15th April 2024
Lydia
It had been over a week since the training sessions to help Rose control her new level of power had begun. I remember the excitement she showed after learning this style of meditation, she had struggled with sitting still and breathing. Bruce was walking around her, with her body memory taking over to block the gentle hits.
Most people wouldn’t recognise her blank stare as a relaxed expression; the difference was I’d known her since 1851. When I could see the bright shape of a sword in the middle of her body and it didn’t flare from the outline, I was proud. She was able to do this three times before she began panting.
Bruce and I locked eyes before he called out “that’s the end of today’s session.” The moment Rose’s hyper focus broke, she stumbled and almost fell face forward. Moo-young caught her in a hug.
She fell asleep on the way home, so Moo-young and I carefully placed her back in her bed. The two of us joined a zoom call with the others debriefing on her progress so far and any information related to her kidnapping.
I was woken up at one am on the 22nd by the mark I placed in Rose’s room. She was sitting up looking alarmed, keeping calm. I reassured her our apartment is a safe space. Her breathing was fast so I started deep breathing exercises, hoping she’d copy me.
A few minutes went by “Lydia deep hug”, I let out a sigh of relief before engulfing her in a deep pressure hug. “Signal when you’re ready to talk by letting go.” Five minutes passed and she released me from the hug.
“What caused you to get so scared?” She took a deep breath “I found myself in a dark hallway with one door. There was a strong feeling of heading towards my physical body. As I reached the door it slammed in my face.”
This set off alarm bells so I texted Andrew to check her body. I held her hand while we waited, the phone rang making both of us jump. “What did you find?”
“It was located behind the right ear. Have you had any headaches on that side?” She nodded “yes” and we continued the conversation via chat in case anyone was listening.
She was still slightly shaken up by the thought she could have woken up. I stayed with Rose till she fell back to sleep.
Big Tuna
The moment I felt the curse activate my nerves calmed down after being in waiting mode. Our base felt empty with the remaining members in 1923, so I hoped the protections were still in place. I wasn’t sure how long I had before the target’s family would come after my life.
The words ‘the vaults’ kept repeating on loop in my head until I gave in, I found the perfect weapon to defend myself. Taking a deep breath, whispering to myself “ok, now I need to find a safe location to hide.”
Moo-young
On the 23rd of April Hong and I headed to the meeting room on the 2nd floor. The main colour of the room was white with a wide screen TV on the right wall. On our left we saw Freyja, her second in command with Matilda and Mia.
Mia directed us to the empty seats next to her and her smile told me we were missing a person. Five minutes later Matilda was ready to start, when I heard footsteps. The door opened to reveal a short female with blue shoulder length hair dressed in a cottage core outfit. “She was shorter than Rose who could comfortably rest an arm on her head”
Matilda’s eyes gave away her annoyance “Quinn, sit down.” I had the feeling this was a common occurrence between them. The meeting started with going over the known information, so everyone was on the same page.
Freyja presented all the intel her team had found about Morrttis Family, including the location of their base. The raid was planned out, along with the two key objectives.
3 Days later
Both of our teams gathered in a nearby alley, Quinn’s body language was the opposite of what I saw in the meeting room. She and Freyja shared a look, “our two key objectives are breaching, clearing, and security of the mafia’s base and finding the individual known as big tuna.”
Her team was dressed in protective gear from head to toe, compared to Freyja’s team and us. We opted for our mission clothes which blended in better within Melbourne. After doing last minute checks we head towards the grand fence with red rose hedges running along the outside.
The gate was grand and intimidating, the main colours were white, dark grey and a pale gold. From the outside it looked locked, so a swat team member pulled out a tool to locate the security panel. She found it within a minute and started tripping the wires.
A large groan came from the gates as a warning to get out of the way. We passed by a perfectly manicured front garden featuring the same rose hedges outside the fence, along with two stone benches at either end of the stone path.
The facade of the building was grey bricks of varying shades along with white framed windows, with the door sharing the same colours as the gate. There were two storeys, which led me to wonder how many were below ground.
As we approached the front door I called out “stop, I can sense a barrier” and a member of Freyja’s team pulled out a scanning device. “There are two security markings on either side of the door,” she replied.
A swat team member brought out a handgun, pointed it at the first marking and a burst of purple hit the mark. Once the second mark was hit, a wave of energy rippled nearly knocking us over.
We watched as Quinn and Freyja’s teams entered before giving us the all-clear to join them. On first impression the base could be mistaken for a residential home, with the Art Deco elements. The family had taken hiding in plain sight to heart.
There were four rooms on the ground floor, the kitchen, dining/meeting room along with a waiting room connected to the public office. Looking around, the colour scheme was red, black and grey.
We moved to the first floor which contained the bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was clear how close the captains were to Sofia Morrttis, with each of them getting an individual bedroom.
The soldiers shared two small basic dorms on either side of the hallway. Each of the visible levels had a covered patio at the back of the house. Freyja mentioned something off hand while passing the bedroom closest to the boss’s room about hoping the person in doesn’t betray them.
After all the upper rooms were cleared and secured, we headed towards the basement. The discovery of the tiled torture room and the true offices, especially Sofia’s private office made it clear the lower levels held the rooms key to their operation.
Hong-ju
Freyja, Moo-young and I split off from others to focus on Big Tuna on the second basement level. Looking around the stone arch caught my attention, why did the Morrttis family have a portal in a random hallway?
