Dayoung woke to the sound of static.

She sat up with a jerk, rubbing her hands all over her body and sighing in relief. She was fine, unhurt. She surveyed her surroundings, confirming that she was still at the hideout. She heard footsteps and was shocked to find Krystal enter the room, a portable radio in her hand.

“So Dongwoo left this for us,” she said, seating herself on the battered couch.

“What are you doing here?” Dayoung asked, straining her neck to look for more friends.

“It’s just you and me kiddo,” Krystal sighed. She bit her lower lip. “I’m not strong enough for a fight. Baekho left me here ten minutes ago. Everyone’s in Central Paragon.”

Everyone. Dayoung’s intestines churned as a wave of nausea attacked her senses. Krystal handed her a bottle of water that she gulped down slowly. “Thanks,” she heaved. She shook her head and intently gazed at Krystal.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Something happened there. At Pyongyang.”

Krystal stayed silent. She looked down at the radio in her hand and turned the dial, increasing the volume of the static and the voice torn in between. “We made a deal with the IC. Meanwhile, this has been making a lot of noise for some time.”

The two stared at the box as if they were expecting good news any moment. The box crackled to life again, with more clarity. “Have to---listen---urgent---Shin---”

Dayoung jumped from her seat and grabbed the radio. “Did you just say you’re Shin? Woollim’s heir Shin?”

The box was silent. Suddenly, it said, “Yes.”

Dayoung and Krystal stared at each other in shock. “How did you get this?” the latter demanded.

“One of your mem---injured---makeshift hospital---more important---Suzy?”

“What about her?”

“Meet---me---”

“It’s a trap,” Krystal hissed. She found Dayoung’s face in contemplation and gasped, “Hell no. Dayoung you have no idea what you’re---”

“Suzy---INVICTUS---antidote.”

Krystal froze, her eyes fixed on a stain on the carpet below. Seconds later, the two young girls had left headquarters and were on their way to the garage. The library in Central Paragon, Shin had informed them, had been turned into a makeshift hospital.

“Where’s your wireless?” Dayoung asked. Krystal handed her the Bluetooth, helping her attach it to her ear. They reached the garage and found a bike.

Silence ensued. “Do you know how to----”

“There’s always a first time,” Krystal sighed and the two ran towards the Ninja. “Call—”

“Nicole?” Dayoung said. Krystal punched the automatic button and typed in the password. The engine revved to life. Dayoung patiently waited for Nicole to answer her.

“Hey Nicole! Yeah Dayoung here, Krystal and I--- That’s the um, bike. Listen. We’re... no no no this is important Nicole, we---”

“IT’S ABOUT THE ANTIDOTE!” Krystal shouted.

By the time they left the building, Dayoung had already heard Nicole tell them she would meet them. “The library?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Don’t be reckless, I’ll be there in five.” Before the phone hung up, Dayoung swore she heard Nicole calling out to Kairi. When she asked Krystal if she knew why, the latter remained tight-lipped.

“What on earth was the deal about?”

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

“But Woohyun wanted us to meet him at the Institution!”

Nicole grabbed Kairi’s hand. “Not now. Jiyoon, take the Amendment and head towards the Institution.” Jiyoon nodded and ran away with Kyungsoo. Nicole then turned to face the confused girl. “Trust me Kairi, you need to come along or else…”

“Okay,” she quietly agreed, running through the crossfire of bullets and gore. A guard tried to intercept their escape but Kairi slashed her katana, slicing his throat ear-to-ear.

“Ouch?” she feebly empathized while the man fell with a gurgling cry. Nicole didn’t notice and continued leading her until they reached a T-point. She stopped and looked around. They had moved further away from the chaos, but their isolation from the battle intensified the ominous feeling growing inside her.

“They’ve built a makeshift hospital in the library. Do you know where that is?”

Kairi jerked a thumb to the left and jogged ahead. Nicole followed, a watchful glance thrown at the empty road every five seconds. Voices were heard again after two minutes when they reached a wide two-storeyed building, straight lines of steel and glass patterned alternately on it. Kairi saw civilians using cars and vans to transport injured people, recognizing members of the government as well.

