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A/N: it's a double triple update so if you haven't read 'creator' & 'glimpse into her past' click back to read it first! [5/9/2017]

“Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you."
― Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye

She laughed, hearing him double over in defeat.

“Come on, you’re never going to catch up to me with determination that weak,” she said, throwing her head back in laughter again.

He looked up, waiting to catch his breath before he spoke.

“It’s not fair fighting against you. You know you’re more skilled than me in hand-to-hand combat.”

She shrugged her shoulders playfully. “That’s why I was assigned to train with you. What happens if you lose your weapon while in a fight with an Erratic? What would you do then?”

He scoffed, spitting out the blood from his mouth. “I can’t put myself in a situation I’ve never been in.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re always like this. Why are you so pragmatic? Think about it, if your agility wasn’t fast enough, you’d be dead..”

He stood up straight and cracked his knuckles. “I think I’m fast enough.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Not fast enough to beat me.”

“Why don’t we ever fight in the light? I can’t see anything.”

His eyes rounded when he felt the wind rush past his ears and he turned to the right, only to hear her voice cut in through the left ear.

“Because you’re afraid of the dark.”

He whipped his head to the left, only to feel someone tap his shoulder on the right and he growled, feeling more annoyed.

“So what? You’re using my weakness to fight against me?”

“No, I’m helping you get rid of your weakness. How would you become a perfect soldier with a flaw like this?”

“Not everyone is as perfect of a soldier as you are, Nari.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Jungkook. Everyone has the potential. Now, less talking and more fighting. If you can land a hit on me, I’ll consider it your win.”

“You’re on.”

Jungkook opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling of his sleeping pod. Sweat covered his face, and his breaths came out uneven.

He gulped, feeling an uncomfortable feeling rise in his chest as his head spun with old memories.

“How could I have forgotten someone so important?”

Nari had passed out in exhaustion in Taehyung’s arms after she cried her heart out. The loss of Baekhyun and the feeling of being able to tell someone the entire truth put a strain on her mentally. Taehyung had waited for her to finally close her eyes before carrying her back into the passenger seat, laying her down so she could sleep in a more comfortable position.

He closed the door, and made his way back to the driver’s seat.

He stared at her sleeping face and he softened.

“I’m sorry you had to carry the weight of the world on your own,” he whispered. He leaned his head back against the seat and looked out at the large body of water in front of him.

After hearing all that she had told him, he wasn’t surprised to see that there was still water bodies like this. He doubted the water was entirely free of chemicals and radiation, but it surely would have lessened in the harmful effects it had on the body.

He looked around. The trees here seemed brighter and greener, and he wasn’t sure if it was his eyes playing tricks on him but he could have sworn he saw something move in the forest. He gripped onto his gun, stepping out of the vehicle to investigate, in case it was an Erratic that had followed them.

He kept his gun pointed, walking towards the leaves that were rustling.

He almost dropped his gun in shock when he saw a brown critter run past his legs into another bush. His eyes followed the small movement and he tilted his head.

“Was that a rabbit?” he asked, his eyes wide in disbelief. He knew what they were, and the only time he ever saw them was in the labs in the Cover where the scientists worked to breed them in the farms so that there was meat on everyone’s plate.

From what he knew, there were no animals on the Surface aside from small rats that had escaped to the Surface through the tunnels connecting to the underground.

He returned to the truck, leaving the door open this time.

He set his gun down and he immediately got lost in his train of thought.

“What else about the Surface has he kept from us?”

Taehyung had been playing around with his communication device, trying to figure out how to dismantle it so he could remove the remaining batteries in it and fully shut it down. However, just as he unscrewed something, the screen powered on.

“,” he muttered, moving quickly to turn it off. His eyes widened when he saw all the unread messages from his crew members and with curiosity getting the best of him, he opened them.

The majority of them were them asking if he was safe, and where his location was. Saddened by the thought that they must have been extremely worried, he sat there for a few seconds, not knowing what to do. As much as he wanted to reply and tell them that he was alright, he knew he couldn't.

His eyes widened when he received a new message, and he was surprised, thinking they knew he had opened their messages. Although, there was no real way of knowing whether or not the message was received so he figured this must have been a rare coincidence.

Hey, I don't know if you'll ever see this but if you do, I just want you to remember someone named Nari.

