7. Hide-and-Seek (3)

I watched Hide-and-Seek.

Beneath its drifting feet, dark crimson blood and an ominous violet aura tangled together and spread their domain. The foul reek of blood thickened, and a breath heavy with cold touched my back.

Her lungs had to be freezing. Hana might already be past her limit. She had done more than enough—she had suffered for it—and if she collapsed where she stood, no one would have said a word. Fighting on any further might have been nothing but stubbornness.

But Hana had chosen to be stubborn. A stubbornness that might cost her life.

Then I had to answer it.

"I'm going."

I gathered power into the sword and ran. The pool of blood drew itself into a spiral and surged upward, and as if in answer the Black Imagery around us writhed into a vortex of its own.

Kwa-ga-ga-gak—

Dark crimson and violet mixed to completion and turned a deep purple. When the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fusion ended, the debris that had been rising with it showered down onto the ground, and what remained, floating there with grim menace, was a purple spiral awl veiled in black. It snapped ninety degrees and charged me at full force.

I had no intention of meeting it. I kept pouring power into the sword as the distance between us closed.

The instant that explosive report shook the space and reached my ears, a blade of cold sheared past my right ear. The chill that outran me struck the monstrosity, then vanished in another devastating blast, and a space that had been nothing but vicious dark filled with purple shards and clear fragments of frost.

I pushed through the sticky fragments and the cold shards. Two seconds that lasted like three. All of the power had gathered. I fed even the force of my sprint into the blade and swung it horizontally with everything I had.

From the right edge of my vision, space and matter, dark crimson blood, the clinging aura—everything lost its color in turn and was cut away.

Did it connect?

In the instant I thought I had severed it, I saw Hide-and-Seek's faint smile. It was smiling. It was definitely smiling.

Why? You're about to be cut.

With a roar, space began to collapse. Just as it had before, a colorless domain spread outward from the path of the cut.

Is it over? No. Something's caught.

I tried to turn. My body wouldn't. Balance left me all at once, and I started to fall—something cold plastered thick around my ankle. As I went down, I dropped my eyes.

Countless small hands had seized my ankle.

"Oh, damn it...!"

Hide-and-Seek's head rose slowly from the pool of blood.

Behind the thing as it showed itself, grinning, a huge eye opened once more. A sword formed within that eye. Hide-and-Seek took it up, and in the moment it raised its arm high—

Before that cold voice could even reach my ear, a bullet flew in and buried itself in Hide-and-Seek's head. A flower of frost bloomed across the aberration's skull, and the whole space lurched under a great tremor.

The tremor grew fiercer with its irritation, and the blood pool sloshed. I used the opening to get back on my feet. The whole front of my body was soaked through with sticky blood.

The more its emotions spiked, the higher the Black Imagery crushing the space seemed to climb, as if the level meant to rise past my waist.

While Hide-and-Seek spat its irritation, I started sorting my thoughts ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at speed. This was the chance. It could slip in and out of that blood pool at will, and the domain was still expanding.

It wasn't only the domain. Hide-and-Seek's power was growing too. There wasn't much time.

How do I get rid of that pool? Sweep the floor? Destroy the eye?

Just smash the damn thing.

Right. Smash it. Thanks, little noona.

I hurried a transmission through to Hana.

Before I could finish, Hide-and-Seek attacked. The way it flailed its arms, it was nothing but a child throwing a tantrum.

I spun hard and covered every angle. The moment I landed, I loaded my foot and drove a kick straight out.

A miss, of course. Hide-and-Seek sank back into the pool.

I would hold here. I stayed in the pool so I could take the attacks.

I was privately startled that I could talk that fast. Hide-and-Seek was already swallowed by rage. The blows had grown stronger, but they were blind. All I had to do was defend, and stay calm.

Blind attacks rained in on me from every side. Somewhere along the way Hide-and-Seek had left nothing out but an eye, watching me from far off with a gaze full of killing intent. I weathered the endless baptism of blood—cutting, knocking aside, splitting, blocking—while my whole body dyed itself red. My breath was driven down toward the floor. Even so, the edge of my mind did not dull.

"Hah... hah..."

"Seoyoung-unni."