“They’re helping everyone,” she murmured, her tone struck with awe. She heard an‘excuse me’and found herself face-to-face with a familiar face.

“Professor Hyesung?”

A tall, slim and bespectacled man stared at her. “Kairi Lee, my favourite student. I knew you would fight through.” He winced and Kairi realized that he was injured. A bloody gash ruined his dress shirt, a disgusting stench emanating from his forearm.

“Excuse me sir,” Nicole intervened. “That’s an infected wound.” She looked up and said, “We need to meet someone right away, but you need to get that checked ASAP.”

“After you,” he said, waving his unhurt arm towards the swinging doors. The two women ran inside, climbing up the staircases. The smell of disinfectant pushed Kairi to move faster and when they finally reached the ‘critical condition’ floor, the scene before her shocked her.

Krystal was sitting on the floor, her face frozen in an expression of horror. Even the poker-faced Dayoung had silent tears streaming down her face and the moment she saw Kairi, she ran towards her, embracing her tightly.

“Run away,” she whispered.

Before Kairi could ask any questions, the man in the black suit turned around, giving her a glimpse of what lay behind him. Kairi felt a sharp ringing deafen her hearing and as she collapsed on the incubator housing Suzy’s body, Shin’s words seemed to come from a different dimension.

“Suzy took the antidote and this is what happened to her,” he said. “The last thing she told me was to tell Woohyun and you to run away.” He paused and looked around the room, as if his tired eyes had just opened up. “Where’s Woohyun?”

“He’s headed to meet the International Court forces, for the Commandments.” Nicole’s left eye twitched. “What did you want to tell us?”

Shin gazed at her for a while, his eyes lost and glassy. Finally, he blinked. “It seems you already know that if not given proper rehabilitation, an INVICTUS’ gene reversal could cause… this.” His lips that were set in a firm line withered into a grimace. “I wasn’t too sure about what I had observed so I headed to the hospital and I asked an old friend what the INVICTUS gene really does.”

“When he told me everything, how it all started, why it was made… I understood why Kairi was asked to run away with Woohyun.” He bent down looked into her eyes. “I thought Woohyun was the INVICTUS but your eyes… Suzy’s eyes were that colour just before she died.”

A shiver ran down Kairi’s spine. 

“Remember Baekho’s story?” Krystal spoke in a half whisper. She turned to Nicole. “If Kairi has the antidote injected into her, she’ll---”

“Die,” Kairi finished. “And probably in a worse way. I wasn’t even… I wasn’t even supposed to be alive.”

“Which is why you have to run away,” Nicole affirmed. She walked to the other side of the room, walking past all the sections that now acted as wards. Kairi looked around and realized the full reality of death and the costs paid for freedom. Family members quietly sat next to bodies and Paragon soldiers wept, unable to deal with the conflict of their loyalties. Kairi saw a young man comfort a soldier whose arm had been amputated.

Nicole returned with a bag that she opened to reveal a stash of money. “For you and Woohyun. This will be enough for you to leave Paragon, find a distant nowhere and start life afresh. No one will hurt you.”

“They won’t stop,” Dayoung interrupted. “They won’t stop until they find her. The International Court. The ones we made a deal with.”

“Dayoung,” Krystal said in a warning tone. Kairi turned to face her disciple.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean,” Dayoung said. She looked up at Nicole who simply covered her face with her hands and slowly nodded. “The deal. It’s part of the law. The International Court made the deal that after all this ends, they’d enter the INVICTUS members into a rehabilitation program and slowly degenerate the gene from their body. They will be a little rusty once that happens, but they’ll be human again. If even one INVICTUS member is spared, they will charge all of us with treason for assisting Paragon property. You have to be injected as well, Kairi-saem.”

Kairi didn’t say anything. For a moment, it looked like she had deactivated herself already, staring at her fellow INVICTUS’ body inside the glass shell. Suddenly she stood up and faced Shin.

