The whole earth shook again as Kyungsoo was flung down onto the floor, his sister standing triumphantly over him, her left foot on his chest, her other foot on his arm, pinning it to the ground. A knife hovered in one of her hands, ready to strike. He groaned in shame, covering his eyes with his hands.

“Give up?” Victoria said, flashing him a cheeky smile. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as he removed his hands from his face, and Victoria lifted her foot. He sat up, rubbing his knee.

“How on earth did you do that? I was going to overpower you, but then.....arghh!” Kyungsoo grabbed his head in frustration. “I swear you can be a ninja or something.”

Victoria laughed and threw back her long golden hair, eyes sparkling. “It’s called practicing, dummy. I learnt this by using myself to an advantage.”

“Advantage?”

“Let’s see......let’s say Caramel for example.” She used her knife to point to their six month old puppy which was too busy sniffing at flowers to care. “Normally, when you see a young, cute puppy in front of you, won’t that soften your intentions to kill? Won’t it make you hesitate?”

Kyungsoo thought about this for a while. “I guess.”

Victoria smiled and crossed her arms. “Then that’s the answer.”

“What, acting cute in front of the enemy?”

“No, you dummy!” Victoria laughed again, ruffling Kyungsoo’s hair. “Using yourself to an advantage. Know your own strengths and weaknesses, and observe your enemies’ too. It will help in the future.”

Kyungsoo listened to this very carefully. “Then earlier......did you use the same tactic?”

“You hesitate because you were afraid of hurting me, your family member. That’s the reason why I won,” Victoria said. “But even I cannot bring myself to full power when fighting you.” She smiled affectionately at Kyungsoo.

“So you’re basically saying that you could’ve easily killed me.”

“Of course,” she said in a sing-song voice. “I would’ve driven my knife into your hand, just like shooting a dart onto a bull’s eye.”

“The hand? Why the hand?” Kyungsoo asked curiously, blinking up at his sister. “Wouldn’t just shooting a bullet in his brain be easier.”

“That’s true,” Victoria admitted, “but I don’t like bloodshed. That’s why I disable their hands first, so that they won’t be used for holding weapons anymore.” Her voice sounded sad, and Kyungsoo smiled at his sister’s kindness.

“You know?” Victoria tucked her knife back in her belt and sat down on the grass, and Kyungsoo followed her. “I once had to shoot a girl, barely 10 years old. Her parents were already dead. She was an Inferior, taken to the Republic because her parents’ had rebelled against the Republic, killing one of our soldiers.”

Kyungsoo listened in dead silence. Victoria carried on.

“I don’t think.......I don’t think she even knew why she was there. But still, she could see that something serious was happening. She was chained and bought up to kneel a few meters in front of me. She wasn’t crying or anything of the sort. Her eyes were determined and fearless.”

“I had to kill her. General Wolfe was there at the time, and his eyes were on me as if he was observing my every move. I shot her, right in the heart. Clean bull’s eye as always.” Victoria laughed bitterly.

Kyungsoo’s voice was hoarse as he slowly questioned, “So....”

Victoria whipped her head back to face him, her eyes fierce and serious. “Kyungsoo. This is probably just me, but.....don’t tell anyone this.”

He swallowed and blinked once. “O-Okay.”

She took a deep breath. “I.....I don’t trust the Republic, and I don’t think you should either, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo widened his eyes. “What makes you say that?”

“Because they–“ Victoria broke off, then sighed again. “Nevermind.” She looked down on the floor, her expression one of discomfort. Kyungsoo still felt confused, but he let the worries slip past him, oblivious of his own sister’s worries.

Victory goddess. That was her nickname, and why she never lost.

Until now.

~+~

Kyungsoo woke up again in the middle of the night, gasping for breath. He had been dreaming about Kai, Kai wrapping his arms around him, Kai whispering into his ear, his lips on his. Kyungsoo bit his lip, and closed his eyes in embarrassment, getting out of bed. He shuffled to his desk and the light, trying to erase Kai from his mind.

His theory from a few days ago, could just be correct. Kyungsoo told this to himself for two days and two nights, where he did a bunch of research on the scene with no success. Nothing at all. He even tried to pull up pictures of Victoria’s dead body, photographed on the night of the murder. A few minutes later, he was retching down into the sink of the bathroom.

Dammit. He didn’t have any proof. He punched down his fists onto his table, disturbing Caramel who was sleeping on the floor. She woke at once, whining sleepily before padding over to Kyungsoo’s bed and making herself comfortable there. Kyungsoo smiled, despite all the worry.

“Sorry,” he hissed softly to Caramel. She didn’t reply, so Kyungsoo assumed that she was already asleep. Sighing, he turned off the light on his desk, ready to go back to bed, when he paused.

