CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
THE TRAITOR!

❝ BUT MAYBE IT'S ALL AN ACT
TO GAIN TRUST AND CONTROL ❞

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"Are you sure you want to do this?" Taeyong asked Jaehyun for what felt like the umpteenth time already. The older didn't want to move forward with the plan if it wasn't okay with the other, it seemed unfair; for him to go through the same thing he felt before and only one of them managed to bring back time all over again. To Jaehyun, of course, he didn't want to. He wanted to disagree every single time Taeyong asked him so persistently. But he had let go of his past for years now—it mattered to him, sure; he mattered to him, most definitely—and this was why he was going through with it.

With another nod of agreement, Taeyong's lips thinned as he patted Jaehyun's shoulder. "I'll go finalize this with the others."

Jaehyun sauntered out of Taeyong's office, wanting to take a breather from their conversation earlier. He stopped once he was outside, his hand going down his face, resting there by his cheeks as he thought about it.

Just like Doyoung, he wanted to know why; why now? Why, when everything was starting to fall right into its place? Was the young boy sent here to distract them—no doubt, he must've been. Jaehyun didn't know what the UA thought of them but they weren't gullible to fall for such a plan, they weren't dumb, and most certainly they weren't willing to risk lives for their own personal gain because then that would make them comparable to the UA.

As Jaehyun made his way into the training center, he watches from afar as the group of teenagers socialized with each other. The smiles that painted on their face made him reminisce about the time he was their age. He wasn't that old yet but he didn't know when he was going to die and so he thought of them once more. A small smile danced on his lips as sat down, monitoring them as he had been told, seeing one of their newest recruits tug the boy who he had lost.

The original plan was the sedate him; force out all of the information fed to him by the UA and keep him hostage, but they weren't that cruel knowing that the boy was just lost and found in the wrong place. He was exactly there because he was ordered to do so or else he would be dead.

A perfect shot on the red hit mark made everyone look at the lost boy in awe. Some of the lab rats were stunned to find someone that matched their inimitable skills, maybe even surpassed some. "H–How... what?" Donghyuck sputtered, glancing at the target board then back at Chenle who smirked back at him in victory.

"That was just one shot."

"And it was amazing!" Yangyang cheered for him.

Donghyuck's face went sour as he now stared at his fellow lab rat, feeling absolutely betrayed. "Who's side are you on?"

Jisung gaped at the shooting range, marveling at how impressive that shot was before looking back down at the gun in his hand. Chenle turned to him, nudging him slightly, as he offered, "I can teach you that."

"He never misses, huh?" Jaehyun drew his attention away from the teens and peered up to see Ten observing the same group of teenagers. "He doesn't really seem that harmless, but we know he's here for Sera. I've already warned the lab rats and the recruits."

"He really doesn't seem so harmless," Jaehyun muttered after seeing how Jisung and Chenle interacted with each other. "But maybe it's all just an act to gain trust and control."

"Hmm, maybe," Ten shrugged. "I'd like to believe that, too. But that act is so familiar—it's just like his. They blend in so well that at first glance it seems natural; however, they can't fool the lab rats' wit."

"How many days do we have?"

"Eight."

≫≫≫

"How are you feeling?" Sera hears the faint sound of Mark's voice the moment she steps out of her room. She really had no idea what had happened to her and that alone already frightened her along with the voices inside her head. They wouldn't stop bothering her and no one knew of this, not even her dearest brother who, ever since that day, didn't bother having an appearance. Was she mad? No. Did she care? Maybe a little, but he was busy and she respected that.

"Just... normal." She responded, giving herself a pat on the shoulder. "Nothing that this infant can't handle."

Mark scoffed and shook his head, a smile slowly creeping up his face. He had actually taken care of her the whole night and had checked up on her this morning, thankfully, she's been feeling normal even after being out for hours. He wanted to figure out what was the cause and what was happening but he wasn't that smart to figure it out on his own. Eventually, when the others had asked upon her absence, he had offered a few lies to make sure what had happened stayed between them.

The two made their way to the training center and Sera was surprised to see a new face, possibly another recruit as she had no idea of the events yesterday.

Yunseo's eyes immediately darted onto Sera as if she had been expecting. She dropped everything she was doing at that moment, the book in her grasp now placed down on the bench as she scurried over to the black-haired girl. This action of hers didn't go unnoticed by the other lab rats and made sure to keep a keen eye around the area.

The black-haired lab rat followed Yunseo's figure until it landed on a certain recruit. He pursed his lips together, wondering how she was doing, and though he could ask for himself, he didn't dare to approach her under the possible eyes of many.

"Yunseo! Hey," a small smile lifted on Sera's face as she diverted her gaze from Jisung and the new recruit. "it's actually been quite some time since I last saw you."

