Jiyeon wore the pseudo fingerprints and sighed as the machine allowed her to enter. She removed them and placed them inside her bag as the doors opened and she passed through. A moment of pindrop silence later, a wild voice shouted out her name.

“No new weapons Ricky,” said Jiyeon. She turned towards the direction of the voice and rolled her eyes at the disappointed look on a young boy’s face, his expression distorting his tall and strong appearance.

 “Hyung!” he shouted. From the floor above, another man arrived, looking irritated.

“What the hell Ricky? Yeah I heard Jiyeon’s words. Can’t you hold up an argument?  And yes, I’m sleepy so let me be.”

With that, L.Joe left. Ricky shrugged at Jiyeon, who gritted her teeth and walked towards the kitchen.

“Sandwich?”

“No thanks.” Jiyeon drank the readymade cold coffee stored in the refridgerator and smiled in relief. Caffeine and a dash of ice, that was all it took for her to relax. Jay furrowed his eyebrows, munching on the sandwich he had offered, finishing it off in two more bites.

“How was the funeral?” he asked, gulping down a glass of water and rotating his neck. Jiyeon, whose eyes were closed, opened them and shook her head.

“I felt like blowing up the whole stadium,” she replied, narrowing her eyes at an empty spot on the table. Jay snickered and nodded.

“That bad huh?” He stood up and proceeded to wash his plate and glass. Jiyeon heaved a sigh and started tapping her fingers on the vintage mahogany piece, forming an ominuous rhythm with it. Jay set up the plate and glass for drying, pausing to notice his partner’s stance. He turned around and pressed his lips together in a firm line, glancing at her expression. He knew that look.

“When?” Jiyeon asked, fully aware that the man next to her understood her cryptic question. Jay pulled up the stool, sitting on it with his back leaning on the counter. Jiyeon stopped tapping on the table and faced him with a blank gaze. Of course, if one looked closely, they would find fury, determination and fearlessness.

“When he says so,” Jay said, entwining his fingers together.

“We need to know when Jay,” Jiyeon said, desperation in her voice. Jay was alerted by her tone and sat down next to her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and shook it a bit.

“Don’t fall apart now,” he murmured. “You know what Jiyong wants.”

“I know what he wants, it’s the same as what WE want….” Jiyeon then ran her fingers through her hair. “But we’re… we’re in the eye of the hurricane… we’re moving along to it’s rhythm and so far we’re fine… but…”

“I thought he already spoke to you about this.”

L.Joe emerged, not looking towards the two and finishing the last few contents of an orange juice carton. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand, then proceeded to complete his sentence. Ignoring Jiyeon’s sneer, he spoke.

“The reason why you and Jay are right where you are right now—it’s because you two are the best at what you do. You both are amazing at conning people, gaining their trust, promising someone security while you wait for the guillotine to snap their neck off.”

Jiyeon pursed her lips while Jay flinched at the last one. “Harsh way to put it bro.”

L.Joe waved him off and continued. “Jiyong was there when the bloodshed happened. He never forced us to join them, he could have worked alone and you know that. He most definitely had more confidence in himself than he did on us, which is not good since we’re a team now. But his belief in us… it exists. We know that. He might just been hanging around us, but we know why he acts that way. Imagine waking up every morning with those memories, memories of your closest friends being impaled while you lie there helpless. Jiyong knows we all have felt that, which is why he trusts us to have patience and reach our final aim as cleanly as possible.”

L.Joe sighed. Jay his lips and glanced at Jiyeon, the latter’s eyes welling up. Her lips trembled as she searched for words inside her.

“My sister…” she whispered. “Seungyeon unnie… killed herself. Not because she had lost hope, but because she had confidence. Confidence that… her small sacrifice… would pave way for simpler access to freedom.”

Jay squeezed Jiyeon’s shoulders and exchanged glances with L.Joe. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears and keeping his lips on her forehead, whispered, “Her sacrifice hasn’t gone to waste. All of us has seen it.”

“Not just her sacrifice,” L.Joe added. “There are others too, who have had enough of taking it slow. They have seen what this system can do and are acting AGAINST it by acting LIKE it. They have taken away whatever they could and even still it’s not enough. Which is when WE come in.”

Jiyeon and Jay understood the double meaning behind L.Joe’s words. “What if it’s not them?” Jiyeon whispered. “What makes you think they’re still out there?”

A moment of silence passed. The machine spoke from outside and L.Joe smirked.

“Ask them,” he said, nodding towards the duo that had just entered.

“Back for good?” Jiyeon smiled, walking towards them. 

“I leave my girl behind with all the thrill? Not fair.” Yong Guk lifted Jiyeon off the ground, making her laugh while Zelo rolled his eyes and pumped his fist with L.Joe and Jay.

“So when do we start killing?”

                                                                          ********************************************************************

“OW!”

Kairi bit her lower lip and clutched the back of her head. Sungyeol glared at her, raising his hand to smack her again only to be begged not to.

“Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry…”

“How DARE you say that Kairi?? You? Of all people, YOUUU???”

