They trudged through the dark city in silence, none were in the mood for much talking.

Seungchae glanced at Jian for the umpteenth time. He was not doing okay, that much was plain to see no matter how much he tried to hide it.

To be fair Seungchae wasn't doing okay either. She had never seen anyone get hurt before, let alone die. She was trying hard to keep the imagine of Niamh out of her mind, that moment life left her eyes, blood in and on her chest. Seungchae shook her head. Stay in the present, Seungchae, just keep swimming.

She had been too antsy and worried to stay hidden in the crater earlier but in the end she had still been too late to save Niamh. At least she'd been quick enough to save Hwan. She still had the stunner she'd used back there, her hand gripped it tightly as if it would disappear if she wasn't constantly feeling its presence. 

She was so worried about Namsun. It had taken ages to get Hwan moving and all that time she'd been antsy to get going. 

Maybe they'd get there and everything was fine. Namsun would be there, nervous and awkward as always and everything would be fine. Maybe the soldiers had been at the wrong place? Maybe the rebels had been able to fight them off?

They made double time through the city, a lot less careful about being spotted on the cameras now. None of them had the energy or the patience to care much about that, they had to know if the others were okay. 

Finally the warehouse came into view and Seungchae gasped.

It was a mess. The windows were broken, there were bullet holes in the walls. Crates and barrels were all over the place. This was the site of a battlefield and it was plain to see who was the loser.

"Namsun!" she yelled and pushed past the ruined door. She found a topped lantern right past the doorway and turned in on so they could assess the damage. There were shards of glass everywhere from where the windows had been broken in, crates and barrels toppled, their contents littering the floor. She thought she saw some gunpowder on the floor, she'd do well to keep the lantern away from there.

She turned back to Jian and gasped. "Jian you're hurt!"

"It's fine," he said, looking at the angry red gash on his side. "A bullet nicked me is all. It's fine."

"You should get that disinfected and looked at," Seungchae maintained. 

Jian shook his head. "We have more pressing matters, this scrape isn't going to kill me we can look at it later."

Hwan walked through the ruined warehouse like a ghost, stopping to touch something every once in awhile. His face was simply empty, no emotions at all. That scared Seungchae more than the alternative. 

"We have to find Namsun," she said to Jian.

"He'll be in the Cage," Hwan said. "They'll all be in the Cage. I smell stunners."

He was right there was the sharp smell of ozone in the air, a smell of electricity, not as present as during a thunderstorm but still there.

"That's good," Seungchae said slowly. "That means they're still alive, right?"

Hwan shook his head. "They're being kept alive for public execution. It's over." He sat down on one of the toppled crates and buried his face in his hands.

"Listen, Hwan, we need to get our friend back, and then we can try to help your people too," Seungchae said. She looked to Jian to spring in, he'd be much more convincing than she could be, but Jian was buried in his own grief. She would just have to do it herself. "We can free them together."

Hwan looked sceptical. "The Cage is the headquarters of the ringers. We can't just walk in and free 15 people from its cells."

She took a deep breath. She felt like such a for this. "I'm not talking about 15 people, Hwan." 

"You want me to break you into the Cage just so you can get your friend back," Hwan repeated incredulous. Oh god it did sound awful.

"It's really important that we get our friend back," Seungchae repeated. She took another breath. "Okay this is going to sound crazy but we're not from this world. The three of us come from a different universe, there are many of them running parallel to each other you see, and we have a mission to save all of them." Oh man she was out of her comfort zone in this but Jian wasn't doing anything. She was scrambling for things to say. How did one explain this?

Hwan looked up. He didn't look convinced and Seungchae didn't blame this but she couldn't lose him. They needed him. "We came here to find Niamh and bring her over to our universe. We needed her to save everything. But now that she's gone we need to go to another world and find her there. Do you understand? We have to save this world too, Hwan, but we need Namsun for that."

"If you help us we'll take you with us," Jian cut in. Wait what? Seungchae stared at him with mouth open. What was he saying, they couldn't do that! Could they?

