"Stop here." 

Chaeyeon stopped walking, her feet coming to a stop as she looked at the girl she met yesterday. The light bender. The one that left her a light mark.

"Oh ! You’re the one leaving me this cute tattoo yesterday." Chaeyeon said with a smile while showing the back of her hand that still had the light mark on it.

“Can I get a refund, it wasn’t what I wanted and the design isn’t really my style.” Chaeyeon added while looking at the mark and frown. A sarcastic pout on her lips to emphasise her displeasure.

"Bold of you to speak like this when you’re alone against two." The second person said with a frown. The girl was tall and had a dimple showing as she spoke.

"Bold of you to assume I’m alone." Chaeyeon said as she disappeared in a big shadow underneath her. Leaving the two officers standing in confusion. 

The shadow moved quickly against the wall, the black patch of nothingness running away. Hitomi threw a ball of light energy towards it, dissipating the shadows in light..

"A decoy." Hitomi said as she saw the shadow disappear when her light came in contact with it.

"You’ll need better to find us now." A high pitched voice rang around the place. Not Chaeyeon’s... but someone else.

xxx

"Hello there." Wonyoung said as she saw two figures coming closer to her, walking at a mild and calm pace.

"Hello." Sakura replied... she had seen it already, she knew what was going to happen in advance. This part was certain. 

"I suppose you are the watcher." Wonyoung said while raising an eyebrow at Sakura as she uttered these words.

"And I suppose you are one as well." Sakura nodded.

"Correct." Wonyoung said as they looked at each other, a sense of familiarity as only these two knew what to do.

"So... I guess it’s here that we conclude our show." Sakura sighed… if this was indeed their end, she wished she could say goodbye to everyone before leaving this world... but that wasn't part of the future.

"Unfortunately... we can’t do much about it." Wonyoung nodded, heaving her own sigh. She didn’t want to kill them… but it was her duty and the repercussions might get her killed as well. 

"You have many questions I suppose... it would be the least to answer them all." Sakura said as she motioned for Yena to come closer.

"You have a tracker here." Yena said as a matter of fact… pointing her head toward Yuri who stood there with a complexed expression, her mind racing and her shoulders heavy with responsibilities. 

"Yes, I’m here." The red haired girl replied next to Wonyoung.

"Would you do me the honour." Yena said as she outstretched her hands out. 

Yuri took the girl’s hand in hers and a rush of memories and flashbacks coursed through her. So much history and images… she was the only one that could see the past, so everything was now her decision to take... will it affect her own decision.

"At this moment... the future is blurry..." Wonyoung said.

"Only the past will determine our outcome." Sakura continued.

xxxx

"Do You know who I am ?" Eunbi asked out loud, standing in all her grandeur in the empty lobby... Hyewon walked there, not really caring about her figure as she walked carelessly closer to the famous officer. Her pace was sluggish and almost lazy but then... she was very tired.

"Officer Kwon. A fighter who excels in annihilating criminals with a superhuman force." Hyewon replied nonchalantly, almost shrugging.

"Correct. As you know who I am... why don’t you tell me who you are ?" The officer asked with a small smile.

"Me ? I’m called the undead. The immortal. Kang Hyewon." Hyewon introduced herself, her nicknames rolling bitterly off her tongue.

Eunbi listened and for sure she was astonished with this new piece of information. An immortal ? This was unheard of.

"Officer..  may I ask for a favour that only you could fulfil." Hyewon asked, her eyes emotionless but her words were charged in unspoken feelings. 

"What do you wish for ?" Eunbi asked back, her instincts were telling her that it won’t be something ordinary.

"My end." 

xxxx

The world stopped for a while as Chaewon walked through the back doors... she was just ordered to walk by the back doors and join everyone at the gates. That was it.

"It’s been a while hasn't  it... Chaewon." A voice called her and to Chaewon’s horror, she was met with the familiar face of a person she thought was dead for so long. Like a ghost coming back from her deepest nightmares. This time however, she wasn't sleeping and definitely not hallucinating. She was here.

"Long time no see... Minjoo."

(
 

15 years ago 

They ran away, kids dying around them, all falling like birds shot in the air. They were all birds trying to fly away in the infinite blue sky while hunters shot at them, painting red on the clouds… 

A sharp pain... more red paint. 

Minjoo fell down on the ground while holding her stomach in a wail, the pain was sharp and it was definitely enough to make her cry..

