#exo reader

“You know... Your obsession for me has become quite unhealthy.” She mused with a devious smile as she kept her eyes fixed on his, completely unfazed by the gun he was pointing at her in the intimacy of her own home. “Perhaps you should consider visiting a specialist.” There was a glint of excitement in her pupils and she was intrigued by Detective Oh’s smug attitude, he successfully caught up to her at last and was a step ahead of the game. Or was he..? She was sure his ego must’ve inflated three times the size of what it usually was.

Surely it wasn’t easy to think outside of his own box. He believed he cracked her code, he thought he could read through her intentions and capricious personality. She was too smart to act purely on impulse and instinct, otherwise he would’ve caught her way long ago when he first ran into her. Sehun clicked his tongue while tilting his head to the side, then he shrugged in response to her words. It was her fault he became obsessed to the point where she would plague his mind without so much of a break, day and night. “After I put you behind bars I won’t need a therapist, I’ll just take a vacation and drink rum cocktails on some tropical beach.”

“Hm,” she scoffed averting his intense gaze, pupils roaming around their surroundings, “yet we both know you won’t turn me in...” Her expression turned serious and her eyes snapped back in his direction. She took slow, cautious steps towards him, she could see him falter and loosen his grip on the gun for the briefest of moments, until she was at his arms lengths with the tip of the weapon pressed to her chest. “You need me to help you with your case.”

Sehun inhaled a deep breath to calm his euphoric feelings from the moment he saw her walk through the threshold, the nerves in his body were now tingling with sweet anticipation for what was to come next. “What’s in it for you?” He lowered the gun and clicked the safety into place with his thumb, not once removing his dark eyes from hers.

“For starters, you clear me of the crimes I didn’t commit.” He beckoned her to continue after she took a pause. “And second, who knows... maybe we’ll develop a good relationship from this collaboration.”

Now it was his turn to scoff incredulous at her words. He holstered his gun and shook his head, a soft laughter left his lips. She stood there looking amused by his reaction, with one eyebrow cocked. “That’s it? No third wish?”

“I don’t go to jail,” she added, crossing her arms.

He nodded a couple of times, pleased smirk ever present on his handsome face. “You’re going to jail.”

Petra Venj had called Cayde-6 earlier asking for help with an ongoing riot in the Prison of Elders, and he had roped you into it on the promise that it’d be a ton of fun. Like date night, but with more gunfire. 

And you had agreed with a smile because you enjoyed any time you spent with Cayde whether it be a night of drinks and ramyun or a mission on the Shore. You didn’t care. As long as the two of you were together.

It wasn’t a prison riot.

It wasn’t a prison riot.

It was a prison break, and as you watched Cayde plunge into the depths of the prison, riding the top of the control center, all you could think was that this wasn’t a very good date night either. The control center hit the ground floor with an explosion. You went to call out to Cayde, but before you could the metal beneath you gave out and your head slammed into the floor before falling.

.

It took a moment to gather your bearings.

.

You shuttered your eyes and involuntarily sucked in a sharp breath. Your body didn’t need the air but doing so brought comfort to you. A familiar voice brought you back to reality, “Hey, welcome back.” Shakily, you rose to your feet and your Ghost danced around your helmet once before fading away. The sharp pain in your side disappeared. “We fell at least 20 stories down, and I can’t reach Cayde or Petra.”

You opened the comm link yourself and flinched when the only sound that greeted you was loud static, “Keep trying to reach them, ok?”

Your Ghost hummed a confirmation and you jogged forward to try and figure out where you were. It looked like you were in the bowels of the prison now, and if you went down a few more stories you’d end up where Cayde had landed. That was the goal. Find Cayde-6.

As you walked, a chill went down your back and it made every plate on your body stiffen and freeze. Your hand tightened around the grip of your hand cannon as you took a few more steps forward. There was a purplish-blue fog that created a trail through the door into the next room.

“Something is loose.” Your Ghost commented and you agreed wholeheartedly. Something felt very, very wrong. You picked up your pace. “It’s close, [Name].”

Your quick pace turned into a run as you tried to catch the end of the smoke trail, but it led into a room of creatures you hadn’t seen before. You came to a screeching stop and pulled your gun up to begin firing. They looked like Fallen in shape, but they were paler, covered in unusual armor, and they wielded weapons that the Fallen typically didn’t. Their entire beings had a freakish smoky glow that reeked of ether.

“These… things… used to be fallen.” You shot the last one and then just stood there for a moment letting your mind catch up to the scene. “The fallen didn’t just become this. Someone did this to them.”

Despite being an Exo, the feeling of bile rising in your throat overcame you. This was all wrong. Something terrible was happening. You pushed forward, stumbling slightly, before breaking into a full-on sprint, “Keep trying to reach Cayde.”

Room after room, the creatures came. The lower you went the more corrupted ether filled the air around you. The stench of it mingled with the smoke coming from the burning prison walls. With every step you took, the feeling of dread grew, and you couldn’t put your finger on what it was. Your ghost still couldn’t reach anyone on comms. There was only you, your Ghost, and static.

You dug your knife into the face of a screeching monster that got too close, and then spun to throw the blade into the next one coming. With one more shot the room was clear and you pushed onward. You jumped down a broken portion of the walkway to land on the lower floor.

You barely got a few steps forward before a blast of energy hit you in the chest knocking you onto your back. Instinct had you rolling back onto your feet quickly looking for the enemy that had thrown the grenade, but no one was there.

“No.” Your ghost sounded devastated. For the first time since you met him, his voice sounded shaky. “That was Cayde’s… Sundance. That was Sundance. She’s dead.”

You were moving. Before your ghost could even stop speaking, you were moving. With every step, with every pulse of your being, the name of your hunter flashed through your mind. Cayde. Cayde. Cayde. You had to get to Cayde. You needed to find Cayde. You couldn’t even properly mourn the loss of Sundance because you were so focused on finding the Exo Vanguard. Your Ghost was making a noise, like a low-pitched whine, and it was one you had never heard before. Ghosts couldn’t cry, but you wondered if this was the equivalent. With as much time as you spent with Cayde, your Ghost and spent and equal amount of time with his.

“The… The blast came from up ahead. Two more rooms.” Your Ghost focused back on the task. There was a forced steeliness to his voice.

You whipped through the door and up ahead at the other end of the room a large deformed monster stood in your way. It turned to charge at you, but you brought your gun up while simultaneously reaching for the Light. Warmth filled your entire body as you fired round after round at it. It fell to its knees dead and your Light began to fade, but you didn’t let it.

You kept the fire burning in your chest and the warmth turned to burning. It felt like you were burning from inside out, like you had swallowed the sun itself, but you wouldn’t let go. You couldn’t. Your Ghost cried out in worry, pleading for you to release the energy, but you burst through the next door letting the Light singe you from inside out.

An awoken wearing a hood stood in front of Cayde holding the Ace of Spades over him. Behind him, waiting in the door were more of the twisted, large ether soaked Fallen, and though you vaguely recognized them it was getting hard to see through the flames that engulfed you. The awoken’s head snapped to you, eyes glowing gold as they narrowed into a glare, and then they moved back to Cayde who could barely hold himself up.

“Told you so.” Cayde chuckled in a broken voice.

He went to fire, you saw his hand tighten, but you finally released your energy in a cry of pain. Like a rubber band that had been pulled too taunt, it snapped and blew out in a blast of fire. The awoken fired a round but went flying back at the same time toward the crew of monsters waiting for him. One of the creatures grabbed him and they went scurrying off, the door closing and locking in place behind them.

