It was after lunch that the new members were all inside the kitchen witnessing a rare sight of a guy who was whining so much about his hips and a girl who was literally fuming because of his antics.

"You. Are. Stupid!" Jyra yelled, fists balling on her sides as she glared daggers to the guy who simply smirked at her.

"I swear if it's not even close to a fracture I'll split it apart myself, for real!" She said, pointing to Danish.

Sheronica chuckled as she ran a hand on his hips. "It's not broken, but no one will break anyone's hip okay?" She smiled, looking at both of the quarrelling members in front of her.

"See?" Jyra screeched.

Danish tugged his shirt back down, grinning maniacally. Jyra glared at him for the last time before stomping out of the kitchen.

Lily shook her head. "Why did you do that for?"

Danish simply shrugged. "I like pissing her off."

"Are you sure you're not trying to get her attention?" Hisham shot and Danish's ears turned red.

"Her? Pish, no." He said, but his face was flushed.

Miezza rolled her eyes. "One thing I know about Jyra, is that she totally hated people who annoys her. So if you want her to like you, you should use different approach."

Danish gasped. "Who said I want to approach her? I don't care what she thinks of me."

"Suit yourself." Miezza shrugged and drummed her fingers on the countertop.

"Oh hi Izz." Sheronica greeted.

Miezza tensed. Sheronica's eyes flickered to Miezza and as if sensing something, she moved to the kitchen door.

"I think I need to see you guys practice. You know, polishing and whatnot." She said, stepping outside.

The guys followed and the girls trotted behind them, lively chatting about who will fight who.

It was quiet between both of them for a while until Izzudin decided to break the awkwardness.

"I need to talk to you." Izz said.

Miezza nodded stiffly. Izzudin then walked to the chair next to her and sat down.

"About the other day..."

"I'm sorry. I should've never said that." She blurted out.

Izzudin shook his head. "No, I'm the one who owed you an apology. I don't have the guts to tell you the truth. But my heart just can't keep still around you."

"I know your feelings aren't mutual but can you just think about it? I can't..." Miezza stopped talking when she realised what he said a moment later.

Her eyes widened and she snapped her gaze to the blue eyed monster who was smirking at her.

"Wha- what did you say? You-"

Izzudin laughed heartily. "Yes Miezza. You heard right."

He propped his elbow on the countertop and stared at her amusingly.

His face turned into serious when he spilled his next words. "Now that you know, you should stop being so close with the guys. Especially Danish. I don't like how he looks at you."

Miezza rolled her eyes. "He likes someone else." Then she giggled. "Why though, are you jelly?"

"Jealous? No. No way."

Miezza wriggled her finger toward him."Someone's jelly!" She threw her head back and laugh.

Izz watched her and smiled. He missed her laugh, he missed her voice, he missed her. He thought his feelings were unrequited, so he had pushed the thoughts about both of them to the back of his mind, trying to forget about her which he seemed to fail miserably. But now that he knew, he was too happy to even express his words. The only thing that stop him was their situation now.

"What are you thinking about?" Izzudin snapped from his stance when Miezza waved her hand in front of his face. "You're spacing out."

Izz's mouth was set in a grim line. "I'm thinking about how to make this work."

Miezza smiled. "Thank you for that but we both should make this work. We'll think of something, I promise. I'm aware of our condition now so I'm not going to demand anything. We'll think about it when this ends."

Izzudin grinned. "You're the best, you know that?"

"Always."

***

She opened her eyes up with a deep gasp, regretting just a bit later when the surge of cold air filled her lungs. She coughed in discomfort and wheezed as her tried to steady her breathing. That's when she looked  around.

Her breath hitched when she looked up to the sturdy wall, trying to shake the eerily similar feeling that was starting to build inside her stomach. Just as she was contemplating what she was going to do, the ground rumbled. She clenched her jaw and slowly brought herself up, eyes unwavering of the endless wall.

She heard loud noises and explosive sounds, but she held her ground. Suddenly the wall bursted, sending smaller bits of the witch plants flying toward her and she covered her face instinctively.

She heard it before she opened her eyes. The very familiar voice that she grown up with, that she loved and care.

That betrayed her.

The voice was shouting orders and she made a few like, 'attack' and  'kill everyone except her' , and a bunch of other things that she could not decipher.

She was stunned as hooded creatures came from behind the wall through the huge hole on the witch plant that no doubt was caused by the explosion.

There was an army of them, and when the last of the creatures went in, her eyes widened at the people who were now making their way into the fort. A young guy smirked at her as he manoeuvred through the trees followed by an older woman. But the last guy shocked her the most.

"You did this." He said, "You've led your friends to their damnation."