnie~ even i-if one of us d-doesn't pass this round -" She was aware of the lump in as she spoke. "w-we must still s-stay in touch n-neh?" Her voice rose and cracked on the last word, and looked at the elder pleadingly. She was this close to bursting into tears. YoonKi squeezed her eyes shut momentarily before returning HaRu's gaze. She nodded once, fervently, but still, HaRu turned away with sad eyes, though she could swear that the younger's eyes sparkled. JaeEun blinked back her own tears as she saw the scene in front of her. HyeMi had disappeared someplace else, before she could be affected by the disconsolate atmosphere in the room. "YAH~" KyMin stormed to the far end of the room. "Hajima (don't do that)~ everybody's going to start crying soon!" The elders chuckled, and none of them made a move to reprimand the impolite trainee. In the middle of them all, SuJin and EunMi had their arms around each other, and the latter shared a short but weighted glance with her half-cousin.

The trainees were called back on stage as the judges prepared to announce the results of the first elimination challenge, each of them gripping the hand of the girl next to them. The hosts, VIXX's N and SHINee's MinHo, took to the podium as they explained the elimination process. The crowd cheered as the Super Junior members got up from their seats in the audience and headed into the wings. SooJin squeezed the hand of the girl next to her - YooMi's - before they let go. YooMi returned her gesture with a worried smile. 

Whilst the emcees counted down and the Super junior members conversed noisily behind the trainees, the girls bowed their heads in fervent prayer. There was an audible gasp as the timer ran out; the silence was defeaning as the senior group collated the results.

Then slowly, as instructed by the emcees, the girls turned around.

author's note:     this was in drafts for a really long time.. I thought I should at least let y'all have this first.. really thankyou for understanding! I'm so sorry for the absence.. something happened back home & it took me a really long while to get adjusted, but I'm coming back soon! it'll take me some time to re-establish the fic but I'm definitely continuing it.. thank you so much for still being here <3