Wendy drops her backpack and runs out of the gymnasium at the speed of lightning, wasting no time in making her way towards one of the exits to the school.

 

She hopes Irene isn’t hurt, she hopes Irene returns to her unscathed and unmarked because there’s no telling what Wendy would do if otherwise. Teeth clenched and pupils frantic, she makes her way out of the school in hopes of finding any traces of Irene.

Wendy knows it’s too soon, but to her, it’s never too soon when someone’s life is on the line— especially when it’s Irene’s.

 

-

 

Wendy spends the whole day searching and turning every corner, always prepared to summon her sword if need be. Each passing minute is crucial— she can’t risk wasting time. Just as she is about to run off again, voices call out to her.

 

“Wendy!”

 

Wendy turns and sees the two troublemakers, still in their uniforms.

 

“What are you doing running around?! Get back home! It’s too dangerous!” Joy yells from a distance.

 

“Yeah! Shouldn’t Irene be with you?!” Yeri exclaims and it drives Wendy even further.

 

“You two hurry and return home! I will be alright, go!” Wendy replies with a smile and makes sure the girls comply.

 

She doubts Joy and Yeri can run into too much trouble— since they do live so close to where she’s currently standing.

 

Sighing in relief when they finally do so, Wendy turns back around and continues her desperate search for Irene.

 

The sun is soon to set— she’s pushing herself to hurry.

 

She ignores the cold creeping up her skin as she zooms through the street that eventually leads to Irene’s usually empty home.

The only difference today is that there is a car parked in the neat garage. Wendy’s mind rushes with things Irene has taught her.

 

‘Garages.’

 

Wendy remembers Irene informing that a car inside a garage means that someone is most likely home.

 

“Joohyun?!”

 

Wendy looks over, contrite when she sees silhouettes rushing past the wide windows. She hears doors swing open and objects crashing.

 

Worry. Panic.

 

Even more determined, she continues on her way.

 

Irene can’t be that far— Wendy hopes.

 

-

 

Familiarity. Suffocation. Wendy’s mind rushes with these two things when she feels a strange presence— no— presences. She can sense two presences--two very powerful presences up ahead and she has never been so excited.

 

And not the cheerful kind of excited. Whatever— or whoever is out there, she’s ready for them.

 

She always is. If she isn’t, she doubts she’d be able to face her father.

 

As Wendy runs further and further, the faint reverberation of metal clashing and clanging against each other can be heard, until it is faint no longer. Wendy halts and loosens up her fist before blue particles gather around it. They eventually phase into the wooden sword that Wendy clutches tightly with sharp silver eyes.

 

She sees glaring streaks of glowing silver run violently back and forth into each other in the dark, turning in all sorts of directions to gain dominance. Wendy can spot two frantic dark human figures controlling these swords as she takes slow steps forward.

 

The streetlights no longer work and the road is empty—most likely due to the fear of the people who have heard about the kidnappings.

 

“Where is the girl?!” a feminine voice exclaims with a ferocity so strong. Wendy halts as her eye twitches.

 

She finds the voice so, so familiar, but she just can’t seem to put a finger on whose voice, though it is at the tip of her tongue. A deep and low chuckle interrupts her thoughts.

 

“You can worry about the girl later,” the man says, swiftly lunging towards the girl with the sword pointed directly behind him. He takes a swipe. The girl intercepts it with her own sword, causing the two swords to slide noisily against each other and create a shimmer in between due to the incredible friction.

 

“So, is the girl over there a friend of yours?” the man asks and glowing orange eyes stare back at Wendy, seemingly floating as their owner jumps sideways to avoid the dangerous blade.

 

“No, but she will be when we kill you together,” the girl speaks, voice coated in venom as she holds her sword tightly in front of her. Wendy assumes this is her cue. She jumps off her heels and runs faster than ever towards the man dressed in black.

 

“Are females always such fools? You cannot hope to kill me with such measly skills.”