Victoria’s journal lay on the corner of his desk.

Kyungsoo frowned. All of Victoria’s stuff had been cleaned out just before the day of her funeral. What was her journal doing here then? He reached out slowly to grab the book, flipping the pages over deftly.

January 4^th, 2050

Kyungsoo was sent off to his first mission.

I know he’s much stronger and cleverer now (he’s always been witty) but still, I worry about him. He is my brother after all.

It makes me think back to the days were my parents died. I was only thirteen at the time, how did I even cope? I keep telling myself, what will I do if Kyungsoo doesn’t return?

Kyungsoo clenched his fists tightly as he scanned page after page. But there seemed to be nothing. It was mostly talking about him, or her own missions. There weren’t any clues whatsoever. He sighed as he reached the last page, flipping it over.

For some reason, the paper felt unfamiliar to his fingers. He turned the page over again, and realized that on the last page, there were two pages stuck together, but a small corner on the left was starting to peel off. Heart pounding madly, Kyungsoo slowly separated the two pages with trembling fingers, taking care not to rip the paper. When at last he was done, he stared down at the messy words scrawled before him, barely legible.

MR238 BIDENFORB

Kyungsoo almost recognized it. The ‘MR’ at the beginning indicated a research lab several floors down in the medical department in the Republic headquarters, but then he looked more closely. 238. There wasn’t a lab with the number 238. At most, it only went up to 237. And what’s ‘bidenforb’? Was it a name? Kyungsoo sat back frowning.

What did it all mean then?

~+~

“Here, I want you to find this for me,” Kyungsoo tapped at the page of Victoria’s journal, which he had ripped out. Yixing stared at it blankly for what seemed like a minute before looking back up.

“Umm.....sir, I’m sure that this doesn’t exist–“

“You’re lying then,” Kyungsoo said swiftly, “–or your superiors are lying to you. This lab must exist. Why did Victoria write it down then?”

Yixing actually had the nerve to roll his eyes. “People write anything in their journals. Why would someone–“

Kyungsoo brought his hand down on the table, standing up. “This, was in fact found at the very last page, which was originally hidden by sticking two pages together. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

“Erm....I.....”

Kyungsoo waved his hand dismissively and put on his uniform jacket. “Fine then. I’ll just go take a look downstairs at the research labs, is that alright?”

Yixing swallowed nervously but didn’t object. Instead he bit his lip and nodded slowly. “I’ll come with you.” He spoke quietly, his eyes boring into Kyungsoo’s.

Kyungsoo raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. He had clearly not expected the boy to volunteer. For the past few days Kyungsoo had been asking Yixing to help him with this case, while he had been scrutinizing him vigorously. There was no doubt that Yixing was an excellent observer, both quick and witty when it came to analyzing. Yet Kyungsoo couldn’t help but feel uneasy. A thought kept nagging onto him, and it wouldn’t let go.

Yixing didn’t seem like someone that could get so low on the IQ test.

Kyungsoo closed his eyes as he stepped into the elevator with the other behind him. Was he thinking too much? Maybe. Maybe not. A 350 wasn’t rare on the IQ test, and most people who get that score is just an average person. Yixing was sometimes forgetful and spoke in probably the slowest way possible. Maybe that was why he got a 350. Kyungsoo convinced himself that he was just being paranoid, muttering on his own. Yixing eyed him weirdly.

“Sir, are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, sure.” Kyungsoo snapped out of his thoughts. The doors of the elevator slid open to reveal a long, white hallway, so bright that it hurt Kyungsoo’s eyes. Wincing slightly, he stepped out, while Yixing brushed past him.

“I’ll show you the way,” Yixing said confidently. “This way sir.” He turned left.

“Jesus,” Kyungsoo grumbled, dragging himself after. “Why the hell is it so bright?”

“You’ll get used to it,” Yixing said while walking. “Everyone does.”

“You don’t have to show me around actually,” Kyungsoo replied, looking around. “I already memorized the whole map.”

Yixing stopped in his tracks, and Kyungsoo almost crashed into him. He reeled back, about to scold the other boy. "Hey–"

“That’s too bad,” Yixing intterupted quietly, almost too quiet for Kyungsoo to hear. He still didn’t turn around. “I would’ve wanted to talk to you more.” 

What?

At that moment, Kyungsoo realized.

It was a trap.

Even so, he was already too late.

Yixing moved inhumanly fast, turning around whipping his hand out and ramming it with full force into the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck. He fell back, spitting out blood in the process.

"Sorry," Yixing murmured, but his figure was already turning blurry in Kyungsoo's eyes. "But I couldn't think of another way....."

Ah...........

His head hit the floor with a loud crack, and everythiing went dark.

Author's Note

Heheh sorry for the late update! Had loads of work orz