Somehow, the whole situation felt like dramatic irony.
The plan was simple. All eight of them stick together and escape through the opening Zera, Jaeyun, Roshan, and the rest of the rebellion had created for them in the South.
It was the way the plan was immediately thrown off track that would be entirely comedic to all of them sometime in the distant future.
As they turned the corner, they were immediately faced by Julian, flanked by six guards, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Elliot muttered. Julian's eyes landed on him, but the moment they moved to Hyunwoo, there was an enraged expression on his face.
Immediately, Kaedan, Xander, and Elliot were in front of him, shielding Hyunwoo from Julian, "Get your bastard eyes off of him," Kaedan spat out, "What do you think you're looking at?"
Hyunwoo put his hand on the older man's shoulder, "While I appreciate you three stepping in, I can handle this myself," He said softly.
"We know you can," Elliot replied simply, "But let us handle it anyway. You of all people deserve to feel protected," They turned their attention to everyone else, "You five keep going, we'll take care of things here."
"Bullshit," A voice piped up, and Elliot turned to look at their wife, "Those four will be just fine on their own. I'm not leaving you three here," Her voice took on a quiet tone, "I'm not letting you out of my sight."
Elliot's gaze was almost helpless, "Chae…"
"You've been acting weird these past few days. Just…Let me fulfill my responsibility as your wife and keep an eye on you. I wouldn't be able to stand it if something happened to you and I wasn't there," Chaewon said softly.
"...I'm not changing your mind, am I?" Elliot replied and when she shook her head, he sighed, "Alright. Chaewon, Xander, Kaedan, and I will take care of this. You four get out of here."
Before they turned away though, to everyone's surprise, Nia lurched forward and hugged them tightly, her face pressed against Elliot's chest, "...Stay safe," She said, her voice muffled, "You still have so much to tell me about what it was like back home."
Elliot's face softened as he patted her head, "Of course, Nia. Now, go. All of you."
With one last look back at the four oldest, Hyunwoo, Risále, Val, and Nia were gone. Looking back between themselves, Chaewon let out a small laugh.
"What is it?" Xander asked.
"Nothing, just…It seems like old times, doesn't it? Us four, fighting together in this castle?" Chaewon shook her head, "Just…Got a sense of déjà vu."
Kaedan hummed, "Huh, you're right. Well then," He unfurled his electric whip, his eyes narrowing as they focused on Julian, "We won our fight back then. Let's not lose that streak now, hm?"
"Sounds good to me," Chaewon expertly twirled a dagger in one hand, the other hand holding a loaded gun, "You ready?
"Oh, you know I am."
Xander and Elliot watched their respective spouses fondly as Kaedan and Chaewon each knocked out a guard effortlessly, "We really hit the jackpot, didn't we?" The younger said quietly.
"Oh, definitely," Elliot grinned, "Especially since our alternatives probably would have been each other out of convenience. Imagine what a nightmare that would have been."
"Excuse you, I would have been an amazing husband. Just ask Kaedan, I'm doing amazing so far. The problem would have been you," Xander said, affronted.
Elliot raised an eyebrow, "You were just as much of a whore as I was back then, don't even try acting like you weren't."
Chaewon cleared her throat, "Yes, all three of you were whores back then, glad we've established that," Kaedan made a choked-off noise before complaining about being included when he had done nothing against her, "Oh, don't act innocent, you were definitely one, too."
"Perhaps you should control your woman," It wasn't obvious who Julian was talking to and for a moment, they'd all kind of forgotten he was listening to all of this, "You let her disrespect you like this?"
Kaedan snorted, "Says the guy that liked being degraded by a pretty boy, you don't have a ball in this game, buddy," Elliot had done their best to stifle their laughter Julian's shocked and angry face, "What, it's true. We all saw how you got with Hyunwoo—"
Julian charged forward at him, "Don't say that bitch's name—"
Before he could even process the movement, there was a slash on his side and a cut opening on his cheek. Behind him, one of the guards groaned in pain before dropping to the ground, clutching his bleeding abdomen. Chaewon stared at Julian, an almost uninterested but angry look in her eyes, "That's my little brother's boyfriend you're talking about. Put some respect on his name or I'll shove it down your throat with this blade."
