Listen to 멀어질까봐 by C-Clown : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0hi6u_oll0

"Suzy!"

Shin ran towards his Partner and embraced her, relieved to see that she was safe and sound. Suzy pulled away from him and smiled at him curiously. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.

Shin shook his head and closed his eyes. His hands were trembling and his lips were not able to form any words. Suzy's smile faltered and when she placed her hand on the man's cheek, he pressed her hand down and tightened his hold on her. "I shouldn't be stressing you out. How was the trip?"

Suzy narrowed her eyes. "Shin, what's wrong?"

Shin told Suzy everything-- about the Emergency, about the execution, about the strange message that had spread all over Paragon and about the riots that were slowly but steadily increasing in strength and frequency. 

"Dad's name was mentioned," Shin said, looking grim. "So he's been AWOL for a while." He looked down at Suzy and placed his hand on her head. "I'm just glad you're safe."

Suzy smiled and opened to say something, when suddenly, she held her head in her hands and collapsed to the ground. 

"Suzy!"

"Shin," she groaned. "My... head...." Suzy screamed out loud, the pain shooting through every nerve in her body. 

Before her vision out, she heard the worried man calling the hospital. "My Partner!" he said. "Her ears are bleeding!"

                                                                                       KAIRI

"...have no idea what's going on."

Neck. That's the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. My vision was too glazed and my head felt like a truck had just relieved itself from me, though I didn't remember suffering from a headache before dozing off. Nevertheless, I shook myself awake and was alarmed to find myself in Kai's arms.

"What the--?!"

"Ohaiyo," Kai greeted, the stale tone of his voice putting me off. He gave me a polite smile, which didn't go along with the state I was in. 

"Woohyun will kill you," I muttered. 

"You could just ask me to put you down instead," he cheekily responded, the expression remaining point blank as ever. I grew flustered and skipped out of his hold, only to find the floor running towards me for an embrace.

"Woah!" Luhan exclaimed, catching hold of me before I could fall. "Did you have a little celebration by yourself or what?"

"I don't drink," I tried to say, but the words dissolved into an incoherent mumble and suddenly, everything became blurry. Luhan saw my face and now, there were three Luhans in front of me. They somehow managed to fit into my line of sight. From behind him I saw Kai, whose eyes looked like they were widened in worry but maybe I was just imagining. Kai's eyes didn't move beyond a blink for anyone. 

"Hey sit down," Luhan suggested and I gladly took up the offer. After a few moments, my vision cleared and I noticed the moss on the stone tiles. That's when I looked up and around me and gasped at where we were.

Rusty red pagodas of different sizes towered above us and branches of trees had wrapped themselves around their walls. Creepers were winding from the pillars to the stone benches, like the one I was sitting on and when I glanced at the two, Luhan replied, "This was one of the many EXO temples destroyed by your fa--- I mean, the General."

Even in ruins, the temple was beautiful. I felt like I had entered an animated movie and any time now, a dark knight would jump from behind me and ---

"Boo."

"Ahhh!!" I spun around and found Kai giving me a snide smile. I mumbled a few curses and then resorted to resting my head in my hands. 

Suddenly I heard tyres screeching on the ground. 

I looked up and found people spilling out of their cars one after the other. Baekho was supporting Zico and Chunji while Top looked like he was going to collapse any moment. I skimmed through the crowd and found Woohyun and Hoya supporting JR and it was then that I noticed that the entire INVICTUS team looked like zombies. 

Pale, sickly and sweating profusely, I had to make space for three people to sit next to each other on the bench. Some shook their heads and lay down on the floor, resting their forehead against the cold stone. Baekho was staring at all of them with furrowed eyebrows while Key was running from one INVICTUS to the other. 

"Where are they?" Baekho asked curtly. Hoya looked at him and turned around. 

"They're here," he replied and right then and there, Lay, Donghae and Taemin ran towards us. Taemin was healthy too and I wondered why and how these three INVICTUS generals had survived this unpredictable plague. Lay stared at me and whispered something to Luhan, who grimaced and nodded. I noticed Taemin holding a metal box and upon opening it, I saw the injections. 

"You're all shutting down," Lay announced. The groans quietened and everyone turned to Lay. 

"It's only the INVICTUS members who are being affected," he said. He then looked down at JR and forced him to open his eyes. My jaw dropped as I saw the colour of his eyes change. From the previous mud-brown, JR's eyes had gone grey and had a tinge of green in them, as if the colour of the moss had permeated through his skin. 

As green as my eyes, I thought and Luhan looked at me. I pursed my lips and Lay sat in front of me, rolling my sweatshirt sleeves up. 

"This will take a moment---"

"I'm not scared of needles," I said. He nodded and took my blood.

The shock hit everyone right then and there. My blood had a streak of blue in it and when JR was tested, his were close to looking like a Naval officer's uniform. 

"It's poison," Donghae lamented. "They must have activated the chip that has been embedded in your DNA and... a poisonous chemical has been let out."

Woohyun ran to my side and held my hand. "How long?" he murmured. 

Donghae gulped. "I don't know---"

A shriek was heard and everyone found Hyosung covering her eyes, while Top's body lay pathetic at her feet. His skin had shrivelled up and his entire body, including his hair had gone white. He looked old, as if all the youth in him had been out in one go. 

"We don't have much time," Lay said. "There's got to be a solution for this."

"Find it!" Woohyun ordered, his hold tightening on mine. 

"I need to study Kairi's DNA more," he replied curtly. "Her eyes were already green, which means she must have broken some crucial Paragon law when she was young. The General must have kept her safe until the recent events."

"What law?" I said. "I did nothing when I was young!"

"Are you sure?" Lay said, narrowing his eyes. "Mourning? Immigration?"

"I didn't---"

Suddenly a face flashed across my mind. A face that seemed to fit into my memories like the missing piece of a puzzle. 

“No!”

“It’s okay, I’m right behind you…”

I kept throwing glances at the man behind me, who was promising not to let go of the back as I cycled without training wheels. Suddenly, I got too brave. Next thing I knew, a bright white light hit my eyes and all I saw was darkness.

But this time the memory was different.

It had always been my father behind me. It had always been my father holding the back of my bicycle before I fell. This time the voice was different and even my feelings for the person in my memory were different. I closed my eyes momentarily and in a flash, the face reappeared.

It was Kai.

I turned to look at him. We exchanged glances and right then and there, I realized that he knew. All this time, Kai knew something about me and my past. 

But if this was true, then was everything that I had ever lived a lie?

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

"How is she?" The tall man got up, his hair matted to his forehead with sweat and his eyes widened in worry. The doctor looked at him, then narrowed his eyes. He sighed and shook his head. 

"You don't know what is going on," the old man simply said.

"What?" Shin asked. That very moment, the haunting marching was heard and when Shin turned around, he found a small troop of Paragon officials, armed and shielded, heading towards the ICU. 

"Hey!" Shin protested, but he was pushed away and minutes later, he found the officers taking his Partner away from his sight. 

"Hey!" Shin yelled again. He pulled one officer away and hissed, "Where the are you taking her, huh? I was the one who called---!"

"We're sorry to inform you Shin," the head officer said. "But your Partner is Bae Suji, a high-level INVICTUS officer who is now going to be detained for being involved a conspiracy against the State of Paragon. Thank you for your cooperation."

Shin's eyes widened and he stared as the swarm of military men dragged Suzy away from him. Her head was drooping, her long hair covering her face. She lifted her head and to Shin's shock, her eyes were a wild green. 

"I'm sorry," she mouthed and before Shin could do anything, the hallways were empty again.