"San, what the fuck?!" 

Yunho was the first to find back to his senses and Jongho followed right behind, hopping from the counter. In a warning, Wooyoung opened his mouth, but San already whirled around. A shot banged through the room, making everyone duck. The bullet harmlessly grazed the ground by Jongho's feet, but it made him freeze.

"Don't," San repeated, voice so deep it resembled a growl. "Don't move."

Yeosang stood frozen with Hongjoong trapped in his bulging arms. The patient still squirmed, but Yeosang didn't risk letting him free to face San's unpredictability.

"You can't just take him off those cables, it can cause damage on both sides!" Yunho bellowed, standing despite his outrage about Seonghwa's instructions. Jongho was spooked, but his arms crossed in demand.

"Put him back."

San shook his head. He slowly backed towards the door, past a tense Wooyoung. The rifle was on the ground too far from him, but he could draw his gun at almost as much speed as Yunho. He was a better shot than San.

But why would he shoot at a team member? At his lover? Why would San point his gun at them?

"Explain what is going on," Wooyoung gritted out. Seonghwa needed these computers, that much was clear. Whatever San was doing, it could wait until Seonghwa was available again.

San's gaze flinched to him, haunted. He hesitated every time he looked at Wooyoung's face. As if his current behavior was something that might upset him.

With his gun pointed at them and Seonghwa tucked under his arm as he shuffled for the door, San needed a very good reason to be excused. 

Forcefully, San ripped his gaze away. His fingers twitched as if he wanted to shoot Wooyoung just to shut him up.

But he couldn't. His tremors held him back. Whatever he was doing, it was diluted by a sense of loyalty, so Wooyoung didn't regard it as all bad.

"I need to take Seonghwa," San gritted out. "And I know you won't let me."

"What do you need me for? I can help, just put me down," Seonghwa instantly replied, but San shook his head. His gaze flinched between them, meeting only disbelief.

"Give him back," Jongho repeated, and his upset drew his brows into a line. He didn't try to come forward, and Yunho's hand warned everyone to stay peaceful until San calmed down. Maybe someone downstairs gave him a weird drug like the one that had Hongjoong acting mad?

But there was so much remorse in his eyes. Such a sober regret.

Wooyoung knew it wasn't so easy. Whatever San was doing, it didn't bode well for any of them, and now that he overcame his indecisiveness, he wouldn't go back.

"What are you going to do with him?" Yunho asked and his voice lost its usual patience. It cut like a whip, and as soon as they had an answer, they knew whether San was trying to help or sabotage them. If he had become an enemy.

San exhaled, but he didn't put down the gun. It flinched back at Wooyoung when he turned the slightest bit. Another warning message popped up on the computer behind them, this one coming with a sharp peeping sound, but none of them could do anything against it without Seonghwa.

"This- This can't happen. What you are doing here," San gagged out. He didn't dare turn on his heel, aware he would get shot down the second he showed his back. Wooyoung would never kill him, but he would make sure he wasn't armed anymore.

"What?! We came all the way here to do this, you know that! You also came to save the world!" Yunho barked at him, confident where the others wavered. 

Wooyoung should also be more on edge. But when he looked at San, he looked at a person he liked. A person whose worries mattered to him.

San exhaled and he struggled as much as them. His fingers shook and his brow furrowed, as if he were in pain.

"And I should have done this sooner to spare everyone the effort. I'm so sorry. Especially to you, Jongho. I wish it would be different, but this- this is what I came to do. What I must do." He said it mechanically, as if he had to remind himself.

Wooyoung cocked his head.

"Your intervention was planned?" 

His voice made San flinch, but he supplied a remorseful nod.

"This cure can't happen. I came to find a better home for my community, but if you- If you go through with this, they will all die. I can't let you," he whispered. 

Hearing him prefer his community over them stung, but it also slowed the building outrage in the rest. For a long while, San didn't mention them. Yunho perked up.

"They will die? How so?"

San paused. He peeked at the doors, but his guilt kept him. Getting close to them gave him the opportunity to steal Seonghwa, but it also meant he owed them an explanation. In his eyes shone the feeble hope for understanding.

"My colony is striving right now. We are building something beautiful and creating a safe place in this new world. If things go back, all of that is gone. Things are fine as they are. Survivors saved my life. We don't need the past to relive itself. The wrongdoings of the old civilization brought us here and I rather won't see the sky if it means saving the lives we built now," San rambled, begging them to take his side. None of them came from a tight-knit colony such as his. None of them related to his loyalty.

Or rather, they hadn't related. Now, inside this group, they cared for one another.

And that was the only reason they didn't shoot San's head off the second he grabbed Seonghwa.

"The place where you came from was once underwater," Seonghwa muttered, adding up the pieces. "If the water comes from the skies, everyone drowns."

"Please," San repeated. "Please understand, I'm not doing this because I hate you. I allowed myself to hope, but there is no way I can have both. I owe them my life, so now I need to save theirs."

