Sweat, exhaustion, red eyes and aching bodies. This is how the next few weeks passed. Not many monsters had come to fight them after their incident with Cerbeus, but they were still attentive to their surroundings. As Kai always said, they never ‘let their guard down’.

The nonstop ‘not letting their guard down’ didn’t help with their exhaustion though. 

At about what they supposed was sunday, all of them collapsed on the ground. It was time to sleep their seventh night underground. 

It was a surprise they were even alive at this point. It felt like the entire world was against these four demigods who’d willingly escape from camp a week ago. Firsty, every god hated them for being traitors and probably all the campers back home hated them for being traitors. There was no winning. 

“We should rest for a few hours. Since we are close to our destination it may be harder to sleep, more monsters on our trail.” Kai said.

Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes, “You have some disease with rest I swear,”

Then, he took out his bag and unclasped a water bag full of ambrosia. Kai tilted his head at the bag wondering what the demigod was drinking-surely it was no water since as he began to drink it, the groggy colour of his face began to vanish. It was like a magic potion.

Kai leaned over, attempting to get a closer look.

This made Kyungsoo fly backwards.

Baekhyun turned his head in an initial bout of concern, but realized Kai was just staring at Kyungsoo’s ambrosia bottle.

“What's your deal-do you have any concept of personal space!” Kyungsoo stood up, dusting himself off.

“Relax darling,” Kai teased, “I was just trying to get a better look at this concoction you have here,” He continued to stare at the water bottle.

“Have you never seen ambrosia nectar?” Kyungsoo asked.

Kai raised his eyebrows in curiosity, “No,”

Baekhyun looked at him in confusion, “Wait-meaning...none of the demigods in the resistance use ambrosia?”

“Of course not, this nectar is made by the gods, we cannot get it or receive it. It’s much a miracle to us,” Kai said, his eyes twinkling at the sight of a drop that had fallen from the bottle.

“So what if...one you guys get hurt during battle? What happens then?” Baekhyun asked.

“We have medics, but if the injury is too grave…” Kai trailed off, letting Kyungsoo and Baekhyun infer for themselves what happened.

“I can’t imagine a world without ambrosia.” Kyungsoo said.

“It’s not that bad, I mean that's why you need to learn how to have thick skin at the resistance. You can’t afford even one scratch,” Kai explained.

This made Baekhyun weary. He got chills just thinking about it. Any normal injury could be solved with ambrosia, but the resistance could not even have access to that since the gods specifically curated it for demigods.

It made him nervous just thinking about it and out of instinct he fiddled with the silver bracelet on his wrist thinking about how Chanyeol was doing. If he got hurt what options were out there for him? A lot of this just made Baekhyun worry more.

Kyungsoo glanced down at Baekhyun's nervous tick, the one he’d developed over the past five months, something twisting the silver bracelet so much it would leave red marks on his wrist. 

The son of Ares took his hand and held it on Baekhyun’s own, attempting to calm him down. Kai took note of this small interaction. He turned his head away, no longer interested in ambrosia. 

“Enjoy your rest,” Kai said, “May be your last,”

----------------------------------------------------------------

They all woke up feeling groggier than usual, perhaps with the nervousness built up in their veins. Baekhyun would usually take a regular sip of ambrosia to maintain his power at this point, but after learning that the resistance did not even have ambrosia, it made him paranoid to save more. After all, it's not like they could call Alec and get more-they were on the run. Besides, even if they could call Alec it would blow their cover. They were to have no communication with the camp whether they liked it or not.

They all took some wet wipes to clean the dirt and grime that had begun to build up after basically living underground like mole rats. Surprisingly, they had yet to see one.

“Up and at ‘em,” Kai stretched his long arms.

They all walked for miles, until they came to stop in front of a dead end. It was odd that this was the first time they were coming across a barricade like this. Everyone turned to Kyungsoo who sighed and put his hands on the dirt in front of them.

Almost immediately like he had pent up anger, the wall of sand and dirt birthed open, making some bits and pieces fly into all the demigod's hair.

“You know darling, next time be precise,” Kai took out a piece of dirt from his hair.

“Well I’d like to see you try and burst the earth-” Kyungsoo started.

