Chapter 3 (1/1)

Tiffany's POV "WATCH YOUR BACKS!" Yuri yelled out.As soon as we arrived at the site, we had been attacked. A group of Blazers had been ambushed here and we had been ordered to go save them. But none of our attacks were working. We were tired from the journey and now fighting off these stupid Novas were becoming a pain the ass. Defending and attacking was so not fun. Hyo and I were constantly using fire but it was ineffective against these guys. We were in more danger from our own powers than them. "We need to get cover!"I killed the smaller enemies that were with these S-Novas. They were somehow managing to create smaller enemies. So not fun, like I said. We were all in terrible shape, some of us hurt. Then suddenly, their attacks were stopped...by some barrier? We all stopped moving, looking around to see what or who had caused it. "Do what I told you to do" A familiar voice said.Two figures appeared and one of them nodded before conjuring up dark matter. Taetae...Yoona..."W-What are you guys doing here?" Sooyoung asked, baffled.Momentarily, we forgot they were wanted fugitives."We're going to create an opening. Yuri and Jessica will have to keep that opening open with light magic. Taeyeon and I will finish the rest" Yoona just answered."Why should we listen to you" Jessi demanded."Unless you all want to die"Nobody said anything."That's what I figured. Going to lift you two both up. We need you two as close as possible for it to effectively work"Yoona and Taeyeon lifted Yuri and Jessi up respectively since they could barely fly on their own right now and soared straight towards the enemy. We saw a flash and electric shocks in the air. Taeyeon's POV The heat was almost unbearable at this range. Another factor was that the enemies were insanely hot. It's why Tiffany's and Hyo's fires weren't effective on them."Tae, now!" Yoona ordered.We conjured up dark matter and shot them straight at the enemy, creating a hole in them just like Yoona had predicted."Do it!" We told Yuri and Sica.They knew they had no other choice so they obeyed and then Yoona and I went in the for the kill, effectively stabbing them in the core. We jumped away just as the core had a twitch of shock and then they burned to dust. The smaller enemies also disappeared once the main enemies had died. The only remnants left were the cores that were inside of them. Yoona and I walked to the cores, examining them."Seems like regular cores except these somehow seem...lighter" I said.We slipped them into our packs, wrapping them up carefully before walking back over to the two girls. Without another word, we lifted them back up and headed to where the others were waiting. Sunny was already treating them as best as she could."How are they?" I asked."Got hit a few times, but they are manageable I think. Best to get them back to base though to get them more thoroughly examined""Are they in shape to fly back?""We'll need to rest overnight, but tomorrow morning, we'll be able to I think""Can't stay near here. Area's too hot and who knows if they got reinforcements coming" Yoona said.I looked at Yoona and she shrugged. They could walk at least and after hiking a few miles from the site, we found a nice cave to rest in. Yoona and I technically could leave them like this, but...Fany and Hyo lit up fires so we wouldn't get cold. The desert dropped its temperature drastically at night and one could die from how cold the air was. Yoona and I sat near the entrance of the cave."Went more smoothly than I thought" I said and she just nodded.Theory was something but actually applying it in battle was something else. I was glad no one had died this time. A few injuries, but better than death, right?"We need to talk"We looked behind to see Yuri and Sica looking down at us. I looked at Yoong."Don't stray too far"I got up and dusted myself off before walking away. I heard her follow me so didn't bother to turn around to check if she was or not."Why did you come here? How did you even know? Why...""I hear things. Why? I don't know, Sica...I just felt like I had to""You...You left this, didn't you? On my bed"I turned around and was surprised she had kept the picture that I had left behind. I stared at it before turning away."You're wanted...I could arrest you right now""As long as you're safe, it's fine with me" I was startled when she crushed me into a hug, tears rolling down her face. I didn't know how to react...but then slowly wrapped my arms around her. It felt so good to hold her after all this time."You're an idiot...why...why?""You wouldn't understand, Sica...believe me. There are some things we regret, but we don't regret making the choice to run"She finally calmed down and pulled away."It doesn't matter if I was just one of your girls to play with, Sica...having that time was enough for me" I swallowed hard.She was silent and I turned to head back, knowing she wouldn't respond."How...how did you figure it out? To kill those things?""I didn't...Yoona did" I said as we walked back.I had too much to learn still about dark matter, but with Yoona's help, I was surely going to get closer. When we returned, Yoona's and Yuri's conversation obviously hadn't turned out that well. Yuri was furious and she stormed back into the cave. Sica followed and I said nothing."What did you do, Yoong?""Nothing"I sighed. Knowing her, it meant she didn't bother to deny anything. She just let Yuri rant out at her."It's better this way"I gazed back to where Sica was. Was it? I looked at Yoong and saw sadness in her eyes.  