I Will Always Protect You

Sun Crest

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Yoohyeon groaned, both exasperated and exhausted. It felt like they had been sailing for hours and her energy was starting to run out.

"Well then you look at the map, since you're so smart!" Yubin shouted, frustrated, crushing the map in anger and throwing it at Yoohyeon's head. All Yoohyeon had been doing was criticizing her directions and she was fed up with her. She turned around, facing away from Yoohyeon.

Yoohyeon sighed, fire fizzling out. She knew that she had been slightly annoying at best, and should apologize, but she let Yubin ruminate in her frustration a bit more before slowly scooting fully onto the raft and crawling to her to sit beside her.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered, wrapping an arm around her waist gently pulling her closer, "I know you're trying your best..." She felt her heart flutter as Yubin leaned into her, resting her head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry too...I shouldn't have snapped at you like that..." Yubin said. She nuzzled further into Yoohyeon's neck.

Immediately a flush crawled up her neck, her heart beating even faster. Not now. Yoohyeon willed herself to calm down before Yubin noticed and questioned her. To distract herself, she started looking around to see if she could see anything that might indicate that the village was nearby. Yubin had been following the map by how many rock formations they had passed, so theoretically they should be able to see something. Her eyes snapped to the sliver of space between two formations not too far off, spotting a flag.

"Hey, Yubin, I see a flag over there." Yoohyeon said, looking down at the head still on her shoulder. It seemed as though Yubin had fallen asleep, finally able to rest her head somewhere. They had been in the sun for a while, even Yoohyeon could feel her energy draining. She smiled affectionately, pressing a gentle kiss to her head, using her arms to gently lay Yubin's head down on the raft.

~~~

Finally, Yoohyeon spotted a dock and sailed them to a slow stop beside it. She slowly crawled to Yubin and gently shook her awake. Yubin's eyelids fluttered before squinting hard against the sun.

Yoohyeon brought a hand up to shield her eyes and lightly giggled, "Hey sleepy head, I found the village."

Yubin slightly groaned as she stretched her arms above her head and slowly sat up, "Oh, you did? Good, because I am suddenly really tired and the sun is really hot..."

Thankfully, there was a small ledge leading up to the dock, so once Yoohyeon climbed up, she held her hand and helped Yubin up as well.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" A stern, hard voice suddenly stated.
Yoohyeon turned around and was immediately met with a gun pointed at her face. She pushed Yubin behind her before raising her hands, hoping to prove her innocence.

"Uh...where is 'here' exactly?" Yoohyeon questioned not wanting to give their names, in case the facility had already sent out wanted posters.

The long black haired woman looked her up and down before seemingly deciding she wasn't a threat, and lowered her gun, sliding it in its holster.

The woman gestured behind her to the plaza filled with people, "Welcome to Sun Crest, I'm the Deputy to the Chief here." Then to herself, "The name's Minji."

"Hi..." Yoohyeon awkwardly waved while Yubin slowly peeked out from behind her.

A few beats passed before Minji asked, "And you are...?"

"Oh! My name is Yoohyeon, and this is Yubin," She said, gesturing to each of them. She was so overwhelmed with awkwardness, she forgot to say different names and mentally face-palmed.