Taeyeon wakes up to a dry mouth, a piercing headache, and a swollen face. She lies in the bed she doesn't recall falling asleep in for quite a while until she decides to girl up and get out of bed, despite the pain she's in. She deserved it all, after all. She remembers why her face feels like it had been beat on repeatedly; she remembers the ed up and untrue things she said to Krystal the night before, and she knows she deserved everything the younger girl threw at her. She drags herself to the edge of the bed and sits up, searching for the redhead.

She's not in the room.

There's blood all over the floor by the bed, however; no body. It's so obviously not a living person's blood, so she doesn't worry too much about it. She has no idea what happened after Krystal stormed out of the house. She does worry about not seeing Krystal, however.

"Krystal?" She grumbles, clutching at her head softly from the hard throb. She staggers to her feet and stumbles through the house in search for her. The girl is nowhere to be found, and Taeyeon is starting to worry that she abandoned her. She wouldn't blame her after last night, honestly.

She goes into the bathroom and looks into the mirror. Her reflection shows a discolored and deformed version of her. Not only from the blue and purple skin blotches and her swollen shut eye and busted lip covered with dry blood. The person looking back at her is hollow and dark and broken. The person looking back at her is unrecognizable to the person Taeyeon once was: fun, lighthearted, sweet. This person was hard and heavy, carrying the weight of a thousand universes on her shoulders, and none of those universes are the one she wishes to go back to. This person looking back at her is drowning herself; suffocating herself, suffocating in herself.

This person looking back at her is what it is to survive.

She steps out of the bathroom and heads into the living room, where the wine bottle lies shattered on the floor. If Krystal really left her, she needs to go find her. She was supposed to protect the girl. She had promised Jessica. She had promised herself. And now she was out there by herself because Taeyeon had done the opposite of protect her. She had hurt her horribly. She had to go find her.

It's just, she doesn't know where to go...

She leaves the house and starts down the road. The sun is hidden by the white clouds, but it feels just as bright as a summer's day. The cold wind and the flecks of snow hitting her face don't seem to help with her raging hangover. She's only two houses into her walk, when she feels a tug at her shoulder. She reaches for her tomahawk, only to grab at air. She's forced to turn around, and she realizes she has nothing to defend herself with. She's met with bright red hair and a tilted head.

"Taeyeon? Where are you going?" Krystal is genuinely confused.

"I-uh... I thought you left." Taeyeon says, looking down to her feet shamefully. "I thought you left me after last night... I was going after you."

Krystal snorts sarcastically. "Where would you have gone to find me?" She asks, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for a response.

Taeyeon shrugs awkwardly. "I don't know."

Krystal sighs and grabs Taeyeon's hand gently. "Come on, Taengoo. Let's get you back inside."

Taeyeon doesn't realize how little she's wearing until she's back inside and Krystal drapes a thick blanket over her shivering body.

"How could you go out to look for me and not bring anything with you?" Krystal says as she sits down beside her. "You left your bow and arrow, you didn't put on a coat, you didn't even know where to go."

Taeyeon shrugs stiffly. "I don't know. I guess I just... wasn't thinking clearly."

"Yeah, well you do look really hungover." Krystal says quietly. "I was out in the woods, putting up traps. I don't think I made them as well as you did, but maybe today's our lucky day." Taeyeon nods her head silently, and Krystal can see the emptiness in the woman's glossy eyes. Krystal sighs sadly. "Taeyeon..."

"I'm sorry." Taeyeon says so quietly, Krystal is almost unsure if she actually said it.

"Stop." Krystal says, leaning into the older woman and snuggling her head into her shoulder. "You don't remember last night, do you?" Taeyeon shakes head. "You already apologized. Like fifty times. I'm not angry with you, and I shouldn't have hit you in the first place. We were both stupid."

Taeyeon frowns at Krystal's words. She doesn't feel as though it should count, seeing that she doesn't remember it at all, but she lets it drop for Krystal's sake. With a small nod, she walks over to her coat lying on the couch and slips it on.

"Are you ready to go?"

Krystal sighs. She knew they were going to have to keep going, she just hated being out in the snow. She grabs her axe and hands Taeyeon her bow and arrows, and with an exchange of awkward smiles, they step out of the house and start down the road.

