“We should be coming up on the landing area in ten minutes, Ms. Kwon.” The pilot communicates from the cockpit. The group had gotten on the plane early in the morning and were in the air for about an hour already heading towards Jeju Island, a popular tourist destination just of the coast of the country. This isolation from the mainland as well as the amount of people made it a good place for Ahn to hide his secret lab.

“Understood. I’ll inform the others.” She replies. Eunbi turns to look back at her friends who were trying their best to stay loose. They all understood the gravity of the mission, but that didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking. This felt like the mission that all their recent trials and tribulations were leading towards. They’d travelled to different cities, ran from police, and even searched through another country to find the information they needed. The group had gone through so much in such a short amount of time. Eunbi was hoping this would be the last mission for a while.

“Girls, we’re almost there. Get yourselves ready.” The leader says calmly after getting everyone’s attention.

“Thank goodness…I feel like I’m gonna be sick.” Minjoo whispers.

“We’ve only been in the air for an hour, Min. You sure get motion-sickness easily.” Chaewon teases.

“Anyway, do you all remember the plan or am I going to have to go over it again?” The group nods at Eunbi’s question for the most part, but some eyes begin to glance at a certain duck sitting in the corner.

“What? Come on, guys! Of course, I remember the plan!” Yena complains.

“Oh, really?” Eunbi grins as she gets an idea. “I guess Yena can debrief us as we approach the landing area then.” At this, Yena’s confident expression falters.

“Uhh, yes, definitely! So, we’re supposed to land on the north side of the island where there aren’t that many resorts. The police are still after us, so it’s good to avoid populated areas. After that, we let Sakura-unnie scan the area for technological activity and we go from there. Then…” Yena starts sweating now trying to remember the next step until Yuri nudges her to get her attention. The hamster then gives some hand signals that she hoped Yena would understand.

“Ah, then we split up once we get inside. One group looks for Hyewon and ITZY, the other group looks for data on Ahn’s projects to expose him!” Yena puts on her best smile, hoping she got everything, and breathed a sigh of relief when Eunbi nodded.

“Good job, Yena. You got most of the main points down.” The leader commends.

“Yeah, I’m surprised. Yena-unnie isn’t that much of an airhead after all.” Yujin teases.

“Yah, Yena-unnie can have brilliant moments sometimes too.” Yuri defends.

“Wait, 'sometimes'?” Yena replies with a questioning tone. Before they could get into another argument like the two always do, the plane suddenly shakes as if it got it by something.

“Uh…what was that?” Wonyoung asks worriedly.

“It must just be some turbulence.” Eunbi says, trying to calm the group down, but another gust of wind slams into the plane which caused those who were standing to fall down. Eunbi gets up and steadies herself before making her way back to the intercom.

“Captain, what’s going on out there?” She asks to the pilot.

“Sudden air turbulence, Ms. Kwon! It just came out of nowhere, and I don’t think the plane will survive pushing through!” He replies urgently, the wind seemingly getting stronger and stronger.

“Wait, what does that mean?”

“It means you’re gonna have to jump!” Eunbi’s face goes white at this. Skydiving wasn’t exactly part of the campus’ lessons.

“There are parachutes under each chair. Just put them on, and pull on the string after five seconds.” The pilot calmly says.

“Alright, captain. Understood.”

“Good luck with your mission.” Eunbi turns and stumbles back to the passenger area where her friends were all starting to panic.

“Okay, everyone. I know this is sudden, but there’s parachutes under your chairs. Put them on as quick as you can because we’re gonna have to jump!”

“WHAT?” They all ask in unison.

“Unless you wanna crash with the plane, you’re gonna have to trust me. Just follow my lead.” Eunbi says as she grabs a parachute bag and shows them all how to attach it.

“This is crazy…” Minjoo stammers as she puts on the bag, her motion-sickness not getting any better.

“Eunbi-unnie’s right though. We’re going down either way. It’s just a matter of how quick we’re falling.” Chaewon replies, trying her best to keep a brave face for her girlfriend despite also being absolutely terrified. Meanwhile, on the other side of the plane, Nako and Hitomi are helping each other put on their parachutes.

