Chapter Text
Ihwa knew something was terribly wrong the moment she heard the knock on the door. Yeon would have just come into their apartment, and the old guy in the wheelchair had already visited twice this week. Walking to the door and standing on her tippy toes, Ihwa looked through the peephole, and saw two figures standing outside her door. They both had long cloaks on. They both had masks with a creepy hand mouth, but one of them had it over their head, showing their face. He had weird metal bits on the bottom of his mean-looking face, with spiky yellow-green hair and eyes. She wasn’t supposed to let anyone in that she didn’t know, so she stepped back from the door, and pretended to not be home.
The one with his mask still on grabbed the door handle and pushed, forcing the door off of its hinges. Spiky suddenly started glowing, lighting up the apartment. Ihwa didn’t have time to do anything before the two of them saw her, and she was suddenly very aware of just how much bigger they were than her. After a moment of silence between the three of them, the masked one spoke.
“Just a child, it's not time.” Ihwa had been afraid before, but the sound of his voice sent tremors through her. He sounded really, really mean. It was like when Yeon was telling Ihwa a bedtime story, and she did a special voice for the evil monster. “Your sister was attacked by villains and is very hurt.” Spiky twitched at that “Yeon asked us to protect you while she heals. Come with us to the hospital.” Ihwa shook her head no. Yeon had told her that if she got hurt or disappeared for a while, Ihwa was supposed to take the phone and call the wheelchair guy and hide until he came. Spiky stooped to a knee, suddenly eye to eye with her.
“You might not know, but we’re heroes. Yeon was very worried for you.” He whispered to her, glancing over his shoulder at the masked guy before looking at her again. His face softened a bit, making Ihwa drop her guard some. She hadn’t seen these heroes on TV like Miss Victoria, but she never saw Yeon on TV either, and her sister was the awesomest hero ever. Maybe they were Yeon’s friends. “She was worried they might attack you next. We have to go now. Do you want to hold my hand, or do you want me to carry you?” Ihwa looked at the man in front of her. She didn’t like either option, but she knew the way he was speaking. It was the way Yeon spoke when Ihwa had already been up past her bedtime, and was telling her she would either walk with her own feet to her bed, or be carried. Ihwa always asked Yeon to carry her when she asked, but she didn’t want the man to hold her.
“I-I can hold your hand mister.” He nodded once, standing up and stretching out his hand to Ihwa. Ihwa grasped it, noticing how different it felt from Yeon’s. His fingers were a tiny bit longer than Yeon’s, but a lot thicker than them. As they left the apartment, Ihwa made sure that she and the masked man were on opposite sides of Spiky. If either of them noticed, they didn’t say anything about it. The trio descended the stairs in silence, Ihwa watching her step like Yeon always told her to, not knowing this would be the last time she ever saw this place.
Outside, they met three other people, all of whom had the same clothes and mask as the two who had brought her down. One of them was really tall and wide, although not as tall as the guy who first found her. He wore a big sword on his back, and was looking around. The second one was a little smaller than the first one, and had weird looking hands. The third one was about as tall as Yeon, and had a weird necklace around her neck. Ihwa thought she was a woman. Ihwa was sure of it when the woman turned to Ihwa, talking from behind her mask.
“Is this Yeon’s sister? Can I-” The lady’s voice was strained and breathy. She was cut off suddenly, and Ihwa looked around to see what made her stop. Peeking out from behind Spiky, she saw that tall guy was holding a single hand up.
“I have this in hand.” His voice still gave her the shivers. He pointed at the sword guy, the hand guy, and the girl. “The underground heroes will be here soon. Consider Operation Dusk concluded.” The three of them looked between themselves, before all nodding once and seeming to disappear before Ihwa’s eyes. She stared in shock at the now empty place they had been standing in. She was shaken from her surprise by the scratching of the tall guy’s voice. “I’m sure Yeon will be waiting for you at the hospital, let us get going.”
Yeon had not been waiting for Ihwa when they got to the hospital. After a long car ride, Spiky and tall guy had brought her into a room with a table, a chair, and a grownup sized bed. The chairs, walls, and even the bed was a light gray that Ihwa thought was ugly, but she didn’t say anything to be nice. Spiky had told her that she would have to stay here for a bit, and the two heroes would come back soon. When Ihwa asked if he could come without the tall guy next time, he chuckled and said yes.
Spiky didn’t come back for a while, and the only thing that kept Ihwa awake was how hungry she was. She had missed dinner, and was wondering if she could go back home for her stew. When Spiky came back, he had some fruit with him that Ihwa happily inhaled. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all? Either way, her appetite was sated, and she quickly claimed the gray bed for herself. After all, if whoever the room belonged to wanted the bed, they should have been here earlier.
“Wake up. The doctors said you can see her now.” Ihwa was rudely jostled from her sleep by Spiky. Normally, Ihwa wouldn’t have forgiven someone for waking her like that, but because it was so she could see Yeon she forgave him. When he brought her out of the room, he didn’t make her hold his hand, which Ihwa was happy about. She didn’t like his hand.
It took less than five minutes for Ihwa and Spiky to reach Yeon’s room. Nobody was in the grey hallways of the hospital, so there was nobody to yell at Ihwa for breaking into a sprint when Spiky said they were almost there. The door was made of part glass, but Ihwa still couldn't see through it. Ihwa yanked the door open and rushed in.
Yeon’s room was the same grey as the rest of the building, and looked almost identical to Ihwa's room. Same table, same chair, same walls. The only difference was at the far end of the room, Where Ihwa could see a bed with a few different pieces of weird medical stuff. While she was mostly hidden by the medical stuff, Ihwa could see that her sister was sitting on the bed. Ihwa started running to her sister, wanting to shout about just how worried she was, but the sounds got stuck in her throat. Ihwa only managed to croak out a few words.
“Yeon... are you okay?” Ihwa stopped in her tracks when she saw her sister. She wore a thin white gown, but under it was a whole lot of bandages, covering most of Yeon’s body. Her head was mostly uncovered, with only her forehead being wrapped up. Yeon turned her head to Ihwa, and the girl couldn’t help but get a strange sense of wrongness. She looked like Yeon for sure, but there was something…
“Ihwa.” Yeon’s voice sounded weak, but it was definitely hers. Looking at her sister’s eyes, everything was almost right, but something was telling Ihwa that this wasn’t her sister. “My head got a little messed up, and I might act a little weird.” Yeon’s eyes suddenly looked different as she said “Always remember that I am your sister, and you love me more than anything else in the world.”
Ihwa wasn’t sure why she had gotten that weird feeling from Yeon. This was the sister that she loved so much. Ihwa jumped onto the bed, suddenly needing to get a hug from her big sister. Yeon let out an “oof” as Ihwa burrowed into her chest, feeling safe for the first time since yesterday as her big sister’s strong arms wrapped around her. Ihwa hadn’t realized how much she needed to cry until that moment, but sobs started to fill the air as she began to shed tears.
Ihwa hadn’t understood just how worried she had been about Yeon possibly dying, but everything was hitting her all at once. Ihwa remained where she was, pushing herself into Yeon as much as she could. Ihwa wanted to tell her sister just how worried she was but the words weren't there. After a moment, Yeon wrapped her arms around Ihwa, slowly stroking her back and hair, then starting to hum an unfamiliar tune. Looking up at her sister, she saw an unfamiliar but comforting grin, and Ihwa couldn’t help but smile back. Why wouldn’t she, she loved her sister more than anything after all.