Everything around Hana was frozen solid, like blue paint spilled by mistake across a painting done entirely in red.

"Come to think of it, we never really spent any time together...."

"When this operation's over, let's hang out."

Hana made a sound that might have been a cough or a laugh, and smiled, just barely.

"Is... it?"

"And I went and called you unni without even realizing it...."

"Huh...?"

Hana couldn't get a word out, as if her throat had frozen shut.

What came through was only a transmission, but there was will in it.

"Yeah."

She took it.

The moment Hana dropped to one knee and settled into a kneeling firing stance, the pain vanished. The cold was gone as well. It felt as if everything had stopped—breath, body, objects, pain, time, space.

About the time the thought came, Has it really stopped?, the shard of frost before her eyes moved. Faintly. Like a video played at a third of its speed.

Then her heartbeat returned, and everything snapped back to its proper pace.

Now.

A frost round of a density never seen before left the muzzle with a report like space itself tearing open. The blue trajectory was nearly a straight line, and the recoil kicked gun and body alike away. The bullet shattered the floor in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an explosion of frost, and the path it carved forgot how to stop, descending without end.

When the floor vanished, the whole of Hide-and-Seek's body was laid bare in a single instant. Not a scrap of space remained that could hide it. Every object began to fall at once.

I didn't miss.

A horizontal line.

One horizontal line cleaved Hide-and-Seek's body in two.

A moment later, Hide-and-Seek's body began to come apart with a glitch, scattering. With that long horizontal line as the axis, the colorless domain spread once more, above and below, like black tiles peeled away one by one. The scenery ahead disappeared entirely. Below was a sheer open drop. Ahead, everything was going pure white. Even I felt thin enough to vanish.

Boundlessness.

Was this the sight I was meant to reach?

An instant as long as eternity passed, and the impact of slamming into the floor dragged me out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the dream.

The black space came apart and vanished, layer by layer. The pressure that had climbed to my waist let go. Sunlight slipped in and washed out my vision.

"Hana—what happened to Hana!?"

A short silence stretched on and on.

"Ha... Hana? Hana!!"

I ran for her even with my leg dragging.

Please.

"Hana!!"

I buried my face against her, choking down a sob that felt ready to burst.

"Puh-hak... kek... ghk..."

"Huh...?"

I could have sworn a stifled laugh trailed off the end of the transmission. Hana worked her mouth, backing her up.

"I'm... alive... you know..."

Was I supposed to be angry, or glad? I laughed, hollow with relief, and just sat down.

"Hey! Seriously... ha..."

The hollow laugh soon grew loud.

"You see my face?"

"Yeah..."

"Great. You're gonna tease me about this for a while."

"Haha... obviously..."

Somewhere along the way, Hana was laughing too. Sunlight lay gently over us, and the cold around her slowly came apart.

The excitement came riding the transmission. We sat there a while, and then I heard the operation vehicle coming in. I didn't bother to look back. Hana was frozen solid as a tuna in the middle of thawing, and I wanted to sit with the afterglow a little longer.

"Shouldn't we give her a spin in the microwave?"

The team leader was suddenly beside us, poking Hana as she spoke.

"I think she's saying, 'Aww, Team Leader, that hurts my feelings.'"

Hana's mouth worked with heavy effort, like someone trying to type with hands frozen stiff on a winter day.

"As I thought. Figured as much even before we deployed."

A hand settled on my shoulder, and her voice followed.

"You've cleared the wall for certain. Once we're back, both of you had better start with a grade reassessment."

Yeah. I'd felt it myself, even before we went in. That I'd crossed the wall.

"Wonder who I learned it from."

Proud, and a little embarrassed, I answered with my face turned away from her.

Did I say too much?

My face felt like it was burning. She broke into a wide smile, rose onto her toes, and reached for my head. Her hand scrubbed wildly through my hair.

"You did good."

I'd been about to toss out a joke, embarrassed for no good reason. Forget it. This was fine. This sort of thing wasn't bad either.

"But who's that?"

She stopped her hand and shifted her gaze.

Far past Hana, still thawing where she sat frozen, Ha Yerin stood blankly, ivory hair cut in a medium bob.

I had completely forgotten about her....