 

Wendy, with sharp eyes turns once and takes a swipe at the man. He shifts sideways and fends off Wendy’s sword with his own.

 

He’s incredibly calm, eyes half lidded and lips shut. Wendy’s eyes dilate greatly when she feels his sword aiming for her stomach.

 

Then the other girl jumps in, viciously going at the man at an alarming speed.

 

Wendy can barely keep up with the metallic noises and incredible velocity of the fight. The girl moves and aims in all different directions. The man follows her movements and grunts each time their swords make contact. Wendy holds on tight to her sword and goes after the man.

 

The man seems to never be off guard. Another sword appears in his free hand. He blocks both attacks coming from two different directions. Wendy’s blade immediately hardens and phases into a shining silver as soon as it comes in contact with the man’s sword.

 

Everything is still for the longest time.

 

“You really like giving me trouble, ey, Seungwan? I knew taking that girl would do the trick to lure you,” the man says, amusement on his face.

 

Wendy’s eyes are piercing and stern. She’s wondering who this man is. She presses her sword harder against his, but his strength prevents her from achieving her objective.

 

“Who are you?” Wendy asks in between gritted teeth. The tall man blinks and abruptly jumps backwards, away from the two girls that he feels that he underestimated entirely too much. Wendy can’t recognize where she's seen this man before.

 

“I am the one who will kill you, Son Seungwan,” he says and runs straight for Wendy, who also heads straight in his direction.

 

In a matter of seconds, their swords collide again. Wendy takes a strike, a , but her offense is slapped away immediately. Her sword turns metallic with each contact and encounter with his sword as she moves vigorously.

She parries his attacks by holding her sword horizontally against his. He is holding his sword vertically. He exerts more and more pressure to her sword. Wendy falls onto her knee as she struggles to get back up.

 

His eyes flit to the side when he feels the other girl rushing up behind him. He is swift on his feet, turning his torso to slide his other blade violently against the other girl’s. He simultaneously holds Wendy down with his other.

 

Then the three work strenuously; setting off sparks like fireworks in between their blades each time their blades make contact. The metallic retorts each time blades collide only drive them further.  Their sounds of struggles are becoming audible. The rhythm of the fight is incredibly challenging for Wendy to follow.

 

Perspiration is forming on her body as she has to use every muscle and limb in her body to attack and defend herself. Her body has to turn in all directions. It burns and strains her muscle, but she just has to get Irene back.

 

She can’t live with herself knowing innocent people got hurt because of her.

 

Blood pumps through her veins as if telling her to continue on.

She feels the vibrations in her sword’s hilt travel through her hand with each collision. She sees the look on the man’s face as he attempts to kill her.

 

It only brings back memories.

 

The memories where her mother and father had fought, only one coming out as the victor. Wendy is distracted, causing her reflexes to be delayed. The man’s blade slides harshly across her stomach and she barely manages to pull back farther away. It rips the abdominal area of her uniform as blood quickly seeps through her skin.

 

Her back slides down a tree as she grits her teeth and lays a hand over her wound. She lands on her bottom and struggles to prevent the wound from getting in the way of her fighting. Wendy watches the other girl fight the man, ferocious growls setting off perpetually.

 

Wendy admits. The other girl fights graciously although she is frantic. Her footwork and arm movements are smooth;  like a snake slipping through tight spaces. Wendy has no time to be thinking. She feels lucky the blade didn't go as deep. If she reacted just three seconds later, she would've been in trouble.

 

She waits until she’s sure the man is too tired to strike. Forcing herself to get up, Wendy heads back in. She dances past the swing of the man and cuts behind his knee, throwing him off balance temporarily.

 

Wendy wants the man to reveal his identity— she has no time to think about it. She’s about to land a blow on the man’s back, but she takes notice of the other girl again.

 

Wendy feels electricity and adrenaline rush through her veins as she makes eye contact with the other girl. It’s like time is slowing down as they move sideways in the same direction, the man frantic in between them.

