Luhan had not been outside for trivial things in a while.

What he considered trivial was anything but a mission. Everything else in his life was always dull and meaningless. He frowned a little and recalled that it had, indeed, been a few months since he went out alone. Other times it was always work. Sometimes, it still shocked him that he could just sit lazily and stared at nothing. He had always been observant – given his ability, he had to be. So as he sat in the rooftop, listening (eavesdropping, really), he watched the ships came and went, and the lights slowly came alive in the darkness of the night. He found these common occurences in human’s life extremely beautiful.

Not long after, he saw Sehun’s silhouette from across the street, standing there solemnly with a face that was neither warm or cold. He looked up to meet the older man’s eyes, and silently nodded, acknowledging his presence in the rooftop. Sehun’s position in the group of thirteen was always unique. Together, they were a deck of card, from Ace to King. Suho was the King, Luhan was the Jack, and Sehun was that Ace. Which meant that the three of them were rarely ever called for anything superficial, and only attended important, highly dangerous missions. So it made no sense to Luhan that Sehun appeared here instead of New Mexico. He was always aloof and solitary, always having troubles with ‘obligation’ and ‘regulations’.

It did not occur to him at all that Sehun would be here on his own accord. Originally, Sehun was not part of the six members for this New Mexico mission. He ‘accidentally’ replaced Kris’ position in the team after an incident occurred that Kris was required to tend to, and at that time, Sehun happened to be very much free. He wanted to attend and observe the new girl with his very own eyes. Because something about her seemed intimately familiar to him, given that her ability reminded him of someone he didn’t want to remember. Or maybe, just maybe, he did find her first impression pretty favourable, in spite of the peculiar way she had shown up.

Luhan looked at the force field surrounding the house and tampered it a little. He signalled with a hand to Sehun that the moment the Shield wore down, they would be exposed immediately. The first crack would not be as noticeable, but the second layer would take a longer time to shred, and the man inside would be alarmed by the sudden drop of force field. The later merely withdrew his gaze and focused on the house. His fingers were constantly moving, controlling the wind as they brought the hushed whispers to his ears. The house was quiet when he arrived, and now it was dead silent.

“Luhan…” Sehun spoke up, but before he had the chance to, a gun missed its shot by his right ear. He in a deep breath and turned to the direction where it came from. At that moment when they faced each other, the temperature seemed to have dropped a few degrees, especially when he saw that tall, wolfish looking man stood protectively in front of Jung Sera. The girl didn’t look too frightened. Her lips were pressed into a thin line – neither a smile nor a frown. Her eyebrows furrowed as she glanced at him. Sehun blinked and narrowed his eyes at the two of them. “It was you who took my power away?”

Luhan landed on the ground gracefully. Sera clearly wasn’t very helpful in situations like this. The girl should have known better that no matter where she went, or how much freedom Suho had promised would be given to her, she would always be tailed by someone from the organisation. She was bound to be caged her whole life because of her ability – something he had learnt to accept a long time ago. Sera folded her hands and pushed the tall man aside, seemingly unfazed by the tension between, “Don’t harm him. He’s my friend.”

“You tampered my Shield, so I broke down your defences. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and evil for evil. I think it’s a fair deal,” Daniel replied calmly. His left hand was still holding on the gun tightly just in case they refused to surrender. Sera knew what Daniel was capable of. Had worked with him on several occasions. She knew that his ability wasn’t one to be trifled with, especially for Transcendentals like them. He was one of the core member of the Rebel, as well as a very close confidante of the Heir to the throne. She wouldn’t usually care for fights between people – after all, she was always the one who caused troubles. But she owed Sehun a life and she wanted to repay him somehow.

“Daniel, please,” She whispered and tugged at his sleeve. Luhan had mistaken it as a sign of fragility and a hint of surprise touched his gaze. He had met Sera thrice before and knew that she was stubborn and cold-blooded. She had shown tendency to psychopathic behaviour, but then again, a lot of intelligent people did the same under interrogation. This was the girl who had killed millions, and yet, at this very moment, she was polite and vulnerable – not at all a resemblance of a killer with deadly ability. “Sehun has saved me before. I will talk to them.”

A hint of amusement appeared in Sehun’s blank eyes. “You’re expecting me to let this slide?”

His voice was cold and distant, but Sera knew there was an underlying threat behind those uncaring eyes. He was captivating with his smile, his lips curling up a little in an overbearing manner. Having experienced such fear and intimidation from an early age, she shuddered a little when she saw the confidence he faced them with. As if he knew there was no way he would lose. Daniel frowned a little when he saw the way Sehun stared at Sera. “Are you sure you want to? These two don’t look like the type to negotiate with anyone.” A cough from the girl, followed by a disdainful snort from him. “They certainly don’t look like they’re here for your explanation, either.”

“Daniel,” Sera warned. One word and Luhan could sense the familiarity between the two. They looked like siblings protecting each other, but then again, there were never any platonic friendship between different genders. At least one party was bound to fall in love, and as such, the ambiguity remained between the four of them, tainted by confusion and suspicions. Luhan contemplated for a long time when he saw the two of them speaking through their eyes. He could see the barcode on his neck, but couldn’t quite tell the numeric sequence on it. “Sera, is this guy your acquaintance from the Rebel?”

