Soul Vine | m.yg

19: Sleepless ༄

There was very little to distinguish Iphorus from the regular world, Eden noticed. The moon still shone through the curtains and glittered everything in its path, the forest animals still called out in the darkness, and the wind still battered against the window.

The only difference, as far as she could tell at that moment, was that she couldn't sleep.

She tried everything possible; she counted sheep, told herself a story, faked it, even poked her head into the hallway to ask Jeffrey for a cup of warm milk. Despite all of that, she was still awake, staring out the window.

Yoongi, on the other hand, had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. He barely had enough energy left in him to say goodnight before he was out. This wasn't surprising though; it had to be a tiring few days for him— mentally and physically. He was kidnapped, almost died, and then captured by his father.

Though she wished she were sleeping too, a bigger part of her knew Yoongi deserved the rest. His words from before kept echoing in her mind.

"My freedom was a ticking time bomb."

Eden couldn't imagine how exhausting it must be to be on guard 24/7. Everything and everyone posed a potential threat to the seven of them, and Yoongi assumed responsibility for it all. He was carrying the weight of 7 lives on his shoulders for years, trying to save them from being trapped in this hell again. Which, truthfully, was probably why he was able to sleep so well. Yeah, they were in the worst case scenario, but they were in it. There was nowhere to go but up from here.

She sighed, sitting up in her place on the bed. Even if she didn't have as much mental responsibility as Yoongi did, she still wanted to sleep. But, since the sandman seemed to skip her tonight, Eden figured the next best thing to do was to find some entertainment. Maybe Jungkook was up playing a game on his phone, or maybe she'd talk to Jeffrey until her eyes couldn't stay open anymore.

Just as she swung the blanket off of her legs, Yoongi stirred in the bed next to her.

She paused, her eyes widening as she slowly turned back to look at him. He hadn't woken up, thankfully, but he rolled onto his back, now giving her a clear view of his face.

His face was scrunched up into a pout, and sweat poured down his temples. His skin was red, and even though it was pretty warm outside, their room definitely didn't warrant that amount of sweat. It was cool at most.

Still, his face looked like he just stepped from a sauna. His hair fell limp and stuck to his forehead, tangling in his eyelashes as he writhed around on the bed.

Eden stayed still, fearing that the smallest movement would wake him up. She watched silently as he brought his hand up to his face, pawing at his hair with a whine that sounded too childish to come from his throat. He looked absolutely miserable. She tangled the comforter around in her fingers, watching and debating whether she should reach over and wake him up.

Yoongi's eyes shot open, scaring Eden so much she nearly fell off the bed. He was breathing hard, almost like he'd been running a race for the last two hours instead of sleeping. The redness of his face started to fade as he panted, but he still looked sweaty, miserable, and scared. He sat up slowly, and Eden noticed his eyes shifting around the room quickly without focusing on anything in particular.

"Yoongi?"

If he heard her, he paid her no mind.

He reached a trembling hand upwards on his body, pausing just under his collarbone. His shaking fingers traced the raven's wing burned into his throat, his entire body trembling as his eyes continued shifting around the room, almost like he was looking for something.