This was not a geat day for Guo Jian.

He was good at unexpected situations - in fact it was his specialty. Reacting to the unplanned and spinning people around his finger was what he did. But this? This was straining even his abilities.

How was he supposed to react to this? Daehwan. Alive. In front of him.

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought of it when the Keeper first mentioned the possibility of people from his universe popping up in the others but he hadn't dared hope. But here he was. And here Daehwan was. 

It was exactly the Daehwan he knew, all easy smiles and jokes to Niamh as they planned a heist just like they used to plan their cons in London. Daehwna had always been surprisingly okay with criminal activity considering his mum was a police officer so he shouldn't be too surprised that in this universe Daehwan was an underground resistence fighter. The most surprising thing was that his mum, Kwon, seemed to be in charge. It seemed that in this universe Daehwan hadn't needed Jian's bad influence.

Jian shook his head. Better stick to the present.Sneaking through the city in the dark was hard enough without also having his head in the past.

It was pitch black, the only light coming from a sort of dim flashlight that Niamh was holding and it didn't illuminate much. Just the minimum necessary light to not walk into the pole of a  nonfunctioning street light, ironic as that was.

They had to carefully evade the cameras mounted everywhere as well which slowed them down even further. They travelled from dead spot to dead spot, sometimes going through the house of an ally as a shortcut. It was slow going as they made their way toward the outskirts of the city. They stayed quiet while outdoors but inside the houses Daehwan could be counted on to make a clever quip to lighten the mood. Jian returned them from time to time, trying to get used to talking with this Daehwan. It was so familiar but so very different. And above all it hurt.

"We can talk freely now," Niamh said as they passed the final ring of houses and slipped into the countryside - or, well, what was left of the country side. With the moon as a reliable light source outside the city, Jian could see the scenery and it wasn't pretty. What used to be grassy plains or farms was now pockmarked with craters and big metal spikes. The spikes might have been used to delay the enemy's advance, they reminded Jian of old picture of the beaches in Normandy during the second world war. With some amusement he saw that even the spikes had some engraved decorations. These people had some weird priorities.

Niamh noticed him staring. "Most of what's left of the war hasn't been cleaning up yet," she said. "They put the effort into upgrading the Cage instead. Who cares about the farmers that lost their land?"

Jian regrained from pointing out that there were two sides in a war. 

"The craters come in useful for us now though," Daehwan said. "So there's that. Good holes to hide in when patrols go past."

"So Daehwan," Jian started, falling into step with him while Seungchae engaged Niamh behind them.

"Please just called me Hwan," Daehwan said. "Only my mum calls me Daehwan." 

That was different. "Ah sorry. Hwan. Fill me in on this mission, what can we expect?"

"There's a storage warehouse just a little ways away," Daehwan said. "There'll be guards that we've got to get rid of, but there's only a few and the three of us should have that covered no problem. You can fight right?"

Oh. Right. He'd told them he had combat experience. At the time he was only worried about getting them to agree to take him along. Well he'd fired old Chekhov a few times, that counted for something right? Jian nodded. "Some. I've got the stunner though so I'll be alright."

Daehwan nodded. "Stick em with the electric end, simple as that. The ringers will be wearing armour though so you have to press it at an unprotected spot. The neck works the best."

"I can do that," Jian said. He'd figure that out later. He could improvise. And at least Seungchae was staying back so he didn't have to worry about her. "So have you always been part of the rebels?"

"Most of my life I've been involved with them one way or another. I was always a little rebellious," he laughed. "I used to steal from the ringers all the time just to do something to help. We had it alright ourselves, mum was a ringer so we couldn't complain. Not exactly swimming in wealth but we didn't go hungry and she had some influence in the city, but many of my friends weren't so lucky. I used to steal some food from the ringer supplies or distract them while the actual rebels did their thing. Then I got caught." He shrugged like that was totally normal. "Mum decided that I was more important then the government andhere we are. She totally whipped the rebels into shape, they used to be so disorganised. Mum could make anyone fal in line and organise in a neat row," he smiled fondly but it died as quicky as it had appeared. "Now we are all that's left. It wasn't enough."

"I'm sorry," Jian said. He wondered if there had been a Jian in this universe causing trouble as well. In his own world he'd met Daehwan in school, they'd gravitated toward each other being the only asian kids in class, among other reasons, and just hadn't stopped being friends since. Jian had always been the one to involve Daehwan in his trouble. He wondered if he'd been there alongside this Daehwan and if that memory had simply disappeared when he became a Seeker or if this Daehwan had done it all by himself. Or maybe this Daehwan would have been the one to get him into trouble? He shook his head, too much speculation.