"No no no... come on we need to run." The girl said as she tried to stop the bleeding with her hands, fumbling around in panic... red coating her skin

"Hey... could you... tell me your name again." Minjoo breathed out, her voice weak as her eyes seemed to be unfocused.

"I’m Chaewon.... just Chaewon… I have no last name ." Chaewon started crying as the blood wouldn’t stop coming out, her hands soon bloodied.

"Take my last name... so I could live on with you.." Minjoo said with a small defeated yet resolute voice... she gave up on flying, she wasn't made for this life of suffering and misery... who was she kidding, she wasn't made to live, after all, she wasn't supposed to be born as it was the crime she had committed in this world. Being born is what she resented the most, but she didn't regret it. She had lived longer than she was meant to, and she was already so grateful for the few time given to her.

"No ! You’re gonna be living with me.. you’re not going to die." Chaewon shook her head with tears streaming down endlessly.

"Please... say your name." Minjoo asked again, insisting a little as she placed her hands on Chaewon’s red ones… bloodied ones.

"Chaewon.... Kim Chaewon." Chaewon said, complying to Minjoo’s request...

Minjoo nodded with a pained smile on her face, she was satisfied by the answer.

"Run.. I’m going to slow them." Minjoo said...

The sound of the guards coming closer was soon filling the air, more gunshots and explosions. More red ink spilled on this land. More lives taken away.

"No... please." Chaewon shook her head, insisting on not leaving.

"Live and please grow white roses... I would love to see them one day." Minjoo said as she swatted Chaewon’s hands away from her wound.

"I will grow them... but you will have to see them, you promised, now come on." Chaewon smiled sadly, tears never stopping flowing down.

"I will see them... now go before they catch you." Minjoo said as she squeezed Chaewon’s hand one last time.

Chaewon stood up... and without turning back... she left Minjoo... never she regretted something as much as this.

Minjoo looked at the guards and stopped them, her collar beeping dangerously... 

Her powers still underdeveloped, she could only stop a small part of the world and for a small amount of time only... 

She heard the beeping sound louder than ever inside her ears and the explosion that soon followed.. 

)

"How ... I thought I left you and..." Chaewon asked while looking at the very much alive Minjoo in front of her.

"I was supposed to... but the guy who led us out... he was a teleporter... he teleported himself to me before the collar could explode and teleported the collar a little further with his powers. He then carried me and left me at a farmer’s house who treated my wounds. That boy… he used all his powers to save me.” Minjoo explained, a sad smile etching itself on her beautiful face... she had thought about how lucky she was, unlike some others who have left this world a little too early... she had questioned why she was the one saved and not another. Why did the boy took the risk to save her even if he could have been killed while doing so, she never got her answers.

"I see..." Chaewon nodded slowly, regret filling her as she remembered the past, she didn't even attempt on saving Minjoo back then, she only left her for dead. Right, she was the one that killed her that day.

"I heard they killed everyone by manually forcing the collars’ detonation by distance... so .. " Minjoo explained, she heard it everywhere, how the government proudly told the story of how they killed all the forbiddens by forcing the detonation of every collars. Protecting their nation and country from the eminent threat. It was enough to rejoice the citizens and applaud their wonderful government, Minjoo wanted to shut everyone up that day.

"I was the one who thought you were dead." Minjoo said after.. a pause.

"After running, when I was far enough... I joined a group of kids and among them was a dematerialiser ... he just dematerialised the bomb... but he wasn’t fast enough for everyone and some... well... they died." Chaewon recalled the sight of kids dying next to her… the blood splashing all around the walls of their hideout as their bodies fell on the ground lifeless… headless… their freedom snatched away in a grand explosion. She really hoped they didn't feel the pain of it... of leaving the world.

“Hey… it’s in the past, right ?” Minjoo said with a sad smile. For long, she had buried her past away, trying to act as a normal person and not some dangerous prisoner that barely escaped from death's grip. Now, she wanted Chaewon to shrug her past away, like she did.

“Maybe… the past still haunts me though… I still regret the moment I left you alone.” Chaewon replied as tears started streaming down her face… for so long she had been suffocating in guilt as memories of that fateful day replayed in her head, how she didn’t help anyone and selfishly ran away for her own life.

Minjoo walked closer to Chaewon and did what she had longed to do… she hugged her so tightly that some may call it uncomfortable… but this tight hug was what Chaewon found comforting about it… she was alive. 

