The day of the battle was here.

Aeyoung, Haruhi and I were standing nervously by the door as the gangsters filed out one by one. It took a long time.

L. Joe patted Haruhi's head as he walked by, and CAP flexed his mucles in preparation. Changjo rolled his eyes, cool as can be. Chunji, Ricky, and Niel discussed battle strategies.

G-Dragon waved at us as he walked past. TOP saluted us with two fingers, and Seungri, Daesung, and Taeyang smiled reassuringly.

Minwoo, Kanghee, and Heechul nodded to us as they walked past. Junyoung, Hyunshik, and Siwan smiled and gave us thumbs up. Taehun, Dongjun, and Kevin were deep in concentration, muttering about weapons.

Yoona, Sunny, and Yuri gave us a reassuring smile. Tiffany, Jessica, and Hyoyeon giggled and waved at us. Sooyoung, Taeyeon, and Seohyun quietly told us things will be okay.

Jonghyun winked at me as he walked past. Key and Taemin smiled at us and nodded in greeting. Onew waved at us, then tripped on the door edge. Minho snickered, and Onew smacked the back of his head, resulting in a steady stream of swear words and violent noises outside.

CL, Dara, Bom, and Minzy nodded to us, but they were busy pulling on black fingerless gloves -- except THESE gloves were studded with tiny metal spikes that could easily puncture skin.

Finally, it was Beast's turn to leave. This was the hardest to do.

The words "Good luck" got caught in my throat, and I ended up choking back tears. Junhyung pulled me in for a kiss, the same as Doojoon did with Aeyoung, and the way he kissed me made it seem like we were never going to have the chance to kiss again.

I hugged each member in turn. "Good luck," I managed to choke out hoarsely to Dongwoon. Kikwang my head once. When I reached Hyunseung, the tears really started to fall. "Seungie......"

Hyunseung pulled me in for a hug. "It'll be okay, Minnie." He whispered. "Everything will be okay."

"Haruhi....." Yoseob said, gulping slightly. "I......I have something I need to tell you."

"Yes?" She asked quietly.

Yoseob opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. "If----when we survive this battle, I'll tell you." He looked straight in her eyes. "I promise."

"Yoseob oppa----" She started to say, but then he left.

I reached out at the last second for Junhyung, but before I could, the door closed behind him, and the three of us were left standing in the hallway.

Tears dripped down our faces as we sat in the living room, staring at the TV screen without really seeing the blur of images and colour and sound. We were worried, so worried we could die.

I had a sudden vision. It was Aeyoung, Haruhi, and I. We were holding hands, staring out into the darkness of the future. We couldn't see what was happening, and we didn't know the outcome. But we still had hope. We were standing there, waiting.

Waiting for our Beasts to come home.

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The door suddenly slammed open, breaking me out of my daydream. "What? Are they back?" Aeyoung asked.

We heard foosteps, and I felt a sudden surge of hope. They were back. Maybe DBSK surrendered. Maybe they weren't going to fight at all. Maybe they got the day wrong. Just the thought of seeing my Junhyung oppa one more time made me smile.

Then the person -- or people's -- head turned the corner, and my smile immediately faltered. Beside me, both Aeyoung's and Haruhi's smiles fell too, replaced with horror and fear and shock.

"Hello, ladies." Kim Jaejoong said, as he walked into the living room, followed by Jung Yunho and Shim Changmin. "Missed me?"