Most of the day is filled with silence; Taeyeon nursing a hangover and a bruised face, and Krystal drowning in quiet guilt for causing it all. They don't know what to say to each other for the first time since Krystal's group had saved Taeyeon's group in that parking lot months and months ago.

It's much later in the day when the two of them go into the woods in search of something. Anything. Krystal's stomach is starting to growl so loud, she's afraid she's scaring off the animals.

"Don't worry, we'll find something today. I have a good feeling." Taeyeon is the first one to say anything all day since they left the neighborhood.

"I don't know how much longer we'll be able to do this." Krystal says, voice rough from the lack of use and the cold. "It's freezing cold, we haven't had real food in days, barely any water..."

"You have to fight the storm to reach the rainbow." Taeyeon says. "Or something like that."

They're silent for a few beats until Krystal starts laughing. Taeyeon stops in her tracks and her head to the side in confusion. Krystal turns to look at the older woman and can't hold back another burst of laughter when it comes. "I'm sorry, it's just--you would be the person to talk about rainbows."

It's a moment longer until Taeyeon understands what she means, and she lets out a cracked laugh along with the redhead. The moment is broken only when a Stiff stumbles through the woods toward them and Krystal goes to take it out. Deciding it was time to start moving again, they maneuver through the trees, closer together than they were all day.

"I would love a large ham and pineapple pizza right now." Krystal says.

"Ham and pineapple?" Krystal nods. "I used to like my pizza with broccoli, and spinach, and onions."

"Used to?"

"And then I came to America and Tiffany used to buy pepperoni and pineapple. One night, she ordered a large pepperoni and pineapple, and Yuri thought it'd be a great idea to pour hot sauce all over the pizza--"

"Ew! Hot sauce???" Krystal screws her face up in disgust, and Taeyeon chuckles.

"Ever since then, I would only take my pizza with hot sauce on it."

"No way."

Taeyeon has a bright smile on her face; one Krystal feels like she hasn't seen in so, so long. "I used to carry a small bottle of hot sauce around with me, just in case."

"That's so disgusting!" Krystal exclaims. Taeyeon bumps her playfully.

"Don't knock it till you try it."

Krystal smiles sweetly down at Taeyeon. "Tell you what," She starts. "If this ever ends and the world gets back to normal, it will be one of the first things I will eat."

"When." Taeyeon says.

"What?"

"When it ends and the world gets back to normal. You'll be alive and well when someone finds a cure and saves the world."

Krystal studies Taeyeon's bruised face, noting the confident, yet sad expression as she looks around the woods for any sign of life. Krystal brings her hand the few inches toward Taeyeon and slips her hand in the older woman's cold one, entwining their fingers and giving her hand a squeeze.

"We both will be."

As the day grows older and the sun teases the west horizon, Krystal and Taeyeon decide to stop for the night. Together, they gather branches just like the first time and create a small hut. When the fire is lit, the two of them sit around it, snuggled together for warmth as the cold shivers take over Krystal's body.

"This ." Krystal mumbles with a shaky voice. "Why couldn't this have happened in the summer, huh? Then I could wear a tank top and shorts."

They're not sure what's got them in this sudden mood of jokes and giggles, but they don't question it too much and Krystal shudders from quiet laughter, tucking her head into the nape of Taeyeon's neck. Taeyeon leans her head against the bright red snow covered one resting on her shoulder, appreciating the heat of another person.

"Then I wouldn't need this thin jacket that doesn't actually do anything to keep me warm in this snow storm." Taeyeon shivers.

"Oh god, you must be in so much pain," Krystal says, pulling away a bit to start shrugging out of her coat. "Switch jackets with me."

Before she even finishes her sentence, Taeyeon is already shaking her head no. "Keep it. You need it."

"You need it, Taeyeon." Krystal says firmly as she slips out of the jacket. "It's the least I can do for your face. There's a fur hood you can use to warm it up."

"I don't need to warm my face." Taeyeon counters. "My face is on fire, the cold is actually helping."

"Take the damn coat, Taeng." Krystal orders. "Just for the night, at least. Please."

