💜 YOUR FATE IS WHAT WE MAKE 💜 (18+) TAEKOOK {complete}

Chapter 17

Taehyung stumbles a little. It's not a lot but Jungkook notices.

"You ok?"

"Yeah just need to sit down for a minute I think?" He rubs the back of his head and his hand comes back smudged with blood. "Shit. No wonder it hurt." He sighs, annoyed.

Jungkook stares at him with eyes full of worried questions, so Taehyung clarifies.

"Got a butt of a gun in the middle of it all. I'm mean... what the fuck just happened?!"

There's a side tunnel where everything looks slightly drier, where the central channel has an additional step to provide a perfect place to perch. There are a handful of shallow puddles in the channel, they glisten darkly when Jungkook finds a place to prop the torch down so they can see without being blinded.

Taehyung sighs and sits down on the edge of the channel, resting his feet on the lower step. "Here, put these in the bag." He pulls out a small see-through box of memory chips out of his pants pocket and hands in to Jungkook.

"I don't think we have time to hang around, Taehyung, we need to keep moving, we have to get back before..." He doesn't say the words, saying them would make them true and he's not ready to risk losing Taehyung.

"Before I collapse and never wake up, right?" Taehyung says, bitterly, then sees Jungkook's upset face and softens his words with a gentle smile. "I just need to stop for a minute, everything hurts... just don't feel right." He mutters, looking at his own fingers covered in dried blood.

He doesn't want to think about it, so he talks instead, anything to take his mind off his too closely pending death.

Jungkook speaks before Taehyung has the chance.

"I think we can only assume he was after the two of us from the beginning. I mean that's why he sent me to The Octagon, I think?"

"He sent you? Asshole. Deserved to die." He pulls out his knife and carries on cleaning the blade more thoroughly, in thought. "I can't believe he'd do that... or my behavioural upgrades... just cruel." He shudders, feeling a gag hover at his throat. He utterly detests the powerlessness that Verni has made him feel.

Jungkook looks at Taehyung and he can see something incredibly vulnerable behind all the anger and frustration, it calls to him. He finds himself sitting down, right next to Taehyung. He places a gentle hand on his knee. "You know you can always trust me, right? Always."

How could Taehyung not believe those eyes full of stars even in the darkness of the tunnels.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Jungkook gets up and reaches out a hand. "Let's go." Taehyung hesitates, his eyes lingering on Jungkook.

"Actually... I need to do something." Jungkook is not used to hearing Taehyung speaking in such a vulnerable voice. It immediately makes worry run up and down his spine. He doesn't like it.

"What is it?"

"I think I need to recover my memories now." There is a hint of stubbornness dancing along Taehyung's jaw, it's obvious he's expecting Jungkook to object, which he does, of course because recovering of memories is not a priority. The most important thing is to get back to safety as soon as possible.

"There's no time, we have to go back."

"Listen. Listen, Jungkook." Taehyung tugs at Jungkook's arm, he can see the worry and panic building in his eyes, stronger by the second. "This is relevant, trust me." Taehyung waits a moment before he speaks, he knows Jungkook will listen to science, so he leads with that.