She was our eighth member. She was the supposed traitor that we were sent to kill a few days ago. I don't know the full details as I'm only remembering bits and parts right now but you were the closest one in physical contact with her. Were you able to catch up to her? If so, I’m praying no harm has come to either of you. I don’t know if she remembers us but I have faint memories of recent encounters with her.

I don't know how I managed to forget everything about her. It feels as though nobody else remember her either. I don't know what's going on but I just needed to let someone know. I feel so bad that we all forgot about her. I don't think it it intentional but if I were given the chance, I want to her to know how apologetic I am.

Anyway, I hope you're safe and if possible, please respond. We're worried about you, Taehyung.

Taehyung placed the device onto his lap, his jaw dropping. He wanted to wake Nari up and ask her what he should do with this new information, but he decided against it when he realized she needed all the rest she could get.

Instead, he rewired the connection signal to a private server where the location of the message being sent could not be tracked.

He began writing his reply.

Jungkook, I am alive and so is Nari. We remember each other and have been supporting each other to keep one another alive.

And just in case you're worried it isn't actually me who's writing you, your ID number is JJ-970901. Only members of our unit would know that piece of information.

I'm writing you back because I don't want you to tell the others as they haven't remembered her. The Forerunner isn't who we think he is- he's been playing with our memories to make us forget about her after each time we've run into her. The Cover isn't as safe as we thought it was either. Our conversation may even be recorded so please, stay alert. That's why I'm writing to you using a private server.

There is far too much for me to tell you and it would be too much to take in right now.

Since you're the only one who remembers her right now, don't tell anyone else. Don't let the Forerunner know that you remember.

This may be too much to ask of you, but if you were given the chance, would you make your way to the Surface and join us? We need all the manpower we can get without it becoming too suspicious. After receiving your reply, I'll send you our exact coordinates. But as I said, you don't have to do this. You can send us information from inside the Cover and be our source instead.

Delete this message after you've read it.

Bye for now.

Jungkook stared at the screen and his eyes widened with each word he read. He was at a loss for words. He definitely did not expect a reply to come so fast, and at that, from Taehyung.

He shifted his body so that his back covered the small camera that he knew was installed inside his sleeping pod.

He quickly deleted the message, just as Taehyung had written him to do so. He put his device away and lay back down, making sure to close his eyes and pretend to have gone back to sleep. It would raise suspicion if he were to have randomly been checking his inbox late at night.

He lay there, still and quiet. His brain, on the other hand, ran rampant and he couldn't wrap his head around the message from Taehyung.

Asking him to leave the members behind to receive the answers to his questions seemed selfish but Taehyung was never the person to joke around when it came to serious matters. He turned to the side, knowing fully well he wouldn't be able to sleep at all tonight.

He had already made his decision and all that was left to do was to give Taehyung his reply tomorrow morning.

Nari had woken up after sleeping for a full 24 hours, and to her surprise, found Taehyung sitting by the docks with a makeshift fishing pole. She got out of the vehicle and walked over to see what he was doing.

“You're awake?” he asked, not bothering to look up from his fishing line. She walked over to sit beside him, dangling her feet off the wooden dock.

“How'd you know there was fish?”

He nodded his head in the direction of the forest. “I saw a rabbit run by. I think you left out the part where you were supposed to tell me that there's still wildlife.”

“I’m sorry, there was just so much to tell you that I must have forgotten pieces. I promise I'll catch you up on everything if you have any other questions. Have you slept?” she asked. She saw him shake his head. “I couldn't sleep. I had to stay on guard and frankly, after all the new information, I just couldn't sleep.”

She softened. “I'm sorry to have sprung this on you so suddenly.”

“No, I'm the one who should apologize. To think you had to shoulder all that on your own. Did Baekhyun know?”

Surprised by his question, she went quiet for a bit.  “Yes, he knew. He read all of Soohyuk’s research files. That was the reason he was exiled.”

They stayed there, neither of them wanting to break the silence.

“Nari,” Taehyung said suddenly, causing her to look up at him with questioning eyes. “Would you believe me if I told you that someone else remembered you?”

She blinked, unsure what he was really asking. “What do you mean?” He turned to look her in the eyes.

“I got a message from Jungkook. He remembers who you are.”

a u t h o r ' s   n o t e 

          I'm sorry if you guys are getting tired of seeing multiple notifications a day- I've just been really motivated to write recently so I wanted to take advantage of the fuel and write out more chapters. 

          Anywhoo, I hope you liked the chapter! See you in the next!