The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 142: Waking Up

When Jae-ha opened his eyes, he realized he was laying on his side and in fact, not dead. Despite the stabbing pains all over his body, he knew that he was lucky to be alive.

Turning his head, he came face to face with a peacefully sleeping Yona. A slight smile curved on the edge of his mouth and he reached up to confirm she was really here. That he was still breathing.

As he did so, a shadow fell over him and his slight smile widened.

"... Don't make such a scary face." Jae-ha teased the glowering Hak, biting back a wince of pain. "I'm not going to steal Yona away and eat her."

"Idi-ot." Hak pronounced, emphasizing the latter portion of it, tacking a snarl onto the end for good measure. "No one's worried about something like that."

Jae-ha ignored him for the most part to take a quick glance around the room.

Zeno and Kija were slumped against each other at the far wall and the neat but empty bedroll made on his opposite side indicated that Yoon was already up.

Everyone's weapons were stacked in a heap on the floor in the farthest corner and it was almost hysterical how hilarious it looked. The mismatched metal and archery bow and arrows were piled rather haphazardly and it was a wonder how it didn't collapse during the night.

His eyes narrowed a tad when he took note of Shin-ah and Calista conversing quietly in the window seat. Whatever they were talking about, it seemed that they disagreed greatly.

Although it was a little hard to see in his haze, the girl's expression was solemn and behind her, the blue dragon was tense.

He didn't know it but Yoon had woken up in the middle of the night due to Hak and Calista's raised voices, a mere hour before the sun came up and she had shut her mouth, instantly cutting off whatever she was about to tell both of them as she eased the half-asleep boy back to bed.

Hak had tried to get her to talk again but she was stubborn and wouldn't budge. He left it to Shin-ah, hoping he could get through to her and by the looks of it, he had been only a little bit successful.

His worry for her would have to be dealt with later.

Jae-ha grimaced as Hak peered at his pale face closely, looking away as much as the confined space would allow to avoid his scrutinizing.

The ex-general pulled back, fuming. "It's unlike you, being so careless."

Grinding the blunt end of his glaive against Jae-ha's face mercilessly, Hak glowered. "Going to the red-light district and being forced to drink something bad."

Jae-ha almost wanted to laugh and joke about how mad he sounded but couldn't muster up the strength.

Instead, he sighed, weakly sinking back into the futon. "I wasn't forced to drink it. I chose to drink it."

Calista promptly smacked him in the face.

It seemed as though she recovered from whatever she was discussing with Shin-ah and stomped over to set him straight.

"Fool!!" She hissed venomously, hands balling into fists until her knuckles went white. "Do you know how close you came to dying?!"

Even with Yoon's expertise, they hadn't been able to do a single thing except force him to sleep it off and hope for the best.

Hak seemed much calmer on the outside but even he was frustrated. "Even if you have a reason to, you can't."

Jae-ha's eyes filled with an emotion they couldn't pinpoint.