[ setting: adgir, gulop
year 7865 ]

TIRED wasn't the word jihoon would use when he saw the kim twins walk inside the hq. it had become quite bland and dull in the mornings now, especially on execution days. it amazed jihoon how ones presence made that much of a difference in the atmosphere. a sigh escaped his lips.

"what are you sighing about now?" bora questioned lightheartedly, picking at the maroon polish on her nails.

"it's nothing, just tired" jihoon responded before leaning into his boyfriends hold.

"ugh. love birds" miyoung teased absentmindedly as she passed jihoon a white piece of paper.

"new formation?" jihoon raised his eyebrows.

"new additions" miyoung responded with a shrug of her shoulders.

jihoon's eyes scanned over the paper, memorizing as much as he could. soonyoung reading it over his shoulder before it was passed towards bora. the girls eyebrows furrowed.

"they added chenle with chan? what do they want the kids together?" she joked before passing the slip back towards miyoung.

"i don't even know half of these people..." mingyu trailed as he and his sister looked over it once again.

"same. who is... olivia hye?" miyoung asked and watched in confusion as soonyoung and bora's face paled slightly in fear.

"that kid... that kid gives me the creeps" bora muttered, shaking the image of those cold eyes out of her head.

"she's good, scary good" soonyoung agreed. miyoung huffed.

"lets hope her head isn't big enough to get her killed then"

—

miyoung sat on her horse, boredly watching her group mates get ready for the day. her eyes wandered aimlessly, like they usually did. her eyes met commander bae, the woman had ended up taking over the center of formation. seungcheol being transferred to the front line.

miyoung shared a quick glance with a purple haired girl who was apart of her team, miyoung remembered her name to be choi yerim. next to her was a brunette, kim jungeun, who was speaking with a beautiful blonde.

"remind me again why i joined military services?" there jihoon's voice went breaking miyoung out of her thoughts.

"because you're an idiot in love" miyoung panned not paying much mind to the short male.

"ghee, thanks" jihoon huffed his gaze following miyoung's. "are we day dreaming again? or admiring the little things in life?"

miyoung rolled her eyes as jihoon spoke with a mocking tone. turning her full attention to her friend, an eyebrow raised.

"SOLDIERS GET READY!" leader hyunwoo's voice boomed and like clockwork, soldiers sped up their movements, some saying goodbye to loved ones.

"are you done being moody? we have creatures to kill" miyoung voiced before she rode past jihoon, the other following her with an annoyed grunt.

"i hate these damned things" another voice came from behind as all the soldiers gathered near the bridge.

"everything will be fine jungeun! stop being a pessimist" another voice came.

"whatever, how do you even know what's gonna happen out there, huh?" jungeun shot back.

"if you can't kill a single creature properly then why are you here?" a different voice hissed at jungeun. miyoung resisted the urge to turn around.

"piss off"

miyoung sighed inwardly, the sound of the gate creaking brought all the soldiers back to reality. again, miyoung could feel the fear in all of her comrades. it was suffocating but it burned in her with anger and vengeance.

the bridge was close to connecting, the adrenaline rushed through miyoung and her other five group mates as they were settled in their respective positions. only one thing came to mind as the wind blew in miyoung's face, the cold air smacked her every which way, the sound of horses going at full speed rang in her ears... we're getting jun back.

—

"commander! we got incoming about 11 up ahead!" zhong chenle yelled out as he passed by the front line with 4 others.

commander, lee taeyong, nodded his head at chenle before the younger rode off with the rest of trackers, all going in separate directions. taeyong looked straight ahead of before yelling out over his shoulder.

"wong! jeon!" the duo, wong kahei and jeon heejin, turned their heads in synch. "wong take the left, jeon take the right. let the rest know we got 11 up head"

kahei and heejin nodded before taking off in different directions. a blonde nodded to kahei as they made eye contact once kahei passed by. kahei letting out a barely audible 'good luck'.

"kwon and ha, i need you two to hit the middle" taeyong commanded.

"yes sir" sooyoung and soonyoung yelled simultaneously before riding off together.

"don't die out there, eh" soonyoung smirked towards bora who reciprocated it.

"you just come back alive for your wife" bora joked before the male rode out of sight.

in the center of formation, miyoung silently rode next to yerim. she noticed how the younger had completely changed her demeanor as soon as that bridge dropped. miyoung respected how serious the younger was taking this, after all, she was only sixteen.