Yunseo waved her off simply with her hand. "I don't mind. I'm sure you've been pretty busy these past few days..." her gaze trailed onto Mark who was just behind Sera's shoulder. "...and it seems like you two are in talking terms again." She completed with a smug smirk.

Mark sneered a laugh, rolling his eyes at the blonde's statement. "Oh shut it."

"So, who's he?" Sera questioned with her eyes fixedly on the boy with dark hair. As she scanned his features, she didn't know whether his hair was simply pitch-black like hers or a dark blue; his face held a blank look that switched every now and then when he got excited. He looked quite intimidating whenever his face showed no emotion but whenever he did, he practically looked like a happy teenager boasting to his friends about who knows what.

Yunseo followed her gaze, her lips thinned as she hummed, her eyes never leaving the lost boy's figure. "He's Chenle."

The sound of a gun blasting roared through the air as another bullseye was hit. Sera's mouth parted a bit in astonishment, subconsciously taking steps closer to the outer railings of the shooting range. "Woah." was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

Mark whistled, also watching the young boy in action. Sure, it wasn't as if no one had hit bullseye before, especially when you have the lab rats in training, but something about Chenle's movement caught a lot of attention.

It wasn't long until Jisung and Chenle had left the range, nearing the trio. Hands stuffed into the pockets of his borrowed suit, he met eyes with Sera and never left it as if he had locked eyes onto his target. Sera, on the other hand, tried to avoid his firm gaze but every time she looked back expecting his eyes had left her, it didn't, causing her nerves to jab onto every inch of her body, anxiety climbing up her sleeves and dampening the palms of her hands.

Though she had nothing wrong with intimidating-looking people, there was something unspoken about him that made her cautious. Trying to calm down the nerves that tried to rip her voice away, she clears her throat, smiling towards the boy with dark hair, wanting not to be impolite.

Chenle had studied her face for a few seconds before snapping out of his trance and returning the smile. He offered out his hand which Mark grabbed, making him drop the smile in shock. "It's nice to meet you, Chenle!"

The said boy's face turned sour as he tried to let go of the older's hand but Mark only tightened his grip around his hand and shook it more vigorously until Chenle began to force himself out of Mark's grip, to which Mark eventually drops his hand leaving Chenle to eye him scornfully. "I was actually wanting to shake Sera's hand."

Mark cocked a brow up and pointed a finger at the black-haired girl before laughing, ridiculing Chenle's words. "Ah, her?"

Chenle squints his eyes at Mark before shaking his head, not wanting to do something that he'd eventually regret. A smile pressed up to his lips again, almost forced before stepping to the side with one last eye contact with the girl. "Guess I'll see both of you around." He said nonchalantly, walking off as if nothing happened, Jisung catching up to him after giving them the faintest of smiles.

Sera's brows knitted together in confusion, glancing back to watch the two boys fade away into the distance. She turns back to Yunseo who had been quiet the whole time, observing every movement there is. "He knows my name? Where is he from anyway? I fell asleep for a few hours and I'm back to find out a new boy is roaming around."

"He came here randomly, actually."

"How random?" Sera questioned Mark as they begin to walk closer to where the others were.

"Let's just say there was a car crash and he happened to be the only survivor."

Sera's face was perplexed at his answer, not quite sure how to react to what he had just said as she trailed behind him. "So... he's here because?"

Mark walked into the shooting range, grabbing a pair of hearing protection and handing one to Sera before moving quickly towards the firearm rack. Tossing Sera one of the blasters and pushed her towards the range, not forgetting to put on safety goggles to protect her eyes from a sudden blast. "Feel uncomfortable?"

Sera shook her head, still anticipating his response. She let Mark guide her slowly at how to operate the blaster and once everything was set, Mark gave her a knowing look. She glanced down at the blaster, "From the past few weeks I've been here, you guys have only trained me to spar a hand-to-hand combat."

Yunseo, who was with them the whole time, also equipped with her own blaster sighed. "Well, seems like there had been a change of plans and you must learn to at least defend yourself with a blaster. Don't worry, it's easy to learn how to control a blaster." She assured with a smile alongside a gentle pat on the shoulder. Her words made a huge impact on taming Sera's uneasiness knowing that she would've fumbled and lost control before she even got the chance to pull the trigger.

"Especially if you got me as your mentor!" The two girls shot Mark a scornful look at his claim, rolling their eyes in derision. He glared at them for their reaction before facing his target. "I'm offended!" He huffed and raised his blaster, lips pursed as his eyes locked on the red dot. Without a minute passing by, a loud blast cut through the atmosphere and Mark lowered his arms, a satisfied smirk spread across his face as he hit the bullseye. He turned to the two girls, blowing the tip of the barrel. "Amazing, right?"

"Tss, as if," Sera said to infuriate the male to which she successfully earned another glare from Mark.

