Sprinting down a field of grass in a wet, muddy dress and being chased by an army trying to kill you proved to be ten times harder than one would expect and quite frankly, half of the time, Erin wished she could just plop down on the ground and become one with the ground. Instead, she had Minho's hand tightly wrapping around hers, dragging her along. More arrows were shot around her, reminding with every move that once she got back to the army, she would finally be able to show this amateur archer how to probably fire an arrow.

"Minho," Erin called. "I'm slipping. Just go ahead and warn the others. I'll stay here and fight them off."

"No way!" he replied, tightening his grip on her hand and increasing his pace. "I promised to make sure you are safe. And I will do just that."

Clutching onto her dress with her other hand, she prayed with each passing arrow that they were near the barbed wire fence. The sound of more heavy steps overshadowed the stream and Erin inwardly cussed at herself for not realising sooner. 

"Attack!" Minho screamed upon seeing the fence, hoping the soldiers could hear him. "It's a trap!"

Erin spared a glance back, seeing men and women in red sprinting towards her, holding their swords out in preparation to strike. The look in their eyes, the sheer hatred, it was too much for her to take. Now don't get me wrong, Erin was one of the most fearless Guardians to exist and there had never been a recorded time where she lost her guard. But this was different. This was not her average battle. So when the memories and emotions came tumbling back of the evening her life was completely flipped around, she just couldn't take it anymore. 

Screaming, she fell to the ground, covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut as though that would be enough to get rid of all the pain that was returning to her within a split second. All the details she had forgotten with time came spilling back into her memory, reminding her that she will never truly forget, never truly accept that she had lost everyone and it all started here. It all started in the first and last place she considered home.

Minho turned around with lightning speed, immediately running to shield her from the oncoming soldiers but fortunately for him, the Busan Army had heard his cry, sprinting past them to get to the rival army.

"Is she alright?" Jeongin questioned, prying Erin from the ground. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know," Minho admitted, helping him out. "We were just running and she collapsed out of nowhere and started screaming. I don't know what happened."

"Let's just get her away from here and we'll sort it out later."

"No," Erin shook her head at Jeongin's statement. "I can fight. I want to fight."

The two boys exchanged gazes before furrowing their eyebrows at her.

"No," Jeongin refused. "Absolutely not. Look at you! You are a mess. You can't fight like this!"

"No, please. I have to," she pleaded.

"What's going on?" Seungmin questioned, catching up to them. "There's a battle taking place! We don't have time to converse!"

Erin pulled herself out of Jeongin's grip, "please let me fight. I have to fight. You don't understand. I have to. I... I need to do this."

"No!" Minho was the one to shout now. "You are not in the state to fight!"

"I have to do this!" she screamed in response. "Last time this happened I was too inexperienced to do anything. But now I can. Now I can fight for my hometown. Please! I have to do this. I have to avenge them... or at least try."

"Look, Erin, I get you want to do this but-" Jeongin was interrupted by Seungmin

"Let her fight. She'll be with me. I'll look after her."

"Why is everyone under the impression I need someone to look after me?" she questioned. "I'm a grown woman, I can fend for myself."

"Maybe usually," Seungmin gripped her arm, pulling her towards the action. "But you aren't necessarily in your normal state of mind. You are stressed out. Now what you have to do is convert that stress to anger and fight like there's no tomorrow-"

Within a second, Erin pushed him out of the way just in time to throw her dagger at a Royal Army soldier that had been sneaking up on them.

"Like that?" she questioned.

He sighed, shaking his head, "you can do better. I've seen you do better."

She rolled her eyes, pulling out her sword and turning to him, "you ready, newlywed?"

He tittered, slapping her shoulder lightly, "more than ready. The real question is, are you?"