You clawed at your helmet. It was too hot. Too hot and you needed that unnecessary air to fill your body. Your ghost dismissed your helmet and you sucked in the ether tanged air. You could hear Cayde groaning still and stumbled toward him only to fall to your knees halfway there. You crawled the rest of the way until you were hovering over the battered Cayde.

“Partner, you’re smoking.” Cayde coughed out. He lifted a hand to your face but burned his fingers against the metal of your face, “Both figuratively and literally.”

Cayde’s face was busted. One eye flickering and his cheek dented in. He looked bad, and as you traced his figure with your eyes you realized the Awoken had shot him. The bullet had hit him just above the hip.

“Cayde.” You breathed out.

He followed your gaze and set a hand over the spot, “Damn. That could’ve been worse, huh?”

“I thought I lost you.” You cried out. Your voice breaking on the words. “Cayde, we felt… Sundance.”

Cayde’s face fell and you watched as he reached out to grab a red and white shard that laid not too far from him. He hissed in pain at the movement, but still brought the piece to his chest. “I fucked up. I fucked up, and she paid the price. Fuck.”

You couldn’t imagine how that would feel. The thought of losing your Ghost made you sick. Your Ghost, as if knowing your thought, curled up in the crook of your neck. Still mourning his friend. Loss wasn’t something guardians dealt with often. Not since the Red War. The thought of losing your Ghost, losing any of your friends, losing Cayde…

“Please…” The word fell from your mouth in desperation. “Please don’t leave me.” Cayde forced himself to sit up with a grunt and you reached out to hold him, so he didn’t fall over. You shook your head afraid to touch one of his wounds and hurt him worse. Sundance wasn’t here to heal him. What if these wounds were worse than they looked? “Cayde-”

He leaned his head against yours, “I ain’t goin’ nowhere, partner.”

You gripped his armor with your hands. Just having him here in your arms comforted you to some degree. He was moving and talking and whispering comforting words to you. You had made it in time.

“So”, Cayde cleared his throat and you pulled back to look him in the eyes. He gave you a smile, but with the damage done to his face it looked like an strange grimace, “I will admit, this was not the best date we’ve ever had. My bad.”

**

He liked being alone. No tearful goodbyes, no hurtful attachments. He was free to come and go as he pleased, no one to tie him down. Sure, after three hundred years, he had connections all over the world, but they were just acquaintances, people to just help him get through life when he needed a little extra help.

Like Luhan.

It still amused him how that little pretty boy decided to become a public worker, spending most of his days down in a basement under harsh florescent lighting that highlighted his pale, undead skin, surrounded by rotting flesh. If humans couldn’t stand the smell, imagine how a vampire felt.

But today was one of those days were Luhan’s position came in handy.

Kris needed information. He’d caught the scent of an old adversary - one he’d lost track of decades ago - right here in his own territory. A ruthless vampire who needed to be put down. If anyone in the city were to know about a rise in vampire-on-human attacks, Luhan would be the one to contact.

The precinct was busy, loud and overcrowded with people begging not to be locked up, when he arrived. No one paid him any attention as he strolled down the hallway and to the elevator, pressing the button to call it. While waiting for its arrival, the sound of tears caught his attention. Looking around, he found you, sitting at one of the detectives’ desks with a police standard jacket around your shoulders.

You weren’t wailing or sobbing hysterically. Just sitting there with a blank face as tears rolled down your red cheeks. Occasionally, you sniffed, creating the soft noise that caught Kris’s attention in the first place. No one seemed to be paying vulnerable little you any mind. It was depressing.

Shaking his head, he turned back when the elevator dinged at him and hit the button for the basement with just a little too much force.

Luhan was busy writing something down on a clipboard when he arrived. He didn’t even look up to acknowledge his old friend even though he certainly heard his steps from the hallway, maybe even from the floor above.

“I’ve actually been expecting you to arrive sooner or later,” the coroner chuckled, finally looking up.

Kris leaned against an empty slab, his hands in the pockets of his designer coat. Not that he actually needed one. He just liked how it looked.

“Well, you are basically psychic,” he teased.

“No. Just intuitive.” Luhan walked over to the wall that housed the newly arrived corpses and pulled out a drawer as Kris joined him. On the cold slab was a young woman, maybe in her early to mid-twenties. Pretty except for the thick red slash that tore up her throat. “I haven’t done the autopsy yet. I was waiting for you to arrive. Although, to be honest, I don’t really need to do one.”

Kris frowned thoughtfully. “Was it him?”

“That’s my guess.” Luhan gently pushed the woman’s hair away from her neck, showing off the side where the cut was deepest and brutally applied. “I found two puncture wounds hidden beneath the cut. Obviously vampire. This isn’t an unusual way for vampires to cover their tracks but–” he stopped.

“But what?” Kris urged.

Luhan sighed. “Did you see the girl crying upstairs? Pretty? Sitting at the detective’s desk?” Kris nodded. “This is the second person connected to her that’s died. In this exact way. And both bodies were left around like they were meant to be found.”

Kris’s eyes flashed red. The sudden changed didn’t scared Luhan like it might have with any human. He’d fully expected this to happen.

“It is him,” Kris growled. “This time, I’ll get him. And I’ll rip his throat out.”

Luhan pushed the drawer back into its holding cell, closing the door on the poor girl. “Do it soon. Before he kills someone else.”

With a hard nod, Kris turned on his heels, stalking back to the elevator to start his hunt.

“I’ll send you the target’s information!” Luhan called out after him. The taller vampire simply threw up his hand in acknowledgment.

**

You were waiting for the breakdown. For the moment where what you had found down in the laundry room of your apartment building to truly hit you. But the breakdown didn’t come. Tears rolled down your face, but you didn’t really cry. And that’s all you wanted to do right now.

After what seemed like an hour, the detective finally came back with a cup of tea, handing it to you.

“Thank you,” you whispered.

The detective nodded. “Now, (y/n), tell me about Jisoo and what might have happened.”

You took a sip of the bitter tea and shrugged. “I don’t really know what happened. Jisoo and I were close. We were around the same age–”

“You’re her neighbor, correct?” he interrupted.

You nodded. “Yes. For the past two years. Every Friday night after work, we’d go down to the laundry room. Hardly anyone else uses it at that time since they’re all out. We’d just talk about life, our jobs, family while doing our laundry. I was late getting off today so when she didn’t answer her door, I figured she already went down. When I got there, she was… she was–” your throat constricted at the memory.

Jisoo, lying on the dirty concrete of the basement laundry room. Bright red blood gathered around her head like a sick halo from a cathedral portrait. Her eyes were open, staring up at nothing. She looked like she’d just been thrown down to the ground, whoever attacked her not caring about the aftermath.

You shook your head, not able to voice the images to life.

“That’s okay,” the detective said soothingly, rubbing your arm as a means of comfort. “Did Jisoo have any enemies that you know about? Anyone who didn’t like her?”

Again, you shook your head. “No. She tried to be friendly with everyone.”

“Did she complain about anyone ever?”

“No.” You sighed, “No one, but Ryan from work. But he’s just a perv.”

That peaked the detective’s interest. “Did he try advances on Jisoo? Is that what made her uncomfortable?”

“N-no,” you stuttered. “He just shares a bit too much about his personal life. I met him once, when we went out. Even drunk, he never tried anything on Jisoo.”

That disappointed him. “Alright. I’ll get one of the patrol officers to take you home. Here’s my card, in case you think of anything else.”

To your relief, the officer who drove you back to your apartment didn’t say anything, just letting the occasional radio message break the silence. He saw you all the way up to your door on the fifth level. Jisoo’s own door across the hall had crime scene tape to stop anyone from entering in case they needed to gather more evidence or clues.