"What about you?" Daehwan asked. "You sound like an upper city guy, the way you act like you've never seen a rebel before. No offense or anything. So why are you here now?"

Jian briefly wondered if he should tell the truth before deciding that it would be easier to just spin a lie. "You caught me," he said with an easy laugh. "Upper city born and raised. We didn't have much to do with the rebellion. I had no idea how bad it was here until I did something stupid and my dad ended up taking the fall for it." The best lies had a kernel of truth in them. 

"That's rough," Daehwan said. "Sorry man. Don't go broadcasting that about the base though, a lot of the guys are still very salty about the lack of upper city support during the uprising."

"Gotcha," Jian said. 

A glow of light could be seen in the distance. "Quick, hide!" hissed Daehwan as he pulled Jian into one of the bomb craters. Behind them Niamh did the same for Seungchae.

There was a soft buzzing sound as a vehicle drove past, big guns attached to the roof with so-called ringers behind the trigger. A mounted search light swept across the landscape but they were safe behind the lip of the crater. The light had been the only indication it was coming, silent as the vehicle itself was. Jian was impressed Daehwan had noticed in time. 

When the vehicle had gone far enough Niamh gave the signal to clamber out of the crater and get back on track.

Seungchae shot a questioning look at Jian who continued to stick close to Daehwan. He'd noticed her trying to catch his gaze earlier too but he ignored it. He didn't really want to talk about Daehwan with anyone, especially not right now. Some things were better left unshared.

"If you can use the the extra hands then why are we the only ones going?" Jian asked. "A food run is pretty important, shouldn't there be more people helping?" At this point he wasn't sure if he was asking because he really wanted to know or if he just wanted to keep the conversation going no matter what.

"There are no other fighters right now," Daehwan said. "We have to make do with what we have. If we don't get this food - well we have to get this food."

"There it is!" Niamh said, catching up with the two of them. Indeed in the distance they could see a compound bathed in light. As they got closer it was obvious this was a temperoray structure. It was made of lightweight material with no decoration at all, a rarity in this world. The only thing ornamental was the fence around it, which had barbed wire in the shape of actual thorns. Jian had to admire the form meeting function. 

They dropped down into a nearby crater to discuss strategy away from prying eyes.

"Hwan, what do you know about the security of this place?" Niamh asked.

"There should be five guards in total," Daehwan said. "Three on the outside and two on the inside. It's vital we take out the outside ones quietly since there is a comms system inside and if any of the guards reach it and cry for help it's over for us."

Niamh nodded. "Alright, we can do that. We take them out and then grab as many crates as we can.  There's a safe house on the edge of the city that agreed to keep the crates hidden until we can transport them to our base." Niamh turned to Seungchae. "We'll call for you as soon as we've taken out the ringers. There'll be a hoot like this." Niamh cupped her hands together and hooted through them like an owl. Jian respected her sticking too the classics."

"Do we have any way to contact the others?" Jian asked.

Niamh shook her head. "They've been blocking our communications. Our tech expert, Hadon, is working on it but until he's got a fix we're deaf to the base. 

"We should be alright," Daehwan was quick to say. "We've got this. Let's go." 

Daehwan and Niamh climbed out of the crater and Jian moved to follow before Seungchae stopped him. "You know what you're doing right?"

"I do," he lied. "I'll be okay, just stay here and wait for us." She nodded and let go of his arm and Jian rejoined the other two.

Daehwan lead them to one area where the fence was cast in shadows. He pulled a blanket from his backpack and laid it over the barbed wire. Then he climbed over it, nimble and expertly like he'd done this dozens of times before. Jian followed, carefully making sure he didn't stab himself on any of the barbed wire even underneath the blanket. Those spikes were sharp. Niamh followed right after.

Daehwan motioned for Niamh to go left and for Jian to follow him going right. They snuck around the building, careful not to make any noise. Jian did alright, going slowly and moving carefully. Maybe he really could do this?

There were two ringers on their side, women, chatting. Daehwan pulled Jian behind a stack of crates and inched as close as he cold get to the two women.

"I can't believe we're stuck here tonight," one of the ringers said. She seemed to be smoking some sort of cigarette, not quite looking like their world's cigarettes. "Scott got selected for the up above us. Scott. The guy couldn't even tie his own shoelaces unaided."

"It's not up to us," the other said. "So no use complaining about it. Besides, some rebels might yet show up here and make our night interesting."

"Even if they would, we wouldn't get any commendations for taking care of them tonight," the first one grumbled. She took a long drag from her cigarette. "they'll get all the glory."

"Still, it'd be something to do."

