- Chapter 20 :

You all pause in total curiosity, and half horror as you stare down at a child, that is not, quite conveniently, barreling right at you, it's hands coming out.

You stood in place and let out a high pitched groan when the two slender arms locked around your waist, pushing you back to the hard ground with a thump. You felt some goo and internally screamed, wondering if it was the ground, or the residue of the walkers.

"Elly!" Hoseok squeaked as he ran to you, looking between you and the child. You yourself were still in shock, as the others finally gathered around you, staring down at the thing that was attached to you. As you were about to open your mouth, you felt a waver and looked with heavy eyes to see the child shaking against you, pushing her head into your waist.

Your eyes softened as you somehow got up, Jimin holding you. As you looked to the others for help, Namjoon stepped forward, making sure the walkers were all gone, and slowly detached the whining girl from you, letting you get a better look at her. She had black hair and hazel colored eyes, big and wide, tinted red from crying and rubbing her eyes.

Her long hair was messy and dirty and her clothes were ripped and foreign looking. Scratches filled her body as she sniffled as he looked to her feet, avoiding all eyes contact. You bent down on one knee to her height and tried to peer at her, touching her cheek. "Hey." Was all you said, not wanting to scare the child.

The small girl almost immediately looked up at you, teary eyes finding the calm in yours and just staring. It was at least a minute or two or silent staring until the girl sniffed and sniffed once more. "H-Hi." She mouthed as you listened intently. She had a soft and gentle voice, high pitched like the child she was. You felt a pang of sympathy as you stared into her eyes soulfully.

There was something about her eyes that took you down dark roads.

For a moment, you felt your mother's hand on your cheek, your small body wrapped around her as you snuggled deeper into her warm embrace. You could hear her soft voice whispering things into your ear, her lips tugging up as you giggled and moved around on her. You felt the warmth of her fall onto you and could smell the bread she was baking for dinner. You never missed or even felt the absence of your father when she was there with you.

You almost could imagine that you were a small child again, nestled into your small house on Orpheus, back with your mother. You recollected the days you'd sit on the floor and watch her sing and wash clothes, smiling at you and teaching you to sing along. Never did she frown.

Even when she was coughing and dying of a sickness that left her without her youth, she never once frowned at you, always smiling and singing. She still used to hold you close to her as she whispered calm soothing words, lulling you into a slow sleep.

"Lucia!" At once, you gasped and took in a gulp of air, falling from your knees onto your butt onto the hard and yet mushy ground. You were breathing rapidly, your chest ablaze as you looked up, eyes wide to see the small girl looking shocked, crawling into Jimin's arms. Namjoon was in front of you almost at once, helping you to your feet as you felt dazed and blurred almost.

You felt an arm on your waist and then you felt yourself being turned around to see Yoongi staring right dead into your eyes, both his arms on your waist, rubbing in circles. You swore his eyes softened as one hand jumped to your face and wiped a tear you didn't notice, off of your face. When had you begun to cry?

Almost instinctively, you clawed onto his shirt and buried your face into his neck, taking in his scent and calming yourself as he held you, gently swaying you in his arms from side to side. Finally coming to your senses, you push yourself a little away, out of Yoongi's arms and cough a bit, looking around awkwardly.

"S-Sorry. I just spaced out.." You said in a low tone as everyone nodded simply, trying to avoid what has just happened. Reminding yourself that there was a small child there, you turned and looked at the girl, scared and even more shocked now. You cursed yourself and slowly approached her, Jimin setting her down and nervously making eye contact with you.

She didn't even have the natural hair or eye colors of a Denebolian. "Um.. hey what's your name?" You shuffled about as the kid looked at you in the eyes, not looking away. The intensity of her eyes was quite amusing to her shyness to speak. At last though, she lifted her head and looked you in the eyes for the millionth time and spoke,

"Magnolia."

There was an odd pause after that were everyone decided what to do with that information. You all did not prepare for what to do after she'd said her name since you didn't expect her to say her name in the first place.