“Do you have the antidote?”

Shin pulled away. “No. Wait, what?”

“The antidote.”

Nicole grabbed Kairi by her arm. “Get back to your senses, you will die if you do anything so foolish----”

“All of you will be at risk!” Kairi shouted, pulling her hand away. “And all of this will be for nothing. Me meeting Woohyun, us teaming together, becoming friends, becoming a family, finding love, losing love… all of this will be for nothing!” She took a deep breath in and swiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Woohyun will understand.”

“No he won’t,” Krystal stood up. She grabbed the bag from Shin and shoved it towards Kairi. “You take this money, you grab Woohyun and you run away. Forever. We’ll cover up for you. We’ll grab a fake body and get a proxy DNA if we have to---”

“You can’t fool the International Court, they’ve got their own voodoo army! Oh don’t pretend Nicole, I know you met them. Who did you meet? The Mediator? Or his bodyguard? Or both? You felt it didn’t you? Their heightened senses, their intimidating stature. They’ll crush you if you’re caught. Avalon will be at risk, Paragon’s freedom will be at risk---”

“What’s going on here?”

Heads turned towards the door as the lithe figure walked in. His eyes were fixed on Kairi, refusing to look at anyone else. He walked until he was just a breath away from her.

“Who. Will be. At risk.”

Kairi heard Nicole ask everyone to leave. She felt Krystal nudge the bag next to her leg and she heard Dayoung help Shin and Nicole to move the incubator away. From her peripheral glance, she saw the dead body float out of sight.

“You will be. And I can’t afford that.”

“You’re no one to judge.”

“This is for everyone’s good, I was not supposed to be alive anyw--”

“Find a better excuse!”

Kairi watched as the tears fell down his face. She watched him sniffle them away and she chuckled. “I remember you taking care of me. The memories… they’re back.” She wiped his tears away and held his face in her hand. “So help me Kai. Please.”

“Your memories have nothing to do with your decision.”

“But you’re wrong, they do.” Kairi sighed. “In the future, when everyone will look back at this moment, I don’t want him or her to think how selfish I was. My whole life’s been a lie and I have never made a decision for myself. Ever. So this one time, when I’m sane and aware and am doing something right, finally, help me. Help me do the right thing Kai. Please.” Her voice shook and she almost bit her tongue. “I want Woohyun to be proud of us, not run away like a coward.”

The siblings stared at each other, an undeniable energy of mute understanding passing between them.

“Do it for me,” Kairi whispered. Kai coughed and shook his head until he descended into a trance-like state, staring into his sister’s eyes.

“Lay said he was going to meet me here with the antidote… a few International Court people will land up later. If we have to do this, it’ll be have to be away from Woohyun.” 

Kairi nodded. “We can’t stay here. We need to go somewhere else.”

She placed a hand on his heart, Kai collapsed to the ground. He bent his head forward, resting it on his sister’s knees, hoping the tears would run out as fast as possible.

“Promise me you’ll do it. Promise me Kai.”

When he didn’t reply, she sat on her hunches and embraced him. “My big brother,” she whispered. The tears staining her shoulder burdened her, but she continued.

“It’s like old times,” she said. “Except this time, you’re letting the bike go.”

“Woohyun will never let you go,” he said, choking on his own grief. Kairi looked at him and shook her head.

“You’ll have to make him. He will understand once this ends.”

Kai looked down at the floor. He then looked out of the window and back at Kairi. “There’s someone you should meet before…”

Kairi looked into his eyes and stiffened. “I guess we have to.”

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

“Finally! Nam Woohyun!”

Ken grinned and reached his hand out towards the new entrant. He waited but the greeting wasn’t returned. He turned around and nodded at Nicole, who gave a hesitant smile.

“Jiyoon was kind enough to hand us the papers, even though her body was ridden with bullets,” Ken said, hoping that Woohyun was listening. Woohyun looked at the paper and nodded. He still wasn’t sure why Kairi wasn’t around, but as long as Jiyoon was with her, he was fine.

