Gore and violence warning!

**********

Yunho still couldn't sleep well, but it got better. He settled back into his routine of training, explored the library and even picked up some readings. Told his parents he was fine and made new friends and they didn't need to worry.

He almost forgot his anxiety.

Until the next message about a rift he was drafted to blinked up on his phone.

It was the evening, and Yunho just settled for bed. When his phone flashed, his heart plummeted into his stomach.

He wasn't ready. His guilt still weighed on him and he was none the wiser from before. When he tentatively peered over, he hoped to see a general information.

His hope was shattered. It was a level S rift, the call for a draft.

Level S? Wasn't that far beyond his level? He supposed if he stood at the barricades, he might be of help.

Yunho rushed down the stairs and threw on his jacket on the way. He spotted Bora in the crowd filtering out into the warm evening air and she gave him a breathless smile as she climbed into the helicopter first.

This time, the higher-level espers were with them and they were tightly interwoven with the strategy on how to deal with a level S rift. Level S rifts posed an enormous risk to the general public, so it was imperative not to let any demons escape from their bounds.

Yunho gulped to himself. His fingers clutched to his pants. Lux sat on the opposite bench of him, looking utterly unbothered as he listened to the briefing with one ear. No matter his haughtiness, he would save so many people today. It was Yunho's first mission on this scale.

They arrived at the location and while Yunho rushed to the elevator along with the guides; the espers swung right out of the helicopter, catching their fall with their powers.

Soon, Yunho was back in a similar spot he knew from last time. He remembered his mistake vividly and it wouldn't happen again. This was the opportunity to prove he took things seriously.

The police crowded around the barricades. Luckily, the rift wasn't too close to any shelter and at level S, even the convenience stores and houses were abandoned. Shields engulfed the blood red air from all sides, some physical and others made of esper barriers.

Yunho nervously rolled his wrists. He had no weapon again, but Bora was close by his side.

"Remember to call for me," she muttered to him, even as Yunho was barely sober from his fear. They wore earplugs since the thrum of the rift would make them go deaf otherwise, and he never saw such a massive cut in the sky. It loomed over them, ready to consume them all.

The moment the first limbs came flailing, bigger and more grotesque than anything Yunho knew, the espers jumped into action. They fired their everything away, decimating a huge number, but as always, the spill was endless.

These beasts weren't easily shot down. Convulsing tentacles swallowed up bullets without suffering even a scratch. Sharp horns broke through weapons and shields. Everyone fought with everything they had, but not all were as assured of their might as the S-class espers and guides.

Yunho saw a B-class esper soon wane, weakened from repeated slams against her barriers as she caught the demons from ripping into the police officers. Some gored the humans apart with claws and teeth right on the street, others dragged the flailing bodies back into the rift with them. Down into hell to suffer unimaginable pain.

When the esper stumbled, her guide was by her side. Supporting her with a strong arm and dragging her off to the side so they could embrace and share the support the esper needed.

The demons quickly broke through. Light and water filled the skies when the espers drew from their surroundings to whittle them down. When a horde stormed through anyway, Yunho was frozen in fear.

He did his very best, but level S demons, or even their smaller A siblings, were much too powerful for him to take control of.

The moment he just caught one in his grip, bullets rained down on it and Yunho flinched away at the sharp pain that flared in his leg. He broke down together with the demon, and Bora only had time to shoot him a fearful look before she had to block off an incoming attack.

Yunho clutched to his leg, trembling on the ground. He was terrified. It was getting shot through the link of his powers, or dying of a demon's claws. Both meant the end.

Yunho promised himself to be stronger. To hold out and prove himself.

With bloodied fingers, he beckoned to the demon attacking Bora, catching its murderous gaze. For a split second, it was distracted by him, resonating the pain in his leg.

Yunho howled when Bora's baton smacked the creature over its skull. Stars exploded behind his eyes as he wound himself on the floor, trying to stay conscious against the hit that may not kill a demon, but get damn close to death on a human.

But he wasn't actually clubbed. It was pain, just pain. He had to endure.

Blood wet his thigh as if to prove him wrong. Bora and two other guides wrestled down the demon and she immediately rushed to Yunho's side, reaching for him with hectic hands.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry. Are you alright? Can you sit up?" She fretted, tugging her bloodied gloves off with her teeth so she could cup his face and lean their foreheads together. A faint healing washed over Yunho, but it wasn't near enough. It drowned under his pain even as he gritted his teeth to resist.

"I didn't want to hurt you. Here, let's move back. I'll guide you and then you can keep fighting," she yelled over the crash of a splintering window. Black and red blood mixed under uniformed bodies and bizarre limbs. Espers used street lanterns as weapons to swing against a massive demon that made the earth quiver with every step.

Yunho shook his dizzy head.

"I don't- I don't want to-" He stuttered but he could barely move his tongue.

Bora managed to pull him up, but she left her flank unprotected.

This demon was fast, agile like a monkey swinging through the treetops. It whipped thin tentacles at them and Bora got caught in them. With a yell, she was dragged along by the demon and her cry shook Yunho awake.