"That's a beautiful name." Namjoon said all of a sudden, bringing Magnolia's attention to him. He was grinning and his dimples shone brightly on his cheeks are you noted how adorable they were. You also wanted a man with deep dimples, if you could of course.

"T-Thank you." The child said, and all of a sudden, Jimin, Taehyung, and Hoseok were all over the child, hugging her and entertaining her with noises and tickling. Magnolia bubbled with laughter, a smile plastered on your face due to the childish innocence. Yoongi settled next to you and leaned in, his breath touching your ears, "We should probably leave soon. The Walkers will always be behind us." Yoongi said as suddenly the happiness was stolen from your face and you nodded in thought.

"Joonie." You whispered as he looked up, seeing the emotions in your eyes. He seemed to understand what was up as he nodded, getting up and dusting himself off, nodding. "Let's keep on walking." He said, suddenly remembering how his girl was out there somewhere. You also remembered Minrei, and what she meant to Namjoon.

Getting up yourself, you scooped up little Magnolia in your arms, glaring at the three squishy men and carried her as Team Des formed a duck line chain, Tera and Namjoon leading it and Yoongi and you coming up in the back. Magnolia was deathly silent in your arms, her own arms slung around your neck and her face resting on your shoulder.

You couldn't see, but you knew she was probably looking at Yoongi. His name brought a weird sensation to you as you knew you were being unfair. He didn't have to open up to you, nor did he have to even stay with your group. The sudden realization that Yoongi could leave the group at any time or day brought a weird feeling to your heart and you turned around and stared at Yoongi as his eyes moved from Magnolia's, to yours.

"Is something wrong? Should I carry her?" He asked silently as you three walked in your own clump, keeping some distance from the others who were silently chatting among themselves. "Don't leave us." You said sincerely as he was taken aback for a minute, just staring you int he eyes with a weird face. Then he cracked a small smirk, "You can count on me, Assiel."

You frowned at the name but rolled your eyes anyways. "You have so many names, I don't know what to call you." Magnolia piped up as you lifted her higher up onto you to prevent her from slipping. You chuckled at what she said, agreeing with her mentally even though you didn't say it. "Call me whatever you want sweetie, I don't mind." You said, preparing for your new nickname-

"Mama."

You halted and almost spit, eyes wide as you looked at the small child. She looked hesitant, holding onto you tenderly. She then looked to Yoongi, who was equally surprised and pointed at him, "Papa."

Both you and Yoongi looked eyes in a comical way as you stuttered. How could you say no this child after all the courage she must have worked up to say that. Plus, she did have Yoongi's hair so you could see where she coming from.

"Uh..haha okay, if that makes you feel better." You said in a fake tone, jogging to catch up with the rest of the group as Yoongi increased his pace as well. Jimin looked back at you lot once you caught up, smiling at Magnolia, "Can we call you Lia?" He sent her an adorable eye smile and Magnolia giggled, "Yes!"

You were still shook.

It had been an hour since, and you all had tried to ask Lia any question about where she was from, which resulted in her sobbing out loud and hugging you tighter, burying her head into your neck. It also resulted in her calling you 'Mama', which froze the whole group, who now were accusing you of knowing Yoongi even before you'd started this mission.

"So you're saying Lia wants to call you two mama and papa?" Hoseok was massaging his forehead and you nodded, Lia still sniffing an wiping her now red eyes. "Well then, fantastic, can I be Uncle Hobi?" He asked as Lia looked at him form behind her curtain of silky, yet dirty hair. "Okay." "Ooh then I'm Uncle Jimin! And..I feel like Tae acts younger than you so I'm not sure if you- OW!" Jimin scratched his head, which Taehyung had just slapped, "You can call me Uncle Tae, don't mind Jiminie."

"I hope you realize that we are all barely over the age of 20. Is this really appropriate?" Namjoon asked as Hoseok stuck his tongue out, "Now it is." You deadpanned at the lot, looking to Tera, who was scanning the are, a blue light flickering on and off. You had all reached an abandoned building and Namjoon was saying this was were the dead bodies were last found, meaning Minrei should be here.