“Guys,” Baekhyun interrupted their quarrel.

They all looked to the other side of the tunnel, which had opened them up to a large corridor. It had a wide open space, big enough to be a school gymnasium. It was also very tall which was weird considering they were only a couple meters underground. The entire surface area was covered in cobble stone. It was like this place was buit for dules, battles something of that sort.

What they were all really staring at was the line of centaurs on the other side.

They had spears to their hips, guadring what seemed to be an extravagant door. It was shined with red stain and had wood carvings of some greek monster and gods Baekhyun couldn’t quite recognize at that moment.

“You shall not enter,” the centaurs said in unison.

“Centaurs?” Mina sounded nervous, “Like Alec’s kind? Why are they here?”

“These are the centaurs part of the resistance,” Kai said, taking out his sword making all the other demigods look at each other warily.

“W-wait if they’re part of the resistance, then why are we fighting them?” Baekhyun asked carefully.

“Like I said, all of these steps we have to take to enter the lair are curated for each demigod. For some reason they saw it necessary to make you guys fight a bunch of centaurs. Not the worst I’ve seen.” Kai shrugs.

Except, for them it was the worst. This was a perfect design to make them fail. Of course they’d send over perhaps the creature they most trusted to kill. Baekhyun looked at his friends reading their minds: how were they going to kill Alec’s kind? 

“Is there any other way we can get out?” Kyungsoo asked.

Kai chuckled, “Afraid of a little centaurs?” He teased.

Baekhyun understood now. This was their ultimate test for the resistance. After all, they were being tested for their loyalty to end the gods. Whoever was planning out these y-traps for them knew about their relationship with their camp counsellor, how they’d disobeyed him-perhaps felt a little regret. If they didn’t finish off these centaurs that meant they weren’t getting to the hideout.

What made things worse…

They all had Alec’s face.

------------------------------------------

“He doesn’t know who Alec is, of course he doesn’t think they’re any different. This last test was made specifically for all of us,” Adrian explained.

They huddled close in a circle, making an excuse to Kai that they needed to devise a proper plan instead of acting out of instinct. 

“I’m sorry, but I do not want to lay a finger on those centaurs, especially when…” Mina shivered, “They all look exactly like Alec,” 

Baekhyun could understand her point of view, but he also knew that these centaurs were not Alec. There was also a chance these were illusions made by the resistance.

“We need to fight them,” Baekhyun decided. 

Kyungsoo could only purse his lips in frustration, “Fine,”

Mina nodded along with them, knowing that it wasn’t best to defy Baekhyun’s orders.

Adrian on the other hand had other thoughts, “Is this worth it? I mean, sure maybe we kill them-but how can we know for sure that there isn’t an infinite number of monsters to fight after this? How can we even trust this Kai guy? Alec’s right, we should have let him handle this, it’s out of power,”

Baekhyun took out a dagger, as if to say I don’t care. Adrian was always the logical one, it made sense why he was saying all of this. But the son of Aphrodite knew how futile it was now to give up. What were they to do? They had come so far...it didn’t make sense to give up now.

Since Baekhyun hadn’t responded to Adrian’s statement, the son of Athena took that as a sign that he wasn’t going to follow him.

 Adrian heaved a sigh, taking out his own sword.

This better be their last obstacle, he thought.

------------------------

Kai charged first. But soon as he had done so, all the centaurs ran after the four other demigods. Instead of charging at random, it seemed like they all had already picked who they would choose to fight. 

To add on, suddenly walls made of mud appeared, separating all the demigods one by one. 

They were being divided.

Which meant each of them had to fight on their own.

And none of them could know what the other was doing.

Baekhyun wasn’t worried about anyone besides Mina. This wasn’t going to work, she could barely hit a dummy with an arrow. Was there even a chance she’d be able to defeat a centaur on her own? 

He had hope, but it was slowly decreasing after fighting with the Centaur himself.

It came at him with full force, pushing him on the ground. He landed on his and it felt like one of his ribs had shifted a little.

He stood up quickly and slashed his sword horizontally, edging the centaur away from him so that he could recover.