“You ever done this before?” Hitomi asks.

“Nope, but it sounds exciting.” Nako replies cheerfully which wasn’t exactly the reaction the peach-cheeked girl was expecting.

“I still don’t know where these winds came from though.” Hitomi eventually says.

“I have a hunch, but I don’t want to say it out loud.” Sakura interjects.

“I think I know what you mean, Kkura-unnie.” Chaeyeon replies, a certain person coming to her mind.

“Alright, girls. You ready?” Eunbi calls out.

“As ready as we’ll ever be.” Yena says. Eunbi was about to tell the captain to open the side doors until an explosion rocked the plane.

“That can’t be good…” Yujin says, and her suspicions were confirmed when she looked out the window and saw one of their plane’s engines on fire.

“What kind of wind blows out an engine???” Yuri asks, panicking.

“No time. We gotta jump now! Nako, punch the door open!” Eunbi orders. Nako nods and does what she was told. Their altitude was now low enough that the air pressure didn’t immediately them out of the plane, but they could certainly feel themselves losing their breathes as they held on to their chairs. The leader could tell everyone was still apprehensive of taking the leap, so she decided to set the example.

“Just trust yourselves, everyone! There are a lot of people counting on us. I’ll see you on the ground!” Eunbi says before jumping out.

“Yah, wait, she really jumped???” Minjoo shrieks.

“Yeah, and we gotta go now too!” Chaewon says, gathering all of her courage before grabbing Minjoo’s hand and jumping with her.

“Is this how every mission usually goes?” Chaeryeong asks nervously as she peers over the edge.

“More or less. This is probably one of the dumber things we’ve done. Now, c’mon! Last one down owes the other a snack!” Chaeyeon says before jumping, taking Sakura with her. One by one, the others followed and jumped as well until all that was left was Yujin and Wonyoung.

“C’mon, Wonnie. We’re not going to catch up with the others if we don’t jump now!” Yujin says, but Wonyoung was still glued to her chair, petrified.

“I’m scared, Yujin-unnie! I’ve never done this before!” The younger girl replies. It was one thing to skydive with an instructor, and another thing to jump out a burning plane.

“Well, neither have the others! We’re running out of time!” As she says this, the voice of the pilot rings through the cabin.

“Listen, I’m ejecting after this message. If anyone’s still in there, you gotta jump now!” A few seconds later, they hear a noise from the cockpit. When they look out the window, they see the pilot parachuting out as well.

“We’re literally on our own now, Wonyoung. Please, you gotta trust me!” Yujin yells over the sound of strong winds whistling past their ears. When the younger girl continues to stay frozen in place, Yujin takes matters into her own hands and grabs her, whispering one more thing to her.

“If anything happens, Wonyoung. I love you!” And with that, Yujin takes the jump with Wonyoung in her arms. The view would’ve been tremendous if it weren’t for the fact that they were falling from the sky. Just like Eunbi had instructed, Yujin counted to five and pulled on the string…nothing happened.

Uh-oh. She thinks. It appeared her parachute was defective, and with Wonyoung still clinging onto her, they couldn’t deploy hers either.

“Yah! Yujinnie! What are we going to do?!?” Wonyoung screams as the two continue to plummet towards the ground. Yujin thinks as quick as she can, scanning the ground for something, anything, that could break their fall, and that’s when she saw the coastline next to the forest they’d been flying over. It was a longshot, and she’d never tried to control water from this far, but there was no other choice.

“Wonyoung! Hold on tight!” Yujin shouts before using all her energy to send a water spout going upwards into the sky to catch them. Under normal circumstances, hitting water at this speed would still be fatal, but not for Yujin. Once they made contact, Yujin used the water to form a protective bubble that mitigated their impact onto the ocean. In the background, she could see the outline of their plane exploding as it crashed into the forest. The puppy breathes a sigh before she checks in on Wonyoung, who was still gripping onto her like glue.

“Is it over, unnie?” Wonyoung asks, her voice still shaking.

“Yes…we’re just floating in the water now. I’ll direct us to shore. We have to find where the others are.” She replies, the younger girl’s hair to calm her down.