"You—You…Who the hell do you think you are?!" Julian yelled, his eyes burning with hatred, "You think you can talk down to me, woman?!"
"Oh, be quiet, little boy," Chaewon said harshly, throwing the blade so quickly that it opened another cut along Julian's face before embedding itself in another guard's abdomen. He gasped out in pain, but Chaewon paid no attention to him and looked at Julian, "It seems like your mother never taught you any manners. Unfortunately for you, I've never been the teaching type."
Kaedan frowned, furrowing his eyebrows, "...That's just a straight-up lie, you literally raised Leon. From what he said, you were like his mom—"
Chaewon glared at him, "Jesus, Kaedan, let me have a cool one-liner just this once. Is that so much to ask?"
"Well, yeah. Your supposed 'Cool one-liner' is just straight up a lie."
She turned to Xander, "Prepare yourself, you're going to be a widow soon."
Xander sighed, "I'll make funeral arrangements."
Kaedan whirled around to gape at Xander, "Excuse you, that was so quick? You didn't even bother fighting for me, what kind of husband are you?!"
"Babe. Kaedan," Xander said seriously, looking his husband in the eyes, "Tell me now that if our roles were reversed, you wouldn't do the same thing. Do you really think that we can beat her?"
"...You have a point."
Elliot pouted, "I can't believe you both listen to my wife more than you listen to me. And both of you dated me."
"That's the point," Kaedan said, "We dated you, so we know how ridiculous you can be. Basically, we cannot be intimidated by you anymore."
"I can still deadlift 450 pounds or more."
"We know, Elliot. But as hot as that is, we've also seen you trying to solve a Rubik's cube while drunk and if that doesn't ruin any impression of you that we had, I don't know what else would have," Xander replied, "Besides, Chaewon and I have known you since we were kids. Did you really think either of us would be intimidated by you?" Xander replied.
Elliot spluttered, "I was drunk and it was a Rubik's cube! I highly doubt you would have been any better if you were as wasted as I was that night!"
Xander tried to hide his amusement, "Yeah, probably. But I wasn't wasted and neither were those two. So obviously, you're going to get bullied for it."
"...What happened to our thing about bullying the oldest?" Elliot sulked, "Since getting here, it feels like—" They were cut off by one of the guards charging at them, yelling something incoherently, "Dude, didn't no one ever teach you that you shouldn't interrupt when someone is talking?" Without any difficulty whatsoever, they launched the guard over their head.
Xander, Chaewon, and Kaedan stared at them, "...Yeah, see, this is why both of us probably ended up developing a thing for strong people," Xander said, looking at Kaedan as Elliot choked.
"That's my spouse you're talking about, you've got each other," Chaewon muttered, "But yeah, I guess all three of us have that in common."
"Aw, are you jealous?" Kaedan grinned, "Don't worry, we think you're hot as well," Now it was Chaewon's turn to start spluttering, her face bright red, "Seriously, these two are like…Kind of like a celebrity couple that everyone has had a crush on at some point."
Elliot wheezed, "Are you done yet? Jesus, I feel like we're taking more damage than they are at this point."
"Well…" Chaewon looked at the five bodies on the ground and the one remaining guard with Julian, "I think we're doing pretty well so far."
It seemed that it was at that moment that Julian realized that this whole time, the four of them had just been toying with him. As they joked together, there was an underlying sense of control from all of them.
The way they acted was as though they were putting on a performance.
"You're…You're crazy," Julian muttered, "The four of you…You're crazy if you think I'll just…Give in. You don't scare me."
"Then you must be an idiot," Elliot said simply, "Because any intelligent person would be terrified right now."
Julian glared at him, "You—" He took a step towards them but immediately, there was a tight grip on his shoulder. He turned to see Chaewon giving him a tight smile.
"Stay away from my spouse," She gritted out.
"Ha, not too long ago, he came to me," Julian scoffed, "And he's flirting with your so-called friends right in front of you. What a spouse, hm?"
She rolled her eyes, "I don't mind them flirting with other people at all, it's called being polyamorous, little boy. I just think that they're too good for the likes of you. And besides, do you really think he could be attracted to a little runt like you?"
"Shut up, you bitch! Who the hell do you think you are, calling me a little boy?! Get her!" He yelled at the guard. The poor guard looked shaken and quite appropriately, afraid for his life. He moved forward almost hesitantly.
