“Jessica!” Taeyeon rushed over to support her friend. Jessica appreciated the help and leaned onto her friend neck.

 

“I’m fine…” She managed to say in between her breaths. For a few seconds she concentrated on one point, trying to keep herself from falling into madness.

 

“Sica, you don’t have to force yourself,” Taeyeon tried her best to comfort her, knowing exactly what she was going through.

 

“I...I,” Jessica stuttered. Tiffany felt horrible for causing everyone to freak out and had no idea what to do. Luckily for her another person entered.

 

“I should just take today off,” the commander sighed as he helped Taeyeon with Jessica. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told her so bluntly,” he goes on. “She was out the door before I could warn her…”

 

“Yeesh, why are you so insensitive?” Taeyeon wondered aloud.

 

“Why are you so short?” He barked back.

 

“See, that is what I mean!”

 

The commander burst out laughing. “Don’t worry TaeTae, I still like you.” Taeyeon knew he was teasing her but blushed nonetheless.

 

“Let’s get Sica to sit,” Taeyeon suggested. Jessica was still conscious, but she didn’t respond to anything.

With relative ease they got Jessica to sit on one of the chairs present in the room.

 

“Tell me what’s going on,” Jessica was breathing heavily and demanded answers. If there was indeed a chance that Yuri could be still alive she had not a moment to lose.

 

Nobody took initiative and silence prevailed in the room. A few glares were exchanged between Tiffany and the commander, but neither of them knew how to tell Jessica that they knew as much as she did.

 

“Well?” Jessica pressed on, having slightly recovered from her initial shock.

 

“We don’t know anything besides Tiffany waking up surrounded by Dragor.” The commander eventually said. “It would appear that Tiffany has lost most, if not all, of her memories. We were lucky Taeyeon spotted her when she and I were on a patrol, otherwise Tiffany might’ve been dead.”

 

“What do you mean ‘when I spotted her’?” Taeyeon asked surprised by what the commanded had just said. She had no idea that the woman she saved that day was in fact Tiffany.

 

“Remember the girl you saw two days ago? That was her,” the commander gave a nod to Tiffany.

 

Unable to hide her bewilderment, Taeyeon hid her face behind her hand.

“Then what about Yuri?” Jessica tried to get up but failed miserably and crashed back down on the chair.

 

“I honestly do not know.” The commander fell silent.

For the first time in all the time that Taeyeon had spent at the base, she saw the man struggle with uncertainty. Whereas usually the man was so decisive, he now appeared lost.

 

“But if Tiffany’s here alive, then that must mean Yuri is still out there!” Jessica exclaimed perturbed by the possible fact that Yuri has been suffering alone somewhere outside all this time. Once again she tried to leave her seat, but this time the commander held her down.

 

“Listen, going after her alone isn’t going to do you any favors. You’ll most likely end up wounded if not worse. We have to look for her with systematically while we try to return Tiffany’s memories.”

 

“But-”

 

“No, I won’t allow it. I know you want to go through this alone and I’ve let you wander off by yourself for quite a while now, but it’s time to return to us now. Same goes for you Taeyeon.” His face was stoic and stern, showing the girls that he wasn’t fooling around this time. “I want you three in my office in about 20 minutes. We’ll discuss this with the others present.”

 

“They have nothing to do with this,” Jessica murmured in her resulting anger from having to stay at the base. The commander jerked around, his eyes shooting fire.

 

“They have nothing to do with this?” he repeated her, “Have you been isolated so long that you forgot the friendship you guys shared? Wasn’t Yuri as much their friend as she was yours?”

 

Jessica knew she was wrong on this one and stared at her feet embarrassed. Of course the others were just as much a friend to Yuri as she was, but Jessica would like to say that she and Yuri were closer than with each other than anyone else. Maybe she misshaped their relationship in her head after Yuri had died… A awful thought crept up in Jessica’s head. What if Yuri actually didn’t like me at all?

 

“Twenty minutes,” the commander tapped on his watch and left the room.

 

As soon as the commander was out of sight Jessica sprung up and launched herself at Tiffany, bombarding her with questions. “Can you really remember nothing? Was there another girl with you? How are you feeling? Can you remember your name? How did you survive? How did you even eat?”

 

“Jessica!” Taeyeon roared, much to Tiffany’s surprise, “Will you calm down? She knows nothing. All she can tell you is how she woke up with nothing but Dragor staring down at her and how she got herself from that field to where we are now.”

A tense stare ensued between Taeyeon and Jessica, only for Jessica to sigh and give in. No one was ever going to win a stare battle with Kim Taeyeon.