You thanked the officer and went inside.

Just do your normal routine, you told yourself. And so you did. You changed into your pajamas, washed your face, brushed your teeth, and climbed into bed. But it was there in the dark, with the sound of the city attacking your window, that it hit you. Finally, with your face hidden in your knees, you were able to sob at the loss of your friend.

**

Two weeks had gone by since that terrible night and you were sure you were losing it. Maybe you should see a therapist.

You can’t afford a therapist.

Well, maybe you should just get a new job.

But you loved the bookstore, so living in constant paranoia was your only option. It was probably only your imagination, anyway. Your very active imagination.

In the corner of your eye as you walked down the street to your job or the grocery store, you would see a looming shadow. By the time you turned to get a better look, it’d be gone. There were times where you just felt like you were being watched. But no one was ever around.

Today, though, you were a bit more relaxed once you arrived at the small bookshop you called your second home. Your mother often complained that you could do better, but you were the assistant manager and with Bruce about to retire within the next year or so, you were next in line to be in charge. Why try to start over somewhere else?

A few customers milled about the store, but you deemed it safe to leave the register. The pile of returns and donations was getting high and you knew that Dani would never get all of them put away by herself. Grabbing a good number of books, you started wandering about the store, finding the rightful places for the novels.

Being surrounded by the pages of other people’s stories made you feel better. More comfortable. The smell of old books took you back to leafing through your grandfather’s personal library. He never threw away a good book and it drove your grandmother crazy.

Finding the ‘Gs’, you started to put the book on top away until you recognized the binding. It was the last book that Mr. Kim - your favorite regular customer - had purchased before he passed. You weren’t sure of the details, but someone said he had fallen down the stairs and hit his head. It was a terrible way for him to go. He’d been so sweet, coming in two or three times a week, sharing stories of his younger days with you. You had liked to think of him as another grandparent you could turn to.

Releasing a heavy sigh, you put the book away and searched for the next one. Naturally, its proper place was on the highest shelf, just out of your reach. You looked around, but the only ladder in the shop was currently being used by Dani, who was like a living elf with her small stature. Being the stubborn person you were, you just decided that you would get it up there yourself. You stretched your legs, reached out your arm as far as it could go, and were on the very tips of your toes, but you still couldn’t reach it.

A large hand appeared from nowhere, taking the book from you and placing it on the shelf. Gasping in surprise, you whirled around to face the stranger, nearly toppling over the remaining books in your hands.

“Whoa, there,” the stranger chuckled, steadying the pile. His long fingers were just barely touching yours. They were abnormally cold, but you brushed it off to poor circulation.

“Th-thank you.” Oh, great. You had stuttered and now you could feel your cheeks getting warm. But you couldn’t help it. The stranger was handsome, tall, and there was very little room between the two of you due to the closeness of the shelves.

“You’re welcome,” he smiled. Of course, it was a dazzling smile. He bowed his head politely. “I’m Kris.”

“(y/n),” you bowed back. Clearing your throat, you asked, “Is there anything I can help you find?”

“Yeah, I was looking for your supernatural selection.” There was a shimmer in his eyes that gave you the impression that he was silently laughing to himself.

“Of course,” you motioned with your head. “Follow me.” You led him to the back where his desired taste was stored. “Just let me know if you need anything else.”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

Trying hold your smile down to a friendly level, you nodded back and scurried out of there.

You really wanted to see him again. He was attractive and polite. And tall guys were your weakness. But he didn’t buy anything and by the end of the week, he hadn’t returned to the store.

Sundays were your main day off, so you did what you’d always done and went down to your favorite little coffee café with your newest book in hand. Taking a window seat near the door, you ordered a tea and sat back in the chair, cracking open the book.

You used to love mysteries, the thrill of trying to figure out who killed the victim and why as the main character tried not to be next. But ever since Jisoo, they just gave you nightmares of finding her body. So, instead, you’d turned to classic romances, like Jane Austen. You knew it was cliché, but you hadn’t read them before and they were giving you a comfortable place to run to.

So lost in the world of Austen, you didn’t notice the leg nearing your table until it was too late. The leg jostled the table enough to spill your now lukewarm tea.

“I’m so sorry!” The other patron was already cleaning up the liquid with a handful of napkins.

“It’s alright.” You put your book down in your lap and you jaw dropped when you saw who it was that had run into your table. “Kris?”

His eyes lit up when he recognized you. “(Y/n)! Wow, this is embarrassing.” Once the table was dry, he threw away the napkins and picked up the now empty cup. “Let me by you a new one.”

“Oh, no, that-” You were too late. He was already at the counter, ordering you another drink.

When he came back, he set down your tea before sitting in the chair across from you and taking a sip of his own coffee. “So, is it your day off?”

You nodded, bookmarking your place and setting the novel aside. “Uh-huh. I like this place, so I tend to come here every time I don’t work.”

“It’s a nice little café,” he agreed. “So, how long have you worked at the shop?”

And just like that, you were telling Kris basically your life story. He told you a few vague details about himself here and there when you asked, but he always turned the conversation back to you. Typically, you preferred to be left alone when you were reading, but you couldn’t be mad at this interruption.

Kris was funny, often making both you and himself laugh. You liked the sound of it; the way his deep chuckles mixed with your own obnoxious giggles. He was smart, too, often randomly dropping facts that you hadn’t known before. He seemed to like surprising you and throwing you off guard.

After a few hours, you had to leave, but before you could stand up, he grabbed your hand.

“Can I take you out to dinner tomorrow night?” he asked.

With your face heating up, you nodded, giving him your number. He said he would call you with a time and so he’d know where to pick you up. You could hardly wait.

**

Kris knew this was creepy. No one had to point it out to him. But he still couldn’t will himself to move.

When you’d left the café he’d followed you, just to make sure you made it home safe. He’d been following you for a while now, trying to see if he could catch Taejo on your trail while keeping an eye on you. That sadistic vampire always liked playing with his targeted victims, killing people around them until they realized that they were next. But he never showed. And Luhan confirmed that the only person who connected your neighbor and that old man – Kim something – was you.

So, Kris had to take things to the next level. He knew that their hatred for each other was strong, so if he made his presence known, maybe Taejo would slip up or confront him. That’s what dinner tomorrow was about.

At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

He hadn’t meant to enjoy talking to you so much. It’d been nearly two hundred and fifty years since he allowed himself close to a human. To have a conversation with meaning with a human. And there you were, fascinating him with every little reaction, every little subtle movement. It was irritating him.

And yet, here he was, sitting on your fire escape and watching you sleep. He hadn’t moved much since you arrived home and settled down in your room. Even when you left to go take a shower and get ready for bed. Now you were fast asleep in an over-sized sweater and a pair of very tempting shorts.

Kris let out a low hiss at the thought, knocking his head against the glass. Dumb idea.

The sudden noise pulled you from your sleep, making your eyes snap open. Kris crouched down, cursing for the first time his too-long body as he tried to stay hidden and out of view of the window. He could hear your erratic heartbeat as you approached the window, only calming down when you found nothing. You settled back down on the bed and he decided it was time to leave.

He had a feeling he was going to be in big trouble if he didn’t watch himself.

**

You were on cloud nine. You’d been there for over a month since you went out to dinner with Kris and you felt like nothing could bring you down.

That first dinner with Kris was the most romantic date you’d ever had. He reserved a private balcony overlooking the skyline at one of the most in-demand restaurants in the city. You had a perfect view of the stars in the candlelight dinner. The two of you talked then entire time, never having a moment of awkwardness.

