I was training with Yoongi when it happened.

"Ah-hah!" I crowed in victory.

I'd managed to land a sharp blow to Yoongi's ribs. We'd been practicing punching and blocking. It was the first time I'd actually been able to sneak under his defenses. Of course he was going easy on me, but it was progress.

We both leapt apart. Yoongi's eyes were bright and filled with approval. "Good job."

I wanted to preen at his words. He didn't easily hand out compliments and even when he did, it was usually edged with some criticism to keep any cockiness at bay.

Pride is your downfall, he would tell me. And when in combat, it can be quite literal.

"The training session is almost over." Yoongi glanced at the watch on his wrist. There were no clocks in the training center and the only people who were allowed to have clocks or watches were the trainers. Something to do with making sure trainees didn't get stuck watching the time while working. "Do you want to go another round or end it now?"

"Go another round." I immediately replied.

Yoongi's brows lifted in amusement and a glint entered his eyes at the confidence in my voice. Crap. He wasn't going to go easy on me now.

We had both just got into ready stance when a low rumble vibrated through the air.

I halted. "What—"

"Jiyeon get down!"

I yelped at Yoongi's shout—he never shouted— just as an earsplitting explosion erupted in the air and the very training room shuddered. My body slammed to the ground— though I couldn't tell if it was because of the bone-jarring shockwave or because Yoongi had bowled me over to the ground. Plaster and debris fell all around me, smashing to the ground, but never on me. The ground itself  groaned and heaved underneath me.

Yoongi had morphed into a large, sturdy table above me— sheltering me. Shock and horror froze my mind from properly moving. My ears rang from the initial sound. I didn't know how long the room kept shaking, it couldn't have been longer than a minute, but it felt like eternity.

And within that eternity I finally began to function. Began to realize what was going on. Even before I regained my hearing. Even before the screams and shouts began, followed by loud sharp cracks. Guns. Attack. The training center was under attack.

When only harmless plaster fell down Yoongi morphed back into himself, swearing. I didn't have time to ask if he was alright before he was leaping up to his feet, pulling me up with him.

"Let's go." He ran over to where his signature jacket was in the corner, pulling me after him. I allowed him to drag me along, still trying to understand what was happening, still stuck in a nightmarish daze.

It was when he pulled something out of the jacket pocket that I finally focused in. "Have you always kept a gun in your jacket pocket?"

"Seriously? We're under attack and that's what you're wondering about?" Yoongi shot me a demoralizing glare. He tossed me the weapon and I had just enough time to catch it.

"W-why...?" I stared wide-eyed at the weapon in my hand.

"Listen up." He grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "Someone just decided to plant a goddamn bomb in the training center. Whoever they are, they're not friendly. And if I could take a wild guess, it's the Purists."

I could hear my blood roaring in my ears as adrenaline seared through me like fire. I could hear the screams and chaos on the floor below. It was happening. An attack was really happening.

"Now what's going to happen," said Yoongi, shaking my shoulders  to snap my attention back to him, "is we're going to get the hell out of this building. If a Reformist tries to stop us— to try and shoot, you shoot back."

"B-but why do I  have the gun?" I gasped. "Why not you?" He was obviously the better shot between the two of us.

He straightened and grabbed my arm, beginning to pull me to the exit. "Because I don't need the gun."

Right. He could morph into whatever hell he wanted.

As if on cue, the door to the training room slammed open and three people in white uniforms rushed in, rifles pointed. A scream worked in my throat. Before I could blink, though, Yoongi had already leapt at the three people, morphing in midair into a large lion.

Shrieks were cut short as he bore down on the three opponents and a scream of my own escaped me when I heard a single shot resound in the room.

Yoongi- lion reeled back, roaring in what I imagined was pain. But the three people were down. Limp. Maybe even dead.

I rushed forward, tripping over some debris, just as Yoongi morphed back, panting. His orange marks were blazing like dragon fire itself. "Are you okay?"

He turned. I gasped when my eyes landed on the familiar, dreaded yellow substance coating his left arm. Moonsbane.

"They've got both Moonsbane and real guns," he hissed. "This isn't an attack. This is an extermination of the Outworlders in the center."

"What—"

"We need to move." Yoongi lurched forward into the hallway. "I'll deal with it later."

Crap crap crap. I rushed out after him. Here in the hallway I could clearly hear the screaming and grunts of battle everywhere.

Together we ran down the stairs and burst into the main hallway of the center. My jaw dropped.

Shattered glass spread all over the floor. The entrance to the center was now a gaping hole, still smoking from the explosion. And fighting. People locked in fighting everywhere. The gray uniform of the center's trainees against the white uniforms.

Already bodies of Outworlders and a few humans were on the ground, covered in blood and Moonsbane.

I briefly wondered why the Outworlders weren't morphing into lethal creatures. My answer came in the form of a jade Outworlder lunging at a white-uniformed Reformist, morphing into a bear. The Reformist immediately raised their rifle and what looked like several successions of yellow paintballs were fired. The bear went down. The Reformist switched to a regular gun— and put a bullet through the bear's head.

"Move." The word was a snarl from Yoongi's mouth, so filled with hate and anger, I immediately obeyed. I knew the hate wasn't directed to me, but nevertheless I didn't dare disobey him when he was speaking in that tone.

We ran through the wreckage. People were fleeing everywhere; some just like us were trying to escape while others charged into the fray. The worst of the fighting was now behind us, in the main hallway.

I realized that Yoongi was probably leading us out some back exit. I finally caught sight of the backdoor, a large green EXIT sign hanging above it. There. Almost there.

That was when two white-clad Pure Reformists stepped into the hallway before us, both with their guns already held up ready for action.

Maybe that's why neither Yoongi nor I had enough time to react before one of the Reformists pulled the trigger, tearing a bullet right through Yoongi.

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Cover by Famalien