"Are you sure his accent was Malusian?" Chaeyoung whispers and follows Tzuyu's firm gaze. 

"Yes, I know it very well," Tzuyu says quietly, "But Malusians aren't allowed in Noctis so they're here illegally."

"What're you going to do?" Chaeyoung asks frowning as she notices Tzuyu slowly walking forward.

"Well, for one, I'm going to follow him to make sure he really is Malusian," Tzuyu says, "Then I'll tell Nayeon to contact the nearest National Guard unit."

"Tzuyu...what if they recognize you?" Chaeyoung tugs on her sleeve, "What if they try to kill you?"

"They won't if they don't know," Tzuyu says sternly and begins to walk faster.

Whatever got into Tzuyu concerns Chaeyoung. She would've thought Tzuyu would get an episode or want to stay away considering what happened at the Sports Competition but something changed about her. 

"Tzuyu...we don't even have a weapon in case they do fight us," Chaeyoung tried to reason but Tzuyu pulled an elaborately decorated but sheathed knife. "Is that-?"

"Yeah, it is..." Tzuyu sighs as they reach the alley way that the man turned into, "I'm tired of running Chae and I know this probably won't be healthy but I need to see. I promise I won't fight unless it's necessary. I just want to confirm who they are and then report it."

"But...what if they're like you and your family? What if they wanted to get away too?" Chaeyoung asks quietly and Tzuyu freezes.

"I..." Tzuyu's resolve wavers but she finds her words, "If that's the case...then I won't say anything. But if I hear him saying something suspicious, I will report them."

"Okay then," Chaeyoung says slowly, "Let's go then."

"Huh?" Tzuyu turns and looks down at her friend who raises an eyebrow at her, "Chaeyoung this might be dangerous, you don't have a weapon and I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know self defense and if they drop like a sword or something, I'll know how to use it!" Chaeyoung reasons, "Besides, I'm not going to leave you. No matter what."

"I...okay, fine," Tzuyu can't help but listen to her. She's just that whipped. 

The two quietly make their way down the alley and they see the man they saw earlier in the distance. He turns to his right but it doesn't seem like he went inside of a building due to the lack of a door slamming sound. They quicken their pace and as they get closer they hear low murmurs. They stop at the corner and listen in. Tzuyu widens her eyes as she realizes that they're speaking in their native tongue. 

"So Chou Tzuyu is not at the castle tonight?" A low gruff voice asks.

"It appears not so the assassination attempt cannot go through," Another voice says, this time a woman.

"They said she traveled to the coast but they never said which city," The low gruff voice explains, "The other squads have not seen her so she has to be here."

"She's travelling with that girl she's rumored to be dating," The woman offers, "Just look for a tall girl with a short girl."

"I...I think I can into two girls with that kind of description," A third voice pipes up and they all go silent.

"Where'd they go?" The low gruff voice asks and the two young girls peek into the alley to see how many there actually were. There were a total of five and they were all dressed in black and backpacks.

"I don't know, they must be somewhere else by-" The guy Tzuyu bumped into looked back and forth between all the members around him but then made eye contact with Tzuyu. "THERE!"

"Well shit," Tzuyu curses and she grabs Chaeyoung' wrist and bolts.

"What? What?" Chaeyoung whispers.

"They saw me and your track skills are going to come in handy right about now," Tzuyu explains, she nearly forgot that Chaeyoung didn't understand a word of what they were saying. 

The two girls sprint out of the alley and make a run for it down the side walk. Tzuyu quickly turns around and sees that they were not too far behind them so they continue to run. The girls notice a crowd of people outside of a bar and they run into that crowd. Their pursuers arrive at the bar as well and search for the two. Tzuyu takes the time to text Nayeon and gives Chaeyoung her knife to guard her. 

Baby Yoda

Nayeon, send the nearest National guard unit to where Chaeyoung and I are

Big Bunny

What? Why?

Baby Yoda

Malusians chasing us. Help.

Nayeon immediately forwards the texts to General Tuan and General Bae through the "special" line. She then runs to the throne room to tell her dad. They all go on high alert and things get hectic.

Baby Yoda

There are also Malusian units apparently in all the coastal towns and in the Capital

"Dad, there's Malusians in the capital too," Nayeon says and the King is taken aback, but not for long.

"Order a stage 2 lockdown, no one in our of the city without identification and verified business papers," The King orders, "Make a message to the people saying there is a potential threat that we have yet to verify. Make sure the Princesses and their friends are heavily guarded, Nayeon go with the Princesses." 

"Okay, I'll text you if Tzuyu finds out more," Nayeon says and runs down to the Quarters where the Princesses are staying with some guards. 

