Soldier // j.j.k

37.

"Hey kid"

Vante looked to the voice, Jungkook was behind and the boy quickly salute him, making the older laughed at him. The younger was on break, so Jungkook took the chance to have a small talk with him. It was nothing special that day, but he just want to.

"Did your mother send you a letter?"

"She did, I just received it this morning."

He smiled before patting his shoulder lightly before looking at the moon. It was a calm night, and Vante team was supposed to be on patrol now. Seokjin was fast asleep at his tent, the one he shared with Jungkook too. The older had been nagging about their extended stay at the west, but he simply ignored him by making fun of his age. The west had been calm, he thought there was nothing to be feared of.

"Sir, in my letter, my mother asked me to protect you. She said your wife had helped a lot when I'm here so I need to repay back"

"I thought you said to her that I will protect you?"

He was about to reply when suddenly a loud explosion was heard, making Jungkook and Vante looked around cautiously. The sudden voice awake everyone, and suddenly some boys were running back to their base camp and their face were dreaded. Another explosion was heard and this time everyone started to shout, he could faintly hear Seokjin giving orders to everyone to get ready. It was hectic and Jungkook looked at Vante for a while.

"We'll talk about this later, be ready in five minutes"

"Yes sir"

He ran away toward the other boys and Jungkook went to the amour tent to get ready. Inside, he saw Seokjin giving orders to others and their eyes locked. He saw the older eyes were red shot, hair a little bit disheveled and his face shows how he hated his beauty sleep to be ruined. "Jungkook, get ready. The explosion had killed some of our man, and I'm in no mood to let anyone from them staying alive tonight"

"Yes sir"

By the time they were already ready, Jungkook had led the team deep in the forest , where the borderline was situated. With Seokjin orders, their men was divided to smaller groups to inspect the ambush. Less than five minutes, gunfire could be heard along with shouting and yelling everywhere. Seokjin led his team deeper in the woods and suddenly asked them to low down before giving orders.

But before he could speak, one of their men was shot and Jungkook hurriedly went to him, trying to stop the blood at his chest but there was no use. In a minute, his eyes dropped and his breathing was slow. "Fuck it, you follow me and Jungkook, bring Vante with you. The German's aren't playing right now"

Jungkook nodded and laid down the man near a tree and whispered a faint sorry before dragging Vante far from there. Seokjin had started to shoot and Jungkook knew he can't waste his time anymore. Every time he heard faint footsteps, he will shot his gun to the direction and most of them hit the spot. Vante too was busy shooting, but he was a little bit slow compared to Jungkook, but the man was fast enough to save him.

Faint smell blood was everywhere, along with a cursing and pain-yelling in the woods. He knew they were winning, seeing how there are dead bodies of the enemy sprawled at the ground. Vante looked horrified as this was his first battlefield so Jungkook dragged him to a tree, hiding behind it while refilling his riffle. The boy did the same, though he almost dropped the bullet with his shaking hand.

"You did a great job back then protecting me, you might even get promoted once the war is over"

"Most of the time, it was you protecting me"

"Couldn't spare a life for the enemy, besides I don't' want you to die this ugly"

Vante stayed silent, and waited for Jungkook. At the corner of his eyes, he saw a figure aiming for them, preciously Jungkook who was busy wiping of the blood at his hand. The man was unaware that Vante had noticed him, and he proceed to shot him with his riffle. Before the bullet could hit Jungkook, the boy had leap forward to him, taking the gunshot and pushed Jungkook to the ground with his weight. Jungkook was shocked and he quickly grab his gun tucked in his pocket before releasing at the man. It hit his head and the man fell down with blood spluttered everywhere.

He then laid Vante down, desperately trying to stop the bleeding at with his bare hand. The boy was gasping for breath, and he started coughing blood. His eyes were looking everywhere while his hand slowly grip Jungkook arm, making the man to advert his attention to him.

"I-I did pro-protect you"

"Shut up Vante, you are bleeding"

"S-sir, go. Don't w-worry about m-me"

He said softly but Jungkook didn't care. The boy was too young to die, and he doesn't deserve this. Had he saw the man before, Vante wouldn't die and they might be walking back to search for Seokjin.

"You idiot! Why did you jump?L-look at you now, bleeding and- fuck I told you I will protect you!"

The boy smiled, tears fell down from his eyes as his vision was fading away. He knew his mother will be proud of him, knew that Haewon would thank him for saving his husband life and knew that his father is waiting for him. His death wasn't a waste, and it wasn't ugly. He died protecting the man who cared for him and his mother will be in the good hands of the church. He didn't regret it at all. His last letter was probably had arrived her, saying that if he died in the war, she should not grief for too long because he is now with his father, watching her from above.

"T-thank y-you sir, tell my m-mother I l-love her"

"Vante!," he shouted but the boy had closed his eyes, his grip on Jungkook arm fell down and his breathing stopped. For a moment, there was silence in him. Then he started to be in denial, shouting the boy name, shaking him vigorously and his tears rolled down to his dirt- stained cheeks. He couldn't believe the boy was dead, when he was already laying down lifelessly beneath him. Jungkook was too caught in his emotion that he didn't realise Seokjin had come closer to them, asking the younger to stop shaking the dead boy.

He could feel the harsh tug on his arm, asking him to stand up and leave the boy but Jungkook didn't want to leave. "Let me go!," he shouted but the Seokjin knew they were in danger. He need to drag him far from there because explosion are getting louder and nearer with them, he doesn't want to risk anyone life now. "Jungkook we need to go, now!"

"I'll stay here"

"Cut it out Jungkook! We might get killed !"

The man didn't want to budge, so he harshly pulled him up and forced him to walk. Before they could go further, Seokjin saw a figure was lighting up his grenade not far from there, and he knew they are running of time. He was literally holding Jungkook weight who was still in denial and with their slight injury everywhere at their body, Seokjin knew they might get killed at this rate.

"Sir behind you!," one of his comrade shouted and he looked back just to see the flying grenade towards them. Jungkook who did the same, eyes looking emotionlessly at it, as if he doesn't care about it anymore. He could feel how Seokjin pulled him to the side with him, their body hit the ground and the last vision he saw was fire all around him before he blacked out.

The dream was so real, so vivid he could feel his head and a part of his torso bleeding from the impact, how the fire leaving ugly scars at his back. It was so real, that Jungkook thought he was in the woods again. And the lifeless body of Vante with Seokjin yelling at him was played in repeat that he want to wake up from this dream, he want to run away from the nightmares playing in repeat inside his mind.

And he woke up.