Collision

Chapter 81

Air.

Yoongi wants air. His lungs were straining, each breath was burning fire, and his ribcage would tremble from the force of each inhale.

He was cold. He couldn't feel his body anymore. The distant sound of Jeongguk's voice had long faded. He couldn't hear him screaming his name, pleading for him to come back, no matter how much Yoongi wanted to. He couldn't find him.

So fucking cold.

There was no light. Darkness was swallowing him, the ardent pain boiling his blood, and a part of him wanted to slip further into the darkness. Let it wrap itself around him and send him off, away from this neverending ache.

The feeling of fingers brushing against his icy skin, nearly numb to it, and Yoongi wanted to open his mouth, to whisper Jeongguk's name like a prayer. To murmur his sorry because he can't do it anymore.

How long could he fight this? It was overwhelming.

"Min Yoongi."

Warmth. Bursting, blooming, spreading. He could feel it graze over his skin, soft fingers curling in his silvery hair. Merely phantoms.

"We have a lot of stories."

"I think my favorite is the story of the first wolf."

Shivering, Yoongi tries to open his eyes. Black. Thick, curling black. No light penetrated through the inky darkness. Grief touches Yoongi's heart, recalling sable black fur, course under his fingertips.

The melodic voice, murmuring his name like a savior. The very taste of it sweet like one calls their lover.

"Do not cry, my child."

Yoongi's breath caught. Fingers trace over his forehead, featherlight and so warm. The cold slithers away from the touch, the voice dancing inside of Yoongi's mind.

"Who are you?"

"The legend goes that Spirit was a mighty man, fierce and noble. He went to war only with those that harmed another living being and strived for peace rather than needless bloodshed."

"I go by many names, Min Yoongi."

Shivering, Yoongi desperately tried to feel his fingers, his body. Feel anything other than the endless cold that only a gentle touch banished as fingers stroked his cheek, as if caressing a child.

"Am I dead?"

"Not yet, dear one." Sadness drips from the angelic voice, oozing and festering. "Not yet."

"Spirit also loved the forest. He would walk amongst the trees every night, guided only by the light of the moon. It was there that he met a beautiful woman, a girl called Raksha."

"I don't believe in... Fate. Or Destiny. That includes gods and goddesses."

Laughter bubbled in his head. Yoongi saw a flash of something in his mind, eyes the color of the silver moonlight, so clear and stark that Yoongi wanted to lurch forwards. The warmth blooms larger in his chest.

"You do not have to believe to hear me, Min Yoongi. I am everywhere. I am in the air you breathe, the sky you peer up at. The very moonlight that touches your skin. The wolves in which you love so dearly. I can always hear you."

"They made a home amongst the forest, a simple life, but one night- the humans were out hunting. Raksha heard cries from the wolves that lived nearby, and she was horrified. The wolves were her friends, and in her desperation, left Spirit in their home."