“I can’t believe there aren’t any convenience stores near campus.” Hyewon mutters as she steps out of Eunbi’s car.

“Well, the place is in the middle of nowhere, and it’s not like we want the drinks to be delivered to the cafeteria for someone to accidentally take. Besides, someone had to bring Chaewon and Minjoo to the city.” The older girl replies after locking the vehicle. She and Hyewon had just arrived at a 7-Eleven to buy a couple bottles of Jirisan Spring Water after dropping off their two friends near a train station.

“Hopefully they already got it in stock.” Hyewon says.

“Oh, I think they will.” Eunbi says while pointing at an advertisement poster right next to the door with Minjoo on it showing off the water brand.

~~~~

The purchase was completed without much of a hitch. The two girls had entered, walked towards the aisle that had a row completely dedicated to the new product, and bought a twelve-pack of it. With still an hour to kill before having to go and fetch the two Kims, Eunbi considered heading over to their location directly, but was caught off guard when her phone began to ring.

“It’s the Fromis girls.” She says after getting Hyewon’s attention and showing the caller ID.

“Answer it. I’ll go and put the bottles in the car.” Hyewon says before grabbing Eunbi’s car keys from her pocket and heading off.

“Hello? Saerom-ssi?” Eunbi asks.

“Yes, it’s been a few days. Sorry for the delay.” Saerom replies.

“No, you’re fine. What is it you have to report?” Eunbi hears the sounds of footsteps shuffling before Saerom speaks again.

“I don’t have much time, so I’ll get right to the chase. Hwang is sending the Fromis squad to KYB’s main building tomorrow evening as security for an event. This could be your ticket in.” She says quickly.

“Okay, okay. Go on?” Eunbi replies, not wanting any time to be wasted. She’d give her thoughts after Saerom was done.

“You can send a strike force in to do some investigating. Hayoung and I can give you an opening to sneak by. What do you think?”

“What exactly is this event? City police aren’t usually called in for these kinds of things, right?” Eunbi asks curiously.

“Hwang wouldn’t give me all the details, but a lot of high-profile guests are slated to show up. It appears the CEO has something he wants to unveil to politicians or investors.” Saerom says before another voice, Hayoung’s, interrupts to whisper something to her.

“He’s coming. I have to go. Are you in?” Saerom eventually asks.

“Yeah, I think it’s a good opportunity. I’ll call you again to say what we came up with later tonight.” Eunbi says before the call is dropped.

“So, how’d it go?” Hyewon asks when Eunbi arrives at the car.

“There’s an event at KYB tomorrow, and we can use it to gain some more information. We can talk about it more when we get back.” The older girl says, head already spinning thinking of the possibilities.

“Well, you did say we had to check that place out eventually.” Hyewon says while opening a bag of chips she’d bought in the convenience store earlier.

“I just hope we have enough time to come up with a good plan.” Eunbi replies, and with that, the two begin driving to their rendezvous point with Chaewon and Minjoo.

~~~~

“Ugh, all this sitting around is killing me. Why can’t we just go and raid KYB right now?” Yena whines between bites of her lunch.

“It’s about patience, unnie. Like Eunbi-unnie said, we can’t just rush in without knowing what we’re dealing with, and we certainly can’t do that when we’re not at full strength either.” Chaeyeon replies. Without their leader around, somebody had to keep everyone’s heads on straight.

“How strong could those androids be anyway? We took down those model fours fairly easily, did we not? Besides, they’re robots. We don’t necessarily need everyone to go fight them.” Yena says back. The longer they waited, the more of those androids could be developed, and the blonde girl didn’t want to waste time.

“Unnie, what is that supposed to mean?” A new voice interjects. When Yena turns she realizes it was Yuri who had just arrived at the cafeteria.

“Yah, when did you get out of the infirmary? You should be resting, Yul.” Yena says, but the singer didn’t want to hear it.

“Hongki-sunbae’s healing is strong, remember? Yiren’s also been helping him out. I’m fine now.” Yuri replies, her arms now crossed.

“But still, It could be-”

“-Dangerous? Yena, I can handle myself.”

“Like you did back at the research facility?” At those words, Yuri’s brows furrowed.

“Excuse me? What did you say?” She asks incredulously. When Yena doesn’t respond, Yuri huffs in annoyance before turning around and walking away.

“Wait, Yul. I didn’t mean, ugh.” Yena mutters before running to catch up with her girlfriend.

“There they go again with their bickering.” Yujin tuts.

“As if you and Wonyoung are any better.” Nako comments quietly, but unfortunately not quiet enough.