If she was even alive.

You pushed the negative thoughts away, and handed the small child to Yoongi, who willingly took her, piggy backing her. Lia looked delighted, saying 'Papa' in as many tones as she could and snuggling into his neck. To your surprise, Yoongi held his hand to his mouth, trying to seemingly hide his smile from your group and the small six year old girl.

"There are many walkers here, but there's also a living human." Tera concluded, turning to Team Des. Namjoon lit up when Tera announced that, looking much more energized than before. "Okay, we have to make a plan now. All the walkers are inside of there, so to get them out, we will need a distraction so that we can sneak in and look around without being bit." Namjoon concluded, taking your role as leader. You bit the inside of your cheek with jealousy, "Break up into two groups, one will distract and one will go in." You said, nodding.

You, Tera and Jimin stood to one side while Namjoon, Yoongi, Hoseok and Taehyung stood to the other side. "You guys can distract them. We will get into the building so finish them off." Namjoon nodded as you frowned. "How do we distract them?" You asked as suddenly it was silence. Namjoon's eyes pierced into your's as his eyes glinted, his glasses broken.

"I have an idea."

"Guys. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but this isn't going to work." You deadpanned as Yoongi finished tying you down to a broken tree, your body sideways and your face facing the ground. Jimin kneeled by you, making sure the rope was tight, "Uhm, isn't it better if the ropes are not tight so I can escape?" You ask as Jimin thinks for a moment, sticks out his tongue and makes it tighter. "Gay bitch." You grumble under your voice as he smiles.

Their idea of 'distracting' ended up being you attached to a tree sideways. Tera and Jimin had to apparently get the walkers here by screaming, and once they say you, they'd come running for food: you. If all goes right, the other two should jump out and then kill the zombies, leaving you to be still tied there with your nunchucks as the others sneak into the building.

To everyone, the idea was great, and to you; it was complete bullshit.

"Don't worry Ciel, I'll be reading your mind so if you think that you're about to die, I'll come back to help you out." Yoongi said, petting your head. "Ah yes, how reassuring it is to know that you'll be reading my thoughts as dead organisms surround me. Thank you so much." You rolled your eyes as Namjoon sighed, "I'm sorry this is the only option." You glared at him, "Forcefully tying me onto a tree is definitely not the only option available. And Tera!" You fixed the robot another homemade glare, "I thought you'd protect me!"

"I'm sorry, but you were not in imminent danger." Tera said as you sighed. "Tae, Hobi, hell even Lia, please say something!" You whined as they all avoided your glance. You scoffed and looked to the ground, feeling petty and blinking away tears. You hated feeling vulnerable and hated being controlled. The helpless feeling it gave you reminded you of when you couldn't do anything but watch your house burnt down, mother burning along with it.

"I'm the one being bait because I'm the useless one ain't I. It's because I can't use my powers." You said softly, as the tension int he air rose and the once comical mood completely died. "Lucia, of course not! You're an-" "Cut the crap and go. Maybe I'll come to use for once doing this." You said as your bangs covered your watering eyes. You could feel Yoongi's eyes on you, but didn't look at anyone as the shuffling of feet occurred and everyone went to their spots.

You kept your head low even as you heard screaming from the others, their attempts at getting the walkers out. You looked up from your bangs, and saw the trees part as the disgustingly rotten faces of the walkers emerged, locking eyes on you. It was a dead silence, before at once, a large group of zombies ran straight at you.

You closed your eyes and looked down as your hair immediately lifted into the air. Wondering why, you looked up and your eyes widened to see your hair rising with static. Your eyes found Taehyung, and at once, he let out a blue ball of static, sending you one last reassuring look, and then running into the building with the rest of the offense group.