Kris was a perfect gentleman the entire night. Maybe a little too perfect of a gentleman. He didn’t kissed you goodnight and that worried you, making you think he didn’t have the same feeling about the date that you did. But that worry went away when he showed up at the bookstore the next day, just to see you.

And that’s how it’d been for a while now. He’d take you out or he’d come over to your place. At least three times a week, he’d come to the store to talk to you and keep you company. From the way he treated you to the little facets of his personality, he was everything you ever wanted. But he still hadn’t kissed you. And you just weren’t brave enough to take that step. You didn’t want to scare him away if he just wasn’t ready yet. But his lack of action was planting little seeds of doubt in your mind.

You were lost in this thought as the two of you walked hand in hand down the street to your apartment. Kris felt the sudden change in your mood.

“(Y/n)?”

You kept staring straight ahead. “Hm?”

He stopped your steps with a slight tug on your hand. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Embarrassed but not sure why, you just shrugged. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

The frown and creased forehead told you that he didn’t believe you, but he continued down the street, still holding tight to your hand. It was silence all the way to your door, even as you put the key in your lock to let yourself in. Getting a sudden sense of courage, you whirled on him.

“Do you even like me?”

His eyes widened. “What? Of course I like you, (y/n). That’s why I’ve been spending time with you.”

Your voice came out barely above a whisper as you stared down at the ground. “But that’s all you do.”

He sighed, his breath ruffling the hair against your forehead. Cautious fingers caressed both sides of your face before tilting your head up to him. A small, playful smile sat teasingly on his lips.

“You’re really cute when you’re pouting,” he told you softly.

As you opened your mouth to retaliate, he took his chance and brought his lips to yours.

He started off tender, as if he were scared you might break or run away. Kissing him back, you showed him that you weren’t going anywhere. You wrapped your arms around his neck, bring him closer to you. He trailed his fingers down your sides at an agonizingly slow pace, as if memorizing every curve. They didn’t stop at your hips like you’d expected, instead continuing down to your thighs before lifted you up and pinning you against the door.

Kris pulled away, looking up at you. “This is why I haven’t kissed you yet. I knew once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop.”

You smirked, cradling his jaw with your palms. “Who asked you to?”

He shook his head at your challenge, diving in again and kissing you with more ferocity this time. It amazed you how he was able to keep at it while unlocking your door and carrying you inside gracefully.

Once again, you were caught between Kris and your door, now inside your apartment. You pulled away just for a second to get another lungful of air when something caught your eye. Wiggling out of Kris’s embrace and reaching out, you flipped on your light switch and screamed.

Written in thick red letters on your wall were the words “YOU’RE NEXT”.

Kris hid your face in his chest and pulled you out of the apartment while dialing nine-one-one. The authorities were there soon after. You were shaking in the hallway as they sent people in to search your home. Kris answered all questions for you and confirmed the two of you never made it past your front door. Words were going in your ears, but your mind wasn’t making sense of any of them, except one: blood.

A detective arrived at the scene, quickly speaking to one of the officers before approaching you.

“Miss (l/n)? This girl was found dead just a few hours ago. Do you know her?” She held out a picture to you. With an unstable hand, you took it and gasped.

Your knees gave out from under you and only Kris’s grip around your waist kept you from crumbling to the floor. The sobs made it impossible to answer.

“It’s her coworker, Dani,” Kris answered for you.

The detective nodded. “Is there somewhere you can stay tonight, Miss (l/n)? Where you’ll be safe?”

“She’ll stay with me,” Kris declared. Those four words made you feel so relieved you able to catch your breath and calm down just enough to speak again. You wanted away from here.

You whispered, “Can we go?”

The detective nodded and she turned away to her comrades.

You hardly paid attention as Kris drove you to his place. It was a fancy high-rise apartment building, but you couldn’t find it in you to be impressed.  

Kris was patient with you as the two of you slowly made it to his home. He ushered you inside, not stopping until you reached his bedroom. Still in the dark, he handed you a T-shirt.

“You can change into that, then we’ll go to bed.” He disappeared into the bathroom after giving you a soft kiss on your forehead, closing the door behind him.

It took you a moment to function again. The effort it took just to undress and put on Kris’s shirt exhausted you. The shirt itself was big on you, stopping just above mid-thigh. Before you might have been a little embarrassed. At this point, you couldn’t find it in you to care. In automatic mode, you slipped into his bed, settling underneath the covers. Kris came out just a few seconds later, smiling just a little bit at you.

He, too, had changed. Now he was in an old shirt with the sleeves cut off and pajama pants. Sitting down on the bed, he took your hand in his.

“It’ll be all right,” he promised.

You squeezed his hand. “You’ll stay with me, right?”

He seemed shocked at your request, but he gave in, slipping under the covers with you. “Of course.”

You wasted no time scooting in closer to him, letting him hold you as you managed to fall asleep peacefully.

 When you woke up the next morning, Kris was gone. A small note left on the nightstand told you that he had to check up on something at work and would be home soon. You were a bit depressed that he wasn’t there, but all you could do was shrug it off and get out of bed.

Sitting down on the couch, you turned the TV on to the news. After the weather, the anchor turned serious. A picture of Dani appeared next to her on the screen.

“Twenty-five-year-old Dani Marcum was found brutally murdered last night in her home. The police are now suspecting that it could be linked to two other deaths: the murder of Jang Jisoo and Kim Kiwon.”

Your jaw dropped at that last name. You thought the death of Mr. Kim had been an accident, now they were calling it murder?

“All three bodies were found drained completely of blood. However, the amount found at the crime scenes was not enough for authorities to say that they simply bleed out where they were found. They are not sure where the rest of the blood as gone. The only theory is that killer drained the victims and took the blood with him, possibly as a sick souven–”

The TV shut off and Kris tossed the remote aside before joining you on the couch.

“(Y/n),” he whispered.

“Why me?” you screeched, turning to him with tears in your eyes. “Everyone around me is dying and now I’m next. Why is this happening to me?”

The answer you expected was that he didn’t know. The answer you were prepared to hear was that things like this happened and you couldn’t explain it. But that’s not what you received.

Kris took both your hands in his, eyebrows pulled tightly together as he searched for words. “(Y/n), what I’m about to tell you is going to sound crazy, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”

You swallowed thickly, fearful of he was about to say, but nodding anyway.

“Okay. Good.” He scooted closer to you, meeting your eyes. “(Y/n), there is a world you don’t know about. A world you think is fictional, but is actually real. A world of supernatural creatures.”

You froze. Then you got mad.

Jumping to your feet, you started yelling. “Are you serious?! Three different people close to me were killed! And you’re going to tell me it was because vampires and werewolves are real!”

Before you could blink, Kris was in front of you, his hand over your mouth. That was impossible.

“Please, don’t yell,” he begged between gritted teeth. “I’m serious, (y/n). They’re real. Look.” He opened his mouth to reveal his two canine teeth had grown impossibly long. They shrank back again to a normal, uninteresting size. “We are real. That vampire that killed those people is after you. His name is Taejo. That’s why I’m telling you this.” Hesitantly, he removed his hand.

“W-why is he after me?” You still had trouble processing all of this, but what else could you do? The proof was right there in front of you.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “That’s just what he does. It’s his sick little game he likes to play. He finds a target, someone he thinks he can play with. Then kills those around them quickly before going after who he really wants. Those people die slowly and painfully.” He ran a hand through his hair, letting out an exasperated sigh. “I’ve been trying to find him, catch him before he can kill again, but he’s too fast. He’s older than me and more powerful. When I discovered you were his target, I knew I could finally do something.”

