Silence filled your ears as your eyes snapped open again. You were still in the white fog, but you were alone, surrounded by the innocent looking air. You were visibly shaking as you took your hands away from your head and looked around, hoping that the old woman wouldn’t pop out again.

“Guys?” you called out quietly, looking around. Everything was white and overbearing. It was like you were blinded.

“Hello?” You stood up straight and looked around, rubbing at your arms.

“Hello.” You screamed and fell back as a little girl appeared in front of you, eyes completely black. You were too afraid to get back up and squeezed your eyes shut until you heard giggling.

“What’d you go and do that for? There’s nothing down there.” You opened up your eyes slowly to come face to face with the little girl again. She had a smirk on her face as she reached out for you.

“Come on! Let’s play together!” You screamed again as she touched you, sending chills through your body.

“Push me, push me!” And suddenly, you were at a swing set in the middle of the white fog. It was the only thing you could see. Your heart was beating out of your chest as you pressed yourself against one of the supports, staring at the little black eyed girl on the swings.

She had a small white dress on and white stockings with black school shoes on her feet. A small hat was perched on her head with a pale pink ribbon tied around it in a bow. Her outfit looked all too familiar to you. As you breathed hard, you remembered. You wore the exact same outfit in for your birthday in the memory that Woohyun unblocked.

“Yep. That’s when I wore this. Come on. Push me.” You froze.

“What? I? You’re not me.” She stopped on the swing and turned to look at you, her face scrunching with anger.

“I am you, and you are me, and don’t you EVER forget that!” You could feel her anger overwhelming you as your vision out.

--

The rest of your team called your name, searching for you in the dense fog. Sunggyu looked like he was about to murder something, and the rest of the team thought it was very likely that he would. He kept blowing up random parts of the fog with no effect, other than the occasional hole in the ground that Woohyun fell into.

“Sunggyu, calm down before I suffocate to death,” Woohyun said, reaching out to grab his shoulder. Sunggyu angrily threw his arm off and whipped around.

“Calm down? Calm down? Don’t tell me to calm down. She just got snatched out of the fog by some creepy fog lady, and you’re telling me to calm down?” he nearly shouted.

“I’m just saying that she has to be around here somewhere, and you blowing up random stuff isn’t going to help us find her. If anything, it’ll probably hurt our chances of finding her.” Sunggyu started yelling again, and Hoya stepped into help calm him down.

Sungyeol, Myungsoo, Dongwoo, and Sungjong stood in the fog, playing with it with their hands. Dongwoo shook his hand of some water and sighed as he looked up.

“I wonder how high up this fog goes.”

“Go find out,” Myungsoo said. Dongwoo grinned at him before shifting into a bald eagle and taking off into the air.

“Are you sure he won’t get lost too?” Sungyeol asked, squinting his eyes and looking up into the space Dongwoo cleared. After a few seconds, there was a crash as Dongwoo fell back down to earth. He shifted back into human and groaned, shaking water off of his body.

“Too much water. My feathers got wet and clumped together.”

“Duck.” Everyone around Myungsoo ducked to the ground as he rolled his eyes.

“No, ducks. They coat their wings in an oil from their bills so water rolls right off of them. Turn into a duck.” Dongwoo stood up and nodded with a smile on his face, pointing to Myungsoo.

“Good idea. You’re a smart one.” Dongwoo shifted again into a duck and took off into the air. The arguing died down as the other three watched the rest of the team stare up into the empty space.

“What’s going on?”

“Waiting for Dongwoo to get back. He turned into a duck and flew up to see where we are in this fog.”

“How long as he been- oof!” Woohyun stopped talking as something crashed into him. There was some frantic quacking followed by a groan and a yell.

“Well then, that was weird,” Dongwoo said as he stood up, pulling Woohyun up with him.

“I was flying up right?” he said, dusting off his clothes. “And suddenly, I crashed into this guy. Where’d I hit you?” Woohyun glared at him and pointed at his back.

“That’s weird,” Sungjong said, looking around.

“So, if we go long enough in one direction, it’ll send us to another one. Towards... the middle?” Myungsoo pondered these thoughts and sighed, wishing you were there to bounce ideas off of. You knew just as much as him, maybe even more about things like this.

“But all of this water...” Myungsoo looked around until his eyes fell on Sungjong zapping bits of the fog with his electricity and watched as it evaporated.

“Sungjong. How long have you been doing that?” Sungjong looked up in surprise.