"Carefully what you wish for," Daehwan said with a grin as he launched at the first ringer. It took him about 3 seconds to power up his stunner, grab her, and press it to the back of her neck. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she went down like a sack of potatoes.

The other one grabbed at her gun but Jian jumped into motion and manage to clumsily press his gun to the guard's back. The armour absorbed the shock but it managed to get her attention and she turned towards Jian, lifting the gun and pointing it at him. For a moment Jian stared into the barrel of the gun before she, too, went down and Daehwan was left standing over her body. He the safety and holstered his stunner.

"That could've gone worse," Daehwan said cheerfully as he pet Jian on the shoulder. "Thanks for having my back there."

Jian fumbled with the gun until Daehwan showed him how to turn the safety back on and they rejoined Niamh. She had left her own guard a crumped mess on the floor and was waiting next to the door into the supply post.

"The comms room is directly right upon entry," Daehwan whispered. "There'll be a guard in the comms room that we have to take down first, and another somewhere in the vicinity inside. We're fine as long as they don't activate the comms."

Niamh counted to three with her hand and shouldered the door open. She and Daehwan made a beeline for the comms room while Jian hung back in case he was needed.

Niamh and Daehwan were completely in sync as they took down the guard. First they both camped a hand over his mouth and dragged him away from the console. Then Niamh kept the guy in a lock while Daehwan grabbed his stunned and pressed it to his neck and the guard dropped to the floor. Just like that.

Daehwan motioned for Jian to go left and Seungchae to go right in exploring the supply post, combing it out for the missing guard. 

As told Jian went left - and walked straight into a guard. The guard gave a shout and grabbed his gun. Jian pulled out his stunned and pointed it at the guy's face, not caring if he did serious harm in the process. He pulled the trigger and - the safety was still on. 

Jian hardly had time to swear before the guard aimed at him and pulled the trigger right as Daehwan tackled him. Jian felt a hot pain in his side and fell down onto the ground, hitting his head hard on the floor. It took a few seconds for his vision to stop swimming. 

He looked to the right and saw Niamh was wrestling with a guard on her own. That wasnt't right, there were supposed to be only 2 guards inside. Her guard had her pinned and she was choking while reaching for her gun.

He looked to the left and saw Daehwan struggling with the guard that had knocked Jian over. Daehwan's stunner was on the ground and he lunged for it but the guard had gotten hold of his gun and pointed it at Daehwan and pulled-

Niamh yelped as the guard hit her on the head and she fell to the floor. He aimed his gun at her and pulled-

Jian grabbed Chekhov, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

A loud CRACK bounced off the walls of the supply post. The guard looked at the hole in his chest, then at jian, and crumpled to the ground.

Another gunshot rang through the supply post.

"Niamh!" Daehwan yelled and run toward her, jumping over the corpse of the guard that had almost killed him.

Niamh was on the ground and bleeding. The guard standing over her with a gun looked at Daehwan who ran toward Niamh and dropped to his knees beside her. The guard lifted his gun again, this time at Daehwan, but the his eyes rolled into his head and he felll onto the ground. Behind him was Seungchae holding Niamh's discarded stunner. 

For one long moment there was complete silence in the supply post.

Then. "Niamh!" Daehwan sobbed. He was pressing his hand on the bullet wound but blood kept gushing through it, coating her clothes and his hands. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Daehwan, too shocked to speak. She coughed twice, blood coming from , and then her eyes went still.

The Pi was dead. 

Jian and Seungchae both stared in silence at the body that had been their Pi. Daehwan continued to sob over the body of his friend.

Jian closed his eyes. This was his fault. He'd chosen Daehwan. He could have saved Niamh and saved the world but instead he had saved Daehwan and let Pi die.

Why did he always ruin everything?

The sound of Daehwan's sobs echoed through the warehouse. Then a burst of static interrupted them.

Seungchae was the first to react. She tore her eyes away from the Niamh and turned towards the comms room, rubbing tears from her eyes as she went.

Jian opened his eyes and stared at the scene. This was his responsibility and he would not look away. He owed them that at least.

After what felt like a lifetime Seungchae called him from the comms room. "Jian come here!" 

He didn't want to look away, didn't think he deserved it, but when Seungchae called again he took a moment to gather himself and joined her in the comms room. 

"I think something big is happening," Seungchae said. "They're talking about soldiers standing ready."

As if to demonstrate the comms cracked to life again. "Delta force in position, over."

Another voice answered. "All teams in place. Prepare for entry in 10.  Let's squash this rebels once and for all."

That shook some life back into Jian. He exchanged an alarmed look with Seungchae as she looked back, both figuring out what was going on.

"Namsun!" 