You lit up at that last comment. “You’ve been… trying to protect me?”

Kris flinched, looking down at you guiltily. “I… can’t honestly say that. (Y/n), I’ve been wanting to kill Taejo for the past two centuries. Back then, he killed the woman I loved before I could turn her, to protect her. Now I’m going to kill him before he can get to you. He just hasn’t shown his face yet.”

Your own face fell. “So, I was just bait?” You let out a humorless laugh. Of course you were. Why else would he just fall into your life after such a tragic event? Anger surged up side you, ready to boil over. “I can’t believe you!”

Kris took a step towards you, his hand reaching out. “(Y/n), it wasn’t like that. I mean, it may have started out that way, but now I–”

Smacking it away, you retreated. “NO! Don’t you dare try to justify what you’ve done! You played with me to get revenge! And I was stupid enough to fall for it. To fall for you! I actually was going to – ugh! I can’t even believe how stupid I’ve been!” The tears were falling now and you were frustrated with how much crying you’d done in the past month. “Just stay away from me! I hate you!”

Without thinking about it, you ran out the front door. The fact that the supernaturally gifted vampire didn’t come after you only solidified the fact that he really didn’t care about you.

Taking the stairs, you kept going until you were outside. That’s when reality hit you. You were still in Kris’s shirt and your underwear.

“Shit!” The staircase had turned out to be the emergency exit, leading out to an alleyway. Which was now locked from the inside. “Great.”

Where the hell were you supposed to go?  You didn’t have your phone or wallet and your apartment was currently a crime scene.

“Well, I must say, I never pictured you looking so… delicious.”

You whirled around to find the sickly sweet voice that had called out to you. It belonged to an older man with sandy blond hair and almost sheet white skin. He was wearing ordinary clothes, like anyone else in their thirties might, but something inside you said he wasn’t normal.

“Hello, dear.”

Scared, you took a step back. Too fast for a human, the man appeared in front of you, grabbing both of your arms and pinning you to the wall. He smiled sadistically.

“You and I are going to have a lot of fun.” He knocked your head against the wall, taking away your consciousness.

**

You woke up hanging from a wall by your wrists. The warehouse was crumbling apart around you; windows broken in and covered by rotting wood, holes in the ceiling created by rust. The only things that seemed to be sturdy were the chains secured around your wrists that left you dangling against the cinder block wall.

“Oh, goody. You’re awake.”

The man from earlier appeared in front of you, raking his finger down your cheek.

“Kris should have known this would happen sooner or later.” He leaned close to your ear. “I always get my prey.”

You gasped. “Y-you’re Taejo?”

The psycho grinned when he pulled back. “At your service, my dear. I take it Kris ended up confessing to you?”

“Why me?!” you screamed, ignoring his own inquiry.

Taejo simply shrugged. “You happened to pass by and smell… so enticing. Your fear right now makes it even more mouthwatering.”

“You’re insane.”

“Maybe so,” he cackled. “But it’s fun. And Kris thought he could protect you from me.”

“He wasn’t trying to protect me.” You couldn’t stop yourself from correcting him. “I was just bait so he could get to you.”

Taejo shook his head. “Oh, dearie, how wrong you are. Sure, at first he simply wanted me to see him, thinking I might slip up since I hate him so much. But I’ve seen the way he looks at you, how he’d watch you as you slept, perched outside your window like a silent knight. He looks at you just as he looked at her. Which is going to make killing you even more fun.”

You couldn’t believe it. No, you wouldn’t. He was just messing with your head, playing his sick game. That’s what it had to be.

But as Taejo took a step towards you, he was suddenly pinned to the ground. Kris had his neck in his hands.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t find you?” Kris hissed, his canines extended, sharp and dangerous.

Taejo laughed. “I was counting on it.” With a slam, he pinned Kris to the wall next you, their positions now switched. “I wanted you here, to watch me rip her apart like I did the last one. To make you suffer before I kill you once and for all. Or maybe I’ll keep you around as a pet.”

Kris let out a monstrous roar that shook you to the core. Filled with rage, he channeled it to throw Taejo across the room. From there they were engaged in a battle too quick for your human eyes to see anything beyond blurs. All you could do was wait and see who would come out on top. Snarls and hisses echoed throughout the warehouse as they crashed into old crates, crumbling them into sawdust.

Then the fighting stopped. Kris had Taejo’s head in his hands with a leg wrapped around his torso to keep him steady. Taejo clawed at Kris’s arms, but the scratches healed as quickly as they were formed.

“Just do it,” Taejo hissed.

“Gladly.”

Crying out, Kris yanked on Taejo’s head, ripping it from the rest of his body as it went limp. He threw the head away and immediately came to check on you, breaking the chains around your wrists and setting you free. With no energy left in your body, Kris caught you before you could tumble to the ground. Sitting down, he cradled you in his arms, cupping your jaw in his hand.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, placing a kiss on your forehead. “I’m so sorry.”

You blinked up at him, confused. Was Taejo right? “Why are you sorry? You got want you wanted.”

“But I almost lost you,” he countered.

“Why would that matter?” You struggled to sit up so your lungs could get more air. Kris helped you, but refused to let you leave his lap.

“Because I love you.” 

Your jaw dropped at the bold statement, but he held a finger to your lips, stopping you from interrupting. 

“Yes, at first, I just wanted to catch Taejo, but you, you silly human with your blushing cheeks and beautiful laughter, made me fall in love with you. I’ll understand if you hate me and I’ll let you go if that’s what you want, but please know that it’s the truth. Besides, Taejo’s gone, why would I lie about loving you?”

You couldn’t argue with that. He got what he wanted, which was Taejo dead. You were safe again, so why would it matter if you hated him or not if he truly didn’t care?

Smiling just a little bit, you leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “I think I love you, too.”

Location: Exo Planet, outside of Elyxion City

Sehun's obsidian eyes lazily gazed at the night sky littered with stars, two of the four moons orbiting Exo Planet were visible like shiny dots reflecting the light of the sun. One of the celestial satellites appeared bigger than its fellow one as it was closer to the planet's gravitational field, orbiting faster than the planet rotates.

He just laid there on the dry ground emotionless with his head resting on top of his bent up arms. He was tired both physically and emotionally; something heavy weighed on his heart, an ache that felt like a fresh cut each time his mind brought him back to the events of a few days ago. He let out a long sigh as his eyelids fluttered closed for a moment, feeling as if the moons were judging him so he stopped staring at them. A mistake. As soon as he closed his eyes he was back on the field.

He felt the air still, dread crawled up his spine as his eyes turned towards the spacecraft. It took only a blink of an eye before he sprinted in the vehicle's direction, yet no matter how fast everything happened that day, he kept on reliving it all in slow-motion. There was a strong explosion before he could reach the spacecraft and Sehun was sent flying back from the gust of wind, mixed with flames and debris, his back hit the ground as he struggled to breathe in the air that had been knocked out of his lungs from the collision. The screams were distant, barely audible, but they were still there and full of fear and pain.

Sehun inhaled sharply as he shot his eyes wide open while bringing his right arm in front of him to inspect it; it felt like the skin was burning yet nothing was there, he could almost smell in the air the scent of burnt flesh, he could almost taste blood on his tongue, he could almost feel again the pain he felt that day. Almost, yet those were just memories in his mind now, there was no trace of what he went through on his skin, it was immaculate as Yixing healed him as soon as he was brought to safety by Junmyeon and Chanyeol.