"What?" Hwan said. "You're asking me to leave everyone? And if you needed Niamh then why did you-"

"Look we can't save all the Fianna from the Cage, you said it yourself we'd never be able to free 15 people with just the 3 of us," Jian cut him off. "But if you help us get Namsun we'll take you with us. You can help save your world with us. Save everything that exists."

 "I don't know," Hwan said. "How could I just leave everyone?"

"You could see countless other worlds," Jian continued. "Worlds without all this fighting. And everyone you know here exist in those other worlds too. It's all the same but different, you'll see. Just come with us."

"Really? There are other me's out there? Other moms? Other Niamhs?"

Jian nodded. "That's why we're here for Niamh, she's the key to saving the world but she's gone in ours so we need to find her in another world and bring her back. I know you're a good person, Hwan, fighting against a corrupt government. Imagine the good you could do saving the world."

Seungchae wasn't sure if she liked where this was going. She was sure that Malik wouldn't like where this was going. 

"Your mom was a ringer, right?" Jian continued. 

Hwan nodded. 

"You told me how you used to sneak around the Cage. You could do that again, get us in so we can get Namsun out. What do you say, Hwan, are you in?"

"I'm- I'm in."

"Okay, let's see." Jian pulled two crates together and looked around for some paper. 

This was it. This was her time to shine!

Seungchae took off her backpack and produced paper and sharpies. Jian looked impressed.

He spread out the papers on the crates and handed Hwan a sharpie. "This is what I'm thinking," he said. "You get me a ringer uniform so I can sneak around the Cage and get Namsun out. If you can tell me how to sneak through and I can bluff the rest. Then I get Namsun and we just have to get to the portal and that's it."

"You're not going in there alone," Hwan said. 

"I'm not leaving you either," Seungchae said firmly. She saved his last time, she had earned this demand. 

"If something goes wrong someone has to get to Malik and tell what happened," Jian said.

"You stay behind then," Seungchae said stubbornly. "I'm not letting you go in there alone, I'm going with you to save Namsun."

"They made a lot of modifications to the Cage since mom was a ringer," Hwan said. "I can get you through the old levels no problem, but the cells are in the newer upper floors. Still there's hope, we managed to get blueprints when they were building it, courtesy to Hwagyeong. That girl can get her hands on anything I swear," he paused, hurt, but then he picked himself up. "Stay here and I'll grab them. Oh and a first aid kit too," he nodded at Jian's side, the blood stain small but stark against his white shirt. "Get you patched up." He went up the stairs to the office level and left Seungchae and Jian alone.

Seungchae immediately turned to Jian. "Can we take Hwan with us?" she asked.

"We could take Niamh so why not Hwan?" Jian said.

"Well if you put it that way," Seungchae said.

"I suppose we'll find out."

~*~

They had a plan.

Well, Jian and Hwan had a plan, Seungchae just provided the stationary.

The plan was this: she and Jian would don ringer uniforms and just walk into the Cage as rookies. Nobody except the ringer who'd first caught them and the ones they'd knocked out earlier knew their faces after all, and they were gambling on the fact that none of those would be present.

Hwan's mom used to work for the ringers not long ago so he couldn't come with them, he'd be recognized for sure, but he knew all the best hiding holes from his previous visitings though so as long as Seungchae and Jian managed to get him inside he'd be okay. Then Hwan would grab the key to the cells, they'd rendezvous and get Namsun out of there, and beeline for the portal and take Hwan with them.

"So how are we getting the uniforms?" Seungchae asked.

Jian and Hwan looked up as if both of them just remembered she existed. The crates they'd dragged together to serve as a table were covered with the bluepritns and several sheets of paper completely filled with sharpie drawings and writings. Hwan had a black smudge on his face and Jian's hands were full of sharpie marks too. Seungchae shook her head.

Jian and Hwan looked at each other. "Bar," they both said at the same time.

Hwan circled a building on the rough map he'd drawn. "They'll all be celebrating and drinking at the Golden Sun, it'll be open late tonight for the special occasion."