 

“Fine.” She took her hands off Tiffany’s shoulders and crossed her arms. “Are you two going to volunteer to look for Yuri?”

Her question left Taeyeon insulted and she merely nodded. “I think that’s a given. I can’t decide for Tiffany though.”

 

“I’m in!” Tiffany declared a bit too enthusiastic.

 

“But…” Taeyeon’s eyes ran along Tiffany’s body, “can you fight?”

 

 “Eh… I have high heels I can stab them with?” Tiffany rubbed her chin as if thinking hard.

 

“So you can’t fight,” Taeyeon concluded, “we’ll need to teach you how then.”

 

“Let’s save that discussion for later,” Jessica scraped , tied her hair in a pony and went for the door. “First we have a meeting to attend and I need to change my clothes.” With that she left the room.

 

Tiffany and Taeyeon decided to drop the matter for the time being and carried the rest of Taeyeon’s stuff into room number seven. They finished just before the meeting and hurried off to the office of their commander. There was nothing he hated more than waiting on latecomers.

 

 

*

 

The meeting had gone smoothly besides the fact that everyone had to be calmed down for the first ten minutes in light of Tiffany’s sudden resurrection. The possibility that Yuri was still alive sent a newfound determination through the girls. Instead of mindlessly trying to defend themselves from the onslaught, they now had the feeling they could actively pursue a goal; a goal that would mean going straight up against the Dragor. So when the commander asked who would like to volunteer in the search, everyone stuck a hand up in the sky. Even Tiffany, who had just discovered her inability to fight, was eager to participate. She had seen the Dragor closer than anyone and while she had no direct experience of their cruelty, she sensed a strange moral obligation to cleanse them of the earth. The commander was very pleased with the turn-out and divided the group into several teams. Every day a different team would scavenge the surroundings and look for tracks that may lead to the discovery of Yuri. In total there were three teams. At first glance it was decided to split the group into partners of two, but since Tiffany was really no help at all, the commander decided to make two groups of three and one group of two. Sooyoung, Hyoyeon and Sunny formed team one; Taeyeon, Tiffany and Jessica team two and Yoona and Seohyun team three. The first to head out would be team one, then team two and  then team three.

They had all agreed to take the rest of the day off for preparations for their new mission and they had scattered not long after.

 

Jessica was quick to separate herself from the pack to study some more whilst the rest argued on who should fight who in a practice fight.

 

“Come on, fight against us Tae,” Sooyoung tried to get Taeyeon to accept a duel.

 

“Not a chance. Besides it is late already, you should rest.” Taeyeon wasn’t the girl who would turn down an invitation to beat someone to pulp, but this accepting this would just be ridiculous. Jessica had ran off, Tiffany didn’t know how to fight and she herself was only a master in taking down her opponent if there was at least 500 meters between them. Even though Taeyeon’s close quarter skills were top-notch as well, she most certainly wouldn’t stand a chance against the agility of Sooyoung combined with the brute force of Hyoyeon. Not to mention the support techniques of Sunny.

 

“Ah come on!” Sooyoung pouted and set up her big eyes.

 

“Those puppy eyes may work on Sunny or Hyoyeon, but please contain yourself,” Taeyeon scoffed and turned around. “So not gonna happen.”

 

Sooyoung gave up on Taeyeon and tried to get Tiffany to agree instead. However when she looked at Tiffany, Fany just shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to fight against Seohyun and Yoona then.” Seohyun and Yoona immediately ran off, not looking to fight against the trio.

 

“Tsk, we’ll just spar on our own then,” Sooyoung turned around to face her teammates, but Sunny and Hyoyeon were chatting further down the hall and making their way to the canteen.

 

“Hey!” With her arms swinging wildly Sooyoung dashed after her friends.

 

“Fany, let’s go!” Taeyeon called from further ahead.

 

In no time Taeyeon and Tiffany reached the hallway to their rooms. Tiffany was about to open their room when she noticed that Taeyeon walked right passed it.

Instead of signaling Taeyeon that her room had changed since a few hours ago, she let the girl discover that herself to get a good laugh.

 

“What in the world?” Taeyeon blinked dumbfounded at her empty room.

 

“Taeyeon, really?” Tiffany giggled as she reminded the shorty that her room had changed to number 7. Taeyeon frowned with confusion before finally recalling the events of past afternoon. Without saying another word she closed the door to her room.

 

“Just checking if I didn’t forget anything,” she tried to explain, but Tiffany just laughed it off.

 

“Sure thing, hon,” Tiffany said before realizing that she actually called Taeyeon honey. She might had lost her memories, but her personality hadn’t changed.

