This was the beginning to the end.

            Sena was being escorted on a wheelchair to meet her Grandfather. She relaxed back, her face vacant of any emotion, but she glanced to her left and right for any escape route possible. Jongin was pushing her from behind, rigid and restless after Sehun’s call. It should happen any minute now. Judging from the urgency in his voice, Seiryuu’s armies had probably entered the Byakko territory. They couldn’t possibly be caught up in the air, could they?

            Jongin knew the air force as well as Sehun. They had been trained in the field before, but only barely. He had an idea what the attack would be, though Sehun never specifically mentioned it. Behind him, four Shadow fighters stood. Three others were guarding Grandfather and Yoon Sohee in the other room. He knew it was almost impossible to kill all four Shadow fighters with his strength and tactics alone – no matter how gifted he was. But he could try and injure them, and if he was lucky enough, he would escape with Sena and stall time before the rescue team arrived. However, if he wasn’t, Sena would have to rely on herself to survive.

            Crash! Jongin’s eyes widened. This was the sign. He didn’t wait for the four Shadow fighters to react before kicking them all at once by gripping tightly onto Sena’s shoulder for support. The girl was finally wide awake, no longer pretending that the drug was still effective. She stood up from her wheelchair and stepped back a few steps as Jongin kicked and punched around, four to one. She frantically looked around, feeling the heart pounding against her chest as if it would burst out anytime soon.

            Sena swiftly pulled out a dining knife, one that she collected from her daily meals, and threw it at Jongin. The four other Shadow fighters were so used to fighting with blades, while Jongin was getting slashed all over with bare-hands style. Not three minutes into the fight and he was already panting heavily with gushing wounds all over his arms and face. The two of them were clearly at a very disadvantageous position right now, but both were not willing to back down without a good fight.

            Sena wanted to help, but Jongin pushed her to the back with a loud growl, “Run away, you idiot! What did I tell you?!”

            She stammered back and hit the wall because of the sudden push. She looked at the empty corridor hopelessly and began to run, looking for a way out before Jongin was completely beaten down. If he wanted her to escape, then they must go together. No matter how cruel he was to her, she wasn’t so heartless to leave him behind.

            Jongin wasn’t always good with knife-handling – not as perfectly as Sehun would have, but he had a fighting style of his own. He was not graceful or extremely agile like Sehun, but when he swung it around, the knife was meant to kill. He could not finish off all four, but his first jab landed on one Shadow fighter’s neck. Jongin twirled it to cut deeper and slashed it off. Blood splattered all over him and onto the other remaining three, who quickly became agitated by his provocation.

            Shadow fighters were mindless inhumane creatures created from a combination of human and animal genes. They fought tirelessly, without taking a break and without sweat. They didn’t know pain or fear, they only know how to strike the enemy down with their pointy blades. Every movement was precise and calculated. Killing one was a lucky strike, but the other three made it difficult by teaming up three-to-one against him. Jongin did a somersault to the back to catch a quick breath and wipe off the forming sweat.

            Fifteen minutes since the first attack, but no one had come down to help them yet. Sena was starting to get restless by the unusual silence in the basement level. When she turned back to call Jongin to catch up, she was lost. The corridor changed its route like an automatic maze that moved once every hour. She let out a loud curse and looked at the intersection that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. How much of a maniac was her Grandfather to design something as neat and freakish as this?

            “There you are, Sena,” Sohee appeared with a gun in her grasp. She wore a loose tank top and jeans that showed off her body. There was a small, sarcastic smile on her fair face, in contrast to her usual goody two-shoes act. Sena whipped around with an angry hiss and faced her. All the emotions she built up for the last two years threatened to explode when she looked at the gun being pointed at her head.

            “Very funny, Yoon Sohee. Drop the gun. Why are you alone? Shouldn’t you be somewhere down there with Grandfather? Or is he dead now?” Oh how she wished he was. Sena wouldn’t have to deal so much with the man of everyone’s nightmare, though she did wish to kill him off with her own hands – with the hands trained to be soaked in blood and tears. There was no weapon in sight, and even if she did have a knife, she wouldn’t be able to utilise it in the face of a gun.

            “Still got a big mouth, Cousin. Maybe that’s why Jongin left you in the first place,” Sohee sneered heartlessly. Her eyes darted onto Sena’s hands, clenching and unclenching from anger. She thought that the girl deserved whatever was coming at her. If she died, everything would finally fall onto place. She, Yoon Sohee, would be the leader of the Seiryuu, as was written by fate and supported by Sang Hyun. She was more befitted for the position than the weak, wimpy Sena who knew nothing but spoke of bulls and cried. She was so sure she would be a better leader than Sena ever would be.

            “Maybe that’s why you’re about to die in a few moments, ,” Sena hissed and purposefully moved around so that the bullet missed her head but hit the waist. It was not life-threatening, but it still hurt like ing hell. This was the second time that she was shot by guns, and each time hurt more than the last. She didn’t remember such pain when the bullet hit her two years ago – presumably because she was so ready to die then. But not now. Sena had another reason to live on, and it no longer revolved around Jongin.

            “Don’t talk so high and mighty when you are the one dying, face!”

            Sena clutched onto her wound and fell down in a quick, painful thud. There was nothing movie-like when it happened, unlike what she imagined it to be. Sohee sighed happily and dropped the gun on the floor. She grinned at her and approached quickly as Sena started closing her eyes with her breathe slowing to a stop. Both of them had waited for this moment, and for a completely different reason, too. Sohee fisted her palm and held Sena by the head all too happily.