“So what are the formalities?”

“As pragmatic as they describe you! There’s not much to do actually…” The Mediator was interrupted by a knock on the door. Nicole pulled the curtains and found Lay looking inside, anxiety on his face. Woohyun carefully watched the two exchange glances until the EXO member saw him and turned to chase the curious civilians away.

“This is not the most appropriate spot,” he said, raising his eyebrows at the lobby of the Institution.

“All the other buildings are being used as makeshift hospitals and living quarters for the East Paragon people,” Nicole informed. She flinched when Woohyun sharply shifted his body, the latter gazing at her with curiosity and amusement.

Ken took out a pen from his shirt’s pocket and placed it on an electronic tablet. “This sheaf of papers holds the agreement and those highlighted words are the commandments the General has broken. There are quite a lot, as you can see by all the pink jumping out at us. Anyway, the document in the tablet says that you, the temporary representative of Paragon---”

“Wait. What?”

Ken looked at Nicole who turned to face Woohyun. “Once the General is detained, we’re going to make you the temporary representative of Paragon. Rehabilitation will take time but for the timebeing, you’re the best leader.”

“I’m not interested,” he said. He remembered a face and said, “Donghae. Make Donghae the representative.”

Nicole carefully searched Woohyun’s eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Donghae knows Paragon and all it’s voodoo better than I do. Should I call him?”

“Donghae’s recovering from his injuries,” Ken said. “But here, look at this.” Woohyun watched as the scary-eyed man began typing away at the screen until he noticed a few changes.

“Just sign off as a witness who has proved that Lee Donghae is the temporary representative of Paragon and following the detention of the General, you will be giving the International Court permission to rehabilitate your state. This will require lot of funding and physical occupation but once you sign this, you will be giving proof that Paragon really doesn’t mind the International Court helping you out and that the General means nothing at all!”

Woohyun grunted and looked at Nicole. “Did you read it?”

Nicole nodded. “It’s our only shot.” She blinked away when he continued to stare at her, an uncomfortable smile on her face.

Woohyun moved closer and whispered, “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

Another rap on the door interrupted them. Nicole stirred and jogged towards it. She opened the door slightly and hissed, “What?” Woohyun heard a familiar voice. It was Lay.

He ignored Ken’s nervous eyes that followed him as he crept up behind Nicole.

“…I don’t know where they are.”

Nicole gasped. “What do you mean by that? I clearly saw Kai talking it out with her and---”

“I was supposed to prepare the antidote for the INVICTUS members at the hospital and Kai was supposed to help me. After Krystal, Dayoung and you left with Shin and Suzy’s body, he told me he had something important to tell me and asked me to carry one injection with me. We reached the storeroom of the library and then I saw Kairi. The moment I realized what was going on, she quickly apologized, knocked me unconscious and when I woke up, the antidote was gone.”

Nicole screamed as a force pushed her away, slamming the door open. Lay blinked and took in a deep breath. “Woohyun---”

Woohyun raised a hand. “I knew there was something you wanted to tell me.” He looked at Nicole who looked away, her eyes on the ground. “Come on Lay. Be a good man and tell me what the is Kairi doing with the antidote.”

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

“Kai, hand it to me.”

Kairi reached out but she grasped thin air. She turned to find Kai glaring at their father and muttering, “It’s not worth it Kairi. We don’t need you to do this.”

“If we don’t, he wins.” She saw her father’s eyes widen in realization. “You think I’m weak? I’m not letting you win this. You made the mistake of being greedy and injecting that gene into me, completely forgetting about your own son, my brother. You never told me about him and I am not going to ask you why. By now I have figured out that you’re simply a self-centred hypocrite and people like you celebrate the world around them becoming like you. You thought you could make Paragon selfish; you thought I would run away just because I preferred a new life to my friends’ happiness? I’m not like you, Father. Nor is Kai.”