Hoya passed by them and sighed. “Did the sky take a dump or something? What’s making  you shout so much?”

Sungyeol pointed at Kairi with a shaking hand. “SHE ASKED ME WHEN DOES THE KILLING PRACTICE START!!”

Hoya narrowed his eyes and fixing his sideburns though one could suspiciously notice him covering his ears. “Calm…down. Decrease your caffeine, number one. Number two, get out of here.”

Sungyeol dashed off, muttering about being the boxing expert. Hoya shook his head and chuckled, freezing when he noticed that Kairi did not share his sense of humour.

“Hey it’s okay,” he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. Kairi continued staring at the ground, resting on a fallen trunk. After a while, she raised her head to meet Hoya’s eyes.

“You don’t… kill?”

Hoya knew Kairi was referring to the whole team and not just him. He gave a small smile and shook his head. “We’re pacifists.”

Kairi’s face twisted, like someone had just managed to make the audience laugh with a lame joke. “What are the weapons for then?”

“Emergencies,” Hoya said in an obvious tone. Kairi limply nodded and stared at her fingers, twining and untwining them against each other.

“So…” Kairi said. “I’ll never hold a gun?”

Hoya frowned. “It’s not important. Leave that job to Woohyun and the rest.”

“Why? I’m on your side now too.”

Hoya heaved a sigh. Counselling session, he thought and sat next to Kairi. He placed his hands on his thighs, spreading them apart then closing them again.

“Do you have any idea how far you’ve come since we first met?”

When Kairi shook her head, Hoya smiled. “Of course. Outsiders know best. Well, Kairi. Your assessment report states that you are now ready for battle.”

Kairi widened her eyes and beamed at Hoya. “Wh-wh-what did you say?”

“Woohyun and the seniors have been observing you, along with the rest of the team of course. And believe me when I say that you’re a machine. You learnt everything so fast, grasped the basic skills and the tricks in such a short span of time… The speed of your skills made you a little suspicious to us of course. Hey don’t give me that look, you know exactly how it feels when everything is too perfect to be true. But Nicole was hundred percent sure that you were legit. So…”

Hoya stopped. Not because he had lost his trail of words, nor because he had no clue what to say anymore. It was because Kairi had leaped into his arms, tightly embracing his chest as tears ran down her eyes.

“I’m not useless,” she whispered. “I’m not… useless.”

Kairi pulled away and gazed up at Hoya, who was now staring back at her. The two stayed like that for a while. Kairi basked in his eyes, soaking up the moment of finally making someone feel proud of her. She was too blind to know that the soft look in someone’s eyes could mean something other than pride. It could mean a whole lot of other things, finally boiling down to one feeling.

“I have to run with JunHyung now,” Kairi sniffled, wiping her face with the black sweatshirt with a giant silver bunny at the centre. Again, a second hand material. This particular shirt however had history, as she had summed up from the sad look that Hyosung had given her when she first wore it. But this shirt also seemed to harbour a lot of energy and everytime she wore it, she would feel secure and strong.

Just like that moment in the small forest with Hoya. When Hoya had said those words, her chest had welled up with something she had only brushed upon, something she had never really understood for it had never been concrete in Paragon. Something called happiness. Something called hope.

Meanwhile, Hoya remained in his seat on the old trunk, clutching his chest as he saw Kairi’s backview leaving him behind. Thoughts of realization synced with his booming heartbeat and with the help of one word, he knew that the compass of his feelings had finally matched with reality.

“.”

                                                                        ****************************************************************

“They’re coming together.”

The tallest man in the room nodded at the new piece of information and looked up. The glass paintings on the ceiling gave him peace, took him away from the chaos of his world, reminding him the direction towards which he was steering the wheel.

“It’s time for us too,” he murmured, anticipation emanating from his words. He looked away from the painting and smiled down at his team.

“We need to return the world to it’s rightful place,” he announced. “Though they are completely opposite in beliefs, their foundation is the same --- violence, betrayal, revenge…. But these shaky grounds have made them what they are today. Strong, courageous, passionate. We need to assist them in their tasks and now that their tracks are coming together, we will aboard the train too.”

Murmurs of relief echoed across the room. Suddenly, a figure stepped inside the circle.

“But,” he stammered. The leader understood, that being the youngest, this boy would be the one with the questions.

“After everything they’ve been through, would they still stand with us? Why would they care about our presence? Do they still believe in Him?”

Times had changed. The boy’s words didn’t create a scandal. The rest of his team members quietly shifted their gaze towards their leader. The leader was smiling. He walked towards the youngest and patted his head.

“They will remember that we were a part of the world they are fighting for,” he said, making the now reassured boy face the rest of the team. “They will remember that we too are fighting for the same paradise they are struggling for. Parallel tracks converging towards one goal, that’s what we three are...The Hidden, The Others and us…”

The team smiled and nodded at each other, the fire of faith burning inside them.

“Will they still remember us?” another member asked jokingly. The team softly laughed and the leader chuckled.

“Of course they will,” he said, his buoyant stance giving strength to his team. “No one forgets Exo.”