“What? Oh. I started doing it about half an hour ago. It just sort of evaporates when I hit it with electricity, but it’ll burn and electrocute you if you’re standing too close to it,” Sungjong added, knowing what Myungsoo was thinking.

“You’re kidding me. That’s what that was?” Woohyun asked, holding up his hand. A little while ago, they had to stop and bandage up Woohyun’s hand because of a random burn that suddenly appeared.

“Yeah... so if any of you are too close to whatever fog I’m evaporating, then you’ll get burned.” Woohyun looked like he was about to murder someone.

“The fog is movable, right?” Dongwoo asked, reaching out and pushing some out of the way.

“If we move enough of it to form empty air around us, you think you could blow this place apart so we could see?” Dongwoo looked around the group with hopeful eyes.

“The fog moves back pretty fast though. We’d have to work quick and squeeze together and make sure we’re not touching anything while Sungjong zaps the whole place.”

“No problem. I’ve got this all figured out,” Dongwoo said, cracking his neck and popping his knuckles. He turned into a gigantic bird and spread his wings.

“Nice, nice,” Myungsoo said, standing behind him. Myungsoo braced himself behind Dongwoo and so he wouldn’t fly back as he started to flap his wings.

“A little help here?” Myungsoo asked. The others quickly dove into help as Myungsoo started to shift backwards on the ground. A small space cleared out in front of them, but the fog was already starting to try to seep back into the hole.

Sungyeol walked around Dongwoo’s flapping wings and hurried into the empty space, shielding himself against the wind and beckoning other people to follow him. Woohyun left next, dragging Sungjong with him. Woohyun and Sungyeol blocked the wind for him as he prepared to zap the fog.

Hoya left next as more fog cleared, pressing himself against Woohyun and casting a glance back at the other.

“A little more Dongwoo, then be prepared to dive forward unless you wanna be roasted chicken,” Myungsoo said with a laugh. He could feel Dongwoo flap harder, sending more fog out of the way. Myungsoo turned to face Sunggyu and nodded.

“Ready?”

“Ready,” Sunggyu said, gritting his teeth. Sungjong was ready, and building up the energy in his body. His hands were already starting to spark.

“We’re good to go!” Woohyun called. Myungsoo and Sunggyu pushed Dongwoo as he tucked his wings in. The fog started to creep in as Sungjong let out bolts of electricity from his hands. They circled the fog and crashed in from the sky.

There was a hissing noise as it evaporated into the air, leaving a clear view of the surroundings. The lake was right in front of them.

“Has that been there the entire time?” Woohyun asked, looking around incredulously. The entrance to the lake was right behind them. “We’ve been wandering around here for hours for no reason?!”

“Look!” Sungjong leaned back on Hoya, completely exhausted. Dongwoo pointed off to the center of the lake, where the old hag was standing. Right before their eyes, the old hag turned into a little girl, stomping her foot in the middle of the lake.

“You’re no fun!” they heard her yell, her voice echoing throughout the lake.

“But we can play a different game! Let’s play hide and seek. See if you can find your lost friend.” She giggled and disappeared.

“Where is she?!” Sunggyu shouted, running towards the edge of the lake. He stopped abruptly when his feet touched the water and fell backwards onto the ground, crawling away from the hands reaching out of the lake.

“Sunggyu!”

“Sunggyu!”

“Save me!”

“She’s not the real one!”

“Save me!” Your team stared dumbstruck at the figures in the water. They took your image, but they were clearly not you. Their bodies were grey and pale, and their eyes were black. There was something off about their voice, a dark undertone underneath the sound of your voice.

They slowly started to sink back into the lake, and everything went quiet again.

“What. The. ,” Woohyun said, staring in absolute horror at the water. “Don’t tell me she’s actually in there somewhere. Myungsoo gulped and took a few steps towards the water and stopped right at the edge without touching it. He could see the bodies in the water, but none of them reached out at him.

“I think, as long as we don’t touch the water, we’ll be okay.” Myungsoo looked back up and out over the lake, noticing the wreckage of many boats that tried to make their way over the lake. “I don’t think we should use oars though,” he said, his eyes sweeping over to a boat docked a few feet away.

“So how are we supposed to move then?” Everyone stared at Woohyun for a few seconds until he got the idea.

“Oh. Okay. Okay. Fine.” The others held the boat as Woohyun got in, followed by everyone else. Sunggyu and Hoya pushed the boat off of the land, jumping in without touching the water. Woohyun sat in the middle and closed his eyes, concentrating on moving the boat forward as a leisurely pace so they could look for you.

