KAIRI 

I was blind. 

The room was so white that for a moment I thought that it was the brightness, emanating from some unknown source that was hitting my vision. I squinted my eyes, waiting for the light to dim but it was only after a while did my eyes return to normalcy and I got used to my surroundings. 

Footsteps. I looked up and found five figures walking towards me. Their faces scared me, I couldn't recognize anyone of them. One broad-shouldered man rested his hand on my head and did something to his face. It was a smile, I realized, but it didn't make me feel comfortable. The broad-shouldered man was talking to the others, the one in white coats and resilient faces. Their faces. They had no eyes, no nose, no mouth... Their faces had been blurred out so perfectly from my memory. 

Memory. This was my memory. But where was I? When did this happen? 

"It'll be fine Kairi," the man said, his voice resonating like we were in an orchestral hall. I felt myself nodding and held his hand.

"Kairi!"

Where was he taking me? I wanted to know and ignored the voices calling me out. Who were they?

"Kairi wake up!"

This man... he looked familiar... laboratory.... this was a laboratory but, what was I--

"KAIRI!"

I stumbled awake and found a shadow hovering above me. No white room. No white coats. No broad-shouldered man. Standing above me with concern etched in the wrinkles on his forehead... Woohyun. 

"You scared me," he murmured and rested his hand on my cheek. I gave a sheepish smile and apologized, only to be startled by the deep rumble of an engine. 

"What's going---?"

My incomplete question was answered when Woohyun moved away and presented to me an army of bikes, Hummers, SUVs and one massive truck. 

Had D.O not been the one sitting at the wheel, I would have taken the scenario more seriously than expected. 

"I told you it looks funny!" Baekho hollered when he saw me giggling away at the EXO member. "Paragon will throw him out for his face before they attack us!"

D.O's eyes widened and he stuck his head out of the truck window. "Shut up you Android!"

Despite being a magical priest or whatever, having Kang Baekho march towards you could cause pant-ting fear, which is probably what D.O was experiencing when he shut the window and locked the doors. While Baekho grinned and ignored him, he walked around the intimidating Hummer standing next to it and began piling it with bags and a human, who I soon recognized as Krystal. She gave him a grateful smile, the gigantic bruise on her leg making my jaw drop. Baekho made sure he placed her carefully and not-so-surprisingly, gave her a swift kiss on the cheek. 

Woohyun helped me stand up and while he went looking for Zelo, I observed my teammates --- my family --- getting ready for the most-awaited moment of their lives. Hoya was strapping a sleek-looking bulletproof vest to Yoona while she tested a few revolvers. Jiyoon was furiously nodding to something Chen was saying, until she found my gaze on her.

"Catch this!" She threw something at me. I caught it and smiled when I recognized my katana. I looked up to find her giving me a friendly salute.

"Don't let me down!" she exclaimed and I nodded. I searched for its saya and after carefully wearing it on my back, turned around to bump into Lay. 

I was still a little sensitive about their sudden departure, but when he smiled at me, I took a chance and embraced him. He hesitated, but eventually relented and hugged me back.

"I feel better after that nap," I said. He nodded and waved his arm at everyone.

"I gave them a special medicine to delay the INVICTUS gene from acting up." He looked over my shoulder and grinned. "Some one wants to see you."

I followed his gaze and found Kai. Unlike the last few times I saw him, he was moving around and instructing Sehun, the youngest EXO member, on something. From time to time, his eyes would shift to me in a manner that seemed natural and right.

He's your brother afterall, I thought and tightened my katana strap around me. Before I could reach him, a shot of light dazzled the cold room. The shutters had been lifted and more trucks and bikes were majestically sunbathing outside. Dongwoo was standing at the back of one, holding a skateboard. He was looking at the floor as if he was investigating the dullness of the broken stones. But a faint thought tugged in my brain and I remembered a moment from when we were still in Paradise.

"You'll get killed one day!" Luna cried out. 

Dongwoo laughed in response, mocking her concern and shaking his head like a man in a trance. He hopped onto his skateboard and held on to the back of the jeep.

"When I'm not there to scold you," she murmured aloud, "then you'll remember me."

"Luna?"