Yuri's POV She made me furious! Yet at the same time, my heart was beating too fast to keep it under control. Over a year...it had been over a year since I had last seen or heard from her. She had ran away, leaving her duties and fellow NightHawks behind. I could never forgive her for that. She betrayed us! And she didn't even bother to deny it!"Yuri-ah"I looked up and saw Sunny, who seemed tired. She probably was, treating the injured."How is everyone?""Injuries, but they should be fine once we get them back to base. I contacted Seohyun and Sooyoung is already waiting for us. We told them we'd rest overnight and go back tomorrow"I just nodded, looking over at the two."What are you going to do?" Sunny asked."They're fugitives, Sunny""But they helped us. Without them, we wouldn't even be here to talk about this. Maybe...maybe we can convince the higher-ups that we need them to fight this battle. In return, they get their freedom back""It's not up to us, Sunny. You know that" I said."Sometimes, we have to think for ourselves, Yuri. Blindly following orders is not always a good thing"I was surprised when she said that. She had never said anything like this before."I trust them still. I think they had a reason to run. And I know deep down, you want to know why as well. You're a damn good fighter, Yul. And you've been a good leader. But sometimes, you're too uptight. And more so especially after they left""I have to set a good example, Sunny. If not me, then who?""You can play around with girls as much as you like, Yul. But don't tell me you're not missing her"Someone called her to be treated and she left before I could respond. Everyone was soon asleep but I couldn't."Yuri"I looked up and saw Sica, who apparently couldn't sleep either. She gazed over at where Yoona and Taeyeon were."They're going to disappear again, aren't they"I didn't answer as I knew she wasn't asking. "Do you still miss her, Sica? Even after everything?""You know, for awhile...I kept comparing everyone to her. How this girl wasn't as good as Taeyeon. Or she was as dorky as her...petty stuff like that" She shrugged."Do you miss her, Yuri?"I didn't answer...I didn't know what to say to her. The next morning, we gathered up our gear. The injured had taken off early with Tiffany, Hyoyeon and Sunny already."Here"I turned and caught two small bags."We're taking one of them, but you can have the rest. I'm sure Seohyun would like to analyze it and Sooyoung as well" Taeyeon said."You're disappearing again""We're fugitives. Are you going to arrest us then?"I looked at the bags in my hand then up to them...well, maybe just her. She looked at me before breaking our locked gazes."Make up a story if you want. But I'm sure the two of them will soon realize. This is your fight now" Taeyeon said."Y-You're...not helping us?""Our former friendship was the only link to helping you here. Now, since you have the cores to analyze, I'm sure you can find a way. This is where we part"Former..."We should get going" Yoona said, finally speaking.They turned to leave."Wait!"They paused, looking back."W-What if we wanted your help still? How can we contact you?""We'll appear only if we have to"With that, they disappeared and we were left to stare at the spot where they had been. I put the bags in my pack and we both took off towards base. There were many things to do.~~~~~~~~~Taeyeon's POV Our new place had a convenient lab underground. We were staying here for awhile, so we had scouted this place. Yoona had been busy in the lab most of the time, working on the core. Meanwhile, I was training with my dark matter powers to be stronger. It had already been two weeks since then. I listened for news, but nothing heard about them at least. I had to rest myself for periods of time as Yoona had warned me what could happen if I didn't. During that time, I read some of Yoona's notes and watched her work. She seemed to be frustrated, but as always, she rarely showed it. I tapped on her shoulder and waited until she looked up."That bad?" I smiled softly."This core is...different yet the same" She shook her head."Eat up. Always better to have a full stomach and you can clear your thoughts" I said.She smiled and ate up. I ate with her and when finished, I walked around the lab, browsing through the different books."It's odd how someone just left all of this here" I said."Good for us" She replied, already back to work.I took down one book and glanced through it briefly, surprised to read about some healing remedies that weren't your standard protocol. I asked Yoona about it."It's an interesting thought. If you want to busy yourself while resting from your training, maybe you can learn something from this that will help us"I grinned and immediately found the volumes. There were 10 in total and each were very informative. I took extensive notes. "Learn anything?" Yoona asked after awhile."Whoever thought of this has to brilliant or psycho. Maybe both. These aren't your standard healing protocols, obviously, but they do propose some interesting ideas. Some may even be effective in the field when we don't have a med person like Sunny with us. I think this is worth reading and saving, Yoona" I said."I trust you to take notes on what's helpful and what isn't. I'm going to go lay down a bit. This is giving me a headache" She groaned and I chuckled.There were perfectly good beds upstairs, but she seemed to prefer the couch here in the lab. I got a blanket and pillow for her and went back to my studying. I wondered how the others were progressing...