Wooyoung hated how his heart stung as if stabbed with a knife. How he wanted to soothe San and figure out a solution together with him, even when he had just betrayed their entire mission. When he had been lying to them this entire time and had only joined to find an opportunity to stop them.

Now that things got too sensible, and the goal was near, he needed to make a decision. And he decided against them.

"I hoped I could save everyone, but the more I learned, the fewer ways there were. And shit, I want this to end and I want you guys to see the damn sky, but this is what I survived for. I owe my people too much. You won't forgive me, so please don't give me a reason to hurt you." His voice trembled with his hand, but he didn't lower the gun. Helpless, Seonghwa was tucked against his side. 

"Then what are we supposed to do? It's us against you, San!" Yunho warned, voice similarly upset. Though he related to the desire to protect his people, they couldn't just let him take Seonghwa. 

Wooyoung's head spun because he also needed to take a side now. And as much as he cherished San, he never told Wooyoung about this. Didn't ask for his understanding or support. He pointed a gun at him and their adoration for each other ran cold.

"Stay right here. I will destroy Seonghwa and then I will leave. You can have this building, the car, whatever makes your life more bearable. I wish you all the luck, but Mission Bluebird ends here."

"Destroy?!" Jongho gasped and almost floundered forward to save his friend, but San's glare stopped him. Tense, Yunho gnawed on his lip, trying to find a way not to hurt San but also get Seonghwa back. 

Whatever dilemma San suffered and however long it took him to make up his mind, he didn't deserve to die for this. They could tie him down and talk things through. See if they could help both parties.

"His sole purpose is the cure. He will try again and the lives of a few don't matter compared to the lives of many. Once he is gone, I can rest."

It was unreasonable. He knew, and the pain reflected in his eyes. If he wanted to do things right, he needed to shoot everyone involved and break Seonghwa beyond repair. Only his guilt held him back.

Wooyoung pitied him. But he couldn't take his side. 

"That doesn't mean you have to destroy him!"

"Let's talk," Seonghwa also pleaded. "We can't lug the water of an entire ocean elsewhere, but we can postpone the process. The cure doesn't need to happen today. Once your people moved, we can proceed," he argued, but San remained resilient.

"You know these people won't leave after bringing you here. Jongho is dying without you and they don't know my colony. If I don't stop you now, I can't save anyone."

San stepped backward, and the doors slid open. The empty building came into sight and Seonghwa was parted further from the computer they fought so hard to bring him to. 

Wooyoung gritted his teeth. His every muscle was tensed to storm forward and tackle San to the ground even if he got shot. They couldn't just watch as he destroyed everything they worked so hard for.

San seemed to read it right off him. They were so painfully in tune with each other now, such a good match on opposing sides.

"Please. Please, everyone, stay still."

Hongjoong wound himself and Yeosang almost dropped him, but San excused the blunder. He glimpsed over his shoulder to check the empty corridors and a chill filled Wooyoung's limbs when he noticed they were short a person.

The one person whose temper would have gotten San shot right away if he had been present.

Jongho picked up on it at the same time and balled his hands into fists.

"What did you do to Mingi?"

Reluctantly, San turned his head to look at them. No one provoked him, but he still tensed as he prepared for their reaction to his confession.

"He suspected me all along. I- He will make it. Just take care of him soon. I will leave after this is over, then you can treat him." 

Wooyoung's heart sank. His eyes cast on the ground and he heard Jongho suck in a breath.

San had needed to wait until Mingi wouldn't expect an attack from him to take him out of commission. When they were alone and Mingi trusted him to have his back, he turned on him.

Wooyoung's stomach twisted. All this time. Had San plotted all this time just for this moment? To have free roam because everyone trusted him?

"I'm sorry, San," Wooyoung also said. Immediately, the gun jerked at him and San quivered so bad it could barely target Wooyoung in the dim light of the computer room.

"You didn't betray us out of hatred. But Seonghwa isn't yours to take. We will have to stop you."

Pain contorted San's features. He wasn't afraid of dying. His desperation only extended to his community, not himself. The people he lived for.

Wooyoung sighed to himself. He had hoped San could live for them in the same way. Could live for him in the same way.

Seonghwa had become San's friend, so even killing just him was a challenge. But if the group overcame their loyalty to San, they could win this fight. They only needed to make sure he didn't destroy his hostage before they could act.

"Don't," San asked, but his voice was brittle. There was no saving him. On equal sides of the same dilemma, they stared at each other.

"Is there no way to hold you back? We can adjust to your needs. I would like for no one to die and if you told us earlier, we could have taken care of things in a different order," Seonghwa offered. He sounded just as hurt to have to pick a side, fond of everyone who helped him get there.

San shook his head, and some warmth bled into his gaze.

"I loved coming along and working for a cure that could save the world. Loved the liveliness and happiness this group shared. I can't go back now."

For a beat, everyone was silent as they let the doom settle. Defeated, Wooyoung lowered his eyes.

"Then we have to stop you."

"That's okay," San grinned his distorted grin. "I hate fighting you, but I hope you can find all the meds you need downstairs. No one will perish today apart from you, Seonghwa. I'm sorry."