It was pitch black. Yuri knew this might happen. The closer they got to Busan, the more her memories flooded back. She was hearing voices that she was all too familiar with.
"You'll never make a difference! Your powers are what will take you anywhere!" The voice of Yuri's father rang in her head.
"You good for nothing excuse for a daughter, why can't you just make yourself useful!" Her mother had yelled. It was too real to handle. Yuri felt the walls closing in. The scars she'd covered up had reopened.
"Yuri...are you okay? Yuri...wake up...I'm here..." The soothing voice of a familiar duck whispers from somewhere, as if a ray of light had shone above her, ready to take her away from the darkness she was in.
"Yena..."
"Yuri...I'm here for you.." Yena's voice was starting to cut through the darkness, but was suddenly silenced. The darkness dissipated just a bit to show Yuri the worst part of her nightmares- her father approaching with the duct tape in his hand, her mother glaring at her as if she were a monster.
"No...No...No..."
"NO!" Yuri bursts out of her sleep, breathing heavily, in a cold sweat. She looks around frantically and sees the concerned looks of her friends. Yena in particular looked very worried. She takes a longer look around and remembered where she was- in the bus on the way to save their friends. It was already evening, the moon starting to appear in the sky. They were still on the road, but from the landmarks they were passing, she knew they'd arrived in Busan at least.
"Yuri! Are you okay? You started mumbling in your sleep and I didn't know what to do." Yena says to her. Everything had been smooth sailing since the gas station incident, but once they'd gotten into the city of Busan, she noticed Yuri begin to fidget around, as if her body sensed they'd crossed the border. She'd tried to calm her down, but nothing seemed to work until she finally woke up screaming.
Yuri reaches for her head, feeling an ache from what just happened. She thought she was ready to come back, but she was wrong.
"I'm sorry for worrying you all..." Yuri says apologetically.
"It's okay Yuri, trauma doesn't get fixed overnight. We're in this together. You're not going to be alone." Yena says, the others joining in giving encouraging remarks. So this is what family feels like, huh? Yuri thinks to herself.
"We'll arrive at Yongho-dong in maybe half an hour. Get some last minute rest if you girls want." Eunbi advises. This was it. Somewhere in this city is an underground base holding their friends captives. There wouldn't be much time to relax once they get into the belly of the beast.
~~~~
"I think we should go on foot from here..." Hyewon says motioning Eunbi to turn off the headlights and stop the bus. The group had finally managed to get to where they thought the base was most likely to be. They were on the edge of a forest, large oak trees towering above them. It was around 9pm, and the visibility was very low aside from the occasional fireflies hovering around, a stark contrast from the bright lights of the city they'd passed to get here.
"Are you sure, Hyewon-unnie?" Wonyoung asks, trying to mask her uneasiness of the situation. She'd only ever been on hiking trips with paid guides in the day time, so one at night towards an enemy base loaded with weapons was certainly not something she'd wanted to do.
"Yes, if they're really here, then stealth will be of the essence." The younger ones nod in understanding at Hyewon's explanation.
"Alright, this is a big forest, so I think we'll have to split up to cover more ground." Eunbi says.
YOU ARE READING
1. Project IZ*ONE
Action*IZ*ONE superhero AU* Every year, young people from around the country are sent to an institute where they make the strongest task force to protect the nation from threats. This has always been a controversial system as the trainees sent there have...
