[CONTENTID2]It falls, the first tear drop. It is his proof that all is not well.[/CONTENTID2][CONTENTID1]

For the first time in years, she can feel the sun's warm rays draping over her pale body like a soft winter coat. The pathway awaits, stretching farther than the eyes can see. It beckons for her to come, to taste the delights of freedom. To see, to hear, to truly experience the elation... the elation of shedding away misery that had been her life until now. The misery she knew, but could not feel. She is compelled to run... run at a pace she could have never imagined possible. But all things seem possible... on this side of the Rift.

She can laugh, she can cry... as much as she so desires without being empty... empty inside.

She runs effortlessly through the streets of town... pass laughing children at play, pass freshly hung laundry, pass flower gardens in full bloom. With every step she takes to distance herself from the horrid nightmare, her heart drums a new beat of joy, stirring up sweet memories... memories of the ones she loves the most. The ones she is most anxious to see again.

"Mama... baba..." Her eyes begin to mist over at the thought of kissing their soft lips and touching their warm hands. To be able to tell them how much she loves them and misses them... to be able to tell them... their daughter has come home.

At last.

Her pace quickens. The town soon melts away behind her. The soft crunching under her bare feet tells her she is home. Exhausted, she collapses onto hands and knees. The vegetable garden... it is still moist from watering. Her hands dig deep into the loose soil and she smiles... a genuine smile.

It is the place where she belongs.

"Well, well... the afflicted... they always come back, don't they? Thinking their family would still want to see them."

"It's a good thing for us. Less trouble hunting them down."

Two strange men enter her range of vision. They are strange... very strange to her.

"What are you doing? What are you doing in my home? Get out. Get out!" They grab her. She attempts to pull free, but she has seemingly lost all her strength.

They begin to drag her away. Away from the little vegetable garden. Away from her home. Away from her chance to reunite with her loved ones. Away... from where she belongs.

"No... no... let me go!" Her legs move in protest, but it takes her no where.

"They don't want you. You've been abandoned since the very day they gave you to the Rift."

She would not believe their lies. She cannot be made to believe it. She has fallen, it seems, into another nightmare. When will she be able to wake up this time? When?

As they continue to drag her away... further and further away, her tired eyes drift to the little window of their home. And there, in that little window, they stand... watching as their daughter is being dragged away. In fear, in disgust, they watch... relieved to have her taken.

Betrayed.

What is she expected to feel? What is she expected to feel now?

Hysteria fuels her strength and she decapitates the two strange men with two steps and one strike.

Always. Two steps and one strike.

Through clouded eyes, she stares at their fresh blood staining her fingers, and she is made to understand. She is an afflicted. A monster. Her dreams of returning are shattered into a million pieces. She is broken... broken beyond repair.

So she runs. With blood and bruises. With bareness of skin. With a bitter broken heart. She runs until she can no longer run. To fall until she can fall no further. To cry herself to sleep... a sleep she hopes never to wake up from.

And in that pitiful condition, the brothers find her.

At last.

"Jaejoong... she's crying." His own eyes grow moist at the sight of her. He is so easily brought to tears.

"I can very well see that, brother." Jaejoong brushes away the dried mud on her frozen cheeks.

"She never cries, Jaejoong. Never. She must hurt... hurt so much. What terrible things could have happened... to make her so?" Junki kneels down and takes her cold hands, wishing to return the comfort... the comfort she had always granted him.

Jaejoong leans in for his kiss... a kiss that no longer holds the power to bind. What to do? He is lost... confused. Her tears are unlike his brother's... to stir up such a storm inside. A chilling wetness runs down his cheek and he looks up, expecting black clouds heavy with dark thoughts. Not a single cloud. Not a single rain drop. With a trembling hand, he touches his cheek and discovers the disturbing truth.

It falls, the first tear drop. It is his proof that all is not well.

"What'll we do now, Junki?" He asks his brother... a question... a question that had, until now, been Junki's to ask.

"Let's hold her... like how she always holds us when we're sad."

To hold her... like they had their mother... so long ago. To hold her in waning hopes that she will return their embrace. But she will not. She cannot. They desperately cling on to her... but to what end?

Three bodies. Three souls. Three scarred hearts.

[/CONTENTID1]