Dongwoo leaned out of the boat and glanced in the water to see the shadows of you swimming around in the water and shuddered as their hands pounded at the surface of the water, like they were trapped underneath.

As they approached the middle of the lake, Woohyun stopped the boat, frowning.

“Something feels different here,” he said, moving to the front of the boat. It rocked unsteadily as he leaned out to look around.

“There! There she is!” You were floating underneath the water, a eerie white glow underneath your body. Woohyun moved the boat closer to you, letting the others get a glance at you. It looked like you were sleeping underneath the water, and the absence of water bubble around your nose and mouth meant you weren’t breathing.

You looked different from all the shadows. You were pale, but pale in the sense that you were cold. They could see you floating, despite the fact that you were still wearing all of your plates.

“Are you sure that’s her?”

“I’m sure.” Woohyun reached out for you, but got pulled back my Myungsoo.

“Myungsoo! What the hell?!”

“Did you not see what happened when Sunggyu touched the water at the edge of the lake? If you touch the water, the shadows will drag you in, and we’ll probably never see you again!” Woohyun gulped and moved back towards the middle of the boat.

“So what do we do? We can’t just leave her there,” Hoya said, staring at how ghostly you looked, floating underneath the water.
Myungsoo wracked his brain for an answer, anything, anything that he could do to save you from your watery grave.

“That which does not belong will be the key to all the answers,” he chanted to himself. He leaned back out over the boat and examined your body. You were holding something in your hand that looked like a small scabbard, one that looked like it would fit the sword you two found at the place where you met imposter Dongwoo.

He pulled it out of his pocket and dangled it over the water.

“Hold onto me, just in case something happens,” he said, leaning out over the water again. He carefully dipped the sword into the water and waited. Suddenly, he felt the sword get yanked out of his hands and into the water.

Your eyes snapped open underwater, followed by the sound of glass breaking. The bright light behind you expanded and pushed the shadows away as you broke the surface of the water.

“Grab my hand!” Myungsoo yelled. You sputtered on top of the water and struggled under the weight of your plates in the water.

“Hurry up! The shadows are coming back!” Sungjong yelled. Myungsoo reached out further, urging you as you swam over to him. His hand closed around your fingers as he pulled you up into the boat. You fell onto the bottom and coughed, taking deep, heaving breaths.

“Oh my god, oh my god. I was so scared, I was so scared,” you sobbed as Sunggyu hugged you. Myungsoo turned and stared at the sword and scabbard on your back. They were life sized now. Myungsoo could recognize the same design on the scabbard as the same one of the mini one you were clutching in your hands in the lake.

“We’re not safe yet!” Woohyun yelled, propelling the boat back to shore. The hands were reaching out of the lake again, yelling for salvation, yelling to be saved. Some of the hands grabbed onto the boat, but Sungjong shocked them off.

The boat crashed into the sand at the end of the lake, sending everyone flying out onto the land. The hands grabbed the boat, pulling it back into the water. There were snapping noises as it broke apart and sunk into the water.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Sunggyu asked, looking you over. You were completely wet, but otherwise unharmed.You nodded and buried your face into his chest, sobbing.

“What happened?” he asked, holding you at arm distance. You sobbed a few more times before hiccuping and wiping water out of your face.

“The old woman, and the little girl. I don’t know what happened, I was with you, then I was alone, and she got mad at me for something, and the next thing I knew, I was in the lake with you guys looming over me.” Sunggyu shushed you and held you close, looking around at the rest of the team.

Woohyun stood there and stared at you, his hands in his pockets.

“What happened with you guys?”

“Aside from Woohyun getting into every accident imaginable, we got lost in the never ending fog, Sungjong got rid of it, and we rescued you from the lake. Nice sword.” You blinked a few times at Hoya and looked at the sword on your back. Myungsoo hurried over and pulled it off of you, pulling the sword from the scabbard.

“Ah, jeeze! Warning when you do that please?” Woohyun said, shielding his eyes. Myungsoo blinked a few times at him before looking over to you, the pit of your stomach dropping. The word “EXCALIBUR” was engraved on the blade of the sword.

You pushed Sunggyu away from you and walked over to Woohyun, punching him across the face.

“Ow! What the ? What the hell is wrong with you?” Woohyun asked as you swung another punch at him. Hoya stood up and attempted to break up the fight, but Myungsoo held him back.

“That’s not Woohyun.”

“Not Woohyun?” The fight between you and Woohyun was harder than you remember. You didn’t know if it was because you were so tired from being trapped in the fog and everything, but he seemed to read your thoughts a little bit easier and countered your attacks.