The ball of static hit and killed some of the walkers, the rest still approaching. You closed your eyes again as gusts of wind and mechanical whirring surrounded you, Jimin and Tera doing work to keep the walkers out. You wondered what Lia was doing and where she was as suddenly a pounding headache took over your head.

You whimpered in pain as you felt like you couldn't breathe and that the knots were too tight. Panic rose in your throat and you tried to calm yourself down, breathing in, only feeling more constricted. Images of fire smeared your vision so you opened your eyes to escape it, only to see the trees and building on fire. You couldn't escape.

You shut your eyes and tried to feel nothing, but the blaring of your headache and the pain from the rope took its toll o you as you finally lost conscious.

"I can't sense Ciel's thoughts anymore." Yoongi said, panic seeping into his voice. Namjoon looked back at him with a weird stare, holding his flashlight into the abandoned hall as Hoseok and Taehyung stuck to each other like glue in fear. "What do you mean?" Namjoon probed.

"I can read minds even when someone is sleeping. But if I can't read her mind right now, it means she's either out cold or..dead." He said, fighting panic. There was a silence between them all, "Try reading Jimin or Lia since they're around her, you might get some clues. She's strong, she wouldn't die this easily." Namjoon whispered, reassuring himself as well.

"Still nothing. Lia is scared behind another tree, and Jimin is too busy in battle. You can't read a robot so Tera is out of question." Yoongi slammed a fist onto the wall, "Dammit. We shouldn't have left her like that." He looked down as Namjoon frowned, "Let's hurry up here so we can get back to them." Silence followed.

After walking a few more feet, Namjoon paused, looking back. "Let's split up. Taehyung and Yoongi can go down and check, Hoseok and I will keep looking upstairs. Use these walkie talkies if you find her." Namjoon threw a walkie talkie at Yoongi, who nodded and dragged Taehyung to the stairs and down, until they were out of sight.

Namjoon and Hoseok kept going, looking both ways in fear of being jumped by a demonic being. For the longest time, they only heard windows being rattled by the winds Jimin was emitting, and after a while, even that completely stopped.

"Where could she be? She has to be alive, I know she is." Namjoon said slowly, Hoseok sending him a worried look. Hoseok was beginning to believe that, maybe she wasn't here. Or anywhere they could find her. But he kept his thoughts to himself and lit up a fire in his hands, providing extra warmth and light.

A noise cracked in the dry air and both men jumped onto the walkie talkie, Yoongi's voice filtering through. "Yoongi?!" Hoseok said as Yoongi coughed, his voice even lower than usual. "So the bad news is, even though I found her, she's knocked out cold and to be honest, she doesn't look so good." Namjoon almost jumped in delight, his face lighting up. "What's the good news then?" Hoseok asked tentatively. "I lost Taehyung." Hoseok and Namjoon could both hear the smile in Yoongi's voice.

"Lu! Please, wake up! Open your eyes! Lu!" You heard distant screaming, or was it crying? Next, you felt droplets of liquid fall onto your cheeks, tears that weren't yours. Someone was crying. Only Jimin calls you Lu. But, why was Jimin crying?

You wanted to open your eyes, but you felt way to weak to even move a single muscle in your body. "Lu!" More tears fell onto your face. You felt warmth enter you and your muscle unfreeze. Your eyes slowly fluttered open to find Lia hugging your abdomen, your body now off the tree and on the floor as Jimin wad cupping your cheeks, his tears falling onto your face. Tera stood behind Lia, no expression as usual.

Seeing you now awake, Jimin's eyes widened as he let out a relieved sob, leaning down and hugging you tightly, Lia now sitting by your side and watching you. How did a child you just meet today care for you so much? "C-Chim?" You felt groggy, the remains of your killer headache still thriving. You saw the dead bodies around you and asked, "What happened?" Jimin looked you in the eye and spoke, "You passed out due to lack of air and being in a bad position, blood rushing to your head I presume. Once we took care of the walkers, I came to you but you were out cold and your leg was scratched by one of the filthy things so..I assumed the worst." He said, emotion leaking into his voice.