"Is that it?" Yunseo hummed boringly, twirling the blaster with her fingers.

Mark crossed his arms, knowing well that his skills weren't a match to Yunseo's. Despite her being one of those who pushed herself to exceed her limits when training combat skills, she still had enhanced abilities that made her stronger than others would think. Nonetheless, he wanted to believe in himself for once. He shrugs his shoulder, gesturing towards the target boards. "Show me what you got, Umbra."

Yunseo's face twisted into horror at the nickname, almost shuddering at the sound of it. "Please, don't call me that." She murmured, now facing her target.

Sera watched the platinum blonde-haired girl raise her blaster, eyes squinted for a split-second as her finger pulls the trigger with no hesitation. Another uproar seeped through the air and Yunseo grinned; a direct hit in the very middle.

"Nice one, Yunie!" A loud shout from one of the lab rats watching, specifically Jaemin.

Sera whistled, staring at the hit mark before back at her own blaster. "I definitely cannot be that accurate in just a short time."

"We have eight days," Yunseo said, placing down her blaster. "That's more than enough."

The day went on with Mark and Yunseo coaching her how to aim it properly and improve her aim. There wasn't much difficulty though it was quite new for her to hold something that would literally blast you dead, she was able to adapt quicker than she had thought; that is for operating the blaster, her aim and control was another thing.

A shriek left Riku's lips as she docked down, her arms over her head, eyes wide in shock after a blast of blue energy surged near her. Her heart went in shambles, breathing in and out to help calm her down. Sera grimaced at that, slowly raising her arm to the air. "I'm sorry! I— are you okay!?"

Riku eventually stood up, stumbling forward a bit but managing to balance her weight. A painful smile cast on her face, she stuck out her thumb indicating that she was okay. She sighed in relief, "At least I'm alive."

Mark scrunched his nose, approaching his recruit. "Work on your control next."

"Yeah- I'm trying." Sera sighed, eyeing the blaster on hand. Some of the other lab rats, namely Jeno and Donghyuck, had come up to them to share some tips to Sera which she was thankful for, although something went wrong every time she tried again.

The blasters were said to be connected to you the moment you got a hold of them. They had a whole system of its own to verify whether you are a registered user or not, and how huge the impact of the blow would be. In some cases, the blaster would respond to the signals of your mind, while rarely did it respond to your emotions. A battle of your heart and mind.

In Sera's case, her heart was more likely in control than her mind. Mark studied her stance, noticing how awkward and agitated she seemed. He tilted his head, sighing a bit before drawing near her. He places his hands on her shoulder, his head just by the side of hers. "Relax," he whispers into her ear, "The blaster must be responding to your uneasiness, hence your loss of control over the weapon."

Continued in a soft voice, Mark grabbed her arms and lifted them, tapping on her arms for her to strengthen her grip. "We are in a world of dreams, here you are taught to obey, to be detached from your true soul. But right now, I need you to be who you know you truly are—despite the empty mind and such."

"Close your eyes, and calm down. Take deep breaths, follow me."

"Breathe in."

"And breathe out."

"Now, open your eyes," Mark instructed and she followed, Mark's hands were no longer on her arms and she held the blaster firmly, the sound of its system whirring and responding to her. "Shoot."

With the pull of the trigger, the loud uproar had cut through the air once more and hit a part of the target. It wasn't a bullseye but it was a better shot than the others. The sound of claps filled the shooting range and she spun around to see Donghyuck and Jeno supporting her, beside them was Renjun who nodded his head in acknowledgement, a bit impressed by her performance. Though it could be better, it was the best she could do for her first day with a blaster.

Yunseo gave her a thumbs up and a delighted grin. "That was nice! You need to control the blaster a bit more and maybe next you can work on your aim." She glances at the blast marks on the walls. "Yeah... we'll have to work on your aim."

"But for now, go ahead and take a break."

Mark smiled proudly at her, nudging her shoulder with his. "See, I knew you could do it."

Sera rolled her eyes playfully at Mark, taking off the glasses and letting them hang loose around her neckline. "That is because you helped me of course."

"Yeah, but still, it was the blaster responding to you, not me."

As the two began to take off their equipment, Sera turned to Mark, wanting to say something. Ever since she had been perturbed by the voices inside her head, she had been keeping them a secret until she knew what they meant, but the longer she kept them, the worse it became. She sighed, placing down the last piece of equipment which was the earplugs. Hearing the sigh come out of her mouth, Mark leaned closer to her. "Anything wrong?"

Sera shook her head, "Nothing serious."

A sudden silence fell between them until Sera spoke once more. "Hey, can I leave for a while? I just need to grab a couple of snacks, is that okay?"

Mark nodded his head, also wanting to recharge for a bit, "Go ahead. Once you come back we should train a bit more."

