Every year I write an advent story where I post one chapter everyday until Christmas (Day5 in 2017, Refresh in 2018, The Last Guardian in 2019) and I just felt like I couldn't miss it this year but I didn't want to make a new story when I haven't even finished this one so every day until Christmas I plan to be posting a new chapter of The Ace.

"I don't like this," Mia spat out, pacing around the cave with her arms folded across her chest. "I don't like this at all."

Her voice echoed as though to remind them of the urgency of the situation. Blood stained the walls and ceiling and ground. Every surface in cave had blood painted across it and Mel couldn't help but focus on the trail that meandered across the ground, mixing with the dirt and dead ants before cascading off the cliff.

"That's the third time this week," Minho muttered what they were all thinking. "That's not a coincidence, is it?"

Sprawled across the cold, smooth rock lay a jaguar mere centimetres away from the half-eaten body of another of its kind. The sight, much like the smell, was repulsive. And Mel just couldn't bring herself to look at it. She couldn't bring herself to look at what she had just done.

"I don't understand though..." Brea shook her head. "I thought they weren't meant to find this cave. It's hidden from the rest of the jungle... How did they even get here?"

"How it got here isn't our biggest concern," Seungmin stated. "Panthers hunt at night. Why on Earth is it here during the day?"

Shifting her gaze to the jungle, Mel watched as the red-orange sun slowly descended beneath the canopy, dressing the sky in pale shades of pink, blue and lilac. It was beautiful and that disgusted her. It felt like a slap in the face from the people that created it and created this whole illusion. How could they have the audacity to design something so elegant and seemingly happy when just minutes ago they sent a panther to kill her?

"Isn't it obvious? They are trying to kill us!" Jisung stated. "They've always been trying to kill us!"

"No," Mel shook her head. "They're only trying to kill me. All three times those panthers showed up here were while I was the only one in the cave."

"Why would they want to kill you?" Minho raised an eyebrow. "I mean, yeah, you are an ace but so is Seungmin. Why aren't they trying to kill him too-?"

"It doesn't matter whether they are trying to kill me or not. All that matters now is figuring out a way out of here. Clearly the cave isn't safe anymore. We need to leave."

"Are you insane?" Mia scoffed. "We can't leave the cave! Where would we even go?"

"Doesn't matter. We'll just have to walk until we find another cave or shelter or whatever."

"No way," Mia shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere. If even the cave isn't safe anymore how can we possibly expect out there to be any safer? And at night too for that matter! There's no way I'm leaving. Not a chance."

Seungmin rolled his eyes, "so what? You're going to stay in this cave alone? You'll die if you stay here!"

"Who said I'll be alone?"

"Mia-"

"I don't want to leave either," Jisung mumbled.

And automatically, silence engulfed them. In fact, at that moment the whole jungle hushed. No birds chirping, no distant hums of rushing water from the stream, no rustling of leaves. Everything was quiet. Everything was still.

Mel didn't bother averting her gaze from the sunset, the shock on Seungmin's face was impossible to miss even if she wasn't looking at him. The tense, prolonged silence said it all.

Melody was more than used to her fellow 'hearts' speaking back to her and questioning her authority, after all, she was the last of them to enter this place and had little knowledge of it in comparison to them. But it wasn't like that with Seungmin. He had been there the longest out of them all. He had seen things the rest of them couldn't even begin to imagine, experienced the unimaginable. Not once had the boys questioned him. Not once did they refuse to follow his orders.

At least, not until this moment.

"Jisung," Minho sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Don't do this. Please... just don't."

"Mel said it already, the panthers are coming after her so why should I leave? If anything, she should leave to save us. If you cared so much about us living, you'd send her away," Jisung argued.

"How dare you! Mel is our ace, we can't just send her away! She's our only hope for an escape," Brea argued.

"He's got a point though, Brea," Mia stated with a shrug.

"How could you even say that?" the younger girl shook her head in disbelief. "So what if he has a point and so what if the panthers are coming after her? She is our ace. She is our escape. How could you even possibly consider sending her away? Do you not want to get out of here?"

"I want to live. And if that means not escaping, so be it. I'm not going to die just for a rubbish excuse of an ace to live."

"Rubbish excuse? Mia, don't say that-!"

"Let's be honest here. Name one thing Mel has done for us since she arrived in the Pen?"

"Well, for starters, we left the Pen because of her."

"Yeah, after she fainted and we lost Harri, Aira and Rayne. Besides, the walls collapsed. The creators were practically nudging us out of there."

"She also caught that panther that time..."

"No, she found it. Seungmin was the one who killed it."

"She... Uhm..."

"Face it. She has done nothing for us apart from lead to danger. What's the point of dying for someone whose only strength is a stupid title given by the creators?"

Mel could feel the eyes fixated on her but her gaze never faltered. The sun had long descended now, the sky very quickly dimming as stars began to speckle the sky. The jungle remained eerily silent as though it, too, was waiting for her to say something. And gosh, she wanted to say something but where was she even meant to start? What did they even want her to say?

She expected to hear someone protest, anyone. Or at least for someone to speak up and change the subject. So when she was met with utter silence, she'd be lying if she said it didn't sting. However, she also couldn't blame them. Jisung had a point and did Mia. Mel hadn't done anything for them. She was nothing but a title.

"Fine," she sighed. "You're right. The creators made a mistake when picking me as the Ace. I'll leave then seeing as I'm nothing but extra baggage to you all."

"This is ridiculous," Seungmin shook his head. "Mia, Jisung, stop this already. Mel isn't going to leave, ok?"

"Why should I stay?" Melody scoffed, finally detaching her gaze from the horizon to glance at him. "Clearly, I'm not wanted here."

With another sigh, she softly shook her head before immediately heading towards the exit of the cave but Seungmin was quick to grab her wrist, his eyes remaining on Jisung.

"If Mel leaves, I'll leave too. It doesn't matter if she hasn't done anything for us yet, she was picked as the Ace of Hearts for a reason. We can't just throw her away."

"Did you not just hear what Mia said? Or are you trapped inside your own bubble? Mel has done nothing for us! She has done nothing but claim to be the Ace," Jisung retorted.

"I wasn't the best ace when I first arrived either. It took years to get where I am now. She will prove herself when the time comes."

"And what if she doesn't, huh? What if she's nothing but a self proclaimed title?"

"Jisung, don't you dare imply that she's-"

"I haven't implied anything yet," he smirked at Seungmin. "You think she's the Joker too, don't you?"

"Are you insane?"

"Think about it. She could easily deceive us all. Joker's are on the side of the creators and all she has ever done is lead us to trouble."

"She's an ace, Jisung. I've seen a Joker before. I know what they are like. There's no way Mel is good enough at acting to fool us all."

Jisung shrugged, the smirk still plastered on his face, "you know what they say though, Seungmin, sometimes even the Joker doesn't know it's them."