"We wait until two of them come out too drunk to walk straight, stun them, and take their ," Jian said, leaning back. "Oldest trick in the book."

The two worked together like it was all they'd ever done. They were in perfect sync, finished each other's sentences as they came up with new plans and ideas, finding solutions for the other's problems. It was mesmerizing to watch. Seungchae had contributed once or twice, but honestly for the most part Jian and Hwan had it covered.

Something caught her eye and she frowned. She walked over to the table and for the first time peered at the notes and drawings. "Did you write this?" She asked Jian, pointing at a specific sentence.

"Yeah," he said. "Why?"

"Jian that's not our alphabet."

Jian looked back at the writing, really looked, and his eyes widened. The writing of this world was different, nothing like hangul but a little like cursive latin. The letters were entirely different though, similar, but different. But he could read it no problem. In fact it had been difficult to tell the writing was different at all because he just instantly read it.

Seungchae grabbed one of her sharpies and wrote a sentence. She flawlessly wrote in another world's script. Hwan looked at the both of them like they were crazy.

"I hadn't even thought of the language barrier," Jian said. "Everyone had just spoken our language and I assumed it was normal."

Seungchae grinned, this was incredible! The wonders of this world and the Spire never ceased to amaze her.

That was, when people weren't dying.

She shook her head, don't think about that, it happened, it's done. Besides, she had to keep her head on straight for Namsun.

"So are we set with the plan?" she asked.

Hwan nodded. "As ready as we'll ever be."

Jian grinned, he looked like he was made for this. Seungchae still saw the cracks, but planning a jailbreak had helped him come alive again.

"Infiltrate an unknown prison in an unknown universe to rescue our universe hopping friend?" he said with a eating grin. "We've done worse, haven't we Daehwan?"

"Certainly have," Hwan grinned right back.

"So we're all good with the plan?" Jian asked.

Seungchae and Hwan nodded.

"Then let's do this."

~*~

Namsun woke up with a serious headache. Did he drink too much last night? He must have gone out with Zhei, she always got him to drink too much.

He rolled over. Had he fallen out of bed? He was definitely on the ground, but his apartment had carpet. And this decidedly wasn't carpet.

He opened his eyes and was greeted with what was definitely not his apartment.

Right. He'd forgotten everything that had happened. Seekers. Spire. That stuff.

He looked around the cell, for a cell it was. It was small, fit for one person. No ornamentation for prisoners it seemed. It was all tiles and very, very cold. He shivered. And on the right of him was another cell.

"Good morning sunshine," Hadon said from the adjoining cell, grin on his face. "I'm sorry your first experience with the Fianna was such a disaster."

He'd forgotten about that too.

"I wished I hadn't dragged you into this mess now," Hadon continued. "You always had a knack for bad timing didn't you?"

Namsun shrugged. "I guess I do."

What was he going to do? He saw no way out of this. Jian or Seungchae might always see a dozen opportunities everywhere but Namsun had nothing. All he could do was wait here until the others came to rescue him. There really wasn't anything else for him to do.

He sat back and tried to think of a code problem to keep himself busy. It was going to be a long day.

~*~

The sun was rising by the time Seungchae and Jian had hoisted themselves into the ringer uniforms. At least that part of the plan had gone smoothly. The first two ringers who stumbled out were their size thankfully and they managed to stun them. Honestly it hadn't been much of a fight, one of them was so drunk he fell over as soon as he saw them and the other had the reaction speed of a Windows 98.

So now two ringers in their undies were sleeping off the drink (and voltage to their necks) in an alley and the plan was a go.

"Remember, you're rookies," Hwan said. "It makes sense that you got the worse shift while everyone else is celebrating so just act green and you'll be okay."

"Don't worry I got this," Jian said. "Seungchae just let me do the talking."

She nodded even though she wasn't sure she could keep that particular promise. Hwan walked them toward the Cage.

The building was impressive. The bottom two floors were mostly stone and study, obviously a lot older than anything around it, but the top was gold and glass like everything else. And on the opposite end of the street was the glass building that housed the portal to the Spire.