"Say... what’s your name.?" Minjoo asked, a question that she always wanted to hear the answer again in her life.

"My name is Chaewon... Kim Chaewon." Chaewon answered with a sad smile.

______

Yuri was left panting... all the memories rushing through her mind had taken a toll on her. She had seen everyone’s past... how they came to find each other and forming this ragtag group... all made of persons who shouldn’t be there living. Her mind was a mess. What was right ? What was wrong ? Is there even an answer to that...? 

"What do you think ?" Wonyoung asked Yuri who was still processing everything she saw.

"Let them... I ... I don’t want to fight with them." Yuri shook her head as she was slowly starting to cry... she saw the atrocity of the government, of the people that dared to call themselves humans... her heart broke knowing what everyone went through and how terrible their life was. The fact that many forbiddens went through this was something that will forever change her perspective of the world around her. 

"I’ll tell the others then."

xxxx

"Come out now... we aren't going to fight." Hitomi said as she just received a call from Wonyoung. She was also tired by this game of hide and seek.

"Say that to that beast then !" Chaeyeon’s voice echoed in the room as Yujin in her enormous Kodiak Bear form was still searching for their hideout.

"Yujin ... stop." Hitomi ordered the changer who quickly transformed back to her human form.

"Now come out please." Hitomi asked again.

"How are we supposed to trust you ?" Nako asked, still showing no sign of coming out of the shadows.

Hitomi put her phone in speaker... 

- Nako, Chaeyeon... we have to hurry. 

"Saku-chan ?" Chaeyeon exclaimed

- Yes. Now hurry up.

xxxxx

"Escape ?" Chaewon asked again as she repeated Minjoo’s words.

"Yes. They don’t want to arrest you because they would have to kill you..." Minjoo explained with a nod.

"But-" 

"We have to go, now." Minjoo said as she took Chaewon’s hand in hers and pulling them into a fast walk. 

A sense of familiarity hit the two ... except that it was Minjoo urging Chaewon to escape this time... not the other way around. They arrived at a gate where they saw Sakura and Yena standing not so far... Chaeyeon and Nako coming from the opposite of them. 

"What about you ?" Chaewon asked, a ting of anxiousness churning her stomach in painful knots.

"I’m staying... I will have to deal with them after." Minjoo replied with a resolute voice… a drastic contrast from when she was younger. Since when Minjoo was so brave ? How much has she grown up to be this mature ? Chaewon demanded herself as she couldn't quite recognise the scared and crying child from before, Minjoo had grown up, so much that Chaewon almost felt proud... now wasn't the moment to be proud though...

"Are you crazy ?! You’re working for them ! After all they did to you, to me... to us !" Chaewon shrugged Minjoo’s hand away from hers as she stopped dead in her tracks.

"I will deal with it.. you have to go now." Minjoo said as she tried to grab Chaewon’s hand again.

"I’m not leaving you behind again." Chaewon refused, she wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. They just had met again after so long, why would they separate.

"What are you saying.? Hurry now !" Minjoo said frustratedly, they didn’t have enough time ... this was ironic as they both could stop the world. 

"They will kill you !" Chaewon yelled at Minjoo.

"I-... look you need to go before it’s too late." Minjoo said as she pushed Chaewon towards where the others were waiting.

"You promised... " Chaewon said ... which caught Minjoo off guard.

"You promised to see me grow white roses." 

xxxx

"You heard it... are you sure you don’t want to go with them.?" Eunbi asked Hyewon who smiled at the news...

"No... I’ve lived long enough, now that I’m sure that they will be fine." Hyewon sighed.

"You’re sure ?" Eunbi demanded one last time.

"Yes." 

Eunbi walked closer to Hyewon, extending her hands to the blonde who took them in hers. 

"I’m gonna make this the less painful possible." Eunbi said. 

"Thank you." 

xxx

"Where's Hyewon.?" 
 

The group started questioning the absence of their blonde friend, they have been waiting for a while now and yet, no sign of the immortal... they heard a loud sound, it made both Minjoo and Chaewon flinch at its familiarity. A gun shot. Sakura only smiled sadly at the noise while the others were left confused. Wonyoung shook her head... knowing too well what happened. 
 

Eunbi arrived to them while carrying a body in her arms shortly after the gunshot... it made everyone stop. A strangled gasp from one, tears streaming down another.

"Hyewon !" Chaeyeon and Yena ran to the lifeless body. 

Sakura had only one single tear rolling down her cheeks. She had