With a final sigh, Taeyeon pulls her thinner jacket off and passes it to Krystal, who gives her thick fur coat to Taeyeon. The difference is immediate as Taeyeon feels the warmth throughout her upper body.

"Wow." Taeyeon breathes.

"Wow is right." Krystal says. "How have you been able to deal with this crappy jacket this whole time??"

"It doesn't matter to me." Taeyeon says. "As long as you're okay, I'm okay."

"Well it goes both ways, you know. I'm going to start taking care of you too."

Taeyeon smiles over at Krystal, receiving a genuine smile back before she goes back to resting her head on the older woman's shoulder. "I told you I had a good feeling that we would find something, but we didn't. I know you're hungry; I'm hungry too. We'll fight through it, okay?"

"Well, the sun isn't quite down all the way yet. Maybe we can go out and catch something now?"

Taeyeon shakes her head. "It's starting to get dark out. I don't want to lose this spot." Krystal sighs sadly. "But you know what we can do?"

"What?" Krystal asks, tilting her head to the side as she looks at the woman.

"If you're up for it, I can teach you to use the bow."

Krystal pulls away again to get a better look at Taeyeon. "Seriously?" Taeyeon smiles and nods. "I would love that!" Krystal jumps to her feet and pulls Taeyeon up along with her.

It's not perfect; the bow is poorly made; Taeyeon's skills with a bow and arrow are rusty; but Taeyeon is slightly surprised by Krystal's quick learning and natural knack for the weapon.

"You sure you haven't used one before?" Taeyeon jokes, earning a happy smile from the younger girl. "You could have left me in that house and taken the bow and you would have made it perfectly fine, I bet."

"Not funny." Krystal scolds, wrapping her arms around Taeyeon. "I'm not leaving you, Kim Taeyeon. You can't get rid of me that easily."

"You did threaten my life, didn't you?" Taeyeon reminds, giving her a small smile.

Krystal's opens speak, but there's a rustling in the darkness that has the both of them spinning in their spots. Taeyeon brings the bow up, nocking an arrow and readying for a kill. She feels Krystal step closer to her, but her focus is all on the sounds coming from the darkness. There's a strange noise that Taeyeon isn't sure she heard right, and her hesitates with the bow for a second when her nerves intensify and her heart starts pounding. The rustling wasn't the same rustling she would hear when it was a Stiff shuffling through the woods, like she'd heard all those months in the beginning of it all. No, this was much, much more calculated, as though whatever it was was watching its steps.

This was a person. It had to be.

Jessica?

A single figure emerges from the darkness of the trees and into the light of their small fire, casting dark shadows over them. There's a tiny gurgle noise from the figure and Taeyeon pulls her arm back, ready to release the arrow deep into whoever it is.

"Wait." Krystal breathes out, putting her hand on Taeyeon's pulled back elbow.

Taeyeon stares at the figure coming closer and closer. The person is too far away for the firelight to light up her face and show enough features of her to see who it is, but she sees the bags hanging from their body and the long black hair. The growing recognition confuses Taeyeon.

"Teayeon. Krystal." The person says, and Taeyeon feels the tears pricking at her eyes.

"Y-Yuri?"

Shout out to everyone who refused to believe that Yuri was actually dead. I didn't kill her off! Yet! I did tell you guys I'd make up the ending of UIS for you and not to give up on me, didn't I?? I never planned on actually killing Yuri off in UIS. Actually, I had thought for most of writing the fic that Hyoyeon would be the one to actually die at the end of UIS. But instead I decided for this! So there will be YoonYul eventually in this "chapter" of my story!

This is a pretty short chapter that's long overdue, but I've been very busy, I haven't really even been able to write for my other fandoms either. Why? Because I'm going into the Army! I told you guys this a very, very long time ago, but officially I will be gone in 5 days! So you won't hear from me for at least a few months while I'm in basic training.

This next chapter is one of the chapters I've been looking forward to writing since I decided to fake Yuri's death! You guys get to see how Yuri made it out alive! Also, before you all ask me, Joel is also alive! That's what the gurgle sound was!

Tell me what you think please! Like I said, this is a shorter chapter ad definitely not my best one. I'll make it up to you next chapter I hope.. I'll talk to you guys when I'm out of basic training!