Xander sighed, "Poor bastard. Come on, let's just put him out of his misery. He looks terrified out of his wits."
Kaedan rolled his eyes, "You're way too nice, Alex," Then, he picked up a metal pole on the ground as his husband stepped out of range. With a clean movement, he knocked out the guard before he could get anywhere near Chaewon.
The woman looked back at Julian, "I'll admit, your insanity makes you a bit hard to deal with, little boy," She put emphasis on the last two words, seeing how it seemed to rile the younger man up, "But understand that we have at least half a decade of experience over you. Besides, we took down one Sector once. Do you think we can't take down another?"
"Two, actually," Xander grinned, holding up his phone, "Lumina just texted. They freed Sector 3 and they're heading back here as fast as they can."
"What?" Julian looked shocked, "You…You all…"
Elliot laughed, "Huh, I guess we gave you too much credit. We thought you would have assumed we'd go to both locations but I guess that's why you concentrated most of your forces here. You didn't think we'd go to Sector 3, did you?"
Julian furrowed his eyebrows, "But why? There's nothing for you there. It's just a bunch of mind-controlled zombies and stupid science experiments—"
"Yes, you idiot, that's why we went there. I can't believe I have to walk you through this," Chaewon taunted, and Elliot, Xander, and Kaedan looked at each other, knowing that she was having so much fun making Julian feel like a small child, "You have Sector 1 and Sector 2 locked down, and since Sector 2 is fucking huge, we need more numbers. The rebellion is extremely capable but there's not much we can do against a totalitarian Sector 2. So, where could we get a large amount of people that would not be immediately swayed to fall into line by the White Lotus?"
"...You freed them," Julian's eyes dawned with realization, and a look of worry crossed his face, "Still, you can't do anything for sure. Most of those people were civilians, after all. Who says they'll just take up arms and fight for your cause? If anything, they're more likely to stay neutral—"
"Who says they haven't already?" Elliot met their wife's eyes as they spoke. They were bullshitting, they had no idea if Sector 3 would help them at all. But it was worth it to see the look of apprehension on Julian's face, "You haven't checked up on them in a while, now have you?"
Julian looked hesitant, "...You're bluffing."
Kaedan responded, "Maybe they are. But you really don't know, do you? Either way, it doesn't matter," He grinned, "You'll find out soon enough."
"We should take care of this quickly and catch up with the others," Xander added, "We still need to make sure Hyunwoo, Risále, Val, and Nia are okay."
"It's four against one, babe, I think we'll be fine," Kaedan rolled his eyes.
Julian spoke up at that, "Actually, I'd consider it three against one," At their confusion, he pointed to Elliot, "Doesn't look like he's in a state to really fight, now does he?"
Elliot's face was pale and they stumbled back, their hands shooting up to clutch at their chest. Xander and Kaedan moved forward quickly, supporting them, "Hey, Elliot, what's going on?" Xander asked, panic threading through his voice.
Chaewon was in front of them in a second, "Hey, love, are you okay? What happened?" Her expression was concerned as she cupped their face.
"I don't know," Elliot gasped, "Fuck. We need to go. I don't know what's happening but—Something bad is going to happen. We need to go now. Find the others."
"But Julian—" Kaedan turned back to where the younger man had been standing mere seconds ago only to find that there was no one else there except for them and the unconscious or dead bodies of guards.
"Now," Elliot stressed, "We need to go now, please just listen, I've got a really bad feeling."
Kaedan just nodded, but shared a concerned glance with Chaewon and Xander, "...Alright, we'll go. Do you think you can walk?"
Elliot took a shaky step before groaning, "No, I think I might collapse if I try. I'm sorry, guys."
"Don't apologize, you're fine," Chaewon reassured him, "Can one of you carry them?"
Xander shifted Elliot so they were leaning on his back, "Kaedan, you're stronger in close range than I am. I can carry them, you two make sure that no one gets in our way," Then, he bent down a bit so that he could piggyback the older.
"Alright, but where do you think those four got to—"
Before Chaewon could finish her sentence, the static in their in-ears buzzed, and all of their hearts dropped as they heard Nia's panicked voice.
"We all got split up, I don't know where anyone is!"