For each Rebel’s core members, a barcode would be tattooed onto the skin as a reminder. A life-and-death sentence, so to say. A prisoner mark. He had seen it on a few other people before, excluding Sera, because her tattoo was hidden in the most private part of her body, hence allowing her to disguise and guard herself better against most people. For a lot of international organisations with strong backing, they would know not to mess with anyone with a barcode tattoo from that organisation. Although they were illegally assembled and no one knew who they truly were, it was still a mark of recognition and a force to be reckoned with.

“Give us a second, Luhan,” Sera raised her hand, then added in carefully, “Please.”

* * *

I didn’t wait for either of them to approve or disagree. I still felt that my own privacy was to be respected at all circumstances, and while they had the curiosity to question me, I also had my own right to keep silent. I dragged Daniel further away to the back of the house, where he put up his Shield once more to make sure that our conversation remained confidential. “Hey, Dan, remember the time I ran away from the headquarter once and for all? Remember the things I told you back then?”

“About our promise?” He asked, seemingly a little unsure of what I wanted to say. I squeezed his shoulder roughly to prevent him from leaking any more information, because there was no guarantee that this Shield wasn’t tampered by Luhan like what he did before. Daniel flinched, and I shook my head to give him a fair warning to keep his mouth shut. “I have to go very soon, Dan. As you know, work is pretty hard to come by and I do need money to survive. It’s a shame that I won’t be able to stay longer, but please be careful. Don’t let that man knows more than he should.”

“What business do you have with those obedient dogs from the Union, Sera? Are you working with them now? Because you need money?” He asked with a critical tone and I caught the hint. My eyes coldly swept over his face as I released my hand away from his shoulder. He opened his mouth and closed it, and regret seemed to wash all over him. “You know that’s not what I meant. If you need money, I can always find you a job. Haven’t you been freelancing just fine? Why do you attach yourself to the Union all of a sudden? They’re terrible news for Rebels like us.”

“Don’t you think I’ve considered that part?” I stood up and dusted the invisible dirts away from my jeans. Daniel was far taller than I was, but he willingly bent his knees to match my height just to look directly at me. He brushed away the unwanted fringe from my eyes. “Have you?” He asked. He was unwaveringly, almost scarily too calm sometimes. Though he used to be a loud-mouthed, fearful little boy who was too afraid of the world, he grew to be more aloof and indifferent over times. I nodded, “I have thought about it when they gave me the offer. The Union, all in all, is not much different than the Rebel, after all. At least, I don’t have to see that man anymore. Tell him I hate him, and I won’t ever forgive him anymore. And that the next time we meet, one of us will die at the hand of the other.”

He chuckled, “Sure, Miss Jung. Anything for you.” It only came to him too late that his Shield, which had protected the Rebel’s headquarter for years were so easily tampered at the hand of an unknown Transcendental from the Union. By that time, he had nothing much to say and simply raised his hand to brush my cheek gently, like he would to a sister, like he would to a lover. It was warm. “I wish you don’t have to leave so soon, Sera. There are so many things to tell you about.” Things hadn’t been the same since the day you left. He had never felt quite so alone in the Rebel with a lot of other people.

“When the time is right, Dan. Have no fear,” I put my hands over his eyes and gently whispered to him, my mouth close to his ears, brushing it incidentally. He stiffened a little but slowly relaxed under my touch, and like a mantra, I chanted to him with my hand supporting his body as he slowly fell to the ground, “Forget today. Forget today until I come for you again. Soon, Brother. Very soon, we shall meet again. When the time is right, the clock will start ticking again. The Fallen shall descend and wreck havoc on the soil of this earth. We are heading straight to the Apocalypse. The doom’s day is near.”

* * *

I headed out to meet them again. The heaviness in our hearts remained. Sehun, as usual, maintained a distant look, but that gentle smile of his was no longer there. Instead, he looked closed-off from the rest of the world, almost apathetic. Luhan, on the other hand, was full of frowns. He didn’t say much as we walked to the airport. It was quiet in the hill, but the town was always bustling. “Do you mind if we take the longer route to the city?” They both turned around and asked, “Why?”

“Because look,” I pointed at the sky with a smile of naivety. It was as if the fight before this had never happened, and the three of us were very much familiar with each other. The Sera that I was with the Rebel, the Sera that I was with Daniel, the Sera that I was with that man and with the Twelve, and the Sera that I was now were completely different people, like a separate entity, living different lives in the same body. Sehun didn’t speak up, nor did Luhan, as they waited for the closure of this sentence. “The sky is filled with stars. Don’t you think it’s a waste if we just hurry back to the city? How many chances do you have in your life that you get to see a midnight sky as beautiful and bright as tonight?”