~*~

Namsun was alone. Well, no, he was surrounded by a great people. But he felt alone. He wouldn't have minded being alone, but feeling alone was a whole other thing.

He stuck with Hwagyeong, the only one he knew here, simply because she was the only one he knew here, but it was still uncomfortable talking to her. He very much wished that Seungchae had stayed.

"You're a quiet one aren't you?" Hwagyeong asked, trying to start a conversation not for the first time this night. 

Namsun nodded.

"Now you're just doing it on purpose," she laughed.

Namsun looked away. Why couldn't she just leave him alone?

"Come on, talk to me or I'm banishing you from the work floor." She put her list down and crossed her arms. Namsun squirmed.  "Tell me, what do you do normally?

Namsun hesitated, but faced with imminent banishment he relented. "I'm a programmed," he said.

She nodded. "Okay, we're getting somewhere, what kind of stuff do you program?"

"Computer software mostly," Namsun said. "I work in a game company making video games."

"What's that?" Hwagyeong asked. "Is that another weird government thing? Another way to spy on us?"

It dawned to Namsun that he had already probably said too much. He should have just kept his mouth shut. "No, no, i-it's something different," he said quickly, not meeting their eyes.

"Okay," she said. Then her face lit up as she spotted someone across the work floor. "Hey Hadon! Come here! We've got another nerd like you!"

Namsun froze. Why did this keep happening to him??

He refused to look but he heard footsteps approaching. "Oh it's Namsun," Hadon's voice said. 

"You know him?" Hwagyeong asked. "He says he works on software stuff."

"Yeah i used to work with him before I joined you guys," Hadon said in his usual cheerful voice. "This guy's great with code!"

"Not so great with people," Hwagyeong said.

"Hey don't be so harsh, he's cool," Hadon was quick to come to Namsun's defense. It reminded Namsun about the Hadon in his world.

But wait - wasn't Hadon supposed to not recognize him?

Hadon playfully hit him on the shoulder. “I’m glad you decided to join the Fianna! I thought you were a lost cause when I asked you last time. You wanna see what we've been working on? You might even been able to help! I've been stuck on this comms problem and I could use a second opinion.”

Namsun looked at him now. It was same old Hadon. His hair was a bit longer than in the real world and his clothes like the ones here, but that gorgeous smile was still there. He found himself relenting even though he knew he really shouldn't. “Okay.”

Hadon led him across the work floor and up the stairs, then into one of the upper offices. There was a big window covered with black cloth like the others and a desk full of gadgets and a computer.  The computer was definitely computer-shaped. but very different from what Namsun was used to. For one the screen was circular,  not rectangular,  and the keyboard was too. And, like with everything else in the, world it was decorated. He wasn't sure if it was beautiful or not, he usually left that stuff to the art department, but it was definitely there.

He immediately forgot his worries and that he was supposed to be concerned by the fact that Hadon remembered him and went straight to the gadgets.  The designs were all slightly different from what he was used to but he could still tell what they were used for. While the gadgets he was used to generally favoured angular design,  these ones all favoured soft edges and spherical shapes. Everything was soft and everything was decorated,  even the smallest of details.

Namsun picked up an earpiece. It was completely circular but it still fit like a glove when he put it in his ear.

“That's the communicator.  It works on frequency right now but the ringers figured out the frequency we've been using,” Hadon said. “So they’re blocking it and any other usable frequency that isn't theirs.”

“Do you need it for long distance or short distance communications?” Namsun asked. “And exclusive to devices or over a web? “

“Right now we just want to communicate,” Hadon said.

Namsun immediately got to work on problem solving. He could probably whip something up with software if they had some form of interconnected web. And thinking on it, the cameras around the city were all likely connected to one central command. If he could find a way to piggy-back off of it without tripping any alarms-

His thoughts were interrupted by a crash as the window exploded, pelting the room with broken glass. Namsun instinctively ducked and covered his face. He gasped as pain exploded in his hand and arms.

Then there was a thunk, something zapped him in the neck, and just like that Namsun was out.

~*~

“Hwan come on!” Seungchae pleaded trying to get Daehwan to move. Daehwan resisted, still clutching Niamh, no longer sobbing but not willing to move either.

Jian stayed back, a mountain of guilt nailing him in place.

Then there was a crash as boxes splintered and a guy materialised out of thin air in front of them.

The guy’s eyes were wide with fear. He looked from Seungchae, to Daehwan, to Niamh, to Jian, and then back to Niamh.

Then, still wide-eyed and trembling slightly, he punched something into a small device and disappeared again, broken boxes the only indication he'd been there at all.

author's note

So that happened. All of that. All of that definitely happened.