 

Knowing full well that he won’t be able to kill the girl in black any time soon, he slides his feet against hers to trip her. He then turns around and exerts even more force to his sword as Wendy blocks it with her own.

 

Wendy is caught off guard by the amount of force he’s adding. Her abdomen is kicked and she is sent flying backwards towards the thick tree.

 

This isn’t so fortunate for her already injured stomach. He runs forward and she barely has time to think, resulting in her holding her hand out in a desperate attempt to block his attack.

 

His blade slides in between the flesh of her hand. The tip of the blade only appears again when it tears through her knuckles. Wendy howls in excruciating pain when the remaining parts of her hand touches the hilt of his sword. The blade slightly touches the tip of her scrunched up nose— she’s grateful the sword isn’t long enough. Her fingers curl up and the remaining muscle in her hand tense up.

 

Her hand is completely lacerated.

 

This isn’t a good sign for her— because the blade is entirely stuck in between her hand.

 

“!” Wendy screams as he raises his other sword. Her hand and abdomen are throbbing— she’s entirely too weak right now.

 

His attempt is intercepted. Blood gushes out as a blade runs through from his back to his stomach.

 

There is a silence before he looks at the blade held in between his intestines and falls to his knees. The mysterious girl swiftly draws her blade out. Blood drips down from the blade like rubies; dropping and splattering.

The girl is relentless. She grunts as she runs her blade across the man’s back, blood speckling all over Wendy’s face and uniform as she does so. The man groans and gnashes his teeth as the pain travels to his whole body.

 

The eerie sound of blood gushing out of the man reverberates inside Wendy’s mind like the ripping of her own flesh. She momentarily forgets the pain in her hand, until the man falls down sideways. She groans in pain as the sword shifts downwards in her hand.

 

The other girl takes the hilt of the man’s sword and quickly pulls it out from Wendy’s hand.

 

It doesn’t go without Wendy gritting her teeth and grunting loudly.

 

“Now tell me, where is the girl?!” the girl yells and turns the man on his back with her foot. Wendy sees the viciousness in the other girl’s eyes.

 

“Why are you so concerned over a human? Aren't you aware of what they have done to our kind? Us?”  the man asks, his voice nearly a whisper as he is too busy coughing up blood.

 

Wendy clutches her wrist, attempting to alleviate the pain. It’s futile. She can’t heal herself and she can’t attempt to cover up both wounds simultaneously.

 

“Tell me, you bastard, or else your family won’t be expecting you to come home anymore,” the girl says viciously and pierces through his thigh with the blade. He screams once more in agony, almost begging for her to stop, but he refuses to.

 

He doesn’t want to appear so pitiful.

 

“What’s more pitiful? That two parents will be unable to see their beloved son again or the fact that you have too much pride to even live for them?” the girl asks and pulls out her blade from his thigh. The man wails and and grits his teeth as he puts his hands over his thighs.

 

There is a long silence that follows as his teeth gnash.

 

“Just give me the ing girl and you’ll live!” the girl screams and holds the tip of her sword against his throat.

 

The man pants loudly as he lays his hand flat against the ground. He curls his fingers and instantly, a blue oval appears in mid air, a considerable height above the ground for it levitates over the surrounding houses. The oval lights up nearly the whole area.

 

Colors, smoke and small particles of gold float around the oval, which Wendy finds similar to the one she saw right before she entered the modern world.

 

The blue inside the oval float all over the place, making the black hole in the middle appear to be dilating and constricting(much like how Wendy’s eyes are right now.) Wendy automatically reacts when someone appears out of it falling and screaming. She gets up and runs in that direction, her arms outstretched hoping to catch the falling person.

 

The person lands into Wendy’s arms and Wendy lets out a suppressed grunt due to the pressure on her hand and stomach. She falls onto her knees as she holds the pe