Seungchae pointed to the building. "That's where the portal is. Three floors up."

"That used to be a public observation dome," Hwan said. "People could go during the day and look out over the city, or go at night and look at the stars above. Now it stands empty, the president shut down most public leisure buildings."

"Explains why the entrance was shut," Seungchae said. "We had to break the door to get out."

Hwan laughed halfheartedly. "Niamh would have appreciated that. She always said she wanted to sneak in someday."

Jian looked uncomfortable at the mention of Niamh. He had to be as shaken up by her death as Seungchae was. Maybe ever worse sicne he'd been there when it all went south, she'd only been present for the end of it. She hoped he didn't blame hiimself for it, it wasn't his fault. She made a mental note to tell him that once they'd gotten Namsun.

Hwan lead them around the Cage to a side entrance. "This is locked, you will have to open it from the inside to let me in," he said. "I'll be waiting here, but the sooner you let me in the safer it is for me."

Jian put a hand on his shoulder. "We planned for this, it'll be okay. I remember exactly how to get to the door."

Hwan nodded but he remained tense. The alley didn't give much cover to hide, just one spot in the shadows and if anyone walked this way they'd spot him immediately. But he nodded at Jian and got into place. "You remember how to get to the entrance yourself?"

"I do. Come on Seungchae, are you ready?"

"I'm ready," she said.

He lead her around the building to the front and they just strolled right in. Jian played his part perfectly, a natural actor. He looked around nervously, like he wasn't sure where to go yet, but he also looked just at home enough to have been here before. The perfect uncertainty of a rookie. Seungchae tried to imitate him but she knew it was a weak copy. Hopefully she looked anxious enough as it was.

Their first anticipated obstacle - the ringer behind the front desk for 'citizen concerns' - wasn't there at all. The desk was empty. "Must be celebrating," Jian said softly and held the door into the inners of the Cage open for her.

Seungchae tried to take it all in and memorise where to go as Jian led her through the hallways but her sense of direction was simply awful. She had to rely on Jian entirely. Thankfully he knew what he was doing. 

Things were so different here. The old bits of the Cage were dark and claustrophobic, nothing like the wide spaces and glass and beauty that even a lowly warehouse had had. It must have been a really old building and Seungchae wasn't very fond of it. She didn't much like cramped spaces at all.

When they got to the backdoor, Jian opened the latch and let Hwan in.

Hwan hurried inside. "How did it go?"

"No resistance," Jian said. "None at all."

"They must be running on as low staff as they can get away with to give everyone the time to celebrate," Hwan said, a bitter edge to his voice. "They think they got all of us, they wouldn't dare do this otherwise."

"When will the ones in the supply post wake up?" Seungchae asked. She didn't want to be here when those alarms went off.

"Should be at least another 30 minutes," Hwan said glancing at a clock on the wall. "Sooner if a patrol goes past. They'd notice something was wrong immediately.

"Let's hope the patrols are getting drunk too," Jian quipped wryly.

"It'll take me a while to get to the keys, rendezvous in the staff room in 20 minutes."

"Gotcha." Jian led Seungchae back the way they came. When they got to the main parts of the building the hallways opened more, much to Seungchae's relief. Decorations appeared on the walls again too. Still no open glass though, Seungchae could almost imagine being in an old police station back home.

Jian stopped in front of a door labelled staff relaxation room and held it open for Seungchae. She froze. Someone was in the room already.

"Hey," a gruff woman said. "Shouldn't you be patrolling the halls or something? You're cutting work?"

Seungchae froze and looked to Jian.

"Patrol them for what?" Jain said. "We got all the rebels didn't we? Who's left to guard this place against?" He shrugged. "Everyone else is out celebrating and getting drunk and we're stuck with patrol duty. It's not fair."

The woman nodded. "Hear hear. What I wouldn't give for a good mead right now."

Jian laughed. "Ugh don't even, I haven't had one of those in way too long." He let himself drop down on the couch next to the woman and put his feet up on the coffee table. Seungchae joined Jian, nervous but trying not to let it get to her.