Dongwoo looked up, tears running down his face. He gave me a wide grin but didn't hide his vulnerability. After a while, he threw the skateboard at the back of the truck and jumped behind the steering wheel. The window muted out his cries, but I could feel the reverb of his mourning with each tremble of his shoulders.

"Are we leaving now?" I asked Woohyun as he wrapped a scarf around his neck and rolled his neck. He nodded in reply. His lips were set in a straight line, his eyes sharp and focused. The team members were slowly dividing themselves into their respective groups --- one group moving to Pyongyang where the International Court representatives were touching down, one group moving towards the East Paragon area, where several orphanges and low to middle class families had been living a tough life and the final group (which included Woohyun and I), that was heading for Central Paragon for a coup. 

I felt Woohyun's fingers entwine with mine and when I tried hard to not look at him, I heard him give a low chuckle that slowly molded into a calm smile.

"Calmness is the sister of calamity."

Fear gripped me and I shook my head to dispel my father's words. I tightened my hold on Woohyun, which made him look at me. 

"I've given you a lot of trouble," I said. He opened his mouth to say something, but I shushed him. "Listen."

"Even after all this ends, I might just go insane. I have no idea where you'll be, where I'll be... And even if we're together, I might not be the same person ever again. But I want you to remember one thing. No matter what happens, I'll never forget you. I might lose you, you might lose me and sometimes I wish you would because... I'm not exactly a lucky mascot, eh? But I mean it Woohyun. I will never forget you. That's all I wanted to say."

I was shocked when I saw myself reflected in Woohyun's moist eyes. "You know Kairi," he said, his voice so low that I had to move in closer to hear him. He rested his lips next to my ear and continued. "I'm scared of facing Yonghwa if anything happens to Seohyun. I'm scared of facing YongGuk if Zelo doesn't smile again, ever. I'm scared of facing Seungyeon for not protecting her only sister. But I'm most scared of... myself. If I ever lose you, Kairi, I don't think I'll be able to live."

"That's not true," I whispered, shifting my face to kiss him. I wanted the kiss to be light and soft, not desperate and frightened. We'll kiss again, I wanted to say. We'll meet again, I wanted to say.

But wishes aren't meant to be said out loud. We walked towards the jeep and with gritted teeth, I silenced my wistfulness to the dark corner of my heart. 

                                                                           PARAGON

"So she was a body double??"

Joon stood up from his seat, unknowingly slamming his fist on the desk before him. Only when the old man sitting behind the mahogany table quirked an eyebrow, did he realize how careless his impulsive move had been. 

"Sorry Sir," he stammered, but the furious confusion in his eyes refused to wane. "But if she wasn't Kairi, then who---?"

"A traitor," the General remarked, a tinge of sadness in his voice. "We needn't know about her, she's hardly relevant. Joon, I called you out today because I truly believe that only you have the dedication needed to helm Paragon to greater heights."

Joon didn't realize the situation that he had stepped into, the exaltation that had shone down upon him in that passing moment. Before he could lie in prostration, the General smiled and waved his hand, asking him to sit down comfortably. 

"There are more important matters at hand," he said. "I understand from the information gathered that the International Court is making their way to our shores."

Joon stiffened and nodded. "We're trying to locate the possible meeting point and will send our forces right away---"

The General shook his hand and said, "No need," opening the top-most drawer of his desk and taking out a black velvet rectangular box. "Open this," he said and Joon did so. Inside lay a beautiful fountain pen. 

"You won't really find those anymore," he pointed out and the young man nodded, still hesitant to tuck it inside his jacket pocket. It was the right move for the General moved forward and took the pen. 

"Joon," he said, examining the pen with meticulous focus, "you do know that Kairi is an INVICTUS?"

"I was informed of this a week earlier sir," he said. "You told me."

"Ah," the old man chuckled. "I'm getting old now. Sad... Well, you're here, so that's alright. Now that you know of my little secret, there's something else I want to ask you. Don't you think it's high-time that the rebels realize that I haven't done anything yet? They couldn't possibly believe I don't know of their activities."

Joon blinked once, twice, thrice... When comprehension failed to glow on his blank face, the General shook his head and moved on. 

