It was too early in the morning. Dahyun had woken up after a restless sleep, and it takes her a while to recognize her surroundings.

Sana's still sleeping, somehow still on her side of the bed instead of throwing herself onto Dahyun like she usually does. Dahyun can't help but smile softly at the peaceful look on Sana's face. It's not often that they have a moment in their lives that resembles serenity.

But now that she was awake, they needed to keep going. They haven't been caught yet, but it's only a matter of time until this place is no longer safe for them. Dahyun gets up, her stomach rumbling.

The world is still asleep around them, lost in blurs of dark blue and purple with just a little bit of red shining over the horizon. Dahyun can't help but admire the colors, wishing that she had the time to watch the sunrise. She remembers a simpler time where she and Sana had managed to watch the sunrise together, promising each other to do this again. It had seemed like such an easy promise back then.

"Dubu?" Sana whispers, opening the door by a crack.

"Good morning," Dahyun says, turning away from the sunrise, smiling at her partner.

"Why did you leave?" Sana whines as she walks out, still wearing her nightclothes.

Dahyun just shakes her head at how silly Sana is being. She grabs her hand and points up, wanting to look at the colors of the sky again. "It's been months since we've managed to see a sunrise, huh?"

The sun has barely peeked over the horizon. "You're right," Sana says, a fond smile on her face, but she's not looking up. She's looking at her and Dahyun's interlocked hands.

~

After they watched the sunrise, Dahyun went walking around the area to make sure they were still safe here for at least an hour before they left. She hums as she walks, surprisingly bored at how nothing interesting has been happening.

Dahyun freezes when she hears two soldiers conversing with on another, but they’re too distracted to notice her. It’s hard to see them from her position, but even when Dahyun does move a little closer, she can't recognize their faces. One of them has short blonde hair, the hairstyle making her seem like a hardened soldier that’s seen too much on the battlefield and has no time for other people’s bull and the heavy gear on her just solidifying that. The other soldier barely looks like a soldier at all save for the military patterned pajamas, her dark brown hair a little messy. She looks like she just woke up.

The brunette clings to the soldier’s arm, making a show out of really wanting whatever she wants. The blonde soldier scowls but doesn’t push her off, too used to this type of behavior. Dahyun momentarily wonders if the brunette actually isn't a soldier but simply just a e, but she doesn't look like it.

“Can you not get me lost this time, Jeong?”

“Momo, I’m working.”

The brunette just groans. “But I’m hungry… Why don’t you take care of me anymore?”

The blonde soldier just sighs, taking out a folded piece of paper from her back pocket and passing it onto the other. From Dahyun’s position, it looks like a map. “Here. Go get me a cup of coffee while you’re at it.”

The first soldier—Momo—just pouts but finally grabs the map from her hands. “What if I get attacked?” she says, still clinging onto her, not ready to let go. "Won't you feel bad because you couldn't protect me? Why don't you protect me anymore?"

“Stop being a baby,” Jeongyeon smiles when she says it, patting her head and also pushing her away at the same time. “And Mina’s gonna be pissed off if I don’t stay here.”

Momo doesn’t go immediately, but she finally gives up on trying to get the blonde soldier to slack off with her. “Fine, but you better pay me back later.”

Dahyun smiles to herself when the two soldiers split up, a plan forming in her head. She rolls up her sleeves, trying to remember the specific spell that created illusions.

~

It wasn't that hard for Sana to spy on someone. Even though most of the magic she's learned requires physical objects and odd little trinkets, this was one she had mastered without it. A little bubble was floating in front of Sana. It played like a movie of what Jihyo was currently doing. What Sana saw confused her. Jihyo was, as they had seen yesterday, staying here. But...

Sana paced back and forth, no longer sure about what they should do. On the one hand, if they escape now then they won’t have to deal with whatever bad things are coming for them if they stay. They both know that staying in one place for longer than a few days will only bring trouble. On the other hand, though… Jihyo. That angel of death was here and she was pretty friendly with Sana and Dahyun’s captors.

At that moment, Dahyun knocks twice on the door before coming in, causing the bubble to pop. She plops down on the bed, taking out a piece of paper from her back pocket, a bright red lollipop in .