"What's the matter with her?" the woman asked. Crap she hadn't been as smooth as she'd hoped.

"I don't think she approves of slacking," Jian laughed. "Keeps looking over her shoulder like the president herself is behind her."

"We should get back to work," Seungchae said, playing along. She knew a cue when she saw one. She couldn't stop herself glancing at the gun hanging at the woman's hip.

"In a minute," Jian snapped at her. "Come on, loosen up, let's just chill for a bit." He rolled his eyes at the woman and she smirked back. "How are things on your end?"

The woman shrugged.  "I'm on eye duty and they expect me to watch how many camera feeds of a sleeping city while everyone else is getting drunk? Not tonight, the president can watch her own damned cameras if she'got such an observation ." The woman laughed and looked up from her drink. "If the others get to celebrate I can at least drink a single beer. Want one?"

Jian shook his head. "This one would probably report me immediately if I took a drink." The two of them shared a laugh at a fictional Seungchae's expense. "Any idea how they caught that scum to begin with? It was pretty sudden wasn't it?"

The woman nodded. "Rogers was working the cameras at the time and she won't shut up about it. They trailed these rebels back to the hideout earlier tonight. They'd been less careful than usual. She did a pretty impressive job of tracking them across the city but don't tell her I said so. Head's big enough as it is. You sure you don't want that beer?"

"Wish I could but this mouse over here is already getting on my nerves just sitting there," Jian said. He was playing this woman like a fiddle. "I can just feel her staring at the door the entire time. It takes all the fun out of this." He sighed dramatically and got up. "Enjoy your extended break and see you around."

The woman raised her can of beer at him and took a sup and Seungchae all but lunged for the door.

As soon as they were out, Jian put a hand on her shoulder and grinned. "That went perfectly," he said.

"How can you be so calm in there?" She leaned against the wall. "That was terrifying."

"Experience," he replied. "You do this sort of thing often enough it's not a big deal anymore."

He looked up at the ceiling. That was the plan, Hwan would climb up into the space between the ceiling tiles and the next floor and drop down into the staff room. "What do we do now?" Seungchae asked. "Hwan can't drop into the staff room with her in there."

"It's okay we planned for this," Jian said. "Lesson number one of a con, always have a backup in mind, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." 

Seungchae glanced at Jian, reminded again that she hardly knew anything about him. A conman huh?

Jian checked the next door. A supply closet. He went inside, took a stead stance, and cupped his hands. "Up you go."

"I have to go up there?!" She squeaked. Oh she really did not like tight spaces.

Jian laughed. "Nah just dislodge the tile, that will tell Hwan to drop down in here instead."

Seungchae nodded. Okay that sounded a lot better. She stepped onto Jian's hands and reached up to the ceiling tile above, succesfully dislodging it.

"And now we wait." He stepped out of the closet and closed the door after Seungchae. "This is why the staff room was plan A, it's much harder to explain two rookies loitering in front of a supply closet."

They waited 5 more minutes and Seungchae felt like she was holding her breath the entire time but no other ringers came around. Then a faint thunk was heard from inside the closet and the door opened. Hwan peeked out, grinned as he dangled a key in front of them. He looked a little ruffled from moving through the crawl space but no worse for wear.

"Nice going," Jian said as Hwan tossed him the key. Jian held it between his thumb and index finger, peering at it. It was different from most keys Seungchae had seen. It was a very thin cylinder with the teeth etched into the stick itself so that she shaft was the key.

"Exactly where I thought it would be," Hwan and Jian grinned at each other like they'd been doing prison breaks together all their life. 

Jian put an arm around both of them and hugged them close. "Let's go get Namsun."

~*~

"Hey Namsun," Hadon said. "You still there?"

"Yeah."

"You look different. Your clothes and everything. You act different too."

"Do I?" Namsun asked. He was too tired to protest to talk anymore, stuck in this cell. Namsun was leaning against the bars with his back to Hadon, and Hadon with his back to Namsun.

"Yeah." It was quiet for a bit. "We're not getting out of this one," he said.