“Thanks, Yujin-unnie. I don’t know what came over me in the plane. I’m sorry.” Wonyoung says.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Wonnie. We’re okay now. There’s no way I was going to jump without you.”

“Speaking of which, before we jumped, I’m not sure if I heard you correctly, but-”

“Yes. I meant it. I guess life-threatening situations really give that extra kick you need to be honest, huh?” The puppy says. Wonyoung’s been with her ever since she’d been taken from her family. She was her everything. No matter how much she whined or messed around, Wonyoung stayed by her side.

“I guess you could call that a love dive.” Yujin jokes.

“Aish, even in this situation, you still find a way to make me laugh…” Wonyoung replies with a smile as she gives Yujin a playful punch in the shoulder.

“So, does that mean…?”

“Yes, I love you too Yujin. More than you can imagine.” The sudden drop in honorifics would normally peeve the older girl, who loved to tease Wonyoung about it despite them being less than a year apart, but she figured she could make an exception just this once. Yujin was about to lean in and give Wonyoung a kiss, but was interrupted by something bumping their bubble.

“AHH! Unnie, a shark!” Wonyoung shrieks. Yujin turns and sees a great white shark swimming around them. This would normally be terrifying, but she was fairly sure her bubble would protect them.

“Yah, you ruined a moment…” She mumbles, and as if the shark could understand her, it swims away.

I guess I should save our first kiss till after the mission…Yujin thinks as she directs the waves to send them to the coastline.

~~~~

“Ugh, add jumping out of a burning plane to the list of things I never want to do again…” Yena mumbles.

“Really? I don’t know, it was pretty exhilarating if you ask me.” Nako replies, as she dusts herself off.

“Easy for you to say. You’re more aerodynamic than us.” The duck quacks back.

“Yah, if that’s a roundabout way of saying I’m short, I swear.” Before Nako could say more, Yuri decides to cut in.

“Anyway…did anyone see where the others landed? I think we’re pretty split right now.” The hamster says. They’d landed in a clearing in the middle of the forest separated from the others. They tried to follow Eunbi, but the wind currents were too sporadic, carrying them off in different directions.

“You’re right. Maybe we should think of a signal to get their attention?” Hitomi suggests.

“I actually have an idea!” Yena offers. “But Hii-chan, can you please use your powers to untangle me from these branches already?” The group chuckles at that. It seemed that everyone had just ignored the fact that Yena had gotten stuck in some vines and branches when she crashed. Hitomi waves her hand, and Yena falls onto the ground.

“Yah, a little warning?” She whines.

“Maybe you would’ve landed better if you were more ‘aerodynamic’.” Nako teases in her best Yena impression which got even Yuri to laugh at her girlfriend.

“Okay, so what’s this idea of yours, Yena-unnie?” The hamster eventually asks, which causes Yena to give a sly grin.

~~~~

“Unnie. You think everyone made it out of the plane alright?” Minjoo asks their leader. They’d just seen the plane crash in the distance, and the younger girl was feeling worried. She’d already been sick to her stomach from the plane ride coupled with jumping out of said plane, so not seeing her friends around her after that ordeal really made her want to hurl.

“I’m sure they all made it out. We’ve been through worse.” Eunbi says, but she couldn’t tell if she was trying to convince Minjoo or herself. If they didn’t all land safely, what was she going to do with herself?

“What’s the plan now, unnie? Do we look for the others first?” Chaewon asks, shaking Eunbi out of her thoughts. Just as she says that though, a lightning bolt thunders in from the distance which was strange because it was a clear and sunny day. Then again, they were taken out from the sky because of a surprise wind surge, so the random weather wasn’t exactly surprising.

