White Noise - Part 20
Notes | Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31
32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | Epilogue
It was darkness like couldn't be described. Beyond dark, it was just plain black. Jonghyun could reach out and feel the damn trunk still trapping him in, but now it was filled with water, which made beating against it that much more useless.
It was hopelessness, thicker than the darkness that surrounded him. No one knew where he was, not even himself, apart from Jessica - and the fuck if she was going to be helping him out. He wondered if those fucking hunters could kill Key. He wondered if Key was gone, who else would notice he was gone. He wondered whether or not he'd pass out if he breathed in enough water. He wondered if that would be better than starvation.
Hopelessness was followed by panic. His fists moved, tired and weakly, to beat up against what he wasn't even sure was the top of the trunk now. He gasped hysterically, inhaling water and thrashing his head around. Everything was futile.
Just like this, he could disappear.
***
Minho was rather embarrassed to wake up and find himself wrapped around Onew. It was all the more embarrassing that he woke up due to a growling in his stomach. He needed to eat. He needed to call his family. He needed to go to school and do a crazy amount of makeup work.
He looked at Onew. He didn't want to leave.
"Go get some food." Onew mumbled at him, seeming asleep but apparently otherwise.
"I need to leave." Minho told him. "Back to school."
Onew opened his eyes to look at Minho, and frowned. "Oh. Right."
Minho sat up, and Onew sat up after him. "I'll come see you after dark." Onew told him, and Minho nodded, a bit disappointed that he couldn't just come with him now. Leaving seemed so incredibly lonely.
"Our bond won't.. start to fade again, right?" Minho asked.
Onew shook his head, "Even if that's what happened, it was because we were apart. And you were probably just having dreams."
"Do you still remember? Flashes, or anything?"
"No," Onew said. "It's all gone."
".. You wore cute pajamas."
"What?"
"With ducks on them."
Onew scowled, "It was just a dream."
"Maybe..." Minho knew it wasn't, but he didn't see any reason to push the issue. He climbed off of the bed, saying, "I should call a cab."
Onew stood up behind Minho, putting his arms around him. "I shouldn't let you go." he murmured, laying his head on his shoulder. "Things happen to you when I'm gone."
"Things happen to me when you aren't." Minho reminded him with a frown.
Onew turned his face into Minho's sleeve, so he was hard to hear when he said, "Be careful."
"Same to you, Onew."
***
"We had almost nothing. Now we have nothing."
Taemin woke up to the sound of the other three's hushed voices. He'd fallen asleep, he realized, slumped over on Sungmin's hospital bed. He straightened in his less than comfortable chair quickly, looking at the others. Jay was there, standing and appearing fine.
"You're okay." Taemin said happily, if a bit tired.
Jay nodded at Taemin, giving him a small smile.
Sungmin smiled at Taemin too, sitting up in his bed with his arm in a cast and a sling. "And so are you. You were really knocked out just then."
Taemin rubbed his eyes, and felt flakes of eyeliner coming off onto his hand. He yawned, and said, "What are you guys talking about?"
The three looked solemn.
"Just what we're going to do next." Jungmo said.
"It doesn't look like we can rely on your friend to help us save Hongki..." Sungmin said, disappointment evident in his voice. "I don't think he appreciates us much," his voice lowered to add, "even though we saved him.."
"Noodle is just moody like that." Taemin said, "he can be scary, but he always comes through. I think we should at least tell him about it."
"No." Jungmo said with a sigh. "It's not that I want to say I regret helping your friend, even though what happened happened... but it should be obvious to you now. We can't work with a vampire."
Taemin looked at Jay and Sungmin, who said nothing, but he was sure they agreed with Jungmo by their expressions. So he sighed and said, "Then what do we do?"
"It's.. sad." Sungmin said, "But Hongki wouldn't have asked us to die trying to save him. We need to take time and regroup. Get money, and weapons, and all of that."
"Are you saying we should take a break.. ?" Taemin asked.
"Yeah. Pretty much. Switch to defense mode." Sungmin answered.
"You can take this time to train, Taemin." Jungmo said. "We'll still take care of you."
Taemin frowned, but nodded. "So.. when do we go home?"
Next