"They're probably a little shocked after that little seige I sent their way. I hear there were quite a few casualties. They shifted from that nasty cave they had been residing in --- to be fair, I thought I'd offer better accomodation but oh well --- and now we have no idea where they are. Wherever it is, they are already on their way out from there and according to their plans, it will soon be the end of the state of Paragon."

The words were said with such ease and comfort that it took a few seconds for the young Distric Officer to absorb their meaning and have his jaw fall slack open. "Wh-wh-what are you s-s-aying, Sir?"

The General narrowed his eyes. "Joon, you do know that Kairi is an INVICTUS?"

The repetition of the question threw him off balance and he tried to understand why the question was asked again. The General took hold of the pen with both his hands and carefully uncapped it. He slowly removed the excruciatingly thin cylinder which held the ink and left the body hollow. "This pen is obviously not functional, yes?"

"No Sir," Joon replied, confused at the sudden change of topic. He pondered the possibility of senility only for the General to insert the ink holder in the pen and to his utter surprise, smash it against the table. The General's suit, Joon's shirt, the table and the documents which it was holding were washed with red ink. The old man smiled at the bloodshed infront of him and looked at the flabbergasted man. 

"Had I left the pen hollow and without any ink, the chances of it being reused in the future are still high yes?"

"The pen was expensive sir," Joon murmured. He shook his head and in a more focused tone, continued. "Yes sir, you can always find other ink fillers."

"Hmm." The General sounded pleased. "Now imagine this pen to be an INVICTUS' body. The ink, of course, will be that INVICTUS gene which is important for the INVICTUS to be functional. Once the fuel of the INVICTUS is removed, the chances of an INVICTUS recovering as a normal human being are high, if supervised with proper rehabilitation and care."

Joon remembered something, fear and anxiety flickering in his eyes. The General quirked an eyebrow and he said, "Sir, there's something I need to---"

"I know," he sighed. "The INVICTUS anti-dote has been stolen from the Central Hospital's main laboratory. It was one of the interns, apparently. She's with them now, safe and sound. Not for long though."

"But Sir!" Joon said, sounding urgent. "Our backup plan, which was the most possible outcome of these events, was that the INVICTUS would not realize that they're Paragon property and that during any future prosecution, they would be arrested as well! Now that they have the antidote, the odds are completely in their favour!"

The General looked bemused and after Joon huffed his words to a stop, he began chuckling. It was a chortle, mocking Joon's anxiety and when the old man coughed and sat down on his chair, the young officer was red with embarrasment. 

"Oh Joon, you take things too seriously. Listen carefully now."

"When Kairi was injected with the INVICTUS gene, she was still a baby. A very deformed baby, might I remind you. She was bound to either grow up looking like a monster or die. I couldn't afford either, which is why I had the INVICTUS prototype injected in her. To make sure that her strange acceleration in healing and growth is not noticed, I had sent her off to Hawaii, in safe hands. Once she stopped growing, I had her return."

"I was shocked when I met her. She was beautiful alright, but her eyes were green. I had unknowingly polluted her by sending her beyond Paragon lines. I sent her to the hospital laboratory straight away and not only did I erase any memory of her being in Hawaii, but I froze the pollution. Hawaii for her was a place where she went for a short vacation, nothing else. The green in her eyes was seen as cosmetic surgery or a genetic gift. Eitherway, she did not catch attention."

"Now that she has committed a crime, the INVICTUS gene will pollute her as well. She too will be suffering from the consequences of betraying the State, but unlike her friends she would suffer a harsher fate."

The General raised the shattered pen. "What would happen to a body which depends on its fuel for not just additive reasons, but for its form, its survival, its very existence? The other INVICTUS were injected with the gene because they had certain skills. Without them they would be back to being mere humans. But Kairi? Before the INVICTUS gene had kicked into her, she was not even qualified to be a human. Do you think that her teammates would let her be injected, if they learn of this?"

Joon widened his eyes. "She'll die?"

"No Joon," the General chuckled. "That's too easy. My dear daughter, I'm afraid... I'm afraid she'll face a fate worse than death. Ten times worse, Joon."