When he looked back at his opponent he almost lost his breath. This centaur really had the face of Alec. Perhaps Adrian was right, this was a lost cause. He wouldn’t be able to even hurt Alec if he tried.

But then Baekhyun thought about Chanyeol. About seeing him again after so long, about how this centaur was maybe an illusion. 

He charged over to the centaur, aiming the sword straight into its hind legs, but he was met with a forceful kick right in his gut. He missed.

Baekhyun cursed as he flew back, and landed against the cobblestone wall. 

It didn’t help that he was fighting in a condensed space.

He thought about how the others were doing and wished he could see them. 

This wasn’t their strong suit. Fighting together, they’d accomplish something. 

Standing up for the second time, he didn’t immediately attack.

“Stand down,” Baekhyun ordered it.

The centaur complied from the charmspeak, struggling against his own bodies movements.

Baekhyun took that chance to run over, preparing his sword.

But he got tired too quickly and the centaur unleashed himself from the charmspeak.

Baekhyun tried again. And then again. Over and over he attempted to use the same plan, but he felt his power draining to the point where he didn’t think he could use any more charmspeak. 

He could feel his stomach sting with pain and his leg feeling slightly numb but he wasn’t sure why. He came at the centaur again and now they were neck and neck.

The centaur held his spear to his sword.

Baekhyun’s teeth were clenched and out. He tried to use as much power as he could. Just when he thought he had the upper hand, the centaur began to speak.

“You disappoint me, Baekhyun,” It said.

Baekhyun retracted quickly, eyes growing large when he realized it was Alec’s voice. How-

“You ran away and disobeyed me,” Alec's voice came from the centaur again.

This time it wasn’t coming on to him to attack him physically, but verbally.

Baekhyun was stuck, petrified. It was like a scary nightmare, except this was happening in real time.

“Stop,” he attempted a charmspeak when the centaur kept using Alec’s voice.

“I trusted you, Baekhyun and you failed me,” The fake Alec voice said again.

“Stop!”

“You disappointed me!” 

“Stop! I said stop!” Baekhyun covered his ears.

“I trusted you!” 

“Enough!” 

Baekhyun got the energy to stand up again. In one swift movement he took out an arrow and notched it. His nose’s cartilage was being bushed against the string of the bow so hard he could feel it scratch his skin. When he let go of the arrow, it was almost moving in slow motion.

The arrow handed right into the centaurs legs.

That wasn’t enough, Baekhyun thought.

He flung another one on a different leg.

One more, he concluded.

The last arrow landed on the centaurs chest.

Finally, the voice that sounded exactly like Alec echoed away in the distance. Baekhyun heaved a deep breath, falling to the ground.

He expected the centaur to bleed out, perhaps say its last few words.

Instead, the centaur who looked like an exact image of Alec dissipated into nothingness. Like an ash coming from the of a cigar. It was an illusion.

Then, as if on queue, the ground opened up and swallowed him into darkness. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Baekhyun’s eyes didn’t upon, but he heard voices. Murmuring. Whispering. He felt like he was still dreaming so he attempted to shut it off. The sounds didn’t stop. They just kept getting louder and louder. 

HIs eyes shot open.

Baekhyun squinted at the sudden light that was entering his retina. It was so bright he couldn’t process what was happening visually, but he could smell the dirt and dust around him. 

He internally groaned. 

They were still underground.

When his eyes adjusted to the light, he noticed he was laying on a bed. It wasn’t the most comfortable, made from long pieces of rope tied together in a criss cross pattern to support his weight. His pillow was a rice bag full of synthetic cotton. When he turned his head to the side, he was relieved to see Mina there, her eyes shut in a deep sleep.

Baekhyun sat up, looking at his surroundings.

It was...an infirmary.

Not really. There were many beds like his placed in rows, he estimated about 100 beds lined up. Around him were what looked to be nurses, running around tending to people's wounds and demands.

It didn’t look like the camp's infirmary, but it had the same system.

Baekhyun noticed on his right side Kyungsoo was sleeping as well.

So they’d made it out safe.

He raised his chin, attempting to see who were on the other beds as he was confused as to where Adrian had gone. 

Eventually, the confusion turned into a knot in his stomach. Baekhyun  became nervous at the thought of trying to find his friend in this strange place.