"will you be okay out there?" miyoung questioned sincerely towards yerim who shot the older a grateful smile and nodded.

"i've gotten used to the battlefield"

miyoung didn't expect that sentence to hit her as hard as it did. although, she didn't have much time to dwell on it as she heard a familiar voice come from beside her.

"soonyoung?" she heard jihoon voice out.

"we got about 11 up ahead!" soonyoung yelled at commander bae.

"alright thanks kids" commander bae said with a stiff nod of her head.

soonyoung and sooyoung went to ride off but jihoon wasn't letting his boyfriend leave without saying anything.

"you better not die on me" he hissed out and soonyoung could only chuckle.

"never in a million years"

"kwon, we gotta head out" sooyoung rushed out, the male nodded before meeting jihoon and miyoung's eyes. with a silent communication, soonyoung rode off.

"alright team! i want winter! choi! kim! and both lee's out there to eliminate those things!" commander bae yelled. miyoung went to go off course with jihoon when commander bae stopped her.

"not you kid, you and hye are staying with me" commander bae stated. miyoung furrowed her eyebrows and made eye contact with jihoon.

"i'll be fine" jihoon assured and with that, miyoung went back to her spot.

my whole teams over there... miyoung thought. she knew bora was apart of front line, she would be one of the first soldiers sent out. sooyoung was communications, he wasn't expected to go on the battlefield but knowing him... he would go out anyways, especially if jihoon was by his side.

it didn't help that chan and mingyu were also up front, as trackers, they know this place inside out. they'll most likely be kept safe depending on the level of the creature.

miyoung cursed inwardly. why the hell was she stuck here? she had never gone into a battle without the same six- well five now- people.

"you got a lot on your mind kid?" commander bae asked. miyoung shook her head no.

"not much of a talker huh? sounds like you two got a lot in common" commander bae chuckled as she looked between olivia and miyoung.

miyoung could hear the girl, who was now beside her, scoff. letting her eyes travel towards the raven haired girl, she had a look that could kill but her face was also slightly chubby. her sharp, wolf like eyes made every soft feature she had disappear.

"miyoung!" chan's voice came. miyoung shot her head the side and was met with chan and a younger girl who looked to be around his age.

"commander! commander taeyong told us to stay in the middle" chan exclaimed and miyoung could see the slight fear in his usually bright eyes.

"stay by my side kid" miyoung ordered her teammate. miyoung didn't know what was ahead, whatever it was had scared the living shit out of both chan and yeojin.

"yeojin, get over here" olivia ordered to her youngest teammate. miyoung shot a quick glance at olivia, she was surprised at how baby like the girl's voice was. it certainly didn't fit her stoic personality.

"lee and im! stay behind your teammates!" commander bae sounded as she caught sight of 3 creatures.

"yes ma'am!" yeojin and chan yelled simultaneously, decreasing their speed so they were a good amount of space behind the trio.

"hye! kim! its time to show me how good you really are!" commander bae yelled.

miyoung tsked, easily standing up on her horse, olivia doing the same on the right side of miyoung. the nineteen year old peeled her eyes off of olivia and sharpened her eyes on the creatures ahead.

"commander! its two level 4's and one level 3!" miyoung yelled out as she got a good look at the creatures.

"go for level 4!" commander bae ordered.

"roger!" they yelled simultaneously and jumped off their horses. olivia ran at inhumane speed while miyoung traveled by her improved gear that jihoon made for her.

"what the hell...?" commander bae was left speechless as she watched olivia reach her target first, a clean cut slice with her sword left the creatures head rolling on the ground.

miyoung was no different, taking an opening and sliding under creatures legs, cutting both off in the process. she swings back around, using olivia's target for support as she jumped off of the headless creature and straight towards her target. piercing it right in the heart and swinging her blade down so it sliced the creature in half.

"i'll handle that one" miyoung growled at the level 3 creature. using her gear to swing back to her horse. gaining speed once more so she could get closer to it.

"careful!" yeojin yelled out but it fell on deaf ears as they watched miyoung completely destroy the creature in a flash before regrouping with her team.

"are you injured?" chan shot out once miyoung was next to him once again.

"i'm good" miyoung panted, wincing slightly at the cut on her leg.