He clung onto her, but they were flung through the air like rag dolls. The demon hissed at the added weight, scrambling up a building while shots hit the walls left and right of it. Someone blared instructions over the speakers when some barricade crumbled, but Yunho couldn't hear it.

Bora twisted her arm to yank her knife out of her belt. She stabbed blindly at the tentacles, making the beast howl and flinch. A moment later, it let go.

For a brief second, Yunho feared to fall four stories deep, but they were near a rooftop. As they crashed down on it, he did his best to catch Bora's momentum. The contact was brutal.

A drying rag burst apart under Yunho's back, digging sharp metal into his back. He gasped for breath when Bora plummeted down on him and his glasses broke on the impact.

When they stopped moving, Yunho dared to open his eyes through the overwhelming pain. He thought he was dead, but it hurt too much to be death.

Bora pushed herself up. Yunho couldn't feel her healing anymore, so he might as well be.

"Yunho!" She called out to him and he clutched to her hand with weak fingers, slipping off their bloodied skin. He didn't have the strength to sit up, but he noticed the hazy outline of the demon that had whipped around to stare at the scent of fresh blood. Eager for its quivering prey.

"Hold it and let go when I'm about to stab it! This is our best shot!" Bora demanded, and Yunho had not a single thought that would talk back on that. He gathered all his strength, stretched out his senses as she rushed in for the lethal strike.

When he caught hold, his eyes widened.

A sudden rush of feelings enveloped him. Fear, stress, anxiety, all so similar to his own that he thought he just had a panic attack.

Then he realised Bora wasn't moving anymore. The demon pounced.

Things moved agonisingly slowly, but there was nothing Yunho could have done.

Bora was launched from his grip when sharp claws dug into her chest. Yunho wailed in pain when he curled up, losing sight of the girl getting flung across the rooftop. He cried out for her, but other voices trickled into his ear. A flash of light blinded his vision, then the hissing and growling fell silent.

The sky was cloudy and bathed in red. As if it might rain blood soon.

Yunho was still breathing. Death didn't come for him, but everything was pain.

Disoriented, he glanced around. The earth wasn't trembling anymore.

Bora didn't lie far from him. So much red pooled under her body, but her fingers were limp by her side.

His fear chilled Yunho's heart. He tried to move, rustling heavily, and a chuckle caught in his ears when he flailed like a fallen bug.

Blinking through his anguish even when his mind raced with his urgency to get Bora treated, Yunho found the source. The head of blond surrounded by a faint halo of light belonged to Lux. Another esper was with him, and they held a quivering body pinned between their chests. Both dripped black blood onto the dead beast.

No one rushed to save Bora. When those wounds had shredded through her uniform, looked so obscenely deep in her narrow frame.

"Lux," Yunho gasped out when he strained to see what was going on. The boy between them gasped, moving with their harsh thrusts. Green uniform. Guiding. They had a moment of reprieve to heal their wounds.

But Bora, Bora...

Lux snickered at Yunho, jabbing more doubts into his chest.

This was his fault. He caught onto her instead of the demon. Felt her panic when the claws struck. He failed, but he couldn't lose her. The paramedics could save her, she just needed to get off the roof.

"Bora... Save Bora..." Yunho begged, tasting blood on his tongue when he rolled off his metal bed to try to crawl over to her. As if he was the guide to provide.

The espers watched him, refreshed by the energy from their guiding. When they stepped apart, Yunho hoped either of them would help.

But the men just dropped the limp body of the guide on the ground between them. He twitched, but his face was pale even for Yunho's limited sight.

"Ah, level A trash."

Dark hair hung into his haunted eyes when Yunho realised the espers stepped to the edge of the roof. Ready to return to the battle or leave.

"Lux! Don't leave her here! Help her!" Yunho cried hoarsely. He knew Bora. Yunho didn't expect Lux to help an useless esper but at least her. It was Yunho's fault... He needed their help.

But he was losing consciousness quickly, bleeding heavily among the other bodies.

The other esper glanced back at him.

"What about him?"

"Baby boy's realising he will go through guides like the underwear he keeps soiling," Lux snickered. He spat in Yunho's direction. "Fucking useless. Leave them here."

"Lux..." Yunho whimpered. Hot tears of frustration crowded in his eyes. Bora was so still, she needed help. Yunho could figure it out somehow, but her, please...

With a crash, the door to the roof broke from its hinges. It shoved against the fallen demon, but Yunho could only see the red sky.

He wouldn't make it out of here.

The espers hesitated at the edge, unsure if another demon would attack the guide they dropped so carelessly when steps made their way out to them.

Help?

Lux growled.

No help.

"Shit. Tenebra. Report back to the commander." With that, the two espers launched from the building without looking back at Yunho, Bora, or the other guide. Together with the fallen demon, they laid on the roof.

Yunho couldn't see through the pain and dizziness. Black boots tapped into puddles of red and black. The black cargo pants tucked into them were foreign to him. Their police wore dark blue.

Yunho's vision blurred into a mixture of red and black when the tips of those shoes halted near him, pointing his way. He couldn't even turn his head to check where that deep murmur came from.

"I'm with a forgotten esper from Auresce. I will give him back to his owners, then I'll return. Give me a few minutes."

What a nice voice.

Yunho passed out.