“Oh, where did you-”

“I stole this from one of the guards,” Dahyun says casually about the map before passing it to Sana. It was, as Dahyun had previously guessed, a map of the building and some of the surrounding area.

“What about the-”

“Also from one of the guards,” Dahyun says while taking out a second lollipop from her pocket. “I didn’t get coffee though, but you can have this.”

Sana raised an eyebrow. “Why are you the one who’s stealing? That’s my job.”

Dahyun shrugs. “You were busy spying on Jihyo with your weird magicky thing.”

“I-I wasn’t…” Sana tries to defend herself, but there’s really no way to deny it.

Dahyun points at a place at the edge of the map, moving on from that subject. “This is where we are right now,” she points at another place that’s on the other side, “and thatover there is the entrance.”

Sana turns to her, her previous hesitance coming back. “Do you think we should leave?”

“There’s no reason to stay,” Dahyun answers carefully, raising an eyebrow, confused as to why Sana’s acting this way all of a sudden. “And there’s no reason to trust these people after what they did.” She stops for a moment, curiosity getting the best of her. “Why do you think we should stay instead?”

Sana hesitates. “I mean, Jihyo’s here?” she says, her voice a little higher than usual.

Dahyun sighs. “Why does everyone have a crush on Jihyo-unnie?” Dahyun says while taking the map back and folding it up again, a bittersweet energy in her movement.

“I don’t have a crush on Jihyo!” Sana defends herself, pouting.

“Whatever you say,” Dahyun shakes her head at her, judging Sana for the redness spreading on her cheeks.

“I really don’t! I just think that maybe we should be smart about this, you know?”

Dahyun scoffs. “Since where are we smart about anything?”

Sana actually stops at that. “Okay, maybe you have a point.”

“You always act differently when it comes to Jihyo-unnie,” Dahyun frowns, waving the lollipop in front of Sana’s face.

Sana hesitates, but finally accepts the lollipop. “Let’s just go before we’re caught again.”

Mina stirs awake when Jihyo moves. Somehow, someway, they had ended up laying over their blankets on the floor with Jihyo spooning her.

Jihyo traces her fingers over Mina’s hand, rubbing circles on her skin distractedly, treating her like she’s as delicate as a flower. Her fingers trace over Mina’s knuckles and Jihyo frowns softly at how rough they are. Then she’s curving their fingers together, almost interlocking her fingers with hers, but Jihyo just sighs and lets it go, going back to rubbing circles over Mina’s palm. She’s too distracted to notice that Mina had woken up.

“Why are you still here anyways?” Mina asks all of a sudden, breaking Jihyo’s trance.

Jihyo’s eyes snap back up to her, surprised at how she had woken up without her realizing. “H-how long have you been awake?”

Mina rolls over, sitting up. “Just answer my question.”

“I need help,” Jihyo answers vaguely, grabbing Mina’s hand again to continue playing around.

“My help?”

Before Jihyo can continue, they hear a scream coming from outside their room, followed by what sounds like a fight. Jihyo immediately gets up, a knife in her hand that came from God knows where. Her back to the door, Jihyo tries to hear what’s happening on the other side, but she doesn’t leave just yet.

Mina just snatches the knife from Jihyo’s hands. “I can take care of myself,” she whispers, but her words are barely audible due to the sound of gunshots.

Jihyo frowns, fear in her eyes, looking between Mina and back to the door. Her fingers are itching to have the knife again, but she doesn’t go to grab it just yet. “You’ve done that for most of your life, trust your friends to take care of you sometimes, will you?”

“You’re not a friend,” Mina growls, putting her ear up the door.

The sounds of gunshots stop, an eerie echo of silence taking their place.

Mina opens the door carefully.

A soldier with brown hair, who isn’t wearing any gear except for the gun in her hands, stumbles inside. Mina can’t see any wounds on her. The soldier drops to her knees.

Jihyo picks her up by the collar roughly, throwing the soldier back to the wall. “Where is she?” she mutters under her breath, carefully calm. Jihyo’s eyes shine red.

“She's gone,” Momo manages to say, her breath heavy, before her eyes roll back in her head and she loses consciousness.