“Well, it’s either I’m going crazy or that’s Yena.” She replies with a smile before leading the two over to where the lighting had come from.

~~~~

“That certainly wasn’t how I envisioned the plan going…” Chaeyeon says with a groan. She’d landed on the coast along with Chaeryeong and Sakura who were also trying to gather their bearings.

“In fairness, 90% of our plans require an adjustment midway through.” Sakura replies.

“90%??? Doesn’t your team have backups?” Chaeryeong says with a surprised tone. With ITZY, every move was calculated with a back up plan for each back up plan in place.

“It’s called being flexible, Ryeong.” The elder sibling replies, trying to defend herself.

“Each strategy has its merits.” Sakura cuts in. “Planning on the fly allows us to respond to missions quicker when time is of the essence, while meticulous planning gets results with less negative consequences in the long run. It just depends how much time you have.”

“That’s true; I never really thought about that.” Chaeryeong says with Chaeyeon nodding in reply. Sakura was now supposed to suggest their next move, but before she could, a large explosion interrupts her.

“Woah, wait, was that the plane? Oh my god, do you think the others are okay?” Chaeyeon asks worriedly. Sakura thinks for a bit before replying.

“Chances are pretty low that there were casualties. If everyone jumped out in time and followed instructions, there’s only less than a 5% chance something bad happened. I think the priority right now should be regrouping with the them.”

“Alright, I’ll go scout around for a couple minutes then. I’ll report to you after!” Chaeyeon says, zooming off before the others could reply.

“Yah, there she goes again…always running ahead.” Chaeryeong says with a chuckle, now left alone for a bit with Sakura.

“So…are you Chaeyeon-unnie’s girlfriend?” The younger girl asks suddenly which causes Sakura to do a double-take.

“Wait, what? Uhm, no. We’re not like that yet.” She stammers.

“’Yet’? So, you like each other at least, right?” Chaeryeong continues to pester. Sakura had never really talked about her feelings about Chaeyeon ever, so all these questions were starting to short-circuit her which caused Chaeryeong to laugh.

“It’s just that I’ve never seen Chaeyeon-unnie act like how she does around you. In fairness, I hadn’t seen her since we got separated, but she seems to be the same bubbly personality I’ve always known before.” She explains.

“I guess…I’ve just been a bit confused.” Sakura responds. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. It’s a foreign feeling I still don’t quite understand.”

“You don’t really ever understand love, you know? It’s not some equation you can just calculate. It’s a scary feeling for sure, but if you really think it’s true, you just gotta take that leap, be a bit fearless. In my opinion though, I think she’s liked you for a long time.” Sakura quiets at this, slowly trying to process the information.

“Oh, I’m sorry for rambling Sakura-unnie. It’s just…I want Chaeyeon-unnie to be happy, and I think that’s something you give her. She’s always out there sacrificing her own happiness for others since we were little. I want those sacrifices to not end up with anything.” Chaeryeong says when the older girl didn’t respond for a couple seconds.

“No problem. Just processing things. I think I do like her, but I also think it’d be better to sort those emotions out after the mission.” Sakura replies. She really did understand what Chaeryeong said, especially the part about Chaeyeon’s tendencies of helping others before herself.

“Of course. Of course. I’m not rushing anything! Just make sure to invite me to the wedding after you confess.” Chaeryeong jokes. Before either could say more, a couple familiar voices call out to them.

“Kkura-unnie! Over here!” They yell. Sakura turns towards the ocean and sees a floating bubble of water, and when she focuses more, she realizes that Wonyoung and Yujin were inside.

Eventually, the bubble arrives on shore and dissipates. The two youngsters then run up to Sakura and give her a big hug before explaining how they got out there in the first place.

“Well, I’m glad you two are safe. Chaeyeon-unnie should be back-” As Sakura says this, a zooming figure arrives and stops right in front of them.

“-right now.”

“Perfect timing, huh?” Chaeyeon says with her signature laugh that Sakura had grown to love.

“I found Eunbi-unnie, Chaewon and Minjoo. They were going to meet up with Yena-unnie and the others. The duck’s signal flare worked out.” She continues.

“Signal flare?” Sakura asks.

“The lightning bolt from the sky? Don’t tell me you didn’t notice that.”

“Her head must’ve been somewhere else at the time, unnie! I missed it too.” Chaeryeong interjects, trying to cover for Sakura.

“What about you two?” Chaeyeon questions Yujin and Wonyoung who were both basically still glued to the hip. “You both seem closer than usual.” She teases.

“Yah, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Yujin says, shooting Wonyoung a look that said: We can explain it to the others some other time.

“Yeah, you’ve got the wrong idea, unnie!” The younger girl says, pushing Yujin away which surprised the puppy. Wonyoung sure knows how to put on an act. She thinks.

“Aish, in any case, we have to go meet with the others. We’re already behind on schedule!” Chaeyeon says.

“I’m sure we can still make good time as long as nothing else unforeseen happens.” Sakura replies which caused the rest of the group to groan.

“You just had to say it, didn’t you?” Yujin says.

“What?” Wonyoung simply points behind Sakura where a large tornado was forming around Yena’s approximate location.

“We better move quickly!” Chaeyeon says as she leads the group over.