Those words sounded innocent and childlike. It reminded me of the life I had before the Rebel. Freedom was a heavy cost of this ability and the recognition, and though we had the power to control the world and the wealth to live lavishly, the life we lived was, but a cage. A huge, lifelong cage. My mother – who single-handedly raised me for seventeen years – used to be quite close to me. I was her only daughter, and she was the only family I had left. My father ran away one day when I was barely one, leaving her penniless except for that spacious apartment in Jeju Island. As a mean of living, we sold off the house and lived by renting places. My mother had to work day-to-night jobs, begging for loans from her friends until I was ten. It was a hard life then, but it gradually got better.

“Who is that man, Sera? What’s your relationship with him?” It seemed like a lifetime away, but I had rarely talked to Luhan, hence I had forgotten how his voice sounded like. I stared at him without holding back, or feeling shy or embarrassed for staring for far too long. He didn’t seem to have the same reservation, either, as his eyes contained such depth, like he wasn’t actually angry and was trying to understand me, instead. I hated that kind of look. It made me feel dirty and guilty, as if my sins had washed me over with the blood of the millions lives that I killed.

“You shouldn’t get too close to me,” I said, “Both of you.” And I took a step back when Sehun tried to approach me by taking more steps forward. My heart was positively frozen by now. I didn’t know when it started, but all of a sudden, I could only panic when I felt the same thing I felt years ago, without knowing what it truly was. Fear, maybe. But then again, I had casted it aside for too long I couldn’t remember what being scared was like. Anxious, self-hatred, regret. These feelings were coiling around me, forcing me to retreat around the darkest corner of my mind, unable to heal and unable to let go. “You’ll only be in more dangers if you involve yourself further.”

“What are you saying?” Sehun finally stopped when he saw my expression. It must have been quite a sight because they were both stunned, not taking any more steps forward or going backwards. I gradually calmed down a little when I was given space, and my head started clearing up. The close distance had been suffocating. “Both of you are smart. All of you are smart. You should have figured out there is something wrong with me and the Rebel. When you came here tonight, what were you here for? To find evidences of me spying on you and annihilate me when it is appropriate? Or to collect professional and private information about me?”

Neither of them spoke. Luhan reasoned within himself that in his boredom, Suho had convinced him to come and look after her. Baekhyun, too, had been told to do the same thing, but instead, he was replaced by Sehun, while the rest went directly to New Mexico. He refused to disclose any more details of the conversation he had with Suho. But then again, doubt began brewing in his heart. He had never done anything without considering its’ long-term effect, and yet, he agreed on this mission without so much as a hesitation. Perhaps he was interested, just like Sehun and Suho were, and wanted to see for himself just how much this would fare. After all, it wasn’t often that Suho became so disorganised and careful about someone else.

“Then why would you agree to work with us in the first place? You told us you wanted to destroy the Rebel because of that man. Is he the guy that you met just now? Have you changed your mind after meeting him?” Sehun sounded indifferent, but his words cut like a knife. He seemed sharp, even though there was this otherworldly aura that seemed to surround him at all times. He was too beautiful, and too far away to be touched, even for a graze. Like the breeze of the summer wind, sometimes he was there and sometimes he wasn’t. I was struck between wanting to laugh and cry.

“Ah, you mean, Daniel? They’re two different men, I can assure you that. Daniel and that bastard do have connections because they’re in the same organisation,” A mocking laughter soon followed. I threw my hands up and regained my composure. “It seems like you have not done a proper research on the inner layer of the Rebel, else you would have recognised Daniel in a glance. He isn’t exactly hard to miss, you know? But then again, I don’t blame you. The Rebel and the Union are essentially the same – you are tightly guarded. No one can leak out any information if they are not the core members, and to be one, you have to prove yourself worthy. If you are concerned about our deal, then you need not worry. I have absolutely no plan of backing off. I still want to kill that man, and you will have my help in destroying this important chess piece. But I never said anything about dirtying my hand with the Rebel. That’s merely your assumptions. Whether or not that organisation ends up in your hand would depend on your capability. Solely.”

“I am not selling out your information to Daniel. He is my brother and my friend. And besides, he is quite a strong and capable Transcendental with his Shield. I know exactly what I am doing when I sealed that deal, Luhan,” His name just slipped out so easily, and the moment it did, Luhan seemed to turn away, avoiding my face with a small sound of a grunt. “You can choose to trust me, or you don’t. But my words still stand. It’s better that you don’t get too far involved with whatever I’m doing. It will only harm all of us. After all, you never know who you might meet tomorrow. It’s best to stay away from each other when there is no mission. I won’t bother you and you won’t disturb my privacy, either.”

Luhan turned to Sehun and found that his gaze was fixed on me, and it had been that way for a while. He was solemn, but he was also thoughtful. It seemed that he already had a plan of his own, and it was surprising to Luhan to see Sehun so fixated on something that wasn’t his own. “That won’t work for me, Sera,” He chuckled lightly, and it was my turn to blush a little when I saw his laughter. Under the stars and the midnight sky, I swore I had never seen anything quite as bright as his smile, even with the storms brewing in his eyes. “Unfortunately, I am very interested in your ability. And that means, I would like to know more about you.”