He remembered that Kai would be here. But where the hell was he?

Baekhyun saw a nurse walk by him so he called her, ‘Excuse me, uh where is Kai?” He tried.

The nurse looked taken aback, “Kai? You mean general Kai? He’s in the situation room...are you lost?” she asked.

Baekhyun nodded his head, looking down at his raggedy black t-shirt and cargo pants.

“W-where am I? Is this-” 

“The resistance. The underground hideout.” The nurse confirmed his thoughts.

It was like Baekhyun had entered a dream world, a place where he’d finally found Chanyeol. But for now, he needed to know where Adrian had gone.

Baekhyun found himself trailing off through the infirmary, habitually turning around to look back at Mina and Kyungsoo to make sure they weren’t going to wake up.

Where the hell was Adrian.

After a while of just roaming around trying to recognize someone he saw a familiar face.

Outside the infirmary was a huge space that was the size of an olympus stadium. This was the same place Mina had been having dreams about. Circles around the entire top were terraces and bleachers. It looked like a colosseum underground. In the center were several demigods looking to be training or dueling. On the very top of one terrace was Kai.

Baekhyun attempted to make eye contact with him, but he was too busy watching the duel below him.

Kai looked more put together now. He had on white robes that covered half his chest and ropey sandals. He’d cleaned himself up from grime and dirt after being underground for so long. On his belt was a small silver dagger.

Baekhyun threw his arms up, waving them around like a maniac to get Kai’s attention.

Surprisingly, he didn’t notice, but a few demigods who were already confused as to who he was gave him judging looks. Some snickered as they passed by him.

This was no use, Baekhyun thought.

The son of Aphrodite stretched a little since he’d been bed ridden for who knows how long. He ran, circling around several demigods, maybe even shoving them a little to get to this destination. People watched in awe and perhaps confusion as Baekhyun ran, his eyes only focused on Kai.

“Kai!” Baekhyun yelled as he got closer.

The man, who a nurse had referred to as ‘general kai’, stood up after hearing his voice. He looked around and caught sight of Baekhyun. At first, it looked like he was relieved that Baekhyun was awake, but then his expression soon twisted in worry.

Baekhyun wasn’t sure why he looked so scared all of sudden, but just as he was about to come even a meter close to him, he was shoved to the ground by a hard force.

“Stand down! Weapons on the floor,” A deep voice said in front of him.

Baekhyun rubbed the back of his head, having felt a little impact when he landed. Wincing in pain, he finally opened his eyes.

“What the hell-” He started, but when he looked up to see who it was, he didn’t imagine in a thousand years who he would be seeing in front of him.

“It’s okay, Chanyeol. He’s with us,” Kai ran over then.

Baekhyun’s breath hitched. It had been...so long since he even uttered that name out loud. Yet, here he was in the presence of the man that he longed for so greatly. 

“What kind of animalistic behaviour is this,” Chanyeol dug his sword into the ground in front of Baekhyun.

Baekhyun was still sitting on the ground, so shocked he couldn’t even speak.

“These are the types of demigods we’re recruiting? Might as well get rid of them,” Chanyeol said, eyebrows pulled in anger.

Baekhyun’s face was far from someone who would be getting yelled at. His eyes filled to the brim with joyful tears. His lips quivered. Chanyeol was right here. Right in front of him. This wasn’t a dream. This wasn’t a vision. This was reality.

He wanted to say so much- do much, but seeing Chanyeol right in front of him was more than enough.

“He’s the one who passed the test first,” Kai told Chanyeol.

“I don’t care if he can make pigs fly, get control of these new recruits. We can’t have them running around causing havoc,” Chaneyol said.

Baekhyun was so surprised, he didn’t even realize how different Chanyeol looked and sounded. He was a completely different person. Clearly, he had no memory of Baekhyun because he disregarded him. 

He was muscular, toned and tanner than he’d last seen him. His eyes were a tinge of yellow jaundice and hair fluffy and curly brown. He was eighteen now, and Baekhyun could see how he had aged, not physically but in his demeanor. His eyes were  shown with strength, anger, and leadership. Chanyeol was wearing a brown cotton shirt and a dark leather jacket on top. He was looked...really attractive to say the least.