~~~~

“Unnie, do you think your lightning caused a weather disturbance?” Hitomi asks when she notices the leaves and branches around them rustling.

“I mean, it caused rain to fall the last time I tried, so…maybe?” Yena replies, not thinking much of it.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Yuri says as she begins to tense up. “Chaeyeon-unnie said Eunbi-unnie was coming and she’d gather the rest soon, right?”

“Mhm, it seemed my trick got their attention after all.” She says proudly as a stray-branch whacks her in the face.

“Alright, not funny, Hii-chan!”

“Uhm, that wasn’t me, unnie. I think it was just the wind.” The peach-cheeked girl replies.

“Yah, the forecasts said it would be clear weather today then all of a sudden, a freak wind surge takes out the plane and now this random gust?” The duck complains.

“Hmm, I remember Kkura-unnie had a hunch on what it was, right Hii-chan?” Nako says.

“Yeah…I don’t think our friends were the only thing attracted by Yena-unnie’s signal.” She replies as she sends out a vine to a random spot behind her after sensing movement, but coming out with nothing.

“Wait, what was that, Hii-chan?” Yuri asks before being swept off her feet by a strong wind.

 “Yuri!” Yena runs to her girlfriend, but was blown back towards a tree by another gale.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Nako shouts, and right on cue, a figure floats down from the sky.

“Gaeun-unnie?” Hitomi questions warily. The woman lands gracefully in the middle of the four and observes them. It definitely looked like their friend who was now wearing a black camouflage.

“What? Wasn’t she taken down by ITZY and Hyewon?” Yuri says.

“Yeah, but look at her eyes. They’re not red anymore. This doesn’t make any sense…” Yena adds. All this talking seemed to annoy Gaeun who gritted her teeth and sent out a cyclone that they all only barely managed to dodge.

“Unnie! It’s us! Your friends!” Yuri tries to reason, using her charm speak, but for some reason, Gaeun was unaffected. She tried to tell her to stand still, but that only momentarily slowed her down.

“There’s no use talking if Ahn has anything to do with this!” Nako says as she dodges another gale. “We gotta take her down again!”

“How about the others? I think we’re going to need their help. The last time we fought, she had a disadvantage because it was in an enclosed room. She has free rein out here!” Hitomi says, and as if to prove her point, the trees around them began to uproot and get blown away.

“That’s gonna be an issue. Look at the sky!” Yena says, pointing out how they were truly in the eye of a storm right now. It would be a death-sentence to try and plow through that wall of wind. They were on their own. She tried to call some more lightning down, but Gaeun created a wind shield to block it.

“Got any ideas because I can’t get in close.” Nako asks. She’d been trying to get a punch in, but all she got were cuts and bruises from all the debris flying around. Yena and Yuri were barely managing to keep their footing as well. It was then that Hitomi had thought of something.

“Keep distracting her, Nako-chan! Then, Yuri, when I give the signal, tell Gaeun to freeze!” She says.

“But I tried that! She regains control too quickly!” Yuri replies.

“Just trust me!” The peach-cheeked girl then circles around the area, feeling for the plant life underground.

If we can’t attack her from the surface, we’re going to have to surprise her from below. She thinks as she arrives behind Gaeun who was distracted by Nako’s futile attempts to advance forward.

“Now!” Hitomi shouts.

“Gaeun-unnie, stop what you’re doing and freeze!” Yuri orders. Like before, Gaeun paused, and in that split second, Hitomi launched her attack. Tendrils of roots exploded from the ground and latched onto Gaeun, pinning her down.