Sehun's pupils looked past his fingers as the closest moon to the planet had completely obscured the second one, he immediately sat up on the hard ground and looked down the canyon. Crystals started glowing brighter from cracks in the rocks with magenta, blue and yellow hues. He kept his eyes trained on the bottom of the gorge, irises lighting up in expectation as the Tree of Life began glowing as well, its long branches swayed softly, rustling the green leaves till the faint sound reached Sehun's ears. No matter how many times he's seen it, the scenery was still breathtaking. The strong glowing colors of the Exolite crystals subsided after a few short minutes as the closest moon revealed her satellite sister behind her.

A barely perceptible movement in the air alerted Sehun of someone else's presence in his proximity, had it not been for his heightened senses he wouldn't have became aware of the shift in the space behind him, a sense of familiarity washing over him as he grew tired of avoiding everyone and spending time on his own. "What are you doing here?" He asked without even looking at the person.

Jongin huffed as he walked towards his friend and gave him a nudge on the head slightly annoyed, yet once he sat down cross legged next to Sehun, the latter could tell there was worry in his expression. "What am I doing here?" Jongin leaned back on the palms of his hands, then let out a 'tsk' before he continued, "What are you doing here? We're all worried about you. It's been a few days since-"

"I know," he deadpanned, not giving Jongin any time to finish what he was going to say, but Sehun knew very well what it was about. "I... I needed my own time to process, that's it." The low tone let his friend know that he wasn't going to talk about the matter any further, not unless he was ready and wanted to do it, although he would usually go to Junmyeon about his deepest concerns.

Letting silence grow between them after the short exchange of words, Jongin let his eyes wander before him down the gorge as they were sitting on the highest point on top of the canyon. The soft colorful hues of the crystals, which blended together to create secondary colors in certain sports, were like a mesmerizing painting one could get lost into if they admired them for too long. He knew that was one of the reasons why Sehun loved coming here whenever he wanted to let his mind work out his thoughts.

A small oval-shaped sentinel droid flew by and beeped as its sensors picked up onto the presence of two people in the area, then quickly flew towards them. The two paid the machine no attention as they were already used to it, it only took a moment for the droid to scan their faces and search them up in the database, getting a green light of no trespassers and then left to continue patrolling.

Tourists from other planets were not allowed to visit or sightsee there, as much as the arid canyon was one of the main attractions because of its unique crystal abilities, some people craved to obtain even just a small branch from the Tree of Life, believing it to be the main source of power of Exo Planet's inhabitants. Aeris were one of the strongest alien species in the universe, as far as common knowledge went, yet very few Aeris were said to have been 'gifted' by the Tree of Life with special abilities to protect the planet and keep its natural elements balanced. The powers derived from the tree were inexplicable by natural laws, those psychic abilities allowed a person to influence a physical system without any physical interaction whatsoever... No one knew how old was the tree or why it grew in the middle of the hard rocks seemingly without even a source of water to sustain it.

Jongin and Sehun were two of the few people with the unique psychokinetic abilities, which at times they thought of them as a curse rather than a gift. They never asked to be separated from their families and dragged across the globe to be trained and become soldiers, although everyone preferred to call them Guardians of the Tree of Life, the chosen ones. But was it truly some mystical power bestowed upon them by the tree or was it simple genetics derived from evolution? Nobody knew and they preferred to leave it that way.

A sudden sigh broke the silence and Jongin's eyes were drawn to Sehun. "We should go."

Jongin nodded in agreement as he began standing up, following his friend. "I heard we're getting a visit tomorrow at the base."

"Huh?" Sehun's eyebrows quirked in confusion. "Since when did we ever get visits at the base?" Yet his question was left unanswered as Jongin shrugged his shoulders.

Location: Neo Zone, somewhere in Neo City

Neo City was Neo Zone’s most relevant megalopolis on the planet, the capital was rich with the most diverse alien species living in tall concrete skyscrapers, as the inhabitants used to say ‘so tall they could almost tickle the sky’. Sun-rays barely reached the bottom of the buildings, even during the day the streets were lit up by artificial lights, down there the air was so polluted that only those who could afford a small bedroom lived in the bottom apartments. It wasn’t at all bad in the original city district, but the living conditions did get progressively worse the further the megalopolis expanded from the center.

Southwest to the main city area, artificial neon lights coming from the tall buildings illuminated the narrow streets, although it was quite late in the night, the alleyways were still buzzing with life. People still roamed the streets chatting with glee, aromas of freshly cooked delicacies filled the air and drew in new customers to the local restaurants; there was laughter and singing in a few corners, intoxicated men and women swayed their bodies in front of the bars that offered the cheapest booze even the poorest ones could afford. A cacophony of deafening songs could easily disorient any fogged up mind looking for entertainment, especially in Mad City, notoriously known for its illegal nightlife and underground activities.

"Do you have eyes on the target?" You heard Taeyong's voice come through the earpiece in your right ear. With eyes trained on a man a good ten meters ahead of you, you swiftly walked through the crowd, blending in with the locals.

“Yes.” Came your brief answer. The man came to an abrupt stop and looked around him, he was probably in his forties, tall, brown hair and beard framing his scowling face. He appeared to be definitely more lucid than the people around you and, as his eyes scanned behind him, you lowered your head hiding your eyes under your black hoodie, then pretended to look at random trinkets on a street vendor’s table.

“Special offer tonight for you, lady, buy three and pay only 2!” The street vendor spoke to you in a loud raspy tone, too many cigarettes made his breath so disgusting you scrunched your nose and shook your head. “Then get the hell away from my merchandise, you punk!”

You scoffed and looked back to your man, gasping as he was nowhere in sight anymore. “Fuck,” you hissed and began walking towards the place you last saw him, mad at yourself for letting him get away. “I lost him,” you said to the air, the people around you barely acknowledged you as they walked past you, let alone did they think you were crazy for talking to yourself in their intoxicated state. At an intersection, you let out a sigh through your nostrils as you debated which way the man could have gone.

“You cannot let him get away, this is the first lead we’ve had in months,” Taeyong reminded you through the other side of the line. “If we can’t catch him now, our opportunity window will close for who knows how long until our next one.”

“Take your right.” Another male voice came through the earpiece, speaking fast, “The areas on your left and in front have a denser populated activity. I’ve redirected Yuta and Jaehyun to your location.”

“Mark, you know I trust you, but if he went any of the opposite ways—“ You started in the direction Mark told you, quickening your pace but still keeping a watchful eye on the people around you, getting fewer as you followed the alleyway and taking right and left turns.

“If he went on the opposite sides, the other guys will take care of him.” Taeyong interjected.

You heard voices and halted your steps, holding in your breath as you flattened your back against the cold concrete of the wall on your left. You stretched your ear and listened, trying to make out what they were saying, and judging by the hushed way some of them argued, you counted at least 4 men. You could take them by yourself, but your main priority was only one of the, and you couldn’t let him escape.

There was no time to waste, you could tell they were about to leave. You whispered as you tapped on the earpiece to send your current location to your teammates for backup. “Engaging in three, two, one—“ You took a deep breath and sprinted around the corned taking the men by surprise. In a swift motion, you used the walls as support and jumped from one side to the other, landing on one of the men you quickly rendered him unconscious by banging his head to the side against the concrete. As soon as the other three realized what was happening, two of them attempted to stop you meanwhile the third, the one you’ve been tailing for weeks now, ran away in the opposite direction. “Target’s on the move!” You yelled immediately receiving a response from Jaehyun that him and Yuta were going to catch up with him on the other side.

