“Are you ready?”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re coming here tomorrow.”

Sowon hummed, looking at her feet. Brian had paid her one visit, telling her that he had people looking out for her targets, Sowon couldn’t help but wonder if he knew of Soeun’s existence.

“I’ll help you, don’t worry.”

“I’m not really…worried.”

“Well, either way, I’ve caught wind that they brought someone new. Someone we actually have to kill before we can fix what happened to you.”

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the girl with no name, they cautiously monitored movements.

“You said I didn’t need to kill. We’re going back on that now?”

“I did say that, but that was before they joined up another person.”

Out in the distance, a pack of dark creatures ran off. Sowon sighed and closed her eyes.

“You’re doubting me.”

“Of course, I don’t like a woman who changes her mind so quickly. And I also don’t like a woman who takes too long.”

“Hard to please, but that’s not the point for me.”

She sat down next to Sowon, offering her hand.

“I’m the only one you can trust here.”

“And my daughter?”

“You can’t trust a child, you can never tell when she’s been fed lies, and then they will be your downfall.”

Opening her eyes, Sowon knocked the hand away, not wanting to accept it.

“Whatever.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soeun sat on a stump in the forest, she was desperate, desperate to save Sowon, but Umji stopped Eunha from going, and that made her upset.

“Come on, if they are better rested, they’ll fight better, stop moping you idiot.”

Messing up her short hair, Soeun growled a little. Looking up at the starry sky, Soeun sighed.

“At least they came back, right?”

“Of course we came back.”

“Oh, hello Yuju unnie.”

Yuju smiled, taking a seat beside the stump, leaning against it as she looked up to the sky as well.

“You do know that it’s dangerous in the woods at dark?”

“Well, you’re here.”

“You do know they don’t attack me for no reason? I smell like them.”

“Like strawberries?”

“No! The death and haunting scent. I guess humans can’t smell it.”

“Well, you smell like strawberries.”

Soeun stayed quiet, her attention on their surroundings. Yuju sighed, bringing Soeun’s attention back to her.

“I know Yerin unnie was a little scary to you today.”

“Scary is an understatement, I was wondering what kind of arm monster had taken the form of a human.”

Yuju laughed, because of Soeun’s height, Yerin would definitely look like a monster. But then again, she should have seen Sowon, and Sowon was even taller.

“Say, have you-“

“Shhh, there’s a creature stalking us.”

“Eh?”

Yuju looked around them, taking note of what instant water source she had besides her water bottle. Starting to gather them into her hand, Yuju also started to condense the water from the atmosphere. Soeun stood up and showed her teeth in her growl. She couldn’t understand whether they were communicating or not so Yuju just stayed quiet.

Hearing a snarl, Yuju rolled to dodge a pounce of what look like half wolf and half…bird? It had wings, but also ran on all fours and had sharp teeth. Splashing her holy water quickly, she started to disintegrate them, only stopping when Soeun let out a yelp.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just got a droplet of-“

“I forgot! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine, unnie focus!”

Worried but knowing that her healing water would only harm Soeun further, Yuju just started geysers of plain water to push the creatures back. Looking over to Soeun, her eyes widened as she watched the child bit and tore apart the dark creatures with her bare hands, her fingers covered with a dark material.

“S-soeun ah.”

When the last one was gone or running away, Yuju sat back down.

“Sorry.”

“Why? You did it to protect me and yourself.”

“You had to see…the other half of me.”

Yuju noticed that Soeun’s hands returned to normal, although her skin was roughed with bruises and scratches.

“I really wish I could heal you.”

“It’s fine.”

Soeun rubbed her hands on her clothes roughly, trying to get rid of the grime that stuck to her.

“Here, I can at least provide you with regular water to wash your hands with.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Where did Yuju go?”

Eunha looked around their hotel room, Yerin was sat on the chair looking out at the sunset, her usual happy smile gone. It seemed as though she forced herself to smile when Yuju was there, but was usually down or expressionless when otherwise.

“She said she wanted to go on a walk and didn’t want me to go with her.”

“But it’s dangerous!”

“Yeah, well I tried.”

Eunha sighed and lay down on her half of a bed, they were supposed to be resting but Yuju was missing,, SinB was taking the longest shower in the history of mankind, and Umji was already passed out on the table with her cheek on her arms.

If Sowon was in trouble, and Soeun had made a call with a phone that belonged to Sowon, but never used it to find them in the first place, how did Soeun find them? Eunha rolled over on her stomach, stuffing her face in the hotel pillow. What would have allowed Soeun to identify her? Looking at the back of her hand, Eunha noticed that the makeup had smeared, revealing the faint outline of her mark. Technically, if it glowed, you could see it through the makeup, but they meet during the daytime, the natural lighting by the sun would have made it impossible to notice.

Grumbling, Eunha shoved her pillow over her head, trying to stop thinking. She had said that even if it were a trap, she’d go. But go and do what? Supposedly, a wish was to be granted after the first half of the prophecy was fulfilled, and that wish was supposed to wipe out all the dark creatures,  or at least that was her original plan. Seeing Soeun, made her question whether or not she wanted to kill the child. Maybe instead of wishing for the eradication of the dark creatures, Eunha could wish for something else. That would be selfish, but Eunha was human. And humans had irrational behaviors. Sighing one last time, Eunha fell asleep slowly.