You glanced down at your feet, now bandaged and clean. "It's not infected." Tera said as you nodded, holding your arms out for Lia. The small girl jumped onto you, hugging you, "Mama, I was so scared something would happen to you!" She exclaimed as you raked her hair, whispering assuring things to her.

"I hate to make you move, but we have to get inside and help the others." Jimin said as you nodded, getting up and keeping Lia in your arms. You felt an unknown attachment with the small being you knew almost nothing about for some reason. Jimin helped you walk as your foot was a tad sore, Tera right behind you to catch you. You felt a swell of gratefulness, but said nothing as you neared the building.

You didn't know if he was reading your mind, but you thought it anyways, 'I'm okay.'

As you walked into the smelly building however, you heard many footsteps, and eventually a scream. However, the scream was joyful and light, and definitely from someone you knew. You closed your eyes and tried to concentrate, opening them straight away, "Why does that sound like Taehyung?" You asked as Jimin looked equally as confused, looking around. "Good question, let's find the answer."

Tera trailed behind you all as you turned the corner, putting Lia down, Tera taking care of her instead. You signaled them to stay back as you and Jimin walked forward, your nunchucks in your hand, ready to go and save Taehyung. However, when you turned the last corner, you and Jimin nodding at each other acting like it was some final show down, you were not pleasantly surprised.

Taehyung was running in basically a big circle, three walkers chasing him with their arms stretched out. However, Taehyung was giggling and screaming in joy, smiling and chuckling. You and Jimin stood with your jaws till the floor until Taehyung looked to the side and saw you both, waving and accidentally whacking a walker in the face with his seemingly iron strong arms.

He looked appalled and leaned down to the fallen walker, the second walker tripping over his back and falling too. Taehyung was even more surprised now, turning around and giving time for the last walker to jump on his back. Taehyung giggled, saying 'Oh you're a naughty one' as you got up, the walker falling onto the first one.

You and Jimin still stood in shock, not knowing how to react to Taaehyung's existence at this point in life. "Sorry I was late, I was playing tag with these fellows!" Taehyung skipped to you both, emitting flower boy vibes. You deadpanned and kneeled on the floor, your head ache coming back with Tae's antics.

"Come on, let's go find the others." You said weakly as Taehyung gave you a worried look, seeing your tired face, petting Lia's head. "No need for that." You looked up to see Namjoon, and the others, Yoongi holding his hand up as a woman levitated in the purple mist. A part of you felt jealous since Yoongi always did that for you, even if it meant teasing you.

"Are you okay?" Taehyung leaned in and whispered, Jimin looking at him tentatively. You bit your lip and nodded, watching as Magnolia stood behind you, holding onto one of your nunchucks. "I'll be fine." You said meekly, pressing your warm palm against your forehead in a weak manner. Taehyung and Jimin didn't say anything, but watched you equally concerned.

"Lucia! I knew you'd be-" Namjoon scoffed and looked away when you glared straight at him, letting him know you were in a shitty mood and about to kill him if he didn't stop being fake. Yoongi walked passed Namjoon though, not phased by your bitch face. He let Minrei down so that Namjoon was crouched on the floor, whispering to her, as Yoongi walked to you and looked at you for a minute, no expression.

Then, he placed his hand on the top of your head and pressed down slightly. "You're alive." He said as you frowned, "And you're disappointed." Yoongi look a little shaken before smirking, "Since when did you start caring about how I felt?" You knew he was teasing you, and still you felt so mad and irritated at everyone. In that moment, you said nothing, and just walked away from him, and the group, acting like the little drama queen you probably were.

"Ciel, come back." Yoongi sounded dead serious as you kept walking, head down as you tried to control your headache. "Ciel." You didn't care and kept walking until you bumped into something, or perhaps someone.

When you looked up, it was a walker significantly taller than you, a strong looking one with that. It was the color of a shadow and had one droopy eye. Up close, you could smell the rotting flesh and held back the urge to puke right then and there. You stepped away, something about this walker different. He was smiling.