She tugged on Kai’s jacket, his eyes not leaving the man’s face. He reached into his jacket and took out a thin rectangular box, biting down on his lips to fight himself. She took the box and pecked her brother on the cheek. “Brave,” she whispered and moved away.

“Kai. Now.”

The General protested but he was helpless. His own son had swiftly placed the gun at the nape of his neck, his eyes dark and ruthless.

“Here’s the irony father. You’re going to be the one giving Paragon it’s freedom. I will take out this needle, which holds the antidote inside it and I will hand it to you. If you don’t inject this into me, Kai will immediately shoot you. He is as disinterested as I am about why you did what you did, so he won’t take time to shoot you at a spot that will not kill you, but have you wishing you were dead. Understood?”

She quietly opened the box and calmed her shaking hands to hold the needle in her hand. She noticed Kai stiffening upon seeing it but gave him a smile.

“Everything’ll be alright,” she murmured. Kai looked away as she lifted the sleeves of her jacket and tapped the inner space of her right elbow. “Lay taught me,” she explained to no one and clenched her right hand into a fist. She placed the needle in her father’s hand and extended her arm. “Do it.”

“You’re a fool,” he said. “You think people will remember you for this? No way. When you die, that Woohyun will be the famous patriot, the man who got Avalon into power. No one will remember you because no one would want a stain like you on his story. EXO? EXO will soon just become a forgotten tradition and perhaps one day, when your brother here will be fighting for the recognition of your sacrifice, Woohyun’s men will finish him and his temple off. When someone’s given power, they don’t just leave it. You have no idea what you’re doing, both of you. Get back to your senses and listen to what I say.”

Kairi patiently heard every word then when he was done, she nodded. She rolled down her sleeves and took the needle away. Kai’s eyes widened but a second later, she took the gun from him and pulled the trigger.

The two siblings watched as their father collapsed onto the ground, his body writhing in pain, his mouth frothing with blood and his eyes wide and diluted. Kairi avoided her brother’s eyes and bent down on her knees.

“I told you it wouldn’t kill you,” she said softly. She rolled up her sleeve and flicked a finger on the injection. She looked up at her brother who was already crying. She stared at him for a moment, then stood up and hugged him.

“I don’t want recognition,” she said out loud. “If people forget me, let them forget me.”

“Kairi—”

“Nothing should happen to Woohyun but if anything does, make sure everyone knows about him. If it means building a memorial, do that. If it means wiping my name away, do that. Woohyun is the strongest man I have ever met but I know you’re as strong him Kai. And I know you will be strong enough to not be affected by our father’s words.”

“Why do you still call him father?” Kai whispered. She parted from him and smiled.

“Because that’s what he is. Our father. Had he not saved my life, I would have never met Woohyun, I would have never met you and I would have never hoped for Paragon’s freedom. People die all the time Kai. We just need to wait for the right time.”

Kai waited but the needle stayed in her hand. Suddenly she collapsed on the floor next to the suffering man, her flesh wearing out and her eyes slowly drooping so that they looked like they were melting. He fell beside her, confusion rampant on his face.

The old man lifted his hand and wrapped it around himself, his mouth foaming with more blood. Kai watched in horror as the old man extended the same bloody hand and placed it on his daughter’s head, making an awful sound from his mouth. He realized that his father was crying. He realized that his sister had injected herself with the antidote when she had embraced him, so that he wouldn’t have had to anticipate anything.

Kim Jongin lifted her body, securing her epileptic figure close to his chest while the old man continued his incoherent howling. He began rocking her body, humming a lullaby he used to sleep to in another life. Hours later when the door was torn down by a harried-looking man, he found a dead body and a boy refusing to let go of the bony creature in his arms. He looked into the fading light of those emerald eyes and found a treasure trunk full of hopes, lost forever.

Meanwhile the open streets were flooded with happy tears, chants of ‘Avalon’ and ‘Nam Woohyun’ ringing in the air. 

                                                                          **************** SEARCHING FOR AVALON***************