 

“For real!” Taeyeon squeaked at Tiffany’s comment.

 

“Yes, yes I believe you,” Tiffany replied trying her best to hold in a chuckle.

 

“Just open the room, will you?”

 

“Fine,” Tiffany opened the door and they went inside the pink palace. Taeyeon wandered across the room, picking up various items from various places.

“How did you get this room so pink? I mean you have just arrived here.”

 

“I always find a way to get to my pink,” Tiffany smiled.

 

“No ,” Taeyeon kicked off her shoes and dropped herself on Tiffany’s bed.

 

“Hey!”

 

Taeyeon still hadn’t showered from her trip and there was still some lost mud lingering on her body and Tiffany rather not have all that mud on her bed.

 

“What?” Taeyeon lifted her head up, her eyes sleepily looking at Fany.

 

“You should take a shower first.”

 

“I should, shouldn’t I?” Exhausted from the payload her mind had to receive this day, Taeyeon slandered towards the closet. Not paying any mind to Tiffany, she took out her pajamas and some comfortable .

 

“No bra?” Tiffany dared to ask.

 

“You also don’t sleep with a bra on, as far as I know.” Taeyeon got a hold of her sweater and pulled it over her head, leaving her only with her jeans and bra. The air got heavy and Tiffany’s world narrowed down to one figure: The girl standing in front of her. Way too obvious she ogled Taeyeon to her heart’s consent. She was beyond beautiful. The way her blonde hair fell across her shoulder and covered her ; How her pants tightened around her fine behind as she went for the lower shelf; how her dark eyes tried to seek Tiffany every time Tiffany wasn’t looking, even the way the mud clung to her silken hair making her appear o so tough. Tiffany barely knew the girl, for as far as she knew, but deep inside her something clicked. Something told her this girl before her was more than just an ordinary girl to her.

 

“You’ve seen me like this before, you know?” Taeyeon smirked referring to her bare upper body.

 

“Hm, what?” Tiffany’s trance was broken and she was left confused. Taeyeon just rolled her eyes and got herself into the bathroom. As soon as Tiffany heard the water running, she went for Tae’s rifle.

 

“Don’t touch the rifle, Fany.” Next to the bathroom door stood the still partly clothed Taeyeon. “I forgot my towel.”

 

“O yes, here,” Tiffany grabbed a pink towel from within hand’s reach and handed it over to her.

 

“Thanks, hon.” Tae smirked, using Fany's words against her. She then turned around again to get back into the shower. “Don’t you have to take a shower too?”

 

“What?” Tiffany bit her lip at the thought of showering with Taeyeon, “yes I do.”

 

“Then I’ll hurry up,” and she disappeared.

 

What?

 

Tiffany stood with open mouth, feeling robbed of a very good opportunity. But I barely know the girl I shouldn’t feel this way. She gritted her teeth together. Maybe I’m just too dirty minded.

Still she wanted to repay Taeyeon’s tease. She had a feeling that the girl knew very well what she had implied just before.

 

“Yah, Tae!” Tiffany called out.

 

“What?” The response was muffled by the sound of clashing water.

 

“I look forward to your private lessons!”

 

A silence.

 

“I mean if I’m going to have to fight-”

 

“I know what you meant!” Taeyeon barked right back before murmuring: “I’ll try my best.”

 

Satisfied with her reaction Tiffany giggled and laid herself sprawled on the bed. A yawn left and she started to have trouble keeping herself awake. The scent of shampoo and the comfort of the steam that was stemming from the shower made her mind hazy. A moment later she awoke to a water droplet hitting her on the head. Ever so slowly she opened up one eye and saw Taeyeon’s face hovering above hers, her hair still wet from the shower.

 

“Yah!” Tiffany crawled to the back of the bed.

 

“Sleepyhead,” Taeyeon accused, “it’s your turn to take a shower now.”

 

As if fate had decided that Tiffany wasn’t enough, Taeyeon had departed the shower with nothing but a towel wrapped around her body. Her mounds were very visibly poking through the towel and her wet hair curled downwards to her back, dripping water on their carpet.

 

“Don’t you need to put on some clothes first?” Tiffany’s chest was acting weird and she knew she had to distance herself from this scenery. Otherwise, things might very well go terribly wrong.

 

“I'm going to. Don’t worry, I’m not a -sleeper,” Taeyeon laughed her adorable laughter and placed her pajama on her bed, ready to get dressed.

 

“Alright, I’m going to take a shower then.” Within seconds she had gathered her own pajama and towel. The next moment she stood under pouring warm water, desperately trying not to rub her ia with soap for so long that it would become indecent.

 

To be continued...