"the next territory isn't far ahead, we should reach the entrance in about 25 minutes!"

miyoung sighed as she felt her hands shake slightly. jun i swear to god jihyo, you better be alive asshole. miyoung thought as they continued on with no more casualties or surprise pop ups.

they finally made it to the entrance, miyoung and chan quickly looking around for their teammates. chan spotted bora while miyoung spotted mingyu.

"where's soonyoung and jihoon?" chan asked with wide eyes, not seeing the couple anywhere is sight.

"soonyoung got injured so jihoon is staying by his side until orders are given" mingyu explained as bora ran a hand through her hair.

"miyoung! miyoung!" karina's voice cried out as she ran up to the older.

"karina? what's wrong?" miyoung asked worriedly as the young girl ran into her arms, tears flowing like a waterfall.

"please tell me you've seen winter... she hasn't come back yet" karina pleaded to whatever god above that her best friend was still alive, still breathing.

miyoung froze, she hadn't seen winter since the blonde left to go help front line. her eyes shifted over to the rest of her teammates, pity filled their faces. with a shaky hand, miyoung patted the girls back and went to speak but she was cut off.

"you must be karina..." yerim's voice came and karina hesitantly looked up from miyoung's hold. she met yerim's eyes and nodded slightly.

"winter... this was the only thing we found other than..." yerim didn't have to finish, she held out a blue ring hung onto a silver chain.

karina's eyes widened before more tears pooled at her eyes. she took a deep breath, sniffling as she took the necklace out of yerim's hold. with a shaky and forced smile karina thanked yerim before walking away.

miyoung sighed and turned back to her team.
"lets go check on soonyoung so we can start searching already" miyoung tsked. her teammates following her silently.

this was the aftermath...

blood had to be shed, lives had to be lost. in order for humanity to even think about moving a step forward in life. something had to be given and taken for any progress to be made.

these soldiers were reminded that every day of their life. every time they set foot on those bridges... heroes ? miyoung scoffed inwardly as she mindlessly got into one of the bubbles.

more like livestock. she scoffed, tightening her ponytail that had loosened every time she took a creature down.

miyoung felt that whenever she killed one of those retched things, she brought justice to each soldier that gave their life for humanity.

miyoung glanced out the window as she stared at all the shattered houses and buildings. some were even in the form of ashes... some were still standing but it wasn't much of it left standing.

miyoung stared blankly but her eyes were sharp, she always caught everything even unintentionally. so when she saw a body laying on the roof of a house, with the same light brown hair that belonged to-

"is that junhui?" bora almost exclaims as she follows miyoung's gaze.

mingyu stopped the bubble and looked around. once catching sight of the light brown mop of hair, mingyu turned the bubble over towards the direction his best friend was in.

miyoung was the first to jump out, using her gear to latch onto the roof. once she made it up, she got a good look at the boys face. he was pale, he looked like he needed food... water... something.

"i-is he-"

"no" miyoung cut chan off in a heartbeat.

"he's here but if we don't get him some food and water soon... there's no telling how long he'll still be here" miyoung informed, her teammates looking at her with wide eyes.

"i'll carry him" mingyu said lifting up the almost lifeless, boy's body.

damnit jun! i'm always the one saving your ass! mingyu growled inwardly at his best friend. the boy was as light as a feather, jun was never light in weight.

bora got her red box out, sending a signal over to cheol. once she got a signal back she reported to miyoung.

"seungcheol is on his way"

"lets hope he'll hurry his ass up a little bit" chan grumbled at the thought of their captain.

"ouch chan, tell me how you really feel" seungcheol sounded dramatically as he stalked over to the group surrounding jun's body. once cheol got a good look at him, he turned towards miyoung.

"are you-"

"more than ever" miyoung confirmed strongly. seungcheol nodded and passed miyoung the food and water.

"water first, food after. his throat is probably too dry for him to even swallow anything solid" seungcheol informs.

miyoung does as instructed and lifted the bottle to jun's mouth. pouring little by little so he doesn't end up choking.

"okay you can give him a piece of food now"

miyoung unwraps the covered food to see a sweet potato and a piece of meat. breaking small pieces of one by one, until jun was breathing slightly better on his own. by the time they were out of food, miyoung went to lift the bottle to jun's lips when he started mumbling something.

"h-... hy-..." everyone strained their ears to hear what was being said.

miyoung leaned in closer, trying to decipher whatever junhui was saying.

"find.... hyejoo"

hyejoo?.... who the hell was hyejoo ?