Baekhyun didn’t know what to do.

He watched as his teammates were being brought to God knows where, but he couldn’t just attack. Not when he knew that he would be going against his mother, not when he just found her. His heart beat wildly against their cages as he bit back a gasp when his teammates were being hauled away roughly and thoughtlessly. His eyes searched the area warily as he stealthily scurried past his mother’s allies. Looking around, his alert orbs landed onto the glass room in the middle of the platform, eyes doubling their sizes when he saw Kai being dragged out of the room.

“No…” 

His heart continued to pound frenziedly as he hastened his pace, eyes not moving away from his friend until the other was completely out of sight. He didn’t know how deep the building was, but for him to reach the common area only at this stage of the commotion, then the building could’ve been bigger than what he initially imagined when he walked through the halls. 

One by one, they cleared and got cleared until no one was left. It seemed to him like it was already decided who would’ve won. He read about the people on Zenn way before they were sent on this mission. Brutes, was what the books described them as. As much as they looked exactly like humans, they were nothing like us. These people were, almost indestructible. The air they breathed were the sole reason as to why they were cold and heartless. The molecules here weren’t like what’s produced on Earth.

Well, nothing is like Earth. It was surprising enough there was gravity around.

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“Oh my God, Shixun!” 

Baekhyun came sprinting from across the room, failing to see that his mother was also at the scene as he kept his eyes trained on his friend. “Shixun…” He breathed, realising that the girl was near unconsciousness. His hand went up to her forehead, brushing away the strands of hair that covered her forehead.

“Baekhyun, I told you to stay in the room!”

The man turned his head back at the familiar voice, “Mom? Why are you doing this!” Baekhyun asked, his voice filled with disappointment and disbelief. “How could you do this to her, I thought you said you’ve found the antidote!”

Baekhyun turned back to his friend not knowing how to stop things. Her face contorted in pain as ebony tracks gradually formed across her cheeks and coiled more around her arms.  

“Well, it came to me— to be more specific.” Boa flatly chimed as she shrugged nonchalantly. 

Baekhyun couldn’t even comprehend why his mother was acting like this, he thought they would finally be able to return with the antidote concoction but… 

“Baek… hyun…” Shixun croaked, her lips turning paler by the minute as the black lines crawled up to her collarbones. “Stop… this…”

Boa pushed her son away and stopped collecting any more blood from the girl. Of course, she didn’t want Shixun to die yet. She needed more than just four bags. Her son stood still as he watched in vain when she reached for an iron tablet from the drawers. 

“Baekhyun, don’t you want the world to be saved?” She whispered, landing a palm onto her son’s shoulder. “Don’t you want me to be saved?”

Boa sighed as she laid the bottle of tablets down onto the silver table, wrapping both her arms around her son. “Just, imagine. A world, free of this epidemic. Free of people fighting for stupid flower petals just to heal them of the pain they never asked for. A pain they never deserved.” She hummed and looked at her son, bringing his head up by his chin. “Imagine a world where we can finally be together. Be happy, together.”

Baekhyun looked away and sighed guiltily, wrapping his own arms around his mother’s. “I— want that.”

Boa gave a cheerful beam and let go of her son. She turned back to the silver table and took the bottle of pills before handing them over to her son. “Here.” The woman ed her chin towards Shixun’s direction, making sure that Baekhyun fully understood what he needed to do. 

The latter swallowed thickly and went to the other side of the room, filling a cup halfway with water before he dragged himself to Shixun’s side.

“Shixun…” He rasped, his sympathetic eyes met Shixun’s lifeless ones. “I’m sorry…”

The brunette didn’t have the energy to let out a cry anymore. Undeniably, that was what four bags could do to you. She didn’t think she was st