Meanwhile Freyja seemed to be on the same wavelength, she noticed the arch and artwork dotted around. “Check the paintings and Moo-young can you see any hidden markings on the walls?”
There were 6 artworks conveniently placed near the portal, with only half of them having a moon in it. Meanwhile Moo-young was staring below the paintings in the corner, “there are concealment markings surrounding an item.”
I saw his breathing slow down to help him focus on deconstructing the markings. Two minutes later the air in the corner started to get wavy and distorted. a moon dial appeared out of thin air, which gave me a light bulb moment.
Standing in front of the artwork with all the moon phases “this is the key to opening the portal.” putting two and two together we figured out the right image to press.
We found ourselves in a small stone room with a desk and a chair, along with the white framed version of the same artwork in the hallway. The doors to the right were unlocked allowing us access to the next area.
I started shivering due to the temperature dropping between the previous area. “These are the holding cells” Freyja exclaimed with her breath showing. Moo-young embraced me in a back hug to help warm me up, without realising it he turned so we were facing the door.
I spied a death glyph on the wall and wondered if it was important. It seemed I shared a brain cell as Freyja caught my eyes directing me towards the empty portal. Now all we had to do was figure out how to activate the glyph.
Moo-young started to sniff around the glyph and he took out his knife. He was about to prick his finger when she intercepts it instead, “we can’t have your precious blood being spilt.” She wiped her finger over the glyph and the portal turned on.
The larger stone room felt eerie and too quiet for my liking. Freyja hand signalled us to look around; I carefully checked the wall in front of the portal. We had the same idea to check for hidden switches or notches but came up with nothing.
Moo-young on the other hand was focused on the corner to the left of the portal. “Do you suspect we are dealing with concealment markings again?” “I do,” he answered. Continuing on “these ones are stronger than were placed on the moon dial. I am sensing two layers.”
After ten minutes the air in the corner started to shimmer and an archway appeared. It was hard to contain the sudden anger I felt, as my gaze fell upon him. Moo-young pulled me away from him, while Freyja made sure there was no way Big Tuna could run away.
She kept an eye on him with her piercing gaze tracking his movements. After a few deep breaths, I heard “ready?” from my other half. I felt a confident expression settle on my face, and I summoned an appropriate sword.
I was surprised to see him standing and waiting for us. He made the first move with the two of us dodging his lunge towards us. His movements screamed desperation and paranoid, as they were less precise.
The training from our childhood kicked in, we met his knives with ease. Moo-young and I took turns to attack and defend when needed. Every time I went towards a major vial point, something felt off and held me back.
Instead, I focused on giving him minor wounds, which would incapacitate but not kill him. I didn’t need to look at my partner to know we were on the same page. His face showed the pain from trying to not scream with every new nick we put into his skin.
A small trail of blood had started to form everywhere he tried to run within this small stone room. We kept this going with more and more blood coming out of him at a steady rate. His face started to lose some of its colour when an unknown hand gently tapped my arm.
They looked at both of us with an otherworldly and assertive expression. I knew this was one of the ancestor spirits, stepping away from big tuna.
A Blackwood cage appeared around the drop bear. Calmly they stated, “we’ll take it from here.” I looked at him “if you thought this was bad, wait till your true punishment starts.” Both of them turned into cherry blossoms blowing away in the wind.
We stayed behind with the security team to assist secure the base for the Australian branch. Our plan had kept all of the facilities intact, saving the need to use funds to build a safe house further away from the office.
The two of us had reached the first-floor landing and my right-hand side pocket started to vibrate. The only words my brain heard were “she’s gone”, I crumpled to the floor in relief. Moo-young pulled me into his arms as my eyes began to water.
Time didn’t exist as we released the feelings we’d been holding on to this whole time. Part of me felt sorry for Big Tuna, but no one curses my yeodongsaeng without punishment.
Where was my anger towards the situation? Memories of the recent training sessions came flooding back. Looking at them, I realised Bruce had been helping us to release our emotions. I had a suspicion of Mia passing along details from vision, due to his preparation.
There was a quiet period of an hour before Quinn and the rest of Freyja’s team caught up to us in the ground floor dining room. “Overall, both missions have been successful so I can officially give this base all clear to be used by the branch” she announced to everyone. “Meet you back at the office for the debrief.”
Ji-ah
The last 6 weeks have been hard for everyone, especially my daughter Yun. Their bond had caused her to be dysregulated, it was hard to see her struggling with the complex situation. We learnt quickly to know the signs of an incoming meltdown.
The main colours in the outer room were purple and white, with two large Stuffed Toys ready to be hugged or hit in anger. Her reading nook was the right shape for a frame with curtains, turning it into a cave or a fort. There was plenty of space to spin around when she needed to dance or spin.
Many times during the week, I held her as she released her feelings as tears. The other place I’d find her is in Rose’s bed surrounded by her scent, giving her comfort. This space was safe, so we left her alone with occasional visual checks.
Two times a week I set aside an hour to 30 mins for uninterrupted one on one time. At other times Yeon did the same so Yun had some form of routine to keep her grounded. To be honest we were missing her, especially my daughter & husband.
On the 28th of April she came into the kitchen just before lunch, it had been a while since I’d seen her confident side. “Mum, she’s awake.”
the World Acording to Rose 
2 thoughts on “Chapter 19: 2 become 1”