Woohyun’s face hardened before it turned into a smirk and he countered your blow and grabbed your arm, twisting it behind you.

“You can’t beat me, remember? I’m you.” You yelled angrily and kicked back, ignoring the searing pain in your arm as something in your shoulder popped. Woohyun let out a grunt of pain and fell to the ground. You pinned him to the ground and pressed your good hand against his throat, pushing down on it.

“Who the hell are you? What did you do with Woohyun?” The rest of your team was close, just in case something happened.

“I already told you. I’m you.” Then he was gone. The creepy lake was gone, and suddenly, everything looked brighter. You heard yells around you as you fell back, breathing hard.

“Oh my god, are you okay? What happened? We got to the lake and everyone disappeared, and I knew something was wrong! I couldn’t even find you guys when I tried to find you on our mental link!” Woohyun appeared next to you, looking genuinely worried. Everyone stared at him apprehensively as SS swarmed around you and your team.

“Where have all of you been?! The map is straight forward, and leads straight to here! We haven’t seen hide or hair of you since this thing started!” Doojoon yelled at your team. Woohyun grabbed your good shoulder and shook you, repeating your name.

“Hello? Are you okay?” You lip started to quiver as you started to cry again. You couldn’t take this anymore. You couldn’t deal with this.

“Oh god.” Junhyung shoved Woohyun out of the way and examined your shoulder. It looked dislocated, and badly. He wouldn’t be surprised if you were crying from the pain.

“Hey, hey. Calm down, you’re okay.” You turned your gaze towards Junhyung and cried even hard, reaching for him and burying your face into his shoulder.

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take, Junhyung,” you said in between sobs. The SS were with the rest of your team as Junhyung comforted you. They glanced at the sword in Myungsoo hands and the clues he was holding.

“This isn’t what we gave you at the beginning,” Doojoon said, examining everything your team handed over to you.

“This is the only clue we got, right at the beginning of the course. We started this right when you gave it to us,” Hoya said, glancing every now and then at you. Junhyung whispered something into your ear and helped you up to your feet as you wiped away tears.

You leaned against him and sniffed a few times as he took you over to the medical tent. The other teams looked over in curiosity as Hoya and Myungsoo relayed everything that happened through the duration of the survival course. The SS listened intently, taking notes.

“This course was straight forward. My team made it here in a day. The only thing hard about this place was the random ambushes and reading the map. It was supposed to end here at the lake.” You shuddered and glanced out towards the lake as medical personnel took a look at your shoulder.

The lake was a crystal clear blue. You could see all the way to the bottom, and there was nothing menacing about it. No shadows of you, no fog, no black eyed little girls claiming to be you.

“We’ll have to pop this back into place. The pain should subside, and then you can go see a doctor about it.” You reached out for Junhyung’s hand and squeezed it, making him grimace.

“The most painful thing I’ve done today,” he said through gritted teeth as you yelled when your shoulder was popped back into the socket. You team looked over in alarm to see the medic wrapping your arm up and giving you a sling to wear.

“I don’t think you should go to the Games,” Junhyung said quietly, brushing at your hair. You were silent as you thought back to the little girl.

--

“Who are you?”

“I already told you that I’m you. What else do you want me to say?”

“How are you me?” you asked, taking a step closer to her on the swing. She turned to smile at you this time.

“Better question. You know the memories you can’t remember?” You blinked a few times.

“Yes,” you said slowly.

“Here’s one.” Your eyes widened as images flashed in your mind. You had a children’s book in your hands. There was something flying overhead. Junho was yelling at you, Junhyung looked like he was in pain. Your parents, your real parents were screaming. There was a roar, followed by fire, then nothing.

You snapped out of your daze and stared at the little girl.

“What? What happened? What’s going on?” The little girl was silent as she swung back and forth.

“I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything that happened. If you win the Games.”

--

“I have to go to the Games, Junhyung. I have to.” Junhyung shook his head.

“You don’t have to do anything. I’m going to talk to people as soon as we get back to school, and I’m going to get you removed from it if it’s the last-” He stopped when he felt you grip his shirt.

“Please.” Junhyung blinked a few times and sighed as your team swarmed you and took you away, Sunggyu wrapping his arms around you and picking you up.

“We’re going to the hospital, and maybe then since you’ve calmed down, you can tell us what happened exactly,” he said, casting a glance back to Junhyung.

“Myungsoo. I need to talk to Myungsoo and Woohyun.”