It was the type of smile that your parent told you to never trust, the type of smile that sent shivers down your spine, and the type of spine that made you want to dig a hole, hide in it, and never come back out of it again. You heard Yoongi silently curse from behind you as the walker stepped forward, mimicking the way you stepped back.

There was a tense silence between both parties, and you gulped, knowing you were really unlucky.

Then it struck.

The walker went straight at you, its arms coming down to grab you. You quickly jumped and landed quite perfectly onto its arms as you cursed. Standing up, and being much more quicker than this creature, you swung your nunchucks right onto the thing's head, not bothering to put any power in. Which, ended up being a humongous mistake.

This thing seemed strong all around and it had no effect as the walker slowly looked up at you, its smile widening. You wanted to scream, jumping off of its arms and landing on your butt. Immediately, it stomped right were you were sitting, and would've killed you too if you didn't roll to the side, getting up and catching the walker from behind.

You could see the rest of Team Des standing at the corner, not interfering; nor did you want them to. The headache that was bothering you so much faded as a small thumping, but you knew it was because you were basically in survival mode. The minute this battle ended, the headache would be back. That is, if you were still there.

You jumped on the beast once again from the back and closed your eyes, feeling a surge of power. Immediately, your long gold hair brightened and floated minimally as your eyes glowed as well, their beautiful and mesmerizing void color. Then, your nunchucks carried that same glow as you brought it down onto the thing's head once more, the same place you'd hit it before.

You knew the walker wasn't much of an enemy. It might've been bigger and stronger than past ones, but it was still a walker, not anything out of the ordinary at this point.

It worked, and the walker fell to the ground with a large thump, you falling as well, once again onto your sore butt. You yelped and groaned, rubbing at the flesh that you were sure was red, before getting up and finding yourself entangled with Magnolia as she hugged your legs. You stared at her before picking her up and smiling, bopping her nose.

"That, was cool!" Hoseok squealed, and Jimin nodded, looking excited. Taehyung seemed distracted though, "He would've been fun to play hide and seek with." You really couldn't agree less. "Let's go." Namjoon said, carrying Minrei bridal style. He avoided your glare, and you ended up choosing to ignore him as well.

You all walked out of the shack, Tera leading the way back to the hideout as it became darker and darker. Magnolia kept saying stuff, opening up, but all you could focus on were those dark eyes, and that bone chilling smile.

And at that moment you knew, something was going to go terribly wrong.

NEXT ON CHAPTER 21 : WHERE ARE THEY?!

"No way." Yoongi said, his eyes widening as he took a step back. Your eyes were equally as big as you gulped and looked around, feeling helpless once again.

It was destroyed, everything reduced to seemingly dust. You took a step back, placing Magnolia down to the ground as she sensed the tension in the air.

Namjoon was on the ground, his mouth wide open as tears dotted his vision.

"No, this can't be.."

But it was.

Everyone was gone.

hELLOOOOOO HAHAHAA IM ALIVE GUYS ISTG THIS BOOK IS STILL GOING ON I HAVE NOT ABANDONED IT!!!

i am sO sorry for the late update lIKe wow its been three months or so?? IVE BEEN SO BUSSY forgive me high school is a total bitch T-T

anyways, ive missed so much and really don't know what to say but ooF here's this chapter and haha..y'all might have to wait a while for the next chapter...

i also didnt put any comics in here even tho ia ctually had one ahah, but i didn't finish it :\ i promise yall ill recreate it and add it in later, so if you drop by a week from now to reread *wink* *wink*, there will be a comic!

alaska was also getting mad that i wasnt active *even tho she isnt either* so look forward to updates on untainted and corrupted. please do support my other works as well and ty!! one of my liked works is droplets so do check that out- *cough* *cough*

aNYWAYS merry late christmas and i wish the best for y'all..consider this a late xmas gift from me?

love y'all and see you in chapter 21!

-lunar