“Yah, Nabuki Yako!” Yujin shouts before getting up and trying chasing after the older girl who had bolted away. The others at the table could only shrug to each other.

~~~~

“Yuri! Wait up, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that.” Yena says before finally reaching her and grabbing her shoulder. “I was just worried about you, Yul. After seeing what you went through back in Chuncheon, I don’t want you getting hurt again.”

“Isn’t that something I have to decide for myself? Have you forgotten how many times I’ve saved your too? We’re a team! Sure, I can get roughed up at times, but that comes with the responsibility of being in IZ*ONE.” Yuri says back only to realize there were tears in the older girl’s eyes.

“I just don’t want to lose you, Yuri. You were already abducted by Jurina, shot in Jeju Island, and now experimented on in Chuncheon. How many more times are we going to tempt fate like that? I can’t let you be in that position another time.” Yena says so quietly it might as well have been a whisper.

“I’m not just going to sit back and watch you guys run into battle. I’d feel even guiltier if something happened to you girls while I was sitting back doing nothing. I thought we talked about this when we went to face Ahn Joon-young?” Yuri replies while reaching out a hand to hold Yena’s cheek.

“Everyone here has partners too. I’m sure Chaeyeon, Chaewon, Nako, Yujin, and Eunbi would want to protect Kkura, Minjoo, Tomi, Wonyoung, and Hyewon as much as you want to protect me and vice versa. Also, for all the times you mentioned I was hurt, there were countless times where I made it out just fine thanks to you or one of the members. If you really want me to be safe, you’d let me stay by your side. That’s the safest place for me to be in my opinion.” Yuri’s words settle in for a couple seconds before Yena finally replies.

“Y-you’re right. I shouldn’t have said what I said, Yul.” Yena realized she let her emotions get the best of her. Of course, Yuri was strong enough to fend for herself. She could force entire platoons of soldiers to fall asleep with a word if Nako didn’t enjoy fighting so much. “I think the thing that I was really afraid of was… myself, and how I don’t have enough power to protect you all the time.”

“I get that, Yena. I know you mean well, but the burden isn’t solely on you. We have a team for a reason, and I trust everyone to keep each other safe.” Yuri says with a smile. She can tell that Yena had a lot bottled up, and as her partner, she wanted to reassure her as much as possible.

“Being a mutant means our lives will never be completely smooth, but that’s exactly why I’m glad to have you. I trust you with my life, and I wouldn’t want to have anyone else.” Yuri says before planting a soft kiss on Yena’s lips. “Now, c’mon. The others are probably worried about us.”

~~~~

“Okay, looks like everyone who’s needed is here.” Eunbi says as she places a bottle of water at the center of the table.

“Uh, is that Minjoo’s face?” Wonyoung asks, pointing right at the figure printed next to the brand name.

“Yeahp, it seems their marketing plan is going great.There was a whole shelf dedicated to it, and when we brought them to the counter, the cashier mentioned a lot of people buying it. Minjoo’s ad was even on a billboard we passed by on the way home.” Eunbi replies. The product being this widespread this early only made Eunbi want to get to the bottom of the case sooner.

“Speaking of Minjoo, where is she? Chaewon’s not here either.” Chaeyeon queries.

“Ah, they’re trying to fix Chae’s clones right now. They said your friend gave them some useful advice. I think it’s risky, but Chaewon insisted on it. Let’s just trust her judgment for now.” Eunbi says back. “Anyway, Kkura. How long do you think it’ll take to analyze the water?”

“I’ll put them under a microscope later, but the fact that there’s nothing suspicious in the nutrition facts, it might be hidden at a more molecular level. At most it’ll take a day.” Sakura says.

“Hmm, we might not have enough time before the mission then.” Eunbi mutters back.

“Mission? What mission?” Hitomi asks.

“Saerom called earlier. She said that there’s apparently going to be an event held at KYB’s main building tomorrow evening. According to her, it’s so big that she and her team were asked to act as security detail for it.”

“And you believe they can help us get in to do some of our own digging while everyone’s distracted?” Sakura surmises.

“Yeah, this is going to be a stealth mission.” Eunbi replies, putting more emphasis on the word stealth because it’s something the members tend to forget.

“So… no punching?” Nako asks.

“If we can help it.” At this response, the short girl frowns a bit.

“Aish, don’t worry Nako-unnie, we always get found out anyway. You’ll probably get your kicks in.” Yujin says with a snicker that earns her a motherly glare from Eunbi, one that acknowledged she was probably right, but also didn’t appreciate it being said out loud.

“Not helping, Yujin. Do you want me to put you on the bench for this mission? You do have a tendency to blow your cover pretty quick.” Eunbi says, which gets the puppy to immediately shut .

“Wait, does that mean not everyone is coming?” Gaeul asks.