One of the men pushed you against the wall and you groaned, but quickly dodged an incoming fist to your face as you ducked and he hit the wall instead, wailing in pain. You grabbed him by the same wrist he was clutching in pain and tugged him towards you once you noticed the other man had his laser gun out and attempted to shoot you, instead hitting his friend. Since you had nothing to defend yourself with but your hands, you pushed the now limp body towards the man with the gun, which missed him but it was enough of a distraction for you to leap once more and push him against one of the walls. For a brief moment he was surprised of your strength as you managed to keep his back glued to the cold surface with your right palm on his throat while the left hand banged his right one to loosen the grip of his fingers from the handle of the gun. Two laser beams shot from the tip and hit the ground before his fingers finally gave out from the pain. He roared in anger as he swung a closed fist with his free hand to your side, knocking the air out of you, your grip loosened and he pushed you away from him, delivering one more closed fist with his opposite to your face.

Your left side stung momentarily but you did not lose your balance as you turned your eyes back on him. You were pissed. “This is not the way I wanted my night to go.” He scowled and gritted his teeth, ready to charge again, but you were tired of wasting time with these goons while your main target was probably far gone now if Jaehyung and Yuta didn’t manage to track him and capture him. As he directed the same fist to your face you caught his wrist in midair and he gasped, again unable to process just how strong you actually were. You effortlessly twisted his arm and raised your leg before kicking one of his knees, effectively breaking it. He screamed and wailed in pain as you let him drop to the ground and picked up his gun, pointing it towards him.

“Ronan,” you incited him to speak as you pressed the end on the gun barrel to his forehead, “he organized a shipment. When a where will it happen?” His sobs quieted down, although he was still crying. It wasn’t like you were going to shoot him, but he didn’t have to know.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he spat out as he impulsively shifted his whole body on the ground, away from the weapon.

“You met in a dark alley in the middle of the night.” You almost mocked him, “Now speak cause I won’t repeat myself again. The shipment, when and where.” You curled your finger more around the trigger and he whimpered, raising his arms up in defeat.

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you.” He let out a shaky breath and you nodded for him to continue. “The port, in an hour from now.”

You furrowed your brows in confusion. “The port? There’s no way Ronan’s going to do it in such a secured location, there are Neo Guards everywhere controlling everything that comes in and goes out.”

“Not that port…” He smirked at knowing something that you didn’t. There were too many illegal landing ports in Neo City, there was no time to go on a wild hunt for a needle in a haystack while the clock was ticking. You grew impatient and struck him on the face with the handle of the weapon, making him fall flat on the ground. “Tell me where and what’s inside.” You insisted again, but were quickly dumbfounded when he started laughing despite the pain his body was going through.

“You don’t even know what’s inside…” He snickered with pleasure. “You Neo Culture Techs don’t even know who or what’s behind all of this.” They knew who you worked for, there was no way to tell how the information leaked, but they knew.

You lowered the gun and sighed, then reached up to softly press one of your fingers on your earpiece. “Squad Leader, we need to find the closest landing port in Mad City, one of the goons here said the spacecraft is going to depart in less than an hour.” You said as you pressed the sole of your left boot on his right leg, above the knee, which made him his and thrash in pain.

“Copy that. At least that’s something.” Taeyong sighed and you could tell he had bad news to give you. “Yuta and Jaehyun lost Ronan in the streets. Our only bet is the port now.” You felt your head nodding slowly to his words although it wasn’t like he could see your displeased reaction. “Stand by, they’re headed your way to help you.”

“You should focus on finding the port, I’ll try and get more information—“ You cut off yourself as you looked down at the man and saw his face turn red all of a sudden, before his body began convulsing. Another groan caught your attention and you turned your eyes back down the way you came from; the first man you disabled began convulsing as well. “Something’s happening to them, they’re choking!” You quickly got down on your knees to the man closer to you and dropped the gun down before helping him roll on his side to help him breathe, but everything happened so fast that they stopped moving after a couple of second.

You heard footsteps behind you and turned to see Yuta and Jaehyun making their way towards you. “Are you alright?” Yuta asked you as both of them tried to regain their breaths. “What happened here?”

“They… died.” You whispered utterly shocked. You stood up, unable to say anything else as you looked at your teammates with concern.

Jaehyun looked around for a moment, there were no cameras around here, had they been, Mark and Taeyong would’ve known already, then his eyes fixed on the bodies. He moved to crouch where you had been standing and reached with his hands to tap the man’s clothes; when he found something, he stood up and showed it to us. “A holopad,” he tapped the dark rectangular screen but the object didn’t light up, instead a barely perceptible scent of smoke reached everyone’s nostrils. “They were being surveilled. Whoever is behind this, they hit the kill switch.”

It was way past the hour mark, the man you and your unit had been chasing for months, Ronan, was gone and along with it the chance to get the spacecraft since they were both gone from Neo City now without any trace. You sighed out of disappointment and frustration, your eyes were looking outside of the window wall, you were so high up in the sky and close to the raging clouds that they felt like a physical extension of your feelings mixed together. Lightning exploded in the sky and illuminated the dark room you were in, unmoving from your seat on the bed even when violent thundering made the window walls vibrate, the rain began falling faster and harder.

Knocking sounds coming from your apartment’s front door reached your ears. You glanced at the green numbers on your nightstand lazily before standing up and heading into the living room, the light automatically switched on with a gradual glow until it was fully lit; there was only one person who would come to you in the middle of the night, but when you opened the front door, you did not expect to see Taeyong instead of Johnny.

“Hey,” you greeted while noticing that he was still wearing the black NCT uniform, which meant he was still working. He nodded back a greeting and you stepped away from the door to let him inside. He probably came to talk about the failed mission, and you were already anticipating a scolding for not prioritizing going after the main target. “Found anything from the holopad we brought in?” You hoped there would at least be a chance to a small lead.

Taeyong shook his head, blonde bangs swaying softly at the motion as your last piece of hope was washed away. “No, it was completely useless unfortunately, the internal components were all melted and Mark wasn’t able to salvage any data.”

You nodded in understanding and crossed your arms as you looked at the stark floor, the marbles in your brain rolling fast with all sorts of things you wanted to say and, before you could stop yourself, you were already apologizing to your team leader. “Taeyong, I’m sorry, I should’ve went after him—“

“Don’t be ridiculous, Nora,” he quickly stopped your attempt to blame yourself, “you were in a three on one situation, not to mention one of them was armed.” He eyed the faint purple spot on your left cheekbone. “We knew he was going to meet a source, but I underestimated their level of threat and sent you in alone. I should’ve told the other guys to stick closer.”

“Come one now, I know you’re just trying to make me feel better about it.” you scoffed slightly annoyed. You headed to the kitchen counter and poured yourself a glass of water, taking a long sip. “I took on way more guys than the three in that alley, it’s part of the job. We all knew the risks when we signed up for the Neo Culture Technology program, and there are consequences for failing missions.” It wasn’t like Taeyong didn’t know the risks of the job and the duties, yet he stood there quiet with his arms folded as you blamed yourself unnecessarily. “Isn’t that what you’re here for, squad leader?”

Taeyong heard the shift in your tone, sad as you drew your eyebrows together expecting to hear bad news from the higher ups in the headquarters. He sighed as he lowered his gaze, he closed his eyes for a brief moment and shook his head. “The council decided to not suspend you, Jaehyun and Yuta. Despite having lost the prime target of the mission, there aren’t enough reasons to suspend you from field work.”

“I understand…” You nodded, yet there wasn’t any sign of relief in your expression.

“But…” Your eyes immediately moved from the glass of water on the countertop onto Taeyong’s uncertain voice. “That isn’t the reason why I came here.” A long pause went by between you as he didn’t know how to say what he needed to, he never expected to be the bearer of such unfortunate news. “It’s about your father.”

