I sat on the floor wearily as people murmured amongst each other, fear and anger lacing through everyone's tone.

Everyone had finally stopped screaming and shouting when we realized it would do no good. Especially as we realized we'd be better off saving our energy for other things.

It felt like there was a massive metal ball dangling on a thread above us all. A giant weight ready to crush us and exterminate us at any moment.

Pain and weariness pounded through me as my adrenaline from fighting had long since disappeared.

After the Reformists had forced all trainees to surrender when showing General Konu being held at gunpoint, the Outworlders and humans had been separated. That's when renewed screaming and shouting began as we were torn from our friends and fellow unit companions.

The humans were forced into, ironically, the large abandoned sleeping quarters— the place I'd gotten drunk out of my mind the first night at the base.

The last time I'd been in this room, the air had reeked of alcohol and was filled with mindless giggles and hotting. Now the air stank of blood and sweat as the human trainees cluttered in the room. Krystal sat beside me on the floor, her eyes glassy and filled with pure hate.

I didn't know how long it had been since we were all herded in like cattle and locked up. Time had lost its meaning. Thirst burned through my throat, and I didn't know when the last time I ate was, but nausea twisted my stomach.

I stared into nothing. My mind kept turning back to the moment the Outworlders had been viciously herded away from us. I couldn't get the image of the some of the Reformists purposely spraying Moonsbane on some of the Outworlders for their own sick amusement and gloating.

I hated the Pure Reformists. I hated them so much.

And we couldn't do anything but sit around.

"Oh my god, Suho!"

I blinked at Krystal's exclamation. I looked up slowly— it hurt to move my head too quickly. I didn't have to look in the mirror to know that bruises littered my cheeks and jaw. Sticky dried blood coated all over my body, some of the blood not even mine.

My eyes widened and a trickle of relief flooded through me when I saw the familiar suave features of the boy making his way towards us. Though at the moment, those 'suave features' were just as beaten up as my own.

"Are you okay?" Krystal stood up, wincing.

I bit my lip as I caught sight of the gash in her leg from a knife wound.

The Reformists had locked us all up in this room and we'd been standing or sitting around for who knew how long. People were injured, bleeding out, but there was no help forthcoming.

Some people had gone around, trying to find the more critical wounded and find ways to staunch the blood and help them in the best ways they could.

Suho had several cuts, though mercifully most of them seemed pretty shallow. I knew from watching that he was a formidable fighter with both weapon and fists. It would've taken a master skilled fighter to wound him deeply.

"Sit down." Suho quickly caught Krystal when her leg almost gave out from under her as she tried standing. He helped her back to the ground gently before also taking his place with us.

"Thank God you're alive," I murmured. Any other words died from my mouth when I saw the grief-stricken look in his eyes. "Who...?" I didn't know how to ask.

Suho understood nevertheless. He closed his eyes, lips trembling slightly. His voice though was steady and a solid punch to the gut. "Yuta," he said quietly. "A Reformist got him. Right in front of my eyes."

A little choked sob escaped Krystal. I just stared at Suho. My mind had slowed down. Refusing to comprehend. An uncomfortable numbness was descending upon me once again, an invincible tidal wave steadily washing over the beach, covering every grain of emotion under its unfeeling waters.

"I killed the bastard," Suho said stonily. "I killed him slow and painful." He shook his head and closed his eyes. "All the training we've gone through and none of it prepared any of us for what just happened."

I should be as agonized and conflicted as Suho. All of us in the rooms, for the first time in our lives, had become killers. I didn't know the death toll on my hands in the time I'd been fighting. Everything had become a blurred haze in the back of my mind, painted with white uniforms and scarlet blood.

I pursed my lips. I couldn't feel anything anymore. The numbness had wiped all of my emotions off like a clean slate. Yet deep down, I could feel those emotions pooling, building, straining against a wall of adamant I'd built up. I kept them there. I didn't know what I'd do when the wall broke and everything would finally sink in.

No. I couldn't break yet. I refused to. Just a little longer. I would keep my emotions put away a little bit longer.

"What do we do now?" Krystal whispered, curling into a tight ball beside me.

"We have to fight back," I replied, my voice flat.

"We fought back. And we failed," Suho said bitterly. "Look at us. Look around. There's only half of the trainees we started with here and half of that half are not even able to stand on their own two feet!"

I felt my wall of adamant tremble as my emotions swelled against the thick walls. Begging to be let out. I didn't heed the emotions' cries though. They would overwhelm me. Drown me. Render me useless.

I slowly stood up, grimacing as my stiffened muscles shrieked in pain. My head swam. But something was telling me to keep moving. To not give up. The voice sounded eerily like a certain silver Marked alien's voice. And I would listen to his voice. To that voice echoing in my head.

"Look Jiyeon, you're a baddie. Always knew it." Suho looked up at me. "But we have to face the facts here. We're trapped in this room, no food, no water, no medical attention. The base is overrun and the Infinity Council held hostage. The Outworlders... well, it doesn't take a wild imagination to guess what's happening to them. To sum it all up, we're defeated."

I shook my head, the action making me almost stagger. "No... there has to be someway... we have to..."

The floor dipped below me and I lurched off my feet as dizziness swept in. My knees gave out and I saw the floor rush up to me, shadows clouding my vision eagerly—

Strong arms caught me and pulled me upright.

It took me a few moments to try and clear my head again, to fight back the shadows. When the darkness reluctantly receded I first saw Krystal and Suho gaping up at me, equal expressions of shock across their faces. Even the trainees all around me were staring at me.

No. Not me. The person behind me. The person who had caught me in the nick of time.

I painfully turned around. Silence swept over me. Stifling silence and utter disbelief.

"Taehyung?"

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