            It was in that moment that Sena chose to strike her down. She wasn’t strong enough to stand up and do a perfect kick, but she could deliver a solid punch. That threw Sohee off-guard. Sena didn’t bother waiting for Sohee to recover from the surprise attack and crawled towards the gun, shooting both her legs down and pointed it at her forehead. Hands trembling in the excitement of a finality, Sena spoke with surprisingly clear voice for someone so badly wounded, “You shouldn’t have underestimated me.”

            She pulled the trigger, “Goodbye, .”

            Bang! It was a clean shot. Blood flew out like waterfall. The once-white corridor was now painted red. It was a beautiful hue that resembled sunset’s red. She fell down gracefully, eyes wide in shock. Even in the moment of her death, she still looked beautiful, and ironically, the smile plastered on her fair face was the only sign that showed her excruciating death. Of all the persons in this whole world, she never expected the weak, fragile Sena to be her murderer, and with a weapon she brought herself.

            With that shot, Sena, too fell on the ground once again in pain. She had used every bit of her last strength to pull the trigger at Yoon Sohee. And now she was just a shell with a wound. She could not die. She didn’t plan to end her life so soon when her whole revenge plan was just starting to work. There was still Luhan, who depended on her with his life. Taeyong, one of the few whom she could consider a best-friend. Sehun, her sweet, unpredictable Sehun who was yet to hear a farewell from her. And then there was Jongin. She needed to live on to hear the truth.

            “What are you waiting for? Lift her up and bandage her! She cannot die!” Her Grandfather chose to appear at the most unlikely moment with three Shadow fighters on his side and a few more servants. He looked healthier with blood supply as he no longer looked sickly pale and needed a wheelchair to support him around. He was standing with his suit, looking impeccable as ever.

            Some of the servants moved Sohee up, only to find out that she had completely stopped breathing for a while now. She could not be resurrected and healed even with a miracle. Sena, on the other hand, was still struggling with her wounds. Sang Hyun saw hope in his granddaughter and immediately ordered his men to save her. She saw no point in rebelling anymore as Sehun would surely come soon to take her home.

            Home. She missed it so much she wanted to cry. She didn’t know how to count days since she arrived here because she constantly slipped in and out of consciousness. She missed Luhan’s kind words, Taeyong’s sarcasm, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s humour, and most of all, she missed Sehun. Sehun and all of him. She wanted to see him right now – so, so badly. This was not the life she imagined to be, without all of her friends by her side.

            They bandaged her wound, as best as they could since no doctor was around at the moment. Sang Hyun was shouting incoherent words she could not comprehend. There was more and more shouting in the empty corridor. He wanted to bring her and escape before others found them in the basement. Sena’s only hope was Jongin, but how many times had he killed off her expectation on him? She could no longer believe in him.

            And yet here he came. With all his ferociousness, all bloodied and beautiful still. A single tear finally dropped onto her cheeks, mixing into the sweat on her face. Kim Jongin who had broken all his promises was still here, fighting for her. Should she continue hoping even when her future seemed so bleak? Why, then, that every time she saw him, she still felt the bitterness and pain of her broken heart from two years ago? She still remembered all the words he ever said – all the lie he ever told. It still hurt, more than the wound on her waist, more than any other thing she could possibly thought of.

            Why are you here? She wanted to ask, why didn’t you come sooner?

            She felt so useless when everyone else was fighting for her. Wounds bleeding profusely, lying on the bed, immobile after a gunshot. She could only watch Jongin fighting their ways out with all he had – a knife and his bare hands. But Yoon Sang Hyun was not a feared dictator for nothing. After all, he trained with the Suzakku for years and led the family of Seiryuu to be a respected clan amongst the four. He was not only smart and cruel, he was also strong.

            As someone trained under him before, Jongin knew Sang Hyun very well. He was fighting with three Shadow fighters and at the same time, he kept his eyes on Sena and her Grandfather at the corner. Not once did he detect any fear or doubt on Sang Hyun’s face and it unnerved him endlessly. He knew. He had to know that Jongin’s loyalty no longer lied with him, and yet he showed no reaction. Something was wrong here.

            “Kim Jongin, Child, stop this. I thought we have an agreement,” Sang Hyun raised his hands in a pacifying gesture, as if the world was fine and good. Jongin loathed that most, because he was a demon behind that façade – merciless and terrifying. Even the usually fearless Jongin was very careful around this man.

            “We never had an agreement, er. What we had was a slavery!” He yelled and kicked off the Shadow fighter to the ground. His eyes were red, and so was his face, partly from blood and excitement. He was born ready for a fight, eyes on the battlefield the whole time no matter how bad the situation looked. He did glance worriedly at Sena, only to find her shot and half-conscious from the pain. His heart felt the suffering she went through, and he was momentarily distracted by the sight.

            “Slavery? So what you have with Sena is not slavery? Think it through, Jongin. You are not usually so reckless. We all know the taboo of the Four Gods: there must be no romance between the leader and her protectors,” Sang Hyun calmly reminded, hands reaching to the back for a gun. “Come with me and I’ll make sure that the two of you would never have to face the wrath of the world anymore. You can fall in love with each other, get married, have lots of kids. We don’t have to come down to this, Jongin.”

            Sena wanted to speak. She wanted to slap him from whatever reality he wanted to create. Yoon Sang Hyun was insane.

            Jongin waited for the Shadow fighter to come back up and tackled him down, and in that moment, another gunshot rang in the air. Sena closed her eyes in fear, then opened them again to see what was happening and who was the next to die from the shot.

            “Sehun…” She whispered faintly as hundreds of people suddenly rushed into the scene, armed with weapons. Finally…