My friends were talking about the first time they met each other around the camp fire in the near distance.

I could vaguely hear Suho remembering and laughing about my 'what-the-hell-just-happened' face when he first tried to explain the history of our world in the last 50 years in about 5 minutes. Then Baekhyun joined in to talk about my first summoning and how it failed so badly that my aeon almost singed my eyebrows.

That wasn't really the first time that I've met my friends, but it counts as a first time since I can't remember the real first time.

My memory only goes backwards for about 3 years before it stops. I can't remember anything from before that.

We thought that it would come back eventually, but it never did. Everyone told me not to worry about it since most of the memory was of bad things anyway.

"Does it bother you? How I don't remember things that you do?"

"Not really." He shrugged.

It bothered me, though. He could remember things that I could not. He claims that I already know the main important information from him, so I shouldn't worry about the details. But for me, every little detail mattered. Because the big parts were of our missions, our battles and the history of the world, while all the details were about me and him.

I didn't realise that I had pouted through my thoughts until he chuckled and pinched my face.

"Stop it." I whined. He placed his arms around me instead and we continued to look at the horizon in silence. I rested my head on his shoulder and I smiled, suddenly content that I could do so. His shoulder was rare, the only one tall enough for me to rest on.

"Let what's gone be gone, Chanyeol."

I shook my head slightly, "My memory's not gone, hyung. Just lost."

"Do you think that you'll find it?"

"Maybe. Being lost at least means that it still exists. It's nice to know that it's still somewhere out there even though it's not here with me now. It means that there's still hope for what's lost to be found. And, we gotta live in hope, right?"

I could feel him smiling and he placed a soft kiss on the top of my head.

"Right."

***

"You know, I think he'd like us better if we knocked. First impression is everything." Suho said as they walked down the long and dim corridor.

The place kind of looked like a prison, with metal doors along the walls, leading to individual rooms that were occupied by citizens. Living conditions for civilians were worse than Kris remembered. The guard outside told them that it was roughly one 2m squared room per person with shared bathroom between 10 sand a canteen for everyone. And this was the better half of the city.

After the war between humanity and MASK began about 50 years ago, the world fell apart, even more than it did before the war. Cities burned to the ground and every government and order collapsed. Citizens fled without really knowing what was attacking them, but there was no place to hide. The only safe place on this earth now is underground, where the majority of citizens are, living in shelters of an underground city, or within an ENT (Enemy Neutralising Troops) tower, where the resistance forces reside.

"Old fashioned." Kris scoffed, he focussed on scanning the door plates the metal doors as they walked past, "It's not really the first time we're meeting, and I don't think he'd like us very much anyway once we tell him why we were here."

They walked a little further along when Suho suddenly broke the silence.

"You lied to the council, didn't you? You never lost track of him." Suho said it as a statement rather than a question, but Kris answered it anyway.

"Yeah, I lied. He's been moved for a couple of times but I never lost him. I always knew where he was. I just didn't want the council to keep bugging me about bringing him back to SM. He's safer out here than inside our tower."

Suho sighed at his friend. He could be so stubborn sometimes.

"Found it!" Suho smiled triumphantly as they stopped in front of the room they were looking for.

"I'm excited about this," Suho beamed at Kris, who just rolled his eyes.

"Just get on with it."

Suho placed a hand on his charm, a badge on his shoulder in the shape of a water droplet, and called his Sprite.

"Leviathan," he whispered. He opened his eyes, revealing his turquoise and liquidised pupils. Water appeared to be seeping through his hands now and he placed them onto the metal door, eliminating the electric circuit running through them. The door now opened freely as the security alarm was now deactivated.

"Bingo."

The door had no door knobs, just like the ones from old prison cells. Suho pushed the door but it didn't budge. He tilted his head in confusion and scratched his head. Kris sighed and motioned him to get out of the way.

Kris kicked open the door to find a gun to his head, but he was quicker, and the bullet missed just milimetres away from his face. Within just mere seconds, he bent the attacker's extended arm backwards and kneed him at the back of his knee joint so that his legs gave in and fell to the ground.

Suho took a step forward and crossed his arms, leaning on the door frame. He tutted at his friend, who was keeping his hold on the struggling and grunting attacker.

"Told ya we should've knocked."

***

"Ow."

"You can keep all you want, but I'm not apologising." Kris stated without looking at the boy.

"You nearly tore my arm off!" Chanyeol yelled, rubbing his arm.

Kris scoffed, "That's because you tried to kill me first."

"Well, that's because you tried to rob me first!"

Kris rolled his eyes impatiently and stood up to confront the boy, "For the last ing time, we weren't trying to---"

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