Sera had a mini-celebration going on in her head upon Mark's approval before scampering out the training area. She didn't really tell anything of her plans with Taeyong this time. It wasn't such as a mutual agreement that the two of them would talk but Sera couldn't let this chance to talk to him go to waste.

The girl had gone through different hallways, her feet had already memorized the scope of the place and which hallway she had to go down to get to the living quarters.

It didn't take her long to arrive at the third floor but a part of her wished she had just let the chance go to waste, not expecting to run into Yuta. His eyes were unreadable and his mouth was slightly open as if he was a bit surprised to see her in a place she was told not to explore. Sera wanted to run away—avoid him—and maybe this was beginning to become her worst decision ever.

The silence between them was deafening; the stare held between them seemed to go on for more than Sera had thought and it went until she ripped her gaze away from his hollow eyes. "Sera," he began with, his slow strides were almost like a ringing alarm in her ears. "What brings you here." He questioned casually as if there was no growing tension between them.

Sera reluctantly stayed in her place, wanting to take a few steps back but didn't want her actions to be misunderstood. The man in front of her was far from the friendly guy she had first met on her first day in the Rebellion. He smiled widely at her but his eyes didn't meet the smile he had, they were soulless, and almost in pain.

"I was going to speak with Taeyong."

Yuta's smile faltered for a quick second, his steps halted. "Hm? I guess you two really did talk." He dipped his head down. "You really think he cares for you?"

The black-haired girl frowned at his words, "What do you even mean by that?" a hint of bitterness to her tone. She had no idea why he was suddenly acting all different, but then again, she never really knew him much other than the fact that Jungwoo seemed to hold an old grudge against him. "Why— Why are you even saying that?"

"Because you need to know the truth, Sera. The Rebellion? It's all a lie. Taeyong never wanted you to be here—"

"That's because he wanted me safe!" Sera cuts him off, not wanting to hear more of his words but it felt like she was shackled on the ground.

He shot his head up, eyebrows furrowed together as he felt irked by her very words. Shaking his head, a mocking laugh left his tainted lips. "Safe? If he wanted you safe he wouldn't have placed you and Sejeong somewhere far behind the formation that day." He scoffed, "And if he really, truly, deeply wanted you to be safe, he wouldn't have trusted your life to me when he knew all along I was the reason why the UA soldiers attacked us that night."

Sera felt goosebumps trickling down her spine as her breath got caught up in her throat dry, no words formed as a rebuttal. All of this because she knew nothing of who she really was.

A 'sad' smile cast on Yuta's lips as he now stood in front of the girl, glowering down at her puny figure. "Do you remember that night, Sera?" He said in a low voice. "Do you remember the screams? The bloodshed? The promises made?" Her heart sunk and unknown to her, tears pricked the corner of her eyes. She was lost for her words and her head began to throb in pain. She tried—she hopelessly tried to remember.

That day. Jungwoo and Yuta fought, the rain was pouring, and they were in the middle of the forest. Jungwoo had been suggesting that they push through and find shelter in the nearby ruins, knowing if they had left sooner the UA wouldn't be able to reach them. But no, Yuta held them back for who knows how long just for UA to arrive and massacre them. It was all a part of the plan, the UA's plan.

"You're a traitor. A cold-hearted traitor." Sera spat, staring immensely at him in pure anger.

"Yet I'm still here, aren't I?" Yuta chuckled, cupping her face causing her to step back and try to yank his hands off her but he gripped onto her face. His thumb brushed away the tears that began to fall from her scared eyes and he smiled sadly. "This wouldn't have happened if you just came with me in the first place."

"I– I don't know... what you're talking about." Sera croaked out, her heart clamoring against her ribcage, she wanted out.

Yuta sighed, "I know you don't remember— what a shame. But I had offered you to come with me, and you said no. Of course, you're very stubborn just like your brother."

"And Jungwoo? Ah, can't he just accept that I'm better than him?" He cackled, letting go of Sera's face, and took a step back. "I'm still here because I'm bringing you back to Kasdeya myself. To prove my loyalty to the UA—"

"Why? Why... are you doing this? Why do you believe in the UA so much? Can't you see? Look at this world—"

"This world is perfect. It is something that people like you may not see but this is the future." Yuta cuts her off, his voice stern and had no cracks of deception lying underneath. Sera felt her heart sting, knowing that she had nearly trusted the male in front of her and that she had actually trusted him before.

She shakes her head, disbelief clear in her expression. "And so what? You're going to bring me to Kasdeya and then what happens?"

Yuta glanced at her for a moment before walking away, his shoulder brushing past hers. "The flaw will be fixed and the Rebellion will no longer exist; the UA will govern in peace," he then stops, his face remaining unfazed. "and then maybe, you'll cease to exist too."

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phew, this took me a while
with 4k words— go get it ig yuta 🧍🏻‍♀️
shits about to get down from here