Red eyes, like the smoke we rise
As the candle's burning low
Will you love me when my heartbeat stops?

---

Why is she smiling at me... why is she here? She's not supposed to be here; she's supposed to be somewhere safe, at a place where pain doesn't exist.

"San," she says.

Her face is pale and her eyes are sunken, making her look like she's a living corpse. Even with her ghastly appearance, he thinks she still looks beautiful. Despite looking sick and ill, she wears the brightest smile, lighting up her otherwise dull face. Her arms and legs are covered in bruises and cuts that makes his heart ache with extreme pain, but as he reaches out his arms to comfort her, he can't touch her. She's simply a mirage, the product of his imagination. She visits him in his dreams sometimes, when he misses her and when he starts wishing that he could do more to save her.

"Why are you here?" he asks, his eyes becoming wet as he looks at her smiling brightly even with wounds all over her body. "Why are you smiling even when you're in pain, you idiot?"

"That's so mean," she breathes, but doesn't let the smile falter. This is how they bicker with each other, calling the other names even though they mean no harm by it, so she knows it's just them being themselves. "Calling me an idiot when you're the same."

"I was an idiot because I couldn't stop you," he chokes on his tears. "Because I couldn't be there on time to save you. I miss you a lot."

"I miss you too, idiot. Stop blaming yourself when you know there's nothing you could do to stop me. I can be quite stubborn, remember?" she chuckles.

"Are you... happy over there? Do you get to eat all the food you like and leave behind all the pain you felt when you were alive?"

"Of course," she cheekily says. "and although it's happier here, I don't want you to follow because you still have a long life to live. You defied the odds when you were in the lake and that just shows how stubborn you are."

"I guess we both are stubborn, aren't we?"

"DAMN IT SHIBER WAKE UP, WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO LOSE!"

A hard slap lands on his cheek; he spits out the water he inhales from the tank and coughs to get rid of his blocked airway. He lays his palms flat on the textured ground and he comes back to reality, realizing that the conversation between him and her was a dream, or merely a short play that took place when he was unconscious.

Wait, I was unconscious?

"Yes you were unconscious and I had to do CPR on you," comes Jongho's voice. The youngest has already changed into his everyday clothes and in his hand is the object they were looking for; a literal replica of a small treasure box. He shakes it once to rattle the contents in the box. "Quick, we don't have time. Change back into your clothes because we need to deliver this item to the secure box before the other dude wakes up. He's knocked out pretty long."

San scrambles to get up as soon as he hits reality, but pauses for a moment as something comes to his mind. "Did you say that you did CPR on me?"

"Yeah?" the youngest turns it into a question as his hands shove the treasure box into his bag. "Why?"

"Like, including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?"

"Uh-uh, just like how Toothless taught us how to do it. I followed every single thing he taught us and thankfully I actually remembered how or else. Well, the slap was an added effect but it did its job."

The older brushes away the fact that Jongho just literally slapped him from fantasy back to reality, but he can't let go of one. "Toothless said mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is not even actually necessary! Did you remember what he said? Pumping down on the chest with short bursts so that you can restart the flow of oxygenated blood to tissues that need them-"

"Well damn you were unconscious and we don't have any time to spare! You think I wanted to even remotely touch your ugly lips?"

"I never had my first kiss yet!" San genuinely sounds like he's about to start crying. "I was saving it for someone special, not you!"

"Well I haven't had my first kiss too, and you don't see me complaining about it! I was trying to save your life."

"You guys do know that we can hear everything, right?" Wooyoung interrupts in a drawl. "You better get back on track before I start shooting both of you down. And Shiber, really? I get that Apple had not even had his first kiss yet since he got recruited when he was way younger but you? You were the last one to join the training but you couldn't even get a kiss from someone?"

"All three of you shut up before I break off the connection and let you find your way on your own," Mingi growls. "I'm not hearing anything about kisses."

"Aren't you just jealous because I've had mine and you haven't had yours?" Wooyoung snorts.

"SHUT UP," the hacker shrieks, causing Wooyoung and Jongho to cower from the sudden burst of volume. Only San is completely oblivious to it as he still hasn't fitted his earpiece in.

Jongho motions for San to forget the topic as he taps on the back of his wrist with two fingers, signalling to the latter that they really don't have any time to waste.

Grumbling as he stands up and brings a hand to his lips to wipe any evidence off, he kicks Jongho out of the area so that he'll be able to change into his clothes in peace. He brushes back his wet hair and leaves the area as he hears the other man stirring, instructing Mingi to quickly program the electronic lock so he'll be trapped inside. The two field agents, hoodies over their heads to conceal their wet hair, then slip noiselessly from