“I-”Baekhyun started, but Chanyeol was already two meters away from him.

Kai came to help him up, “Don’t mind him, he’s a grouch.” 

Baekhyun nodded senselessly, trying to remind himself that Chanyeol wasn’t the same anymore. He’d lost all his memories. He’s grown up here now, this was his life-he didn’t have an remnants of camp half blood.

“So...uh is cha- I mean he is a leader or something?” Baekhyun asked.

Kai nodded, “He basically trains and curates all the new recruits. Chanyeol’s going to have a training session tomorrow, probably make them duel against each other.” 

“Do we need specific training?” Baekhyun asked.

“Yes, like I said you won’t have ambrosia nectar when you’re fighting which means you have to learn how to revive yourself and your comrade in battle.” Kai explained.

Baekhyun thought about how he still had his own bottle of ambrosia that was pretty full in his bag back at the infirmary. He knew he’d be needing to save it now.

“Where’s Adrian,” Baekhyun remembered, “I saw Mina and Kyungsoo, but he wasn’t there.” 

Kai nodded, “He didn’t pass the test,”

“The test...you mean those centaurs,” Baekhyun said in confusion.

“Yes...he perhaps gave in and couldn’t do it. Only the three of you were allowed back into camp.” 

Baekhyun began to panic, “Then what happens to him? He’s okay right? He’s not going to-”

“Calm down, he’s alive. He just wasn’t worthy enough for the resistance. So they wiped his memories and sent him back on land. He doesn’t know where the lair is anymore or where to find all of you. He only remembers where he came from.”

Baekhyun nodded his head in understanding. Although he could feel that Kai was being honest he was still skeptical. He needed to see Adrian to believe he was alive. Ever since they started this quest, Baekhyun felt responsible for everyone’s lives. With Pride being his fatal flaw it didn’t help that he felt accountable for every action and move. He knew it wouldn’t be safe to iris message, but he needed to know for sure if Adrian was okay.

“You three on the other hand..and even that girl who has no fighting capabilities somehow passed.” Kai explained.

That girl, meaning Mina. Even Baekhyun was surprised. He too wondered how she had defeated the centaur. After all, she was really only a beginner when it came to hand on hand combat and as of now they hadn’t discovered if she had any special elemental powers. 

The both walked back to the infirmary where Kyungsoo and Mina were sitting up on their beds looking confused and yet relieved to see Baekhyun.

“Where’s Adrian,” Kyungsoo asked.

“He didn’t pass, but he’s okay,” Baekhyun repeated what Kai had told him.

Mina looked tear stricken, but she came around and hugged the both of them. They all huddled close.

This made Kai feel a bit awkward. He watched the three of them hold each other close like their life depended on it. They were so close...Kai wondered what it took to have friends like this.

“You all can go wash up and get dressed, one of the nurses will show you to your rooms. We wake up at 6:00 am sharp to train, you won’t know when that is because theres no clocks and no sunlight underground, so you’ll hear a loud horn sound. Once that happens, make your way to the pit where you’ll start your training,” Kai explained, before hurrying off.

As soon as he was out of ear shot from the demigods, Baekhyun nervously bit his lip.

“I saw him,” Baekhyun said.

“Who,” Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes,

“Chan-him, you know what I mean, he’s here...and he...didn’t recognize me at all,” Baekhyun said the last part quietly, perhaps as an attempt to make it not seem too real. 

“So his memories were wiped,” Mina said.

“Not just his memory...his entire personality is different.” Baekhyun said.

“What on earth did that potion do to him?” Kyungsoo asked.

“I don’t know...I’m just...glad he’s safe and alive.” 

Mina nodded, rubbing her hand in circles against Baekhyun’s back to soothe him.

“It’s okay, we’ll figure it out as we go,” She reassured him.

This time, she wasn’t sure if she could hold up to such a promise. 

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Authors note: I haven't been updating I'm sorry. So here's a big chapter for all you guys! It's jam packed, hopefully not too fast and the pacing is good. Finally! Chanyeol is here! We finally get to see him after so long. I can't imagine what Baekhyun must be feeling at this point.