Back at where Tzuyu is, she's having a bar fight. She takes the nearest bottle and smashes it into the head of her attacker. Chaeyoung waves around the knife, keeping the attackers at bay. Tzuyu takes this opportunity to grab the nearest chair and throw it at the two near Chaeyoung who dodge the it. The two take that opportunity to run out of the bar, which Tzuyu remembers so that she could pay for the damages, and head closer to their hotel. 

"Wait, we can't go to the hotel, they'll connect the dots between a nice hotel and us," Chaeyoung pulls on her sleeve.

"Where do we go then?" Tzuyu asks and Chaeyoung pulls them in the direction of a motel. 

They enter, throw cash onto the counter, are given a key and they run inside their designated room as they notice their pursuers running past them across the street. Tzuyu takes this moment to text Nayeon that they're safe at the moment and Nayeon tells her that ITZY is in the town over so they'll be there soon. 

"We just have to wait it out," Tzuyu sighs and turns to Chaeyoung who's been silent.

"What were they talking about in the alley?" Chaeyoung asks, "I heard your name mentioned."

"They, uh, wanted to assassinate me..." Tzuyu says quietly and Chaeyoung snaps her head in Tzuyu's direction.

"W h a t?" Chaeyoung asks and Tzuyu looks away.

"It seems that they waited until I was 18 to kill me, huh..." Tzuyu says with a humorless smile.

"Tzuyu...if they're after you, you're in danger! You could've died back there!" Chaeyoung says and she walks in front of Tzuyu, who raises her head to look at her.

"I know but I didn't and now we know that Malusians snuck in recently." Tzuyu says, "They probably pretended to be from Tempus or Solaris."

"Tzuyu, that's great and all but you..." Chaeyoung says, her voice tight, "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I...I know, Chaengie..." She wraps her arms around the shorter girls waist and pulls her in. Ever since Chaeyoung learned about Tzuyu's past, she's been strangely protective.

Tzuyu looks up at Chaeyoung who looks visibly distressed and brings her hands up to her cheeks, cupping them. Both of their stomachs turn and their hearts race. They stay like that, eyes locked in each other's gazes and they can feel themselves gravitating towards each other. Before they know it their lips are just centimeters away and there eyes are already closed...

IM GONNA BE A STAR! IM GONNA BE, IM-IM GONNA BE-

Tzuyu's phone goes off and they both jump 

"Um, er, hello?" Tzuyu clears her throat and answers.

"Hey Tzuyu-Unnie, where are you?" Chaeryoung asked, "We're here and we just called the mayor to lockdown the city. The police are closing off the roads and the nearest National Guard unit will be here in an hour."

"At a motel near the hotel that we're booked at," Tzuyu explains, still shaking off the strange feelings from earlier. "The Malusians are nearby as well and I don't know if they're aware of the lockdown."

"OK," Chaeryoung says, "We'll be there soon."

"That was Chaeryoung, ITZY's here and they locked down the city," Tzuyu explains, "National guard will be here within the hour."

"O-Oh, well that's a relief," Chaeyoung smiles but her face is red. 

An awkward silence comes upon them and they all of a sudden have a loss of words for each other. They just wait until ITZY arrives and when they do arrive, the tension breaks. They come up with a plan where the Elite Squad discreetly follows behind them while they go back to their hotel. Tzuyu takes Chaeyoung' s hand as if the awkwardness before did not exist and as if they weren't that close to kissing and they walk down the sidewalk. When they turn the corner to the hotel, they see the Malusians waiting in the lobby, they had a male receptionist in their grasp.

"HEY!" Tzuyu yells and she insheathes her knife and points at one of them, "It's me you want, right?"

They let go of the receptionist and make their way out of the lobby and Tzuyu backs up. She notices Ryujin and Yuna climbed on top of the porte-cochere in her peripheral vision but doesn't look up.  When the group of Malusians come out, Lia and Yeji whip out net guns and pull their triggers, releasing the nets. Ryujin and Yuna jump down and disarm them before Chaeryoung comes out and quickly handcuffs them all through the net. The group then forces the Malusians to sit up and wrap the net tightly around them before inspecting their pockets to make sure they didn't have an other weapons. 

"You're all clear," Ryujin nods to them, "We got it from here, the National Guard should be here soon."

"Oh ok, thank you," Tzuyu bows to them and as they enter the lobby one of the Malusians yells something.

"I know you," he says in their sharp native tongue, "The little girl saved by the King...no traitor deserves such mercy from anybody...especially your parents." 

Tzuyu continued to walk, fists clenched, and went inside the elevator. Chaeyoung wrapped her arms around her and if she wasn't so caught up in her negative feelings, she would've kissed her right then and there. Instead, when they arrive at their hotel room, they change and get into bed. Tzuyu allows Chaeyoung to spoon her and somewhere along the lines, she finally loosens up, melts into the already sleeping girl's embrace, and closes her eyes.