"We're not?"

"They got all of us. It's the end of the line."

"Seungchae and Jian will save us."

"Maybe they will." It was silent for a while longer, long enough for Namsun to think the conversation was over and go back to his code, before Hadon spoke up again. "Hey, remember that time I kissed you?"

Namsun froze.

"Do you resent me for it?" Hadon asked.

Namsun stammered. "I-I-I d-don't-"

"It's okay. You can resent me if you want," Hadon said. "I probably shouldn't have done that, I knew you were getting married and I can't blame everything on the alcohol."

"I'm sorry," Namsun said. It was the only thing he could think of. He kept his eyes on the wall ahead of him.

"Nah it's okay. I happened." There was a pause. "I don't regret it."

"I don't regret it either," Namsun said softly. And he didn't. Well, not entirely. If he hadn't made out with Hadon at the bar that night he would never have known that he was gay. He would have married Noella and lived with that emptyness in his heart knowing something was missing but not knowing what. Or maybe he would have found out way later, years into the marriage, and everything would have crumbled anyway.  As much as he hated all of it and how it happened, even he couldn't stick his head in the sand far enough to delude himself that he would have been happy marrying Noella in the long run. Or that he would have been able to make her happy.

Maybe it was alright, talking to Hadon like this. When he went back through the portal Hadon would forget all about it anyway. In a way, Namsun wasn't really talking to Hadon at all.

"I'm sorry about avoiding you," he said. "It's just that it felt like you ruined my life. And I know that you didn't but that's what it felt like." He took a breath, he was never good at words. "And I was embarassed about it all. I just ended up making everything bad for everyone. I always ruined everything. And I thought that maybe i-if I disappeared then everyone can move on with their lives because it was all me. I'm the one who makes it awkward. I'm the one who ruined it all. S-so maybe Zhei can be friends with Noella again. And Noella can find another guy. And you can stop worrying about me all the time." His voice got very small. "And maybe everything would be okay."

"But now you remember me," Namsun said very softly.  There was a long silence. 

"Hadon?" Namsun asked after a while.

Still no answer. He turned around.

Hadon was gone.

"Hadon?" Namsun scrambled up. There was nowhere in that cell to hide but still he wasn't there. "Hadon?!" He felt panic welling up. Hadon had been here. He'd been in this cell and he'd remembered Namsun and they'd talked! But now the cell was empty.

"Hadon?!" Namsun yelled.

"Namsun!" Someone yelled. Seungchae and Jian and that guy from before whose name he couldn't remember came running in. Jian opened the door and Seungchae rushed inside and gave him a hug. Namsun hardly registered it.

"Where's Hadon?" he asked. "Did you see him?"

"Namsun are you alright?" Seungchae disengaged and checked him over.

"Have you seen Hadon?" Namsun repeated.

"Who's Hadon?" Jian asked. "Come on Namsun let's go."

"Your tech expert," Namsun said to the other guy. "Hwagyeong introduced me to Hadon and he was here in that cell but now he's gone."

"Who? I don't know any Hadon," the guy said, looking from Jian to Namsun in confusion. "We don't have a tech expert."

"Wait," Seungchae said. "I remember you mentioned him Hwan, when you were talking about communications back to the warehouse."

Hwan looked even more confused. "We've had a communications problem for a while," he said. "But we don't have anyone with the knowledge to even try fixing it. I've really never heard of anyone named Hadon."

"You have to," Namsun said. "He was right there. You have to!"

"I'm sorry Namsun, we don't have time for this." Seungchae pulled him out of the cell and Namsun followed in a daze. This couldn't be happening, how could Hwan not know Hadon? 

They ran past the other rebels behind bars without stopping. Namsun saw Hwagyeon asleep in the corner of her cell. Why weren't they helping them? Maybe Hadon escaped on his own and Namsun just hadn't heard him?

Hwan froze. "Mom?" 

There was a cell apart, a solid heavy door with only a small window, obviously made for more threatning prisoners. "Daehwan!" a woman behind the window said.