“Saerom said to not try and send too many people, so I’m afraid not. After the last attack when we were spread out, I don’t want to leave campus too unprotected either.” Eunbi replies, the others nodding in understanding. With that settled, the leader finally begins discussing the rough idea of the plan she’d been thinking of.

~~~~

“Back so soon? You really must be desperate now.” Michelle says condescendingly when Chaewon and Minjoo show up in front of her cell.

“I’m not here to fight. I’m here to talk.” Chaewon replies calmly.

“What’s there to talk about? You don’t even trust me.” The clone says back.

“Listen… I’m sorry, for everything.” Chaewon had contemplated the whole ride home on what to say, and after much thought, decided an apology should be at the top of the list. “I know I haven’t been particularly nice to you, and we’ve had our differences, but at the end of the day… you’re still a part of me.”

“Sure, as if I’m buying that sappy nonsense. You just need something from me now, right? Let me guess, something went wrong when you got your memories back?” Michelle says in a snarky tone.

“Yah, she’s giving you a-” Minjoo tries to step in, but Chaewon stops her by putting a hand on her shoulder and giving her a look that says, “Let me handle this.”.

“I get why you’re upset. I haven’t visited in a while to talk. I do genuinely mean it though when I say I’m sorry. I should’ve treated you better.” Chaewon says, hoping her tone conveyed her sincerity.

“You still haven’t answered my question. What do you need from me? KYB didn’t give me any specifics if that’s what you want. I was just following orders to get a chance at revenge on you.” Michelle replies with crossed arms.

“I want us to combine back. What KYB is planning is going to hurt a lot of mutants. You may hate me, but do you really hate everyone else? Right now, my clones… they aren’t working right, and I think it’s because I’m missing you. At your core, you’re still a Chaewon, and I was wrong to keep treating you like you weren’t.”

“You do know the risks, right? I could take over your consciousness and just leave this campus. I could try and kill you the second you open this door. Are you still going to trust me?” Michelle asks with a chuckle.

“Yes. I know what I’m getting myself into. I just believe you know the right thing to do.” And with that, Chaewon opens Michelle’s cell.

“You’re either really brave or really stupid…” Michelle says as she steps out.

“Or a little bit of both.” Minjoo whispers, muscles tensed as if preparing for the long-haired girl to pull something at any second.

Michelle keeps walking towards Chaewon who stared her down, unafraid, until they were eventually inches away from each other.

“Last chance to back out.” Michelle warns as she extends her arm.

“Not a chance.” Chaewon replies before reaching to take her copy’s hand and shake it. Slowly, Michelle’s figure begins to glow until her form is completely absorbed into Chaewon.

Though still on the outside, a lot of Michelle’s memories and feelings began flowing into Chaewon’s mind. It was almost overwhelming, so much hate, so much vitriol against her. When Chaewon steadies her consciousness though and looks past it, she sees something else. Finally knowing what’s going on in Michelle’s mind, Chaewon sees that the resentment wasn’t built on a desire to replace her, but a desire to be accepted.

For a long time, Chaewon denied her dreams of joining an idol agency and following her mother’s footsteps. She was afraid of losing control of her clones after the nightmare she saw on Jeju Island. Those feelings were what manifested in Michelle. Yes, she did go a bit too far in her methods, but keeping her isolated in that cell for a year without even talking with her? That was on Chaewon. She kept pushing Michelle further and further away when she should’ve kept her word and worked to become one with her again. Once Chaewon realizes that, the negative emotions begin fading away, and her head is calm again.

“Chae? You okay?” Minjoo asks warily, waving her hand in front of her face when the light disappears. Her girlfriend was standing still with closed eyes, but there was something off to her. Chaewon’s normally short hair in particular seemed to have grown a little bit to reach her shoulders, not as long as Michelle’s, but still noticeably different.

After a couple more seconds, Chaewon’s eyes finally flutter open, and for a moment, Minjoo wonders if she’s facing friend or foe.

“What’s with the look, Min? It’s just me.” Chaewon says with a smile that Minjoo could just tell belonged to her girlfriend.

“Thank goodness…” The brunette replies with a sigh before running up to Chaewon and giving her a hug. She didn’t want to show it as much, but she’d been as stressed about this plan as Chaewon herself. She’d already lost Chaewon’s memory once and was terrified of something going wrong so soon after she’d gotten them back.

For Chaewon, she let herself melt into the younger girl’s embrace. Michelle represented everything Chaewon didn’t like about herself- her doubts, her indecision, her self-centeredness. Now that they were one again, Michelle’s voice whispers to her in the back of her head.

Glad you finally came to your senses, Chae. It felt vindicating, as if Chaewon had just passed a test she’d been struggling with for a long time.

“Let’s go back to the others now, Min. Eunbi-unnie said she was planning something for tomorrow, didn’t she?” Chaewon says after planting a kiss on her girlfriend’s forehead.

“Yeah, we’ll be going to a party tomorrow. I’m so excited.” Minjoo says sarcastically.

Chaewon then takes Minjoo’s hand, and the duo begins heading to the war room where everyone else was.

 

A/N: Helloo and welcome to another chapter! 

Here we see YulYen get into a bit of a disagreement. Yuri has been one of the members who's had it the worst when it's come to being abducted or hurt (that's my fault, yuri!) so Yena's finally gotten a bit overprotective. They manage to talk it out though and we move on to Chaewon facing Michelle and finally accepting her back. Her arc is finally resolved, yay!

I'm kinda excited to write the next chapter now because it's going to be an infiltration, but i have few twists in mind. Look forward to it!

Thanks again for all the support! Don't forget #ProjectIZONE_AU on twitter if you got something to say!

See y'all in the next one!