“Yah, Yena-unnie! Do your thing! This won’t hold her for long!” Yena nods and focuses her energy into a quick and precise bolt of lightning. Of course, she did try to tone it down a bit because Gaeun was their friend. When it was clear she was knocked out, the four slowly approach.

“Unnie? You, okay?” Nako calls out, her fists still out and ready to swing.

“Of course, she’s not. Yena-unnie just zapped her with lightning.” Yuri comments.

“Hey, you know I weakened it before the strike.” The duck says before they were interrupted by their other friends who’d finally been able to arrive at the scene.

“Girls! Thank goodness you’re okay!” Eunbi says with a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, we were about to get here when a wall of wind blocked the way. It was like a stationary tornado.” Chaeyeon adds.

“Well, you were a bit too late to the party. We already took her down.” Yena says coolly.

“Took who down?” Chaeryeong asks. Yena was about to turn and show them Gaeun, but a blur of movement caught her eye.

“Wait, we’re not alone.” She whispers, and without warning, a smoke bomb hits the clearing. A figure dressed in black darts in to where Gaeun was and magically disappears seconds later when the smoke clears.

“Yah, wait, Gaeun-unnie! They took her!” Yuri shout.

“Did you say, Gaeun?” Eunbi queries.

“Yeah! I know it sounds crazy, but she’s probably the one who took down our plane and created the tornado!” Nako says. She and Hitomi then go on to retell what had happened which only left the group more puzzled.

“Didn’t ITZY and Hyewon already take care of her in that staged attack?” Sakura asks.

“That’s what we thought too, and what’s weirder, her eyes weren’t red anymore.” They respond. As the group continues to think about it, Sakura suddenly gets a tingling feeling and walks over to where Gaeun was.

“What is it, Kkura-unnie?” Chaeyeon asks.

“There’s a fried communication device on the ground.” She replies, picking up the charred piece of metal.

“Is it repairable? We could use that to our advantage.” Eunbi says. Sakura ponders this for a couple seconds before responding.

“Give me a couple minutes. I think I’ll be able to get the signal back.”

“Okay, we can set up camp here in the meantime. Chaeyeon? Could you run over with Chaeryeong to a convenience store and get some snacks?” Eunbi asks. They did initially pack supplies, but those all mostly went up in flames in the plane crash. All they had left was whatever they had in their pockets.

“Sure, we’ll be back in a jiffy. We’ll also try to look for a few leads if we can.” They reply.

“Good, I’ll hear from you two later then.” The leader says after handing them both all the pocket money they had and reminding them to wear masks to cover up their faces. They still wanted to avoid crowds if they could help it.

“Alright girls, I know we got off to a rocky start, but it wouldn’t be an IZ*ONE mission if there weren’t bumps in the road. We just have to recalibrate and adapt.” The group nods and they all take a well-deserved breather.

A/N: Hi, everyone! Feels good to be back! As promised, I did write a lot during the holy week, so I could put this out today (I proofread this once so far so there may be mistakes here and there which i apologize for in advance). I've been building it up for a while, but there will likely be only a couple more chapters left. I will say though, I'm thinking of doing one-off chapters after I complete this story like random missions and such, but no promises on that right now. I also got another fic idea in the back of my head, but again, I want to focus on finishing this one first. Thank you again for all your patience and support! I wouldn't have written this far without you guys. School's been really heavy recently, so it's been hard for me to find time to write, but I still enjoy it every time I can. With that being said, it's the final stretch already in this semester so I'm not sure when the next chapter will come out. My classes officially end May 28, so I may or may not have a chapter released in between; it's really up to my schedule. My twt handle has been mentioned here before if you want to if there's an update.

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter! It's a bit of filler, but Annyeongz finally happened and kkuchaen development. I just dont want to rush the ending too much, and don't worry, Hyewon will be back in the next chapter. I'm relieved to see the girls all still doing well even if we're approaching 1 year since they disbanded. It surprises me everyday to see new people still come and read this story. I really appreciate all the likes and comments too. See you in the next chapter!