You had no idea what time it was when you reached your mother’s place, and frankly, you couldn’t care less. You traveled an hour on the railway from your dorms, it was one of the fastest means of public transportation from one point of the unresting megalopolis to another; suspended above ground, it was raised on many different levels and ran among the megatall skyscrapers, even through most of them where the space was needed.

The time you spent on the ride gave you space to process what Taeyong told you about your father. You didn’t cry, at least not right away, you were quick to accept the truth considering the nature of your father’s job, but it angered you. Yes, it hurt you so much and saddened you, yet his death angered you even more than you wanted to admit to yourself. Your resentment was growing and by the time you stepped out of the train, your red eyes were burning from lack of moisture as you had been silently crying on the ride, the sleeves of your black sweatshirt were damp from the furious wiping of tears.

Your mother lived close to the ground in an old beat up hole that couldn’t even be considered a proper apartment. The stench of the piles of garbage in the streets that reached your nostrils made your expression slightly morph into one of disgust, it reminded you why you couldn’t wait to get away from her when you were barely a teen. You entered the lobby and looked around, the sign on the elevator warned that is was broken as usual, leaving you not even in the least surprised as you headed for the stairs, it was only two floors anyway.

Once you reached the floor you walked down one of the hallways, you could hear muffled voices and music as you walked past some doors; never mind the hour, majority of Neo Citizens almost never slept especially in the lowlife parts of the city. You halted your steps in front of your mother’s door, wavering in your movements only when you pondered how to announce your presence.

You glanced at the lock-pad by the door and decided to try your thumbprint, but the scanner beeped and flashed red. Inhaling a breath to steady yourself, you decided to clean the surface with your sleeve and even rubbed your thumb against the material of your pants and tried again. When that failed you banged your fist on the door; you couldn’t blame her for deleting your print from the system yet it stung you in the chest just a little.

"Who is the fuck is it?” You heard her grumble on the other side of the door after you banged your fist on the hard surface.

“It’s me, open up,” you replied loud and clear. You waited for a whole minute for her to open but as you couldn’t hear anymore sounds from inside, you grew impatient of her behavior and reached for your holopad inside the pocket of your pants. The device lit up with a logo of your NCT unit on the screen, then hovered it on top of the lock-pad to see a loading circle appear. Was is illegal to hack someone’s lock-pad and enter their home? Yes. Did you care? Not right now.

A series of codes, numbers and letter loaded after a few minutes, considering the cheap quality of the lock-pad it wasn’t hard to bypass with a bare minimum of coding knowledge, and just as you finished tapping your thumbs on your device, the lock beeped and the door opened. You stepped inside of the room and closed the door behind you, the only source of light helping you see came from neon signs from the building across the street.

“I don’t recall telling you that you could come inside,” she said from somewhere inside of the living area that was also a bedroom. She took a swing from her bottle of liquor and spun her wrinkled face around towards you, she appeared way older than she actually was. You could only make out the silhouette of her body as she was facing away from the light, but she could see your stoic expression, the curves of your lineaments painted by pink and blue neons almost made her smile. Almost, she scoffed instead as your face reminded her of somebody she could never forget.

She heard you sigh as you reached out to tap the wall on your right, looking for the light switch. As soon as you found it, you flipped it up, illuminating your surroundings. Everything was littered with empty bottles of booze, empty containers of instant meals and other trash. “I see nothing’s changed.” A monotone voice left your lips as you readjusted your stance, shifting from one foot to the other and crossed your arms in front of you. “I thought you quit drinking.”

“No calls,” your mother spat out after downing the remaining liquid in the bottle she had been holding in her hands, “no messages…” She stood up from the edge of her unmade bed and stepped closer to you. “There was no reason to keep paying for a second thumbprint in the security system since you barely visit nowadays.”

The pungent scent of alcohol from her mouth reached your nose as she spoke, it made you uncomfortable yet you took a moment to look at her, see the state that she was in. Her hair had seen better days and the dark circles around her eyes emphasized her lack of sleep, meanwhile her clothing was so worn out she could’ve used something new to keep herself warm in that cold and crappy apartment. “I’m not here to talk about our broken mother-daughter relationship,” you told her, licking your lips to give them some moisture as you took another look around the place you once called home. “I need to talk about dad.”

“Hah,” she snickered with her hand in front of her mouth, “your dad? He doesn’t love you! Had he cared about us, we wouldn’t be on Neo Zone in the first place.” She lowered the empty bottle that she had been holding all that time on the floor by the foot of the bed, where other empty bottles sat and she headed towards a mini-fridge to grab another bottle. You could feel your breathing pick up in anger and frustration, she was never one to listen, always first to jab her knife-sharp words into your guts instead of having a normal conversation. “For all I care he could die.”

That was the harsh blow that made you burst like a bomb, out of pure rage you reached for the stupid bottle of beer she’d been holding and flung it across the room. It smashed on the wall as you began screaming at the top of your lungs. “He’s dead! Are you happy now? Is your life better without him, hm?” All she could do out of shock was gape at you. “You were so jealous and blinded that you couldn’t see past your own feelings and you couldn’t accept the love he had for his job! Do you see the shithole that you live in?!” You gestured at all the trash littering the room, your vocal cords hurting from the strain and your eyes started burning again as tears threatened to spill down your cheeks. “Not only did you decide to ruin his life when you ran away, but you ruined mine as well. And now…” Your screaming slowly subsided, letting out a humorless laugh as you brushed your fingers through your hair in an attempt to regain the tiniest bit of control. “The only parent that cared about me is gone…”

“Get out.” She whispered with a quiver in her voice. “You have no right to talk to me like that. I don’t want to see your ungrateful face ever again.”

“Ungrateful.” You repeated the word she called you with, and continued talking much calmer than before. “I’m the one paying for your bills. Do you know where that money comes from?” No, she had no idea… She thought you made money from working as a waitress in the high-end clubs in the richest part of Neo City. You always looked older for your age when you were in your teens, it was only a matter of time before you were forced to abandon your education and found countless illegal waitering jobs, yet the money was never enough and she ended up squandering it all. “You know, I saw a poster one day… Neo Zone’s Galaxy Defense Council was recruiting young people for their NCT program.”

Her eyes widened at the realization, she was afraid to hear the rest as she began shaking her head in disbelief. “You didn’t…” The very thing she hated the most was he ex-husband’s job as a soldier on Exo Planet, she knew he brought you in for training when you were a child and she was strongly against it, as she didn’t want to see you grow up to be like him.

You nodded without hesitation. “Yes, I had training and you needed the money to get wasted every day of your sad life, so I joined the special forces to become an agent.” You inhaled a long breath as you lowered your head to the ground with your eyes closed. “Like it or not, you need to start looking for a job and pay for your bills yourself.“ You turned around to leave, but before you closed the door after you, you looked at her one last time. “I’m tired of being your ungrateful child.” With that, you headed straight towards the stairs and down to the lobby. Once you were out in the street under the rain that had just begun pouring again, there was Johnny leaning against his yellow motorcycle and waiting for you. “I can’t believe you’re still driving that thing that almost got you killed.”

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?” Johnny quipped as he pushed himself off the vehicle and drew you in an embrace, softly speaking in your ear. “I tracked you down as soon as I heard the news, I didn’t want you to be alone…”

For a moment you felt like saying something about how you were alright and maybe push him away, but a small part of you made you wrap your arms around his back as you buried your face in his chest. As the rain’s force picked up, you let out muffled sobs and Johnny understood that you didn’t need to talk about it, all you needed was comfort.

-> Damaged Masterlist