Hwan ran toward the door. "Mom hold on, I can get you out." He tried to lock on the door and swore, panic creeping into his voice. "It doesn't fit. Jian we have to go back for the other key."

"There's no time," Jian said. "It's almost 8:00 and you told me that's when the shifts change. The Cage will be fully staffed again. We have to go."

"He's right," Kwon said. "Get out."

"I can't just leave you!" Hwan said.

"You have to," She reached a hand though the bars and reached for his face. "Daehwan you have to. The best thing you can do for me now is live a good life. Promise me you won't do anything stupid. Promise me Hwan."

Hwan nodded, crying in earnest now.

"I love you, Hwan," she said gently.

"I love you too, mom," Hwan managed to croak through his sobs.

"Now get out," some of that steel that had been in her voice before, when they'd been dragged into her office, returned to her voice. A tone that brooked no argument. "Get your out of the Cage, Hwan, and don't let me see you here again."

"Come on," Jain put an arm around Hwan and lead him away toward the stairs.

Namsun looked back just before they rounded the corner to see Kwon still staring at them, chin raised and gaze steel. The woman scared the crap out of him, but here, now, Namsun admired her. And then they rounded the corner and she was gone.

~*~

The mood was tense as they exited the Cage. Hwan had been silent the entire way though to his credit he'd dried his tears and pushed on with iron resolve. Seungchae felt for him, he'd lost everything.

They didn't even bother avoiding the cameras anymore, as soon as they were out of this world they'd be forgotten anyway. What was the point?

Jian shouldered open the door to the building that housed the portal. It felt like days ago that they had stood up there and looked down upon this strange city in this new world. Now the sun was rising once more and nothing was the same.

Hwan was getting nervous, Seungchae could feel it. He kept looking around and opening his mouth to say something and closing it again. She didn't blame him. He was trusting them on a limb, without any proof that they were telling the truth, and leaving his home behind.

She squeezed his hand. "Wait until you see the Spire, it's amazing."

"Can I still come back?" he asked. "After going through this portal?"

"I don't see why not," Seungchae said. "The portals won't go anywhere."

"There wouldn't be anything to return to-" Jian said.

"I know," Hwan said. "They're doomed. But I just- I don't know."

"Whatever your reason, there will be a way back," Seungchae said gently.  Hwan smiled at her, grateful. 

"You're doing much more good coming with us than staying here," Jian said. "We can use someone as smart as capable as you if we're going to save everything."

Seungchae glanced at Jian. She knew he was hiding things. Hwan meant more to him that he let on and he was trying too hard to convince Hwan to come with them. Seungchae couldn't say she approved of how he was handling this. It ought to be Hwan's decision and his alone. Still she kept silent, she didn't want to argue, especially right now.

She let herself fall back and joined Namsun who'd been walking behind them. "How are you holding up?"

He made a noncommittal sound and shrugged.

She sighed. It was hard to talk to him. "It's alright to not be okay, you know. I would have been terrified in your situation. I'm sorry we weren't there with you."

"I'm not," Namsun said. "You would have been captured too and then we would not have been able to get out." He shrugged again. "I was alright in there."

"What about Hadon?"

"How could he disappear like that?" Namsun asked. "I want to believe that he might have made it out but I know it's not true. He disappeared."

"I don't know," she admitted. "There's a lot I don't know about all of this. Maybe the Keeper knows what's going on, we should ask him."

Namsun nodded and they climbed the stairs in silence.

It was a relief when the portal came into view. She would miss the beauty of this world, but that was the only thing she would miss. And maybe Hwagyeong. But she wouldn't be here any longer. Seungchae joined Jian and Hwan in front of the portal.

"There it is," Jian said. "One portal to another world to go." The portal sat innocently in the room, so very out of place.

"Where is it?" Hwan asked, looking around.

"Right there," Jian gestured at the portal. "Come on it's hard to miss."

"I don't see anything," Hwan said. Seungchae could see the panic forming on Hwan's face.

"What do you mean?" Jian said, frowning. He walked up to the portal and knocked on the frame. "It's right here."

Hwan shook his head. "There's nothing there."

Jian looked at Seungchae with worry. If Hwan couldn't see the portal, would he be able to travel through it at all? Had they given him false hope only to make him live in this world alone? And what about Pi? Had anyone actually tried to bring a Pi through?

Jian reached his hand for Hwan. "Take three steps toward me, there we go, and reach out your hand, there we go two more steps." 

Hwan approached the portal with outstretched hand, closer and closer, until he was in contact with the ripping surface. Or, more accurate, he should have been in contact with the rippling surface. His hand went right through, harmlessly.  "Am I close enough?"

"You're touching it," Jian said. He joined Hwan and put his hand through the portal and his disappeared. Hwan gasped and jumped back as half of Jian's arm just stopped existing. "It's right here," Jian repeated again uselessly.

"Stop right there and turn around slowly."

All three of them spun around and froze. There was a guy with his arm around Namsun's neck and a gun pointed their way. They'd been too fixated on the portal to notice anyone coming up behind them. Namsun's eyes were wide with fear.

"Ugh they never listen," the guy grumbled.

"You didn't give them a chance to see the gun," a girl beside him answered, rolling her eyes. "Of course they didn't listen."

"Alright, hands up you three, and no sudden movements," Another guy said from the back. His hands were in his pockets and he looked almost at ease, the face of perfect control.

They all put up their hands.

"Good morning," the guy in the back said. "My name is Kiro, I believe Malik might have mentioned me."

Seungchae and Jian looked at each other and shook their heads. 

Kiro looked annoyed, like he couldn't believe this. The guy holding Namsun snorted. 

"Wait," Seungchae said, noticing that they didn't look like anyone else from this world. "Are you the Zhu's goons or something?"

"QuSeF agents," Kiro said impatiently, his annoyance clearly growing. "We're QuSeF agents." Oh man were they in deep trouble if what Malik had said was true. And looking at these guys she had no problems believing how dangerous Malik had said these people were. "But something isn't right. One of you is not like the other."

Jian stepped closer to Hwan, protective. 

"Bingo," Kiro said. "You're not a Seeker are you?"

Hwan shook his head.

"That's okay we only need one of you anyway," Kiro continued. "I would have liked it to be Malik for old time's sake but this one here will do."

They guy holding Namsun rolled his eyes. 

"Let's talk about this," Jian said, taking a step closer to Hwan. "Nobody has to get hurt. Take me hostage and let my friends go."

Kiro shook his head. "That's where you're wrong. We can't just let you go. There are protocols for this sort of thing and they're not in your favour I'm afraid."

Seungchae glanced at the portal. Hwan hadn't seen the portal and Kiro didn't show any sign of being aware of its presence either. They agents didn't know that their means of escape was right behind them. But they'd have to leave Namsun. Could she leave Namsun? Could Jian?

Kiro nodded at the man holding Namsun hostage. "Kai, take him back to the camp. Hana will deal with these three."

The man - Kai - nodded and punched something in a small device. Then they were gone, just like the guy at the supply post. One second here, the next nothing but air. 

"Namsun!" Jian stepped forward but Seungchae put a hand on his arm, keeping him close to the portal.

The girl raised her gun. She looked apologetic but that wasn't stopping her from doing what she was going to do.

"Jian the portal," Seungchae whispered as she took a small step back. She could feel it against the back of her neck, the cold subtance. But as soon as she went these agents would know what's up. They had to do it together. 

But what about Hwan?

The girl raised the gun and Seungchae made a decision. She grabbed both Jian and Hwan and pushed them into the portal and dove after them.

A shot rang out.

Someone cried out in pain.

Seungchae fell onto the cold hard floor of the Spire, grunting at the impact.

She looked over and saw Jian bent over Hwan who was on the floor. For a split second she felt relief. They'd made it! Hwan had made it! And then she saw the blood.

author's note

I'd just like to say that you've got Katti to thank for this, she specifically requested one Hwan would die, she specificlaly requested this pls don't kill me ;A;

Also Lils is back so no more typos! :D